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The AIH Transcript For November 02, 2021

[hosts]Carol Off, Chris Howden[/hosts]

CAROL OFF: Hello, I'm Carol Off.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening. I'm Chris Howden. This is As It Happens.

[music: theme]

Prologue

CH: Tonight:

CO: No island is an island. Pacific Islander delegates at the COP26 Climate Conference say their countries are experiencing the worst of climate change -- and their experience must serve as an urgent warning for the whole planet.

CH: The Rock and a hard place. A cyberattack continues to incapacitate the entire health system in Newfoundland and Labrador -- and the spouse of one patient says the cancelled appointments are more than just a nuisance.

CO: No news is bad news. Lebanon's longest-operating English newspaper, The Lebanon Daily Star, is closing, and an editor who's worked there for decades tells us what stopping the presses will mean for the region.

CH: Milking it for all it's worth. A proposed dairy price hike is set to kick in early next year -- and our guest says a typical family will likely end up shelling out several hundred dollars more a year.

CO: Bum deal. Female handball athletes finally get some of the coverage they deserve -- now that the International Handball Federation has backed down on a rule that made bikini bottoms mandatory.

CH: And electric avenues. A pilot who just took what's believed to be the longest flight over open water in an electric plane says he's hopeful aircraft powered by renewable energy will be the future of travel.

CH: As It Happens, the Tuesday edition. Radio that can feel the electricity.

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Part 1: COP26: Samoan Activist, Milk Prices, New Zealand Electric Plane Flight

COP26: Samoan Activist

Guest: Brianna Fruean

SCH: Climate change is a global problem. But it's also a problem that's far more keenly felt on particular parts of the globe. That's the message that delegates from Pacific Island nations have taken to the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow -- Palau's president, Surangel Whipps Jr., among them.

SOUNDCLIP

SURANGEL WHIPPS JR.: We, the islands that are devastated most, demand that your commitments of 100 billion annually be increased to meet the four trillion dollars the World Bank reports is needed. We see the scorching sun. It's giving us intolerable heat. The warming sea is invading us. The strong winds are blowing us every which way. Our resources are disappearing before our eyes, and our future is being robbed from us. Frankly speaking, there is no dignity to a slow and painful death. You might as well bomb our islands instead of making us suffer, only to witness our slow and fateful demise.

CH: Surangel Whipps, Jr., the president of Palau, speaking at the COP26 Climate Conference in Scotland today. He's among a number of delegates from Pacific Islands who've been working to remind world leaders that, when it comes to feeling the effects of climate change, their nations are the ones leading the pack. Brianna Fruean is a climate justice activist from Samoa -- also pronounced SAM-wah -- and a member of the Pacific Climate Warriors delegation at COP26. We reached her in Glasgow.

CO: Brianna, as you hear the president of Palau making that statement, very powerful statement, what goes through your mind?

BRIANNA FRUEAN: The first thing that goes through my mind is... is my appreciation for Pacific island leaders like the president of Palau for showing such great climate leadership. And for years now, and every COP we see, Pacific Island leaders come out and call out bigger nations, call out big polluters and share these powerful truths that the Pacific does deserve so much better.

CO: When he speaks about that being from… from Palau, he can see the scorching sun. He can... he can feel the warming sea, the powerful winds and seeing the resources disappear. As he describes that, can you describe how climate change has altered your country? How Samoa is different in your lifetime?

BF: Yes, those images, I've seen them myself, I've experienced them myself in some Samoa. Because we are resilient people, I've seen that impact, but I've also seen people rebuild constantly in this state of just rebuilding our homes, rebuilding our communities. And that's the reality of living in frontline communities is that we feel the impact. But also, we have to be adapting. And that's what Pacific Island people are. We're survivors, and we've been surviving the climate crisis, but there's only so much that we can take.

CO: And going back to what the Palau president was saying about how you say how resilient people are in Samoa. But he said there's no dignity to a slow death. And you can only be so resilient. And so... and so what message do you want to take on behalf of other island nations in the Pacific? What message are you bringing to Glasgow?

BF: Really, the message I'm bringing to Glasgow is that one, we are not drowning, we are fighting. And two, if we're able to save the Pacific, we can save the world. I think there's a misconception that climate change means Pacific Islands will drown, and that's it. That once we are gone, everyone else will be safe. But no, we may be the first, but we won't be the last. And so we are that canary in the coal mine, warning the rest of the world of what's to come.

CO: You spoke to world leaders yesterday, and you said... you were before COP26 speaking to them. And one of the things you said is that, to them, you wield the weapons that can save us or sell us out for profit and power. What are some specific interventions that you would like to see those powerful world leaders put into place?

BF: The first thing I would love to see... actually, I would change that, I would need to see put in place is lowering emissions, keeping fossil fuels in the ground and making that just transition to renewable energy. These targets that are stretched out and pulled so out, it is not enough. We need to be pulling our net-zero targets closer. We need to be moving faster, moving together and really just admitting how far behind we are. I think that's... that's really the first step, and they need to be doing more.

CO: We heard other leaders, other people from island nations, put out the call that they need 1.5 to stay alive, and that's a reference to where the limit has to be for warming. The... the delegates seem to be fighting to even get people to agree to... to limit that to two degrees of warming. And so, if 1.5 is what you need to stay alive, to survive. How likely is it that these delegates are even going to get close to that?

BF: On the trajectory that we're on, the science is saying that we're heading towards 1.5 quicker than ever. And so, you know, it's also not lost on me that there's very few Pacific Island delegates that even have access to COP this year. You know, if we look back at the Paris Agreement and COP21, it was really the Micronesian leaders that pushed for 1.5. And a lot of climate activists, climate Indigenous groups and people who depended on ambitious action coming out of Paris depended on the Micronesian governments to really push this language in negotiations. And so my concern is... is that this COP has been too inaccessible to Pacific leaders. And so, I really hope that we're able as young people to support the leaders that are still here, that those that have been showing climate leadership within these rooms, so that we can get that ambitious language in.

CO: the people you're addressing, the ones who did get there, leaders of powerful countries whose interests are economic, they are interested in jobs and prosperity for their nations. So how can you convince them that they should care about your nation?

