Builders of the Broken Bazaar

We treat economic growth as an automatic win for society, yet trust in our institutions is collapsing while wealth is buried in opaque offshore accounts. For too long, ordinary people have been told that their role is to work, consume, and stay out of the way. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman is joined by Rose Marley , CEO of Co-operatives UK , to dismantle the m...

We treat displacement as a physical act of crossing a border. But for Yasin Arafat and the one million Rohingya displaced from Myanmar, displacement is archival, psychological, and generational. It is a system that attempts to steal a people's continuity and their ability to imagine a future. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman is joined by Yasin Arafat , a human ri...

We are told that the conflict in Palestine is "complicated," a series of religious debates and territorial claims. But for Ramsey Hanhan, the reality is far more direct: it is a system engineered to make an entire people feel disposable, and forgettable In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman is joined by Ramsey Hanhan , a former physics professor who walked away from t...

We are often told that the backbone of the British economy is its small businesses, yet we systematically ignore the one-fifth of those firms owned by migrants. We label them as "unconventional" or treat them as economic "peccadillos," failing to see the sophisticated networks of care and innovation that keep our neighborhoods alive. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Za...

Episode 27: Why people have stopped trusting politics? The story that broke Britain. We treat politics as a rational exercise, a matter of choosing between competing policy lists and economic models. But while the "leadership elite" reads from autoprompters, millions of people are living in a "fog of despair," feeling the weight of a system that has fundamentally abandoned them. In this episode of...

We treat integration as a policy problem to be solved with checklists and funding lines. But for the 82,000 people currently waiting for asylum decisions in the UK, integration isn't a government program, it’s a daily struggle for survival and dignity. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman is joined by Severine Kipili , the founder of Bora Shabaa . Severine shares her...

Episode 25: Some people are measured, others are filtered! Description: We treat the global digital economy as a level playing field, yet geography still dictates who is allowed to participate. What happens when world-class talent is trapped behind concrete walls and arbitrary blockades? In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman is joined by Kathrine Tinggaard Nicolaisen...

What does it mean to be a "winner" in a situation where you have lost everything? For Mohammad Helles, it means turning systemic frustration into a roadmap for community survival. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman is joined by Mohammad Helles , a software engineer in Gaza who transitioned from construction labor to global tech with nothing but a basic laptop and a...

Episode 23: We have built a system that hides truth! Description: We are surrounded by more information than any society in history, yet we have never felt further from the truth. Complex global events are stripped of context, corporate influence is hidden in plain sight, and trust in traditional institutions has evaporated. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman is jo...

Episode 22: Culture is Infrastructure, Not a Checkbox! Description: We treat Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as a compliance exercise—a set of optics to be managed in annual reports and strategy decks. But while the language of inclusion has become familiar, trust in our institutions is at an all-time low. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman is joined by Suna...

When war collapses a country, the systems fail, but the people remain. What happens when a high-level business leader is forced to become a "refugee," trading a boardroom for a production line in a salad factory? In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman sits down with Hanna Morozova , an Ecosystem Builder & Entrepreneur who is redefining what it means to rebuild afte...

The world hasn't simply become more unstable; it has become normalized in its instability. We are told that global crises are being "managed" through summits, panels, and statements, yet 5 billion people have become poorer while displacement reaches record heights. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman is joined by Dominic Morgan , the voice behind "The Human Promise....

We are constantly told that mental health is an individual responsibility. That "self-care" is the solution. That if we just "optimize" our routines or download the right app, the pain will subside. But what if the real problem isn't a lack of clinical tools, but a resistance to help that doesn't sound like anything people recognize in their everyday lives? In this episode of Builders of the Broke...

Episode 18: This AI Is Built for Liberation, Not Just for Profit We are constantly told that artificial intelligence is neutral. That data is objective. That algorithms simply optimise. That harm is an unfortunate side effect of progress. But what if the real question isn’t what AI can do but who it is built to serve ? In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr Tabish Zaman is joined by...

Episode 17: Growth Is Not the Only Goal We are constantly told that growth equals success. That scaling is progress. That innovation means moving faster, bigger, and further no matter the cost. But what if growth itself has become the problem? In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr Tabish Zaman is joined by Kasper Benjamin Reimer Bjørkskov , Founder of No Objectives , to challenge o...

Technology Isn’t Neutral. It’s Cultural. We are constantly told technology is neutral. That algorithms are objective. That design is “just technical.” But technology doesn’t appear from nowhere. It is built by people, shaped by culture, and assembled through decisions, decisions that increasingly determine who gets a job, who gets a mortgage, and who receives medical care. In this episode of Build...

At Christmas, we are told stories about generosity and togetherness. But in many UK cities, the reality looks very different. Shrinking public services. Widening inequalities. Communities carrying more with less. In this Christmas Special of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr Tabish Zaman returns to Hull — a city often reduced to statistics, but held together by people. Joined by Paul Hamnett , CE...

Integration is often treated as a checklist. Learn the language. Follow the rules. Fit in quietly. But real integration doesn’t work that way. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr Tabish Zaman speaks with Montasir Mohamed — entrepreneur, business leader, and refugee-turned-citizen in Finland — about what integration actually looks like when it moves beyond policy and into everyday...

You Are Being Played by Big Tech In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr Tabish Zaman speaks with Mona Fowzy — CEO of JaneTech and a software engineer with over 25 years across EA, AOL, Yahoo, CBS, and global scientific labs — about why we don’t need more technology at all. We need less hype, less manipulation, and far more courage to question the systems shaping our lives. Together,...

In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr Tabish Zaman speaks with Paul Biggar — founder of CircleCI and DarkLang , and co-founder of Tech for Palestine — a leading voice challenging the myth of “neutral” technology. From inside Silicon Valley’s inner circle to the frontlines of digital justice, Paul unpacks the uncomfortable truths about the industry that claims to build the future. T...

We Don’t Need More Start-Ups. We Need Belonging! In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr Tabish Zaman speaks with Dr Alexandra David — sociologist at the Institute of Work and Technology in Germany and one of Europe’s leading voices on migration, innovation, and inclusion . Together, they explore: How refugee and migrant entrepreneurs turn displacement into innovation. Why “deprived...

When systems crumble, who still shows up? In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr Tabish Zaman speaks with Debra Allcock Tyler , CEO of the Directory of Social Change — one of the UK’s most fearless voices on charity leadership, advocacy, and justice. From shrinking council budgets to silenced community voices, Debra unpacks what it means to lead when compassion itself is under attac...

Leadership isn’t forged in comfort—it’s shaped in crisis. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr Tabish Zaman sits down with Dominic Morgan , CEO of Rethink Crisis and Founder of the Authentic Leaders Institute , whose journey from army jail to NHS commissioner reshaped how we understand leadership, integrity, and reform. From war zones to hospital corridors, Morgan has led through...

Displacement isn’t just about borders or bombs - it’s about the systems that strip people of dignity and the ways they resist. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman speaks with Professor Theodore Khoury, one of the world’s leading voices on entrepreneurship in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. From refugee camps in Jordan to the shadow economies of Lebanon, Khou...

When war collapses every system, who keeps communities alive? In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman speaks with Alaa Albakour , director of Localized Action, about how Syrians rebuilt from nothing but trust and necessity. From food committees and youth volunteer networks to women-led initiatives that turned leftover aid into dignity, Alaa shows how resilience emerges...