survival

If you are not prepared for it, fame can be downright deadly. Alanis Morissette knows that better than anyone. Thirty years ago, she released her third studio album, “Jagged Little Pill,” which won five Grammys, including album of the year and best rock album, and went on to sell 33 million copies.

So, Morissette has a complicated relationship with fame. Now, she will be examining that and many other dimensions of her incredible three-decade career in a new Vegas residency at Caesars Palace that begins Wednesday and runs until Nov. 2.

As Morissette explained in a wide-ranging talk with The Times, the Vegas show will be much more than a concert. The show will take on a narrative feel that will showcase her humor, improv, wellness and all the other traits that have defined her over the years.

I love that you paired with Carly Simon on the song “Coming Around Again” because I see such a kinship based on you two over generations. There is so much in common between “You’re So Vain” and “You Oughta Know.” Not the least of which is I am sure you are both beyond over being asked, “Who is the song really about?”

Right, because what people don’t understand, and I can’t speak for Carly, but there’s a difference between revenge and revenge fantasy. I’m all about the revenge fantasy and punching pillows and gyrating and sweating and losing your s— in art. And Lord knows I’m unmeasured in other areas day-to-day, too, so it’s not like I’m some paragon of containment, but yeah, just the revenge thing, there’s a lot of schoolyard stuff going on. That’s all I’ll say for the moment.

Obviously, this is 30 years of “Jagged Little Pill.” I remember seeing Bruce Springsteen in ’88, when he did “Born to Run” acoustic. Every night when he introduced it, he would say, “I was thinking about how much that song was me, and how much I don’t want it to be me.” And I thought that was so interesting because, of course, there are songs you want to be you. So, what songs did you want to be you?

Yeah, there are so many songs that I would write about potential. So, I’d be in a relationship, and I would be writing about what I wanted to the point where whomever I may have been dating at the time, if I shared the song with them, sometimes they would say, “Who’s this about? This can’t possibly be about me.” I’m like, “Well, you know what? You’re onto something there. This is about what I wish we could be.” I think about also a song, because I’m working on the Vegas show, so we’re integrating so much. And I think the song “Not the Doctor” is probably one of the ones that I realized the naivety of having written, like, your issues just get away from me. Having been married now for 15 years, I realized that your partner’s challenges, you take each other on — all of it. So, there’s a little bit of knowledge now that makes “Not the Doctor” funny to sing.

And then “Incomplete” is a song that is a manifestation, as you just described, that I would be good. It’s like a prayer manifestation. There’s a song, “Knees of My Bees,” that I wrote about what I wished. In praise of the vulnerable man, it was what I wished. So yes, there’s some composites being made where I take seven people whom I had a similar pattern repeat, and I just lop them all into one song as one person and unify the communication; there’s no holds barred.

Has there been talk about extending the show? It does sound like you are putting a crazy amount of work into a show that right now lasts little more than a week.

For a long time — and a lot of journalists have said, “Yeah, right,” when I say this — but my energy doesn’t go into outcome. Whether the show is seen three times or 300,000 times, that’s not up to me in this moment. I’m creating stories and sharing parts of myself that I have hidden for the ’90s imperative of staying in your lane or it’s career suicide. So, I’m still unlearning that, which is the reductiveness of the ’90s, where you have to stay one thing. Then, well, what is one supposed to do if they have multiple talents or multiple intelligences dying to be expressed? We’re going to contain that so that we can keep the ’90s credo going. So, over the years, it’s just been, can I bring these other aspects of self into the whole expression of me through academia, through movement, through channeling, through live shows, through interviews right now? There are so many ways to express, and the ’90s really did say, “You do it one or two ways; you step out of that and your career is over.” Thank God that messaging is softened.

How have you seen culture and values change over your career?

It used to be “I want to be a millionaire,” and now everyone wants to be a billionaire. It used to be “I want to look 21 forever,” now it’s “I want to look 14 forever.” And then it used to be “I want to have fame as a means to an end for activism.” Now it’s just “I want fame as an end,” so it’s an interesting value system snapshot right now. And so many of us are flying in the face of it, so I’m not really worried about that. But the value system has gotten smaller almost, as though fame in and of itself is going to correct our attachment wounds. It doesn’t work, and I’m constantly raising my hand going, I thought fame would result in this profound sense of community that I’d be amongst my people and we’d be petting each other’s heads by the fire. That was not the case.

I think for anyone who comes out the other side of fame, there has to be a tremendous sense of gratitude that you survive it.

That’s a big piece of this Vegas show without me nailing it on the head or belaboring the point. It’s like, “How are some of us still here?”

How do you express that in the show? And it is interesting given your passion for wellness and mental health, it is in Vegas. Which has never been known for either.

Yeah, Vegas has been known for addiction and gambling, acting out, sexual acting out. What is Vegas known for? “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” It’s been known for that, but I believe that there’s a whole seismic shift going on. I have never underestimated people who come to my shows. Even in workshops, people are like, “Alanis, it’s too much.” And my thought is, “No, it’s not.” People can close their eyes, they can walk out, they can shut the radio off, they can take a break in the cafeteria. Part of why I love that it’s Vegas is that there’s this ceilinglessness in terms of no holds barred again, like I want to wear a boa. You want to do a backflip. Apparently, we’re doing a backflip. What has happened over the years is that again, it was this one-lane push, stay in your lane. And while this was all happening, there were all these other archetypal imperatives getting at me, like what about dancing? What about comedy? What about article writing? What about keynote speaking? What about workshop leading? What about channeling? There are all these other forms of expression that I live for. So, in some ways, I was cultivating them maybe privately. That’s just who I am. And I integrated it into every lyric.

Sinéad [O’Connor] said this perfectly, I don’t know word for word what she said, but the essence was you love the art, but you hate the artist. She said something about, “I appreciate that my audience wants everyone to hear more angry emotions from me through my songs, but then I have to be angry. And no one takes that into consideration.” I was like, “Yeah, because we’re used in the best way possible.” Artists are used as a screen upon which people identify themselves or people find who they are by hating and loving and trolling and attacking and it’s all projection, everything’s f— projection. So yeah, I just think people who are in the public eye have an experience inside of a social construct that is so violently unusual. And there’s no empathy afforded to them for that, other than maybe from people like you and me.

“There are all these other forms of expression that I live for,” says Alanis Morissette. “So, in some ways, I was cultivating them maybe privately. That’s just who I am. And I integrated it into every lyric.”

(Shervin Lainez)

How did you learn to deal with it? Unfortunately for Sinéad, she never was able to handle the fact that people were so hateful toward her, even though it had nothing to do with her.

I know, and basically that is the lack of handbook that is egregious, because so many people who were in the public eye are now physically gone. So much of it is their temperament, and I used to do talks at the neurobiology conferences at UCLA, and I would bring up the idea of temperament needing to be taken into consideration, whether it’s around suicidality or anything. Most artists are highly sensitive empaths. That is a version of neurodivergence over excitability, high-achieving, profound subtle awareness and attunement. All of these qualities that make the sweetest artists. And yet that temperament in a world that is doing what you just described Sinéad receiving, which is projecting hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. There’s no handbook on how to go, “Hey, we’re going to do shadow work here. We’re going to talk about rejection. We’re going to talk about if anyone’s saying anything that brings something up for you, bring it into therapy. Look at that part. Look at what they’re saying.” Also, always from me, look at the opposite. If you’re being invited to look at the part of you that is an a—. Always also look at the part of you that is deeply, deeply kind. For me, that’s the wholeness journey.

