Coronavirus Brings Tidal Waves of Fear and Hope

A Weekly Political News Magazine

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Editorial

A Weekly Political News Magazine

www.majalla.com/eng The novel coronavirus pandemic has led to unprecedented lockdown measures across the world. For the first time in modern history, millions of people were forced to stay in their homes in order to curtail the spread of the virus. Four months on, many countries are now lifting lockdown measures and attempting to reopen their economies and get back to business. However, while there is new hope of things returning to a “new normal”, there is much debate among the scientific community of whether or not a second wave of COVID-19 will occur. This week’s cover story by Yasmine El-Geressi focuses on the possibility of a second spike and how governments will need to strike a balance between economic revival and maintaining societal health and wellbeing.

As Beijing has recently passed a bill, which encroaches on the sovereignty and freedoms Hong Kong enjoys, the Republicans and Democrats in Congress have joined forces in condemning this recent violation. Moreover, Congress recently passed another bill of it’s own, which has placed sanctions on Chinese political and financial institutions that have benefitted from the loss of Hong Kong’s sovereignty.

Joseph Braude writes on these recent events and how the cleavage between Washington and Beijing is set to deepen during the remainder of 2020.

Education in the Arab world faces a number of challenges. Among such setbacks is the prevalence of out-dated teaching methods, overcrowded public schools and a lack of funding for said schools. As the most populous country in the Arab world, Egypt’s education sector struggles to give young people the care and schooling needed to make them qualified for the job market. Ali El Shamy writes on the challenges Egypt’s public education sector has to endure, and why students and parents are opting for private tutoring rather than regular classrooms.

He also writes on the education ministry’s plans to get rid of the standardised Thanaweya Amma tests.

Moving on to Lebanon, the education sector has recently been declining in quality as a number of factors such as political instability and the pandemic has added to this dwindling sector. In recent weeks, the Education Ministry in Lebanon has inadequately planned how it would continue the school year during the lockdown, as teachers have struggled to get students to join online classes. Sarene Zein writes on this recent conundrum as many families with children in public schools lack good internet access that would enable them to take part online classes. Moreover, the constant power cuts across the country has made online schooling virtually impossible.

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A Weekly Political News Magazine

22 A Pandemic Opportunity With Iran

Issue 1807- July- 03/07/2020

Women in Tech are Force to be

48 Reckoned with in the UAE

42 Lebanon’s Growing Educational Woes

28 China’s Sovereignty Obsession

24 The Secret to a Safe Reopening

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54 Turn Your Exercise into Summer Fun

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Agustina Canamero, 81, and Pascual PĂŠrez, 84, hug and kiss through a plastic film screen to minimise the risk of catching coronavirus, at a nursing home in Barcelona. - Getty

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A Palestinian shepard herds his sheep in Ein Al-AUJA in the Jordan Valley West Bank on June 24, 2020 in Ein Al -Auja, West Bank. - Getty

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embargo on Iran, saying that letting the ban expire would allow Tehran to further arm its proxies and destabilise the region. The 13-year-old arms curbs on Iran are due to expire in October under the terms of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Russia and China have signalled they oppose extending the embargo.

Both wield vetoes on the U.N. Security Council, which will decide the matter. “Despite the embargo, Iran seeks to provide weapons to terrorist groups, so what will happen if the embargo is lifted? Iran will become more ferocious and aggressive,” Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel al-Jubeir told a joint news conference with U.S. Iran envoy Brian Hook in Ri-

On a Target Date, Israel Signals Delay in West Bank Annexation Moves

with Washington, could begin as of July 1. But with no agreement with Washington yet on the modalities of the move under a peace proposal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in Israeli annexation in the occupied West Bank January, and talks with the White House still might be weeks away, a government minister under way, no cabinet session was scheduled said as a start date on Wednesday for cabinet for Wednesday. Palestinian leaders, the United discussions of the move slipped by in the abNations, European powers and Arab countries sence of a green light from Washington. Paleshave denounced any unilateral territorial steps tinians seek the West Bank for a future state. In a planned by Israel and consider settlements it has show of Palestinian unity, some 3,000 people in built on land captured in a 1967 war as illegal. the Gaza Strip, including members of the mainstream Fatah party and the rival Hamas group that runs the enclave, protested against annexa- Saudi, U.S. Officials Call for Extendtion. Israeli leaders decided in May that cabinet ing UN Arms Embargo on Iran and parliamentary deliberations on extending Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements and the Saudi and U.S. officials on Monday urged the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, in coordination international community to extend a U.N. arms

yadh. Jubeir said a shipment of Iranian weapons bound for Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement was seized as recently as Sunday. A Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Houthis in Yemen for five years.

Military Deployed in Ethiopian Capital After More Than 80 Killed in Protests The military was deployed in the Ethiopian capital on Wednesday, as armed gangs roamed neighbourhoods in a second day of unrest that has claimed more than 80 lives and deepened political divisions in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s political heartland. The protests were sparked by the assassination of popular musician Haacaaluu Hundeessaa on Monday night and spread from Addis Ababa to the surrounding Oromiya region. The killing tapped into grievances fuelled by decades of government

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repression and what the Oromo, Ethiopia’s biggest ethnic group, describe as their historic exclusion from political power. “I am angry.

It’s eating me inside,” protestor Ishetu Alemu told Reuters as tires smouldered in the street behind him. Gunshots echoed through many neighbourhoods and gangs armed with machetes and sticks roamed the streets. Six witnesses described a situation pitting youths of Oromo origin against some of the city’s other ethnic groups, and where both sides skirmished with police.

be released. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam nevertheless welcomed the law’s passage and said it would come into effect later on Tuesday, giving the city’s 7.5 million people little time to digest what is expected to be highly complex legislation. The legislation pushes Beijing further along a collision course with the United States, Britain and other Western governments, which have said it erodes the high degree of autonomy the city was granted at its July 1, 1997, handover.

China Passes National Security Law in Turning Point for Hong Kong

Russians Grant Putin Right to Extend his Rule Until 2036 in Landslide Vote

China’s parliament passed national security legislation for Hong Kong on Tuesday, setting the stage for the most radical changes to the former British colony’s way of life since it returned to Chinese rule 23 years ago. Details of the law - which comes in response to last year’s oftenviolent pro-democracy protests in the city and aims to tackle subversion, terrorism, separatism and collusion with foreign forces - were yet to

Russians opened the door to Vladimir Putin staying in power until 2036 by voting overwhelmingly for constitutional changes that will allow him to run again for president twice, but critics said the outcome was falsified on an industrial scale. Official results, after 98% of ballots had been counted, showed that the former KGB officer who has ruled Russia for more than two decades as president or prime minister

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had easily won the right to run for two more sixyear terms after the current one ends in 2024.

That means Putin, 67, could rule until the age of 83. The Central Election Commission said 78% of votes counted across the world’s largest country had supported changing the constitution. Just over 21% had voted against, it said.

Ella Pamfilova, head of the commission, said the vote had been transparent and that officials had done everything to ensure its integrity. Opposition politician Alexei Navalny had a different view and called the vote an illegitimate and illegal show designed to legalise Putin’s presidency for life.

Pandemic Tops 10 Million Cases, 500,000 Deaths as Momentum Grows Deaths from the coronavirus worldwide topped 500,000 and infections surged past 10 million, two chilling reminders that the deadliest pandemic of the modern era is stronger than ever.

The infection milestone is a rebuff to health experts and global leaders -- including U.S. President Donald Trump -- who had hoped early in the pandemic that the virus would fade away with the summer heat. Instead, infections are multiplying faster than ever. It took four months after the pathogen first surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan to reach 1 million infections. The spread of the coronavirus has steadily accelerated, compressing the time frame to a million additional cases every week now. The latest milestone for cases may serve only as a relative marker, as the true number is likely to be higher given the difficulty of tracking infections. The death toll is equally sobering, and some health officials predict 1 million fatalities may not be far off.

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Coronavirus Brings Tidal Waves of Fear and Hope The Scale and Pace of the Virus Leaves Unanswered Questions About Pandemic’s Future 10

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While it’s natural to want some good news in troubling times to counterbalance negativity, some experts are concerned the recent predictions of a COVID19vaccine by next year are raising false hopes. ?AN INEVITABLE SECOND WAVE

A man wearing a PPE mask passes a mural on the side of a building in midtown New York City June 26, 2020. Getty

by Yasmine El-Geressi

Governments, as well as the public, are now keen to start removing the stringent restrictions and return to normal life, yet alarming headlines about a second wave have continued to dominate the news. While the term “second wave” has no agreed-upon scientific definition, it generally refers to a sustained rise in cases after a virus has brought under control and cases fallen substantially. These warnings often refer to the 1918 flu pandemic that killed more than 50 million people is regarded as a key example of a pandemic that occurred in multiple waves, most of whom died when the outbreak returned the following winter in a deadlier form after the first outbreak had been controlled. While it too soon to say for sure what will happen in the coming months, some experts predict that the coronavirus could be seasonal and may spread more easily in winter. They also fear that more time indoors during the colder months may also exacerbate viral transmission. A COVID-19 resurgence coinciding with flu season may wreak havoc and overwhelm the health care system.

Six months after China first reported a cluster of mysterious pneumonia cases in the city of Wuhan, the World Health Organization had a stark warning for the world: ‘the worst is yet to come’. Despite clear progress in containing the virus in some regions, especially those that saw early outbreaks, globally the number of new virus cases have soared recently as the world passed the grim milestone of 500,000, and 10 million infections. Although scientists and health officials have had months to learn about the virus, it’s immense scale and pace has proved too big for any one person to fully comprehend, leaving many unanswered questions about the future of the virus.

Fear of a second wave or second peak of infections now hangs over countries that have managed to stamp out the disease, mostly through economically and socially painful lockdowns. South Korea, which has been widely praised for its handling of the coronavirus, grabbed international attention last month when its disease control authorities were the first in the world to announce that the country had entered a second wave, focused around the capital and apparently triggered by gatherings over a May holiday.

Signs of a second peak or wave are also appearing in Germany, where hundreds of people have tested positive for the virus after an outbreak at an abattoir, and in China where a strict lockdown was reinstated

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near Beijing, affecting around 400,000 people, after a small surge in cases.

As COVID-19 is unprecedented and complex, it may not necessarily show historically expected patterns of spread or resolution. Accordingly, there’s a lack of consensus from scientists about whether we’ll see a second wave of coronavirus cases and what the extent of the resurgence will be.

Chief medical officer for England, Chris Witty, has said that a second wave of coronavirus could be “more severe” than the first wave, and it could spread more rapidly than before if it arrives in winter. In an online lecture for Gresham College, Prof Witty said that countries looking to ease their lockdown measures must negotiate an “extremely difficult balancing act” in order to keep the pandemic under control.

He said: “Covid-19 is a very long way from being finished and eradication is technically impossible for this disease.”

Others are more optimistic. In a statement to CNN last month, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, commented to CNN last month, “It is not inevitable that you will have a so-called ‘second wave’ in the fall or even a massive increase if you approach it in the proper way.”

As COVID19- is unprecedented and complex, it may not necessarily show historically expected patterns of spread or resolution.

Accordingly, there’s a lack of consensus from scientists about whether we’ll see a second wave of coronavirus cases and what the extent of the resurgence will be.

One argument against a deadly second wave is that viruses has become less dangerous as they evolve, to better infect people. In Italy, there’s an ongoing public debate about a possible encouraging shift toward a weaker version of Covid-19. A leading virologist and doctor have endorsed this idea as the number of deaths, cases, severely ill patients and viral load they’ve seen on swabs are declining or holding steady even as the country reopens. The virologist, Arnaldo Caruso, suggested that the virus could vanish even without a vaccine and that distancing and masks may no longer be needed soon. But coronaviruses have proven a remarkably stable type of virus and there is no evidence to support this kind of mutation occurring in a matter of years, let alone weeks.

Researchers that have been analysing and tracking the novel coronavirus since it first appeared in China in January have, however, found that the strains spreading so quickly in Europe and the U.S. have a mutated

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Visitors wearing protective facemasks admire the view from the Eiffel Tower during its partial reopening on June 2020 ,25, in Paris, as France eases lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of the COVID19- caused by the novel coronavirus.

(Getty)

den’s soft approach to the coronavirus resulted in only 6.1% of the population developing coronavirus antibodies by late May, a lower measure than some of its health agency’s earlier models had predicted.

Sweden’s also has a mortality rate per capita is very significantly higher than its neighbouring Scandinavian countries as well as one of the highest in the world. This means that countries appear highly unlikely to tackle the virus by achieving herd immunity.

Moreover, there is still no confirmation on how long immunity would even last, and therefore there is no certainty about whether people could become re-infected after a couple of months or years. The answer to this question has broad implications for reopening the economy and for the effectiveness of the vaccine in the long term.

The virus sparked an unprecedented global effort to find vaccines and treatment. There are 17 vaccines that are currently in clinical trials, according to the WHO. Researchers at Oxford University in the United Kingdom are testing a vaccine made from a weakened cold virus combined with genes from the coronavirus and hope to have the first doses ready by the autumn. There is no evidence yet to prove that the vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca works — even though the pharmaceutical giant has already began mass-manufacturing it – but so far experts say it offers the best chance of having something protective against the virus before the end of year.

S “spike” protein that makes it about 10 times more infectious than the strain that originally was identified in Asia. The mutation does not appear to make the virus any more deadly than it already is.

