CPR Spring 2020 (XIX, 1)

SPRING 2020 VOLUME XIX NO. 1

COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW

INSIDE: >WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO GROW UP IN

THE AGE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER? pg. 3

>XENOPHOBIA, THE OTHER VIRUS WE

SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT pg. 19

>IRAQI RESILIENCE pg. 26

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 Sophia Houdaigui Ramsay Eyre Rachel Barkin GRAPHICS EDITOR Antara Agarwal LAYOUT EDITOR Helen Sayegh DEPUTY LAYOUT EDITOR Olivia Choi PUBLICITY EDITOR Annabel Kelly

STAFF SENIOR EDITORS Sarah DeSouza Henry Feldman Heather Loepere Katherine Malus Kaili Meier Janine Nassar Raya Tarawneh Ariadne Xenopoulos Ayse Yucesan GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Julia Ulziisaikhan Peter Phan COPY EDITORS Jasmin Butler Ellie Gaughan Shomik Ghose Aryeh Hajibay-Piranesi Sarah Howard Daniel Kang Timothy Kinnamon Carina Layfield Caroline Mullooly Niharika Rao Emily Ringel Jake Tibbetts Eleanor Yeo

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STAFF WRITERS Eriife Adelusimo Cameron Adkins Elina Arbo Zachary Becker Denver Grace Blevins Stella Cavedon Sebastian Chaves John David Cobb Devyani Goel Kris Jenvaiyavasjamai Adam Kluge Rachel Krul Chloe Lowell Morgan Margulies Glorimar Marquez Caitlin McCormick Oliver Niu Gustie Owens Brian Perlstein Christian Pichardo Julia Schreder Roshan Setlur Aditya Sharma Ali Soufraki Ian Springer Annie Tan Serena Tsui Diana Valcárcel Soler Charlie Wallace Serena White COVER PHOTO BY: Olivia Choi

EDITOR’S NOTE

T

his is the first time that the Columbia Political Review has gone fully digital. It’s the first time that Columbia University has been forced to shutter its campus, and it’s the first time in the modern era that seniors won’t get a commencement ceremony in May. Most importantly, this is our first generational challenge—never before have we faced such an immediate and wide-reaching collective crisis. The situation will soon deteriorate, and I, like you, fear for loved ones, friends, and neighbors during this tumultuous period of time.

In a world full of firsts, there is at least one continuity. This is not the first time we’ve experienced a profound lack of leadership from the Trump presidency. Just over a year ago, he executed the longest government shutdown in American history as leverage to fund a laughably medieval solution to a manufactured immigration crisis. When that failed, he abused his emergency powers to divert military construction funding toward that project—and as a result, he threatened other projects that had critical purposes, including protecting civilians from accidental munitions explosions at military bases.

This time around, the president has dismissed the threat of the virus, poked fun at a sitting senator’s COVID-19 diagnosis, promoted conspiracy theories, given fake medical advice, questioned the need for ventilators, and hesitated to declare an emergency during an actual emergency.

Given this grave context, I’m humbled to see so many real leaders around me here at the Columbia Political Review. Even in this chaotic time, they remain thoughtful, compassionate, and—above all—resilient. In this issue, for example, Eriife Adelusimo interviews Black students at Columbia about growing up in the Black Lives Matter era, Morgan Margulies tackles injustice at the intersection between climate change and prison labor, and Elina Arbo shares stories from Iraq amid the regional power struggle between the United States and Iran.

Behind the scenes, the editorial and production staff have also remained hard at work. We have redesigned the magazine, increased our staff to sixty-two, and opened an online pitch operation on our website.

There are more firsts on the way—crises in global warming and nuclear proliferation come to mind—and our generation will have to face those challenges collectively as well. I’m relieved that this group of role models will be around to help us do it.

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 DOES IT MEAN TO GROW UP BLACK IN THE AGE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER? Eriife Adelusimo CC ’22

HILLBILLY JUBILEE

9 14 17

Cameron Adkins CC ’23

CLIMATE CHANGE BEHIND BARS Morgan Margulies CC ’22

THE DEADLY COLLABORATION BETWEEN GUN RIGHTS AND WHITE SUPREMACY Chloe Lowell CC ’23

H.R. 3 AND THE DEADLOCK OF PRESCRIPTION DRUG COST LEGISLATION Ian Springer CC ’23

19 21

COVID-19 CRISIS XENOPHOBIA, THE OTHER VIRUS WE SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT Annie Tan CC ’23

WHY THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS WARRANTS GEOPOLITICAL OPTIMISM Trey Sprouse CC ’22

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INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

ADDRESSING FRANCISCO FRANCO’S PERSISTENT LEGACY Ali Soufraki CC ’23

IRAQI RESILIENCE Elina Arbo CC ’22

CIRCA

Columbia International Relations Council and Association

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COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW // SPRING 2020

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO GROW UP BLACK IN THE AGE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER? Eriife Adelusimo // Columbia College ’22 February 28, 2020

I

t is a story we know all too king, iced tea and Skittles in hand, instantly, aggrieved people across the well. One that, if you aren’t until an altercation with Zimmerman nation took to the internet to express careful, you may become de- claimed his life. Zimmerman, having their discontent with the verdict and sensitized to and may accept called the police upon identifying distrust of a legal system that would as simply the way things are. Trayvon as a suspicious presence in allow Trayvon’s killer to walk away It is the plight of countless unscathed. MeanwBlack people in the United hile, Travyon’s family States, a shocking pattern of “To many, Trayvon’s death represented a mourned the loss of state-sanctioned violence, a child taken hastily, FAILURE of the justice system to going back generations, recklessly, and far punctuated by officer-involVALUE THE LIVES OF BLACK PEOPLE.” too soon. Many starved shootings and acquittals ted wearing hooded of white officers by white-dosweatshirts with the minated juries. The birth of the mo- the neighborhood, ignored police hood up in protest of the outcome of dern consciousness around police advice to cease pursuing Trayvon, a the case, in reference to Zimmerman’s violence occurred on February 26, decision that ultimately resulted in predetermination that Trayvon’s hoo2012, when Trayvon Martin, a se- the seventeen-year-old’s brutal mur- die made him look “suspicious.” venteen-year-old Black boy, was shot der.

To many, Trayvon’s death repreand killed by George Zimmerman, a When the six-person jury retur- sented a failure of the justice system neighborhood watchman in the ga- ned a verdict of “not guilty on all to value the lives of Black people in ted community where Trayvon had counts” after two days of delibera- the United States. It was out of this been visiting family. Martin was wal- tion, something sparked. Almost concern, this simultaneous fear and 3

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Members of American University NAACP lead a Black Lives Matter protest in November 2015. Photo by Johnny Silvercloud.

recognition of a legal system that prioritized justice for some over justice for all, that the Black Lives Matter Movement found its footing.

Founded by Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors in the aftermath of Zimmerman’s acquittal, Black Lives Matter began as a “call to action in response to state-sanctioned violence and anti-Black racism.”

In the years following Trayvon’s death, B.L.M. would again mobilize to protest the deaths of Mike Brown, Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, and dozens more Black Americans whose lives were cut short at the hands of law enforcement officers.

It is with this in mind, eight years after Trayvon’s death, that I asked Black Columbia students, students who have grown up in the age of social media, internet activism, and

widespread protest against state-sanctioned violence, what Trayvon’s life and death meant to them. What does it mean to grow up Black in the age of Black Lives Matter?

For many of the students interviewed, growing up during this time meant experiencing a new dimension of community care. It meant adults in all facets of life, school, church, the neighborhood, taking it upon themselves to give them The Talk.

The talk for Black children growing up in America today is not the quintessential birds and bees of days past.

Rather, for Black American families, there often comes a time when parents sit down their child to inform them of what to do in case of police altercations. Though delivery may differ, the message is essentially the same: You must ensure at all times that you are behaving in a way that will protect you from the violent

hatred of Black people in this country that has claimed millions of lives and claims more every day.

Columbia College sophomores Ugochinyere Ndukwe, Christian Robinson, and Colby King know this talk all too well. According to Ndukwe, it was during a routine drive home in 2014 when her mother decided it was time to instruct her older brother on how to behave in order to avoid unnecessary altercations with law enforcement. “He couldn’t always do what he wanted to do” was the gist of the message. She recalls her free-spirited older brother’s disdain for this message, wondering why he had to monitor himself so closely.

Black parents understand that any action, however big or small, taken by their child could be life-threatening. To let your Black child run free is to put your child at risk.

For Robinson, the talk went 4

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UGOCHINYERE NDUKWE CC ’22

beyond how to interact with the police and included how to avoid running into other manifestations of anti-black violence. Robinson recounted a grisly crime that shook the Detroit area where she grew up.

It was the murder of Renisha McBride, a nineteen-year-old Black woman who, after crashing her vehicle early in the morning of November 2, 2013, wandered up to a home in a state of disorientation seeking help.

