Novara Media Podcasts

Three years ago, just weeks after the genocide began, writer Omar El Akkad posted a tweet, attached to some footage showing the extent of the ruin that Israel had already visited on Gaza. The compelling thought, crystallised in that viral tweet, would go on to become the name of his bestselling book: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. 

Steven Methven, editor of Novara Live, steps in for Aaron Bastani while he is on parental leave. He sat down with Omar to try to make sense of three years of horror. 

Why did Omar write his book focusing on the West’s role in the violence, rather than centring Palestine? What would meaningful accountability and justice for Palestinians look like? How does he think Hamas will be remembered? And has he found any source of hope amid the events he describes?

For a century, China underwent a series of invasions, revolutions and counter-revolutions. In China, it’s known as the Century of Humiliation.

It was a time of immense upheavals: from the Opium Wars of 1839, through the Taiping Rebellion, the Xinhai Republican Revolution, a Civil War, an invasion by the Japanese which merged into the Second World War; the resumption of the Civil War and, eventually coming to an end with the Communist Revolution of 1949.

Each one transformed the country more comprehensively than seemed possible beforehand.

Rebecca Karl is the author of China’s Revolutions in the Modern World, which tells us not only what happened, but how its participants tried to make sense of it all, and why that still matters for understanding China now – after all, the Chinese Communist Party haven’t forgotten any of it.

She joined Richard Hames to discuss the century that destroyed imperial China and set the stage for the largest revolution in history.

There is much more to explore on the map we’re making for this series, which shows all the people, ideas and event that define China’s history, present, and future. Get it here.

Support our work: novaramedia.com/support

0:00 Intro

4:37 Opium Wars

12:58 The Man Who Claimed to Be Jesus’s Brother

21:30 The Taiping Rebellion

30:16 1911 Revolution

42:47 The May Fourth Movement

52:10 How the Chinese Communist Party Began

1:01:38 Shanghai Massacre, Mao and the Long March

1:13:22 Japanese Invasion and World War II in China

1:24:30 Chinese Civil War and the 1949 Revolution

Chancellor John Healey is poised to raise taxes on banks in the autumn budget.

Plus: Why housing benefits are broken, Iran is picking apart Gulf infrastructure, ITV releases more undercover footage from inside Reform UK, and the police are looking into a post by the wife of Britain’s national security adviser in relation to Palestine Action.

With Michael Walker, Banseka Kayembe, Jonathan Portes, Steven Methven & Sina Toossi.

Severe drought has been declared throughout the South of England, with reservoir storage levels at record lows for this time of year – is nationalisation the answer?

Plus: Ukraine claims its Starlink access has been severely limited since Trump agreed to buy Russian diesel, Labour Councillors have been instructed not to collaborate with their Green counterparts, and an Israeli election debate gives a stark update on the chances of a two-state solution.

With NoJusticeMTG & Dalia Gebrial.

The Houthis attacks on Saudi Arabia continue to cause death and destruction, why can’t the kingdom bring them under control?

Plus: Burnham rules out a pact with the greens, we ask an expert what really happened at RAF Fairford & author Salley Rooney claims she’s been banned from profiting from her work in the UK over her support for Palestine Action.

With Michael Walker, Aaron Bastani, Dr Andreas Krieg & Paul Rogers.

MI5 chief Ken McCallum has used his annual speech to warn of threats to the UK from Iran and right-wing extremists.

Plus: The chancellor has rejected calls to match capital gains and income tax rates, Nigel Farage is publicly rebutting Robert Jenrick, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon pledges more support for small business owners.

With Aaron Bastani & Banseka Kayembe.

After quitting Instagram, Moya wonders if the concept of ‘healthy competition’ is a myth, and Ash explains how to hate with artistry. Plus: Taylor Swift chat (for the first 8 minutes, be warned!) and advice for a couple in a longterm sex drought.

Send us your dilemmas: [email protected]

Peter Oborne takes us through the UK Government’s latest capitulation to Israel.

Peter’s latest book available here: https://orbooks.com/catalog/complicit/

With Michael Walker & Peter Oborne.

This week marked three years since the Hamas attack of October 7th, and the beginning of the Israeli state’s genocidal onslaught against the Palestinian people. In that time, Western leaders from Joe Biden and Donald Trump to Keir Starmer and now Andy Burnham have refused to call the genocide what it is, despite the consensus of genocide scholars. One outlier among Western leaders during this period has been Humza Yousaf.

The former first minister of Scotland, and first Muslim leader of a Western nation, has written a book about his time in government, ‘Under Fire: My Family’s Escape from Gaza and the Cost of Leadership’. On Downstream this week, Aaron Bastani sat down with him to hear first-hand what it was like governing Scotland, while his family were trapped in Gaza.

How did he and his family manage the first few days and weeks of the genocide, while balancing his responsibilities as Scotland’s leader? What kind of pressures did he face internally, and externally, to support Israel? How did he make decisions in government, and how did he take the decision to stand down? What does good leadership require? And what does he think about the fate of the union, and the direction of travel in Britain today?

Huawei makes the pipes and cables that power the Chinese internet. Its global reach has made China into a superpower.

Huawei is often accused of spying for China. But how was the US so sure that Huawei’s technology could be used for spying? Because the US had already hacked Huawei’s technology and were using it to spy themselves.

That’s not even the strangest episode in the company’s history. Its installations in Iraq were bombed by the UK and US before 9/11. In 2018, its infrastructure allegedly pinged back the secrets of the Africa Union to China overnight. And it now stands accused of doing business in Iran.

Eva Dou is the author of the deeply researched House of Huawei: The Secret History of China’s Most Powerful Company.

She spoke to Richard Hames about the geopolitics of telecommunications, how Huawei made China into a global superpower, and whether or not Huawei is, in fact, a wing of the Chinese state.

And we’ll be making our map of everything that has ever mattered and ever will: this new edition focused on China, available here: novaramedia.com/dyor

0:00 Intro

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