113: An Audio Diary from Gaza

We have been wanting to bring you voices from inside Gaza since the very start of the current atrocities, but for what are obvious reasons this has proven to be extremely difficult, especially after Israel cut all communication lines and mobile phone networks in Gaza, in the prelude to their ground invasion. However, a student from our Palestine Podcast Academy, Shahd Safi, has managed to send me a series of daily audio diary entries detailing her experiences and her feelings in recent days. Shahd is from al Nuseirat Refugee camp in Central Gaza, a camp that has been subjected to repeated bombardments by Israel over the past few weeks. A Palestinian friend of mine, who invited me to his home in Nuseirat camp during my stay in Gaza, has lost nine family members to the airstrikes on the refugee camp in recent weeks. Shahd joins us from Rafah, in the South of Gaza, where she moved two years ago. However, the situation in Rafah is far from safe.

Shahd has been writing prolifically since the assault on Gaza began last month. You can find several links to her articles below, as well as links to charitable organizations working on the ground, and additional educational resources.

 
 
 
 
 
 

112: Colonialism in Global Public Health

Why don’t we see more African researchers presenting at global Public Health conferences and in US and European research journals? Who determines which public health issues are prioritized in Africa? What is Public Health and “Vaccine Apartheid”? What do these insights reveal about the current state of our Public Health discourse on the global scale?

It’s impossible to isolate the conversation around public health in the Global South from the topic of colonialism more generally. What’s more, while Africa and Africans continue to be presented with unique challenges and forms of discrimination, it would be a tragic oversight to assume that the factors contributing to global health disparities are limited to the African context. Insights that are applicable to Africa, are not only applicable to the Global South, and to minority populations in the Global North more generally, but these insights frequently map out the grounds and the various avenues for solidarity amongst similarly impacted populations and all people looking to dismantle oppressive structures.

Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi is the Executive Director of the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC).

She holds a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and a Master of Science in Community Health and Health Management from the University of Heidelberg. Prior to her graduate studies, Catherine studied medicine at Makerere University, Kampala, after which she worked as a medical officer in Western Uganda for three years.


In 2018, Catherine was elected as a Fellow of the  African Academy of Sciences and in 2019, she was selected  as a Joep Lange Chair at the University of Amsterdam; a position in which she investigates chronic disease management in African countries. She is the co-director of the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA), a program that seeks to build and strengthen the capacity of African research leaders and has trained more than 230 PhD fellows in eight African universities.

 
 
 
 
 

111: Death and Corruption in the Shadows - The Global Arms Trade

While the global arms industry may only account for about one percent of global trade, it’s important to note what that one percent actually buys. Beyond the price tags on the weapons themselves, arms and arms sales have a tremendous impact on all other aspects of global trade, and on relations between trade partners and competitors.

This week's episode is a collaboration between journalist Paul Cochrane and Latitude Adjustment Podcast.

Our guest, Andrew Feinstein, is the author of the best-selling book, "The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade", published in 2011. In his review Noam Chomsky writes, "This shocking expose unveils a shadow world of corruption, greed, slaughter, and other horrors, tawdry and gruesome in its criminality. It must be brought to a quick and final end".

 
Shadow World was turned into an award winning documentary film, premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016.

Andrew currently resides in the UK with his wife and children, and much of his current work is focused on Shadow World Investigations, an investigative news website focused on global corruption, often involving, but not limited to, the global arms trade. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

110: Solidarity Rising for Western Sahara

In 1975 Spain formally ended its colonization of "Spanish Sahara", but instead of ceding control to the indigenous Sahrawi population Spain instead handed the keys to its former colony to the Moroccan regime. For nearly 50 years the Sahrawi people of illegally occupied Western Sahara have been subjected to a brutal regime of settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, resource-theft, and the violent suppression of all dissent including the systematic use of rape and torture by the Moroccan authorities.

