Radio Utopistan: Recent Episodes
Elisabeth Weydt
Radio Utopistan talks to visionary people from around the world.
Utopian ideas drive us as humans, they drive humankind and humanity. And Radio Utopistan wants to find out what drives those visionary people. It was the belief that we could fly, conquer disease or live in permanent peace that gave women and men the courage to take risks, to step out, to try things and also to fail.
Many things that we take for granted today, were mere utopias in their day - and the people who fought for them were ridiculed, shamed, harassed and also killed. 200 years ago the end of slavery was still utopia. The fall of the Berlin Wall just 40 years ago. And then the end of Apartheid 30 years ago. Where does that leave us today? What are the utopias of our time? What about gender equality? Basic income? Nature rights? Peace in the Middle East?
Today we need Utopian ideas more than ever. To rebuild and reframe our global society in the aftermaths of Corona. Now we are being forced to see how everything is connected: China and Europe. Nature and humankind. We are all in this together. It’s a global net. We are also shown on the one hand how huge political decisions like closing down airports all around the world are possible. And then how on the other hand small daily actions from each and every one of us like leaving the house or washing your hands have a huge impact on the world.
So Radio Utopistan collects the stories of global and local visionaries, people that work on the outside or on the inside of humanity. The politician in Ecuador for example who sees nature as a person. He has written her as a legal person in his country’s constitution. The engineer with high heels and headscarf in Gaza who brings solar energy into houses under occupation. Or the friend in a wheelchair who can only move his brain and his tongue after an accident but who hasn’t lost his humor and keeps fighting for equality.
Elisabeth Weydt meets people who are striving towards and fighting for their Utopias, people who want to change the system or build some space outside the system. Elisabeth is an award-winning multimedia journalist based somewhere between Hamburg and Haifa. She mostly covers topics which revolve around radicalism and resources. She loves cooking and will meet her guests preferably at home, in bars or in the jungle.
The interviews on Radio Utopistan will mainly be in English. If not, there will be a summary about the guests and their Utopias in English.
Let’s go treasure hunting together.
The people of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon are protecting their territory in a very special way. They call it Kawsak Sacha, the living forest. It grows on land under which there is a lot of oil, like in many parts of The Amazon.
Helena Gualinga is one of them. She is 20 years old and her way of fighting consists of photo shoots for lifestyle magazines, of traveling to international climate conferences and of dancing with her friends and family at traditional ceremonies. About 75.000 people watch her doing this on her Instagram channel. I had the honor of talking and dancing with her.
Kawsak Sacha, the living forest, means the forest is considered a living being and humans are just a part of this living organism. But a crucial one. Animals, plants and even spirits live in community with each other. To protect and nourish this community the people of Sarayaku developed a sophisticated system of values, rituals and responsibilities. With medicinal plants, small scale farming, with drones, maps, excel sheets and with a frontier planted out of flower trees.
Helena tells us what challenges she faces when trying to explain this concept to the outer world and what role the women played in a land mark court ruling against the state of Ecuador and an oil company.
Her Utopia: That oil will not be exploited anymore anywhere
What you can do to support it, she says: Tell their stories. We need more people watching. That‘s something that they are scared of: People watching what they are doing.
GUEST @helenagualinga
CREDITS Host: @elisabeth_weydt Executive producers: @_charlotte.horn and @christinafeemoebus Music: Robert Pilgram http://robertpilgram.com/ Studio Sound: @seike_sound
MORE INFORMATION *On Sarayaku and Kawsak Sacha: Kawsak Sacha - Selva Viviente - Living Forest Back to nature: the story of one family’s retreat into the Amazon forest to escape Covid | Environment | The Guardian
*On Nature Rights + Indigenous People Ecuador Court Gives Indigenous Groups a Boost in Mining and Drilling Disputes - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Challenges and Opportunities for Indigenous Peoples’ Sustainability | DISD
*Climate and Biodiversity IPCC report: ‘now or never’ if world is to stave off climate disaster | Climate crisis | The Guardian 2021: when the link between the climate and biodiversity crises became clear | Max Benato | The Guardian
The problem we tackle in the first episode of our second season is huge and it is everywhere:
CONCRETE
It is the most widely used substance on the planet after water! And it obviously works: The Pantheon in Italy was built out of Roman concrete almost 2000 years ago and still standing.
But it’s destroying nature big times: Eight percent of all carbon dioxide in the world comes from producing concrete. That’s more than double than those from flying or shipping.