The white homeowner opened the door to a dazed McBride, and immediately fired a shot that hit McBride in the head, fatally wounding her.

McBride’s murder was another that drew the attention of Black Lives Matter, with many wondering if there was a proper protocol for asking for help while Black. Robinson’s talk thus not only included advice to call her parents as soon as she was pulled over and to always try and drive with others in the car, but also to avoid certain neighborhoods entirely, where the residents would be far less inclined to aid her were she to need assistance solely due to her race.

For King, this time period ushe5

red in a new understanding of the impact of respectability politics in his life. King recalls an instance when he was walking out of his home just to get to the mailbox. His mother stopped him, concerned that his wearing a hoodie outside of the home could be dangerous, and to let him know he could not exit the house dressed that way. He had already been aware of the necessity to present in a certain way in order to avoid being perceived as dangerous or threatening, but recognized that the sociopolitical climate of the time required an even greater adherence to the mandates of respectability politics. King believes it was this heightened concern with projecting the image of a Black life worth sparing that led so many Black students to seek Ivy League education, as though the name “Columbia University” splashed across a heather grey hoodie would be our saving grace.

As a result of growing unrest at the time, more and more members of the Black community were taking it upon themselves to give these talks and ensure that the Black children they held dear knew how to compose themselves in times of trouble, but hopefully how to avoid these situations entirely. For Wesley White (CC ’22), as well as Ndukwe, these talks occurred in a school setting.

Both living in densely Black areas, Jackson and Chicago respectively, they attended predominantly Black middle schools. Ndukwe reminisces on the talk her Black social studies teacher gave to a classroom entirely composed of Black twelve-year-olds that were seeing news of Trayvon’s murder everywhere they looked. “It could have been any of us,” she recalls, reflecting on how his words stayed

with her to this day. The message that they could suffer the repercussions of even the smallest of mistakes for their entire lives especially as Black children shook her to her core.

“That’s something kids of other races don’t have to experience,” she adds, quietly.

For White, the conversation went past a single classroom and was a school-wide phenomenon. White recounts the gendered assemblies the school would facilitate, describing how female students were taken into one room to discuss topics such as motivation, while male students were instructed on how to dress and act in order to be perceived as palatable Black men. Essentially, according to White, the assemblies were a crash course in code-switching.

White remembers realizing that this alone was no longer enough to protect a Black person from violence, saying “In the beginning, I thought that was what I was supposed to do, but then we saw so many cases when people did what they were expected to do and still [suffered at the hands

BRIANA WOOD CC ’22 Illustrations by Julia Ulziisaikhan CC ’22.

SPRING 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW of ] police brutality.”

The murder of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent rise to prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement also resulted in a new age of activism, one in which physical presence was no longer necessary. While “#BLM” made its way into social media bios and onto the front of t-shirts, temporal hashtags like #Blackout mobilized social media users to post information about various anti-Black injustices to their Instagram stories or Facebook statuses. One such hashtag, “#SayHerName,” was utilized after the death of Sandra Bland in a Texas county jail to bring awareness to the lesser-known female victims of state-sanctioned violence. The hashtag has since been used to draw attention to the murders of Black transgender women, who experience the highest rates of violence out of any group in the United States and who shoulder a life expectancy of only 35 years.

For students like Briana Wood (CC ’22), the newfound capabilities of internet activism were empowering, a point echoed by several other students interviewed. At such a young age, Wood was not able to physically attend the protests, despite how much she wanted to. It was not feasible for a 14-year-old girl to get herself from Atlanta to Ferguson in order to participate in the protests that ensued following the murder of Mike Brown. Despite this, Instagram offered a possibility to make her voice known. She could post stories

and join in hashtags, but moreover, she could educate herself on topics like intersectionality, the prison-industrial complex, and the carceral state, topics that were not included in the Georgia state ninth-grade curriculum. Social media became a tool for social justice education, providing specialized language to describe the phenomena of anti-Blackness and its effects, as well as community with which to grieve and grow.

To grow up Black in the age of Black Lives Matter was learning the reality of collective struggle. It was Black adults around you—teachers, uncles, and even the elderly woman next door who would tell your mother if you were still outside when

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Matter, the media, or the general population got wrong about all of this, I got various answers. Some lamented the failure of protest movements to have been inclusive of Black women, Black queer people, and Black trans people from the outset, while others lauded the work of these movements in showing the diverse faces of Blackness. Some wished those asked to speak on C.N.N. about police brutality were everyday citizens who live these experiences and not Ivy League professors who analyze them, and others wished people would wait to inform and educate themselves before taking up a platform to speak on behalf of the United States’ over 40 million Black citizens. Some claimed B.L.M. would never have existed without Trayvon’s murder, while others said it was only a matter of time. Others wished we made more space for conversations about how tiring it is to have to perform anger in order to let others know that you care.

The response to this question that stood out the most came from Julian Briggs (SEAS ’22). When asked what he thought the general population got wrong about Trayvon’s murder, Briggs criticized the use of the word “martyr” to describe him.

“Martyr feels intentional,” he says, painting the image of Trayvon Martin as a seventeen-year-old boy that just wanted Skittles, so he went to buy some. To Briggs, Trayvon’s death was not martyrdom; it was victimhood.

“TO GROW UP BLACK IN THE AGE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER WAS LEARNING THE REALITY OF

COLLECTIVE STRUGGLE.” the streetlights came on—taking collective responsibility for you, tasking themselves with ensuring that you knew how to be okay. It was learning to restrict your own behavior and then unlearning that habit when you realized the futility of that act. It was opening Twitter every day in the summer of 2016 to a new video of a Black person being shot or beaten or brutalized, but finding a community online through which to express and then process the emotions that accompanied the onslaught of brutality that made its way from Philadelphia to you via your iPhone.

When I asked what Black Lives

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HILLBILLY JUBILEE Cameron Adkins // Columbia College ’23 February 13, 2020

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n his New York Times-best- narrative that Appalachian “hillbilly” lachian coal and manufactured goods selling book Hillbilly Elegy, culture is dead, mischaracterizing the were used in every household. These author J. D. Vance recounts identity of an entire region. Vance were the days when a car sat in front stories of his upbringing in describes Appalachia with an elegy, of every business, vibrant welcome Appalachia while exploring a piece of art that commemorates a signs hung in front of every building, the obstacles and crises facing the death—all despite the fact that Appa- and children played on every street. region and its people. Generated lachia’s culture remains alive and well. To me, however, these stories of the by an economic phenomenon com- As a small-town West Virginian, I can past are only a fantasy. All I have ever monly referred known is the sight of to as “the Great lifeless streets, abanDivide,” Appadoned homes stained lachia’s current yellow from years of crisis stems from neglect, and board“ALL I HAVE EVER KNOWN IS THE SIGHT OF LIFEa decades-long ed-up businesses with LESS STREETS, ABANDONED HOMES STAINED economic defaded letters naming YELLOW FROM YEARS OF NEGLECT, AND BOARDpression that something that no ED-UP BUSINESSES WITH FADED LETTERS NAMING occurred as longer exists.

America’s ruThe crisis experiSOMETHING THAT NO LONGER EXISTS... ral and urban enced by the AppalaHOWEVER, PEOPLE SHOULD NOT PITY APPALAeconomies driftchian people has torn CHIA, FOR THE CRISIS AT HAND HAS NOT RESULTed apart. The at the very core of our Great Divide existence, altering the ED IN THE DEATH OF OUR CULTURE OR OUR has resulted in composition of Apa crippling opipalachia’s social, poIDENTITY.” oid epidemic, litical, and economic an exodus of structure. However, working-class people should not families, a critical public health emer- confidently say that no one should pity Appalachia, for the crisis at hand gency, and an undervalued education count the people of Appalachia out. has not resulted in the death of our system, among many other grave The crisis that Vance explores is culture or our identity. Rather, it has challenges. undeniably prevalent in current Appa- cultivated a resilient, hardworking, Although many of Vance’s ob- lachian culture, to be sure. Through- and compassionate group of people servations accurately portray the out my childhood, I constantly heard ready to revitalize their communities challenges facing Appalachian soci- about the “good old days”—the days and learn from the lessons of the past. ety, Hillbilly Elegy also establishes a before the Great Divide, when AppaAcross Appalachia, in small 7

SPRING 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW towns and cities plagued by the effects of this crisis, new seeds of hope are beginning to grow. In my town, the collapse of a dilapidated, unattractive building spurred the creation of a new, welcoming community attraction. This kind of progress, revitalization, and diversification is not unique to my locality. Communities, individuals, and establishments throughout Appalachia are beginning to discover and implement local solutions to local problems.

