Easter Festivities around the world

For this second part of our final #SlowNews podcast on migration and refugees, we look at the Burundian crisis and the refugee situation in the Great Lakes region due to this crisis. Through the voice of two Burundian refugees and the expertise of humanitarian workers and researchers, we give an overview of the highly underreported political and humanitarian crisis in this East African country which lead to huge migration movements. Since 2015, nearly 400,000 people have been fleeing to the neighboring countries, mainly Tanzania and Rwanda, or continued to Uganda. How is the situation for a Burundian refugee in these countries? How do the receiving countries and humanitarian organizations handle the arrival of hundres of thousands refugees again? Is there any hope for the Burundian refugees to go back to their home country? Tune in for answers and learn about this "forgotten case", Burundi. *** Our thanks go to our onterview partners (in order of appearance): - Arsène Arakaza: former chairperson of the Burundian refugee community in Uganda; - Joe-Philbert Karangwa (Twitter: @joe_karangwa): Burundian journalist in Rwandan exile; - Eugene Sibomana: humanitarian professional working with Burundian refugees in Rwanda; - Lucy Hovil (Twitter: @LucyHovil): senior research associate for the International Refugee Rights Initiative (@IntRefRights). *** Media & reading recommendations: - Radio Peace FM (@RadioPeaceFM): refugee radio for Burundians in Rwanda; founder: Joe-Philbert Karangwa; - Journal Plume du Réfugié: refugee newspaper for Burundians in Uganda; founder: Arsène Arakaza; - Iwacu: independent Burundian press agency; reporting in Kirundi, French & English; online: https://www.iwacu-burundi.org/ - Lucy Hovil & Thijs Van Laer (2019). "The trouble with plans to send 116,000 Burundian refugees home," in The New Humanitarian. Online: https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/ *** Music: With the kind authorization of the producer, we used original Burundian drummers' music from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gQcVmDIrtc&lc=z23uvh2jlpv0updql04t1aokg2ktmwfqd55ht5qkvs2zrk0h00410.1557329112845909. Thank you!

Migration continues to be a dominating topic across the world. For example in the upcoming European elections some say it is one of the deciding topics. We take a closer look at it with two concluding #SlowNews episodes on migration to end our podcast-year. Today, in Part I of our migration focus, we look at migration to and going from Denmark - a special case in the European context: Denmark decided not to follow the common guidelines that EU member states have agreed on. To get some inside views, we spoke to Eva Singer, Director of the Asylum Department of the Danish Refugee Council. She will guide you with us through application procedures, forced return and the political ‘paradigm shift’ of 2015 in Denmark. **"Migration Part II - A Burundian perspective within the Great Lakes Region" will be online in the beginning of next week.**

We are back with a different kind of #SlowNews this week! A zoom in on 4 individual topics that have been covered in the news these past few weeks: 1) Trump’s decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights - a very controversial move; 2) Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Zimbabwe & Malawi - disaster preparedness in Sub-Sahara Africa; 3) #Kwibuka25 - a quarter century after the Genocide against the Tutsi 1994 in Rwanda; 4) Referendums - a debate in times of Brexit. We have some weeks of Easter Break before us now - but stay tuned, we’ll be coming back with a special edition of #SlowNews as we currently work on an in-depth episode about refugees trying to return home! Thank you for listening.

This week we’ll provide you with some interesting insights into Nowruz - a huge festival that is celebrated in Iran and Central Asia. Also, we look on further religious and pagan traditions and how they are celebrated in different countries.

In mid-February this year, India and Pakistan again picked up on their long-standing conflict over the most heavily militarized part of the world – Kashmir. Can we best understand the recent events as a mere game of egos, or should we instead interpret them in light of India’s upcoming elections? Our guest journalists in the studio, Tamkinat from Pakistan and Hannah from India, debate what makes Kashmir the bone of contention and discuss its geopolitical and geo-economic relevance, as well as where China stands on the issue. We begin slowly, by contextualizing the conflict in history and questioning how British colonial rule has laid the ground for Pakistan’s and India’s decade-long “sibling rivalry”. We wrap up by questioning why territorial disputes are such a non-negotiable for states today.

This planet mundus show focusses on one of the most essential parts in life - food. We discuss danish dishes, the sustainable supermarket WeFood and spill the tea on where to find the best food in Aarhus for a students on a budget.

++ A closer look at the Nigerian elections and media coverage of elections across the continent ++ At least 20 out of 54 African countries hold elections this year, media is talking about another “African Elections Year”. Nigeria made the start of this with its presidential elections last week on February 23, 2019. In this fifth episode of our podcast #SlowNews we therefore first take a closer look at the Nigerian elections with insights from Kelechi, a Nigerian living in Aarhus. Sticking with the Nigerian elections for a while, we then try to critically evaluate international media coverage of them to conclude on a broader level about how media covers the “African Elections Year” and how you can consume journalistic reports about any elections on the African continent more consciously. In this episode, we also address some concerns raised about our last podcast on Venezuela (Venezuela 4) and correct a few imprecisions. Please always feel free to send us your feedback!

From the country with the biggest oil reserves in the world to people starving. Venezuela is in a deep humanitarian crisis. What happened? Since May, the people of Venezuela have been protesting against their president Nicola Maduro. Just three weeks ago, the opposition leader Juan Guaidó was declared interim president - against the will of Maduro of course. So now there’s not only a humanitarian crisis but a severe political crisis in Venezuela. These specific events give us a good opportunity to look beyond mainstream media's extensive coverage to elaborate the trends that have shaped the situation in Venezuela for many years and break down dominant narratives. We bring to you a personal story from Kim, a fellow journalism student from Venezuela. Also we look at different countries' reaction to the crisis, and discuss the often quoted "failure of yet another socialist state". Tune in!

In the Planet Mundus Show of the 13th Feb, 2019, the Master students of the Mundus Journalism programme talked about some good news from around the world, looked at Valentine's Day in different countries and travelled to Senegal to meat Thiat from the political movement Y'en a Marre.

Christmas special - Slow News by Planet Mundus