Leading The Change

The Rohingya village elder reduced to rags and the flash youngster who’s become kingpin. Kate Adie introduces stories, insight and analysis from correspondents around the world: Helen Nianias meets two men trying to bring peace to the chaos of Bangladesh’s refugee camps which are home to almost a million Rohingya people many of whom fled a violent crackdown by the Burmese military in neighbouring Myanmar. Guy De Launey reflects on a tale of identity that’s veered from absurd comedy to physical violence as Macedonians prepare to vote on plans to rename their country North Macedonia. Martin Plaut was one of the thousand or so students who staged a ‘sit-in’ at the University of Cape Town, angry at its decision to withdraw the appointment of a black lecturer. Fifty years on, he’s reunited with some of his fellow protestors. Mark Stratton learns about the scarification ceremonies in Papua New Guinea in which boys have their torsos, backs, and shoulders cut with razor blades so their skin will resemble a crocodile's – a mark of their progression to manhood. And Jenny Hill meets a man who’s been trying for decades to rekindle Britain’s taste for Hock – the German wine favoured by Queen Victoria.