An article a few years in the making. For
@GrantaMag
, I followed the saga of Congo's mine at Manono, potentially the world's largest deposit of lithium rock, and the site of tangled deals that implicate powerbrokers, foreign firms & fixers :
#lithium
Here's a piece I wrote for
@NewYorker
on the horrific war in Yemen, on its casualties, and on how U.S. and U.K. support for Saudi Arabia has prolonged the conflict:
#Yemen
#YemenCrisis
I was deported from the Moroccan-occupied portion of the Western Sahara reporting this story about one of Africa's oldest conflicts. What is happening in the Western Sahara? Read my latest piece for
@NewYorker
here:
We have gone into the third week of extrajudicial detention for the journalist Jeef Kazadi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo without a trial. Jeef was key in organising much of my reporting in DR Congo for
@NewYorker
. Statement in English et en Français below.
#FreeJeef
Latest for
@NewYorker
about the tragic sinking for the Adriana off Greece two weeks ago and the rise in anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe.
#pylosshipwreck
The brutal war in Yemen finally getting the cover treatment it should have received ages ago. But where has this type of coverage been since 2015? And why does the Times bury details of US involvement supplying weapons etc. for the conflict?
My latest piece, on cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is up at
@NewYorker
. Cobalt is a key element of cellphone and electric car batteries.
I wrote a piece on the
#WesternSahara
for
@NewYorker
, about the renewed conflict there and how Trump and Kushner's recognition of Moroccan sovreignty created a mess for the Biden administration to solve:
A new piece out for
@thenation
on nickel mining in Obi Island, Indonesia. Nickel (and cobalt) are key to clean energy in electric vehicles, but the mining of these metals has caused serious environmental and social issues in Indonesia:
@itsisaacsworld
The Congolese government and mining companies sold controlling stakes in the mines to Chinese firms. There are various different ways in which this happened. The mine the young lady seems to be talking about, Tenke Fungurume, was sold to Lundin, which sold to Freeport...
Congrats everyone
@newyorkerunion
: we just received an email saying that the News Guild and management reps have just agreed on a process towards voluntary recognition!
#newyorkerunion
Here's a piece I wrote for
@NewYorker
on the dire situation in Yemen, and how last week's strike on Saleh al-Sammad (a senior Houthi) could worsen Yemen's war:
#YemenCrisis
Latest piece, up
@NewYorker
, on Brooklyn's burgeoning pirate radio scene and
@shortwaveology
's amazing pirate radio sound map (up now at ). Read the piece here:
#pirateradio
A source to
@RonanFarrow
, on the allegations
@60Minutes
tried to shut down a
@washingtonpost
investigation of sexual harassment: “The hypocrisy of an investigative news program shutting down an investigative print story is incredible.” More here:
I was just sent this video of a worker being beaten under the direction of Chinese overseers, reportedly at the COMMUS mine site in Congo. The copper-cobalt mine is owned mainly by Chinese companies but sits in the supply chain of giant tech firms that make the phones we carry.
Very much support the unionization effort from
@newyorkerunion
today. I have loved working here, and am in constant awe of the wonderful, intelligent people around me. I think this effort will ironclad the magazine's future as a thing of truth and beauty.
Recently, Jeef had talked to me about setting up a school for underprivileged children in his hometown of Lubumbashi. He practices his journalism with integrity and a civic spirit, and he is motivated by a desire to help people.
Worth adding that there is probably a small amount of cobalt in this mine (cobalt is a byproduct of copper) but this particular area of southern DRC has fairly low cobalt grades and current cobalt prices are very low
This interview between Trump and
@LesleyRStahl
last night re: Saudi Arabia is terrifying. He's essentially saying the Saudis can engage in the grossest forms of conduct and the US will still sell them weapons.