BF: You know, I've been thinking about that a lot, especially since I got given the opportunity to speak at the opening ceremony. I only had two minutes, and I thought, how best can I, like you said, convince them? And I thought the best I can do is to tell my truth, give a little bit of my culture and see where that gets me. I can only just be honest with where I'm at. It's so hard to continuously try and convince people that we deserve to exist. So what more can we do? I... I thought about telling my vulnerable truth and giving them that pain and that sorrow, but I thought they don't deserve it. We've been giving them the pain and the tears for years, and they haven't responded. And so, I think that collectively, we have to be giving the love, the light, but also giving that pressure and that power.

CO: Is it possible, and do you worry, that some of these powerful forces might just see island nations like Samoa as the price they're willing to pay to not have to sacrifice what's needed, not have to change in order to stop what we all know is coming?

BF: You know, I... I really believe in the young people of these powerful nations. And I see a lot of allies coming out of big... big nations. And a lot of the young people that we've been seeing through movements like Fridays for Future. And I believe in their allyship enough that they won't let that happen, that they won't let their leaders do that to us.

CO: Brianna, it's really good to talk to you, and I'm glad you're there.

BF: Thank you very much. It's lovely to talk to you.

CH: Bye-bye.

BF: Bye.

CH: Brianna Fruean is a Samoan climate justice activist. We reached her in Glasgow at the COP26 Climate Conference.

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Milk Prices

Guest: Sylvain Charlebois

CH: Whether you drink 1 per cent, 2 per cent, or 3.25 per cent, the price of your milk maybe be about to go up 8.4 per cent. The Canadian Dairy Commission -- which is the Crown corporation that sets the price farmers get for their milk -- is recommending that historic increase milk. Which will also affect the price on other dairy products, including yogurt and cheese. It says the jump is necessary to make up for rising costs for farmers. That proposed price hike has Sylvain Charlebois cheesed off. When the food expert got wind of it, he went on a Twitter diatribe against Canada's supply management system. We reached the Dalhousie University professor in Halifax.

CO: Sylvain, when a friend called you to tell you about this 8.4 per cent price hike, what did you say to them?

SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS: I was shocked because I knew what it meant to Canadian consumers. And also, what it meant to the rest of the dairy industry, including processors, restaurant owners and how much more they would need to pay for dairy products in the new year. Eight-point-four per cent is basically almost double the previous record of 4.5 per cent set a few years ago. So it's quite significant.

CO: And what's the average? What... what is usually... because, of course, the prices do rise if the costs of production rise. So what is... what usually happens when they jack up the price by how much?

SB: Well, typically, you expect maybe one, two, sometimes three per cent. That would be the recommendation expected from the Canadian Dairy Commission. And sometimes, they apply unusual circumstances. There is a clause allowing the CDC to go beyond their normal brackets, but they've now used it four times in the last six years, so this would be the fourth time in six years. So this is not just about the pandemic. There's more to it than that.

CO: When you say the CDC, it's the Canadian Dairy Commission, and that's the... the Crown corporation that runs this supply management system for dairy, so what does it actually mean? What does this... this 8.4 per cent increase at the farmgate, what does it mean for the checkout, for consumers, for customers?

SB: Yeah, I should clarify that the Canadian Dairy Commision, and you just said it, it's a Crown corporation owned by all Canadians. Its mandate is to serve the Canadian public. It sets farmgate prices for milk on behalf of the public to make sure that dairy farmers make a decent living while maintaining a decent level of domestic production of milk in Canada. That's really what the mandate of the CDC is. Now, over the years, what they do is that they go back and they survey farmers. They ask them how much it costs to operate their barns and their farms, and they and they average things out, and they set a price. Everything is posted on their website, but these reports are… are very cryptic and not very comprehensive. It's over seven pages. You can look them up. For this year, we still don't know where the 8.4 per cent is coming from. And to me, that's really the issue. So we don't know exactly how they come up with these numbers at all.

CO: Right. And so that's what you've been saying, this lack of transparency. But they... the commission says it makes its recommendations based on... on an annual study of costs with the help of Stats Canada, has an accounting firm and has an economic study group, has all of that. So that's how they determined this 8.4 per cent. So what do you say to them?

SC: I say, Carol, if you look at these reports, an undergraduate student in commerce could do a better job. These reports are always worded the same way every year. Numbers do change. But again, they explain the sample design. But the sample design, there's no raw data for anyone to understand how they come up with these averages at all. The approach is anything but sophisticated, and frankly, it lacks rigour.

CO: Can you just give us a sense of what it actually means for people? Because I'm thinking about those people, mums and dads, unlimited budgets with kids where milk, cheese, yoghurt is often the main source of nutrition, of protein. And so what are they... what are they actually faced with when they go to the supermarket?

SC: [dry laugh] Substantial increases. And just... just for the record, it's in Canada where you find the most expensive industrial milk in the world already, before the 8.4 per cent. And so families have had to cope with this for a very long time. This would only add fuel to the fire. So if you're a family of four, say with kids, you're going to have to go up to the grocery store and pay 10 per cent more, perhaps, for food and milk. Depending on the product, depending on the brand, it could be up to 10 per cent for fluid milk. And for cheese products or for dairy products, increases could be as much as 15 per cent starting next year.

CO: That's a crisis for many of these families, isn't it?

SC: Of course. Of course. So a typical family of four in Canada would spend, maybe, say, $13,000 to $14,000 on food every year. This one decision, recommendation, could force an average family to spend anywhere between $200 to $300 more on dairy products in a year. Just for dairy.

CO: Is it likely because they're... this... Canada's supply management system is controversial? It's questioned from many directions. Do you think that this actually might prompt changes to the Canadian Dairy Commission? To the supply management system?

SC: I hope so. I think we need to save supply management, really. We need to save the system. But a recommendation like the CDC will only make supply management weaker. And that's really the issue here. The biggest problem with the Canadian Dairy Commission, I think, is governance. When you look at how it behaves, how it makes its decisions, we can't really avoid the thinking that perhaps the CDC has become a branch of the powerful lobby group representing the dairy farmers. The CDC and the powerful dairy group are almost one now. And people controlling the CDC are linked to the dairy sector. No one is there to represent processors. No one is there to represent restaurants. And no one is there to represent the consumers, either. If you add more perspective at the table at the CDC, I suspect the decisions will be made differently.

CO: All right, we'll leave it there. Sylvain, thank you.

SC: Take care. Bye-bye.

CH: Sylvain Charlebois is the senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. He was in Halifax.

