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4. Did VladĂmir Putin
win the U.S Elections? Paul Lorho
8. 4 Indispensable Skills For Your Work And Daily Life Zena Alhiti
i
14. The Trump Dilemma 18. South Africa’s Almustafa Mahmoud Khalid
National Arts Festival Madison Melton
24. Reasons to Dislike School and What to Do About It svea freiberg
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Did VladĂmir Putin win the U.S Elections?
r e ?
Did Vladímir Putin win the U.S Elections? | PAUL LORHO
D
uring the presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton entertained suspicions that Russians were exerting influence on the Republican Candidate. Even if this is highly improbable, we can still wonder if the outcome of the election does constitute a victory for Putin! By voting TRUMP, American people have shown that they needed a strong and charismatic leader. Donald Trump has been beating all his opponents one after another, making his way to the presidency. He is an accomplished businessman, represents the finest version of the American dream with a past full of outstanding achievements and is now looking forward to an even brighter future. Just as Vladimir Putin, who began his life in a poor area in St Petersburg, he gradually climbed the ladder to the top. Putin started off as a KGB member, then became one of the closest advisors of Boris Eltsine, until he got elected the President of the Russian Federation in 2000 eventually.
Lorho PAUL @PaulLorho
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By voting TRUMP, American people are asking their President to “Make America Great Again.” The new President incarnates all the building blocks of that idea of the shining America, the land of opportunities for audacious and hardworking people, where liberalism and religion rule hand in hand. Throughout his campaign he has been promoting strong values of pride and patriotism for Americans. Just as what happened in Russia after the communist era, plundered by previous oligarchs, on the edge of a precipice, Putin brought back growth, hope and pride to Russian people. By voting TRUMP, American People are looking for conservative values. Trump has clearly stated he was “for life” meaning against abortion, clearly representing the Republican party with its more traditional approach to politics and society. It is as if people were inspired by Putin’s views on religion, traditions and family. By voting TRUMP, Americans have declared to the rest of the world that
they do respect them. In fact, Russia hasn’t stopped asking for a multipolar world, which is what the new US President is proposing. By voting TRUMP, Americans are hoping for less terrorist attacks through fewer U.S. interventions worldwide. American people have shown, they are able to, relate to other sovereign people by electing the candidate that declared many times that he won’t start wars for any energetic nor financial interest. Thus, he leaves space for Putin to look after the Middle East conflicts and solve them himself as he has done in Syria. By voting Trump, American people have chosen freedom of speech and press. There is no doubt that the media have been aggressively championing against the Republican Candidate. This is a recurring practice of theirs and has been used with Putin and any other person diverging from the Western doxa, that is the popular opinion in the West! At the same time however, Trump achieved to get some supportive coverage through an interview on Russian TV (RT) last September 2016!
Did Vladímir Putin win the U.S Elections? | PAUL LORHO
By voting Trump, American people have chosen to respect Human Rights. Why? Because we are living a fight between people and elites! Democracies have created oligarchies and muzzled dissident voices such as Snowden. Russia has granted him his protection and the people worldwide are happy about this unexpected move. In fact, the movie Snowden by Oliver Stone, even if it comes from an American, is very favorable to the whistle-blowers and represents Snowden and Assange as modern heroes. In fact, Americans are just like Russians and other people from around the globe, trying to protect themselves from governments that would wiretap and control the entire world. To conclude, people may be opposed to the idea of Donald Trump being the new President of the U.S., but it can also bring better relationships, new understandings and hopefully trust with Russia, avoiding further conflicts, such as another world war.
Lorho PAUL @PaulLorho
4 Indispensable Skills For Your Work And Daily Life | 8
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4 Indispensable Skills For Your Work And Daily Life | Zena Alhiti
T
hroughout the lifetime of a career, some indispensable skills are needed to accomplish given tasks and to have a successful career. Especially for a young employee it is very important to learn these skills early on and never stop to develop each skill continuously in order to gain bonus points in benevolence of colleagues and supervisors.
Alhiti, Zena @zenaalhiti
Attached photo is by: Platon Yurich.
