Hello and welcome everyone at this fourth press conference of the day here at the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Vietnam Right now we'll be looking at the future of ASEAN or as it's announced in the press conference schedule ASEAN at a tipping point and the reason why we are looking at ASEAN as being on a tipping point is Because what we've seen in the last 50 years is that ASEAN has grown to become the sixth largest economy worldwide But what got it here won't get it to the next phase. That's a major finding of a PWC report that has been prepared by the guest speakers of today namely Dinty Quynvan senior partner at PWC here in Vietnam and David Wijeratne the partner leader of the Growth Markets Center of PWC in Singapore and an author of this study on a future of ASEAN Welcome to both of you Okay with that and without further ado, I'd like to ask David to Bring us up to speed David So ASEAN has grown to the sixth largest economy But the assertion is in order to grow continue to grow further It will have to come up with innovative strategies in which the private sector plays a Big role. Could you tell us a little bit more about that? Vietnam and the World Economic Forum for hosting this year's summit in Hanoi I think it's been a tremendous event so far Yes, you're right here as many people know last year marked the 50th anniversary of ASEAN Which was a tremendous? Achievement given the first 50 years of the 20th century and what characterized ASEAN as it overcame Poverty and a great deal of conflict now as you rightly say it is the sixth largest economy in the world It's touted to be the fourth largest by 2030 It has a GDP of 2.75 trillion dollars and is the fourth largest trading region In the world, you know accounting for about 7% of global exports, you know ASEAN's growth has been predominantly founded upon its people first and foremost the orange is tremendous labor force and that has then led to You know rising incomes the creation of emerging middle-class larger consumption, which has driven an economy supported by You know some well-managed government debt at least comparison in comparison to other emerging markets and A build-up of foreign reserves that all of that has actually positioned ASEAN to be the fourth largest or fourth most attractive Foreign investment destination globally and second behind China in the region But against that backdrop there are a number of challenges for the next not only 50 years But the next five years for ASEAN and these challenges are both Outs external to the region and within the region. Yeah, so externally You know given that ASEAN is Dependent 75% of its exports are based on trade outside of the region Now if you take that in the context of a declining global trade downward trend since 2012 China's economic planned economic slowdown and potential trade war that we're seeing between China and the US ASEAN is very susceptible to to outside forces from an external trade perspective and then in addition to that you take the fourth industrial revolution And what has been discussed here in the next three, you know these three days is that at least in the near term the fourth industrial revolution will bring some amount of of of pain and Namely in the form of unemployment in that regard, you know Whether that is due to production and services being reshored closer to demand or the adoption of AI within the region You know near-term unemployment is a threat leading to social unless leading to a drop in consumption These are challenges to the region From an external perspective internally Productivity is the number one challenge to the region. You're seeing that as the as the region moves up from being a low Low-cost labour Market and the manufacturing hub of the world moving up to more value-adding services Productivity is a real challenge to the region in addition to well-known challenges around infrastructure and institutional reforms So with all that as as a sort of context, you know, we we have Presented a perspective as to what does ASEAN have to do Going forward to ensure continued growth. What proactive measures? Should it take for three key stakeholders? And so the first state go-holder group is the ASEAN Secretariat itself so the community of nations and one of the key recommendations that we're making is that this group really should be focused on that first challenge of of Dependency on external trade. You know, so what can the ASEAN community as in Secretariat do to facilitate internal trade so focusing on, you know trade barriers, but in particular Technical trade barriers. Now, these are things that are not just Challenges to ASEAN earlier in the week you'll have seen the US and the EU talk about technical barriers to trade You know, so this is this is a challenge that that even developed economies focus upon but harmonizing that will create a more Fluent and fluid internal economy from a trade perspective within ASEAN Our second group of stakeholders are the the countries themselves and as you know, you know ASEAN is quite a wide asset to Aspera of nations and at different stages of an economic journey And so we looked at this was taking their economic Current position and their demographic transition and creating five categories Which is slightly innovative. So the first category being those were aging High-income groups. So, you know, that is Singapore and Brunei and they're facing challenges around an aging workforce low a reduction an aging population a reduction in the workforce and therefore a challenge on Funding those people that are coming out of the workforce, but with fewer people to fund that So productivity being a key challenge and how can they adopt measures in ICT and Skilling and innovation to basically do more with with fewer people The second group are the aging middle income. So that those are countries such as Malaysia and Thailand now these countries have traditionally, you know Leverage their low labor cost wages to attract investment and generate goods But now as these wages increase the demand will be for Them to produce better more value-adding goods and services You have to if you're going to demand more, you know higher wages You've got to create something of higher value So they have to move up the value chain and create an environment both from a skills perspective and a capability perspective to to Justify those higher wages and then the third group the third category is actually a category of one and that is of Vietnam Which is an aging low-income group and you know, I'm going to talk a bit about that later on But in that regard, you know, how can Vietnam? Manage its it's a workforce to ensure that more women come into the economy more More older people stay in the workforce whilst also taking advantage of the digital economy to foster Greater services and growth Now on the other side, you have the younger economies Yeah, that is they really make up what a lot of people talk about the young demographic in ASEAN And so if you talk about the younger middle income, you're talking about countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines Yeah, large economies. So you've got large economies. You need to create jobs That is that the key challenge to Indonesia and the Philippines is to create a lot of jobs But also quality jobs, but you can't just rely on Corporations and state-owned enterprise to create these jobs You need to foster an environment for entrepreneurship. So families and friends Communities come together actually create their own businesses to facilitate growth themselves. You can't just depend on The private corporation and state-owned enterprises to create these jobs and then the final category Now those the younger demographic lower income So those are the countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos Which do have a bit longer They've got a bit of time because of the younger demographic that they have but they've got a longer journey to go They've got longer. They've got a bit more to do on their institutional form