Meanwhile, more than 170,000 Sahrawi refugees have been left to languish in refugee camps in the harsh desert of Western Algeria, separated from Western Sahara by the second longest wall in the world, with 75% of their food aid having been cut in the past year by the World Food Program. All of this while the world largely turns away, content to purchase cheap phosphates and fish that have been pillaged from Sahrawi territory by Morocco. Using its veto in the UN, France has rendered MINURSO effectively useless, making it the only UN peacekeeping force in the world without a mandate to report on human rights. More recently the US, Spain, and Israel have chosen to break with decades of international consensus and to legitimize Morocco's illegal occupation. 

For a quick speed-history lesson of the Sahrawi struggle, be sure to listen to the short podcast that immediately precedes this episode: "Africa's Last Colony". 

Also be sure to check out our plans to complete a series of field reports and documentary projects from the Sahrawi Camps in Western Algeria at: Last African Colony

Swedish activists Sanna Ghotbi and Benjamin Ladraa combine to make Solidarity Rising, an organization that aims to create deeper and more prolific connections between occupied peoples and solidarity movements around the world. Having left Sweden on their bicycles on May 15th, 2022, Bike4WesternSahara is their current initiative to break the media blockade on Western Sahara. Stopping to work with communities along the way, they aim to educate the public about the oppression of the Sahrawi people and to mobilize public opinion in support of justice for the Sahrawi people and an end to the Moroccan occupation. Support them on their Patreon page and follow them on Facebook!

 
 
 
 

SPECIAL : Africa's Last Colony - Understanding Western Sahara

Where is Western Sahara? What is Western Sahara? Is it a country? Who lives there? If you find yourself unable to answer any of these questions, or if you want a resource that will help you to quickly explain the history and the current political realities around Africa's last colony to your friends and to your community, this short episode was created for you. 

Latitude Adjustment Podcast is also working on plans to complete a multimedia documentary series, working on the ground with Sahrawi refugees in Western Algeria, and in collaboration two former guests of the show. You can find more information on that developing project on our website, at LastAfricanColony.com 

Be sure to check the episode following this one for our interview with Solidarity Rising, a Swedish couple currently riding their bicycles around the world to raise awareness about the independence struggle of the Sahrawi people.

 
 
 
 

109: The American Roots of African Homophobia

What we are seeing now in the US, with the rollback of so many progressive victories, and with the passage of bigoted legislation towards sexual minorities, is in many ways the final stage of a decades-long strategy by violent strains of American Christian Evangelism. That strategy has seen Africa used as a testing ground in an ideological war against sexual minorities. And that war has returned home with a vengeance; newly emboldened, with more support, and with a more focused strategic vision.

Reverend Doctor Kapya Kaoma is an Anglican priest from Zambia, a human rights activist, and one of the central figures in the documentary film, “God Loves Uganda”.

Kapya is also a researcher, and the author of several books, including “American Culture Warriors in Africa”, “Christianity, Globalization, and Protective Homophobia.” He has testified before the US Congress, US State Department, and the United Nations. Though he has also focused on Environmental Ethics, much of his research and advocacy work focuses on the targeting of the LGBTQIA community in Africa and the Christian Evangelical and Catholic roots of this persecution.

See below for links to organizations in Africa that are in need of your support for their work on the front lines.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

108: Surviving Syria's "Human Slaughterhouse" - Assad's Sednaya Prison

Omar Alshogre is currently 28 years old. He was first arrested at 15 for attending a protest against the Al Assad regime, and was arrested a total of 11 times between 2011 and 2013. His last arrest, in 2012, along with the arrests of two of his cousins, led to his incarceration in the Branch 215 military intelligence detention center for 21 months, where he experienced torture on a daily basis. In 2014 he was transferred to Sednaya prison, where he experienced even more brutal forms of torture, and where prisoners were subjected to summary execution for talking without permission. During his period of incarceration, Omar was also forced to remove the bodies of prisoners and to mark their foreheads for identification.

