CPR Fall 2020 (XIX, 3)

Volume XIX Number 3 Fall 2020

COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW

2020

2016

EDITOR’S NOTE

COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW The Columbia Political Review is a multi-partisan undergraduate-run publication at Columbia University. The magazine hosts writers and accepts pitches from all over the ideological spectrum; our mission is to provide an open forum for long-form political thought on campus. We cover both international and domestic issues.

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Alex Siegal PUBLISHER Maria Castillo MANAGING EDITORS Olivia Choi Rachel Barkin Ramsay Eyre Sophia Houdaigui CHIEF-OF-STAFF Sarah DeSouza GRAPHICS EDITOR Peyton Ayers LAYOUT EDITOR Helen Sayegh PUBLICITY EDITOR Eleanor Yeo

STAFF SENIOR EDITORS Henry Feldman Raya Tarawneh Janine Nassar Heather Loepere Katherine Malus Kaili Meier Aditya Sharma Aja Johnson Heather Loepere Annabel Kelly Hannah Wyatt Sarah Howard Oliver Niu Timothy Kinammon Daniel Kang John David Cobb Chloe Lowell Zachary Becker

JUNIOR EDITORS Ellie Gaughan Emily Ringel Charles Wallace Adam Kluge Cameron Adkins Caroline Mullooly Carina Layfield Jasmin Butler Roshan Setlur Serena White Olivia Hussey Samuel Braun Ryan Safiry Eli Baucom-Hays Sarah Wang Jeffrey Xiong James Hu Jaime Gomez-Sotomayor Natalie Goldberg Tatiana Gnuva Haley Chung Renuka Balakrishnan Deepa Irakam Aili Hou Robert Gao Roopa Irakam Elina Arbo ARTISTS Julia Ulziisaikhan Brynn Hansen Margadbileg Bold Christina Su Sydney Lee LAYOUT Blake Jones Elijah Knodell

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s you are no doubt well aware, the outcome of this election was a rude awakening for Americans across the entire political spectrum. Even now, the right wing still refuses to acknowledge the truth of President Trump’s loss; meanwhile, Democrats saw their expected “blue wave” evaporate in congressional and state legislative elections. There was plenty of celebrating on November 7th, and while it was well deserved, it is only a short-term victory.

Yes, we have stopped the bleeding in the executive branch, including the decay of impartiality and expertise at critical federal agencies. We have also enabled a number of limited executive policy remedies, including the enforcement of environmental protections and the renewal of DACA. There are other actions that we should be able to push the incoming administration to take, including the establishment of presidential truth and reconciliation commissions regarding American slavery and racial discrimination.

However, on net, this is possibly one of the worst long-term positions we could have ended up in if we want to preserve American democratic institutions, bolster civil rights protections, and tackle the big climate and economic problems of our time. First of all, Trump has just led an American political party to disavow a free and fair election—and in so doing, he may enable an actually-competent strongman to succeed at accomplishing the same in the near future.

On top of that, a McConnell Senate is likely, which means no legislative solutions for that problem: no renewal of the formerly-bipartisan Voting Rights Act, no ability to legislate any kind of solution for economic inequality, no chance to repair a badly-broken federal judiciary, and no statehood for the nearly four million Americans lacking representation in Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. It is a consolation to me that our writers have tackled these challenges and more. To name some, Luke Seminara digs into QAnon, Shruti Verma discusses latent inequality in clinical studies, Chloe Lowell examines progressive prosecutors, and Yasmine Dahlberg weighs whether Swedish-style policing would benefit the United States.

CPR’s staff now numbers over one hundred, our summer publishing program was a huge success, and we’re pleased to continue to provide opportunities for students wherever we can. Now more than ever, this generation’s voices deserve to be heard, and we hope that our students will be at the forefront of that fight.

COVER ART BY: Christina Su

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DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this magazine belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Columbia Political Review, of CIRCA, or of Columbia University.

— ALEX SIEGAL, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

CONTENT The Columbia Political Review publishes both print and online content. Writers may submit articles as staff writers or on a pitch basis. To submit a pitch or find more information, visit cpreview.org

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WHAT Q TELLS US: CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND AMERICAN CIVIL SOCIETY Luke Seminara CC ’23

THE DANGER OF INEQUALITY IN INVISIBLE SITUATIONS

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Shruti Verma SEAS ’23

CROSS-EXAMINING THE PROGRESSIVE PROSECUTOR: CHALLENGES OF REFORM FROM THE INSIDE Chloe Lowell CC ’23

HOW A UNIVERSITY'S SEARCH BECAME A PARTISAN BATTLE

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Caroline Mullooly BC ’22

STAFF REACTS: 2020 ELECTION CPR Staff

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

25 28 32 36

THE TEST ON THE NILE: ETHIOPIA AND EGYPT'S CONFLICTING CLAIMS TO THE NILE RIVER Maeve Flaherty CC ’21

HOW RUSSIA IS FAILING ITS INDIGENOUS ARCTIC POPULATION Amelia Fay CC ’22

POLICING IN AMERICA: MIXED LESSONS FROM SWEDEN Yasmine Dahlberg CC ’23

INTERVIEW, JOSHUA WONG: "WE NEED THE WORLD TO FOCUS" Aditya Sharma GS ’21

CIRCA

Columbia International Relations Council and Association

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WHAT Q TELLS US: CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND AMERICAN CIVIL SOCIETY Luke Seminara // Columbia College ’23 February 22, 2020

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mericans have a particular attraction to conspiracy theories.

To label conspiracy theories as fringe in this country would be quite inaccurate—with amusement, we contemplate the truth in events ranging from the moon landing to the assassination of JFK. Nor are such beliefs confined to the realm of popular culture. From the rise of the Jesuit-phobic Know-Nothing movement of the mid-19th century to the McCarthyist hysteria nearly a century later, conspiratorial paranoia has entered the political mainstream on a near-cyclical basis.

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A QAnon supporter waits outside of a Minneapolis, MN Tru

Perhaps it is a feature of our culture—the American virtues of “rugged individualism” and vehement distrust of authority lend themselves well to skepticism. In 1964, Columbia historian Richard Hofstadter wrote “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” wherein he analyzes our country’s passion for conspiratorial thinking. Hofstadter pins the rise of conspiracy theories on two nineteenth-century trends: the common person’s unease with “aristocratic institutions” and the nativists’ fear of “international rings.” These forms of conspiratorial thinking had their respective origins in the 1830s anti-Masonic movement and late 19th century anti-Catholic movement.

However, Hofstadter argues that contemporary right-wing conspira-

cy theories mark a transition from a narrative of “possession” to a narrative of “dispossession.” Unlike their predecessors who espoused the defense of American tradition from outside actors, the ideologues of the Second Red Scare believed that American institutions were already corrupted by a communist cabal— they viewed themselves as saviors “repossessing” the system before the traitors triggered this country’s downfall. Promulgated by the mass media, the McCarthyist conjecture was more convoluted and grandiose than its predecessors.

Although Hofstadter derisively labels conspiracists as paranoid, he still pities them. He posits that conspiratorial thinking is a product of “being shut out of the political

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ump rally in 2019. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

process”—the ostracized are inclined to believe that the world is “sinister and malicious.” Perceiving a morally black-and-white world with irreconcilable interests, conspiracists are radicalized into “double sufferers” and entrapped by the oppressive schemes of their imagination.

QANON AND THE RETURN OF THE PARANOID STYLE In recent years, America has entered a new epoch of conspiracy theories, and paranoia has seeped into American politics under the presidency of Donald Trump. Some have suggested that the president has adopted Hofstadter’s “paranoid style” to divert attention from controversies such as his campaign’s collusion with Russia and policy fail-

ures such as the COVID-19 fiasco.

Indeed, Trump entered the political spotlight in 2010 for his support of the birther conspiracy theory. But, perhaps more concerningly, Trump has permitted and even endorsed a new right-wing conspiratorial behemoth—QAnon.

The QAnon movement started in November 2017 on the imageboard 4chan, when an anonymous user identified as “Q” foretold the imminent arrest of Hillary Clinton. In subsequent posts, or “drops,” Q—a self-proclaimed insider of the Trump administration—would describe how Clinton, Obama, and other members of “the establishment” were involved in a global Satanic network of pedophiles attempting to overthrow the Trump administration.

Q predicts that, mercifully, America will be saved in an event known as “the Storm,” in which the military will intervene under Trump’s command and detain these traitors.

Most of the QAnon canon stems from Pizzagate, another 4chan conspiracy theory from 2016 that claimed that the Democratic Party was trafficking child sex slaves out of the basement of Washington DC pizza parlor Comet Ping Pong. The Pizzagate movement went into hibernation later that year after a follower of the theory attempted to “investigate” the restaurant with an assault rifle. Its successor would invoke the same degree of moral outrage, albeit on a far greater scale. QAnon has eagerly incorporated a broader range of conspiracy theories relative to Pizzagate, including birtherism, the 9/11 truth movement, and vaccine skepticism.

A QAnon supporter waits outside of a Minneapolis, MN Trump

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rally in 2019. Photo by Tony Webster licensed under CC BY 2.0 .

A QAnon supporter waits outside of a Minneapolis, MN Trump rally in 2019. Photo by Tony Webster licensed under CC BY 2.0.

As expected, QAnon has the typical attributes of a traditional conspiracy theory. In a similar vein to the anti-Masonic movement, it alleges that a “cosmopolitan elite” is intent on eradicating American tradition and faith. Much like its forerunner, QAnon is surprisingly organized—it has a whole virtual culture built around piecing together the “breadcrumbs,” and the online marketplace for Q drop exegesis is flourishing. The near-biblical prophecies of Q mean that the movement tends to be fervently religious, and Q frequently invokes the Lord’s name and quotes the Bible even though the posts are supposed to be official correspondence. The movement is also highly ritualistic: aspiring Q acolytes are encouraged to “take the oath” to be accepted into the movement as a “digital soldier.” Online, they proudly identify themselves by the tagline WWG1WGA (“Where We Go One, We Go All”).

Just three months before the November 2020 elections, Trump lauded QAnon for “loving our country.”

By then, the movement had achieved over 4.5 million followers across social media platforms. During the 2020 primaries, QAnon formally entered the political mainstream, with six Republican congressional candidates outspoken believers of Q. QAnon is easily the biggest conspiracist-driven political movement since McCarthyism, and the digital soldiers clearly share a dispossessed outlook with their 20th-century pre4

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decessor. However, unlike the Second Red Scare, which was somewhat grounded by real-life events such as the Rosenberg Trial of 1951 and the context of the Cold War, QAnon is far more fanatical. The F.B.I. has even labeled it a domestic terrorist threat. The group’s rapid rise over this year marks a new peak in American mass hysteria.

CONSPIRACY BELIEFS AND THE INFORMATION AGE A movement as fanatical and widespread as QAnon would certainly be unfeasible without the advent of the internet. While Joseph McCarthy used televised anti-communist hearings to incite nationwide paranoia, QAnon has harnessed contemporary technology to propagate its doctrine almost entirely online.