A testament to this is the Hatfield-McCoy Trails, a regional ATV trail network in Southern West Virginia consisting of over 700 miles of trails. The trail system attracted

55,000 tourists to the area last year alone, an increase of 10 percent from the prior year—part of a trend that is only expected to continue. Organizations like this have saved many towns from the brink of extinction, resulting in new life and entrepreneurial growth.

However, programs like this should only be used as a crutch, not as a solution, for the issues we now face. We cannot allow ourselves to fall into the mistake of the past by relying on a single industry to sustain an entire population. The revenue that Appalachian localities collect from programs such as the Hatfield-McCoy Trails must be reinvest-

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ed into our own communities to help diversify our economy.

Admittedly, the Appalachian people’s path to success is lengthy, full of many barriers that will take proper leadership and substantial initiative to overcome. The story is not about rebuilding what was—it is about creating what will be. Any time I return home, I sense a feeling among the people of my area that I have never felt before: hope. We must celebrate this hope. Let us not eulogize Appalachian culture, for the crisis at hand has ultimately led to new life. Instead, let us revel in Appalachia’s new beginnings and new creations.

> Seven months ago, the dilapidated Sayer

building crumbled in Adkins’ hometown of LOGAN, WEST VIRGINIA. Now, a vibrant welcome sign in the building’s place REJUVENATES the once-lifeless entrance to the town.

Image by Dylan Vidovich of The Logan Banner.

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COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW // SPRING 2020 Illustration by Mellon Snyder CC ’21.

CLIMATE CHANGE BEHIND BARS Morgan Margulies // Columbia College ’22 March 3, 2020 ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHES AND INCARCERATED LABOR

W

hen a spark turns into a flame, destined to become a wildfire, crews of fire technicians are deployed to protect communities from disaster. These workers come from many backgrounds, assuming they all possess the proper credentials, such as a license to 9

serve as an emergency medical technician (E.M.T.). Unfortunately for most formerly incarcerated people, even those with a high school diploma or equivalent, you are practically ineligible to become an E.M.T. if you have a criminal background.

As things stand, though, the only difference between previously incarcerated people and 30% of California’s wildfire response labor pool is the word “previously.” After leaving

prison, the option of becoming a firefighter is off the table for most; within prison, however, inmates are welcome and encouraged to fight fires. This irony lies at the core of the complex relationship between the state and incarcerated people in the wake of a changing climate and more frequent environmental disasters.

Working for very little compensation each day, inmates fight alongside civilian firefighters to protect communities from disaster. In 2017

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there were 400,000 incarcerated volunteer firefighters deployed to fight thousands of wildfires that wreaked havoc throughout the summer. These jobs are grueling and frequently put inmates' lives at risk—six inmates have died since 1983. Programs such as the California Conservation Corps attract inmates for many reasons, including sentence reduction and job training.

The use of incarcerated people is naturally exploitative. In addition to receiving wages well below the minimum wage, incarcerated laborers receive no legal protections afforded to other workers. Without access to workers’ compensation or unionizing power, the A.C.L.U. argues, incarcerated people are a “uniquely vulnerable workforce.” While exempt from legal protections, inmates are paid between just $2.90 and $5.12 per day for their work. While it is true that inmates technically opt into these positions, the A.C.L.U. additionally points out that prison is an “inherently coercive environment; there’s very little that is truly voluntary.”

The state of California’s reliance on the exploitation of incarcerated workers in response to natural disasters is not a unique situation.

As a matter of fact, the majority of states across the U.S. have identified incarcerated workers as a source of labor in response to natural and climate disasters. In preparation and response to Hurricane Irma, inmates in Florida were put to work throwing salt bags and participating in debris clean up to repair the destruction left behind. In Chicago and Boston, inmates were paid $2 to $3 a day to shovel snow in sub-freezing tempera-

THIS

EXCESSIVE

USE OF PRISON LABOR IN RESPONSE TO CLIMATE DISASTERS CAN ONLY BE UNDERSTOOD IN THE CONTEXT OF AMERICA’S HISTORY OF SLAVERY, MASS

INCARACERATION, AND RACIAL

VIOLENCE.

PRISON LABOR IN AMERICA IS THE

LEGACY OF SLAVERY.

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tures. This exploitation isn’t merely limited to state emergency responses—private industries utilize this labor force just as frequently. B.P. contracted prison labor to assist in clean up after the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, again paying workers far below minimum wage and exposing them to toxic materials.

This excessive use of prison labor in response to climate disasters can only be understood in the context of America’s history of slavery, mass incarceration, and racial violence. Prison labor in America is the legacy of slavery. The early U.S. agro-economy had a deep reliance on the unpaid labor and continuous subjugation of slaves stolen from their homes in Africa. In 1864, however, the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. constitution was ratified, prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, except when used as a “punishment for a crime.” To compensate for the void in labor left by emancipation, states rapidly expanded incarceration rates and continue to do so to date.

In the tough-on-crime era after 1980, this trend of mass incarceration grew exponentially as the prison population increased from 500,000 to 2.2 million incarcerated people in 2015. As incarceration rates skyrocketed, black people were disproportionately targeted by discriminatory policies and hyper-policing.

This targeting has been carried out in many ways, including sentencing disparities in which federal prosecutors are twice as likely to charge a black defendant for an offense with a mandatory minimum sentence than a white defendant. In addition to a racist judicial system, black people have historically been subject 10

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to hyper-policing, as they are more frequently stopped by authorities, increasing the likelihood of arrest.

This unequal treatment has resulted in a prison system with incarceration rates for black people five times the rate of white people. Although black people compose 13 percent of America’s population, 38 percent of people incarcerated within state prisons are black. The racialized nature of the prison-industrial complex ensures that any mechanism which makes an incarcerated population vulnerable to exploitation or natural disaster is necessarily done in a racist manner.

DISPOSABILITY AND VULNERABILITY Climate emergency response understood through the lens of mass incarceration in America highlights this problem as a form of environmental racism. Environmental racism refers to the way in which communities of color, often of a lower socioeconomic status, are disproportionately

the fence-line zone of an industrial facility than a white person; and black children are five times more likely to suffer from lead poisoning than white children. The decisions by local municipalities to construct air- and water-polluting industries in low-income communities of color ignore stakeholder input and effectively consider these populations to be disposable.

In addition to the effects of environmental racism, incarcerated populations—which draw disproportionately from marginalized communities—are simultaneously exploited for their labor and left vulnerable due to their state of captivity.

While incarcerated people are deployed to protect communities from destruction, they are simultaneously neglected and disproportionately vulnerable to the same climate catastrophes. When the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events hit, incarcerated people are

“The racialized nature of the prison-industrial complex ensures that any mechanism which makes an incarcerated population vulnerable to exploitation or natural disaster is

NECESSARILY DONE IN A RACIST MANNER.”

impacted by environmental hazards, including pollution, toxic waste facilities, and extreme weather events.

This manifests in various ways: 13.4 percent of black children have asthma while only 7.8 percent of white children have the disease; a person of color is twice as likely to live within 11

the last group society considers saving. In the wake of superstorm Florence in South Carolina, over 1,500 inmates in evacuation zones were deserted and left to anticipate the impact from behind bars. This negligence is nothing new. During Hurricane Katrina, inmates in the Orle-

ans Parish Prison were left for several days with little to no food, standing in highly-toxic floodwaters, sometimes chest high. The same happened in Texas prisons during Hurricane Harvey, leaving over 8,000 inmates across four prisons to fend for themselves. Inmates are left vulnerable to more climate-related impacts than just hurricanes. As heat has risen in Texas, three in four prisons lack climate control in areas where prisoners reside. Since 1998 at least 23 people have died from heat-related illnesses, including a 13 percent increase in these illnesses amongst inmates in 2018.

These various environmental-related problems are not isolated scenarios, rather points on a trend of increasingly frequent and intense disasters caused by rising global temperatures. In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report on the effects of anthropogenic climate change reaching 1.5°C and 2°C above pre-industrial levels. The report argues with high confidence that extreme weather events like wildfires and floods will only become more frequent and intense as carbon emissions continue to trap heat in our atmosphere. Sea level rise from melting ice caps will not only displace millions of people, but has also contributed to higher severity hurricanes. As incarcerated people are left on the front lines during extreme weather events, climate change exacerbates their danger. For example, the vast floods and heavy rainfall during Hurricane Harvey were a direct result of higher global temperatures, trapping inmates in knee-high toxic water. As global temperatures continue to increase, populations around the nation and the world face

SPRING 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW new threats, and already marginalized communities are disproportionately vulnerable.

Rising rates of incarceration intermix with climate change to create conditions for disposability. The 500 percent increase in the rate of incarceration over the last forty years has left prisons overpopulated and under-resourced, which exacerbates climate vulnerability. In the case of the previous examples, coordinating safe evacuations in the face of Hurricane Katrina was unthinkable because of overpopulation.