A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE PANDEMIC TUNNEL While much about the COVID-19 pandemic remains uncertain, we know how it will likely end: when the spread of the virus starts to slow because enough people have developed immunity to it. At that point, whether it’s brought on by a vaccine or by letting the virus run its course and spread through the population until “herd immunity” is reached. But without a vaccine, we should not think of herd immunity as a light at the end of the tunnel as getting there would without a vaccine is extremely costly as it would result in millions of deaths.

A new study published last month showed that Swe-

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Battered by grim headlines, horrifying statistics and dire reports in a pandemic characterized by extreme uncertainty, these pronouncements have brought hope to many pandemic-weary people across the world. While it’s natural to want some good news in troubling times to counterbalance negativity, some experts are concerned the recent predictions of a COVID-19 vaccine by next year are raising false hopes. They say it will be difficult for research to be completed that assures the safety and efficacy of such a new vaccine.

Gaining public trust is an additional obstacle. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released in late May found that 1 in 4 Americans says they won’t trust a vaccine for COVID-19. Some of those surveyed specifically cite the speed of the development as a reason to fear. And with at least 70 percent of the public needing vaccination to achieve “herd immunity,” experts say trust is going to be a vital active ingredient here.

In Hong Kong and the Mainland, U.S. Ramps Up Pressure on China Beijing’s Imposition of the National Security Law Has Catalyzed a Wave of Criticism and Concrete Action in Washington

by Joseph Braude

Beijing accountable.

Storm clouds continue to gather over Beijing’s relationship with Washington. While popular discontent in the U.S. over Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus has been rising for months, China’s imposition of more direct rule over Hong Kong has catalyzed a wave of both criticism and concrete action in Washington, aiming to hold

BEIJING’S PROVOCATION, THE SENATE’S RESPONSE This week, Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a much anticipated national security law in Hong Kong, viewed by Washington as a draconian curtailment of civil liberties and an abrogation of

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China’s obligations under the 1987 Sino-British Joint Declaration. To date, Beijing remains unmoved by objections abroad. In a statement released shortly afterward, Beijing’s local representative in Hong Kong issued a statement defending the law and stating that “nobody should underestimate the determination of the central authorities to defend national security in Hong Kong.”

A woman reacts after she was hit with pepper spray deployed by police as they cleared a street with protesters rallying against a new national security law in Hong Kong on July 2020 ,1, on the 23rd anniversary of the city›s handover from Britain to China. (Getty)

In anticipation of Beijing’s move, the U.S. Senate passed a sweeping sanctions bill aimed at Chinese officials encroaching upon Hong Kong’s autonomy. The bill establishes sanctions for both political and financial institutions that facilitate Beijing’s provocations. In a rare move of bipartisanship, the bill was adopted unanimously, with prominent Democratic and Republican cosponsors, as well as the blessing of the White House. The measure passed alongside a withering denunciation of the national security law by Republican Senator Josh Hawley, a rising star among Republican Senators and outspoken hawk on Chinese influence. In Hawley’s view, “It starts with Hong Kong, but we know what Beijing wants to do. They want to impose their will on the whole Asia-Pacific region.” Hawley added that he has privately urged President Trump to use “all tools at our disposal to send a message” to China.

In a signal of the coordinated nature of the campaign, the offices of both Democratic and Republican Senators launched a coordinated messaging campaign in support of Hong Kong and the sanctions campaign against Beijing.

Senator Romney, widely regarded as an elder statesman of the GOP, tweeted: “My heart aches for the people of Hong Kong. Any semblance of freedom and autonomy has vanished; the repressive antics of the CCP are on full display.

The U.S. must work with our allies to confront China’s growing aggression.” At almost the same time, Democratic Senator Van Hollen urged Speaker Pelosi to take up the Senate’s bill as well: “Those complicit in snuffing out freedom, democracy, and human rights in Hong Kong must be held accountable. Speaker Pelosi should immediately call a vote on the Hong Kong Accountability Act, which unanimously passed the Senate last week.”

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In a rare move of bipartisanship, the sanctions bill was adopted unanimously, with prominent Democratic and Republican cosponsors, as well as the blessing of the White House/ THE WHITE HOUSE AND STATE DEPARTMENT WEIGH IN For its part, the White House has not shied away from channeling the frustration with China now roiling the American body politic. Even as the Senate was mobilizing to push forward a sanctions campaign, President Trump remarked, “As I watch the Pandemic spread its ugly face all across the world, including the tremendous damage it has done to the USA, I become more and more angry at China. People can see it, and I can feel it!”

At the practical level, the administration has been gradually ramping up measures to curb Chinese influence. This week, the Department of Defense designated telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies and video surveillance company Hikvision as firms «owned or controlled» by China›s People›s Liberation Army, in a move designed to lay the groundwork for future financial sanctions. At the same time, the Trump administration has announced visa restrictions on both current and former Chinese officials, specifically those «responsible for eviscerating Hong Kong›s freedoms.”

In a statement on Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced visa restrictions on «current and former CCP officials who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Hong Kong›s high degree of autonomy, as guaranteed in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, or undermining human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong.” While uncertainty remains the watchword of 2020, it is all but assured that the cleavage between Washington and Beijing will continue to deepen.

Why Kenyans Are Protesting Police Brutality at Home and Abroad George Floyd and the Legacy of Colonial Violence

by Nanjala Nyabola On June 12, activists and allies of the Black Lives Matter movement gathered in cities around the world to take a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds in solidarity with George Floyd and other victims of American police violence. In the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, at least seven such protests took place across

the city, drawing hundreds of demonstrators. The spark was a murder in Minneapolis, but the fuel was mounting anger over police brutality right here in Kenya.

The Kenyan police and security services have a long history of abusing and killing members of the public they are supposed to protect. This tradition dates back to the British colonial period, but

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it survives today thanks partly to colonial-era laws that remain on the books, including the Public Order Act, which empowers law enforcement to arrest people for loitering, vagrancy, and other vague offenses that amount to criminalizing poverty. In March, as governments around the world imposed public health restrictions to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus, Kenya invoked the Public Order Act to enforce a lockdown in major cities as well as a dawn-to-dusk curfew—leaning on the police, rather than health officials, as the first line of defence against the pandemic. Since then, security forces have killed at least 15 people, including a -13year-old boy who was standing on the balcony of his family’s home when a police officer shot him. The country’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority, a watchdog agency, has received more than 80 complaints about abusive police behaviour during the same period.

For those who marched in solidarity with Floyd, doing so was an opportunity to harness the global attention on his singularly resonant case to highlight the rash of police killings in Kenya— and to underscore the severe class and race disparities in enforcement of public order laws. But it was an opportunity that came with risks, and like the protesters in American cities who were met with excessive force, Kenyan demonstrators and activists have themselves become targets of the police. For those who speak out against the excesses of the state, including the families of its victims, the danger will only increase as the protests inevitably peter out and the media spotlight fades. Right now, there is safety in numbers, but for those who are the faces of this popular mobilization, the risk of reprisal—whether in the form of arbitrary arrest, assault, or even extrajudicial killing— will grow once people look away.

People gather in front of parliament building during a demonstration to protest against the killing of civilians who disobeyed the lockdown due to the novel coronavirus (Covid19-) pandemic, by security forces in Nairobi, Kenya on June 2020 ,09.

(Getty)

OLD LAWS, NEW CRIMES Invoking the Public Order Act in the midst of a public health crisis was a tremendous error in judgment. Not only did this decision by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government lead to nearly unchecked police brutality; it also compounded the stigma against those who tested positive for COVID19- or were merely suspected of having the disease. This drove people who may have been infected underground, allowing the virus to spread more rapidly than it otherwise would have. (To date, Kenya has nearly 5,000 confirmed cases and 128 confirmed deaths.) More than anything, however, the decision to invoke the Public Order Act and unleash the police underscored the extent to which Kenya’s government has hollowed out its public health institutions and overinvested in its security services.

Public order laws are a cruel legacy of many former British colonies. In the colonial era, they were used to quash dissent and to prevent Africans from organizing against the violence of imperial rule. Even British scholars with misguided sympathies for colonization admit that the primary objective of these laws was to protect the lives and property of European settlers, regardless of the consequences for African people. Kenya’s

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Public order laws are a cruel legacy of many former British colonies.

In the colonial era, they were used to quash dissent and to prevent Africans from organizing against the violence of imperial rule.

Public Order Act was first published in 1950, on the cusp of the armed rebellion against colonial rule, but it represented the culmination of decades of progressive criminalization of black life that began with the declaration of the British protectorate over Kenya in 1897.

At independence, some elements of the colonial criminal code were repealed because they were incompatible with majority rule and Kenyan sovereignty, but others were retained, including the Public Order Act. The law has been amended on several occasions, but its basic tenet—allowing the police to round up pretty much anyone they choose, anywhere they choose—endures to this day despite being one of the main instruments used to justify violence against the black population during the struggle for independence. Under the authoritarian rule of Kenya’s first two presidents, Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi, these laws were used to prohibit opposition gatherings as well as traditional group meetings and rites that the presidents—both educated by Christian missionaries—opposed.

Repealing the Public Order Act was a key demand of those who led the push for democracy and constitutional reform in the 1990s. But when a new constitution was finally passed in 2010, the law was retained. Its underlying logic—that the state must have unfettered power to prevent people from gathering or merely existing at the wrong place at the wrong time—has not been seriously challenged. Nor has the fact that the law is primarily enforced against Kenya’s African poor.

Since the Public Order Act was invoked to fight the pandemic, it is this demographic that has suffered most. In poor and workingclass neighborhoods, police have detained and arrested anyone in the streets after curfew—and as videos taken by bystanders reveal, in the final moments before curfew, as people attempted to rush home from work. From the earliest days of the lockdown, reports of police excesses abounded. In the coastal city of Mombasa, police used tear gas to disperse commuters, detaining others and forcing them to lie practically on top of one other on the ground—blatantly contravening the government’s socialdistancing guidelines. In Mathare, an informal settlement of Nairobi, police chased residents through the streets, beating them

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with batons. One officer caught sight of -13year-old Yasin Moyo, who stood watching from his family’s third-floor balcony. The officer cocked his rifle and fired, hitting the boy in the abdomen and killing him. “He was home with his family,” Moyo’s father told me at one of the George Floyd solidarity marches. “And we are the only people in this house. Why would a police officer shoot?”

FEAR FACTOR The Public Order Act has not only sanctioned an epidemic of police violence in Kenya but also indirectly helped foster a culture of impunity within the security services. Empowered to settle political scores, stamp out traditional rites, and clear the streets of those deemed undesirable, the provincial security forces that were created by the colonial system but retained at independence acquired an extraordinary degree of latitude—latitude that was transferred to the national police and security services with the new constitution in 2010. The police grew even more powerful after the 11/9 terrorist attacks, when Kenya became an important U.S. counterterrorism partner and its intelligence and security services received new resources, hardware, and surveillance capabilities. The Kenyan police and other domestic security services, including the wildlife and forestry services, stand accused of hundreds of extrajudicial killings in recent years, but few officers have been held accountable.

Those who have spoken out against these killings or demanded justice have often turned up dead. In 2009, lawyer and rights activist Oscar Kamau Kingara released a report accusing the police of killing and kidnapping hundreds of people as part of a crackdown on organized crime. He and one of his colleagues, who had also investigated police violence, were shot dead in broad daylight by men who were never identified. In 2016, lawyer Willie Kimani, his client, and their driver disappeared after lodging a complaint against the police. Two weeks later, their bodies were found in a river. And in 2019, rights activist Caroline Mwatha, who had campaigned against extrajudicial

Social change is a process, not an event. Those seeking to change the patterns of police violence must dig in for the long haul.

killings, was found dead at a city mortuary. For human rights defenders in Kenya, the threat of police violence is omnipresent.

As in the past, those seeking to hold the state accountable for abuses during the coronavirus pandemic have become targets of intimidation and harassment. Even as it has enforced a curfew in the name of public health, the Kenyan government has evicted thousands of people from land that it claims was illegally allocated, sending police officers to force people from their homes in the dead of night. Ruth Mumbi, an activist and community mobilizer whose brother-in-law was allegedly killed by the police in 2015, documented the violent eviction of almost 5,000 households from the informal settlement of Kariobangi in Nairobi last month, later giving firsthand accounts to local and international media outlets. Soon after, Mumbi received a phone call from a man who claimed to be a police officer in Kariobangi.

He threatened to make her disappear.

Having spoken out about Moyo’s murder, the boy’s father told me that he also fears reprisals from the police. The police know where his family lives and what he and his wife look like. The officer who shot Moyo was finally arrested, but only as a result of unprecedented pressure from the global anti-police-brutality movement and after weeks of refusing to appear in court because he claimed to be in quarantine for COVID19-. Moyo’s father and others who have mobilized on behalf of the slain boy remain

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A police officer disperses residents in Eastleigh during the demonstration. (Getty)

understandably wary of being targeted. And as the momentum generated by anti-racist protests around the world dissipates and most Kenyans go on with their lives, the most visible activists, sadly, will have good reason to fear.

UNFINISHED WORK Social change is a process, not an event. Those seeking to change the patterns of police violence must dig in for the long haul.

When the big international nongovernmental organizations move on to their next campaigns and the national conversation pivots to the next scandal, victims and survivors will still have to live in the same neighborhoods, without their loved ones and with the consequences of their newfound visibility.

But as fleeting as this moment of global scrutiny on police violence might end up being, it offers a unique opportunity to reexamine laws and practices whose origins and purposes run counter to democratic aims. If racist policing in the United States is the product of an incomplete abolitionist project, racist and classist policing in Kenya and other postcolonial settings stems from an incomplete decolonization effort. Finishing both struggles will require more than simply reforming police practices. It will require asking, honestly and openly, what purpose the police should serve and whose laws they should enforce.

