Sally Warhaft, Shashi Tharoor and Meena Kandasamy — Photo: Sophie Quick

In 2014, Narendra Modi swept into power as Prime Minister of India; he did so on a pro-business, pro-development platform and on a wave of Hindu nationalism.

It was a spectacular victory and, if the decisive recent state election results for his party in Uttar Pradesh are any indication, he remains a popular figure with many Indians – around 80% of whom are Hindus – several years into his leadership.

But India is a country with significant populations of religious minorities. Among other religious groups, especially Muslims, and among some concerned Hindu Indians too, there is deep concern about the rising tide of Hindu nationalism in the population. Of particular concern are Modi’s alignment with the extremist nationalist groups, his history of turning a blind-eye to acts of right-wing violence and vigilantism and the growing culture of media censorship.

Join authors Shashi Tharoor and Meena Kandasamy as they talk politics and religion in the world’s largest democracy, with host Sally Warhaft.

Presented in partnership with Melbourne Writers Festival.

Photo: Sophie Quick

Tim Flannery

Wherever you are in Australia – whether it’s warm or cold, overcast or painfully bright – you are exposed to more sunlight than anywhere else in the world. There is no doubt that this is Australia’s biggest potential resource. The problem? We haven’t really had the technology to harness it as a primary energy source. Until now.

In his latest book, Sunlight and Seaweed, acclaimed climate scientist and author Tim Flannery opens our eyes to some heartening technological breakthroughs. Like how ‘intense heat energy’ use and storage may overcome the thorny issue of producing electricity on overcast days. And how – with temperatures set to rise at alarming rates and carbon removal becoming as important as carbon reduction – a tasty, ribbon-like seaweed may just be the banner of our collective salvation.

Join Tim Flannery for a climate change discussion that offers more than a little ray of hope, hosted by Hilary Harper.

Abdul Aziz Muhamat and Michael Green on Manus Island — (Photo: Behrouz Boochani)

'Freedom is not free. You have to pay for it. And we pay; now we are paying for our freedoms.'

Abdul Aziz Muhamat

Just before Christmas of 2016, Aziz is transferred to Port Moresby for knee surgery. With better phone reception, Michael and Aziz share a long phone call in which they reflect on the year that’s ending, the holiday season and the months since they met face to face on Manus Island.

The change in Aziz’s circumstances is only temporary, but it’s still a change – and the call feels like a rare break in the clouds. But just two days later – on Christmas Day – Michael hears news that Aziz’s friend and fellow Sudanese detainee, Faysal Ishak Ahmed, has died.

Transcript

A transcript of this episode is coming soon.

In this episode

Abdul Aziz Muhamat

Michael Green

Our theme music was composed by Raya Slavin. Music used in this episode includes ‘Passage’ by Oren Ambarchi, ‘We Let the “S” Hang in the Air’ by Brokeback, ‘Pulcinella’ by Kazumasa Hashimoto, ‘How Now (1968) for Piano’ by Philip Glass, ‘Meditation’ by Lori Scacco, ‘Waltz for Aidan’ by Mogwai, ‘Mandarinerna’ by Kim Hiorthøy, ‘Future Light’ by Nick Huggins, ‘Non Song’ by To Rococo Rot, ‘Momento’ by Murcof, ‘Initial Gesture Protraction’ by Tortoise, ‘Trace’ by Rhythm&Sound, ‘Under the Roof’ by Colleen and ‘I Found the End’ by Broadcast.

More information

The Messenger is a co-production of Behind the Wire and the Wheeler Centre. It’s produced by Michael Green, André Dao, Hannah Reich and Bec Fary, with Jon Tjhia and Sophie Black at the Wheeler Centre.

Narration by Michael Green. With reporting by Abdul Aziz Muhamat. Additional fact checking by the Guardian's Ben Doherty; transcription by Claire McGregor, Carolyn Turner, Eugenia Zoubtchenko and many more​. This episode was edited and mixed by Bec Fary and Jon Tjhia.

Thank you

Dana Affleck, Angelica Neville and Sienna Merope. Also to Behind the Wire’s many participants and volunteers. Behind the Wire is supported by the Bertha Foundation.

Judith Brett

Alfred Deakin, Australia’s second Prime Minister, spent 32 years in politics. Renowned for his oratorical ability, superb negotiation skills and workable minority governments, he served as Prime Minister for three separate terms in the turbulent first decade of the new Commonwealth.

As questions of dual citizenship threaten the Commonwealth Government’s majority today, Sally Warhaft speaks to Judith Brett about Deakin’s legacy and the link between the early days of federated Australia and the contemporary situation.

What does it take to govern successfully without a majority? And, if minority governments are the norm in many advanced democracies, why does the prospect loom as a bogeyman in Australian public conversation?

Sally Warhaft and Judith Brett

Robert Fisk, Timothy Lynch and Sally Warhaft — Photo: Emily Harms

The Syrian War is the most deadly conflict we’ve seen in the 21st Century so far.

And with 12 million Syrians displaced since 2011 and world powers intervening on all sides – it’s far from a regional problem. The Syrian War is a crisis with ramifications that reach across the globe.

Now in its seventh year, the conflict that began during the Arab Spring has become appallingly complex. The involvement of world and regional powers has served to intensify and prolong the hostilities, turning Syria into a proxy battleground, and casting the possibility of peace further into the distance.

For this Fifth Estate episode, recorded live at the Melbourne Writers Festival, join the Independent’s revered correspondent Robert Fisk and American politics expert Timothy Lynch for a discussion of foreign political involvement in the region. How are the interventions of world and regional powers exacerbating the conflict? Who are the various rebel groups involved and what are their activities in other parts of the region? How are global dynamics shifting – and are we witnessing the collapse of American power in the Middle East?