Podcasting Social Justice: Dialoges of Resistances

Roberto Kulpa & Adrianna Zabrzewska

A podcast series about ‘anti-gender’ politics, a complex, multi-sided political and civil society movement threatening gender and sexual diversity. In each episode, we look at how campaigns against gender and sexual equality take shape in different places, how these ideas travel across borders and across party lines, and what they mean for everyday life. Along the way, we ask how these debates affect democracy and rights, from education and the media to academic freedoms, reproductive justice, and people’s ability to live and self-identify in safety. Across the episodes, we not only diagnose what is currently happening but also discuss how we may resist these ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations. You will hear from researchers as well as from feminist and queer organisers and collectives - together, these conversations map the solidarities and strategies that can help sustain pro-equality changes. *** This podcast series is based on the RESIST Project (2022-2026) (https://theresistproject.eu/) which examined ‘anti-gender’ politics and populisms as well as queer-feminist responses to these illiberal attacks on democracy. The study was conducted across several country cases: Belarus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the EU, as well as a transnational case of people living in exile in Europe. In the project, we have collaborated with 40 advocacy groups, experts, and public intellectuals (e.g. journalist, doctors, artists) to create space for shared learning and grounded knowledge that amplifies those voices who are too often pushed to the margins. *** Series Citation: Kulpa, R., & Zabrzewska, A. (2026). Podcasting Social Justice: Dialogues for Resistances (Podcast Series). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21676257 *** ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The frist two seasons of this podcast series draw on the RESIST Project, funded by the European Union under Project ID: 101060749. EU Horizon Europe (EU partners); UK Government Horizon Europe Guarantee Scheme (UK partner); Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (Swiss partners).  Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and guests only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or British and Swiss funding authorities. Neither the European Union nor the granting authorities can be held responsible for them. Podcast series was established thanks to the Knowledge Exchange grant, Edinburgh Napier University (2026).

Season 1

  1. Episode 1

    Knowledges: Anti-Gender Politics and Education

    What are the barriers to gender and sexual equality in higher education? What happens when “science,” “common sense,” and “neutrality” become political weapons? In this episode of Dialogues for Resistance, we explore how anti-gender politics targets knowledge itself: universities, classrooms, research, equality work, and the people who make these spaces more inclusive. We ask why gender and sexuality scholarship is so often framed as “ideology,” while anti-gender actors present their own moral and political claims as objective truth. From Poland to Germany and Hungary, we look at how these struggles reshape academic freedom, institutional safety, and everyday life — through complaints, censorship, intimidation, policy pressure, and attacks on equality work. But this is not only a story of backlash. It is also a story of resistance: of educators, researchers, students, and activists using policies, alliances, and solidarity to keep knowledge open, critical, and alive. Listen in to understand why the battle over knowledge is never just academic — and why defending it matters to us all. Keywords: epistemics, HEI, DEI, inclusive education, Gender Equality Plans, academia, gender equality, LGBTIQ+ rights Citation: Kulpa, R., & Zabrzewska, A. (2026). Knowledges: Anti-Gender Politics and Education (S01E01). Podcasting Social Justice: Dialogues for Resistances (Podcast Series). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22044884 Get in touch! CITING THE PODCAST SERIES: Kulpa, R., & Zabrzewska, A. (2026). Podcasting Social Justice: Dialogues for Resistances (Podcast Series). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21676257

  2. Episode 2

    Vulnerabilities: Weak Resistances and Precarity

    How does vulnerability become a source of strength in resistance? Is vulnerability really a weakness—or is it our most vital foundation for collective resistance? In this episode of Dialogues for Resistance, we unpack the politics of vulnerability amidst escalating “anti-gender” mobilisations across Europe. Moving past the illusion of the self-sufficient individual, in this episode we talk about intersectional precarity & burnout and why risk and exhaustion are structured unequally across gender, race, disability, and borders—and why care must redistribute labour. Then we take up Ewa Majewska’s concept of ‘weak resistance to discuss how everyday, non-heroic practices of maintenance and care sustain political movements. We also talk about weaponised grievance and how reactionary politics co-opts the language of protection and victimhood to justify exclusion and harassment. So join us and discover how reclaiming vulnerability as shared interdependence, rather than individual failure, provides the blueprint for durable coalitions and sustainable queer-feminist world-making. Keyword: protest, social justice, everyday resistance, activism, fragility, humanity Episode Citation: Kulpa, R., & Zabrzewska, A. (2026). Vulnerabilities: Weak Resistances and Precarity (S01E02). Podcasting Social Justice: Dialogues for Resistances (Podcast Series). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22048291 Get in touch! CITING THE PODCAST SERIES: Kulpa, R., & Zabrzewska, A. (2026). Podcasting Social Justice: Dialogues for Resistances (Podcast Series). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21676257