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1 ATTITUDE
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2 ADAPTABILITY
First and foremost, there is attitude. Having a positive attitude, being optimistic and showcasing an innate drive to achieve are keystones not only to success but happiness, too. A positive attitude helps you to cope more easily with the daily affairs of life. An optimistic approach to challenges makes it easier to avoid worries and negative thinking; additionally allows you to seek and enable.
We live in rapidly changing times that also affect the workplace. If you are adaptable and flexible, you will be able to change according to the times. It is a great asset if you are able to step outside your comfort zone and try your luck with something you might not have even done before.
4 Indispensable Skills For Your Work And Daily Life | Zena Alhiti
3 COMMUNICATION
In a busy and fast paced work life, it is even more important to be able to communicate well. More precisely this often times means to listen more and talk less! Indeed this is very much needed in everyday situations. In this era, where conflict is on news paper’s top headings, where people tend to misunderstand and prejudge other parties just simply because we practice ignorance and do not pay enough attention. If you practice to listen, you will have more empathy and understanding of people and situations. Thereby you can practice logical and empathetic thinking and in turn you will be able to give more logical and context aware answers. In this way, discussions will have a more focused and guided structure that leads to better outcomes. Attached photo is by: Platon Yurich.
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4 LOGIC AND CREATIVITY The ability to apply both logical thinking and creativity to solve problems is highly valued by employers. If you are the kind of person who tries to see solutions as well as the problem, you will be an effective employee appreciated by colleagues and superiors for both analytical and imaginative inputs .
When you look at the list of the skills of which I mentioned a few above, it is a wonder how we call these abilities “soft skills�, because they are everything but soft. In fact, they are very important and quite hard to learn. But you will see that mastery of the four skills pays off in all aspects of life.
4 Indispensable Skills For Your Work And Daily Life | Zena Alhiti
Alhiti, Zena @zenaalhiti
Attached photo is by: Platon Yurich.
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The Trump Dilemma
The Trump Dilemma
| Almustafa Mahmoud Khalid
T
rump got elected president. Let’s introduce an all new perspective of what this means for some people on this globe. Seriously and objectively. What is striking since the rise of The Trump is that everyone on social media seems to be a political expert talking about the disadvantages of Trump leading the United States. But, that does not need an expert to find out about, and those brainwashed by racism and radicalism in the States, will not change their minds. Why? Because most of the friends we have on social media have same opinion anyway.
Khalid, Almustafa @ Indep_Skies
| Independent Skies Magazine
Then you had those voting for Hilary just because she is a woman and that would have made history. While it is clear that she would have made a better president for the United States, people need to judge her qualifications not only compared Trump, because even university graduates of political studies can make a better president than he will. Instead, she must at least be compared with Barack Obama who obviously did not have too many opinions that he had changed throught his career. Hilary in turn did change many of her opinions, and yes you will think that some were for the better. Showcasing frequent changes of mind however undermines the
| Issue 43 2017
credibility of a President who is responsible for 350 Million Americans. And it showed that it did. The Trump is not the loveliest man on the planet and we can all agree on that, probably his supporters too. But, those who do not benefit from the American elections have a different say. The middle and lower classes in the Arab world are still suffering in so many places because of America’s foreign policy, from wars to economic sanctions. The Democratic party is smarter with its public diplomacy strategy and they are not so straight forward to the media about it, so if Clinton had taken office, it
The Trump Dilemma
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The Trump Dilemma
would have been likely for the unstability in countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen to continue. Now you will say ‘but that will happen with Trump, too’. Exactly, it will happen either way because the interest for the United States in the region would not stop whichever systems is in power, be it the Republican or the Democratic party. So, it does not matter who is in power really, as some may think that Trump is a less bad alternative for them. This is because they know he is the worse choice for America. Maybe America will have to now focus on fixing itself and that foreign interests will
| Almustafa Mahmoud Khalid
Finally, no one expected the people in the United Kingdom to vote YES for “Brexit” and no one expected the Colombians to vote NO This article is not meant to end a 56 year war with the FARC Rebels. to put a wall between you and the middle east, So, this matter has to be taken seriously and so please do not do that. What this article is for the best of America, meant to do, is to share Hilary should have been elected. But, what we with you the pain of want you to do is to people that have lived under the consequences not lose your political of the foreign policy passion after the final vote and educate system of the United people on what is States. Furthermore, if happening around the you are American this world as consequences is to let you know what of American Foreign your government is Policy. doing outside, because it is creating hate and revenge seekers. Yet, the politicians are not going to be Almustafa the ones facing the consequences but the @ Indep_Skies normal citizens through “Terrorism”. be left aside, creating a new peace after years of wars, deaths and bloodshed at the other side of the globe.
