Of Rajahs and Hornbills: A timeline of Brooke Sarawak

[SenatorChickpea]

And I think some of the more brilliant timelines on here like Male Rising, With the Crescent Above Us, Minarets of Atlantis, A House of Lamps, and such... have influenced me to take more attention towards people, and how they lie and react behind/towards every event and movement. I mean, I might be the only person in the world who writes Kaiser Wilhelm II getting deeply unsettled by homophobic hysteria that is consuming the army and his family and friends! Who wouldn't if they were faced with something like that? The effects of that hysteria influenced events both far and near, and the ripples are still making events this far into the world. People are so much more than the stories and events that often frame them, and how they live in a world like this - is, in my opinion, far more worth writing about.

I was specifically thinking of that little subplot, as it happens!

 

[Icedaemon]

Another interesting chapter. The native gunsmiths of the Sokoto it seems to me might lead to an easier industrialisation there down the line.

Because of that, the Somaliland thrust of early June became such an unexpected success to local command that by the following month, almost the entire Italian colony was occupied – much to the confusion of Italian officials whom saw their Askaris steamrolled by regiments from Equatorial Sudan. However, it should also be noted that several Somali clans did continue an insurgency against foreign rule for the rest of the year, seeing the advancing Germans as inhibiting their freedom. Nevertheless, the sultanaate of Majerteen was relieved in early July with British Somaliland reinstated by the end of that month – albeit under albeit under German protection

Ditto here.

Confession time: This timeline was partly the result of a "what-if" fantasy scenario from when Male Rising was still around, but it was also a rebuttal to the usual standard fare of "mainstream" Alternate History discussion. This may be the, "old foreign 2013 AH guy" within me speaking, but I often find myself rather bored of the usual Roman, Byzantine, Norse, European, American, or western fare that often fill this subsection of AH.com. And as a foreigner living halfway from the Western hemisphere, I feel disconnected with the many many many Confederate timelines, questions, and what-ifs that seem to pop-up without end. It feels like being in an American-themed social party as a Malay fisherman. The fact that a lot of timelines often have a bent towards large-scale war is another bore; I think I have noted multiple times before that I abhor writing about conflict and especially industrial conflict.

Maybe because of that, I try to present a different side to war that most people don't, or refuse, to see. Foreign battlefronts, indigenous ingenuity, Asian and African perspectives, the rise of hysteria and what it can do to vulnerable minorities, people and leaders caught in situations they never expected... it feels a lot more expansive, deep, and nuanced than the usual "Empire A fights Empire B in an offensive at 6:31 am using Krupp artillery by General X". There's nothing wrong with such a timeline, but I find it somewhat lacking and not to my taste.

The novelty of the setting of this timeline is certainly a major draw, regardless of where one is from. However, the quality is the main factor of it's staying power.

 

[Al-numbers]

To those of you who are wondering, the latest update(s) are on the previous page.

Another interesting chapter. The native gunsmiths of the Sokoto it seems to me might lead to an easier industrialisation there down the line.

Well, there is still a century to see if gunsmiths could help Sokoto in the long-run or the practice becomes disrupted by modern politics (or wars) like the OTL gunsmithing of the Hmong.

Ditto here.

Ah, thanks for catching that error! Fixed now.

The novelty of the setting of this timeline is certainly a major draw, regardless of where one is from. However, the quality is the main factor of it's staying power.

Thank you, and thank you all for the kind words.

 

[Al-numbers]

Robert Whitlam, The Farthest Colonies: Fiji and New Caledonia (Queensland Bowen Press; 1991)

…the proposal for Fiji to become the new base of British operations in the Pacific wasn’t met with enthusiasm, especially from Australia. This was mostly due to circumstance; the newly-formed federation practically salivated at crushing the French bases and Italian warships docked at New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. But with spilt priorities over Papua, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean, the dominion was reluctant to commit what meagre naval resources they had left to yet another maritime expanse. Instead, it was New Zealand who picked up the slack though not before haranguing her reluctant neighbour on the dangers of commerce harassment, particularly from Noumea.