[Music: Winding Jazz]

New Zealand Electric Plane Flight

Guest: Gary Freedman

CH: On Monday, as private jets carrying billionaires flew into Glasgow for the start of COP26, Gary Freedman was on a much different flight. Mr. Freedman owns New Zealand's first electric plane. And yesterday, he accomplished another first: he flew that electric plane 40 minutes across New Zealand's Cook Strait. It's believed to be the longest flight over open water by an electric plane. Gary Freedman is the founder of the company ElectricAir, and an expert on renewable energy. We reached him in Wellington.

CO: Gary, what was it like to fly your electric plane over Cook Strait?

GARY FREEDMAN: Well, flying the flaming light plane generally is a lot smoother and quieter and slightly more enjoyable than flying a combustion engine plane. But coming over the Cook Strait, we had... we did encounter a little bit of adverse weather, some cloud, and a little bit of rain halfway across. So that made it interesting. But no, it was great. And actually, what was... what was what was wonderful about it was as we sort of popped through this cloud, the first thing we saw when we saw the North Island was a spinning blades of a wind turbine, and that was just so relevant to what we were doing because our plane is largely powered by renewable energy from the New Zealand grid, which is which is a pretty green grid.

CO: And so it's on battery power?

GF: Yep, the plane's battery only. So we charge it up. It takes about an hour to charge, and it can fly for about an hour plus reserves.

CO: Wow. And so, you arrived... when you arrived, you still had some charge it left on your battery, right?

GF: Yeah, we actually arrived with more than we expected. And so we... we landed at Wellington Airport with about 40 per cent still in the... still in the tank. So it kind of exceeded our expectations, almost to the point that we would of… we would almost have turned around and flown back.

CO: Do you see that... that flight over Cook Strait as being part of the arc of history of aviation? Does it... is it... do you see it fitting into those... to those flights that changed so much of how we travel?

GF: I was... I was reminded of, you know, 101 years ago, and it was the first flight in the conventional plane over the COOK Strait, so that was 1920. And it's taken us a century to, you know, to sort of realize the mistakes of, you know, just endlessly burning fossil fuel and change that combustion. So I was more aware, I think, of the significance that there is an alternative now and there is a choice now. But the reason we did it on the 1st of November was it was the first day of COP26 in Glasgow. And we wanted to send a message to, you know, the world leaders that action speaks louder than words.

CO: But if... if you're sending a message to Glasgow with this flight, then what are you saying that this... this plane or this kind of flying is capable of doing? I mean, are you... are you... do you believe that this is, in the near future, a replacement for the fossil-fuel-powered planes?

GF: It's just a step. So, you know, we always, you know, we always say don't let perfect get in the way of good. You know, we've got to take steps. And this is a two-seat training aircraft. And it's designed as a trainer. So there's, you know, there's hundreds and thousands of hours flown in from all airplanes all around the world for training new pilots. And that's... that's essential to feed into our growing demand for global travel, air travel. And also, you know, for military pilots, everything we've got to... we're going to keep training typically young pilots. And to do that, today, we can choose with this airplane and with this technology, we can choose to do that in an environmentally friendly way. To do that without burning fossil fuels. So, we're... we're saying this is a step. And yes, will bigger planes be coming that are battery electric? Yes. And when they come along, let's... let's adopt those. So kind of hopefully raising the attention that this technology… this is the decade for electric aviation technologies.

CO: Being in a country, Canada, where it is a fossil-fuel-producing country, it's a sizeable part of our gross domestic product. And the argument that we get is that, yeah, OK, phase out fossil fuels. But you... we're a long way from being able to rely on renewables. And so, just maybe just think about that there is going to be a place for oil and gas for some time in the future. Would you agree with that?

GF: I would... I would... I would not dismiss the importance of the economy and economic factors. But actually, when you look at countries that have developed large-scale renewables very, very quickly, their economies have grown well. I mean, actually, amazingly, the U.K. is a good example. Where, not long ago, 17 per cent of the electrical grid was... was powered by coal. Today, it's nearly... nearly zero. It's, you know, around about one per cent. And I think within a couple of years, it'll be zero. I think the idea that just because a country like Canada and others have a fossil fuel industry, this idea that it can't change is not demonstrably seen. That isn't the case. I mean, now the cheapest form of electricity production in the world is... is from wind, from wind and solar. It's not from fossil fuel generation.

CO: You have friends, I think, in Vancouver. Can you imagine yourself flying an electric plane into Vancouver and going to visit them?

GF: [laughing] Yeah, I'd love to do that. I love Vancouver. I love Canada. I've been a couple of times. And, yeah, absolutely. And one of the things about an electric plane, and an electric car, is it's energy agnostic. It doesn't... It doesn't.... It doesn't care where the energy comes from. So as the Canadian grid gets greener, so does the airplane, and so does the car. So that's why it's important to start switching to electric on the road and in the air -- and doing that really as soon as we can.

CO: All right. Well, we'll look to see you flying in. [laughing] And... and we'll definitely talk to you at that point, Gary. Thanks so much for speaking with us today.

GF: Thanks for your time. Cheers.

CH: Gary Freedman is the founder of the company ElectricAir. He's in Wellington, New Zealand.

[Music: Ocrestral]

LR: Pineapple Pizza

CH: The pineapple-pizza defenders have arrived in force. Yesterday, we spoke to pollster Mario Canseco -- who told us that a growing majority of Canadians has developed a taste for the unconventional, but quintessentially Canadian Hawaiian pizza.

CO: So after that interview, our virtual mailbag was full of -- for the most part -- of pineapple-on-pizza partisans. And we also heard from Talkback.

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: A phone beeps and connects]

PATRICK KOSLOW: Good evening, Patrick Koslow, Vancouver, British Columbia. I'm phoning about the pizza and the pineapple. And last time I phoned in, I suggested pineapple and garlic. And you have to try that combination. Not pineapple and ham. So I'll get pineapple and garlic on half. The other half is spinach, zucchini, sun-dried tomato, mushroom. But the pineapple and the garlic by it's almost a barbecue. It's an addiction. I am addicted. I literally cannot do the pineapple without the garlic. So I suggest to anybody out there. Just try it. You will not be disappointed. Thank you.

CH: Thanks for your call, Patrick. And in email, Lana from Edmonton proposed another fruit-topping pizza that's bound to stir the pot even more than pineapple, or garlic and pineapple. She writes, hmmm, "In 2000, I spent about five months in Eastern Europe, teaching English in Lithuania. While there, I was introduced to sliced bananas as a pizza topping. I am not sure how widespread this practice is, or if it is specific to Lithuania, but it was a rather common pizza topping there, as I recall. For those who enjoy something sweet on pizza, they could try slicing a banana on top and cooking as usual."

