Issue 3: January 2018

SOAS SPIRIT

30 JANUARY 2018

FREE

YOUR INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

PAUL WEBLEY WING REFURBISHMENTS

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HUMANS OF SOAS: STEPHEN CHAN

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ISSUE 3

COMMENT: WHY I LIKE TRUMP

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Charities Commission conducting Prevent inquiries into two student societies at SOAS Indigo Lilburn-Quick, BA History and Politics It has come to light that the activities of two societies at SOAS, the Palestine and Islamic Society, were subject of an inquiry by the Charities Commission due to various concerns. However, it now seems that the Charities Commission suspected violation of the government policy, Prevent. The reasons cited for this inquiry were due to the Islamic Society holding a gender segregated event and the Palestine Society hosting an event with a speaker that was deemed to hold extremist and anti-Israel views. Both of these occurrences fall under what the Prevent policy highlights as behaviour that could lead to extremism and the Prevent Duty Guidance calls on universities to stop such events from taking place. Neither society has wanted to comment on the ongoing investigation.

The Prevent policy is part of the CounterTerrorism and Security Act 2015 and places a duty on certain bodies to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.” It includes specialist frameworks for higher education institutions to follow as the government views these institutions as key places where the radicalisation of young people is occurring. The framework also provides guidance for charities, a category that the Students’ Union (SU) falls under. The current regulatory body for universities is the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). HEFCE allocates funding and ensures universities comply with the law. Under HEFCE, SOAS complied to the legal bare minimum in terms of Prevent policy as it was deemed to stifle free speech on campus. However, on the 1st of April 2018 the role of HEFCE will be taken over by the Office for Students, headed

Two SOAS societies are subject to inquiry(Credit: Creative Commons)

by Jo Johnson. Complying with Prevent is a priority in the process of joining the Office for Students and receiving funding.

The university must submit annual reports demonstrating its implementation of Prevent, which currently includes specialist staff training and IT policies. Having said this, the university administration’s stance is far from simple: Baroness Amos has given evidence to the ongoing inquiry by the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights Inquiry into Freedom of Speech at University states the

confusion on the subject of free speech on campus has created a “chilling effect” on campus.

The official statement on the SOAS website raises no issues with the policy and in the annual report on Prevent the school seem to be making an effort to implement measures beyond their initial commitment to the legal minimum. Furthermore, this annual report contains two requests under the last section of “Areas of Good Practice or Where Further Support May Be Required”

stating “The School would welcome further support around extreme political activism and action and support from HEFCE around all events, not just those directly with Prevent implications.” This suggests that the university deems political activism outside of the Prevent agenda to be a major concern they wish to curb with the help of the government, which may come as a shock to many students. Moreover, they request “advice on how SOAS can suitably engage with student Continued on page 3

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Contents

Letter from the editor

News Paul Webley Wing Refurbishments

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Oslo District Court approves arctic drilling

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Features Cigarettes and Smiles

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Humans of SOAS: Stephen Chan

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Comment Jerusalem: Israel’s for the taking, and Trump’s to give away?

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Why I like Donald Trump

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Reviews Food review: Café van Gogh

Ali Mitib Managing Editor, The SOAS Spirit

Your SOAS Spirit Team p21

Ali Mitib · Managing Editor · 611359@soas.ac.uk Ashutosh Nagda · Co-Editor-in-Chief · 656310@soas.ac.uk Arooj Sultan · Co-Editor-in-Chief · 611281@soas.ac.uk

Sport Varsity returns to SOAS

Dear readers, Welcome to the third edition of the SOAS Spirit! We are happy to bring you another edition jam packed full of informative, interesting and entertaining articles.

We at the Spirit aim to hold those in positions of power accountable and produce content which students will find informative, thought provoking and entertaining.

One of our goals at the Spirit is to expand our online presence. To achieve this, we have recently relaunched our website. Check https://soasspirit.co.uk for the latest news on SOAS and the wider world in addition to the latest reviews, submitted poetry and updates on our sports teams.

