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the-desolated-quill · 5 years

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Demons Of The Punjab - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Let us now look at our first non-Chibnall episode this series. Demons Of The Punjab, written by Vinay Patel.

Curious about her grandmother’s past, Yasmin persuades the Doctor to take them to India in 1947 only to discover that the man her grandmother is marrying isn’t her grandfather, but a Hindu man named Prem. What follows is quite possibly the most well written and emotionally charged Who historical story I think I’ve ever seen.

Honestly this comes as something of a relief. I confess when the giant alien bats showed up, screeching and teleporting all over the place like something out of a tacky horror film, I was worried. Chris Chibnall and Malorie Blackman showed remarkable restraint with their episode Rosa, focusing solely on Rosa Parks and the oppressive society she was forced to endure without letting the sci-fi elements intrude or distract from the narrative. With this in mind, an amateur production of ‘Attack of the Killer Bat People’ trouncing all over partitioned India doesn’t exactly seem like a good follow up to me. Thankfully they don’t go that route. Turns out that the Thijarians (not the Vaginas, as I first misheard them) are just a massive red herring. They’re not alien invaders. They’re just travelling psychopomps comforting the dead. Presumably they’re the basis for the numerous death deities that have appeared throughout many cultures and civilisations. It’s a nice idea. Granted the episode would have worked just as well without them, but it’s still a good twist on the monster of the week format nonetheless.

Patel quite rightly focuses on the characters and historical setting. Demons Of The Punjab is refreshing in more ways than one. It’s a historical, but it’s not set in Britain or America. Some people (let’s call them idiots) may complain that the show is getting ‘too PC’, but I for one am quite interested in the history of India. It’s about time we delved into the past of another country and another culture. New Who has spent so much time in Victorian London in recent years, I’m surprised the Doctor doesn’t just rent a holiday home there. It’s also nice to have an episode that isn’t afraid to point out that the British Empire was... well... a bit of a bastard, to put it mildly. The Moffat era in particular was very much guilty of romanticising British history (the most notable example being Winston Churchill, presented as a cuddly leader and the Doctor’s bezzie mate when in reality he was a colossal racist and arguably the very epitome of British imperialism in the early twentieth century). Patriots and anglophiles can’t help but think of Britain in positive terms, seeing the British Empire as some kind of noble ideal. The truth of the matter is the British Empire wasn’t some Utopian peace keeping force uniting the world. It was a bunch of white colonialists taking other people’s land and resources and not giving a tally-ho fuck what the ‘alien races’ thought.

The partition of India is quite possibly one of the most petty and irresponsible things we as a country have ever done. Crudely dividing the country into regions before picking up their ball and going home, leaving the native Indians to sort it out for themselves. What angers me is that I was never actually taught this in school. I learned about the partition of India years later through fucking Wikipedia. And you’d think this is something we ought to know. Like the Atlantic slave trade, this isn’t ancient history. This happened relatively recently and the after effects are still being felt today.

So not only am I’m glad we’ve got an episode like this, I’m also glad that Patel chooses to explore the partition of India in a very intelligent and respectful way. Like with previous episodes, Demons Of The Punjab is very intimate and small scale. It’s not about the Doctor combating a massive threat. It’s about how a massive threat affects the lives of this one family.

Demons Of The Punjab has a stellar cast to play Yasmin’s extended family. Amita Suman does an excellent job as the younger version of Yasmin’s grandmother Umbreen. Something this series has been really good at for the most part is finding that humanity at the core of the stories. It’s not about the aliens. It’s about the people. Demons is not about the space bats. It’s about this young woman struggling to compromise between committing to her Hindu fiance and staying faithful to her Muslim faith in the wake of rising political and societal tension, and Suman portrays this perfectly. It’s an incredibly powerful and moving performance and it’s her character you feel for the most.

Then there’s Shane Zaza as Prem, quite possibly the nicest guy in the fucking world and definitely didn’t deserve his final fate. He’s appalled by the rioting and infighting, saying how this wasn’t what he fought for in the war. Despite being confused and scared by the ‘demons’, he still accompanies the Doctor and Ryan and protects them from harm. But most importantly, he clearly loves Umbreen dearly, preparing to share and adapt his beliefs to hers and vice versa. Throughout the episode, Prem and Umbreen’s relationship is presented as the ideal. A love for the ages. How the world should be, transcending belief systems and cultural barriers. This could have become quite sickly in the wrong hands, bu thankfully the episode never over-eggs the pudding. We like this couple and we like Prem, which is what makes his death at the end one of the most heartbreaking in all of New Who and the fact that this comes at the hands of his own brother makes it all the more tragic.

