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From Our Own Correspondent: Arguing over ayahuasca

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Arguing over Ayahuasca

11/01/2020 GMT

Arguing over ayahuasca

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Arguing over ayahuasca

Should outsiders join - or even lead - traditional herbal healing rituals in Peru?

Peru's indigenous healers are divided over letting outsiders into herbal rituals. Plus: views on Iran's public mourning, Uzbekistan's recent elections and emigration from Albania

The ayahuasca vine - a relative of the liana creeper - has powerful psychoactive properties. In the Amazon, indigenous people have used it for millennia in healing and religious rituals. Now there's a flourishing industry in ayahuasca tourism - and the visitors aren't only coming to consume the brew and partake in mystical experiences; some want to "qualify" as traditional healers themselves and guide others through the process. Simon Maybin explores the complex politics of the plant and its devotees.

Pascale Harter introduces this and other stories from correspondents, reporters and writers around the world. 

The world held its breath over the last week to see what the consequences of the death of Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani, might be. While Tehran threatened "severe revenge", Washington DC insisted it had had every right to target and kill him after a string of attacks on American interests and allies in the Middle East. Scenes of intense - and immense - mass mourning within Iran conveyed a great sense of national grief. Lois Pryce has travelled extensively inside Iran and among the world's diaspora communities of Iranian origin, and heard some more nuanced views from Iranians abroad about what effect the General's death will have. 

"New Uzbekistan, New Elections!" - in December, that slogan was all over the airwaves, the front pages and the streets of Tashkent. Since independence from the USSR, this Central Asian country seemed to continue with an authoritarian, stifling form of central government during the rule of President Islam Karimov, who died in office in 2016. But this time, it was meant to be different - with a new slate of parties competing and a more open atmosphere for political debate. Ibrat Safo went home to see just how free and fair the contest would be. 

In some parts of Albania, the villages, schools and businesses are emptying out, as young adults emigrate to find work and opportunities in the EU or UK, and then call for their children to follow them. In the Has region, Jessica Bateman visits one town where people-smuggling is the stuff of playground conversation, and the classrooms are emptier every year. 

Photo: Jose Lopez is a healer from the Shipibo indigenous group in Peru, and has a lifetime's experience of using ayahuasca (c) Simon Maybin/BBC

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