In this powerful episode of Power, People and Planet, Kumi Naidoo sits down with Syrian writer and cultural activist Reem Turkmani to explore how power operates beyond force — shaping minds, narratives, and imagination.

Reem reflects on growing up under authoritarian rule, where education, media, and even art were used to control thought and normalize injustice. Together, they unpack how climate stress exposed governance failures in Syria, how propaganda systems shape public consciousness, and why the real battleground is often cultural, not just political.

From the enduring phrase “the constitution was eaten by the donkey” to the role of storytelling in resistance, this conversation reveals how art can either reinforce silence or inspire action. Reem also shares the story of a 100-year-old Iraqi protest song — a powerful example of how culture can carry coded resistance, build solidarity, and offer healing in times of struggle.

This episode is a reminder that resistance is not only about confronting power — it is about reclaiming truth, memory, and imagination.

In this episode, we discuss:
✅Growing up in Syria under patriarchy and authoritarian control
✅Why the 2010–2011 uprising happened — beyond the “Arab Spring” narrative
✅How climate stress exposed governance failures and deepened grievances
✅The role of education, media, and culture in shaping public consciousness
✅How propaganda normalizes injustice — including the phrase “the constitution was eaten by the donkey”
✅The power of arts and culture in both reinforcing and resisting authoritarianism
✅Reem’s work with 1+1 Show, using media to build civic awareness across divided societies
✅The overlooked contributions of Arab and Muslim civilizations to modern science
✅A 100-year-old Iraqi protest song — and how art carries coded resistance, solidarity, and healing

SONG
Chal Chal by The Famous Arabic Crossover Musician Ilham Al Madfai
@ilhamalmadfai (https://www.instagram.com/ilhamalmadfai/ )
@m.madafai (https://www.instagram.com/m.madfai/ )


RESOURCES
Follow Reem on Social Media - https://www.instagram.com/rimturkmani/

1+1 Show : https://www.youtube.com/@1plus1show

Subcribe to Kumi Naidoo's Power People and Project for more updates and episodes! https://www.powerpeopleplanet.org/

What does it mean to be an activist today — and who gets to claim that title?

In this episode of Power, People & Planet, Kumi Naidoo is joined by Hardi Yakubu, Coordinator of Africans Rising for Unity, Justice, Peace and Dignity, for a powerful conversation on leadership, solidarity, and building people-powered movements across Africa.

From Hardi’s early experiences of standing up to injustice in school to his current role helping lead a pan-African movement with tens of thousands of members, the conversation challenges narrow, NGO-centric definitions of activism and calls for organising that goes beyond moments of protest.

At a time of overlapping crises — from climate breakdown to economic injustice — this episode asks how movements can rise with clarity, courage, and care.

Because pessimism is a luxury we simply cannot afford.

🧭 Topics Discussed
✅Early experiences that shape a life of resistance
✅The origins and growth of Africans Rising as a pan-African movement
✅Why mobilisation is not enough — and why organising matters
✅Building collective leadership beyond charismatic individuals
✅Challenging extractive economic models and imperial power
✅Unity, justice, peace, and dignity as foundations for Africa’s future

RESOURCES:

Hardi Yakubu- https://www.facebook.com/sonofafrica/

Africans Rising for Unity, Justice, Peace and Dignity- https://www.facebook.com/AfricansRising

Subcribe to Kumi Naidoo's Power People and Project for more updates and episodes! https://www.powerpeopleplanet.org/

“Your eco-anxiety is a sign your humanity is intact. You’re reacting rationally to an irrational world.”

In this episode of Power, People & Planet, Kumi Naidoo sits down with climate justice activist, author and musician Tori Tsui (It’s Not Just You) for a profound and unfiltered conversation about the world we’re living in — and the world we must build.

Together they explore:
🔥 Why climate change is not an “environmental issue” — but a failure of our political, economic & military systems
🔥 The deep connection between climate justice and the genocide in Palestine
🔥 How the military–fossil fuel industrial complex drives conflict and global emissions
🔥 The urgency of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
🔥 Eco-anxiety: why it’s a rational response to an irrational world — and how grief, rage and sensitivity can be transformed into collective power
🔥 Artivism: how culture, music and imagination fuel resistance and liberation

Tori shares her journey from wildlife scientist to outspoken activist, her work with Brian Eno and Earth Percent, and the “Together for Palestine” concert at Wembley. Kumi reflects on the need to centre artists, storytellers and culture-makers to reach hearts, not just minds — and why validating eco-anxiety is essential for building a resilient, people-powered movement.