Morocco has withdrawn its support for the Saudi-led coalition's war in Yemen because KSA's Al Arabiya television aired a programme about the Western Sahara:
@killedincars2
A term that is used to describe small-scale miners. Not my favourite, but that's what they are called and that is how they are referred to in Congo as well. Also "creuseurs" or "diggers"
Correction:
@SaemapeSud
says this is South Kivu, in which case these would be most probably gold miners (or cassiterite, coltan or tungsten). Mea culpa
@itsisaacsworld
...which sold to China Molybdenum. Freeport (a US firm) sold it to China Moly in part because they became concerned with the risk of doing business in Congo. DRC still receives hundreds of millions in royalties from these mines. 46% of gov revenues is from mining.
My new piece on the war in
#Yemen
is out
@thenation
, with beautiful pictures by
@gcwingman
. In it, I focus on the Muhamasheen, a historically underprivileged caste of Yemenis who have been badly affected by the war:
Photo of The Day: "Adélie penguins bopping about the Weddell Sea" by Nick Niarchos - Captured on a Mamiya RZ67 Pro and Exposed on Fuji Velvia Film! See more of this Nick Niarchos's analog photography by following him on Instagram at !
1. New piece with
@marxjesse
up over
@thenation
about the air monitoring in the wake of the catastrophic crash in East Palestine. A company called CTEH was hired to do monitoring by Norfolk Southern, the railroad behind the crash
#EastPalestine
My new radio piece, about the war in Yemen, the Saudi-led coalition bombing, and the life of the mayor of Sana'a, now out on
@NewYorkerRadio
:
#Yemen
#yemencrisis
"Soon the spring will come, our forests will become green, and a real hell will open up for the aggressor.” My interview with Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov on the war in Ukraine for
@thenation
:
#UkraineRussiaWar
@itsisaacsworld
Of course lots of concerns about Chinese firms and state run Sicomines: especially concerning about displacement at these mines and mistreatment of workers. expulsions forcées dans les mines industrielles de cobalt et de cuivre ...
Even Fox now saying that
@realDonaldTrump
is spreading falsehoods about election observers and that GOP observers in Philly have been there the whole time.
Love the Seventies? Then head up to the Honeywell, in Harlem. It's one of my favorite new bars, and plays disco all night long! Here's some words on it
@goingson
@NewYorker
@TheHoneywellNYC
Very sad to hear of the death of Ahmed Boukhari, the Polisario Front's representative to the United Nations. RIP. I had been talking to him for a piece I have been writing, and his gentlemanliness and wit never ceased to impress me:
#WesternSahara
Why did
@semafor
and
@IranIntl
choose to criticise a handful of Iranian analysts based on some emails from 2014? And how did this become "one of the biggest stories in Washington right now"? My latest for
@thenation
: Thanks as ever to
@ddguttenplan
"So many people are suffering because they can’t forget, and they cannot be forced to forget":
@StephTaladrid
's brilliant dispatch on the legacy of Spain's dictatorship, exhuming Franco's remains, and how a collective memory continues to be shaped.
Listen to this excellent new podcast from
@OzWoloshyn
&
@kscope_nyc
team with
@cpj
about the horrific murders of Haitian journalists in Miami. It's more important than ever to remember that
#JournalismIsNotACrime
and impunity should never go unpunished:
New piece: two former German soldiers at the base Russia bombed in
#Ukraine
said multiple foreign fighters killed in the strike. "They are just being used as cannon fodder" for
@thenation
#UkraineRussiaWar
Enjoyed meeting
@KevinGHall
from the
@OCCRP
and chatting again with
@AlexandraWrage
at the
@TRACE_Inc
Annapolis forum today on issues around mining in the DRC. Listen to our conversation from last summer here:
A piece I reported in Burkina Faso on the music of Volta Jazz, and the vibrant ar of the 60s and 70s in Bobo Dioulasso. With help from
@YossiMilo
, to whom many thanks are owed, as well as to the people of Bobo Dioulasso.
#BurkinaFaso
#AfricanMusic
#Africa
Everyday, doctors & nurses are saving lives in Al-Sadaqah hospital.
But time is running out.
Without urgent funding, hundreds of thousands of children might die in Yemen.
The
@kscope_nyc
episode of the Good Thief in which I discuss the legacy of outlaws and Vasilis Paleokostas in
#Greece
just dropped! Check it out (and hear me get hopelessly lost on Ikaria) here: