UNAPOLOGETIC with Ashfaaq Carim

Episode 83 - Cenk Uygur on being banned by the UK and how it shows that the West has fallen | UNAPOLOGETIC

Cenk Uygur, founder of The Young Turks, was banned from entering the UK hours before this conversation - blocked by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood for criticising Israel. We speak to him live about what his ban indicates about the West's accelerating collapse, how governments are criminalising dissent on behalf of a foreign state, and whether the freedoms the West claims to stand for are already slipping away.

Episode 82 - How the establishment made the far right respectable | Daniel Trilling | UNAPOLOGETIC

In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, we sit down with Daniel Trilling - journalist and author of If We Tolerate This: How the British Establishment Made the Far Right Respectable. We discuss who is actually responsible for the rise of the far right and how dangerous the global far right rise could be for freedoms across the globe. From Trump's assault on democratic institutions to Orban gutting Hungary's free press, Modi's rise during a period of extraordinary economic growth to Reform's promises of a British ICE - Trilling maps a global pattern of far right movements exploiting the failures of a governing class that never saw it coming, or simply didn't care. In the UK, he traces how David Cameron opened the door, Rishi Sunak presided over the ruins, and Keir Starmer arrived without a plan - leaving Nigel Farage as the unlikely beneficiary of decades of establishment failure. Could Farage be the next prime minister? What would a Reform government actually look like? And can any of this be stopped? UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim

Episode 81 - Is Elon Musk a white nationalist? We asked his father | Errol Musk | UNAPOLOGETIC

UNAPOLOGETIC spoke to Errol Musk, father of Elon Musk, and the result is a conversation is an interesting foray into where ideology is formed and where it is inherited. Errol traces his journey from post-war poverty to building a life of considerable wealth and takes credit for funding the very first company Elon and Kimball started in 1995. But it is his views on race, politics and identity that are likely to stay with you longest and defines the conversation. He reflects on post-apartheid South Africa in terms that invite direct challenge, describing the country under a black government as being "in a terrible state" and expressing views on land, farming and black economic capability that are difficult to swallow and that are challenged directly throughout. On Tommy Robinson, Errol is equally direct. He defends the Musk family's financial support for Robinson's legal fees, calls him "a political prisoner," compares him to Mandela, a comparison that is contested at length, and suggests he will "very likely, very possibly one day" be prime minister of England. His views on immigration lead to a metaphor that, once heard, is difficult to forget. We also put to Errol the words Elon himself has used to describe his father, "a terrible human being" who has done "every crime you can possibly think of," and take some time to examine how their relationship has evolved over the years, from the early decades in which Errol was the provider, to where things stand today. Draw your own conclusions. UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim

Episode 80 - How Israel's Genocide Is Turning Jews Against Zionism | Simone Zimmerman | UNAPOLOGETIC

"Palestinians are just the canvas upon which the Jewish psychodrama takes place." Simone Zimmerman, co-founder of IfNotNow and subject of the documentary Israelism, joins UNAPOLOGETIC to examine how Israel's genocide in Gaza has reshaped Jewish identity and politics. Simone traces her own journey from committed Zionist to anti-Zionist activist, describing the personal and communal ruptures that followed. She argues that the decades-long fusion of Zionism with Judaism has been a catastrophe for Jewish life globally, and that Israel's genocide has made liberal Zionism untenable. The conversation also tackles the growing anti-Israel voices within MAGA - and why, despite tactical overlaps on ending military aid, figures like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens represent a fundamentally different and dangerous political project that the pro-Palestinian movement should not mistake for solidarity. Drawing on Palestinian writer Tariq Baconi, Zimmerman makes a stark argument: that for too much of the Jewish establishment, "Palestinians are just the canvas upon which the Jewish psychodrama takes place." UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim.

Episode 79 - How US-Israeli aggression may unite Iran, Turkey & the Arab World | Hassan Ahmadian | UNAPOLOGETIC

In this episode of Unapologetic, Hassan Ahmadian, political scientist at the University of Tehran, argues that US-Israeli aggression may inadvertently bring Iran, Turkey and the Arab world closer together. Ahmadian explains why Iran views every negotiation with Washington through the lens of betrayal, and why Tehran sees caving to Trump and Netanyahu as a worse outcome than war itself. He also explains how control of the Strait of Hormuz has handed Iran a card that no amount of US military hardware can easily beat. The conversation covers how Iran actually makes its biggest decisions, especially now after its former leadership has been decapitated, the long and complicated relationship between Iran and the Arab world, and what Israel's drift towards extremism ultimately means for its own survival and how their persistent violence is showing all the actors in the region why they need to look to each other for stability. UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim.