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University of Chicago Podcast Network

Rights matter, but conversations about rights can be polarizing, confusing and frustrating. Lawyers and law professors Claudia Flores and Tom Ginsburg have traveled the world getting into the weeds of global human rights debates. On Entitled, they use that expertise to explore the stories and thorny questions around why rights matter and what’s the matter with rights. Entitled is produced with the support of University of Chicago Law School and Yale Law School, and is part of the award winning University of Chicago Podcast Network.

Entitled

This week, our co-hosts Professors Tom Ginsburg and Claudia Flores discuss bitcoin, the cryptocurrency soaring in both popularity and value. In the last month, the price of a single bitcoin has risen from around $70,000 to almost $100,000. Its cultural impact is immense, yet confusing and controversial. Those who associate bitcoin with MAGA conservatives and get-rich-quick day traders might be surprised to learn that some see it as a tool to protect human rights. 
 

Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation, is optimistic about the revolutionary power of bitcoin to enable resistance and challenge global structures of economic inequality. In this episode, we hear from him on how bitcoin is uniquely positioned to support global human rights efforts.

Is Bitcoin Good For Human Rights?

What happens when the government turns the law into a weapon? In these first few months of the second Trump administration human rights advocates, legal scholars, and university leaders are warning of a political landscape where funding is slashed, free speech is chilled, and legal institutions are bent to serve those in power. From defunding human rights initiatives to threatening universities and using the justice system for political retribution, many say the future of democracy is on the line.

In this episode, we explore the growing fear—and defiance—among those on the frontlines. Can universities withstand political pressure? Will the rule of law hold against efforts to consolidate power? What does the future of human rights look like in this new environment, and can it adapt, change and survive?

Trump And Human Rights: Take One

The right to seek and enjoy asylum has never been more important than in today’s global landscape. At the same time, countries have never been more committed to finding increasingly creative ways to avoid having to take in refugees. Today on Entitled, we discuss the right to asylum and what our rights are at the border of another country. We know the movement of distressed migrants at sea and nations’ borders is the cause for a lot of human tragedy. Are borders necessary – can we conceive of them in a different way? What duties should nations have to assist these migrants?
 
Joining Professors Claudia Flores and Tom Ginsburg this week are Nina Kerkebane, an Algerian asylee and an entering graduate student at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy; Ayelet Shachar, author of The Birthright Lottery: Citizenship and Global Inequality; Maya Elzinga-Soumah, Senior Legal Associate with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Aruba and Curaçao; and Itamar Mann, Director of the Global Legal Action Network and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Haifa Faculty of Law.

S1E3: Rights at the Border

The collapse of the Afghan government has raised grave concerns for the future of the country, particularly for women. Exit is not a generally available option, but should it be? On this episode, we continue our conversation about migration, and the limits of the current human rights system for protecting the rights of women.

S1E3.5: Are All Afghanistan's Women Potential Refugees?

The right to bear arms is an American touchstone, found in very few other countries. Many think it should not be a right at all, and the debate over it is highly polarized. This episode broadens the lens to show how other countries handle guns, and suggests ways to cut through the charged discussion here at home.

S1E4: That “Just-in-Case” Gun

Today, medical advances make it possible for a woman to have a baby on behalf of someone else. This has given many people – including many in the LGBTQI community – the exciting possibility of founding a family of their own. But this incredible medical technology raises new questions about rights: how far do reproductive rights go? How do you establish the rights of a parent or citizenship? Who has a right to found a family? 
 
In this episode of Entitled, we explore reproduction and bodily autonomy in a changing world. We talk to Kasumi Nakagawa, an expert on surrogacy in Cambodia, and Kate Gilmore, former deputy director of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

S1E5: Who’s Womb Is it Anyway?

The rights of nature are enshrined in a number of constitutions around the world, and there is a growing movement to extend rights to nature as it faces increasing threats. The extension of rights to nature prompts fundamental questions about the nature, enforcement and evolution of rights. Does nature have rights, or do they belong only to humans? Are the rights of nature human rights in disguise? Is the extension of legal rights to nature enough to ensure its protection?
 
In the final episode of Season 1 of Entitled, University of Chicago Law Professors Claudia Flores and Tom Ginsburg talk to Frank Tumusiime, Coordinator and Senior Research Fellow at Advocates for Natural Resources and Development (ANARDE) and Aaron Mills, Assistant Professor at McGill University Faculty of Law and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Constitutionalism and Philosophy.

S1E6: The River Knows Where to Go

Lawyers and law professors Claudia Flores and Tom Ginsburg kick off the second season of Entitled — and this time, they’re focusing on one human right (and not just any right) — the right to equality. In the first episode, they explore what equality means in different contexts and to different people. Is it possible or even preferrable for every person to be equal in every way? When do we want equality? How do we get it? And what do we mean when we ask for it?
 
This episode they speak with human rights historian and law professor Sam Moyn; public philosophy professor Elizabeth Anderson; and philosopher and professor of law and ethics Martha Nussbaum. Join the conversation this season as they try to unravel the complexity of equality and what “being equal” really means.

S2E1: What Is Equality Anyway?

Would you put a price tag on your rights? If you had to choose between your socio-economic rights or your freedom to peacefully protest, what would you choose? It’s a question that might get a lot of mixed responses, but some might argue you can’t have one without the other.

In this episode of Entitled, Claudia and Tom discuss these two groups of rights: socio-economic rights and civil and political rights. They take a deeper look at the United States with Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, about why the US has had a hard time increasing socio-economic equality. Lastly, they speak with Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU’s Human Rights Program, about why we need to think about human rights more holistically.

S2E2: What Comes First: Socio-Economic or Civil and Political Equality?

After years of community protests, and months of legal work, Chile finalized a draft of a brand new constitution this summer. Chileans will vote to pass or reject this constitution in a few days. 

In this episode of Entitled, Claudia and Tom head to Santiago, Chile! We hear their conversations with local Chileans, from musicians and taxi drivers to the lawyers who helped draft this new constitution, like Ricardo Montero Allende and Isabel Aninat, and Mapuche linguist and Indigenous rights activist Elisa Loncón Antileo. We find out why Chileans want a new constitution and what it would mean for equality in Chile.

S2E2: What Comes First: Socio-Economic or Civil and Political Equality?

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