Latitude Adjustment

For all of the movies, books, and policy debates on the topic, and given that the largest, most expensive, and longest hot war in US history is being waged in its name, why don't we have a coherent and consistent definition for Terrorism? Get ready to rethink everything you think you know about this word and its application.

Our guest is visual anthropologist Amanda Rogers, an expert on the propaganda of Islamic State.

Since September 27th there has been a resurgence of armed conflict in the Caucasus between the small nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed enclave of Nagorno Karbabakh, or Artsakh as it's known in Armenian. The backstory to this decades-old conflict is complex, so be sure to check the documentary films linked to on our website if you would like to do a deeper dive into the historical context. And be sure to check out our previous two-part episode on Armenia, Armenians, and Armenian-ness as well.

Our guest is Emil Sanamyan, a fellow at the University of Southern California's Institute of Armenian Studies.

For our first ever re-released episode we decided to commemorate Indigenous People's Day with an audience favorite and one of our earliest shows.

Yaari Walker is a member of the Yupik tribe, and originally from the town of Savoonga, on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. She now resides in Anchorage, Alaska, where, in addition to being an activist, author, and entrepreneur, she works at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Yaari has been on a journey, as a survivor of physical abuse, substance abuse, and incarceration, to recovery, writing a book, starting a business in Native medicinals, activism, and going back to college to study Psychology. We cover a lot of issues facing indigenous communities in Alaska, North America, and around the world, as well as the issue of community itself and how industrialized Western society often seems to be at odds with the values of sharing, communal responsibility, and compassion.

A warning that we talk about addiction and substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse, and the legacy of boarding school placement amongst the indigenous communities of North America. For those who have personally been through these traumas, or who have loved ones who have, just a note that some parts of this show may be upsetting.

David Shanks is the Chief Censor for New Zealand. As his title implies he is responsible for determining what is and what is not fit for public consumption, what ratings should be applied to various media, as well as other less obvious details that highlight the elusive line between protected speech and speech that constitutes a danger to public safety. We first reached out to David's office after the BBC highlighted a series of videos from the government of New Zealand encouraging parents to discuss online porn consumption and cyber bullying with their kids. One of the defining moments of David's tenure as censor came when a terrorist live streamed the mass murder of 51 people during Friday prayers at a mosque and an Islamic center in Christchurch on March 15, 2019.

This episode is the audio version of a live video broadcast that aired on Friday, August 7th, featuring guests on the ground in Beirut, Lebanon. Our guests are Mohammad Hamoud, a Lebanese activist and humanitarian relief worker, and Rita Kabalan, a Lebanese-American photojournalist based in Beirut.

On Tuesday, August 4th, a massive explosion rocked Beirut's port when tons of improperly stored ammonium-nitrate was ignited by a fire in a storage facility. Now, more than a week on from the explosion the death toll already numbers more than 200, with approximately ,6000 injured and hundreds of thousands left homeless. This man-made disaster also came at a time of ongoing political and deep financial crisis in the tiny nation that is also home to the world's largest per-capita population of refugees.

Ralph Nader is a five-time candidate for US president and a public servant who has improved the lives of Americans and of many people around the world through his 6 decades of work as a consumer advocate and civil liberties defender. We speak about the current status of civil rights protests, coronavirus, Palestine, corporate corruption, and about his new cookbook and the connection between our kitchens and the health of our communities. And we share a little about our own work on The Virtual Dinner Guest Project.

Idlib, in northern Syria, is one of the few parts of the country that have not been recaptured by the Assad regime but nearly a decade of war has taken an extreme toll on its inhabitants, with Coronavirus, continued fighting, and economic collapse creating a perfect humanitarian storm that has left Idlib in its most desperate circumstances of the war, with millions facing imminent risk of starvation, exposure to the elements, and perhaps another mass movement of people from the region like the world has not seen since 2015.

Nour Qurmosh grew up in Idlib and continues to work there delivering aid to his fellow citizens. At 23 years old, Nour has spent the past 9 years living under Syria's civil war. He gives us a rare glimpse into what nearly a decade of brutal violence has looked like to someone who has lived through all of it. His account is personal, frank, and possibly upsetting. It also speaks for itself.

This show is the audio-only version of a live chat hosted on July 10th, featuring guests Milena Zajović from Are You Syrious?, Douglas Herman from ReFocus Media Labs, and Carmen Dupont from Lesvos Solidarity - Pikpa.

You can catch our weekly-(ish) live chat discussions most Fridays on the Latitude Adjustment FB page, or you can check our Live Video Chats archive to watch and share them later.

Also, we'd like to formally introduce the show's new co-host, Laila Mokhiber!

Be sure to catch our four-part podcast series including field reports from Moria Camp on Lesvos, and from the Greek mainland.

The global arms industry may only account for about one percent of global trade, but it's important to note what that one percent is buying and the role that arms sales play in influencing other aspects of global trade and political relations. We speak with Frank Slijper in Groningen, The Netherlands, where Frank leads a project on the global arms trade for Pax, a global peace research and advocacy organization.

Intro: Eric Maddox

Interview with Frank Slijper (9:02-1:13:10)

Closing Remarks: Eric Maddox (1:13:17-1:17:50)

On May 25th George Floyd was detained and murdered by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, making him only the most recent high profile case of an unarmed African American dying at the hands of law enforcement in the United States. The killing was captured on camera by witnesses and massive protests erupted almost immediately, starting in Minneapolis and quickly spreading to dozens of cities across the US, in what have become the largest civil rights protests in over half a century, since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. For this episode we speak to two young men in Minneapolis about the protests, about their personal experiences with police, and about what needs to happen going forwards. This show is also a call to action, so be sure to check the list of organizations that you can support which have been recommended by our guests Sam Abeler and Derek "Duck" Washington.

Sam's Interview: 10:22

Duck's Interview: 54:08

Closing Remarks: 1:43:34