Five Great Reads: the biggest election, the ‘forgotten war’ and a really good band
Good morning, time is speeding away like a slippery ferret (late April! I ask you!). What if you could make it stand still, by reading something fascinating on the Guardian? Stash your leftover food, put on some Arthur Russell, and take a look at the pieces that caught my eye this week.
1. Six weeks, 969 million voters, 2,600 parties
In India this weekend, the biggest election in world history is kicking off – 969 million people, or 10% of the world’s population, are eligible to vote. Here, our South Asia correspondent takes you through the basics: why Narendra Modi’s BJP is tipped to win, how the incumbent PM rose to power, and how it all affects the rest of the world.
What about the opposition? As well as the country’s biggest election, experts say it could be its most one-sided. Over the past decade, as Hannah Ellis-Petersen explains, opposition parties have been severely weakened by sustained attacks from powerful state agencies.
How long will it take to read: about four minutes
Further reading: See how the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, known as “God’s land”, became a testing ground for Modi’s nationalism – a “laboratory”, as Ellis-Petersen and Aakash Hassan detailed, for some of his most extreme rightwing policies and rhetoric targeting the Muslim minority.
2. An OCD epiphany
“This is what I think is wrong with the medical model: a failure to understand mental health in context.” Rose Cartwright was “the poster girl for OCD” – but then she started to question everything she’d been told about mental health.
It wasn’t that the biomedical approach was “wrong”, or that the trauma model explained everything, she writes, but rather, a growing realisation that the crisis in modern mental health would be better tackled by thinking “prismatically” – resisting any variety of simplification.
Where to next: “I’ve heard it said that modern society, having forgotten it broke people into pieces long ago, now sits scratching its head wondering how to put them back together,” Cartwright reflects. “But in that head-scratching, perhaps there’s an opportunity for change.”
How long will it take to read: about seven minutes
3. ‘None of us can see a way through’
This week marked a year since Sudan’s descent into chaos: thousands dead, millions displaced and, per the UN, “one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent history”. Nesrine Malik’s sobering piece calls attention to the jarring way in which “the world has gazed with indifference upon this crucible of war” as other conflicts monopolise global attention. Meanwhile in the country of her birth, “there is nothing but mourning”.
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“Writing these words is a halting, painful process, like stepping on shards of broken glass.” – Nesrine Malik
How long will it take to read: less than three minutes
On those other conflicts … Foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall weighed in this week on the evolving pressure cooker that is the Middle East. “The fact that [Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin] Netanyahu and his inner war cabinet appear to have deliberately and recklessly provoked this showdown should not be forgotten as the crisis unfolds,” he wrote.
4. ‘Most nu-metal sounds like a panic attack in sonic form’
Fontaines DC have featured in this newsletter before – now, per this interview with Rachel Aroesti, they’re prepping to be one of the biggest bands in the world. She charts the group’s rise, from the 2019 debut where frontman Grian Chatten “might as well have been shouting his jagged evocations of small-town malaise down the phone at you”, through the slew of critical and chart successes, to the forthcoming album out in August. Which, apparently, channels nu-metal pioneers Korn.
Keep an eye out for: the liner notes. Aroesti’s conversation with the band about their lyrics is beautiful, and fascinating.
How long will it take to read: a bit less than five minutes
5. Life without Bruce: Shannon Lee on losing her superstar father
Shannon Lee’s father, Hong Kong American martial arts icon Bruce Lee, died when she was four, after an allergic reaction to headache medication. Twenty years later, she lost her brother to a tragic accident on set. Decades on, she tells Ann Lee what kept her going, what it means to look after a family legacy – and to be so closely tied to it – and how taking up martial arts herself made her feel closer to her dad.
Hazy memories of a legend: “He could play really dynamically. He was a bit strict. I remember the feeling of being with him, the brightness of that, the warmth. The love is so strong.”
How long will it take to read: about five minutes
Have a lovely weekend – if you’re looking for something to do now, why not write back to us? australia.newsletters@theguardian.com
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