Social media is inadvertently tailored to enhance the longevity and transmissibility of conspiracy theories, and the QAnon movement is no exception.

For the most part, QAnon disciples have successfully weaponized social media to wage information warfare, preying on everyone from stay-at-home moms to evangelicals through Facebook groups and Instagram posts. These propagandists often get their foot in the door by reaching out to others through memes warning about child trafficking—a favorite call to action is “save our children.” They then leverage this moral panic to gradually induce users into “waking up” and descending “down the rabbit hole.” By blending discipleship and sensationalism, the followers of Q have been able to grow exponentially, exploiting the gullible and emotionally susceptible among us.

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The internet has facilitated the efforts of digital soldiers by strengthening confirmation bias and making cognitive dissonance easy to avoid.

While online search engines such as Google offer near-limitless amounts of knowledge to users, the increasing accessibility of information has been paralleled by the rising availability of “alternative” information, and the budding popularity of conspiracy-laden outlets such as Breitbart and Infowars attests to the amount of misinformation within reach.

Search engines like Google and social media platforms also alter search results for the sake of user retention, which creates “filter bubbles,” a term coined by activist Eli Praiser and since adopted by other scholars.

Upon entering these bubbles, users are supplied information congruent with their worldview, so biases and cognitive distortions are reinforced and radicalized.

This phenomenon has been problematic, to say the least. A 2016 Facebook memo reported that 64% of members in extremist communities joined due to its “suggested groups” feature. The company refused to meaningfully respond to these findings, a negligence which runs the risk of sowing the seeds for another wave of radicalism. By opening the door to echo chambers, algorithms can proselytize new Q conspiracists just as, if not more effectively, than the digital soldiers themselves. In March 2019, for instance, Amazon’s automated book recommendations allowed for a piece of QAnon propaganda to top its “hot new releases” page. Although conspiracy theories have infiltrated their platforms, the response of tech giants to such incidents has been

minimal. Facebook’s most recent revision to its algorithms has had a muted impact on the growth of QAnon groups, and the overall activity of these communities has continued to rise steadily. In October, the company announced its plans to ban nearly all Q-affiliated content on its site, yet it is uncertain how effective this long-overdue policy will be, especially given how widely publicized the movement has become in the interim.

THE PSYCHOSOCIAL ALLURE OF CONSPIRACY THEORIES Thanks in part to the information age, the United States has gradually developed a sociocultural disposition for conspiracy theories. In his 2000 book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam argues that our country’s social capital—our aggregate affiliations, relationships, and community—has broadly declined. American society has atomized since the mid20th century, and citizens are less involved in activities ranging from political activism to innocuous civic groups such as the Boy Scouts. The most noteworthy ramification of this trend is the decrease in trust—specifically, trust in government—along with rising political and racial intolerance due to decreased socialization.

Among other things, the shrinking of social groups and declining faith in fellow citizens has added to America’s polarized political climate. Putnam considers the development of electronic media such as cable television and the internet to be one of the main factors behind this trend, as it shifted entertainment from the civic sphere to the private sphere.

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>Republican criticisms have been just as demeaning— Representative Liz Cheney referred to the movement as ”DANGEROUS LUNACY,” while Representative Denver Riggleman equated it to ”MENTAL GONORRHEA.”

The Propagation Society (1855), a Know-Nothing poster by Nathaniel Currier alleging a Catholic assault on America. Photo archived by the Library of Congress.

Social capital is a strong predictor of conspiratorial thinking. A 2017 study by Bentall and Freeman identified several interpersonal determinants of belief in conspiracy theories, namely smaller social networks, loneliness, and trust issues.

The study likewise found depression, low self-esteem, and feelings of hopelessness to be affective predictors of conspiracy belief, factors which can be tied to social capital deficits as well. It appears as if the United States is moving towards the socially detached psyche of Hofstadter’s double sufferer.

From a sociocultural perspective, conspiracy theories have an inescapable appeal for those disconnected from civic life. Although movements such as QAnon have the potential to devastate real-life relationships, they provide believers with a strong ingroup. Reflecting on the social motivations behind conspiracy belief, University of Kent researchers Chicovia, Douglas, and Sutton postulate that conspiracy theories can have therapeutic effects: individuals feel

as if they are part of a large movement fighting for pure good against a force of pure evil (in QAnon’s case, the pedophilic cabal). The sanctimonious beliefs of conspiracy theories provide previously low-esteem, lonely individuals with a sense of positive distinctiveness.

According to Chicovia, Douglas, and Sutton, conspiracy theories also originate from epistemological and existential motives. These respectively refer to the human tendency to seek intentionality amid uncertainty and the need for self-determination and control. In the former case, Q drops offer followers a way to rationalize the trauma of the ongoing economic crisis by attributing it to an evil syndicate, especially since the current administration has failed to orchestrate a coherent public health campaign. In the latter case, QAnon grants followers autonomy through an exciting alternative reality game.

As Putnam noted in Bowling Alone, religious participation is one of many forms of social capital that is withering precipitously, falling around 12

percentage points this past decade.

QAnon fills this spiritual void for many believers by offering moral purpose in the form of information warfare against deep-state saboteurs and salvation in the form of the inevitable “Storm.”

Therefore, QAnon may be considered an ill-advised remedy to continuous pitfalls in social capital across America. In the United States, declines in trust and social nets have coincided with the rise of the internet. QAnon remedies the surges in loneliness by offering virtual camaraderie and self-respect similar to a religious congregation. The concept of being a digital soldier waging information warfare provides believers with a unique form of imagined community. There is a certain form of triumph when QAnon acolytes present the identifier “WWG1WGA,” for they have finally “repossessed” a long-lost sense of belonging, and they have escaped the vapid reality of 2020.

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TRUMP Out of all of the cohorts in the United States, the white working class has faced an unparalleled degree of socioeconomic decline. From the 1970s onward, their livelihood has been at odds with several market forces: globalization, automation, and de-unionization. Harvard economist Dani Rodrik argues that rather than reinforcing social programs to assist the “losers” from offshoring and creative destruction, U.S. policymakers have allowed the Rust Belt to oxidize. Rising wealth inequality and decreasing social mobility have rendered the working class the greatest victim of social capital declines—they suffer from broken homes, plummeting religiosity, and decreasing interclass ties. Between the 1970s and the 2010s, trust fell by a third among the upper third of Americans, compared to a one-half decrease among the lower third. The ongoing opioid epidemic, which rapidly accelerated in 2015 and 2016,

ington elite was intent on destroying blue-collar Americans though open borders and unfair trade deals.

During the 2016 Republican primaries, Trump received a majority of his support from the poorest, least religious, and most civically disengaged members of the party—in other words, those most psychologically vulnerable to this conspiracist rhetoric. His enduring dominance over the lonely, white, working-class vote was a major contributor to his victories in the presidential election.

Right-wing populist leaders such as Trump often harness the paranoid style to legitimize the suppression of political opponents and conceal authoritarian ambitions. In Hungary, for example, national conservative strongman Viktor Orban has underscored the threat posed by billionaire bogeyman George Soros to justify his tightening of control over higher-level education. Meanwhile, to defend his campaigns of law and order, Trump has claimed

"DECLINES IN TRUST AND SOCIAL NETS HAVE COINCIDED WITH THE RISE OF THE INTERNET. QANON REMEDIES THE SURGES IN LONELINESS BY OFFERING VIRTUAL CAMARADERIE AND SELF-RESPECT." epitomizes the despair faced by this ailing demographic.

In the leadup to 2016’s pivotal election, Donald Trump’s nativist, populist demagoguery won over the hearts and minds of the disheartened working class, promising them repossession of a state seized by “the swamp.” The soon-to-be-president constructed a conspiracy-like narrative, describing how the Wash7

that “dark shadow” operatives have been stirring up unrest across the country. The president has also used the “Obamagate” and Trump Tower wiretapping conspiracy theories as a pretext for politicizing and planting loyalists across the U.S. intelligence community.

Although Trump and his populist contemporaries have promised to return trust in government and fight

for the general will, they continue to corrode the relationship between individuals and institutions. The president’s crusade against news outlets has resulted in Republican faith in the media halving from 30 percent to 15 percent since 2015. Ahead of the election, Trump has doubled down on his conspiratorial thinking in his war on accountability, contesting the C.D.C.’s coronavirus statistics in a vain attempt to whitewash the hundreds of thousands of lives lost, and disparaging the U.S. Postal Service despite mail-in ballots being a public health imperative. The Republican National Convention was relentlessly apocalyptic as well, with Trump and Pence deriding Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden as a “Trojan horse for socialism” intent on abolishing the police and eradicating American tradition. Thanks to this relentless fear-mongering, the gap between Trumpian dogma and QAnon scripture is shrinking.

According to a September poll by Civiqs, 33 percent of Republicans believe that the theory is “mostly true.” In March, only 18 percent of Republicans were familiar with the movement.

Needless to say, Trump has reinforced the double sufferer mindset across his base by making compromise with the establishment seemingly impossible—even though he has frequently appointed corporate lobbyists to his Cabinet. Rather than restoring social capital and making the American community great again, Trump has further cultivated distrust and disillusionment, especially among his already socioeconomically-anxious supporters. This trend has been especially the case

FALL 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW over the COVID-19 crisis; Trump has pushed against the necessary collective action of social distancing.

The president’s popularity is dependent on perceptions of alienation and disenfranchisement, the same sentiments that Hofstadter identifies as conducive to conspiracy theories.

By augmenting this sense of marginalization, Trump has effectively forced his insecure followership to look towards QAnon for clarity and community.

THE 2020 ELECTION, COVID-19, AND CONTAINING QANON When Biden was asked about QAnon in early September, he ordered its followers to seek psychiatric assistance. Republican criticisms have been just as demeaning—Representative Liz Cheney referred to the movement as “dangerous lunacy,” while Representative Denver Riggleman equated it to “mental gonorrhea.” Despite the apparent insanity of QAnon dogma, we must remember that the movement is not a pathology on its own. Rather, the resurgence of conspiracy theories is a symptom of broad sociocultural and socioeconomic factors. As touched upon previously, the rise of Q has been prompted by the fracture of American civil society, induced by the atomizing forces of social media and wealth inequality. It is likewise impossible to distance QAnon from America’s historical tango with conspiracy theories.

American social capital has plummeted even further in the shortterm due to the onset of COVID-19 and the placement of indefinite restrictions on in-person interaction.

While it could be argued that civic life might be able to migrate to the

online domain, this shift to social media exposes even larger portions of our society to the risks inherent in online communities. By providing a deep-state scapegoat to explain the shutdowns and mask mandates, QA-

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with a new community—and a new religion—to survive the hardship and solitude induced by social distancing. Distress, distrust, and the internet has led to the rise of an odious form of social capital.

