In this episode we talk to Faika el Nagashi, former Austrian Green MP and founder of Athena EU — a new think-tank and network of experts focused on safeguarding women’s, LGB and children’s rights across European law and policy.

Faika has spent three decades inside the European NGO world, watching gender-identity ideology move quietly into EU and Council of Europe frameworks. Athena’s first report exposes how this happened — and how women’s voices have been sidelined in the process.

We discuss:

* The legal gap: there is no EU-level law on gender identity — everything is happening via data-protection, privacy and equality mechanisms.

* How ideology took hold: anticipatory obedience inside media, politics and NGOs, and how “anti-gender” labelling silences dissent.

* Follow the funding: why only one side of the debate gets EU grants, and how fear of losing money keeps major NGOs quiet.

* Media complicity: liberal outlets aligning with activists, and the chilling effect on journalists across Europe.

* Athena’s mission: creating a network of lawyers, researchers and advocates who can decode EU policy, translate it for national debates and rebuild space for honest discussion.

* The new EU LGBTIQ+ Strategy: what it really contains — self-ID without age limits, conversion-therapy bans covering “gender identity”, and training programmes for police and judiciary — and why it matters for every member state.

* The supranational effect: how Brussels-level decisions ripple into national law and public life.

* Courage and hope: the new wave of women stepping forward across Europe to speak publicly despite professional risk.

“What happens in Brussels doesn’t stay in Brussels,” Faika says. “It filters into every national context — and unless journalists start asking questions, this ideology will hard-wire itself into law.”

Here’s the link to our article on Faika

Bursting the bubble with Faika el Nagashi

Here is Faika’s Substack including the link to her speech: We Hardly Speak of Women Any More

Faika is on a panel - Beyond TERF Island: Gender Identity Worldwide - at Battle of Ideas in London with Kara Dansky, Bev Jackson and Stella O’Malley on October 18.

How Gender Identity Ideology is reshaping Europe by Athena EU

Here's the BBC coverage of Michael o’Flaherty’s latest intervention

Here's the European Commissions LGBTQ+ strategy urging self-identification including for children

Thank you Faika for a fascinating conversation!

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