So they have to try and attract foreign investment Maybe some of the lower value work that Thailand and Malaysia are relinquishing that China's relinquishing To create a foundation of that economy which will then fuel the Provide incomes for families to take their children to then have the skills to create more value-adding Services and products in in the next generation of the economy So that sort of sets a scene that that you know whilst people talk of asian as one region It is actually quite disparate There's a rather just dashboard in that economy and companies have to really understand How they when they look at a regional operating model how to place themselves across those ten markets So if you've got the secretariat, you've got the individual countries playing their roles Corporations also have a key role to play in taking the asian economy forward I'm from our report. We looked at seven key sectors being the automotive industry consumer banking consumer goods medical devices refined fuels transportation telecoms and medical devices and What we looked at there there were three key themes for future strategies of growth First being more localized economies more localized businesses So if you take the automotive industry for example, and you know even companies in Japan are beginning to do this They are trying to create more of their operating model within the within asian or within Thailand in this example So not only just doing semi-assemble, but actually sourcing locally local R&D Local manufacturing and then local and regional and then out of asian distribution So actually putting more of your business into asian and sourcing from asian from that The second key strategy is around a more holistic digital operating model We've had a lot the last couple of days about the power of digital in reaching consumers through e payments and mobile banking Mobile commerce that is a lot of top-line growth. How do you reach consumers? And the consumer goods companies have a tremendous opportunity here They can reach for once and for all direct to their their consumer base and generate lowlty But if you look at the other end of the operating model digital capabilities can really help transform a business and become more efficient Not only in their supplier supplier base management by using technologies such as blockchain But also within the manufacturing and warehousing part of a consumer goods business So it's looking at applying digital capabilities in a more holistic perspective Rather than just looking at it from a sales and marketing perspective like a top-line growth Really looking at it from a holistic perspective And then finally the third key theme for asian growth for corporates is around partnerships and alliances Now we're seeing convergence within sectors, but a lot of companies are still Relatively reluctant to break down the barriers and partner with companies from other sectors or even within their sector And yet that is a key element for growth. If you take one example such as transportation in the aviation industry You know full service carriers in this region face quite Challenging time on the mid-haul routes. So going from Singapore to Bangkok Bangkok up to Chiang Mai Partly because there are a number of low-cost airlines around but also regulations prohibit the Hub to first city going on to the second city second city being Chiang Mai So how do you overcome that? Do you just come out of the market or do you pursue with it with more of a an aligned strategy So one learning from the other parts of the world you can see is how Full-service carriers can partner with rail and as high-speed rail becomes more prolifant across asian You begin to see how full-service carriers can work with rail to To rate these spokes and have a further reach increased utilization and still stay competitive So from that perspective the three stakeholders the asian secretariat the countries themselves and corporates All have a role in taking asian forward, but it's in a new way. It's bringing innovative strategies. It's being proactive What grew asian to today will not grow asian for tomorrow. It needs a time to act in that regard Thank you so much, uh, uh, david for those very comprehensive insights. Um, now i want to turn to, um queen van because of course we are here, uh in asia, but we're also in vietnam And and so we want to know of course what uh, what are the possibilities for vietnam going forward when david talked about uh, those categories of countries it was um Well, perhaps not the the most bright picture for vietnam talking about a category of one of aging uh societies with a lower Income however when we come here we feel the energy we feel the hustle and the bustle and of course in economic growth nowadays Uh, uh, vietnam is is even outpacing china. I believe this year at about seven percent. So so in other words, uh, It feels like things are going well here in vietnam We hear from david, uh, that things will have to be better going forward What are the takeaways for vietnam and what can vietnam do or should vietnam do and its country companies do going forward Thanks vita and as david has said the all of the challenges that asian have and vietnam is nothing No different or if not that we have we smoke the challenges of from both aging country and also the country which has low income So it's all combined. So we say that we do have more challenge, you know She looked at vietnam just over the past 10 years. We have impressive, uh, gdp growth of seven percent But despite that you look at the gdp capital and the gdp itself is a total vietnam still in the group of the I mean the bottom of the asian With the populations of 95 millions growing to over 100 millions etchings and so on So we have a lot of challenges to to deal with one With a workforce of over 50 millions In the workforce. So actually creating jobs for those workforce is a challenging task for the government and looking at as david also mentioned Asian in the next five ten years will be different from asian in the last 10 15 years with all of this digital economy Vietnam with 22 percent of the workforce is trained and skills How are we how vietnam can top into that new of the digital? How do we really train the people? It's almost 80 percent of our workforce are in skills So we used to lead based on the growth that vietnam have achieved over the past year It's looking for its big market. It's a geographic, but also Primarily it would be on a low labor cost That low labor cost is diminishing that advantage is diminishing And we if you consider asian productivity is low compared with the world vietnam Productivity is actually in the bottom half of the asian. So it's very low And that is just it's simple because we have Relying on unskilled workers unless we bring up the education training workforce We are not going to really improve the productivity setting for vietnam for the government but also for the corporate is Actually, how do we what is own is arounding to improve the productivity that business to focus on Investment in technology, but also training training of the workforce if the government And then the company also need to focus on that and I think in that There's a number of companies that are successful in vietnam The those are the ones who actually invest in the resources in the technology, but it's also their internal resource So I think from a bigger picture But looking into that if vietnam would have to move up the chains and got into the more value added But we cannot do that without Building the skills and building the skills takes time It's not like technology that you invest you begin even if you invest in technology You do need to have people to actually Can operate it because it's all of that. It's just a tool so Focus on skills building skills buildings focus on I think more in terms of education skills skill building trainings But also then more investment in in the technology Part of that and that's of course a very important topic and one that we're addressing also here