In our third edition, we cover the Charity Commission’s inquiry into the activities of two SOAS student societies. We also cover the use of consultants by SOAS senior management in the restructuring process.

Following this we discuss the proposals to

refurbish the Paul Webley Wing. Elsewhere we examine the decision of the Oslo Court to approve offshore arctic drilling, the eruption of protests in Iran and the ANC party elections in South Africa.

Our Features section includes a feature centred on the experience of homeless people in London. Following this is the Humans of SOAS feature, which will focus on Professor Stephen Chan – a former student activist and martial arts master.

This section also includes a selection of poetry and a feature on whether we own our bodies. We round off Features with Lonely Spirits – a section composed of students sending in the contents of their heart and soul to share the love and raise spirits.

President Trump’s controversial Jerusalem announcement, Theresa May’s cabinet reshuffle and the protests in Iran are amongst the issues in our Comments section.

Our Reviews section includes a book review of ‘Fire and Fury’, a book review of ‘Rebel Girls’, a food review of Bone Daddies and a food review for Café van Gogh in Brixton.

In our sports section, we enclose a society spotlight on SOAS Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a society specialising in the art of grappling.

We also include a preview of Varsity and the series of Varsity events that will occur in February.

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Ahmad Jamal Watoo · News Editor · 625576@soas.ac.uk Hannah Somerville · News Editor · 266256@soas.ac.uk Zain Hussain · News Editor · 594404@soas.ac.uk Marta Perez Fernandez · Features Editor · 628547@soas.ac.uk Amelia Storey · Features Editor · 636016@soas.ac.uk Uswa Ahmed · Comments Editor · 638268@soas.ac.uk Holly Sampson · Sports Editor 638061@soas.ac.uk Abigail Joanna Moselle · Reviews Editor · 630182@soas.ac.uk Peter Smith · Senior Layout Editor · 629625@soas.ac.uk Khadija Kothia · Junior Layout Editor · 637933@soas.ac.uk Sudha Palepu · Junior Layout Editor · 656024@soas.ac.uk Uswa Ahmed · Junior Layout Editor · 638268@soas.ac.uk Tom Matsuda · Online Editor · 652408@soas.ac.uk Sumayyah Lane · Social Co-ordinator · 637349@soas.ac.uk

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30 JANUARY 2018 body and Students’ Union that has significant opposition towards Prevent,” suggesting that they no longer stand with the Student’s Union in its opposition to Prevent but want to bring it more in line with the administration’s current policy.

The SOAS SU currently has a policy of non-compliance and are lobbying “against Prevent” and “to not comply with CTS requirements as far as possible within the confines of the law.” The SU claim Prevent “demonises Muslim and BME students and victimises those with mental health issues” and “creates an insecure environment for students and limits the space for debate, as students feel monitored and under threat of surveillance.” A representative from the SU, that wished to remain anonymous, described Prevent as “working in the shadows” and using intimidation to enforce Islamophobic ideas. Regarding the two societies that have been subject to an inquiry, the representative highlighted the fact that for both “offences” neither were results of any extremist trying to radicalise the members but requests of the members as the events upheld their religious or political views.

They went on to make clear the SU does not believe the university is doing enough to protect students from “racist” Prevent policy, telling the Spirit “we don’t feel like the school has the students’ backs” and highlighting the fact that the monitoring of students is making many students feel unsafe. The representative has said they will fight Prevent through legal means and if this does not work they will fight it through political means. The SU submitted written evidence to the aforementioned inquiry into freedom of speech at universities that emphasised the “incoherent” and “inconsistent” nature of Prevent policy and the negative effects of Prevent on healthy debate and the feeling of safety among many students.

