80 episodes

Each month brings a new president to the UN Security Council and each month PassBlue talks to the diplomats and the experts to give you insight into the stakeholders and the agenda. Our podcast takes you inside the United Nations and beyond the carefully written policy speeches to where the real work is being done: the unscripted debates on the most pressing issues of our time. Hosted by PassBlue reporters Damilola Banjo and Kelechukwu Ogu. Available on iTunes, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

PassBlue is an independent, women-led digital publication offering in-depth journalism on the US-UN relationship and its effects on women’s issues, human rights, peacekeeping and other urgent global matters, as reported from our base in the UN press corps. Founded in 2011, PassBlue is a project of the New School, and not tied financially or otherwise to the UN.

PassBlue UN Podcasts PassBlue UN Podcasts

    • News
    • 4.4 • 12 Ratings

Each month brings a new president to the UN Security Council and each month PassBlue talks to the diplomats and the experts to give you insight into the stakeholders and the agenda. Our podcast takes you inside the United Nations and beyond the carefully written policy speeches to where the real work is being done: the unscripted debates on the most pressing issues of our time. Hosted by PassBlue reporters Damilola Banjo and Kelechukwu Ogu. Available on iTunes, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

PassBlue is an independent, women-led digital publication offering in-depth journalism on the US-UN relationship and its effects on women’s issues, human rights, peacekeeping and other urgent global matters, as reported from our base in the UN press corps. Founded in 2011, PassBlue is a project of the New School, and not tied financially or otherwise to the UN.

    March: Japan Says the UN Security Council Is Struggling

    March: Japan Says the UN Security Council Is Struggling

    Japan's dual focus for its UN Security Council presidency – preventing conflicts as well as nuclear disarmament – align with its foreign policy and history of nuclear disasters but as it leads the Council for this month, Ambassador Yamazaki says the Security Council is struggling with its main job of building peace and preventing violent disputes.

    Seton Hull link: www.shu.edu/diplomacy/visiting.html
    GC tv link: www.globalconnectionstelevision.com/

    • 11 min
    Act of Creation - A Question of Faith

    Act of Creation - A Question of Faith

    The UN CHARTER: A Question of Faith

    “The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

    SAN FRANCISCO -- Our third and final episode of the podcast series “Act of Creation” is ready for your ears. It’s a fitting end to a great journey. Episode 1 looks at the years leading up to the famous San Francisco Conference of 1945, when the Charter was signed and the United Nations was born; the episode then moves up to the Conference’s opening day on April 24. Episode 2 dives into the Conference itself, showing the intense diplomatic maneuvering as well as the ambitious intentions that were needed to turn the Charter into a reality. Now, in Episode 3, we start on the day the Charter was signed and celebrated, June 26, 1945, and then take listeners decade by decade into the Charter’s future.

    In this episode, Stephen Schlesinger, the American historian and author of the book “Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations,” does a stellar job of telling that story, spinning through the decades. We see more examples of international drama and exceptional leadership as well as their opposite. You’ll hear the ideas and voices of such figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, Kofi Annan, Harry Truman and Dag Hammarskjold. They weave and bob in the large, deep mental space created by Schlesinger’s brilliant point of view, both wickedly intelligent and often surprisingly poignant. Perhaps most movingly for me, and at first unexpected, is hearing the aural unfolding of humanity’s profoundest values.

    The story of the founding of the UN, besides being riveting, entertaining and filled with vivid personalities, parades these values at the only moment in time –arguably-- where the entire world was paying attention: the end of World War II. These values and ideals may seem naïve to some listeners now, but when you hear them echoing loudly from the past, the words by St. Paul in our title may seem stubbornly wise and solidly reasonable. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Our hope is that this final episode provides resonance to these words and demonstrates the persistent power of ideals not yet realized: a clarion call for all of us to get to work.

    Many thanks to Schlesinger for sharing these tales with such good will and tremendous smarts, and to Dulcie Leimbach, a founder, with Barbara Crossette, of PassBlue and the executive producer of this series, for her insights, encouragement and patience! Two truth warriors fighting the fight every day, it’s been my honor and great pleasure to have been able to work alongside them for these last couple years.

    Thanks to all for listening. We look forward to your feedback: info@passblue.com.

    DAN BECKER, producer and composer

    • 36 min
    February: Guyana Is Not Giving Up on a Ceasefire in Gaza

    February: Guyana Is Not Giving Up on a Ceasefire in Gaza

    Guyana may not not want a permanent seat in the UN Security Council but it definitely wants a ceasefire in Gaza "as soon as possible." As rotating president for February, the country's ambassador to the UN, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, tells PassBlue that another top priority for the month is impressing on the world how climate change affects food security and, ultimately, global peace. She also touches on Guyana's territorial disputes with Venezuela.

    Seton Hull link: www.shu.edu/diplomacy/visiting.html
    GC tv link: www.globalconnectionstelevision.com/

    • 13 min
    January: Palestine's Desire for Statehood Can't Be Ignored, France's UN Envoy Says

    January: Palestine's Desire for Statehood Can't Be Ignored, France's UN Envoy Says

    France, a permanent member of the Security Council, is president of the body in January. Ambassador Nicolas de de Rivière says his country will headline Gaza this month, where the number of civilian casualties incurred by Israel's "broad and massive military operation" is "way way too high."

    Tweet at us @pass_blue
    Seton Hull link: www.shu.edu/diplomacy/visiting.html
    GC tv link: www.globalconnectionstelevision.com/

    • 10 min
    December: Ecuador's Security Council Presidency Aims to Keep Mum on Gaza but It'll Be Hard to Avoid

    December: Ecuador's Security Council Presidency Aims to Keep Mum on Gaza but It'll Be Hard to Avoid

    As Ecuador’ assumes the leadership of the United Nations Security Council this month, the country wants to focus on the broader peace and security issues in the Mideast rather than the Israel-Hamas war, even as it devastates civilians in the Gaza strip.

    Listen to our podcast to find out what it hopes to do about transnational organized crimes in Latin America and UN peacekeeping in the Central Africa region.

    Tweet at us @pass_blue
    Seton Hull link: www.shu.edu/diplomacy/visiting.html
    GC tv link: www.globalconnectionstelevision.com/

    • 8 min
    November: Meet the Uyghurs Preserving Their Culture in the US, Despite Risks

    November: Meet the Uyghurs Preserving Their Culture in the US, Despite Risks

    In this episode, we meet a family who fled Xinjiang Province, or what they prefer to call East Turkestan, to the US and are now teaching a new generation in the diaspora about Uyghur language and culture. We also meet a New York City restaurateur who is keeping Uyghur cuisine alive.
    Tweet at us @pass_blue

    Seton Hull link: https://www.shu.edu/diplomacy/visiting.html
    GC tv link: https://www.globalconnectionstelevision.com/

    • 11 min

Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5
12 Ratings

12 Ratings

SFHis#1 ,

Estonia

Excellent audio. Informative and provocative. UN affairs are so under- reported, this podcast is most newsworthy.

StephenJPM ,

Unique perspective, highly engaging and interesting

Stumbled upon this today and really enjoyed it. I always wondered what happens at the UN and how it effects the world we live in so hearing from its leaders first hand was engaging

RVNSNESH ,

Audio adverts over person they are interviewing is very unprofessional

This podcast advertises their sponsors using loud audio over person they are interviewing is very unprofessional and off-putting. Had to struggle to listen to the person talking.

Why? I hope it was an omission during editing.

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