Being older, what have you learned about how to deal with all this?

I really do believe, Steve, that I could write a f— handbook now. I feel like if you and I got together, I could write the handbook, and we just hand it out to all the new celebs.

Do you now feel a responsibility to be able to pass your wisdom on to the new generation like Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo?

I feel great passion about it. I happen to be someone who is hilariously conscientious and intensely empathic. I’m always blown away by them, and then I see people like Olivia and I just think, “Oh, everything’s going to be okay. We’re all going to be okay if Olivia exists; we’re good.” [laughs]

What happened to your book?

What’s interesting is I did two years worth of narrative storytelling that we recorded. Initially it was for a memoir, or some version of what was being asked for was a memoir. That’s kind of a hard “no” for me because we’re using all the pieces that feel relevant to this particular story. The reason I didn’t want to do the memoir is ’cause there’s no way to articulate a life. There’s way to articulate snapshots. There’s a way to articulate chapters, maybe. But there’s no way to articulate, like, this is my sentimental life story. It’s not possible. So that’s why songs are so great. It’s like four minutes of a moment. Let’s just keep writing these moments and capturing these moments and that’s what Vegas is for me: a moment.

One of the things I’ve talked about with artists that they love so much about Vegas residency is you get to mix it up night to night. But it sounds like you’re going to have a show, so are you going to be incorporating different stuff or is it going to be more of a narrative story?

Both. For me as an actor, I’ve always enjoyed improv. I love it when there’s a general sense of structure for something, but then go off within it. This is the way I’ve always been, both sides of the brain. I want some structure and predictability and some version of a set list, which we already have. But then within some of the interstitial stuff and the scenes and the comedy and the physicality and the movement, yeah, it’s a movable feast. We’ll see what happens. I am completely out of my wheelhouse publicly, not privately, because I was in improv teams since I was 14. And I think comedy is one of the best forms of activism art, I really do, maybe even above music. So, we’re integrating all these forms of art. And I’m not thinking about any outcome. It’s really amazing to write a record, write a song, write an email, frankly, with no agenda. The agenda is just “let’s express ourselves.” And that’s plenty.

Do you feel like you’re having more fun now at this point in your career than any other point?

I have the most fun with collaborating. So, I can’t say this is any more fun, but I can say that there’s more people. So, in the past, it’s been me alone writing or me and my bestie writing or me and Glen [Ballard] writing. So, in some ways it was insulated, isolated and with the musical and with Vegas, let’s multiply those collaborators by at least five. What I’ve said a few times, and I still stand by it, is that for me, the happiest place is in this communal “can’t swing a dirty sock without hitting a master” kind of environment, and it is truly six plus six is a thousand for us.

Do you feel like, as you’re getting older, people are embracing you more?

Yeah, I make more sense. There was a period of time where I didn’t make any sense and perhaps there wasn’t that much resonance. And then 25, 30 years later, I feel like I’m starting to make sense to the world in a way that I didn’t expect to happen. I just always thought, “Oh, I’ll be on that smallest part of the bell-shaped curve forever and I’ll probably be kind of lonely there. And that’s just what it is in this lifetime.” But here I am 30 years later and I’m starting to get a sense that what I’ve been talking about this whole time is resonant for people. And I can’t tell you how healing that is for me.

Tuvalu’s Minister of Climate Change Maina Talia has told Al Jazeera that his country is fighting to stay above rising sea levels and needs “real commitments” from other countries that will allow Tuvaluans to “stay in Tuvalu” as the climate crisis worsens.

The low-lying nation of nine atolls and islands, which is situated between Australia and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, is fighting to maintain its sovereignty by exploring new avenues in international diplomacy.

But, right now, the country needs help just to stay above water.

“Coming from a country that is barely not one metre above the sea, reclaiming land and building sea walls and building our resilience is the number one priority for us,” Talia told Al Jazeera in an interview during the recent United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“We cannot delay any more. Climate finance is important for our survival,” Talia said.

“It’s not about building [over the] next two or three years to come, but right now, and we need it now, in order for us to respond to the climate crisis,” he said.

Talia, who is also Tuvalu’s minister of home affairs and the environment, said the issue of financing will be a key issue at the upcoming UN COP30 climate meeting in Belem, in the Brazilian Amazon, in November.

‘You pollute, you pay’

Tuvalu is one of many countries already pushing for a better deal on climate financing at this year’s COP, after many advocates left last year’s meeting in Azerbaijan disappointed by the unambitious $300bn target set by richer countries.

Describing the COP climate meeting as having become more like a “festival for the oil-producing countries”, Talia said Tuvalu is also exploring a range of alternative initiatives, from a push to create the world’s first fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to seeking to add its entire cultural heritage to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Representatives of oil-producing countries are now attending the COP climate meetings in “big numbers”, Talia said, in order to try and “really bury our voice as small developing countries”.

“They take control of the narrative. They take control of the process. They try to water down all the texts. They try to put a stop to climate finance,” Talia said.

“It’s about time that we should call out to the world that finance is important for us to survive,” he said.

“The polluter pay principle is still there. You pollute, you pay,” he added.

Talia also said that it was frustrating to see his own country struggling to survive, while other countries continue to spend billions of dollars on weapons for current and future wars.

“Whilst your country is facing this existential threat, it’s quite disappointing to see that the world is investing billions and trillions of dollars in wars, in conflicts,” he said.

A report released this week by the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) found that 39 small island countries, which are home to some 65 million people, already need about $12bn a year to help them cope with the effects of climate change.

That figure is many times more than the roughly $2bn a year they are collectively receiving now, and which represents just 0.2 percent of the amount spent on global climate finance worldwide.

GCA, a Rotterdam-based nonprofit organisation, also found that island states are already experiencing an average $1.7bn in annual economic losses due to climate change.

Tuvalu is not only focused on its own survival – the island state is considered to be facing one of the most severe existential threats from rising sea levels – it is also continuing to find ways to fight climate change globally.

“That’s why Tuvalu is leading the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty,” Talia said.

About 16 countries have now signed on to the treaty, with Colombia offering to host the first international conference for the phase-out of fossil fuels next year.

“We see its relevance for us,” Talia said of the treaty.

“We want to grow in number in order for us to come up with a treaty, apart from the Paris Agreement,” he said.

‘We need to hold the industrialised countries accountable’

Even as Tuvalu, a country with a population of less than 10,000 people, is fighting for immediate action on climate change, it is also making preparations for its own uncertain future, including creating a digital repository of its culture so that nothing is lost to the sea.

Talia, who is also Tuvalu’s minister for culture, said that he made the formal preliminary submission to UNESCO two weeks before the UNGA meeting for “the whole of Tuvalu to be listed” on the World Heritage List.

“If we are to disappear, which is something that we don’t want to anticipate, but if worst comes to worst, at least you know our values, our culture, heritage, are well secured,” he told Al Jazeera.

Likewise, Talia said his country doesn’t see its 2023 cooperation pact with Australia, which also includes the world’s first climate change migration visa, as an indication that the island’s future is sealed.

“I don’t look at the Falepili Agreement as a way of escaping the issue of climate change, but rather a pathway,” he said.

“A pathway that we will allow our people in Tuvalu to get good education, trained, and then return home,” he said, referring to the agreement giving some Tuvaluans access to education, healthcare and unlimited travel to Australia.

