Mo Salah, Bono and how language became the spearhead of a genocide
“If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.” These words were published on Anas Al-Sharif’s X account after his death. Sharif was a journalist with Al Jazeera and he was killed by Israel while in a tent for journalists outside a hospital in Gaza.The headlines said that ‘global outrage’ was mounting over the killing of Sharif and six others, but what does that mean?How is that outrage has become so pointless, lacking as it does nothing but the weasel words of support from western governments?On Free State today, Dion and Joe ask if words can help at this point? They look at the post on X from Mo Salah and the impact it had and they consider the statements from Bono and U2.Why does one have the power to make a difference and the other does nothing except salve the conscience of a rock star activist who has stayed silent for too long?Why do the words of Anas Al-Sharif haunt us and the words from Bono remind us of how the west has failed? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Replacing the shit with something better. Tim McGabhann on his journey from addiction to salvation.
‘I probably need to start with the s***,’ Tim MacGabhann writes in his memoir.On Free State today, Tim MacGabhann talks about the shit and the salvation.His book is a story of addiction and recovery, a life trying to find something and then finding it in the place he didn’t think it would be.It’s a story of replacing the s*** with something better. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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When Ali met Ireland
When Muhammad Ali visited Ireland in 1972, the country was a different place.Nobody believed the greatest sportsman the world has ever seen would fight in Dublin except the men who made it possible.On Free State today Dave Hannigan tells talks about his book The Big Fight - When Ali Conquered Ireland. It is a tale of men with dreams from Kerry and Brooklyn who made it happen. It is also a story of how Ali responded to the unconditional love he encountered and how it changed him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Through a Glass Darkly. The sobering of Dion Fanning
As Dion celebrates a personal milestone, on Free State today Joe and Dion look at how to live without drink.They consider how dark it can get for those on the other side and what helps people become free.Joe reflects on those he has seen struggle with alcohol and those he has seen create a new and rewarding life for themselves. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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A summer on the brink
In the summer of 1976, the world was a different place.In Ireland and Britain, it was a summer of a heatwave. But were there cultural and political changes brought about by the long hot summer of 1976? On Free State today John Williams, author of a new book Heatwave - the Summer of 1976, Britain at Boiling Point, is our guest. John tells us how that summer changed a country and how the heatwave brought people to the brink in ways nobody could have imagined. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Free State is a podcast for the curious that stimulates, provokes, challenges and entertains, while never taking itself too seriously. Free State covers topics from sport to politics, love to loss, the human condition and how to fix the world, with guests from across the planet including Nigerian princes, former Prime Ministers, ex convicts, footballers, boxers and extraordinary people from every walk of life. Free State is presented by Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning. Brolly is a barrister, an original thinker with a fascinating backstory, who donated a kidney to a stranger and then led a crusade to transform organ donation on the island of Ireland, and Fanning is an award-winning interviewer and author. They are not motivational gurus or life coaches. They will never try to sell you a penis scented candle. They are two people from very different worlds, with one core belief uniting them - this is not a high performance podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ireland