Thomas sits down with his friend and researcher Dr. Nathalie Van Raemdonck, who just finished her PhD on conflict and social norms on the internet, which is an academic way of saying she's spent years figuring out why people fight so much online. What follows is a wide-ranging, neuro-spicy conversation about social media, disinformation, information warfare and what it actually costs to speak up. Nathalie tells us the origin story of her Anti-Conspiracy Meme Wars account, battling anti-vaxxers during the pandemic, and why misinformation always has a core of truth. Thomas talks about his own experiences with platform censorship, death threats, dogpiling, the Charlie Kirk rant he posted fresh out of a mental health crisis, and why wearing nail polish while talking about Palestine turned some of his following against him. Generally, Nathalie and Thomas ponder the question: when and why did social media become so anti-social?

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Dalilla Hermans wears many hats: mom, author, illustrator, playwright, coordinator—and, as she puts it, "tired." When she and Thomas first connected through their recent work on Palestine, their bond felt instantly familiar, as if they'd known each other forever. Sitting down in the Madquarters in Ghent, they dive into a heartfelt and thought-provoking conversation about their ties to central-Africa, the joys and challenges of parenting and activism, confronting genocide, anti-racism, and tackling controversial traditions like Zwarte Piet (Black Pete). It's a deep, honest and fun exchange that resonates far beyond the mics. If you enjoy it don't forget to rate this episode 5 stars!

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Anuna and Thomas are best friends and partners in the resistance, but have only now made the time to get on the mics together. They talk about the failures of the left, the right, the elite, the patriarchy, the economy, politicians, violence, mainstream media and how they're resisting all of it.

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Ricardo has been Thomas' creative enabler at UNICEF on various occasions over the past decade. They worked on a series of humanitarian crisis assignments together, from South Sudan to Gaza, Brussels and New York. They are both equally obsessed with storytelling, communication and film as tools to better humanity. Ricardo is currently spokesperson for UNICEF in New York, so Thomas had a few undiplomatic questions for an old friend.

With Belgian and European elections on Sunday (9 June), fascists on the rise, seemingly unstoppable genocides and conflicts and a world truly on fire... we thought: What better time than now to have our Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter on the show to talk about... everything?

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Mo's back! He felt there were some unfinished thoughts from the previous ep. so we invited him back on for a follow-up conversation. We talk about how a ceasefire is not enough, how we will not allow colonizer logic to win, how nobody in Palestine asked the Americans to build a harbor (and what the ulterior motives are), the double standard with which the world responds to Russia vs. Israel and Mo's struggle to have a documented identity as a human being.

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Fourat Ben Chikha is a Member of the Council of Europe, he is a Belgian Senator and local-council member for the city of Ghent. Although, if you ask him, he prefers to identify as living on an intersection of being a queer, muslim, person of color with migration roots who grew up in poverty and how this all gave him the strength to enter the political arena at the highest level.

Fourat and Thomas met when they were both working on political campaigns for the Green party in 2017. Even though Thomas' path has since moved away from politics, their friendship has kept them close and working together on various things.

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Mo (Mohammed Y Abusulaiman) and Thomas met on a VR film production for UNICEF in Gaza in 2018. In this pilot episode of fck dplmcy they talk about bombardments worse than death, the guilt of survival, trying to film drone shots while encountering Al Qassam, what life was like in Gaza before Oct 7th and how everything has now changed. 

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