"THE PRESIDENT’S CRUSADE AGAINST NEWS OUTLETS HAS RESULTED IN REPUBLICAN FAITH IN THE MEDIA HALVING FROM 30 PERCENT TO 15 PERCENT SINCE 2015." non has been able to enlist new members into its ranks. When evangelical church congregations switched online in the spring and members turned to Facebook for information, they were greeted by Q missionaries.

The purportedly patriotic virtues of the movement provided the faithful

Despite these apparent trends, most of the suggested “treatments” for QAnon include suppressing virtual hotspots, cleansing social media of Q-affiliated influencers, and banning groups. As much as these policies might set back the digital soldiers’ campaign, they do not up-

One of the many memes posted by Q. Screenshot from Q-Alerts.

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Comet Ping Pong, subject of the Pizzagate scandal. Licensed under WikiCommons.

root the psychosocial motives for conspiratorial beliefs. These attempts to suppress QAnon will more than likely enhance the feelings of persecution that prompt paranoid thinking. The movement has also shifted from mainstream social media to a new platform, Parler, which lacks the same anti-extremist policies. Twitter and Facebook’s belated crackdowns will be ineffective in pushing back QAnon, which has already become a political and media sensation. Nonetheless, these corporations must be held accountable for the faults in their algorithms.

The future of QAnon is ostensibly predicated on the election. Trump’s fondness of the paranoid style and distaste for expertise seems to be accelerating rather than reversing as he attempts to intimidate suburban America into voting for him. Putting an end to right-wing populism at the ballot box might be the most straightforward way to combat QAnon. Still, regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, the digital soldiers will more than likely get a foothold in Congress. Majorie Taylor Greene, a Georgian Republican and vocal Q 9

supporter running for the House of Representatives is almost guaranteed to win after her Democratic contender dropped out. Even though forcing QAnon out of the political spotlight will warrant substantial time and effort, the bipartisan disapproval of conspiracy theories in Congress remains promisingly strong.

Instead of playing conspiracy theory whack-a-mole, America needs to work towards restoring an inclusive and non-virtual civil society once COVID-19 finally elapses. Robert Putnam concludes Bowling Alone by insisting that we need to find an alternative to idly preoccupying ourselves with bias-satisfying electronic media, and his words are just as relevant today. The acute decline of social capital has led to unprecedented loneliness, and QAnon has been able to exploit the need for belonging felt by millions of isolated Americans.

Fortunately, history has shown that the current paranoid style of government will inevitably subside, and the ongoing episodes of rightwing populism and COVID-19 will end. For the time being, we must address the QAnon movement holisti-

cally and understand its sociocultural foundations. Attributing the movement to partisanship or irrationality alone will do very little to address the historic rifts behind this new epoch of conspiracy belief. That being said, psychological and sociological research on conspiracy theories is quite limited. We must seize the initiative to further study the origins of movements such as QAnon, as conspiracy theories have proven themselves to be a secular feature of American society.

For those who personally know QAnon conspiracists, the most viable approach may perhaps lie in non-confrontational one-on-one conversation and other forms of social support, which have the potential to help guide believers towards acknowledging their cognitive distortions.

Further ostracizing digital soldiers is likely imprudent since research thus far has shown that alienation exacerbates conspiratorial thinking. It is this human, psychological lens which will best shed light into the root of the issue. And, above all else, we must remember that conspiracists are double sufferers—victims of fantasy and reality alike.

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The University of Minnesota Medical School. Photo by Alexander Gude.

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hen Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers, Gregory and Travis McMichael, were finally arrested months after they shot him while he was on a jog, Arbery’s family’s lawyer, Benjamin Crump, took to the news not with a statement of triumph but rather one of caution. “I want to make it clear for the record,” he told NPR. “The reason they arrested Travis and Greg McMichael for executing Ahmaud Arbery was not because the law enforcement officials saw the video; it was because we the people saw the

Shruti Verma // School of Engineering and Applied Science ’23 August 31, 2020 video.”

The aforementioned statement spread quickly on social media, serving as a testament to the power of public outrage and as a glaring reminder to hold institutions and state empowered organizations like our police departments accountable. After all, if the past couple of weeks have proven anything, it’s that our scrutinizing eyes and our collective rage are unfortunately far too necessary in ensuring justice for marginalized populations. It’s with great urgency that the public ought to reflect and consider, then: are there perhaps other in-

stitutions with a similar power to impact our livelihood that we are leaving unchecked?

A disconcerting revelation about a 1986 clinical study points towards an unlikely potential answer to this question: the medical research community.

Thirty-four years ago, scientists at the University of Minnesota discovered a treatment with the potential to save the lives of millions of African Americans suffering from heart fail ure. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize this fact until over a decade later. The scientific community disregarded the 10

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treatment as ineffective for thirteen years, until finally in 1999, researchers from Washington D.C. studied the trial more closely. It turned out that the original experiment included so few African Americans that their positive reaction to the treatment went unnoticed. As a result, incalculable numbers of people lost their lives to an entirely treatable disease,

the scientific community is immune?

A paper titled “Diversity in Clinical and Biomedical Research: A Promise Yet to Be Fulfilled” suggests that we should not. According to the report, less than two percent of the cancer clinical trials conducted since 1993 have “included enough minority participants to meet the N.I.H.’s own criteria and goals.” As a result,

“The medical research community exhibits the same patterns and problems that many institutions in our country do.” all because the original experiment had a study group composed almost entirely of white men. There were no ensuing protests or demands of reparations. How could there have been outrage, after all, when no one was watching in the first place?

In recent years, scientists have enjoyed relative immunity from the public eye. A recent poll conducted

by The Pew Research Center found that 86% of the public has either a fair amount or a great deal of faith in biomedical scientists. When asked about their trust in the government, though, only 17% of the public indicated confidence in those running the country.

The results match what is a generally understood public sentiment: we trust our doctors since they’re “smart” and “good,” but we warily monitor our elected officials, often deemed to be “dishonest’” and “sly.” This discrepancy in public perception is so widespread that the underlying logic is hardly ever questioned. But perhaps it should be. After all, when the likes of racism and sexism are generally considered to pervade society as a whole, should we be assuming that 11

treatments for this devastating disease are tailored to the body of a white man and hastily generalized to the rest of the population. These low percentages suggest that the exclusion of racial minorities from medical studies is a pervasive problem, not just a oneoff error. The root cause is often cost.

Admittedly, studies with diverse patient groups are likely to be expensive given the extra time that researchers spend recruiting participants. As a result, researchers (especially those in labs pressed for resources) begin to indirectly discourage the inclusion of minorities in clinical studies.

However, discrimination is direct more often than not. Dr. Sandra Underwood of the University of Wisconsin explains that one way this occurs is by perpetuating stereotypes of marginalized groups as being “noncompliant, unreliable, and unwilling” study participants. By negatively characterizing minorities in this manner, researchers rationalize their homogenous study groups by arguing that, if minority individuals don’t want to participate in research studies, they shouldn’t be forced. The result is a body of research

focused on maintaining and improving the health of only one population.

The medical research community exhibits the same patterns and problems that many institutions in our country do. Just as our police departments and our justice system often turn a blind eye to the violence perpetrated against Black and brown people, the medical institutions in our country continue to disregard their health. What makes the latter’s discrimination even more insidious, though, is its relative invisibility: there are no viral videos that we the people can spread to highlight the injustice of doctors overlooking minority participants when performing their studies.

Thankfully, we can change this.

To do so, we first have to recognize that science is institutional—research is conducted through universities, organizations, and foundations, not a scattering of doctors working independently of one another. These are structures capable of perpetuating the institutional problems that still persist in our society. By reimagining the field of medical research as an establishment with the power to either hinder or help social justice and equality, we can subject it to the same sort of public oversight that we do other institutions, whether that be by spreading information about research groups that consistently ignore Black and brown people or by donating to organizations that fund grants for scientists studying minority-specific health issues. It’s in our power to ensure that everyone in our country benefits from the scientific and medical advancements that can save their lives; all we need to do is start watching.

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CROSS-EXAMINING THE PROGRESSIVE PROSECUTOR: THE CHALLENGES OF REFORM FROM THE INSIDE Chloe Lowell // Columbia College ’23 October 12, 2020

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am sitting on the phone with Jim Hingeley, the prosecutor for Albemarle County, Virginia, as he walks me through his philosophy in office. As Commonwealth Attorney, known as a District Attorney in most other states, Hingeley occupies the role that Kamala Harris and others have dubbed “top cop.” Yet he illustrates a radically different picture of his job.

“Roughly speaking, about 5% of the crime in Albemarle is serious, violent felonies. 95% isn’t. We need to discriminate between these,” he says, making an impassioned case for his views on crime and justice. “I think we should work hard to avoid using jail to respond to criminal behavior.”

Amid the myriad of demands for transformative change in this moment of protests and dialogue about policing, prosecutors are an often overlooked piece of the puzzle. Prosecutors, or district attorneys, set the tone for how officers police their communities as the chief law enforcement official of a district. With any

given protest, a prosecutor may both choose whether to file charges against protesters and whether to hold an officer accountable for the brutality that motivated the demonstration.

Historically, many District Attorney offices have operated under a more punitive mindset. “Law and order” was a resounding, victorious campaign message, and prison was widely accepted as a corrective force and a social good. Prosecutors went under the radar while aggressively facilitating mass incarceration.

The position also comes with an unreviewable discretionary authority: District attorneys may determine which charges are filed against a defendant, redirect them to an appropriate program, or dismiss the case altogether. This discretion, an immensely powerful tool, allowed white prosecutors to refuse to try hate crimes in the civil rights era. Prosecutors have covered police lies and routinely struck all potential Black jurors in attempts to win their cases. These intentional, often illegal practices are nearly

impossible to stop. In 1976, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that prosecutors have absolute immunity from civil liability, meaning plaintiffs may not seek justice against any individual prosecutor for actions taken during a criminal prosecution.

The ills of absolute immunity still come into play today— a recent internal investigation uncovered over 20 instances of prosecutorial misconduct in the Brooklyn District Attorney Office. The results revealed a collective 426 years in prison for the wrongfully convicted. Nearly all were low-income Black defendants.

Amid this tense history, the “progressive prosecutor” movement is working to redefine the role of state attorneys. For decades, there was a consensus that D.A. candidates must be “tough on crime” to prevail in their elections. Challengers were also rare—80% of incumbent prosecutors ran unopposed, according to a 2014 study. Only in recent years have progressive prosecutors begun to publicly reimagine how a district attorney 12

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Posters hang on a D.C. fence after a June 11th rally this year. Photo by Ted Eytan.

office should function.

As progressive prosecutors win elections across the U.S., some activists are pushing against the idea that reform can mend our criminal justice system. This growing movement for abolition envisions a future without police, and prosecutors may not necessarily fit into that vision either.

