67: Live! On the Ground in Beirut

This episode is the audio version of a live video broadcast that aired on Friday, August 7th, featuring guests on the ground in Beirut, Lebanon. Our guests are Mohammad Hamoud, a Lebanese activist and humanitarian relief worker, and Rita Kabalan, a Lebanese-American photojournalist based in Beirut. 

On Tuesday, August 4th, a massive explosion rocked Beirut's port when tons of improperly stored ammonium-nitrate was ignited by a fire in a storage facility. Now, more than a week on from the explosion the death toll already numbers more than 200, with approximately 6,000 injured and hundreds of thousands left homeless. This man-made disaster also came at a time of ongoing political and deep financial crisis in the tiny nation that is also home to the world's largest per-capita population of refugees.

 

Episode 66: Ralph Nader

ralph-nader.jpg

Ralph Nader is a five-time candidate for US president and a public servant who has improved the lives of Americans and of many people around the world through his 6 decades of work as a consumer advocate and civil liberties defender.

We speak about the current status of civil rights protests, coronavirus, Palestine, corporate corruption, and about his new cookbook and the connection between our kitchens and the health of our communities. And we share a little about our own work on The Virtual Dinner Guest Project.

Listen

 

Learn more about Ralph Nader

 

Support our work

 

Episode 65: On the Ground in Idlib, Syria

Since the war in Syria began in 2011 more than 12 million of its citizens (over half of its pre-war population) have been displaced. With global interest in the war having waned in recent years, remaining concerns about the Syrian people tend to focus on the relatively small number of refugees who have attempted to reach Europe. However nearly half of all displaced Syrians still reside in Syria, with the overwhelming number of refugees left languishing and forgotten in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey.

What’s more, Idlib in northern Syria, is one of the few parts of the country that has not been recaptured by the Assad regime, but nearly a decade of war has taken an extreme toll on its inhabitants, with Coronavirus, continued fighting, and economic collapse creating a perfect humanitarian storm that has left Idlib in its most desperate circumstances of the war, with millions facing immanent risk of starvation, exposure to the elements, and perhaps another mass movement of people from the region like the world has not seen since 2015.

Nour Qurmosh grew up in Idlib and continues to work there delivering aid to his fellow citizens. At 23 years old, Nour has spent the past 9 years living under Syria’s civil war. He gives us a rare glimpse into what nearly a decade of brutal violence has looked like to someone who has lived through all of it. His account is personal, frank, and possibly upsetting. It also speaks for itself.

Cited in this episode:
Mercy Corps Report
World Vision Report
The Guardian

GovTrack

 
 
 
 

Episode 64: Live! - Asylum Conditions in Greece and the Balkans

This show is the audio-only version of a live video chat hosted on July 10th, featuring guests Milena Zajović from Are You Syrious?, Douglas Herman from ReFocus Media Labs, and Carmen Dupont from Lesvos Solidarity - Pikpa.

You can catch our weekly-(ish) live chat discussions most Fridays on the Latitude Adjustment FB page, or you can check our Live Video Chats archive to watch and share them later.

Also, we’d like to formally introduce the show’s new co-host, Laila Mokhiber!

Be sure to catch our four-part podcast series including field reports from Moria Camp on Lesvos, and from the Greek mainland.

 
 

You can also watch the video version here:

 

Episode 63: Global Arms Trade

The global arms industry may only account for about one percent of global trade, but it’s important to note what that one percent is buying and the role that arms sales play in influencing other aspects of global trade and political relations. We speak with Frank Slijper in Groningen, The Netherlands, where Frank leads a project on the global arms trade for Pax, a global peace research and advocacy organization.

Here are Frank’s Pax reports on the arms trade in Turkey and the UAE.

 
 
Latitude Adjustment Podcast has no professional or commercial relationship with Pax. We just think they’re a great place to start if you’re looking to take action.

Latitude Adjustment Podcast has no professional or commercial relationship with Pax. We just think they’re a great place to start if you’re looking to take action.