As such, it was Wellington that footed the bill in soldiers and supplies when approval was ultimately granted by the Admiralty. When the cyclone season subsided in May 1906, it was mostly New Zealanders and a token Maori contingent that struck out to Fiji. Arriving to the main island of Viti Levu, they wasted no time in calling up local Europeans, Indo-Fijians, and even some natives to pitch-in the war effort, retrofitting the harbour of Suva to counter a future French attack. Said attack would come surprisingly faster than expected in a surprise assault on June 1st. Under the cover of dawn, two French gunboats and one Italian frigate attempted to bombard the harbour and take the port, only to be fended off by the established New Zealander contingent – though not without some cost to several British and New Zealand gunboats.

Seeing this result – and swallowing some racial hang-ups – Melbourne finally began stepping up commitment to the Pacific theatre. And chief among their concerns was New Caledonia.

With such a lucrative and strategic French base so close to the continent, it was not a surprise to find the federation eyeing the mountainous island. By 1900, New Caledonia was suppling nearly 10% of the world’s nickel demand alone from local deposits, to say nothing of the land’s potential for forestry and cash-crop agriculture. Given Australian racial sentiment, it was also not surprising that there was a racial component for having the island; Australian newspapers throughout 1905 and 1906 printed tall tales from travelling idiots and former sailors, detailing how colonial Frenchmen are training the local Kanak population to become an invasion force for the Third Republic – a racist imagining of the country’s invasion paranoia.

However, the island possessed another equally undesirable trait: a large underclass of foreign prisoners. As a penal colony, New Caledonia saw the internment and forced labor of tens of thousands of rabble-rousers from the French metropole and its far-flung colonies. The convict population was largely heterogeneous, but there were two large groups that overshadow the rabble: leftist radicals, and Algerian fighters.

Normally, these groups would have found much to disagree with one another, but time and distance had smoothed relations to the point that around half of the 5000 Algerian prisoners on the island have intermarried by 1906, forming new families with their fellow convicted neighbours. Given these groups’ opposition to the French, it wasn’t long before British intelligence (or more precisely, Australian spies) focused on this underclass. [1] Several spies sneakily ensconced themselves in Noumea throughout the southern winter after sailing from secret ships, surreptitiously establishing contact with the natives and convict-settlers.

A detailed sketch of the three types of the New Caledonian underclass: A Kanak farmer, a convict-settler, and an Algerian Arab or Amazigh rebel.

​

It took several months, but the spies were able to gauge from their informants of the penal isle’s weaknesses of a northern attack. They also noted that an invasion would not be opposed by either the convict labourers or (most of) the local Kanaks, though support for a British or Australian occupation proved less than forthcoming. With this, a new plan of action was immediately drawn up by the Australian navy to take the island.

It was also a fortune that, this far into 1906, the belligerent colony of Italian Papua had been bombed of working ports (though interior control was still elusive) [2a.] and the Southeast Asian naval theatre had mostly concluded [2b.], while the production of new warships at Sydney harbour ran at full speed, leaving the British dominions with enough firepower to finally match the speedy French and Italian gunboats.

On August 28th 1906, New Caledonia was awoken to the sound of artillery and exploding vessels as a dual force of British and Australian men – and a tripartite force of both nations’ navies and that of New Zealand’s – landed on the north end of the island. On the sea, the combined might of the British Empire pounded on the floating fortresses that protected the isle, proving once and for all that the French and Italian doctrine of emphasising speed and manoeuvrability as per the Jeune Ecole doctrine came at a cost of lighter, weaker hulls. As 5 French and 2 Italian warships began to sink at Banare Bay, the decision was made among the remaining naval command at Noumea to abandon the island and save whatever warships remained. By the following day, the entire northern half of the island was under occupation. By August 30th, the remaining Franco-Italian fleet disappeared into the Pacific expanse, sailing to French Polynesia.

To the relief of the French planters and mining class, the new administration did not confiscate their estates and firms – the joint occupation force was willing to bury any revenge grumblings so long as they pledged new allegiances and allowed the export of nickel for the British war effort (though this didn’t stop several Frenchmen from refusing cooperation and getting booted as a result). The same magnanimity did extend to the non-islanders, whom make up the bulk of New Caledonia’s population. A sizable portion of these were the non-criminal workers of the island’s nickel mines, whom were contracted from as far away as Indochina, the New Hebrides, and the Dutch East Indies. For them, life changed little as they worked for a pittance in supplying nickel ore to the foundries and factories of Australia.

