It is now more than a decade since you wrote sapiens. It was a worldwide hit, and in essence, it was a very sort of positive explanation of how we humans have come to sort of dominate this planet. It was about our ability to cooperate, to tell shared stories, to give ourselves common purpose. I just wonder whether, in the last decade, youve lost some of that optimism. I think our shared stories and our ability to cooperate, both as a species, but also on the national level, is collapsing in more and more places. I see it now in my home country of israel, which is really on the verge, maybe, of a constitutional crisis or even a civil war. Maybe what we need to understand, specifically, about democracies is that democracy, in essence, is a conversation. You know, dictatorship, there is one person dictates everything. Democracy is trying to reach some agreement through conversation, and conversation is not always possible. For most of history, large scale conversation was just technically
Our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, sent this report from doha. The first steps to freedom. Finally, leaving iran. Two hours later, touching down in doha. Imagine the emotion inside this plane. Opening the door on a new life, five former prisoners. Relief and joy palpable as they embraced american and qatari officials. The success of months of indirect talks here between arch enemies, iran and america. These are three of the freed prisoners. Two others did not want their identity revealed. 67 year old, morad tahbaz, arrested five years ago, in a crackdown on environmental activists. 58 year old, emad shargi, a businessman arrested in 2020, also on charges of spying. And 51 year old Siamak Namazi, who spent the longest in tehran s notorious evin prison. He issued this statement today. We spoke to one of his relatives who also spent time in evin prison. It is a joyful day but knowing Siamak Namazi and his strong personality and his values, im sure that he will try to come
Earlier, i spoke with the Executive Director of the center for human rights in iran, hadi ghaemi, about the prisoner swap, and what it means for both countries. Let mejust open let me just open first and foremost by saying how happy we are and congratulate the families and individuals s hostages that should never have beenin hostages that should never have been in this place and they were just been in this place and they werejust in been in this place and they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Regarding the deal, i would say that the proof is in the pudding. I have two concerns, one is that world are 6 billion really be used only for humanitarian trade and necessities that. Because this money really belongs to the iranian people, not the iranian government, and the iranian government, and the iranian people have risen up against this government for the past year, for sure, so we better make sure that if any money travels in the geography of that direction, it benefits the
It was a worldwide hit, and in essence, it was a very sort of positive explanation of how we humans have come to sort of dominate this planet. It was about our ability to cooperate, to tell shared stories, to give ourselves common purpose. Ijust wonder whether in the last decade, youve lost some of that optimism. I think our shared stories and our ability to cooperate, both as a species, but also on the national level, is collapsing in more and more places. I see it now in my home country of israel, which is really on the verge maybe of a constitutional crisis or even a civil war. Maybe what we need to understand specifically about democracies is that democracy, in essence, is a conversation. You know, dictatorship, there is one person dictates everything. Democracy is trying to reach some agreement through conversation, and conversation is not always possible. For most of history, large scale conversation was just technically impossible. You had small scale democracies, like in city s