The Exploding Head

I had written and spoken about it a lot but it’s time to phrase it more directly: When an empire – the U.S. to be more specific – takes up a role of a moral compass, the liberator, the “benign superpower”, we know too much at this point to trust and follow it blindly. That mistrust doesn’t come from any tendencies of paranoia, contempt for the West, or uncalled cynicism. It comes from knowing how...

Can we talk about the war in Ukraine and its complexities without being shut down or accused of minimising its horrors? I think that is possible indeed – yet not that easy. In my two-part series, I address six topics, six “Yes, and” talking points that I have personally found difficult (but important) to navigate. In my first episode, I talked about NATO expansio n, the extreme right in Ukraine, a...

Can we talk about the war in Ukraine and its complexities without being shut down or accused of minimising its horrors? I think that is possible indeed – yet not that easy. In my two-part series, I address six topics, six “Yes, and” talking points that I have personally found difficult (but important) to navigate. In my first episode, I talk about (1) NATO expansio n, (2) the extreme right in Ukra...

What right does one country have to freeze the assets of another one? What about when the country sanctioned is undergoing a major crisis? These are the questions we have to ask about what the U.S. has been doing to Afghanistan which is in its biggest crisis in 20 years. On top of that, the U.S. has been holding $7 billion of its assets in its banks. How is that being done, what are aid agencies s...

Almost exactly a year ago, I launched my podcast by asking what good happened in 2020 . A year later, I ask the same about 2021. Needless to say, it was a turbulent year with a lot of suffering inflicted in countries like Afghanistan , Lebanon, Palestine , and others, just to name a few. The uncertainty and deaths of COVID continued and we saw that, hey, a pandemic CAN last more than a year! Yet i...

If we allow ourselves to integrate the experiences we're having, how can that change where we think we are in the world? And how is this political? In the fourth part of my series on privilege, I take the liberty - and take my time, oh my - to tell you about my own privilege journey. How the concept of privilege has changed throughout my life, what directions it took, what different regions have t...

Can we inspect the very lens through which we see the world? How can reflecting on the concept of privilege help us here? In the third part of my series on privilege, three more people share their privilege stories. Japan, Thailand, Scotland, Brazil, Lithuania, and Palestine are mentioned. But it's not really about the places: it's about what the newly gained experience does to us. I hope you enjo...

What makes us change? What changes the way we perceive the world and our place in it? I find these questions fascinating. And although privilege is not the only lens through which we see the world, I think it contains an important part of the answer to these questions. That's why I'm very excited to present to you a mini-series on privilege where I ask people how the concept of privilege has chang...

The Exploding Head is properly back, with an episode that is not a summary of my previous season! I start Season Two by introducing a topic on which I did a tiny personal project. You will hear what that is exactly in my upcoming episodes to which I have invited some guests! The topic of this project is a potentially controversial one: privilege. In this episode, I present to you one of the defini...

Although my articles didn't stop, my podcast did take a needed break⁣⁣. In its first season (22 episodes!), I've talked about:⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ - Palestine⁣⁣ - Brazil⁣⁣ - Chile⁣⁣ - Argentina⁣⁣ - Bolivia⁣⁣ - Belarus⁣⁣ - Lithuania⁣⁣ - Australia⁣⁣ - New Zealand⁣⁣ - Jordan⁣⁣ - Thailand⁣⁣ and the US, of course.⁣⁣ I've talked about different aspects (and assets) of democratic regimes and how countries move between...

Dehumanisation is a prerequisite for some of the darkest things we've witnessed in our history. Slavery, genocides, torture, mass killings - just to name a few, and it's one heavy list already. Because of that, ANY time is a good time to talk about it. Although this episode was sparked by what's happening in my own country, Lithuania, in regards to asylum seekers (I’ve written about it in my most...

I am not here to convince you that all people deserve equality. I'd like to think you already believe that - on Pride Day or any other day. In my episode, I quickly summarise several important arguments why we still need Pride and where, among other areas, there's still a lot of work ahead. Where might that work be needed in your country? We have to look at its legal base . For example, the rights...

