The Guilty Feminist · Deborah Frances-White

We Back Zack with Juno Dawson, Singing Resistance London,, Lizzy Hardingham and Zack Polanski - part two

March 23, 2026·1 hr 7 min·4 clips

Polanski says the UK is the sixth richest country, yet 50 families own more wealth than 34 million people.

1. The Guilty Feminist part two focuses on Zack Polanski, Lizzy Hardingham, and Deborah Francis-White debating community politics, trans rights, arts funding, and wealth inequality. 2. Polanski matters here because he is introduced as Green Party leader, a former theatre community actor, and someone who keeps connecting politics to people’s lived experience. 3. The episode asks what politics is for when movements are built from people rather than one figurehead. 4. Lizzy Hardingham opens the second half with the protest song “We’re Not Done,” and the audience is told to shout the refrain back. 5. Polanski describes his background in theatre of the oppressed, community theatre, and nightclub work, including years working at Heaven nightclub from 2006 to 2014. 6. He says theatre of the oppressed began in the 1970s in the favelas of South America with Augusto Boal and was used to rehearse responses to oppression. 7. He also recalls an audience exercise on migrant raids near London where people practiced how to challenge a raid or support someone being targeted. 8. Deborah Francis-White revisits the 2013 hypnotism story and asks Polanski to explain why it was used against him in politics. 9. Polanski says he learned to say no later, describes the BBC interview the next day, and argues the story does not match his record. 10. He says his record as an elected London Assembly member and Green Party leader is about challenging injustice and owning mistakes. 11. On leadership, he names Rachel Millward and Martin Ali as deputy leaders and says the Green Party is a community, not a single person. 12. He says Hannah Spencer’s rise shows why people need training, confidence, and resources to get into politics through groups like elect her. 13. He argues that people who are not bought off by oil and gas companies, private health care companies, arms trade interests, or gambling companies can speak with more honesty. 14. Deborah Francis-White asks about trans rights, and Polanski says knowing your values makes answers simpler, if not easy. 15. He says a feminist agenda should put women and non-binary people at the table, pair consultation with real co-design, and address violence against women and girls. 16. He says on average a woman is murdered every three days in the UK, then connects that violence to the manosphere, austerity, and the need for men to be allies. 17. The tone stays conversational and combative, with Deborah Francis-White interrupting, joking, and pressing him for clear answers. 18. Polanski’s style is expansive and community-oriented, moving from policy to stories about Clacton, Gorton and Denton, and the House of Commons. 19. People interested in Green Party politics, trans rights, and feminist policy. 20. People wanting a short, purely apolitical celebrity chat.

As heard by us

A charged Guilty Feminist hour that turns Zack Polanski's agenda into a call for power-sharing, with more rally energy than joke-machine snap.

The Guilty Feminist leans hard into politics here, with Zack Polanski pressed on what a feminist, queer and trans agenda would mean in power. The sharpest part is his answer on who gets to make policy: women, non-binary people, trans people, migrants and disabled people should…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

For a live feminist night that moves from sharp political Q&A to a four-part singalong.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Guilty Feminist