Welcome to Episode 17 of the Social Justice Salon.

In this episode, Marianne is joined by the titan of financial and economic activism Nicholas Shaxson. We delve into predatory finance, tax havens and his latest research into monopoly power.

Nicholas Shaxson is a journalist, author, and activist focusing on finance & economics, and their relationships to people and societies. He’s written for numerous publications including the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Economist, and the New York Times and has written a number of fantastic books: Poisoned Wells (2007), about oil, politics and conflict in West Africa; Treasure Islands (2011), about tax havens; and The Finance Curse (2018), about the domestic impacts of oversized financial sectors. He was a foundational member of the global tax justice movement and in 2021 co-founded the Balanced Economy Project (BEP), the first general international anti-monopoly NGO of the modern age. He is currently writing a new book on monopolies.

We focus on the history and impact of monopolies, how pervasive and dangerous they are to our financial and overall health, and how it is actually very possible to curb their control and revitalise our local economies.

Links and more info

Follow Nicholas Shaxson on LinkedIn

Buy his book The Finance Curse

Buy his book Tresure Islands

Buy his book Poisoned Wells

Follow the podcast on Instagram

Follow Marianne on Instagram and TikTok

Become a member of Marianne’s Patreon

Music by Luke Fraser at The Tonic and Artwork was by Marianne

Welcome to Episode 16 of the podcast which has had a rebrand! We are now called the Social Justice Salon.

In this episode, we are discussing how we can eliminate nuclear weapons. Susi Synder of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) joins hostess Marianne Moore to discuss everything about their campaign and why, 80 years after they were first tested, nuclear weapons finally need to be stopped.

Susi is an expert on nuclear weapons, with over two decades experience working at the intersect between nuclear weapons and human rights and is the programme coordinator at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. She has contributed to a number of recent books, including Forbidden (2023), and A World Free from Nuclear Weapons (2020). Susi previously served as the Secretary General of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom at their Geneva secretariat and was named Hero of Las Vegas in 2001 for her work with Indigenous populations against US nuclear weapons development and nuclear waste dumping.

We discuss the history and impact of nuclear weapons, the mission of ICAN, and efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons globally. Susi shares her journey and gives us amazing insights into the various types of nuclear weapons, their global distribution, and the challenges and successes in the campaign against them.

Links and more info

Find out more about ICAN on their website

Follow ICAN on Twitter/X on BlueSky on Facebook and on Instagram

For the most up to date tracking of nuclear weapons see the Federation of American Scientists

Follow the podcast on Instagram

Follow Marianne on Instagram and TikTok

Become a member of Marianne’s Patreon

Music by Luke Fraser at The Tonic and Artwork was by Marianne

Hello!

We're back and with a rebrand.!

Justice Studio Sessions is now the Social Justice Salon with me, Marianne Moore.

And I'm very very excited about Season 2 of this podcast.

We've got some really really cool guests and interesting topics.

We will have monopoly power with Nicholas Shaxson, public sexuality and how women navigate it, how we can eliminate nuclear weapons, and so much more.

I hope you will enjoy the new look Social Justice Salon.

Welcome to episode 15 of Justice Studio Sessions. In this concluding episode of series one, we have a frank discussion about what it means to run a consultancy focused on social justice. In this episode we discuss the challenges of running a small values based business in an industry that favours the big boys.

For this episode Marianne Moore, foundress of Justice Studio, is joined by Dr Irum Ali a social scientist and consultant who runs the organisation Inclusive Growth with her co-founder. Irum has nearly two decades of experience in both the academic and charity fields, working on a range of projects across research, policy and evaluation areas. Her current areas of interest lie in diversity, equity and inclusion in the charity sector, the impact of poor public service provision on marginalised communities and race equality policy.

In this no holds barred episode, Irum and Marianne talk about their personal experiences and frustrations running a consultancy committed to social justice and equity in a capitalist world. We hope the topics raised will resonate with other consultants and small business owners and can be a force for more community rather than competition amongst us.

Links for this episode:

Follow Irum on Linkedin: Irum Ali

Visit her website: www.inclusivegrowth.co

Justice Studio’s website: www.justicestudio.org

Follow Justice Studio on Instagram: @justicestudio

Follow Justice Studio on Twitter: @justicestudio

Follow Marianne on Instagram @creatrix.london

Welcome to episode 14 of Justice Studio Sessions. In this episode we discuss three international safeguarding scandals.

In 2018 it was discovered that senior Oxfam staff had paid local young women for sex whilst working in the response to the Haiti earthquake. The Oxfam Haiti incident was not an isolated incident, however. In this episode Marianne talks about the Oxfam Scandal as well as two other scandals that shook the international aid community but took place earlier: These are the UN DynCorp Trafficking case in Bosnia in early 2000s, and the UNHCR Peacekeepers scandal in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone around the same time.

Please be advised that this episode contains distressing content.

References

Bosnia:

Bolkovac, K & Lynn, C. 2011. The Whistleblower. Palgrave Macmillan: New York.

Human Rights Watch. Nov 2002. HOPES BETRAYED. Volume 14 No. 9 (D)

Jennings, K. 2017. The Immunity Dilemma. E-International Relations p.1

Simm, G. ‘Regulating sex in peace operations: Dyncorp in Bosnia.’ Open Access: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1q1crtm

Martina Vandenberg, Complicity, Corruption, and Human Rights Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol34/iss3/3

West Africa

UNHCR and Save the Children-UK Sexual Violence & Exploitation in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone 2001 to 2002.