Confederate statues still sit in the heart of the city. Protests and demonstrations are a common sight, but the city is still haunted by the 2017 Unite the Right rally, in which neo-Nazis marched bearing tiki-torches and a 32 year old woman was killed and several more injured when a white supremacist drove a car into a crowd of counter-protestors. In the minds A Case Study in progressive of many Americans, the word “Charprosecution lottesville” is still synonymous with Charlottesville sits in a unique that violence. position. As a college town, it is a blue Voters in Charlottesville are also pinprick in a red part of the state. particularly attuned to the power we Black Lives Matter signs are scattered place in district attorneys. In 2019, throughout residents’ lawns, yet three Albemarle, the county surrounding 13

Charlottesville, voted out the Republican incumbent Robert Tracci and elected self-described “progressive prosecutor” Jim Hingeley. Tracci wrought the ire of voters that year for failing to prosecute Jason Kessler, the main organizer of the 2017 rally.

Tracci cited technical grounds in his failure to convict, which Hingeley criticized as a “rookie mistake.”

The stakes were higher than his infamous blunder, though: Mr. Tracci opposed a civilian review board of police conduct, referred to Charlottesville activist groups as “disruptive,” and failed to bring charges against a group of white supremacists who

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More broadly, he operated under the approach that removing people from the community and sending them to prisons and jails was a solution to crime.

According to a report released this year, race was the best predictor of how many charges would be associated with a single arrest for Black men during Tracci’s time in the Albemarle Commonwealth Attorney Office. The results found that the race of the accused exerted an even “greater statistical influence than both the seriousness of the violation and prior criminal history, combined.” This alarming disparity is the dark side of prosecutorial discretion.

THE VICTORIES AND VICTIMS OF PROGRESSIVE PROSECUTORS “A lot of people think that crime prosecution is pretty automatic,” Commonwealth Attorney Hingeley told me in his July phone interview.

“That’s a completely erroneous conception of what a prosecutor does and what a prosecutor should do.”

Their positions are often pointed to as a source of mercy and leniency in a historically unforgiving system. Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, one of the country’s most prominent progressive prosecutors, recently stated “[prosecutorial discretion] is even more powerful when you choose to not charge.”

DAs may be the most important elected individuals when it comes to immediate, tangible change in the criminal justice system. While policymakers are hindered by a system that is designed to move slowly, elected prosecutors can swiftly change individuals’ lives. Prosecutors can reduce

felony charges to misdemeanors, decide whether to pursue incarceration or probation, or may choose to avoid convicting entirely and ask the defendant to complete a program instead— all options embraced by self-titled progressive prosecutors. Hingeley

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likely not prosecute all officers who violated a recently passed chokehold ban. City Council member Rory Lancman, who first introduced the anti-chokehold legislation after Eric Garner’s death in 2014, criticized the Democratic prosecutors, arguing that

“Even in the offices of left-leaning districT attorneys, the all-important tool of prosecutorial discretion can squarely benefit officers. ” employs his prosecutorial discretion frequently, describing prison as a “last resort, not a first response.”

Few individuals work as closely with police officers as prosecutors, giving them a unique advantage when it comes to pushing for accountability. The incredible amount of discretion they posess plays a role here, too: if the prosecutor observes a pattern of racial profiling from law enforcement, they are under no obligation to prosecute the case. Moreover, prosecutors have a responsibility to report any dishonesty to the defense council in cases of alleged misconduct, which can be used as exculpatory evidence in prosecuting an officer.

“Ultimately,” Hingeley noted, “with an observed pattern of dishonesty, an officer will be terminated.”

Too often, though, this isn’t the case. The close working relationship between police officers and district attorneys may actually impede progressive work. In July, three New York district attorneys said they would

law enforcement has “resisted even the most basic, modest reform” for years. Even in the offices of left-leaning district attorneys, the all-important tool of prosecutorial discretion can squarely benefit officers.

Prosecutor-officer biases can become rooted far before a prosecutor takes office. Police unions frequently donate large sums to both Republican and Democratic campaigns for district attorney. This practice is more than a bad look for more progressive candidates— in many cases, the union funding an accused officer’s defense team has also funded the campaign of the prosecutor for the same case. These police unions are arguably the most influential unions in the country. Their collective power— and hold on some prosecutors’ offices— make officers notoriously difficult to terminate. While dishonesty is relatively common and has rarely guaranteed an officer’s dismissal, police lying raises the likelihood that innocent people will be incarcerated.

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District attorneys’ closest coworkers are the police, complicating the shift from “chief law enforcement officer” to “progressive prosecutor.”

Cop culture, or the “Blue Wall of Silence,” works to foster a dangerous complicity that may extend beyond police badges and handcuffs. Prosecutors must work with officers and agents to build a case, acting as gatekeepers for investigative techniques such as search warrants, electronic surveillance, and grand juries. The line between “reviewer” and “partner” is easily blurred during these investigations. Some prosecutors may even include officers in the legal process by soliciting their advice on plea deals or sentencing.

There is a growing rift between

those calling for basic reform and those calling for defunding as a means of abolishing the police and prison industrial complex. Activists on both sides of this spectrum now face a crucial question: are progressive prosecutors crucial allies, or just as culpable as every actor in the system?

Defund Charlottesville Police, a local police and prison abolitionist group pushing for the reallocation of more than 10 million in police funding, has challenged the very idea of progressive prosecution. Instead, they advocate for a police-free community where the criminal justice system itself has been abolished and replaced.

In a statement for CPR, organizers likened progressive prosecution to fancy gift wrap on a damaged card-

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. Photo by Jared Piper.

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board box: “Regardless of how impressive the wrapping of paper is, the box is still damaged— much like the system. You can’t be enmeshed in the system without perpetuating it.” The organizers also question any use of incarceration, even sparingly. “Prisons and/or jails are not institutions that can be reformed…we need to develop alternatives outside of the system.”

PROGRESSIVE PROSECUTION NATIONWIDE Activists are holding new D.A. offices accountable across the U.S. and putting pressure on the narratives created during their campaigns.

District attorneys can cause undeniable harm to their constituents— even when the word “progressive” is

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In Philadelphia, an attempt at progressive reform kept hundreds of legally-innocent people awaiting trial in jail during the peak of a pandemic.

District Attorney Larry Krasner entered office in 2018 with a promise to end both the use of cash bail and mass incarceration. After two years without any major change to the cash bail system, he announced that his office would only be seeking one of two bail requests: release without any payment or $999,999.

“D.A. Krasner’s new policy attempts to skirt the law by seeking million-dollar bails as de facto detention orders.” The Philadelphia Bail Fund wrote in a report, “Of the 237 cases we reviewed in which the [District Attorney Office] requested cash bail in the amount of $999,999, over 90% of those subject to such a request were assigned public counsel because they could not afford an attorney.” An overwhelming majority of those individuals— approximately 80%— were Black.

Krasner’s attempt to move away from cash bail only magnified existing inequities. It was also more than a break of promises; his failure reflected the reality of transforming a system that cannot help but penalize poverty.

Progressive prosecutors are taking on the difficult task of both fighting an oppressive system whilst

being a part of it. But policies like Krasner’s only work to incarcerate people in inhumane conditions— even prosecutorial discretion cannot change a preexisting set of laws that criminalize survival crimes and were written to incarcerate Black communities.

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er cruelties. In framing police and incarceration as redeemable, some policies actually reinforce the larger system.

This new type of prosecutor runs on a platform of ending mass incarceration in a country that holds 20% of the world’s prison population. They face a simple math problem: reducing the incredible amount of prisoners is an insurmountable task for individual progressive D.A. offices scattered across the country. Moreover, progressive prosecutors’ policies are selective in which criminal defendants benefit, opting to only forgive crimes the public may be easily sympathetic towards. Ruth Wilson Gilmore sees a clear issue with this: “to genuinely end mass incarceration in America, we have to transform how the justice system responds to all offenses.”

There is no question that prosecutors make some of the most consequential decisions for both police reform and the larger criminal justice system. District attorneys moving away from a punitive, carceral mindset may seem like a small victory for activists amidst growing calls for change. Still, they have largely escaped criticism for both their complicity and significant roles in promoting unjust incarceration. Despite the challenges of their office, prosecutors, even progressive ones, cannot be overlooked when it comes to accountability.

“Despite the challenges of their office, prosecutors, even progressive ones, cannot be overlooked when it comes to accountability.”

The situation in Philadelphia begs a larger question: is change from the “inside” an effective answer? Vice Presidential nominee and former California Attorney General Kamala Harris argues that it may be the only one. But many activists, particularly abolitionists, are pushing back on the idea of inside reform.

“It’s obvious that the system won’t disappear overnight, no abolitionist thinks that will be the case.” Prominent abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore said in a New York Times interview, “So many of these proposed remedies don’t end up diminishing the system. They regard the system as something that can be fixed by removing and replacing a few elements.” Gilmore and many others ultimately argue that progressive reform simply opts for less-

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HOW A UNIVERSITY’S SEARCH FOR A NEW PRESIDENT BECAME A PARTISAN BATTLE Caroline Mullooly // Barnard College ’22 August 28, 2020

The South Caroliniana Library, at the center of the University of South Carolina’s campus. Photo by Wikimedia user ProfReader.

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believe that partisan politics should play no role in the affairs of a university funded by taxpayers.” Stephanie Justice, a rising senior at the University of South Carolina, denounced the impact of Governor Henry McMaster’s political lobbying in the 20182019 search for the next university president. After the search committee produced an all-male, predominantly-white field of finalists, McMaster lobbied each member of the U.S.C. Board of Trustees to elect the finalist that most resembled his own political identity. “McMaster’s intervention simply soured my perspective on the search overall,” said Justice in an interview with me. Justice is not alone— many U.S.C. students, faculty, and alumni also expressed outrage over the university presidential search that would later make headlines.

The University of South Caroli- McMaster’s top pick—became controna has never had a female president, versial due to his comments on sexual despite its 219-year history and its assault. When asked by students how majority-female student body. Both he would aid sexual assault survivors, students and faculty expressed disap- Caslen answered that he believes in pointment in this disconnect between advocacy for the victims but that the institution’s gender balance and U.S.C. should “take out the contribthe Board’s options for the next presi- uting measures towards sexual assault, dent. That disappointment grew when particularly the alcohol… binge drinkuniversity officials admitted that the ing and things like that.” At U.S.C., finalists were selected from a larger list a major SEC school where students of 11 candidates—all of whom were spend many nights in the popular enalso men. The gender gap in the search tertainment district Five Points, binge committee itself may have also led to drinking has been a prevalent problem this development, as only two of the that is not necessarily linked to sexual 11 members were women. U.S.C. is assault—and many students felt that not alone in this problem; only 22% Caslen’s comments partook in the of doctorate-granting universities have common practice of victim-blaming. female presidents, while others have Concerns over the lack of diversity yet to elect a female president. in the search process and Caslen’s comThe student forum on April 25 ments grew louder the next day when amplified these concerns regarding almost 75 students protested inside of the lack of diversity in the presidential the Alumni Center, where the Board search process. Former Senior Coun- scheduled their meeting to vote on the A FLAWED PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH sel to the President of the University of next president. Additional criticisms In November 2018, U.S.C. Pres- Central Florida and former West Point of Caslen included his lack of a doctorident Harris Pastides announced he Superintendent Robert L. Caslen— ate degree and his seemingly unorthowould be retiring at the end of the ac- who would later become Governor dox hunting practices. The protesters ademic year following his 11-year tenure. Pastides was a fan favorite on campus, known for snapping selfies with students and taking them on drives to chat in his memorable Mini Cooper.