Hamza Jeetoa’s performance as Manish was exceptional. From the start you know there’s something not quite right with him as he seems to buy into the India/Pakistan border quite enthusiastically, but I assumed (perhaps in my naivety) that the Doctor would persuade him to accept his new sister in law Umbreen over the course of the story. Of course that’s not the case. Like I said, the aliens are the red herring. The real villain is Manish. Except... it’s not. While Prem was out fighting for the Brits, a disillusioned and confused Manish was left alone, leaving him a prime target for radicalisation. So as disgusting and horrifying as his actions are, it’s hard to truly hate him because he’s not a bad person. You do see occasional glimpses of brotherly affection between him and Prem, a brief window into their relationship before the partition, and it’s this that humanises him and makes him an effective antagonist. Yes he’s killed people, yes he killed his own brother, yes his views are downright poisonous, but he is in many ways just another victim of this turbulent time. He’s a cautionary tale about the dangers of rigid belief systems and how easy it is to indoctrinate and radicalise the young and disenfranchised. Jeetoa does a great job selling this character without tipping over into panto. He’s not some rabid bigot foaming at the mouth. He’s a confused young man who has willingly bought into this anti-Islamic dogma because of his own frustrations toward the British, He feels like an actual person. It’s this that makes the ending truly shocking.

I don’t think there’s any need to talk about the main cast. They are predictably good. Jodie Whittaker continues to blow me away as the Doctor. Her eulogy at the wedding, her excitement and enthusiasm when celebrating the night before with Yaz and Umbreen, and her sorrow and disgust when Manish shoots Prem are all memorable moments showing Whittaker’s range as an actor. Graham and Ryan don’t have as much to do this episode, although they do still have their moments (the scene where Graham hugged Prem and told him what a good man he was made me cry. God, Bradley Walsh can act!). This really is Yasmin’s episode and it’s about time too. My one complaint I’ve had throughout this series so far has been that Yaz has felt largely superfluous. She’s not a bad character by any means. It’s a problem common with many of the ensemble casts Doctor Who has had over the years. There’s always at least one cast member reduced to being the spare part. So it was great to see Yaz finally get a chance in the spotlight and Mandip Gill rises to the occasion as she portrays her character’s internal conflict. Obviously she doesn’t want Prem to die. He’s a nice guy and her grandmother clearly loves him, but he’s not her grandfather. In order for Yaz to exist in the future, Prem has to die. I love episodes where the Doctor and his companions can’t interfere as they often serve as great moral dilemmas as well as the means of exploring internal strife. Watching Prem die, knowing she can’t change it for risk of damaging her own timeline, is painful and gut-wrenching, and Gill gives her best performance to date.

Demons Of The Punjab I think is my favourite episode so far this series because it shows just how flexible the Doctor Who format is and what kind of stories you can tell. This is a very human story that packs a massive dramatic punch and has great relevance to today. As I said, the effects of the partition of India are still being felt today and the radicalisation of young people is something we’ve sadly become all too familiar with (see ISIS and the alt-right). It’s what makes this episode’s central theme, to love and respect everyone regardless of cultural differences, all the more poignant. If Demons Of The Punjab teaches us anything, it’s that we could use a lot more Prems in the world right now.

#demons of the punjab #vinay patel #doctor who #thirteenth doctor #jodie whittaker #graham o'brien #bradley walsh #yasmin khan #mandip gill #ryan sinclair #tosin cole #chris chibnall #bbc #review #spoilers

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asiaberkeley · 5 years

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CHINA’S SECOND CONTINENT: HOW A MILLION MIGRANTS ARE BUILDING A NEW EMPIRE IN AFRICA BY HOWARD FRENCH

China’s $200 billion trade relationship with Africa: Is it a mutually beneficial investment, a new kind of imperialism, or just “growing pains” as China’s Premier Li Keqiang put it before his four country tour of the continent last month?