The agreement text includes an acknowledgement from both parties that “the statehood and sovereignty of Tuvalu will continue, and the rights and duties inherent thereto will be maintained, notwithstanding the impact of climate change-related sea level rise”.

Talia also said that a recent ruling from the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, declared that states have a responsibility to address climate change by cooperating to cut emissions, following through on climate agreements, and protecting vulnerable populations and ecosystems from harm.

The ICJ ruling “really changed the whole context of climate change debates”, Talia said.

“The highest court has spoken, the highest court has delivered the judgement,” he said of the case, which was brought before the ICJ by Tuvalu’s neighbour Vanuatu.

“So it’s just a matter of, how are we going to live that, or weave that, into our climate policies,” he said.

“We need to hold the industrialised countries accountable to their actions,” he added.

SACRAMENTO — Until the FBI raided his Capitol office last August, Assemblyman Pat Nolan of Glendale was a blazing young star of Republican politics.

Leader of the Assembly GOP, with a reputation for relentless pursuit of his goals and boundless ambition, he hoped to pick up enough seats over the next few elections to win a majority and become Speaker. He talked about running for governor one day.

None of it seemed beyond his reach.

Now, at age 38, stripped of his leadership post, Nolan is struggling for political survival.

Last June 29, Nolan and an aide were videotaped at a meeting in a hotel room where FBI agents posing as businessmen handed him two $5,000 checks for his campaign committees, sources familiar with the three-year FBI probe have told The Times.

Nolan failed to report one of those checks until after the Capitol raid, a full month after it should have been disclosed; just a mistake, according to those close to him.

The lawmaker has not been accused of a crime, but federal sources say he is a target of the investigation.

Nolan’s attorney has told him not to talk to the press beyond a brief statement, issued the day after the raid, saying that “when the investigation is completed, my office will be completely cleared.”

Friends and enemies alike describe Nolan as a driven soul, someone who has devoted himself unflaggingly to conservative politics since adolescence and who, once he attained power, could be ruthless in his exercise of it.

A review of public records as well as his daily calendar shows his preoccupation with raising money for political campaigns. During one hard-charging stretch last August, he was scheduled to attend five fund-raising events in a day as he hustled to keep pace with the money-raising of Assembly Democrats.

Spoils of High Office

The same records illustrate that with power came the spoils of high office. Special-interest groups paid him for speeches, sent him gifts and provided him with trips.

In his 10 years in the Legislature, the documents show, he has collected more than $60,000 in honorariums–about $55,000 of it in the four years that he was Republican leader.

Other legislators have collected far larger amounts for speaking, but some of the specifics about Nolan’s honorariums raise questions.

Nolan was one of several legislative leaders, for example, to receive sizable speaking fees–in his case, $5,000–from the California Retailers Assn. during the 1987-88 legislative session. Last year, the lobbying group won approval of its bill to eliminate an 18% cap on interest rates that department stores may charge customers, a limit in place since the early 1960s.

Arranged Meeting

One payment of $2,500 in 1988 came from Glaxo Inc., which was lobbying to have its anti-ulcer drug Zantac added to the list of medications covered by Medi-Cal. After a bill to add the drug to the list died in the Legislature, Nolan arranged a meeting between Glaxo representatives and top Administration health officials. The money, payment for a speech that Nolan never delivered, was deposited into his personal account by his secretary. But the payment was returned in late September, three months after it was received and one month after the FBI raid.

Other special-interest groups–the Seafood Institute and Ralphs Grocery Co.–in 1986 provided a total of $6,612 in food and beverages at Nolan’s wedding reception. And businessman Del Doye, whose firm, TSD Systems of Bakersfield, was trying to win a toxic disposal permit from the state, provided the newlyweds with a honeymoon condominium in Hawaii. (Doye has left the company and the permit still is pending.)

As leader of the Assembly GOP, Nolan met regularly with Gov. George Deukmejian and his top aides, according to his calendar, which was obtained by The Times from a Republican source.

Wife Hired

Through his contacts, Nolan learned that there was an unadvertised Administration job available that might be suitable for his wife, Gail, a marketing specialist. In February, she was appointed by the governor to the $3,323-a-month public relations post at the Department of Food and Agriculture. Part of her job was to win a spot for the Dancing Raisins on the “Today Show” on National Agriculture Day, department officials said. The raisins did not make the show and Gail Nolan left her job in June to have a baby.

While a legislator, Nolan has continued to receive a $6,000-a-year-retainer from Kinkle, Rodiger & Spriggs, a Southern California law firm he joined after law school. The firm specializes in defending individuals and insurance companies in personal injury cases. Nolan’s duties include meeting with attorneys and clients to discuss legislative procedures, according to managing partner John V. Hager.

Nolan’s friends defend him as a committed idealist, an honest man who has not profited personally from his office.

“There is not a more honest guy in the whole world, with more integrity and just good character than Pat Nolan,” said Assemblyman Dennis Brown (R-Los Alamitos), a close friend of Nolan’s for 20 years.

‘Decent, Caring Person’

“Pat is really a very decent, caring person, who has very strong political beliefs and has spent 10 years trying to advance them,” said his former chief of staff, Bill Saracino, who like Brown has known Nolan since their student days at USC. “He’s not one of those legislators who have enriched themselves.”

Saracino, now a deputy director at the state Department of Commerce, also defended Nolan’s acceptance of speaking fees from various interest groups: “No. 1, it’s legal. And look who Pat’s getting honorariums from–people who agree with him on the natural anyway.”

One of his chief Republican opponents, Assemblyman Stan Statham of Oak Run, in a bitter speech before the Assembly, accused Nolan of being a liar–harsh language for one legislator to use against another on a house floor, and especially so in this case because the attack came during normally festive opening-day ceremonies with Nolan’s family in attendance.

Personal Dealings Told

“I can’t be charitable because I’ve had too many personal dealings with him (Nolan),” Statham said in an interview. Nolan broke a promise not to become involved in 1986 Republican primaries and opposed a candidate supported by Statham, the lawmaker said.

“Nothing in politics is any more important than a person’s word,” Statham said.

He also pointed out that Nolan is a central figure in an investigation of forged letters sent out on White House stationery under a phony signature of then-President Ronald Reagan in support of Republican Assembly candidates in 1986.

Although Sacramento County Dist. Atty. John Dougherty decided not to press criminal charges in the case last fall, he asserted that both Nolan and Assemblyman John R. Lewis (R-Orange) “asked staff members to give false explanations to White House staff” on how the forgery took place.

State Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, who conducted the initial investigation and referred it to Dougherty, is now deciding whether to drop the matter or move ahead on his own.

Several Maladies

Nolan is a large man, hefty but not obese, someone whose size can be intimidating in a head-to-head confrontation.

Recently his usually florid skin has had an orange cast from medication he takes for a chronic yeast infection, one of several maladies that he has complained of over the years, according to those close to him.

“He’s a bit of a hypochondriac,” observed Republican Assemblyman Gil Ferguson of Newport Beach, who acknowledges that Nolan does have some real health problems.

Ferguson, a Nolan ally, was one of several people interviewed who commented on Nolan’s hot temperament–something Ferguson attributed to hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. “He’d explode because of a lack of sugar content,” Ferguson said.

‘Jekyll and Hyde’

Others describe him as having a “Jekyll and Hyde” personality–a charming teller of jokes and stories one minute, an ogre growling out his displeasure the next.

As a young man, his storytelling got him booted from a group of conservative students attending free enterprise seminars sponsored by Coast Federal Savings, when a woman in the group complained that he was telling dirty jokes.