This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.com.

Original( Caption) Nairobi, Kenya: Trouble In Kenya. Police and troops in the British East African colony of Kenya face the latest disorder of quelling a battle between rival tribesmen over the Kenya grazing lands.

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A Pandemic Opportunity With Iran Washington Can Trade Humanitarian Relief for Strategic Concession 20

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Iran has been extraordinarily hard hit by the virus, creating an unexpected opportunity for Washington to leverage aid and sanctions relief in exchange for strategic concessions from Tehran.

But the situation abruptly changed in May 2018, when U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement, even though all U.S. partners to the deal agreed that Iran was in compliance. Trump demanded that Iran eliminate both its civilian and military nuclear programs, halt missile testing and production, and end support for terrorist proxies. He also punished European companies doing business with Iran with secondary sanctions designed to cut them off from U.S.markets.

Since then, events have spiraled in a dangerous direction. In January, the United Statesassassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, provoking a retaliatory attack on Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq that injured more than 60 American soldiers. The United States responded by imposing sanctions on Iranian industries and on senior Iranian officials involved in the attack. Then in April, Iranian boats swarmed U.S. naval vessels in the Persian Gulf, eliciting warnings of forceful retaliation by Trump.

Iran has also taken steps to increase its enrichment of uranium, activate centrifuges that were mothballed as part of the 2015 agreement, and block access to its nuclear sites.

A woman sits by the fence outside the Imamzadeh Saleh in the Iranian capital Tehran’s Shemiran district on April ,25 2020 during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, as all mosques and places of worship are closed due to the COVID19coronavirus pandemic.

(Getty)

by Stuart E. Eisenstat, Thomas R. Pickering Just five years ago, it looked as though Iran and the United States were moving toward more open relations. In 2015, the United States and five other world powers negotiated an agreement that markedly reduced Iran’s capacity to develop nuclear weapons and established the most intrusive nuclear inspection regime in the history of the International Atomic Energy Agency. As a part of that deal, the United States unfroze some Iranian assets and removed some sanctions, allowing Iran to export oil and seek foreign investment to revive its crippled economy.

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We do not view Iran’s malevolent actions through rose-colored glasses, and they must be matched by a combination of powerful leverage and diplomacy.

But with the nuclear deal no longer a curb on Iran’s aggression, Washington must look for other ways to prevent conflict. The novel coronavirus pandemic offers one such avenue to de-escalate: humanitarian assistance. Iran has been extraordinarily hard hit by the virus, creating an unexpected opportunity for Washington to leverage aid and sanctions relief in exchange for strategic concessions from Tehran. If Washington does not take advantage of this opening, the risk of mutual misunderstanding erupting into violence will continue to increase.

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DON’T BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU Iran has fared the worst among Middle Eastern countries during the pandemic. As of mid-June, Iran had approximately 200,000 cases of COVID-19 and over 9,500 deaths, although the real numbers may be higher. The pandemic has overwhelmed the country’s health system and left its already reeling economy— plagued by mismanagement, corruption, and U.S.-led sanctions—in a more perilous state: the outbreak has significantly disrupted trade, tourism, and business, and virus-related lockdowns have caused oil prices to decline sharply, eliminating a vital source of revenue for the Iranian government. As a result, unemployment has soared from 10.6 percent in March to above 20.0 percent today, and GDP is predicted to contract by a further six percent in 2020.

To combat the virus’s economic devastation, Tehran has requested a $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but the Trump administration has blocked it. Making matters worse, most multinational companies and banks have radically reduced or stopped their business with Tehran for fear of being sanctioned by the United States.

Rather than stand in the way of recovery, the United States should leverage humanitarian aid to ease tensions and encourage concessions from Iran. The first action the United States can take is to set aside its opposition to the IMF loan. In exchange, the United States should require Iran to ensure that its proxies join the Saudi-declared ceasefire in Yemen, which would enable the delivery of vital aid, end a humanitarian disaster, and reduce tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Approving the IMF loan would

The alternative—increased tensions and reciprocal military jabs—will only make the pandemic worse and an unintended and perilous war more likely.

have the added benefit of undercutting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has been supplying Iranian health systems with medical equipment and blaming U.S.sanctions for shortages of the same, boosting its popularity at the United States’ expense.

In addition to unlocking funds from the IMF, the United States should encourage the UNsecretarygeneral to propose removing preconditions for aid to virus-affected countries—including Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions unit could signal its support for this initiative by providing a fast-track assurance that efforts by the secretary-general will not be blocked by U.S. red tape. In return, Washington could press Iran to stop exceeding the limits of the 2015 nuclear agreement, roll back its uranium enrichment measures, and cooperate fully with nuclear

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A health personnel checks the body temperature of a pilgrim returning from Iran via the Pakistan-Iran border town of Taftan on February 2020 ,29.

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ther misunderstandings from spiraling into conflict, Iran and the United States should also establish a military hotline. Such a direct communications channel, with a neighboring country such as Oman serving as an intermediary, would allow for fast action in a moment of crisis and the building of trust and understanding over time.

The United States’ humanitarian actions will go only so far with Iran; further steps to de-escalate tensions may necessitate the support of U.S. allies—which in turn may require the United States to make concessions of its own. Just consider the UN embargo on Iran’s purchase and sale of conventional arms, which is set to expire in October.

The Trump administration and Congress are seeking to extend this embargo, which will require the approval of the UN Security Council. But that approval is far from guaranteed, because the United States’ leverage with its allies and competitors on the Security Council evaporated when Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal. To extend the arms embargo, the United States will have to give something to Europeans nations, Russia, and China—perhaps removing some secondary sanctions against their companies and getting Iran to roll back its recent violations of the original terms of the nuclear agreement as a precursor to its full compliance. Although such a package would not amount to a full restoration of the nuclear agreement, it might extend part of the embargo on sophisticated weapons, prevent Iran from further violations of the nuclear deal, and support the European, Russian, and Chinese efforts to block Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

inspections. Iran has already signaled that it is open to taking these steps in exchange for sanctions relief, but heightened tensions with Washington have given little incentive for either side to move forward.

By opening the door with humanitarian-related assistance and following with other confidence-building measures—such as continuing the exchanges of prisoners—the United States might be able to push Tehran to decrease military aggression in disputed regions. One such area of conflict is the Persian Gulf, where the United States and other countries have long accused Iran of attacking tankers. The United States should leverage its humanitarian assistance and sanctions on the trade of medical necessities to press Iran to cease its attacks on tankers, interference with GPS signals, and harassment of U.S. ships. To prevent fur-

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A combination of humanitarian and other confidence-building measures, implemented in stages, can lay the groundwork for de-escalating the conflict with Iran. Such measures might even help bring the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table to improve and extend the nuclear deal. But even if they don’t, easing the economic and humanitarian crisis in Iran will leave both countries better off by helping slow the spread of the coronavirus and smoothing the path toward more cooperation in the future. If any progress is to be made, Tehran and Washington must both set aside their pride and cooperate. The alternative—increased tensions and reciprocal military jabs—will only make the pandemic worse and an unintended and perilous war more likely.

This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.com.

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The Secret to a Safe Reopening Why the End of Lockdown Looks So Different Around the World

by Josh Michaud, Jen Kates For the last few months, much of the world has lived under unprecedented public health restrictions, social-distancing mandates, and other emergency measures. At least 137 countries imposed partial or total lockdowns to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. One hundred forty-one restricted internal travel, and 169 closed at least some of their schools.

In many ways, these measures have had their intended effect, helping to reduce transmission and ease the strain on healthcare systems. Although more than eight million people have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and over 400,000 have died, these numbers would likely be far higher had countries not acted as they did.

But much of the world has now begun the process of reopening, even though the spread of the disease continues to ac-

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celerate in many places. The United States recorded its largest one-day total of new infections this week, even as many states push ahead with plans to reopen their economies.

This new phase of pandemic response is risky, but it may have been inevitable. Tight restrictions on people’s lives cannot be maintained forever. Their purpose was to “flatten the curve”—that is, to avoid a crush of sick patients that would overwhelm hospitals and to give governments time to bolster their public health systems. But where those aims have been achieved, it becomes difficult to justify the painful economic and social costs of extended lockdowns. It is little wonder, then, that so many are experiencing “quarantine fatigue.”

For some people, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, getting back to work is a matter of life and death.

For others, especially in the United States, the issue has taken on a partisan dimension, with Republicans more likely to oppose coronavirus-related restrictions than Democrats.

Further complicating the picture are the protests that erupted in the United States and many other countries in the wake of George Floyd’s death. The first wave of the pandemic is not yet over (and a second wave could be on the horizon), but the era of the lockdown is coming to an end—at least for now.

Shoppers wearing face masks walk in a crowded Mercadao de Madureira, at the Madureira neighborhood amidst the coronavirus (COVID19-) pandemic on June 2020 ,17 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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That doesn’t mean every country is now on the same trajectory, however, or that all reopening strategies are created equal. Countries that proceeded cautiously, maintaining lockdowns until their outbreaks were mostly under control and their health systems were ready to handle new outbreaks, have fared better than those that opened rapidly and prematurely.

Similarly, those that followed careful—and reversible—stepwise processes while communicating effectively with their publics have had more success handling inevitable surprises than those that flipped the “on” switch all at once. In other words, the when and how of reopening has proved enormously consequential.

TIMING IT RIGHT The trend toward reopening is scarcely a month old, but already it is clear that countries that waited for the right time to ease restrictions are in better shape than those that moved to reopen despite ongoing community transmission and gaps in public health capacity. Just as places that acted swiftly to implement lockdowns fared better than those that dragged their feet, those that waited for a lull in transmission to begin reopening have outperformed those that did not. Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Norway all maintained lockdowns or strict social-distancing guidelines until new case numbers had come down to a level where the risk of resurgence was relatively low. With transmission rates leveled off, these countries have been able to begin reopening

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For some people, particularly in lowand middle-income countries, getting back to work is a matter of life and death. For others, especially in the United States, the issue has taken on a partisan dimension, with Republicans more likely to oppose coronavirusrelated restrictions than Democrats. schools and businesses and to allow people to resume their social lives, without a high risk that the epidemic will spiral out of control.

Places that have pushed ahead with reopening despite ongoing community transmission, increasing case numbers, or other metrics of epidemic growth are on a much more troubling trajectory. In Brazil, for instance, a number of big cities began reopening this month even as coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths appeared to be peaking. As a result, Brazil has surpassed 50,000 deaths and is on track to become the hardest-hit country in the world. It has some competition for that distinction from the United States, which has begun to lift business and other restrictions even though cases are increasing in more than half of states. While a few states have paused reopening after experiencing spikes in new infections and hospitalizations, others have pushed ahead despite worrying signs.

In both Brazil and the United States, reopening has led to surges in public activity at a time of already widespread community transmission—a recipe for uncontrolled spread of the disease, it turns out. Certainly, part of the challenge for large, federalized governments such as those in Brazil and the United States is that some of the responsibility for public health lies at the state and local levels, meaning that reopening policies can be inconsistent and even contradictory in different locations. But a federal system doesn’t have to mean an ineffective approach to reopening—as Germany, Canada, and Australia can attest.

Part of the reason countries that waited for a lull in new cases to begin reopening are in better shape now is that they had time to shore up their public health systems. Those that bolstered their testing, contact tracing, and isolation capacities during the lockdown period have an insurance policy: the

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ability to detect the new clusters of cases that will inevitably emerge as they reopen and to prevent these clusters from seeding full-blown resurgences of disease.

Several countries in the process of reopening have already demonstrated just how important these capabilities can be in the event of a new outbreak. In April and May, South Korea tested tens of thousands of people and did exhaustive contact tracing in order to isolate a cluster of cases in the capital, Seoul. Germany has also been able to respond quickly and effectively to recent outbreaks linked to a meat-processing plant and to several religious congregations. And China has shown that it can mount aggressive interventions to prevent new outbreaks of the disease: last month the government tested 11 million people in Wuhan after new cases were detected there, and earlier this month it locked down much of Beijing and began an enormous test-and-trace operation after new clusters of cases were detected in the capital.

By contrast, countries that didn’t shore up their ability to test, trace, and isolate before reopening have proved much less able to respond to new outbreaks. The United States and Brazil are in this boat, but so are the United Kingdom and, to a lesser degree, Sweden, both of which have relaxed restrictions and taken steps to reopen despite lingering questions about their ability to identify and contain outbreaks and to protect the vulnerable.

FLEXIBLE PLANS, CLEAR MESSAGES Not everything is about timing and preparation, however.

Flexibility and public messaging also matter. Scientists and public health officials have learned a lot about the risks associated with this virus over the last six months, but considerable uncertainties remain. As a result, countries that

Even the best plans for reopening can meet with unexpected realities on the ground, as was the case with the protests that upended stay-at-home orders and social-distancing guidelines in countries around the world.

have taken more conservative and methodical approaches to reopening have been better able to pause or recalibrate their policies when faced with new outbreaks than those that have relaxed all of their precautionary measures at once. It was for this reason that public health experts recommend reopening in stages, starting with regions and activities that are lowest risk and moving progressively toward those that are higher risk.