The increased measures SOAS are taking could be due to them being highlighted by several organisations as allowing extremist ideas to have a platform. This was brought up by then Prime Minister David Cameron in a speech claiming SOAS had hosted “extremist hate preachers” and was not upholding its legal duty in terms of counter-terrorism measures. Furthermore, influential thinktank the Henry Jackson Society, in their

2016-2017 report on extreme speakers and events named SOAS as the most extreme university in the country hosting 12.5% of events they deemed likely to uphold and reinforce extremist ideas. Only 3 of the 112 events flagged by the Henry Jackson society had far-right speakers, with the remaining 109 events being (including all those deemed extreme at SOAS) concerned with extreme Islam. Critics of the policy state that this demonstrates the biased nature of the policy in the types of groups it targets. In response the university issued a statement highlighting the need for “freedom of debate and robust discussion”, though within the remits of the law.

This issue is present in other universities, some of whom have been taking drastic measures to surveil students’ they believe to be vulnerable to radicalisation, such as Kings College London (KCL) who have admitted to monitoring emails. Nagdee claimed Prevent is a “deeply repressive and a tool of amassing state power, by giving the government license to mark out as ‘extremist’ any stances that challenge their domestic and foreign policy lines,” implying it is not simply to prevent

terrorism and extremism. The NUS have been combatting Prevent through hosting a Students Not Suspects national tour of campuses; releasing a handbook on Prevent (which can be found here: https://www. nusconnect.org.uk/articles/preventing-prevent-an-updated-handbook); and building a campaign against it on campuses by supporting campuses to start up local anti-Prevent campaigns and supporting legal cases against the Prevent duty.

Both the SOAS SU and the NUS highlight the importance of coordinated effort between staff and students in combating Prevent and creating policy throughout our unions (including the UCU and non-academic staff ’s unions) that makes Prevent “unworkable.” Furthermore, they made clear the importance of awareness and solidarity with Muslim ad BME students adversely affected by its “racist” and “Islamophobic” nature and the need “to be brave in taking it on.”

If you have been affected by Prevent policies useful resources can be found here: http://www.preventwatch.org/ and by talking to the Student’s Union officers in G8.

SOAS management pays consultants up to £13,000 a month Arooj Sultan, BA Economics and Politics An investigation by the SOAS Spirit reveals that SOAS senior management has hired three consultants at the start of the 2017/18 academic year to advise on the restructuring process. Investigations also reveal that these consultants receive large salaries for their services; one of the three consultants is believed to receive approximately £13,000 per month. This has been a cause for concern for the SOAS Student’s Union (SU). Initially these consultants were brought in on a shortterm basis, but their contracts have been extended as the process of restricting continues.

The presence of these consultants has been criticized as they were supposedly brought in to solve problems that critics say could have been addressed through a consultation with the full time staff already working at SOAS. These members of staff have practical knowledge and experience regarding the SOAS communities and the pertinent issues that have plagued the institutions, such as the faults in the online Student Information Desk (SID), enrolment and the mitigating circumstances procedures.

A conflict of interest?

Issues have been raised regarding whether the appointment of the consultants is a conflict of interest. The consultants concerned are associated with the consultancy firm Halpin Partnership Limited, of which the current SOAS Registrar, Paula Sanderson, is also a fellow. Sanderson is listed as both SOAS Registrar and fellow on the Halpin website, and it seems that she has declared the firm in the register of interests too. This has been criticized due to the possibility of a conflict of interest in the hiring of these consultants. Furthermore, management have purchased the ‘Insight Discovery’ Programme and the set up of the Emerging Leaders and Management Programme (eLAMP) program. This has generated criticism due to a ‘lack of transparency’ in the process of acquiring new programmes/tools. As a result, the three unions associated with the campus, namely the SU, UNISON and University and College Union (UCU), sought to petition management for clarification.

