The Killers In Manila

Screen shot only. The full video is embedded below.

I have never been to the Philippines, or had any real interest in visiting that land of many islands. After watching this new documentary from the New York Times, I have even less interest in going there. As a subscriber to the online NYTimes, I have been following with growing feelings of horror, the brutal slaughter of thousands of that nation's poorest citizens, who have been targeted because they are either drug dealers or drug users.

Some of the victims of President Duterte's 'war on drugs' have almost certainly been the victims of false accusations by people bearing grudges, while other have been innocent people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. At almost 15-minutes, this short documentary provides shocking proof of what can happen to sane and civil societies everywhere, when police and other thugs, hiding behind a presidential decree are able to brazenly flout the rule of law.

Below I include in full, the email I received today from the New York Times, and Andrew Glazer, the Senior Story Producer for the Times. Be warned however, that the film contains footage of violent death, grief, and graphic violence. You will need to decide for yourself if you want to visit the Philippines after viewing this film. For myself, I know I will never visit there.

When a President Says, ‘I’ll Kill You’

By Andrew Glazer and Jeremy Rocklin

Dear Subscriber, 
My name is Andrew Glazer, and I’m a video journalist for The Times. My colleagues and I have been working hard to bring you the documentary “When a President Says, ‘I’ll Kill You.’ ” I invite you, a valued subscriber, to take a look.

The film will bring you to the front lines of a deadly campaign led by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. He’s called for police and vigilantes to kill drug suspects and pushers; and the official death toll since he took office last summer has reached at least 3,600 — but the actual number is probably much greater. Most of those killed were poor and living in slums. Few of the killings have been investigated. 

A corps of local journalists has worked tirelessly to document the killings and the survivors to highlight their humanity. One, photographer Raffy Lerma of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, is a subject of our documentary. He’ll bring you, the viewer, along as he rushes from crime scene to wake to funeral. You’ll not only see the brutality of their demise but also the desperation and grief of their families. And you’ll hear from the top drug enforcement officials who justify the draconian campaign. 

Putting this together was a team effort. I worked with two talented Manila-based journalists — cameraman/producer Carsten Stormer and co-producer Yasmin Coles — and film editor Jeremy Rocklin and director of enterprise Liz Baylen. And, of course, you, who helped fund this effort with your subscription. 

On behalf of the 50 journalists on The Times video desk, I want to thank you for your support. I hope you continue to explore more of our video journalism in the weeks ahead. We do this for you. 

Andrew Glazer 
Senior Story Producer, The New York Times

Addendum: After adding this post today, and reviewing my introduction to the email and the video, I realised that some readers may think I am ignoring the problem of drugs in society. Any society. I am not. I am well aware of the pain and suffering drugs inflict on the users, their families and friends, and society at large. This however does not excuse the blatant disregard for the rule of law that is now underway in Manila. Laws are there for a reason, as are courts, judges, and prisons. Use them.

A Tale of Too Many Moscow’s

Moscow, Russia

 Yesterday’s post (A Tale Of Two Sydney’s), started me thinking about other potentially conflicting and confusing city names. To my surprise, there were a lot more than I thought there would be. For instance, the cities of Moscow, London, Melbourne, Athens, and Paris, to name just a handful, crop up multiple times across the world. 

To take the Russian capital, Moscow as an example—depending on which online source you consult—there may be twenty-three places called Moscow in the world, or they may be a lot more. Even trying to find the precise number of Moscow’s in the United States varies from eighteen to twenty-six, although again, there could be more (see below). You will find Moscow’s in the states of Idaho, North Dakota, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Maine. Some of these are big enough to be called cities, but most are generally not much bigger than small towns or hamlets.

