ABBY SEIFF
Selected Clips
Fearless
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The first time I go to meet the activist Ei Thinzar Maung, she is nowhere to be found. It is the middle of March, six weeks after Myanmar’s military seized power from the civilian government, arrested its leaders and began a merciless campaign against ordinary citizens demanding a return to democratic rule.
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A Thai Monk Is Using Social Media to Preach Violence Against Muslims
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Apichart made headlines after calling on his social media followers to burn one mosque for every Buddhist monk killed in the deep south. The Thai government moved swiftly to shut down his Facebook page, but the controversy has only increased his popularity. In the months since, thousands more have flocked to follow him on social media. And for every user attacking him for "really divisive" rhetoric, there are two urging him to "keep fighting."
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How Microloans Betrayed Cambodians
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If her business continues to suffer, Sophear might pull her younger son from high school to save on fees. Her older son might leave university to work in an overheated garment factory or on a dangerous construction site—or cross the Thai border illegally to work on a plantation, where he would likely arrive already in debt to his smuggler. If Sophear becomes very desperate she may even sell some or all of her land, an irretrievable loss of the small wealth she hopes to pass on to her children.
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Read the rest at The Dial
Meet the Syrian Stranded at the KL Airport for 91 Days and Counting
The arrivals hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 is a utilitarian affair. Large windows look out onto the tarmac, the slicked linoleum floor inclines gently to the immigration counters. People move fast here—the business travelers, the parents with small kids, the backpackers and students returning home. They barrel forward, toward the next step, out there. Confined to this nowhere land, Hassan Al Kontar stays still.
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