Building A Better Future
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 29 June 2017
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Narcopolitics in Paraguay, demolitions in Moscow and the incessant barking of feral dogs in Seychelles. Kate Adie introduces correspondents’ stories from around the world.
In Moscow, Polina Ivanova visits one of the thousands of Soviet-era housing blocks earmarked for demolition as part one of the biggest urban redevelopment projects ever undertaken. While many residents support the plans, others suspect it’s a ruse to divert money to construction companies. In Paraguay, Laurence Blair meets the journalist who relies on an around the clock police guard, as he to tries to stay safe reporting on the country’s violent drug trade.
In Seychelles, Tim Ecott is met by barking dogs, loud music and some selfish-driving – some of the more unwelcome signs of growing social freedom. Dave Lee joins the queues of people willing to wait for hours to get the chance to play the latest computer games before almost anyone else - even if only for a brief moment. And Sara Wheeler takes an architectural tour of Sri Lanka discovering that modernisation on the island often means working with what you’ve got – however ancient, rather than starting again.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:03.0 | Thank you for downloading from our own correspondent. |
| 0:06.0 | This is the edition that was broadcast on radio for on Thursday, June the 29th, 2017. |
| 0:12.0 | With the story behind why Soviet-era tower blocks are being torn down in Moscow |
| 0:17.8 | and why ancient buildings are being celebrated in Sri Lanka, here's Kate Aide. |
| 0:23.0 | Hello, today a pen, a notebook, a phone, possibly a mosquito net and a torch. |
| 0:29.0 | Journalistic essentials, never a gun, though reporting on Paraguay's drug trade might give pause for thought. |
| 0:37.0 | We're in Seychelles, a quiet idle in the Indian Ocean, though life's getting more stressful with barking dogs and loud music, |
| 0:44.8 | apparently the sounds of increased social freedoms. We queue up in LA to sit down, |
| 0:51.2 | if only for a brief moment, to play the latest computer games and |
| 0:55.1 | what's left of traditional architecture in Sri Lanka plenty it seems. |
| 1:00.3 | Earlier this month |
| 1:02.6 | thousands of people across Russia took to the streets in protest against corruption. |
| 1:08.2 | State media ignored them claiming they were just holidaymakers and the opposition opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was arrested |
| 1:15.2 | before he could join the demonstration himself. I want changes, he said. I want our taxes |
| 1:21.2 | to be converted into roads, schools and hospitals, not yachts, palaces and vineyards. |
| 1:28.0 | Others had specific demands. |
| 1:31.0 | One of the groups at the Moscow rally was there because of plans to |
| 1:34.3 | demolish Soviet-era apartment blocks in a city. While many residents support |
| 1:39.6 | the plans, opponents claim their rights are being ignored and many fear they'll not be |
| 1:44.5 | compensated fairly by the state. |
| 1:46.9 | Polina Ivanova went to visit one of the blocks due to be knocked down. |
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