The island’s true criminal underclass was a much different – and divided – affair. For the socialists, communists, anarchists, and Algerian independence convicts, exiled to the remotest penal colony of the French Empire, the new occupation force was uncertain on how they should be treated. As purveyors and instigators of radical thought, they were seen as less trustworthy and given to toe the new line. On the other hand, it was feared that clamping down on them would risk fermenting an island-wide uprising. A proposal to deport all penal criminals to the Australian mainland was floated, only to be scrapped when it was met with an enraged home public. One columnist to the Melbourne broadsheet, The Argus, warned that allowing such an order would, quote; “…flood Australian land with duplicitous radicals and violent mohammedans, which will not stop at nothing to poison Australian minds with their ideas which sanctify the destruction of human progress”.

Rare French postcard of convict-settlers harvesting cash crops on New Caledonia, sent just before the Australian takeover of the island

​

And with that, the decision was made to leave the penal population on the island for the time being. For the convicts themselves, this inaction was proof to the notion that the new dominion administration was nothing more than ‘the new jailors’. In the end, the exigencies of the Great War and material supplies forced them all to work in the estates, forests, and mines of New Caledonia, albeit with paradoxically less harsh treatment – an effect of occupation jitteriness of a potential uprising borne from horrible work conditions.

​

As for the Kanaks, their conditions were the sorriest. The racism of mainland Australian society, which was notorious even then, quickly reared its head and made itself home against the indigenous inhabitants. Building on French laws, Kanaks continued to be excluded from formal work and education while the Kanak language was officially banned from public use; anyone caught speaking it, even if they were French citizens, would face ruinous fines and imprisonment. The indigenous inhabitants of the land were ultimately confined to mountainous reservations that only covered 10% of New Caledonia, depriving them of any opportunities for advancement or even full movement.

Still, as the island became a part of Australia in all but name, and as the French-controlled New Hebrides fell just 48 hours after the surrender of Noumea, the new masters failed to recognize that the closeness of the underclass with one another, with some even forming families, would led to the hybridization of radical ideas…

********************

​

Petru Nuñez, A History of Pacific Wars; The Great War, SW Cornellia: 1989)

…The entry of Germany into the Great War not only changed the balance of power in the Oceania theatre, but also placed an awkward wrench to Australia and New Zealand’s plans.

From the British dominions’ point of view, the Pacific Ocean was supposed to be their sphere of influence. With mining and plantation concerns proven to be profitable across the island chains, both Melbourne and Wellington sought a piece of the profits. Defence also played a role, as both Australia and New Zealand believed they were at risk if the Pacific islands are held by any other power than Great Britain; a fear that became reality as French and Italian commerce raiders stalked the reefs and atolls. In a secretive twist, New Zealand sought to grab a Pacific empire of her own to counterbalance the commercial and military might of Australia, which is why Fiji today is more closely aligned to the south rather than to the west. [3]

But Germany declared war on France, and thus upended their plans.

The French navy, with their knack for speed, tried to strike first by claiming the colony of German Samoa. What they hadn’t counted was the arrival of the German East Asia Squadron, a branch of the imperial navy that was stationed in the Papuan colony of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland. Steaming quickly into the Pacific (their offer of naval aid against New Caledonia and the New Hebrides was pointedly rebuffed by an irate Australia) [4] they reached the Samoa islands just as the French were attacking them. The German flag was actually in the process of being hoisted down at the capital of Apia when the squadron arrived, creating an awkward situation for the French sailors overseeing the event. Recalling the day, the island’s German governor Wilhelm Solf remarked; “…I don’t know whether to laugh at my surrender and reinstatement – to be fired and re-hired in 30 minutes! The crowd of onlookers was more amused than confused that day.”

The German navy quickly stepped-up their mantle by capturing the French islands of Wallis and Futuna, which neighboured Samoa. This did not come without cost, though, with one warship sunk and 2 more heavily damaged as the remaining French and Italian vessels fled.

German propaganda print of ‘The Last Sailor’ who stayed behind as his ship went down at Wallis and Futuna. In actuality, such a scene never happened.
​

This unwelcome introduction into the nature of Pacific warfare would bedevil the squadron just as it had for the Royal Navy and the dominions of Australasia. Now with more players in the front, the disparate warships, gunboats, and commerce raiders of the Marine Nationale and the Regia Marina would settle on a new tactic: ambush raids and cat-and-mouse night battles, often near neutral ports and territories. By the end of the southern winter, the areas of conflict have shifted to around Spanish Micronesia for the west, French Polynesia and Chile at the east, and Hawaii as the perennial middle zone of war and peace. Commerce raiding, hit-and-run shelling, and ambush attacks became the new norm for any British or German merchant mariner traversing these regions, and the unfavourable formation of grouped convoys – already in use since last year – became more pronounced for these territories.