 
 
 
 
 

Episode 62: Police Brutality & Voices from Minneapolis

On May 25th George Floyd was detained and murdered by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, making him only the most recent high profile case of an unarmed African American dying at the hands of law enforcement in the United States. The killing was captured on camera by witnesses and massive protests erupted almost immediately, starting in Minneapolis and quickly spreading to dozens of cities across the US, in what have become the largest civil rights protests in the US since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. For this episode we speak to two young men in Minneapolis about the protests, about their personal experiences with police, and about what needs to happen going forwards. This show is also a call to action, so be sure to check the list of organizations that you can support which have been recommended by our guests Sam Abeler and Derek “Duck” Washington. 

Sam’s Interview: 10:22

Duck’s Interview: 54:08

Hosts’s closing Remarks: 1:43:34

Sam Abeler and Derek “Duck” Washington

Sam Abeler and Derek “Duck” Washington

 
 

Additional media recommended by Duck:

 

Latitude Adjustment Podcast also recommends that you watch the following:

Episode 61: Gaza and Coronavirus

We talk to Dr. Sadi Nkhala in Gaza about the implications of a coronavirus outbreak in the Gaza Strip. Gaza has presently been spared from the worst case scenario, but like many poor communities, and like many communities containing large numbers of refugees, it is uniquely vulnerable. Like the rest of Gaza’s 2 million inhabitants, Sadi has been living under the Israeli-imposed siege on the coastal territory since 2007.

Latitude Adjustment Podcast has no financial or commercial connection to UNRWA. We just suggest them as a place to focus your supports. Other suggestions welcome! Contact us through our Facebook page with any questions.

Dr. Sadi Nkhala

Dr. Sadi Nkhala

 
 
 
Adjustments.jpeg
Adjustments.jpeg
 

Episode 60: Refugee Crisis in Greece - Aid

This is the final episode of a four-part series on the refugee crisis in Greece, undertaken in collaboration with Croatian NGO, Are You Syrious. This episode features a range of perspectives from locals, internationals, volunteers, and founders on Lesvos and in Athens, including: 

Douglas Herman from Refocus Media Labs; Lesvos (7:14)

Eric Kempson from the Hope Project; Lesvos (1:10:51)

Salam Aldeen from Team Humanity; Lesvos (1:36:44)

Myrto Symeonidou from Migratory Birds; Athens (2:01:49)

Mania and Mado from Network for Children’s Rights; Athens (2:22:42)

Clockwise from top left: Malakasa, Skaramagas, and Elionas refugee camps, near Athens; Moria Refugee Camp, Lesvos, Greece

 
 
 

Organizations we recommend supporting…

 
 

Episode 59: A Refugee Camp Based On Solidarity

Pikpa Camp has been threatened with closure by October 15th, 2020!

For more information on how you can help to #SavePikpa join this group.

Originally from Athens, Efi Latsoudi studied psychology and worked with a range of vulnerable communities before moving to Lesvos in 2001. Efi’s experiences and her story provide a historical perspective on the refugee crisis in Greece that we almost never get from traditional media. For starters, refugees didn’t start coming to Greece in 2015. That story starts much earlier, and many of the problems and tensions we are seeing today are a repeat of events that took place more than a decade ago. Efi Latsoudi began her work with refugees on Lesvos in the mid 2000’s but it was in 2012 that she founded PIKPA camp, a self-organized squat-camp for refugees, and a political statement about how vulnerable people might be housed and treated if communities and resources were brought together in a more thoughtful and compassionate way. To put it bluntly, PIKPA is the antithesis of Moria Camp. The camp is also very small. At its height in 2015 it hosted around 600 people. But its capacity is closer to 150. However PIKPA is far more than a space for alternative housing. It distributes food, offers language classes and other services, and since its opening in 2012 it’s served tens of thousands of people.

This episode is the third segment of a multi-part collaboration between Latitude Adjustment Podcast and Croatian NGO, Are You Syrious.

 
 
For More Information About PIKPA Camp and Mosaik Support Center

For More Information About PIKPA Camp and Mosaik Support Center

 
 
 

Episode 58: Greece - Refugees Tell Their Stories

These are the personal testimonies of refugees from Moria Refugee Camp on the Greek Island of Lesvos and in Athens. These interviews were recorded in January and February and are the second of a three-part collaboration with Are You Syrious concerning the situation for refugees and communities in Greece. Much has transpired in Greece and in the world since we spoke, but their stories remain current and are in many ways timeless examples of what many of our parents, grandparents and neighbors endured before settling in our communities. As the Coronavirus bears down on the most vulnerable people it’s critical that we make space to hear and share their stories rather than reducing them to numbers, faceless victims, and political talking points.

