Power, People and Planet

Who benefits when inequality is presented as natural, deserved or impossible to change? Kumi Naidoo and Ben Phillips examine the stories that justify extreme wealth, blame people for poverty and convince communities that resistance is futile. From South Africa's struggle against apartheid to grassroots organising in Brazil, they explore how people have challenged these narratives by organisin...

How do we fight hate without answering it with hate? Kumi Naidoo speaks with Harsh Mander about radical love as politics, social action, and courage, drawing on the example of Gandhi and on New Zealand’s response to the Christchurch mosque attacks. They also explore what it cost him to stand with India’s Muslim minority, from relatives who told him “we are ashamed of you” to the million partitions...

What happens when we stop treating fossil fuels, war and the climate emergency as separate crises? Kumi Naidoo speaks with Mitzi Jonelle Tan about the interests shaping energy systems, the communities resisting extraction, and the possibilities of a fair fossil fuel phase-out. They also explore what international civil society must change to work in genuine partnership with movements in the Global...

The world is changing, but the institutions built to drive development are struggling to keep up. In this episode of the Power, People and Planet Podcast, Kumi Naidoo speaks with Sir Suma Chakrabarti about what comes next, examining the limits of conventional development thinking and approaches, who gets to shape international solidarity, and how global institutions and younger generations might c...

 In this powerful episode of Power, People and Planet, Kumi Naidoo sits down with Syrian writer and cultural activist Reem Turkmani to explore how power operates beyond force — shaping minds, narratives, and imagination. Reem reflects on growing up under authoritarian rule, where education, media, and even art were used to control thought and normalize injustice. Together, they unpack how climate...

What does it mean to be an activist today — and who gets to claim that title? In this episode of Power, People & Planet, Kumi Naidoo is joined by Hardi Yakubu, Coordinator of Africans Rising for Unity, Justice, Peace and Dignity, for a powerful conversation on leadership, solidarity, and building people-powered movements across Africa. From Hardi’s early experiences of standing up to injustice...

“Your eco-anxiety is a sign your humanity is intact. You’re reacting rationally to an irrational world.” In this episode of Power, People & Planet, Kumi Naidoo sits down with climate justice activist, author and musician Tori Tsui (It’s Not Just You) for a profound and unfiltered conversation about the world we’re living in — and the world we must build. Together they explore: 🔥 Why climate c...

Can beauty become the backbone of a social movement? 🧠✨ In this episode of Power, People & Planet, I sit down with artist and artivist Shilo Shiv Suleman to explore how art, beauty, and fearless imagination turn fear into love, trauma into healing, and streets into living canvases of resistance. From building an “army of fearless” women reclaiming public space, to creating climate monuments...

🔥 In this episode of Power, People and Planet Podcast, Kumi Naidoo sits down with Thiago Mundano — the Brazilian street artist and activist turning waste, ashes, and struggle into art that speaks for the planet. From the streets of São Paulo to the heart of the Amazon, Mundano’s work bridges the worlds of waste pickers, Indigenous defenders, and environmental justice — transforming discarded mate...

“Laudato Si’ reframed climate change as an issue of justice, shifting the conversation into the moral and spiritual realm.” In this episode, Kumi Naidoo speaks with Joe Moeono-Kolio, Pacific Regional Director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, about the spiritual and cultural dimensions of the climate struggle. Joe leads the Initiative’s diplomatic and campaign efforts across...

🔥 What can young leaders, indigenous wisdom, and the arts teach us about saving our future? In this episode of Power, People, Planet Podcast, Kumi Naidoo sits down with Alopi Latukefu — Director of The Global Centre for Social Justice and Advocacy Leadership — to talk about his remarkable journey from Papua New Guinea to global advocacy and to explore stories of resilience, leadership, and justic...

Can small, hidden acts of resistance change the world?   Kumi Naidoo talks to Dr. Ivetta Sergeeva, postdoctoral scholar at Stanford’s Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, to explore the concept of stealth activism — the covert resistance necessary to navigate life in authoritarian regimes. As co-founder of the OutRush Project, Ivetta studies and supports Russian migrants who fled...

