PUSHBACK Talks

There is a Monster taking over our cities. No one knows its name, and few have seen it, but it's at the heart of the global housing crisis. In this first episode, Fredrik -the Filmmaker - and Leilani - the Advocate - provide a swift overview of the global financial actors who have taken over our homes and turned them into commodities. You’ll hear excerpts from the film PUSH www.pushthefilm...

In this episode, the Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss the rage that is popping up in cities around the world right now and ask: WHY ARE PEOPLE SO ANGRY? WHAT'S HOUSING GOT TO DO WITH IT?

In response to the Global Financial Crisis of '08, governments sided with the banks instead of homeowners. Suddenly people’s homes became 'distressed assets' and were purchased en masse by hedge funds to grow their capital...

Whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, Airbnb has had a huge impact on housing in global cities. In this episode the Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss the irony of a start-up that was originally established to help three guys pay their rent in San Francisco has turned into a 27 billion dollar business that has resulted in evictions and has decreased affordable housing stock in cities across the globe...

The Filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten and The Advocate, Leilani Farha discover that a plant-based milk company, Oatly, sold 10% of the company to Blackstone for USD $200 million. Yep, that’s the same Blackstone featured in PUSH – the award winning documentary film by Fredrik, that features Leilani. The same Blackstone accused by Leilani in her role as UN Special Rapporteur for violating the right to housing of tenants in countries around the world...

The Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss the global pandemic and its direct and undeniable relationship to housing. Not only did the pandemic lay bare the global housing crisis, it has provided a once in a generation opportunity to solve it...

The Filmmaker and the Advocate take a dive into dark money – money made from illicit activities like drug trafficking, refugee smuggling, and illegal arms sales. In PUSH-the film Italian journalist and author of Gomorrah, Roberto Saviano, explains that “it’s in the tax havens where legal and illegal capitalism meet and merge”. In other words, tax havens that were originally set up to hide criminal money, are now a natural part of any global business...

PUSH, directed by the Filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten opened to sold out audiences in Copenhagen and Toronto in the spring of 2019. PUSH is a multi-award winning documentary that has changed our understanding of the root causes of the global housing crisis. The film features the Advocate, Leilani Farha, then the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing...

You can’t squeeze water out of a stone, and you can’t squeeze money out of people who don’t have any.  

This episode of PUSHBACK Talks focuses on EVICTION: the brutal action taking place across the planet, where millions of people, from India to the US, are being kicked out of their homes, often with nowhere to go. And the threat is only increasing. 40 million Americans are one month away from eviction...

The Filmmaker and The Advocate explore whether it’s actually gentrification that’s ruining our neighbourhoods or something else. Fredrik fiercely defends the rise of cortados (and bike lanes!) in neighbourhoods across the world and Leilani discusses the failures of New York’s High Line. With inspiration from clips of the always brilliant Prof...

Golden Visas - backdoor entry into Europe for the corrupt and wealthy. Money can't buy you love but it can buy a passport!

In this episode The Filmmaker and The Advocate explore the dark world of Golden Visas which emerged after the Global Financial Crisis on the advice of the IMF and the Central European Bank as a way for economically failing countries to access big cash...