PUSHBACK Talks
Landlords without faces, apartments without tenants. In 2019, filmmaker Fredrik Gertten released Push, an award-winning documentary that explores the unaffordable, unlivable city, and the growing global housing crisis. Following the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha, the film sought to understand why cities around the world are becoming increasingly expensive.
In June of 2020, Fredrik and Leilani teamed up again to continue the conversation they began with the film, and PUSHBACK Talks was born. Since then, PUSHBACK Talks has grown into an exploration of the social, political, and economic forces that shape our world, and of the actions people are taking to push back against inequality, corruption, authoritarian systems, poverty, war, and the shift towards far-right conservatism.
Join the Filmmaker (Gertten) and the Advocate (Farha) as they dissect these topics, uncover the connections between them, and search for solutions. How can we, as individuals, movements, and communities, fight back – push back – to build societies where every human being has the right to live equally, freely, and with dignity?
Listen to PUSHBACK Talks and join the conversation for a better, fairer world.
For more about PUSH and to view it: www.pushthefilm.com
For more about Leilani Farha and her organization, The Shift: www.make-the-shift.org
For more about Fredrik Gertten and his other films: www.wgfilm.com
If you are interested in watching his newest documentary: www.breakingsocialfilm.com
PUSHBACK Talks
EARTHQUAKE in Turkiye & the Cost of Corruption
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From 2012-2022, and in the midst of a major construction boom, Turkiye fell nearly 50 places on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, from 54 to 101 out of 174 countries. The country has been praised for its ability to do infrastructure quickly, but the level of damage caused by a recent 7.8-magnitude quake has drawn greater attention to the amount of corruption in Turkiye's construction industry. With more than 45,000 dead, over $100 billion in damage, and 25,000 buildings reduced to rubble, Turkish citizens are outraged at the disorganized government response and the lack of proper preparation and are calling for greater government accountability. Just three months before a scheduled election, President Erdogan and his government are under intense scrutiny for the amount of damage, with a spotlight on the corrupt policies that allowed developers to cut corners on safety.
Fredrik and Leilani sit down for two separate conversations on these recent events. First, they meet with Professor Gönül Tol, founding director of the Middle East Institute’s Turkey Program, senior fellow for the Frontier Europe Initiative, and author of "Erdogan's War: A Strongman's Struggle at Home and in Syria," to recount her experience on the ground during the earthquake and to discuss how Erdogan instituted an autocracy that weakened Turkiye's vital institutions.
Then, they speak with Cihan Uzuncarsili Baysal, a member of Istanbul Urban Defense and an independent researcher, to discuss how Turkiye's economic and political history brought us to this moment.