30 May 2009 - In this edition of The State We're In: environmental rights in Nigeria, the right to read and remembering the massacre in Tianenmen Square.

Alongside Ken Saro-Wiwa in Prison
Jonathan talks about the killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa with Ledum Mitee, an Ogoni activist in Port Harcourt Nigeria. Ledum talks about the personal cost he has paid in his campaign for environmental protection and justice in the oil-rich delta region. 
 

This week's theme: The right to read

Ellen's Story
Ellen Szita was illiterate till she was 45 years old. Now, she’s the author of a book and a campaigner for adult literacy. She talks to Jonathan Groubert about how she made that journey.
 

Kurdish "wash and read" programme
Correspondent Dorian Jones reports on a new initative to help disadvantaged Kurdish refugees in Turkey. The Kelebek initiative allows women to bring their household washing into the centre and while the machines are running, they can attend literacy and language classes.
 

The right to read in English
Shabnam Ramaswamy believes the English language marks the dividing line betwen rich and poor in India. She talks to producer Dheera Sujan about the lessons learned from her illiterate grandmother, and the work she’s doing now to realize her grandmother’s dream for hundreds of children in a remote Indian village.

Tianenmen Square memories
Ying Chang was part of the seven-week protest which ended with the brutal June 4 massacre.  She tells Jonathan what she remembers most, and what she wasn’t allowed to see and talk about back then.
 

Erasing history
Karen Mierik reports from Beijing on how house demolitions there aren’t just symptoms of an overheated economy or corruption, but the politically-motivated targets of a government punishing Beijing residents for their support of the 1989 protest.