CO: [laughing] Yikes! All right, we also heard from some detractors. On Twitter, Archie wrote to us, "People who put pineapple on pizza should not be allowed to eat pizza ever again." Dallas opined "There is a correlation between people who support pineapple on pizza and the downfall of civilized society, I kid you not."

CH: Oh, well. Also, my father texted me to say it was an "abomination". But, look, let's bring the temperature down by giving the last word to a voice of conciliation and peace.

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: A phone beeps and connects]

Bill PANOPOULOS: Hi there, it’s Bill Panopoulos calling from Kingston, Ontario. I noticed the segment on the Hawiian pizza today. And the inventor of the Hawiian pizza was my father, Sam Panopoulos, so I just wanted to call in and give my support for those who enjoy Hawiian pizza. As well as those who enjoy the choice not to enjoy the Hawiian pizza. So, there are a lot of things that we can agree on and disagree on. We should [chuckle] still all be able to get along enjoy whatever we think is most enjoyable to us. Thank you very much for always putting on a great show for us to listen to.

CH: Well, thanks for the call, Bill. And if you'd like to belatedly have your say about fruit on pizza -- bananas or pineapple -- or anything else you hear on the show, call Talkback: 416-205-5687.

[Music: Light rock]

Part 2: Newfoundland Ransomware Patient, Lebanon Star Closing

Newfoundland Ransomware Patient

Guest: Darlene Ryan Derible

CH: The RCMP are now investigating a cyber attack that's caused chaos in the Newfoundland and Labrador health system. Thousands of appointments have been canceled, including some for chemotherapy. Experts say it has all the hallmarks of a ransomware attack -- where hackers demand money to restore the system that they've taken over. And in the meantime, the province's largest health authority is trying to get by with paper records. Darlene Ryan Derible's husband had his appointment for knee surgery cancelled yesterday. We reached Ms. Derible in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland.

CO: Darlene, how long has your husband been waiting to get the surgery?

DARLENE RYAN DERIBLE: Since July, we've been waiting on surgery. And surgery was scheduled for yesterday at Carbonear Hospital, and we live in Mount Pearl. So we had to travel on Friday to go to Carbonear Hospital for pre-admission. So it's been a while.

CO: So you drove there for the weekend and to be in the hospital. The surgery was supposed to be yesterday?

DRD Yeah, they told us it was going to be scheduled for 8:00 a.m. yesterday morning. To be at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. My cousins and my sister, one text and one sent me a message on Facebook Messenger, letting me know that something is up, that Haggie, Dr. Haggie was on social media saying that everything was cancelled. So, we couldn't get hold of anybody. We tried the phone numbers for the hospitals, and we didn't get no reply.

CO: So Dr. Haggie is... is your minister of health. And so, he was on social media saying something was going on. Did you go to the hospital? Did you actually show up?

DRD: We did show up, and we were the first ones there. The security guard told us that as far as he knew, and he only just found out about it, that nothing was going ahead. So we went up to the fifth floor. When we got there, there was two nurses. And they came out, and they told us that everything was cancelled. That your family doctor or the doctor who was supposed to be doing your surgery, their office or Eastern Health would be in contact to reschedule.

CO: What was your reaction when then you learned that the entire health system of your province had been hacked, and now was shut down?

DRD: We were really upset because my husband has been waiting for the surgery for quite some time. And so he's left in limbo, not knowing when that's going to be rescheduled. And so, here he is, finished work on Friday and now we had, you know, we've got to wait and see what's going to happen. Does he go back to work and get another phone call saying It's going to be rescheduled? Do you.. because when he was working, it was just limited hours. We have to wait and see what's going to happen because he could get a phone call tomorrow or the next day because he is now priority to have the surgery. So we don't know if it's going to be in St. John's. We don't know if it's going to be in Carbonear. We have no idea. We don't know when it could be. It could be a month down the road. It could be longer.

CO: How much pain is he in?

DRD: He's in a lot of pain that he wears a knee brace. And getting up and down and going up and down the stairs. But his job is at the airport where he works. He can't even go long periods of time walking on his knee. And the knee injury happened in September of 2020, and now we're into November of 2021. So over the last year, it's slowly progressing to get worse.

CO: When they say that they're trying to reschedule. I mean, what we've learned is that they're doing everything on paper. They have to do it all manually. And that they just... they don't have a system at this point. So what does that mean for you? How difficult do you think it's going to be to get this rebooked?

DRD: I think it's going to be very difficult. I think it's going to be very difficult because they don't have access to the MRI results. They don't have access to blood work. They don't have access to any of it. So, you know, if you're quarantined, waiting for surgery, how long is that going to be? So you were psyched up to have the surgery yesterday. Now it's almost... it's a letdown because now you've got to go all over again. Do we have to, you know, do more blood work? Do we have to quarantine? Do we have to… so there are unanswered questions. And with that being said, how much of a privacy breach has there been? You know, when the systems do come back online, whenever that may be, is any of the information missing? Do anyone have our information that they could do something with? Nobody knows. Nobody is sure of what's going to happen once they come up and running.

CO: And it might mean that the province has to pay millions of dollars in order to get that information back. But it doesn't mean that your confidential health records are not in the hands of hackers.

DRD: You don't know that you have no idea of that. And the question is, if it is a hacker, and if it is, you know, the ransom kind, do you pay it? Do you not pay it? What happens if you pay it? What happens if you don't? So those are questions no one can answer for right now. Everything in the system is in limbo, and that's pretty much across the island, but more so in Eastern Health, in the St John's, Carbonear, all that region, that's happening.

CO: Your husband is in pain, but it's not life-threatening. There are many people who are facing life-threatening illnesses, who are supposed to be getting chemotherapy, getting really crucial treatment. So what... How worried are you about what this hack might mean for your province?

DRD: I'm worried about that. My husband also has cancer. He just finished 33 rounds of radiation only a month ago, so I know how hard that's going to be on people. You, you know, do you have people who are going to fall through the cracks and die because they don't have access to certain surgeries that they need or certain treatments that they need? These are life-threatening things. This is not something as easily written off. You need your health care system. Health care in Newfoundland sucks right now as it is. And now you've got this on top of it. I mean, you've got doctors that are leaving the provinces. You've got doctors shortage. Over, I think, 100,000 people in Newfoundland and Labrador, if my numbers are right, are without a family doctor. And I mean, so you have... you have less access to family medicine. And now, you have a breakdown in the system where as you don't know what's going to happen, when you can get appointments, people need dialysis, which that's still ongoing in a couple of other things that are going. But radiation, chemotherapy, you know, my husband's is menial to someone who has life-threatening heart conditions and... and stuff like that that need the MRI, that need the x-ray diagnostic testing. They need that. So as soon as they can get this up and running, they need to do it. Like, this needs to be done yesterday. So how long more before our system is going to be up and running? Nobody knows. That's a scary thought.

