PODCAST · society
Centre Stage
by Al Jazeera Media Network
Centre Stage is an interview podcast where influential thought leaders share their perspectives on pressing world issues.
Episodes
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Ons Jabeur on Gaza, gender and speaking up in sport
Tunisian tennis player Ons Jabeur opens up about challenges on the court, athletes speaking out and having her first child. Ons Jabeur is the Qatar Foundation international ambassador of its Creating Pathways program. The five-sport program that aims to expand opportunities for women and girls,...
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The war on UNRWA: Gaza and the erosion of intl law
Since October 2023, UNRWA has faced attacks by Israel’s government, funding cuts from the US, and legal cases questioning the organisation's neutrality. During that time, Israeli forces have killed more than 380 UNRWA staff in Gaza. In this episode of Centre Stage, Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Hassan...
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Foreign influence & Somalia’s fight for unity
In this episode of Centre Stage, Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Hassan speaks with Ali Omar, Somalia’s minister of state for foreign affairs, about Somaliland’s secession bid backed by Israel, the fight against al-Shabab and Somalia’s break with the UAE.
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The challenge of transitional justice
In this episode of Centre Stage, lawyer and international justice expert Ruben Carranza says that who stands trial at the ICC reflects the priorities of the countries enforcing its mandates and reflects on his work in the Philippines and elsewhere helping institute transitional justice…
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The 1930s 2.0 & the collapse of American soft power
In this episode of Centre Stage, political philosopher and historian Roy Casagranda delivers a sharp analysis of the US. He explains why the US is increasingly relying on military and economic coercion, and why the global landscape today feels eerily like the “1930s 2.0”. This episode is hosted…
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Trita Parsi on Iran, the US and the Middle East
Iranian-born author and professor Trita Parsi joins Centre Stage to unpack the history between the US and Iran, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Washington's role as a strategic player in an increasingly divided world. He also breaks down Tehran’s relationships with groups like Hezbollah and Hamas…
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Fired Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah on free speech
In this episode of Centre Stage, our guest is journalist Karen Attiah. The Washington Post fired Attiah in September from her role as Global Opinions editor over one of her social media posts. It was written in the aftermath of the assassination of American right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk....
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Beyond the rubble: The cost of a Palestinian state
Dr Mohammed Mustafa joins Centre Stage to talk about the horrific realities he witnessed during his volunteer postings in Gaza. The Australian emergency physician of Palestinian heritage witnessed first-hand Israel’s war on Gaza and discusses the immense pressure of making life-and-death…
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Mozambique at 50: A conversation with President Chapo
Fifty years after independence, Mozambique is navigating the challenges of a young democracy—from conflict and displacement to the urgent need for inclusive development. President Chapo shares how he’s tackling these issues while working to position Mozambique as a key player in Southern Africa.…
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Mary Trump on politics, power and the future of US democracy
Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist, bestselling author and niece of US President Donald Trump, joins Centre Stage to offer her analysis of her uncle’s influence on US politics, the evolution of the Republican Party and what the 2025 elections revealed about the state and future of US democracy....
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Bearing witness: A doctor’s reckoning with Gaza
Dr Mimi Syed, a US emergency physician, joins Centre Stage to talk about the horrific reality she witnessed during her two trips to Gaza in 2024. She shares evidence she says indicates the Israeli military is deliberately targeting children, the stories she carries from the patients and families...
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The importance of preserving Palestinian archives
In this episode of Centre Stage, our guest is Zach Foster, a Jewish historian of Palestine. He joins us to discuss his work on preserving Palestinian maps and archival materials, despite the deliberate destruction of archives by Israel. Foster explains his journey from growing up in a Zionist...
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The West’s 'principles fall apart' over Palestine
French political analyst Francois Burgat was charged with supporting terrorism over a social media post he shared, which included a statement by Hamas. He was later acquitted. Burgat joins Centre Stage to unpack the case, the politics behind it, and what he believes it reveals about free speech…
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When justice fails: Genocide and colonialism in Palestine
Rula Shadid, discusses the global perception of Palestine and Western complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube
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Progress, Secularism and the Orientalist Gaze
Olivier Roy, a professor of Orientalism, talks about the roots of Orientalism and the enduring myth of how only the West represents progress. From colonial-era narratives to modern-day politics, Roy explores how the Global South is still perceived through a Eurocentric lens — and what that says...
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Gabor Mate on trauma and Palestinian suffering
In this episode of Centre Stage, our guest is Dr Gabor Mate, a retired physician, author and Holocaust survivor who has written extensively on trauma and child development, as well as Israel and Palestine. Mate talks about the colonial foundations of Zionism, how living under it has traumatised...
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Norman Finkelstein on identity politics, free speech and pro-Palestine protests
In this episode of Centre Stage, our guest is scholar and activist Norman Finkelstein. He discusses his latest book on the role of identity politics in the repression of campus protests in support of Palestine. Finkelstein explores how contradictions in wokeism are being weaponised against the...