“People thought conservatives were humorless, stuffy and boring,” said another member of the group, Bilenda Harris. “Pat is a wonderful teller of jokes.”

He also sprinkles his conversations with quotations–from Shakespeare and Marcus Aurelius, Sophocles and Machiavelli–a practice that dates back to his days at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks.

“He’s like the renaissance man, a very well-read, very rounded individual,” Harris said.

But Harris, who also was a classmate of Nolan’s at USC and later an aide in his Glendale office, knows what it’s like to fall into Nolan’s disfavor. In 1983, Nolan fired her only six weeks after she moved with her son to Sacramento to take a new job in the lawmaker’s Capitol office.

Nolan is the boy’s godfather.

Others say that in 1987 Nolan fired another USC classmate, then-chief of staff Saracino, who had been the best man at his wedding.

“Pat just cut his head off,” Assemblyman Ferguson said.

Saracino denied that he was fired, saying that he and Nolan had agreed to go their separate ways because of “differences of style.”

But he agreed that Nolan was a tough boss. “ ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ is a bit of hyperbole,” Saracino said. “But he is a very demanding person, as you have to be if you want to get anything done.”

“Pat gets torn in this stuff,” Harris said. “The need to get elected overrides the friendship that used to be there.”

Focus on Goals

Ruthless is an adjective that Ferguson ascribes to Nolan.

“Few people have the ability or the willingness to focus on their objectives at the cost of almost everything else–friends, family life,” Ferguson said.

The sixth of nine children, Nolan showed a precocious interest in politics. He got his first taste in 1960 when he hung brochures on doorknobs for Richard M. Nixon’s unsuccessful first campaign for President.

In 1964, he walked precincts for Barry Goldwater.

Two years later, at the age of 16, he threw himself into Ronald Reagan’s first campaign for governor.

Nolan’s large family was solidly middle class. His father was an accountant, his mother a homemaker with wide interests, a constant reader. Nolan’s official biographies point out that he is a fifth-generation Californian, a direct descendant of the ranching family that founded the town of Agoura.

Nine Dancing Nolans

As children, he and his brothers and sisters celebrated their Irish roots as the Nine Dancing Nolans, a group that performed at festivals and at Disneyland.

The clan, dressed in kilts, has continued to dance together for Nolan’s political events–a St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Glendale and a campaign fund-raiser in Sacramento.

Nolan’s passion for politics came to dominate his life.

While a student at USC, he helped found the campus chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, a right-wing youth group that spawned a generation of conservative politicians. Among the members of the USC chapter were Assemblymen Dennis Brown and John Lewis, who remain two of Nolan’s closest friends and political confidants.

With the campus bitterly divided over the Vietnam War, the group staged a mock treason trial of Jane Fonda and hanged her in effigy. (A few years ago, however, Nolan found himself working hand in hand with Fonda’s husband, Democratic Assemblyman Tom Hayden of Santa Monica, on a bill to study the effects of the chemical defoliant Agent Orange on Vietnam veterans. The measure was vetoed by Deukmejian.)

Variety of Jobs

To make ends meet while at USC, Nolan worked at a variety of part-time jobs, waiting tables at the faculty center, serving in dormitory food lines and passing out towels in the gym. Later, he found a job with Los Angeles City Councilman John Ferraro.

He managed to find the time to learn to ride horseback, became a riding instructor and rode as Tommy Trojan in the 1974 Rose Parade.

An average student in college, Nolan scored well enough on qualifying tests to enter USC Law School. Graduating in 1975, he passed the Bar exam on his second try and started practicing law.

In 1978, he upset more seasoned politicians in his first bid for an Assembly seat by conducting an old-fashioned, door-to-door campaign that stressed his support for Proposition 13, California’s trend-setting property tax-cutting initiative.

At first, he was an outsider in his own caucus–so conservative that he and his closest allies were dubbed “the cavemen.”

Succeeded on Second Try

But by 1983, he came within one vote of being elected Republican leader. He succeeded on his second try a year later with the backing of two new GOP assemblymen he had recruited to run for office–Ferguson and Wayne Grisham of Norwalk.

Nolan’s goal was to win enough seats for Republicans to gain a 41-vote majority in the Assembly in time for the GOP to play a central role in drawing up new legislative and congressional districts after the 1990 Census.

To get the legislative staff he wanted, the new Republican leader worked out a compromise with Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown–”the devil incarnate” to many of the Republicans, according to Ferguson.

In return for staff appointments and the ability to decide which Republicans would serve on which committees, Nolan agreed not to challenge Brown’s position as Speaker as long as the Democrats held a majority.

Solid Voting Bloc

With control over his own members, Nolan was able to whip a divided Republican Assembly membership into a solid voting bloc. The GOP members could stop any measure requiring a two-thirds vote, including the annual state budget and attempts to override a Deukmejian veto.

To plot Republican strategy, Nolan drew on a tight group of colleagues, which called itself “the board” and met secretly every Monday night at the offices of Heron, Burchette, Ruckert & Rockert, a lobbying firm, according to Ferguson, a charter member. Other lawmakers in the group included Nolan’s USC friends, Dennis Brown and John Lewis, along with Frank Hill of Whittier, Ross Johnson of La Habra, William P. Baker of Danville, Bev Hansen of Santa Rosa, William P. Duplissea of San Marcos and a few others.

In 1986, despite a divisive Republican primary in which several Nolan-backed candidates were defeated, the GOP picked up three Assembly seats.

Within Reach

With 36 Republican members, five short of a majority, Nolan’s goal suddenly seemed within reach, if not in 1988, then perhaps by 1990–in time to redistrict the state.

In preparing for the 1988 elections, Nolan stepped up his fund-raising in a continuing effort to compete with Speaker Brown.

“You’re there to make a difference,” Saracino explained. “The way to do that is to compete with the Democrats on an equal footing. The way to do that is to raise political contributions. Legally.”

Another former Nolan employee believed that his boss had become too eager to collect money. “Willie Brown would never have walked across the street to pick up a check at the Hyatt Hotel,” where Nolan met with FBI agents posing as businessmen, the ex-staffer said. “Pat apparently did.”

By 1988, Nolan’s life had changed. He was married and his wife was expecting a baby. On June 28, the night he was originally scheduled to meet with “businessmen” who later proved to be FBI agents, he also planned to attend a natural childbirth class with his wife, his calendar shows. (He postponed his meeting with representatives of the bogus company to June 29, when he and an aide picked up the checks that have caused Nolan so much trouble.)

Nolan’s daughter was born a month later.

On the surface at least, Nolan had everything he wanted, according to Bilenda Harris. A family. A promising career.

But on Aug. 24, 30 FBI agents armed with search warrants raided the Capitol offices of Nolan, aide Karin Watson, and Assemblyman Hill. The FBI searched offices of Democrats as well–Assemblywoman Gwen Moore of Los Angeles, her aide Tyrone Netters, and Sen. Joseph B. Montoya of Whittier. Former Democratic Sen. Paul Carpenter, now a member of the State Board of Equalization, was questioned by the FBI.

While the federal investigation bruised the Democrats, it struck at the heart of the Assembly Republican leadership.

Many are convinced that the sting hurt Republicans at the polls last November.

“The Pat Nolan name was for the first time as negative as Willie Brown,” said one GOP lawmaker, who asked not to be identified. The contributions raised by Nolan for other Republicans suddenly became “tainted money, dirty money,” a liability for members in close races, the assemblyman said. “The Democrats beat them to death.”

