In need of some political hope? We're here to chat about the possibility of politics and the politics of possibility. Welcome to A Political Hope, the podcast exploring how we get the courageous, trusted and ethical politicians we need for the 21st century.
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Rebekah Ison:
Hello dear listeners, welcome to the first ever episode of A Political Hope. The podcast exploring how to get the courageous ethical and trusted leaders we need for the 21st century. My name is Bek and I'm Communications Manager at Apolitical Foundation. I'm joined today by Apolitical Foundation CEO Lisa Witter. Lisa, do you want to tell the good people what we're doing here today?
Lisa Witter:
Absolutely. We're here today to tell you about a new podcast we're putting out called A Political... - a kind of play on "apolitical" - A Political Hope. And really, why I want to do this is we hear day in and day out about what's not working in politics. About the politicians you don't believe, about the mudslinging in politics, about the broken systems, about election outcomes that you may or may not agree with. It's kind of dark and bad news. But what you don't get to see is.. we are privileged that we get to hear about all the political innovators, that political entrepreneurs, the people behind the scenes, really trying to not just save democracy, but make it better really make it for the 21st century. So this series is going to be about people you may have heard of or may not bring new and different ideas to politics.
Rebekah Ison:
Yeah, when I was kind of conceptualising this podcast, for me, it was really important that it was solutions oriented and as practical as possible. And like the name suggests, I want it to be a dose of hope, and to help push us out of this kind of cynicism that keeps us stuck. Lisa, you talk about the possibility of politics and the politics of possibility. And that's kind of a theme that I'm hoping comes out of this season and series. So yeah, I'm going to talk a little bit now about how this is going to work. So we're going to release an episode each fortnight it's going to be an interview with someone in politics, or with ideas that helping to make politics and democracy better. I'll do a lot of the interviews. But Lisa will also do a fair few, then a few members of our team are going to do interviews here and there. And that's usually topics that they work really closely with or are particularly passionate about. To give you an idea about themes and interview topics. Our first episode is with Mehdi Jomaa, who was the acting prime minister of Tunisia after the Arab Spring, the only way to change is to be involved. And then we've also got episodes, this is just to give you an example, on politicians mental health...
Victoria Hasson:
"I worry about the quality of our democratic processes as a consequence of political well being"
Rebekah Ison:
What a good climate politician looks like...
Ramona Liberoff:
"Learn from each other in terms of what works because with common issues also come common solutions"
Rebekah Ison:
And how to bridge activism to political power.
Colombe Cahen-Salvador:
"Seeing young woman getting into politics, putting themselves out there, more and more women being elected across the world and so on gives me hope"
Rebekah Ison:
Remembering that I want this to be as practical as possible, there's going to be a few questions that every guest answers. The first is they're always going to give their key takeaways for the audience. Secondly, we'll close each interview by answering the question, what is giving you political hope? Because there are good things happening out there we promise. Okay, Lisa, is there anything else you want to say before we head off?
Lisa Witter:
No Bek. It's an honour to work with you and everyone who's listening. Thank you. Thank you for caring. There's a lot that you can be listening to right now. Please give us feedback. Give us a little kick. If you think it should be better or different. We really want to hear from you. Democracy is about co creation and so is this. So we want to hear from you. So thanks.