At the world economic forum on on a zian is a technology aspect of all of this Technology aspect of that I think to to vietnam Beyond that is the resource Yeah, I think into that Absolutely. I want to give the opportunity to the audience to ask some questions So if you have a question, please raise your hand. We have a microphone right there And if you do ask question Identify yourself first and then ask your question immediately after I'm having a quick look here in the audience Over here in the front and wait for the microphone go ahead Thanks I have a question for david. My name is manford. I'm from Switzerland based in singapore Malaysia is an interesting case you mentioned that right? Middle income country sort of a candidate for the middle income trap What do you think of the new government of martyre's idea to promote again? The automotive industry in malaysia. Is that a good idea or is it just falling back into the old thinking Should they Be a more innovative strategy, so you probably like the other I think it's I think it's too early to attest anything that martyre is coming out at this point. You know, I think There is a period of let's just see What the journey what journey he's going to put out there because Just mentioning automotive as an industry for growth for malaysia. Well, what's the bigger picture? Now, how does that fit in and I think at the point I was trying to make here I'm going to build on peter's point is that economies have to look at all those components That are going to build one economy So if malaysia does want to go back to to focusing on automotive that would be interesting But what are the what are the details that build up the rest of the economy in that regard? You know, and how does that play against, you know, the other players in thailand so I would say I won't necessarily comment too to detailed on that because without seeing the whole economic agenda From from from from malaysia at this point. It's hard to comment on just one specific element to it, you know Very well, thank you See if there's another question from the audience over there Waiting for the microphone So hi, I'm a fan from vtv. I'd like to address a question to miss van about vietnam So, uh, you've been talk. There's this idea this concept of a middle-income trap So I want to mention in the case of vietnam for example right now vietnam is already graduating from IDA and a lot of cheap odas or other funds are not going to be easier to to get so what how how how Is um, what do we do comment on on this particular case of vietnam? Yes, actually vietnam we just move from the low income to mid-income country But it's actually still at the very beginnings of you look at mid-income So it's from here to there as a real 2000 I think the mid-income country from 2000 to 20,000 and we are just two or two by two So it's very early Just getting in So the is it's a long way to go into actually we get into the to the The traps of course, I think with all of these soplone and oda and and and so on It's not easy for vietnam to get the the funding So it's good clearly for companies and the government would have to look at alternative funding But I think to me from what we see I would think that it's the clever investment of In the effective of the investment could solve the problems because for vietnam you can see how do we spend Particular public investment is not that effective So it's you do new link with lack of the funding on the other hand if we can see On how do we spend the money wisely to generate the grow? It's it's one of the part of health and also encourage Private investment so I think it's not of the none of the country can really looking at just government funding But the funding from the private business and other source is That's something that we can vietnam can shoot leverage for the to support economy grow And you can see you can see from the statistic It's actually the domestic private business in vietnam The have a high scroll rate among the three sectors sector and fdi and that contribution to the to the GDP grow over the over the year It's also very impressive. So it's becoming it's very key and and and Key foundations for the vietnam economy going forward. That's how we can how I can see it Very well. Thank you so much. I think we have time for one more question from the audience The question that came up earlier today david is sort of the The question of what can you do on your own versus how much are you? Sort of a victim of what's going on in the bigger geopolitical and geoeconomic theater And of course, as you mentioned, the the asian exports are very dependent on On the bigger world, let's say out there So what is it actually that asian countries can do to make themselves? Let's say geopolitical resilience or or or us or china proof so to speak I think it comes back to it was a comment that's made this morning that 80 percent of the people In asian Yeah, I'll I'll I'll within the sort of SME category in that regard and I think Whether communities local governments and even you know national governments can help to focus on those economies Because as we said there is plenty of growth within asian within the 660 people That has been untapped as yet And so to facilitate that group that that those Those companies to grow locally and then you know as Inter-trade becomes more facilitated within asian is a real key It's I think that's one thing that's more in the control and I and I mentioned communities because even in communities There's the ability to to grow within your community if you have that innovation and that entrepreneurial spirit So facilitating entrepreneurship at grassroots And letting it expand and grow through digital capabilities, which then brings in the skills that queen van talks about There's a lot that can be done locally That shields you from outside forces and then you can take advantage of external trade as As you like you're you know that that's in more of your control But being so dependent upon it you're you're less in control of your own destiny That's actually destiny is almost in the control of grassroots businesses Excellent, and that's a beautiful point to to end on I want to thank again both of the speakers today Queen van and david and of course you can get the report I believe we have a one pager here for everyone That talks about the main findings of the report and then there's the whole report Which is available in digital form because it would be a little bit of a waste of paper if we printed that in thousands It's a wonderful report that you can get from pwc. Thank you all for being here and thanks to my guests


So, we are from NRIP Technologies. Today with our app we are going to solve an interesting problem of underprivileged migrant worker's kids. So, basically these kids go to municipal corporation schools and there are some NGOs who have who actually pick those students, pick those kids from their constructions size etcetera and drop them to the school and again pick them up and drop to their home. So, there is some level of safety issues for them. So, what we are doing is we will be taking attendance with the QR code when they will be picked up from the construction site and again they will be picked up from the school, we will be again taking the attendance and we will be verifying that same kid has come to the bus. So, today we will be adding more features to it, we will be enhancing the base idea and so we will be basically demoing the app. Yeah, so today we will be adding feature of location service. So, that location service basically will be running at the back of the app, it will be recording the locations. So, that would basically track the route of the bus and it would be really helpful for NGOs to track the route and we will also be adding the offline support for the app. So, we know that there is a lot of problems with the internet connectivity in India. So, even if there is no internet connectivity it would still work properly. So, we have a team of four people here, Anuj, Asir and Kiran.