Replacing him as university president was destined to be a challenge for all involved.

After months of searching, the Board of Trustees announced they had narrowed the search to four finalists. The Board encouraged students to submit their feedback on the candidates and attend a forum later in the week to meet and question each contender. The finalists—John Strait Applegate, Robert L. Caslen Jr., Joseph T. Walsh Jr., and William F. Tate IV— Robert Caslen as superintendent of West Point in 2016. Photo by Sergeant 1st Class Chuck Burden. were all men.

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read a letter supporting William F. Kelly as interim president. This devel- for McMaster, but the governor has a Tate, dean of the graduate school and opment appeared to be a win for pro- constitutional right to call the Board vice provost for graduate education at testers and Caslen critics. to meet.” Mims is correct: McMaster Washington University in St. Louis— holds the power to call the Board to a and the only Black finalist and finalist Politicizing An Apolitical Process special meeting. of color. Signed by over 400 students, The dream of consensus between But does partisan political lobbythe letter stated that Caslen’s com- U.S.C.’s administrative leaders and ing qualify as a “say-so” in the search ments the day before were “insensitive protesting affiliates shattered in July, process? Most governors have had a and may reflect his moral stance on when Governor McMaster called all of laissez-faire attitude towards their state other controversial topics.” Over 40 the trustees on the Board to meet and colleges’ boards; however, as higher student organizations and 120 faculty lobbied them to reconsider Caslen. As education becomes a more politicized members also signed the letter, asking state law dictates that McMaster is the issue, governors and politically-mindthe Board to dised board memmiss Caslen as a bers have become contender and to more involved publicly release in matters often the demographics handled by school of the other 80 administrators. applicants.

McMaster’s own U.S.C.’s status relationship with as a public univerthe University of sity suggests that South Carolina this information system is unprecshould have been edented, accordpublic to hold ing to political both the Board observers who and the search could not recall a committee acsitting governor countable. More commanding a recent activist Board meeting efforts contend until this presithat entities use dential search. diversity in a perMcMaster is Email sent on April 26, 2019 from the U.S.C. Board of Trustees to students. formative manner, also an outsposo U.S.C. should ken supporter of have worked to differentiate itself from ex officio chair of the board by virtue President Trump. Caslen, a former these organizations by releasing the of being governor, some board mem- finalist for the position of Trump’s demographics. This transparency also bers had no qualms with McMaster’s National Security Advisor, matched would have worked to uphold U.S.C.’s phone calls. Trustee Edward Floyd, the the Governor’s political preferences. prized Carolinian Creed: “[discour- longest-serving board member at the “What should have been an apolitical, aging] bigotry, while striving to learn time, said that “[he] would hope the merit-based search for our next presifrom differences in people, ideas and governor has a say-so [in the vote for dent was turned into a political game opinions.” a new president].” Some students, like by Governor McMaster,” rising senior That evening, the Board sent the rising senior Campbell Mims, agreed Carly Mihovich told me. Mihovich following email announcing that it with this assessment. In an interview also believes that McMaster “priorvoted to reopen the search and named with me, Mims recently stated that itized his own connections over the Chancellor of U.S.C. Upstate Brendan “the optics of the situation looked bad well-being of the university and proved 19

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South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster at an event in 2018. Photo by Joshua Adams.

himself to be unworthy of holding a seat on the board.” While South Carolina state law does not outright deem McMaster’s lobbying illegal, student activists believe the governor’s actions constitute an abuse of his power as Chair of the Board. State colleges such as U.S.C. serve to educate their respective states’ populations—and the governor’s lobbying pushed a partisan political agenda into a major administrative decision, neglecting the fact that U.S.C. affiliates do not share one, cohesive political identity.

South Carolina state law also demands that the governor should “strive to assure that the membership of the Board is representative of all citizens of [South Carolina],” yet the Board does not meet this standard. Demographically, the state of South Carolina is 68.5% white and 27.1% Black, while the 2018-2019 Board of Trustees was

roughly 95% white and 4.5% Black with Leah Moody as the only Black trustee. The Board’s past and present demographic makeup does not even correspond to that of the U.S.C. system, which is 69.1% white and 15.19% Black. South Carolina state law also requires that the governor should “assure that various economic interests and minority groups, especially women and blacks, are fairly represented on the commission,” but it is arguably impossible for McMaster to complete this task with the disparity between the Board’s makeup and South Carolina’s reality.

Although McMaster called the Board to meet on July 12 when most students and faculty were away from campus on summer break, this move was still met with pushback and protest. Trustee Charlie Williams voiced his disagreement, asking “why bring in

a controversial candidate who divided campus so much?” Even Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin chimed in, declaring that “an illegitimate process will only yield illegitimate results.” Alumni also showed resistance to the new meeting and Caslen’s renewed chance at becoming president. Darla Moore, U.S.C.’s largest donor and namesake of the business school, hinted that donors could pull their money from the university. Moore also recommended a new search to produce “a qualified candidate without the current controversy.” The loss of Moore’s funds would spell catastrophe for U.S.C.’s endowment—she has donated over 75 million dollars to her alma mater.

A court moved McMaster’s requested meeting from July 12 to July 19 because he failed to give “appropriate notice,” as required by state law.

The governor publicly embraced his 20

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After the Board meeting, student government representatives emailed U.S.C. affiliates that the Board elected Robert Caslen as the next university president.

McMaster was not the sole culprit in choosing politics over professionalism—the entire Board politicized the process. One trustee claimed that the protesters, most of whom were Black, were “from out of town,” part of “that Kamala Harris crowd,” and that the protests were “tied into the Democratic primary.” This trustee would proceed to help elect Caslen.

After Caslen was confirmed, McMaster’s chief of staff texted a trustee who was a Caslen supporter: “The Democrats hate us. We took their castle.”

Another trustee confirmed McMaster’s overreach in a different message: “Henry’s willing to do anything else we need to recruit Caslen.” Left-leaning Caslen opponents also participated in the sparring, with one text reading: “the two morons appointed by the governor are a waste of time.” One Caslen opponent attempted to persuade a supporter; however, the latter claimed in response that he “watches Fox News and the radical left is trying to control all conservatives on University campuses, including our Board.” These messages further solidified the deep partisan lines drawn behind closed doors.

Email sent on July 19, 2019 from U.S.C. student government representatives to students.

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ACCREDITATION AND A CALL TO ACTION News coverage from the 20192020 academic year examined the search process in light of U.S.C.’s potential consequences with accreditation. In October, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Commission on Colleges discovered

FALL 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW “evidence of a significant accreditation-related issue,” and stated they would complete a “formal review” of the U.S.C. hiring process. Former student Jonathan Rodgers, who graduated in 2020, said in an interview that he was rather unbothered by the search, but “when [he] began to hear that McMaster’s involvement could affect [U.S.C.’s] accreditation, it began to really worry [him].” The University received no material penalties from the SACS Commission on Colleges, but the association was adamant that McMaster had “undue influence” in the process. This review damaged the institution’s credibility in the eyes of the general public and prospective students.

In an interview with me, Lyric Swinton, who also graduated from U.S.C. in 2020, said that the Board’s final decision to elect Caslen was “the most frustrating part [of the process].

You had students telling [the Board] not to do it, you had faculty telling them not to do it, you had alumni telling them not to do it… only for the Board to say that none of it matter[ed].” A Caslen protester and former candidate for student body president, Swinton advocated for universal inclusion for women and students of color. When discussing how U.S.C. and other universities can diversify their hiring process, she said “I think a lot of people aren’t ready to have those intentional conversations… People hire people who look like them, and representation matters, top-down and bottom-up.” Swinton’s evaluation rings true—research shows that the implicit biases of recruiters influence whom they hire, with some experts suggesting that recruiters take an implicit associations test to recognize and unlearn their own biases. Swinton later

cited the recent interim trusteeship appointment of former N.B.A. star and U.S.C. basketball alumnus Alex English as having added “much-needed diversity” to the Board. However, English’s interim status indicates that his position is not yet permanent. If the Board is not ready to have one of many

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Political interference in state colleges hurts everyone involved. It hurts students and faculty, whose continued attempts to advocate for diversity and inclusion go unheard. It hurts alumni and donors, who will now question if their generous contributions now indirectly support a politician’s re-election

“Political interference in state colleges hurts everyone involved... Most of all, it hurts the university’s credit as an institution. intentional conversations about racial inclusion, then English’s appointment may have been a performative move by McMaster to compensate for the lack of diversity in his previous appointments. Swinton also noted that many people in the state legislature are up for re-election in 2022. As the governor and state legislature appoint Board trustees, more diversity in the state legislature could translate to a more diverse Board. Swinton also stressed the need for “more [gender] diversity, race diversity, age diversity…[including that of ] occupation,” citing that lawyers, who make more than double the median household income in South Carolina, compose a large portion of the current state legislature. When asked for last thoughts, Swinton stated that “college is all about finding your voice, and to have young people use [their voices] and be shot down, what kind of message does that send?” By ignoring the voices of U.S.C.’s multipartisan student body, the Board sent the message that student opinions do not matter.

campaign. It hurts Robert Caslen supporters, whose candidate could have been elected on his own merit, but now, South Carolina will never know if his position was justly awarded to him. It even hurts the trustees, as partisan borders divide them into staunch political camps. Most of all, it hurts the university’s credit as an institution. A public university that promotes “personal and academic integrity” does not deserve to have its reputation ruined because a political operative at the top let his partisanship get the best of him.

It does not deserve to be branded as inferior due to the unscrupulous actions of one man.

The University of South Carolina deserves to become the best version of itself—with a more representative Board of Trustees, more diverse finalist pools for future positions, and, perhaps, a new ex officio chair of the board.

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Rachel Barkin, BC '22 Palo Alto, CA

STAFF RE 2020 RES

As much as I focused on the presidential election, I eagerly awaited the results of the California propositions. The California ballot addressed highly contentious issues from criminal justice reform to treatment of gig-workers. I was thrilled to hear that Proposition 17, restoring the

right to vote for formerly incarcerated people, is being passed. This proposition is

historic; restricting people who served time is undemocratic and civic engagement has been proven to reduce recidivism.

MARIA CASTILLO, SEAS '21 Laredo, TX After Beto O’Rourke’s run for Senate in 2018 which motivated a lot of Texas Democrats to turn out, I thought the state might flip blue this year. Although Democrats got closer than ever before to win statewide, there is a lot for work to do with regards to voter disenfranchisement and investment in non-white communities to change this outcome. Also, the way a portion of Latino men in South Texas went from Clinton to Trump was also fascinating to me.