 
 

Organizations we recommend supporting…

 
 

Episode 57: Special Report from Greece and Turkey

Much has changed in recent weeks since we left Greece, and before bringing you the personal testimonies and field interviews that we gathered from refugees, volunteers, Greek citizens, and stakeholders during our time in Lesvos and Athens in January and February, we wanted to touch base with some people on the ground in Greece and Turkey to get up to speed on the fast-changing situation in and between these countries.

In 2016, in response to the growing alarm at the continuing movement of peoples towards Europe, the European Union struck the so called EU-Turkey Deal, effectively promising to pay Turkey approximately 6 billion Euros to contain the flow of people to within its borders. Turkey now leads the world hosting a refugee population of more than 4 million people, 3.7 million of them from Syria. At the end of February president Erdogan ordered Turkish border police to stand down resulting in a rush on Greece’s land and maritime borders, and enflaming what was already a highly tense situation in the Greek islands.

Douglas Herman a journalist and co-founder of Refocus Media Labs, a nonprofit organization that teaches media skills to asylum seekers. Douglas has been based on Lesvos for several years and more recently he’s been documenting the escalating situation on the island for a variety of news sources.

Deman Güler is a human rights attorney in Turkey and manages the Human Rights Center and Commission for Refugees for the İzmir Bar Association. Those familiar with the geography of the migratory routes will recognize Izmir as one of the principal staging areas for smugglers and for those trying to cross by sea to the Greek isles.

Are You Syrious is an indispensable resource for those trying to stay on top of policy changes and events on the ground along the migratory routes. an indispensable resource for those trying to stay on top of policy changes and events on the ground along the migratory routes.

This special podcast report is the first in a multipart podcast series covering the conditions of refugees and communities on the borders of the European Union and part of a collaborative project between Latitude Adjustment podcast and Croatian nonprofit Are You Syrious. Be sure to check out the Are You Syrious written accompaniment to this episode as well. This AYS special report is intended to provide a helpful timeline of events and offers more context for the podcast.



Correction: the initial publication of this podcast indicated that cases of COVID-19 had been reported on both Lesvos and Chios. However the case(s) on Chios are not yet confirmed, while it appears that one case has been reported in the general population on Lesvos.

Left to right: Moria Refugee Camp, Lesvos, Greece, Douglas Herman, and Deman Güler

 
 
 
 

Come for a three-minute walk through Moria Refugee Camp.

 

Organizations that we recommend supporting.

 
 

WE'RE COLLECTING INTERVIEWS IN THE FIELD. LOOK FOR OUR UPCOMING SERIES.

And follow our journey on Instagram as we collaborate with Are You Syrious to highlight the stories of refugees and communities along the borders of the European Union…

@merimaid70 (Zahra) records the introduction to her episode for the Latitude Adjustment Podcast Academy. Her episode and several other episodes from our students are out now! The podcast academy has been a 5-week course to teach asylum seekers on #L
#Repost @brothercornelwest • • • • • • Today we remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. However, he did predict, “I am nevertheless greatly saddened…that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or
Conducting interviews in Moria Camp with @nazanin_froghi in January of 2020. Hard to believe this was only a year ago. Thank you for the picture @_atifa.akbari_
Day 10 of Latitude Adjustment Podcast Academy with asylum seekers on #Lesvos, Greece. Team one is composed of men in the new camp that replaced #MoriaRefugeeCamp after the fires in September. Team two is made up of four young Afghan women who manage
Day 10 of the Latitude Adjustment Podcast Academy with asylum seekers on #Lesvos. Participants in the camp have begun recording the interviews for their final projects. The logistics of organizing teams in and out of the camp, navigating two langua
Podcaster's technical tip number 27: Anyone who's recorded audio on the road, or without access to a recording studio, will likely be familiar with the "blanket fort" recording studio. Just one of the tips we've covered in the Latitude Adj
"Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destro
Today we completed Day 7 of the Latitude Adjustment Podcast Academy, our newest initiative and a collaboration with @refocusmedialabs . Our focus was recording equipment and editing. After a lot of theory classes we're finally getting into the techni
#Repost @lesvossolidarity • • • • • • Today is the official start of winter... Another cold and wet winter for thousands of men, women and children stuck in the notorious camps in the Greek islands. We have breaking new
Day 2 of the Latititude Adjustment Podcast Academy is a wrap! This three-week course is a collaboration with @refocusmedialabs.Today was a big learning experience for me as a teacher. This one class could easily have been a course by itself and turne

