Real Talk

“The point was to make people aware… The world knows now who [Microsoft] truly are, and what they’re doing.” As Microsoft celebrated its 50th anniversary with a panel featuring Bill Gates, one employee stood up and disrupted the event. Her message: Microsoft is complicit in Israel’s war on Gaza.  The young software engineer, Vaniya Agrawal, was then fired by Microsoft. Now, she’s speaking out.  In...

‘The crimes [in Gaza] are so egregious that are being carried out... The attempt to cover them up and whitewash them is failing’  Since 7 October, western media coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza has come under intense scrutiny, particularly for the language and terminology used by many outlets. As a result, the coverage has been accused of bias against Palestinians effectively providing cover for I...

"You can’t be a filmmaker. You’re Palestinian - no one will care." Cherien Dabis is a Palestinian-American filmmaker and actress constantly working to break new ground for Palestinian representation in Hollywood.  In 2022, she made TV history as the first Palestinian ever nominated for an Emmy, for her work on “Only Murders in the Building”. Throughout her career, Cherien has pushed back against o...

In The World After Gaza, acclaimed Indian author Pankaj Mishra reckons with Israel’s war on Gaza and its far-reaching moral and geopolitical consequences. He situates the onslaught within the broader context of western colonialism while grappling with a critical question: What does the world look like after Gaza? Mishra joined us on Real Talk to discuss the book’s key themes, including the Holocau...

"The more they offer the Trump administration, the more the Trump administration is going to ask - and the demands in that letter [sent to Columbia] are absolutely unacceptable." In this Real Talk interview, Columbia humanities professor Bruce Robbins reveals why he’s concerned he could be "thrown to the lions" over steps he took during last year's campus protests. Robbins speaks about how in Apri...

Over a year ago in January 2024, Jewish-American academic Maura Finkelstein found herself placed on administrative leave by her institution at the time: Muhlenberg College.  A few months later she was fired, despite having tenure.   The reason? She was told it was because of a post she shared on her Instagram story which heavily condemned Zionism.  Finkelstein joined us on Real Talk to reflect on...

“From the moment Israel was created, there’s this idea that it is unimaginable that it can perpetrate any crime under international law, let alone genocide.”  US-Israeli genocide scholar Raz Segal was the first academic to label Israel’s war on Gaza a ‘textbook case of genocide’ in 2023. But that also came with a price.  The prominent Israeli-American historian delves into the context, the intense...

Will Brics nations pose a real challenge to Donald Trump’s second term in office? And how do Trump’s tariffs stack up against this rising bloc?  US economist Richard D Wolff joined us for an extended conversation on Trump, tariffs, Brics, as well as the US plan to ‘take over’ Gaza.  “This is difficult here in the US for people to hear, but it’s the truth. The American empire is declining,” argues...

"Elon Musk has been given by Trump… almost dictatorial power”  Today we’re taking on the MAGA ‘civil war’ that’s publicly erupted within Donald Trump’s own ranks.  Did Elon Musk and the tech billionaires already win the battle for Trump’s ear against Steve Bannon’s nationalist right?  US historian Rick Perlstein is one of the leading voices on America’s conservative movement. He joins us to explai...

“I don’t believe this is about Israel’s security.” What’s it like to be a medic inside Gaza’s shattered healthcare system? British plastic surgeon Dr Victoria Rose joins us on Real Talk to share her first-hand account of the harrowing scenes she witnessed in Gaza.  She opens up about why she believes Israel is “definitely” targeting medics, how this has become a “war on children”, and her experien...

“If you’re an Arab, specifically a Palestinian journalist…you are political. Your identity is political.” We recently sat down with award-winning journalist and filmmaker Hind Hassan for a reflective conversation that delves into Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon and Russia-Ukraine.   We also discussed Western media’s coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, with Hind reflecting on the challenges fac...

Nearly 12 years after her father was arrested in 2013, and days after Bashar al-Assad was toppled, Wafa Mustafa is now going back to Syria driven by a determination to find him.  Wafa has not returned to her home country since escaping over a decade ago, shortly after her father, Ali, was forcibly disappeared by Bashar al-Assad’s government forces during the Syrian uprising.   Speaking just before...