With the requisite testing and tracing capabilities in place, governments that followed this approach have been able to monitor the effects of their reopening policies as they are implemented—enabling them to proceed to the next stage of reopening only after it is clear that they haven’t ignited a wave of reinfections. Germany moved cautiously but deliberately in reopening and has now reached the point where all shops can serve customers, soccer matches can be played (though without spectators), and internal travel restrictions have been lifted. Several U.S. states that mounted aggressive initial responses have followed this cautious approach, lowering community transmission before beginning phased reopening processes.

Just as important for managing the transition from lockdown to reopening is clear, science-based public messaging.

Leaders in Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, and Singapore

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Demonstrators march down Pennsylvania Avenue near the Trump International Hotel during a protest against police brutality and the death of George Floyd, on June 2020 ,3 in Washington, DC. (Getty)

in particular have done an exemplary job of communicating their countries’ policies and the logic behind them. Unsurprisingly, these countries have enjoyed high rates of compliance with their lockdown and reopening policies, enhancing their effectiveness. The public messaging from leaders in Brazil and the United States, by contrast, has been inconsistent and even counterproductive, contributing to widespread confusion about the utility of masks, for instance, and undercutting compliance with official guidelines.

A REAL-TIME EXPERIMENT It has been more than a month since many countries began to reopen, and there is little sign that the lifting of lockdowns has spurred a significant resurgence of COVID-19 in most places— though the number of new cases continues to grow in many parts of the world that never got their initial outbreaks under control. The countries that locked down long enough for transmission to die down, bolstered their public health systems, and approached reopening with flexibility and clear messaging have shown that a return to daily life need not spell disaster. Yet the success of these countries has been partially overshadowed by others, such as Brazil and the United States, that rushed into reopening without

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much preparation and are now paying a heavy price. Countries that have been reckless in their approach to reopening not only face preventable outbreaks within their own borders but pose spillover risks to countries that have managed their reopenings more responsibly, given the global nature of this pandemic.

Reopening during the coronavirus pandemic remains an experiment in real time. Effective public health systems can reduce the risk of new outbreaks, but even countries that reopen cautiously and with all the right capabilities are likely to see further outbreaks and may even face a dreaded “second wave” sooner or later. Vigilance, enhanced protections for the vulnerable, and agility in the face of uncertainty will be necessary for months—and potentially years—to come. Even the best plans for reopening can meet with unexpected realities on the ground, as was the case with the protests that upended stay-at-home orders and social-distancing guidelines in countries around the world. While it is reassuring to know that a road map for reopening is taking shape, it may need to be rewritten in the weeks and months ahead.

This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.com.

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China’s Sovereignty Obsession Beijing’s Need to Project Strength Explains the Border Clash With India

by M. Taylor Fravel On the evening of June 15, hundreds of Chinese and Indian troops clashed in the Galwan Valley, a remote part of the disputed border between the two countries. Twenty Indian soldiers and an unconfirmed number of Chinese soldiers were killed in medieval hand-to-hand combat involving stones and clubs, some wrapped with barbed wire. The fighting marked the first deaths on the long-disputed boundary in 45 years—and the deadliest clash between the two Asian giants since 1967.

Beijing and New Delhi are now attempting to de-escalate tensions, but they have sent reinforcements to the border and eye each other warily. The series of events that led to the clash seems to have begun with China’s move into a portion of the Galwan Valley, raising questions about Chinese motives.

Provoking India could push New Delhi to pursue closer ties with Washington at a time when U.S.-Chinese relations are on a downward spiral. It also risks undermining China’s efforts to strengthen relations with India over the past two decades—in part to prevent the formation of a U.S.-led coalition of states

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that might balance Chinese power.

Some speculate that China’s more aggressive posture toward India in the past two months is part of a campaign to divert Chinese public attention from criticism of Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and a rapidly slowing economy.

But the party-state media have largely avoided covering the standoff since it began in earnest in May and even after the clash this month. Xinhua, the state news agency, has published only a handful of terse reports, suggesting that the Chinese government is making no effort to mobilize domestic public opinion against India.

Rather, the pandemic appears to have increased Beijing’s sensitivity to questions of sovereignty, from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the East and South China Seas—and to the rugged Himalayan border with India. Facing pressure at home and criticism abroad, China wants to telegraph strength. Chinese officials worry that moderation and restraint might signal weakness both to domestic elites, who might question the leadership of President Xi Jinping, and to foreign countries embroiled in disputes with China. This heightened sensitivity to any challenge to its territorial claims has shaped China’s bristling response to what it views as an Indian provocation in their long-standing dispute.

MUCH ADO ABOUT SOVEREIGNTY

A Chinese soldier (L) and an Indian soldier stand guard at the Chinese side of the ancient Nathu La border crossing between India and China. (Getty)

The clash in June was the product of a standoff between Chinese and Indian forces in several locations in the “western sector” of their contested border. This area, known as Aksai Chin, comprises roughly 33,000 square kilometers and is under Chinese control. (The “eastern sector,” roughly comprising the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, is 90,000 square kilometers and under Indian control, while the much smaller “middle sector” of around 2,000 square kilometers is under more or less evenly divided control.) Starting as early as mid-April, and definitely by early May, China moved large numbers of troops up to the “line of actual control” (LAC)—the de facto border separating Chinese and Indian forces—in three areas in the western sector. Reports vary, but the scale of China’s advance was unprecedented both in terms of the number of troops—around 5,000 soldiers—and in terms of location, with the People’s Liberation Army moving into areas in which it previously had not been active or maintained a strong presence.

Chinese soldiers reportedly crossed what India views as the LAC at several points, including at the Galwan Valley, where the June 15clash occurred.

Any understanding of these recent actions must start with the more strident approach to sovereignty that China has adopted since Xi Jinping became the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. In early 2013, Xi linked sovereignty with the accomplishment of his “China dream,” proclaiming that “no foreign country should expect us to trade away our core interests” or expect China “to swallow the bitter fruit” of encroachments

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The pandemic appears to have increased Beijing’s sensitivity to questions of sovereignty, from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the East and South China Seas - and to the rugged Himalayan border with India. upon its “sovereignty.” In 2018, Xi more pointedly told U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis that China “cannot lose even one inch of the territory left behind by our ancestors.”

In practice, Xi’s renewed emphasis on sovereignty is evident in China’s actions in its neighborhood. China has reclaimed large swaths of land atop reefs to build military bases in the South China Sea while instituting patrols by its coast guard vessels within territorial waters it disputes with Japan in the East China Sea. Beijing has also sought to tighten its grip over Hong Kongwhile gradually increasing pressure on Taiwan and curbing the island nation’s ability to participate on the international stage.

Border standoffs with India occurred in 2013, in 2014, and famously at Doklam in 2017. Back then, India moved troops across an international boundary to block China from building a road in territory that was under Chinese control but was also claimed by India’s ally Bhutan. This measure prompted a standoff that lasted over 70 days. India’s actions surprised China, especially because India had no claim over the area where it deployed troops.

Despite a temporary cooling of tensions on the border after the Wuhan Summit in early 2018, China appears to have closely watched Indian activities in contested areas. China does not want to be surprised again. Perhaps for this reason, recorded instances of Chinese “transgressions” across what India views as the LAC reached their highest level in a decade in 2019, indicating much greater Chinese monitoring of the disputed border. By patrolling up to the limits of its understanding of the LAC, China could more easily observe and deter Indian activity in these areas.

Beijing has also been alarmed by certain shifts in Indian domestic policy. In August 2019, the Indian Parliament repealed Article 370 of the country’s constitution, which had guaranteed the autonomy of the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Fulfilling a campaign pledge, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleaved the state into two federally administered union territories to be ruled directly from New Delhi. One of

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these new territories, Ladakh, nominally includes both Chinesecontrolled Aksai Chin and some Pakistani-administered areas of Kashmir. In remarks in Parliament in August 2019, Indian Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shahdescribed Aksai Chin as “occupied” and underscored that “we will sacrifice our lives for it.”

China likely viewed the Modi government’s measures as altering the status quo along the border and as a signal of greater Indian resolve to press its claims in the dispute with China. At a closed-door session of the UN Security Council that August, the Chinese representative noted that the creation of Ladakh as a union territory challenged China’s sovereignty and “violated bilateral agreements on maintaining peace and stability in the border area.” In October, the Chinese Foreign Ministry again stressed that by “placing part of Chinese territory under Indian administration,” Indiawas harming China’s “sovereign rights and interests.”

The creation of Ladakh as a union territory cast India’s ongoing efforts to improve military-related infrastructure along the LAC in a harsher light. Also in 2019, India completed construction of a new strategic road in Ladakh, called the DS-DBO road, which linked key military facilities near the border and improved India’s military and logistical capabilities. A wider network of Indian border roads is scheduled to be completed by 2022 as part of an effort to match the infrastructure China has built on its side in the past two decades.

Even though China has enjoyed a dominant position on the border since the 1962 war between the two countries, it remains sensitive to Indian efforts to improve its position, even more so now under Xi. India’s construction of a feeder road in the Galwan Valley, which ran from the DS-DBO road toward the putative border, helped provoke the standoff that began in May. China likely viewed this move as a potential danger, seeing the

Thanks to this latest clash, the territorial dispute could return to the center of the relationship, heralding an end to an era of greater IndianChinese cooperation.

Galwan Valley as a back door into Aksai Chin. In response to this perceived threat, China moved its forces beyond its own roadhead to block Indiafrom moving any farther into the valley.

China also likely wanted to create a post to more easily observe Indian forces along the new roads.

These actions led to the clash on June 15, when detachments of Chinese and Indian soldiers wrangled over the advanced location of a Chinese post. China’s aggressive posture is in large part explained by its sensitivity to the assertiveness of Indian troops along the border.

END OF AN ERA The deadly clash, and the brutality of the fighting, could be a turning point in India-Chinarelations. Since the mid1990-s, and especially since India became a nuclear power in 1998, the two countries have worked hard to develop their bilateral ties despite the persistence of the territorial dispute. That diplomacy has been a remarkable accomplishment—ongoing territorial disputes tend to dampen cooperation between states. Successive

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Chinese soldiers patrol the border with India in Ngari prefecture, China, April 2017. (Reuters)

Indian and Chinese leaders have been able to insulate ties from the abiding tensions of the disputed border. Bilateral trade has increased from 2$ billion to over 90$ billion in the past two decades, while the two countries have institutionalized cooperation in forums such as the BRICS grouping (which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to advocate for the interests of developing states.

But thanks to this latest clash, the territorial dispute could return to the center of the relationship, heralding an end to an era of greater Indian-Chinese cooperation. Indian views of China, already worsening in recent years, will likely deteriorate further.

Already there have been calls within Indiato boycott Chinese goods, block the use of 5G equipment on India’s mobile networks, limit Chinese investment, and generally adopt a much harder line toward China. As a result, the Indian government will face increased public pressure to prevent a recurrence of what happened at Galwan, which will mean blocking China from altering the status quo elsewhere along the LAC. Even if a temporary disengagement is reached over the current areas of tension, India will be much more vigilant and suspicious.

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The clash may also steer India closer to the United States. As the India-China relationship becomes more competitive and fraught than at any time in recent decades, the United States is a logical partner for India in balancing China. Hopes for greater security cooperation between Washington and New Delhi, however, have never produced swift or meaningful results even if there is renewed impetus to do more. After all, Russia, not the United States, is India’s main supplier of weapons for its armed forces, and New Delhi may not want a close alignment with Washington.

China appears to hope that its relationship with India will return to the way it was before the clash, calling on the two sides to “follow the important consensus” reached by Xi and Modi. But China’s concerns about sovereignty are just as unlikely to abate, suggesting that its territorial disputes will remain a source of friction with and concern for its neighbors. Ironically, even though China set in motion the events that led to the clash in the Galwan Valley, it may be up to India to decide where relations between the two powers go from here.

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How to Forecast Outbreaks and Pandemics America Needs the Contagion Equivalent of the National Weather Service

by Caitlin Rivers , Dylan George In 1900, the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history hit Galveston, Texas. The storm, estimated to have been a Category 4, all but washed the city away. An estimated 8,000 people died, and even more lives would likely have been lost if Isaac Cline, the chief of the Texas section of the U.S. Weather Service, had not spent the day before the hurricane’s arrival walking around and urging people to seek higher ground. He did so on little more than a hunch based on the fact that a bad storm had recently passed over Cuba. The science of weather forecasting had yet to emerge; guesswork was the best anyone could do.

Over a century later, hurricane forecasts are a central feature of summer and fall for millions of Americans. Such forecasts, along with those predicting winter storms, tornadoes, and floods, have saved an untold number of lives and many billions of dollars.

Even fair-weather forecasts play an important role in modern life.

Take the airline industry, for example. “Even when you’ve got clear skies, that has an economic benefit,” explained Greg Romano of the National Weather Service, “because then you don’t necessarily need to plan to reroute as much, so you can perhaps take on less fuel; you know that you can have tighter schedules.”

With the world moving quickly toward an age of pandemics, the story of how weather forecasting in the United States improved

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The COVID19application developed by the government of Vietnam is seen in this illustration photo on May 2020 ,30 in Warsaw, Poland.

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deserves attention. Because when it comes to modelling the likely course of contagious outbreaks, the country is in some ways closer to the bad old days of deadly, no-notice hurricanes than to the current era of precision storm tracking and multiday weather forecasts.

Today, if a hurricane was barrelling down on Florida, no one would suggest that an arbitrary assortment of academics gather data, quickly develop models to predict the storm’s course, anticipate its landfall, tell agencies where to preposition response teams, and craft warnings for the public. That, however, is essentially what the U.S. government has done during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of course, sophisticated disease modelling has contributed a great deal to the response to the pandemic. Early in the outbreak, modellers estimated that the new coronavirus would prove more deadly than influenza. Others concluded that rapid containment of the virus in China was unlikely, based on the unusually high number of infected international travellers. And when the United States was in the throes of the worst outbreak in the world, it was modellers whose work informed the White House task force that coordinated the federal response, including the decision to begin (and later extend) the “Slow the Spread” campaign of socialdistancing measures and business closures.

