Exiting the Domain of Money - A Conversation with Saskia Sassen

A special episode of PUSHBACK Talks! The Filmmaker and The Advocate reconnect with Saskia Sassen, prominent Professor of sociology at Columbia University, one of the world’s most important thinkers on cities, and a central character in PUSH-The film. The trio continue the conversation about why so many people can't afford their homes any longer.  Going to the heart of the matter they unpack Saskia’s powerful analysis that finance – which now dominates residential real estate – is an extractive sector, like mining. Once finance has extracted what it needs it moves on without a care for what's left behind. The conversation turns to a deep probing of the meaning and relevance of “money”. When money is used by institutional investors to create new financial instruments, or to leverage more capital is it still "money" as we know it or have we exited the domain of money?  The co-hosts wrap up by querying where the uber commodification of housing is going. Have we entered a new epoch where familiar rules and systems that might regulate financialization are thrown out? Will financialization eat itself up? Or will people who are pushing back force change?Produced by WG Film Recorded & Edited by Mikey JonesMusic by Florencia Di ConcilioSocial Media & Support Team - Louise Gustafsson, Maja Moberg & Melinda BergstrandSupport the show

Om Podcasten

Cities are becoming increasingly unliveable for most people. Costs are rising but incomes are not. Sky-high rents, evictions, homelessness, and substandard housing are common realities for urban dwellers across the planet. There is a global housing crisis. How did this basic human right get so lost? Who is pushing people out of their homes and cities, and what’s being done to pushback? 

On the heels of the release of the award-winning documentary, PUSH, filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten and Leilani Farha, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, have reconvened. Join the filmmaker and the advocate as they reflect on their experiences making PUSH and exchange ideas and stories about the film's central issue: the financialization of housing and its fall-out. 

For more about PUSH and to view it:  www.pushthefilm.com 

For more about Fredrik Gertten and his other films: www.wgfilm.com

For more about Leilani Farha in her new role, Global Director of The Shift: www.make-the-shift.org