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Olivia Deming, CC '24 Farmington Hills, MI As a native Michigander, I take a great deal of pride in a good comeback story, and this election has exemplified just that...

Black voters are underrepresented and underserved, and yet they are the reason Michigan flipped blue, the reason Biden is president-elect. "

EACTIONS: SULTS

Chloe Lowell, CC '23 Charlottesville, VA This year, Virginia voted to adopt a constitutional amendment that takes redistricting or “gerrymandering” power away from legislators and places it in the hands of a bipartisan panel...Democrats have sparred over whether the referendum will inspire meaningful change, yet, I remain cautiously optimistic. I also took a post-election moment to reflect on Virginia’s shift to a nearly-safe blue state. Just four

years ago, we found ourselves on almost every battleground state list.

Nicolas Lama, CC '24 West Palm Beach, FL As a Hispanic voter myself, Trump’s outsized showing within South Florida’s Latinx demographic, especially with Cuban and Venezuelan voters in Miami-Dade County, came as a big surprise, and it is a distressing indication that Democrats must do more in the future to win back these historically Democratic regions by a larger margin...Trump’s strong performance in Florida worries me that our state is moving farther and

farther to the right.

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THE TEST ON THE NILE: ETHIOPIA AND EGYPT'S CONFLICTING CLAIMS TO THE NILE RIVER WATERS Maeve Flaherty // Columbia College ’21 November 12, 2020

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eddy Afro, Ethiopia’s biggest pop star, released a song this summer called “Demo Be Abay”—“If They Test Us on the Nile”—that criticizes Egypt’s claims to the Nile River Basin and exclaims “I own the Abbay.” His song is a musical testament to the political and cultural upheaval in the Nile River Basin between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan regarding the ownership and operation of the newly constructed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Ethiopia began filling the dam—which has the potential to obstruct both Egypt’s and Sudan’s sources of fresh water—this summer, and it is set to become Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam; it is projected that it will generate enough electricity to fuel the high demands of Ethiopia’s rapidly developing economy.

Virulent nationalism on both sides, post-colonial issues, and a perceived zero-sum game situation characterize the conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia over access to life-giving water.

International law is too vague to solve this dispute. One might consider the universal theory of succession and the clean-slate theory to weigh the countries’ competing water ownership claims, but both theories have 25

outdated applications. When theory and international water law are applied to the Nile River Basin, it is clear that Egypt’s claims of “natural and historical rights” to the Nile waters based on previous use and colonial-era treaties is illegitimate because international water law aligns with the clean-slate theory that a change in sovereign creates a new legal regime.

However, Egypt’s appeals for sufficient water and protests against the rapid filling of the dam are effective under the “do no harm” principle and should be recognized by Ethiopia.

During these negotiations, Ethiopia should gradually fill the dam over a fifteen-year period to minimize the reduction of water flow to the Nile River Delta and prevent a downstream human rights disaster.

Ethiopia launched the construction of the dam in 2011 after a secretive planning and design process that did not include any other riparian states. Some observers argue that Ethiopia intentionally began construction during the Arab Spring, when Egypt was too distracted by domestic issues to protest the unilateral decision to transform the waterway.

During the first year, the GERD will retain 4.9 billion cubic meters of water, enough to activate the first two

turbines, and over five to seven years, the reservoir will obtain a maximum capacity of 74 bcm. While the dam fills, water flowing to Egypt will be cut significantly, and even after the dam fills, a reduced flow will continue downstream. Ethiopia and Egypt face what they both consider an existential fight for water access, each perceiving the other as acting in bad faith.

Implications of Treaty Succession Theory and International Law Egypt has predicated a large part of its diplomatic argument on its historical rights based on colonial treaties. Two different paradigms approach state succession in international law: the universal theory of succession and the clean slate theory, but neither are adequate to interpret the ownership claims to the Nile River Basin.

The universal theory of succession regards the state as immutable, with a fundamental character that is not affected by a change in the identity of its agents. Legal scholar Dr. Rosalie Balkin explains that once the leader of a state has made an agreement on behalf of that state, the commitment applies to the people from which he derives authority. Therefore, legal

FALL 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW obligations are attached to the land, not the state, and bind any successor state. As colonial governments made agreements on behalf of colonies for their own exploitative objectives rather than the needs of the colonized land, many African nations correctly assert that acceptance of this theory is essentially an extension of colonial rule.

Modern international opinion supports the clean slate theory, or tabula rasa, in which the law is an expression of the sovereign will, and only applies while that will exists. The shift from colonial rule to a new sovereign state with a new sovereign will creates a legal vacuum. According to this paradigm, only the successor state should decide on the new legal regime. The new state’s decision to fulfill the obligations of the treaties of predecessor states is entirely voluntary.

When applied to the Nile River Basin’s treaty requirements, the clean slate theory is supported by the doctrine of rebus sic stantibus. This doctrine holds that if circumstances which are essential to the consent of the parties bound by treaty are radically transformed, the party may terminate the agreement. According to both clean slate theory and a rebus sic stantibus’ understanding of state obligations, the shift from colony to sovereign state renders the treaties signed by colonial powers on behalf of African states inapplicable to modern water management.

Neither the clean slate theory nor the universal theory of succession fully fit modern post-colonial treaty succession realities. Many post-colonial African states identified a period of two to three years after independence during which to renegotiate treaties

and decide which treaties to keep and reject. The Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties supports this approach, holding that post-colonial states have the option rather than a requirement to abide by pre-existing treaties. Approaching modern water management through a paradigm holding that post-colonial states possess an option, rather than an obligation, to abide by pre-existing treaties most fully recognizes the complex nexus of nationalism, identity, and self-determination inherent in post-colonial states. It is thus the best applicable paradigm to apply when considering states' competing claims for access to the Nile.

The UN Watercourses Convention provides a framework for management that can be transferred to the Nile basin. The most important article, 5(2), states that watercourse states shall participate in the use, development, and protection of an international watercourse in an equitable and reasonable manner.” However, “equitable and reasonable” is a vague standard, and the options offered as mechanisms to decide such are varied and at times contradictory. These mechanisms include past, present, and potential uses, social and economic needs, availability of other resources (which Egyptian representatives lobbied for during the Watercourses Convention negotiations), among other factors. Egypt, which is entirely dependent on the Nile for freshwater, can argue that “equitable and reasonable” must recognize Egypt’s “tyranny of dependency” on the waters as a mechanism to protest any reduction of water. Ethiopia can argue that the country’s “social and economic needs” justify a significant

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increase in its usage of the waters.

Article 7 of the convention states that “in utilizing an international watercourse in their territories,” all riparian states are required to “take all appropriate measures to prevent the causing of significant harm to other watercourse States.” This implied “do no harm” principle seems to argue for halting the GERD’s filling and for maintaining the current status quo in which Egypt gets nearly all of the water. However, Ethiopia argues that the “no-harm principle should only be invoked and made operational when a watercourse state ‘has exceeded its equitable or reasonable use.” Christina M. Caroll explains that incorporating both the “do no harm” principle and the principles of equitable and reasonable use “pit upstream and downstream states against each other.”

International law is vague and not prescriptive, leading to each party’s total confidence in the validity of their arguments, which incentivizes conflict and discourages compromise.

The “do no harm” principle holds the most weight because unlike the historical rights argument, the “do no harm” principle has been affirmed by the UN and international legal scholars. Egypt should abandon its claims of natural and historical rights and base its negotiations and claims on this principle.

The Issue Today: Competing Claims For Access The modern debates over Nile ownership are shaped by eight colonial-era agreements, treaties, and exchanges of notes that in part addressed water rights. The most important two colonial treaties were the 1902 agreement signed between the 26

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United Kingdom, acting for Egypt and Sudan, and Emperor Menelik of Ethiopia, and the 1929 Nile Waters agreement between Egypt and the United Kingdom. The English version of the 1902 agreement states, “Emperor Menelik II… has agreed to not do work… that could block flow to the White Nile or allow others to do work without prior agreement with the English government.” The 1929 agreement between Egypt and the United Kingdom, on behalf of Sudan and East African Riparians, too, was designed by the United Kingdom with the express intention of ensuring Egypt’s dominant control of the waters. Paragraph 4 (b) required prior agreement from the Egyptian government for any irrigation or power works constructed on the Nile. On November 8, 1959, Egypt and Sudan signed an agreement as two independent states. The new agreement drew directly from the colonial predecessors, providing Egypt with the majority of the water and a veto right over upstream projects. Ethiopia was not present for negotiations nor party to the agreement.

Professor of Law at Makerere University Emmanuel Kasimbazi supports Ethiopia’s position that the colonial-era treaties do not apply, arguing that the process of decolonization is such a significant change in circumstances that rebus sic stantibus applies to the 1902 agreement.

Kasimbazi notes that the use of water itself has transformed so dramatically that the article on water is no longer applicable. Ethiopia insists that historical use does not equal future rights to water, a position rooted in self-determination and a desire for increased opportunity for its people.

From the beginning, the Ethiopian 27

government presented the GERD to the Ethiopian people as a symbol of national development. The dam is primarily self-financed by the Ethiopian people through the purchase of government bonds in a nationwide action to radically transform the economy. It will provide power to a nation where more than half of the citizens do not have access to electricity, allowing Ethiopia to trade renewable energy to other states, bringing in as much as $1 billion a year.

Egypt faces an existential threat if water decreases suddenly. In a September 2019 speech to the United Nations, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi explained that “The Nile is a question of life, a matter of existence to Egypt.” Experts project that Egypt’s fresh water access could be cut by 25% during the filling of the reservoir. A 2018 Reuters report states that filling the dam in six years would destroy 17% of Egypt’s agricultural land, while a three-year fill would destroy 51% of the land and 75% of fish farms. The economic effect could cause the displacement of as many as 30 million Egyptians, leading journalist David Hearst to call the GERD “Egypt’s Nakba.”

Egypt clings to the universal theory of succession and the inheritance of the colonial-era treaties to defend its historical dominance over the waters of the Nile, but this theory no longer fits the realities of modern states. The 1959 agreement between Egypt and Sudan first laid out the legal position Egypt would stick to going forward, in which Egypt argued that its “natural and historical rights” are legal, vested rights based on the principle of prior appropriation recognized in international law. The doctrine of prior-appropriation has since evolved

into the rule of natural flow, in which riparian owners were granted “the right to have water flow past the land undiminished in quantity or quality.”

In this system of “first in time, first in right”, of which Egypt is a major proponent, land ownership is not relevant to water rights. Egypt pairs this narrative of “historical right” with an insistence that the colonial treaties remain valid, which is a hollow, illegitimate argument.

The Do No Harm Application The universal theory of succession is illegitimate and the tabula rasa construction applies to colonial-era water treaties in the Nile River Basin.

