When countries fall into debt, who actually pays the price?

In this episode, we talk to Matthew Martin, a passionate advocate for debt relief and inequality, who shares his personal journey from experiencing apartheid in South Africa to becoming a leading voice in the fight against global debt crises. Matthew discusses the intricate relationship between debt and inequality, highlighting how high debt burdens disproportionately affect poorer citizens and hinder social spending.

Right now, 5.2 billion people live in countries that spend more money paying back debt than they do on schools, hospitals, or climate action. We break down how that happens, why global financial markets get away with charging eye-watering interest rates, and why governments are so often pushed to cut public services instead of standing up to creditors.

He reflects on the success of the Jubilee debt cancellation campaign and the lessons learned, emphasizing the need for structural change in the global financial system to prevent future crises. With insights into the current state of debt across the globe, Matthew calls for a renewed popular movement to prioritize debt relief and tackle inequality.

This is a clear, grounded conversation about debt, inequality, and who the global economy is really built for — and why things don’t have to stay this way.

If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn.

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Most activists don’t wilfully choose a life of protest. But sometimes, we are left with no other option.

In this episode we speak with three activists from Kenya, Nepal, and France who explain what drove them to the streets to fight for their cause and the brutal violence they met from the state. We explore the profound cost to citizens when their governments choose force over justice.

From informal settlements of Mathare in East of Nairobi, Wanjira Wanjiru describes how police killings are so common that they have been normalised. During the Gen-Z protests and resulting police brutality of 2024 and 2025, Wanjira refused to allow the police to arrest her. It wasn’t bravery that drove her in this moment, she tells us, but exhaustion.

Youth Leader in Nepal, Pawan Gautam explains how peaceful protests against economic disparities, corruption and unemployment turned bloody when the government chose repression over wealth redistribution, leading to more than 70 deaths – predominantly of youths.

Assa Traoré never planned to lead a movement — until her brother Adama Traoré was brutally killed by police on his birthday just because he didn’t have his ID on him. In this episode she explains how the fate of Adama Traoré catalysed a movement that continues to call on France to address racist, sexist, and class-based violence.

Stories from three different countries, but which exposes how repression is used to defend a much bigger systemic problem of inequality, racism and colonialism.

Wanjira Wanjiru is the co-founder the Mathare Social Justice Centre and is a Member of the Kenya Organic Intellectuals Network. She has been featured in Al Jazeera’s Generation Change and recently won the Mawina Kouyate Daughters of Africa Award for activism.

Ganda Bahadur Gautam (Pawan) is Youth leader the president of Youth Initiative (YI) in Nepal. He was on the scene during the 2025 Gen Z protests and has called for an end to corruption in the country.

Assa Traore is a French Malian activist who was driven to activism after the death of her brother Adama at the hands of the French police in 2016. She set up an organisation called Justice for Adama and has become one of France’s most prominent campaigners for racial justice.

Note: Assa Traoré spoke to us in French — her words were translated by Maaza Seyoum.

This is the last part of a three-episode series on economic inequality. The first one featuring Thomas Piketty, the second featuring Gary Stevenson was released on Tuesday this week. Go back and have a listen if you haven’t yet.

If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn.

Don't just listen, join thousands of others reading our weekly digest on inequality. Sign up at https://www.equals.ink/

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“What you have here is a long-term systemic transfer of wealth away from middle classes, away from rich governments and towards a small super rich elite.”- Gary Stevenson”

To coincide speak with the release of Oxfam’s Davos report, we speak with Gary Stevenson, who became a millionaire by betting that ordinary people’s living standards would keep falling while wealth piled up at the top.

Gary explains why economists repeatedly failed to predict the post-2008 crisis, why low interest rates didn’t lead to prosperity for ordinary people, and how a systemic transfer of wealth from the middle class to a small super-rich elite has reshaped the global economy to the detriment of everyone bar the minority at the top.

We dig into why inequality is at the root of today’s economic crisis, how wealth concentration suppresses growth and erodes democracy, why mainstream economics avoids talking about wealth, how class shapes the fight for a more equal world and why taxing the super-rich the best path towards equality.

This is a no holds barred conversation about how the rich influence power and fuel inequality and why ignoring wealth concentration guarantees that living standards will continue to fall.

This is part two of a three-episode series on economic inequality. The first one featuring Thomas Piketty was released in December, and the third one with three activists taking the fight for equality to the streets will be released on Thursday this week. Watch out for it.

If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn.

Don't just listen, join thousands of others reading our weekly digest on inequality. Sign up at https://www.equals.ink/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.