Saturday Morning for Saturday 5 March 2022

8.10 Ukraine invasion: update from the capital Kyiv

The world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe on Friday when a fire broke out during a Russian seizure of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the US ambassador to the United Nations has said. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appealed to Russians to stage protests over Russian forces’ seizure of what is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

Meanwhile, according to figures issues by the United Nations more than 1.2 million people have fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on 24 February, according to figures by the United Nations.

Kyiv correspondent Jessica Golloher joins the show with the latest developments from the Ukraine.

 

8.15 Emerson T Brooking:  Russia steps up its disinformation campaign

Russia’s state regulator Roskomnadzor says it has decided to block access to Facebook in Russia. Meanwhile the Russian parliament has passed legislation imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally "fake" news about the military. The BBC have suspended their journalists and support staff in Russia in response.

Russian leaders have practiced "dezinformatsiya" for decades and this latest invasion of Ukraine is no exception. Putin’s hybrid warfare strategy has been designed to muddy the waters with disinformation and propaganda, using the reach of Russian-backed broadcasters such as RT and Sputnik alongside global social media channels.

Emerson T. Brooking is a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council and coauthor of LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media. He is an expert in the fields of disinformation, terrorist communication, and internet policy.

 

8.35 Nigel Slaughter: are we missing the boat on medicinal cannabis?

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer looks poised to enter the medicinal cannabis arena with a US$6.7 billion agreement to purchase Arena Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company with a pipeline dedicated to cannabinoid-type therapeutics. 

In New Zealand, we seem to be lagging in exploring the possibilities of the medicinal cannabis market. A report from NZ Drug Foundation found many people are still accessing medicinal cannabis through the black market, as it can be hard to get a prescription and cost is a prohibiting factor.

Nigel Slaughter says we should be looking at improving accessibility, as well as the different types of therapeutic products that can be made. Slaughter is the Chief Exploration Officer for Ligar, which developed world-first extraction technology for cannabinoids. He also sits on the board for the NZ Medical Cannabis Council.

 

9.05 Michael Schur: The Good Place creator's quest to be perfect

Michael Schur is an American television writer and producer whose list of impressive credits include creating the award-winning fantasy comedy show The Good Place. Set in the afterlife, the show deals with the two major themes of morality and redemption, leaning into Schur’s own interest in ethics which was prompted by everyday personal experiences.

Schur dives into the world of ethical problem solving in his new book How To Be Perfect: The Correct Answer To Every Moral Question.  Despite the tongue-in-cheek title, the book provides a thought-provoking guide to living an ethical life, drawing on 2400 years of deep thinking from philosophers such as Aristotle and Kant. But as it turns out, the answers aren't always very straightforward.

 

9:40 Doris de Pont: the power of what you wear

An upcoming exhibition entitled To Fashion: Dressing Aotearoa documents the style of 12 distinctive individuals including rising poet Tayi Tibble, mental health advocate Sir John Kirwan, K’road chronicler Six, and tapa cloth artist and expert Sulieti Fieme'a Burrows.

Curated by Doris de Pont, the founder and director of the New Zealand Fashion Museum, the exhibition features stunning full-sized portraits by award-winning photographer Edith Amituanai and celebrates the life-enhancing power of dressing and choosing what to wear.

The photos will be on display around Auckland’s Britomart from 10 March until 27 March as part of the Auckland Arts Festival.

 

10.05 David Wengrow: rewriting the history of humanity

We have been told wrong: inequality is not the price of civilisation, says archaeologist David Wengrow. Many long held assumptions about how humans developed as a species are blown apart by Wengrow and the late anthropologist David Graeber in their international bestseller The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity. 

Based on the latest findings in their respective fields, Wengrow and Graeber write that the popular story of humanity we’ve been told is simply not true. That story is linear, progressive and governed by evolutionary concepts. They say it incorrectly sees the invention of agriculture leading to humans – once living in small egalitarian bands of hunter-gatherers - progressively organised, stratified, urbanised and civilised. 

David Wengrow is a Professor of Comparative Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.

 

11.05 Playing Favourites with Pax Assadi

Comedian Pax Assadi has become a familiar face over the last few years, appearing on local television shows 7 Days and The Project. But for his new project, comedy show Raised by Refugees, Assadi mines his own life. 

The six-part series is a humorous yet endearing look into his life as a first generation New Zealander growing up around the time of the 9/11 attacks. In the show, Assadi takes on the role of his own dad, Afnan, a warm-hearted and well-mustachioed Iranian.

Assadi joins the show to play a few favourite songs connected to the time period Raised By Refugees is set in.

Raised by Refugees airs Thursday nights on Prime, and the whole series is available to watch on Neon.

 

 

Books mentioned in this show:

How To Be Perfect
By Michael Schur
Publisher: Hachette
ISBN: 9781529421330

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
By David Graeber and David Wengrow
Publisher: Allen Lane
ISBN: 9780241402429

 

Songs featured on this show:

Strangers Like Me
Phil Collins
Played at 11.19am

Last Night
Craig David
Played at 11.37am

All For You
Janet Jackson
Played at 11.49am

Apna Punjab Hove
Gurdas Maan
Played at 11.57am