This article is largely Bowermaster’s interview with filmmaker Jon Shenk, director of 2004′s Lost Boys of Sudan. Shenk was doing a documentary on Mohamed Nasheed, an activist who became the first democratically elected president of the Maldives. Shenk had hoped that Nasheed would do much in the realm of international climate change politics, but the president was recently ousted by supporters of the former dictator.
The people of the Maldives are affected by this. The overthrow of their democratically elected president means that their harsh dictatorship is back in power. Other nations are more indirectly affected by the coup, as Nasheed was in talks with them over international climate change. Such discussions with the Maldives will likely cease now that the activist is no longer in power.
Shenk’s film will present an interesting version of this story. Viewers will get to know Nasheed and see what his efforts were for themselves. Shenk says that those who watch the film all the way through audibly sigh at the end when they find out that Nasheed has been deposed after all of his hard work.
I would tweet this as “The Maldives’ democratic president deposed.” Something straightforward would better alert people to the seriousness of the country’s condition.