Instead of picking up additional seats in the November election, the Assembly Republicans lost three. The losses finished whatever hopes Nolan might have had of remaining GOP leader.

Now his prospects for the future are uncertain.

Even if he is exonerated, his connection to the FBI sting could hamper his hope of ever running for an office outside his own heavily Republican district, according to two Republican assemblymen, who asked not to be identified.

His friends, however, believe that he will in the end be vindicated and that his career can recover.

“This is an ethical cloud, even if nothing comes of it,” said his former top aide, Saracino.

Gaza health authorities say nearly 200 people, including 96 children, have died of hunger in Gaza, as the starving population battles against the odds to get food from dangerous airdrops and deadly aid hubs run by the GHF.

As Israel’s man-made famine under the ongoing blockade tightened its grip on the enclave, hospitals recorded four more deaths from “famine and malnutrition” on Thursday – two of them children – bringing the total to 197.

Amid the mounting death toll, World Health Organization (WHO) director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that about 12,000 children younger than five were suffering from acute malnutrition in July – the highest monthly figure ever recorded.

The scenes in Gaza City are “apocalyptic”, said Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili, with hundreds of people scrambling for scraps from aid pallets airdropped among the rubble of destroyed buildings.

“Here the fight is not over food, but for survival,” he said.

Mustafa Tanani, a displaced Palestinian at the scene, said that some of the food had failed to land and was “hanging up high” between the buildings, making it “too risky” to try to reach. “It’s like a battle here. We come from far away and end up with nothing,” he said.

“Everyone is carrying bags of aid, and we don’t even manage to get anything. The planes are dropping aid for nothing. Look where they threw it. Up there, between the buildings. It’s dangerous for us,” he said.

Children at risk

Two children died of hunger in Gaza on Thursday, including a two-year-old girl in the al-Mawasi area, according to Nasser Hospital.

Raising the alarm over chronic child malnutrition, the United Nations said that its partners were able to reach only 8,700 of the 290,000 children under age five who desperately needed food and nutritional supplements.

Amjad Shawa, the head of the NGO Network in Gaza, told Al Jazeera Arabic that at least 200,000 children in the Gaza Strip suffer from severe malnutrition, with many deaths caused by a lack of baby formula and nutritional supplements under Israel’s blockade, in place since March.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said that only 92 aid trucks entered the enclave on Wednesday, far less than the 500-600 that the United Nations estimates are needed daily to meet basic needs.

Most of the aid that did make it in was prevented from reaching its intended recipients due to widespread “looting and robbery”, as a result of “deliberate security chaos” orchestrated by Israel, said the office.

‘Orchestrated killing’

As the hunger crisis deepened, Doctors Without Borders, better known by its French-language acronym MSF, called for the closure of the notorious US- and Israeli-backed GHF, which runs deadly aid hubs where more than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed trying to reach food.

The NGO published a report on Thursday featuring testimony from front-line staff that Palestinians were being deliberately targeted at the sites, which they said amounted to “orchestrated killing and dehumanisation”, not humanitarian aid.

MSF operates two healthcare centres – al-Mawasi and al-Attar clinics – in direct proximity to GHF sites in southern Gaza, which received 1,380 casualties within seven weeks, treating 71 children for gunshot wounds, 25 of whom were under the age of 15.

“In MSF’s nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians,” said the report.

MSF patient Mohammed Riad Tabasi told Al Jazeera he had seen 36 people killed in the space of 10 minutes at a GHF site. “It was unbearable,” he said. “War is one thing, but this … aid distribution is another. We’ve never been humiliated like this.”

Deadly strikes

As the population battled for survival, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News his country intended to take military control of all of Gaza.

On Thursday, Israel continued to launch deadly air strikes on residential areas, killing at least 22 people.

In Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported that a strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed five civilians.

An attack on the municipality of Bani Suheila, east of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis city, killed at least two people, according to a source from Nasser Hospital.

Six others were killed in earlier attacks in the Khan Younis area. One child died while attempting to retrieve airdropped aid there.

In northern Gaza’s Jabalia, at least one person was killed, according to a local medical source.

Palestine’s Wafa news agency reported several deadly attacks in Gaza City, one targeting a tent in the city’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood that killed at least six people.

The second attack targeted a separate residential area in the city, killing a woman and injuring others, said Wafa.

“Israel’s military escalation continues without any sign of abating. And civilians are still bearing the brunt of this conflict,” said Abu Azzoum.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 61,258 people.

After they were forcibly displaced multiple times during Israel’s war on Gaza, the Sobh family has taken refuge in a coastal camp west of Gaza City.

Street vendor Fadi Sobh, 30, describes his tent as “unbearably hot during summer”. His 29-year-old wife, Abeer, collects seawater because clean water is in short supply.

The children bathe in turns, standing in a metal basin as their mother pours saltwater over them. Nine-month-old Hala cries when the salt irritates her eyes, while her siblings bear the discomfort without complaint.

Abeer feeds Hala water from a baby bottle. On good days, she has lentils to grind into powder and mix with the water. “One day feels like one hundred days, because of the summer heat, hunger and the distress,” she says.

Fadi travels to a nearby soup kitchen, sometimes with one of his children. “But food is rarely available there,” he said.

The kitchen operates roughly once a week, never meeting demand. Often, he waits an entire day only to return home with nothing “and the kids sleep hungry, without eating”.

Abeer sometimes goes to aid trucks near the Zikim crossing alone or with Youssef, one of her children. The crowds are mostly men – stronger and faster than she is. “Sometimes I manage to get food, and in many cases, I return empty-handed,” she said.

When unsuccessful, she begs those who secured supplies. “You survived death thanks to God, please give me anything,” she pleads. Many respond kindly, offering her a small bag of flour to bake for the children.

During the hottest hours of the day, the six children stay in or near the tent. Their parents encourage them to sleep through the heat, preventing them from using energy and becoming hungry and thirsty.

As temperatures drop, the children go outside. Some days, Abeer sends them to ask the neighbours for food. Other times, they search through Gaza’s ruined streets, sifting through rubble and rubbish for anything to fuel their makeshift stove.

After spending the day seeking life’s essentials – food, water, and cooking fuel – the family occasionally gathers enough for Abeer to prepare a meal, usually a thin lentil soup. More often, they have nothing and go to bed hungry.

Abeer says she is growing weaker, frequently feeling dizzy while searching for food. “I am tired. I am no longer able,” she said. “If the war goes on, I am thinking of taking my life. I no longer have any strength or power.”

This is not a warning.

Famine has already arrived in Gaza. It is not a metaphor, nor is it a prediction. It is daily.

It is the child who wakes up asking for biscuits that no longer exist. The student who studies for exams while faint from hunger.

It is the mother who cannot explain to her son why there is no bread.

And it is the silence of the world that makes this horror possible.

Children of the famine

Noor, my eldest sister Tasneem’s daughter, is three; she was born on May 11, 2021. My sister’s son, Ezz Aldin, was born on December 25, 2023 – in the early months of the war.

One morning, Tasneem walked into our space carrying them in her arms. I looked at her and asked the question that wouldn’t leave my mind: “Tasneem, do Noor and Ezz Aldin understand hunger? Do they know we’re in a famine?”

“Yes,” she said immediately. “Even Ezz, who’s only known war and ruins, understands. He’s never seen real food in his life. He doesn’t know what ‘options’ are. The only thing he ever asks for is bread.”