CO: Well, Darlene, I wish I had answers. And so... I don't. But I appreciate that you would tell us about your situation.

DRD: So do I.

CO: All right. Well, take care, and your husband, too.

DRD: Thank you very much. And you guys stay safe as well.

CO: Thanks. Bye-bye, Darlene.

DRD: Bye-bye, Carol.

CH: We reached Darlene Ryan Derible in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland.

[Music: Horns]

Alta Base Jumper Rescue

CH: When a base jumper threw himself off of Mount Rundle in Canmore, Alberta, this weekend, it was hours before he was on solid ground. After jumping, his parachute got stuck on the mountain, leaving him stranded hundreds of metres above the ground. Rescuers were called. And a team, including Jeremy Mackenzie, arrived to help. In an interview with the CBC this morning, Mr. Mackenzie described how exactly the base jumper was stuck.

SOUNDCLIP

JEREMY MACKENZIE: The small rock horn was probably about the size of a microwave and appeared to be sort of frozen into the face. And so it was quite remarkable that that was holding his weight. And then you add to the fact that it was only probably five or six inches of the parachute had actually draped itself over that rock. And the individual was on about a 70-degree slab of rock with no foot purchases or anything else to help him sort of sustain his position. There's only one strand of the parachute cord that was actually holding all of his weight off of one of his shoulders.

DAVID GRAY: That's terrifying! Because it's just a straight drop from there. So... which is why he was using that as a place to base jump in the first place. So... so when you got up there in the helicopter, you... could you get at him with the chopper?

JM: Yeah. So that's... we were doing a reconnaissance flight, and we were evaluating our options. And we kind of identified that there really were only two options. Our first choice would have been to try to use a long line under the helicopter and heli-swing either directly to him or just near him, and establish an anchor and get him secured. And then the other option was to go to the very top with what we use as a twin rope, sort of a redundant system to access the subject from the very top of the cliffs. And that's a little longer and has other hazards of its own. Our principal concern was that if we were to use the helicopter and the heli-swing method is the rotor wash may have inflated his canopy and then possibly pushed him further down the mountain. So we moved five team members to the top of the mountain, and we actually took up very long ropes. And we have a system that were well-practiced with, we train with, we do a lot of rescues with, wherein we actually use two ropes to put rescuers onto the face. And so we made some anchors, got a couple of rescuers ready and then put them down the edge and lowered them into position. When they got to the subject, the… I mean, the first priority was just to get this fella secured or something. So they used his harness that he was wearing for his parachute and temporarily attached him to our rope system that way, just so that there was no way he could continue down the mountain, and then we had to move him to a better location. So we moved him another 20 metres down, put him into a flight harness, and then we actually were able to then switch back to the heli-swing method and extract him that way.

DG: So just on that point, when you got down to him, how long had he been... had he been hanging there until you reached him?

JM: It was a little over three hours, I believe. Yeah, it's just a long process to get there. And he was... at that point, he was hypothermic and then obviously had a number of traumatic injuries.

DG: Hypothermic. What was he wearing?

JM: Well, that's the interesting part of it. I mean, I don't want to make too much light of this very serious situation. But he had a walrus costume on. Halloween, I guess.

CH: That was Jeremy Mackenzie, a rescue specialist with Kananaskis Country Public Safety, speaking with the CBC's David Gray on the Calgary Eyeopener today. Mr. Mackenzie also said the base jumper is in hospital and is expected to survive.

[Music: Glassy guitar]

Lebanon Star Closing

Guest: Hanna Anbar

CH: Since it was founded in 1952, the Lebanon Daily Star has survived decades of war and disaster. It was one of the first and longest-running English language papers in the region. But in recent years, as Lebanon's financial crisis deepened, it had been hanging by a thread -- going from print to digital-only last year. On Sunday, staff at the paper were informed that the Daily Star is shutting down. Associate editor Hanna Anbar started at the Daily Star in 1965. We reached him in Beirut.

CO: Hanna, after all these years for you getting this daily paper together, what have the past couple of days been like for you?

HANNA ANBAR: Well, it's sad, but you know, when the end comes, I was attached to the paper for more than 50 years, and that's a very long time to get attached to anybody or anything. The whole situation is not promising in the country. You know, under other circumstances, when the country was flourishing, it wouldn't have been a problem because it would be both overnight. And it will be... is erected. But with the situation now, I think, you know, it might die. And that's what makes me sad. Also, because... because, you know, to produce a paper, you need more than offices and computers and desks. You need good people. And we lost the people who have been with us for 20 or 25 years. You cannot train new reporters to become experienced and seasoned in... you know, overnight. So that is a big problem if anybody wants to buy the papers.

CO: Just to put some perspective, for those who don't know the Daily Star, and for... for foreign journalists, this has been a crucial source of information about Lebanon for the world. Can you give us a sense of what you think has been lost with the shutting down of this paper?

HA: That's a very good question. Well, the Daily Star started in 1952. In fact, to fill the gap for news coming out from this part of the world in English or that of the West. So that was basically the reason why the Daily Star started. You know, and at that time, the whole area, the whole region was in turmoil. There were a coup d'etat. In Egypt, they toppled the king. And in '56, there was the Suez Canal War. And then, in '58, we had another war in Lebanon. And then, in the 60s, there were wars across... across the areas. And then our civil war. So, the Daily Star, we tried to go the extra mile every day. So we were proud of that. This is why I say we feel sorry not only for us, but we feel sorry that the Daily Star and the impact it had on the area, on... on so many people. University students from all over the world came to the Daily Star, and we had interns from about 25 countries over 20 years. And we graduated 470 students, interns who became journalists. Some of them have become in top positions all over the world. And that's something we're proud of, and that's what we are sorry for. In this part of the world, it was one of the, you know, very modestly shining stars, if I may say so.

CO: Right. And, yeah, and this is... and you're not the only publication that is going out of business. This... this crisis that has... that Lebanon is faced with, like, the World Bank describes it as perhaps the largest one in the world in at least a century. And so, it's... it's very hard for people in Lebanon to get their news at this point. So what do you think... where can the Lebanese find out what's going on? And they they've turned to their media, and now it's shutting down, right?