Many of the systematic abuses of Syria’s Al Assad regime have been visually documented in the 2014 Syria Detainee Report, or the Caesar Report. Caesar is the alias for a photographer with the Syrian Military police who worked in secret with a Syrian opposition group to leak graphic images of the torture, starvation, and murder of prisoners at the hands of the al Assad regime. The report documents "the systematic killing of more than 11,000 detainees by the Syrian government in one region during the Syrian Civil War over a two and half year period from March 2011 to August 2013". Human Rights Watch spent six months investigating the authenticity of the photographic evidence and concluded that it was genuine. Signed into law by President Trump in 2019, the Caesar Act, or Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, is a set of sanctions against the Al Assad regime for war crimes against the Syrian civilian population. 

After suspending Syria from the Arab League for 12 years, last month the Arab League voted unanimously to readmit Syria’s Al Assad regime.

Omar Alshogre is a public speaker and human rights advocate, who endured three years of unjust imprisonment and torture in Syria before being smuggled out and brought to safety. Currently, he serves as the Director of Detainees Affairs for the Syrian Emergency Task Force and the spokesperson for Atrocities Tracker, dedicating himself to the critical cause of advocating for the release of those unjustly detained. Omar has spoken before the US Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, and presented his insights at several world-renowned universities, organizations, and news outlets including Harvard, Georgetown, CNN, and Aljazeera.
 

Episode 27: Assil Alnaser - Protestor. Prisoner. Student. Syrian Woman

Episode 65: Nour Qurmosh - On the Ground in Idlib, Syria

 
 
 
 
 
 

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107: Understanding the War in Sudan

On April 15th war broke out in Sudan. The fighting between the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group and the Sudanese army has devastated Khartoum, spread across the country, and an estimated 1,800 people have lost their lives, with hundreds of thousands displaced.

Dalia AbdelMoniem joins us from the UK, where she has been living since fleeing the war in April, after a missile struck her home. Dalia is a former journalist who moved back to Sudan in 2013 after living in Egypt for more than two decades. 

For more information about how you can help the people of Sudan, follow these organizations and individuals:

Nazim Sirag, for updates and information about how to help.

HomeTax Sudan (for donations)

Jia | Juwayria

Sudanese American Medical Association

Hadhreen | حاضرين



 
 

106: From Kabul to Canada (2 of 2)

 This is the second of a two-part series about Basir Bita’s escape from Afghanistan after the US withdrawal in August, 2021. In this second half of his story, Basir shares his experiences getting from Pakistan to Canada, the challenges of adjusting to a new culture, the double-standards in Western moralizing, and navigating the prejudices and stereotypes that refugees often face. Be sure to listen to part one, about the fall of Kabul and about his family’s escape from Afghanistan after the US withdrawal in August of 2021.

Also be sure to listen to our interview with Afghan photographer and interpreter Abdul Saboor, who escaped overland to France.

And our field reports and interviews with refugees in Greece.

 
 
 
 

105: Abandoned in Afghanistan (1 of 2)

On August 30th 2021, the US and its coalition partners ended their nearly twenty-year occupation of Afghanistan. Two weeks before they left, the Taliban swept across the country taking major urban centers, including Kabul. As embassies were abandoned, and as Afghans government officials fled the country, those Afghan citizens who had worked with the occupying forces faced the very real prospect of execution by the Taliban as collaborators. Yet, just Afghan interpreters had been abandoned in years past, many were left behind when the last US flight left the country. Now they, and the millions of Afghans who never had any hope of being evacuated to begin with, were left to scramble for their survival.

Basir Bita last appeared on Latitude Adjustment Podcast just two weeks before the Taliban takeover of Kabul, and a month before US and international forces left the country. Though he and his family had been issued a visa for his work with the Canadian government, they were left behind. This episode is the first of a two-part series in which Basir recounts what happened next.

Also, be sure to listen to our last episode with Basir, before the fall of Kabul.

Our interview with Afghan photographer and interpreter Abdul Saboor, who escaped overland to France.

