Category: English

Posted on

Why ‘not just living for the weekend’ may be a trend for good

Source: Radio New Zealand

You may have seen people documenting and romanticising their midweek excursions and rituals on social media lately.

There are also spoof versions showing people declaring they’re ‘not just living for the weekend’ before quickly jumping into bed or curling up on the couch.

Emma Dickeson has recently documented a trip to the ballet and a solo swim as part of a ‘not just living for the weekend’ series on TikTok.

Emma Dickeson says she hopes people will be inspired to enjoy their entire week.

Emma Dickeson says she hopes people will be inspired to enjoy their entire week.

Supplied

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

‘Wild’ night in city as band shouts $35k in free drinks after gig cancelled

Source: Radio New Zealand

Were you there the night Amyl and the Sniffers shouted the city of Melbourne thousands of free drinks?

Perhaps like Woodstock, the number of people who say they were — who will tell mates they scored a beer from one of Australia’s most thrilling guitar bands — might stretch beyond reality.

What is true is that, in the space of a few hours, a bitterly frustrating moment was reconfigured into a lasting memory that summed up the very best of Melbourne’s live music community.

Amyl & The Sniffers

Amyl and the Sniffers have been nominated for a Grammy

supplied

To recap — Friday night should have been a triumphant, crowning communal homecoming.

A free, all-ages gig at Federation Square in Melbourne’s CBD for an in-demand band celebrating an implausible ascent to stardom. 

Take your pick from their recent honours.

Amyl and the Sniffers just sold-out a 10,000-capacity venue in London, capping off a mammoth run of international tour and festival dates.

On Wednesday, they supported no less than AC/DC at their earth-shaking MCG gig.

Last weekend they were nominated for a Grammy.

They currently have a song sound-tracking a Japanese car ad. Not bad for a Melbourne pub band.

On the Friday morning of the Fed Square gig, they encouraged fans on social media to be considerate of younger attendees, clearly mindful that this could be a big one.

Mere minutes before they were due to hit the stage, the show was abruptly cancelled.

Amyl and The Sniffers Fed Square show was cancelled eight minutes before it was scheduled to start.

Amyl and The Sniffers Fed Square show was cancelled eight minutes before it was scheduled to start.

Jason Katsaras

The Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation (MAP Co), which operates Fed Square, said there had been multiple breaches of security barriers.

The decision to shut it down was “not made lightly” according to MAP Co chief executive Katrina Sedgwick, but the view was “it was unsafe for the audience, the staff and the band to continue”.

The band quickly took to their Instagram page.

“We’re devastated. We’re really apologetic,” said their magnetic lead singer Amy Taylor, sandwiched among some coarse language.

“We were really excited to play. We’re so sorry. Grrrr.”

‘Have a drink on us’

Then, a new post.

Taylor, still jittering with apology, announced the band was relinquishing their performance fee.

Five thousand dollars would go behind the bar at seven of the city’s small live music venues immediately.

“Have a drink on us,” she said in the video, that has since reached more than 1 million views.

“Just have some fun tonight.”

That meant $35,000 worth of free drinks at The Tote, The Old Bar, The Curtin, Labour in Vain, Hell’s Kitchen, Last Chance Rock and Roll Bar, and Cherry Bar.

For a scene hanging on by a frayed guitar lead, that isn’t just generous — it’s unfathomable and unprecedented.

A few kilometres up the road at The Curtin, publican Benjamin “Rusty” Russell found out his establishment was one of the venues.

“I was like … Jesus, that’s wild. Absolutely wild,” he said.

“We talk about Melbourne music community — well that is it. [The band] cut their teeth in places like this, so to see them give back like that is amazing.”

Celebrations rang out across the front bar and drinks (“nothing top-shelf” according to Rusty) began to flow.

In Fitzroy, Louie and his mates were among those lining up outside The Old Bar, having left the “frustrating” Fed Square debacle in search of a free drink.

“We looked up on Instagram and saw they’d put $5K down at a bunch of pubs and bars around town, so we were like, we’ve got to go for one,” Louie said.

“It’s awesome that they’ve pumped a bunch of money into these local venues. Bloody good onyas.”

Around the corner, the $5,000 tab had already run out at the Labour in Vain, but the pub was still heaving.

“We couldn’t have received any more love than what we’ve received tonight from them,” said JP, one of the bar managers.

“We are one of the first pubs they ever played in. We love them, love what they’ve done for the pub, whether it be for publicity or for the community.”

Bar tab comes amid pub woes

There is every chance Friday night will spill into Melbourne’s sticky-carpeted music mythology.

But the once proud label of ‘Australia’s live music capital’ has become something of a grim cliche.

Speak to anyone involved in live music for longer than a politician’s photo shoot, and you’ll find an industry that is hurting.

“It’s terrible right now,” said Fergus, who was working the door at The Old Bar.

“There are so many live music venues closing down, and the government should really do more to support them. It’s great that Amyl are doing it, but they shouldn’t have to, you know?”

At a grassroots level, an industry that saw the losses of the pandemic compounded by changes in spending (and drinking) habits is being squeezed by rising operating and regulatory costs.

Back at The Curtin, publican Rusty used to see Amyl and the Sniffers play to the devoted few in the pub’s front bar.

He’s glad the City of Melbourne is helping them to put on large-scale shows, but believes there’s more to be done to support the next crop of artists.

“A lot of politicians mean well,” he said.

“But when it comes down to it, we are facing significant issues that aren’t really being heard enough.”