Saudi Arabia and Israel have intensified discussions over normalization of ties. What are the implications of this move? September 28th is International Safe Abortion Day. But why are so many women denied this essential health service? And a recent report has chronicled instances of hate speech gatherings in India. What does it say about this dangerous trend? This is the Daily Debrief. These are your stories for the day. And if you're watching this on YouTube, don't forget to hit that subscribe button. The normalization of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, if it happens, will be one of the most momentous developments in the region. Now the United States is definitely trying very hard to get this to happen, even though the Saudis have placed some very tough conditions. One of the key issues is the question of Palestine. Now the official Saudi position remains that a Palestinian state is a prerequisite for normalization. But that seems highly unlikely with this current Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu. So what exactly is on the cards? Are the already besieged and attacked Palestinian people at further risk? We go to Abdul. Abdul, thanks for joining us. Now this issue has been in the news for many, many months. Now we have been hearing about back-channel talks going on for a long, long time. Recently, Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince, even gave an interview on this, which was really made a lot of news as well. But now we have the Saudi delegation visiting Palestine. So we're seeing some actual concrete steps. I believe an Israeli minister also traveled to Riyadh if I'm not mistaken. But so could you maybe take us through, you know, what exactly is this normalization process we're talking about? And what are the demands from various sides? Well, the normalization process is a larger US-led process basically between Israel and Arab countries. As we all know, Arab countries decided long back in early 2000 during the summit, Arab summit, that they will not normalize their relationship with Israel until a Palestinian, independent Palestinian state is created with East Jerusalem as its capital. And on that condition, of course, Israel has not fulfilled that condition. And that's why none of the Arab countries, except for the Egypt, signed a normalization deal long back in 1979. And Jordan, which basically followed Oslo peace accords and normalized relationship with Israel. Apart from these two Arab countries, none of the other Arab countries had any formal ties with Israel. And that basically, of course, has a heavy price to pay. As Israel is a country, it's legitimacy and so on and so forth. And that's why it's a big deal for Israel. And US being it seems the guardian of its foreign policy has basically taken a responsibility on its shoulders. And under Trump administration, they started Abraham Accord, basically in which they offered certain benefits to Arab countries in return of them normalizing relations with Israel. So of course, some of the closest US allies like Bering, UAE and the countries which were on the war, neither here nor there because of the changes in the politics and so forth. For example, Sudan, Morocco, they kind of went ahead and normalized, signed this so-called agrama course. Saudi Arabia is given the fact that it's one of the biggest countries in the Arab world, the richest and the most powerful in many senses is a regional player. Its normalizing relationship with Israel, of course, has much more significance than any other country which have done so so far. So Israel is desperately wanting to do it. And that's why the US is basically ready to fulfill whatever Saudi's are demanding in return. It is not a secret that there is a relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel, not officially of course. But to make it official, which has a larger diplomatic, political and other implications has benefits. And that's why there is a push and as you said there are visits going on. Saudi ministers are visiting Palestine. Israeli ministers are basically visiting Saudi Arabia. So the US delegates are there basically trying to figure it out how to do it. There are two major demands which Saudi Arabia has put in so far what we are hearing is of course the support for the domestic nuclear program. And of course other benefits in terms of the funds, in terms of larger economic benefits and so forth. Until these two things are fulfilled, Saudi Arabia is saying they will not normalize. But that is also not very clear. So we have to still wait and watch. In this context the key question of course is of the Palestinians because what we are seeing of course is Saudi Arabia is making some statements about how the issue is to be resolved. On the other hand we do see an Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu that has actually escalated anti-Palestinian actions over the past since it came to power. Even governments before have been following that path. We know that the two state solution is pretty much dead at this point. So where exactly is the ground for a kind of deal or a compromise here considering that it looks unlikely that Israel will change its path and Saudi demand on the other hand is in another direction. Exactly. So in that context one should look if you see the reports coming from Saudi delegation's widget to Palestine and the Palestinian Authority putting some conditions apparently. That if you want to normalize relations with Israel it seems that Palestinian Authority has also given it up that they know that they will do it somehow. So they want to take something out of it and therefore they are putting some condition because it's a matter of political legitimacy also. Saudi Arabia being the champion of quote unquote Arab world, Arab politics and so forth a very long time it will be difficult to justify normalizing relations and therefore they want some legitimate way out. And Palestinian Authority thinks that if they put pressure on Israel they might convince Israel to do certain things. For example, they have demanded that area C which was during Oslo Accord was given to the majority of the occupied West Bank given to Israel under Israeli security and political control should be partially at least civilian administration should be transferred to Palestinian Authority and there should be a time bound final status negotiation. So apart from that of course there are original demand of Saudi Arabia opening a consulate in Jerusalem. So if these demands are fulfilled we will be okay if we normalize the relationship that's what the reports say. Though Saudi Arabia has still has still reiterated its commitment to this two state solution and to the Arab peace proposal and so on and so forth. It seems at this moment it's very, very difficult to say in which direction it is going and of course when it comes to Israeli state and I directly pointed out that they do not need to do any of these things because they are changing the status of area C would mean that the fate of the illegal settlements and around 700,000 illegal settlers living in those areas and occupied East Jerusalem will be in a difficult situation. And no Israeli government at this moment can take that risk given the fact that it is run by mostly by the settler illegal settler leadership like Ben Guir and Sport Street and others. Thank you Abdel so much for that analysis again something we need to really keep a watch on for the next weeks and months because it'll probably be quite a defining moment. Thank you so much. September 28th is International Safe Abortion Day and women's organizations across the world are expected to hold actions and events. The right to safe abortion should be uncontroversial ideally but it has been under attack in many countries and in some places there has even been a backsliding. We go to Anna of People's Health Movement to understand why this is happening. Anna, thank you so much for joining us a very important day to commemorate especially in the light of developments in various parts of the world. In fact, we'll go to some of these regions in later questions. But to begin with maybe going to talk about the significance of the day itself a bit of context or a bit of history as to why it's important. Well, essentially today we mark International Safe Abortion Day and essentially what the day is meant to do is to draw attention to the fact that abortion is healthcare and that it should be provided safely and freely to all women and to all of those who need it in any part of the world. But unfortunately the day also marks the fact that for years and for decades countries have failed to step up to this obligation and have essentially moved in a very different direction in many cases. But on the other hand, you know, we've seen international organizations including the World Health Organization advocating for safe abortion as essential part of healthcare and of course an essential component of sexual and reproductive healthcare. So today it's actually a call to action. We'll see feminist movements, we'll see health movements all around the world rallying behind the demands to decriminalize abortion where it already isn't decriminalized. But also expanding abortion services in many ways, including by providing abortion through abortion through pills, so using medicaments, but also to adding those pills to the national to the national lists of essential medicines which should should increase access. And of course, you know, what the health movements and what the feminist movements are also asking asking governments to do is to stop repressing activists who are fighting for women's rights as unfortunately is the case in many countries still. And of course, in this context, you know, you would think that this is one of those issues or cases where there is gradual progress in various parts of the world over time. And in fact, in many countries we have seen that state after state region after region country