And our field reports and interviews with refugees in Greece.

 
 
 
 

104: Iran-Saudi Detente & Iran Protests

On September 13th of last year 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was visiting Tehran with her family, having traveled from Irans’ Kurdish region. While in Tehran she was stopped by Iran’s morality police for improperly wearing her hijab, or head covering. Three days after her arrest she was dead. In the days, weeks, and months following her death Iran has seen nationwide protests, and while protests are not a particularly new thing in Iran, what’s unprecedented about these protests are the calls not simply for reforms but for the toppling of Iran’s theocratic regime, a regime that has been in power since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Today’s episode provides an update on the protests.

Last month also saw another seismic event in Iranian, and Middle East politics. After decades of saber rattling, proxy wars, and general hostility, China helped to negotiate the reestablishment of diplomatic ties between The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. What this means for the two regional super powers, for those within their spheres of influence, and for geopolitics will be the focus of the second half of our show.

Dr. Assal Rad received her PhD in Middle Eastern History from the University of California, Irvine in 2018. Her PhD research focused on Modern Iran, with an emphasis on national identity formation, and identity in post-revolutionary Iran. She’s also author of ““The State of Resistance: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Modern Iran”. 

Dr. Pouya Alimagham is a historian of the modern Middle East at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His areas of expertise range from revolutionary movements, Political Islam and post-Islamism, terrorism, US foreign policy, and contemporary politics. He’s also the author of “Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings" (Cambridge University Press).

 

 
 
 
 

103: Christian Zionism - An Unholy Faith

While there have been different strains of Christian Zionism dating back to the Sixteenth Century, the most politicized, powerful, and violent iteration of the movement has its roots in the contemporary Christian Evangelical Church. Modern Christian Zionists hold that the ethnic cleansing of roughly 750,000 Palestinians from their homes in historic Palestine in 1948 by Jewish Zionists was the fulfillment of a Biblical prophecy in which the so-called Holy Land must be resettled by the Jewish people in order to usher in the return of Jesus Christ as the messiah. Modern Christian Zionism is distinct from the modern form of political Zionism that arose amongst the European Jewish community in the late 19th Century.

 Don Wagner is a Christian theologian, a former minister, and author. He received a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from McCormick Theological Seminary. He is also author of, "Glory to God in the Lowest: Journeys to an Unholy Land". 

This interview was recorded on January 24th, 2023.

 
 
 
 
 

102: The Military Industrial Complex

The US military industrial complex describes the relationship between the US armed forces, weapons and military systems corporations and, though they are often omitted from the phrasing, the Legislative and Executive branches of the US government. 

This episode is dedicated to examining the interests at play in maintaining the US military budget as an unquestionable and sacred burden on the US taxpayer and its impact on democracy, even when our national infrastructure is in tatters, education and medical costs are exploding, the gap between rich and poor is ever-widening, wages have stagnated, and a pandemic has ravaged our economy and our lives.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation is the Quaker's Peace Lobby. Allen Hester leads the FCNL's Nuclear Disarmament and Pentagon Spending portfolio. This means that he develops legislative strategies and lobbies Congress for reductions in Pentagon spending, strengthened arms control regimes, and the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.

 
 
 

101: Apartheid in South Africa and Palestine

For this episode we cover a wide range of issues related to Palestinian human rights and political autonomy, including the recent Israeli elections, the current state of Palestinian resistance, parallels and distinctions between Apartheid in South Africa and Palestine, and the aims of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement in Palestine.

Dr. Haidar Eid is Associate Professor of Postcolonial and Postmodern Literature at Gaza's al-Aqsa University in Palestine, and completed his PhD in South Africa. In addition to being an author and a regular contributor to Al Jazeera, he is also on the advisory board of The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. He’s also an amateur singer; having released one album, Tyrants’ Fear of Songs, while currently working on his second collection.

 
 
 

100: Andrius Again!