It is a point made less diplomatically over the bar by Jess Norman, who walked across from Fed Square.

“You can’t just support people in their glory days,” she said.

“You need to support people when they’re in the dirt and they’re in the grit and they’re doing the hard yards.

“We need to support the venues that support these young acts.”

For Jess and her bar stool companion, Chris Sutherland, beyond any free drinks that may have been poured, this was nonetheless a night to treasure.

“I feel like this could be a huge cultural moment for Victoria and Melbourne,” she said.

“Other acts couldn’t shut down Fed Square. Robbie Williams couldn’t shut down the city! Then you turn around and give everyone a shout at the pub? Like, that’s nuts!

“When Melbourne shuts down your gig and gives you lemons,” Chris Sutherland said, “you turn the answer to lemonade for the whole f…ing town!”

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

Yes, you can be intolerant to fruit and veg

Source: Radio New Zealand

For most people, eating a wide variety of fruit and vegetables is the cornerstone of a healthy diet.

But those with hereditary fructose intolerance can endanger their internal organs by consuming foods containing the natural sugar – including honey, some vegetables, sweetened drinks, and many packaged foods.

This rare condition isn’t a food allergy or sensitivity.

A close-up of sliced bread.

Many packaged foods, such as cakes, cookies, sauces and some breads, contain fructose.

Karolina Grabowska

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

Should Canadian politicians be allowed to block their constituents on social media?

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Victoria (Vicky) McArthur, Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University

Canadian politicians have increasingly taken to social media to campaign as well as communicate with constituents, sharing updates on policies, local events, emergencies or government initiatives.

But stories have emerged of constituents being blocked by their representatives. Should Canadian politicians be free to block their own constituents?

Some politicians claim the blocking is to combat increased online harassment, while constituents have claimed that simply being critical of policies or initiatives is enough to get them blocked.

Some recent cases in Canada include federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault being asked to unblock Ezra Levant on X in 2023, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith blocking constituents on X in 2023 and Montréal Mayor Valérie Plante blocking comments on X and Instagram in 2024. In 2018, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson was sued by three local Ottawa activists after blocking them on X.

Research has indicated that politicians in Canada are subject to uncivil messages on their social media accounts and increasing threats and hate are directed to candidates online. Furthermore, social media has been attributed to rising political polarization and the spread of disinformation. The RCMP is currently investigating online threats made to MP Chris d’Entremont after he crossed the floor to join the federal Liberals.

Constituent rights

AI bots on social media are influencing political discourse online in Canada; one researcher has warned these bots “amplify specific narratives, influence public opinion, and reinforce ideological divides.”

But where do Canadian politicians draw the line, and does blocking constituents violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, specifically regarding the rights of citizens to access government information?

The Charter recognizes a derivative right to access government information when it’s essential for meaningful expression about government operations. This is why a court ordered Guilbeault to unblock Levant, founder of Rebel News, two years ago. However, this wasn’t an official ruling, but rather a settlement.

Within Ontario, the Office of the Integrity Commissioner has provided guidance on the use of social media accounts by provincial members of parliament (MPPs). The policy states that MPPs may have social media accounts in their own names, and provides advice on how they are used, but this advice mostly covers polices about partisan content or campaign rules.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association notes that there is, “a special incentive for politicians to make sure that the online record casts them in the best possible light, even if that means silencing critical or otherwise inconvenient voices.”

Social media platforms generally do not effectively or consistently intervene when it comes to targeted harassment of Canadian politicians. For Canadian politicians who maintain active, public-facing social media accounts, this leaves managing online abuse to the candidates and their staff.

What about constituents who are simply unhappy with their elected officials?

In an era where Canadian politicians increasingly use social media to communicate policy and promote transparency, shouldn’t citizens be able to post critical comments in those same spaces? If these platforms serve as modern public forums, where exactly should democratic debate take place if not there?

Silenced by elected officials?

The issue presently lacks legal precedence in Canada. In the case of Levant/Guilbeault, the decision ordering the former environment minister to unblock Levant appeared to hinge on the nature of Guilbeault’s X account: whether it was a personal account or whether he was using it in an official capacity to communicate updates on his work in Parliament.

In the case of Watson in Ottawa, the three blocked plaintiffs argued the mayor had “infringed their constitutional right to freedom of expression by blocking them from his official Twitter account.” They further argued that his Twitter feed was “a public account used in the course of his duties as mayor” — a point he later conceded in unblocking them and ending the legal battle.

As Canadian politics continues to become integrated with social media, Canada still has no clear legal framework governing when or if politicians can or should block constituents online. The issue sits at the crossroads of digital safety, public accountability and freedom of expression.

Until clearer guidelines emerge, the question remains: how can politicians in Canada safely and effectively use social media to engage with constituents? And how can constituents confidently engage in critique via those same channels without fear of being silenced by their elected officials?

The Conversation

Victoria (Vicky) McArthur receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

– ref. Should Canadian politicians be allowed to block their constituents on social media? – https://theconversation.com/should-canadian-politicians-be-allowed-to-block-their-constituents-on-social-media-269165

Posted on

When we gamble with the integrity of sport, we risk losing the values it offers

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jennifer Walinga, Professor, Communication and Culture, Royal Roads University

In the sports documentary miniseries The Last Dance, Michael Jordan describes how, as a young rookie, he was confronted with an invitation to take part in illicit activities with teammates, including drugs and gambling.

He “did not go through that door,” realizing “he was in the NBA to get better.” Nowadays that kind of moral compass feels increasingly rare.

