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International

Himal Southasian •

How Thailand and India continue to fail Myanmar refugees

FELIX SAT CROSS-LEGGED next to his wife on the floor of a rented parlour-sized room that one could mistake for a Zumba studio. The hall was situated in an upscale area of Mae Sot, a city on the western edge of Thailand, near its border with Myanmar. Felix was not there to learn to dance. He was there to help other refugees from Myanmar, who come here to learn to bake bread and pick up other survival skills. The refugees had all come to Mae Sot after fleeing air strikes and forced military conscr...
YES! Magazine •

The Fall of an Arizona Border Wall - YES! Magazine Solutions Journalism

We met Kate Scott, founder and director of the Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Center, in the border town of Sierra Vista in Southern Arizona. Her chirpy demeanor contrasted with the subdued color of her orange-and-green winter coat. She had a California quail pinned on one side of her coat, her signature look in the Coronado National Forest. She drove us—three journalists from Mexico, Armenia, and India—to the park to catch the last vestiges of a failed attempt at a border wall.


The shipping co...
Harvard Public Health Magazine •

How Indigenous Knowledge may shape the future of U.S. policy

Over the last decade, the federal government has recognized Indigenous Knowledge as an asset in efforts to combat climate change and environmental degradation. The Biden administration has gone a step further, instructing federal agencies to integrate indigenous practices and teachings into all kinds of policies — including those addressing public health. Agencies are due to report on their progress soon.


The move is “setting a tone that tribes should be treated with respect, as sovereign nat...
EastMojo •

Sundance festival catapulting Indian documentaries to the Oscars

Park City, US: It happened for Writing with Fire in 2021 when it won the Audience and Special Jury award as it did for All That Breathes last year when it won the Grand Jury Prize for World Documentary at the Sundance festival. Both Indian documentaries went on to be nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards the following year. This year, when the festival returned for in-person screenings, panels, parties, and workshops after a two-year pandemic gap, Against The Tide hit a Su...
Missing Perspectives •

Sundance 2023: Strong female leads shine a light on indigenous stories | Missing Perspectives

There’s always been an unnecessary need for mystery and intrigue attached to indigenous female characters in Hollywood. When not showing subservience to white colonisers or the elder male folk in their tribal nation, the trope of the ‘exotic’ native woman depicted shows her quiet resilience and underrated intelligence in the face of adversity (aka, Pocahontas).
Step in Jax (Lily Gladstone), who would stop at nothing and snap at everything until she finds her missing sister in Fancy Dance (US Dra...
YES! Magazine •

Aboriginal Activists Win Abalone Harvesting Rights

Analysis Based on factual reporting, although it incorporates the expertise of the author/producer and may offer interpretations and conclusions.When I meet Rodney Scott Dillon in April, he is lounging on the front porch of his residence in Tasmania’s Lower Snug, overlooking the boats bobbing in Snug Bay at low tide. After decades of run-ins with law enforcement and going head-to-head with the Australian government, the 66-year-old Palawa elder—who traces his ancestry from northeast Tasmania—now...
Nikkei Asia •

Thai border town offers geopolitical lesson for India

Mae Sot, a Thai trading center on the border with Myanmar, has two very noticeable characteristics: It is prosperous, and it is full of refugees from Myanmar. In both ways, the town offers a striking contrast to my home in northeastern India, which also borders Myanmar, where official hostility to illegal immigrants is damaging both refugees and the local economy.Arriving in Mae Sot for the first time recently I was struck by its visible prosperity. The well-ordered streets are dotted with Burme...
Middle East Eye •

Coronavirus in the UAE: Migrant workers from northeast India desperate to get home

In March, Lunkhel was supposed to start work as a full-time member of the kitchen staff at a luxury hotel in Dubai. The 32-year old from the northeastern Indian state of Manipur had completed six months of training for the job. He felt, finally, that he was going to pursue his "calling". 

Then the coronavirus pandemic happened. 

Lunkhel told Middle East Eye that despite initial promises, his contract was not extended and the company offered to pay for his repatriation flight. Two months later,...