Unfortunately, however, the full force of epidemiological expertise in the United States is not being brought to bear. Despite some successes, serious gaps remain in the ability of infectious disease models to inform public health policy. That is because the country has no centralized system for disease forecasting; there exists no epidemiological equivalent of the National Weather Service. That is precisely what the country needs to succeed in the fight against COVID-19 and to avoid future failures and missteps of the sort that has marred the U.S. response to the current pandemic.

MODEL CITIZENS This is hardly the first time that academics have filled the disease-modelling vacuum. In 2009, during the H1N1 pandemic, officials in Pennsylvania consulted modellers as they deliberated about whether to shut down schools. During the Ebola outbreak of 2014, modellers helped the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services calculate the risk that travellers would import cases into the United States, how many hospital beds would be needed domestically, and how many future cases could be expected under varying scenarios.

But after those outbreaks ended, the ad hoc and informal ties that had developed between modellers and decision-makers were not institutionalized; no formal system emerged for centralizing expertise within the government. So it should have been no surprise that the few modelling experts who do this work within government agencies were quickly overwhelmed by the enormous number of consequential decisions demanded by the COVID-19 pandemic. And once again, academic modellers have stepped in to fill the gap.

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This is hardly the first time that academics have filled the disease-modelling vacuum.

In 2009, during the H1N1 pandemic, officials in Pennsylvania consulted modellers as they deliberated about whether to shut down schools.

This is part of a familiar pattern. During contagion crises, modelling becomes a priority. However, as the sense of urgency fades, attention shifts to other issues and relationships between experts and decision-makers fade. The chief danger is that as the results of modelling shift, those changes won’t get on the radar of policymakers. “The projections provide information at a particular moment but unfortunately will change all the time. It’s important to communicate that uncertainty,” said Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University.

Shaman’s research has been consulted by the White House task force on COVID-19, but Shaman says that the working relationship has been limited.

The CDC’s epidemiology task force has convened weekly meetings with pandemic experts. These meetings are a marked improvement in coordination and information exchange over such efforts in previous outbreaks. However, the connection to key decision-makers, including the White House task force, has not been clear.

One result has been a proliferation of models without enough people to make sense of them. “It’s really hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, without someone or a group of people evaluating the assumptions and form of each model,” said Shaman.

“There are a lot of teams who want to contribute to modelling efforts, but we don’t have a clear game plan for separating and combining the various projections.”

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF PANDEMIC To better integrate disease forecasting into decision-making, the CDC and other public health agencies should look to the history of the National Weather Service for inspiration. Americans take for granted the elaborate, highly detailed weather information they can easily access. But such tools developed only after decades of sustained public investment.

Numerical weather forecasting emerged in the 1920s in the wake of mathematical advances that helped describe atmospheric physics. Decades later, computers allowed meteorologists to apply more elaborate models. Other new technologies—aircraft, weather balloons, satellites, and digital communications—made it possible for scientists to add ever more data to the models,

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creating a virtuous cycle that led to progressive improvements in forecasting over time.

But technological change is only part of the story; the other part involves organizational change. During the Civil War era, tracking and anticipating weather was a largely academic effort. Later, disparate independent efforts emerged in multiple federal agencies, including the Department of War, the Department of Agriculture, and the Navy. Finally, in the late 1960s, what would eventually become the National Weather Service was established as an integrated office in the Department of Commerce. This unification and centralization was crucial: it allowed for significant investment over time and created a stable point of contact between forecasters and policymakers by giving weather experts a permanent seat at the table.

NUMBERS GAME Outbreak modelling and analytics should be centralized in a similar way. Over the last decade or so, public investments in disease forecasting have yielded some progress. Programs funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Homeland Security have advanced modelling capabilities, generated excellent research, and helped to develop a cadre of well-trained experts.

These programs, however, are largely focused on developing basic science, as opposed to helping public health officials navigate difficult decisions about outbreak control. And they rarely receive the kind of reliable, sustained funding that has long supported weather forecasting. Generally, funding takes the form of grants to principal investigators that typically last only three to five years and must result in academic publications—the kind of research that is necessary but not sufficient to the task at hand.

“Everyone is on grants,” noted Cécile Viboud, a staff scientist at the National Institutes of Health. “So if you don’t have a particular dedicated line of funding to work on the [outbreak], then you do it on your own time. You just run those estimates because maybe it can help.”

The COVID19- pandemic should serve as the epidemiological equivalent of the Galveston hurricane. It is a stark reminder that Americans are vulnerable to the forces of nature.

Making matters worse, private-sector innovation and advanced data technologies have hardly made an appearance when it comes to contagion modelling, in part because there is usually not a great deal of market demand, public health agencies are ill-equipped to evaluate new data technologies, and new technologies must pass through a torturous regulatory path before gaining approval.

Roni Rosenfeld, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, pointed out another problem. “By far the biggest obstacle is the data,” he lamented. Health data are fragmented across the U.S. health-care system in silos that cannot talk to one another. And public health agencies are not known for being forward leaning on data technology. This hampers their ability to acquire, process, share, analyse, and communicate data that would inform an outbreak response.

“There is no systematic report format for individual locations to provide data in,” said Lauren Gardner, an engineering professor at Johns Hopkins University who led the team that built the university’s coronavirus map, which has become one of the most reliable sources of data on the spread of COVID-19. “Even when data is provided, it may not be in a usable format. Together these issues substantially limit the capabilities of disease models to be able to inform policy in real time.”

Unfortunately, the pandemic is laying bare these data challenges.

The White House task force announced last month that all 4,700 or so hospitals in the United States would be asked to send daily emails to the task force with data on their capacities. It’s baffling that in the country that sparked the digital revolution, hospitals must rely on such a rudimentary, unreliable tool in order to transmit vital information.

It’s also striking that the most timely and detailed data on new

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People wearing protective masks order food from a food truck as the city reopens from the coronavirus ,15 lockdown on June in Hoboken, New 2020 Jersey. Getty

cases of COVID-19, diagnostic testing, and personal protective equipment have been available mostly through websites set up and run by volunteers or journalists. It is wonderful that so many skilled individuals have been motivated to help out in a time of crisis. But the country’s pandemic response cannot rely on volunteers. And although journalism is crucial during an outbreak, responsibility for tracking the spread of contagions can hardly be outsourced to media organizations.

HOW TO MOVE FORWARD The best way to address these vulnerabilities would be the establishment of a National Centre for Epidemic Forecasting and Analytics (CEFA). The centre would handle research and development in outbreak science, develop technology for producing disease forecasts, and provide guidance for preparedness and response to outbreaks. The centre’s structure should resemble that of the National Weather Centre, located at the University of Oklahoma. The NWC has a unique structure that enables academics to work closely with federal employees and develop a mutual understanding of respective challenges and capabilities.

In the same manner, the new centre would work with the CDC, non-profit organizations such as the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, public health departments in all 50 states, and the National Governors Association to improve outbreak science and analytics, decision-making during outbreaks, and the data and technologies needed to support these efforts.

During an epidemic outbreak, CEFA scientists could help to forecast how many cases might emerge in a given place during a given period, which interventions would be most effective, and

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where to direct resources, and would assess progress in the fight against the pathogen.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, each jurisdiction has been on its own when it comes to finding modellers to help make those kinds of determinations. Sadly, those jurisdictions without access to world-class modellers or epidemiologists were left out in the cold. CEFA would change that by providing all governors and mayors access to high-level insights.

Between outbreaks, CEFA scientists would develop new models and advance the science of forecasting and analysing outbreaks, just as atmospheric scientists work constantly to improve the accuracy of weather models. Initially, the centre would focus on improving the predictive analytics needed to produce forecasts of new cases and deaths. It would also work to improve visualizations and communication approaches to make as clear as possible the implications and uncertainties involved in all modelling.

To be successful, CEFA scientists would need the ability to directly advise decision-makers on preparedness and response, as forecasters do in other countries. In the United Kingdom, for example, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies brings together experts in various fields, including epidemiology and modelling, to advise the government. The United Kingdom has not always managed to successfully bring scientific expertise to bear on emergencies, but the fact that it has a formalized way of bringing experts together puts it in a better position than the United States. Other countries have similar mechanisms. In the Netherlands, for example, the Infectious Diseases Modelling team at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment is chaired by Jacco Wallinga, an esteemed modelling expert who also holds a prominent academic position.

In addition to working with officials, just as local meteorologists translate the complex weather models into forecasts that are easily understood by the public, CEFA science communicators could bring forecasts and analyses to the public to help individual decision-making. Just as people rely on weather reports to know when to bring an umbrella, CEFA forecasts could make it easier to decide whether to telework during flu season or whether to wear a face covering. People want to know how to keep themselves and their families safe, and providing information to help them do so would be an enormous advance for public health.

To meet its mission, the centre would need to be able to identify, adapt, and adopt cutting-edge technology and attract the best data scientists, engineers, and technologists. That would require significant, sustained funding: approximately $1 billion over the next ten years. But it would be money well spent.

The COVID-19 pandemic should serve as the epidemiological equivalent of the Galveston hurricane. It is a stark reminder that Americans are vulnerable to the forces of nature. But as with weather forecasting, with sufficient vision and investment, the United States can develop the ability to anticipate and respond to such outbreaks. The country can do better—and it must do better, so that this never happens again.

This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.com.

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Boris Johnson’s “New Deal” How the Prime Minister is Planning to Recover Britain’s Economy

by Ali El Shamy At the beginning of the new year, Boris Johnson tweeted a photo of himself giving two thumbs up, with a caption that read: “This is going to be a fantastic year for Britain.” Little did he know, in six months time the UK would be ravaged by one of the most devastating viruses known to modern

medicine. The government’s late response to the pandemic caused the country to have the third highest death rate in the world (with only Brazil and the US performing worse), as well as the highest death rate in Europe. Moreover, lockdown measures caused the country’s GDP to fall by 2.2 per cent in the first three months of 2020. This proved to be the country’s worst contraction since

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1979. Given current this current predicament, the government is keen to revitalise the economy as soon as possible.

REOPENING A BIT TOO SOON Last week the government announced that on July 4, many non-essential establishments would be opening for the first time since March.

Restaurants, which have previously only opened for takeaways, will be able to operate normally, the same goes for cafes. Cinemas will also be open for business, and perhaps most importantly for Brits, pubs will finally open its doors to the public. While the government did say these establishments would have to be “COVID safe”, some fear that its elimination of the two-metre rule will provide leeway for pubs, restaurants and the wider public to bend the new “one-metre rule”. Moreover, even though cases in the UK have been falling since the country hit the peak in May, some have argued that the government should have waited longer before reopening. For example, curve graphs for COVID19- cases in Spain and Italy show a consistently low number of new cases. The same method of measurement shows that the UK still gets small upticks in cases.

JOHNSON’S NEW DEAL

Britain›s Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits the Speller Metcalfe›s building site at The Dudley Institute of Technology in Dudley, central England on June 2020 ,30.

(Getty)

Earlier this week, Boris Johnson announced an ambitious new economic recovery plan that aims at boosting investment on infrastructural projects.

For its part, the government will be investing 5 billion pounds on numerous infrastructural projects, such as hospital maintenance, road projects and new school buildings. Perhaps the most crucial part of the announcement was the plan to build 180,000 affordable homes across the country.

At first glance, there are some problems with the plan. For instance, while the government promised that it would spend money on maintaining hospitals, and improving A&E capacity, it did announce that it would eliminate mental health dormitories. Regardless of your political affiliation, a government should be lauded when it plans to improve hospitals, however in this incidence the government also should a massive

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Kier Starmer cited that while an economic recovery plan is welcome, any viable plan should be centred on job creation rather than infrastructural spending. disregard for mental health. Anyone who has been an avid reader of Johnson’s columns in the Telegraph will know that the current Prime Minister doesn’t have the deepest understanding of mental health, as in one of his articles he cited Churchill’s diligence as his coping mechanism against depression, thus implying that hard work is a one size fits all cure for mental illness.

Furthermore, the way the government plans on establishing new affordable homes raises a lot of questions. The government has called its plan “project speed” because it aims to streamline the process of house building. For example, the government will allow commercial buildings to change for residential use without the need for a planning application. The government also wants to reduce the planning process for builders who want to demolish buildings and rebuild new ones.

The reason why this might not be the best idea is because historically cutting corners in building projects has led to a number of problems when it comes to building durability and safety. One mustn’t forget that the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy has shown the devastating impact that cutting corners and cutting costs can have on people’s lives.

LACK OF EMPHASIS ON JOBS Sir Kier Starmer, the leader of the opposition, was critical of the government’s plan. He cited that while an economic recovery plan is welcome, any viable plan should be centred on job creation rather than infrastructural spending. This comes amid fears that the pandemic will result in a massive number of job losses, especially after the current furlough scheme is set to end in October.

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The Prime Minister did address the issue of job creation though, as he argued that his plan would revitalise the construction industry and that the government would make sure that every young person would have an opportunity to take on an apprenticeship in that field. While Johnson’s plan did extensively mention the help it would provide to construction industry, it didn’t talk much of other industries, which are sure to be impacted from the current economic crunch.