How did Hafez al-Assad rise from an army officer to establish a dynasty that brutally ruled Syria for 54 years? From seizing power in 1970 to the Hama massacre, and Bashar inheriting power, Professor Joshua Landis joined us for an in-depth conversation on the Assad family’s rise to power. Landis, chair and director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, has spent near...

“AIPAC is a pro-Israel lobby and they need to be defeated for that reason. But they also represent white supremacy and everything that comes with that.” US congressman Jamaal Bowman reflects on losing his seat after AIPAC poured millions into his Democratic primary to unseat him, reportedly making it the most expensive House primary race in US history. The progressive member of ‘The Squad’, who ca...

“I can’t watch a guy plugged up to an IV burned alive.”  Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of America’s most celebrated writers. His latest book, The Message, took him to Senegal, South Carolina and Israel-Palestine.  The book has been both praised and slammed for calling out Israeli apartheid. Coates joined us to reflect on the backlash, but also takes his time to offer a deeper perspective on the Gaza gen...

“The relationship with Israel is in a different league entirely”  In light of Israel’s multi-front war in the region, including Gaza, Lebanon, and the escalation with Iran, how can we understand the US-Israel ‘special relationship’?  And where does the pro-Israel lobby in the US fit inside this framework?  That’s what we’re asking Harvard professor Stephen Walt, who joined us for an extended conve...

“It happens because of years of anti-Muslim, anti-migrant hatred.”  It’s been several months since Humza Yousaf stepped down in May 2024. Now, the Scottish former First Minister, who in 2023 became the first Muslim leader of a western democracy, is sounding the alarm.  In one of the longest interviews he’s given since resigning, Yousaf warns of rising Islamophobia in UK politics, the far right thr...

“I now rage that my government is behaving the way it’s behaving.”  As Israel’s war on Gaza, and now Lebanon, continues with no end in sight, we’re delving into why America’s Gaza policy failed.  Today on Real Talk, we’re joined by Matt Duss, former foreign policy adviser to Bernie Sanders and the executive vice president at the Center for International Policy.  We discuss how President Joe Biden’...

‘They're not ready for the storm that's happening... The average Joe has Twitter and is seeing what's going on [in Gaza].’ On Real Talk, we sat down with investigative journalist Matt Kennard to discuss his latest book, The Racket. In this conversation, Kennard dives deep into US hegemony and foreign policy, especially in light of Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. He also unpacks the broader implicati...

Today on Real Talk, we speak to Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and author, about the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in the US elections. We delve into why he believes we are “at the end of empire”, whether Trump or Harris would have different Gaza policies, the rise of Christian nationalism in the US, and his thoughts on Joe Biden’s presidential legacy. Rec...

Recorded: 24 April 2024  ‘The solidarity with Israel has never been stronger’  Voting has begun in the world’s biggest election in India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third five-year term.  Indian journalist and author Rana Ayyub joined us on Real Talk to speak on Modi’s anti-Muslim rhetoric, India’s elections, and its current relationship with Israel. Catch all our Real Talk ep...

“Israel should be treated as a pariah state,” argues Francesca Albanese. In this Real Talk interview, we speak with Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, about the reported abuses inside Israel’s Sde Teiman prison and delve into whether the UN is doing enough to ensure Israel’s compliance with international law.  We also asked her about the personal attacks l...

Recorded: 28 January 2024  Alana Hadid belongs to one of the most recognisable Palestinian families in the world. So when she sat down with us on Real Talk, we tried to unpack the pressures that come with that.  In our conversation with Hadid, we spoke about Gaza and how she was impacted by the last few months. We also spoke about her activism, her views on how Gaza may influence the upcoming US e...

Recorded: 12 March 2024 Our guest in this episode is US independent presidential candidate Cornel West, and we ask him why he called Joe Biden a “war criminal”.  He also explains why he feels Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a “gangster”, why Biden’s Gaza policy makes him a “hypocrite” and how Arab-American voters will turn their backs on him. Catch all our Real Talk episodes on YouTub...