The Economist: After two years of civilian rule, Myanmar’s politicians are gloomy

March 30th marked two years since the army ceded power to the NLD. But it left in place a constitution that exempts it from civilian control, puts it in charge of internal security and grants it a quarter of seats in parliament, massively curtailing the new government’s authority. The constitution also deliberately bars Ms Suu Kyi from the presidency, as the parent of foreigners (her children are British citizens). Ms Suu Kyi has at least got around that: she is, in her own words, “above the president”. In late March the placeman she had installed in the presidency announced on Facebook that he was resigning to “take a rest”. Parliament promptly elected a new one, Win Myint, an NLD loyalist like his predecessor. Little will change as a result. Ms Suu Kyi remains firmly in charge.

Some things have improved markedly since the NLD took office. Myanmar has jumped up Transparency International’s corruption index, a survey based on public perceptions. Citizens are also much freer to speak their minds than they used to be. But NLD politicians are novices who struggle to put ideas into practice. Some were first elected in 1990, but were never allowed to take their seats in parliament. Instead, the army put many of them in jail. While Ms Suu Kyi runs the country, a clique of these ageing former political prisoners runs the party. They are not running much. The NLD is more a fan club than a party articulating policies and training future leaders. As a party whip puts it, “NLD minus Aung San Suu Kyi equals nearly zero.” [...]

The NLD is also cutting itself off from people with ideas. Foreign advisers are regarded with growing suspicion because of their complaints about Myanmar’s persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority. Parliament is cooking up legislation to curb the activities of the UN and international NGOs. The NLD is even more hostile towards home-grown activists. The government has passed a law making it easier for police to ban protests. Mael Raynaud, a long-term observer of Burmese politics, notes that the NLD’s imprisoned leaders did not witness the blossoming of civil society in the 2000s thanks to a loosening up by the army and in response to a devastating cyclone. Years of repression also fostered paranoia, which has left the NLD prizing loyalty over competence.

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Bloomberg: Iran's Nobel Laureate Is Done With Reform. She Wants Regime Change

For Ebadi the means of ending Iranian tyranny should be a U.N.-monitored referendum on the constitution that proposes a basic change: the elimination of the unelected office of supreme leader. The Iranian people, she said, "want to change our regime, by changing our constitution to a secular constitution based on the universal declaration of human rights." [...]

Ebadi told me she never believed Rouhani was a reformer. Nonetheless, she also said she was reluctant to call for the end of the regime, because the 1979 revolution was so traumatic. This is why she says the current uprising has no single leader. "In the course of the struggle the leaders will emerge," she told me. "When we have free elections in Iran, the leaders will show themselves." [...]

To start, she made it clear that she was not calling for a military invasion of Iran or any kind of U.S. interference with the movement itself. "The regime change in Iran should take place inside Iran and by the people of Iran," she said. "But you can help the people of Iran reach their own goal."

To this end, Ebadi had some recommendations. The basic idea is that the West should implement sanctions that weaken the regime, but do not hurt the people themselves. For example, Ebadi says the U.S. and European governments should sanction the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, or IRIB. This conglomerate controls the media in Iran, and also manages Iran's external foreign propaganda such as the English-language PressTV and the Arabic al-Alam.

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The Guardian: Giant condoms and buckets of fake blood: the true story of Aids activists Act Up

The film’s director, 55-year-old Robin Campillo, was once part of the organisation and faithfully portrays the urgency of the group: they debate and argue, they protest and party, they cry, they have sex, they smoke and, inevitably, sometimes they die. For viewers whose knowledge of Aids movies are limited to Tom Hanks tastefully fading away in Philadelphia, it will come as quite a shock. [...]

Today, when in the affluent, white, western world at least, the Aids crisis has largely abated, it’s hard to recall the horror and confusion of the time – and the levels of prejudice. 120 BPM encapsulates this moment. Within the LGBT community, the ructions were as diverse as the people themselves. Tatchell, though, now manages to sum up Act Up London’s ethos: “It targeted anyone and everyone who was failing to address the HIV crisis.”

The group, as with all other chapters, specialised in direct, nonviolent action, aided by striking visuals. The aim, Tatchell says, was to “raise public awareness and put powerful people on the spot. It was also a psychological morale boost for people with the virus.” [...]

In short, a British 120 BPM would look the same, but different. Despite this, there were subtle and important differences between Act Up in different countries. Britain was, everyone agrees, relatively lucky to have the NHS, which reacted well to the crisis – for this, and many other reasons, people never mobilised around the movement in quite the same way as in the US or France. It could even be just a matter of national temperament, the Brits opting to be less politicised and more focused on things such as providing care. However, most do believe that Act Up in Britain paved the way for more “respectable”, or at least organised, advocacy groups to make their case in the corridors of power. Tatchell calls them “the shock troops in the battle against HIV”.

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Quartz: Portugal generated enough renewable energy to power the whole country in March

Portugal’s renewable electricity production exceeded monthly consumption for what is likely the first time, in March, according to the nation’s transmission system operator, REN.The average renewable generation for the month exceeded 103% of consumption, beating out the last record (99.2%), set in 2014.

It almost certainly won’t be the last time. The country is predicting that renewables will satisfy its mainland electricity needs by 2040, ultimately eliminating the electricity sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. Although most of last month’s electricity came from water and wind (link in Portuguese), the country relied on some fossil fuel and imported electricity. Water- and wind-generated power can be rather unpredictable, so even as total renewable generation exceeded Portugal’s electricity consumption for the month (as well as some exports), Portugal needed those sources to even out supply. [...]

But a 100% goal is not fantasy, especially in Europe. Germany has committed to an electricity supply that is at least 80% renewable, possibly as high as 100%, by mid-century. Denmark already produces around 100% of its own needs at times from renewable sources, as does Norway and Iceland, thanks to hydropower and geothermal heat. Sweden’s new Climate Act commits the country to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. But they still have a long way to go.

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Quartz: Drone photos reveal the abandoned homes left by Spain’s housing crash

After the Spain housing market cratered in 2007, millions of home built during the speculative era were abandoned. By 2011, Spanish census figures put the number of empty houses at 3.4 million, roughly 30% of all of Europe’s empty property. A half million developments were only partially completed.

Photographer Markel Redondo has documented the remnants of that era for nearly a decade, resulting in his project Sand Castles. This year, he revisited some of the original developments he photographed, for a second installment called Sand Castles (part II). The project was completed with equipment and funding from the British Journal of Photography’s DJI Drone Photography Awards. [...]

The new perspective also puts the developments in a stark contrast to their surrounding areas. “I knew the developments were big, but I could not imagine their true extent,” he said. “The sites are completely deserted and the locations are difficult to reach so, unless you are determined to go there, most people don’t ever see them.”

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