I AM NOT A COMMUNIST Perhaps one of the most striking moments in the Prime Minister’s announcement was when he said: “My friends, I am not a communist. I believe it is also the job of government to create the conditions for free market enterprise.” During that segment of the announcement speech, the Prime Minister was addressing conservative critics who thought that the government was getting too involved in the economy, and that it was abandoning the principles of laissez faire free market economics.

As most people know by now, the Prime Minister likes to hark back to historical time periods and

During his speech, the Prime Minister addressed conservative critics who thought that the government was getting too involved in the economy, and that it was abandoning the principles of laissez faire free market economics.

great leaders of the past. After all, he has never shied away from his love of late wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and his mannerisms and speech patterns often hark back to Britain’s most revered leader and hero. However, during his announcement Johnson drew comparisons with the US’s 32nd President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), who revived the US’s economy during the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. During his presidency, FDR implanted the New Deal that recovered the economy through a series of public work projects. Likewise, Johnson has compared his plan to that of FDR, and has even dubbed his plan the “New Deal”. This is significant since no one would have ever thought a Conservative Prime Minister would ever allude to an economic plan that many ill-informed

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A new build home is pictured in Paddock Wood, Kent, in southeast England, on June 2020 ,30. (Getty)

individuals often cite as “socialist”. Even most US Democrats steer away from FDR style plans, and the only significant individual from that party who have ever mentioned a “new deal” styled plan is former presidential nominee Bernie Sanders.

Whether or not you like this plan, it does mark a significant shift in Conservative economic planning, which since Thatcher’s premiership has focused on austerity. Even David Cameron and Theresa May stuck to Thatcherist ideals of little government spending and increased taxation.

However, it seems now that Boris Johnson is attempting to steer the party away from such policies, and to present the party as one that is willing to spend for the good of the economy

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Whether or not you like this plan, it does mark a significant shift in Conservative economic planning, which since Thatcher’s premiership has focused on austerity. and society. Whether or not Johnson’s plans will cause a major long-term change in the Tory party still remains to be seen.

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The Egyptian Cram School Conundrum How Private Tutoring Became the Primary Mode of Education ment in their lives. It determines what university course one can apply to, and the prospects of atThe dreaded Thanaweya Amma is a series annual tending a dream university can come to a halt of standardized tests administered to graduating due to one bad examination result. Those who high school students in Egypt. For many, if not are currently undertaking the exams are probably most, students this exam is a make or break mo- feeling constant state of anxiety and stress, and

by Ali El Shamy

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those who long graduated sometimes have nightmares pertaining to those few weeks of anguish.

THE ONE TEST THAT MAPS OUT YOUR FUTURE The Thanaweya Amma testing system is percentage-based exam. Basically, the percentage is divided into two categories, non-exam assignments and the year-end exam itself. The nonexam section is relatively easy to complete, and most students manage to get all the assignments done weeks before the exam (many just copy off of each other, but that’s a story for another time).

The problem here then lies in the actual examination, which can unfairly impact a student’s future for two reasons. First and foremost, the exam holds a higher percentage than the assignments; secondly the exam is a one-off. This means that students only have one chance throughout the entire academic year to pass a subject. While it is true that a student who scores badly on an exam due to their lack of studying would only have themselves to blame, there are other factors that can come into play that would result in a bad score. One of said factors is a lack of access to adequate education and attention from educators; this is especially true for students who attend public schools.

Hustle during the students exit from the Examination Committee during the first day of the high school exams in Giza Governorate, Egypt, on June 2020 ,21.

(Getty)

PUBLIC SCHOOLS ABANDONED, CRAM SCHOOLS FLOCKED TO

On one hand, you have students who don’t have access to high quality education, and teachers who are underpaid by their employers.

This created a toxic symbiotic relationship that manifested itself in private tutoring. public school system are subjected to low wages.

On one hand, you have students who don’t have access to high quality education, and teachers who are underpaid by their employers. This created a toxic symbiotic relationship that manifested itself in private tutoring. In order to ensure that their children learn the keys towards acing tests, parents send their children to cram schools or hire private tutors, and these private tutors are teachers who are hired by the public education sector.

In this way, both parties get what they lack behind school walls, students get the attention they need while teachers get the financial procurement that they lack from their menial wages.

Even though cram schools are not unique to Egypt, the institution has taken a whole entire identity in Egypt. Let’s compare cram school education in Egypt to that of Japan. Like Egypt, Japan has a cultural tradition of cram school education. In Japan, many high school students attend cram schools after school hours and during weekends. Moreover, like Egyptian cram schools, Japanese cram schools are designed to help students pass university exams. However, unlike Egyptian cram schools (called centres in Egypt), Japanese cram schools are designed as supplementary to high schools not a replacement for them. In Egypt, it has become commonplace for high schoolers to skip classes and religiously attend cram school lessons.

Public schools in Egypt face one huge hurdle: overcrowding. The population in Egypt is a relatively young one; according to Population Council approximately 61 per cent of the population is under the age 30, while 40 per cent of the population is between the ages of 10 and 29. Furthermore, the Egyptian populace is a largely poor, as a 2018 statistic indicates that 32.5 per cent of Egyptians live below the poverty line. While wealthy parents have abandoned public education in favour of private schools a long time ago, this simply isn’t an option for poorer families.

As a result, many parents are forced to send their children to public schools that are often overcrowded and underfunded, and most students Furthermore, in Egyptian cram schools tutors cannot receive the ample attention from teach- don’t give students a proper education that eners. Speaking of teachers, many educators in the courages critical thinking and creative problem

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solving, rather it teaches children the best methods of cramming as much they can during the smallest time frame. It is also not uncommon for these tutors to give students various “hacks” to help them know what part of the curriculum they should focus on most, and which ones they could glance over once or maybe twice. Take for instance Arabic, in the Egyptian school curriculum Arabic is split into a number of different sections, essays (taabeer) ,novels (kesas), poems (nosos), grammar (nahwo). In 12th grade Egyptian high schools, students study Al Ayam (The Days) by Taha Hussien as their novel section, and taking this as an example many private tutors will tell their students which chapters to focus on and which chapters they can ignore. To be fair, most of these tutors don’t make up these claims as they usually back their “insider knowledge” on which chapters have appeared most on recent test papers and which ones have been set aside. Furthermore, many students will also ask their friends on pointers their tutors have given them and as a result many students will most likely go into the exam having crammed 70 to 80 per cent of the novel rather than 100 per cent of the book.

While the discrepancies between public schools and private schools have highlighted the class differences in Egyptian society, private tutoring has had a similar effect. Most of these private tutors are highly reliant on word of mouth, and once one tutor becomes renowned for helping a

In 2017, Egyptian Education minister Tarek Shawky announced that the ministry would get rid of the Thanaweya Amma standardised test. In its place, a new grade percentage system would be favoured.

multitude of students pass with flying colours, they will soon find themselves receiving many phone calls from parents asking them to take their kids under their wing. The more popular tutors (aka the ones who are known for yielding the best results) are usually the ones who charge more. Since parents are forced to hire a tutor for each subject, then they are forced to make hefty decisions on which tutors they can afford. While public education has meant that lower income households did not need to worry about tuition, the growing necessity for cram schools have made such households adjust their budgets to accommodate private tutoring WHAT ABOUT PRIVATE SCHOOLS It was once believed that children who go to private schools get the attention that their public school cohorts lack, and therefore did not

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A parent reading the holy Quran during waiting the students exit outside the examination committee during the first day of high school exams in Giza Governorate, Egypt, on June 2020 ,21. (Getty)

While public education has meant that lower income households did not need to worry about tuition, the growing necessity for cram schools have made such households adjust their budgets to accommodate private tutoring. doubtedly increased. Students who are enrolled in IGCSE schools (the international equivalent of the British GCSE) also attend similar classes in which tutors helped them pass their A-level exams.

A NEW HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

need to attend private classes. However, this is far from the truth. Take my own personal experience for instance, I was in an international school and I attended its American division section. As the name implies, we took the same curriculum from American high schools and therefore, our grades were dependent on two metrics, the Grade Point Average (GPA) and our SAT exams. Our GPA came from our work in school and was mostly straightforward.

However, there was a problem when it came to SAT examinations since it wasn’t included in our own school curriculum (through no fault from our schools since that’s how American high schools operate). As such, many English and math teachers would become private SAT tutors, and private SAT lessons were not cheap.

Back in 2012-2013, a private SAT session could cost up 550 Egyptian pounds, naturally given national inflation rates, this price tag has un-

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In 2017, Egyptian Education minister Tarek Shawky announced that the ministry would get rid of the Thanaweya Amma standardised test. In its place, a new grade percentage system would be favoured. As such, under this new system a student’s grades over their entire threeyear high school career would be taken into consideration, as all final grades will be calculated to form a grade percentage. This is a major contrast to the current system that places a student’s future on a single examination period that takes place during the last days of their high school journey. Furthermore, the minister announced that the rigid split between the sciences and arts pathways would be abandoned, and instead students throughout the these three years would be free to choose the subjects they want to undertake. The ministry said that this new system will be put in place starting from the next academic year of 2020-21. While this might help reduce student test anxiety, it is still unclear if it will improve the quality of education in public school environments. Furthermore, as long as high school is still a critical period in which a student can improve their social standing, then reliance on private tutoring might not subside in the near future.

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Lebanon’s Growing Educational Woes

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Teachers exerted time and effort in preparing their online materials, only to have one or two students actually attend the online class. ents have lost faith in most public schools due to over-crowded classes, negligence, and the lack of the Ministry of Education’s interest in any attempts of improving the learning conditions in public schools by introducing more resources such as online access, smart boards, and so on.

It is fundamentally evident that the Lebanese education system is outdated and is in deseperate need for reform. It still depends on old methods of teaching, and most schools have no internet access in classes and no interactive ways of teaching as well as learning.

THE STRUGGLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Lebanese workers spray disinfectant in classrooms and halls of a school in the coastal town of Rmeileh, 35 Kms south of the capital Beirut, on March 2020 ,2, in an effort to prevent a novel coronavirus outbreak in the country. - Lebanese authorities ordered on February 28, the closure of all schools, universities, and other educational institutions. (Getty)

by Sarene Zein The situation in Lebanon has been deteriorating for many years now, and with the current looming financial and economic circumstances in addition to the recent pandemic, there is no doubt that the education sector, among many others, has received a harsh hit.

It is no secret that the education sector has been crumbling down for several years now. Many private schools have shut their doors permanently for lack of funds, and thousands of teachers lost their jobs and still await long overdue paychecks from previous employers who promised to give them their salaries “once the economic crisis improves”.

The real and fundamental problem is that parents resort to admitting their children to private schools instead of public ones for the sake of getting a quality education in exchange for the ridiculously high tuition fees which those schools demand. Par-

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Majalla spoke to a teacher working in one of Lebanon’s secondary public schools who addressed many crucial issues which most public schools face. She explains that despite the economic situation, the school year started very well; however, that changed after the revolution of October 17th. The school was shut for about a month, and when teaching resumed, students behaved rebelliously and irresponsibly. They refused to attend their classes claiming that teachers are not taking into consideration the country’s situation and are giving them plenty of assignments which they are not in the mood to do. Just when this rebellious spirit doused, the coronavirus pandemic started. This is when the situation worsened: The Ministry of Education resorted to online teaching, and every now and then, the ministry sent a new teaching program to be used for teaching. As a result, parents understandably protested due to the high prices of internet which they cannot afford, there’s also the nearly non-existent electricity. At a certain point, teachers exerted time and effort in preparing their online materials, only to have one or two students actually attend the online class.

What is even more confusing and frustrating is the fact that the minister of education made announcements which further complicated matters instead of resolving them. For instance, he once announced that online learning is not mandatory and will not be counted, which made students totally lose interest, but also insisted teachers would send what has been taught weekly to the ministry. Thus, part-time teachers that are paid by session will certainly not get paid since students stopped attending classes.

Those teachers are paid per semester, and till now they haven’t received any payments.

Then came the dilemma regarding cancelling the official exams and ending the school year as the ministry seemingly couldn’t decide how students would be promoted to their next grade. First it

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was suggested that students will be promoted to the next academic year without any conditions. Later students were supposed to be promoted based on their grades during the first semester of the school year. It was then suggested that students will be promoted based on their first semester grades in addition to 20% of their online attendance. This connundrum poses a crucial question: how is it possible to include online attendance in the students’ grades if the MInister himself said that their attendance is not mandatory?

Logic dictates that all students should be promoted to the next class and official exams would be cancelled due to this pandemic, and this is exactly what happened. All students were promoted, and public schools ended their online teaching on June 13th and ended the school year on June 25th while private schools were left to decide when to end theirs.

But some wonder: `Is it fair to promote a student who’s barely above average just as if they were an achieving student? Was the Ministry of Education’s response efficient and adequate to start with? Could anything have been done differently?

THE PRESSURE IN ON PUBLIC SCHOOLS A few days ago, the ministry of education stated that all students are required to register for the next academic school year 2020-2021 between June 16th and 30th. The issue is that with the financial struggles which parents are facing as they cannot afford to pay any fees. Parents are calling schools and asking them to reserve a seat for their kids for next year while frankly admitting that they can’t afford to pay any fees right now. This is why a huge amount of students are moving from private schools to public ones. Can public schools handle all the pressure? If social distancing will be implemented during the next academic year, this means that each class will hold a maximum amount of 15

Parents are calling schools and asking them to reserve a seat for their kids for next year while frankly admitting that they can’t afford to pay any fees right now.

