Russians staying in Sri Lanka have showed their gratitude by creating a number of “whites only" night clubs, denying access to local Sri Lankans. So Sri Lankan authorities now decided to help the racists by telling all 288,000 Russians in Sri Lanka to take the next flight back to good old Moscow, where the average skin color is more to their liking.
@pjw@randahl i dont think you understand the sensitivity of a "whites only" club being launched in #SriLanka again.
British Colonization ended less than a century ago, horrifying stories of how locals were treated at the hands of the Racist White Colonials are still widely known.
This is an under-reaction if any. If it were #India or #Pakistan, its very likely mobs would be stirring to punish the 're-colonials'.
Sri Lankan Gov is trying an incredible balancing act.
We got married in our home town of #Lahore last Sunday & decided to use the opportunity of our friends & family gathered under one smog-filled sky to raise awareness about the #ClimateCrisis & platform local climate activists.
Its going to take time to get our own snaps sorted, but heres a thread of the highlights with links to sites/socials:
We invited local #ClimateChange activists, who have worked themselves on projects locally with minimal recognition and support, to our #ClimateWedding. We shared their work in our wedding newspaper, and in an exhibit at the venue. We are immensely thankful to them. Link’s to their social media posts below.
#ClimateChange is a huge topic, even when talking locally, so we decided to focus on the two most immediate threats to the city - #Smog (air pollution) & #Heatwaves.
We shot short videos on these topics & placed their QR codes at the #ClimateWedding for our guests, explaining the issue & what could be done about it.
(p.s. english subtitles for the videos are still being worked on)
We recognize a guest or two at our #ClimateWedding might be controversial, but we believe their local recognition and their immense contribution to the world’s renewables movement are not things we can easily ignore.
We also had a wedding newspaper printed called “The JibRish Tribune”, explaining our motives for the #ClimateWedding, profiles of our celebrity cutouts, and most importantly, sharing the work and contact details for our local climate activists who so graciously agreed to be a part of our wedding.
Guests loved it so much, we have had to order a second print for them to keep!
We know this is not a solution anymore but it is still the most basic action most of us can undertake ourselves, so at the wedding, we gifted citrus tree saplings (and rose plants) to our guests to take home and grow. We weren’t sure if any would take up the offer so ordered just enough for each family and…
Ok, its already been here for a couple of years (floods and heatwaves in #Pakistan alone have led to multiple cycles of crop losses), but the fact that its going to happen to upto 22% of production across #Asia
An editorial from Dawn - Pak's oldest and largest english daily - finally waking up to the fact #ClimateChange is devastating industry, and could shut it down altogether soon
But the entire article chooses to explain declines in economic or financial terms, rather than even mention the repeated destruction being meted out by #ClimateChange
Today I had a very interesting encounter with an older lady which will etch in my memory forever.
After doing small talks including where I’m originally from, she says “Bangladesh right? Yeah everyone talks about Germany when they talk about genocide. But people almost never talks about what West Pakistan did to Bangladesh - the atrocities and genocide they had to suffer.”
It made me tear up, because this was the first time anyone has ever said that to me. I told her, I’ll tell my parents about her. That in the whitest part of the Midwest, you’ll find kindred souls. Faith in humanity restored 💕 #Genocide#History#SouthAsia
I would not normally post a photo taken in a moving car. But seriously, what a sunset! The quality may not be the best but it was just so surprising I had to try and capture it.
‘Used to be a festival’: Why Pakistan is seeing a subdued election campaign - In a recent essay, I opined that #Pakistan is “…chaos masquerading as a state”. A nuclear armed state at that. We’ve all heard the phrase “too big to fail”, well Pakistan is too dangerous to be allowed to fail. And it is close to failure. A failing economy, exacerbated by historic floods and displacement last year and a volatile political scene make for a poisonous stew. #SouthAsiahttps://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/1/19/used-to-be-a-festival-why-pakistan-is-seeing-a-subdued-election-campaign
Pakistan is chaos masquerading as a country, it’s almost painful to observe the daily outrages, attacks, and natural disasters plaguing the country. The economy is ruined, the political landscape is full of mines and uncertainty, regional conflict and fundamentalist Islamic terror take thousands of lives every year. And last year’s floods displaced millions and wiped out a ton of crops. Pakistan’s electric grid remains unreliable, and its infrastructure minimal. What infrastructure exists is degrading due to poor maintenance and corruption - which is rife. And this country has nukes, about 170 of them. Just another potential geopolitical flashpoint or failed state. #Pakistan#SouthAsia
"To heighten their colour, the rhizomes from which the spice [tumeric] is extracted are routinely dusted with lead chromate, a neurotoxin. The practice helps explain why South Asia has the highest rates of lead poisoning in the world.[...] Yet it turns out that with clever policies, enlightened leadership and astute messaging this blight can be greatly reduced. Bangladesh has shown how."
Buddhism’s long fight against brahminism and caste
‘Dust on the Throne’ focusses on grossly overlooked aspects of Buddhism in Southasia and beyond, highlighting casteless and anti-caste legacies connecting ancient and modern Buddhists. Gajendran Ayyathurai writes.
On #ClimateChange and the #UrbanHeatIsland effect in developing countries blindly following the American style of "development", personal stories from people trying to cope with these both climate and architecturally magnified heatwaves.
"..the Boston-based drug company Vertex is neither selling a transformative new treatment for cystic fibrosis in the developing world, nor allowing other local companies to produce it..."
We have seen this with #covid19 - #vaccines are STILL being hoarded by the West