To produce it you need a lot of energy and a lot of sand. So much that we are running out of sand on this planet. And the water! And the people driven away form their land to mine cement, and all the ugly buildings and deadly walls and boarders built out of it, and, and, and. BUT we focus on the solutions and Utopias here. And we have indeed found quite some:
*alternative building materials like clay, wood, bamboo * reusing building materials * recycling concrete * producing concrete with a carbon capture and storage method * alternative housing concepts where people share space, tasks and ressources
CREDITS Host: @elisabeth_weydt Executive producers: @_charlotte.horn and @christinafeemoebus Music: Robert Pilgram http://robertpilgram.com/
GUEST https://www.ahinterbrandner.com/ @ahinterbrandner
PEOPLE + GROUPS WORKING ON SOLUTIONS Recycling Stones: https://www.stonecycling.com/wastebasedbricks Circular Construction Lab: http://ccl.aap.cornell.edu/ Architects for future https://www.architects4future.de/ Studio Almeria ETH Zürich https://youtu.be/rhRdVEEL1A4 Copenhagen wants to get climate neutral by 2025, also with alternative building https://urbandevelopmentcph.kk.dk/node/5
MORE INFORMATION On Clay: https://www.dw.com/en/could-clay-be-the-key-to-sustainable-architecture/a-58577273 On reusing building materials: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszv2n
We’ll visit the forensic institute of Guerrero to look for a missing son, we see if Padre Fili can establish a side hustle with a Mezcal brewer for his human rights organization Centro Minerva Bello. We learn about the connection of the violence in Guerrero to drug trafficking in the US and about the connection of illegally exported weapons from Germany to the missing 43. And Padre Fili will reveal his secret: how to talk to Narcos.
Along the way we will talk to Guadeloupe the psychologist and Hegel the human rights lawyer in Fili’s team.
Guadeloupe says: I love working with kids because kids are still shape-able, they are so innocent. All they give to you in their being is pure, no filter. Adults often have their way of living and their world view. They don’t want to change much she says even though they are suffering. With kids it’s easier to help them have a better live.
Hegel says: Of course I cannot solve the problem of the violence here. It’s way to huge. I don’t have the power to do anything close to solving the problem. The only thing I can do is defending human rights for the people I work with. This is better than to stay silent and become complicit. And who knows one day I will become a victim of the violence here or somebody from my family and then I hope somebody is doing the same for me.
And you? What do you say? Tell us! We are really curious: radio.utopistan@posteo.de or @radio_utopistan
CREDITS Executive producers: @_charlotte.horn and @christinafeemoebus Host: @elisabeth_weydt Music: Robert Pilgram http://robertpilgram.com/ Illustration: Christine Anas https://cargocollective.com/christineanas
SUPPORT FILI’s ORGANISATION https://www.dhminervabello.org/ @cdhminervabello
SUPPORT RADIO UTOPISTAN https://www.patreon.com/user?u=37500274 https://radioutopistan.de/
MORE INFORMATION https://mexicodailypost.com/2021/10/12/what-really-happened-to-the-43-missing-students-from-ayotzinapa/ https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/20/mexico-violence-gangs-cartels-criminal-elections https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/02/jalisco-cartel-mexico-rise-guadalajara https://www.bpb.de/internationales/weltweit/innerstaatliche-konflikte/54652/mexiko https://www.npr.org/2021/06/07/1003872834/drug-traffickers-gangs-blamed-for-violence-prior-to-mexicos-elections https://open.spotify.com/episode/5fvNLTTXbXniQBNlAo6vjW?si=Ag2yd4p5Rh6OV1_r58j2Jg&utm_source=whatsapp&nd=1
We are in the field again for this episode: In the drug strongholds of Mexico, the violence is unimaginable and the justice system overwhelmed or even involved. Less than two percent of crimes are solved.
Padre Fili disrupts the system. He spreads peace, joy and vanilla cream cake. In 2014 he set up camp in Ayotzinapa, where the 43 students disappeared. They were on their way to a demonstration, their buses were stopped and shot at by the police. Illegally supplied weapons from Germany were used.
Fili’s mission: to create dialogues between everybody involved: the Narcos, the police, politicians, students and victims. “To talk to the wolves, that’s my job”, he says. He has seen the Netflix series about the Narcos and they made him laugh he says. Spending a week with him in Guerrero made me laugh many times even though all I felt like was crying and hating all humankind. So much cruelty.
