Utopian ideas drive us as humans, they drive humankind and humanity. And Radio Utopistan wants to find out what drives those visionary people. It was the belief that we could fly, conquer disease or live in permanent peace that gave women and men the courage to take risks, to step out, to try things and also to fail.

Many things that we take for granted today, were mere utopias in their day - and the people who fought for them were ridiculed, shamed, harassed and also killed. 200 years ago the end of slavery was still utopia. The fall of the Berlin Wall just 40 years ago. And then the end of Apartheid 30 years ago. Where does that leave us today? What are the utopias of our time? What about gender equality? Basic income? Nature rights? Peace in the Middle East?

Today we need Utopian ideas more than ever. To rebuild and reframe our global society in the aftermaths of Corona. Now we are being forced to see how everything is connected: China and Europe. Nature and humankind. We are all in this together. It’s a global net. We are also shown on the one hand how huge political decisions like closing down airports all around the world are possible. And then how on the other hand small daily actions from each and every one of us like leaving the house or washing your hands have a huge impact on the world.

So Radio Utopistan collects the stories of global and local visionaries, people that work on the outside or on the inside of humanity. The politician in Ecuador for example who sees nature as a person. He has written her as a legal person in his country’s constitution. The engineer with high heels and headscarf in Gaza who brings solar energy into houses under occupation. Or the friend in a wheelchair who can only move his brain and his tongue after an accident but who hasn’t lost his humor and keeps fighting for equality.

Elisabeth Weydt meets people who are striving towards and fighting for their Utopias, people who want to change the system or build some space outside the system. Elisabeth is an award-winning multimedia journalist based somewhere between Hamburg and Haifa. She mostly covers topics which revolve around radicalism and resources. She loves cooking and will meet her guests preferably at home, in bars or in the jungle.

The interviews on Radio Utopistan will mainly be in English. If not, there will be a summary about the guests and their Utopias in English.

Let’s go treasure hunting together.