  3. Episode 3

    Affects: Emotions in Anti-Gender Movements and Queer Resistances

    How do emotions fuel anti-gender movements, and how can they fuel resistance too? What makes fear so politically powerful — and what happens when joy becomes a strategy of resistance? In this episode of Dialogues for Resistance, we explore how anti-gender movements mobilise emotions to shape public life. These campaigns do not rely on arguments alone: they manufacture moral panic, recruit fear and outrage, and turn children, families, and the nation into emotional symbols of threat. The result is not abstract. It affects how feminist, queer, trans, and racialised communities move through everyday life — producing vigilance, exhaustion, and shrinking spaces of freedom. But emotions do not belong only to reactionary politics. Joy, care, humour, anger, creativity, and collective resilience can also sustain resistance. They help communities refuse silence, survive hostility, and keep feminist and queer futures imaginable. Join us as we ask how emotions fuel anti-gender politics — and how they can also nourish solidarity, courage, and the desire to live otherwise. Keyword: affect, feelings, media panics, manipulation, anger, fear, love, care Episode Citation: Kulpa, R., & Zabrzewska, A. (2026). Vulnerabilities: Weak Resistances and Precarity (S01E02). Podcasting Social Justice: Dialogues for Resistances (Podcast Series). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22048336 Get in touch! CITING THE PODCAST SERIES: Kulpa, R., & Zabrzewska, A. (2026). Podcasting Social Justice: Dialogues for Resistances (Podcast Series). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21676257

  4. Episode 4

    Displacements: Queer Migration & Anti-Gender Politics

    What does queer migration look like day to day? Paperwork, barriers, and belonging... In this episode of Dialogues for Resistance, we move beyond headlines about migration “crises” and listen instead to the lived realities of queer, trans, feminist, and LGBTIQ+ people displaced by anti-gender politics. We ask what happens when staying becomes impossible — and when arrival does not yet mean safety. Through stories of persecution, border violence, asylum interviews, racism, bureaucracy, and life in exile, the episode explores how displacement is shaped not only by movement across borders, but by paperwork, waiting, fear, and the constant demand to prove one’s suffering. But this is not only a story of harm. It is also a story of care, friendship, and resistance: of migrant-led Pride spaces, queer refugee collectives, mutual aid, and “bubbles of safety” built when institutions fail. Join us for an episode about borders, belonging, survival — and the solidarities that make life possible in exile. Keyword: refugees, migrants, queer migrants, displacement, political repression, anti-feminism, anti-LGBTIQ+, homophobia, transphobia, racism, authoritarian regimes Episode Citation: Kulpa, R., & Zabrzewska, A. (2026). Vulnerabilities: Weak Resistances and Precarity (S01E02). Podcasting Social Justice: Dialogues for Resistances (Podcast Series). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22048374 Get in touch! CITING THE PODCAST SERIES: Kulpa, R., & Zabrzewska, A. (2026). Podcasting Social Justice: Dialogues for Resistances (Podcast Series). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21676257

  5. Season 1 Trailer

    Podcast Series Teaser

    Welcome to Podcasting Social Justice: Dialogues of Resistances — a podcast series about ‘anti-gender’, a complex, multi-sided political and civil society movement threatening gender and sexual diversity. In each episode, we look at how campaigns against gender and sexual equality take shape in different places, how these ideas travel across borders and across party lines, and what they mean for everyday life. Along the way, we ask how these debates affect democracy and rights, from education and the media to academic freedoms, reproductive justice, and people’s ability to live and self-identify in safety. Get in touch! CITING THE PODCAST SERIES: Kulpa, R., & Zabrzewska, A. (2026). Podcasting Social Justice: Dialogues for Resistances (Podcast Series). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21676257

Trailer

About

A podcast series about ‘anti-gender’ politics, a complex, multi-sided political and civil society movement threatening gender and sexual diversity. In each episode, we look at how campaigns against gender and sexual equality take shape in different places, how these ideas travel across borders and across party lines, and what they mean for everyday life. Along the way, we ask how these debates affect democracy and rights, from education and the media to academic freedoms, reproductive justice, and people’s ability to live and self-identify in safety. Across the episodes, we not only diagnose what is currently happening but also discuss how we may resist these ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations. You will hear from researchers as well as from feminist and queer organisers and collectives - together, these conversations map the solidarities and strategies that can help sustain pro-equality changes. *** This podcast series is based on the RESIST Project (2022-2026) (https://theresistproject.eu/) which examined ‘anti-gender’ politics and populisms as well as queer-feminist responses to these illiberal attacks on democracy. The study was conducted across several country cases: Belarus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the EU, as well as a transnational case of people living in exile in Europe. In the project, we have collaborated with 40 advocacy groups, experts, and public intellectuals (e.g. journalist, doctors, artists) to create space for shared learning and grounded knowledge that amplifies those voices who are too often pushed to the margins. *** Series Citation: Kulpa, R., & Zabrzewska, A. (2026). Podcasting Social Justice: Dialogues for Resistances (Podcast Series). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21676257 *** ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The frist two seasons of this podcast series draw on the RESIST Project, funded by the European Union under Project ID: 101060749. EU Horizon Europe (EU partners); UK Government Horizon Europe Guarantee Scheme (UK partner); Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (Swiss partners).  Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and guests only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or British and Swiss funding authorities. Neither the European Union nor the granting authorities can be held responsible for them. Podcast series was established thanks to the Knowledge Exchange grant, Edinburgh Napier University (2026).

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