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Following the departure of the former Director of Marketing, Student Recruitment and Communications in August 2017, David Miller was brought in as Senior Marketing Consultant. Though Miller is a consultant, his position in essence is the same as the one that was occupied by the former director. A matter for consideration is why exactly was a consultant brought into a senior position as opposed to making use of the existing staff or promoting one of the staff into the unoccupied position. Furthermore, Miller and Sanderson, are known to be associated not just via Halpin Consultancy but also through their time working

The consultants concerned are associated with the consultancy firm Halpin Partnership Limited, of which the current SOAS Registrar, Paula Sanderson, is also a fellow. together at the University of Exeter. The other two consultants, namely, Sara Doherty and Patrick Kennedy, were hired for separate departments/projects and are also fellows at Halpin Consultancy.

Concerned by what appeared to be a potential conflict of interest the SOAS UCU, UNISON and SU, on the 19th of December 2017, submitted a formal request to senior management to investigate the hiring of the consultants, the terms of reference and their costs (from the start of their contracts till 31st November 2017). They also asked for financial clarification pertaining to the purchasing of the ‘Insight Discovery’ Programme and eLAMP programme. A meeting was then set up for the 4th of January 2018, where management would respond to the request of the unions, but the meeting was subsequently cancelled.

The Spirit discovered that a management review of the enquiries of the three unions had been conducted. Commissioned by the School Director, it was undertaken by personnel from the Human Resources department and the Resources and Planning Department. In this review.

Sanderson confirms that she is a fellow at Halpin, but that she has not been involved in any advisory or consultancy projects with Halpin and consequently has not received

an income or commission from the firm. According to the review, none of the consultants were engaged through Halpin. Miller and Kennedy are said to be engaged independently, whilst Doherty was engaged through Collective Intelligence Consulting Limited (CIC) under the umbrella of the preexisting contract between SOAS and CIC. Out of the three consultants, Sanderson is shown only to have been involved in approaching Kennedy in relation to teaching and research data management relating to SOAS’s league table position, as Kennedy is believed to be the authority on the impact of data and university leagues tables. The review report states that Kennedy has been hired based on his unique knowledge and skillset, his duties involve gathering data and coming up with recommendations to solve the problems that have been hindering SOAS’s delivery of important objectives (like student experience, entry tariffs). The appointment of Miller is alleged to have to have occurred due Kennedy’s recommendation. Miller’s duties are stated to be strategic advising in the new marketing structure, guidance on marketable portfolios and programmes, as well as identification of current successes at SOAS (in terms of marketability). In the review, both Miller and Kennedy are revealed to be employed based on their expertise and experience. The cost of consultancy until the 31st November is listed as £79,099.

The review report also states that whilst Sanderson has previously used the ‘Insight’ tool at the University of Sydney she has derived no income from it, either there or at SOAS. The eLAMP programme, till February 2021, has an estimated cost of £71,000 plus £150 service fee. The review concludes that there has been no procedural irregularity and that there is no conflict of interest.

The Spirit contacted SOAS senior management for a statement. A SOAS spokesperson said:“The School has reviewed the matters raised by the Students’ Union and the Trades Union and have provided a full response to all their concerns and enquires. The consultancy advice received has been of significant value to the School and there is no evidence that any officer of the School has acted with anything other than the highest standards of professional conduct.”

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Paul Webley Wing and its Green Area Usage threatened by construction proposals Tom Matsuda, BA Japanese and International Relations Areas of SOAS’ Paul Webley Wing in the Senate House building are set to undergo a series of renovations from May onwards.

Over a period of 18 months, sections of the building will be cordoned off and renovated.

Once an area has been renovated it will be reopened. The renovators will then renovate another section of the building. These refurbishments are part of the on-going project to deal with the building’s heating problem, which has resulted in leaks and cold areas in the building.

All areas of the building will be disrupted at some point during the renovation period. This will include Student Services, which may have to be relocated for up to 10 weeks. The Paul Webley Wing houses essential services, such as the Student Hub and Careers Services and also is home to two lectures theatres. This comes at a time where increased pressures have already been put on staff by the SOAS Senior Management’s effort to re-structure administration departments.