Episode 56: The Protests - Algeria One Year Later

While it might seem like an obscure topic due to scant coverage in the Western press, a quick review of the facts makes it clear that we ignore Algeria at our peril. First of all, it’s Africa’s biggest country by land mass, and home to a population larger than Canada’s. It’s also home to Africa’s largest company, state owned oil giant Sonatrach, a major exporter of fuel to Western Europe. We dive deeper into the nuances and into the layered intrigues that define Algeria’s history, and what’s been happening since popular protests removed longtime ruler Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power almost exactly one year ago.

We speak with Mehdi Kaci, an Algerian American activist living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mehdi recently returned to Algeria to see how things have unfolded since the ouster of Bouteflika.

 
 
 
 

Episode 55: Addicted. Incarcerated. Inspired. Elected.

In May of 2019, Pittsburgh resident Bethany Hallam defeated a nearly 20-year incumbent to become Allegheny County Councilor at Large. She takes her seat in January, 2020. What's truly remarkable about her victory is the story that precedes it. Bethany watched the 2016 US presidential election from the Allegheny County jail as an inmate and recovering heroin addict. She shares her journey from addiction, to incarceration, to her inspiration to run for local elected office in a metro area of over a million people. 

And I also take the opportunity to share a little about my own journey. It was hard to pick an opening quote for this episode because she had so many great ones, and whether you're frustrated with your political situation, struggling with addiction, or know someone who is, we're sure you'll find cause for inspiration and hope in her story.

Photo by Caiolinn Ertel

 
 
 
 
 
 

Episode 54: The Protests - Chile

In mid-October, 2019 protests broke out in Santiago, and spread across the nation in what quickly became the largest display of civil unrest in Chile since the Pinochet dictatorship. While the proximate cause was a modest raise in Santiago’s metro fares, it’s been clear from the outset that the protests are concerned with larger structural issues, chief among them being Chile’s decades-old commitment to laissez-faire capitalist policies that have seen the privatization of large sectors of the economy, including public utilities and services such as water and roads, and a two-tier system for healthcare and education have also underscored the large chasm between classes. And finally, the state’s privately managed pension system (designed by the president’s brother, Jose Piñera), has been a focal point with its notoriously poor payout structure. While the pension system’s administrators manage to pull in decent profits the system has left Chilean pensioners struggling to survive.


On October 25th an estimated 1.2 million people took to the streets of Santiago demanding Sebastian Piñera’s resignation. While a number of his cabinet ministers were forced to resign, Piñera - a billionaire who made his fortune bringing credit card companies to Chile under the Pinochet regime- remains in office. The protests have been characterized by violence with scores of metro stations burned, looting and vandalism, and petrol bombs. Piñera called a state of emergency on October 19th, which resulted in street patrols by the armed forces and the militarized Carabiñeros. Hundreds of human rights abuse cases have been reported by individuals, human rights organizations, and medical professionals, including at least 19 deaths, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, sexual assault in police custody, and what appears to be the systematic misuse of rubber bullets and non-lethal projectiles to intentionally maim and blind protestors.

Today we speak with three guests: American filmmaker and journalist Joshua Tucker, Chilean social researcher Lorena Ortiz, and Chilean sociologist and professor Conrado Soto Karelovic.

Left-to-right: Lorena Ortiz, Joshua Tucker, Conrado Soto Karelovic, and Lorena Ortiz. Photos are property of the subjects.

 
 
 
 

Episode 53: The Protests - Iraq

The current protests in Iraq began at the start of October. Much like the ongoing protests in Lebanon, the protests in Iraq have largely been mobilized by youth, with no clear leadership, and with a decidedly anti-sectarian focus, with demands to address chronic unemployment, and to reform entrenched corruption and rule by political elites.