Evacuating 6,000 inmates to prepare for the hurricane seemed impossible as it had taken six hours to evacuate 300 from a smaller prison nearby. Second, a recent study from the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University determined heat deaths and heat-related illnesses drastically increase in prisons when they become overpopulated. While it is true that incarcerated people become more vulnerable to the effects of climate change through institutionalized and racialized neglect, the expansion of the complex further intensifies these vulnerabilities through overcrowding.

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TOXICITY Rising prison populations also correlate to expanded prison infrastructure, resulting in the construction of 110 new prisons during the first ten years of the 21st century.

The location of such prisons are disproportionately within rural, low-in-

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Fayette, a Pennsylvania prison located adjacent to a coal ash dump site, suffer disproportionately from respiratory disorders, thyroid disorders, and cancer—all symptoms which result from prolonged exposure to coal ash. It is in precisely this way that environmental discrimination and mass incarceration combine to render incarcerated populations some of the most vulnerable populations to environmental hazards within the U.S. Not only are prisons located in places with excess pollution, they also frequently become a source of pollution themselves. Over the last five years, federal and state environmental protection agencies issued 160 formal and informal citations for violations of the Clean Water Act. One of the more egregious violations occurred in 2004 when a California prison discharged 220,000 gallons of raw sewage into a pristine creek nearby. Similarly, over the last five years, at least 141 formal and informal violations of the Clean Air Act have occurred.

For example, prisons using coal-fire boilers in Pennsylvania were recently charged $300,000 for exceeding various emissions standards. As the prison-industrial complex spans both

THERE IS AN ATTITUDE THAT PRISONERS ARE DISPOSABLE: THEY ARE PAID EXTREMELY LOW WAGES, AND THEIR HEALTH AND SAFETY IS ROUTINELY ABANDONED IN THE FACE OF BOTH SLOW-ACTING ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS AND SUDDEN CLIMATE-RELATED DISASTERS.

come communities and communities of color, similar to the placement of polluting industries. Typically these prisons are built on undesirable land like old mining sites or in close proximity to toxic waste facilities. At least 589 prisons in the United States are located within three miles of a Superfund cleanup site, making prisoners more susceptible to health problems. In addition to exposure to toxic waste, prisoners are vulnerable to various localized environmental hazards. For example, prisoners at S.C.I.

”

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private and public sectors, it is im- the policymaking process. The Green portant to note that the only agen- New Deal, championed by progrescy with sweeping oversight over the sives such as Alexandria Ocasio-Corentire complex is the Environmental tez and Bernie Sanders, seeks to actuProtection Agency. The continued alize this vision at a federal level. The use of this oversight is necessary to Green New Deal combines the dehold prisons accountable. mands of labor movements, identity The rise of the prison-industrial groups, environmental activists, and complex and rapid, widespread en- others to create the conditions for a vironmental degradation have com- just transition away from fossil fuels bined to become particularly insidious for low-income communities, communities of color, and especially incarcerated “IT’S NOT A COINCIDENCE... populations. Mass incarceration, a phenomenon that relies THAT THE LARGEST CARBON on a historically constituted and racialized desire for cheap EMITTER IN HISTORY ALSO labor, constructs a class of vulINCARCERATES nerable and disposable individuals in the face of rising environmental disasters. As states prepare for catastrophe, emergency response procedures are fundamentally reliant on the existence of an incarcerated labor pool. There is an attitude that prisoners are disposable: they are paid extremely low wages, to avoid the devastating effects of cliand their health and safety is rou- mate change. The resolution, howevtinely abandoned in the face of both er, fails to consider questions of crimslow-acting environmental hazards inal justice and prison reform within and sudden climate-related disasters. its multidimensional approach. The existence and continued expansion THE GREEN NEW DEAL’S OMISSION of the prison-industrial complex As progressive environmentalist leaves a large population especially movements across the U.S. demand vulnerable to the effects of climate federal and state-based policy within change. Any policy change that fails the inclusionary values of environ- to reconcile this intersection cannot mental justice, conversations of crim- sufficiently meet the demands of an inal justice and prison reform are det- environmental justice approach. This rimentally excluded. Environmental negligence already exists within enjustice is a practice that prioritizes vironmental justice initiatives today, the input of marginalized communi- seeing as the E.P.A.’s environmental ties and recognizes the pervasive ef- justice guidelines are not applied to fects of environmental racism within incarcerated people.

THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF ITS CITIZENS.”

13

Seth Prins and Brett Story, associate professors at Columbia University and Ryerson University respectively, make the case for a Green New Deal for Decarceration. It's not a coincidence, they point out, that the largest carbon emitter in history also incarcerates the highest number of its citizens. The domination and inequity at the root of the carceral system is merely reflective of our economic structures, which rely on endless environmental exploitation. A Green New Deal for Decarceration is a community vision in which mass incarceration and prison building as a form of development is replaced with investments in “living wage jobs, social infrastructure for healthy living, just solutions to ecological and social problems, from rampant inequality to the climate emergency.”

As mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change becomes the nexus of policy creation in the next decade, it is necessary that environmental policymakers and activists continue to work alongside anti-prison and prison abolitionist groups. The Prison Ecology Project has successfully merged these interests, recently resulting in a movement that successfully opposed the creation of a new prison in Kentucky which would have had an adverse ecological impact. As federal and state-based policy is constructed, these coalitions must be bolstered to ensure that any progressive climate action includes demands to address mass incarceration and dismantle the prison-industrial complex.

SPRING 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW

DOMESTIC POLITICS

THE DEADLY COLLABORATION BETWEEN WHITE SUPREMACY AND GUN RIGHTS

I

Chloe Lowell // Columbia College ’23 March 1, 2020

will never forget the day assemble against concerns for public Just days before the Richmond I saw hordes of white su- safety. Thousands of gun rights activ- rally, Virginia Governor Ralph premacists and neo-Nazis, ists gathered in Richmond to protest Northam declared a state of emerchanting “blood and soil” outside the State Capitol. Inside, leg- gency in preparation, citing “credible and “Jews will not replace islators debated long-awaited gun re- intelligence” that there were groups us,” as they marched down the streets form bills that would begin universal with “malicious plans” for the event. of Charlottesville, Virginia―a place I background checks, limit handgun The F.B.I. subsequently arrested three call home. Their assault rifles made purchases to once a month, and pro- members of a white nationalist group this display of hate all the for possession of firearms more alarming. The “Unite with intent to commit a “To the global white supremacist movement felony. These men were the Right” rally turned our small college town into a found with a machine that has visibly emerged in recent years, war zone and left locals in a gun and thousands of AR-15s and AK-47s are state of shock. Yet, thinking rounds of ammunition.

MORE THAN TOOLS OF SELF-DEFENSE.” back to the demonstrators To the global white wielding weapons typically supremacist movement seen in the hands of soldiers, I cannot hibit people under protective orders that has visibly emerged in recent help but think we were lucky. from owning guns, among other years, AR-15s and AK-47s are more Just over a month ago, Virginia proposals. Similar to the Charlottes- than tools of self-defense. These was once again the target of a demon- ville rally, many attendees brandished weapons represent a promise to assert stration that pitted citizens’ right to handguns or assault rifles. dominance over minority groups and 14

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COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW // SPRING 2020

incite violence. This chilling, wordless message is no new trend: Hate groups have always relied on intimidation and brutality to achieve their goals. The K.K.K. terrorized black communities with burning crosses and lynchings, and snipers targeted buses during the Montgomery boycotts. Today, advanced military-grade weapons are the tools of modern white supremacy.

Even demonstrations like Richmond, while ultimately non-violent, normalize the use of firearms for intimidation. Make no mistake: Flaunting an assault or semi-automatic rifle as a demonstrator is an extremist tactic. These weapons are a far cry from handguns typically held for the purpose of self defense—AR-15s and AK-47s are designed to kill. Richmond and Charlottesville protesters took it upon themselves to pose as militia members, displaying their ri-

fles in a clear assertion of power.

The problem isn’t just that white supremacist terrorism is on the rise, or that neo-Nazis are comfortable using firearms to intimidate the public and achieve their ends. It’s that the gun rights movement has enshrined their right to do so.

Millions of dollars in campaign donations have solidified the National Rifle Association’s influence on federal policy. The gun rights movement has successfully infiltrated state and local politics as well. Prior to “Unite the Right,” the fairly liberal city manager of Charlottesville banned demonstrators from carrying B.B. guns, paintball guns, or even long pieces of lumber, while actual firearms were still allowed.

No law explicitly states that guns must be permitted at a protest or a rally, and the Supreme Court’s broad modern interpretation of Second

Amendment rights may even permit restrictions on them. The Court’s opinion in District of Columbia v.

Heller, written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, leaves the door open to "laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places.” If torches, swastikas, and vitriolic hate speech did not transform Charlottesville into a "sensitive" place, I do not know what does.

