As we head to COP29 with climate finance taking centre stage, join Max and Nafkote for an insightful discussion. This episode features Meena Raman, a veteran activist and Head of Programs at Third World Network. Together, they explore the pressing $5 trillion climate debt, the call for reparations, and the main obstacles in climate finance negotiations. Discover how taxing the wealthy and redirecting war funds can help build a better world for all. Tune in to learn more about ensuring climate...

In the summer of 2024, Kenya ignited with protests against the controversial Finance Bill 2024. This legislation threatened to impose heavy taxes on essential goods, sparking widespread outrage. In this episode, Grazielle and Nafkote delve deep into the movement with Grace Wendo, a passionate youth activist and student leader from Kenya. We explore the underlying factors that fuelled the protests: Was it solely about taxes, or were deeper grievances at play? Did the government truly address...

Jayati Ghosh is an incredible activist, campaigner, academic and thinker. She is leading the fight on so many issues key to the fight against inequality. In this fascinating interview hear her sharp analysis of issues from colonialism to care, and from tax to climate, and what we need to do to win. As always, like, share and leave us a review. You can find us on X at @EQUALShope and on LinkedIn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we launch our new season focusing on fighting inequality, Max and Grazielle host Oxfam’s new Executive Director, Amitabh Behar. From growing up in Bhopal, India, a city infamous for the chemical leak by a US corporate that killed thousands, Amitabh talks us through his life experiences and how they have shaped his thinking and his passion to fight inequality and advocate for social justice and human dignity. Of the urgent need to build people’s power to demand a more equal world. As...

As the World Health Organization (WHO) continue to negotiate the Pandemic Accord, Max and Grazielle interviews Nick Dearden on Pharma patents, monopolies and greed that makes them price medical tools out of reach by people who need them. They also discuss how the public funded research changes hand to be a patent for big pharmaceutical companies whose only concern is to make profit rather than save lives. Nick Dearden is the Director of Global Justice Now and the author of Pharmanomics a book...

Imagine someone owing you money, but instead of paying you, they offer you a loan with conditions on how to use it. That is the how climate financing looks like according to Fadhel Kaboub. Fadhel, hosted by Max and Nafkote, breaks down bit by bit, the situation in climate financing and why it is impossible to have just transition within the structures of colonialism and extractivism. Fadhel is an associate professor of economics at Denison University (on leave), and the president of the...

Imagine a private company creating its own jurisdiction in a sovereign country. It sets up its own laws, currency, and tax, labour and environmental regulations regardless of their compatibility with national laws. And when the democratically elected government steps in, the company sues it in little-known ‘corporate courts’ for billions of dollars citing its projected financial loss. Listen to our dystopian story of how the private sector is “buying up sovereignty” and the shocking abuses of...

In this episode of EQUALS, we talk about how wealth and power defy gravity by making water flow… upwards! Max and Nafkote interview Sushmita Mandal about water inequality and how climate breakdown is already affecting water access for people around the world. Sushmita shares amazing stories about a young boy in India (who observed water flowing upwards from his community to posh apartment buildings), ecosystems on the Mekong River and a dam threatening fishers’ livelihoods. Sushmita Mandal is...

On International Women’s Day, Max and Nafkote interviewed Bhumika Muchhala, a development and feminist economist, on the possibility of being a feminist in an economic system that thrives on the exploitation of people and nature. This episode explores the importance of the way our global economy is organized in understanding the fight for gender equality. How issues like labour rights, fair taxation and debt cancellation are feminist issues. Bhumika is the Political Economist and Senior...

Nafkote and Max interview Dr. Faiza Shaheen on how capitalism has failed on its main selling point – work hard and you will succeed. The idea that everyone has equal opportunity in life is just a myth. Your success in life is significantly influenced by where you are born, your social class, race, and education. This episode is a powerful critique of our system - one that perpetuates wealth concentration among the rich while leaving the majority behind. Faiza Shaheen is Professor of Economics...

Max and Nafkote interview the brilliant Dr. Clara Mattei on the history of austerity and how it was created to maintain “the capital order”. Austerity today the world over remains a favored tool of policymakers. And yet it is far more than just a policy. We examine the roots of austerity and its fundamental role in entrenching capital, and disciplining people to never dare to create alternative economic systems. Dr. Clara Mattei is Associate Professor of Economics at the New School for...

Nafkote and Nabil welcome the pioneering Senegalese development economist Ndongo Samba Sylla onto EQUALS. We talk about the untold vision of former Burkina Faso President Thomas Sankara for economic liberation. The role of the French colonial currency in today’s world. What Modern Monetary Theory can mean to the Global South. And what a Green Bandung Woods – picking up from where liberation leaders left off – can do to rethink the global financial architecture. Ndongo Samba Sylla is a...