after country legalizing abortion after massive struggles in many cases by women's organizations. But unfortunately, we've also seen, you know, instead of progress, we've seen things moving in backwards, so to speak, in a very regressive direction. The classic example is also that of the United States where, you know, protections were removed some time ago. And another case I guess is also Poland, which is important to talk about because we have elections coming up there very soon. So could you maybe talk a bit about that as well? Yeah, absolutely. And I think you bring up very important, very important examples, you know, when the changes to abortion, to abortion legislation were made in the United States, we were also observing in a way in parallel, very different changes occurring in Latin America. And this is also something that needs to be highlighted that essentially Mexico very recently managed to decriminalize nationally abortion in the country. But on the other hand, as you rightly pointed out, you know, Poland is seeing a very different situation. So all the way since 2020, women in Poland, but also healthcare workers in Poland have been persecuted for providing or seeking abortion. Although they might be providing abortion on a legal base. So that's something that human rights organizations have been pointing out very recently. And so essentially what we're seeing in Poland is that first it has a very restricted space where you can actually get abortion legally in 2020, they removed the possibility of being granted an abortion based on the fetus being ill, terminally ill. So, and on the basis of this ground around 90% of abortions in Poland were being granted at the time. So you can imagine the scope that this decision has affected. And now we're seeing and we're hearing reports from the ground, very disturbing reports that women and health workers, their families, their friends, they're being investigated by the police, by the judiciary in a very aggressive way in an attempt to instill fear and to essentially make them not to provide abortion or not to seek abortion, even if they know they need it. So this covers a range of groups, the women from the age of 17 to the age of 40 have been affected by that. And health workers are growing increasingly, increasingly fearful of what is to come. Right, Anna, and finally, very briefly, if you can maybe take us to what are some of the kind of actions expected in various parts of the world on the occasion of International Safe Abortion Day. Well, I think it's fair to say that we'll see a whole range of actions and I think that as the day progresses and as we hear reports also from Latin America and from the Western Hemisphere, it will become more colorful. But what we know it's going to happen is that there are going to be demonstrations, for example, in France, we're going to see various protests in different cities. People are also taking online action. So if you follow social media today, I'm sure that you will find a lot of materials focusing on safe, on access to safe abortion. And there have already been some reports about analysis focusing on Latin America, but also focusing on access to abortion in Eastern Europe. For example, there has been a very recent and nice report about access to abortion in Croatia. So essentially what the day is supposed to do is to instill solidarity and to inspire people to work together in order to ensure that abortion is finally adopted as an essential part of healthcare and can be provided to publicly funded health systems. Thank you so much, Anna, for that analysis as well as for giving an understanding of how the situation is in various countries, especially Poland, I think will be tracking more news from there in the coming days as well. Thank you so much. And finally, a report by the research group Hindutva Watch says that 255 anti-Muslim hate speech gatherings and events were recorded in India in the first six months of this year, that is in 181 days. A majority of these incidents took place in states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. The report also noted that the ruling BJP has benefited from rioting based on religious polarization. And Hindu extremist groups are responsible for these hate speech gatherings. We go to Pragya Singh for more details. Pragya, thank you so much for joining us. So quite an important report because it kind of I think tries to chronicle or give a larger picture of what is happening in the country. A lot of smaller incidents may of course not have been chronicle. But could you maybe first give us a brief summary of what really this report says when it talks about hate speech gatherings, what does it mean and what's kind of the impact. Right Prashant, it is an important report simply because now in India we're getting habituated to information about what's happening in our country which is important, which is relevant, coming from outside the country. Someone else is doing the job that the Indian media is supposed to do and others in India are supposed to do but are not able to. Because the government is simply the government at the center the Hindu nationalist BJP which is ruling the country and several states has strongly discouraged any approach towards you know what is its ideological probability to challenge that. And that's exactly what the report really does find it finds that there have been 255 recorded instances of hate speech. The definition which it picks up is actually what the United Nations would regard as hate speech targeting any ethnicity etc. Now the focus of this report however is on anti-Muslim hate speech which has been sort of article of faith since the BJP came to power in 2014. That's what the report says it says there has been a 500% jump in you know instances of hate speech including instances which have led to actual violence. The amazing part of the report is that 68% of these hate speeches were actually referring to what the Hindutva watch has categorized as a conspiracy theory. So in a sense no surprises there because the kind of the way they have weaponized certain terms which are cultural terms like or religious terms like jihad, water jihad, fertilizer jihad. Now fertilizer jihad in a sense means that you know the right wing internationalists they say that in India the Muslim farmers are over using fertilizer and that is a form of jihad because fertilizer can be dangerous to your health. You see I mean it just it's not I mean a conspiracy theory would not even sum up the extent to which this is damaging because fertilizer overuse is a genuine issue in India. And the government successfully have tried to tackle this it has had implications it has no religious implications logically it goes on and on like that. And the other crucial conclusion is that the election coming up in 2024 the national election and the election in various provinces this year in 2023 do seem to lead the BJP leaders including some of the top leaders to make more and more hate speeches 80% of the hate speeches they have documented are in BJP rule states. In fact you might think that they're happening in BJP rule states but those who are making them are part of the opposition, you know, parties but that does not seem to be accurate either because in states where the partition the party the BJP has lost and another party has come to power the hate speeches drop in frequency tremendous dropping frequency from in fact 96% of the hate speeches recorded in the southern state of Karnataka were actually done during the term of the previous BJP government. So it's a very worrying trend simply because it rests on conspiracy conspiracy theories which are notoriously hard to challenge and yet it also seems that it's spread like wildfire the 500% increase that I just mentioned. Right Pragya also this has the impact of this is really dangerous because of course like you said a large number of these events of hate speech gatherings have calls of violence another large number also have calls for boycotts so there's also a kind of you know even if it does not immediately lead to a riot there is a kind of stigmatization there is a kind of breaking of the social fragment social you know fabric that takes place because of these kind of repeated hate speech gatherings as well. Yes Prashant you know that actually also there is I think if I remember correctly this 33% of the instances of hate speech referred to quote unquote the need for inflicting violence on Muslims and a smaller percentage 6 or 7% actually refer to specific arms the need to specifically take up arms against Muslims. So therefore we can conclude based on what Hindu watch has recorded that this is not mere bigotry which can exist anywhere this is this is actually you know and we have instances in India where such violence has been unleashed at at the conclusion of such cataclysmic events whether at a small scale or a large scale what the BJP and its leaders and the Hindu groups end up doing is blaming the people or saying that their conspiracy theories are therefore valid and so it's a circular argument and you know it leads back to itself and so it perpetuates itself but it's notoriously difficult to control and I think one of the things that's really relevant is that the 17 states that Hindu watch has colored reports based on public sources actually it indicates that in the run up to the elections in 5 crucial states later this year and in the 2024 looks of election the opposition parties and people in general civil society need to prepare for these events and find a way to challenge the narratives that are being pushed. Pragya thank you so much for the analysis and that's all we have time for in this episode of daily debrief we'll be back with another episode tomorrow with more stories from around the world until then do visit our website peoplesdispatch.org Follow us on all the social media platforms and if you're watching this on YouTube please don't forget to hit that subscribe button.


