Vijay Prashad, an Indian historian and political commentator, dives into the troubling dynamics of the global arms trade. He discusses how world leaders often act as arms dealers, impacting diplomacy and escalating conflicts. The conversation highlights the humanitarian crises fueled by military spending and calls for a shift from militarization to collaboration. Prashad reflects on historical events like Hiroshima to illustrate the ongoing struggle for sovereignty in the Global South, and advocates for grassroots activism against arms proliferation.

For this week’s #TheWorldUnspun, we met with Samar Alkhdour, a Palestinian activist in Montreal whose campaign against the obstructive and discriminatory Canadian immigration system has been met with nothing but police repression and silence from the government.#NI554 Palestine: From Occupation to Uprising#NI546 Surveillance: Spying on DissentHost: Paula LaceyCredits: Paula Lacey (Producer, Editorial Assistant), Maxine Betteridge-Moes, Amy Hall, Bethany Rielly, Conrad Landin, Nick Dowson (Co-Editors), Samuel Rafanell-Williams (Sound Design), Nazik Hamza (Audio Editor), Mari Fouz (Logo Design), Thomas Barlow, Impress (Media Consultant)Guest: Samar AlkhdourFurther reading:How one Gazan mother’s tragedy has fuelled a sit-in action by Nelly Bassily (Disability Visibility Project)Long waits for Canadian visas leave Gazans in limbo by Anna Mehler Paperny (Reuters)Joint letter: Urgent changes needed to Canada’s Temporary Residence Visa Program for Gazans Amnesty International CanadaIntended to Fail: Systemic Anti-Palestinian Racism and Canada’s Gaza Temporary Resident Visa Program by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle EastCoalition for No Over Policing Palestine/Police Pas la PalestineNo billionaires. No media moguls. No corporate ads. Just truly independent, co-operative media.Subscribe today and use the code THEWORLDUNSPUN for 20% off your first year of a print or digital subscription.

Haiti, the land of the only successful slave uprising in history, was also an experiment in neocolonialism. As the country once again makes global news headlines for all the wrong reasons, we spoke to independent journalist Harold Isaac to better understand how Haiti's complex history of colonization, slavery and its crippling ‘independence debt’ to France contributed to the crisis we’re seeing play out on our screens today.Host: Maxine Betteridge-MoesCredits: Maxine Betteridge-Moes (Producer), Amy Hall, Bethany Rielly, Conrad Landin, Nick Dowson (Co-editors), Paula Lacey (Editorial assistant), Samuel Raffnell-Williams (Sound design), Nazik Hamza (Audio Editor), Mari Fouz (Logo Design), Thomas Barlow, Impress (Media consultant)Guest: Harold Isaac (@haroldisaac)Further reading from this episode:Held to ransom: Haiti's cycle of violence (Harold Isaac in New Internationalist)Country Profile: Haiti (New Internationalist)Haiti's Lost Billions (Lazaro Gamio etl a. in The New York Times)#NI554 Debt: Which way out?#NI545 Decolonize NowFor up-to-date and accurate reporting on the unfolding crisis in Haiti, Harold recommends following Jacqueline Charles (@jacquiecharles), Frantz Duval (@frantzduval) and Radio RFM (@maradiofm)No billionaires. No media moguls. No corporate ads. Just truly independent, co-operative media.Subscribe today and use the code THEWORLDUNSPUN for 20% off your first year of a print or digital subscription.

Fascism is a popular term in political discourse today. For the Turkish journalist and writer Ece Temelkuran, that’s a good thing — except that it comes too late. So how can we recognize a country's descent from democracy into fascism and what does resistance look like?Host: Maxine Betteridge-MoesCredits: Maxine Betteridge-Moes (Producer), Amy Hall, Bethany Rielly, Conrad Landin, Nick Dowson (Co-editors), Paula Lacey (Editorial assistant), Samuel Raffnell-Williams (Sound design), Nazik Hamza (Audio Editor), Mari Fouz (Logo Design), Thomas Barlow, Impress (Media consultant)Guest: Ece TemelkuranFurther reading from this episode:#NI551 Political PartiesHow to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Fascism by Ece TemelkuranTogether: A Manifesto Against the Heartless World by Ece TemelkuranWomen who Blow on Knots by Ece Temelkuran (or if you’re in London, go see the stage production at the Arcola Theatre)Independents’ Day (Conrad Landin in New Internationalist)Radicalism Jettisoned (Coll McCail in New Internationalist)How do we continue building international solidarity for Palestine?#NI552 DisinformationNo billionaires. No media moguls. No corporate ads. Just truly independent, co-operative media.Subscribe today and use the code THEWORLDUNSPUN for 20% off your first year of a print or digital subscription.

There's a lot of money to be made in the internet. People with good intentions and bad intentions are being driven by profit. So how does this shape our information ecosystem and where does the scope for action lie?Read #NI552: DisinformationHost: Maxine Betteridge-MoesCredits: Maxine Betteridge-Moes (Producer), Nazik Hamza (Audio Editor), Mari Fouz (Logo Design), Amy Hall, Bethany Rielly, Conrad Landin, Nick Dowson (Co-editors), Paula Lacey (Editorial assistant), Samuel Raffnell-Williams (Sound design), Thomas Barlow, Impress (Media consultant)Guest: Nanjala NyabolaFurther reading from this episode:Strange and Difficult Times: Notes on a Global Pandemic by Nanjala NyabolaEntering the Matrix of MisinformationRed Letter Day (Conrad Landin in New Internationalist. Subscribe to read)The Philippines Disinformation Machine (Don Kevin Hapal in New Internationalist. Subscribe to read)Fact-checkers to the rescue? (Samira Sawlani in New Internationalist. Subscribe to read)How Kiswahili tech terms are pushing for digital rights in East Africa (Maxine Betteridge-Moes in Quartz Africa)No billionaires. No media moguls. No corporate ads. Just truly independent, co-operative media.Subscribe today and use the code THEWORLDUNSPUN for 20% off your first year of a print or digital subscription.