The recent gambling and fraud scandal rocking the NBA, for example, illustrates how, when sport leaders compromise on sport values — respect, excellence, safety and fairness — they compromise the value of sport to individuals and society as a whole.

The purpose of sport is individual and community development. The word “compete” is derived from the Latin competere which means to strive (for excellence) together.

Money changes the game

Adding money to sport requires a high level of regulation to prevent the associated pitfalls of corruption, fraud, power imbalances and excess.

Allowing gambling in sport places stress on sport governance, but also erodes cultural integrity. Betting communicates a tolerance for what has been considered criminal in the past and corrupting in the present.

When a referee tolerates cheating behaviour on the field, they soon lose control of the game, and the game soon loses its value.

Canadian researchers have repeatedly shown the value of sport in fostering individual and community development. From positive youth development to significant social impact and social inclusion of people with disabilities, research shows the positive role sport can have through inspiration, health, confidence, belonging and connection.

The Power of Sport: The True Sport Report 2022, a research series by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport that provides evidence for a values-based approach to sport, consistently finds that “the sport Canadians want” includes safety, integrity and community.

What women’s sport teaches us

A recent report from Women and Sport Canada shows the sport Canadians want is equitable, inspiring and community-oriented. Women’s sport in Canada, for example, has doubled in value over two years to $400 million and is expected to reach $500 million within a year.

Sport organizations such as Speed Skating Canada, Rugby Canada and the Toronto Blue Jays are modelling positive sport values and the result is a growing fan base and participation, record ticket sales and exceptional performances.

In their studies of Speed Skating Canada and Rowing Canada, former professional athletes and organizational psychologists Katrina Monton and Jennifer Walinga found that cultural integrity — living the values of respect, safety and excellence — has created a foundation for optimal performance. Indeed, the Canadian Speed Skaters enjoyed a dominant performance at the recent World Cup.

Rugby Canada leadership stood by the women’s team through two cases of coach abuse to see the women earn Olympic and World Cup silver medals.

In studying rugby and other sports, our research team has found cultural integrity to be essential to a team’s resilience and success.

The Blue Jays have also confirmed it: the Canadian public wants a sport that upholds friendship, respect and excellence on the diamond. Fans are enthusiastically celebrating the expressed and enacted love the players have for one another, the game and the country.



Read more:
Boys do cry: The Toronto Blue Jays challenge sport’s toxic masculinity with displays of love and emotion

Fair play and the public’s trust

The recent gambling scandals in the NBA and the MLB are a product of ill-governed sport. Insider betting and games rigging involving players, coaches and organized crime rings are the fallout of legalized sports betting.

When sport leaders place winning or money at the centre of sport, a “win at all costs” mentality prevails, rationalizing and indirectly promoting behaviours like cheating, inequity and corruption — and the costs are well-documented.

Compromising on sport values creates cultural fractures, contradictions and incongruities across sport, which then undermine public trust and the participation that comes with it.

The Hockey Canada sexual assault settlement scandal, which involved the board using registration fees to settle the claims, is another example of values undermined under the guise of protecting players or the sport. Despite their acquittals, a group of junior hockey players compromised human dignity.

This type of behaviour stems from a cultural belief system that values violence — permitted and promoted in hockey — and leads to compromise across the hockey environment, including fan violence, referee abuse, hazing, bullying, misogyny and toxic masculinity.

These sport scandals are examples of how rationalizing illicit behaviours for the sake of sport — for example, gambling that increases the fan base and ticket sales, which fund sport — leads to value compromises across the sport environment.

UK Sport has relied on $1.5 billion in lottery funding since 1997. Most Canadian provinces rely on gaming grants to fund community sport — arguably a slippery slope.

Gaming, sponsorship and “targeted” performance-based funding models like UK Sport and Canada’s Own the Podium privilege money over ethics and safety, and communicate to athletes, coaches and fans that compromising values is acceptable. Yet, it can be argued, these models enhance funding and bring success. The question becomes: where do we draw the line?

When referees compromise on fair play or lose sight of their role, the game unravels — and so can sport in general unravel without proper governance, accountability, transparency and independence. When the rules no longer seem to apply, athletes believe they are free to push boundaries or take their own form of recourse.

The Edmonton Oilers/St.Louis Blues NHL hockey game in April 2025, when referees were accused of making several questionable calls, is a good example. The doping track-and-field scandals in the 1980s were yet another. When winning becomes the priority, other values fall by the wayside.

Rebuilding sport from the inside out

Sport must be governed by the same principles that define it at its best: excellence, respect, safety, community, accountability, independence, transparency, accessibility and fairness.

Sport based on Olympic and Paralympic values brings tremendous value to society.

Compromising on sport’s values and integrity only serves to squander its local, national and global power. Sport, when done right, unites the world.

The Conversation

Jennifer Walinga receives funding from SSHRC, WorkSafeBC and Royal Roads University

– ref. When we gamble with the integrity of sport, we risk losing the values it offers – https://theconversation.com/when-we-gamble-with-the-integrity-of-sport-we-risk-losing-the-values-it-offers-268731

Posted on

Why aging shouldn’t be classified as a disease

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ahmed Al-Juhany, PhD Candidate, University of Calgary

In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases — a global, standard-setting guideline for how institutions should understand and organize health information. In it was a new diagnostic category for symptoms and signs of disease: “old age.”

The new category sparked outrage and, in 2021, the WHO backed down. It replaced “old age” with the more cumbersome but less incendiary category of “ageing-associated declines in intrinsic capacities.”