Fili’s Utopia: a world without suffering. Especially for the most vulnerable: the children and the poor, the elderly, the sick. That they will always have someone who cares for them, for their lives.
CREDITS Music: Robert Pilgram http://robertpilgram.com/ Illustration: Christine Anas https://cargocollective.com/christineanas Proofreading: Gavin Steingo @gstarrrrr Host: www.elisabethweydt.de
SUPPORT FILI’s ORGANISATION https://www.dhminervabello.org/ @cdhminervabello
SUPPORT RADIO UTOPISTAN https://www.patreon.com/user?u=37500274 https://radioutopistan.de/
MORE INFORMATION https://www.thedailybeast.com/we-finally-know-how-43-ayotzinapa-students-on-a-bus-vanished-into-thin-air?ref=scroll https://mexicodailypost.com/2021/10/12/what-really-happened-to-the-43-missing-students-from-ayotzinapa/
We know there is way too much plastic in our world. And we produce and use more and more every day. It’s destroying ecosystems in the ocean and on land, our basis for life.
In the Mexican Caribbean Antonio and Alberto play Don Quichotte every Sunday morning at 7am to fight against the windmills of plastic on our planet. They pick up the trash that came with the ocean or with careless visitors. On different beaches along the Riviera Maya south of Cancun or in the waves off the coast. They are part of the initiative @snorkeling4trash.
Their Utopia: To create a culture where more and more people use less and less plastic and take care of the rubbish they produce.
In a German laboratory an on research vessels and boats around the world Mark Lenz from Geomar is doing research on plastic and ocean ecosystems. He says, beach cleanups are nice initiatives to make people aware of the problem. The solution he sees on a more structural level: better recycling systems, more taxes on plastic production.
His Utopia: A world that is more balanced between the interests of humans and aspects of ocean conservation, sustainable use of resources and protecting the climate
First half of this episode: Collecting plastic and talking to Antonio und Alberto in Playa del Carmen Second half (28:30min): Interview with Mark Lenz
CONTACTS @snorkeling4trash https://www.geomar.de/mlenz www.radioutopistan.de
SOURCES Research Programs Geomar: GAME: https://www.geomar.de/en/research/fb3/fb3-eoe-b/game/game-about-game HOTMIC: https://www.oceanblogs.org/hotmic/about/ On Coca Cola: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/resources/apply/global-commitment-progress-report https://www.coca-colacompany.com/sustainable-business/packaging-sustainability
Happy New Year! What is your Utopia? For the very first episode of the new year we asked musicians from around the world to answer us this very question not with words but with music. Because music sometimes is the only language left. It can articulate feelings, complexity and even politics in a way language will never be able to do. We got some musical answers from the Altai mountains, from the capital of DR Congo, from Spanish Berlin and Arabic Berlin. From the green hills of England, the streets of Moscow and the Caribbean.
Check them out and tell us which ones resonate mostly with you? And why?
Those are the musicians and their songs. We’ll have more about them within the next days. The order was picked by the wisdom fairy:
- Alisa Ten: Pudelko // @alisa_ten_singer
- Jenni Grossmann: Hindsight //
- Jamila and the other Heros: Farashat // @jamilaandtheotherheros
- Doug Morris: Smile //
- Evgeniy Shteinmiller: Nochenka - The night //
- Mergen Teldenov: Maktap Ayttan Törölim Bar // @mergenteldenov
- Viktor Garagulya: First Picture of African Dancers // @garagulyamusic
- Mauretta Heinzelmann & friends: Utopia Sound // fb: Mauretta Heinzelmann
- Kollektiv Elongo: Afrika // @kollektivelongo
- Aáron Castrillo // @aacastrillo
- Volki & Wilfried: Reggae for Utopistan //
CREDITS Radio Utopistan Music: Robert Pilgram http://robertpilgram.com/ Radio Utopistan: https://radioutopistan.de/ Host: www.elisabethweydt.de
Exit Part I is about stories, Exit Part II about facts and strategies.
Fabian Wichmann grew up with Nazis in his schoolyard. Today he is working for Exit, an organization that helps people get out of extremist circles. His Utopia: To see that people can change. That is the biggest narrative in a democracy, he says. People can come back into society.
Fabian gives some hands on strategies of what to do about extremism and racism within your neighborhood or family. He is telling the story of the first involuntary charity march where Nazis marched against Nazis. It went viral and was copied in Sweden and the US for example.
We talk about what media could do and why there are so many stories about the perpetrators and just really few stories about the victims of terror attacks.