The N.R.A. has tacitly endorsed white supremacy. Their mission statement pledges to protect the “inalienable right of the individual American Citizen.” How, then, can the N.R.A. stand strong in their defense of semi-automatic and assault weapons after the Pittsburgh and El Paso mass shootings, but remain silent on the death of Philando Castile, a black man who was shot after disclosing he had a licensed handgun in his possession? Why did Charlottesville and

Armed men patrolling Emancipation Park during Charlottesville’s “Unite the Right” rally. Photo by Anthony Crider.

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SPRING 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW Richmond not cause concern, while the Black Panthers’ armed march on California’s State Capitol prompted N.R.A. support for a complete open carry ban? Who is the “American Citizen” they truly seem to value?

Even after recent mass shootings at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, an El Paso Walmart, and many other international incidents, the N.R.A.’s grip on gun policy prevails.

Increasingly, the N.R.A.’s advocacy is no longer on behalf of the average American gun owner. By instituting protections for weapons repeatedly used to enact hate crimes, their diligent work has bolstered the work of hate groups. White supremacists have found a crucial asset in military-grade weapons that the U.S. government, at the bidding of the N.R.A., defends time and time again.

This defense directly violates the will of the American people. 71 percent of Americans support a complete ban of high capacity ammunition magazines. Moreover, 87 percent of Americans consider white nationalist terrorism to be just as concerning as other forms of terrorism. Why have the gun rights and white power movements been able to work together this effectively, with the implicit permission of our own government?

As Charlottesville continues to grapple with the events of 2017, I am reminded that they were not isolated incidents. The gun rights movement has all but guaranteed white supremacy’s continued power over public spaces, and the recent Richmond rally only reinforces this power. The next large-scale demonstration of hate is inevitable. If we continue to tolerate armed assertions of white power, it will only become much, much worse.

“

DOMESTIC POLITICS

THE PROBLEM ISN’T JUST THAT WHITE SUPREMACIST TERRORISM IS ON THE RISE, OR THAT NEO-NAZIS ARE COMFORTABLE USING FIREARMS

TO INTIMIDATE THE PUBLIC AND ACHIEVE THEIR ENDS.

IT’S THAT THE GUN RIGHTS MOVEMENT HAS ENSHRINED THEIR RIGHT TO DO SO.

”

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DOMESTIC POLITICS

COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW // SPRING 2020

H.R. 3 AND THE DEADLOCK OF PRESCRIPTION DRUG COST LEGISLATION Ian Springer // Columbia College ’23 February 27, 2020

A

s a type 1 diabetic, I have an intimate understanding of the absurdity of drug costs.

Without insurance, the insulin which I depend on to survive would cost me $13,920 a year– almost $40 a day. I know first-hand how agonizing the cost of prescription drugs can be and I see no solution on the horizon without government intervention. Legislators must provide relief to Americans struggling with high drug costs—and soon.

As I read through H.R. 3, the Democratic proposal to end exorbitant drug pricing schemes, I felt as if we had found an answer. The proposal would end the pharmaceutical industries’ price gouging by requiring the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to negotiate maximum drug prices with manufacturers, improving the lives of millions of Americans.

However, within hours of the bill’s announcement by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R17

KY) pronounced that the bill would be “dead on arrival” in the Senate.

With three words, Leader McConnell destroyed the dream that I, and millions of other Americans, had for fair drug pricing. Once again, the scourge of partisanship had obliterated a compassionate and effective solution, leaving Americans to suffer in the wake of unconscionably high drug costs.

For a solution to be impactful, our politicians must actually enact it.

While H.R. 3 would certainly generate meaningful change, it does nothing sitting in Leader McConnell’s legislative graveyard. To solve this issue, Democrats must be willing to negotiate a bipartisan solution.

If a bipartisan drug pricing bill were to be signed into law, it would undoubtedly be seen as a win for President Trump. However, if Democrats plan to claim the moral high ground against President Trump next fall, we must prove we are willing to put the American people before our own partisan interests. While par-

tisan gridlock jams the halls of the Capitol, prescription drug prices are increasing.

Within a decade, Eli Lilly and Company, a major supplier of insulin across the world, has raised the price of a single vial of insulin from $93 to nearly $290, with no justifiable explanation for this cost increase. Insulin, unlike other evolving treatments, has been essentially the same drug for 100 years. Loose regulation and a lack of government intervention allow drug companies, such as Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, to keep raising prices. These companies are incentivized to raise the price of insulin to make money for their shareholders. People are willing to pay anything for insulin when it is a matter of life and death, but some people simply cannot afford to comply with these price hikes, leading to deadly consequences.

The outrageously high price of insulin is forcing some diabetics to ration their medication. In 2018, Meaghan Carter, a trained nurse, and a diabetic of 18 years died from in-

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DOMESTIC POLITICS

An insulin syringe. Photo by Marco Verch.

sulin rationing while between jobs. A year earlier, a Houston man, Shane Patrick Boyle, died after a GoFundMe that he started to help pay for his medication fell $50 short. These cases are only two of countless examples of diabetics killed by the greed of the pharmaceutical industry.

Insulin is hardly the only drug to undergo such drastic price increases.

A May 2019 study found that the 49 top-selling brand-name drugs underwent a median cost increase of 76% between January 2012 and December 2017. High drug costs are a national crisis, but this crisis is solvable. There are enough votes to pass meaningful reform; Democrats and Republicans alike support measures to reduce drug prices.

Last summer, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a bipartisan proposal that would significantly diminish the ability of pharmaceutical companies to raise prices. This legislation would limit the increases in Medicare’s prescription drug benefit to the rate of inflation, keeping drug costs down. The proposal enjoys

widespread support; even President Trump endorsed the bill in his State of the Union speech and a number of senators from both sides of the aisle are backing the act.

Yet, party leaders remain hesitant to endorse such a proposal. Neither Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DNY) nor Majority Leader McConnell have backed the Grassley-Wyden bill, both choosing instead to recede to their partisan corners. The New York Times has reported that Leader McConnell is personally opposed to the idea of price controls, while Minority Leader Schumer has stated publicly that Democrats are unwilling to settle for anything less than H.R. 3.

Unfortunately, politics necessitates settling. It always has. While I wholeheartedly endorse H.R. 3 and the radical changes it would produce, I am also realistic. Any relief on drug pricing for Americans, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction.

It is time for the Democrats in both the House and Senate to put aside messaging and optics and get behind a bipartisan drug bill. Without the cover to criticize the legis-

lation as too “radical” or “socialist,” Republicans will be forced to pass the bill into law. By supporting a bipartisan solution, Democrats will have improved the quality of life for millions of Americans and proved that they are willing to put their duty to the American people above their hatred for President Trump. If Leader McConnell still decides to kill the bill, at least Democrats will have definitive proof that Republicans do not support efforts to curtail drug pricing, giving them a key talking point for the 2020 election.

To be clear, Leader McConnell’s efforts to block all drug pricing legislation are abhorrent. His actions, along with those of Republicans in the Senate and House alike, are a fundamental betrayal of the American people.

But how are we as a party to claim we are any better if we are unwilling even to attempt bipartisan action? If we let our political interests cloud our vision and distort our moral clarity, we are no better than the very party we are so ardently striving to defeat. We cannot revert to our partisan ways while people’s lives are at risk.

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COVID-19 CRISIS

COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW // SPRING 2020

XENOPHOBIA, THE OTHER VIRUS WE SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT Annie Tan // Columbia College ’23 February 23, 2020

J

ust last month in Australia, a group of bystanders refused to perform CPR on a Chinese man for fear of being infected with coronavirus. In Los Angeles, flyers with fake World Health Organization seals urged neighbors to stay away from Asian-American businesses. Sadly, Columbia is no exception to this. Over the past few weeks, students of East Asian descent

long history of pinning contamination and illness on marginalized communities. Communities affected by cholera during the 19th century accused Irish immigrants of spreading the disease, and consequently, these immigrants were quarantined, secretly massacred, and buried in mass graves. In the 1980s, HIV was determined to be the “gay plague,” which inaccurately oversimplified the disease to be one that only gay men were victim to and “These harsh reactions to coronacontributed to worsening hovirus are neither new nor specific mophobia. to the virus itself—in ­fact, there is The dea long history of pining contamipiction of nation and illness on marginalized diseased Chicommunities.” nese-Americans contribhave experienced an increase in ra- uted significantly to the passage of cial bias and attacks, including a hos- the Chinese Exclusion Act, which tile message stating “Wuhan Virus prohibited immigration to the Isolation Area,” which was written in United States from China between Chinese and left in Butler Library. In 1882-1943. During this time, Chithe face of this uncertainty, the fear nese-Americans were portrayed as of contagion has trumped any re- filthy, immoral, threats to the white sponsibility to give accurate medical laborer, as a system of contract labor information and empathy. allowed American employees to pay These harsh reactions to coro- Chinese immigrants very low wages. navirus are neither new nor specific This image justified a wave of hatred to the virus itself—in fact, there is a and violence against Asian commu19

nities that remains rampant today.

