Hey, this is Sham, your very own news curator. FYI: My early discount for the VIP Membership ends this week. If you're not signed up to become a VIP Member yet, this will be the last issue you'll be getting from that looks like this. Next week's will be different and, above all, short.
In issue #353, I focus on Pakistan's most climate-change-disaster prone province and what it is (not) doing to save its citizens, the failed referendum on the Indigenous advisory board and how people feel about it now, and the cheapest passport-selling program in the world, that of Dominica's and why people are worried that it's too unregulated. Plus, Somali literature legend Nuruddin Farah, new Amapiano bangers, and a deep dive into who gets the Nobel Prize in Literature very often and if it's changing at all, and so much more.
Have fun reading,
Sham
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Estimated reading time: 10 min
You have access to all of my sources by clicking on what's underlined.
Thanks to Wikimedia Commons for the maps.
Map 1, TUBS, CC BY-SA 3.0
Map 2, Addicted04, CC BY-SA 3.0
Map 3, TUBS, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Investigation found that Pakistan isn't spending much money on mitigating the effects of climate change
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What happened
Last year, floods in Pakistan killed more than 1,500 people and affected more than 30 million people. The floods submerged one-third of the country; one of the places that got hit the hardest was Sindh in the southeast, the second-largest province by population after Punjab. News website The Citizenry looked at how much money the government spent on dealing with climate change in Sindh from 2007 to 2023. They found out that all the money the government used for fighting climate change during that time was less than what they spent on building just one really big highway.
Why this matters
Sindh is the most climate-change-disaster prone province in Pakistan. Some 57 million people live here. With the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, short COP 28, set to convene in November this year, Pakistan has put forth a case for climate disaster-related loss and damages funds. Where would this money go?
Tell me more
The Pakistan People's Party, short PPP, has been in charge of Sindh for three straight times. During this period, Sindh faced very bad weather events. Despite these challenges, a recent report reveals that the provincial government has spent less than half of its allocated budget for climate change mitigation and adaptation. According to the journalists Sadya Siddiqui and Oonib Azam, the Sindh Government used more money to build a bridge and tunnel in a small area of Karachi called Gulshan town than they did on the budget for dealing with climate disasters in the province most at risk. You want numbers? Over 16 years, the Sindh government spent PKR 20.2 billion on climate issues. This is less than what they spent on the Malir Expressway, a big road project with environmental concerns, which cost PKR 27.5 billion. This has raised concerns among environmentalists and the general public, who believe that the province is not taking the climate crisis seriously.
Give me juicy details
In some years, they only used up to 20 percent of the money they set aside. This has hit the folks in Sindh hard. With more bad weather events happening, using the money better could've made things less rough. Some experts say the low spending is because people don't really get how important climate change projects are. Others think it's because of red tape and maybe some shady dealings. Siddiqui and Azam point out that while the Sindh government talks big about climate money and the cool projects it could fund, they're also okay with building a huge road on River Malir, Karachi's last green spot. That doesn't really match up with caring about the environment and laws that protect it, they write.
What now?
According to The Citizenry, the past, present, and future Sindh governments have a right to ask for their share of the loss and damages funding (if Pakistan gets it after COP28), their past actions don't really show they've thought deeply about climate planning. The poor work of their climate departments, they write, has had real effects, with people suffering from floods and heatwaves. Some of these disasters might have been avoided if there was a better environmental authority, clearer budgeting, and solid planning. After all, the PPP-led Sindh government had plenty of time to get this right.
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Australians voted against the Indigenous voice as an advisor to government and parliament
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What happened
Australia has overwhelmingly voted against enshrining a federal advisory board into the country's constitution that would guide parliament and government on matters affecting Indigenous communities.
Refresher: The 'Indigenous Voice to Parliament' as an advisory board was first proposed after hundreds of Indigenous Australians, who took part in the Uluru Dialogues, issued the Statement from the Heart in 2017. That statement called for a Voice as a way for Aboriginal and Islander people to directly advise all levels of government about laws and policies that affect their lives, with no power of veto but permanently enshrined in the constitution (meaning, it cannot be voted away in any referendum ever).
Why this matters
Australia is made up of many different and distinct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups, each with their own culture, language, beliefs and practices. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the first peoples of Australia, meaning they were here for thousands of years prior to colonization. Today, they make up around 3.8 percent of Australia's population. They have long called for better representation. However, modern discussion of recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the constitution did not begin until 1992. This discussion is still ongoing. 'It's a shame,' many say.
