What does it take to effect meaningful change in our communities? This is the driving question behind a new season of the Instant Coffee podcast, produced through a collaboration between the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity (AFSEE) programme and the LSE Middle East Centre.
Across five compelling episodes, listeners are brought face-to-face with the people and ideas shaping movements and change in the region. The season travels through archives in Egypt, into classrooms in Gaza, and into conversations with activists working in and beyond Iran and Syria. It confronts urgent questions of urban inequality in Jordan and Dubai and challenges conventional approaches to women’s empowerment, asking what genuine, lasting progress really looks like.
Even if the Middle East isn’t your main area of interest, I would encourage everyone who is interested in understanding how we can take steps (big or small) to effect change and improve the lives of those in our communities to listen to this podcast. The themes transcend regions, and cover universal concerns of war and conflict, community building, urban planning, gender inequality and much more.Nadine Almanasfi, Podcast Producer for Instant Coffee
Each episode has been co-curated with a different AFSEE Fellow from the Middle East region, all of whom work to tackle inequalities and find solutions to the issues facing their communities. The Fellows involved in the collaboration are Hamidreza Vasheghanifarahani, Yara Shawky Shahin, Diana Magdy, Manar Alzraiy, and Ahmad Abu Hussien, whose experiences and expertise shape the conversations at every step.
The first episode is now live. Co-curated by AFSEE Fellow Hamidreza Vasheghanifarahani, it explores how transnational solidarity networks can strengthen efforts towards social change.
Image credits: Illustrations by Rawand Issa