You have a favorite Shakespeare play? No Okay Hey, welcome back to our Stupid Rex units of Corbin. I'm Hamlet and you can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, or G.C. Com, Tiffy, thanks for the patience, put a comment in the bottom of the news, so I can follow some person who needs a chance to subscribe from below and Hamlet's yours, right? Hamlet is his. Yeah, and we've talked about that before obviously in our, in our hander and probably the McBull and probably their own. And everything. It's not only my favorite Shakespeare play I think it's the most important and greatest work of theater of all time ever. Yeah, so anyway, it's obviously we're re-reviewing the new film Georgie. Oh, I thought we were supposed to watch like McBeth with Sir Laurence Solivier. Well, I think you can, you probably got the same gist. Probably we today. So I'm gonna be okay. I think it'll be okay. Because this is a total McBeth adaption. I actually would consider this more of a just inspired by than a full-on adaption. But anyways, yes Georgie, it came out just the other day starring for Steel. We are quick on this one and if we hadn't been, I think Stupid Babies would have like took us out to the rails and tarred and feathered us or something. I think it would have been bad news. Directed by, ooh, that's not a very good reference is it anymore? You can't make that reference anymore. It used to be a reference you could do is just like a general thing of we're gonna take care of you, but that has very bad bad bad bad bad Juju behind it. Directed by Juju Georgie. Hey, there you go. Deleesh Puffin. Who we've seen his other film, um, this one. Oh my. Yeah, that one. Yeah, don't want to wear Fad Vassil's The Necklace. I just can't pronounce it. And then it's also starring a whole bunch of other people. It's a heavy ensemble. But Deleesh Puthan, say that one. One of my a Prasad, Vassil Joseph, Baburaj, and so I mean if I'm mispronouncing, I'm not sure we might have seen that in supporting stuff and like this guy was apparently She was in virus and so we saw her probably in a supporting role there, but everyone else. It was mainly the hot Vassil show, but yeah, so this is Hmm, I guess we'll we'll let you know when the spoilers coming Yeah, if we say we'll try to we'll try to keep the fun and non-spoiler non-spoiler But yeah, it's on the Amazon if you haven't watched it go watch it come back. Rick your initial thoughts, please. Well, I Didn't like that it ended Yeah, yeah Zingo Hold on. What's ending? I liked it You didn't like that it ended.  Yeah, we don't we don't talk about reviews ever Before we we sit down. This is just a raw. Oh, what do you think? Yeah, we got our first impression right, but I can usually tell when you walk I don't think you like the film I I don't hide things very well, so So you liked it. I thought it was really really good, man. I thought it was fantastically written. Yeah, I thought it was well directed I thought it was really Where if you're if somebody's wanting like we still said at the outset if somebody's wanting this like pure Shakespeare death Shakespeare adaptable. Yeah, watch me bull then then you'll get that that's not what this is But it's it's so good at what it does. Yeah, it's definitely a and I I as well Really enjoyed this film for heart for seal Mm-hmm, crème de la crème.  Don't go in. No with that expectation on it go in looking for film That's a little bit inspired by yes look for the subtleties Yeah, look for things where they give you something where rather than the totality of one motif or one message being in it Yeah, look for how it's thread throughout in small ways and how the general overall message is contempt It's probably one of the best adaptations in terms of taking what Shakespeare wrote and then just Refashioning that and keeping the heart of Macbeth intact. Yeah, but making it its own. Yeah, entity. It's really smart Yeah, as opposed to what Vishal did, which you know, we love love that was a pure Adaption they took that story put it in India and kind of made it that made all the care You didn't have a bunch of characters from Macbeth in this one No outside of he was kind of no It even even relationally some of the relationships weren't the same that you would expect in it in a direct But it's the word adaptation adaptation is loose. Yeah, I wouldn't even call it that I it's inspired I would say it's just that me too. I would not say this is an adaptation I would say this was inspired by Macbeth one hundred percent. Yeah, I did enjoy the film will get into all that I enjoyed almost everything obviously the acting by everyone everyone everybody really really really great One of the best ensemble things and I am like I'm keeping track of our dummies that we're gonna be at the end of the year So I've been putting the things that when they stick in my head now I'm saying okay. I want that on the list this for me is in multiple categories for what'll be best of the year The score was great. I love the score. I love the money dinner. I love the writing in terms of how I'm gonna get yourself I'm a seal I can rave about and we'll get into that in the spoilers. So overall I really really enjoyed this one You should definitely definitely no watch this film. That's I want to get into it more So if you haven't watched it already, just please go watch it. And that's the other thing that's great about this I get so excited. This is probably one of the best films to give to somebody who's Completely ignorant to everything Shakespeare ever wrote and just give it to him ago. This was inspired by the best they'd go Really and probably Get them intrigued enough to want to know more about Shakespeare And if you know nothing about Shakespeare don't care about Shakespeare don't like Shakespeare You're still gonna like this as a standalone film. Yeah. Yeah So overall really really enjoyed it. Yeah, I haven't watched it go watch it. It's on Amazon because here come the spoilers So we're gonna get into spoilers here. We don't want you to be spoiled Especially especially if you don't know make knotty spoil time. Oh, yeah Say especially if you don't know Macbeth, yeah, because if you know Macbeth you can kind of you know where it's gonna go It's you're expecting it. You're yeah, so like that the entire thing of Macbeth This is what I'm expecting how it's supposed to end. Yeah, that's you kind of just have to if you say Macbeth You know, it's gonna be kind of Watch it go watch it now. We're gonna get into spoilers. Yes. Talk about acting. Okay, so spoiler time now We're assuming you're watching this because you've seen Joe G. Here we go.  