[music]

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. To finish up today, a call in for anyone with ties to the UK, to Japan, to Sri Lanka, or any other country experiencing a leadership crisis right now. There seems to be a bunch. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. The premise here is that January 6th committee hearings notwithstanding, and we'll have live coverage at one o'clock today of the latest, the US isn't the only country facing inner turmoil at its leadership ranks, even though we tend to look inward most of the time. You know that in England, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned. You know that in Japan, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated the other day. As we speak, Sri Lankan protesters are occupying President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's home at the moment, also demonstrating in the Prime Minister's home or office.

Listeners, we want to hear from you who have ties to another country, perhaps one of those three countries or even another that's going through a political crisis right now. Let everybody else in on what's happening in that country that you're connected to. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. I particularly love to hear from anybody with ties to Sri Lanka right now, where protesters have stormed the homes of both the President and the Prime Minister. The Associated Press reports that Sri Lankans are demanding an end to corruption that has caused the country's economic collapse, real economic problems there.

As I understand it, it's not just corruption, it's economic policy that's the massive failure. Although President Rajapaksa and his prime minister have promised to step down, demonstrators declared that they will not leave Rajapaksa's property until he is officially out of office, because they don't believe them. Listeners, anyone out there from Sri Lanka? Do you have family or friends there now? What do you think of these protests? What's next? Describe the situation in that country that you have ties to, for people who don't know enough about it and should know a little bit more. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

How about in England? We haven't done a Boris Johnson segment, we're preceded by the BBC every day and they handle it. Sometimes we're about 53 out of the 60 minutes of the hour, in recent days, but what about those of you with ties to the UK? Are you happy Boris Johnson resigned? Does it have more to do with his politics than his scandal? Or what does this look like to you? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Do you think the UK is going to remain under a Conservative Party leadership even post-Boris Johnson, or is there more of a political shift that's related to this? I don't know, you tell me.

As Britain looks for a new prime minister, Japan, as you know, is reeling from the unprecedented act of gun violence that took the life of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The murder suspect was detained after using a homemade gun to fatally shoot Abe as he gave a speech on Friday. Some context for this that Americans will largely find almost impossible to believe. The New York Times reports that last year, 2021, there was only one death that involved a firearm in Japan. One death that involved a firearm in Japan, a country that's like us in many ways. It's a major industrialized country, but they have strict gun laws.

Listeners with ties to Japan, what are your reactions to this horrific news? If you're from Japan and have been living in America for a while, how has this country changed or shaped your view of gun restrictions? Another way we compare the United States to Japan, they are both democracies. How did that democracy in your experience, if you have ties to that country, wind up with such strict gun laws as they celebrate their freedom? Here allegedly it has something to do with freedom. What do you think of Abe's legacy in Japan? What do you think of the gun laws in Japan? 212-433-WNYC, or anyone else with ties to any other country experiencing a political crisis right now. Let everybody else in on what you think is happening and why. Sunny in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi, Sunny.

Sunny: Yes, good money. I'm calling from Queens. I'm actually with Nigeria and not Japan or Sri Lanka.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, Nigeria. Good.

Sunny: I've told the screener, situation in Nigeria is worse than the three countries that you mentioned. It started a long time ago with a general called Babangida. He was the one who corrupted everybody in Nigeria, from the judiciary to the common person on the street. Today in Nigeria, the criminals, the Boko Haram, they're running wild killing people every day. The chaos there is so bad that nobody even want to discuss it. When we talk about Sri Lanka, who are even making an attempt to even do something, Nigeria almost the people have given up. That's how bad the situation in Nigeria is.

Brian Lehrer: How did it get that bad?

Sunny: It got that bad because after the military took over, and then the civilian came in 1979, the first civilian government under Shehu Shagari immediately after there's a general called Babangida who came in and became the president through a coup d'etat. As soon as he came in, he was so scrooge, he did exactly close to what Trump did here. He started by corrupting the judiciary, the common person, the police, the military, everybody was corrupt. That they are under his wing because he had corrupted them. Nobody can see anything. After he left, that system is already in place.

In Nigeria right now, everything is corrupt. Everybody's corrupt. There's nobody who is free. That is the legacy he left, and we are still dealing with it today. I see the same thing here. When Trump came in, he was doing exactly what the Babangida did, I say, "Oh, my God, look at what this man is doing." This is where we are.

Brian Lehrer: That must have been fascinating, even as disturbing as it was to see those parallels because of the experiences that you had in Nigeria. Sunny, thank you for filling us in a little bit on that. We'll have to follow up. Tom in Manhattan with ties to Sri Lanka. Tom, you're on WNYC. Hi, there.