Kumi speaks with journalist and Coda Story co-founder Natalia Antelava about reinventing journalism in the age of authoritarianism, disinformation and algorithmic manipulation. From reporting in Yemen to pioneering context-driven coverage at Coda, Natalia shares how storytelling can resist authoritarian playbooks and (re)build public trust.  They explore the role of media as activism , the dangers...

Is Culture our most powerful tool for making a just world?   Artist Favianna Rodriguez joins Kumi Naidoo to explore how art isn’t just a mirror to society—it’s a hammer to shape it. As a cultural strategist Favianna reframes activism as a creative, emotional, and embodied act. From growing up amid the drug war and police brutality in East Oakland to leading national protests and organizing artists...

Kumi speaks with decolonial thinker Dr. Vanessa Andreotti about what it means to create change in a collapsing world.  Together they explore how art, activism, and even artificial intelligence can become tools for healing, resistance, and reimagining justice. From her upbringing in Brazil marked by colonial violence to now co-authoring a book with an AI named Aiden Cinnamon Tea , Vanessa dispels m...

Kumi speaks with decolonial thinker Dr. Vanessa Andreotti about what it means to create change in a collapsing world.  Together they explore how art, activism, and even artificial intelligence can become tools for healing, resistance, and reimagining justice. From her upbringing in Brazil marked by colonial violence to now co-authoring a book with an AI named Aiden Cinnamon Tea , Vanessa dispels m...

Feeling at all freaked out by the state of the world at the moment?    Wondering what you can do about it?   Join Kumi Naidoo, the veteran social and environmental justice campaigner, to tackle some of the biggest issues of our time.  In each episode Kumi is joined by activists, artists and community leaders who are dismantling our broken system - and building something better in its place.   Hear...

In this special episode, which concludes Season 2 of the podcast, Kumi speaks with Indian activist Harsh Mander. This episode was recorded in August 2022 at a time when Harsh was under intense scrutiny for his activities by the Indian government. At the time of recording, he was on the point of returning home to India despite great risks to his personal liberty and pressure from family and friends...

Kate Raworth is a renegade economist focused on making economics fit for 21st century realities. She is the creator of the Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries, and co-founder of Doughnut Economics Action Lab . ----------------------- Learn more about Power, People & Planet on the website: https://powerpeopleplanet.org To watch full episodes of the podcast follow Kumi's YouTube cha...

In a wide-ranging discussion on South Africa with veteran activist Vishwas Satgar, Kumi explores the country's political past, present and future. With crucial elections taking place in 2024, what impact will they have for a country in crisis? What are the systemic issues that perpetuate these problems? And what can be learned from the historical victories and failures of South African politi...

In the early 1980s there was a slogan: think globally, act locally. Behind the slogan was the idea that, irrespective of the issue we were trying to address at the local or national level, we needed to better understand how global discourse, global processes and global power had the ability to impact what you could or could not achieve at the local or national level. In the 1990s, a feminist organ...

Unjust laws certainly should be broken. Mandela, Rosa Parks, and many other inspirational leaders had no hesitation in calling to break unjust laws. But laws that prevent the voices of ordinary people from being heard also need to be resisted, because right now, in more than 100 countries around the world, governments in the last decade have taken various actions to shrink the civic space by restr...

The contribution of the legal community through innovative, strategic litigation and other legal efforts is going to be one of the most critical undertakings in the fight for climate justice. Currently, there are more than 1,400 climate lawsuits underway. These legal battles address the destruction of our ecosystems and the attempts of indigenous people to uphold their rights through a range of di...

The challenge of activism today must include winning over those with whom we disagree, for example, those who have not yet embraced the agendas of climate and economic justice. In a country like the US where about 40% of people have been misled by the falsehoods of right-wing media, democracy is under great threat if activists for justice are not able to win over a significant number of those who...

With the crises in front of us so complex, are their solutions to be found at the global or local level? Will our technologies emerge fast enough to avert the greatest threats and, if not, how do we prepare for that unknown future? And how can even the boldest of activist movements hope to have an impact against overwhelming economic and cultural power? In this episode Kumi discusses ways to reima...