#Unification church in the philippines

[whatisonthemoon]

The Death of Jose Maria Sison (Joma)

Jose Maria Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has died after two weeks of hospitalization. This news has led millions all over the world to mourn, as many count him as a freedom fighter. He is known for drawing up a thorough analysis of Philippine society through collective study and struggle that led other young cadre of the old Communist Party to leave and form their own. This analysis led the basis for the ongoing anti-fascist, anti-imperialist, anti-feudal revolution in the Philippines.

The CPP was especially relevant to the Unification Church as Marcos was ousted and the CPP taking power became an increasing threat. 

The CPP and the National Democratic movement were vital to the popular movement built up around ousting Marcos. Following the People Power Revolution, which ousted Marcos in 1986, the Unification Church’s institutions flooded the Philippines, organizing conferences with influential cultural figures, as well as active and retired agents of US and Philippine military and intelligence agencies. These conferences played a major role in forming the general counterinsurgency program of the Philippines following Marcos, which consisted of pro-US propaganda on the TV, radio, and education system, that also prepared Filipinos to have their labor exported abroad, as well as arming and developing autonomous anti-communist vigilante groups as the Philippine military slowly develops with the the active aid and mentorship of the US. This was all alongside ramping up neoliberal policies with empty or very limited land reforms, which of course increases the Philippine economy’s dependency on exporting Philippine labor. 

The Philippine Government has had an unending string of bad presidents following Marcos, coming from wealthy bureaucrat capitalist families that control the military, government, and economy, and secure the role of semi-feudalism and peasant exploitation in society, all while shamelessly using vigilante and vigilante-style tactics on those combatting their corrupt governments, from members of Communist organizations to LGBTQ+ activists, priests and nuns, teachers, social workers, etc. All of this violence has continually fed the movement for national democracy with a socialist perspective.

Prior to becoming a combatant, Sison was a professor and organizer in the old Communist Party. He organized among students and in his workplace. He is remembered for being a jovial, delightful man who never stopped organizing for the Philippine revolution, even after imprisonment and being exiled from the land he fought for. 

Today the Philippine revolution grows with thousands of combatants on all major islands of the Philippines, and growing bases among the peasantry and support among the working masses. The National Democratic revolution wages on, fighting on behalf of workers, LGBTQ+ people, women, seafarers, peasants, children, etc., despite the increased bombings and strafing in the countryside, despite the countless revolutionaries and activists who have been murdered the past few years by the police and army using Moonie-owned SNT Motiv weapons. 

These weapons are not the only way the Unification Church is complicit. The continued anti-communist murders of thousands of people in the Philippines is the ongoing legacy of the UC's organizing in the late 80s. CAUSA actively supported and organized vigilante groups, including Alsa Masa, a group responsible for the murder of thousands. 

The New People’s Army continues to swell with people who love the people. As the Revolution Selfie documentary remarks, more people get involved with the revolution because of Jesus than Marx. It was the Christian value of loving your neighbor that led so many to take up this struggle.

It was this Christian value that Sison embodied. And now Sison’s legacy lives on brilliantly in the people’s continued struggle. 

I hope we will all do what we can to support those on the front line fighting imperialism, as their fight is our own. The only way we can take down the enemy here is by having the enemy fall down all over the world.

Long live international solidarity!

Seasonally relevant video of Jose Maria Sison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PtaI-Ly9Js

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

On the Filipina “Migrant Wives”

Excerpted from Gendered Desire and Heteronormativity in the Transnational Matchmaking Process by Minjeong Kim

In the early days of the UC, the Blessing Committee collected personal information on members, including pictures, and presented them to Moon who personally matched couples and officiated at the Blessing Ceremony. Moon sought to achieve world unity through the marital unions of racially and culturally different people, and therefore arranged a large number of international matches between Americans and foreign nationals. As the scale of matching grew, the ceremonies became mass weddings and the rules became more relaxed. In 1997, the name of the organization was changed to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, a change that actively promoted the True Family Movement. Since then, non-Unificationists were allowed to be matched with UC members. This expansion of the True Family Movement has contributed to the increasing number of Filipina and Thai women marriage migrants forming unions with South Korean men (Y.-s. Kim, Kim, & Han, 2006). Unfortunately for the UC, this relatively fast expansion has not necessarily resulted in the successful conversion of Filipina members. Many Filipinas and their Korean husbands did not consider themselves UC members even though they were matched through the UC. Only 5 of 25 Filipinas in Hyowon County maintained their UC membership, and even these existing members did not demonstrate a steady commitment, often missing Sunday sermons.

Despite the Filipinas’ tenuous spiritual commitment, UC senior members seem to be satisfied with the fact that they provide a community service by helping to alleviate the ‘‘farm bachelor’’ issue. I often heard both UC members and local residents, including government officers and leaders of other religious organizations, say ‘‘how could those men have married if it were not for the UC?’’ They seem to appreciate the UC’s involvement in addressing this ‘‘societal headache.’’ In hindsight, the UC’s ‘‘contribution’’ may have helped the church maintain their stature and increase their membership. However, the secular (rather than religious) messages used in matching and in the Separation Period need critical examination.

Matching Filipinas and Koreans 

In my study sample, 19 Korean men (76%) and 28 Filipinas (80%) met their spouses through the UC. With the exception of one Filipina who had been a Unificationist since college, all the respondents in the study became involved in the church mainly for the purpose of finding a spouse.

Most of the South Korean farm bachelors said that they were first approached and encouraged by family members, neighbors, friends, acquaintances, or people from the UC to find their spouses through the UC; four men voluntarily went to the UC to be matched. When asked why they married Filipinas rather than women of another nationality, some South Korean men responded ‘‘because of the Unification Church.’’ In other words, the UC determined that they would be matched with Filipinas and, if they wanted to marry, the men did not have any choice other than to follow this decision. My subsequent research on Japanese–Korean couples revealed that the UC follows certain patterns in matching. In general, Japanese women are much more spiritually involved in the UC than Filipinas, and most Korean men who were matched with Japanese women were from devoted Unificationist families (either their parents or the men themselves), lived in higher-income households, and held middle-class jobs. Meanwhile, Korean men who were matched with Filipinas had no prior UC involvement and had lower levels of educational attainment (one Korean husband said that he wanted a Japanese wife but was told that he could not because he did not have high school diploma). The UC seems to match couples based on the degree of spiritual and institutional involvement in the church; to a certain extent, the hierarchical relations inside the UC based on religious devotion and socioeconomic class overlap with the socioeconomic status of husbands and the global hierarchical standing of women’s natal countries. Thus, the church’s matching patterns reinforce the ethnic and national hierarchy in South Korea.

Even though Filipinas are matched with Korean men with lower socioeconomic status, this is not what they are told when they are recruited to the UC in the Philippines. Like South Korean men, the Filipinas who met their husbands through the UC said that it was initially relatives, acquaintances, coworkers, or strangers they met on the street, in department stores, or government offices who ‘‘witnessed’’ them.

In Manila, Filipinas recruited from all over the Philippines are matched with Korean men who have just flown in from South Korea. Korean men usually stay in the Philippines for 4 or 5 days. After their arrival, they are introduced to a partner who has been predetermined by ‘‘picture matching.’’ In most cases, men meet one Filipina at a time, and as a general rule, they can reject one match. After the initial meeting and match, the couples attend a second meeting to participate in the Blessing Ceremony in the form of a small-scale mass wedding. The respondents said that the ceremony was led by one Filipino leader and one Korean leader and only the pictures of Reverend Moon and Mrs. Han. At a third meeting, the couples, who are now husbands and wives, go on a tour to Manila arranged by the church.

After the matching, the Blessing Ceremony, and the one-day tour, husbands return to South Korea and wait for their wives to come ‘‘home,’’ while Filipinas go back to their Philippine home to begin the Separation Period. After returning to their hometowns, Filipinas stay at or regularly attend a local Unification Center. As UC members, Filipinas study UC doctrines and are prepared for their lives in Korea by learning about South Korean society and traditional cultures including Korean gender roles.

Between 1 month and 1 year after the Blessing Ceremony, women travel from the Philippines to South Korea and are placed at a local UC in their husbands’ town. After the Separation Period, Filipinas are allowed to move into their husbands’ house, and the Three-Day Ceremony is conducted. According to the UC calendar, the couples have another mass wedding, which takes place in or near Seoul and is officiated by Reverend Moon. When the husbands’ families can afford to and/or are willing, they have a private (nonreligious) wedding with their family members, relatives, and friends.

Related

Vivian’s Experience as a Filipino Migrant Worker Recruited by the Unification Church

The Conditions of the Japanese-Korean Moonie-Brokered Marriages

6,500 women missing from Moon mass weddings

UC mass wedding of 1,000 couples probed for recruiting prostitutes, nannies

Korean UC leaders made lots of money from “selling” hundreds of pure, faithful, Filipino sisters

Korean Unification Church Reverend takes $10,000 from a farmer for finding him a Filipina wife.

Moonies demanded $2,000 from Koreans who wanted to have Filipinas as “housemaids and sex partners.”

Many non-UC Korean men and Filipinas are recruited or urged by local UC members and matched through UC ceremonies

Republic of the Philippines – Office of the President. Documented Unification Church cases include women eventually sold into prostitution upon arrival in Korea.

Catholic Church helps Filipinas running from violent UC marriages in Korea

UNESCO Report: Korean-Filipino marriages under the UC sparked controversy and animosity

[milkboydotnet]

The religious right plays an important international role in fighting political progress in developing nations. It is not surprising therefore that there has been an influx of these organizations into the Philippines. Intense and effective anticommunist propaganda arc trademarks in their religious campaigns. Vigilante death squads, civic action programs, "land reform," and U.S. military advisers are clear indications that the U.S. has chosen the Philippines as its next low intensity conflict testing ground and the religious right is there to lead the propaganda front.

Howard Goldenthal, Moonies, WACL and Vigilantes: The Religious Right in the Philippines (1988)

[brookston]

Holidays 8.20

Holidays

Bad Hair Day

Bamboo Celebration Day

Dial the Phone Day

Dogfight Day

Father’s Day (Nepal)

Feast of Asmá’ (Bahá'í)

First Onam (Parts of India)

Indian Akshay Urja Day (India)

International Amy Adams Day

International Andrew Garfield Day

International Day of Medical Transporters

International FinOps Day

John Deere 820 Day

Meitei Language Day (Manipur, India)

Missy Elliot Appreciation Day

Moon’s Birthday (Aztec)

National Accessible Air Travel Day

National 820 Day

National Exotic Dancer Day

National Fintech Day

National Latina Day

National Radio Day

National Scientific Temper Day (India)

Nepali Bhasa Manyata Diwas (Sikkim, India)

Neymarzetes Day (Brazil)

Nuremberg Code Anniversary Day

Puffball Day (French Republic)

Renewable Energy Day (India)

Rest Day (Hungary)

Saint Stephen’s Day (Hungary)

1619 Day

Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Stop and Smell Your Dog Day

Virtual Worlds Day

World Issue Day (Lagos)

World Mosquito Day

World Union Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Chocolate Pecan Pie Day

International Hawaiian Pizza Day

Lemonade Freedom Day

National Bacon Lover’s Day

National Honey Day (Sweden)

National Lemonade Day

World Day of French Fries (Spanish-speaking Countries)

Independence & Related Days

Anniversary of the FALINTIL (East Timor)

Candalia (Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

Estonia (from USSR, 1991)

Iska Akaliazen (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Lucena City Charter Day (Philippines)

Revolution Day (Morocco, Western Sahara)

3rd Tuesday in August

International Chalk the Walks Day [3rd Tuesday]

Taco Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Tapas Tuesday [3rd Tuesday of Each Month]

Target Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Tater Tot Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Trivia Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Trusting Tuesday [3rd Tuesday of Each Month]

Two For Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Weekly Holidays beginning August 20 (3rd Full Week of August)

Friendship Week (thru 8.26)

Festivals Beginning August 20, 2024

DakotaFest (Mitchell, South Dakota) [thru 8.22]

Dutchess County Fair (Rhinebeck, New York) [thru 8.25]

MUTEK Montreal (Montreal, Canada) [thru 8.25]

Nice Jazz Festival (Nice, France) [thru 8.23]

Peterborough Beer Festival (Peterborough, Great Britain) [thru 8.24]

Feast Days

Alan Lee (Artology)

Amadour (Christian; Saint)

Benvenuto Cellini (Positivist; Saint)

Bernard of Clairvaux (Christian; Saint)

Birth of the White Buffalo (Lakota)

Boil-Over Thursday (Shamanism)

Cuitlahac Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

The Day of Total Victory (Unification Church)

Expensive Rum Day (Pastafarian)

First Light Altar Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Georg Häfner, Blessed (Christian; Saint)

Glam Dicind (Celtic Book of Days)

Greg Bear (Writerism)

Harpo Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Helena (Muppetism)

Heliodorus of Bet Zabdai (Christian; Saint)

H. P. Lovecraft (Writerism)

H. R. Van Dongen (Artology)

Maria De Mattias (Christian; Saint)

Media Aestas II (Pagan)

Oswine of Deira (Christian; Martyr)

Philibert of Jumièges (Christian; Saint)

Samuel (Christian; Prophet)

William and Catherine Booth (Church of England)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [28 of 37]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [43 of 57]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [21 of 30]

Very Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [37 of 60]

Premieres

Angie, by The Rolling Stones (Song; 1973)

The Black Stallion, by Walter Farley (Novel; 1941)

Coonskin (Animated Film; 1975)

1812 Overture, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Concert Overture; 1882)

Elias: The Little Rescue Boat (Animated TV Series; 2005)

Feather Finger (WB MM Cartoon; 1966)

Garden State (Film; 2004)

Graffiti Bridge, by Prince (Album; 1990)

Hot Dogs (Ub Iwerks Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Disney Cartoon; 1928)

