In this short episode, Drew and Alex give their thoughts on the protests, violence and political crackdowns that are taking place in both Cuba and in South Africa. 

• Cuba is in a very dire situation. The perfect storm of sanctions reinstated by the Trump administration, electricity shortages, empty grocery shops, a failing economy, a repressive government, and an increasingly bad situation regarding COVID-19, seems to have put the Cuban people over the edge. Over the last few weeks, there have been vast protests around Cuba that started via internet mobilization. Now the government has sent police into the streets to crackdown on the unrest, but many officials think these protests may be different. The Cuba government is in a tough place, in the past they had been able to provide security and stability, in place of open democratic values, but now that contract has been broken. Drew and Alex wonder if this will bring change, will the government respond with compromise or bringing down the hammer? 

• In South Africa, the Constitutional Court sentenced Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s corrupt ex-president, to 15 months in prison for refusing to appear before an investigation into corruption while he was in office. On July 7th, Mr Zuma was taken into custody. His allies then spread misinformation about the basis for his arrest and encouraged unrest. This led to some of the worst violence since the Apartheid era; trucks were burned, telecommunication towers were destroyed, the largest oil refinery was shut down, and hundreds of people were killed. Drew and Alex discuss how this was fueled by mob violence created by political division and lies. They also talk about how this will just hurt South Africans as many businesses will leave the country. 

Between 1830 and 1998, Canadian governments and churches separated more than 150,000 native children from their parents and placed them in mandatory boarding schools. Children were forced by the schools to cut their hair, forget about their cultural heritage and traditions, and were banned from speaking their native languages. There were reports of sexual and physical abuse, and some of the children even committed suicide. Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that this effort amounted to “a cultural genocide." Over the last month, Canadians have discovered hundreds of unmarked graves belonging to children who may have died at the schools due to disease or neglect; some were even been killed. It is estimated that close to 4,100 children vanished from the schools nationwide, but numbers could be even closer to 10,000. In this episode, Drew and Alex discuss this atrocity, what it looks like for a nation like Canada to reconcile with its past, and why the United States needs to do the same. They also discuss recent Catholic Church burnings around Canada that are a reaction to the discovery of these unmarked graves. Is justice served with an eye for an eye? 

Eminent Domain is the right given by the constitution for the government to seize private property for public use, with payment of compensation. For example, the government can take someone's private property to make room for a new highway or a bridge, as long as it is defined as being for public use or for the “public good.” In this episode, Drew and Alex break down when this has worked and whether it is the right stance. They look into the interstate highway system during the 1950’s and how eminent domain was used to build highways in urban centers; they also touch on how locations like Dodgers stadium were built under this guise. They also discuss how this process can backfire, how it indirectly hurts minority communities, and where and how this idea can and can’t work.