Tell me more
The referendum for the Voice was held on October 14, 2023. A majority of voters both nationwide and in at least four states (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, plus the Northern Territory) voted against the Voice. No campaigners said the Voice to Parliament racially divides the country and have questioned how it would operate.
How did Indigenous people feel about the result?
Leaders from the First Nations are really disappointed. Some Indigenous groups, like the Central Land Council and the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, want everyone to take a 'week of silence' because of what happened. Many think that Australians voted 'No' because of the many untrue stories that were spreading around, like saying that Indigenous people would take away houses and property. Others blame the messaging from the 'Yes' campaign, 'They kept courting support from large corporate donors instead of building grassroots support. It was too inner city, upper income.' Others say, 'the messaging was just all over the place. One day, they said, 'this will make a material difference to Indigenous people’s lives. 'On the next, they said, 'but also don’t worry it won’t actually change anything' to dissuade people from voting No. But what was the Voice really about? I still don't know for real.' This X user warns, "Really hope people don't perpetuate the myth the 'no' vote was because the Voice didn't go far enough, or there wasn't enough detail. Own it Australia, it's because not enough people give a toss about better outcomes for the Indigenous. And that really sucks."
Did you know that regions with a high proportion of Indigenous Australians overwhelmingly voted 'Yes' in the referendum?
'Fun' fact: The referendum had already been defeated before Western Australian polls finished? This redditor writes, "Imagine living thousands of km from the other side of the country and find out the referendum has already been decided before you had a chance to vote." And you've still got to vote anyway.
Zoom out: The Voice to Parliament proposal was Australia's 45th referendum, of which only eight have passed.
What now?
Professor Marcia Langton, who was a big supporter of the 'Yes' campaign and one of the key people in designing a model for how a Voice could work, said it's a sad moment in Australia's history, worrying that this might make it harder for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to make peace. This X user agrees, "It is hard to imagine how Australia will ever escape the burdens of its indigenous disadvantage when such a simple proposition as The Voice faces such widespread hostility, dishonesty and fear. We are a baby nation, unable to grow up."
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, with teary eyes and a cracking voice, got emotional when she talked about the results. She said that in the coming months, the government would announce new plans to "closing the gap". She wanted to make it clear that this result doesn't mean the end of trying to make things right. "I know the past few months have been hard, but you should be proud of who you are, your identity, and the rich history and culture that goes back 65,000 years."
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Dominica has sold citizenship to thousands of individuals, including convicted criminals
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What happened
The Caribbean state of Dominica has sold citizenship to thousands of individuals since 1993. A cross-border investigation has found that some of these individuals include a former Afghan spymaster, a Turkish millionaire convicted of fraud and a former Libyan colonel under Muammar Gaddafi. These findings raise questions about the transparency and governance of the scheme, and some are potentially embarrassing for Dominica.
Why this matters
Dominica's passport-selling program has brought in over US$1 billion since 2009. This money has become super important for the country, paying for things like schools and hospitals. About half of the government's total money comes from selling these passports. People with a Dominican passport can travel without a visa to 140 countries. But, this has real repercussions for the rest of the population who has not bought their citizenship. Because of worries about this program, the UK in July this year stopped allowing people from Dominica to come without a visa.
Tell me more
The findings are from "Dominica: Passports of the Caribbean", an investigation by the Guardian and 14 other international news organizations, in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). They found that since 2007, over 7,700 people got Dominican citizenship. Most of them bought it. Even though you're not supposed to get this citizenship if you've done something illegal, some people with criminal records still got it. One buyer had publicly been accused of war crimes before obtaining citizenship, while another was named on Interpol’s wanted red list.
What does the government of Dominica say?
Dominica’s government did not respond to detailed requests for comment. However, the prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit (in office since 2004), said they check people properly before giving them citizenship. However, "if somebody were to become a citizen of today and tomorrow morning the person goes and does something and finds himself in problem with the law, you can’t blame the programme for that.” He compared their program to the U.S.'s green card system, which gives permanent residency rights. He said nobody blames the U.S. when people commit crimes after it grants residency.
Good to know: Any government has the legal right to set its own standards on who becomes a citizen. For some people, especially from places like Iran, China, and Russia, a second passport can be a safety net. It can also mean less red tape when crossing borders, doing business or opening a bank account abroad.
Did you know that Dominica’s scheme is one of the cheapest? You can get it by donating US$100,000 to the government or investing US$200,000 in a real estate project.
Zoom out: Golden passport and residency schemes have multiplied in recent years. But some countries, like the UK and Cyprus, have stopped theirs because of concerns.