Part one is about stories, part two about facts and strategies. We’ll meet a Nazi-whisperer, an ex-Nazi, and a Nazi-target.
Tülüfülükülümülü is a writer and actor, son of a guest working cleaning lady and a guest working taxi driver. He grew up in Bavaria and learned the hard way. His Utopia is that people don’t try the easy way in life. You can’t find easy answers to really difficult questions, he says. Who are you in a room for 24 hours without internet?, for example.
Fabian grew up with Nazis in his schoolyard. Today he is working for Exit, an organization that helps people get out of extremist circles. His Utopia: To see that people can change. That is the biggest narrative in a democracy. People can come back to society.
The Ex-Nazi didn’t give his name, but you can hear his words of how he got into this and why he left extremism. Curious what you think of them.
Kübra (32) is an author and activist in Hamburg, Germany. She just published her first book, “Language and Being”. On the interdependence of language, perception and the way we treat each other. A broad and ancient topic, but Kübra found a way to talk about it that resonates with many. It’s a bestseller allready, maybe because she speaks and lives in three languages: German, Turkish and English. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Kübra’s Utopia: It’s still under construction, for her next book. We get a sneak peek. It’s about political discourse. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We talk about conflicting truths, about stones with souls, mushrooms and Muslim women. And about public attention and relevance.
CREDITS Music: Robert Pilgram http://robertpilgram.com/ Illustration: Christine Anas https://cargocollective.com/christineanas Proofreading: Cecilia Marshall @cece0126 Host: www.elisabethweydt.de
KÜBRA GÜMÜSAY @kuebra https://kubragumusay.com/ @eedenhamburg
SUPPORT RADIO UTOPISTAN https://www.patreon.com/user?u=37500274
MORE INFORMATION
Kübra’s TED Talk about the intellectual cleaning lady: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXgp6E53TIE
Story on Quecha fighting patriarchy and climate crisis in the Peruvian Andes: http://english.ackerbunt.de/
Melinda (58) is a lawyer and environmental activist in Guyana, South America. The poor country wants to get very very rich – with oil. One of the largest oil discoveries in recent years was made off the coast of Guyana. Melinda says, we are rich already. We are a carbon sink, look at all the nature. So she is fighting with her government, with the World Bank and with one of the biggest oil companies in the world. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Melinda’s Utopia: the oil shall not be taken out. She sued her government. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We talk about money, frogs and what to do when everything seems to be going to the gutter. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ SUPPORT RADIO UTOPISTAN https://www.patreon.com/user?u=37500274 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ CREDITS Music: Robert Pilgram http://robertpilgram.com/ Illustration: Christine Anas https://cargocollective.com/christineanas Proofreading: Fanny Facsar @fanny.facsar Voice: Julian Greis https://www.thalia-theater.de/ueber-uns/ensemble/darsteller/julian-greis Host: www.elisabethweydt.de
Udo (30) is a social worker in the streets of Berlin, the capital of one of the richest countries in the world. Nevertheless there are about 10.000 homeless people living on card boards or abandoned mattresses. To reduce poverty the city of Berlin invented a solidarity basic income and Udo’s organization Karuna a give-away of about 1500 Euros in cash a day. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We talk about money, solidarity, pain and paperwork. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Udo’s Utopia: Unconditional basic income for everyone and a society where people take care of each other. Where everybody can feel safe and home. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ SUPPORT RADIO UTOPISTAN https://www.patreon.com/user?u=37500274 and share with friends and family ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ CREDITS Music: Robert Pilgram http://robertpilgram.com/ Illustration: Christine Anas https://cargocollective.com/christineanas Proofreading: Fiona Weber-Steinhaus https://www.fionaws.com/ Host: Elisabeth Weydt www.elisabethweydt.de
Majd Mashharawi (26) is an engineer and founder of two companies in Gaza. A place that is often referred to as the biggest open air prison in the world. But instead of surrendering to her fate, Majd decided to create something under occupation, siege and patriarchy. In headscarf and high heels. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Her company Greencake is turning rubble and ashes into bricks and houses. Her company Sunbox is turning sunlight into electricity, and salt water into drinking water. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We talk about weddings, being betrayed, the sound of a rocket and social entrepreneurship. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Majd’s Utopia is flying over Gaza and seeing solar panels all over the roof tops.