The reversal dealt a blow to scientists who, for years, had fought to have institutions formally classify aging as a disease. Older age, after all, is a major predictor of hypertension, cancer and other chronic conditions. And if we delve into the biology behind this association, we’ll find that the changes making us visibly “age” also make us more susceptible to those chronic conditions over time. The same cellular changes that cause wrinkles, for example, are also involved in atherosclerosis — a chronic condition that can lead to stroke and heart attacks.

With these facts in mind, it can be hard to see why we shouldn’t classify aging as a disease.

And yet, there’s good reason not to. Doing so risks stigmatizing older age and exacerbating ageism. Ethical concerns like these should factor into our medical classifications; in fact, they’re unavoidable. To see why, we’ll need to take a closer look at what it means to call anything a disease.

What we do when we classify diseases

A label is a powerful thing — the “disease” label, especially so.

Classifying anything as a disease marks it as something bad: a defect, a disorder, something we most definitely don’t want.

There are plenty of legitimate reasons why something might be classified as a disease, despite the label’s connotations. It may help set a clear target for medicine to cure, like distinguishing Alzheimer’s disease from other causes of dementia. Or it may help find the right framing for a problem. Classifying alcoholism as a disease, for example, can clarify the fact that people’s struggles with alcohol aren’t owed to a lack of willpower.

But if our classification of diseases depends on our strategic aims, then by implication, they also depend on the ethical values our aims reflect.

Think of the pathologizing views of autism and ADHD that the neurodiversity movement resists. In taking neurodivergent brains to be diseased or disordered, these views implicitly brand them as defective — unfortunate deviations from the way “normal” brains are supposed to work. This results in stigma: prejudicial attitudes that take neurodivergent people to be inferior in some way.

The neurodiversity movement resists these views primarily on ethical grounds. Treating people as though they’re inferior goes against the fundamental belief that, no matter our differences, we should all be able to interact as social equals. We all deserve some baseline of mutual respect.

Why aging shouldn’t be classified as a disease

Which brings us back to aging, an incredibly complex process that influences almost every aspect of our lives. It might make us more vulnerable to some diseases, but it’s more than just a health risk.

It is, in many ways, embodied biography — a physiological testament to all the changes we go through in life (anti-ageism activist Maggie Kuhn took pride in her wrinkles, seeing them as “a badge of distinction”).

Aging is also an opportunity for us to grow. It can mean change, but change that helps keep our lives as rich and rewarding as ever. If, for example, our libidos happen to wane with age, we can often learn to appreciate and practise new ways of showing affection, exploring different touches and intimacies that make us feel even more connected with our partners.

And, contrary to stereotypes, science shows that many things can improve with age, like our emotional well-being, semantic memory and some aspects of our executive function.

There’s a lot to value and celebrate about growing older.

But classifying aging as a disease would flatten all these nuances, all these gains, and frame it as a process of mere decline — one that only robs us of our health.

In an already ageist world, the consequences could be dire. Think of the people pressured out of jobs because their employers believe they’re “too old,” or of the people whose medical concerns get ignored because their doctors believe their ailments are just a “natural” part of getting older. These people aren’t made vulnerable because they’ve aged, but because of the mistaken belief that aging is a process that’s worn them out.

The belief, then, stigmatizes older age. It implies that older people have “deteriorated” and, as a result, have somehow become inferior. Classifying aging as a disease would risk bolstering this harmful belief. It could cement the negative associations people already have about aging and strengthen the hold of their prejudices.

In other words, it could exacerbate ageism.

That is a strong ethical reason to not classify aging as a disease.

The Conversation

Ahmed Al-Juhany does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why aging shouldn’t be classified as a disease – https://theconversation.com/why-aging-shouldnt-be-classified-as-a-disease-268277

Posted on

‘Radioactive patriarchy’ documentary: Women examine the impact of Soviet nuclear testing

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Rebecca H. Hogue, Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Toronto

Following recent comments on nuclear testing by United States President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, it’s more important than ever to remember that nuclear detonations — whether in war or apparent peace time — have long-lasting impacts.

Over a 40-year period, up to 1989, the Soviet Union detonated 456 nuclear weapons in present-day Kazakhstan (or Qazaqstan, in the decolonized spelling).

During the time of the detonations, approximately 1.5 million people lived near the sites, despite Soviet claims that the area was uninhabited.

In the ensuing decades, diagnoses of cancers, congenital anomalies and thyroid disease affected the surrounding communities at an alarming rate, particularly for women.

A new independent documentary, JARA Radioactive Patriarchy: Women of Qazaqstan, examines the impacts of nuclear weapons in Qazaqstan. Jara means “wound” in the Qazaq language.

The film is directed by Aigerim Seitenova, a nuclear disarmament activist with a post-graduate degree in international human rights law who co-founded the Qazaq Nuclear Frontline Coalition. Seitenova grew up in Semey (formerly called Semipalatinsk), Qazaqstan.

Close to Semey is the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, also known as The Polygon, in Qazaqstan’s northeastern region. It’s an area slightly smaller than the size of Belgium — approximately 18,000 square kilometres — in the former Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.

A crater in the ground filled with a murky substance and surrounded by barren land.
Craters and boreholes dot the former Soviet Union nuclear test site Semipalatinsk in what is today Kazakhstan.
(The Official CTBTO Photostream/Flickr), CC BY

Nuclear Truth Project

Seitenova introduced her film in March 2025 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, hosted by the Nuclear Truth Project. The documentary premiere was a side event at the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

‘What is the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons?’ United Nations video.