Thus, Egypt’s argument of historical rights is illegitimate, and Ethiopia’s right to equitable water use is legitimate. While international law is vague and not prescriptive about modern water management in the Nile, the “do no harm” principle has more valid applications. Egypt does possess a legitimate appeal for access according to “do no harm.” While competing nationalist priorities and incentives make solutions and compromise more difficult to identify, the best path to reduce regional conflict focuses on minimizing economic disaster downstream. Michael Asiedu proposes that a neutral mediator such as the African Union or the United Nations propose “a workable framework that will see Ethiopia fill the reservoir gradually over a 15-year period.” Filling the dam incrementally is the only way to lessen a human rights disaster in Egypt. Egypt must reorient its argument around potential devastation, and the international community should pressure Ethiopia to include considerations of Egypt’s needs as it fills the dam.

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HOW RUSSIA IS FAILING ITS INDIGENOUS ARCTIC POPULATION PRIORITIZING HIGHER EARNINGS OVER HIGHER STANDARDS OF LIVING Amelia Fay // Columbia College ’22 August 3, 2020 he Arctic is the most prominent example of the detrimental effects of climate change. Over the past 30 years, this region has warmed two times faster than the rest of the world, resulting in melting sea ice and thawing permafrost, both of which threaten to release dangerous amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and impact weather patterns around the globe. Now more than ever, countries must work together to protect the Arctic and its inhabitants, many of whom are Indigenous peoples.

Founded in 1996, the Arctic Council promotes cooperation among its eight member states: the United States, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Russia. There are also six Permanent Participant groups that represent these countries’ Indigenous populations. As outlined in the Ottawa Declaration, the Council prioritizes issues of sustainable development and environmental protection and does not discuss matters of military security.

In Spring 2021, Russia will assume a two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council, a position from which it can significantly impact the policies and programs put forward. In March 2020, Russia’s Senior Arctic Official Nikolay Korchunov stressed Russia’s plans to focus on not only environmental issues

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but also the Arctic’s “human dimension…including Indigenous peoples.”

However, these appear to be empty promises, as Russia has recently gone to extreme lengths to silence Indigenous groups to protect their oil and gas resources.

Although Russia is home to 40 Indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East, the combined population of these groups is only 260,000— less than 0.2 percent of Russia’s total population. Roughly two-thirds of the Indigenous population live in rural areas, and many rely on traditional methods of subsistence.

Eleven Russian Indigenous groups live inside the Arctic Circle and are extremely vulnerable to the effects of global warming. Many ancestral lands are located on melting permafrost, which destroys homes, shifts animal migration patterns, and inundates villages. These changes are not only dangerous but also threaten traditional ways of life. Practices such as reindeer herding and fish and game preservation have been disrupted, and residents are now frequently required to travel by boat to areas that had long been accessible on foot. Despite these hardships, many refuse to abandon their ancestral lands for fear of losing their culture.

The livelihoods of Indigenous populations are also under threat from Rus-

sian industry. Russia relies heavily on oil and gas; every year, these industries account for roughly 40 percent of the national budget. In September 2019, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak warned that Russia will reach peak oil production in 2021. To mitigate this oil plateau, Russia is now turning to the Arctic’s vast (and untapped) resources.

According to the United States Geological Survey, approximately 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas and 13 percent of its undiscovered oil are located in the Arctic. So far, Russia has discovered 43 large oil fields in its Arctic territory. The immense profits of oil and gas giants come at the expense of Indigenous populations. In May 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a state of emergency after 20,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled into Siberia’s Ambarnaya River and traveled more than seven miles downstream.

The spill has the potential to decimate the region’s biodiversity and threatens the livelihood of Indigenous fishers, hunters, and reindeer herders. Similarly, the Khanty people of western Siberia were forced from their ancestral lands due to destruction and pollution caused by oil drilling in the area. These are merely two of the many examples of Indigenous peoples’ suffering at the hands of the Russian oil and gas industries.

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An Arctic Council Meeting between eight member nations in Iqaluit, Canada on April 24, 2015. Photo by of US Department of State.

Russia’s economic interests in the Arctic are further fueled by the possibility of increasing shipping via the Northern Sea Route connecting Asia and Europe. Although the route has been largely inaccessible to Russia in the past, melting sea ice expands Russia’s opportunity to transport goods more efficiently; shipment through the Northern Sea Route to Western Europe is nearly two weeks faster than via the Suez Canal and does not require the permission of any Mediterranean powers. Russia has invested in a fleet of nuclear icebreakers and hopes to ship an annual 80 million tons through the Northern Sea Route by 2024.

These ambitions are directly contingent upon Russia’s oil and gas resources, as it plans to source fuel from new deposits in the Arctic. It is also important to note that as sea ice continues to melt, the Northern Sea Route becomes more valuable. Albeit Russia’s current economy depends on industries that contribute to climate change, its future prospects also grow thanks to gradually rising temperatures. Regardless of the 29

suffering these industries cause Indigenous communities, it is not in Russia’s interests to reduce its commercial activity in the Arctic.

Not only has the Russian government failed to protect Indigenous peoples from the abuses of oil and gas companies, but it has also repeatedly failed to protect these groups’ interests on the international stage. In 2007, Russia abstained from voting on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which establishes a “universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity, and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world.” In 2015, the United Nations Human Rights Committee concluded that “insufficient measures are being taken to protect the rights of indigenous peoples [in Russia] and to ensure that members of such peoples are recognized as indigenous.” It also noted that land important to Indigenous communities was “largely unprotected from desecration, contamination, and destruction by extractive, development, and related activities” and that

these communities were insufficiently consulted during these processes. In its response to the Committee’s findings, Russia did not address any of these Indigenous rights violations.

Recently, Russia has also been working hard to silence Indigenous rights groups and activists. In 2014, Sergei Kechimov, an Indigenous Khanty reindeer herder and guardian of his community’s sacred Lake Imor, was charged with threatening to kill oil workers near his ancestral land. Kechimov denies the allegations, claiming that armed oil workers and a police officer forced him to sign a document. Due to Kechimov’s poor grasp of Russian, he did not realize that he was signing a written confession. This appears to be a clear violation of Kechimov’s rights and is an example of how Indigenous communities are routinely exploited and abused by Russian authorities.

Similarly, in November 2019, the Russian Ministry of Justice liquidated the Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North (C.S.I.P.N.).

FALL 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW This is especially significant because C.S.I.P.N. is the leading organization dedicated to Indigenous rights in Russia, the only such group that is recognized by international organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The Ministry of Justice claimed C.S.I.P.N. was in violation of recent legislation regarding non-profit organizations, and Moscow City Court thwarted C.S.I.P.N.’s attempts to make the necessary changes to comply with the legislation, insisting instead on liquidation.

The disbandment of C.S.I.P.N. is the culmination of a years-long campaign against the organization. In September 2014, C.S.I.P.N. director Rodion Sulyandziga was en route to a U.N. World Conference on Indigenous Peoples when his passport was seized by the Russian Border Control. When Border Control returned the passport, it was damaged and thus unusable, preventing Sulyandziga from attending the conference. (Similarly, in 2016, Sulyandizga was detained and prevented from attending a Moscow-based forum on Indigenous rights.) In 2015, the Russian government named C.S.I.P.N. a “foreign agent.”

In an interview with The Moscow Times, Sulyandziga called C.S.I.P.N.’s liquidation “part of a trend to shut

down organizations undesirable to the authorities.” Since 2018, Russia has been disbanding groups through its “Undesirable Organization” laws, which aim to eliminate “threat[s] to the fundamentals of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation.” Because the distinction between “desirable” and “undesirable” organizations is so arbitrary, the Russian government can use these laws to shut down any organization it pleases, even if there is no significant threat. In the case of C.S.I.P.N., the government likely felt that its oil and gas investments were at risk.

Another organization that has been targeted by the Russian government is the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON). In November 2012, the Ministry of Justice forced RAIPON to shut down. Several months later, however, RAIPON reopened with leadership aligned with Russia’s economic interests. According to Dmitry Berezhkov, RAIPON’s former vice president, the “immediate reason for the closure is Russia’s upcoming chairmanship of the Arctic Council.”

RAIPON is different from other Indigenous rights groups in that it is a Permanent Participant of the Arctic Council. Although Permanent Participants cannot vote, they are still given a platform to impact policy put forth by the Council. By dissolving RAIPON and completely replacing its leadership, Russia has erased all genuine RECENTLY, RUSSIA HAS BEEN representation of WORKING HARD TO its Indigenous INDIGENOUS RIGHTS GROUPS population from the Arctic CounAND ACTIVISTS. cil. In Berezhkov’s words, “When ne-

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gotiating with RAIPON, international organizations should understand that they are faced with an illegitimate representation of Russia’s indigenous peoples.”

We are now at a turning point.

The rate at which Russia is depleting its current oil and natural gas fields means that it will soon have no choice but to pivot north. The riches of the Arctic hold the promise of Russia’s economic salvation. As Russia explores these new resources, it has a responsibility to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its Indigenous peoples. Unfortunately, however, Russia has consistently neglected these communities’ needs, placing profit above their well-being.

With Russia’s Arctic Council chairmanship quickly approaching, it is important that the other member states hold Russia accountable for its treatment of its Indigenous population. Unless RAIPON is reformed (with genuine representatives of the Indigenous community) or replaced altogether, Russia’s Indigenous peoples will continue to be exploited.

With no Indigenous voices present, it is impossible for the international community to comprehend the scope of the damage caused by unchecked oil and gas activity. It is one thing to read statistics presented by the Russian government, but entirely more powerful to hear a firsthand account of how these industries are destroying resources vital to the livelihoods of Indigenous populations and forcing thousands from their ancestral homelands. The other member states of the Council must take action, or they will doom these communities to a future devoid of traditional practices, tribal languages, and even their cultures.

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POLICING IN AMERICA: MIXED LESSONS FROM SWEDEN Yasmine Dahlberg // Columbia College ’23 November 10, 2020

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iving in Sweden for most of my life, I have grown accustomed to a non-confrontational, consensus-based approach to policy-making and never experienced a social movement capable of impacting the political sphere. That all changed this past June, when I watched massive #BLM protests unfold across the Atlantic in response to the brutal killing of George Floyd while in police custody.

Shortly thereafter, a well-established demand from social justice campaigners became a plea amongst ordinary people: “Defund the police!”

The phrase has caused considerable controversy. Critics have interpreted “defund” to mean “abolish” or “dismantle” police departments.

However, the intent is much more far-reaching and humane, calling instead for a redistribution of law 31

enforcement budgets from pure policing to include more community resources such as social services, youth programs, and education, especially in marginalized areas where most of the patrolling occurs. Aspects of what American advocates call for have been tried in other countries, offering models that the U.S. could consider and potentially adopt. Sweden’s police system is frequently cited as an instructive and enlightening example for the U.S. to follow.

