PUSHBACK Talks

It's summertime in Sweden and Canada, and that means it's time for Pushback Talks - Summer Series! And we're doing things a little differently this year. For the next six weeks, we'll revisit some of our favorite episodes from across all six seasons, giving you updates on the guests and topics at the top of each episode.  The Filmmaker and the Advocate are taking a break, but t...

It's summertime in Sweden and Canada, and that means it's time for Pushback Talks - Summer Series! And we're doing things a little differently this year. For the next six weeks, we'll revisit some of our favorite episodes from across all six seasons, giving you updates on the guests and topics at the top of each episode.  The Filmmaker and the Advocate are taking a break, but t...

In the last few years, the city of Bologna has been undergoing some big changes. Already known as a progressive city throughout the region, the city is putting its people in the driver's seat when it comes to housing policy in the hopes that the national government will follow its example. Sparked by the election of a neo-fascist national government and nationwide protests over a lack of affo...

Join us for an eye-opening episode as we dive into the world of urban geography and technology with Dr. Desiree Fields, an esteemed scholar, and researcher. Drawing from her extensive expertise, Dr. Fields shines a light on the tangible effects of digital platforms, uncovering the stark socio-economic disparities they bring to our cities. In this engaging conversation, we explore the real-life imp...

Join us in this thought-provoking episode of Pushback Talks as we sit down with Rebecca Riddell, Policy Lead, Economic Justice at Oxfam America. In a candid conversation, Leilani, Fredrik, and Rebecca speak on the importance of engaging in difficult conversations and effectively communicating across ideological divides when advocating for housing rights. We delve into what increasing taxes on the...

It's been over 7 years since the Jubilee Party of Kenya set out the ambitious Big Four Agenda to address affordable housing, affordable healthcare, food security, and manufacturing. As part of this ambitious plan, the City of Nairobi aimed to deliver 1 million housing units by 2022, with that number later being lowered to 500,000 to make the goal more attainable.  But now, all these years lat...

Breaking Social made its big debut at the CPH:DOX International Film Festival, but the conversation is far from over. In this gripping episode, Fredrik sits down with Matthew Caruana Galizia, an investigative journalist who has spent years taking on ultra-wealthy people and corporations to uncover corruption. As the creator of the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, Matthew fights for justice for h...

There's a new addition to the WG Film catalog! Fredrik's latest film, Breaking Social, is about the social contract we live by in society -- and the ways that the social contract is subverted and abused by the ultra-wealthy to undermine democracy and give them control of the world we live in. From Chile to the Netherlands, Breaking Social explores our upside-down economy while asking the...

From 2012-2022, and in the midst of a major construction boom, Turkiye fell nearly 50 places on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, from 54 to 101 out of 174 countries. The country has been praised for its ability to do infrastructure quickly, but the level of damage caused by a recent 7.8-magnitude quake has drawn greater attention to the amount of corruption in Turkiye&ap...

Apartments in Serbia are selling fast. But the average income in Serbia is about 640 euros and the average price of an apartment is 2000 euros, so who is buying the apartments? The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused a domino effect around the world in a multitude of areas. Serbia, one of the few countries openly accepting Russians is facing an unprecedented housing crisis linked to the influx...

Despite a high per capita GDP, the UK has the worst economy in western Europe. With tons of austerity measures being implemented, finance as one of its major industries, prime ministers in and out non-stop, and accusations of racism in housing coming to the fore yet again, the behemoth nation is staring down a difficult road in realizing the right to housing. How does one rights-based politician f...

The neoliberal prioritization of profit in the development of cities is drastically impacting the appearance and function of cities worldwide. Social and government housing providers are told to follow the lead of private housing providers, taking away the government's ability to innovate and push the envelope in the housing space. At the same time, in some countries, private developers rely...

All across the world we’re witnessing a crisis of democracy and a sense of increased polarization. How can we engage in conversations that call others in rather than out? How can we seek to win over those who currently refuse to agree with us? And how do we create visions for the future that make our movements irresistible? Leilani and Fredrik talk to American journalist and writer Anand Giridhara...