As a literary and cultural historian who examines narratives of the nuclear age, I attended the standing-room-only event alongside many delegates from civil society organizations.

Nuclear disarmament activist

Seitenova, who wrote, directed and produced JARA Radioactive Patriarchy on location in Semey, aims to bring women’s nuclear stories to Qazaqstan and international audiences.

The 30-minute documentary features intimate interviews with five Qazaq women. The film shares the women’s fears, grief and the ways they have learned to cope, as well as reflections from Seitenova filmed at the ground-zero site.

For Seitenova, it was essential that the film be in Qazaq language.

“Qazaq language, like Qazaq bodies,” she said in an interview after the premiere, “were considered ‘other’ or not valuable.” Seitenova acknowledged it was also important to show a Qazaq-language film at the UN, as Qazaq is not an official UN language like Russian.

Women consensually share experiences

One of Seitenova’s directorial choices was not just what or who would be seen, but specifically what would not be seen in her film.

“I’m really against sensationalism,” said Seitenova. “If you Google ‘Semipalatinsk’ you will see all of these terrible images of children and fetuses.”

Seitenova accordingly does not show any of these images in her film, and instead focuses on women consensually sharing their experiences.

Seitenova explained how narratives regarding the health effects in Semey are often disparaged. When others learn she is from Semey, Seitenova shared, some will make insensitive jokes like “are you luminescent at night?” — making nuclear impact into spectacle, instead of taking it as a serious health issue.

These experiences have propelled her to take back the narrative of her community by correcting misconceptions or the minimization of harms. Instead, she brings attention to the larger structural issues.

“Everything was done by me because I did not want to invite someone who would not take care of the stories of these women,” said Seitenova.

Likewise, Seitenova only interviewed participants who had already made decisions to speak out about nuclear weapons. She did this so as not to risk retraumatizing someone by asking them to discuss their illnesses, especially for the first time on camera.

Global legacy of anti-nuclear art, advocacy

Seitenova also wanted to show a genealogy of women speaking out about nuclear issues in Qazaqstan, contributing to a global legacy of anti-nuclear art and advocacy.

The film features three generations of women, including Seitenova’s great aunt, Zura Rustemova, who was 12 at the time of the first detonations.

As part of this genealogy of nuclear resistance, the film includes footage of a speech from the Qazaq singer Roza Baglanova (1922-2011), who rose to prominence singing songs of hope during the Second World War.

Effects felt into today

JARA Radioactive Patriarchy shows how the impacts of nuclear weapons are felt intergenerationally into the present.

“Many women lost their ability to experience the happiness of motherhood,” interviewee Maira Abenova says in the film. Abenova co-founded an advocacy group representing survivors of the detonations, Committee Polygon 21.

Other interviewees shared how often men left their wives and children who were affected by nuclear weapons to begin a new family with someone else.

Seitenova looks at the roles of women and mothers not just as protectors, but also as those who have launched formidable advocacy.

The film highlights the towering monument in Semey, “Stronger than Death,” dedicated to those affected by nuclear weapons.

A tall sculpture showing a mushroom cloud shape and a woman's silhouette underneath shielding a child
‘Stronger Than Death’ monument in Semey, Kazakhstan.
(Wikidata), CC BY

The Semey monument depicts a mother using her whole body to protect her child from a mushroom cloud. Just like the monument, Seitenova and the women in her documentary use the film to show how women have been doing this advocacy work in the private and public spheres, with their bodies and with their words.

“I want to show them as being leaders in the community, as changing the game,” Seitenova said.

While the film brings a much-needed attention to the gendered impact of nuclear weapons in Qazaqstan, she makes clear that this is, unfortunately, not an issue unique to her homeland or just to women.

“The next time you think about expanding the nuclear sector in any country” Seitenova said, “you can think about how it impacts people of all genders.”

The Conversation

Rebecca H. Hogue does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. ‘Radioactive patriarchy’ documentary: Women examine the impact of Soviet nuclear testing – https://theconversation.com/radioactive-patriarchy-documentary-women-examine-the-impact-of-soviet-nuclear-testing-256775

Posted on

Africa has a debt crisis: momentum from G20 in South Africa can help find solutions

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Danny Bradlow, Professor/Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria

The end of South Africa’s G20 presidency does not mean the end of its ability or responsibility to promote the issues it prioritised during 2025. It can still advocate for action on some of these issues through its further participation in the G20 and in other international and regional forums.

In this article, I argue that going forward South Africa should prioritise the financial challenges confronting Africa that it championed in 2025.

South Africa established four overarching priorities for its G20 presidency. Two of them dealt with finance. One sought to “ensure debt sustainability for low-income countries”. The other was to mobilise finance for a just energy transition.

The importance of debt, development finance and climate to Africa’s future is clear. Over half of African countries are either in debt distress or at risk of being in distress. More than half of Africa’s population live in countries that are spending more on servicing their debt than on health and/or education.

In addition, 17 African countries experienced net debt outflows in 2023. This means that they were using more foreign exchange to pay their external creditors than they received in new debts that could be used to finance their development. The continent is also experiencing extreme weather events that are adversely affecting food security and human wellbeing.

In short, African countries are caught in a vicious cycle. The impacts of climate and their struggle to meet their debt obligations are interacting in ways that undermine their ability to meet their sustainable development goals.

South Africa’s priorities

South Africa’s priorities for its G20 presidency were ambitious. Success required meaningful action at three levels:

Awareness. South Africa would need to bring the international community to a better understanding of the nature of the debt and development finance challenges confronting African countries and of the consequences of failing to address them.

