The Iranian rapper sentenced to death
… plus curiosities from the back of a Philippine jeepney, the Met Gala, and more.
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Without further ado, here’s what’s on deck this week:
🚃 Why Filipinos are raging over new jeepney laws
🎤 Unpacking Toomaj Salehi’s politically charged rap songs
🛣️ The power of an unplanned adventure
But first, here’s a closer look at what’s been going on around the world in the last week or so:
821,808 — The peak number of live-stream viewers of the 2024 Met Gala on Vogue’s official YouTube channel on Monday. It’s a record for the storied fashion magazine, nearly doubling the concurrent viewership of last year’s gala. And apparently inflation hasn’t only impacted the cost of groceries and rent: Tickets to attend this uber-exclusive charity event vaulted to $75,000 per person this year, up from the $50,000 cost of last year’s stub.
0 — The total number of permanent humanitarian aid routes into Gaza by land that remain open at the moment. After the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israeli citizens, the Israeli government had limited Gaza’s aid deliveries to two border crossings: Kerem Shalom and Rafah. But on Sunday, Israel closed the Kerem Shalom crossing following a Hamas attack that killed four Israeli soldiers. Israel then closed the Rafah crossing on Tuesday amid what UN officials are describing as a “full-blown famine” in the enclave. Israel has suggested offering the temporary delivery of aid through the port of Ashdod and the Erez crossing with little follow-up. Meanwhile, on Monday the U.S. State Department announced the completion of an offshore aid pier, which is expected to deliver roughly 90 truckloads of aid per day with hopes to eventually increase to 150 daily truck deliveries.
“The Rafah Border crossing isn't just a point of entry—it's a beacon of hope for tens of thousands of Palestinians. Now, it stands ominously blocked, leaving people trapped in a state of desperation. … This isn't just another headline. These are real people, real lives, real suffering.”
— Deepmala Mahla, Chief Humanitarian Officer at CARE on LinkedIn.
$72 billion — The amount of debt Americans have right now, according to the San Francisco Fed. During the pandemic, Americans managed to save over $2 trillion. But those savings have rapidly dissipated, leaving “future economic growth in question,” writes Jenny Montoya for SoFi. This chart really says it all:
2 a.m. — The time a shooting took place outside of the Canadian rapper Drake’s home on Tuesday, leading to Drake’s security guard being “seriously injured” by an unknown suspect. The news comes amid a mounting beef between Drake and the American rapper Kendrick Lamar. Police are reticent to link the shooting to the decade-long spat, but for those not privy to the quarrel, this opinion piece from Pitchfork by the rap columnist Alphonse Pierre lays out the origins of the rappers’ diss track-laden tussle.
“I know rap beef isn’t usually the place for moral handwringing, but this feels beyond that. Especially coming at a moment when hip-hop already feels long overdue for a reckoning.”
— Alphonse Pierre in Pitchfork
And now for the main course: If you’ve been with us for a while, you may know that we have kept an eye on Iran and the surge of government crackdowns against pro-democracy activists. Since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in October 2022 while in the custody of Iran’s morality police, the country has been awash in civil unrest. Iranian anti-government protesters have reportedly been arrested, disappeared, or given show trials in droves, amid a protracted government campaign of forceful repression.
The latest developments continue this trend: On Tuesday, a court sentenced the Iranian rapper and pro-democracy activist Toomaj Salehi to death due to his outspoken support of the Woman Life Freedom movement in his songs and on social media. The music clip below is Salehi’s “Maydoone Jang”, or “Battlefield”, which is a song that calls for political revolution and dissent amid corruption. He is currently in solitary confinement as lawyers work to appeal his case.
But, what is the Woman Life Freedom Movement, and what’s the backstory behind Iran’s morality police? For this, revisit Frame contributor Zinya Salfiti’s dive from last year into the morality police’s history and future.
By Friday, May 10 — Jeepney drivers in the Philippines may have to comply to new laws forcing them to retire their Pimp my Ride-esque vehicles in the name of the country’s new modernization policies. Long a beloved heritage, quirk, and private transportation mainstay, jeepneys have been at the center of fervent protests throughout the country since March 2023. If drivers refuse to comply to these rules, they may be fined and have their vehicle impounded.
“Jeepney, and the extensive use of it, was supposed to be a Band-Aid solution. … but it has become a way of life,” Carlos Conde, senior researcher at the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, told The Christian Science Monitor in February.
On Saturday, May 11 — World Migratory Bird Day occurs in North America. Each year, birding organizers pick a theme (this year, it’s “Protect Insects, Protect Birds”) along with a suite of bird day “ambassadors” to teach the public about the wonders and diversity of migratory birds. C’mon, how adorable is that? Here’s a photo of my favorite little guy from their ambassador line-up this year: Everyone say hi to the semipalmated sandpiper.
On Tuesday May 14 — A new novel by celebrated writer Claire Messud titled “This Strange Eventful History” releases. The book is a sweeping historical drama that traces three generations of the Cassar family, a French family with roots in colonial Algeria. In next week’s print edition of The New Yorker, Jennifer Wilson writes:
“The Cassars cling to an idealized memory of Algeria that’s untroubled by reality, the tree of knowledge unshaken, the apple still intact, but Messud trusts her readers to bite down.'“
Do you ever go on a walk without a goal or destination in mind, letting the city or countryside pull you in different directions? The French avant-garde group, Letterist International, coined a term for this called dérive (literally, to drift).
The Letterists, and an associated group, Situationist International, believed that dérives allow us to see the spaces we live in in new ways. Instead of repeating our normal patterns of commuting or going to the market, a dérive can turn our surroundings into more poetic and whimsical places, creating new connections to spaces we routinely traverse.
In 2023 I wrote about how maps apps like Google Maps are changing our relationship to neighborhoods and the power of going on dérives. You can read it here.
— Ben
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