Did you know that approximately 22 million Americans live in mobile homes?  Mobile homes have long been one of the most affordable types of dwelling but, because the homes are usually situated on rented land, mobile homeowners suffer from a unique type of housing precarity. Mobile homeowners are often low-income, with less access to infrastructure because trailer parks are situated outside of urba...

For years, the Athens neighborhood of Exarcheia Square has been under attack by right-wing politicians. The area, along with nearby Strefi Hill, is a long-standing bastion of political resistance full of cafés, squats, and social centers, and the last remaining free public space in the neighborhood. Now, the City has begun construction on a metro station without the proper permissions and against...

In cities of all sizes across North America, legislation and policy are enacting violence on poor people. From housing policies that will see tens of thousands more people become homeless due to unaffordability to an ordinance in Los Angeles that makes it nearly impossible for the unhoused to find a place to rest, criminalization of homeless people is being dressed up as solutions Fredrik and Leil...

The seasons are changing and the Filmmaker and the Advocate are back for season 5 of Pushback Talks! In 2020, amidst substantial social unrest, the people of Chile demanded a new constitution - the first since the Pinochet dictatorship in the 1980s. Now, two years later, division over the content of the new text led to it being rejected by 62% of voters. Magdalena Sepulveda, Chilean human rights l...

It's summertime in Sweden and Canada, and that means it's time for Pushback Talks - Summer Series! The Filmmaker and the Advocate are taking a break, but the podcast isn't.  For the next couple of months, Fredrik and Leilani bring their faithful fans and new listeners curated podcasts from Seasons 3 & 4 - episodes you may have missed that are definitely worth a listen. We'v...

It's summertime in Sweden and Canada, and that means it's time for Pushback Talks - Summer Series! The Filmmaker and the Advocate are taking a break, but the podcast isn't.  For the next couple of months, Fredrik and Leilani bring their faithful fans and new listeners curated podcasts from Seasons 3 & 4 - episodes you may have missed that are definitely worth a listen. We'v...

It's summertime in Sweden and Canada, and that means it's time for Pushback Talks - Summer Series! The Filmmaker and the Advocate are taking a break, but the podcast isn't.  For the next couple of months, Fredrik and Leilani bring their faithful fans and new listeners curated podcasts from Seasons 3 & 4 - episodes you may have missed that are definitely worth a listen. We'v...

It's summertime in Sweden and Canada, and that means it's time for Pushback Talks - Summer Series! The Filmmaker and the Advocate are taking a break, but the podcast isn't.  For the next couple of months, Fredrik and Leilani bring their faithful fans and new listeners curated podcasts from Seasons 3 & 4 - episodes you may have missed that are definitely worth a listen. We'v...

It's summertime in Sweden and Canada, and that means it's time for Pushback Talks - Summer Series! The Filmmaker and the Advocate are taking a break, but the podcast isn't.  For the next couple of months, Fredrik and Leilani bring their faithful fans and new listeners curated podcasts from Seasons 3 & 4 - episodes you may have missed that are definitely worth a listen. We'v...

New things are on the horizon! While the Filmmaker is off working on his latest film, the Advocate will be launching a long-awaited project at European Parliament!  After over a year of work, Leilani and her team are debuting The Shift Directives -- the first-ever comprehensive framework for governments to effectively address the financialization of housing in accordance with human rights law. Fre...

It's been five years since Grenfell Tower in London burned down, after polyethylene cladding installed to make the building look more attractive acted as an accelerant and rapidly spread the fire along the length of the building. In the years since, many of those affected by the fire have had their lives uprooted, and there has been no real accountability. Many people whose homes still have t...

Sixty percent of voters in Berlin voted to socialize apartments owned by corporate landlords with more than 3,000 properties in the city, but what comes next?  The Filmmaker and the Advocate catch up with Joanna Kusiak, spokesperson for DW enteignen, on what has happened since the September 2021 Berlin referendum that voted in favor of government expropriation of over 200,000 privately-owned apart...