The Take

A budget bill has pushed thousands of Guatemalans into the streets every Saturday since November to demand their government do better by its citizens. Public frustration has been targeted at President Alejandro Giammattei over $13 billion in cuts to education and health, all while millions are struggling to recuperate after the devastation left by Hurricanes Eta and Iota. We’re taking a deep dive into what’s behind protester's demands, and why corruption seems to be at the root of it.

In this episode:

Jose Zamora (@jczamora), Guatemalan journalist in Miami, Florida

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Farmers in India went through tear gas and water cannons to block key highways into Delhi for the last two weeks. They’re protesting a series of reforms that will open up the country’s agriculture sector to private corporations — and open farmers up to potential exploitation. We find out why thousands of farmers have left their homes during a pandemic to demand an end to these laws.

In this episode:

Elizabeth Puranam (@LizPuranam), Al Jazeera journalist in Delhi, India.

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Rehmat Zafar’s family is spread out across the world: Her parents are in Islamabad; her sister’s in Nairobi and her brother’s in New York. In 2020, that’s been hard. Rehmat’s trying to find her feet in a year where nothing has gone according to plan. This episode is the first in our series, ‘20 in 2020’ — a snapshot of a global generation coming of age in an unprecedented year.

In this episode:

Rehmat Zafar, 20, graphic design student.

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Many Iranians had no idea who Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was when he was assassinated at the end of November. But intelligence services in Israel and the United States had been tracking Iran's top nuclear scientist for years.

So what happened that day, and what will it mean for Iran? We’re exploring Fakhrizadeh’s story, and the future of US-Iran relations as the US transitions from a Donald Trump administration to Joe Biden.

In this episode:

Maziar Motamedi (@MotamediMaziar), Al Jazeera journalist in Tehran, Iran.

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Scientists and doctors agree - pollution is killing Indians. In 2017, more than 1 million people in India died from pollution-related illnesses. But the Indian government denies any correlation. This year, exposure to pollution has also been linked to a higher number of COVID-19 cases and deaths related to the virus.

Amid a public health emergency, we’re revisiting an episode we first aired in February to examine the stark differences in how the air pollution crisis is affecting Delhi's rich and poor.

In this episode: 

Neha Tara Mehta (@NehaTaraMehta), New Delhi native and Al Jazeera producer.

For more:

Delhi's Deadly Air

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Illegal fishing, disappearing squid, and ghost ships — a mystery has been unraveling in East Asia's seas. Researchers have discovered an eco-crisis in the waters off North and South Korea, and there’s a human cost. Local fisherman are struggling to make a living and dying while trying. Global Fishing Watch joins The Take to shed light on the environmental and human costs of squid fishing.

In this episode:

Jaeyoon Park (@Jaeyoon_GFW), Senior Data Scientist for Global Fishing Watch.

For more:

North Korea’s Ghost Ships by Al Jazeera's 101 East

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The coronavirus pandemic has brought much of the world’s economies into a recession, affecting every sector of the global population. But one generation may never recover — Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012. From a lack of socialization to not being able to start their careers, we’re examining how Gen Z'ers from ages 8 to 23 will have to manage these unprecedented challenges.

In this episode:

Kaelyn Forde (@kaelynforde), Al Jazeera business editor for the Americas

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While the Taliban and the Afghan government discuss peace in Doha, the violence back in Afghanistan seems unending. Afghanistan has been hit with a wave of targeted killings aimed at activists, civilians, and journalists. Today we have the story of one such journalist — the reporter Mohammad Ilyas Dayee, who brought the rest of the world countless stories of his home country.

In this episode:

Abubakar Siddique (@sid_abu), editor of @GandharaRFE.

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This year seemed destined to be the year Hong Kong would get democracy, or lose everything. But as 2020 progressed, we’ve watched the movement suffer, blow after blow. We’re revisiting an episode we aired in June, and checking in on how coronavirus and the National Security Law have thwarted the fight for democracy.

In this episode:

Divya Gopalan (@DivyaGnews), Al Jazeera journalist.

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Beirut’s reconstruction in the wake of the August port explosion needs billions of dollars and months of work, and with little political or economic progress, the engine of the city’s reconstruction so far has been civil society. One recycling initiative is focusing on the glass that shattered all over Beirut by recycling the shards into new products.

In this episode:

Ziad Abichaker, CEO of Cedar Environmental.

For more:

Finished glass products created from the Beirut blast.

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