She imitated his baby voice: “Obz! Obza! Obza!” – his way of saying “khobza” (a piece of bread).

She had to tell him, “There’s no flour, darling. Your dad went out to look for some.”

Ezz Aldin doesn’t know about ceasefires, borders, or politics. He doesn’t care about military operations or diplomatic statements.

He just wants one small piece of bread. And the world gives him nothing.

Noor has learned to count and recite the alphabet from her mother. Before the war, she loved chocolate, biscuits. She was the first grandchild in our family, showered with toys, snacks, and little dresses.

Now, every morning, she wakes up and turns to her mother with wide, excited eyes. “Go buy me 15 chocolates and biscuits,” she says.

She says 15 because it’s the biggest number she knows. It sounds like enough; enough to fill her stomach, enough to bring back the world she knew. But there’s nothing to buy. There’s nothing left.

Where is your humanity? Look at her. Then tell me what justice looks like.

Killed after five days of hunger

I watched a video that broke my heart. A man mourned over the shrouded bodies of seven of his family. In despair, he cried, “We’re hungry.”

They had been starving for days, then an Israeli surveillance drone struck their tent near al-Tabin School in Daraj, northern Gaza.

“This is the young man I was raising,” the man in the video wept.  “Look what became of them,” as he touched their heads one last time.

Some people still don’t understand. This isn’t about whether we have money. It’s about the total absence of food. Even if you’re a millionaire in Gaza right now, you won’t find bread. You won’t find a bag of rice or a can of milk. Markets are empty. Shops are destroyed. Malls have been flattened. The shelves are not bare – they are gone.

We used to grow our own food. Gaza once exported fruits and vegetables; we sent strawberries to Europe. Our prices were the cheapest in the region.

A kilo (2.2 pounds) of grapes or apples? Three shekels ($0.90). A kilo of chicken from Gaza’s farms? Nine shekels ($2.70). Now, we can’t find a single egg.

Before: A massive watermelon from Khan Younis weighed 21 kilos (46 pounds) and cost 18 shekels ($5). Today: The same watermelon would cost $250 – if you can find it.

Avocados, once considered a luxury fruit, were grown by the tonne in al-Mawasi, Khan Younis and Rafah. They used to cost a dollar a kilo. We had self-sufficiency in dairy, too – cheeses and yoghurts made in Shujayea by local hands.

Our children were not spoiled – they just had basic rights. Breakfast meant milk. A sandwich with cheese. A boiled egg. Now, everything is cut off.

And no matter how I explain it to the children, they cannot grasp the words “famine” or “price hike”. They just know their bellies are empty.

Even seafood – once a staple of Gaza’s diet – has disappeared. Despite strict fishing restrictions, we used to send fish to the West Bank. Now, even our sea is silent.

And with all due respect to Turkish coffee, you haven’t tasted coffee until you’ve tried Mazaj Coffee from Gaza.

It had a strength you could feel in your bones.

This is not a forecast. Famine is now. Most of us are displaced. Unemployed. Mourning.

If we manage one meal a day, we eat it at night. It’s not a feast. It’s rice. Pasta. Maybe soup. Canned beans.

Things you keep as backup in your pantries. Here, they are luxury.

Most days, we drink water and nothing more. When hunger becomes too much, we scroll through old photos, pictures of meals from the past, just to remember what life once tasted like.

Starving while taking exams

As always, our university exams are online, because the campus is rubble.

We are living a genocide. And yet, we are trying to study.

I’m a second-year student.

We just finished our final exams for the first semester. We studied surrounded by hunger, by drones, by constant fear. This isn’t what people think university is.

We took exams on empty stomachs, under the scream of warplanes.  We tried to remember dates while forgetting the last time we tasted bread.

Every day, I talk with my friends – Huda, Mariam, and Esraa – on WhatsApp. We check on each other, asking the same questions over and over:

“What did you eat today?”

“Can you even concentrate?”

These are our conversations – not about lectures or assignments, but about hunger, headaches, dizziness, and how we’re still standing. One says, “My stomach hurts too much to think.” Another says, “I nearly collapsed when I stood up.”

And still, we keep going. Our last exam was on July 15. We held on, not because we were strong, but because we had no choice. We didn’t want to lose a semester. But even saying that feels so small compared to the truth.

Studying while starving chips away at your soul.

One day, during exams, an air strike hit our neighbours. The explosion shook the walls.

A moment before, I was thinking about how hungry I felt. A moment after, I felt nothing.

I didn’t run.

I stayed at my desk and kept studying. Not because I was OK, but because there is no other choice.

They starve us, then blame us

Let me be clear: The people of Gaza are being starved on purpose. We are not unlucky – we are victims of war crimes.

Open the crossings. Let aid enter. Let food enter. Let medicine enter.

Gaza doesn’t need sympathy. We can rebuild. We can recover. But first, stop starving us.

Killing, starving, and besieging are not just conditions – they are actions forced upon us. Language reveals those who try to hide who is responsible.

So we will keep saying: We were killed by the Israeli occupation. We were starved by the Israeli occupation. We were besieged by the Israeli occupation.

No one recalls the road to Wawa. New detainees are blindfolded several kilometres ahead. Inmates are also blindfolded and driven out before release. 

It was July 27, 2021. Eleven people returning to South East Nigeria after the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the separatist group Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), at the Federal High Court, Abuja, were intercepted by the Department of State Services (DSS) along Lokoja. (IPOB has been fighting to secede the southeastern region to the independent nation of Biafra.) Labelled members of IPOB’s armed wing, known as Eastern Security Network, the travellers were taken into a dark, underground DSS cell in Abuja. A few weeks later, they were paired out before daybreak and chained ahead of a “military investigation.” 

Nonso and Pius Awoke landed in the Wawa prison, a military detention facility in North Central Nigeria.

Nonso, in his final year, was studying computer science at the Ebonyi State University, and Pius practised law in Akwa Ibom State. On the night they arrived in prison, they said they were first stripped by soldiers and beaten with cables. Nonso got the registration number 3220, and Pius, 3218.

Located in Niger State, the Wawa prison complex is shrouded in mystery. Except for an October 22 attack by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), almost nothing is public about it. Even the specific location of its housing facility, the Wawa Cantonment, is a subject of disagreement. Some reports trace it to Wawa town, others say it’s in Kainji or New Bussa, which, though geographically related, are different communities in the state. 

HumAngle combined Open-Source Intelligence and satellite imagery to locate it. It is situated along the Kainji-Wawa highway, roughly 3 – 4 km east of Wawa town and another 3 –4 km west of the Nigerian Air Force Base in New Bussa. It is accessible from both towns within 4 to 6 minutes by vehicle, depending on road conditions. 

Far left into the sizable military installation on Wawa-Wakwa Road, between Wawa town and Tamanai village in the Borgu Local Government Area (LGA), is a collection of buildings that closely match the description of two sources. The nine two-storey blocks separated by double walls are the prison complex, designated ‘A’ to ‘I’.

“Each floor contains 10 cells,” Pius said. “In every cell, there are 15 inmates, making approximately 450 per block.”

The military prison primarily holds suspected members of Boko Haram, which has terrorised Northern Nigeria for 16 years and killed at least 20,000 people. In 2017, a court set up in the cantonment tried 1669 suspects behind closed doors, convicted some and awarded prison terms ranging from three to 60 years. ISWAP’s attack on the facility later was to liberate their incarcerated members, but they lost eight more men instead, including a commander, to a joint force of local vigilantes and soldiers. 

