EQUALS: Reimagining Our Economy

What happens when healthcare becomes a financial asset? In this episode, Anna Marriott and Dr. Aquina Thulare break down the dangers of health privatization and financialization. They explain how private equity and hedge funds are transforming hospitals into profit machines, putting patient care and public health at risk.Dr. Aquina Thulare describes how South Africa is fighting back with national health insurance reforms designed to promote equity, solidarity, and universal access to healthcare.From the lessons of global health crises to local legal battles, this conversation uncovers the human, economic, and political stakes of privatizing healthcare.If you’d like to learn more about this topic listen to The Sick Development Podcast an EQUALS miniseries dedicated to this issue. Dr. Aquina Thulare is a technical advisor in South Africa’s Department of Health, working on National Health Insurance (NHI). Anna Marriott is an independent health policy advisor and advocate, having led Oxfam’s health influencing work for nearly 19 years. She is the author of several Oxfam reports and policy papers, including Sick Development, which exposed the injustices and human rights violations caused by the financialization of healthcare. If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky, Instagram and on LinkedIn.

When Super Typhoon Haiyan tore through the Philippines, 16-year-old Marinel Ubaldo watched her world wash away and learned a truth million on the frontlines already know: climate change is not a distant threat, but a lived injustice. Since then she’s become a fearless voice for accountability, loss and damage, and community-powered resilience.In this EQUALS episode, Marinel takes us inside the night Haiyan hit, how her community rebuilt, and the extraordinary human-rights case she helped push forward to hold fossil fuel giants to account. She also reflects on what real leadership looks like in global negotiations as the climate world gathers again in Belem Brazil for COP30.A powerful, grounding conversation about memory, justice, and the courage to keep fighting even when change feels impossibly slow. If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn.This is the second episode in our miniseries on climate inequality and activism. If you missed it, listen to the first episode featuring Sarah Finch here.

When an oil site was approved near her home, Sarah Finch didn’t just protest, she took her fight to the UK Supreme Court. And won.In this powerful episode, Sarah joins Nafkote Dabi and Max Lawson to share the story behind her five-year legal battle that changed everything: a ruling that now forces every new fossil fuel project in Britain to confront its true climate impact.It’s a landmark victory that could ripple far beyond the UK and a reminder that determined voices can turn the tide on Big Oil.Listen now and let us know your thoughts.If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn.

Can finance be part of the solution to inequality?Following philosopher Dr. Ingrid Robeyns’ call to ask “How much wealth is too much?”, we meet someone trying to change the system from within.João Paulo Pacífico says he is ‘hacking’ the system using the tools of finance to fight inequality and support social movements like Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST).He shares why he capped his own wealth, how he helps ordinary Brazilians invest in change, and what it takes to build an economy where finance serves people, not profit.It’s a story about money, morality, and whether the system that created inequality can also help end it.Listen and tell us what you think.João Paulo Pacífico is a Brazilian multi-millionaire, CEO of Grupo Gaia, and founder of Gaia+.If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn.

Around the world, peace talks too often exclude the very people holding communities together.In this powerful episode, Max and Grazielle sit down with Dr. Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini, and Dr. Sarah Ihmoud, to unpack what happens when women lead peace and the human cost for the war in Gaza.From Northern Ireland’s Women’s Coalition to Palestinian women’s resistance and survival in Gaza, they reveal why peace agreements are stronger when women are not just “at the table,” but redesigning it entirely.We explore how the war on Gaza has become a war on women’s bodies, why hope itself is an act of resistance, and what real peace would require.Listen now and share your thoughts in comment section.Dr. Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini is the Director of the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security and also the CEO and Founder of International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN). Dr. Sarah Ihmoud is a Palestinian feminist anthropologist, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester and a founding member of the Palestinian Feminist Collective.If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn.

Can a society survive when a few own everything? Philosopher Ingrid Robeyns joins EQUALS to make the case for limitarianism, the radical yet common sense idea that there should be a limit to how much wealth one person can have.From super rich billions to democracy’s decline, Ingrid explains how excessive wealth erodes freedom, fairness, and even the planet’s survival.🎧 Listen now and ask yourself: How much is too much?If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn. You can also find EQUALS podcast on YouTube. Subscribe and enjoy the show.

From the trenches of war in Ukraine, to strikes against austerity in the UK, and the struggle for migrant workers’ rights in South Korea, trade unions are demonstrating extraordinary resilience.In this EQUALS episode, three union leaders share how working people are standing strong against war, exploitation, and political repression:Ivanna Khrapko from Federations of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) shares how unions provide solidarity and fighting for social protection under shelling and blackouts.Onay Kasab from Unite the Union in UK explains why Birmingham’s bin workers are striking against fire and rehire and resisting austerity.Mikyung Ryu from Korean Confederation of Trade Unions reveals how unions are organizing migrant workers and standing up to government repression.Their stories show that even under the harshest conditions, war, austerity, and repression, trade unions remain a force for democracy, dignity, and hope.If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn.You can also find EQUALS podcast on YouTube. Subscribe and enjoy the show.

EQUALS is back with a brand-new season! We open our 8th season with Luc Triangle, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), to explore the fight against inequality, the erosion of democracy, and what he calls a ‘billionaire coup’ that is reshaping global politics. Luc shares why the fight against inequality is inseparable from the fight for democracy and how these are all linked to trade unions.From youth marches in Belgium to leading over 200 million unionized workers globally, Luc’s story is one of conviction, resilience, and hope. His message is clear: if we organize, if we unite, nothing can stop us.If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn. You can also find EQUALS podcast on YouTube. Subscribe and enjoy the show.

In this special wrap-up episode, hosts Grazielle and Max reflect on their favorite and most powerful conversations from the season. From the transformative discussion with Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson on power of equality, to the role of monetary policy in driving inequality with Jordi Schroder, to the everlasting legacy of colonialism with Jason Hickel—this season has been packed with bold ideas and fresh perspectives.We also dive into monopoly power with Nicholas Shaxson, explore AI’s impact on inequality with Simon Johnson, and hear from voices across the globe—from South Africa to Denmark—on what it takes to build a fairer world.Whether you're walking, commuting, or washing dishes, this is your chance to catch up on the most thought-provoking moments of the EQUALS season.