They are also the largest protest in Iraq since the end of the Saddam Hussein regime. Unlike Lebanon, protests in Iraq have seen a heavy handed response from the government that has already led to more than 300 deaths.

We speak with political analyst Raed Jarrar to get more context, and to learn what and who are behind the protests and just who is running Iraq these days.

This episode is the second in a series that Latitude Adjustment podcast will be putting out on current protests around the world. Be sure to check out the other episodes in the ongoing series.

#LatitudeAdjustment_Protests

 
 
 
 

Episode 52: The Protests - Lebanon

Since mid October Lebanon has seen some of its largest protests in years and, in a country where sectarianism has been institutionalized since the end of the 15-year civil war, it’s noteworthy that one of the key issues protestors are rallying against is sectarianism itself.

We talk to activist and development professional Jad Sakr in Beirut to get more context on the causes and aspirations for these protests, as well as the many challenges to be overcome.

This episode is the first in a series that Latitude Adjustment podcast will be putting out on current protests taking place around the world. Be sure to check out the other episodes in our ongoing series.

#LatitudeAdjustment_Protests

 
 
 
 
 

Episode 51: Transgender Community

Adrien Lawyer is the founder and director of the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico, an organization that “provides support, community, and connection to transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary, and gender variant people and their families through advocacy, education, and direct services.”

For this conversation I wanted to avoid the trap of asking easy questions and settling for easy answers, and instead just let my confusion and my preconceptions hang out there to see what came back at me. I learned a lot.

Whether you identify as transgender, or as someone who is questioning, or as an ally, or as someone who is confused, skeptical, or ambivalent on the subject of transgender identity and rights, I think you’re going to get something out of this exchange.

 
 
 
 

Episode 50: Zimbabwe

What comes to mind when you think of Zimbabwe? Perhaps a generic collection of images from the African continent? Wildlife, poverty, and despotism? Perhaps the long rule of Robert Mugabe, or the astronomical rates of inflation and illness and out-migration that have captured the scant bit of international publicity that the country has received in recent years?

When I traveled to Zimbabwe as a 14-year-old the country changed how I viewed the world and my place in it forever, and while the country has endured much hardship since I visited back in 1992, it remains a place of wonder in my memory as well as a place and a people deserving of more attention than the negative headlines.

When Robert Mugabe’s three decades of rule ended with a military coup in 2017 there were cautious hopes for what this might mean for the fortunes of Zimbabweans. Now two years later the country is still run by his ZANU-PF party, headed now by his former Vice President, and there are worrying signs that Zimbabwe may be edging back towards the type of economic crises that devastated the country in the 2000’s. What will it take for things to change for the better in Zimbabwe? Will the old revolutionary guard that has had a vice grip on power for decades need to be swept away by yet another revolution in order for the country’s fortunes to improve?

Anesu Masube grew up moving around Zimbabwe, so he has the good fortune to call the whole nation his home. We caught up with him in Washington, DC where he currently works as a Technology and International development professional.

 
Opportunities for Zimbabweans (Anesu is a co-founder)

Opportunities for Zimbabweans (Anesu is a co-founder)

 
 

Episode 49: The Gulf's Dirty Secret

The Kafala or “sponsorship” system is used throughout the Gulf countries (as well as Jordan and Lebanon) to monitor and organize migrant laborers, from recruitment abroad to their management upon arrival, and particularly in the construction and domestic work sectors.

Under the Kafala system a migrant worker’s presence in a host country is linked entirely to their employer, with the effect that it’s not only difficult or impossible to switch jobs, but all elements of their daily lives from access to their passports, their freedom of movement, their living conditions, their ability to leave the country, and their basic dignities are all controlled by their employer. And there is often little to no regulation put in place to protect workers against exploitation and abuse. And abuse has been rampant for decades. From sexual harassment and rape of domestic workers to squalid living conditions and work without pay for construction workers and manual laborers.

This dirty secret is often hidden inside of people’s homes or in isolated camps, so access to covering and exposing it is extremely difficult to obtain, which is why the work of our guest Vani Saraswathi and Migrant-Rights.org is so critical.