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INNOVATOR WHO ALBUM CREDITS IN A WARMING EUROPE,

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INTERNATIONAL EDITION | THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022

Leave God Russia says

out of the
culture wars
Tish Harrison Warren
OPINION
Two Sundays ago, my church had a
baptismal service. Baptisms at our
church are a mixture of solemnity and
unbridled glee, often full of laughter
and tears of joy. Those who were being
baptized or, in the case of infants, their
parents, took vows to put their trust in
God’s grace and love and to renounce
spiritual darkness, evil and “all sinful
desires that draw” us from the love of
God. After the baptism, the kids in our
service ran forward, giggling, trying to
get sprayed with the baptismal water
that our priest, Ryan, slung over the
congregation as he called us to “re-
member your baptism.”
On that Sunday, Ryan invited anyone
else who wanted to get baptized to let
him know. To my surprise, after the
service ended and
Why do we we were all min-
gling, two more
talk about people approached
divinity only Ryan and asked if
when we’re they could also get
fighting about baptized. So after a
something? short conversation
with them, he hol-
lered for the congre-
gation to regather and, then and there,
two others joined our ranks through
baptism. People cheered and ap-
its diamonds
are ethical,
not ‘bloody’
Western countries move
to label gems as tainted
by the war in Ukraine
BY DIONNE SEARCEY
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to
global soul-searching about overre-
liance on Russian oil and gas, but a new
drama is unfolding over another of Rus-
sia’s major exports: diamonds.
Russia is the world’s largest supplier
of small diamonds. For years, engage-
ment rings, earrings and pendants for
sale in the United States and beyond
have included diamonds mined from
deep in the permafrost in Russia’s north-
east.
Now, the United States and other
countries are taking action that could of-
ficially label Russian diamonds as “con-
flict diamonds,” claiming that their sale
helps pay for Russia’s aggression in
Ukraine.
“Proceeds from that production are
benefiting the same state that is con-
ducting a premeditated, unprovoked,
and unjustified war,” said George Cajati,
a U.S. State Department official, in a let-
ter written in May to the chair of the
PHOTOGRAPHS BY SAUMYA KHANDELWAL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Kimberley Process, an international or-
A ninth-grade class in New Delhi, where billions of dollars have been spent since 2015 to improve schools, some of which had no drinking water or had been invaded by snakes. ganization created by a United Nations
resolution to prevent the flow of conflict
diamonds.

‘Our children are worth it’