I Never Changes My Altitude (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1937)

Islandia, by Austin Tappan Wright (Novel; 1942)

A Kiddie’s Kitty (WB MM Cartoon; 1955)

Lego DC Batman: Family Matters (WB Animated Film; 2019)

Mice Follies (WB LT Cartoon; 1960)

Mickey Blue Eyes (Film; 1999)

Oh, Johnny, Oh, Johnny, Oh, by Orrin Tucker (Song; 1939)

Perfect Blue (Anime Film; 1999)

Picnic at Hanging Rock, by Joan Lindsay (Novel; 1967)

Pocket Full of Kryptonite, by The Spin Doctors (Album; 1991)

Scary Crows (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1937)

Scooby Doo! Stage Fright (WB Animated Film; 2013)

Slow Train Coming, by Bob Dylan (Album; 1979)

The Talk of the Town (Film; 1942)

Teaching Mrs. Tingle (Film; 1999)

Trailer Life, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1937)

Valley of the Dolls, by Jacqueline Susann (Novel; 1966)

Yo Gabba Gabba! (Children’s TV Series; 2007)

Today’s Name Days

Bernd, Bernhard, Ronald (Austria)

Samuil (Bulgaria)

Bernard, Samuel (Croatia)

Bernard (Czech Republic)

Bernhard (Denmark)

Benno, Bernhard, Päärn, Pääro, Pärn, Pärno, Pearn, Pearu (Estonia)

Sami, Samu, Samuel, Samuli (Finland)

Bernard, Samuel (France)

Bernhard, Bernd, Ronald, Samuel (Germany)

Samouel (Greece)

István (Hungary)

Bernardo (Italy)

Bernhards, Bierants, Biernis, Boriss (Latvia)

Bernardas, Neringa, Tolvinas (Lithuania)

Bernhard, Bernt (Norway)

Bernard, Jan, Sabin, Samuel, Samuela, Sieciech, Sobiesław, Świeciech, Szwieciech (Poland)

Anabela (Slovakia)

Bernardo, Samuel (Spain)

Bernhard, Bernt (Sweden)

Eustace, Ostap, Samuel (Ukraine)

Barnard, Bernard, Bernardo, Filbert, Philbert, Rey, Reyna, Reynalda, Reynaldo, Reynold (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 233 of 2024; 133 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of Week 34 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Coll (Hazel) [Day 18 of 28]

Chinese: Month 7 (Ren-Shen), Day 17 (Bing-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 16 Av 5784

Islamic: 14 Safar 1446

J Cal: 23 Purple; Twosday [23 of 30]

Julian: 7 August 2024

Moon: 99%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 8 Gutenberg (9th Month) [Benvenuto Cellini]

Runic Half Month: As (Gods) [Day 13 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 62 of 94)

Week: 3rd Full Week of August

Zodiac: Leo (Day 30 of 31)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 8.20

Holidays

Bad Hair Day

Bamboo Celebration Day

Dial the Phone Day

Dogfight Day

Father’s Day (Nepal)

Feast of Asmá’ (Bahá'í)

First Onam (Parts of India)

Indian Akshay Urja Day (India)

International Amy Adams Day

International Andrew Garfield Day

International Day of Medical Transporters

International FinOps Day

John Deere 820 Day

Meitei Language Day (Manipur, India)

Missy Elliot Appreciation Day

Moon’s Birthday (Aztec)

National Accessible Air Travel Day

National 820 Day

National Exotic Dancer Day

National Fintech Day

National Latina Day

National Radio Day

National Scientific Temper Day (India)

Nepali Bhasa Manyata Diwas (Sikkim, India)

Neymarzetes Day (Brazil)

Nuremberg Code Anniversary Day

Puffball Day (French Republic)

Renewable Energy Day (India)

Rest Day (Hungary)

Saint Stephen’s Day (Hungary)

1619 Day

Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Stop and Smell Your Dog Day

Virtual Worlds Day

World Issue Day (Lagos)

World Mosquito Day

World Union Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Chocolate Pecan Pie Day

International Hawaiian Pizza Day

Lemonade Freedom Day

National Bacon Lover’s Day

National Honey Day (Sweden)

National Lemonade Day

World Day of French Fries (Spanish-speaking Countries)

Independence & Related Days

Anniversary of the FALINTIL (East Timor)

Candalia (Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

Estonia (from USSR, 1991)

Iska Akaliazen (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Lucena City Charter Day (Philippines)

Revolution Day (Morocco, Western Sahara)

3rd Tuesday in August

International Chalk the Walks Day [3rd Tuesday]

Taco Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Tapas Tuesday [3rd Tuesday of Each Month]

Target Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Tater Tot Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Trivia Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Trusting Tuesday [3rd Tuesday of Each Month]

Two For Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Weekly Holidays beginning August 20 (3rd Full Week of August)

Friendship Week (thru 8.26)

Festivals Beginning August 20, 2024

DakotaFest (Mitchell, South Dakota) [thru 8.22]

Dutchess County Fair (Rhinebeck, New York) [thru 8.25]

MUTEK Montreal (Montreal, Canada) [thru 8.25]

Nice Jazz Festival (Nice, France) [thru 8.23]

Peterborough Beer Festival (Peterborough, Great Britain) [thru 8.24]

Feast Days

Alan Lee (Artology)

Amadour (Christian; Saint)

Benvenuto Cellini (Positivist; Saint)

Bernard of Clairvaux (Christian; Saint)

Birth of the White Buffalo (Lakota)

Boil-Over Thursday (Shamanism)

Cuitlahac Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

The Day of Total Victory (Unification Church)

Expensive Rum Day (Pastafarian)

First Light Altar Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Georg Häfner, Blessed (Christian; Saint)

Glam Dicind (Celtic Book of Days)

Greg Bear (Writerism)

Harpo Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Helena (Muppetism)

Heliodorus of Bet Zabdai (Christian; Saint)

H. P. Lovecraft (Writerism)

H. R. Van Dongen (Artology)

Maria De Mattias (Christian; Saint)

Media Aestas II (Pagan)

Oswine of Deira (Christian; Martyr)

Philibert of Jumièges (Christian; Saint)

Samuel (Christian; Prophet)

William and Catherine Booth (Church of England)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [28 of 37]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [43 of 57]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [21 of 30]

Very Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [37 of 60]

Premieres

Angie, by The Rolling Stones (Song; 1973)

The Black Stallion, by Walter Farley (Novel; 1941)

Coonskin (Animated Film; 1975)

1812 Overture, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Concert Overture; 1882)

Elias: The Little Rescue Boat (Animated TV Series; 2005)

Feather Finger (WB MM Cartoon; 1966)

Garden State (Film; 2004)

Graffiti Bridge, by Prince (Album; 1990)

Hot Dogs (Ub Iwerks Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Disney Cartoon; 1928)

I Never Changes My Altitude (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1937)

Islandia, by Austin Tappan Wright (Novel; 1942)

A Kiddie’s Kitty (WB MM Cartoon; 1955)

Lego DC Batman: Family Matters (WB Animated Film; 2019)

Mice Follies (WB LT Cartoon; 1960)

Mickey Blue Eyes (Film; 1999)

Oh, Johnny, Oh, Johnny, Oh, by Orrin Tucker (Song; 1939)

Perfect Blue (Anime Film; 1999)

Picnic at Hanging Rock, by Joan Lindsay (Novel; 1967)

Pocket Full of Kryptonite, by The Spin Doctors (Album; 1991)

Scary Crows (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1937)

Scooby Doo! Stage Fright (WB Animated Film; 2013)

Slow Train Coming, by Bob Dylan (Album; 1979)

The Talk of the Town (Film; 1942)

Teaching Mrs. Tingle (Film; 1999)

Trailer Life, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1937)

Valley of the Dolls, by Jacqueline Susann (Novel; 1966)

Yo Gabba Gabba! (Children’s TV Series; 2007)

Today’s Name Days

Bernd, Bernhard, Ronald (Austria)

Samuil (Bulgaria)

Bernard, Samuel (Croatia)

Bernard (Czech Republic)

Bernhard (Denmark)

Benno, Bernhard, Päärn, Pääro, Pärn, Pärno, Pearn, Pearu (Estonia)

Sami, Samu, Samuel, Samuli (Finland)

Bernard, Samuel (France)

Bernhard, Bernd, Ronald, Samuel (Germany)

Samouel (Greece)

István (Hungary)

Bernardo (Italy)

Bernhards, Bierants, Biernis, Boriss (Latvia)

Bernardas, Neringa, Tolvinas (Lithuania)

Bernhard, Bernt (Norway)

Bernard, Jan, Sabin, Samuel, Samuela, Sieciech, Sobiesław, Świeciech, Szwieciech (Poland)

Anabela (Slovakia)

Bernardo, Samuel (Spain)

Bernhard, Bernt (Sweden)

Eustace, Ostap, Samuel (Ukraine)

Barnard, Bernard, Bernardo, Filbert, Philbert, Rey, Reyna, Reynalda, Reynaldo, Reynold (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 233 of 2024; 133 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of Week 34 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Coll (Hazel) [Day 18 of 28]

Chinese: Month 7 (Ren-Shen), Day 17 (Bing-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 16 Av 5784

Islamic: 14 Safar 1446

J Cal: 23 Purple; Twosday [23 of 30]

Julian: 7 August 2024

Moon: 99%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 8 Gutenberg (9th Month) [Benvenuto Cellini]

Runic Half Month: As (Gods) [Day 13 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 62 of 94)

Week: 3rd Full Week of August

Zodiac: Leo (Day 30 of 31)

[whatisonthemoonarchive]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-57716704

“When Kyla* arrived in Seoul from the Philippines in 1999 at the age of 24, she couldn't communicate with her Korean husband. She had never been abroad and this was her first relationship. They had been matched through the Unification Church in the Philippines, but after a few years her marriage broke down.He started drinking and finally he left the family home, cutting off financial support for her and their three children.“

[phgq]

RTF-ELCAC X rallies support from POs, NGOs, COs to fight insurgency

#PHinfo: RTF-ELCAC X rallies support from POs, NGOs, COs to fight insurgency

The RTF-ELCAC X in partnerhsip with OPAPRU and Balay Mindanaw conducts a Forum for Sustainable Peace and Inclusive Development with more than one hundred participants coming from the different POs, NGOs, and COs in Northern Mindanao. The forum aims to provide a venue to discuss and identify areas of convergence and complementation between the RTF-ELCAC TWG and POs, NGOs and COs in the region in implementing the Convergence Areas for Peace and Development (CAPDev) program in identified priority and focus areas. (Vince Bautista/PIA Cagayan de Oro)

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Dec. 3 (PIA) – The Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC) in Region X made a call to the people’s organizations (POs), non-government organizations (NGOs), and civic organizations (COs) in the region to help the government address communist insurgency.

MGen. Franco Nemesio Gacal, RTF-ELCAC X Technical Working Group (TWG) chairperson and commanding officer of the 4th Infantry Division, said the capability, competence, and commitment of these groups in humanitarian aid, grassroots initiatives, local spaces for peacebuilding dialogues, and conflict resolutions and reconciliation programs are vital in attaining just and lasting peace and sustainable development in Northern Mindanao.

  Forum for Sustainable Peace and Inclusive DevelopmentCapt

Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno emphasizes during the PO/NGO/CO Forum for Sustainable Peace and Inclusive Development that unity and solidarity are important for Mindanao to develop sustainably. He said when working together, Mindanaoans can attain the peace that will lead to growth and sustainable development.

The RTF-ELCAC X on Monday, December 2, organized a forum for sustainable peace and inclusive development with more than one hundred participants coming from the different POs, NGOs, and COs in Northern Mindanao.

The forum was conducted in partnership with the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Peace Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) and Balay Mindanaw Foundation, Inc.(BMFI).

The forum aimed to provide a venue to discuss and identify areas of convergence and complementation between the RTF-ELCAC TWG and POs, NGOs and COs in the region in implementing the Convergence Areas for Peace and Development (CAPDev) program in identified priority and focus areas.

In his welcome remarks, Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno said the bottom line of the whole-of-nation approach is Bayanihan. 

He also emphasized the importance of solidarity in attaining lasting peace. “Mindanao has lived divided and polarized for far too long already. It’s about time that we leave the bias and prejudice behind, we leave the conflict and division of Mindanao behind, and learn to live in peace and harmony in spite of our diversity. Let us be united not only for Northern Mindanao but for the entire Mindanao,” he said.

“As we pursue this agenda, we can attain peace and order that will lead us to growth and development. Hopefully, we can sustain it and see Mindanao becoming the land of fulfillment, a land of sustainable growth and development,” he added.

  Dialogue Towards Harmony

Most Rev. Antonio Ledesma, Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro City, underscores during the PO/NGO/CO Forum for Sustainable Peace and Inclusive Development that the challenge for all of the regional stakeholders is to open their understanding of the root causes of inequality and lack of basic services to many remote communities. (Vince Bautista/PIA Cagayan de Oro)

Archbishop Antonio Ledesma underscored the need for understanding the root causes of inequality and the lack of basic services to remote communities.

“If we can continue with local peace conversations, where we can bring together representatives of remote communities and representatives of the government agencies then there can be an acceleration of development projects in the right place,” he said.

He further said that the government and non-government organizations have different services to offer and if these can be harmonized through convergence and dialogue, then they can build a society that is peaceful and developing for all.

"We hope that with this gathering, the church and other church leaders can continue our roles as facilitators and mediators of development. It is important for government agencies to have this linkage so that we can bring to their attention what are the needs of the communities that see themselves as being deprived and being left out in the development process,” he added.

  Peace, Reconciliation and Unity

Ariel Hernandez, the co-chair of the Joint Normalization Committee, says reconciliation and social healing are also important to attaining just and lasting peace. (Vince Bautista/PIA Cagayan de Oro)

Ariel Hernandez, the co-chair of the Joint Normalization Committee, said one of the keys to attaining just and lasting peace is reconciliation and social healing.

