Podcasts about shada islam

Decolonisation is a new way of confronting racism. It means rooting out colonial-era attitudes of white superiority that linger in our societies and institutions. The push for decolonisation in the US and parts of Europe took wings with the Black Lives Matter movement. But the EU still is nowhere near starting the process of decolonisation. Its reticence was underlined this month when top EU diplomat Josep Borrell branded most of the world a jungle and then got away with making only a grudging apology. In this episode: a look back at Borrell's offensive comments; and a look ahead at how to decolonise EU foreign aid, with Shada Islam and Dylan Mathews of Peace Direct.  Support the show

There are many things to love about France. But a stated policy of colour blindness is not one of them. Among those leading the charge against a French conception of universalism that makes discussing race so awkward is Grace Ly. Her Chinese Cambodian parents fled the Khmer Rouge during the late 1970s for France, where she has found success and celebrity with books like Jeune fille modèle and the podcast Kiffe Ta Race that she co-hosts with Rokhaya Diallo. The French still preach that everyone is equal in the eyes of the Republic, but Grace says the reality is very different. She cites a notorious incident where a former French interior minister, Brice Hortefeux, was caught saying in reference to immigrants of North African descent that, "when there is one it's OK,” but that, "when there are lots of them that there are problems." Grace is from an Asian European community that's often portrayed as a model minority. But she says that's a corrosive stereotype, and she too has to navigate double standards. "When I walk out in the streets, people see me, they actually see me very well because they still say ni hao to me, so they do see me. But it's what they want me to be. They want me to be invisible." Grace is in conversation with journalist and think tanker Shada Islam and commentator Helena Malikova. Support the show

Legal scholar Sahar Aziz says people who identify as Muslim are often perceived in racial terms, like black and brown people, in white-dominated societies. That makes Muslims on both sides of the Atlantic the subject of similar forms of racism. She also says protecting observant Muslims in Europe may be more difficult than in the United States, where religious observance is more commonplace. In this episode: Sahar Aziz in conversation with the journalist and think tanker Shada Islam.Support the show

Author Rafia Zakaria turned the feminist world upside down with her bestselling book Against White Feminism. White feminists, she writes, fail "to cede space to the feminists of colour who have been ignored erased or excluded from the feminist movement." In this episode Rafia talks with the Brussels-based journalist and think-tanker Shada Islam about the prevalence of white feminist thinking in Europe — and in France in particular.Support the show

As the world's geopolitical and economic balance shifts eastwards, the Indo-Pacific region is emerging as an area of vital strategic importance. However, it is also a region of rising tensions and increasing geopolitical competition. The EU's Indo-Pacific strategy, presented in September 2021, is a significant moment for the development of EU policy in this region. This event explores Europe's deepening engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, and encompasses the perspectives of the EU, Member States and regional actors. About the Speakers: George Cunningham, is a Strategic Adviser on Asia-Pacific Affairs in the European External Action Service. He was previously Deputy EU Ambassador to Afghanistan (2016-18). Before this he served as EEAS Deputy Head of Division for China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Mongolia (2012-16). Shada Islam  is an advisor and analyst on Europe's relations with Asia and Africa. She is a member of the European Policy Centre's Strategic Council and she is a Non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development. In 2017, she was selected as one of the 20 most influential women in Brussels by the magazine Politico. Dr Frédéric Grare is a Senior Policy Fellow with the Asia Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He previously worked in the  French Ministry for Europe and External Affairs where he focused on the Indo-Pacific. Prior to this he served as the South Asia programme director at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

There is a double standard at the heart of the European Union's powerful executive body, the European Commission. Women — mostly white women — benefit from affirmative action when applying for jobs. But people of colour seeking advancement do not benefit from special consideration. Commentator and columnist Shada Islam says the Commission's progress on gender makes its foot-dragging on racial diversity less excusable than ever. Sarah Chander, a digital rights advocate and a co-founder of the Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice, discusses the moral panic over critical race theory that's spread to Europe.  This episode was made in partnership with The Brussels Binder under the BBBeyond project.Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. Visit EU Scream for more episodes. Support the show (https://euscream.com/donate/)