Process. South Africa would need to convince the G20 to correct the shortcomings in the Common Framework it had devised to deal with low-income countries seeking debt relief.

The examples of Zambia and Ghana showed that the Common Framework was cumbersome, slow and unduly favourable to creditors. For example the framework requires the debtor to engage separately with each group of its creditors in a sequential process. This means that it should not negotiate with its commercial creditors until it has successfully negotiated with its official creditors.

Commercial creditors can’t give debt relief until the official creditors are satisfied with their deal and are confident that the commercial creditors will not receive more favourable treatment from the debtor than they have received.

Another complication is the IMF’s multiple roles in debt restructurings as an advisor to and a creditor of the debtor countries. In addition, it does the debt sustainability analysis that determines the amount of debt relief that all other creditors are expected to provide to the debtor country in order for it to regain debt sustainability. The more optimistic its assessment, the smaller the contributions the various creditors, including the IMF, are expected to provide. These contributions can either be in the form of new funding or new debt terms.

Substance. The current debt restructuring process treats debt as a technical financial and legal problem rather than as the complex multifaceted problem that is experienced by debtor countries. The former perspective limits the scope of debtor-creditor negotiations to the terms of the financial contracts.

The negotiations focus on the adjustments that must be made to these terms because the debtor cannot comply with its originally accepted obligations. They treat as largely outside the scope of the discussions the adverse impact the debt situation has on the sovereign debtor’s other legal obligations and on the social, political, environmental and cultural situation in the debtor country.

This approach in effect leaves the debtor to deal with these other issues on its own. This artificial distinction between the debtors’ other legal obligations and those it owes to its creditors makes it very difficult for the debtor to escape the vicious debt, development and climate cycle in which it is trapped. It forces it to choose between its commitments to its creditors and its development obligations.

Over the course of 2025, South Africa has been very effective in raising awareness of the African debt crisis and its dire impact on African countries. South Africa persuaded the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors to issue a declaration on debt sustainability at the end of their October meeting.

The declaration is the G20’s eloquent acknowledgement of the problem and of the need for more discussion of how these debt issues are managed by both debtors and creditors. Unfortunately, it does not contain any firm G20 commitments on what it will do to remedy the situation.

There has not been substantial progress at the process and substance levels. This is unlikely to change in the remaining weeks of South Africa’s G20 presidency.

But there are three actions that South Africa can take beyond the end of its term to ensure that the African debt crisis continues receiving attention.

Three actions

First, it should ask a group like the African Expert Panel that it established to advise the president to prepare a technical report that identifies and analyses all the barriers to Africa accessing affordable, sustainable and predictable flows of external development finance.

This report should be submitted to the South African president in the first half of 2026. Next year, South Africa will still be a member of the G20 Troika, which consists of the current, immediate past and the incoming G20 presidents. Consequently, next year, it will still be able to table the report at the G20. South Africa can also use the report to promote action in other appropriate regional and global forums.

Second, South Africa and the African Union should create an African Borrower’s Club that is independent of the G20. This club should be a forum in which African sovereign debtors can share information and lessons learned about negotiating sovereign debt transactions and about responsible debt management. When appropriate, the club can work with regional African financial institutions.

The club, working with regional organisations like the African Legal Support Facility, can also sponsor workshops in which interested African sovereign debtors can share information and more critically assess their financing options. They can also work to improve their bargaining capacity in sovereign debt transactions.

The African Borrower’s Club should also be mandated to establish an African Sovereign Debt Roundtable that is modelled on the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable. This entity should be an informal forum, based on the Chatham House Rule in which the various categories of stakeholders in African debt can meet to discuss the design of a sovereign debt restructuring process that is effective, efficient and fair and that adopts an holistic approach to a sovereign debt crisis.

Third, South Africa should capitalise on the fact that the impacts of climate, inequality, unemployment and poverty on Africa’s development prospects are now acknowledged to be macro-critical, and so within the IMF’s macro-economic and financial mandate. South Africa should call for a review of the IMF’s operating principles and practices and its governance arrangements.

This call should note that the multilateral development banks have been the object of G20 review for a number of years and that this has resulted in important enhancements in their capital frameworks and operating practices. On the other hand the IMF has not been subject to a similar review despite the fact that its operations have had to undergo possibility even more extensive revisions.

The Conversation

Danny Bradlow, in addition to his position at the University of Pretoria is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Global Development Policy Center, Boston University; Senior G20 Advisor, South African Institute of International Affairs and a Compliance Officer, Social and Environmental Compliance Unit, UNDP.

– ref. Africa has a debt crisis: momentum from G20 in South Africa can help find solutions – https://theconversation.com/africa-has-a-debt-crisis-momentum-from-g20-in-south-africa-can-help-find-solutions-269004

Posted on

US-Nigeria relations: what it means to be a ‘country of particular concern’ and why it matters

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Saheed Babajide Owonikoko, Researcher, Centre for Peace and Security Studies, Modibbo Adama University of Technology

For the second time in five years, Nigeria has been designated a “country of particular concern” by the US government, in both cases by President Donald Trump. The first time was in 2020 but the designation was removed in 2021.

The November 2025 redesignation can be traced to, among other things, a campaign by US congressman Riley Moore, who alleged that there was an “alarming and ongoing persecution of Christians” in Nigeria.

Nigeria refuted this claim. President Bola Tinubu, in a statement, argued that the US characterisation of Nigeria did not reflect the country’s reality or values.