“While we talk about social conditions and how to end the root causes of insurgency, one of the most difficult parts of ending any conflict is how to close it. How do we bring the discussion of peace reconciliation and unity? How do we repair the emotions and relationships? The armed conflict may end but many will remain unhealed,” he cited.

He said the POs, NGOs, and COs can come on board to help in local dialogues. The more that we are on the ground, the more we can be of help in pursuing localized peace and unification efforts.

According to him, OPAPRU will also continue to pursue partnership and constituency building with NGOs and POs and church organizations.

  BRIDGE to Communities

Mylah Faye Aurora Cariño, NEDA-X Regional Director, said the PO, NGOs, and COs can help in communicating that “the government will try its best to bring services to where it is needed.”

She considered the PO, NGOs, and COs as the BRIDGE of the government to communities and the people. 

In the PO/NGO/CO Forum for Sustainable Peace and Inclusive Development, MGen. Franco Nemesio Gacal calls on members of the civil sector to help RTF-ELCAC X in the drive against insurgency. MGen. Gacal, who chairs the RTF-ELCAC X Technical Working Group, told them that their capability, competence, and commitment in humanitarian aid, grassroots initiatives, local spaces for peacebuilding dialogues, resolutions and reconciliation programs are vital in attaining just and lasting peace and sustainable development in Northern Mindanao. (Vince Bautista/PIA Cagayan de Oro)

Addressing the PO, NGOs, and COs representatives during the forum, Cariño said, “We need you to Bring government closer to the people and people closer to the government, Relay to government what the people needs because government cannot be everywhere, Inform the people about their rights, and what the government can do for them, Develop programs and projects for the communities and bring them to the attention of government agencies for funding; Guide the people correctly and Empower them so that they can also determine the kind of development they want to attain.

Meanwhile, Gacal said the support of the civil sector will be the last component that would interlink the three major sectors in the society – the government, private sector, and civil sector - to go full on steam towards ending local communist armed conflict.

In October, a similar forum was conducted by RTF-ELCAC X to elicit the support of the private sector and channel their corporate social responsibility programs into the conflict-affected areas.

“To effectively address the challenges brought upon by the root causes of insurgency, it is evident that the approach to peace and nation-building should go beyond what the military is doing. We cannot move forward without everyone’s help and support,” Gacal added. 

In response, the participating POs, NGOs, and COs committed to support RTF-ELCAC in community mobilization and social preparation as well as in the provision of basic services to identified development-ready barangays. (APB/PIA-10)

***

References:

* Philippine Information Agency. "RTF-ELCAC X rallies support from POs, NGOs, COs to fight insurgency." Philippine Information Agency. https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1031073 (accessed December 03, 2019 at 12:26PM UTC+08).

* Philippine Infornation Agency. "RTF-ELCAC X rallies support from POs, NGOs, COs to fight insurgency." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1031073 (archived).

[gracieyvonnehunter]

16 great documentaries from this year and how to watch them

Pahokee and Sing Me a Song are among the fascinating nonfiction films that started touring the festival circuit in 2019. | Sundance / Participant Media

From con artists to cults, nonfiction cinema is rich right now.

A “documentary” is never just one thing. It might be a memoir, a polemic, a comedy, a thriller, a romance — the sky’s the limit. Truth is frequently stranger than fiction, and if we’re lucky, much more interesting, too. Nonfiction movies can teach us about the world we live in through the stories of people living halfway around the world or right next door.

Many of 2019’s documentaries are no exception, and many of the finest were recently shown at the DOC NYC film festival, the biggest documentary festival in the country. Here are 16 worth noting, ranging from heartbreaking family stories and illuminating explorations of social issues to tales of cults and con artists.

American Factory

American Factory is a documentary about the 2014 reopening of a closed GM plant in Dayton, Ohio — by a Chinese company that makes automotive glass — and the ensuing cultural clashes that put some bumps in the road. Veteran documentarians Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert train their cameras not only on the people involved but also on the tasks and materials of factory work, giving less-familiar viewers an idea of how complicated and difficult it can be, as well as how valuable skilled labor is. American Factory tackles the challenges of globalization with much more depth and nuance than most other reporting on the topic, precisely because it steps back to watch a story unfold over time and also resists easy generalizations. It’s both soberly instructive and fascinating.

How to watch it: American Factory is streaming on Netflix.

Anbessa

Anbessa takes a magical realist approach to the moving story of Asalif, a 10-year-old living with his mother near an enormous condominium complex on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Their shack now stands in a poor community in the shadows of government-built condos; Asalif is forced to scavenge to help keep his family afloat. But despite his difficult circumstances, Asalif has a vivid imagination and big dreams, and director Mo Scarpelli worked with him to bring those dreams to life. Anbessa follows Asalif as he dresses up as a lion — “anbessa” is Ethiopian for “lion” — and imagines chasing away the hyenas he can hear outside at night. It’s a metaphor for the encroaching land developers, and the film takes us inside Asalif’s stories to help us understand his world.

How to watch it: Anbessa is currently screening on the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

Apollo 11

Apollo 11, directed by Todd Douglas Miller, harnesses the iconic images of the moon landing to powerfully retell the story of the Apollo 11 mission. But Miller’s film does a lot more than retread familiar history. Using never-before-seen footage and audio that has been meticulously scanned and restored, Apollo 11 moves from launch to safe return in a way that makes you feel as though you’re living through the mission. There’s minimal onscreen text, a couple of very simple illustrations to show the craft’s trajectory, and no talking heads. The result is a grand and awe-inspiring film.

How to watch it: Apollo 11 is streaming on Hulu and available to digitally rent or purchase on iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and Vudu.

Blessed Child

Obscured Pictures

A Unification Church mass wedding in Blessed Child.

Journalist Cara Jones and her three siblings were raised by their loving parents in a cult: the Unification Church, commonly known as the “Moonies.” Now an adult, Jones has left the church but struggles with the loss of her community and a changed relationship with her family. In Blessed Child, her first film, Jones goes on a journey with the help of one of her brothers to discover why people joined the church, why they left, and how their lives were affected and changed by the experience. Blessed Child is as much memoir as history, and it perceptively mines an experience many people have: If you were raised in a restrictive or insular community, what does it mean to grow up?

How to watch it: Blessed Child is currently screening on the festival circuit.

The Edge of Democracy

Taking a sweeping but personal view of contemporary Brazilian politics, filmmaker Petra Costa shows what it looks like when a country finally embraces democracy after years of military dictatorship — and then squanders its progress as it moves toward far-right authoritarianism. Costa, who is Brazilian herself, makes no claims of objectivity; instead, she weaves her family’s story into that of her country’s and asks devastating questions about peace, democracy, and living in a slow-motion, real-world horror story. Can it happen elsewhere? And can a country return from the brink?

How to watch it: The Edge of Democracy is streaming on Netflix.

For Sama

There have been many documentaries in recent years about the bombings and humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, and many of them have been excellent. But For Sama is a new take on the subject, and it’s truly outstanding. Waad Al-Kateab and her husband, Hamza Al-Kateab, a doctor, are native Syrians who were living in Aleppo when Syrians began to protest their government and President Bashar al-Assad. Their daughter, Sama, was born in 2016, and the family remained in Aleppo — with Hamza running a hospital — as the bombings continued.

Eventually, they left, and Waad and British documentarian Edward Watts edited years of footage she’d shot in Aleppo into For Sama. The film movingly documents life in Aleppo and in Hamza’s hospital during the yearslong siege while also offering an explanation, addressed to young Sama, for why her parents kept her in a dangerous place and why their work was important.

How to watch it: For Sama is currently screening around the world. Check the film’s website for details.

Honeyland

Honeyland is a vibrant, fascinating, and sober documentary that examines a serious issue — the endangerment of bees — by way of a human portrait. Hatidze Muratova is the last beekeeper in Macedonia. She lives on a quiet, secluded mountain and cares for her elderly mother as well as her apian charges. Her life’s work, as she sees it, isn’t just to keep the bees; it’s to help restore balance to the ecosystem around her, and bees are a vital part of that mission. But Muratova’s sense of solitude is disrupted when a family of nomadic beekeepers arrive, seeking honey to sell.

The newcomers not only disrupt Muratova and threaten the insects’ existence but also invade an established way of life on the relatively untouched mountain. As the film progresses, different ways of thinking about commerce — as well as beekeeping and the natural world — come together in a story that is sometimes funny, sometimes beautiful, and often enlightening.

How to watch it: Honeyland is available to digitally rent or purchase on iTunes, YouTube, Amazon, Google Play, or Vudu.

The Kingmaker

Lauren Greenfield’s new film The Kingmaker centers on one of the most famously extravagant women in recent history: Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines. When Marcos and her husband, dictator Ferdinand Marcos, were driven into exile in the United States in 1986, Imelda left behind a stash of more than 1,000 pairs of shoes. That might be the only thing a lot of people know about her. But there’s much more to Imelda Marcos — and that’s what Greenfield dives into in The Kingmaker.

Imelda is interviewed throughout the film, and at first, we only hear her side of the story. But then Greenfield slowly fills in what’s missing and challenges her subject’s outright fabrications by talking to people who remember the reign of terror that was the kleptocratic Marcos regime, drawing a line between that reign and the more recent rise of the murderous authoritarian Rodrigo Duterte.

How to watch it: The Kingmaker is currently playing in select theaters and will air on Showtime in early 2020.

Knock Down the House

Knock Down the House is the rare documentary about today’s American political landscape that might make you shed happy tears. It’s about four progressive Democratic candidates — all women — who ran primary campaigns against establishment Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections: Amy Vilela in Nevada, Cori Bush in Missouri, Paula Jean Swearengin in West Virginia, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York. Documentarian Rachel Lears followed the candidates, who all live in very different communities with different political terrains. They weren’t all successful — only Ocasio-Cortez won her race — but the film is uplifting and hopeful for anyone who wants their political candidates to truly represent the communities they serve. Whether or not you agree with a given individual’s politics at every point, Knock Down the House makes it clear that there’s a hunger to upend America’s politics as usual.

How to watch it: Knock Down the House is streaming on Netflix.

Midnight Family

Nine million people live in Mexico City, but the government maintains only 45 ambulances to cover that entire population; private ambulance companies have stepped in to pick up the slack. Midnight Family follows one such company run by the Ochoa family, who ride their ambulance through the streets overnight, hoping to beat their competitors to the scene of a sudden illness or accident so they can help — while also gaining business. It’s difficult work, and it clearly feels ethically tricky. But director Luke Lorentzen manages to capture the Ochoas’ compassion and their own economic instability, as well as the heart-thumping adrenaline rush that often accompanies their line of work. The result is a sweet, fascinating portrait of a group of people trying to make the best of a bad situation, and sometimes succeeding.

How to watch it: Midnight Family opens in limited theaters December 6.

Midnight Traveler

In 2015, the Taliban called for the death of Afghani filmmaker Hassan Fazili. Fazili, along with his wife (and fellow filmmaker) Fatima Hussaini, and their two daughters, fled the country, becoming refugees as they traveled across Europe — sometimes in very hostile places. Midnight Traveler is the family’s story, shot mostly by Fazili, who documents the family’s journey and their struggle to maintain some semblance of a life in trying circumstances. It’s part memoir, part home movie, part documentary of an experience that millions of people all over the world are having right now — and it’s a must-see.

How to watch it: Midnight Traveler is available to digitally rent or buy on iTunes and Amazon.

Mother

Slow, lyrical, and heart-rending, Mother is an intertwined tale of two mothers. The first is Pomm, a Thai woman who works around the clock in a Thailand care facility home to patients with Alzheimer’s, most of whom are white and wealthy Westerners; Pomm’s own children live many hours away. The second is Maya, a Swiss woman with early onset Alzheimer’s whose devoted husband and daughters are making the painful decision to put her into the Thailand facility thousands of miles from home, for the sake of her quality of life. Director Kristof Bilsen crafts a film that’s moving and always surprising, exploring love and sacrifice that transcends distance and memory.

How to watch it: Mother is currently screening on the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

Narrowsburg

Narrowsburg

Narrowsburg is a bizarre true-life con story.

Narrowsburg is a bizarre true-life con story, one that ended up roiling an entire town. The tiny upstate New York hamlet of Narrowsburg one day discovered that two glamorous strangers had arrived — both of whom had connections in the film business. The strangers launched a film festival (which they proclaimed would become the “Sundance of the East”) and shot a movie with the whole town’s involvement. But then things got very, very weird. Director Martha Shane keeps you guessing about what was really going on — Narrowsburg is full of twists — while also crafting a poignant portrait of the allure of show business in American life.

How to watch it: Narrowsburg is currently screening on the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

One Child Nation

Director Nanfu Wang grew up in rural China under the country’s “One Child” policy, which was in effect from 1979 to 2015. Her own parents had two children, since the law made an exception for families in rural areas, as long as the children were at least five years apart — but not until after her mother narrowly escaped involuntary sterilization. Many other women were not so lucky, forced into sterilization and abortion against their will. The policy’s mental, physical, and emotional toll on China, especially its women, was tremendous. Through a documentary that is part personal, part journalistic, Wang explores the ramifications of the One Child era. It’s a harrowing but essential film that confronts and confounds Western ideas about agency, choice, reproduction, and bodily autonomy.

How to watch it: One Child Nation is streaming on Amazon Prime.

Pahokee

Sundance Film Festival

The teenagers in Pahokee are full of life — and ready to get out.

Pahokee is a small town on the shores of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, and there’s a waning number of jobs and resources available to the people who live there. But Pahokee High School is a beehive of activity, and that’s where filmmakers Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan focus on four students in their final year of school — all of whom hope to get out of town once they graduate. Following the students through their daily lives as they participate in sports and other extracurricular activities, navigate personal relationships, and work toward future aspirations, Pahokee is in some ways a familiar high school tale. But it’s also a story of a vibrant town told through its young people, and it explores, often with humor and grace, the forces that shape how Americans live today.