HA: To have a reliable source of news in Lebanon, either in print or online, it doesn't exist at the moment. And this is a very, very important question. We... we really don't know the answer to that. I mean, today I had dozens of phone calls, especially from news agencies, from embassies, from international agencies like UNDP, United Nations. They all want to know exactly what you asked. I really don't know. To be honest, the Daily Star is not functional anymore. We haven't had time to think what the rest of the world is going to do.

CO: But we know that the Daily Star, it suspended publication during the Civil War, twice actually, and then relaunched. So is it possible that the paper will come back? Is it really true that this is the end of the Daily Star?

HA: You know, I'm... I'm really sorry about not being very optimistic about that. You see, the country... when it came back, the country was a different country. You're living in a country where the currency has lost 90 per cent of its value. You live in a country where people don't want to come back. People just want to leave. Before, Lebanon was an attraction for, you know, young journalist interns, whoever, from all over the world. They came to Lebanon. It was lovely. It's lovely weather, nice beer, cheap cigarettes and it's… and it's... you know, it's a warm... warm society. Unfortunately, these things that attracted these people don't really exist at the moment. Because the country is going through a very... very tough economic conditions. There is a big problem with electricity, with water, with petrol. So when you say do I think it will be republish? Of course, I hope so from all my heart. But I am a realistic person.

CO: Well, Hanna, I do hope the paper comes back. It's been an important source for so many people. And I appreciate you talking to us about it today. Thank you.

HA: Thank you very much. I'm sorry that I have been not very cheerful, but I wish you luck. You take care.

CO: Thank you. You too. Bye-bye, Hanna.

CH: Hanna Anbar was the Associate Editor of the Lebanon Daily Star. We reached him in Beirut.

[Music: Ambient]

Handball Bikini Bottoms

CH: It's clear to most that to do a job properly you must be dressed appropriately. For example: because this program requires me to be flexible and agile, I'm always wearing this spandex bodysuit. But clothing can also make it harder to do your job. Especially if your dress code so far from fashion-forward that it's just plain backward. Like the rules laid out for female athletes by the International Handball Federation. You might recall the outcry in July, when the Norwegian women's beach handball team was fined for wearing shorts during a game instead of the mandated bikini bottoms -- even though it's hard to imagine any situation in which "mandated bikini bottoms" are defensible. And given that male athletes are subject to no such rule, the indefensibility quotient grew exponentially, and the uniform was uniformly condemned. Now, to make a long story shorts -- the International Handball Federation, or IHF, has come out with updated regulations. And mandated bikini bottoms have been replaced by mandated "short tight pants with a close fit". OK. Bit redundant there with the "tight" and the "close fit", but I think the point is clear. Even after being shamed, the IHF is still clinging to clinginess. So we'll see if the Norwegian women accede to this ongoing mandate of competing in tight shorts -- or if they wind up playing fast and loose with the rules.

[Music: Hip-hop beat]

Part 3: Squid Game Crypto Scam, India farmers Protest Update

Squid Game Crypto Scam

Guest: Eswar Prasad

CH: The South Korean Netflix show Squid Game is an extremely pointed critique of capitalism. So maybe there's more to this story than a simple rip-off. But then again, maybe there isn't. The creators of the cryptocurrency "SQUID" promised people the chance to buy tokens to play an online version of Squid Game. But now, those creators have made off with millions of dollars, and left thousands of investors with diddly-squid. When Eswar Prasad looked into the new token inspired by the Netflix series, it had all the signs of a scam. Mr. Prasad is a professor of economics at Cornell University, and the author of The Future of Money. We reached him in Ithaca, New York.

CO: Professor Prasad, what were some of the red flags that alerted you with this new cryptocurrency called SQUID?

ESWAR PRASAD: There were red flags aplenty. The initiator of this crypto token was not clearly identified. And, essentially, it seemed to be a token that was trying to ride the wave of a cultural phenomenon. So this is not atypical in the crypto world. There are many of these tokens and cryptocurrencies that try to latch on to cultural phenomena or means. And it's sort of obvious who is issuing them, what sort of guarantees there are about them. In this case, there was one particular red flag that should have stuck out, which is that the promoters of this token made it very difficult to resell the tokens. And that, if anything, should have been a bright, glowing red flag.

CO: [chuckle] All right. The coin, we should say, is not affiliated with the very popular Netflix show. The... an online game that people were buying tokens to play doesn't actually exist. And if you bought the coins, as you just point out, you couldn't sell them. So why would anybody buy these coins?

EP: Now, this is not a new thing in the crypto world. There are many investors who, in fact, buy into what are openly advertised as pump and dump schemes. And it seems to be that investors are hoping that they can catch the wave, find a path to quick riches and then get rid of their investments before the price of those tokens or cryptocurrencies falls. So the hope of investors seems to be that they will be the ones to make money and get out before the schemes crash as they inevitably do.

CO: Was there any possibility that anyone was going to get rich on this one? Or was it just a scam?

EP: If you got in early on and could get out soon enough, it may have happened. But in this case, the SQUID token made it very difficult to get out because they did not allow for resale of the tokens once you bought them. I think there was a hope amongst some investors that perhaps that restriction would be lifted eventually, but that did not happen.

CO: So the price soared... went from a penny to thousands of dollars before it crashed to practically nothing. And this is called, I understand, a rug pull in the world of crypto scams. So can you explain what that is?

EP: So rug pull is just a name given to one of the types of scams where the promoter of a crypto token, whoever that might be, issues the token, makes it very difficult to trade in the tokens. But once investors have poured real money into it, then the promoter quickly takes the money and basically runs. And essentially, pulls the rug out from under the investors by essentially disappearing with their money and having the tokens fall to a value of essentially zero.

CO: So people take a really big risk when they get involved with this. Are these people just who have money to burn, who don't care if they're going to lose or what?

EP: So one approach to this on the part of regulators might be of so long as people are totally aware of the risks, maybe there is no room for regulation or asking people not to participate in these schemes. My concern, though, is that there are a lot of naive retail investors who might feel that they have missed out on the riches related to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and want to get into really early on new crypto tokens. So they might end up investing money and losing money which they can ill afford.

CO: This kind of reminds me of the whole dot-com thing, right? It looked like that was the... the latest get-rich-quick scheme. Things like this, these kind of rug pulls, these scams, does this kind of discredit [chuckle], if we can say that, cryptocurrency? Do you think that it actually does some damage to its future?