This is why a huge amount of students are moving from private schools to public ones.

students. With the current high demand on public schools, this means that there might be a need to open morning and evening classes to accommodate all students, which by default requires doubling the amount of staff putting more financial pressure on the Lebanese government.

ONLINE TEACHING PROVED TO BE A BIG LIE Amidst all this chaos, one thing was sadly made clear: online teaching is inefficient. Due to the financial situation, not all families were able to afford internet service fees which are among the most expensive in the world. Moreover, not every household can afford to buy laptops or computers. One must also take into consideration the long power cuts which Lebanon is notoriously famous for.

Most teachers were certainly not trained to conduct online teaching, and they did not attain any help or guidance from the Ministry of Education. They were left to fight their own battles.

Online teaching proved to be unreliable as well. There was an incident where a teacher corrected 20 duplicate exams. Other students resorted to cheating during an assignment or exam where a family member was present nearby giving out correct answers to help.

WERE PRIVATE SCHOOLS DOING ANY BETTER Some private schools resorted to online teaching while others

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Minister of Education Tareq Majzoub arrives for the inaugural cabinet meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda east of capital Beirut on January ,22 2020. (Getty)

Amidst all this chaos, one thing was sadly made clear: online teaching is inefficient.

Due to the financial situation, not all families were able to afford internet service fees which are among the most expensive in the world.

thought it was sufficient enough to upload videos related to the lessons for students to watch. This was a cause of concern for many parents who argued that this was not what they had expected for the amount of money they were paying. Though other parents were cooperative, they eventually lost interest as well.

Although teachers worked hard to make the most out of this frustrating situation with their available resources, they received little to no help from their school or the Ministry of Education. Moreover, some teachers received only half of their salary(not on time of course) while others haven’t been paid since the beginning of this ongoing crisis. When teachers contact the administration for news about their wages, the only reply they get is that schools are waiting for parents to pay the tuition fees of the current school year and the registration fees for the next academic year. This means that teachers’ financial problems won’t be resolved any time soon.

Majalla also spoke to a director of a Lebanese private school who shed light on the current situation. She said the crisis started when coronavirus cases began increasing in Lebanon and the minister took the decision to close schools. The school resorted to teaching from home by sending students educational videos since the school does not use books in its curriculum but rather other resources and tool kits. At the beginning, almost all students’ parents were very cooperative and followed up with the school’s instructors through Whatsapp video calls, but after the escalation of the economic crisis in Lebanon, parents got discouraged and demotivated. As a result, only half of the parents stayed on-board.

The school director added that perhaps online learning is effective somehow in higher levels of schooling, but it is not as effective

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for young children due to the lack of interaction and communication. However, it is not quite productive to consider online learning as a permanent future teaching method.

What escalated matters concerning online learning is that teachers were not fully trained although they were provided with enough resources and printables. They were able to deliver interactive E-learning lessons, but not able to deliver a whole curriculum online. To make matters worse, the school, just like most of the schools in Lebanon, received no aid from the Ministry of Education. Thus, the school was burdened with this unfortunate situation as well as all the expenses that came along. Since November 2019, with ongoing protests and the declining economic situation, the school has struggled financially. Then, the pandemic worsened matters: schools were forced to close, and some parents stopped paying their fees while others asked for a refund. As a result, the school did not have enough funds to pay its employees.

The school’s administration tried to resolve the issue by offering parents a 30% discount, nevertheless, the financial situation is still shaky while waiting for struggling parents to pay their instalments especially with the daily fluctuation of the local currency.

On the bright side, the school is ready for the academic year 2020-2021 regardless of the extreme difficulties it may face.

Physical distancing rather than a social one will be applied among students, but it is feared the incredibly high prices in Lebanon will affect the school’s usual standards in providing necessary resources.

In conclusion, who is the real victim? Is the victim a teacher who is struggling to give 100% of her time and effort to give online classes with limited resources, no previous training, and no income at all? Or is the victim the student who somehow lost a whole school year while trying to adapt to this new inefficient teaching method? Or are parents the victims of having to pay tuition fees for a service, which was not fully delivered, as well as electronic devices and internet that they can barely afford? What about school directors? Will they be able to pay their teachers for a job they claim wasn’t done effectively?

There is no doubt that the next academic year holds a lot of uncertainty and unclarity. That is why it is plausible to ask when will the Ministry of Education step up and reveal a reasonable and well-thought plan that may show any kind of progress?

A Weekly Political News Magazine

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Oussama Rahbani: The Composer the Poet and the Political Philosopher www.majalla.com

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Saudi women attend the Gitex 2018 exhibition at the Dubai World Trade Center in Dubai on October 16, 2018. - Getty

Women in Tech are Force to be Reckoned with in the UAE Meet Two Women Driving this Phenomenal Trend in the Infamously Male-Dominated Arena

Yasmine El-Geressi Women in Middle East and North Africa face many challenges: According to the World Bank, 13 of the 15 countries with the lowest rate of female participation in the workforce are in the Arab world. Therefore, it may surprise some to learn that there are proportionally more female tech entrepreneurs in the Middle East than anywhere else in the world. One in three start-ups in the Arab World is founded or led by women. That’s a higher percentage than in Silicon Valley. Several Arab countries are among the global leaders in terms of the proportion of female STEM graduates. According to UNESCO, %57-34 of STEM grads in Arab countries are women, which is much higher than in universities in the US or Europe. On top of that, %35 of internet

entrepreneurs in the Arab world are women, compared to %10 worldwide. In Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, firms run by women are growing their workforces at higher rates than those run by men.

This valuable resource of highly educated women is being cultivated by the UAE which has become a regional hub ripe with opportunity where many of these women come to start and advance their careers. Majalla meets with two women driving this phenomenal trend to discuss the opportunities for women in the industry, societal pressures, and how they have overcome structural disadvantages and barriers to entering the workforce and starting their own business.

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Elissa Freiha Director & Co-founder, womena ® Listed by BBC as one of their “30 women under 30” and named as one of the “Inspiring Business Leaders of the UAE” by Forbes, Elissa Freiha is a Dubai-based angel investor, motivational speaker, and the Founder of UAE-based womena®. Pivoting from an investment network into a media platform, womena® is a multi-dimensional brand with its own flagship Accelerator program as well as a Bossladies network. womena® continues to invest in women and is dedicated to women›s empowerment by producing content focused on independence and promoting female founders, creatives and change-makers around the world. Driven by a passion for female empowerment and deal-making in the UAE’s SME space, the young entrepreneur of Lebanese-American descent is also a women’s economic activist.

How does womena® help the tech start up industry in the region?

Womena is first and foremost a platform for exposure and storytelling: We highlight the innovative women role models in the region and tell their gamechanging stories so we can inspire the next generation. We don›t just talk the talk but we walk the walk too! We launched the region›s first tech accelerator for women led companies. It›s called Womentum. Lastly as there is a desperate lack of networks for regional women, we launched the Bossladies Network which brings together all of the amazing women in our community through events across the region (yes, Saudi, we have events in Riyadh too!) and online.

How did you get involved with angel investing in the tech landscape and what is your investing philosophy?

I was introduced to angel investing at a young age, 23, dramatically younger than most of the investors (whose average age was 52!) I was interested in learning to invest and saw Angel investing as an opportunity to do so, as well as a way to add real value to early stage companies. I was contributing my knowledge of marketing and my networks in the region as well as the funds.

I invest in early stage tech-enabled start-ups that I can fully understand and that I can add strategic value to, I also invest only in diverse teams, meaning

Elissa: In much of the Arab world we cannot rely on industry to provide jobs for women so entrepreneurship and self-employment are the only acceptable directions for women to take - this has led to an amazing boom in women-led businesses that utilize the internet to reach customers.

there has to be a woman on the founding team for me to consider them. Womenled companies produce higher revenues with half the funding and often create %30 more jobs.

Do men and women have a different lens on investment?

Yes, women are more detailoriented and invest in relatable Elissa Freiha products and services that they can fully understand. They are also more risk averse, so they spend more time on diligence. These traits actually make them better investors, and women angels statistically return higher portfolios. Men will tend to go more with their gut and prefer to invest more frequently. They won›t always read the fine print on a deal and may not fully take the time to understand all the numbers or the tech behind a business.

The cultural bias against women entering technological fields appears to not exist in the Arab world. Why do you think this is?

In much of the Arab world we cannot rely on industry to provide jobs for women so entrepreneurship and self-employment are the only acceptable directions for women to take - this has led to an amazing boom in women-led businesses that utilize the internet to reach customers.

From your vantage point as a successful female entrepreneur working in a techheavy ecosystem, do women face any issues in the industry that are unique from the experiences of men?

Yes, women entrepreneurs, especially young women entrepreneurs, are often told their businesses are «side projects» and find it difficult to be taken seriously both by their family and the society around. Their seriousness is also questioned when they are unmarried as they are often expected to drop their businesses when they have kids. Along this line, we also see an uncomfortable level of inappropriate behaviour towards women. There is also an unspoken power dynamic that takes place when they must then go out and raise funding - cultural taboos around discussing money and negotiating their value are very obvious at this point.

How do you evaluate the tech entrepreneur environment in the UAE and what do you think it needs to flourish?

The environment in the tech space in the UAE is growing. However, the current ecosystem requires a lot of funds on the part of the entrepreneur to set up. We cannot have growing ecosystem if it›s only for rich founders. Furthermore, despite very large incentives made available by the country›s leadership, these resources are often mismanaged but middle-management as it trickles down to the recipients.

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Loulou Khazen Baz Founder and CEO of Nabbesh.com Loulou Khazen Baz is the founder and CEO of Nabbesh.com, the Middle East’s first online work marketplace which connects businesses with top quality freelancers from the world’s emerging markets with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa region. Baz founded Nabbesh.com out of Dubai with the vision to fill the gap between talent demand and supply pockets as well as encourage local businesses to hire experts from the region, creating more job opportunities and therefore a positive economic impact on the local communities while supporting women›s rights within her capacity. Baz had won the regional reality TV show “The Entrepreneur” in 2012 for the Nabbesh idea, and has been working with her co-founder and team on growing the concept into a regional business.

pool of talent to help you on critical tasks or to simply help you get tasks done provides the founders, owners and managers with the instant support they need and hence Nabbesh helps companies scale by helping them plug the talent gaps.

How would you evaluate your journey in the tech industry in the Middle East and what have been your biggest challenges?

I would say that I was part of the early wave of tech entrepreneurs in our region, anyone who launched a business between 2011 and 2013 has helped open a trail for today’s entrepreneurs. We had to learn the long way and the hard way as there weren’t many founders to learn from. Also, raising money was a lot more complicated, angel How does Nabbesh help the tech industry in the investors were limited and even institutional investors could be counted on 1 hand. That region?

Nabbesh offers businesses the ability to find, hire meant that we had a steep learning curve and we and pay freelancers offering over 900 skills such were all experimenting. So, my journey has been as design, marketing, copywriting, technology extremely interesting but hard, I went through and more. Hiring freelancers for non-core hiring issues, fundraising issues, challenges on functions helps businesses achieve significant the business model, to name a few. I must say savings versus hiring the same people on a full- though, it has been the biggest learning in my life time basis. Whether you are a tech startup or an and one of the most rewarding 8 years in terms of SME, having the ability to choose from a wide both personal and professional growth.

Loulou: A woman has to prove herself much more than a man, she must also work twice as hard as a man as she tries to find a balance between her career and her family life.

The cultural bias against women entering technological fields appears to not exist in the Arab world. Why do you think this is?

Not exist? I disagree. I think there is a ton of hurdles for women in tech and women entrepreneurs in general. A woman has to prove herself much more than a man, she must also work twice as hard as a man as she tries to find a balance between her career and her family life. There is also the challenge of not having many women and in STEM in particular. So,

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as a woman, you’re usually working in a male dominated environment. Just take a look at the VCs and angel investors in our region, the majority are men. In addition to the abovementioned challenges, there are also cultural challenges preventing women from taking risks, starting a business, being financially independent and sacrificing family time which is very much frowned upon. I think we are still far from not having cultural biases. They are very much there.

Elissa Freiha

How could the tech industry in the region be support system in the UAE whereby most women more inclusive for women? have access to childcare facilities and house help, but still the woman still carries the weight when it There has to be a cultural shift. It all starts at comes to running the household and managing the home, parents should encourage their daughters kids. I also feel that in more conservative cultures, to get into STEM, to take risks, to be ambitious, women don’t have the same opportunities to go out to fail and keep trying, to pursue a career versus and network as men. defining “success” around marriage and family.

Once girls start seeing more women in STEM, What message would you give to other women starting businesses, taking risks and also having with ambitions in the technology sector? What a support system starting with the parents, to the do you wish you had known? husband and her friends, she will then feel more comfortable in trying. And success breeds success: If you have an idea, just do it. Don’t wait, don’t the more women succeed as entrepreneurs, more overthink, don’t take permission. Just do it. Of of them would end up investing back into the course, this is after considering the business ecosystem and you create a virtuous cycle. model, the market and the problem she is trying to solve. The first step would be to network with From your vantage point as a successful entrepreneurs, attend community events and female entrepreneur working in a tech-heavy perhaps join a local incubator and just give it go. ecosystem, do women face any issues in the What is the worst case? industry that are unique from the experiences of men?

Are there any particular women in tech who have inspired you?

I believe that both men and women entrepreneurs face similar challenges in starting up and growing If we’re talking 2012 when I launched Nabbesh a business. I do feel though that our culture is more than no. I didn’t know any women in tech. There supportive and understanding when it comes to are however many women within the business men versus women. In addition to that, it is always community as well as fellow entrepreneurs today harder for a woman to be an entrepreneur especially that are quite inspiring and have been scaling and if she has a family. Luckily, we have a good growing fantastic startups. We surely need more.