Khalid,
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South Africa’s National Arts Festival The Eastern Cape is a large province that falls along the eastern half of South Africa’s southern coast. Inland between the province’s two biggest cities, Port Elizabeth and East London, lies Grahamstown, where I live. Grahamstown is considered a city because of its 60 cathedrals, which number so many that there is approximately one church for 1100 of the city’s 70,000 residents.
However, no one would ever mistake Grahamstown for an urban metropolis. The city is unusual in that the most significant stakeholder in its economy is education. Grahamstown is home to Rhodes University as well as a high number of elite private schools that all rely on a high number of staff to maintain sleek, old buildings and top-ofthe-line sports facilities. Otherwise, a birds-eye view from any of the sloping mountains that ring the city shows a small town centre engulfed in a sea of houses. The disproportionate ratio of commerce to residence is practically visible
South Africa’s National Arts Festival |
melton madison
MELTON, MADISON
l
@nomad_melton
to the naked eye, and it is then unsurprising but no less alarming that some reports place unemployment at around 70%. It seems unlikely, then, that every year since 1974 Grahamstown has played host to the National Arts Festival, the largest arts festival on the continent and the second largest in the world after the Edinburgh festival in Scotland. The National Arts Festival uses the tagline “11 days of amazing� and in many respects it is. I attended my first NAF this year and was able to see thirty-two performances over the nine days I was there. Between the
Main Stage and Fringe Stage, there are more than 600 productions on offer each year in drama, music, and comedy, as well as markets featuring work from artists around the country. More than 50 venues are spread throughout the town, occupying what are usually recreation centres, exam venues, and gyms. Every square metre not used as a performance space or accommodation for the 50,000 visitors who stream into the city each year is utilised as a gallery, pop-up restaurant, or some other temporary fixture related to the festival.
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Grahamstown’s transformation each year— really a performance itself—has not only been for the purpose of entertainment but, according to the event’s website, “served as an important forum for political and protest theatre during the height of the apartheid era, and it still offers an opportunity for experimentation across the arts spectrum. Its significance as a forum for new ideas and an indicator of future trends in the arts cannot be underestimated.” Art and social justice have always been intricately intertwined, and art has often been a means through which to reimagine different kinds of future possibilities. This is particularly true in South Africa where few things are far from conversations about nation-building and development in a fledgling democracy that has spent the past twenty-two years trying to find ways forward from centuries of colonisation and oppression. The past is frequently revisited in the narrative of the state of the nation, and objectives to move forward are consistently grounded in relation to this history of inequality. This was evident in the dominant themes of the performances at this year’s festival. Most common seemed to be works that addressed poverty, corruption within the government, racism, homophobia and transphobia,
South Africa’s National Arts Festival |
Islamophobia, and the consequences of all kinds of violence on individual and communities that derives predominately as a consequence of the worldview that positions the rights of some above others. This was true of everything from the most visceral dramas and dance pieces to the most seemingly light hearted comedy productions. However, criticism is always lurking just behind this dialogue of transformation at the National Arts Festival. Attending the NAF is a tremendously expensive endeavour for Grahamstown locals, but especially from those who come from out of town. Although there has been a steady shift over time to more multilingual offerings at the festival, most performances are in English, which, although the dominant language of business and commerce in South Africa, is the mother tongue and social language of a comparatively small percentage of the population. Although the festival is, in theory, an open event for all, questions are raised about who is truly welcome in such spaces. In response to these criticisms, the Fingo Festival emerged in Fingo Village, a community in Grahamstown’s township area, which features a children’s programme and artists from around the Eastern Cape.
