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Sergio (movie review)

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You are probably too immersed in debates around the aid industry when you notice during the end credits that Jordan and Thailand, two favorite R’n’R places of the industry and its aid workers, replaced Iraq and East Timor, the central stages for Netflix ’ new Sergio movie. I am generally a big fan of using different artistic formats to communicate ‘development’, including humanitarian work and international politics, and after watching the trailer I was prepared to cut the movie some slack in terms of what to expect in terms of critical, even educational value. With that and my first book review I wrote on the blog in 2010 on Samantha Power ’ s De Mello biography in mind I was still a bit disappointed with Sergio which frames his story almost completely around the romantic relationship Sergio De Mello (played by Wagner Moura) develops with his young colleague Carolina Larriera (played by Ana De Armas). Ever since the notorious book Emergency Sex came out and in today’s world of

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Hi all, I hope you are well & enjoyed some form of Easter-related break! This week's review features a lot of great long-reads on the history of pandemics, Canadian steel plants, World Vision & Renee Bach...perfect for exploring at home ;)! The COVID-19 section does not try to 'catch up'-so it is relatively short and selective. And there is poetry, wins against algorithmic intransparence, reflections on 'naked' research & more! Enjoy! My quotes of the week Bach’s two sisters live in California—one is a nanny, the other a doctor—and she was considering moving there. “I want to be in a place where I could live a life of service again,” she said. “I genuinely enjoy helping people. And I feel like an idiot saying that, because everyone is, like, ‘You just killed a bunch of people.’ I would love to live in a really low-income, diverse community—like immersion. Just to move into a Section 8 housing community, and not be completely ostracized, is an art.”

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Hi all,  Another week with a special COVID-19 section-focusing on globally diverse, interesting, alternative media & communication projects; plus non-COVID reading suggestions & more! P.S.: I will take a short Easter break next week and should be back the following week   Stay healthy!   My quotes of the week As women we have been denied the right to housing. Even when we build our own houses they are destroyed. Housing is not possible without land and we are denied the right to land. We have been oppressed by the Kings in our rural areas. You are denied access to land if you are a single mother. We have moved to the city and now we are still facing the same oppression from the eThekwini Municipality. (Organising in the time of COVID19: Abahlali base Mjondolo Womens League speaks out on evictions) “Retailers are calling on the governments of garment-producing countries to provide support for workers, but if you’re going to base your hugely profitable supply chain in cou

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Hi all,  My weekly link review attempts on a modest scale to mirror key debates in the #globaldev community; so even though I included a special COVID-19 section again (the first one was last week ) this review is shorter than usual but it is still important to look at 'other news' as well. From refugees stranded in Libya to criticism of the peace deal by Afghan women and the appointment of a 23-year old female MP in Namibia as information and technology deputy minister it is worth checking out these stories, often dealing with shifting civil society spaces, as well. Stay safe & healthy!   My quotes of the week Outreach staff will become more constrained in the level of contact they can have with communities as regulations on social distancing take hold. This is a huge challenge which also puts already vulnerable audiences at risk – imagine living in a rural community right now and facing the spread of COVID-19, with no access to any source of information about what i

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Hi all,  COVID-19 is impacting all of us & I added a special section on the emerging discussion in the #globaldev sector this week; plus, bad news from South Sudan; building infrastructure won't solve problems & continued debates on ethical research in the Global South. Enjoy!   My quotes of the week Let’s not forget that hundreds of millions of people beyond the West have lived such emergency ethics on a daily basis for decades in long wars, extreme poverty, epidemics, and disasters. They are ethical experts who can advise us in the West. And we can always consult those in the gay community and beyond who endured and transformed the HIV/AIDS emergency that arose in the 1980s – the last great pandemic we all faced together. (This age of COVID-19 demands new emergency ethics) “Everyone is turning into virtual conferencing, but we work a lot on the ground in local communities affected by conflict. Many of them don’t have 24-hour electricity, let alone the Internet. Ther