Tom: Hi, Brian. How are you doing? Well, the situation in Sri Lanka, of course, is terrible now and the citizens have taken up a people power. The President has been chased now, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has a long history as defense minister, as a military man, during which he pursued severe, severe actions against the Tamil minority and against dissidents within his own country. This part of the story is not been framed. He came in as a military strong man who killed as many as 50,000 perhaps Tamil people at the end of the Tamil war some years ago, has been continuing severe repression against the press, against civil society in Sri Lanka. This is certainly part of the story that should be framed. Thanks a lot.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Let's go next to Sean in Brooklyn. Sean, you're on WNYC. Hi.

Sean: Hi, Brian. First-time, long-time. I'm calling because I'm not Japanese, but I lived in Japan for several years in the mid-2000s, and my wife is from Japan. Although I'm personally pretty liberal and disagreed with a lot of Shinzo Abe's policies as a conservative politician himself, I really respected the fact that he hosted President Obama as the first President to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial at the site of the first a bombing because when I went there, that was one of the most moving experiences I had in Japan. I thought there was some mutual respect between those two leaders. In fact, President Obama had posted something nice on Instagram about Mr. Abe after his death.

Brian Lehrer: Sean, thank you very much for that. Nasrin in Westchester, you're on WNYC. Hi, Nasrin.

Nasrin: Hi, Brian. I would like to say something about Iran or what's going on right now, and I don't see that much news coverage. A lot of things going on. It's hard to go really to the detail of it. Just to say that today, the majority of women are against the dress code that the Islamic Republic of Iran is forcing people to do.

Brian Lehrer: The dress code.

Nasrin: It's not just about the dress code because when you do that it means you don't have ability to do lots of things that any human being has a right to do. Not right to your body, not deciding who you going to marry or how many children you want to do. Every day this is getting worse and worse. This corrupt government does not want to listen to his own people. That's all I wanted to say.

Brian Lehrer: You say there's a big demonstration today by women in Iran about this?

Nasrin: Yes, and the news does not cover it. I understand they have limited time and so much going on, but I see coming to a point in many countries that people have been oppressed for many years, they are fed up now because of the financial and the environment that is we are going to reduce environmental change. The economy, everything is adding up. You see all these people are just against people who have been ruled all these years and nothing has been done to improve people life.

Brian Lehrer: Well, maybe there's opportunity now with the reasons that women have to be particularly politically activated here right now for more international solidarity and maybe more attention to the news today from Iran. Nasrin, thank you very, very much. Joyce and Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi Joyce.

Joyce: Hi, sorry. Surprised me. I lived and worked as a banker in Japan for a while. One thing I would say is it's not surprising that about their one person death rate for a few reasons. One is the obvious subsequent feelings relative to world War-II but in addition, the community there we--

Brian Lehrer: In other words, World War II, just that's worth elaborating on a little bit. They have a very pacifist, I think would be a fair word, constitution following the reconstruction after World War II?

Joyce: Yes. What was so shocking to me as living and working an office in Japan, Tokyo, and these were people at that time in their 30s. World War II is so present in people's minds, unlike here. It was on their land. It's a whole different thing and it permeates into following generations. It's very much present for them. There's that, and then in addition, there is the concept of as I start to say, we versus me. Whereas I think the US is very I centric, Japan is very about the community. You're part of an environment. I think that's a big piece of it. One last little piece, when I was leaving my sayonara party [unintelligible 00:13:47]. Now, remember, you're going back to New York. It's not safe anymore. It's not in Tokyo. You're not living in Tokyo anymore. It was like was leaving Kansas.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. Why do you think the relationship with World War II and that pacifism on a national level, international level, generalizes down to individual gun violence?

Joyce: Because it was such a hard lesson learned. People's desire to have peace after such devastation. The clock swings to the polar 180 degree opposite. I think that's a big piece of that.

Brian Lehrer: Joyce, thank you so much for your call. One more. Mick, a British expat, he says, on the Upper West Side. Mick, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Mick: Good morning, Brian. Nice to speak to you. The point I was going to make, it's interesting. A lot of people don't realize Boris Johnson was actually born in New York.

Brian Lehrer: He was?

Mick: His parents were working here, so he could actually run the US president in '24. Now, having been fired as prime minister of the UK, that's actually the fourth time he's been fired from a job for lying. It seems like he'd make the ideal Republican candidate.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much Mick. That's as good as a way as any to end. I didn't know that Boris Johnson was born in New York. If that's true, then as a natural-born US citizen, as they say, he is technically eligible to run against Donald Trump and whoever else in the Republican presidential primaries in 2024. That's The Brain Lehrer Show for today produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srma and Carl Boisrond. Zach Gottehrer Cohen edits our daily politics podcast. We had Juliana Fonda and Milton Ruiz at the audio controls. I'm Brian Lehrer.

Copyright © 2022 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.