Last week, a man on the Los Angeles subway berated an Asian woman, stating: “Every disease has ever came from China, homie. Everything comes from China because they’re f****** disgusting.” Another similar incident occurred in New York City, where a man began physically attacking an Asian woman while calling her a “diseased b****.” Chinese restaurants in New York City are also suffering from these stereotypes, with some reporting a 70 percent to 80 percent decrease in business, even though coronavirus has not reached New York state yet.

Xenophobia of this kind has especially been distilled and communicated to us recently through President Trump and right-leaning news organizations, who often depict foreigners as the sole carriers of disease and are quick to use issues of public concern to justify xenophobia. In a statement during his campaign trail, Trump declared that “tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border,” even though numerous studies have debunked the myth that migrant “caravans” bring unwanted diseases to new countries, and tweeted “KEEP THEM OUT OF HERE!”

SPRING 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW in response to evacuating an American medic during the Ebola outbreak in 2014.

Dangerous nationalism and misinformation aren’t just being spread by the right-wing government--the media is doing it too. They use language such as “viral invasion” to describe coronavirus, perpetuating panic and hatred against immigrants of East Asian descent. The rhetoric surrounding coronavirus has become so divisive and dangerous that health experts advised the World Health Organization to officially name the disease, first labeled as the “Wuhan” virus, in order to limit “further stigmatization of Chinese people due to disparaging unofficial titles used by news outlets and social media.” Even the initial name of the disease was meant to emphasize its foreignness.

We have seen this before in the “Ebola” virus, named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the “Spanish” flu, which did not

actually originate in Spain.

The xenophobic framing of coronavirus builds into the systemic exclusion of Asians from immigration and aid from Western countries in times of crisis. Last month, the Australian government announced plans to quarantine evacuees from Wuhan in immigration detention centers.

The United States imposed temporary bans on the entry of foreign nationals arriving within 14 days of visiting China, an act which will have devastating effects on the economy.

These actions are dangerously reminiscent of the bans on Chinese immigration during the Exclusion Era. During this dark period, Asian immigrants, many of whom came to the United States through Angel Island, faced quarantine and extensive examinations without consent or visible symptoms. Even when public health experts such as Tedros Adhanom, director of the World Health Organisation, warned that travel bans are in-

DOMESTIC COVID-19POLITICS CRISIS

effective in controlling the spread of disease, world leaders and nationalists choose to disregard scientific research in favor of using national security to justify blatant hatred and lack of empathy towards suffering minority communities.

Natural crises such as coronavirus, which has taken over 1,770 lives and infected 70,000 in China, should not be manipulated to serve political agendas advancing bias and intolerance. If we perpetuate xenophobia and “yellow peril,” we will be repeating the violence and fear that marked the Exclusion Era. During this time of mourning and distress, individuals affected by coronavirus need allyship from their political leaders, local communities, and classmates. We need unbiased research on how to protect against infection and how to treat individuals suffering from coronavirus; what we do not need is more inhumane excuses for abandoning communities that require our aid.

Chinatown, San Francisco. Photo courtesy of Ed Schipul.

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COVID-19 CRISIS

COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW // SPRING 2020

WHY THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS WARRANTS GEOPOLITICAL OPTIMISM Trey Sprouse // Columbia College ’22 February 22, 2020

O

n January 30, for the crisis are less gloomy. In light of of 2018. Meanwhile, China has adthe fifth time in its rising tensions between the United opted a more assertive stance on the history, the World States and China, the coronavirus international stage, having militaHealth Organization epidemic presents a unique oppor- rized islands in the South China Sea, declared a Public tunity to improve the world’s most ramped up investment in the Belt Health Emergency of International important bilateral relationship. and Road Initiative, and expanded Concern, this time in response to the It should come as no surprise Huawei’s 5G networks in the face of outbreak of the Wuhan novel corona- that the U.S.-China relationship is repeated warnings from U.S. nationvirus. Despite travel bans al security officials. and restrictions in 60 The White House’s countries, the virus con2017 National Secutinues to spread. At the rity Strategy and the “Combined with politically-charged time this article was pubPentagon’s 2018 Napublic health measures and inflamlished, authorities had tional Defense Stratmatory rhetoric, business interrupconfirmed over 76,000 egy labeled China as tions might accelerate the process of cases of the disease, also a “strategic competiknown as COVID-19, tor” and a “revisionist U.S.-China “decoupling,” or the split with the death toll expower.” In response, fo the international economy into ceeding 2,200. 34 AmerBeijing released a deMUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE icans have been infectfense white paper that ECONOMIC SPHERES OF INFLUENCE.” ed thus far. Meanwhile, described the United global markets and ChiStates as having “adna’s economic growth for this quar- increasingly strained. On the do- opted unilateral policies” and “proter have largely stalled. mestic front, a protectionist impulse voked and intensified competition The damage wrought by the under the Trump administration led among major countries.” Whether coronavirus is clearly devastating— to the ongoing trade war, which has they are willing to admit it or not, but the geopolitical implications of cost $84 billion since it began in July the United States and China are two 21

SPRING 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW

DOMESTIC COVID-19POLITICS CRISIS

Recognizing the global threat, the US Air Force performed transportation isolation training in February 2020, which was designed after the international Ebola crisis and is used for moving patients infected with dangerous pathogens like the novel coronavirus. USAF photo by Senior Airman Cody Miller.

great powers striving for primacy in East Asia.

But discontent in U.S.-China relations extends far beyond the intergovernmental level. Members of the U.S. business community have complained about unfair competition and intellectual property theft. Academics are concerned about China’s threats to academic freedom abroad.

NGOs have faced major roadblocks since the 2013 crackdown. Taken together, such issues have caused major American constituencies originally supportive of U.S.-China engagement to rethink their position.

On the other hand, the trade war has created the perception in China that the United States, as the global hegemon, wishes to prevent rising China’s “national rejuvenation.”

Mainland Chinese have also voiced

strong opposition to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, which the People’s Republic of China considers to be a runaway Chinese province. Ultimately, this mutual disillusionment casts doubt on the ability of the two economic superpowers to maintain a peaceful, cooperative relationship in the long term.

On one level, the coronavirus is exposing the cracks in U.S.-China relations. The Trump administration, contrary to advice from the W.H.O., imposed sweeping travel restrictions and strict quarantines.

China later condemned the move as “certainly not a gesture of good will.” In an interview last month, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross even said China’s coronavirus epidemic “will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America.”

U.S. observers have also criticized China for suppressing information about the virus and failing to accept help from U.S. health experts, which delayed the initial response to the outbreak. Senator Tom Cotton, Republican from Arkansas, accused the Chinese Communist Party of having a “long history of covering up and minimizing these crises,” and erroneously suggested that the virus originated from a Chinese “super-lab.”

Combined with politicallycharged public health measures and inflammatory rhetoric, business interruptions might accelerate the process of U.S.-China “decoupling,” or the split of the international economy into mutually exclusive economic spheres of influence. Quarantine measures in China, which keep near22

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COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW // SPRING 2020

ly 150 million people largely confined to their homes, are wreaking havoc on global supply chains. The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai recently reported that 78 percent of U.S. companies operating in China do not have sufficient staff to run a full production line. This could incentivize American actors relying on China’s manufacturing

The Chinese government's response exhibits marked improvements from the way it handled previous disease outbreaks. In 2003, for example, Chinese officials waited several months after the initial outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus—after thousands of people had already been infected—before alerting the public

COVID-19 BY THE NUMBERS > 76,000 CASES > 60 COUNTRIES WITH TRAVEL BANS/ RESTRICTIONS IN PLACE

> 150 MILLION PEOPLE CONFINED TO THEIR HOMES IN CHINA

> $100 MILLION IN AID PLEDGED BY THE U.S. TO CHINA AND OTHER AFFECTED COUNTRIES

base to relocate or shift their supply chains to other countries.

But instead of exacerbating current divisions, another interpretation holds that the coronavirus epidemic, if addressed properly, has the potential to help mend the recent damage to U.S.-China relations. Notwithstanding its serious human and economic toll, there is reason to believe the global health crisis might justify a measure of geopolitical optimism.

23

about the disease.

By contrast, China invited a W.H.O. team to assist with the coronavirus response in February 2020, and health officials across the international community have commended China for greater commitment to information transparency.

Dr. Mike Ryan, head of W.H.O. health emergencies programmes, praised the government for “taking extraordinary measures in the face of

what is an extraordinary challenge.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar also commended China for sharing the genetic sequencing of the coronavirus, enabling American medical organizations to create a diagnostic test and advance a potential vaccine.