EP: Now, there are many established cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, that have similar attributes. They intrinsic value and the only reason they have a positive price is because of investors' faith. And, of course, investors' faith has pushed the Bitcoin to prices of over $60,000. The same is true of many other cryptocurrencies as well. So I think the entire notion of having some of these cryptocurrencies viewed as the real financial assets is very risky. But there are particular risks associated with these new types of tokens that are not well-established, that have very little liquidity, that is very little trading activity, and where the promoters are far from obvious.

CO: Well, so do these kinds of scams, do they perhaps shake people's faith in the whole cryptocurrency thing? Does it... does it have a lasting effect on people thinking that people are not doing this because it's a safe place, but it's a place that's legitimate?

EP: They ought to be much more fearful, but instead, what investors seem to get taken in by is the razzle-dazzle of the technology. So I don't think they should really have a place in our financial system as real assets. But I think the desire to make a quick buck is still going to bring a lot of investors in here, especially because there are many people who have made fairly significant fortunes on cryptocurrency.

CO: This is... there's... this has happened since [chuckling] Gold Rush, all kinds of things that people just think that this is the next thing that's going to make them money. And so, do you think that cryptocurrency is going to make people a lot of money?

EP: Those who managed to get in early, who managed to get out before prices crash, are certainly going to do well. And who knows what might happen with Bitcoin. If there are enough investors who pile in, the price of Bitcoin may continue rising for a good while. But to me, as an economist, the only notion that is supporting Bitcoin's value is one of scarcity because there is going to be a limit to the amount of Bitcoins that can be produced by the computer algorithm compared to, you know, a currency like the Canadian dollar, the U.S. dollar that can be printed it will by the central bank. But scarcity by itself is a dubious source of value. So I worry that these might end up being pure speculative assets that might not hold their value over the long run.

CO: Do you think eventually they're going to have to be... cryptocurrency is going to have to be regulated?

EP: Cryptocurrencies will eventually be regulated. I think there are concerns about the spill-overs from the cryptocurrency market to the broader financial system. And there are also concerns about these cryptocurrencies providing means for illicit financing both within and across national borders. So regulation is certainly coming.

CO: We will leave it there. Thank you so much, Professor Prasad.

EP: It's been a pleasure.

CH: Eswar Prasad is a professor of economics at Cornell University and author of The Future of Money. We reached him in Ithaca, New York.

[Music: Electronic]

Speed-Cubing Competitor

CH: Thirteen-year-old Owen Wilkes almost always has a Rubik's cube in his hand -- and he can usually solve it in four to five seconds. That's only half a second to one-and-a-half seconds slower than the official world record of 3.47 seconds. Over the past year, the Yellowknife teenager started competing in online speed-cubing contests, facing off against top solvers from around the world. He spoke with the CBC about his newfound talent and how he got so quick so quickly.

SOUNDCLIP

OWEN WILKES: A finals that I once made was only top solvers, except for me. It was like everybody who I think was in the top 10 in the world, but except for me. It was really cool to make finals with that many people, with those kind of people, too.

MARC WINKLER: So you're getting these really good scores like four seconds. That's like a fraction of a second away from the world record. What are you going to do with your... your skills?

OW: I don't know yet, actually. I mean, it's very complicated to do stuff with speed-cubing, especially up in the north up here. There's not much to do with a Rubik's Cubes. It'd be nice to go to competitions, but I just have no clue if that's happening or not. But you know, competitions are fun to have, but I do a lot of them online. And those are fun, too.

MW: How did you get into doing Rubik's Cubes?

OW: Um, my music teacher, Mr Richardson, told me about Rubik's Cube when I was 10. And I've been doing it for three years, and that's kind of how it became a thing.

MW: Actually, I was talking to your music teacher. And he said that in music class, he just lets you do Rubik's Cube stuff.

OW: Yeah, I can do Rubik’s Cubes outside of music class [both chuckle] because they always get taken away. But, yeah, music class is like the funnest time of the entire day.

MW: So how do you... how did you get so good at Rubik's Cube? So, three... you've been at it for three years now.

OW: Practice. It's just, like, hours a day. You have to practice as hard as you can. Like, there's no breaks. It's just... if you want to become really good, you have to practise. It’s kind of the same with everything, though.

MW: What does it feel like when you solve a cube?

OW: Um, I don't get that feeling any more of joy when I solve it. It's just like... because I always... I always solve it every single day. But like the average person, when they solve a Rubik’s Cube, they’re like, oh my god, this is so cool. Like, I finally did it. But now, it's just kind of like a standard practice in my day-to-day life.

CH: Thirteen-year-old Owen Wilkes in Yellowknife speaking about his obsession with Rubik's cubes with Marc Winkler, host of CBC's The Weekender.

[Music: Folk]

Reading: Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia

CH: In the words of the Scotiabank Giller Prize jury, Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia's novel The Son of the House is "a book you feel fortunate to have read." But its protagonists are mostly un-fortunate. At first glance, their lives are very different. Nwabulu is a housemaid from a Nigerian village, and Julie is a wealthy member of the country's upper class. But when both women are kidnapped, they begin to share their life stories in captivity, finding unexpected common ground. The Son of the House is one of five books currently in contention for Canada's richest literary prize. And tonight, we have a reading from its author. In this passage, Nwabulu travels with a man named Hyancinth, who is known to do government and corporate work -- referred to here as "olu oyibo" -- to visit a prospective employer in the city.

Reading:

CHELUCHI ONYEMELUKWE-ONUOBIA: Hyancinth chatted with them, telling them that my stepmother was happy to let me work for them. In exchange, she only requested that I be sent to school and treated well. He spoke with some deference, this surprised me. Hyancinth was well respected in the village. He was known to do olu oyibo. He was a civil servant in the township. Later, I would learn that Hyancinth was only a messenger in Daddy's office. “Are you clean?” The man whom I would eventually call Sir and Daddy asked me. His slender face had ears that poked out of his head, and looked like they had been stuck on as an afterthought. He had a too wide mouth, bordered by deep grooves on either side. It was his stern, piercing eyes, however, that made me anxious. They searched my face now. He would see any lie before I told it, the voice in my head said. “Did you have a shower this morning? Do you have a shower every day?” I answered, “Yes, Sir” to these questions and then was rewarded with, “Here you wash your hands every time you use the toilet. Do you tell lies? Do you steal? Can you read? Can you tell time? The answer to these last questions was, “No, Sir”.