Based on his interviews with Chinese workers, policymakers, and diplomats in Africa, a book by journalist and professor Howard French, who spent many years as a foreign correspondent reporting on Africa and China for The New York Times, offers readers an anecdotal look into the untold story of a few of the million Chinese migrants “building a new empire in Africa.”

"China’s Second Continent” features French’s extensive travels throughout the African continent, illuminating the experiences of the roughly one million Chinese migrants currently involved in burgeoning business ventures in Africa. Offering a mixed verdict on the impact of China’s economic involvement in Africa he argues that immigrants are helping to shape a “momentous new relationship” in high-profile industries including construction, copper, timber, and mining. French’s book is a testament to the notion that Africa’s future depends heavily on China’s role in this “critical juncture” in history.

Realizing that Africa had been “cast aside” by the West after the Cold War era, the Chinese saw an opportunity to “cut their teeth in international business,” zooming past the United States and Europe in Africa. In Africa, China would make a whopping third of its revenue abroad in the construction industry. This involvement, French explains, hearkens back to 1996 when Jiang Zemin visited six African countries and proposed the creation of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Six years later, Jiang vowed to commit a $5 billion development fund and create three to five “trade and cooperation zones” around the continent. By 2013, China’s Export-Import Bank had loaned $62.7 billion in loans to African between 2001 and 2010 and during this time a million Chinese citizens chose to move to Africa. Though he says that “hard data on the country’s overseas activities has always been difficult to come by,” by 2013, “there was no escaping the notion that Beijing’s project on the continent had become far advanced.”

French ultimately concludes that while there are many dissimilarities between imperialist powers of the past and China’s current involvement in Africa, that key aspects of China’s involvement with Africa link to “broader historical trends.” These, he says, include China’s competition for “global preeminence” as well as the large diaspora of Chinese who have taken control of lucrative businesses in the continent, with outcomes that have “outraged” some of the Africans living there–the main focus of the book. Still, China’s aid and involvement in Africa has resulted in some positive developments. In this way, French implies that the Chinese workforce in Africa is neither all good nor all bad.

“China’s Second Continent" provides context as each chapter explores a new set of characters from the many African nations French visits. The book opens with a portrait of a Chinese investor, Hao Shengli, a plantation owner in Mozambique who shares his initial prejudiced and fear-based impression of the Africans he encountered in an interview: “I’d never dealt with African people before…At first just coming in contact with them made me uncomfortable.” Despite starting off with Hao, China’s so-called successor to the "Ugly American,” the travelogue, rich both in insight and dialogue, lures one into a world that is far more layered. Through nuanced portraits of individuals living there, French tests the notion that China’s relationship with Africa functions merely as one of a quest for natural resources.

For instance, while some of the Chinese migrants he speaks with show condescension towards Africa, French juxtaposes our impressions with a character who sees beauty in the African people. Yang Bohe, a Chinese Christian running a copper-processing plant Zambia, reveals his admiration for Zambian culture, for example: “If you give a Zambian a piece of bread and someone comes along, they will share it. I don’t think among yellow people or white people you can find that trait; well, maybe a little, but only very rarely. They treat orphans the same as their own children. No difference. Everyone is equal. This is their best quality.”

In another moment, French relays a story which sheds light on negative perceptions of the Chinese. In a conversation with a Ghanaian business executive, he hears a story of a day when it was raining heavily in Ghana. A crowd in Accra gathered for shelter from the rain but were bothered when a Chinese couple approached them. They complained out loud in Twi, Ghana’s lingua franca, before the Chinese man responded in the Twi language asking, “Why? Aren’t we people, too?”

Through the many detailed descriptions of those he encounters — those he interviews and even those who brush him aside — French reveals a talent for perceptiveness. Those perceptions coupled with historical background fill a void in our understanding of the biases and daily life of the Chinese migrants in Africa and the encounters they have experienced with Africans living and working there. French could have explored further, though, the portraits of Chinese businesswomen in Africa, as the majority he discussed, though equally important, were wives left behind, women involved in trafficking, visitors passing through, or were more peripheral characters.

A peculiar theme raised in China’s Second Continent is the idea that the Chinese going to Africa find parallels to earlier times of being “sent down” to China’s countryside during the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, a time of eating bitterness (chi ku) and are romanticising their efforts to work in Africa. Given the economic incentive that has driven many Chinese to do business in Africa, one can only wonder how meaningful of a comparison that is.

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