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Jeremy Corbyn on Gaza and Britain’s Imperial Legacy
Jeremy Corbyn, an Independent MP in the UK Parliament, has long fought for economic justice, peace and a British foreign policy that tries to atone for its imperial legacy. In this episode, he talks about the cost of standing with Palestine, and why Europe may need to unite against a US-led trade...
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The White House vs US universities
Harvard fights back against the administration’s cuts — will it succeed? Andrew Manuel Crespo, lead counsel for Harvard’s faculty, discusses the administration’s assault on US higher education Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
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Ralph Wilde on the ICJ & why Israeli occupation must end
International lawyer Ralph Wilde joins Centre Stage to talk about the 2024 landmark ruling by the International Court of Justice that deems Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories illegal — and why it must cease immediately. Wilde provides detailed analysis, which he presented to the...
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Nathan Thrall confronts Israel’s occupation
Pulitzer Prize winning author Nathan Thrall joins Centre Stage to talk about how his experiences, working and living in Israel, Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, drove him to write, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama. Witnessing the discrimination and subjugation of Palestinians, Thrall...
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World order at a 'tipping point'
In this episode of Centre Stage, our guest is Humza Yousaf, the former first minister of Scotland who made history as the first Muslim to lead a Western country. Yousaf talks about the challenges of being an ethnic-minority leader in an often hostile political climate, the rise of the far-right…
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Syria: The rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
Patrick Haenni, an author and researcher specialising in Syria, shares his expertise on Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Haenni discusses HTS’s origins and ideological transformation and reveals how the armed group played a key role in achieving what no other faction could — ending the Assad regime. Connect...
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The difficulty of working as a medic in Gaza
British plastic surgeon, Dr Victoria Rose, travelled to Gaza twice this year to provide life-saving medical care to children wounded by the genocide in Gaza. Rose talks about her difficult experiences of working in the Gaza Strip despite the continued attacks on healthcare facilities and medics…
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Why protests are a manifestation of power
In this episode of Centre Stage, our guest is Palestinian American activist and adjunct professor Amin Husain. New York University suspended Husain indefinitely for statements he made off campus about Palestine. Husain is also the founder of Decolonize This Place, an art collective that promotes...
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Politics, policies & power: John Mearsheimer’s blunt analysis
John Mearsheimer is a political scientist and influential scholar in international relations who is best known for his theory of offensive realism. Mearsheimer talks to Al Jazeera’s Rawaa Auge about the wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Lebanon and how global and regional powers support and arm the...
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Adversarial journalism: Gaza, The US vote and the future of news
Jeremy Scahill is an American investigative journalist and author. He co-founded Drop Site News, a non-partisan organisation dedicated to reporting on major stories while focused on accountability and accuracy. Scahill joins Al Jazeera’s Phil Lavelle, to dissect the 2024 US presidential election,...
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Presidential candidate Chase Oliver wants to disrupt US politics
Chase Oliver is the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate in the 2024 US election. He joins Centre Stage to talk to Al Jazeera’s Phil Lavelle about why having more voting options is important, and what the US would be like under Libertarian governance. Oliver also offers his take on US…
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US election 2024: The Arab American reality
Arab Americans are expected to play a critical role in the upcoming US presidential election. And, while they’ve traditionally voted Democrat, that seems to be changing, leading some to talk about a political chasm within the Arab American community in the wake of Israel’s war on Gaza, and…
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Aafia Siddiqui: 'Victim of all victims' | Part 2
In part 2 of this episode of Centre Stage, we conclude our interview with Clive Stafford Smith, a civil rights lawyer who represents Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani American woman serving an 86-year prison sentence — a victim, says Stafford Smith, of the United States’s so-called “war on terror”. In...
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Aafia Siddiqui: 'Victim of all victims' | Part I
In part 1 of this episode of Centre Stage, our guest is Clive Stafford Smith, a civil rights lawyer and legal counsel for many of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. His best-known client is Aafia Siddiqui, who he says is a victim of circumstance, and should never have ended up on the FBI’s Most...
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The Bosnian Genocide and Gaza War: Drawing Parallels
Refik Hodzic is a journalist, filmmaker and an expert in transitional justice who has also worked as a spokesperson for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Hodzic joins us on Centre Stage, where he draws parallels between the Bosnian genocide and the war in Gaza,...
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Is the Western model of governance collapsing?
In this episode of Centre Stage, our guest is veteran journalist and editor-in-chief of The Middle East Eye, David Hearst. His career spans decades of reporting on Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Hearst talks about why he thinks we’re currently witnessing the collapse of the Western...
