Strange Locations and Free Minds
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 1 July 2017
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A nightmare ferry journey in The Gambia, a musical metro ride under East Berlin and a Shakespearean train journey in Russia. Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories.
In Pakistan, Secunder Kermani explores why the university student Mashal Khan, who was accused of blasphemy, ended up beaten to death by an angry mob on campus.
In The Gambia, Shaimaa Khalil makes the long and arduous commute across the River Gambia. The ferries – which are often over-crowed and much delayed - are the only way for many people to reach the capital Banjul. As Brexit negotiations continue, Kevin Connolly recalls his first trip to ‘The Continent‘ in the year that Britain joined what was to become the European Union.
In Russian, Kirsty Lang finds that cultural ties to Britain remain strong, despite souring diplomatic relations.
And despite attempts to keep Western music out of East Germany during the Cold War, Chris Bowlby discovers that, in strange locations and in free minds, many refused to dance to the communist tune.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:03.6 | Hello. Today the Gambia got a new president in January the first for 22 years. |
| 0:10.1 | So what's changed in his six months in charge? |
| 0:13.5 | It's surprising how much you can learn from a ferry journey. |
| 0:17.5 | Brussels may have become synonymous with meddlesome bureaucracy and endless health and safety diktarts, but our correspondent remembers a time |
| 0:26.1 | when a solemn pledge was enough to get you a Belgian driver's license. Relations |
| 0:32.2 | between Russia and the UK may be souring, but all the |
| 0:36.4 | worlds are stage and we still share a love of Shakespeare. And we hear about the |
| 0:41.6 | toughest of assignments for a former Stasi officer in East Germany, |
| 0:46.0 | hunting down and squashing any sound of rock and roll music and enthusiasm for punk. |
| 0:53.0 | blasphemy is illegal in Pakistan |
| 0:56.0 | and punishable by death. |
| 0:58.0 | People have received the death penalty |
| 1:00.0 | and while the state hasn't executed anyone, |
| 1:02.0 | a number of people have been murdered, including |
| 1:05.1 | the student Michelle Khan. |
| 1:07.8 | He was accused of blasphemy against Islam, though a police investigation found no evidence. He was lynched. A mob of |
| 1:15.2 | hundreds had marched around his university chanting religious slogans before they |
| 1:20.5 | found and attacked him in his room. |
| 1:23.7 | Politicians condemned the killing and there have been large demonstrations in support of |
| 1:28.0 | Michelle. |
| 1:29.0 | The first time someone accused of blasphemy in Pakistan has received such open support. |
... |
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