But what does the designation mean for Nigeria? And what should Nigeria’s response be? As a scholar who has studied Nigeria’s insecurity and identity crises, I have some suggestions.

Nigeria must prevent the diplomatic row with the US from progressing further, and act decisively against insecurity for all Nigerians.

To achieve this, the Nigerian government should look beyond military capability. The country needs governance and administrative restructuring that empowers sub-national and local authorities to address local issues. This bottom-up approach will address insecurity better than the current top-down approach.

What ‘country of particular concern’ means

The classification of a country as being of particular concern is outlined in the United States International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. Under section 402 of the act, “country of particular concern” is a designation given to a foreign country whose government has engaged in or tolerated especially severe violations of the religious freedom of its citizens.

By this definition, a country may not be directly involved in violating its citizens’ religious freedom, but culpable for not acting decisively against those who do.

For a country to be classified as such, it is first placed on a special watch list. This allows for an assessment of whether there is a serious violation of religious freedom.

The designation is part of US foreign policy for promoting human rights globally.

Why Nigeria was given this status

Nigeria was designated a country of particular concern because of allegations of “genocide” against Christians there. Since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, identity conflicts have become a common occurrence. But there’s a new dimension with the emergence of terror groups and intensifying farmer-herder disputes.

A study I conducted in early 2025 revealed that between 2010 and 2022, a total of 230 attacks specifically targeted Christians, 82 of which were between 2019 and 2022.

Several other attacks, such as the Runji killing in Kaduna State in April 2023, the Apata and Yelwata massacres in Benue State in March and June 2025, respectively, and the Mangu killings in Plateau State, have also taken place.

This shows that there are targeted attacks against Christians in parts of Nigeria. But they are a fraction of the attacks and killings carried out by non-state armed groups in the country.

As one study argued, Christians make up roughly half of Nigeria’s population, but attacks explicitly directed against them account for about 5% of total reported violent incidents.

Therefore, framing Nigeria’s insecurity in terms of anti-Christian violence alone oversimplifies the broader dynamics of the country’s national insecurity.

How this will affect Nigeria

The International Religious Freedom Act stipulates 15 required sanctions under section 405(a). Section 407 allows the president of the US to waive these sanctions based on national interest or to further the purpose of the act. For this reason, in most cases, the designation is seldom followed by sanctions.

Several countries have been exempted from sanctions even when designated as countries of particular concern. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have been repeatedly designated but the US has never sanctioned them.

Even Nigeria’s designation in 2020 was not followed by sanctions. The US continued to provide security assistance, military cooperation and development aid to Nigeria. The US only used the period of designation to call for improved protection of religious communities and accountability for perpetrators.

For the recent designation, however, Trump has threatened to cut aid to Nigeria and take military action against terrorists in Nigeria.

The US, through the US Agency for International Development, provided development assistance worth US$7.89 billion between 2015 and 2024 to support health, education, economic and humanitarian development. But all of that has reduced since the scrapping of the agency and a drop in foreign aid.

US security aid to Nigeria remains significant. It approved sales of sophisticated precision military weapons worth US$346 million to Nigeria and has offered training support for Nigerian soldiers.

The US could end that deal, but that would undermine Nigeria’s ability to address terrorism and general security challenges. It would counter the purpose of the International Religious Freedom Act. Therefore, I believe the US may waive this.

Direct military intervention in Nigeria is becoming a possibility and Trump is most likely going to do it without respect for Nigeria’s sovereignty. He has ordered the US Department of War to draw up plans, and they have come up with options. But I do not see this solving the problem of insecurity in Nigeria. It may instead lead to the dispersal of terrorists, complicating Nigeria’s insecurity. Or terrorists might increase mass kidnappings and hostage-taking for shields.

How Nigeria should respond

Nigeria must prevent diplomatic rows with the US because they are partners in the fight against terrorism. A discussion about how the US can improve Nigeria’s capacity to address its security challenges would be a good step.

Furthermore, Nigeria’s limited capacity to safeguard lives and property points to deeper structural and governance challenges. The country’s security architecture is too centralised and works top-down. This makes it harder for sub-national and local authorities to provide security and address the drivers of violence at the local level.

Nigeria should go beyond improving its military response. To enhance security, it also needs to reform its governance and administrative structures.

The Conversation

Saheed Babajide Owonikoko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. US-Nigeria relations: what it means to be a ‘country of particular concern’ and why it matters – https://theconversation.com/us-nigeria-relations-what-it-means-to-be-a-country-of-particular-concern-and-why-it-matters-269044

Posted on

Guinea-Bissau’s presidential poll has already failed the credibility test

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Jonathan Powell, Visiting assistant professor, University of Kentucky

Guinea-Bissau heads into its November elections against the backdrop of a deepening crisis of electoral legitimacy across Africa. In recent months, a string of elections has reinforced the perception that incumbency, not competition, remains the standard.

In Cameroon, 92-year-old Paul Biya claimed an eighth consecutive term after officially winning 53.7% of a vote widely denounced as fraudulent and met with protests.



Read more:
Paul Biya’s life presidency in Cameroon enters a fragile final phase

In Tanzania, President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the victor with an implausible 98% of ballots cast in her favour following a poll marred by numerous irregularities and followed by protests and a crackdown unprecedented in the country’s history.



Read more:
Tanzania: President Samia Hassan’s grip on power has been shaken by unprecedented protests

And in Côte d’Ivoire, President Alassane Ouattara comfortably secured a fourth term with nearly 90% of the vote, extending his hold on power despite the constitution’s two-term limit.