How to watch it: Pahokee is currently screening the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

Sing Me a Song

Participant Media

Life does not turn out as expected in Sing Me a Song.

For a very long time, the country of Bhutan was shut off from the outside world — but in recent years, the internet has arrived. For Sing Me a Song, director Thomas Balmès carefully and patiently chronicles the way that the country’s new connectedness changes how young Buddhist monks live in their monastery. The center of the film is Peyangki, who was the 8-year-old subject of Balmès’s documentary 2013 Happiness. Now, as a teenager, his formerly idyllic life has become fraught with tension and distraction — as well as, poignantly, romance. Each frame is pristine, peaceful, and stunning, which only underlines the sharp changes in the young monks’ lives.

How to watch it: Sing Me a Song is currently screening on the festival circuit.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2XoBaNu

[timalexanderdollery]

16 great documentaries from this year and how to watch them

Pahokee and Sing Me a Song are among the fascinating nonfiction films that started touring the festival circuit in 2019. | Sundance / Participant Media

From con artists to cults, nonfiction cinema is rich right now.

A “documentary” is never just one thing. It might be a memoir, a polemic, a comedy, a thriller, a romance — the sky’s the limit. Truth is frequently stranger than fiction, and if we’re lucky, much more interesting, too. Nonfiction movies can teach us about the world we live in through the stories of people living halfway around the world or right next door.

Many of 2019’s documentaries are no exception, and many of the finest were recently shown at the DOC NYC film festival, the biggest documentary festival in the country. Here are 16 worth noting, ranging from heartbreaking family stories and illuminating explorations of social issues to tales of cults and con artists.

American Factory

American Factory is a documentary about the 2014 reopening of a closed GM plant in Dayton, Ohio — by a Chinese company that makes automotive glass — and the ensuing cultural clashes that put some bumps in the road. Veteran documentarians Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert train their cameras not only on the people involved but also on the tasks and materials of factory work, giving less-familiar viewers an idea of how complicated and difficult it can be, as well as how valuable skilled labor is. American Factory tackles the challenges of globalization with much more depth and nuance than most other reporting on the topic, precisely because it steps back to watch a story unfold over time and also resists easy generalizations. It’s both soberly instructive and fascinating.

How to watch it: American Factory is streaming on Netflix.

Anbessa

Anbessa takes a magical realist approach to the moving story of Asalif, a 10-year-old living with his mother near an enormous condominium complex on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Their shack now stands in a poor community in the shadows of government-built condos; Asalif is forced to scavenge to help keep his family afloat. But despite his difficult circumstances, Asalif has a vivid imagination and big dreams, and director Mo Scarpelli worked with him to bring those dreams to life. Anbessa follows Asalif as he dresses up as a lion — “anbessa” is Ethiopian for “lion” — and imagines chasing away the hyenas he can hear outside at night. It’s a metaphor for the encroaching land developers, and the film takes us inside Asalif’s stories to help us understand his world.

How to watch it: Anbessa is currently screening on the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

Apollo 11

Apollo 11, directed by Todd Douglas Miller, harnesses the iconic images of the moon landing to powerfully retell the story of the Apollo 11 mission. But Miller’s film does a lot more than retread familiar history. Using never-before-seen footage and audio that has been meticulously scanned and restored, Apollo 11 moves from launch to safe return in a way that makes you feel as though you’re living through the mission. There’s minimal onscreen text, a couple of very simple illustrations to show the craft’s trajectory, and no talking heads. The result is a grand and awe-inspiring film.

How to watch it: Apollo 11 is streaming on Hulu and available to digitally rent or purchase on iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and Vudu.

Blessed Child

Obscured Pictures

A Unification Church mass wedding in Blessed Child.

Journalist Cara Jones and her three siblings were raised by their loving parents in a cult: the Unification Church, commonly known as the “Moonies.” Now an adult, Jones has left the church but struggles with the loss of her community and a changed relationship with her family. In Blessed Child, her first film, Jones goes on a journey with the help of one of her brothers to discover why people joined the church, why they left, and how their lives were affected and changed by the experience. Blessed Child is as much memoir as history, and it perceptively mines an experience many people have: If you were raised in a restrictive or insular community, what does it mean to grow up?

How to watch it: Blessed Child is currently screening on the festival circuit.

The Edge of Democracy

Taking a sweeping but personal view of contemporary Brazilian politics, filmmaker Petra Costa shows what it looks like when a country finally embraces democracy after years of military dictatorship — and then squanders its progress as it moves toward far-right authoritarianism. Costa, who is Brazilian herself, makes no claims of objectivity; instead, she weaves her family’s story into that of her country’s and asks devastating questions about peace, democracy, and living in a slow-motion, real-world horror story. Can it happen elsewhere? And can a country return from the brink?

How to watch it: The Edge of Democracy is streaming on Netflix.

For Sama

There have been many documentaries in recent years about the bombings and humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, and many of them have been excellent. But For Sama is a new take on the subject, and it’s truly outstanding. Waad Al-Kateab and her husband, Hamza Al-Kateab, a doctor, are native Syrians who were living in Aleppo when Syrians began to protest their government and President Bashar al-Assad. Their daughter, Sama, was born in 2016, and the family remained in Aleppo — with Hamza running a hospital — as the bombings continued.

Eventually, they left, and Waad and British documentarian Edward Watts edited years of footage she’d shot in Aleppo into For Sama. The film movingly documents life in Aleppo and in Hamza’s hospital during the yearslong siege while also offering an explanation, addressed to young Sama, for why her parents kept her in a dangerous place and why their work was important.

How to watch it: For Sama is currently screening around the world. Check the film’s website for details.

Honeyland

Honeyland is a vibrant, fascinating, and sober documentary that examines a serious issue — the endangerment of bees — by way of a human portrait. Hatidze Muratova is the last beekeeper in Macedonia. She lives on a quiet, secluded mountain and cares for her elderly mother as well as her apian charges. Her life’s work, as she sees it, isn’t just to keep the bees; it’s to help restore balance to the ecosystem around her, and bees are a vital part of that mission. But Muratova’s sense of solitude is disrupted when a family of nomadic beekeepers arrive, seeking honey to sell.

The newcomers not only disrupt Muratova and threaten the insects’ existence but also invade an established way of life on the relatively untouched mountain. As the film progresses, different ways of thinking about commerce — as well as beekeeping and the natural world — come together in a story that is sometimes funny, sometimes beautiful, and often enlightening.

How to watch it: Honeyland is available to digitally rent or purchase on iTunes, YouTube, Amazon, Google Play, or Vudu.

The Kingmaker

Lauren Greenfield’s new film The Kingmaker centers on one of the most famously extravagant women in recent history: Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines. When Marcos and her husband, dictator Ferdinand Marcos, were driven into exile in the United States in 1986, Imelda left behind a stash of more than 1,000 pairs of shoes. That might be the only thing a lot of people know about her. But there’s much more to Imelda Marcos — and that’s what Greenfield dives into in The Kingmaker.

Imelda is interviewed throughout the film, and at first, we only hear her side of the story. But then Greenfield slowly fills in what’s missing and challenges her subject’s outright fabrications by talking to people who remember the reign of terror that was the kleptocratic Marcos regime, drawing a line between that reign and the more recent rise of the murderous authoritarian Rodrigo Duterte.

How to watch it: The Kingmaker is currently playing in select theaters and will air on Showtime in early 2020.

Knock Down the House

Knock Down the House is the rare documentary about today’s American political landscape that might make you shed happy tears. It’s about four progressive Democratic candidates — all women — who ran primary campaigns against establishment Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections: Amy Vilela in Nevada, Cori Bush in Missouri, Paula Jean Swearengin in West Virginia, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York. Documentarian Rachel Lears followed the candidates, who all live in very different communities with different political terrains. They weren’t all successful — only Ocasio-Cortez won her race — but the film is uplifting and hopeful for anyone who wants their political candidates to truly represent the communities they serve. Whether or not you agree with a given individual’s politics at every point, Knock Down the House makes it clear that there’s a hunger to upend America’s politics as usual.

How to watch it: Knock Down the House is streaming on Netflix.

Midnight Family

Nine million people live in Mexico City, but the government maintains only 45 ambulances to cover that entire population; private ambulance companies have stepped in to pick up the slack. Midnight Family follows one such company run by the Ochoa family, who ride their ambulance through the streets overnight, hoping to beat their competitors to the scene of a sudden illness or accident so they can help — while also gaining business. It’s difficult work, and it clearly feels ethically tricky. But director Luke Lorentzen manages to capture the Ochoas’ compassion and their own economic instability, as well as the heart-thumping adrenaline rush that often accompanies their line of work. The result is a sweet, fascinating portrait of a group of people trying to make the best of a bad situation, and sometimes succeeding.

How to watch it: Midnight Family opens in limited theaters December 6.

Midnight Traveler

In 2015, the Taliban called for the death of Afghani filmmaker Hassan Fazili. Fazili, along with his wife (and fellow filmmaker) Fatima Hussaini, and their two daughters, fled the country, becoming refugees as they traveled across Europe — sometimes in very hostile places. Midnight Traveler is the family’s story, shot mostly by Fazili, who documents the family’s journey and their struggle to maintain some semblance of a life in trying circumstances. It’s part memoir, part home movie, part documentary of an experience that millions of people all over the world are having right now — and it’s a must-see.

How to watch it: Midnight Traveler is available to digitally rent or buy on iTunes and Amazon.

Mother

Slow, lyrical, and heart-rending, Mother is an intertwined tale of two mothers. The first is Pomm, a Thai woman who works around the clock in a Thailand care facility home to patients with Alzheimer’s, most of whom are white and wealthy Westerners; Pomm’s own children live many hours away. The second is Maya, a Swiss woman with early onset Alzheimer’s whose devoted husband and daughters are making the painful decision to put her into the Thailand facility thousands of miles from home, for the sake of her quality of life. Director Kristof Bilsen crafts a film that’s moving and always surprising, exploring love and sacrifice that transcends distance and memory.

How to watch it: Mother is currently screening on the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

Narrowsburg

Narrowsburg

Narrowsburg is a bizarre true-life con story.

Narrowsburg is a bizarre true-life con story, one that ended up roiling an entire town. The tiny upstate New York hamlet of Narrowsburg one day discovered that two glamorous strangers had arrived — both of whom had connections in the film business. The strangers launched a film festival (which they proclaimed would become the “Sundance of the East”) and shot a movie with the whole town’s involvement. But then things got very, very weird. Director Martha Shane keeps you guessing about what was really going on — Narrowsburg is full of twists — while also crafting a poignant portrait of the allure of show business in American life.

How to watch it: Narrowsburg is currently screening on the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

One Child Nation

Director Nanfu Wang grew up in rural China under the country’s “One Child” policy, which was in effect from 1979 to 2015. Her own parents had two children, since the law made an exception for families in rural areas, as long as the children were at least five years apart — but not until after her mother narrowly escaped involuntary sterilization. Many other women were not so lucky, forced into sterilization and abortion against their will. The policy’s mental, physical, and emotional toll on China, especially its women, was tremendous. Through a documentary that is part personal, part journalistic, Wang explores the ramifications of the One Child era. It’s a harrowing but essential film that confronts and confounds Western ideas about agency, choice, reproduction, and bodily autonomy.

How to watch it: One Child Nation is streaming on Amazon Prime.

Pahokee

Sundance Film Festival

The teenagers in Pahokee are full of life — and ready to get out.

Pahokee is a small town on the shores of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, and there’s a waning number of jobs and resources available to the people who live there. But Pahokee High School is a beehive of activity, and that’s where filmmakers Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan focus on four students in their final year of school — all of whom hope to get out of town once they graduate. Following the students through their daily lives as they participate in sports and other extracurricular activities, navigate personal relationships, and work toward future aspirations, Pahokee is in some ways a familiar high school tale. But it’s also a story of a vibrant town told through its young people, and it explores, often with humor and grace, the forces that shape how Americans live today.

How to watch it: Pahokee is currently screening the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

Sing Me a Song

Participant Media

Life does not turn out as expected in Sing Me a Song.

For a very long time, the country of Bhutan was shut off from the outside world — but in recent years, the internet has arrived. For Sing Me a Song, director Thomas Balmès carefully and patiently chronicles the way that the country’s new connectedness changes how young Buddhist monks live in their monastery. The center of the film is Peyangki, who was the 8-year-old subject of Balmès’s documentary 2013 Happiness. Now, as a teenager, his formerly idyllic life has become fraught with tension and distraction — as well as, poignantly, romance. Each frame is pristine, peaceful, and stunning, which only underlines the sharp changes in the young monks’ lives.

How to watch it: Sing Me a Song is currently screening on the festival circuit.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2XoBaNu

[shanedakotamuir]

16 great documentaries from this year and how to watch them

Pahokee and Sing Me a Song are among the fascinating nonfiction films that started touring the festival circuit in 2019. | Sundance / Participant Media

From con artists to cults, nonfiction cinema is rich right now.

A “documentary” is never just one thing. It might be a memoir, a polemic, a comedy, a thriller, a romance — the sky’s the limit. Truth is frequently stranger than fiction, and if we’re lucky, much more interesting, too. Nonfiction movies can teach us about the world we live in through the stories of people living halfway around the world or right next door.

Many of 2019’s documentaries are no exception, and many of the finest were recently shown at the DOC NYC film festival, the biggest documentary festival in the country. Here are 16 worth noting, ranging from heartbreaking family stories and illuminating explorations of social issues to tales of cults and con artists.