      There are or have been at least 30 American towns named Moscow, according to American Demographics magazine. Ohio and Kansas had four each. These aren`t enclaves of pinkos, explains geographer Irina Vasiliev of the State University of New York at Buffalo, who studies the derivation of town names. Moscow, Vermont, is so called because townspeople there thought blades in the local sawmill sounded like cathedral bells of Moscow, Russia. Moscow, Maine, was named to commemorate Russia`s victory over Napoleon, and Moscow, Minnesota, came into being after a forest fire reminded residents of the scorched-earth policy Russian contemporaries adopted to foil the French dictator.
      Only two of America`s Moscow’s actually were named by Russian immigrants, according to Vasiliev. One is in Kansas, the other in Pennsylvania. Then there is the case of Moscow, Texas, which is named after Moscow, Tennessee. Most of America`s other Moscow’s were afterthoughts, named quickly, American Demographics says, “when settlers needed a label for their post office.”
      In most cases, Vasiliev says, the name Moscow was a way to get attention or improve a town`s image. Obviously, these ill-conceived public relations campaigns predated Lenin.[Source: Chicago Tribune…]

Looking south towards Moscow, Idaho

The town of Moscow, Idaho, is one of the biggest towns in America bearing that name. However, when the first US post office opened in 1872, the town was called ‘Paradise Valley,’ but the name was changed to Moscow in 1875. According to the Wikipedia entry for the town:

     The precise origin of the name Moscow has been disputed. There is no conclusive proof that it has any connection to the Russian city, though various accounts suggest it was purposely evocative of the Russian city or named by Russian immigrants. Another account claims that the name derives from a Native American tribe named "Masco”. It was reported by early settlers that five men in the area met to choose a proper name for the town, but could not come to agreement on a name. The postmaster Samuel Neff then completed the official papers for the town and selected the name Moscow. Interestingly, Neff was born in Moscow, Pennsylvania and later moved to Moscow, Iowa.

I am tempted to start a series of regular posts about place names and their origins, but at the moment I have more pressing matters to address. For now I will leave you with this fascinating 21:32-minute radio program from Public Radio International that looks at the prevalence of towns called Moscow in the United States.

A Tale Of Two Sydney's

Screen grab from The Guardian

Ouch! Look at that headline from The Guardian online this past Saturday, April 1st. For a moment or two I thought it might be an April Fool’s Day joke, but no, a young Dutch man, Milan Schipper, thought he had grabbed the bargain of lifetime when he scored a cheap flight from Amsterdam to Sydney, Australia.

Schipper’s plan was to backpack through Australia, taking in its lush coastal landscapes and white sand beaches before heading to college after the Northern summer. Since he knew it was late summer in Australia, he came dressed for the occasion—in a T-shirt, sweatpants and a thin jacket.

Instead, the Dutch teenager found himself 10,000 miles away from Sydney, Australia – staring out at a snow-covered, frozen landscape – as he realised that he had accidentally booked a flight to Sydney, Nova Scotia, a municipality of 32,000 people on Canada’s east coast.

“I thought I was going to Australia, but that turned out a little different,” the 18-year-old told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday.

During a stopover in Toronto, Schipper began to have doubts about his destination after he noticed that the plane lined up on the tarmac was a lot smaller than he thought it should be.

His suspicions were confirmed after he boarded and checked the flight map on his seat screen. “I saw the flight plan was going to go right, not left. It was about the time that I realized there was another Sydney,” he said. “I felt terrible. I think I swore in my head for like 10 minutes. But there was nothing I could do about it because I was already up in the air.”

Sydney, Australia.                             Sydney, Nova Scotia
(Images: Jason Reed, Steve Wadden/Reuters)

On landing in Sydney, Nova Scotia, he discovered the locals were bracing for a snowstorm expected to bring strong winds and 10 to 15 cm (four to six inches) of snow. After Schipper spoke to airline representatives and explained what had happened, he ruled out heading straight to Australia—which would have cost him another €1,500 ($1,600), and another 30 hours of air travel—and decided to fly back to Amsterdam instead.

Incredibly (or so it seems to me), an American woman on the same flight as Milan Schipper made the same mistake! And this incident is not the first time travellers have confused the two Sydney’s. In 2002 two British teenagers ended up in Sydney, Nova Scotia, while trying to visit Australia, as did an Argentine tourist in 2008, another Dutch man and his grandson in 2009, and an Italian couple in 2010.

Clearly, it helps to have more than a passing knowledge of world geography. It also helps to pay a lot more attention to the booking process.