These events demonstrate China is willing to cooperate with the United States and international organizations such as the W.H.O. in critical situations. While the United States has already pledged over $100 million in aid to China and other countries affected by the coronavirus, it is essential for the U.S. government both fulfill its promise and support longer term disaster relief efforts to help rebuild damaged communities.

Because both countries stand at a critical juncture in the coronavirus response, there are ample opportunities for the United States to adopt an even more supportive orientation toward China. And by appreciating the present need to work together, U.S. and Chinese leaders could lay the groundwork for future cooperation on pressing global issues where there is no need for confrontation, such as climate change and nuclear non-proliferation.

The silver lining of the epidemic is that its public health, economic, and logistical ramifications provide a vivid illustration of how problems originating in China can directly impact the United States and its citizens. For U.S. policy makers, the coronavirus crisis shows that forsaking engagement with China for permanent confrontation will not only destabilize the world order, but also carry adverse effects for the U.S. economy and the lives of ordinary Americans.

SPRING 2020 // COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS DOMESTIC POLITICS

ADDRESSING FRANCISCO FRANCO’S PERSISTENT LEGACY

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legantly carved into the side of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains stands an exquisite memorial. Boasting an imposing stone esplanade with a scenic view over the Spanish countryside, the mausoleum fuses artificial and natural beauty: a testament to the visionary prowess of those who built it. One might assume that such an awe-inspiring memorial must be in honour of someone equally remarkable. You could easily assume that it commemorates a revolutionary scientist, an empowering activist, a magnanimous philanthropist, or some other worthy national hero.

Called Valle de los Caídos (the Valley of the Fallen), this memorial actually held the remains of Francisco Franco, the military dictator who ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975. Notorious for slaughtering minorities and the opposition during his reign, Franco laid in splendor for decades next to an enormous unmarked mass grave, holding tens of thousands of those he killed during his tyranny.

Thankfully, this past October, the Spanish Supreme Court recognized that the arrangement was disgraceful, and they announced that Franco’s body was to be moved. To many,

Ali Soufraki // Columbia College ’23 February 21, 2020 this decision seems utterly uncontroversial; rather, the exhumation of Franco’s remains from this wholly inappropriate memorial feels long overdue. In Spain, unfortunately, the high court’s decision was met with bitter resistance from conservative parties and closet Francoist sympathizers, exposing the systemic problems that Spain has faced in reconciling a fascist past with a democratic present.

I personally had the pleasure of meeting some of these fascist sym-

question. Naturally, they responded by discussing how important it is to respect the dead and how the exhumation was simply a publicity stunt, orchestrated by the “Communists in government.” Being the annoyingly provocative and unconventional waiter that I am, I couldn’t resist the urge to call them out: “If you respect the dead so much, then why should his victims lie in mass graves while he rests so extravagantly?”

Unfortunately, the distasteful cir-

“IF YOU RESPECT THE DEAD SO MUCH, THEN WHY SHOULD HIS VICTIMS LIE IN MASS GRAVES WHILE HE RESTS

SO EXTRAVAGANTLY?”

pathizers this past summer. Waiting tables in the small town of Jerez, I overheard a few customers’ vocal disgust with the government’s decision to exhume Franco’s remains.

Conscious of my place, I decided to politely ask them why they felt so.

Fortunately, my appearance as the ignorant foreigner with clunky Spanish charmed them into entertaining my

cumstances of Franco’s burial go even deeper: the very people who labored over the construction of the site were Franco’s political prisoners. The vast majority of these men, imprisoned for such outrageous crimes as advocating for democracy and equal rights, were forced to build Franco’s tomb under torturous conditions.

When the workers died from ex24

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

COLUMBIA POLITICAL REVIEW // SPRING 2020

> Until October, this memorial held the

remains of Spanish military dictator Francisco Franco. Directly adjacent lay an unmarked mass grave holding TENS OF THOUSANDS of his victims.

The Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen) monument in central Spain.

Photo courtesy of Emilio García.

haustion or hunger, Franco’s soldiers merely tossed their bodies into the adjacent mass grave.

Spain exhibits a general reluctance to question and reflect on Francoist principles and their place in today’s society. Although Franco’s crimes against humanity are widely known in Spain today, there is a dangerously strong sense of apathy among people when it comes to addressing his legacy. Although most Spanish citizens do know that his militias were responsible for the barbaric slaughter of 200,000 political dissidents, six in ten Spaniards today still believe that “Franco had both good and bad sides.” Comparing his legacy to those of similar twentienth-century tyrants Hitler and Mussolini, this indifference toward their actions would be unthinkable in German or Italian society today.

Instead, parties like El Partido Popular recycle tired claims that by merely broaching the topic of Fran25

co’s legacy, the world is “reopening old wounds that had completely healed decades before.” The problem lies in the second part of the statement: if we constantly have to tiptoe around controversial matters like this, then surely no healing process could have been completed in the first place. Though tackling issues like Franco’s memorial may prove divisive, it has to be done.

Otherwise, fascist sympathizers will continue returning to the forefront of our political scenes. Without sincerely confronting this dark chapter of Spanish history, we will keep seeing nationalist far-right parties like Vox soar in the polls. This trend already began in Spain’s November elections, where the party—notorious for its opposition to moving Franco’s remains as well as its stale slogan “Make Spain Great Again”—more than doubled the number of seats it previously held to become Spain’s third-largest force in parliament.

Even though I was promptly dis-

missed from waiting tables that day for “unprofessional conduct,” I do not regret what I said. There is certainly a time and a place for these discussions, and things probably would have been easier if I had just handed my customers their coffee. However, this issue is of extreme importance nonetheless. I implore anyone reading this article not to fear awkwardness or punishment for asserting your voice when confronted with a similar situation. No matter the issue, these conversations need to take place. A polite silence rarely changes minds.

In Spain, this issue needs vigorous discussion, for it represents how Spaniards choose to respect the dead and to what extent they value democracy. In moving Franco’s remains, the Spanish government has made an important symbolic statement on a political level. Now, it’s up to ordinary Spaniards to break the taboo of criticizing Franco’s legacy on a civilian one too.

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IRAQI RESILIENCE

O

n the night of Qassem Soleimani’s killing, my father’s family joined us for chai in our small but cozy home, as they do most cold winter nights. The Arabic TV news channel was playing in the background to accompany the sound of conversation. Suddenly, the chattering voices were interrupted by blaring headlines—complete silence fell over the room. Everyone’s attention followed the brightly lit screen. Frustration and distress replaced joy. I frantically began asking questions and tried to process what happened. We clustered closer to the television as the talk of deteriorating Iranian-American relations continued to circulate between newscasters.

My family identified an important narrative missing from the discussion happening live: what does this mean for the Iraqi people? For our family? For other families there?

Conflict in Iraq is perpetuated and exacerbated by the involvement of outside entities: both the American and Iranian governments utilize Iraqi resources, land, and people as a means to exert global influence. As their interests play out in Iraq, an outlet for violence is being created that is harming a country in the process of reconstruction. The focus on the U.S.-Iran

Elina Arbo // Columbia College ’22 February 28, 2020 affair reduced news coverage on ongoing Iraqi demonstrations, diminishing the efforts of Iraqi citizens who had partaken in the first wave of protests in October 2019: a movement which tackled government corruption and poor quality of living.

Persistence allowed a new round of resistance to flourish. A second wave of mass demonstrations formed following Soleimani’s death in Janu-

Iranians—all of them… if they want to fight, they can do it on their own land.” The recent protests have not only addressed foreign influence and proxies in Iraq, but deal with domestic affairs and recent political changes—a continuation of the first protests that began in the fall of 2019.

Success was near when the first protests encouraged Adel Abdul Mahdi to resign as prime minister. Obeying

"MY FAMILY IDENTIFIED AN IMPORTANT NARRATIVE MISSING FROM THE DISCUSSION HAPPENING LIVE:

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE IRAQI PEOPLE?" ary 2020. These protesters have been reiterating an important message: Iran and the U.S. are not welcome and can no longer usher in violence.

One protester, Mustafa Brahim, climbed on top of the al-Jumhuriya bridge along with a small crowd shouting that he wanted all military powers gone: “British, Americans,

protester demands, he resigned from the position a month later. Now, citizens have been very adamant about rejecting the new prime minister, Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi, who was elected to replace Abdul Mahdi.

Removing foreign powers from the country has evolved to be a critical goal for Iraqi demonstrators due 26

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to Soleimani’s death. Over a month ago, Iraq’s Parliament voted to “end any foreign presence on Iraqi soil and prevent the use of Iraqi airspace, soil, and water for any reason.” The Prime Minister of Iraq at the time, Abdul Mahdi, echoed similar thoughts on foreign involvement by asking the United States to devise a system for

“

the day Soleimani was killed. The drone strike that killed the Iranian general was launched in response to the attack in Kirkuk.

