A discussion with young Pacific climate activists Sulu-Danielle Joseph, Iemaima Vaai and Bedi Racule, who have grown up in diaspora communities. They discuss the impact of growing up away from the Pacific communities they call home, and their advocacy work for the Pacific as activists, particularly in relation to the effects of climate change. They are in conversation with Kevin Clements and Volker Boege.

Interview recorded on 11 May 2023.

A discussion with Emeritus Professor Kazuo Matsushita, and Toda’s Kevin Clements and Volker Boege. They discuss the interlinkages between the triple global crises of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, and calls for a social shift to non-fossil fuel civilization. They talk in detail about the vision for a zero carbon Japan; what that means on personal, regulatory and policy levels; and the position of the Japanese government.

Interview recorded 23 March 2023

A conversation with Debasish Roy Chowdhury and John Keane, hosted by Toda Peace Institute’s Kevin Clements and Olivia Stokes Dreier. They discuss their book “To Kill A Democracy: India's Passage to Despotism”, their views of India under Prime Minister Modi, and the prospects for Indian democracy.

Interview recorded 4 March 2023

A discussion with Gina Gustavsson (University of Uppsala and Nuffield College Oxford) and Toda’s Kevin Clements and Olivia Stokes Dreier. They discuss the recent electoral success of the Sweden Democratic Party, and what this means for Swedish social democracy and its welfare state.

Interview recorded 15 November 2022

A discussion with Akio Takahara and Toda’s Kevin Clements and Hugh Miall. They discuss Prof. Takahara’s lifelong interest in the political economy of China and Chinese foreign policy. He reviews the present state of China–Japan relations and comments on possible solutions to the territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the broader security context of Northeast Asia.

Interview recorded 9 October 2022.

A discussion with Lydia Khalil (Lowy Institute) and Toda’s Kevin Clements and Olivia Stokes Dreier. They discuss the salient features of right-wing extremism and the structural factors which have led to a huge increase in right-wing extremism since 2016: global Inequality, the New World Order, the spread of disinformation and conspiracy theories, environmental degradation and climate change, and global democratic decline.

Interview recorded 26 September 2022

A discussion with James Bhagwan (Pacific Conference of Churches),and Toda’s Kevin Clements and Volker Boege. They discuss the role that Pacific churches have been playing in raising awareness of the impact of climate change in the region. The spiritual worldview of Pacific people is deeply influenced by the indigenous culture, and a sense of connection with land, the environment, the ocean and their Christian faith. Rev. Bhagwan explains the importance of ‘reweaving the ecological mat’ as a Pacific articulation of the reweaving of the sacred thread that binds ecology, economics, and relationships with one another and the natural world.

Interview recorded 1 June 2022

A discussion with Hon. Ralph Regenvanu (Vanuatu) and Toda’s Kevin Clements and Volker Boege. They discuss the campaign to unite Pacific Island nations against deep sea mining. In conversation with Kevin Clements and Volker Boege, he backgrounds the issue of deep sea mining in the Pacific and describes efforts to utilise the strength of Pacific regionalism via the newly formed Pacific Parliamentarians Alliance on Deep Sea Mining. Through their founding statement, Our Ocean Call, the alliance articulates a common responsibility and moral obligation for the protection of the ocean for future generations.

Interview recorded 30 May 2022

A discussion with Hon. Gareth Evans (former Foreign Minister of Australia) and Toda’s Kevin Clements and Ramesh Thakur. They discuss conflict prevention, preventive diplomacy and nuclear arms control, and the lack of momentum in the 21st century. Can cooperative security principles be resuscitated and what opportunities might arise from the current crises that the international community is facing?

Interview recorded 6 May 2022

A discussion with Upolu Luma Vaai (Pacific Theological College) and Toda’s Kevin Clements and Volker Boege. They discuss the core principles of Pacific ecorelationality and their implications for climate change policies in the Pacific region, advocating for a ‘holistic gaze’ that overcomes anthropocentric understandings of climate change and climate policy. He explains the “Reweaving the Ecological Mat” project, an initiative which is a self-determination strategy aimed at weaving a Pasifika story of hope about genuinely Pasifika approaches to climate change, development, ecology and peace.

Interview recorded 4 May 2022