As of September 2020, there were 21,000 police officers in Sweden, ranking Sweden as the country with the third-lowest amount of police officers in the E.U. per capita after its Nordic neighbors Denmark and Finland. Sweden spends 1.3 percent of its GDP on “public order and safety” compared to the U.S., which spends 2.04 percent—the most among advanced economies.

So, what can the U.S. learn from the successes and failures of Sweden’s smaller police departments?

Sweden’s justice system is often associated with “less police abuse and lower crime.” The training provided to prospective officers is crucial to Sweden’s success. In Sweden, police recruits must spend two and a half years training to become police officers. In comparison, basic training in the U.S. can take anywhere between 13 weeks and six months, depending on agencies. A short training period means less opportunity to focus on guidance on crisis intervention or de-escalation. Swedish police are taught primarily to use verbal communication to resolve conflicts, with physical apprehension and firearms as the absolute last resort. In the U.S., officers are instructed to use force more than almost any other type of intervention, and they often

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> Swedish police are taught primarily

to use VERBAL COMMUNICATION to resolve conflicts, with physical apprehension and firearms as the absolute LAST RESORT.

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A Swedish police officer pictured in Helsinborg, Sweden. Photo by Håkan Dahlström.

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BY NARROWING THE ROLE OF POLICE, SWEDEN HAS BEEN ABLE TO INVEST IN SERVICES ADDRESSING ISSUES SUCH AS MENTAL HEALTH.

don’t receive as much training in so-called “empty hand techniques;” physical techniques used to detain a person without the use of weapons. More often than not, officers in the United States resort to using firearms because they are not comfortable apprehending a suspect with physical force, and when they do use physical force, they are not employing it correctly.

American police departments have come under heightened scrutiny stemming from fatal encounters with Black Americans, as have their

actions in mental health emergencies.

On October 26th, Philadelphia Police shot and killed Walter Wallace Jr, a Black man who had mental health issues. Communities across the U.S. are taking a hard look at whether law enforcement should be the first line of response. By narrowing the role of police, Sweden has been able to invest in services addressing issues such as mental health. For example, in Stockholm, mental health emergencies have been handled by Stockholm’s Psychiatric Ambulance, an emergency vehicle with two trained

nurses and a driver. This approach aims to free up police resources and allow officers to focus on situations in which they are the experts. If a person has a psychiatric issue, “it should really be dealt with by trained health professionals,” said Andreas Carlborg, managing director of the Northern Stockholm Psychiatry. Having medically qualified specialists handling these cases results in increased attention and care as well as reduced stigmatization of those suffering from mental health conditions.

Another major factor is Sweden’s generous welfare state. There are numerous unemployment benefits for low-income citizens: ample funded healthcare, state-subsidized housing, generous social security and free higher education. As a result, Sweden enjoys a high standard of living and is one of the world’s most equal countries, leading to less crime 32

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Stockholm’s iconic metro stations. Photo by Robert Bye.

than the U.S., where centuries-long, deep-seated structural inequality is a contributing factor to crime.

However, the U.S. does not have the ideological framework to enforce Sweden’s standards of policing. In the public sphere, Swedes exhibit a collectivist mentality toward social institutions due to the welfare state, which could explain why Sweden opted to become a single national police, replacing the previous 21 autonomous county police authorities, in 2015. By contrast, the U.S. has a federalist system of government and is one of the most individualistic cultures in the world with a distinctly decentralized police system: 18,000 federal, state, county, and local agencies are spread across the country serving a population of 330 million people to Sweden’s 10.3 million. In essence, different police mo33

dels must be tailored to a country’s cultural, political, and geographical context which makes it difficult to broadly apply the Swedish policing model in the U.S. It is also important to point out that although Sweden has commendable qualities for its police structure, outside parties tend to overstate the effectiveness and impartiality of the Swedish police force. Sweden’s police force is small because it is underfunded and policing has historically been a low priority across political parties in Sweden, resulting in a shortage of police officers. With a small police department comes a lower probability of solving crime.

For example, only 5% of reported rapes in Sweden lead to a conviction and Sweden has a low-resolution rate, 25 percent, for gun homicides

compared to Germany at 90 percent.

The Swedish police confederation has even gone so far as to explore the option of employing Norwegian police in Sweden because there is a surplus of police officers in Norway. Furthermore, although there is less crime in Sweden compared to the U.S., crime rates have still risen in the past ten years, particularly when it comes to sexual offenses, threats, harassment, assault, robbery, and gang violence.

Although one could assume that Sweden’s small police departments function better because Sweden is sparsely populated and more “homogeneous” than the U.S., Sweden is not immune to tense race relations between citizens and the police. “Homogenous” is a misnomer. With an increasingly diverse ethnic, religious, and racial demographic (nearly 20

FALL 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW percent of the population is composed of non-native Swedes), challenges similar to those in the U.S. have arisen. For example, police reports show that drug possession has increased by 79 percent over the past decade, and police have disproportionately targeted Black and minority Swedes despite higher self-reported drug usage in white neighborhoods. Middle Eastern immigrants have been accused of creating dangerous communities that are now “no-go zones,” areas in which the police are routinely attacked, resulting in a decreased police presence. Swedish police have objected to using the term “no-go zones,” wary of being perceived as racist, but their absence in these vulnerable communities has sowed mistrust among the very residents most affected, those who fear for their safety and livelihoods. While the police are accused of not addressing the conflict head-on, a study by Kantar Sifo found that law and order were the most covered news topics on Swedish Television, radio and social media.

Despite Sweden’s complicated track record tackling racism, I still did not expect the George Floyd murder that occurred an ocean away to be the tipping point, unlocking the floodgates for racial justice when other local acts of discrimination and mistreatment have not elicited the same reaction. Thousands of Swedes—Black, brown and white—protested this past summer, borrowing slogans from the #BLM movement against police brutality. The cruelty

of George Floyd’s death and years of Afro-Swedes feeling as though their concerns about racism and unfair policing were ignored, finally compelled advocates to speak out as they drew parallels within their own countries.

However, while protesters in both Sweden and the U.S. rallied against similar patterns of bad policing, harassment and racism, as of 2020, 28 police killings per ten million have occurred in the U.S., compared to the 6 police killings per ten million in Sweden. Black Americans have accounted for 28 percent of those killed despite being only 13 percent of the population.

American policing takes a different form due to the country’s specific historical context. Much of the American criminal justice system was

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in the U.S., there should be a different approach to reforming police forces that is specifically tailored to American contextual history.

So, does resolving the pitfalls of American policing center on redistributing resources, improving and expanding police training, and adopting a program more similar to that which exists in Sweden? Should police forces delegate some of their current responsibilities to more capable sectors, such as an emergency mental health department, whilst simultaneously opting to centralize their police structure? Although the U.S. can learn a lot from the Swedish policing model, it would require modifications, taking into account American individualism, its fraught racial history, and the regional organization of police departments.

Furthermore, the Swedish model in its current form is also embattled due to under-funding and growing cases of racially motivated policing. There have been calls to further reform the Swedish police so they can better address crime and its citizens, suggesting that the concept of “fair policing” is strained everywhere. However, so much discussion centers on policing and defunding it, but policing is one step in remedying an entire system that continues to discriminate against Black and brown people all over the world. The U.S. and Sweden must foster more equitable environments and codify institutions where people feel seen and heard with equal access to opportunities and due process under the law.

“SWEDEN’S POLICE FORCE IS SMALL BECAUSE IT IS UNDERFUNDED AND POLICING HAS HISTORICALLY BEEN A LOW PRIORITY ACROSS POLITICAL PARTIES IN SWEDEN.” structured to maintain an immoral racial order during the Jim Crow era, and to this day, these systems and institutions propagate the same racially constructed outcomes. For instance, a New York Times article published following the death of George Floyd found that while Black people make up 20 percent of Minneapolis’s population, in nearly 60 percent of police interventions there, the person subject to police force is Black, suggesting a correlation between systemic racism and police violence. Since this juxtaposition is more ingrained

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AN INTERVIEW WITH JOSHUA WONG: “WE NEED THE WORLD TO FOCUS”

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Joshua Wong, 23, is arguably Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy figure.

Now imprisoned thrice for his political activities, Joshua Wong has continued to oppose what he characterizes as China’s increasingly authoritarian rule in Hong Kong. After leading the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement protests in 2014, he co-founded Demosistō, a political party. The party disbanded in June after the passage of a new national security law. The new law imposes stiff punishment, including penalties up to life in prison, for activities including “separatism, subversion, terrorism, and foreign interference,” and grants jurisdiction to mainland courts for certain criminal cases. On July 31, Wong's campaign for election to Hong Kong’s legislature was blocked by the authorities. On August 7, police charged him with “unlawful assembly” for participating in a vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre. For his work, Wong was a 2018 Nobel Peace Prize nominee and 2014 contender for TIME's Person of the Year. Aditya Sharma's (GS '21) interview with Wong, published August 15, 2020, is below.

On 30 June, China’s government passed a national security law that now governs Hong Kong. You have been one of the most prominent critics of the new law. National security laws are a standard feature of many countries—why do you oppose the Hong Kong law?

The national security law in Hong Kong is kind of a speech-crime law, trying to silence the voice of the people with the threat of life sentencing.

It’s just used to suppress the people who are fighting for press freedom and free elections. It’s not about national security—it’s about the security of the Communist authorities.

On 30 July, you and 11 other pro-democracy candidates were disqualified from running in election to the Legislative Council, Hong Kong’s state legislature. To justify their decision, election authorities cited your opposition to the national security law. The election has since been cancelled. What was your intention in running, and how will you respond to your disqualification and the election’s subsequent cancellation?

The disqualification implies political censorship. The world is watching and is aware of these double standards, and of the suppression and crackdown by Beijing. I’m not sure whether I can appeal, because the election has been cancelled directly [by Hong Kong’s government].

There has been a crackdown on pro-democracy activists. Your former Demosistō colleague Nathan Law has fled to London, while another, Agnes Chow, was arrested. Prominent opposition businessman Jimmy Lai was also jailed. Are you not afraid of being imprisoned again, particularly given the charges Hong Kong police have recently filed against you?

I will continue to fight until the last minute. I’m not surprised [by the crackdown]—they will continue to arrest us. I think that’s no reason for us to give up, and in such an uphill battle we will continue to stand with fellow Hong Kong protestors. I have no hope towards the government, but I have hope towards the people.

[Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam] should not be the one to crack

down on Hong Kong’s freedoms, but she is just a Beijing loyalist.

When you spoke here at Columbia last September alongside fellow activist Brian Leung, you argued that “World leaders and the international community have a say on Hong Kong’s future.” How do you rate the responses of Western democracies to the developments in Hong Kong? What role do you believe they have to play?

It’s not just about political rights— it’s about the fundamental freedoms that are being eroded, just like how police stormed into the headquarters of Apple Daily, one of the most prominent newspapers. So I think that’s really important—we need the world to focus on it. Certain countries may have different diplomatic concerns, but it’s time to reassess their foreign policy towards Hong Kong.

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