The Deep Dive with Andy Heintz

This podcast episode examines the heartbreaking, horrifying and entirely preventable human consequences caused by the Trump administration's decision to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development, also known as U.S.A.I.D. Brooke Nichols, Boston University epidemiologist and mathematical modeller, maintains a respected tracker that estimates the human costs of the closure of U...

In this podcast episode, I discuss why the term Western Civilization is not only problematic, but also an obstacle to understanding the world and solving the some of the thorniest political issues facing us today. Whether it used as a codeword for white by the Far Right, or pro-science and pro-human rights by others, Western or Western civilization oversimplifies the world and draws artificial lin...

This episode features Part one of an interview I conducted with Kwame Anthony Appiah on March 29, 2025. Anthony is an author, intellectual, philosopher and writer. He writes The Ethicist column for the New York Times and he is a professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University. Anthony has written several books including Captive Gods: Religion and the Rise of Social Science , The Ethics of I...

This episode is meant to raise awareness and call for more international action to assist and empower the Rohingya , a ethnic Muslim minority whose ancestral home is the Rakhine State, a western state in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. The Rohingya have faced years of discrimination and repression in Burma and are not among the 135 ethnic groups recognized in the country despite being able to tr...

This episode features an interview I recorded with documentary photographer Simone Rudolphi on August 9, 2024. Simone discussed her time interning for renowned photographer, writer and activist Shahidul Alam in Bangladesh. Simone shared her thoughts on the student-led Monsoon Revolution that ended the 15-year autocratic rule of Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. She also discusses how she came to see A...

This episode was recorded on May 4, 2025, and it features an interview I conducted with writer, author and intellectual Michael Walzer on September 8, 2024. Michael discusses his views on the war in Gaza, and his critique of human rights organizations and prominent individuals who have accused the Israeli government of apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and within its borders. Micha...

This is an interview I conducted with veteran journalist Bill Weinberg on April 23, 2025. Bill is an author, journalist and blogger. He is the author of Homage to Chiapas: The New Indigenous Struggles in Mexico and War on the Land: Ecology and Politics in Central America . His work has been published in the The Progressive, In These Times, Al Jazeera, NACLA Report on the Americas, Miami Herald and...

This episode features an interview I conducted with Maryam Namazie that was recorded on September 17, 2024. Maryam is an Iranian-born human rights activist, free speech advocate, women's rights activist and blogger. She is the spokesperson of One Law for All and the Council of Ex-Muslims in Britain. In our we talk about how the term The West can obscure more than illuminate how to understand t...

This podcast includes my thoughts about why small acts of empathy and compassion combined with nonviolent protest are key to pushing back against the cruelty and nihilism of the Trump administration.

This podcast is about the Rwanda-backed rebel group M23's seizure of Goma -- the largest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo -- on January 27, 2025. It discusses the origins of M23 and the humanitarian disaster created by the fighting between the rebel group and the Congolese army and its local allied militias. The podcast also features criticism of Rwanda's role in supporting the reb...

In Part 2 of my interview Pervez Hoodbhoy, he discusses and proposes solutions to some of Pakistan's biggest problems including settling the Kashmir issue with India, the need for education reform , and creating a more egalitarian environment in the country. Pervez is a media commentator, author, nuclear physicist and Pakistani intellectual. This interview was originally conducted on July 21,...

In this episode, author, media commentator, intellectual and nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy discusses the biggest problems facing Pakistan, and how religious persecution and the exploitation of the general public is built into the country's political system. He also traces the rise of religious fundamentalism in Pakistan, the similarities between the popular jailed former Prime Minister Imr...

This episode will feature an interview I conducted with my friend Hayley Rauzi on June 9, 2024. During the interview, Hayley talks about refugee policies in my home state of Iowa and in the United States in general. Hayley has worked for a number of refugee organizations in the state of Iowa including the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (...

This episode of the Deep Dive features Part 2 of my interview with Maria Gonzalez-Alvarez , which was conducted on July 4, 2024. Maria is a community organizer for the Des Moines-based Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice and the co-founder of Immigrant Allies of Marshalltown , Iowa. Marshalltown is a racial and ethnically diverse town of about 28,000. Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice (MMJ) is a sta...

President-elect Donald Trump has promised to carry out mass deportations when he returns to the White House in January 2025. Trump has already nominated immigration hardliners like Stephen Miller, Tom Homan and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to be part of his administration. Homan, who will serve as the Trump administrations border czar, has been called the architect of Trump's family separation po...

This monologue is meant to highlight and support the inspiring social movements that exist in Sudan especially the youth-driven Neighborhood Resistance Committees that helped lead to the ouster of long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, putting an end to his 30-year rule. The Neighborhood Resistance Committees are local resistance committees comprising hundreds of neighborhood groups drawn from...

In this episode, I talk with Joa LaVille, co-founder of Immigrant Allies in Marshalltown, Iowa. Marshalltown has a population of about 28,000 people including a large Latino population that has enriched the city with restaurants, shops and other important contributions. I had the privilege to call Marshalltown home for five years. This interview was conducted on June 10, 2024. Joa and I discuss ho...

This is a monologue I recorded before Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the U.S. Presidential elections on November 5, 2024. Given the ugly and scandalously dishonest rhetoric deployed by Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and other members of the GOP about about undocumented workers, I think progressive solidarity and partnerships with undocumented workers is more important than ever. I hope you enjoy...

In Part 2 of the interview I conducted with Simon Rodriguez-Porras, we discuss the importance of a consistent and principled international Left that opposes imperialism in all its forms no matter who is the perpetrator and who is the victim. Rodriguez discusses promising examples of principled international solidarity including Syrian activists supporting Palestine while also opposing Iranian and...

In this episode of the Deep Divide with Andy Heintz, I talk with Simon Rodriguez-Porras. Simon is the author of "Why Did Chavismo Fail". He also is an editor at Venezuelan voices.org and a writer for the New Arab. In the episode Rodriguez discusses what the Left and Right get wrong when analyzing the overlapping economic, political, and human rights crises that have befallen Venezuela and caused a...

This is Part 2 of my interview with author and political writer Robin Yassin-Kassab. For those of you who missed the first episode, Robin is the co-author along with Leila al-Shami of of the excellent, important and deeply moving book Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War. He is also author of the novel The Road From Damascus. Robin's writings have appeared in the Guardian, The New Ar...

Writer and author Robin Yassin-Kassab talks with me about how U.S. support for Israel in Gaza further undermines an international order already struggling under the weight of its own double standards and internal contradictions. Robin and I also discuss the perils of selective outrage and how it has undermined the principles of universalism, and led to paralysis and complicity in genocide and crim...