Foreign Correspondence, Vol 69
Everything you need to know about the candidates vying to lead Scotland
Hello, happy Friday, and, to those observing, Ramadan Mubarak!
Longtime recipients of this this correspondence will already know how special Ramadan is—and not just because it was during the holy month three years ago that I had the hare-brained idea to start this newsletter. For observant and secular Muslims alike, Ramadan is a month centered around prayer, community, charity, and gratitude. Yes, fasting is a major component for those who are able. But it’s also about spiritual discipline and becoming a better person than you were when the month started.
For me, Ramadan is also about enjoying wonderful food that reminds me of home. And, in a first this year, beautiful London light displays!
What I’ve written
After Nicola Sturgeon’s shock resignation last month as head of the Scottish National Party and, by extension, as the First Minister of the Scottish government, both party and country are now in need of a new leader. I wrote about the candidates vying to replace her and what their victory could mean for Scotland and the independence movement. The results will be announced on Monday.
Perhaps the most important test facing whoever succeeds Sturgeon is how well, and how quickly, they can bring the party together. “It’s not been pleasant,” Ian Blackford, the SNP’s former Westminster leader, tells TIME of the campaign (the last leadership contest was held in 2004; Sturgeon ran unopposed for the post in 2014). As a party devoted above all to the cause of Scottish independence from the U.K., its membership has always consisted of an ideologically broad church. “Of course you’re going to get a degree of tension,” adds Blackford. Keep reading here
In pursuit of its judicial overhaul, Israel’s most right-wing government has lost the support of the majority of its population, parts of its military, and, increasingly, large swathes of the Jewish diaspora.
In a dispatch from London’s Parliament Square, where hundreds of Israel supporters gathered one Sunday afternoon to demonstrate against Israel’s extremist turn, I wrote about this unprecedented fissure in Israel-diaspora relations and what it means for the country’s relationship with the U.S., in particular.
“They [the government] don’t have any approval here and they don’t represent the Jewish community or Jewish values,” says Yoav Ginat, a dual British and Israeli national, who is one of the demonstrators. Our conversation is briefly interrupted by loud cheers from the crowd—a mix of Israeli expats and British Jews, religious and secular, young and old—and chants of busha, or shame. “They alienate Jews, but I also think they alienate other supporters of Israel as well.” Keep reading here
What I’ve read/listened to
This smart piece on the demonstrations taking place across Israel and how those participating in them are trying to save a democracy that never existed (The Daily Beast)
Israel’s 56 year-long military occupation has systematically disregarded the principles of democracy and equality they say they are fighting for. While protesters—many of them among the most privileged in Israeli society—walk in the streets demanding the “rule of law” and “democracy,” Israeli forces are demolishing Palestinian homes; standing alongside settlers who are terrorizing Palestinians; denying freedom of movement and assembly; holding people in prolonged detention without trial; killing unarmed protesters; carrying out torture; and deporting Palestinian activists. And within Israel, Palestinian citizens face structural discrimination and inequality under an explicit policy that prioritizes Jewish rights.
This excellent essay on whether we might actually (finally?) be seeing the end of the Boris Johnson (Politico)
Johnson was there to defend himself against the charge that he repeatedly lied to parliament when he said guidance was followed in No. 10. His strategy was distraction: obscuration, and repetition, and sentences that tripped along ring roads, going nowhere.
He has never been so boring: No one listening ever wants to hear the word “guidance” again. If the ability to inflict boredom was his defense, it was also his destruction. Johnson is supposed to be a seducer with a fascinating narrative arc ― one of his campaign videos aped the film “Love Actually” ― not a bore. But needs must. The fascination was thrown overboard.
This gripping investigation about Shamima Begum, the 15-year-old London school girl who famously traveled to Syria to join ISIS in 2015. She is now languishing in a refugee camp in Syria where she will remain indefinitely, having been controversially stripped of her British citizenship (BBC)
It’s a podcast — tune in!
What I’m thinking about
At the encouragement of my fellow OGWN panelists, I finally took the time to watch Everything Everywhere All at Once last week. It was fantastic, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, or its incredible Oscars sweep, since.
Until next time,
Yasmeen