Even for the British and German-held islands, the situation was far from secure. The Gilbert and Ellice Islands became notorious for sudden raids, while the German colony of Nauru saw scenes of sudden night attacks that damaged both phosphate extraction and communications equipment. Even the New Hebrides saw one spectacular cargo raid in late October by the Italian cruiser Oddone Eugenio that left even the rear admiral of the newly formed Royal Australian Navy, William Rooke Creswell, impressed. “I would’ve given them praise if they were mine own men”, he said privately after hearing of the raid.

But the high point of French and Italian chaos in the Pacific was beginning to wane. The conclusion of naval theatres elsewhere and the full production of warships in Australia and Canada began to tip the scales of firepower, which coincided with the slowdown of warship construction in France, Italy, and Imperial Russia from supply problems. Additionally, both the Hawaiian and Spanish Philippine governments were getting annoyed both at the antics happening on their waters and of the complaints by the Four Powers to close their ports to belligerent shipping. Already, there were reports of brawls erupting between sailors of different nationalities in Manila and Oahu, and there is pressure to update shore leave laws to intern such instigators, regardless of diplomatic fallouts.

While the vastness of the Pacific Ocean still eludes complete control, and while the Cook Islands and the Pitcairns are still under French control, the speedy warships of the Patras Pact are being whittled down, one by one…

Sailors of the Kriegsmarine re-raising the German flag at Apia, 3 minutes after the French tried to lower it down.
​

____________________

Notes:

This whole piece was originally supposed to be appended to the previous Africa instalment, but I decided to make it its own thing as the Pacific theatre unfurled beyond my estimations.

Perhaps one of the greatest POD’s not-to-be in this region are the recruitment of local Fijians into the Great War effort. IOTL, they helped in the taking and occupation of German colonies in the Pacific and a Native Fijian Contingent even served in Europe, turning heads wherever they went. With the Pacific still in flux, there might not be a chance to have indigenous Fijians serve in the fronts there, more’s the pity.

Spoiler: Surprisingly, short notes this time

1. This is just a repeat of Post #1492, but it does bear mentioning.

2. Refer to Post #1434 for the situation in Italian Papua (2a.) and the conclusion of the South China Sea naval theatre (2b.).

3. The result of an enlightening long-ago conversation with @SenatorChickpea. Surprisingly, New Zealand had imperial ambitions of having a Pacific empire of its own during the mid-to-late 19th century. As early as 1865, the future Premier of the dominion, Julius Vogel, published a pamphlet that espoused, in short: “…Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and the New Hebrides as component parts with New Zealand of a Pacific Confederation.” By the 1870s, reports are drawn up that surveyed every major Pacific island chain – noting population, natural resources, best harbours, and the like.

4. Never mess with a nation that has invasion paranoia and a perception for claiming nearby islands as rightfully theirs. This was a sore point for many Australian citizens even in OTL. Invasion literature was a noticeable thing (that Wikipedia page needs serious updating) and the 1907 Imperial Conference saw the Australian Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin, urging the British to focus more on Pacific matters.

 

[Neoteros]

Of course the Australians had to be even more racist than the French. What's with Anglophone settler states and over the top racism, as brutal as the other colonial powers could be, you know something's up when Australia and the United States end up doing some of the same shit despite being literally a world apart, and largely independent from their former motherland.

 

[Ephraim Ben Raphael]

I want say, I'm really impressed by your ability to find relevant (or capable of being passed off as relevant) pictures. I like to use pictures in my own TL, and finding good ones can be an exercise in frustration.

 

[SenatorChickpea]

I've made a contribution!

Excellent update, and it really captures the weirdness of South Pacific politics. I like the emphasis on the peoples of the Noumea, too.

 

[Al-numbers]

Of course the Australians had to be even more racist than the French. What's with Anglophone settler states and over the top racism, as brutal as the other colonial powers could be, you know something's up when Australia and the United States end up doing some of the same shit despite being literally a world apart, and largely independent from their former motherland.

