The Take

Americans have some of the highest rates of student debt in the world, and 92 percent of it belongs to the US government. That means President Joe Biden could erase the debt with the stroke of a pen, and some activists are going on a ‘debt strike’ to urge him to do so. As Biden takes a victory lap from passing a massive economic stimulus bill, activists and some politicians are ready for the next fight: cancelling student debt.

In this episode:

Thomas Gokey, co-founder of The Debt Collective

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Sarah Everard was a 33-year-old marketing executive. She went missing while walking home from a friend’s house on the evening of March 3rd in South London. A London Metropolitan Police officer has been charged with her kidnap and murder. Sarah's killing, her alleged murderer, and the events that followed have spawned an outcry in the UK about violence against women, police brutality, and the right to protest.

In this episode:

Jamie Klingler (@jamieklingler), organizer of Reclaim These Streets; Ash Sarkar, (@AyoCaesar), contributing editor for Novara Media (@novaramedia).

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Bitcoin is having a moment. The cyber currency broke through its own record this past weekend with each bitcoin valued at over $60,000 USD. That’s more than two times Bitcoin’s value at the start of the year. If FOMO is getting the best of you, consider this: Bitcoin may be making some investors fabulously rich, right now at least, but at what cost to people, and the planet?

In this episode:

Guest host Patricia Sabga, managing business editor for Al Jazeera Digital; Ben Piven (@benpiven), journalist covering economics and the environment for Al Jazeera

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The first trial of crimes against humanity in Syria is taking place — but not at the International Criminal Court. 10 years after the first protests in Syria, a tiny spark of accountability has been lit, with the trial of two Syrians who first came to Germany seeking asylum. On the anniversary of Syria’s uprising, we hear from a reporter who’s been inside the courthouse nearly every day of a harrowing trial, and from a woman who’s staged her own vigil outside of it.

In this episode:

Wafa Mustafa (@WafaMustafa9), Syrian activist; Hannah El-Hitami (@hannahel711), journalist in Berlin, Germany.

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More than 70 protesters have been killed and nearly 2,000 detained since early February when the protest against the military coup began in Myanmar. Amnesty International says many of the killings documented amount to “extrajudicial execution” by military security forces. Still, some say the coup has not succeeded yet. Today, we talk to a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist living in Yangon about how protesters are fighting back, and what the military is doing to silence them.

In this episode:

Aye Min Thant (@the_ayeminthant), blogger and journalist in Myanmar.

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