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Gambia: Gambian lawmakers are backing a proposal to repeal a 2015 law that criminalized female genital mutilation (FGM). Under the law, a person convicted of performing FGM faces up to three years in prison, a fine of 50,000 dalasi (US$758), or both. (The Guardian)
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Iran: Dariush Mehrjui, 83, one of the pioneers of Iranian cinema’s new wave movement, was found dead, along with his wife, at their home outside Tehran. (The New York Times)
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Turkey / Syria: Ongoing airstrikes since October 5 have caused permanent damage to public facilities, including civilian settlements, dams, power plants, and irrigation networks in Northern and Eastern Syria. At least 45 people have lost their lives, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). (Bianet)
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Afghanistan: A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck western Afghanistan on Sunday, just over a week after strong quakes and aftershocks killed thousands of people and flattened entire villages in the same province. Save the Children said four people have died and that Herat Regional Hospital has received 153 injured. Everything in the Baloch area of Rabat Sangi district has collapsed. Several villages have been destroyed, according to the aid group. (NPR)
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Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe bans gatherings of more than 50 people amid a cholera outbreak in the country. (The Guardian)
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Japan: More than 40 percent of young Japanese today do not fully grasp the implications of sexual consent, according to a survey by a nongovernmental organization. (The Asahi Shimbun)
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Rwanda: Rwandan authorities and their proxies are using violence, judicial mechanisms, and intimidation to try to silence criticism from Rwandans living around the world, alleges a Human Rights Watch report published on Tuesday. The tactics include physical violence, disappearances, surveillance, and even killings. The report, in which over 150 people were interviewed, documented the abuse of Rwandans living in Europe, North America, Africa, and Australia, and their relatives in Rwanda. (Human Rights Watch)
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Afghanistan / China: The Taliban government confirmed that it will attend the Belt and Road Initiative forum in Beijing, China, next week, as the countries form closer economic ties, including the potential construction of a large copper mine in Logar Province, eastern Afghanistan. (Reuters)
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Ecuador: Ecuadorians headed to the polls on October 15 to vote in a runoff election for the country’s next president. Daniel Noboa and Luisa González are the primary contenders, with Noboa currently leading in the polls by a seven percent margin. (The New York Times)
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Gabon: Former first lady Sylvia Bongo Ondimba was jailed by the ruling military junta. (AFP via France 24)
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Madagascar: Madagascar's constitutional court postponed the upcoming election from November 9 to November 16, amid a political crisis involving protests against the Ntsay government following President Andry Rajoelina's resignation. (AFP via Barron's)
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Zambia: International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva confirmed that Zambia, the first African nation to default following the COVID-19 pandemic, has agreed to a debt agreement with foreign creditors concerning US$6.3 billion of its debt. "To default" explained: When you borrow money, you promise to pay it back by a certain date. If you don't, you're said to "default" on your loan. It's like missing a payment on a credit card or a mortgage. For countries, defaulting can be a big deal because it can make it harder for them to borrow money in the future. (AFP via Business Recorder)
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Armenia: Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan formally approved the country joining the International Criminal Court. (The Independent)
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Russia: The International Olympic Committee suspended the Russian Olympic Committee "with immediate effect." (BBC)
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Australia: A human rights prize was awarded to Indigenous activists for their victory over a massive proposed coal mine in Australia. Murrawah Johnson and Monique Jeffs have been awarded a Young Voltaire human rights award for their victory over Waratah Coal’s Galilee basin coal project. (The Guardian)
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China / Australia: Australian journalist Cheng Lei has been allowed to leave the country and is back home in Australia after being detained for more than three years on charges of espionage. (NPR)
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Uganda / India: Uganda Airlines launched direct Mumbai flights. The inaugural flight, with just under 100 passengers on board, was flagged off in a pre-departure ceremony attended by Uganda’s Minister for Works and Transport, Gen Edward Katumba Wamala, and India’s High Commissioner to Uganda, Upender Singh Rawat. According to the Bank of Uganda, they sold goods worth US$94.5 million last year, against imports of US$898.8 million from India. (Business Insider Africa)