American Factory

American Factory is a documentary about the 2014 reopening of a closed GM plant in Dayton, Ohio — by a Chinese company that makes automotive glass — and the ensuing cultural clashes that put some bumps in the road. Veteran documentarians Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert train their cameras not only on the people involved but also on the tasks and materials of factory work, giving less-familiar viewers an idea of how complicated and difficult it can be, as well as how valuable skilled labor is. American Factory tackles the challenges of globalization with much more depth and nuance than most other reporting on the topic, precisely because it steps back to watch a story unfold over time and also resists easy generalizations. It’s both soberly instructive and fascinating.

How to watch it: American Factory is streaming on Netflix.

Anbessa

Anbessa takes a magical realist approach to the moving story of Asalif, a 10-year-old living with his mother near an enormous condominium complex on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Their shack now stands in a poor community in the shadows of government-built condos; Asalif is forced to scavenge to help keep his family afloat. But despite his difficult circumstances, Asalif has a vivid imagination and big dreams, and director Mo Scarpelli worked with him to bring those dreams to life. Anbessa follows Asalif as he dresses up as a lion — “anbessa” is Ethiopian for “lion” — and imagines chasing away the hyenas he can hear outside at night. It’s a metaphor for the encroaching land developers, and the film takes us inside Asalif’s stories to help us understand his world.

How to watch it: Anbessa is currently screening on the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

Apollo 11

Apollo 11, directed by Todd Douglas Miller, harnesses the iconic images of the moon landing to powerfully retell the story of the Apollo 11 mission. But Miller’s film does a lot more than retread familiar history. Using never-before-seen footage and audio that has been meticulously scanned and restored, Apollo 11 moves from launch to safe return in a way that makes you feel as though you’re living through the mission. There’s minimal onscreen text, a couple of very simple illustrations to show the craft’s trajectory, and no talking heads. The result is a grand and awe-inspiring film.

How to watch it: Apollo 11 is streaming on Hulu and available to digitally rent or purchase on iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and Vudu.

Blessed Child

Obscured Pictures

A Unification Church mass wedding in Blessed Child.

Journalist Cara Jones and her three siblings were raised by their loving parents in a cult: the Unification Church, commonly known as the “Moonies.” Now an adult, Jones has left the church but struggles with the loss of her community and a changed relationship with her family. In Blessed Child, her first film, Jones goes on a journey with the help of one of her brothers to discover why people joined the church, why they left, and how their lives were affected and changed by the experience. Blessed Child is as much memoir as history, and it perceptively mines an experience many people have: If you were raised in a restrictive or insular community, what does it mean to grow up?

How to watch it: Blessed Child is currently screening on the festival circuit.

The Edge of Democracy

Taking a sweeping but personal view of contemporary Brazilian politics, filmmaker Petra Costa shows what it looks like when a country finally embraces democracy after years of military dictatorship — and then squanders its progress as it moves toward far-right authoritarianism. Costa, who is Brazilian herself, makes no claims of objectivity; instead, she weaves her family’s story into that of her country’s and asks devastating questions about peace, democracy, and living in a slow-motion, real-world horror story. Can it happen elsewhere? And can a country return from the brink?

How to watch it: The Edge of Democracy is streaming on Netflix.

For Sama

There have been many documentaries in recent years about the bombings and humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, and many of them have been excellent. But For Sama is a new take on the subject, and it’s truly outstanding. Waad Al-Kateab and her husband, Hamza Al-Kateab, a doctor, are native Syrians who were living in Aleppo when Syrians began to protest their government and President Bashar al-Assad. Their daughter, Sama, was born in 2016, and the family remained in Aleppo — with Hamza running a hospital — as the bombings continued.

Eventually, they left, and Waad and British documentarian Edward Watts edited years of footage she’d shot in Aleppo into For Sama. The film movingly documents life in Aleppo and in Hamza’s hospital during the yearslong siege while also offering an explanation, addressed to young Sama, for why her parents kept her in a dangerous place and why their work was important.

How to watch it: For Sama is currently screening around the world. Check the film’s website for details.

Honeyland

Honeyland is a vibrant, fascinating, and sober documentary that examines a serious issue — the endangerment of bees — by way of a human portrait. Hatidze Muratova is the last beekeeper in Macedonia. She lives on a quiet, secluded mountain and cares for her elderly mother as well as her apian charges. Her life’s work, as she sees it, isn’t just to keep the bees; it’s to help restore balance to the ecosystem around her, and bees are a vital part of that mission. But Muratova’s sense of solitude is disrupted when a family of nomadic beekeepers arrive, seeking honey to sell.

The newcomers not only disrupt Muratova and threaten the insects’ existence but also invade an established way of life on the relatively untouched mountain. As the film progresses, different ways of thinking about commerce — as well as beekeeping and the natural world — come together in a story that is sometimes funny, sometimes beautiful, and often enlightening.

How to watch it: Honeyland is available to digitally rent or purchase on iTunes, YouTube, Amazon, Google Play, or Vudu.

The Kingmaker

Lauren Greenfield’s new film The Kingmaker centers on one of the most famously extravagant women in recent history: Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines. When Marcos and her husband, dictator Ferdinand Marcos, were driven into exile in the United States in 1986, Imelda left behind a stash of more than 1,000 pairs of shoes. That might be the only thing a lot of people know about her. But there’s much more to Imelda Marcos — and that’s what Greenfield dives into in The Kingmaker.

Imelda is interviewed throughout the film, and at first, we only hear her side of the story. But then Greenfield slowly fills in what’s missing and challenges her subject’s outright fabrications by talking to people who remember the reign of terror that was the kleptocratic Marcos regime, drawing a line between that reign and the more recent rise of the murderous authoritarian Rodrigo Duterte.

How to watch it: The Kingmaker is currently playing in select theaters and will air on Showtime in early 2020.

Knock Down the House

Knock Down the House is the rare documentary about today’s American political landscape that might make you shed happy tears. It’s about four progressive Democratic candidates — all women — who ran primary campaigns against establishment Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections: Amy Vilela in Nevada, Cori Bush in Missouri, Paula Jean Swearengin in West Virginia, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York. Documentarian Rachel Lears followed the candidates, who all live in very different communities with different political terrains. They weren’t all successful — only Ocasio-Cortez won her race — but the film is uplifting and hopeful for anyone who wants their political candidates to truly represent the communities they serve. Whether or not you agree with a given individual’s politics at every point, Knock Down the House makes it clear that there’s a hunger to upend America’s politics as usual.

How to watch it: Knock Down the House is streaming on Netflix.

Midnight Family

Nine million people live in Mexico City, but the government maintains only 45 ambulances to cover that entire population; private ambulance companies have stepped in to pick up the slack. Midnight Family follows one such company run by the Ochoa family, who ride their ambulance through the streets overnight, hoping to beat their competitors to the scene of a sudden illness or accident so they can help — while also gaining business. It’s difficult work, and it clearly feels ethically tricky. But director Luke Lorentzen manages to capture the Ochoas’ compassion and their own economic instability, as well as the heart-thumping adrenaline rush that often accompanies their line of work. The result is a sweet, fascinating portrait of a group of people trying to make the best of a bad situation, and sometimes succeeding.

How to watch it: Midnight Family opens in limited theaters December 6.

Midnight Traveler

In 2015, the Taliban called for the death of Afghani filmmaker Hassan Fazili. Fazili, along with his wife (and fellow filmmaker) Fatima Hussaini, and their two daughters, fled the country, becoming refugees as they traveled across Europe — sometimes in very hostile places. Midnight Traveler is the family’s story, shot mostly by Fazili, who documents the family’s journey and their struggle to maintain some semblance of a life in trying circumstances. It’s part memoir, part home movie, part documentary of an experience that millions of people all over the world are having right now — and it’s a must-see.

How to watch it: Midnight Traveler is available to digitally rent or buy on iTunes and Amazon.

Mother

Slow, lyrical, and heart-rending, Mother is an intertwined tale of two mothers. The first is Pomm, a Thai woman who works around the clock in a Thailand care facility home to patients with Alzheimer’s, most of whom are white and wealthy Westerners; Pomm’s own children live many hours away. The second is Maya, a Swiss woman with early onset Alzheimer’s whose devoted husband and daughters are making the painful decision to put her into the Thailand facility thousands of miles from home, for the sake of her quality of life. Director Kristof Bilsen crafts a film that’s moving and always surprising, exploring love and sacrifice that transcends distance and memory.

How to watch it: Mother is currently screening on the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

Narrowsburg

Narrowsburg

Narrowsburg is a bizarre true-life con story.

Narrowsburg is a bizarre true-life con story, one that ended up roiling an entire town. The tiny upstate New York hamlet of Narrowsburg one day discovered that two glamorous strangers had arrived — both of whom had connections in the film business. The strangers launched a film festival (which they proclaimed would become the “Sundance of the East”) and shot a movie with the whole town’s involvement. But then things got very, very weird. Director Martha Shane keeps you guessing about what was really going on — Narrowsburg is full of twists — while also crafting a poignant portrait of the allure of show business in American life.

How to watch it: Narrowsburg is currently screening on the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

One Child Nation

Director Nanfu Wang grew up in rural China under the country’s “One Child” policy, which was in effect from 1979 to 2015. Her own parents had two children, since the law made an exception for families in rural areas, as long as the children were at least five years apart — but not until after her mother narrowly escaped involuntary sterilization. Many other women were not so lucky, forced into sterilization and abortion against their will. The policy’s mental, physical, and emotional toll on China, especially its women, was tremendous. Through a documentary that is part personal, part journalistic, Wang explores the ramifications of the One Child era. It’s a harrowing but essential film that confronts and confounds Western ideas about agency, choice, reproduction, and bodily autonomy.

How to watch it: One Child Nation is streaming on Amazon Prime.

Pahokee

Sundance Film Festival

The teenagers in Pahokee are full of life — and ready to get out.

Pahokee is a small town on the shores of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, and there’s a waning number of jobs and resources available to the people who live there. But Pahokee High School is a beehive of activity, and that’s where filmmakers Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan focus on four students in their final year of school — all of whom hope to get out of town once they graduate. Following the students through their daily lives as they participate in sports and other extracurricular activities, navigate personal relationships, and work toward future aspirations, Pahokee is in some ways a familiar high school tale. But it’s also a story of a vibrant town told through its young people, and it explores, often with humor and grace, the forces that shape how Americans live today.

How to watch it: Pahokee is currently screening the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

Sing Me a Song

Participant Media

Life does not turn out as expected in Sing Me a Song.

For a very long time, the country of Bhutan was shut off from the outside world — but in recent years, the internet has arrived. For Sing Me a Song, director Thomas Balmès carefully and patiently chronicles the way that the country’s new connectedness changes how young Buddhist monks live in their monastery. The center of the film is Peyangki, who was the 8-year-old subject of Balmès’s documentary 2013 Happiness. Now, as a teenager, his formerly idyllic life has become fraught with tension and distraction — as well as, poignantly, romance. Each frame is pristine, peaceful, and stunning, which only underlines the sharp changes in the young monks’ lives.

How to watch it: Sing Me a Song is currently screening on the festival circuit.

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[corneliusreignallen]

16 great documentaries from this year and how to watch them

Pahokee and Sing Me a Song are among the fascinating nonfiction films that started touring the festival circuit in 2019. | Sundance / Participant Media

From con artists to cults, nonfiction cinema is rich right now.

A “documentary” is never just one thing. It might be a memoir, a polemic, a comedy, a thriller, a romance — the sky’s the limit. Truth is frequently stranger than fiction, and if we’re lucky, much more interesting, too. Nonfiction movies can teach us about the world we live in through the stories of people living halfway around the world or right next door.

Many of 2019’s documentaries are no exception, and many of the finest were recently shown at the DOC NYC film festival, the biggest documentary festival in the country. Here are 16 worth noting, ranging from heartbreaking family stories and illuminating explorations of social issues to tales of cults and con artists.

American Factory

American Factory is a documentary about the 2014 reopening of a closed GM plant in Dayton, Ohio — by a Chinese company that makes automotive glass — and the ensuing cultural clashes that put some bumps in the road. Veteran documentarians Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert train their cameras not only on the people involved but also on the tasks and materials of factory work, giving less-familiar viewers an idea of how complicated and difficult it can be, as well as how valuable skilled labor is. American Factory tackles the challenges of globalization with much more depth and nuance than most other reporting on the topic, precisely because it steps back to watch a story unfold over time and also resists easy generalizations. It’s both soberly instructive and fascinating.

How to watch it: American Factory is streaming on Netflix.

Anbessa

Anbessa takes a magical realist approach to the moving story of Asalif, a 10-year-old living with his mother near an enormous condominium complex on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Their shack now stands in a poor community in the shadows of government-built condos; Asalif is forced to scavenge to help keep his family afloat. But despite his difficult circumstances, Asalif has a vivid imagination and big dreams, and director Mo Scarpelli worked with him to bring those dreams to life. Anbessa follows Asalif as he dresses up as a lion — “anbessa” is Ethiopian for “lion” — and imagines chasing away the hyenas he can hear outside at night. It’s a metaphor for the encroaching land developers, and the film takes us inside Asalif’s stories to help us understand his world.

How to watch it: Anbessa is currently screening on the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

Apollo 11

Apollo 11, directed by Todd Douglas Miller, harnesses the iconic images of the moon landing to powerfully retell the story of the Apollo 11 mission. But Miller’s film does a lot more than retread familiar history. Using never-before-seen footage and audio that has been meticulously scanned and restored, Apollo 11 moves from launch to safe return in a way that makes you feel as though you’re living through the mission. There’s minimal onscreen text, a couple of very simple illustrations to show the craft’s trajectory, and no talking heads. The result is a grand and awe-inspiring film.

How to watch it: Apollo 11 is streaming on Hulu and available to digitally rent or purchase on iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and Vudu.

Blessed Child

Obscured Pictures

A Unification Church mass wedding in Blessed Child.