➡️ JOIN THE MOVEMENT
Support the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty: https://fossilfueltreaty.org
Join the Global Artivism Movement: https://globalartivism.org

➡️RESOURCES
Follow Tori Tsui at : https://www.instagram.com/toritsui_
Together for Palestine: https://www.instagram.com/t4plive/
Massive Attack: https://www.instagram.com/massiveattackofficial/

______________

Check out Centre for Public Impact's latest episode for the Reimagining Government Podcast!

This podcast shines a light on government changemakers around the world. This season explores what happens when those too often excluded from decision-making lead the way, and what their leadership reveals about how governments can work differently.

Learn more here: https://centreforpublicimpact.org/our-work/reimagining-government-podcast/

Subcribe to Kumi Naidoo's Power People and Project for more updates and episodes! https://www.powerpeopleplanet.org/

Can beauty become the backbone of a social movement? 🧠✨

In this episode of Power, People & Planet, I sit down with artist and artivist Shilo Shiv Suleman to explore how art, beauty, and fearless imagination turn fear into love, trauma into healing, and streets into living canvases of resistance.

From building an “army of fearless” women reclaiming public space, to creating climate monuments with frontline and Indigenous communities, we talk about:
☑️ How beauty can save us and help us heal
☑️ Why rebellion and imagination are essential political tools
☑️ What it means to root climate action in wonder, magic realism, and ancient wisdom
☑️ How art and culture are powering a new wave of global, feminist, decolonial movements

If you’ve ever doubted that art can change the world, this conversation is for you. 🌟

#PowerPeoplePlanet #Artivism #FearlessImagination #ShiloShivSuleman #ClimateJustice #FeministFutures #GlobalArtivism

Shiloh Shiv Suleman: https://www.instagram.com/shiloshivsuleman/

Fearless Collective: https://www.instagram.com/fearlesscollective/

Subcribe to Kumi Naidoo's Power People and Project for more updates and episodes! https://www.powerpeopleplanet.org/

🔥 In this episode of Power, People and Planet Podcast, Kumi Naidoo sits down with Thiago Mundano — the Brazilian street artist and activist turning waste, ashes, and struggle into art that speaks for the planet.

From the streets of São Paulo to the heart of the Amazon, Mundano’s work bridges the worlds of waste pickers, Indigenous defenders, and environmental justice — transforming discarded materials into powerful symbols of resistance and renewal.

This conversation dives deep into:
🌍 How art can challenge systems of extraction and inequality
♻️ The dignity and power of waste pickers as environmental frontliners
🔥 Mundano’s project “Ashes of the Forest”, created from the remains of Amazon wildfires
🎨 The role of artivism in reclaiming hope and humanity amid climate chaos

Kumi and Mundano explore what happens when artists dare to confront power — and when creativity becomes both a weapon and a lifeline.

💬 “When art comes from the ashes, it carries truth. And when truth moves people, change begins.”

Join us in this journey through art, courage, and the fight for the Earth’s lungs.

📍References
Thiago Mundano: https://www.instagram.com/mundano_sp/
Pimp My Carroca: https://www.instagram.com/pimpmycarroca/


#PowerPeoplePlanetPodcast
#KumiNaidoo
#GlobalArtivism
#ClimateJustice

Subcribe to Kumi Naidoo's Power People and Project for more updates and episodes! https://www.powerpeopleplanet.org/

“Laudato Si’ reframed climate change as an issue of justice, shifting the conversation into the moral and spiritual realm.”

In this episode, Kumi Naidoo speaks with Joe Moeono-Kolio, Pacific Regional Director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, about the spiritual and cultural dimensions of the climate struggle. Joe leads the Initiative’s diplomatic and campaign efforts across the Pacific.
They explore how Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ reframed climate change as a moral and ethical crisis, connecting “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” Joe reflects on how faith traditions, indigenous wisdom, and Pacific spirituality continue to inspire action and resilience.