Read more:
Côte d’Ivoire’s elections have already been decided: Ouattara will win and democracy will lose

Across the continent, including west Africa, these outcomes have fuelled public cynicism and highlighted a worrying erosion of democratic norms, as leaders manipulate constitutions, neutralise opponents, and hollow out institutions meant to safeguard accountability.

It is within this climate of regional disillusionment that Bissau-Guineans will head to the polls on 23 November.

The west African country’s upcoming election once offered the potential to demonstrate a growing electoral resilience, a deepening of institutional strength that would help the country break from past legacies of instability. Instead, the process has been repeatedly undermined by President Umar Sissoco Embaló.

As social scientists who have written extensively on political instability in Africa, we believe that such dynamics all but guarantee another entry to the roster of failed elections across the region.

At stake is more than Guinea-Bissau’s democratic credibility. Its unravelling speaks to a wider regional crisis in which incumbents erode legitimacy not by abolishing elections, but by emptying them of real competition.

A legacy of instability

In contrast to long-tenured leaders like Biya or Ouattara, or enduring parties such as Tanzania’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), Guinea-Bissau’s voters navigate an electoral system defined by unpredictability and instability, especially during election season.

The country’s modern electoral turbulence can be traced back decades. João Bernardo “Nino” Vieira returned to power in 2005 for a second stint, nearly a quarter-century after first seizing control via a 1980 coup.

His rule was marred by conflict, including an 11-month civil war triggered by a rebellion from former army chief of staff Ansumane Mané. Vieira’s long first tenure ended in a second coup in May 1999, and his second term was cut short in 2009 when he was murdered by members of the armed forces.

Malam Bacai Sanhá emerged as Vieira’s elected successor but passed away in January 2012, leaving Raimundo Pereira as interim president. Within months, Pereira would be removed in yet another military coup.

The 2012 upheaval halted a runoff election between Carlos Domingos Gomes Júnior and Kumba Ialá.

The 2014 election brought José Mário Vaz to the presidency, defeating a candidate with close ties to the military. When Vaz completed his term in 2020, he became Guinea-Bissau’s first president to finish a constitutionally defined tenure.



Read more:
Guinea-Bissau’s political crisis: a nation on the brink of authoritarianism

Undermining the process

Questions arose even before Vaz’s exit. After Umar Sissoco Embaló was declared the winner over Pereira in the 29 December runoff, Pereira challenged the results. Ignoring the ongoing legal process, Embaló arranged an inauguration ceremony for himself in February 2020.

The African Party for Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) accused Embaló of orchestrating a coup and appointed Cipriano Cassamá as an interim president.

Embaló then ordered the deployment of the military to state institutions, including the National Assembly. Cassamá stepped down on his second day, citing death threats.

The supreme court ultimately declined to rule on the dispute after its chief judge fled the country, also citing death threats. The crisis was effectively resolved by the Economic Community of West African States’ (Ecowas) recognition of the Embaló government. Uncertainty, however, would continue to plague the new government.

In May 2022, three months after an attempted coup, Embaló dissolved and suspended parliament.

The main opposition party, the PAIGC, formally regained parliamentary control in the June 2023 elections, setting the stage for continued confrontation between the presidency and the legislative majority. Embaló again pursued the dissolution of parliament in December 2023.

Although Embaló’s term officially expired in February 2025, the supreme court later ruled he could remain in office until 4 September.

Even after that date, Embaló remained in office. These manoeuvres have heightened concerns about the erosion of constitutional norms.

Concerns over the broader electoral environment have also come to the fore. Legislative elections initially scheduled for late November 2024 were indefinitely postponed due to alleged funding and logistical challenges. Earlier, Embaló had declared he would not seek reelection, only to reverse course in March 2025.

A mediation team deployed by the Economic Community of West African States, tasked with helping the sides agree to and honour an election timeline, abruptly withdrew following threats of expulsion from the Embaló government.

More recently, the PAIGC’s chosen presidential candidate, Domingos Simões Pereira, was barred from contesting the November election after the supreme court rejected his candidacy over the late submission of documents.

For the first time in Guinea-Bissau’s history, the country’s oldest and most influential party will be excluded from the presidential race.

The country has fallen in the Electoral Democracy Index, provided by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). As shown in the graph below, the decline even outpaces the drop witnessed after military coups in 2003, 2012, and the assassination of Vieira in 2009.

The V-Dem data end in 2024, and thus do not yet capture the 2025 election cycle.

Performative elections, entrenched power

What is unfolding in Guinea-Bissau is not an isolated crisis. It is part of a wider regional pattern in which leaders recognise that elections can be held, even celebrated, while hollowing out nearly everything that once made them meaningful. Critically, the recent coups in the region have been linked, in part, to popular frustration with flawed electoral processes.

Embaló has not entrenched himself with the personal longevity of Cameroon’s Biya or the institutional dominance of Tanzania’s CCM, but the mechanisms he has used to tilt the field look strikingly similar.

The removal of viable opponents, the manipulation of constitutional timelines, the coercive use of the security sector, and the corrosion of judicial independence all signal a shift away from accountability.

Guinea-Bissau was for the first time in decades poised to demonstrate that democratic resilience could be strengthened. Instead, the 2025 election cycle risks becoming another example of how fragile gains can be reversed with impunity.

The Conversation

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Guinea-Bissau’s presidential poll has already failed the credibility test – https://theconversation.com/guinea-bissaus-presidential-poll-has-already-failed-the-credibility-test-269461