We need to talk about buses. Yes, buses. And inequality. The issue that nobody’s talking about. Since the 80s, transport across the world has been privatized – fueling an inequality crisis that undermines our human rights. Liz, Max and Nabil chat to Bassam Khawaja (Co-Director, Human Rights and Privatization Project, NYU Law School Center for Human Rights and Global Justice) and Matteo Rizzo (Senior Lecturer in Development Studies - SOAS University of London) who know lots about buses. We...

How fighting inequality and beating climate change means we must end our addiction to economic growth and fast. We’re asking: How are inequality, climate and growth linked? Why is green growth an impossibility? If rich nations must stop growing, what does this mean for developing countries? Nadia and Max have an amazing conversation with Dr. Jason Hickel – economic anthropologist, activist, academic and author of ‘Less is More’ and ‘The Divide’ . Jason is a leading thinker on both inequality...

Foreign aid has helped save millions of lives. But the whole system is facing a huge reckoning. As the New York Times’ Editorial Board wrote recently, “A growing group of intellectuals, aid workers and civic leaders from Africa say the “white savior” mentality of the world’s foreign aid system can end up doing more harm than good. We’re asking: Does aid work? Is aid really so colonial that it needs to end? How must the whole system change? And is it time to move to talk about reparations?...

What doesn’t mainstream economics “get” about Africa? What is the future of the state itself in Africa? And how much should we really be focusing on corruption within Africa?   Max and Nabil have a riveting conversation with Pan-African feminist Crystal Simeoni – who is Director at Nawi: Afrifem Macroeconomics Collective (which is well worth checking out here!). Previously, she was head of the economic justice department at FEMNET, one of the largest African women's rights networks. She is an...

Former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda (“KK”) – who led his country in the wake of independence from colonial rule – recently died. A pan-African giant, he pursued efforts to boldly pursue equality at home and fight for liberation across the African continent.   Max Lawson and Nabil Ahmed have an amazing chat with Dr. Grieve Chelwa on what President Kaunda really set out to do with the state taking a far more active role. What can we learn from “Kaundanomics” for today? And what was the...

How does it feel to have more money than you could ever spend? What is it that makes someone who is a millionaire fight for higher taxes on the rich? How does playing a rigged game of monopoly reveal how rich people’s minds work? What chance that President Joe Biden can reverse the relentless lowering of taxes on the richest people? Nadia and Max are joined by Erica Payne and Morris Pearl – founders of the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy individuals leading the charge to raise...

We’re asking: is racism silently shaping the global vaccine response? And what could President Biden’s recent huge decision to take on vaccine monopolies mean for people around the world? We also do a special round of “big pharma bingo”, examining the key arguments that pharmaceutical corporations have been making that is stifling the mass production of Covid-19 vaccines.   Max and Nabil are joined by three giants from the access to medicines and public health movement: Priti Krishtel and...

[This episode contains great music!] His beautiful music reaches millions. He’s topped the charts in the African continent. He’s winning change. He’s even been arrested for his music. He is PilAto – real name Fumba Chama – the Zambian music artist and activist sensation. On this truly inspiring episode of the EQUALS podcast Max and Nabil speak to PilAto about his backstory, what’s behind his music, and the power of music to change the world.   You can listen to more of PilAto’s music on...

A remarkable conversation with a great thinker and giant of journalism who has covered the great stories of our time. We ask what can be learnt from MLK about the fight against inequality? What holds back change and what is the role of journalism? How can America heal under Biden? We talk about the place of idealism in politics and how we can bring together struggles – and win.   Nadia and Nabil speak to the brilliant award-winning journalist, prolific author and now professor of sociology...

A vaccine. Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna. You know the names by now. A vaccine is the light at the end of this painful pandemic. It’s been amazing to see some people in some countries starting to get a vaccine. But just 1 in 10 people in poor countries stand to get one this year. On this EQUALS podcast special we speak to brilliant vaccines experts to answer: when will most of the world get a vaccine? What needs to be done?   We speak to vaccine and health experts – Dr. Mohga Kamal Yanni,...

2020 ends. 2021 begins. How can we make sure this will be a defining year in the fight against climate breakdown? What has COVID taught us? And is it possible to be optimistic? We talk to Christiana Figueres – the global climate leader who led the 2015 Paris accord talks and author of “The Future We Choose” – about all of this. And we also get reflections from Oxfam’s Nafkote Dabi about what success really looks like in the wake of the rise of climate movements across the globe. All in under...

