I’m venturing out into the world today to see two different people (!!) at two different locations (!!), so I’m wearing Hard Pants (aka not jeggings). I am sure I will regret this decision by the time you read this.
As always, if you’re enjoying Solidaritas, paid subscriptions are available for US$5/month or much much cheaper at US$40/year. Have a lovely weekend!
-Kate
Read
Long-read of the week: How Syria's disinformation wars destroyed the co-founder of the White Helmets. If you spend any amount of time on social media, you’ll probably remember endless infowars surrounding the White Helmets. What I didn’t realise was how tragically it ended.
Women are on strike in Poland to protest against the tightening of abortion law, which removes the right to pregnancy termination due to foetal abnormalities.
Mike Tatarski wrote about how people smugglers have changed the way they operate after 39 Vietnamese migrants suffocated in a truck in Essex in 2019:
Currently, just crossing the English Channel from Calais, the nearest French port to the British coast, now costs up to $30,000, whereas prior to Essex, the entire journey from Vietnam cost that much.
This ABC visualisation of the 2016-19 drought in Australia combines satellite imagery and farmers’ stories to show just how much rivers, lakes and dams dried up.
I loved this story about a small rural Russian town whose mayor needed an opponent for his (presumed) re-election. He put down the name of the city hall cleaner, Marina Udgodskaya. Marina won.
Natasha Stott Despoja on why the Australian government needs a gender policy now more than ever.
Watch and listen
My friend and former housemate Febriana Firdaus is the narrator/guide of a new film on Indonesian women activists called Our Mothers’ Land. It premiered last night and I was lucky enough to be invited (to watch online, of course); keep an eye out for its public release. In the meantime, you can watch the trailer.
Melbourne’s Collins St falcon chicks are now four weeks old, so they’re losing their white puffball looks and turning into proper falcons. Still cute, but becoming deadly (if you’re a pigeon, anyway).
John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed reviewed plagues throughout history.
Eat
We made ayam semur Medan (Indonesia sweet-spicy chicken ‘stew’ cooked Medan-style) last night; definitely a keeper.