Yeah, he's just pretty much anything like rush come on Rao I consider them really comparable in terms of give them a role and They're gonna do it and you could pretty much put them in any kind of a role and he's a shape-shifter too because this I don't know if he dropped away for this. He sure looks like it. He looked so young I bet it's so thin. I bet he did because part of the thing in the script was the differentiation between him and the dad I think yeah, yeah, and that the dad referred to him at that one point is like this little blanket And he's supposed to you know, he's the mountain of man I bet he did it but it's strange cuz I could have pegged him in this as mid 20s, right? Yeah Other films we've seen you could be 40s. He can really play anything you wanted to play It's insane how well he did at one getting that whole of the seek of a younger person I'm getting the whole mentality out of a person body language But then energy in the skeletal muscular framework the way he crafted his Macbeth character was so unique because Macbeth this Macbeth is such a He's a he's a sleazeball. He sees He's not a good person. Yeah, he's always crafting how he's going to get ahead like the entire yeah Yeah, very wefully which I thought because we're gonna go back and forth with this with every aspect of the film So focusing on this main character I thought was really great because one of the things that's open to the way Shakespeare wrote Macbeth is What motivates Macbeth now? Obviously the Primary message of Macbeth regardless of how Macbeth is played is gonna be the consuming parasitic awfulness of Selfish aspiration and greed and wanting to aspire to something and obtain it, right? That's the core message of Macbeth But the cool thing about Shakespeare like all of his things that he writes is that the characters aren't simple They're pretty complex and it's open to interpretation like all people and I loved both in the writing and his interpretation That this wasn't so much about a guy who really was a conniving Usurping evil intended guy whose mind gets switched with in the original Macbeth you've got these Prophecies were said about me. So you've got the self-importance thing You get you can take it you could take it to the grand extreme of making it kind of almost Trumpy and in terms of this self-aggrandizing I'm gonna get everything the wife is in his ears saying do it do it There's these Bob God must want me in power None of that for Joji. No, Joji was just it wasn't even a lady Macbeth really there wasn't even a lady It was Joji. She's a massive part of Macbeth huge and I loved it. It was more. It was so subtle with just I've got this opportunity. Yeah, which I think is really powerful because what it does is it makes Macbeth more applicable to the common man in terms of yeah, anyone is susceptible if we're not paying attention to Well, if he goes I could be wealthy he's gonna die anyway all those small rationalizations and it was almost a performance within a performance because obviously Obviously he was given his performance to Joji, but he was also putting on performance for the front everyone else right all the time Yeah, and he did so well at that flipping that switch for the audience to see There was so many like the one where the brother confronted him about where he was and where he was smoking and that hole Yeah And then I love actually even though I don't normally like these endings I loved the ending where he came back and I wasn't dead talk to me. He wasn't dead Okay, I got a lot to say about that not just for the fun fact Yeah, because it's purely just great artistic fun. It's great artistic fun But then the fact that you should just blink. Yeah, and even at that moment. He will not admit to his guilt And then in his suicide note. He was and I know we're getting off of a hop to see a little bit Which is fine.  Yeah, you shoot some stuff with an airsoft I loved it I did too now here's something I loved I loved two things that were so subtle But they showed the depth of the understanding of both our director and our writer about Macbeth Yeah, I loved to two things first of all in this aspect rather than have Macbeth go mad Which is what happens in Shakespeare's Macbeth. He goes and I love Macbeth I mean Macbeth when it's done, right is a descent into evil darkness Occultic madness. It is just bleak So what I loved is that rather than it end with Macbeth in madness It ended with him in that state He was in mm-hmm where it basically is still a physical representation of the totality of his being Altered but not madness. I thought that was so intelligent and I also I don't know if they intended it But when he picks up the air gun toward the end when he's about to kill himself with it I thought okay, you've been using this air gun a lot and it just clicked with me and I went ah So rather than give us what Shakespeare did which was this constant focus on This the greedy aspiration to become it was embodied the covetousness of want Was embodied in the little air gun from the beginning when the kid wanted the air gun and he did something to get the air gun That air gun was in a constant position throughout of being the thing that was either wanted or could get will get you what you want Yeah, so rather than like Shakespeare this giant thing of blood and murder and prophetic Witches saying what you're gonna get it was just the air gun throughout representing the same thing. Yeah, brilliant I want to talk about the directing Because this director whom he loved that other film that we fought for seal I want to see that the one that we didn't get to see but Because this guy directed the don't the necklace right the one with the necklace that we always we only don't pronounce it because we don't want to Just butcher it. It's called that again Dundee with a limb trick Staxiom so same director obviously obviously love that film this was easier to pronounce for us Love Joji and it's also a pretty unique because I don't know if I'm pretty sure was intended These are hooks so I don't I don't I didn't even notice that. Yeah, I thought some the J Yeah, the hooks in the J for the for the hooks in the film You finally figured out what was on the end of it. Yeah of that. We finally did but the other one is called Maha Yeah, I can't even my husband up With also with father seals. I'm very interested in that now, but yeah, I thought he did a fantastic job him the cinematographer Oh great cinematographer was so great job. Oh beautiful in this film It was almost equal to like kumballaji nights of just Falling I think it was Kerala that they were still in but it was absolutely gorgeous The way they and didn't it and it felt like a play sometimes didn't it that whole ensemble feeling which is what Macbeth is Macbeth is an ensemble like all of Shakespeare's things. Yeah And I wondered as well if there was just another little wink to the three witches when they had just the three guys in the pit Oh might have been right. Yeah, maybe there was a reason there were three guys in the pit And that's where the dad succumbs because in the beth the reason the dad falls is because of the prophecy of the witch Yeah, I bet that was a Just little things like that exactly rather than just be a direct, you know, like text-for-text or idea for idea There were all of these things that said we know Macbeth inside and out and we're gonna just make this story inspired by it Yeah, and I think there was a Bunch of other stuff which was one really cool that this took part in the pandemic Mm-hmm first