We talk to Christiana Figueres – the global climate leader who led the 2015 Paris accord talks and author of “The Future We Choose” – about all of this. And we also get reflections from Oxfam’s Nafkote Dabi about what success really looks like in the wake of the rise of climate movements across the globe. All in under thirty minutes. An illuminating episode to finish 2020 – with hope and inspiration for what we must do in 2021.

COVID-19 has pushed over a billion kids out of school. What must we do right now to ensure this isn’t a “lost generation”? How does inequality affect access to education? And why do private schools present such a challenge to quality education in developing countries? To show us what needs to be done, we’re joined in this episode by the inimitable Dr. Prachi Srivastava – Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario, whose fascinating research digs deep on inequality, and the...

COVID-19 has pushed over a billion kids out of school. What must we do right now to ensure this isn’t a “lost generation”? How does inequality affect access to education? And why do private schools present such a challenge to quality education in developing countries? To show us what needs to be done, we’re joined in this episode by the inimitable Dr. Prachi Srivastava – Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario, whose fascinating research digs deep on inequality, and the...

Just what does the election of US President-elect Joe Biden mean for the fight against inequality, in the US and around the world? How might billionaires be feeling? What’s it going to take to put the right policies into place? And just how can Modern Monetary Theory – “MMT” – help? We talk to the influential economist Professor Stephanie Kelton. She was formerly chief economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee and senior economic adviser to Bernie Sanders, and has been recognized by...

How can we reimagine our relationship with nature? Why do we need to bring down the emissions of the rich more than all? How can we bridge climate science with indigenous knowledge? A profound interview with leading climate figure Hindou Ibrahim, an indigenous leader and member of Mbororo people in Chad and President of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad (AFPAT). We’re also joined by Tim Gore, the climate guru behind Oxfam’s fascinating new research showing how bringing...

A truly illuminating conversation with one of the world’s most powerful people, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). What does communism have to do with fighting today’s pandemic? How worried should we be about a spike in inequality after the crisis? And has the IMF learnt from its mistakes of the past? From decarbonizing economies to overcoming debt crises, this is one episode you don’t want to miss!

Season Two of EQUALS comes to a close! Our season started as the snow fell in Davos, talking to best-selling author Anand Giridharadas about whether we need billionaires. As the coronavirus hit our world, we spoke to activists like the legendary Lidy Nacpil to doctors on the front-line in Nairobi to the unstoppable former UN Special Rapporteur and human rights lawyer Philip Alston. Our hosts Nadia, Nabil and Max are joined by our producer Liz to discuss the highlights and lessons from the...

An illuminating and fun conversation with award-winning Turkish novelist and political commentator Ece Temelkuran about the slide into a more authoritarian world. What’s driving this? Has the pandemic made it worse? And what’s it got to do with inequality? Ece is the author of “How To Lose A Country”, winner of the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book award for her novel Women Who Blow on Knots, and twice recognized as Turkey’s most-read political columnist.

She played her part in bringing down a dictatorship. She’s fought inequality for over forty years. She’s described as “one of the busiest organizers in the world”. We speak to Lidy Nacpil, truly legendary and inspiring activist fighting for justice to this day. We talk about taking down a dictatorship, her husband’s assassination, the importance of history, and what the coronavirus means for the fight against inequality.

A podcast episode centered on solidarity – with US black communities in the face of structural racism and violence. We’re honored to speak to the brilliant and influential Professor Darrick Hamilton, described as the “intellectual giant” behind the study of the racial wealth gap and “the wonk for this political moment” – about what is happening in America right now, and why there may be hope.

A vaccine against COVID-19 is humanity’s best shot at ending this painful pandemic. But how can we ensure that a vaccine is available to all people, all countries, free of charge? We talk about the need for a #PeoplesVaccine, what to do about the big pharma monopolies and vaccine nationalism that stand in the way and what we can learn from iconic struggles to fight for access to medicines.

As the UN’s poverty and human rights expert Philip Alston famously spoke truth to governments about what he saw. We explore what kind of world we’re heading into in the wake of coronavirus, and what Philip learnt listening to communities in countries from the USA to Ghana to Chile to Malaysia.

A fascinating look into what coronavirus looks like from one of Africa’s biggest cities: Nairobi, Kenya. Max and Nabil speak to a doctor from a major hospital and a security guard who lives in one of Africa’s biggest slums about what they’re seeing – and what must be done.

Max, Nadia and Nabil kick-off a special EQUALS mini-series on inequality and coronavirus. How is it preying on the most vulnerable around the world – and how can we overcome it?