Journalist Cara Jones and her three siblings were raised by their loving parents in a cult: the Unification Church, commonly known as the “Moonies.” Now an adult, Jones has left the church but struggles with the loss of her community and a changed relationship with her family. In Blessed Child, her first film, Jones goes on a journey with the help of one of her brothers to discover why people joined the church, why they left, and how their lives were affected and changed by the experience. Blessed Child is as much memoir as history, and it perceptively mines an experience many people have: If you were raised in a restrictive or insular community, what does it mean to grow up?

How to watch it: Blessed Child is currently screening on the festival circuit.

The Edge of Democracy

Taking a sweeping but personal view of contemporary Brazilian politics, filmmaker Petra Costa shows what it looks like when a country finally embraces democracy after years of military dictatorship — and then squanders its progress as it moves toward far-right authoritarianism. Costa, who is Brazilian herself, makes no claims of objectivity; instead, she weaves her family’s story into that of her country’s and asks devastating questions about peace, democracy, and living in a slow-motion, real-world horror story. Can it happen elsewhere? And can a country return from the brink?

How to watch it: The Edge of Democracy is streaming on Netflix.

For Sama

There have been many documentaries in recent years about the bombings and humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, and many of them have been excellent. But For Sama is a new take on the subject, and it’s truly outstanding. Waad Al-Kateab and her husband, Hamza Al-Kateab, a doctor, are native Syrians who were living in Aleppo when Syrians began to protest their government and President Bashar al-Assad. Their daughter, Sama, was born in 2016, and the family remained in Aleppo — with Hamza running a hospital — as the bombings continued.

Eventually, they left, and Waad and British documentarian Edward Watts edited years of footage she’d shot in Aleppo into For Sama. The film movingly documents life in Aleppo and in Hamza’s hospital during the yearslong siege while also offering an explanation, addressed to young Sama, for why her parents kept her in a dangerous place and why their work was important.

How to watch it: For Sama is currently screening around the world. Check the film’s website for details.

Honeyland

Honeyland is a vibrant, fascinating, and sober documentary that examines a serious issue — the endangerment of bees — by way of a human portrait. Hatidze Muratova is the last beekeeper in Macedonia. She lives on a quiet, secluded mountain and cares for her elderly mother as well as her apian charges. Her life’s work, as she sees it, isn’t just to keep the bees; it’s to help restore balance to the ecosystem around her, and bees are a vital part of that mission. But Muratova’s sense of solitude is disrupted when a family of nomadic beekeepers arrive, seeking honey to sell.

The newcomers not only disrupt Muratova and threaten the insects’ existence but also invade an established way of life on the relatively untouched mountain. As the film progresses, different ways of thinking about commerce — as well as beekeeping and the natural world — come together in a story that is sometimes funny, sometimes beautiful, and often enlightening.

How to watch it: Honeyland is available to digitally rent or purchase on iTunes, YouTube, Amazon, Google Play, or Vudu.

The Kingmaker

Lauren Greenfield’s new film The Kingmaker centers on one of the most famously extravagant women in recent history: Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines. When Marcos and her husband, dictator Ferdinand Marcos, were driven into exile in the United States in 1986, Imelda left behind a stash of more than 1,000 pairs of shoes. That might be the only thing a lot of people know about her. But there’s much more to Imelda Marcos — and that’s what Greenfield dives into in The Kingmaker.

Imelda is interviewed throughout the film, and at first, we only hear her side of the story. But then Greenfield slowly fills in what’s missing and challenges her subject’s outright fabrications by talking to people who remember the reign of terror that was the kleptocratic Marcos regime, drawing a line between that reign and the more recent rise of the murderous authoritarian Rodrigo Duterte.

How to watch it: The Kingmaker is currently playing in select theaters and will air on Showtime in early 2020.

Knock Down the House

Knock Down the House is the rare documentary about today’s American political landscape that might make you shed happy tears. It’s about four progressive Democratic candidates — all women — who ran primary campaigns against establishment Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections: Amy Vilela in Nevada, Cori Bush in Missouri, Paula Jean Swearengin in West Virginia, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York. Documentarian Rachel Lears followed the candidates, who all live in very different communities with different political terrains. They weren’t all successful — only Ocasio-Cortez won her race — but the film is uplifting and hopeful for anyone who wants their political candidates to truly represent the communities they serve. Whether or not you agree with a given individual’s politics at every point, Knock Down the House makes it clear that there’s a hunger to upend America’s politics as usual.

How to watch it: Knock Down the House is streaming on Netflix.

Midnight Family

Nine million people live in Mexico City, but the government maintains only 45 ambulances to cover that entire population; private ambulance companies have stepped in to pick up the slack. Midnight Family follows one such company run by the Ochoa family, who ride their ambulance through the streets overnight, hoping to beat their competitors to the scene of a sudden illness or accident so they can help — while also gaining business. It’s difficult work, and it clearly feels ethically tricky. But director Luke Lorentzen manages to capture the Ochoas’ compassion and their own economic instability, as well as the heart-thumping adrenaline rush that often accompanies their line of work. The result is a sweet, fascinating portrait of a group of people trying to make the best of a bad situation, and sometimes succeeding.

How to watch it: Midnight Family opens in limited theaters December 6.

Midnight Traveler

In 2015, the Taliban called for the death of Afghani filmmaker Hassan Fazili. Fazili, along with his wife (and fellow filmmaker) Fatima Hussaini, and their two daughters, fled the country, becoming refugees as they traveled across Europe — sometimes in very hostile places. Midnight Traveler is the family’s story, shot mostly by Fazili, who documents the family’s journey and their struggle to maintain some semblance of a life in trying circumstances. It’s part memoir, part home movie, part documentary of an experience that millions of people all over the world are having right now — and it’s a must-see.

How to watch it: Midnight Traveler is available to digitally rent or buy on iTunes and Amazon.

Mother

Slow, lyrical, and heart-rending, Mother is an intertwined tale of two mothers. The first is Pomm, a Thai woman who works around the clock in a Thailand care facility home to patients with Alzheimer’s, most of whom are white and wealthy Westerners; Pomm’s own children live many hours away. The second is Maya, a Swiss woman with early onset Alzheimer’s whose devoted husband and daughters are making the painful decision to put her into the Thailand facility thousands of miles from home, for the sake of her quality of life. Director Kristof Bilsen crafts a film that’s moving and always surprising, exploring love and sacrifice that transcends distance and memory.

How to watch it: Mother is currently screening on the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

Narrowsburg

Narrowsburg

Narrowsburg is a bizarre true-life con story.

Narrowsburg is a bizarre true-life con story, one that ended up roiling an entire town. The tiny upstate New York hamlet of Narrowsburg one day discovered that two glamorous strangers had arrived — both of whom had connections in the film business. The strangers launched a film festival (which they proclaimed would become the “Sundance of the East”) and shot a movie with the whole town’s involvement. But then things got very, very weird. Director Martha Shane keeps you guessing about what was really going on — Narrowsburg is full of twists — while also crafting a poignant portrait of the allure of show business in American life.

How to watch it: Narrowsburg is currently screening on the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

One Child Nation

Director Nanfu Wang grew up in rural China under the country’s “One Child” policy, which was in effect from 1979 to 2015. Her own parents had two children, since the law made an exception for families in rural areas, as long as the children were at least five years apart — but not until after her mother narrowly escaped involuntary sterilization. Many other women were not so lucky, forced into sterilization and abortion against their will. The policy’s mental, physical, and emotional toll on China, especially its women, was tremendous. Through a documentary that is part personal, part journalistic, Wang explores the ramifications of the One Child era. It’s a harrowing but essential film that confronts and confounds Western ideas about agency, choice, reproduction, and bodily autonomy.

How to watch it: One Child Nation is streaming on Amazon Prime.

Pahokee

Sundance Film Festival

The teenagers in Pahokee are full of life — and ready to get out.

Pahokee is a small town on the shores of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, and there’s a waning number of jobs and resources available to the people who live there. But Pahokee High School is a beehive of activity, and that’s where filmmakers Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan focus on four students in their final year of school — all of whom hope to get out of town once they graduate. Following the students through their daily lives as they participate in sports and other extracurricular activities, navigate personal relationships, and work toward future aspirations, Pahokee is in some ways a familiar high school tale. But it’s also a story of a vibrant town told through its young people, and it explores, often with humor and grace, the forces that shape how Americans live today.

How to watch it: Pahokee is currently screening the festival circuit and awaiting distribution.

Sing Me a Song

Participant Media

Life does not turn out as expected in Sing Me a Song.

For a very long time, the country of Bhutan was shut off from the outside world — but in recent years, the internet has arrived. For Sing Me a Song, director Thomas Balmès carefully and patiently chronicles the way that the country’s new connectedness changes how young Buddhist monks live in their monastery. The center of the film is Peyangki, who was the 8-year-old subject of Balmès’s documentary 2013 Happiness. Now, as a teenager, his formerly idyllic life has become fraught with tension and distraction — as well as, poignantly, romance. Each frame is pristine, peaceful, and stunning, which only underlines the sharp changes in the young monks’ lives.

How to watch it: Sing Me a Song is currently screening on the festival circuit.

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[whatisonthemoon]

How the Unification Church Fits Into the Three Basic Problems of the Filipino People

The three basic problems of Filipino people, according to those in the movement for national and social liberation in the Philippines, are:

Feudalism - This refers to a social, economic and political system characterized by the ownership of land and other resources by a small and wealthy class, who then exploit the majority of the population for their labor and resources. In the Philippines, feudalism is seen as a legacy of Spanish colonial rule, where large landed estates were maintained and controlled by a small number of wealthy families and the majority of the population face poverty and inequality.

Imperialism - The Philippines has a long history of being a victim of foreign domination and exploitation. During the Spanish colonial period, the country was forced to provide resources and labor to the Spanish Empire. Later, the Philippines became a colony of the United States, and was subjected to American imperialism until its independence in 1946.

Bureaucrat capitalism - This term refers to a system of government where the state and its institutions, including the military and police, are controlled by a small and wealthy class of capitalists. In the Philippines, this has led to widespread corruption, and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few families and corporations. The result is a system that serves the interests of the wealthy elite, while neglecting the needs and rights of the majority of the population.

These three root problems are often seen as being interconnected, and contributing to the ongoing economic, social, and political crises faced by the Philippines and its people. The labor export policy of the Philippine government, bound to these three problems, has also played a major role in maintaining the vulnerability of Filipinos, including members of the Unification Church, to exploitation and abuse. This policy encourages the export of Philippine workers to other countries and resulted in a significant number of Filipinos being sent to other countries for work, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse by their employers and other individuals. In the Philippines, the Unification Church has been criticized for its exploitative and abusive practices.

The vestiges of feudal culture have created an environment in which vulnerable individuals, such as the Filipinas trafficked by the Unification Church through deception and trickery, are easy targets for exploitation. This has allowed powerful entities, like the UC, to take advantage of those who are struggling to make ends meet and exploit them, leading to human trafficking. Most infamously in the Philippines are the thousands of women tricked into being marriage-trafficked to Korea. Women are treated as objects to be traded. 

The UC is a religious organization that has long represented the interests of the Republic of Korea, Japan, and USA. They have revealed their imperialist interests by using its international influence and resources to exploit the Philippines. As made evident by the UC and its related organizations’ longstanding relationships with most, if not all, Philippine presidents since Marcos, and their constant partnerships with members of the Philippine 1%, or the bureaucrat capitalists, the church's political and economic power in the Philippines has enabled it to exploit its members, who are often from lower-income backgrounds, for the benefit of the church's leadership.  One example of the UC’s actions in the Philippines that further reflect these “three basic problems”...

The Philippine government is sending individuals who have been arrested for using recreational drugs to the International Peace Leadership College (ILPC), which is run by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), a Moonie front organization. The ILPC originally started as a seminary for Filipino Unification Church members in 1999 and has since been transformed into a year-long program for arrested drug users, formed when Duterte’s War on Drugs was initiated. The program consists of four months of martial arts training, four months of character education, four months of community service, and one year of Divine Principle training. Over 600 participants have completed this program by 2020, with many of them joining the Unification Church. After graduation, they go on internships and are sent to various parts of the world as missionaries to teach Unification theology. The UPF sees these individuals as the 'dregs of society' and shames them into submission. Most of these individuals are poor and vulnerable, and the Unification Church takes advantage of their situation, forcing them to sit through indoctrination and offering them opportunities within the church. Many of these new members are unaware of the labor trafficking that occurs within the Unification Church and are often sent on missions to provide free help to Korean church leaders and their families, or to provide cheap or free labor to church organizations and companies.

In this one example, we can see these root issues clearly illustrated. Feudalism can be seen in how the UPF exploits the vulnerable and poor individuals who are arrested for drug use, using their situation to control and manipulate them. This is also an example of bureaucrat capitalism, as the church uses their relationship to ruling families in the Philippines in order to exploit these individuals for labor and financial gain, exploiting their vulnerability for personal benefit. We can see imperialism in the religious indoctrination and the sending of missionaries to various parts of the world, as the church seeks to expand its influence and control into the Philippines and abroad. The three root problems of Philippine society, feudalism, imperialism, and bureaucrat capitalism, have not just contributed to the exploitation and abuse experienced by members of the Unification Church in the Philippines, but made this all possible. The church's behavior and practices are seen as a reflection of these broader social and economic conditions, which leave Filipinos, particularly the poor masses, vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Moonies Support Vigilante Violence in the Philippines Around 1986/1987

▲ Pictured: A banner from a 2017 Alsa Masa gathering. Though Alsa Masa is not what it once was, many vigilante and paramilitary organizations have descended from Alsa Masa and taken up their mantle, such as Davao Death Squad or DDS. Excerpts from Belina A. Aquino's "The Philippines in 1987: Politics of Survival.” 