film. I've seen that it's not about the pandemic Nobody takes place in our context right everybody's wearing a mask. It's like I just hadn't seen that You know, it's like this is kind of cool. It is our world. They're not making a big deal about it It's just 20 years from now. You'll watch this and hopefully we will no longer be wearing masks And it'll be one of those things that you could be watching this film in let's say in even ten years, right? You're watching it with Leland and go this is back when you were born everybody was having to wear the mask Yeah, it's contextually where this takes place at that time I really enjoyed it and there was a bunch of lines that were really a more tip of the cat Like I think one of the best lines was when she who she did a phenomenal job the girl Who was Lady Macbeth as it were? Bensie. Yeah, Bensie. Her name is she's basically the Lady Macbeth character, though She's not Macbeth's wife right there. Yeah, uh, Onamaya Prasad. Yes Apparently we saw her in virus I thought she did really good. You're very subtle performance. Yes Very um Great Indian kitchen performance. I felt like I read in that role in the family agreed But she also wanted to help the family out as opposed to that one because the family was an absolute asshole in that family But I felt she was in that kind of role. Mm-hmm, which is why she didn't speak up a lot Yeah, she didn't do a lot, but she was the one that she had to serve everyone. Yeah She was the backbone of the family it felt like well the dad was the muscle I really felt like especially for him and that was where While she's not the same character as Lady Macbeth in terms of The Putting the ideas in his head. Yeah, she was still the same character in terms of the dependence that Macbeth Joji had on this woman. Yes in his life. Yeah, and I felt that that was a really nice Great line and it was when she came in at the funeral and told him To get up and put your mask on It was very because it's a kind of a tip of that but again to make best. Exactly. It's obviously double entendre pandemic But also it works. Yeah, I thought I love putting on the mask And there was a bunch of those kind of lines that wouldn't surprise me if they just kind of adapted it from the original And again the rubber woods That is something that the witches prophesy in the original Macbeth They prophesy that Hamlet's demise is going to come from a forest And he can't wrap his head around that as to what that actually means and what happens is the guys who come to get him For doing what he did come camouflaged in bushes and trees from out of the forest Is it any wonder that in this story? He goes into the forest and it's from there that it's found out that he's done what he's done And the forest is the place of his demise again another we know Macbeth But you don't have to know Macbeth to enjoy the film. No, absolutely not. No, it's just a bunch of stuff like that But I want to talk about the score as well. Yeah, that was one of the first things you notice in the film It's a very orchestral score, but perfect for Macbeth. Yeah, absolutely. Beautiful. It was haunting What a composer his name is every moment of it was pretty flawless and it had points It was a great score by Justin Varghese if i'm if i'm mispronouncing that forgive me, but It had what you want on a score It had moments where you didn't even know it was there And then it had moments where as somebody who pays attention to the details you could step back and go Oh, come on. Yeah, that's just freaking great. Yeah So I loved loved the score There's very little I think the only way you wouldn't enjoy this film is if you don't like slow burns If yeah, if you're if you're kind of a person that just needs action needs needs stuff to be going on that's In your face. There's always stuff going on in this film But I I know people I mean I know someone who They don't like movies that make you think they want brainless activity. So they're gonna watch like that's okay sometimes I know but it's their normal like diet. They don't want to watch stuff. That's stimulating intellectually It's it's very confounding very strange. Yeah, but I agree with you. I personally don't I don't think that this is a movie that You would like if that's the kind of person you are other than that Especially if you're a film lover and if you're a Shakespeare lover This is for me again, India has taken a Shakespearean play and made a great contemporary adaptation of it It's for me one of the best adaptations of Shakespeare put on film Of the films that have come out this year. What's your favorite so far? Uh that have come out this year 2020 released not that we've watched not 2021 this one This is my favorite film this year. I will put great indian kitchen over this number two I that's I can't argue with that. That's one of those Like if we were voting at the end of the year, you said great indian kitchen I couldn't blame you for it. But for me 50 years from now, I'll be recommending joji because of the shakes for your connection I'll be recommending both of them. I loved them. I loved them both. I just I think the the overall film In the message. I thought was so powerful. Oh, it is and this was doing I was taking anything away from this No, and I'm not taking anything. I loved great indian kitchen. But if I had you know, someone put an air gun to my head I would I'd pick joji. Yeah, that's my favorite so far loved it. I loved it. I think uh, If I obviously I love his choices And and just picking Quirky dark. He brings such a quirkiness to all of his characters Just certain moments in this when he would just stare and it would make me laugh Yeah, just the way he's staring or smiling and yeah I loved and I don't I don't know if it was scripted Or if it was just an organic thing that happened in the moment Or maybe it happened when they rehearsed the scene and the director said keep it But toward the end When he's just before he confesses he's called out for doing it and he knows they're on to him and his reaction is And walks into his room. I thought That was freaking weird. Yeah, that was great. I loved it. Yeah And if if a lesser actor was acting and it would seem forced forced it wouldn't be real Yeah, yeah, it would have been you did that you did that so we would notice it wasn't he's that's why he's such a talented actor Makes everything look natural. Yeah, that's why I'd love to know the origin of that because I my guess is it Just happened and they kept the take. Yeah, so So let us know what you thought of it.  Yeah, really garbage.  When are you doing it? When are you doing it? When are you doing it? You got to watch joji you got to watch joji So i'm very much looking forward to his next one that comes out. I think it comes out in may Yeah, do you want to use a beard? Yeah Very much looking forward to that. Let let us know what the next malion and fahad fasil film that's already been out And we should probably start another channel like a third channel It's just fahad fasil stuff.  He needs a song. Yeah I need to get him a song or a chant