Honestly, Australians and Americans can answer that better than I. But I should note that French authorities did restrict Kanaks to reservations IOTL and forced them into working the fields and developing the infrastructure; it took decades of activism and unrest for the Kanaks to reach an accord with the French government (and even then, it's not without controversy).

I want say, I'm really impressed by your ability to find relevant (or capable of being passed off as relevant) pictures. I like to use pictures in my own TL, and finding good ones can be an exercise in frustration.

Searching for the right photographs and images for this timelime is an adventure in of itself! You have not seen my rages when I found an interesting photograph or painting that is (unfortunately) watermarked or held by a stock imgage repository 😡 . For me, I use several methods to find the appropriate photos:

1. Note the update and what kind of images are appropriate for the text;
2. Use specific or adjacent keywords in an image search;
3. Google Images or ImgOps search to find the best high-quality photos (or related ones), especially if the original photos came from a stock image site 😡;
4. If that fails, search for photos that, without any context, could fit into the new context of the timeline;
5. If that fails, find any images or graphics that convey the emotional or subjective tone of the update;
6. If that still fails, use cartoons or abstract paintings, if the worst comes to the worst.

It's not a hard and fast rule, but these are the guidelines I use when searching for images to use for R&H. Wikimedia and online repositories are my best friends, but there are too many times when I try to find image A for update A, only to discover image B that is actually better for the update than image A! My desktop and folders are filled with photographs, images, links, and paintings that I find to be interesting and potentially useful. It. never. ends.

I've made a contribution!

Excellent update, and it really captures the weirdness of South Pacific politics. I like the emphasis on the peoples of the Noumea, too.

I still remember the conversation we had! How could I not use the info?

The South Pacific is going to be a region where things can go very wildly from OTL. Australia's invasion jitteriness and racism, New Zealand's on-and-off dreams for a Pacific confederation, Fiji's and New Caledonia's ethno-religious loopiness, it is hard to imagine a region that's so perfect as a microcosm of colonialism and it's aftereffects.

Plus, the Algerians and socialists of the Pacific are too cool to be left unchanged. 😉

 

[Icedaemon]

Of course the Australians had to be even more racist than the French. What's with Anglophone settler states and over the top racism, as brutal as the other colonial powers could be, you know something's up when Australia and the United States end up doing some of the same shit despite being literally a world apart, and largely independent from their former motherland.

I cannot find a clip of it right now, but to paraphrase Steve Hughes (I am pretty sure I recall him saying that) put it, Australia is one of the most recent places which pretty much successfully carried out a genocide, yet whose populace is mostly known as charming rascals. To the best of my knowledge, Australia was one of the more racist parts of the Commonwealth for a while.

 

[SenatorChickpea]

That's true, but it's also important to point out that all settler colonialism is, eventually, genocidal. Some setter colonies are more successful in that pursuit than others, that's all.

I can tell you as someone who studies late nineteenth century professionally that New Zealand, for example, was in many ways every bit as racist as Australia- it's merely that circumstances (and Maori agency) meant that the Pakeha were content for their indigenous people to 'die out on their own.' And that still entailed massacres, the attempted destruction of indigenous language and culture etc.

Canada is another country that has 'successfully carried out a genocide' by your definition, and their reputation is of polite, friendly hockey players.

 

[Al-numbers]

I cannot find a clip of it right now, but to paraphrase Steve Hughes (I am pretty sure I recall him saying that) put it, Australia is one of the most recent places which pretty much successfully carried out a genocide, yet whose populace is mostly known as charming rascals. To the best of my knowledge, Australia was one of the more racist parts of the Commonwealth for a while.

That's true, but it's also important to point out that all settler colonialism is, eventually, genocidal. Some setter colonies are more successful in that pursuit than others, that's all.

snip

I remember watching a video discussion about oppressed indigenous groups and one commentor pointed out how a fair number of aborigines and indigenous peoples actually live in a post-apocalyptic landscape. With lands, family bonds, places of worship, and traditional culture all but near-wiped out by dominant forces, many native peoples live in situations many dominant peoples think of when they imagine post-apocalyptia or dystopia. For them, the Bad End has arrived, and stayed.

