A win for wild Tigers, a call for harsher penalties on hate crime and a bit of petty Putin...
Welcome to the first edition of the Lets Get Litical Newsletter!
Hello all!
Now as you’re reading this newsletter, I’m going to assume you know what we are all about. BUT, to make sure I don’t lose anyone halfway through, I’m going to explain anyway.
Lets Get Litical is a political and philosophical podcast streaming in most places you go to to catch up with your fave podcasts…So go listen! The podcast belongs to the wonderful Helen Femi Williams and is run by her alongside a very small team! We have Hannah as Producer, Matt who has helped with editing and studios for recording the podcast and me (Shannon) who helps with the socials and is now doing the newsletter! I’ve been running the socials for a bit now on Insta and LinkedIn, but we felt that a newsletter would be a far better way to reach out and share the info we want to share. So! Here we are!
Each podcast episode is split into parts. We have ‘It’s Lit’. A section dedicated to some ‘lit’ news in the past week or that has suddenly re-entered the zeitgeist and deserves a mention. We then have ‘Unfortunate News’. This section is how it sounds and is dedicated to a bit of sad, frustrating, or downright outrageous news. And then we finally have the ‘Things We Won’t Care About Next Week’ section. This section is far more lighthearted and briefly covers what I think of as a bit of random news that has occurred during the week. Whilst the section title makes it sound like the topic is completely pointless, it’s usually fairly interesting, humorous or poignant in some form!
And each week this is exactly what this newsletter will cover! Alongside any important celebrations or days that deserve some recognition. We try to cover topics that not so many people are discussing and the stories come from all across the globe.
Interested? Subscribe below if you haven’t already!
It’s Lit!
It is now believed that the number of wild tigers on our planet is much higher than we estimated! There are apparently 40% more tigers in the wild than had been calculated. Globally, the number of tigers in the wild now seen as more accurate is between 3,726 to 5,578. It is said that this increase could be a mixture of improvements to monitoring equipment and also an improvement in government work and initiatives to saving these beautiful animals. Either way, I’d say it’s a win win, wouldn’t you?
Poaching, hunting and destruction of environment all affect not only wild tigers, but all wild animals. Tigers are still endangered even after this discovery, but this news is a beacon of hope to keep on with the fight against extinction.
Unfortunate News…
A group of people threw alcohol over Luz Raquel Padilla Gutiérrez and then lit her on fire in a park near her home when she was coming back from a yoga class. Luz had previously been sent threats and threatened with bleach by a neighbour who didn’t like the noises her son made when he was going through a epilepsy crises. This same neighbour would also throw insults at the son, even using the label ‘Mongolian’ as an insult. As well as this, a few weeks before the incident, someone had graffitied the words, ‘I’m going to burn you alive’ on the wall next to where she lived. A couple days before the incident, Luz had been threatened by a group in a local cafe, but thought nothing of it considering it was a common occurrence.
Whilst it is known that some precautionary methods were put in place against the neighbour for a period of 60 days, last may the ‘pulse of life’ protection scheme against family violence was denied to her. The basic principle of this scheme is that it is a panic button to be used in case of emergencies such as the one Luz found herself in on the day of her murder.
The neighbour has since been detained and is one of the main suspects of the crime, but nothing has been proven as of yet. People are calling for this to not only be considered a femicide, but also a hate crime against people with disabilities.
Things We Won’t Care About Next Week!
The fact I am even about to write these next few words is deeply upsetting to me, but isn’t that part of the fun of this section! After G7 leaders joked to each other over Putins half naked photo ops at the summit just passed in June and suggested that they should do the same, Putin has finally snapped back. He claimed that Western leaders don’t take care of their bodies as well as he does so would look “disgusting” topless…
And with that, we are swiftly moving on.
As I am writing this on Saturday the 30th, it is currently World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. This year the focus is on how technology comes into play with this topic and how it can be used as a tool to both enable and halt trafficking.
Want to find out more? Check out the United Nations website here.
Want to share your thoughts? Suggest a topic? Get involved? Then leave us a comment!