E7 - What Does Freedom Really Mean? | with Waad Al-Kateab

What does freedom really mean when you have spent part of life without it?

Today, the Wodcast sits down with Waad Al-Kateab journalist, filmmaker and activist for a deeply personal conversation about freedom, home, family, language, community and the power of imagining a different future.

Waad grew up in Syria under the Assad regime and began documenting life in Aleppo during the Syrian revolution. Her extraordinary archive became For Sama, the acclaimed documentary that brought the realities of war, motherhood, love and survival to audiences around the world. In this conversation, she reflects on what happens when the words we use to describe our lives, freedom, home, refugee, family, become lived experiences rather than abstract ideas.

Together, they explore the richness of Arabic, and how difficult it can be to translate not just words but entire experiences between languages. Waad speaks about being displaced from her home, finding family and community in unexpected places, and the complicated relationship she now has with both Syria and the UK.

They discuss freedom a word Waad says she has “tasted” many times. From the moment she first heard people chanting for freedom at university, to the extraordinary day Syria was finally free of Assad, she reflects on what it means to fight for something, lose people for it, and discover that even when a regime falls, freedom itself remains something that must be protected.

The conversation also turns to empathy, solidarity, memory and imagination. Waad describes the people who helped each other survive during the siege of Aleppo, the humour that remained present even in unimaginable circumstances, and the responsibility she feels towards those who did not survive.

And ultimately, they return to the power of words. Can words help us imagine a different future? Can a chant become a reality? Waad's answer is nuanced: words can keep hope alive, but “just saying alone is not enough.” Change requires action, community and people willing to move together.

This is a conversation about the words we inherit, the words we fight for, and the words that help us imagine what comes next.

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Topics include:

• What freedom really means
• Syria, revolution and resistance
• Language and translation
• Arabic and the richness of meaning
• Home and belonging
• Family, friendship and community
• The refugee experience
• Empathy and solidarity
• Memory and collective action
• Imagination and dreaming
• The power of words
• For Sama
• Filmmaking as testimony
• Hope, courage and the impossible

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