Unfortunately, the proxy war continues. In response to Soleimani's death, Iranian-backed militias are still launching airstrikes. Iran fired over a dozen rockets at two U.S. military

The complex history and interactions between these two foreign influences reveal that American and Iranian political and military forces have

”

LONG OVERSTAYED THEIR VISIT.

the withdrawal of the 5,000 American troops currently stationed in the country. The Iraqi government, along with its citizens, has made it clear to the international community that foreign influence and conflict are unwanted.

American-Iranian tensions were boiling a month prior to the assasination at Baghdad International Airport. In late December, the U.S. blamed an Iranian-backed group for the killing of an American contractor in Kirkuk and the wounding of several other Americans. Firing strikes was a strategy Iran utilized even before 27

bases in Iraq as a form of retribution directly after. Most recently, on February 16, 2020, Iran launched rocket strikes in Iraq targeting the U.S. embassy. Iran desires to remove U.S. influence, but continues to ignore the damage and conflict that strategy inflicts on Iraq. While the missile strike launched in early January as a response to Soleimani’s death did not cause casualties, significant harm was done, destroying infrastructure and paving way for even more violence to occur.

Airstrikes in December and the most recent rocket launches are not

the only attacks that have transpired in Iraq. Iran and the U.S. followed similar military policy much earlier.

Physical destruction was a crucial tactic to both sides as clashes took place last summer. In July 2019, an Israeli airstrike hit a militia base in Northern Iraq that caused a fire and killed two Iranians. Then, in August, Israel launched airstrikes against a weapons storage facility controlled

by Iranian-backed militia known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. The drone strike killed two of the P.M.F.’s members. The Popular Mobilization Forces accused the United States and Israel of the drone strike, which also connected to multiple explosions that happened on similar bases, such as the earlier attack in July. The strike in August killed one Iraqi civilian and wounded 28 others.

Military disputes in Iraq, between Iran and the United States, are not a recent phenomenon and have existed for years. An extensive history of foreign involvement in Iraq by the American and Iranian governments predates the last few months. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Iraq in the 1980s, starting an eightyear war that left hundreds of thousands dead. In 1990, Iraq invaded U.S. ally Kuwait, beginning the Gulf War—Kuwait and the U.S. defeated Hussein. Next, the United States ousted Hussein from power in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Iraq was left susceptible to outside influence as Iran exercised control over the country politically and militarily, establishing allies within the Iraqi parliament and securing Iraqi security forces under Iranian control. The U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 created turmoil for the next 17 years, allowing conflict to mani-

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Protesters in October take over an abandoned building known as the Turkish Restaurant in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square. Photo by Hassan Majed.

fest. In addition, I.S.I.S. occupation of Iraq inhibited Iranian and U.S. interests for years. These two countries remained deeply entrenched in Iraqi affairs due to the looming threat of another political faction creating even more instability in the region.

Ironically, while trying to minimize the harm caused by I.S.I.S., Iran and the U.S. have created turmoil, too. The complex history and interactions between these two foreign influences reveal that American and Iranian political and military forces have long overstayed their visit. The airstrike that killed Soleimani was not the only attack that the United States instigated in December either. The U.S. launched three strikes in Iraq and two strikes in Syria following the death of the American contractor in Kirkuk. These were direct attacks on Iranian presence in the region, but this conflict has remained two-way.

American attacks on Iranian forces were a response to the 11 attacks that

Iranian forces carried out over the last two months on bases that housed American forces.

Government leadership in Iraq strongly opposes involvement by Americans and Iranians. Iraq’s National Security Advisor, Falih alFayadh, released a statement expressing his fear of Iraq being “pushed into a war” and wanted to avoid taking sides in conflicts between Iran and other countries. Al-Fayadh is not the only political figurehead in Iraq who voiced resistance to foreign influence.

In an interview with the New Yorker, the President of Iraq, Barham Salih, disclosed his anxiety regarding Soleimani’s death. The country was on its way to becoming more stable following the war on I.S.I.S. and working on regenerative efforts. Now the onset of war is lingering, threatening the infrastructural progress that has been made. Caught in a ceaseless crossfire between the U.S. and Iran, Iraqis are suffering once again at the hands of

outside influence.

In addition, President Barham Salih emphasized that over the course of the last forty years, Iraq was forced to endure conflicts across the Middle East. “Everyone had a proxy to fight this war on Iraqi soil, essentially using Iraqi resources and Iraqi lives,” he stated. The current situation in Iraq jeopardizes the lives of citizens and limits access to public services.

Protesters are attempting to alleviate wounds from the last decade, but outside forces deepen them further.

As a result, the Iraqi Parliament voted to reject not only American presence but all foreign presence in the country.

Both American and Iranian influence have undoubtedly halted Iraqi progress. By choosing to bomb Iran on Iraqi soil, the United States paved way for more violence in Iraq. Abbas Kadhim, the director of the Iraq Initiative at the Atlantic Council, highlighted that after the siege of the U.S. 28

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embassy by the 2019 pro-Iranian protesters, the Iraqi prime minister intervened in order to clear demonstrators away from the embassy. Despite attempts to mediate conflict between Americans and Iranians, the U.S. responded drastically by assassinating Soleimani, making it nearly impossible for Iraq to reconcile the two sides.

However, Americans are not working alone as a destructive force.

Iran perpetuates violence through constant airstrike launches, a maneuver frequently made before and after Soleimani’s death. Iranian-sponsored militias remain extremely prevalent in Iraq, leading attacks against U.S.

presence in Iraq. Iran’s government retains investments in Iraq’s political and military affairs. For example, Iraqi officials are often impacted by the Iranian government—either backed or blocked—by Iranian leadership. Geography plays a critical role in Iranian-Iraqi relations because not only are the countries neighboring one another, but Iran’s domination of Iraq arises from a desire to establish military presence between Tehran and the Mediterranean.

Pushing out this presence has been key for Iraqi demonstrators.

“Iran out, out,” they declared. Since October, Tahrir Square has been occupied by Iraqi civilians advocating

The Qayyarah oil fields burn south of Mosul in 2016. Photo by Mstyslav Chernov.

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for government changes: among these changes includes a desire to disband from Iran’s control. Iranian forces also became increasingly involved in these protests as a result, detracting from the political and cultural reform that many citizens have been advocating for in the last months.

In fact, when Iraqis began protesting for better living conditions and governmental corruption, they were still met with corruption and brutality from Iraq’s security apparatus and Iranian-backed militias. Iran’s continued hostility stems from the threat of ongoing protests. Committed and resilient, though, protesters carried out in the streets and camped

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out in tents. More than 500 Iraqis were killed in the protest and 19,000 were injured. Yet, major publications gave more attention to the U.S.-centered embassy attacks by Iran.

Despite the neverending proxy violence, Iraqi people refuse to be stripped of their agency. A week after Soleimani’s death, Iraqis commenced the second mass demonstration at Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to demand an overhaul to the Iraqi political system and foreign interference. Since American-Iranian affairs halted the first round of protests in the fall, demonstrators refused to be passive and reacted proactively. External affairs in Iraqi politics did not inhibit protesters from once again returning to the capital—especially for the youth.

The original goal of the October protests dealt with dissatisfaction regarding current political leaders and grew to a larger motivation of abolishing the sectarian system of government. It was a wide-scale effort—the largest protest since Hussein was in power. These peaceful demonstrations brought success, and Abdul

Mahdi’s resignation is a tangible example of their power. The passion for a better country arises from the unhappiness that Iraq’s younger generation feels. Adults are not the only Iraqis that oppose foreign presence in the country: anti-government protests are being led by students, often between the ages of 13 and 18. The strength of the resistance is a result of the youth’s engagement.

An 11-year-old named Fadlallah is partaking in the current protests.

In response to American and Iranian intervention, he proclaimed that “My generation and I, not any outsider, will be ruling this country.” Youth involvement arises from the squalid conditions which have existed since the overthrow of Hussein. This disdain has been communicated by revitalizing the peaceful protest movement against elitism. Government corruption, at both an international level and domestically, is enough to fuel these protests further.

Sadly, these individuals are met with more hostility as the Iraqi government suppresses these demon-

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strations. An abhorrent reaction to harm civilians arises from politicians and government elites. As the second wave of demonstrations continue, protesters are targets of severe violence: hunting rifles loaded with birdshot, stones, and firebombs are being used. 50 civilians have been injured so far. While these Iraqis are suffering extreme brutality, protests continue despite the dangerous conditions.

The resilience of citizens in the face of foreign influence and governmental corruption indicates a brighter, more hopeful future. An established pattern of proxy conflict between Iran and the United States has existed for years. In order to prioritize the needs of Iraqi protesters, the removal of foreign entities and specifically, for Iranians and Americans to halt bombings on Iraqi land, will allow these civilians to focus on the necessary changes that must take place to improve the living conditions for all. Young individuals are carving a path for themselves amidst the chaos and organizing around the ideals of a more helpful future.

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