The world is chock full of jihadist violence as our news feeds show us every day. Still, there are places that seem to escape our attention, despite the ghastly nature of the killing. Luckily there are intrepid souls who bring us this information. Borealis has a conversation with Neha Wadekar on the situation in Mozambique
Abortion debate has been one of the critical and influential issues within the US political and social changes, more and more people are rather outspoken, in terms of protecting and advocating for their own rights. Meanwhile, across the continents, female citizens in other nations are also struggling with the same issue. Among the nations in Africa, women no longer can find legal clinics for safe abortion, instead, they are playing fire with “illegal places.” Neha Wadekar, one international journalist joined the latest show to explain more.
Our guest today is journalist Neha Wadekar, an independent multimedia journalist reporting across the globe. Neha’s work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, PBS NewsHour, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Mother Jones, CNN, TIME, and others. In this episode, we talk to Neha about under-reported stories in the media, why its so important to cast a wider net, and how we can all advocate for more diversity and inclusion in the stories we see and hear.
Scores of Facebook documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show employees raising alarms about how its platforms are used in developing countries, where its user base is huge and expanding. Employees flagged that human traffickers in the Middle East used the site to lure women into abusive employment situations. They warned that armed groups in Ethiopia used the site to incite violence against ethnic minorities. They sent alerts to their bosses about organ selling, pornography and government action against political dissent, according to the documents. They also show the company’s response, which in many instances is inadequate or nothing at all. A Facebook spokesman said the company has deployed global teams, local partnerships and third-party fact checkers to keep users safe.
For more than three years, northern Mozambique has been ravaged by violence and destruction, as a local Islamic insurgency has grown in intensity and brutality. More than 1,300 civilians have been killed, according to one estimate, and some 668,000 have been internally displaced — nearly half of whom are children. Journalists are not usually granted access to the area, but Neha Wadekar accompanied an aid group to Cabo Delgado in November and was able to speak to survivors of the brutal campaign. Wadekar spoke with host Scott Simon about the victims she met on her trip, the origins of the violence and the criticism that has been leveled against the government in Mozambique. Below are excerpts from the conversation, edited in parts for clarity and length.
I spoke with hosts Carli and Laura for their podcast, Unconventional Dyad, where psychology and psychoanalysis meets social justice, feminism, politics, climate change, critical theory, graduate student mental health, and the arts.
Start listening at 12:23 mins to hear my radio report for IRE Radio World Report with John Burke on the factors contributing to high rates of early child marriage in Kenya, including climate change and COVID19.
Start listening at 14:47 mins to hear my radio report on factors contributing to high rates of teenage pregnancy in Kenya, including COVID19, insufficient funding for reproductive health organizations and lack of sex education in Kenyan schools.
Start listening around 12 minutes to hear my RTE radio essay about what lifting the ban on the controversial film, Rafiki, means for LGBTQ rights and freedom of expression in Kenya.
Somalia has opened its first forensic laboratory to process rape kits. Sexual assault is widespread in the country, according to human rights groups, but few victims come forward and few perpetrators are punished. The new forensic lab in Somalia’s Puntland region has been hailed as a step in the right direction, but a long road remains to end impunity for gender-based violence.