Monday Briefing | May 6 - Journal of Political Inquiry

A TV broadcast in Seoul, South Korea, showing file footage of North Korea’s missiles on Saturday. North Korea fired several unidentified short-range projectiles off its eastern coast. Credit: Ahn Young-Joon/Associated Press

Stories to Follow

North Korea Missile Strike:North Korea has confirmed via state media that leader Kim Jong-un has overseen a “strike drill” testing various missile components. “A number of short-range projectiles” were also fired from the Hodo peninsula into the Sea of Japan on Saturday. North Korea’s leader gave the order of firing to “increase the combat ability” of the country, the announcement said.

Cyclone Fans hits India and Bangladesh: Cylone Fani slammed into India’s eastern coast on Friday, roaring through towns with winds of 120 miles per hour. In Bangladesh, more 1,000 homes have been destroyed and entire villages have been left submerged.

Palestinian mother, baby killed in Israeli raids on Gaza: A pregnant Palestinian mother and her one-year-old baby have been killed in a wave of Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip, shattering a month-long lull in violence in the besieged enclave. The bombardment on Saturday came after Hamas, which rules Gaza, and the Islamic Jihad movement fired more than 200 rockets towards cities and villages in southern Israel.

This Week in JPI

Bashir is gone, transitional military is in power. But only women can make change: This week, Shivani Somaiya argues that peace will not prevail over Sudan so long as Sudanese women remain excluded from peace process.

Happening This Week

Walid Raad
Paula Cooper Gallery , Chelsea. Tuesday May 7 2019 – Friday May 24 2019

Born in Lebanon, Raad has long explored the many manifestations of violence committed by and against both individuals and the state. The work in this show is a case in point: It revisits the Lebanese capital of Beirut, once known as the Paris of the Middle East, in the aftermath of the bloody 25-year-long civil war that leveled the city. Raad contemplates Beirut’s future through the prism of its apocalyptic past in pieces like a panoramic video projection of ruined buildings being demolished for reconstruction, in which the footage has been edited to appear like an animated Rorschach test.

PEN World Voices Festival
Various locations. Monday May 6 2019 – Sunday May 12 2019

This massive festival with more than 70 events throughout the city, brings together an all-star lineup of writers representing numerous countries to contemplate change, international politics and the value of free speech. Booker Prize-Winning novelist and powerhouse Arundhati Roy delivers the annual “Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture” on the festival’s closing day, May 12. For more details, click here.

This week’s Monday Briefing was brought to you by Zuha Siddiqui.