Ever hear of the Uighur community? There are about 12 million Uighurs, mostly Muslim, living in north-western China in the region of Xinjiang. Human rights groups believe China has detained more than a million Uighurs over the past few years in what the state defines as "re-education camps".  There is evidence of Uighurs being used as forced labour and of women being forcibly sterilised.Recently, the US and other countries have accused China of committing genocide and crimes against humanity through its repression of the Uighurs. Europe was the latest to do so by imposing sanctions on few Chinese officials linked to the Uighur repression. Moments later China retaliated. This is a historic situation and we talk to Shada Islam, a well known Brussels based commentator and analyst on all things EU-Asia relation to understand why this is extremely important, what is a sanction in international law and what is the role of fast fashion brands who source cotton from the Xinjiang province!

In this episode, we take a look at the big picture and take a geopolitical perspective to tackle a question - how has the narrative of EU-China relations been changing in the last years?  Our guest - Shada Islam - is the Director of Europe and Geopolitics at Friends of Europe think tank and a visiting professor at the College of Europe. She has been identified as one of the most influential women in Brussels by Politico. Long time proponent of European engagement with Asia, she is working to facilitate a space for dialogue among policymakers, experts, and business people for open discussions on EU-China – and EU-Asia - relations.*Link to the report mentioned in the intro is available in a transcript of this episode at: euchinahub.com *

Hear European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in conversation with POLITICO's Florian Eder, discussing Trump, Brexit and more. Also this week, Shada Islam from think tank Friends of Europe talks to POLITICO's Ryan Heath about educating EU newbies on Asia and how to counter Islamophobia. In the podcast panel, POLITICO's EU editor Andrew Gray is joined by Lina Aburous, Alva Finn and Carmen Paun to discuss the battle for top EU jobs, Moldova's double-government trouble and how to respond if the U.S. president's son-in-law wants to drop by for a chat.

Access to the world’s shared water resources is inextricably linked to socio-political and economic ‘power dynamics’ that impact hugely on people’s lives and livelihoods. This was one of the key messages of Friends of Europe’s 25 March Policy Insight debate “The ripple effect: water as a tool for peace and sustainable development”. As we prepare for the “changing of the guard” in the EU “we have a topic that’s so essential for world peace that we should keep it high up on the agenda,” said Shada Islam, Friends of Europe’s Director for Europe & Geopolitics. With 40% of armed conflicts involving a resource-based stress factor, Head of Division for Economic and Global Issues at the European External Action Service (EEAS) Dominic Porter highlighted that there is growing acknowledgement that water is more than just a development issue. “There is a gradually increasing acceptance that these subjects need to be treated at the highest political level. They contribute to, if not cause, threats to international peace and security,” he said. Naho Mirumachi, Lead of King’s Water research hub and Senior Lecturer at King's College London, said it was vital to remember that conflict wasn’t necessarily driven by a lack of water resources. Warning practitioners to beware “the binary trap of thinking of water as a tool for peace or a tool for war”, she suggested that they consider the “socioeconomic power dynamics that make it easy for some people to access water and others to have to bear the burden.” But while competition over this vital resource can generate friction and conflict, water diplomacy can also be used to help broker peace and cooperation and, crucially, should aim to make a tangible difference to ordinary citizens. President of the India-based Strategic Foresight Group Sundeep Waslekar set out the three factors which define good practice in transboundary water cooperation: “There is a strong institutional mechanism. There is engagement of political leaders at the highest level. And this institutional structure and the engagement of top political leaders are used to make a real difference for the people.” Therese Noorlander, Sustainability Director for Europe at The Coca-Cola Company, noted that the private sector also has a role to play in taking a people-centred approach to water resource management, saying that while they “cannot fix the politics, by working on a local level and trying to add value for communities… we can help out and make the right investments that really help build those communities.”

hat more can the EU do to stop girls’ education languishing as a footnote and instead be the headline to the conversation about the world’s sustainable development goals? Gender equality and access to quality education are key parts of the UN’s Agenda 2030, but should it really be called ‘Gender 2030?’, asked Friends of Europe at its Educating Girls debate in Brussels on 27 February. Every day 130m girls are not in school and, by any measure, they and the wider world are worse off for it. So why are we failing to remove the barriers in their way and how can we “change this rather nasty paradigm?” said moderator and director for Europe and Geopolitics at Friends of Europe, Shada Islam. “None of the 17 UN goals can be achieved without the active participation of women,” she said. Speakers from the UN, European Commission and specialist NGOs were asked to consider whether the EU should: use girls’ education as a key condition for countries receiving development aid; make it a specific part of accession talks, and deny aid and trade benefits to those spending more on defence than education. At ground level, as well as dealing with structural barriers to education – such as lack of access to toilets – speakers emphasised the importance of having a direct dialogue with communities, including concrete examples of positive work in Afghanistan and Armenia. Participants also heard from Bangio Ali, an Education Officer at the AVSI Foundation, in Kenya, who focuses on girls and mothers’ rights and out-of-school children. Despite the odds against it, she had the educational opportunities her mother was denied, and went on to work directly with girls and families in her own Somali community in Kenya, including in refugee camps. “I am where I am because of education,” she said. More info: https://www.friendsofeurope.org/event/educating-girls

Investors are increasingly flocking to financial products that offer social as well as monetary returns, a Friends of Europe event has heard. With an estimated $6tn a year required over the next 15 years to achieve the UN’s 2030 sustainable development goals - and the world having reached “peak overseas development aid” - institutional investors and private equity firms are having to get creative, said Shada Islam, Director for Europe and Geopolitics, who moderated the event. The European Investment Bank (EIB) uses ‘Sustainability Awareness Bonds’ to help fund SDG-themed projects, helping to alleviate the biggest risk that private investors face in Africa: state-owned enterprises defaulting on their payments. “The smart, targeted use of public funds to leverage private investment is key,” says Richard Amor, Head of the EIB’s Institutional and Implementation Unit. Private equity firms such as KOIS Invest are using ‘development’ or ‘humanitarian impact bonds’ to help funnel money loans (via local banks) to small businesses or female-run enterprises. “It’s not about the profits of the assets, but the impact on the ground and putting a monetary value on that,” said Béatrice Delperdange, Head of Business Development at KOIS Invest. However, there is not a “business case” for all SDGs, said Thomas Förch, Senior Technical Expert for Financial Sector Development and Insurance at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, calling on governments to continue playing a role in big infrastructure projects. Lubna Shaban, Co-Director of Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI), says organisations like hers can help bring together donors, banks, NGOs, governments and other expertise. “If you’ve never heard of us, good,” she says. “We’re doing our job.”

On this podcast, Shada Islam, the Director of Europe and Geopolitics at Friends of Europe, an influential think tank based in Brussels, and a Professor at College of Europe, discusses Sino-European relations and the European Union's perspective on the Belt and Road Initiative.

On this podcast, Shada Islam, the Director of Europe and Geopolitics at Friends of Europe, an influential think tank based in Brussels, and a Professor at College of Europe, discusses Sino-European relations and the European Union's perspective on the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Friends of Europe dinner debate on 5 June 2018 focused on the SDG challenge of reaching the last mile: how can we end poverty in all its forms everywhere? The discussion was moderated by Shada Islam, Director of Europe & Geopolitics at Friends of Europe.

The last session of Friends of Europe’s Africa Summit focused on ‘jobs, growth and economic cooperation’. Africa and Europe can and should learn from each other’s’ experience in tackling economic challenges. Speakers included Richard Amor (Head, Global Partners Operations Directorate, European Investment Bank (EIB)); Christoph Beier (Vice Chair of the Management Board, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)); Arancha Gonzalez (Executive Director, International Trade Center); and Frank Matsaert (Chief Executive Officer, Trademark East Africa). This debate was moderated by Shada Islam, Director for Europe and Geopolitics at Friends of Europe.

As a part of Friends of Europe’s Africa Summit, Session II explored the creative and high tech industries in Africa and the massive potential for continent-wide job creation and GDP growth. The event took place on 4 June 2018 in Brussels. Speakers include Sindiso Khumalo (Designer and Founder of Sindiso Khumalo Fashion, working towards promoting sustainable and ethical African creations) and Pauline Mujawamariya Koelbl (Managing Director, African Innovation Foundation and Programme Director of the Innovation Prize for Africa and Innovation Ecosystems). This debate was moderated by Shada Islam, Director for Europe and Geopolitics

Friends of Europe’s ‘Africa Summit’, held in Brussels on the 4 June 2018, looked at the evaluation and re-setting of Africa-Europe relations. Speakers included Mo Ibrahim (Chairman and Founder, Mo Ibrahim Foundation); Elisabeth Guigou (President of the Anna Lindh Foundation Mediterranean Foundation for Dialogue); Esther Nakajjigo (Uganda’s Ambassador for Women and Girls); Günther Nooke (Commissioner for Africa and the German Chancellor's Personal Representative for Africa at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)); and Lapo Pistelli (Executive Vice President for International Affairs, Eni; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy (2013-2015)). This debate was moderated by Shada Islam, Director for Europe and Geopolitics at Friends of Europe.

Friends of Europe’s debate on ‘what youth really want’, explored the youth-driven analysis of shared challenges and opportunities faced by young people in the Euro-Mediterranean region, identifying cross border commonalities and differences, discussing action-oriented proposals to develop more positive policy narratives. The event was held on the 23 May as a part of the Young Mediterranean Voices & EYL40 Young Leaders event. Speakers included Elisabeth Guigou (President of the Anna Lindh Mediterranean Foundation for Dialogue); Jaafar Abdul Karim (Presenter of Shabab Talk at the Deutsche Welle TV and winner of the Mediterranean Journalist Awards); Bjorn Ihler (Founder of Khalifa-Ihler Institute and Kofi Annan Extremely Together Young Leader); Esmat Elsayed (Young Mediterranean Voices (YMV) and delegate to the Africa-EU Summit); and Fadi Quran (Senior Campaigner at Avaaz and MENA Young Leader (EYL40)). The debate was moderated by Shada Islam, Director of Europe and Geopolitics at Friends of Europe.

Friends of Europe’s conversation on ‘women power’, looked at empowering women to take more of an active and leading role in business. The event was held on the 22 May as a part of the Young Mediterranean Voices & EYL40 Young Leaders event. Speakers included Yostina Boules (Founder of Taqa Solutions and MENA Young Leader (EYL40)); Ulla Engelmann (Head of Unit Clusters, Social Economy and Entrepreneurship at the European Commission directorate general for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs); Assita Kanko (Author, politician & founder of #Polin, the political incubator); and Silvana Koch-Mehrin (President and Founder of the Women Political Leaders Global Forum (WPL)). The conversation was moderated by Shada Islam, Director of Europe and Geopolitics at Friends of Europe.

Friends of Europe’s debate on ‘walking the talk on youth engagement’, looked into youth-driven analysis of shared challenges and opportunities faced by young people in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The event was held on the 23 May as a part of the Young Mediterranean Voices & EYL40 Young Leaders event. Speakers included Hella Grichi (Young Mediterranean Voices (YMV)); Abdelbasset Ben Hassen (President, Arab Institute for Human Rights); Michael Köhler (Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, European Commission); Tarik Yousef (Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development programme at Brookings); and Haia Bako (Young Mediterranean Voices (YMV)). The debate was moderated by Shada Islam, Director of Europe and Geopolitics at Friends of Europe.

Our Policy Summit took a look at topical issues related to private investment in fragile states. Speakers included Nena Stoiljkovic (IFC), Viwanou Gnassounou (ACP), Harald Hirschhofer (TCX) and Roberto Ridolfi (DG DEVCO). Shada Islam was the moderator.