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We need leaders who see past their own interests
The trailblazing leader of Slovenia who became the country’s first female president did it without the backing of a political party. President Natasa Pirc Musar had a diverse career as an attorney, journalist and former information commissioner. A staunch advocate for human rights, President…
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‘Arab volcanoes’ will erupt
In this episode of Centre Stage, the former president of Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki, explains how being a medical doctor has helped shape his political career, and why the Arab Spring has been a failure — “everywhere”. Moncef Marzouki was Tunisia’s first president after the Arab Spring uprisings.…
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A world where ‘self-defence’ is used as justification for genocide
For six months, people have watched Israel’s war on Gaza and heard words like genocide, apartheid, and ICJ become part of the daily news lexicon. For some, it can be difficult to follow and fully understand. Noura Erakat is a human rights attorney, an associate professor at Rutgers University…
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Israel is "given a pass" by the international community
Diana Buttu is an international lawyer, a former legal adviser to the PLO, and a staunch defender of the Palestinian cause. Buttu debunks the myth that hostilities in Gaza began only after the October 7 attacks, looks at what’s behind the defunding of UNRWA, and challenges Israel’s often-repeated...
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Israel’s law-of-the-jungle approach betrays humankind
Mustafa Barghouti joins us on Centre Stage. He talks with to us about confronting Israeli oppression, the realities of what he calls Israel’s “system of fascists” and he hints at his political future. In this episode: Mustafa Barghouti (@MustafaBarghou1), secretary general and co-founder of the...
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In Gaza now, it’s worse than ethnic cleansing
In this episode of Centre Stage, our guest is Ilan Pappé. He’s an Israeli historian and professor at the University of Exeter. Pappé is known for his outspoken views on the Israeli-Palestinian question - drawing both praise and criticism. He’s the author of several books including "The Ethnic...
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Politics without respect for international law risks to be criminal
In this episode of Centre Stage, our guest is UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese. She is an international lawyer with a focus on human rights, migration and the displacement of refugees. Albanese has been vocal and critical of Israel and its partners....
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The overlooked significance of Christians in the Holy Land
In this episode of Centre Stage, Harry Hagopian talks about the interfaith mosaic of Islam, Judaism and Christianity within the Israel-Palestine context and describes his role during the Oslo Accords. He also sheds light on the often forgotten, if not also overlooked or neglected, indigenous...
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Documenting Israel’s War Crimes
Omar Shakir is the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. He has spent years documenting and investigating human rights abuses and Israeli crimes against humanity across Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories. He joins us to explain the processes and difficulties in…
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Religion used as an 'excuse' in Gaza war
Dr. Omar Suleiman talks about the oppression of pro-Palestinian voices in the West, the growing Islamophobia and how it lends itself to racism. In this episode: Dr. Omar Suleiman (@omarsuleiman504), American Muslim scholar and civil rights leader Dareen Abughaida (@DareenAG), Principal Presenter…
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The collapse of liberal democracies
We sit down with Peter Oborne to discuss the role of the media in shaping the narrative around the war on Gaza and the growing divide in the West between political stance and public opinion. Oborne has authored several books including The Rise of Political Lying and The Triumph of the Political...
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Former Israeli negotiator's perspective on the war in Gaza
We sit down with former Israeli negotiator Daniel Levy to discuss the war in Gaza from historical, inter-faith, and geopolitical perspectives. Levy served under Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin during Oslo B negotiations. He also discusses the Palestinian right of…
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Palestine's envoy to UK discusses the past, present and future for his people
In this episode, we hear from Palestine’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Husam Zomlot as he reflects on the war in Gaza, the double standards it exposed, the road to peace and responds to questions about Palestinian leadership and the decades-long aspiration for statehood and…
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It's a war on children
In this episode of Centre Stage, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta shares his experience as a surgeon in different hospitals in Gaza during the ongoing Israeli war. Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta is one of the world’s leading specialists in plastic and reconstructive surgery. The British-Palestinian surgeon is a...
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Islamic Roots of Modern Psychology
In this episode, Dr. Rania Awaad explores modern psychology concepts in Islamic tradition, modern psychology and spirituality, and psychology in traditional Islamic medical literature. She is a recognized leader in Muslim mental health in the United States. She has pioneered by establishing the...
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Muslim women’s image in media
In this episode of Centre Stage, Sarah Joseph explores issues related to the representation of Muslim women in mainstream media. We discuss the common tropes and stereotypes, and what needs to be done to alter this image in media. Sarah Joseph is an influential powerhouse in Muslim Media who is…
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Being Muslim in the UK's government
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi talks with Jamal Elshayyal about her Pakistani heritage and her illustrious career at the heart of British politics. They cover a wide range of subjects, from her humble Yorkshire beginnings to the many rights of women in Islam, and why she chose to join the centre-right...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Centre Stage is an interview podcast where influential thought leaders share their perspectives on pressing world issues.
HOSTED BY
Al Jazeera Media Network
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Centre Stage have?
Centre Stage currently has 54 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Centre Stage about?
Centre Stage is an interview podcast where influential thought leaders share their perspectives on pressing world issues.
How often does Centre Stage release new episodes?
Centre Stage has 54 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Centre Stage?
You can listen to Centre Stage on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Centre Stage?
Centre Stage is created and hosted by Al Jazeera Media Network.
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