Max and Nafkote interview the world-famous economist Professor Ha Joon Chang to ask what is causing the inequality crisis and what governments can do to stop it. How are traffic lights, neoliberalism, and the Catholic Church in medieval times linked? How can we create a new generation of developmental states that face down corporates and build equal societies? An EQUALS episode not to be missed, with a giant of economic thinking. As ever follow us on Twitter and leave us a review. Tune in to...

EQUALS is back. Max and Nabil speak to Dr. Daniela Gabor, who says we’ve entered a new era of the “Wall Street Consensus”. Her macro analysis is lighting up debates around the world about how much power we’re giving up to global private finance - and what exactly comes after neoliberalism. Daniela, Professor of Economics and Macro-Finance at UWE Bristol, breaks down what is driving this new paradigm, how it drives inequality, and what a true alternative - a Big Green State - looks like. As...

Introducing a new EQUALS season and our new podcast co-host, Nafkote Dabi, Climate Policy Lead at Oxfam International. Joining Nafkote and Max in this episode are Astrid Nilsson Lewis and Ashfaq Khalfan. Together, they delve into the latest Oxfam report “Climate Equality: A planet for the 99%” How are the climate and inequality crises intertwined? In this episode, we expose the profound disparities stemming from the dual crises of climate breakdown and staggering inequality. We uncover the...

A season five wrap-up with just the co-hosts! Nadia is sadly leaving the podcast (and Oxfam). The co-hosts get together to look back on their time together and reflect on over fifty episodes of EQUALS.  We’ll be back for season six folks. Inequality’s sky-high. The fight’s on this decade but there’s hope. You’ve asked us to cover issues from the global debt crisis facing developing countries to the new scramble for minerals across the world. Join us then - watch this space! Follow us on...

Nadia and Nabil interview Nobel Prize Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz to ask just how dire the state of inequality is - and what we’ve got to do about it.    Is it realistic to tax the richest at rates above 70%? What’s the connection between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and IMF-backed austerity in low income countries? An EQUALS episode not to be missed with a giant of economic thinking. Make sure you share the podcast on social media and write a review! We’re at @EQUALShope on...

How exactly can rich countries address their past wrongs of slavery and colonialism? Well, there’s a plan. Jamaican scholar and UN leader Verene Shepherd outline what Caribbean nations have called for. This EQUALS episode is the second of a two-part special on reparations. In the first episode, we heard the case for reparations – and went back to the 15th century to the moment European men began an era of the slave trade of colonialism. Now we ask “how”. Nabil and Nadia speak to Professor...

We start on the shores of the Caribbean islands of the 15th century. As white European men landed on its shores, the story of centuries of colonialism and slavery, and today’s global inequality begins. This EQUALS is the first of a two-part special on the case for reparations. Nabil and Nadia speak with the Jamaican scholar Professor Verene Shepherd who with others across the world is demanding repair for those atrocities. Professor Verene Shepherd is a social historian and the Director of...

In this episode, Nafkote Dabi, Harjeet Singh, and extinction rebellion activist Teun Ott join Max and Nadia to talk about billionaires, inequality, and climate breakdown. Nafkote and Harjeet joined us directly from the COP last week. Nafkote, Climate Lead at Oxfam describes how billionaires contribute to carbon emissions not only through their lifestyles but also through their investments. Harjeet, Head of Global political strategy at Climate Action Network tells us about Loss and Damage and...

In this episode, Nafkote Dabi, Harjeet Singh, and extinction rebellion activist Teun Ott join Max and Nadia to talk about billionaires, inequality, and climate breakdown. Nafkote and Harjeet joined us directly from the COP last week. Nafkote, Climate Lead at Oxfam describes how billionaires contribute to carbon emissions not only through their lifestyles but also through their investments. Harjeet, Head of Global political strategy at Climate Action Network tells us about Loss and Damage and...

Ann Pettifor joins Max and Nabil on EQUALS. She famously predicted the global financial crash in 2007/8 and she’s worried again. She says it’s not just simply supply and demand that’s driving global food system shocks - and tells the story of how gambling-like practices in global financial markets are affecting all of us. She’s got some big ideas to on reining in capital, and why poorer countries being crushed under mountains of debt need to be able to declare themselves bankrupt. The latest...

We speak to three people reckoning with today’s massive cost of living crisis – with stories from Malawi, the United Kingdom and South Africa. Max speaks with Nellie Kumambala, a secondary school teacher in Lumbadzi, Malawi, and Walter, a security guard in London, United Kingdom. Nabil speaks with Wafaa Abdurahman, the National Coordinator, Fight Inequality Alliance South Africa. Different countries, same story. People are suffering. They’re ready to act. What are their solutions? Make sure...

EQUALS is back! We're asking: What has *really* been happening in the board rooms of multinational companies? And what's that got to do with today's cost-of-living crisis being felt across the globe? This new season on EQUALS we’ll focus on the crisis, bringing stories and solutions from across the globe. Nabil and Nadia speak with Dr. Lindsay Owens and Irit Tamir. Lindsay is the Executive Director at the Groundwork Collaborative, formerly Economic Policy Advisor to Senator Elizabeth Warren...