Grace Kabera (27) is a member of the LUCHA movement in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is fighting for change. With change she means the end of corruption and violence. And instead creating a real democracy with social justice, clean water, paved roads and free education. With fighting she means non violent fighting: demonstrations, leaflets, social media campaigns. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ For their work LUCHA (Lutte pour le Changement) was honored with different international peace and human rights awards. Nevertheless some members of LUCHA had to spend months in prison, some are even dead. Also Grace spent some time in prison. She has a baby girl now. “But the hope is bigger than the fear”, she says. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Just a few days after our first conversation on democracy, useless NGOs and trauma LUCHA member Freddy Kambale was shot at a demonstration. Two police men were arrested. “We are trying our best to honor his memory and to call for justice for him”, Grace says. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Grace’s Utopia is a Congo nouveau. A Congo with real democracy and psychotherapy. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ @gracekaberagk @LuchaRDC ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ CREDITS Music: Robert Pilgram http://robertpilgram.com/
Illustration/Proofreading: Christine Anas https://cargocollective.com/christineanas
Host: www.elisabethweydt.de
Maria grew up in Taliban headquarter. That’s how she calls the tribal area of Waziristan where she was raised. Today she is a squash player in the international arena and has a foundation to encourage Pakistani girls to also be brave. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The Taliban threatened to kill her and her family. So she put herself under a voluntary quarantine for three years. She just hardly ever left the house. The first time she sensed that something was wrong with the way girls were treated in Waziristan was when she was four years old. That's why she burned all her dresses and cut off her hair. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We talk about freedom, extremism and education. About Islam and Islamism. Maria is telling the story of her childhood and what made her burn her dresses as a kid. Also how she made it through such a long time in quarantine and what she thinks about the majority of schools today: nothing. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Maria's Utopia is a world where everybody is free. Also from the inside. No prejudices, no extremism. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Maria Toorpakai’s Foundation: https://www.mariatoorpakai.org/ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Music: Robert Pilgram http://robertpilgram.com/ Illustration: Christine Anas Textedit: Fiona Weber-Steinhaus https://www.fionaws.com/
Radio Utopistan is a podcast and community. We believe in constructive storytelling and a more just future. Therefore we are interconnecting bold ideas and visionary people from around the world. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Radio Utopistan is a think-and-do-tank. A toolbox for political hope and civic engagement. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We are still in the beginning. Our aim is to establish a digital media brand and a social enterprise that will solely focus on catalyzing Utopias. Small ones within families or neighborhoods and big ones within our global society. Via our podcast, via dinner tables, workshops and conferences. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We believe political hope and bold ideas are needed more than ever; in face of climate crisis and social disruptions after the pandemic. Nevertheless, of course, we will be critical with all utopias we promote. Because the utopia of one person can be somebody else’s dystopia. That is why we commit ourselves to the Global Charter of Ethics for Journalists. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Radio Utopistan is about people who fight for their Utopias. For progressive spaces within the system or outside the system. For electricity in war torn neighborhoods for example. Or for trees. Or for good food. For solidarity where there seems only oppression. It’s not about blueprints of how to organize societies, but about guide posts, roadmaps and inspirational people along the journey.
Utopian ideas drive us as humans, they drive humankind and humanity. And Radio Utopistan wants to find out what drives those visionary people. It was the belief that we could fly, conquer disease or live in permanent peace that gave women and men the courage to take risks, to step out, to try things and also to fail.
Many things that we take for granted today, were mere utopias in their day - and the people who fought for them were ridiculed, shamed, harassed and also killed. 200 years ago the end of slavery was still utopia. The fall of the Berlin Wall just 50 years ago. And then the end of Apartheid 30 years ago. Where does that leave us today? What are the utopias of our time? What about gender equality? Basic income? Nature rights? Peace in the Middle East?
Elisabeth Weydt meets people who are striving towards and fighting for their Utopias, people who want to change the system or build some space outside the system. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist based somewhere between Hamburg and Haifa. She mostly covers topics which revolve around radicalism and natural resources. Elisabeth loves cooking and will meet her guests preferably at home, in bars or in the jungle. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Annuschka Eckhardt is the supervising producer of Radio Utopistan. She studied international emergency aid and worked among others in Mexico, Colombia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. She is part of a collective that organizes cultural events to support refugees at EU boarders. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The rest of the team you will get to know while listening and engaging along the way.
Let’s go treasure hunting together. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ You can support Radio Utopistan by spreading the episodes by becoming a regular contributor: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=37500274 *by becoming a member of and/or giving a donation to our association (soon to come)