February 29, 2024 - Ottawa Public Library on Freedom to Read, Religious historian on Israel-Hamas violence and Ramadan, war in Ukraine passes two-year mark, and Mexico's current water crisis

In this episode, we hear from Ottawa Public Library's program manager Alexandra Yarrow about their Freedom to Read week (1:19). We discuss censorship issues in Canada and the importance of accessing information. Lawrence Hill, author of The Book of Negroes spoke at one of the Freedom to Read events in Ottawa as his historical fiction novel has faced pushback and censorship.Then, we move into censorship in Israel's war against Hamas (18:26). We hear from religious studies scholar Norman Cornett about how religion is being weaponized in the violence we've seen since Oct. 7, particularly as it applies to recent threats of attack on Rafah at the start of Ramadan.Then we discuss the current state of the war in Ukraine as it recently passed the two-year mark (26:15). Arya Gunde delves into the international perception of the grinding war, and the potential cases of a stalemate.Finally, Marcela Gonzalez walks us through Mexico City's water crisis, and the nearing future for the city to completely run dry (28:54).