Not Silent Podcast

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 22 - Gjilberta Lucaj For six years, Gjilberta Lucaj fought a battle few people could imagine. She underwent 33 IVF treatments, endured countless injections, emotional setbacks, and spent more than $1.3 million in her determination to become a mother. Behind every procedure was hope. Behind every setback was the courage to try again. In this powerful episo...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 21 - Katrina "Kat' FotovatOn Not Silent, we speak with Kat Fotovat, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, former U.S. focal point for Women, Peace and Security, and a leading expert on gender and AI policy. We discuss the global consequences of cuts to foreign aid, the growing threats facing women in conflict zones, the r...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 20 - Dr. Vijaytha Muralidharan Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming healthcare, from diagnosis and treatment recommendations to patient monitoring and medical decision-making. But as AI advances faster than regulation, critical ethical questions are emerging. In this episode of Not Silent Podcast, physician and Clinical AI researcher Dr. Vijayt...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 19 - Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh In this episode of the Not Silent Podcast, I’m joined by Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh, known as “Mother Mushroom”, one of Vietnam’s most courageous human rights defenders. What began as a blog for her daughter became a powerful platform exposing environmental harm, state abuse, and the silencing of ordinary people. For that, she was ar...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 18 - Jane Olson Jane Olsen is not just a human rights advocate, she is part of the history of modern human rights. From leading Human Rights Watch to helping drive the global movement behind the Nobel Peace Prize–winning Landmine Ban Treaty while with the Landmine Survivors Network, her work has shaped international efforts to protect civilians in conflic...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 17 - Paris Iran Special Part 3 - Maryam Fakhar In this episode of the Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra, Iranian Human Rights Activist Maryam Fakhar shares a deeply personal story shaped by resistance, loss, and unwavering purpose. Born into a family targeted for their political activism, her father was imprisoned under the Shah, and her mother was ex...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 16 - Paris Iran Special Part 2 - Asal Rezapour In this episode of Iran: The Untold Story, 21-year-old Asal Rezapour shares a deeply personal journey shaped by loss, and an unshakable commitment to freedom. Born in Tehran and raised in Luxembourg, Asal comes from a family of political prisoners. Her uncle was executed by the regime in 1984, a legacy that c...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 15 - Paris Iran Special Part 1 - Azadeh AlemiFor Non-dubbed/origina audio: https://youtu.be/j9Jm42T58FYAs a little girl in Iran, Azadeh Alemi spent nights waiting in the dark while prison guards came to take her mother away for interrogation. She was left alone in silence, not knowing when or if her mother would return. Those moments shaped her life. Toda...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 14 - Veronica Zanca Women’s health is still not treated as a priority in the U.S. medical system. Conditions like endometriosis, which affect millions of women, are routinely dismissed, misdiagnosed, or minimized for years. In this episode of  Not Silent , Veronica Zanca shares her personal health journey and exposes how systemic bias shapes medical care....

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 13- Azadeh Nikzadeh Iranian filmmaker Azadeh Nikzadeh joins Not Silent Podcast to explain what’s really happening in Iran—beyond headlines and hashtags. A revolution crushed by bullets, an internet shut down to hide mass killings, and a generation willing to die for freedom. She is blunt, and shocked, by the silence of the West: no mass protests, no urgen...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 12 - Nadia SharmeenIn this episode of Not Silent, Nadia Sharmeen, a Bangladeshi investigative journalist and U.S. State Department International Women of Courage Award recipient, speaks about the true cost of journalism. She recounts being brutally attacked by a mob of 30–40 people while covering protests, and later being shot by police. She describes the...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 11 - Lamar Zala Gran In this episode, Afghan women’s rights activist Lamar Zala Gran shares the details on how she defies the Taliban by helping girls continue their education online, often in secrecy and at great personal risk. Forced to escape Afghanistan at just 16 years old, Lamar explains why silence became heavier than fear, how education became an...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 10 - Suzan KhairiShe fights for Yazidi justice by telling the truth about what happened. In 2014, the Islamic State carried out a genocide against the Yazidi people in Sinjar, Iraq. Thousands of Yazidi men were executed. Women and girls, some as young as five were kidnapped, raped, sold, and held in sexual slavery. Boys were forcibly trained as child sold...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 9 - Fatou BaldehOn this episode of the Not Silent Podcast, Fatou Baldeh, a survivor of female genital mutilation and one of the most courageous voices fighting to end FGM globally tell her story. Fatou was cut as a child and told never to speak about it. She chose to break that silence, at great personal risk. Her advocacy helped stop the attempt to repea...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 8 - Benafsha Yaqoobi In this episode of the Not Silent Podcast, Benafsha Yaqoobi,  a visually impaired Afghan human rights defender, BBC 100 Women Honoree, and International Woman of Courage, shares her journey from war to exile and her fight for Afghan women and girls with disabilities. She exposes the harsh realities under Taliban rule: discrimination,...

Not Silent with Arbana Xharra - Ep 7 - Vasfije Krasniqi-GoodmanIn this episode of Not Silent Podcast, I speak with Vasfije Buqe Goodman, the first wartime rape survivor from Kosovo to publicly show her face and share her name. At just 16, during the 1999 Kosovo War, she was taken from her home by Serbian police and endured violence that changed her life forever. Vasfije opens up about that night,...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 6 - Fariba Balouch: The Voice Iran Tries to Silence Fariba Balouch, a 2024 International Woman of Courage, has spent her life fighting for women’s rights and justice for Baloch people in Iran. The price was devastating: her son and brother arrested, her family threatened, and exile forced upon her. From surviving domestic violence to resisting the regime’...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 4 - Kiran NazishJournalism is about trust, Yet women journalists are being targeted across 140+ countries. Kiran Nazish explains; legal pressure, online abuse and what support actually works. Watch & share.#PressFreedom #WomenInJournalism #Censorship #Disinformation #SafetyForJournalists #HumanRights #MediaFreedom

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 3 - Ajna JusićAjna Jusić was born during Bosnia’s war, the child of violence that scarred a generation. Today she is an activist, breaking silence and leading the Forgotten Children of War. Hear her story on #NotSilentPodcast. #VoicesOfCourage #BosniaHerzegovina #JusticeMatters #WarSurvivors #PeaceAndJustice #Activism

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 2 - Malebogo MolefheHer ex aimed the gun at her head and pulled the trigger. It jammed. Seconds later, he fired again, eight bullets tore through her body. Malebogo Molefhe, once a rising basketball star in Botswana, survived an unimaginable act of gender-based violence that left her paralyzed for life. But Malebogo found the strength to fight, and became...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 1 - Niloofar RahmaniNiloofar Rahmani, Afghanistan’s first female fixed-wing pilot. Her story is one of defiance and survival in the face of the Taliban, tradition, and even her own society’s rejection. Niloofar opens up about:✈️ Growing up under Taliban rule and dreaming of freedom while watching A-10 jets fly over Kabul.⚔️ Facing death threats from the T...

Not Silent Podcast with Arbana Xharra - Ep 5 - Hafza GirdapWhat does it mean when women’s bodies, choices, and freedoms become the battlefield of authoritarian regimes? In this episode, I sit down with Hafza Girdap, a Turkish academic and activist who lived through Erdogan’s repression, faced dismissal, exile, and stigmatization, yet continues to raise her voice for women’s rights and freedom of c...