I've covered this topic before but it's time to put it at the very centre of my episode. Gaza might not be bombed anymore yet so much remains. The blockade, the occupation with all of its mechanism, apartheid, and so many questions. One of these questions sounds simple but it so important to ask: Who can hold Israel accountable? And if the answer is 'no-one', we have to talk about impunity. In thi...

As I'm recording this, Gaza is being bombed by the Israeli forces. In short, a lot has happened since last week. A lot needs to be unpacked. In this episode, trying to further answer the question I have asked myself in this series - what do we really talk about when we talk about Palestine? - I talk about the abstract but often used concepts of security and self-defence. What I do exactly is the f...

What is happening in East Jerusalem? Or, rather, what has been happening in East Jerusalem? Depending on your location, political interests, and what media you consume, you might have heard the name of Sheikh Jarrah. If anything, you might have seen some hashtags at least, like #SaveSheikhJarrah. Sheikh Jarrah is a neighbourhood of East Jerusalem and what is happening there gives me an (unfortunat...

It's a system of apartheid. This is how Human Rights Watch has summarised its extensive report documenting how the Israeli government treats Palestinians living both inside of Israel and the Occupied Territories. In my episode, I talk about this report and what broader questions we should ask when it comes to how international organisations assess any Israeli policies. You can find an article surr...

It's a rather reflective episode with a simple message: Black Lives still matter, and (y)our discomfort still doesn't. I launched my personal page with my article on shame and my own journey from ignorance to...less ignorance. It was June 2020, and Black Lives Matter had just exploded. (the movement, not the issues, obviously) In this episode, recorded just two days after David Chauvin was found g...

I start my episode by revealing to you how irresponsibly I would go on motorbike rides when I was living in Thailand. Why do I do that? To juxtapose it with a certain strict law Thailand has regarding its media. Media freedom is the topic of this week's episode. But in addition to lèse-majesté (laws prohibiting criticism of the Royal family, and something I cannot pronounce correctly) and other ty...

On the day I moved to Jordan, a big thing happened. The country's monarchy was apparently threatened. Although not much is known about exactly what happened, it presents to us a good opportunity to talk about different types of political change - something I've been doing in multiple episodes of this podcast. I also talk about the refugee crisis, mention my episode on a parliamentary coup (!) in B...

You might have heard about the new law that was passed in New Zealand. That is definitely great and it should be celebrated. But we should also ask further questions. Why are we only seeing this law now and how come is it only India that has had a similar law since decades ago? What would be needed to see a change like this around the world? We can't talk about it without talking about - drumroll...

Can we turn something as exclusive as an independence day into something else? And why should we want that anyway? In this episode, I talk about a very personal experience of being from "a small country no-one knows about" and what dilemmas it has resulted in. Those dilemmas - how not to be a jerk when I talk about our independence days - can be solved, it turns out, moving from that personal expe...

The dance between democracy and authoritarianism can take different forms. And Brazil presents to us yet another one.  What the hell has been happening in Brazil for the past five years and what recent event sparked this episode? In short, it’s an alarming situation that involves large-scale corruption. For a longer story, listen to this episode! It’s a dense one. You can find the article on...

Let me say: how weird is this question? Interestingly, it's a question we find behind some pretty strange yet uncommon statements people make about politics. Although this episode - and an almost identical one in Lithuanian! - was sparked by something that has just happened in Lithuania, I talk about something universally important: political representation. What is the current paradigm when it co...

Įrašiau epizodą lietuviškai apie peticiją prieš Tomo Raskevičiaus poziciją kaip Žmogaus Teisių Komiteto pirmininką. Neišvengiamai, čia gvildenu daug temų: apie LGBT situaciją Lietuvoje, apie tai, kas yra - ir kaip kuriamas ir vartojamas - mitas, ir ko turime nepamiršti kalbėdami apie politinę reprezentaciją.  Nors to neplanavau, iš dalies tai - ir epizodas Kovo 8-ajai. Kodėl? Nes negalime kal...

What is the role of the media in portraying this conflict? Can its role be "neutral"? Definitely not. I invite you to notice three categories of this role: silence, information that is incomplete, and - the worst one - indirectly blaming the Palestinians for their own occupation. Give it a listen. You can find the article that I mention in my episode here: https://wp.me/pc6sQr-6d