melton madison
Fingo Festival caters to members of the Grahamstown community who do not feel that the NAF is ‘for them.’ If this is the case, what is the best way to ensure that art truly becomes a means to facilitate dialogue? Many questions are raised throughout the performances about inequality, poverty, and the still-permeable legacy of racism, yet it is often the people most directly affected by these social ills who are unable to be present in these spaces. From this perspective, perhaps it makes sense that Grahamstown continues to be the NAF venue year after year. In many ways, Grahamstown year-round represents a unique microcosm of these issues. The high concentration of wealth in the ‘downtown’ area formed by the presence of the university and a high number of elite secondary institutions is in sharp contrast to the high unemployment and poverty experienced by most of the city. Although many people pass back and forth between different parts of the city every day, there is often a strong perception of a binary between two separate worlds. Many others from the university and the suburbs have never set foot in impoverished parts of the city, sometimes because of fears, founded or
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unfounded, about personal security, and other times because it is simply outside a frame of reference and the general trajectory of school, home, and shops that feel most familiar. I am a lifetime lover of the arts and the theatre and enjoyed my first National Arts Festival enormously. I have never before had the opportunity to see so many shows in such a condensed timespan, and saw some truly incredible work put forth that challenged the status quo in new and exciting ways. However, if art asks us to be critical of the political climate as it appears in every aspect of our lives, then it is also important to ask how it manifests within art itself. Who is the art presented on such big stages created for? What art is left out? What audiences? What does this remove from the conversation? And these questions are certainly not limited to South Africa. Perhaps this needs to be one of the big questions raised and challenged in arts festivals in years to come.
MELTON, MADISON @nomad_melton
South Africa’s National Arts Festival |
melton madison
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Reasons to Dislike School and What to Do About It
Reasons to Dislike School and What to Do About It | svea freiberg
Many kids love it; many kids hate it: School. For some it equals a deprivation of their spare and play time, but for the others it is the first and exciting step towards independence from the parents and a new journey with thrilling adventures and challenges awaiting. Why so? Freiberg Svea @Veafys
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Maybe it is in the nature of our very education system itself. When you start going to school, you start being under measurable pressure for the first time. The pressure to deliver on time and on point according to someone else’s pace. The pressure to understand the subjects of study by the time of the first exam and score the grades our parents expect us to have. Salman Khan, the founder of the amazing Khan Academy, held a talk at a TED event, in which he addressed that same issue. A curriculum is being followed that might suit some and not suit others. Not giving students sufficient time to ‘master’ a subject undermines the potential they might have. Even worse, subjects taught later on in secondary and high school build on that very deficient basis pupils have acquired earlier. As a consequence, going to school is linked to failure, frustration and demotivation. Instead it would be so much better if learning in school was designed to have students experience
moments of ‘mastery’, moments of enlightenment and understanding of a subject. These moments will give the student feelings of accomplishment and success and in turn the motivation to keep on learning. While in theory I agree with his arguments, I see some difficulties in solving the dilemma: First of all, our world turns so fast that there is just no space for us to do things at our own pace. Secondly, education systems are apathetic and slowmoving systems where change requires a lot of time. Especially in countries with established systems
Reasons to Dislike School and What to Do About It | svea freiberg
and large populations it seems difficult to achieve ground-breaking advancements. Well, so what does this mean in the end? Yes, we are being taught in a flawed system. But we need to find ways to deal with it on an individual basis until changes are being brought forward. Probably the very first step is to acknowledge the importance of education and the attainment of knowledge itself. A famous Latin saying is “Non scholæ sed vitæ discimus” which translates to “We do not study for school but for life.” Our educational system makes us forget about this essential fact and thus makes the above phrase sound empty and fake. Going to school hardly ever actually FEELS like you are learning for life but does feel like you are learning for school indeed. I recall so many times during high school when I asked myself “When in my professional life will I ever analyse a poem again to such depth?”.
It turned out I never did! But what I did realize with time is that it taught me something on a rather abstract level: It helped me to understand the essence of what someone else wants to communicate. Grades and all the assessments and learning at a pre-set pace make us overlook the real thing: We are studying to invest in our brain. So despite all the flaws and all these annoying grades, make yourself realize that indeed you are learning so you as a person become smarter. Not to satisfy teachers or parents. What you are doing it for is so you can have the ease of mind to be prepared for a life in which you will always have to keep on educating yourself. Our world does move extremely fast and of course you want to keep up with it.
Freiberg Svea @Veafys
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