United by fate

The largest groups in Wawa are tied to terrorism in the north, militancy in the middle belt, and secession threats in the South East. Most of the Igbo inmates were picked up after the nationwide #EndSARS protests of October 2020, sources said. During the protest, which started as a peaceful demonstration against police brutality, there were reports of IPOB-sponsored attacks on security personnel in Obigbo, Rivers State, which led to the declaration of a curfew and the invitation of the military by the then-governor Nyesom Wike. The soldiers, however, embarked on door-to-door raids, torture, rape, executions, arbitrary arrests, and disappearances of locals, especially men. 

“Thirty-four of them were taken to Wawa,” said Nonso. “Some of them were conductors and drivers going about their businesses. One of them was arrested for having a tattoo. They said he was an unknown gunman. One was even arrested for having a beard. One of my brothers from Rivers State, his offence was that he greeted a soldier.”

The rest came from Anambra and other southeastern states. Emeka Umeagbasi, whose organisation, Intersociety, sent an undercover agent to Wawa while compiling a report in 2024, confirmed this. 

“In our recent report, there’s a declassified document showing a request by the Nigerian Army for the transfer of so-called Boko Haram and IPOB terrorist suspects from the police headquarters to Wawa Military Cantonment,” he told HumAngle. “What else is more evidential?”

The events that culminated in the incarceration of a large number of Tivs in Wawa began with a peace meeting in the Katsina-Ala LGA  of Benue State on July 29, 2020. Politicians, chiefs, and religious leaders gathered in Tor-Donga, the Tiv people’s capital, to settle years of “armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, rape, and other criminal acts” connected to Terwase Akwaza, also known as Gana, a notorious militia leader who had been in hiding. The team requested amnesty for Gana and his gang members and offered an apology to Samuel Ortom, the governor at the time.

Though a known criminal, Gana was also a messiah in Sankera, the senatorial district covering Katsina-Ala, Logo, and Ukum LGAs. When the federal government appeared to be ignoring deadly armed herder incursions, it was Gana and his men who protected the people and their vibrant agricultural economy. Sankera, the location of Zaki Biam, the world’s biggest yam market, accounts for 70 per cent of Nigeria’s annual yam production. 

“Gana was employed by community leaders to defend the people against herders,” Jeremiah John*, a Sankera native, told HumAngle.

The militia leader bowed to pressure from traditional authority after the Tor-Donga summit. On September 8, 2020, he and his gang members publicly gave up their weapons and joined a convoy heading to Makurdi, the state capital, to conclude a peace deal with the governor. The military, however, intercepted the convoy, which included clergymen and community leaders, and took Gana and his gang members. News of his death would spread a few hours later. 

In a picture of his dead body later circulated on social media and seen by HumAngle, his body was bullet-ridden, and his right arm had been severed from his body.

On Facebook, HumAngle saw a petition addressed to the National Human Rights Commission in November 2020, seeking the release of 76 surrendered militants arrested with Gana. Tor Gowon Yaro, the Benue State native who signed the petition, told HumAngle that the men were still in military detention. 

“None of them has been released,” he said. “None that I’m aware of.”

Suspected terrorists are the largest single group in Wawa. About a decade ago, Boko Haram took over communities in the Banki axis of Borno State and held residents hostage. Upon a counter-operation by the military, the terrorists fled. However, soldiers claimed that the villagers were complicit and drove hundreds of them to the Bama IDP Camp, where they separated the men and took them to military detention. This happened in several other villages, and residents who also tried to escape their terrorised villages to Maiduguri, the capital city, were often intercepted and detained. 

“Half of Borno youths, especially the Kanuris, are in detention,” Pius cried. 

Other demographics in the facility are Fulani men detained over kidnapping, underage boys, and even some mentally-challenged people arrested in Maiduguri and accused of being Boko Haram members, sources said. 

HumAngle has extensively documented this arbitrary detention problem in Borno, involving thousands of men who have been detained for about a decade now, prompting their female relatives to form the Knifar Movement to advocate for their release. Though they are periodically released in batches, many are still in detention. HumAngle has confirmed the release of at least 1009 men from the Wawa prison and the infamous Giwa barracks in Maiduguri.

Behind the prison walls

“Once you’re inside, you’re inside,” said Onyibe Nonso, an undergraduate who spent nearly three years in the facility. The cell door quickly shuts after letting in food, and the special day when inmates step out for sunning may not come in a whole year. To survive, you must first accept every cellmate, no matter their tendency or ideology, including terrorists and mentally ill people.

Every day is a routine, Pius said – wake up, pray, sit down. Sometimes, you gist with fellow inmates. Other times, cellmates play the Ludo board game among themselves. Some cells have Hausa literature supplied by the Red Cross, where one could read. Since no single meal in the facility can satisfy an adult, many have formed the habit of fasting every day until evening, when they combine the meals and drink the little water available. 

“If they gave us beans, you would not see a single seed, only water,” said Pius. He also recalled having no water to bathe for a whole month. 

The toilet and bathroom carved out of each cell, the same cell that is smaller than the average bedroom and still accommodates belongings like jerricans, has no door. 

“We shared the rest of the space,” said Nonso. “To sleep, each person would place their blanket on top of their mat and leave a small space in-between.”

You stand and sit in your small portion. On the evenings when inmates squabble over space, they quickly resolve before soldiers return in the morning. It must not escalate lest they all suffer the following day. 

Conditions generally improve when the Red Cross visits, but soldiers assure inmates of a return to the old ways. 

“And truly, things would return,” said Pius. “For over a year before I was released, the Red Cross did not come. We heard that it was because the military authorities mismanaged the things they brought.”

An information blackout tops Wawa’s many woes, according to Pius.

“I didn’t know they changed money,” he said, referring to the time when Nigeria redesigned the naira note.  “I didn’t know whether a relative was dead or not. We didn’t know Tinubu was running. We didn’t know who was going to be sworn in – just like I was completely excommunicated.”

Back home, families were struggling to move on. When Nonso’s mother heard his voice for the first time in three years, she called back to make sure it wasn’t just another fantasy. It was on June 21, 2024, the day he was released. After two months in the hospital, 20 bags of drips and a lot of prayer, she was already making peace with her only son’s death.

And death is truly cheap in the military prison. From beatings, starvation, and complications arising from inadequate healthcare, inmates die randomly. When the undercover agent from Intersociety arrived at the facility in September 2024, at least 10 inmates had just died within the week. 

“A Muslim lieutenant colonel from the north, who provided us with 10 names of people who had just died in the detention that week, told our undercover, ‘Look at how your people are dying here,’” Umeagbasi told HumAngle. 

Nonso saw at least two dead bodies himself. Despite being rarely allowed to speak with inmates from other cells, Pius knew of at least 10 deaths. Earnest, one of those brought in from Port Harcourt shortly after the #EndSARS protests, died of complications related to diabetes. 

“I know him in person,” Pius told me. “We met one day.”

The more inmates die, the more new ones arrive. The total number, which Pius said matched his registration number on arrival, had climbed to over 5000 by his release in June 2024. As the number grows, so does the intensity of abuse.

“Some of those who got there before us said there was no such thing as beatings when they were brought in. We met it during our own time, and those who came after us had even tougher experiences. They sustained serious injuries and weren’t given adequate treatment,” Nonso said. An inmate who was released from the prison last year after 11 years in detention had an account similar to this. She told HumAngle that though the physical abuse was intense at the beginning of her stay there, it stopped at some point. Shortly before she was released, however, it resumed.

