Pulitzer Center Update

This Week: Living on the Margins

The Kazansky station in Moscow welcomes two trains a week form Tajikistan. They are packed with men and the occasional woman, exhausted after the four-day trip.  For some the ride was a chance at adventure, but for many it was the economical choice. Traveling by train rather than flying saves some over $100, the equivalent of several week's earnings.  Image by George Butler. Tajikistan, 2016.

The Kazansky station in Moscow welcomes two trains a week form Tajikistan. They are packed with men and the occasional woman, exhausted after the four-day trip.  For some the ride was a chance at adventure, but for many it was the economical choice. Traveling by train rather than flying saves some over $100, the equivalent of several week's earnings.  Image by George Butler. Tajikistan, 2016.

The Midnight Train to Moscow

George Butler and Joe Schottenfeld

Four days, five border crossings and 2,000 miles. Pulitzer Center grantees George Butler and Joe Schottenfeld traveled from Dushanbe to Moscow by rail, joining the army of migrant workers from Tajikistan in their desperate search for work in the Russian capital. “Tajikistan, the poorest Central Asian state, is among the most labor migration-dependent countries in the world,” writes Joe in his report for Foreign Policy. “In 2015, it received the equivalent of 37 percent of its GDP in the form of remittances.” The hardships endured by the workers are captured in George’s remarkable illustrations.

Remy Fernandez, 84 years old, holds two of the seven grandchildren she is raising. Her youngest son, Constantino de Juan, a methamphetamine user, was killed by masked men in December, 2016. Upon seeing his attackers, Juan instructed five-year-old CJ, shown here wearing a red tank top, to take care of his siblings. The children's mother is in prison due to a drug arrest. Baby RJ, in the "daddy's little helper" T-shirt, was born in prison. Image by James Whitlow Delano. Philippines, 2017.

Remy Fernandez, 84 years old, holds two of the seven grandchildren she is raising. Her youngest son, Constantino de Juan, a methamphetamine user, was killed by masked men in December, 2016. Upon seeing his attackers, Juan instructed five-year-old CJ, shown here wearing a red tank top, to take care of his siblings. The children's mother is in prison due to a drug arrest. Baby RJ, in the "daddy's little helper" T-shirt, was born in prison. Image by James Whitlow Delano. Philippines, 2017. 

A Plague of Killing

Ana P. Santos

Over the past year Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has presided over the extrajudicial killings of more than 14,000 citizens. Grantees Ana Santos and James Whitlow Delano look at how various institutions in the country—including the Catholic Church—have responded.

Still image from PBS NewsHour video "How many submarines does the U.S. really need?" Image by Daniel Sagalyn. United States, 2016.

Still image from PBS NewsHour video "How many submarines does the U.S. really need?" Image by Daniel Sagalyn. United States, 2016.

Fire, Fury and Bombast

Jamie Mclntyre

President Trump boasted last week that he had ordered a modernization of the US’s nuclear arsenal. Actually it was President Obama who ordered that—as grantee Jamie McIntyre reported last year. The PBS NewsHour revisited parts of Jamie’s project last week.

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