CH: Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia is a lawyer and writer who divides her time between Lagos and Halifax. Her novel The Son of the House is one of five nominated for this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize. The winner of the 100,000 dollar award will be announced next Monday in a broadcast special right here on CBC Radio One.

[Music: Hip-hop beat]

India Farmers Protest Update

Guest: Navkiran Natt

CH: It's now been a year since farmers started taking part in enormous demonstrations in India against agricultural reforms, and tensions have only risen. When the changes were passed by India's parliament in September last year, farmers left their work to protest against what they felt the changes would destroy their livelihoods. The government insisted the new laws would help them. The farmers say the so-called reforms will just provide big companies with an opportunity to exploit small farms by driving down prices. Last month, several farmers and a journalist were killed at a protest site -- and an MP's son was charged with their murder. Following that, several MPs were also killed in a mob lynching that followed. Navkiran Natt is one of the co-editors of Trolley Times, a newsletter for farmers at the protests. We reached her in Delhi.

CO: Navkiran, I know you were at one of the farmers protests yesterday. Can you just describe what's going on there?

NAVKIRAN NATT: So, right now, so many things are happening. Because we recently we witnessed one incident where a BJP leader’s son crushed four farmers and one journalist covering the farmers protest in Lakhimpur in Uttar Pradesh District. It was a very tragic incident. And after that, recently, three other men died in an accident at a protest site. So the thing is, so many people are losing their lives every day sitting on the protest site, sort of fighting for their rights. But, unfortunately, still the BJP government or the Modi government is not ready to listen to them.

CO: And you mentioned this incident. Ashish Mishra has been arrested. He is the son of the home minister in... in India, and he's been charged with murder for that incident of the four protesters and the journalist. But has that changed the spirit at all? Are people... are people afraid to be there? Or are they still... are they still very much part of that protest?

NN: Not really. It didn't impact the protest itself. I would say the protest is more stronger right now. The people are more spirited right now because the more comrades they are losing, the more strength they are gaining, which is that emotion of losing their loved ones is, in a way, making them more stronger to fight for their rights.

CO: You have joined this as... along with your parents, you're your mum and dad are part of this. You were, in fact, living in a tent for some months with your mother at that border, even though you're a dentist. And so you were there wanting to be part of that. Why are you wanting to be there? What's... you're not a farmer, why do you want to be part of this?

NN: I'm a student youth activist. And being a politically-aware young individual living in India right now, I know pretty well how these three farm laws are going to impact all of us, not just the farmers. They’re going to affect all of us adversely. So these are not just ant-farmer laws, but these are anti-people laws. I guess that's the most important reason for me being there. And also, I come from a farming family. So I guess that's another reason why closely things are related to me.

CO: And there are a number of young people who have been targeted because of their involvement in these protests, and some of them not even in India, abroad. So what effect has it had on you? Are you... have you had incidents with the authorities since you joined?

NN: Definitely. Like, there were instances where they tried to scare us because, I guess, somehow they want to scare people. This is how BJP works. We have witnessed in the past how during the time of major political movements, what BJP did was they tried to change the narrative by propagating fake narratives. So, this time also, they tried to do that. When this... these propagandas didn't work, what they did was they tried to scare people. And, like, they charged people like Disha Ravi, who is a young environmental activist. And recently, we have read news about people living in the diaspora, how the Indian government is not allowing them to come to India. So, yes, they are trying to do it again and again.

CO: You mentioned BJP, which is the ruling party that introduced these... these agricultural reforms. We first started covering this a year ago. And at that time, thousands and then tens of thousands of farmers and now people who aren't even farmers like yourself are part of this. And so, where does the spirit come from to stay? Given that you've been there for a year and nothing has changed as far as the government goes?

NN: Already, we have seen how this government sold mostly all the major public institutes to the private houses during the first wave of COVID. So if this government will sell this... this land to the private corporates, farmers are left with nothing. That's... that's the fear in the farmers, which is still, like, giving them strength to fight for their rights. Because otherwise, it's not possible for them to live. Even now, they are not just opposing these three farm laws, but they are also fighting for the law of MSP -- minimum support price. They want a guaranteed minimum support price on the essential crops. And in India, agrarian sector is still the largest employment-producing sector. And it also contributes 18 per cent to India's GDP, so it's still the largest sector in that sense. And that's why the number is huge.

CO: Your country, India, has a long history, a celebrated history, of mass protest. I'm sure the symbol of that is Mahatma Gandhi. Do you see this... do you see... do you feel part of something that is part of that history of... of India?

NN: Definitely. And, like, I'm an activist for last almost 10-12 years now. And believe me, this is the first of this scale movement which I've ever seen. And I was talking to my parents and also people of my grandparents age, who were present there at the protest site. And they were saying, this is the first time they are witnessing this huge movement. So definitely, it’s a historic event. And really, we have that feeling of being part of that historically, yes, you're fighting for our own rights.

CO: Navkiran, I know it's very late there in Delhi, and so I'll let you go. And I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

NN: Thank you so much.

CH: Navkiran Natt has been at the farmers protests in India over the past year. She joined us from Delhi, India.

[Music: Glassy Guitar]

Sabah Fakhri Obit

CH: You can't talk about Sabah Fakhri without listening to some of his music. So I'm going to stop talking for a moment.

[Music: "Fok El Nakhel" by Sabah Fakhri/Traditional Arabic]

CH: That's "Fok El Nakhel" [FOOG-ill-nuh-KHUL] -- or "Above the Palm Trees") -- one of the traditional Arabic songs Sabah Fakhri is credited with bringing to a contemporary audience. He helped to preserve the form, and he helped popularize it. And his work made him a legend across the Arab world. Mr. Fakhri died today. He was 88. He who grew up in Aleppo, and gravitated toward Syria's oldest musical forms -- songs inspired by poetry dating back hundreds of years. But he often added his own improvisational twists as well. Which he kind of had to, given his reputation for endurance performances: Mr. Fakhri didn't just sing songs from long ago -- he sang them for a long time. Both in the sense of a decades-long career and in the sense of performing all night long. Often breaking only for the call to prayer at dawn. After one such concert in 1968, he found himself in the Guinness Book of World Records for singing for 10 hours straight, without a break. But the many fans mourning him today would rightly point out -- it was quality not quantity that earned Sabah Fakhri such admiration. And that, like the singer himself, is sure to go on for a very long time.

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November 02, 2021 Episode Transcript

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