Human Rights Group Confirms Vigilante Reports In mid-May, an international fact-finding team headed by former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark visited the Philippines to look into the existence and activities of armed vigilantes. The team, composed mainly of human rights advocates, interviewed people in Luzon, Mindanao, Cebu, and Negros. Its findings included: (1) a rapidly growing vigilante movement that has killed, tortured, threatened, or otherwise harassed civilians who are mostly poor farmers, workers, and other individuals who have advocated land reform, wage increases for workers, and withdrawal of the US bases; (2) Philippine military and civilian officials are endorsing and even arming some of these vigilante groups; (3) foreign organizations like the Unification Church-affiliated associations for the Unification of the Societies of the Americas, the WACL, and the World Anti-Communist Crusade, are actively engaged in organizing the movement; and (4) clear evidence of sophisticated methods of counterinsurgency and "low-intensity conflict" (LIC) operating in the Philippines, including direct military action done by Philippine forces with US technical assistance.

One of the team members was Ralph McGehee, a former CIA agent in Asia who wrote a book, Deadly Deceits, about his 25 years with the agency. He had served as a special liaison officer of the Vietnam Special Forces, which were really assassination squads assigned to liquidate communists in the villages. McGehee noticed "direct parallels" between the Vietnam experience and the current Philippine situation. Among these parallels are the "search and destroy" operations; "free-fire zones," and forcing rural people into the population centers to deny the insurgents a mass base. The Alsa Masa and NAKASAKA had counterparts in the Vietnamese reconnaissance units.

McGehee also saw the possibility that a ''version of the CIA's Phoenix Program - a coordinated military, police, and civilian effort to destroy Vietnamese revolutionary forces through assassination squads trained by special forces with the CIA - is now being employed in the country." He pointed out that Lt. Col. Calida, the so-called "godfather" of Alsa Masa had undergone training in 1971-72 at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, considered the counterinsurgency training center in the US. McGehee further noted that the mushrooming of anti-Communist literature was a normal component of CIA "media operations." Calida denied McGehee's allegations.

These observations on possible CIA involvement in Philippine affairs in the post-Marcos period are not far-fetched. At the height of the Huk movement in the fifties, CIA operative Edward Lansdale put together a plan combining military action, economic benefits, and political strategy to defeat the insurgency with the help of Philippine officials like Ramon Magsaysay. More recently, the CIA knew of the corrupt activities of Marcos as early as 1969 and his plan to declare martial law in 1972. Since Aquino assumed power, Manila media circles have speculated on the presence of about 115 CIA agents in the Philippines. The hard evidence, of course, cannot be produced, but it would strain credulity to believe that there is no CIA activity in the country today. Trained in covert action and disinformation, CIA officers are not about to give away their agency secrets. Like McGehee, they get to tell what they did in some of these countries after they retire. Religion and Politics This discussion of the emergence of right-wing fanaticism in the Philippines would not be complete without mentioning the corresponding phenomenal rise of religious fundamentalism in many parts of the country today. Banners announcing prayer meetings, talk shows, workshops, and seminars by such fundamentalist sects like Campus Crusade for Christ, 700 Club, Assemblies of God, World Vision International, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and the much-talked about CAUSA, were commonplace during the year, particularly in Metro Manila and the bigger cities. The Unification Church even sponsored a visit to the Philippines in August of Msgr. Bismark Carballo, a Nicaraguan priest exiled by the Sandinistas for his support of the US-backed "contras." The most visible fundamentalist preachers like Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart and Pat Robertson have either visited the Philippines or have regular telecasts in the country. The Carballo visit inspired a Maryknoll cleric, Fr. Thomas Marti, who has long worked in the Philippines, to research the connections between some of these fundamentalist groups and the right-wing networks in the U.S. Marti found that the Reagan administration sought the help of CAUSA International to support US policy in Nicaragua. It might be mentioned that the Moonies and CAUSA have conducted expense-paid seminars and conferences in Washington, D.C.; Manila and other places, inviting well-known names in academic, religious and political circles. Among the CAUSA's top brass are Cleon Skousen, a Mormon Church leader, Douglas MacArthur II, and Bo Hi Pak, the chairman who has acknowledged CIA funding. This is just another form of counter-insurgency, but it tries to minimize direct military intervention in favor of small "grassroots" efforts combining socio-economic, civic action, psychological & political objective. It seems, Marti concludes, that the combination of the political and religious right is intent on fomenting a "Red scare" in the Philippines, as they have done in Latin America, to undermine the earlier efforts of the Aquino government to come to a negotiated settlement with the NDF/CPP/NPA. Noticeable itself is the government's drift to the right and Aquino herself, while cautioning against unrestrained vigilante activities, has not discouraged them. In a visit to Davao City, which some of her supporters considered a "misjudgment," Aquino told members of the Alsa Masa "they were a model in the battle against the 18-year communist insurgency.” RELATED: - Moonies demanded $2,000 from Koreans who wanted to have Filipinas as “housemaids and sex partners.” - In 1985 the Washington Times sponsored a fund for the Contras who committed atrocities, and trafficked drugs to the US - CounterSpy: Moonies Move on Honduras (1983) - One Account of Being Trafficked into Prostitution Through UC “Blessing” - Human trafficking is despicable. Here is one Filipina’s story of slavery in the Unification Church - The UC should be held responsible for supplying weapons that killed young Filipino activists - The Unification Church and KCIA: Some Notes on Bud Han, Steve Kim, and Bo Hi Pak - The Unification Church and the KCIA – ‘Privatizing’ covert action: the case of the UC - The Broad Counterinsurgency Strategies of the US in the 80s, and a Glimpse into the UC’s Role - UNESCO Report: Korean-Filipino marriages under the UC sparked controversy and animosity

[yeskraim]

China coronavirus outbreak: All the latest updates

The number of deaths from China’s coronavirus outbreak has risen to 722 on Saturday, surpassing the death toll from the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak on the mainland and Hong Kong almost two decades ago. 

The total number of infections across China has now reached 34,546.

More:

Coronavirus: All you need to know about the symptoms and risks

Dispelling the myths around the new coronavirus outbreak

Coronavirus: Which countries have confirmed new cases?

The virus has also killed two people outside mainland China, one in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines, and at least 25 countries have confirmed cases.

On Friday, the death of 34-year-old Wuhan doctor, Li Wenliang, who sounded the alarm about the virus in December only to be punished, sparked an outpouring of grief and anger over the government’s handling of the crisis.

The virus has prompted several governments to ban arrivals from China and urge their citizens to avoid travelling to the country. Some have recommended that their citizens leave China.

Major airlines have suspended flights to and from China.

Here are the latest updates:

Saturday, February 8

Thailand reports 7 new coronavirus cases – health ministry

Thailand’s public health ministry reported seven new cases of the coronavirus, including three Thais and four Chinese.

The new cases brought the total reported in the country to 32, among the world’s highest number of infections outside of China.

“The seven new cases are all in hospital,” said Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, director-general of the Disease Control Department.

One of the Thai cases was part of the group of 138 evacuated from China’s coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan on Tuesday, Suwannachai told reporters.

Two more cases of coronavirus detected in UAE, total rises to 7

Two new cases of coronavirus infection have been detected in the United Arab Emirates, bringing the total number of people diagnosed with the disease to seven, the country’s health ministry said on Twitter.

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, announced today two new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases to seven in the country.#mohap_uae #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/y8C7MC16xA

— وزارة الصحة ووقاية المجتمع الإماراتية – MOHAP UAE (@mohapuae) February 8, 2020

Panic buying in Singapore after virus alert raised

Anxious Singapore shoppers formed long lines at grocery stores and cleared the shelves of essential items, after the city-state raised its alert level over China’s coronavirus outbreak.

Singapore, which has reported 33 cases, raised its alert level Friday to “orange”, the same as during the deadly 2003 SARS outbreak. The alert level indicates that the virus is severe and passes easily between people.

The announcement triggered panic in the city-state of 5.7 million starting late Friday, with shoppers – many wearing masks – rushing to stock up on items including rice, noodles and toilet paper.

American dies of coronavirus in Wuhan; Japanese fatality also suspected of being infected

A US citizen has died from the new coronavirus at the epicentre of the epidemic in China, the US embassy said Saturday, in what appears to be the first confirmed foreign death from the outbreak.

“We can confirm that a 60-year-old US citizen diagnosed with coronavirus died at a hospital in Wuhan, China, on February 6,” an embassy spokesman told AFP.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Foreign Ministry reported that a Japanese man “suspected of being infected” with the virus has also died in Wuhan, Kyodo News reported.

The man, in his 60s, had been hospitalised with severe pneumonia. He would be the first Japanese victim of the coronavirus outbreak if his infection is confirmed.

Three more coronavirus cases reported on the Diamond Princess cruise ship

Passengers on the cruise ship docked in Japan are facing more woes as government officials reported three more cases of coronavirus infection.

That brings to 64 the total number of infections on the Diamond Princess vessel, which was carrying 3,700 people.  

China adds health expert to provincial committee of Communist Party in Hubei

China has appointed Wang Hesheng as a member of the provincial committee of the Communist Party in Hubei province, state television reported on Saturday.

Wang has served in the public health system for years, making him well-placed to help in the country’s fight against the coronavirus outbreak. 

More planes with quarantined China passengers arrive in US

Hundreds more people evacuated from the Wuhan region of China began arriving on Friday at military bases across the US to begin a two-week quarantine.

There were no signs of illness among those who flew into Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, said Dr Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control’s Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology. She said fewer than 100 people, including babies, will stay at Lackland but did not provide an exact number.

The plane then left Texas and transported people to Omaha, Nebraska, where it landed Friday night. The passengers will be quarantined at a nearby Nebraska National Guard training base.

A military base in San Diego earlier Friday received 65 people, who will be quarantined.

Doctor who warned about coronavirus dies

Latest coronavirus study implicates faecal transmission

The digestive tract may be a secondary path of transmission for the novel coronavirus, scientists said following the publication of the latest study reporting patients with abdominal symptoms and loose stool.

The primary path is believed to be virus-laden droplets from an infected person’s cough or sneeze, though researchers in early cases have said they focused heavily on patients with respiratory symptoms and may have overlooked those linked to the digestive tract.

A total of 14 out of 138 patients (10 percent) in a Wuhan hospital who were studied in the new paper by Chinese authors in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) initially presented with diarrhoea and nausea one or two days before developing fever and laboured breathing.

Royal Caribbean bans China, HK, Macau passport holders from ships

Royal Caribbean Cruises said on Friday it would ban guests holding China, Hong Kong or Macau passports from boarding its ships.

Guests or crew members who have travelled to, from or through mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau, or been in contact with someone who has, less than 15 days before sailing will not be allowed to board the company’s ships under the new rules. 

The company would also screen guests with flu-like symptoms and those who are unsure if they had been in contact with individuals who had visited any of the three locations in the past 15 days.

US offers $100m to China, others to fight coronavirus

The US will offer up to $100m to China and other impacted countries to combat the fast-spreading coronavirus, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

“This commitment – along with the hundreds of millions generously donated by the American private sector – demonstrates strong US leadership in response to the outbreak,” Pompeo said in a statement.

.@USAID has committed up to $100 million to combat the deadly #coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/MemYdZEqLh

— Department of State (@StateDept) February 7, 2020

Has the coronavirus cracked China’s Great Firewall?

Al Jazeera’s Inside Story programme discusses how Chinese censors are struggling to contain online outrage over the government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

Read more here and watch the full episode below.

China doing ‘very professional job’ against coronavirus: Trump

US President Donald Trump has said China is doing a “very professional job” in combating the coronavirus.

Trump said he had discussed the crisis with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a “very good” phone call late on Thursday and added that the US and China were “working together” on the issue. 

WHO warns against hoarding of protective gear

Demand for masks, gowns, gloves and other protective gear has risen by up to 100 times and prices have soared due to the coronavirus, producing a “severe” disruption in supply, the WHO’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“This situation is exacerbated by widespread use of personal protective equipment outside patient care,” he told reporters in Geneva, adding that he had spoken to manufacturers and distributors to ensure supplies for those who need them.

He also said he could see practices such as hoarding in order to ensure higher prices and called for solidarity from the public and the private sector.

Singapore lifts virus alert to SARS level

Singapore has raised its coronavirus alert level to orange – a level reached during the 2003 SARS outbreak and the 2009 H1N1 influenza – which indicates the virus is severe and passes easily between people.

Singapore has reported 33 cases of patients infected with the new coronavirus.

Unfazed by virus, S Korea couples take part in mass wedding

South Korea’s Unification Church held a mass wedding amid the outbreak.

About 6,000 couples took part in the ceremony at the Cheongshim World Peace Centre in Gapyeong, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) northeast of the capital, Seoul.

The couples said they were unfazed by the new coronavirus and the organiser said the venue had been thoroughly sterilised and that a thermal surveillance camera had been put in place.

Find out more here.

The Unification Church regularly holds mass weddings for its followers [Heo Ran/Reuters]

Italy contradicts China over possible air traffic restart

Italy has contradicted China’s assertions over a possible resumption of flights between the two countries. 

Rome’s decision on January 31 to block flights to and from China was greeted with dismay by Beijing, which has been lobbying in the past few days to have the ban lifted.

“The block on flights is a measure take to immediately deal with any emergency and we will keep it in place as long as health authorities and therefore the scientific community tell us we should,” Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told a news conference in Madrid.

First Canadians repatriated from Wuhan land in Canada

A plane bringing home the first Canadians from Wuhan has landed at a military base in Canada, where the returnees will be quarantined.

The government-chartered jetliner landed at Trenton air force base east of Toronto, shortly after 6:30 am local time (11:30 GMT), after a stopover in Vancouver, Canadian TV showed.

The plane carried 176 passengers.

Hong Kong unveils quarantine plans, up to six months in jail for dodgers

Hong Kong will deploy an army of volunteers to bolster plans to forcibly quarantine all arrivals from mainland China, warning that anyone caught breaching the new rules faces up to six months prison.

