PUSHBACK Talks

The Filmmaker and The Advocate explore whether it’s actually gentrification that’s ruining our neighbourhoods or something else. Fredrik fiercely defends the rise of cortados (and bike lanes!) in neighbourhoods across the world and Leilani discusses the failures of New York’s High Line. With inspiration from clips of the always brilliant Prof. Saskia Sassen in the film PUSH, and 17-year-old Londoner, Hope Bhargava, the co-hosts agree that whatever you call it, what’s really driving people out of their homes and cities is that housing is being used as a financial instrument – a place to hide, park, and extract money!

Produced by WG Film 
Recorded & Edited by Mikey Jones
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Social Media & Support Team - Louise Gustafsson, Maja Moberg & Melinda Bergstrand

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You can’t squeeze water out of a stone, and you can’t squeeze money out of people who don’t have any.  

This episode of PUSHBACK Talks focuses on EVICTION: the brutal action taking place across the planet, where millions of people, from India to the US, are being kicked out of their homes, often with nowhere to go. And the threat is only increasing. 40 million Americans are one month away from eviction. Reports from India, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, and the United Kingdom confirm the same pattern.  The Filmmaker and The Advocate share EVICTION stories from the global south as well as developed countries hit by the pandemic. They ask: Where will the evicted live? Are governments doing all they can to help?

Produced by WG Film 
Recorded & Edited by Mikey Jones
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Social Media & Support Team - Louise Gustafsson, Maja Moberg & Melinda Bergstrand

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PUSH, directed by the Filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten opened to sold out audiences in Copenhagen and Toronto in the spring of 2019. PUSH is a multi-award winning documentary that has changed our understanding of the root causes of the global housing crisis. The film features the Advocate, Leilani Farha, then the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing. After years of being followed around by The Filmmaker and his crews, The Advocate turns the tables and puts Director of PUSH, Fredrik Gertten, in the hot seat. In a more personal podcast, Leilani asks Fredrik about his motivations, methods, and how he really feels about the United Nations.

Produced by WG Film 
Recorded & Edited by Mikey Jones
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Social Media & Support Team - Louise Gustafsson, Maja Moberg & Melinda Bergstrand

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The Filmmaker and the Advocate take a dive into dark money – money made from illicit activities like drug trafficking, refugee smuggling, and illegal arms sales. In PUSH-the film Italian journalist and author of Gomorrah, Roberto Saviano, explains that “it’s in the tax havens where legal and illegal capitalism meet and merge”. In other words, tax havens that were originally set up to hide criminal money, are now a natural part of any global business. With 80% of corrupt money landing in real estate, Fredrik and Leilani discuss how dark money drives up the cost of housing, and other effects on urban centres, particularly in cities like London, UK. The podcast releases new clips of Saviano and Queen’s Counsel Simon Farell who discuss how criminal money exits and enters a place like London which they identify as the world's capital of criminal money.

Produced by WG Film 
Recorded & Edited by Mikey Jones
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Social Media & Support Team - Louise Gustafsson, Maja Moberg & Melinda Bergstrand

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The Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss the global pandemic and its direct and undeniable relationship to housing. Not only did the pandemic lay bare the global housing crisis, it has provided a once in a generation opportunity to solve it. Fredrik and Leilani discuss some of the creative new laws and policies being enacted by city governments to address homelessness and inadequate housing, and the stubborn refusal by governments to embark on the structural changes necessary to make sure all people have a decent home in which to stay.

Produced by WG Film 
Recorded & Edited by Mikey Jones
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Social Media & Support Team - Louise Gustafsson, Maja Moberg & Melinda Bergstrand

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The Filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten and The Advocate, Leilani Farha discover that a plant-based milk company, Oatly, sold 10% of the company to Blackstone for USD $200 million. Yep, that’s the same Blackstone featured in PUSH – the award winning documentary film by Fredrik, that features Leilani. The same Blackstone accused by Leilani in her role as UN Special Rapporteur for violating the right to housing of tenants in countries around the world. And yes, Oatly is a Swedish company, from the very same town where Fredrik has lived his whole life: Malmö. He even knows some who work there. And so, The Filmmaker and The Advocate couldn’t help but take to the podcast airwaves to discuss Oatly’s decision to sell a seat at their table to Blackstone and Fredrik’s attempts to pushback. With clips from PUSH.

Produced by WG Film 
Recorded & Edited by Mikey Jones
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Social Media & Support Team - Louise Gustafsson, Maja Moberg & Melinda Bergstrand

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Whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, Airbnb has had a huge impact on housing in global cities. In this episode the Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss the irony of a start-up that was originally established to help three guys pay their rent in San Francisco has turned into a 27 billion dollar business that has resulted in evictions and has decreased affordable housing stock in cities across the globe. Leilani and Fredrik also discuss some of the cities and Mayors who have pushed back against Airbnb to protect local residents and save the culture of their cities. With clips from PUSH www.pushthefilm.com

Produced by WG Film 
Recorded & Edited by Mikey Jones
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Social Media & Support Team - Louise Gustafsson, Maja Moberg & Melinda Bergstrand

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In this episode, the Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss the rage that is popping up in cities around the world right now and ask: WHY ARE PEOPLE SO ANGRY? WHAT'S HOUSING GOT TO DO WITH IT?

In response to the Global Financial Crisis of '08, governments sided with the banks instead of homeowners. Suddenly people’s homes became 'distressed assets' and were purchased en masse by hedge funds to grow their capital. This ‘solution’ turned the world’s biggest private equity firm, Blackstone, into one of the world’s largest landlords. With this as a springboard, Leilani and Fredrik explore the anger sparked by inequality caused by financialization: homelessness and unaffordability in California; evictions in Spain and elsewhere; Uber drivers sleeping in their cars, and the disproportionate political power of financial elites. With clips from PUSH.

Fredrik reveals that PUSH www.pushthefilm.com will finally be released in the US in early September!

Produced by WG Film 
Recorded & Edited by Mikey Jones
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Social Media & Support Team - Louise Gustafsson, Maja Moberg & Melinda Bergstrand

Support the show

Support the show