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Italy: Papyrus scrolls burnt by the volcano that destroyed Pompeii have been read for the first time in almost 2,000 years. A 21-year-old computer scientist created an artificial intelligence technique which was able to read a word — porphyras, "purple" — on one scroll. He won a prize for being first to decipher them, although bigger awards await those who can interpret longer passages. The scrolls are believed to be works of Greek philosophy. (Semafor)
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Nigeria: The Nigerian Senate has ordered an investigation into oil theft in the Niger Delta. (Premium Times) In the same week, Nigerian billionaire Abdul Samad Rabiu, chairman of BUA Group, has donated US$2.5 million to rebuild the iconic Zaria Central Mosque at a fundraising event in Abuja on Saturday. (Business Insider Africa)
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Kenya: Ten months since a Supreme Court win, LGBTQ+ Kenyans say they feel more emboldened to fight for their rights and report hate crime – even as they face protests and a legislative proposal to toughen penalties for gay sex. (Openly) In the same week, Kenyan athlete Kelvin Kiptum set a new marathon world record, going under two hours and one minute. (DW)
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Africa: Africa-based vaccine manufacturers will receive $40 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the production of mRNA vaccines on the continent over the next few years. The vaccine manufacturers, including South African company Biovac and Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal, will produce vaccines for a range of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, and Lassa fever. (Gates Foundation)
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Watch... this recent interview with Somali writer Nuruddin Farah on September 28 at Melahuset in Oslo, Norway. The Radical Books Collective YouTube account writes in the description of the video, "In a writing career that spans more than five decades, Farah has published thirteen novels, dozens of essays and plays, all of which critically engage various dimensions of Somali history, culture and politics. Farah wrote his first novel From a Crooked Rib in 1970 and has not looked back since and has since penned three trilogies: Variations on the Theme of African Dictatorship, the Blood in the Sun trilogy and then the Past Imperfect trilogy. He has famously declared that he writes about Somalia to "keep it alive" because, he says, "I live Somalia, I eat it, smell the death of it, the dust, daily." Farah is the winner of the Kurt Tucholsky Prize, Lettre Ulysses Award, Neustadt International Prize for Literature, Premio Cavour and St. Malo Literature Festival Prize, among others."
Listen to... Amapiano. OkayAfrica’s selection of "The Best Amapiano Songs Right Now" is a great place to start if you haven’t jumped on the Amapiano bandwagon yet. I’ve added all songs to this newsletter’s own Spotify playlist, 'Go Global Weekly', because without a doubt, all of them are bangers. Speaking of OkayAfrica, Winston Sylvans wrote about a subject I had very little knowledge of: how, in foreign media, African accents often don’t hit the mark, even in very contemporary movies like Hotel Rwanda (2005) and Concussion (2015). Sylvans asks, "Is the inaccuracy in African accents a sign of ignorance rather than incompetence?" Did you know that Marvel’s Black Panther had a main dialect coach?
Read... the article "El Nobel de Literatura regresa a la media: el 50º ganador hombre, europeo y de más de 60 años" by Laura Navarro Soler, Daniele Grasso and Borja Andrino for El País. It's in Spanish, but with modern technology, you can have it translated in a snap. For nearly a century, the Nobel Prize in Literature seemed like it was tailor-made for older European men, usually north of 60. This year, Jon Fosse, a 64-year-old Norwegian writer, fits that mold, but El País points out that things are shifting. Delving into the data, the report reveals that, pre-1990, a whopping 93% of laureates were men. However, since then, the gender balance has been leveling out. The article also takes a fascinating look at the countries that have dominated the winners' circle (France, the US, and Germany), tracing the roots of literary giants and even delves into the ages of the laureates, highlighting how octogenarians have seen their share rise from 5% to 14%.
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Ìjọ̀gbọ̀n, a Nigerian film about four teenagers who find a pouch of diamonds, was released on October 13 on Netflix. This YouTube user writes, "Kunle Afolayan films never disappoint, definitely watching this movie."Afolayan is widely credited for making Nollywood movies better through larger budgets, shooting on 35mm, releasing in cinemas, and improving cliché storylines. The filmmaker struck a deal with Netflix in 2021 to make three feature films, and this is just one of them. His 2022 film Anikulapo was the most nominated film at the 2023 Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards, with 16 nods.
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A father in Arizona, United States stripped down to shorts and a crop top during a school board meeting to make a statement about the district’s new dress code. Just watch the video. He even spins around to show the audience the outfit from all angles.
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Hey, I'm Sham, the person behind this newsletter. Since 2014, I email a bunch of strangers once a week, curating news headlines from Asia, Africa and the Americas. I work under the assumption that, here in the West (I live in Berlin, Germany), we don't read or know much about the global majority, aka the rest of the world.
My goal is to help you burst your Western-centric bubble.
If you want to know more about me, visit my website or follow me on Twitter or Instagram.
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