Many of the Tiv inmates arrested alongside Gana couldn’t survive the abuse they were subjected to, Pius revealed. “They beat them in a way that when they got to that detention [Wawa], most of them died.” 

Until their release over media pressure and advocacy efforts by the Nigerian Bar Association, neither Nonso nor Pius set foot in court, raising questions about why they were arrested in the first place.

The Red Cross and the Nigerian Army have not responded to inquiries sent to them.

*Jeremiah John is a pseudonym we have used to protect the source’s identity. 

Many experts have shared their advice and tips on what we should wear for a flight, whether it’s a long or short-haul journey, and there are some items they say to avoid

When preparing to board a flight, we often think about comfort, but experts have revealed there are some clothing items we should avoid wearing altogether.

While they’re not explicitly banned, it can improve our chances of survival if the worst were to happen.

Many people opt for synthetic materials during flights, such as stretchy leggings, but they aren’t always on the recommended attire list, according to aviation safety experts.

The main concern is that in emergency situations, such as fires, leggings made of synthetic materials could melt onto the skin, worsening burn injuries.

Leggings

In an Instagram video shared by Pollyann, known as travelwithpalma, she told her over 11K followers about an important tip regarding leggings. She revealed: “I know – leggings feel like a second skin on a flight. But here’s why you really shouldn’t wear them on a plane.

“According to experts, in the rare event of an emergency evacuation (think: fire, sudden landing, etc), synthetic fabrics like polyester and spandex – aka what most leggings are made of – can actually melt when exposed to high heat.

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“That means they could fuse to your skin, making injuries way worse. The Federal Aviation Administration and safety experts recommend wearing loose-fitting natural fibres like cotton, wool or denim when flying.

“They’re more fire-resistant and safer in worst-case scenarios. So yes, wear something cosy – but make it cotton cosy, not plastic cosy – just to be safe.”

One user added their input and said: “It’s not just leggings. Anything with polyester contains petroleum and is considered flammable. So someone with synthetic trousers, shorts, dresses would be in the same situation. It has nothing to do with leggings – that’s personal preference.”

Synthetic fibres

Fabric UK has also cautioned about the potential risk of donning synthetic fibres. It stated: “Some synthetics will not ignite into a flame easily, but when they do catch fire they can be unsafe because many synthetic fibres are thermoplastic, meaning that they become mouldable under high heat.

“Therefore the fabric will melt, which can cause serious burns to the skin making non fire retardant synthetic fabrics unsuitable for protective clothing.”

It explains that more tightly woven fabrics will be “harder to ignite in comparison to lighter-weight fabrics, which will burn easier.” The fabric-selling website considers wool to be “one of the safest fabrics” out of both synthetic and natural fibres as it “does not easily ignite, and if it does ignite, then the flame will often diminish and the fabric will not melt.”

It’s uncommon to be on a plane that catches fire or crashes, but wearing the right material could assist you in such a situation. You can ascertain the fabric composition of your clothes by inspecting the labels.

Jeans

Jeans are also best to avoid on a flight due to potential restrictions on circulation. Dr. Hugh Pabarue, leading physician and vein specialist with Metro Vein Centres, explained to Huffington Post: “The clothing we wear when we fly can significantly impact our circulation. For example, tight clothing is not recommended.

“Wearing leggings and other restrictive garments, such as skinny jeans that are too tight, reduces blood’s ability to flow into and out of the legs.

“Sitting for extended periods of time, especially on planes, can lead to blood pooling in the legs, increasing the risk for deep vein thrombosis – a serious medical condition where a blood clot forms in a deep vein of the leg.”

Shoes

Experts have also recommended wearing flat and secure shoes, despite the temptation to arrive at the airport in flip-flops or sandals. This is so that if an emergency exit is required, you can evacuate with ease.

Air safety specialist Christine Negroni said: “No high heels, you want to be able to flee.” She added: “You could see glass on the runway, ice on the runway, see fuel on the runway, and you might see fire on the runway, and that’s when you need to run.”

She also mentioned that you’ll want your shoes on for that so, “sensible shoes, easy on, easy off with a thick sole.”

What to wear

While airlines’ dress codes might dictate what passengers can wear to maintain decorum and avoid offensive outfits, the Federal Aviation Administration also provides tips on how to dress wisely to ensure one’s safety in the air. Their recommendation insists: “Passengers who wear sensible clothing can reduce their chances of serious injury in the unlikely event of an emergency.

“Dress to cover as much skin as possible. Wear clothes made of natural fabrics such as cotton, wool, denim or leather. Synthetics may melt when heated. Wear clothing that is roomy, avoiding restrictive clothing. Wear low-heeled, leather or canvas shoes.”

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The Norwegian Refugee Council says the ‘deliberate denial of energy access’ undermines human needs in Gaza.

The lack of reliable energy sources is a key threat to survival in war-torn Gaza, an NGO has warned.

The “deliberate denial of energy access”, like electricity and fuel, “undermines fundamental human needs” in the war-torn enclave, a report published on Monday by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) cautioned. The alert is just the latest regarding the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which is driven by Israel’s blockade amid its war against Hamas.

Israel halted the entry of food, water and fuel in March, putting the Palestinian territory’s population at risk of famine.

Electricity supply has also been limited. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 2.1 million people in Gaza have no access to power.

“In Gaza, energy is not about convenience – it’s about survival,” Benedicte Giaever, executive director of NORCAP, which is part of NRC, said.

“When families can’t cook, when hospitals go dark and when water pumps stop running, the consequences are immediate and devastating. The international community must prioritise energy in all humanitarian efforts,” she added.

NRC’s report noted that without power, healthcare facilities in Gaza have been adversely impacted, with emergency surgeries having to be delayed, and ventilators, incubators and dialysis machines unable to function.

Lack of electricity has also impacted Gaza’s desalination facilities, leaving 70 percent of households without access to clean water and forcing households to burn plastic or debris to cook, NRC said.

The humanitarian organisation also highlighted how the lack of power has increased the risks of gender-based violence after dark.

“For too long, the people of Gaza have endured cycles of conflict, blockade, and deprivation. But the current crisis represents a new depth of despair, threatening their immediate survival and their long-term prospects for recovery and development,” NRC’s Secretary General Jan Egeland said, urging the international community to ensure the people in Gaza gain access to energy.

Amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, hundreds of people have been killed by the Israeli military as they have sought food and other vital supplies from aid stations set up by the controversial Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

In its latest daily update released on Monday, the Health Ministry in Gaza said the bodies of at least 39 people had been brought to hospitals over the previous 24 hours. At least 317 people were wounded, it added.

Since Israel eased its total blockade last month, more than 400 people are reported to have died trying to reach food distribution points.

The UN’s top humanitarian official in the occupied Palestinian territory issued a stark warning on Sunday over the deepening crisis.

“We see a chilling pattern of Israeli forces opening fire on crowds gathering to get food,” said Jonathan Whittall, who heads OCHA in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

“The attempt to survive is being met with a death sentence.”

In Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee camp, three Rohingya artists are defying cultural erasure. Through painting, music, and photography, they preserve the memory of a people long persecuted in Myanmar. This Talk to Al Jazeera special looks beyond the headlines of displacement and genocide investigations into the creative resistance of a stateless community. As Myanmar continues to deny them recognition, these artists are fighting back with colour, sound, and story, refusing to let their heritage disappear.