I think settler colonialism in general, especially of the agricultural-industrial kind, inevitably screws-over native populations as settlers (and settler-led governments) demand more than what equal agreements would give. The key questions then are whether conditions could change that would allow native peoples a chance to resist or halt the tide, and what parts of culture can be preserved for future generations.

it's one of the most complicated questions when dealing with native rights, and one that has no easy answers.

 

[Icedaemon]

Canada is another country that has 'successfully carried out a genocide' by your definition, and their reputation is of polite, friendly hockey players.

I'd disagree there. If Canada, where as far as I know there was more of an exploitation of an apocalyptic pandemic than anything else and there were a number of treaties the government actually treated as more valuable than toilet paper (unlike their neighbours down south) is considered to have willfully committed genocide because there was a time when most settlers didn't really care for the natives, then the definition is too broad.

At that point, one might as well say that every single ethnic group in the world has been genocidal (barring perhaps a scant handful of exceptions in the most inhospitable and hard to reach areas), having in some manner displaced if not replaced someone else at some point in the distant past. To my mind, calling it genocide without either an official policy thereof or the vast majority of the population advodcating and/or carrying one out cheapens the term to the point of inanity.

 

[SenatorChickpea]

Canada's indigenous peoples tend to consider it a genocide, and I defer to them.

 

[Iserlohn]

I'd disagree there. If Canada, where as far as I know there was more of an exploitation of an apocalyptic pandemic than anything else and there were a number of treaties the government actually treated as more valuable than toilet paper (unlike their neighbours down south) is considered to have willfully committed genocide because there was a time when most settlers didn't really care for the natives, then the definition is too broad.

At that point, one might as well say that every single ethnic group in the world has been genocidal (barring perhaps a scant handful of exceptions in the most inhospitable and hard to reach areas), having in some manner displaced if not replaced someone else at some point in the distant past. To my mind, calling it genocide without either an official policy thereof or the vast majority of the population advodcating and/or carrying one out cheapens the term to the point of inanity.

Considering stuff like the Residential School System, frequent stories of forced sterilization of First Nation peoples, and similar situations, I firmly side with SenatorChickpea on this.

 

[SenatorChickpea]

Yes. I mean, if we were to point to the proof that Australia had a genocide we would cite, at a minimum:

1. The Stolen Generation. (Residential Schools!)

2. Going along with that, a wider aim of Eugenic cleansing. (Check!)

3. Massacres. (check!)

4. Forced relocation from traditional homes. (check!)

5. Suppression of indigenous languages and cultures. (check!)

The fact that Canada had treaties- that it largely ignored- doesn't change this. The US had treaties with its indigenous peoples that it largely ignored, and there was certainly a genocide there.

 

[Icedaemon]

Hm. I am perhaps substantially less knowledgeable about Canadian colonial history than I thought. I was under the assumption that Canada at least did generally abide by the letter, if not necessarily the spirit of the agreements made with the natives and ignored rather than actively suppressed native languages and culture.

Actually, I'm getting a sense that we are drifting a bit off-topic from the story itself. Perhaps let us leave it at this?

 

[Al-numbers]

As a silent observer of the back-and-forth talks, I'll only say this: all nations have at least some skeletons in their closets, and some nations have bigger closets (and skeleton piles) than others. But just because one nation has a comparatively larger closet full of skeletons does not absolve it's neighbors' closets - nor should those neighbors be seen as kinder, as their bone piles are created from the sharing/replication of the larger nation's policies.

Now that the regional updates are completed, we can finally move into the 1906 summary and roundup - though don't expect an update anytime soon. Benin will definitely be mentioned due to my forgetfulness in the Africa installment. Oops.

After that, it's on to 1907! ...and the possible end of the conflict?

 

[Al-numbers]

Lil' update since it has been two months since my last post here. The latest installment (the 1906 global roundup) is currently being written, but a combination of COVID fatigue, new distractions, and the challenge of summarizing the complexity of an entire planet - and one that has entire swathes of continents + oceans at war - has caused a large amount of Writer's Aversion on my part. Oops.

The next update will be coming soon, that I promise. Until then, may your 2021 kick the ass out of 2020. ✨

 

[Herr Frage]

Thanks for the update, I think most of us can empathize to some degree with being fatigued by the state of the world. Take care of yourself, and don't feel a need to push yourself for this.

Likewise, may 2021 be a light in front of us all this season.

 

[Wendell]

Not to add more work, but what's going on with Madagascar in this timeline?