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Turn Your Exercise into Summer Fun Moving More Doesn’t Have to be a Drag Harvard Health

on the list, and when they don’t do it, they feel even worse.”

Many people don’t look forward to their daily workout so much as they look forward to getting through it. “Exercise is often a very negative term,” says Dr. Edward Phillips, assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School. “People hear it as something they have to do. It becomes another thing

If this sounds like you, it may be time to reframe your workouts. Exercise should feel like a gift, not a chore, says Dr. Phillips. Sound like a lofty goal? The first step toward achieving it is to change your thinking. Stop calling it exercise, he suggests; start referring to it as

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physical activity, and a whole new world of options will open up.

TIPS TO HELP YOU DESIGN A SOLID WORKOUT PLAN When you’re coming up with a workout plan, apply the FITT principle -- Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type -says Dr. Edward Phillips, assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School.

Here’s what that means: Frequency. How often are you going to do the activity? Set realistic goals that work with your current daily schedule. If you try to revamp your whole life, the program may be more difficult to maintain. Rather, squeeze in exercise where it makes the most sense during your day and week.

Intensity. How challenging is the activity? Whether an activity is low, moderate, or high intensity will vary depending on your fitness level. A jog may be high intensity for one person and low intensity for someone else.

A rule of thumb is that during low-intensity activity, you can easily talk in full sentences. At moderate intensity, you can speak in full sentences, but not sing. And at a high-intensity pace, you are too breathless to speak in full sentences.

Time. How long will you spend doing the activity? Experts used to think that exercise had to be done all at once to improve fitness. That’s no longer the case. Even adding small increments of movement throughout your day can improve your health.

Type. What activities will you choose? It’s a good idea to vary your activity. You want to move in ways that both get your heart pumping and build strength. Perform strength building activities at least two days a week.

These can be as simple as carrying groceries from the car or bringing laundry up and down the stairs.

CHOOSING AN ACTIVITY Government experts say that you should strive to get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week.

Any activity that gets you moving can qualify as physical activity. Making the right choice can help you stick with your program -- and even look forward to it. Start out by thinking of all the things you love to do: dancing, gardening, birdwatching, playing with your kids or grandkids, walking in the woods, swimming, or paddling a canoe. The idea is to choose something that you really enjoy, says Dr. Phillips.

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Start out by thinking of all the things you love to do: dancing, gardening, birdwatching, playing with your kids or grandkids, walking in the woods, swimming, or paddling a canoe.

If you enjoy an activity, you’re also likely to spend longer doing it, says Dr. Phillips. After all, some people may not give a second thought to working in the garden for hours on end, but count every second they are walking on a treadmill. “Gardening is huge. Many people don’t consider that exercise, but what’s fascinating about gardening is that so many people do it,” says Dr. Phillips.

Summer brings more opportunities to get outside (see “Exercising safely in summer”).

“I’m a fan of going after the rarity,” says Dr. Phillips.

Think about things you can only do in the warm summer months. Take a swim in a lake or at the beach. Hike in the woods. Even camping can provide an opportunity to get out and get moving.

You can also get in physical activity during activities where you would otherwise be sitting around. For example, grab your picnic basket and walk to a scenic spot to eat your lunch instead of sitting at a table in your yard.

Need to go to the store or run an errand? Do it on foot.

Or work an after-dinner walk into your day. In many European countries, that after-dinner walk is as common as dessert.

Stuck in the house? Household chores count too. Not only gardening, but painting a room, cleaning, and washing your car all fill the bill.

EXERCISING SAFELY IN SUMMER While summer can be a great time to enjoy the outdoors, you do need to use caution when the temperature rises.

Older adults, in particular, can be more vulnerable to the effects of heat when exercising. To prevent problems, always drink lots of water, and try to get outside at the cooler points in the day, in the morning or later afternoon.

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Oussama Rahbani: The Composer, the Poet and the Political Philosopher

by Ali El Shamy A Family of Composers

Oussama Rahbani was born on December 9, 1965 in Lebanon to Terez Abou Jouda and Mansour Rahbani. His father, Mansour, was part of the famous Rahbani brothers, which included Assi and Elias.

These three talented brothers were music composers, poets and philosophers who helped shape the modern Lebanese music genre. Mansour and Assi were musical partners who collaborated on a number of orchestras, projects and songs. The Rahbani brothers also famously took traditional Lebanese and Levantine musical sounds and reimagined it into a new sound, which became known as “Rahbanian” music.

Assi would eventually fall in love with Fairuz, an up in coming Lebanese singer. After their marriage, Fairuz joined the brothers who helped her become one of, if not, the most famous Arab singers of the classical era. Together, the Rahbanis and Fairuz put Lebanon on the Arab musical map, which up until that point was dominated by Egyptian singers and composers. Undoubtedly, having a Rahbani as a father and Fairuz as an aunt would eventually lead Oussama and his siblings into a career in music.

A Musical Upbringing

Oussama, along with his own brothers, Ghadi and Marwan, were trained in the musical arts from a young age. Like many children, the brothers were given piano lessons, however for this family learning piano wasn’t just an activity to stimulate the brain or something that would look good on uni-

versity applications. To the Rahbanis, music was an expression of one’s self, music told stories and gave them a unique identity that many tried to emulate.

These piano lessons would become a gateway for Oussama’s long and ongoing love affar with music and composition. It was during his formative years that Oussama, along with his brothers and cousin Ziad, started developing their own unique musical styles that differed from that of their father’s and uncle’s, as they became influenced with classical Arabic and Western music as well other styles such as jazz and the blues. Having come from a well off family, Oussama would also attend some of the most prestigious schools in Lebanon, such as the Collège des Frères Maristes Champville and the Collège des Apôtres. He then obtained his bachelor’s degree at the Lebanese University and then studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachussets.

Baby Steps and Hello Beirut

Oussama started his musical career as a youth choir master at St. Elie’s Church in Antelias from 1978 to 1980. His big break would come in 1982 when he joined a musical troupe led by his father Mansour and his uncle Assi. Eventually, Oussama and his own brothers would form their own musical group, carrying over their parents’ legacy. He, along with Marwan and Ghadi would perform their own theatrical show called Hello Beirut, which toured across the Arab region from 1982 to 1986. Oussama then founded his own band called the Jazz Gate, which performed at the 1987 Byblos International Festival.

This wouldn’t be the last time Oussama performed

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at Byblos Festival as he would become a mainstay at the annual jamboree.

90s, Oussama’s First Album and The TV Series Compusor

The 1990s proved to be a fruitful decade for Oussama as he branched out his talents to other media outlets. For instance, throughout the early 90s, Oussama composed songs for a number of Lebanese children’s TV shows and he became a composer for many theatre artists such as dance groups and other performers. He would also go on to compose music for various plays and musicals, and would even act in a play entitled Al Inqilab (The Coup), which was produced by Marwan and Ghadi Rahbani. 1997 was a milestone year for Oussama as that was when he released his first solo album Al Nizam El Jedid (The New System). One year later, he composed music for a popular TV series called Al Wasaj, by then mass audiences started recognising Oussama for his own work separate from that of his siblings, father and uncles.

Star Academy and Mentoring Rising Stars From 2004 to 2007, Oussama joined the critically acclaimed Star Academy singing competition working as a mentor for contestants who made it through the initial qualifying stages. During these three years, he mentored and trained many rising starlets who eventually made it big in the region.

Nevertheless, he wasn’t just a mentor to those who

participated in the singing contest as many of his most famous trainees never participated in Star Academy. For instance, he worked extensively with acclaimed singer Carole Samaha. He has also coached and worked with singers who participated in other competitions, for instance he has recently been mentoring Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji who first rose to noteriety after taking part in The Voice in 2015.

Political Messages and Art

Oussama is a politically well versed individual who hasn’t shied away from placing political mes-

sages in his works. This can be a risk since that could place him at odds against the political leadership of Lebanon, but he feels that the greivances of society needs to be reflected in his art. One of his most profound political compositions was Lezem Nighayer El Nezam (We Need to Change the System) which was sung by Carole Samaha. This song criticised the unjust political system in Lebanon which caused many to live in a constant state of poverty and unemployment. Another one of his compositions Belidiyat Beirut (Beirut Muncipalities) criticises the growing curruption of Lebanese

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politicians and the dwindling freedoms Lebanese citizens are enduring.

What Lies Next For Oussama= Oussama is still an integral part of the Byblos and Baalbeck festivals, respectively. He is set to take part in this year’s edition of the Baalbeck Festival that will be live streamed online due to the current coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, given the current political situation in Lebanon, he will surely delivering some strong messages critical of the current system.

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Tunisian Poet Anis Chouchene: I hope the Anti-Racism Protests Ignite Change in the Arab World In his interview with Majalla, Chouchene discusses the Tunisia’s revolution, racial identity and the hope brought by the George Floyd protests 58

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by Amena Derwazi Artist and poet Anis Chouchene is Tunisian by nationality, African by identity and human by belonging. Chouchene writes about and for humankind, telling stories emanating from his community to defend his existence and his generation. His poems frequently voiced peace, freedom and antidiscrimination of black people living in Tunisia. He calls for the embrace of peace as a common religion, dreams as a slogan, art as a weapon, the Earth as a home and difference as uniqueness. He affirms that ‘the universe belongs to all of us’.

Chouchene has also been active in cultural activities and forums inside and outside Tunisia that are associated with human rights organisations and activists, including the Arab Institute for Human Rights, Amnesty International and Anna Lindh (2011–present).

In his interview with Majalla, Chouchene discusses the Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, racial identity in the Arab world and the George Floyd protests.

Anis Chouchene

The Tunisian revolutionary goals and promises remain unfulfilled because there was no cultural revolution in Tunisia.

As for the identity crisis, I think that our greatest misfortune lies within biased cultural heritage and false identity. Instead of speaking about Arab identity, I prefer the purely human and universal identity. With globalization, the geographical spheres of the world are shrinking.

Therefore, it is essential to open-up to the «other» and to their culture and history to rid ourselves of our rigid identity. Being in Tunisia means that I am Tunisian, Berber and African, but my most important identity is my human one.

And, as Mahmoud Darwich says: “The heart of every man is my nationality. So, rid me of this passport!”

You said in a previous interview in 2017 that the Jasmine Revolution is immature. Is your outlook on post-revolutionary Tunisian society Your poems written in pain express the rejection the same or has it changed with hindsight? of the other. Could this other, your reader, free How do you re-read the history of the modern himself completely from the prejudices instilled Tunisia? by society and traditions? Isn›t this identity crisis plaguing the Arab world the result of an I believe the Tunisian revolution is still in progress, intercultural mix? and as I mentioned before, the revolutionary goals and promises remain unfulfilled because Through my poetry, I try to awaken the personal there was no cultural revolution in Tunisia. and collective consciousness of those who read When I speak of a cultural revolution, I see this and listen to me. Today, more than ever, it seems transformation as a personal revolution that will essential to me to be attentive to the issues bring about a social revolution. Based on this, that affect our contemporary societies. This every individual must revolt against his “self” awareness pushes us to ask existential questions. and against his own dogmas to aspire to a better future and real change. However, despite this Regarding stubborn prejudice and the possibility observation, I believe that Tunisia is experiencing of change, I think I have managed to reach the necessary contractions which will birth a new people and make them react in a positive way generation filled with hope and a deep desire for to curb preconceived ideas. This interaction is change. particularly noticeable in children, my youngest audience, who recite my poems. Seeing them You have previously spoken about the gap reciting my words reassures me because children between Arab societies and the developed are the heart of future generations. They are the countries in terms of human rights and the ones who will change the world. right to be different. Today, however, anti-

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racist demonstrations are shaking the world, especially in the West, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. How did you react to the incident? Do you think that these protests will succeed in bring about justice in the world?

The United States has always been a scene for racist attacks before and after the 1960s. Yet, the rapid and widespread release of the video showing the arrest and death of George Floyd has shaken America and the world. People’s reactions were surprising in a positive sense, and the time has come for these ongoing racist violations to stop. I really hope the situation changes and other countries realize that the Arab world also suffers from this same disease as the US. These protests demanding that the dignity of African Americans be preserved and the right to be different will definitely affect the Arab world.

I really hope that these protest movements succeed because the decades-long struggle with racism seems to be spreading despite advances in human rights. It is a shameful and disgusting farce which demeans all of humanity.

Could we see Anis Chouchène the poet entering the world of politics or even engaging with politicians? have a price?

Obviously, to get peace, you have to pay the Politics, as we all know, is a game of lies that price as while some people support peace, is confined to those who desire “authority” and there are others who oppose it. The world is control of “power”. Few politicians are honest mainly ruled by powerful leaders and influential and work to achieve a positive change. I have lobbies whose interests are limited to controlling no desire to enter political life since my only everyone›s fate for purely economic ends. Every concern is to be a distinct voice. I try to be the person working for peace disturbs the system voice of truth and the voice of the voiceless. and undoubtedly suffers from inconvenience.

They may be jailed, starved and even exposed How do you see the way to salvation? Does peace to psychological stress or physical assault. Free words and thoughts terrorize the whole world more than tanks and rifles. But it is worth the risk.

Free words and thoughts terrorize the whole world more than tanks and rifles. But it is worth the risk.

One last word?

Peace upon every soul that wants to breathe Because the mind is free And the free person doesn’t remain silent.

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Anis Chouchene