Hello! This is the first of what will be weekly extra emails for paid subscribers, where I plan to talk about things that don’t fit into the fortnightly gender in Asia and the Pacific wrap-ups. Like books and articles and recipes and all sorts of related shit I’m worrying about each week.
This one is free, but from next week, only paid subscribers will receive these weekly emails. Subscriptions are just US$5/month (I wish it could be less but that’s Substack’s minimum!) or much cheaper at US$40/year.
Don’t worry: the regular fortnightly wrap-ups will remain free.
Thank you for reading!
We’re all deeply worried about our friend Ravio Patra, who has been caught by the police in Jakarta for allegedly spreading incitement to violence. It seems pretty clear his WhatsApp was hacked and someone else spread the messages in his name using his phone number. Very concerning.
Cities and urban density aren’t to blame for COVID-19’s rapid spread: people and policies are.
Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia are struggling to deal with the economic fallout of Malaysia’s movement control order (MCO). Nahdlatul Ulama think there may be as many as 700,000 documented and 1.5 million undocumented Indonesian workers in Malaysia, working in the construction, cleaning, food, and care sectors.
Dissident Indonesian activist and writer Arief Budiman has passed away at age 79. Rest in power.
This long NYT piece is so harrowing that I’m having to read it in sections over a number of days: I’m an ER doctor in New York. None of us will ever be the same.
Pacific Island countries rely heavily on remittances from migrant workers in Australia and New Zealand. In Tonga, for example, remittances makes up 40% of GDP. How will families cope with COVID-19 immigration restrictions?
Missing being able to travel? I recommend signing up to Couchfish. It’s a tour of Southeast Asia and somehow it manages to make me feel nostalgic even for places I’ve never been. It also makes me very hungry for some Thai street food.
I’m looking forward to watching Netflix’s new documentary, A Secret Love.
My partner and I are separated by immigration blackslists and COVID-19, so we’re Zooming together and watching old series of Taskmaster, which are available for free on YouTube (you may have to use a VPN to change to another country). If you want something silly to laugh at how useless some people are in creative problem solving, this is the show for you.
I love Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway’s Home Cooking podcast. I struggle to listen to podcasts, generally speaking, because I can’t focus, but this one is both fascinating and makes me laugh.
Speaking of cooking, I cooked Adam Liaw’s roasted carrot and tomato spaghetti recently! Delicious.
When I go for walks at the moment, I’m listening to the audiobook of Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective. It’s free to listen to on Scribd. Here’s an article Taylor wrote that explains a bit about the Collective and their foundational contribution to Black and intersectional feminism and feminist organising.
I just finished reading Sophie McNeill’s book, We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know, which is mostly about recent humanitarian crises and conflicts in the Middle East and how we failed to help the people affected. It’s grim reading but worthwhile, because it reminds me how much more we have to do to.
Manly Spirits’ limoncello is my new favourite alcoholic drink. Add some ice and a bit of soda water. Super refreshing.
See you next week! Or, like, in five minutes on Twitter.