Frustrated by the Western media’s coverage of the war in Gaza, a small group of writers and editors banded together for the purpose of offering a more global periodical for thought and culture as opposed to what they perceived to be the provincialism of Western media outlets. Last fall, that magazine launched. It is called Equator.

In seeking to move beyond the limited coverage of Western magazines, they equally sought, in their own words, to “spur claims made on behalf of a supposedly unitary ‘Global South.’” But how can such a balancing act be achieved? And what are the intellectual influences behind such an approach? The Nation sat down with one of Equator’s founding editors, Gavin Jacobson, to discuss Equator’s political vision, intellectual inspirations, the interventions its hopes to make. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.