plauded as they emerged from the
water. I left that service feeling pen-
sive, grateful and in awe of the beauty
of God and human lives.
I have thought of that incandescent
Sunday a lot the past couple of weeks
because there is a perplexing differ-
ence between the way we celebrated
God that morning and the way I typi-
cally hear God discussed online and in
our broader cultural discourse.
The God of that baptismal service is
one of joy, kindness and peace. The
God I often hear about in American
politics, in the news and on Twitter is
one of cultural division and bickering.
The God of that Sunday service
seemed powerful and holy, yet gentle
and beautiful. The God in our cultural
discourse seems impotent and irrele-
vant, a mostly sociological phenom-
enon related to political posturing and
power plays.
In the news and on social media,
God usually shows up when we are
fighting about something. The subject
of faith seems most often discussed in
conversations about voting patterns
and campaigning. God appears in our
public discourse when Representative
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia
Republican, calls for Christian nation-
alism. Or in Twitter debates about
whether a coach should publicly pray
on the 50-yard line. Or when the for-
WARREN, PAGE 11
The New York Times publishes opinion
from a wide range of perspectives in
hopes of promoting constructive debate
about consequential questions.
NEW DELHI
Overhaul of public schools
in the capital of India has
students clamoring to enroll
BY KARAN DEEP SINGH
Pradeep Paswan used to skip school for
weeks, sometimes months. His class-
rooms with tin ceilings were baking hot
in the summer. The bathrooms were
filthy.
Now, he gets dressed by 7 a.m., in a
blue shirt and trousers, eager to go to
school, in a new building where the toi-
lets are clean. “I come to school because
I know that I can become something,”
said Mr. Paswan, 20, who is in the 12th
grade and dreams of becoming a top of-
ficer in India’s elite bureaucracy.
In India, where millions of families
look to education to break the cycle of
poverty, public schools have long had a
reputation for decrepit buildings, mis-
management, poor instruction, even
tainted lunches. Mr. Paswan’s school, in
a working-class Delhi neighborhood,
was known as “the red school,” for the
brawls on campus and the color of its
uniforms.
Today, it is a highly sought-after
Mr. Kejriwal committed billions of ad-
ditional dollars to overhaul schools,
some of which until recently had no
drinking water or had been invaded by
snakes.
The school system partnered with top
experts and universities to design new
curriculums, while working with par-
ents, students and teachers to improve
day-to-day operations.
“The first strong thing that Delhi has
signaled is that our children are worth it,
our schools are worth it and our teach-
ers are worth it,” said Padma Sa-
rangapani, a professor of education at
the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in
Mumbai.
The school system is still a work in
progress, with student-to-teacher ratios
high in some schools and many build-
ings still in need of basic upgrades. But
Mr. Kejriwal is finding success, an-
Manish Sisodia, the Delhi education minister, started the overhaul by making surprise nouncing in December that 250,000 stu-
visits to schools. Now other states in India are pushing to adopt “the Delhi model.” dents had left private schools in the past
five years to attend government
schools. (Some of those students moved
school, a beneficiary of the broader The Aam Aadmi Party rose to power to public schools because of pandemic-
transformation of Delhi’s education sys- in Delhi on the promise to improve basic related losses in family income.)
tem. Last year, 100 percent of the stu- services: health, electricity, water and Almost all the students who appeared
dents in Mr. Paswan’s school who took education. The party’s leader, Arvind for their final high school examinations
the standardized examinations for Kejriwal, who became Delhi’s chief min- last year passed, compared with 87 per-
grades 10 and 12 passed, compared with ister in 2015, said he wanted to “revamp” cent in 2012, according to data from the
89 percent and 82 percent in 2014. The the system to a point where government Delhi government. And governments of
red uniforms have been swapped for ministers would feel comfortable send- other states, including Telangana and
navy blue and lavender. ing their children to public schools. INDIA, PAGE 4
The European Union, Canada and
other Western nations, as well as
Ukraine and several activist organiza-
tions, have joined in similar calls for a
Kimberley Process discussion about the
implications of the invasion of Ukraine,
including whether Russian gems should
be considered conflict diamonds.
Also known as blood diamonds, con-
flict diamonds are commonly thought of
as gems sold to finance war. The Kim-
berley Process, created after diamonds
were used to finance a deadly war in Si-
erra Leone and elsewhere, defines them
more specifically, as “rough diamonds
used by rebel movements or their allies
to finance conflict aimed at undermin-
ing legitimate governments.”
But “rebel movement” doesn’t accu-
rately describe Russia, and officials
there vehemently object to labeling the
nation’s diamonds as conflict gems.
They chalk up the effort by Western
governments to do so as “political dema-
gogy,” according to an emailed state-
ment from the press service of Russia’s
Ministry of Finance.
The issue is coming into sharper focus
as Western nations outraged by Rus-
sia’s actions in Ukraine restrict Russian
gas and look for long-term alternatives
to their reliance on its fossil fuels. Reve-
nues from Russia’s other big exports,
such as diamonds, have gained new
global relevance both for Russia as well
as for countries looking to punish the na-
tion for its actions in Ukraine.
The gems are one of Russia’s top non-
energy exports by value, accounting for
more than $4.5 billion of exports last
DIAMONDS, PAGE 8

The contest to be hailed as the rightful Zulu king

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA
A bitter feud threatens
to tear apart the family
of a storied monarchy
BY JOHN ELIGON
The son of the Zulu king strutted into the
room clutching a wooden scepter, trail-
ing a praise singer who chanted odes to
past kings while adoring supporters
shouted “Bayede!” — hail.
His crown-shaped lapel pin shim-
mered with gold and diamonds as he set-
tled into a high-backed leather chair
draped in leopard-print fabric, keeping
his guests standing until he decreed that
the interview could begin.
Misuzulu Sinqobile Zulu, 47, carries
himself like a king. He is the son of King
Goodwill Zwelithini, who died last year
JOAO SILVA/THE NEW YORK TIMES after a 50-year reign, and a descendant
Misuzulu Sinqobile Zulu, a son of King Goodwill Zwelithini, who died last year, has of the family of King Shaka Zulu, whose
received the blessing of powerful members of the royal family to succeed his father. bloody conquest to unite the Zulu king-
dom two centuries ago has made him
something of a mythic figure in popular
culture.
But Misuzulu’s claim as their succes-
sor is hotly contested. His father left be-
hind more than a dozen sons. And al-
though Misuzulu has received the bless-
ing of several powerful members of the
royal family, as well as the president of
South Africa, some relatives — includ-
ing uncles, aunts and siblings — have
cast him as a reckless playboy unfit to
lead them.
Now members of one of Africa’s most
storied monarchies are locked in a vi-
cious fight that threatens to tear the
family apart. Two of the deceased king’s
sons are now calling themselves king.
There have been many lawsuits, public
insults and dramatic confrontations —
all captivating a country where an esti-
mated 14 million Zulus make up the larg-
est and most culturally influential ethnic
group.
“I like to call it domestic terrorism —
family domestic terrorism,” Misuzulu
said in a rare news media interview, his
SOUTH AFRICA, PAGE 2

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