IASTC Report 13 June 2002

UK House of Commons. Sexual exploitation and abuse in the aid sector. 23 July 2018.

Haiti

Oxfam GB Haiti Investigation Final Report – Confidential 2011

Charity Commission. 2019. ‘Summary Findings and Conclusions Oxfam.’

Charity Commission. 2019. ‘Statement of the Results of an Inquiry into Oxfam .’

The New Humanitarian: https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/investigations/2018/02/13/exclusive-oxfam-sexual-exploiter-haiti-caught-seven-years-earlier-liberia

FCDO progress report on safeguarding against sexual exploitation abuse and harassment (SEAH) in the international aid sector.

Links:

Justice Studio’s website: www.justicestudio.org

Follow Justice Studio on Instagram: @justicestudio

Follow Justice Studio on Twitter: @justicestudio

Follow Marianne on Instagram @creatrix.london

Welcome to Episode 13 of Justice Studio Sessions. In this episode we discuss young people in Wessex, South West England. We focus on the work of the Wessex Dance Academy which is a dance school for young people aged 15-25 based in Hampshire. The young people referred to the Academy are either excluded from, or not attending, school, care leavers or those with experience of the criminal justice system. Justice Studio was lucky enough to work with the academy twice – in 2013 when we undertook an outcomes study, and again in 2020 to do a refresher of the study as the covid 19 pandemic broke.

We are lucky to have Clare Hobbs with us for the discussion. Clare is the creator of the Wessex Dance Academy, establishing it 2009 because she wanted to bring dance to those who would not otherwise experience it. As manager of the Academy, she and her team, have been working closely with the young people ever since.

In this episode we discuss the lives of the young people who have been through the Academy, how the programme operates and the positive outcomes they are able to achieve in the young people’s confidence and self-esteem. We look at the challenges it faces in a funding landscape that does not always acknowledge the importance of the arts and touch on how the pandemic has affected a growing number of young people who are not in school.

Links

Follow Wessex Dance Academy on Instagram: @wessexdanceacademy

Justice Studio’s website: www.justicestudio.org

Follow Justice Studio on Instagram: @justicestudio

Follow Justice Studio on Twitter: @justicestudio

Follow Marianne on Instagram @creatrix.london

Title Music by Luke Fraser @the_tonic_

Show Artwork by Marianne @creatrix.studio

Welcome to Episode 12 of Justice Studio Sessions. In this episode we discuss the situation for veterans in war torn Ukraine. The Russo-Ukrainian war, which began in 2014 and has escalated since 2022, is affecting the whole country. We delve into the experiences of the men and women fighting in the conflict, and how the different waves have affected their ability to reintegrate into society.

We are extremely lucky to be joined from Ukraine by Ivona Kostyna. Ivona is the co-founder of Veteran Hub and is a Kyiv-based expert in veterans affairs with nine years of practical experience designing and launching non-governmental programs of support for veterans and their families in Ukraine. She is also a spouse of a Ukrainian warrior.

As well as understanding how the conflict has affected the veterans and people currently, fighting in the war, we set out how this experience has affected the families of the veterans and how Ukrainians are having to acclimatise to continuing threat.

Links

Veterans Hub can be followed on the following platforms:

Website | Telegram | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Justice Studio’s website: www.justicestudio.org

Follow Justice Studio on Instagram: @justicestudio

Follow Justice Studio on Twitter: @justicestudio

Follow Marianne on Instagram @creatrix.london

Title Music by Luke Fraser @the_tonic_

Show Artwork by Marianne @creatrix.studio

Welcome to Episode 11 of Justice Studio Sessions. In this episode we look at the difficult instances of near deaths in male prisons in England. We discuss the adult male prison estate, the challenges it has faced over recent years, and the tragic violence within it.

Joining us for the discussion is Rob Allen who works on prison reform in the UK and internationally. From 2005 to 2010 he was director of the International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS) at King’s College London, undertaking research on imprisonment and assisting prison systems to comply with international standards. He has undertaken prison reform work in Africa, Latin America and Asia and is an associate of Penal Reform International. He has written widely on criminal justice including “Reducing the use of imprisonment: What can we learn from Europe?” He co-hosts the Transform Justice podcast.

Rob has undertaken a number of reviews into near deaths in the male prison estate in recent years and gives us an in depth picture of the circumstances around them. This difficult topic reveals deep issues with the prison system and culminates in our discussion about how prisons can be rethought.

Links

You can read Rob’s blogs at https://reformingprisons.blogspot.com/ and follow him on X (formerly twitter) @robroballen

The Article 2 Investigations Rob talked about on the podcast can be found at https://www.iapondeathsincustody.org/ac-report and

https://www.iapondeathsincustody.org/ad-report

Justice Studio’s website: www.justicestudio.org

Follow Justice Studio on Instagram: @justicestudio

Follow Justice Studio on Twitter: @justicestudio

Follow Marianne on Instagram @creatrix.london

Title Music by Luke Fraser @the_tonic_

Show Artwork by Marianne @creatrix.studio