It's episode 100 of Latitude Adjustment Podcast, and what better way to celebrate the occasion than to bring back our guest from Episode 1? We catch up with Andrius Mažeika in Lithuania, and in the spirit of our very first episode we cover a wide range of topics, from the war in Ukraine to being a Leftist in a post-Soviet context, to lessons learned from photography, and addressing mental health while traveling. Thank you to everyone who has supported the show these past 4 years!

Be sure to follow Andrius on Instagram and on Facebook.

 
 

99: The Iran Protests in Context

On September 13th, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was visiting Tehran with her family, having traveled from Irans’ Kurdish region. While in Tehran she was stopped by Iran’s morality police for improperly wearing her hijab, or head covering. Three days after her arrest she was dead. In the days and weeks following her death Iran has seen nationwide protests, and while protests are not a particularly new thing in Iran, what’s unprecedented about these protests are the calls not simply for reforms but for the toppling of Iran’s theocratic regime, a regime that has been in power since the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

Assal Rad is a historian and research director at the National Iranian American Council. She’s also author of “The State of Resistance: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Modern Iran". 


Pouya Alimagham is a professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of, “Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings.”

You can also find this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you download podcasts on your Android device. Be sure to subscribe to Latitude Adjustment!

 
 
 
 
 

98: Shamanism

Yaari Toolie-Walker is a member of the Alaska-Native Yupik community, an activist, an educator, and a healer. Yaari is also a returning guest, and we highly encourage you to listen to our first conversation with her about the Yupik community, in episode 16 of Latitude Adjustment.

The topic of today’s conversation is shamanism, or spiritually-guided healing practices. It might surprise you to learn who is able to be a shaman, its relationship to conventional/Western healing practices, and how shamanism is thriving.

Be sure to visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center online, and even better, see it in person.

 
 

97: The Russian Presence in Africa

Russia’s relationship with the African continent dates back to the Soviet era and Cold War proxy battles between Russia and the US. These days the Russian presence in Africa might be lighter, but it’s also growing and the dynamics are changing. From the deployment of Russian mercenaries like the Wagner Group, to the politics of soft power and investment, we focus on Russia’s past and present relationship with Africa, the likely impacts of the war in Ukraine on food security in Africa, as well as an examination of the ways in which African countries have been attempting to assert and maintain their sovereignty in the context of this most recent iteration of great power politics.

Our Guest is Gustavo de Carvalho, a senior researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, specializing in Russia-Africa relations. He joins us from Pretoria, South Africa.

96: Forgetting Gaza

The recent Israeli assault on Gaza lasted three days, from August 5 through August 7th. Before a ceasefire was concluded on the 7th of August, 49 Palestinians lay dead, including 17 children, with more than 360 injured. Israeli occupation raids in the West Bank, in particular in Jenin, coincided with the attacks.

And now, in an all too predictable pattern, we see that the Western media has once again failed to ask difficult questions in the aftermath of the attacks, and instead resuming its deafening silence on the questions of the Israeli occupation and on the 15-year siege on Gaza.

For this episode we speak with two young people in Gaza to gather their first-person perspectives. We deliberately chose to wait until several days after the attacks before releasing this episode, in order to highlight the role that the press plays in forgetting the ongoing violence towards Palestinians in Gaza.

 
 

Revisited: Human Trafficking in the US

Rosine Hounakey is from Togo but she was trafficked to the US at 13 years old. Forced to work for free on both coasts of the US, she was later coerced into an abusive marriage until she was freed with her two young sons as the result of an ICE raid when she was just 17 years old.

She then had to go through foster care in various American cities, waking up at 5am every day to take her kids to school before completing high school herself, after years with no formal education, having taught herself English along the way.

We also discuss the entrepreneurial spirit of Togolese women, annoying stereotypes about Africa and Africans, tension and solidarity with the African American community, and moving forward with life in the US after a deeply traumatic start.

Be sure to check the links below for critical facts on Human Trafficking, as well as organizations that can provide immediate assistance.

 

Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women