🎶 The conversation also highlights the vital role of arts and music as living archives of Pacific resistance. From colonial struggles to today’s climate fight, songs and cultural expression carry memory, healing, and power—reaching hearts where reports and policies cannot.

🔥 Key themes in this episode:
Faith leadership and the impact of Laudato Si’
How spirituality and culture deepen the fight for justice
Arts and music as tools for healing, resistance, and movement building
Pacific traditions and their role in global climate activism


🎶 Featuring: This Is Our Home – Pacific Artists for Climate Justice

________
🔗REFERENCES

Personal: @joe.moeonokolio
Organizational: @project.thisisourhome
https://www.fossilfreepacific.org/

#LaudatoSi #FaithAndJustice #ClimateJustice #Artivism #PacificWarriors #KumiNaidoo

Subcribe to Kumi Naidoo's Power People and Project for more updates and episodes! https://www.powerpeopleplanet.org/

🔥 What can young leaders, indigenous wisdom, and the arts teach us about saving our future?

In this episode of Power, People, Planet Podcast, Kumi Naidoo sits down with Alopi Latukefu — Director of The Global Centre for Social Justice and Advocacy Leadership — to talk about his remarkable journey from Papua New Guinea to global advocacy and to explore stories of resilience, leadership, and justice from the Pacific to the world.
Together, they explore the Pacific’s leadership on climate justice—from law students in Vanuatu bringing the climate crisis before the International Court of Justice, to the region’s push for a Fossil Fuel Treaty that challenges global dependency on extraction. They highlight the urgent need to uplift indigenous knowledge, center cultural wisdom in climate solutions, and harness the power of art and music as tools for mobilization. The episode closes with the song “Don’t Mess It All Up” by Alope’s daughter Meena Siali, reminding us that protecting our planet is both a responsibility and a legacy.

🔑Episode Highlights:
How young Pacific law students brought the fight for climate justice to the International Court of Justice


Why indigenous knowledge and wisdom are essential for humanity’s survival


The Pacific’s leadership in pushing for a Fossil Fuel Treaty and the global transition away from extraction


The rising role of art and culture (“artivism”) in communicating the urgency of climate action


👉 Watch, listen, and be inspired to act: the fight for climate justice needs all of us.

🔗RESOURCES

A Just(ER) Generation Podcast (Episode with Kumi)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYnGjL0xWvs

Alopi Latukefu Linkein:

Mina-Siale Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6cgRFKW05DZQz6XJPkLgSR

Subcribe to Kumi Naidoo's Power People and Project for more updates and episodes! https://www.powerpeopleplanet.org/

Can small, hidden acts of resistance change the world?

Kumi Naidoo talks to Dr. Ivetta Sergeeva, postdoctoral scholar at Stanford’s Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, to explore the concept of stealth activism— the covert resistance necessary to navigate life in authoritarian regimes. As co-founder of the OutRush Project, Ivetta studies and supports Russian migrants who fled after the invasion of Ukraine, documenting their displacement and their ongoing covert defiance.

In this episode, we’ll learn:

• What “15 minutes a day to fight the regime” can mean for anyone, anywhere
• Why supporting small, individualized acts of resistance is vital to long-term social change
• The distinction between visible protest and subtle dissent
• How activism takes on different shapes in repressive societies—and why that matters (4th)
• Why everyday acts like writing letters to political prisoners can be revolutionary
• How activism takes on different shapes in repressive societies—and why that matters

With warmth, humility, and analytical clarity, Ivetta reminds us that power lies not just in marches and megaphones, but in maps, data, and silent courage.

Produced by Larj Media

🔗 Resources & Mentions

• OutRush Project (verify the final link with Ivetta)
• Stanford CDDRL
• Write to Russian Political Prisoners – OVD-Info Guide (Russian Human Rights Org)
• “Weapons of the Weak” by James C. Scott
• [Stealth Activism concept – Alinea Salnikova-Cook’s work]
• Kumi Naidoo at Amnesty International

Follow her work: @IvettaSergeeva
Full show notes and links: powerpeopleplanet.org

Subcribe to Kumi Naidoo's Power People and Project for more updates and episodes! https://www.powerpeopleplanet.org/