2022
July
19
Tuesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

July 19, 2022
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April Austin
Weekly Deputy Editor, Books Editor

People who love browsing in actual bookstores will be elated to learn that small, independent shops are thriving. And becoming more diverse. Pre-pandemic, the outlook for indies appeared bleak, with Amazon dominating the market. But among the silver linings of life in lockdown was a return to the printed word. “People wanted to rebuild their attention spans,” says Kate Layte, owner of Papercuts Bookshop in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. She and her staff “curate a world-class collection of literature, books that we stand behind, voices we want to uplift, and books by historically underrepresented authors.”

The overall signs are encouraging. More than 300 new independent bookstores opened in the last two years, according to the American Booksellers Association. Sales have risen, too. Eighty percent of stores saw higher sales in 2021 than in 2020. The ABA is also seeing an uptick in the number of owners who are people of color. However, only 5% to 6% of the estimated 2,500 independent bookstores in the country are Black-owned.   

It’s not easy for small stores to survive. “The business ebbs and flows,” says Carlos Franklin, owner of Black Stone Bookstore and Cultural Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which specializes in Black literature. He’s often had to pay out of his own pocket to keep the doors open, but he looks at it as a public service. “It’s a blessing to provide the community with knowledge,” he says. 

Neighborhood support is key. In 2020, Ms. Layte had just moved from a 400-square-foot hole-in-the-wall to a space triple that size – and then the pandemic hit. A GoFundMe campaign and online sales kept her store afloat. Papercuts opened in its new location in May of 2020. Then, in April of this year, two cars crashed into the store’s front window (no one was hurt). The neighborhood swung into action again, raising money to make repairs. The shop, which Ms. Layte says is finally turning a profit, was able to reopen just days later.     

She credits the neighborhood’s strong sense of shared literary history for keeping her store going. Booksellers “are the stewards of our spaces,” Ms. Layte says. “We’re in the service of the books and authors.”


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The Monitor's View

When the United States set up a special command for its military operations in Africa 15 years ago, one concern was that weak governments were becoming a cause of violent Islamist extremism. That assumption turned out to be correct. Offshoots of Al Qaeda and Islamic State have since spread to more than a dozen countries. In the global effort to counter jihadism, Africa is now a front-line continent.

That struggle is particularly acute in Mozambique. Since 2017, Islamist extremists have overrun cities and villages in the country’s northernmost province, Cabo Delgado. Thousands of people have been killed and about 800,000 have been displaced. At the same time, the conflict has compelled an unusual response from a collection of players – other African states, Europe, and civil society groups – to assert a vision in the province of social uplift, common security, and rule of law.

A year ago, for example, a regional bloc of nations, the Southern African Development Community, deployed roughly 3,000 troops to quell the violence. Working with partners from the European Union, the U.S., and Rwanda, the intervention has become one of the most successful joint security operations in Africa. The insurgents have been pushed into remote areas. Last week, regional leaders agreed to extend the mission another six months.

“This is exactly the kind of solutions that the United States likes to see: solutions led by African partners, buttressed by other international partners, and supported by the United States where we can lend a hand,” Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, head of U.S. Africa Command, said in February.

The enhanced security has allowed religious and civic groups to more safely address social and economic problems in Cabo Delgado, reaching vulnerable youth who might be inclined to join violent jihadis. That work, supported by the United Nations, includes building schools and health clinics while providing families with seeds and tools to start farms. The national government has developed a $300 million recovery plan for the province.

Just as important have been efforts to give people a greater say in civic affairs. At a meeting of community leaders, police, and civil servants in June, for example, Dinis Matsolo, a Methodist bishop from the capital, Maputo, urged peace building based on a restoration of trust, honesty, and respect between local government and the people. That call was matched by appeals for unity from religious leaders.

Muslim clerics have also tried to enlighten the jihadis. Islam, said Jamal Mussa, a member of the Islamic Council of Mozambique, preserves life and respects a “healthy coexistence between people regardless of their convictions, be they religious, political, and even cultural,” according to the Mozambique News Agency.

Such messages resonate beyond the Muslim community. Manuel Rodrigues, the governor of the nearby province of Nampula, has thanked Muslim leaders for “defending the noblest values of human life – peace, harmony, love, compassion, and solidarity," according to AllAfrica website.

For Mozambique, the struggle against violent Islamists requires more than a military response. It also means addressing grievances that drive the insurgency by building new norms of governance and shared security.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication – in its various forms – is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church – The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston – whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

Recognizing the power and presence of divine Truth disarms fear and discord, opening the way to stability, peace, and progress.


A message of love

Gene J. Puskar/AP
A Heinz ketchup bottle, one of two that were part of the Heinz Field scoreboard, is removed from the newly named Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, July 19, 2022.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us today. Come back tomorrow for a story about the extreme heat affecting many parts of the world and whether it is changing people’s mindsets about global warming.

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2022
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