In a major escalation of its battle against the new coronavirus, the international finance hub has said anyone arriving from the mainland from Saturday will have to undergo 14 days compulsory quarantine.

Read the full story here.

Read updates from Friday, February 7 here.

Read More

The post China coronavirus outbreak: All the latest updates appeared first on Gadgets To Make Life Easier.

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[brookston]

Holidays 9.20

Holidays

Battle of the Sexes Day

Celebration of Convictions (French Republic)

Constitution Day (Nepal)

Day of Circassians

Eleven Days of Global Unity, Day 10: Disarmament

Farroupilha Revolution (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)

Gibberish Day

International Akathisia Awareness Day

International Children’s Growth Awareness Day

International Day of Peace

International Day of University Sport

International Magic Mushroom Day

International NFT Day

International Penile Cancer Awareness Day

Jour de Dessalines (Haiti)

Jump the Shark Day

Liberation Day (East Timor)

Mac Miller Day (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

National Addiction Professionals Day

National Bus Day (Japan)

National Care for Kids Day

National Crime and Intelligence Analyst Appreciation Day

National Equipment Manager Appreciation Day

National Farm Safety Day

National Farting Sound Day

National Fitness Day (UK)

National Gibberish Day

National LGBTQ Veteran’s Day

National Rehabilitation Day

National Science Reading Day

National Silk Day (India)

National Youth Day (Thailand)

Nuakhai (Odisha, India)

Oil Workers’ Day (Azerbaijan)

Purple Bra Day (Australia)

Ragamuffin War (Brazil)

Sambidhaan Diwas (Constitution Day; Nepal)

Unification Day (Firefly)

World Children’s Day (Thüringen, Germany)

World Day for the Freedom of Expression of Thought

World Gynecological Oncology Awareness Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Make Your Own Junk Food At Home Day

National Fried Rice Day

National Hard Seltzer Day

National Pepperoni Pizza Day

National Punch Day

National Queso Day

National Rum Punch Day

National Sour Beer Day

National String Cheese Day

Rum Punch Day

World Paella Day

3rd Wednesday in September

Banned Websites Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Ember Day (Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Mouth Cancer Awareness Day (Ireland) [3rd Wednesday]

National Attention Deficit Disorder Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

National Rehabilitation Day [3rd Wednesday]

National School Backpack Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Quarter Tense (Ireland) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Independence Days

Agber (f.k.a. Kolios; Declared; 1995) [unrecognized]

Austenasia (Declared; 2008) [unrecognized]

Azzurrai (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Marxist Empire (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Mekniy and Lurk (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

South Ossetia (from Georgia, 1990) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Agapitus (Christian; Saint)

Andrew Kim Taegon, Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert, and companions (Christian; Korean Martyrs)

Birthday of the Sun (Inca)

Carista (Day of Peace in the Family; Pagan)

Coleridge Patteson (Anglican Communion)

Confucius Day (Confucianism)

Dale Chihuly (Artology)

Eustace (Christian; Saint)

Eustachius and companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Evilasius (Christian; Saint)

Fausta of Cyzicus (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Korean Martyrs (Christian; Martyrs)

Feast of Orlog (Deity of Destiny; Scandinavia)

Feast of Zywie (Goddess of Longevity; Poland)

Genesia (Festival to Honor the Dead, esp. those who died in wars; Ancient Greece)

Glycerius of Milan (Christian; Saint)

Jean-Charles Cornay (Christian; One of Vietnamese Martyrs)

John Coleridge Patteson (commemoration, Anglicanism) (Christian; Saint)

José Maria de Yermo y Parres (Christian; Saint)

Señor Canica (Muppetism)

Sophia Loren Appreciation Day (Pastafarian)

Telesterion begins (7th day of the Eleusinian Mysteries; Ancient Greece)

Théodore Chassériau (Artology)

Theodore, Philippa and companions (Christian; Saint)

Vincent Madelgarius (a..k.a. Maelceadar; Christian; Saint)

Voltaire (Positivist; Saint)

Yummy Kippers Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [51 of 71]

Prime Number Day: 263 [56 of 72]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

Alice’s Monkey Business (Disney Cartoon; 1926)

Alice’s Restaurant, by Arlo Guthrie (Album; 1967)

Anasazi Boys, by Neil Gaiman (Novel; 2005)

And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (Play; 1943)

Call Me Maybe, by Carla Rae Jepsen (Song; 2011)

The Cosby Show (TV Series; 1984)

Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams (Novel; 1937)

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, by AC/DC (Album; 1976)

Downtown Abbey (Film; 2019)

The Fisher King (Film; 1991)

Fore, by Huey Lewis & The News (Album; 1986)

Firefly (TV Series; 2002)

Here Comes the Groom (Film; 1951)

Injun Trouble (WB MM Cartoon; 1969)

Lighthouse Keeping (Disney Cartoon; 1946)

Merlin (TV Series; 2008)

Mike & Molly (TV Series; 2010)

Miss Saigon (Musical Play; 1989)

MTV Cribs (TV Series; 2000)

My Friend Flicka, by Mary O'Hara (Novel; 1941)

My Name is Earl (TV Series; 2005)

New Girl (TV Series; 2011)

Rabbit Seasoning (WB MM Cartoon; 1952)

Ringo the 4th, by Ringo Starr (Album; 1977)

Secretary (Film; 2002)

Spirited Away (Studio Ghibli Anime Film; 2002)

This Is Us (TV Series; 2016)

Travels with Charley: In Search of America, by John Steinbeck (Travelogue; 1961)

Whip-Smart, by Liz Phair (Album; 1994)

Who’s the Boss? (TV Series; 1984)

Window Cleaners (Disney Cartoon; 1940)

Today’s Name Days

Candida, Fausta, Susanne (Austria)

Andrija, Andrijana, Pavao (Croatia)

Oleg (Czech Republic)

Tobias (Denmark)

Kaubi, Kaupo (Estonia)

Varpu, Vaula (Finland)

Davy (France)

Candida, Eustach, Hertha, Susanna (Germany)

Evstathios, Stathis, Theopisti (Greece)

Friderika (Hungary)

Candida, Eustachiusz, Matteo (Italy)

Guntra, Marianna (Latvia)

Eustachijus, Fausta, Tautgirdė, Vainoras (Lithuania)

Tage, Tobias (Norway)

Dionizy, Eustachiusz, Eustachy, Fausta, Faustyna, Filipina, Irena, Oleg, Ostap, Sozant (Poland)

Ľuboslav, Ľuboslava (Slovakia)

Genaro, Jenaro (Spain)

Agda, Elise, Lisa (Sweden)

Oleh (Ukraine)

Eustace, Eustacia, Hailee, Hailey, Haleigh, Haley, Halie, Halle, Hallie, Haylee, Hayley (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 263 of 2024; 102 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 38 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 16 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Xin-You), Day 6 (Xin-Si)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 5 Tishri 5784

Islamic: 5 Rabi I 1445

J Cal: 23 Aki; Twosday [23 of 30]

Julian: 7 September 2023

Moon: 28%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 11 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Voltaire]

Runic Half Month: Ken (Illumination) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 91 of 94)

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 30 of 32)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 9.20

Holidays

Battle of the Sexes Day

Celebration of Convictions (French Republic)

Constitution Day (Nepal)

Day of Circassians

Eleven Days of Global Unity, Day 10: Disarmament

Farroupilha Revolution (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)

Gibberish Day

International Akathisia Awareness Day

International Children’s Growth Awareness Day

International Day of Peace

International Day of University Sport

International Magic Mushroom Day

International NFT Day

International Penile Cancer Awareness Day

Jour de Dessalines (Haiti)

Jump the Shark Day

Liberation Day (East Timor)

Mac Miller Day (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

National Addiction Professionals Day

National Bus Day (Japan)

National Care for Kids Day

National Crime and Intelligence Analyst Appreciation Day

National Equipment Manager Appreciation Day

National Farm Safety Day

National Farting Sound Day

National Fitness Day (UK)

National Gibberish Day

National LGBTQ Veteran’s Day

National Rehabilitation Day

National Science Reading Day

National Silk Day (India)

National Youth Day (Thailand)

Nuakhai (Odisha, India)

Oil Workers’ Day (Azerbaijan)

Purple Bra Day (Australia)

Ragamuffin War (Brazil)

Sambidhaan Diwas (Constitution Day; Nepal)

Unification Day (Firefly)

World Children’s Day (Thüringen, Germany)

World Day for the Freedom of Expression of Thought

World Gynecological Oncology Awareness Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Make Your Own Junk Food At Home Day

National Fried Rice Day

National Hard Seltzer Day

National Pepperoni Pizza Day

National Punch Day

National Queso Day

National Rum Punch Day

National Sour Beer Day

National String Cheese Day

Rum Punch Day

World Paella Day

3rd Wednesday in September

Banned Websites Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Ember Day (Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Mouth Cancer Awareness Day (Ireland) [3rd Wednesday]

National Attention Deficit Disorder Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

National Rehabilitation Day [3rd Wednesday]

National School Backpack Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Quarter Tense (Ireland) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Independence Days

Agber (f.k.a. Kolios; Declared; 1995) [unrecognized]

Austenasia (Declared; 2008) [unrecognized]

Azzurrai (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Marxist Empire (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Mekniy and Lurk (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

South Ossetia (from Georgia, 1990) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Agapitus (Christian; Saint)

Andrew Kim Taegon, Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert, and companions (Christian; Korean Martyrs)

Birthday of the Sun (Inca)

Carista (Day of Peace in the Family; Pagan)

Coleridge Patteson (Anglican Communion)

Confucius Day (Confucianism)

Dale Chihuly (Artology)

Eustace (Christian; Saint)

Eustachius and companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Evilasius (Christian; Saint)

Fausta of Cyzicus (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Korean Martyrs (Christian; Martyrs)

Feast of Orlog (Deity of Destiny; Scandinavia)

Feast of Zywie (Goddess of Longevity; Poland)

Genesia (Festival to Honor the Dead, esp. those who died in wars; Ancient Greece)

Glycerius of Milan (Christian; Saint)

Jean-Charles Cornay (Christian; One of Vietnamese Martyrs)

John Coleridge Patteson (commemoration, Anglicanism) (Christian; Saint)

José Maria de Yermo y Parres (Christian; Saint)

Señor Canica (Muppetism)

Sophia Loren Appreciation Day (Pastafarian)

Telesterion begins (7th day of the Eleusinian Mysteries; Ancient Greece)

Théodore Chassériau (Artology)

Theodore, Philippa and companions (Christian; Saint)

Vincent Madelgarius (a..k.a. Maelceadar; Christian; Saint)

Voltaire (Positivist; Saint)

Yummy Kippers Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [51 of 71]

Prime Number Day: 263 [56 of 72]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

Alice’s Monkey Business (Disney Cartoon; 1926)

Alice’s Restaurant, by Arlo Guthrie (Album; 1967)

Anasazi Boys, by Neil Gaiman (Novel; 2005)

And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (Play; 1943)

Call Me Maybe, by Carla Rae Jepsen (Song; 2011)

The Cosby Show (TV Series; 1984)

Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams (Novel; 1937)

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, by AC/DC (Album; 1976)

Downtown Abbey (Film; 2019)

The Fisher King (Film; 1991)

Fore, by Huey Lewis & The News (Album; 1986)

Firefly (TV Series; 2002)

Here Comes the Groom (Film; 1951)

Injun Trouble (WB MM Cartoon; 1969)

Lighthouse Keeping (Disney Cartoon; 1946)

Merlin (TV Series; 2008)

Mike & Molly (TV Series; 2010)

Miss Saigon (Musical Play; 1989)

MTV Cribs (TV Series; 2000)

My Friend Flicka, by Mary O'Hara (Novel; 1941)

My Name is Earl (TV Series; 2005)

New Girl (TV Series; 2011)

Rabbit Seasoning (WB MM Cartoon; 1952)

Ringo the 4th, by Ringo Starr (Album; 1977)

Secretary (Film; 2002)

Spirited Away (Studio Ghibli Anime Film; 2002)

This Is Us (TV Series; 2016)

Travels with Charley: In Search of America, by John Steinbeck (Travelogue; 1961)

Whip-Smart, by Liz Phair (Album; 1994)

Who’s the Boss? (TV Series; 1984)

Window Cleaners (Disney Cartoon; 1940)

Today’s Name Days

Candida, Fausta, Susanne (Austria)

Andrija, Andrijana, Pavao (Croatia)

Oleg (Czech Republic)

Tobias (Denmark)

Kaubi, Kaupo (Estonia)

Varpu, Vaula (Finland)

Davy (France)

Candida, Eustach, Hertha, Susanna (Germany)

Evstathios, Stathis, Theopisti (Greece)

Friderika (Hungary)

Candida, Eustachiusz, Matteo (Italy)

Guntra, Marianna (Latvia)

Eustachijus, Fausta, Tautgirdė, Vainoras (Lithuania)

Tage, Tobias (Norway)

Dionizy, Eustachiusz, Eustachy, Fausta, Faustyna, Filipina, Irena, Oleg, Ostap, Sozant (Poland)

Ľuboslav, Ľuboslava (Slovakia)

Genaro, Jenaro (Spain)

Agda, Elise, Lisa (Sweden)

Oleh (Ukraine)

Eustace, Eustacia, Hailee, Hailey, Haleigh, Haley, Halie, Halle, Hallie, Haylee, Hayley (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 263 of 2024; 102 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 38 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 16 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Xin-You), Day 6 (Xin-Si)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 5 Tishri 5784

Islamic: 5 Rabi I 1445

J Cal: 23 Aki; Twosday [23 of 30]

Julian: 7 September 2023

Moon: 28%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 11 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Voltaire]

Runic Half Month: Ken (Illumination) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 91 of 94)

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 30 of 32)