Most recently, Management’s proposal of a ‘One Professional Service’ was met with a student and staff-led walkout.

However, to minimise levels of disruption to the student population, the public spaces in Paul Webley Wing will be carried out in the summer periods. These renovations will mainly be quiet, as it largely involves alteration to pipework. However, the lifting of wooden flooring may disrupt students.

The Estates team stress that these alterations will be carried out carefully as to diminish chances of it causing inconvenience to students.

When questioned as to why the Paul Webley Wing was not sufficiently heated despite the existence of a large heating system covering most of the Bloomsbury estate, Stephen McKinell, Head of Energy Management, said that it was due to “the design of the [heating] system and the standard of the installation.”

Francine Hill, Assistant Director of Estates and Facilities, provided further details saying “the contractor at the time installed ...to minimise levels of disruption

to the student population, the public spaces in Paul Webley Wing will be carried out in the summer periods.

the pipework in places to a sub-standard level which is why we have leaks and cold zones”. Hill also emphasised that the full cost would be levelled by the original installers under current proposals. Additionally, the new system will be assessed by TB+A, an independent company, in order to have an “unbiased independent view” and also “to ensure any new system operates correctly”.

However, this does call into question why these faults were not discovered in the building and planning process of a building that

Paul Webley Wing was opened in September 2016 as part of the centenary celebrations (Credit: Ali Mitib)

had £5 million dedicated to it after SOAS received a £20 million donation in 2013 by the Alphawood Foundation. However, it is stressed by Hill that “no liability sits with SOAS and no claims are being made of SOAS insurance for the cause of the faults”.

Moreover, that as to why these problems have occurred are currently under review according to Hill.

It is not only the inside areas of the Senate House Building that may experience further construction however. The 4th Quadrant, otherwise known as the Green Area adjacent to the Senate House building, has been subject to proposals that would result in the construction of a teaching block. If such plans

were to occur, it would eliminate one of the only green areas on campus and thus result in the cutting down of the tree in the middle of the 4th Quadrant. It is also currently unknown as to whether SOAS will be able to use this building, as University of London officially own the site. Nevertheless, planning consent has not currently been approved, the process of which could take over a year.

Details of this building proposal will be further discussed in a meeting between SOAS and University of London, scheduled in late February.

Brexit and the Environment: Has the government broken international law?

Lucy Beach, BA History The UN affiliated Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee is currently considering a complaint from the environmental group, Friends of the Earth, who have accused the UK government of breaching international environmental law in the EU withdrawal bill. The complaint is in regards to the Aarhus Convention, a rights-based treaty that ensures public consultation on matters of environmental law. The Aarhus Convention, signed in 1998 in the city of Aarhus in Denmark, came into force in 2001. The UK has been party to it since 2001 and will continue to be so after Brexit unless otherwise declared. The Convention consists of three central “pillars” concerning public involvement in matters of the environment and government, these being access to information, public participation, and access to justice.

It is with regard to the first and second “pillars” that Theresa May’s Conservative government has come under

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Brexit will have far reaching implications on the UK’s policy, including in the environmental sphere (Credit: Creative Commons)

criticism. The Convention states “each party shall provide for early public participation, when all options are open and effective public participation can take place… having provided the necessary information to the public.” In its withdrawal from the EU, the government will be giving

wide-ranging powers to the Minister of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The Minister will have the power to make sweeping changes to UK environmental policy as it is separated from central EU legislation. The precise nature of these changes is as yet unknown - and as such the UK government has come under criticism for a lack of transparency whilst the time remaining for effective public participation is rapidly ticking away.

It is highly unlikely that this breach of environmental policy will stop Brexit. Critics state that this highlights the lack of care for the environment by the current government. Whilst global warming continues to threaten the natural world, the Conservative Party manifesto makes no mention of the environment in what they state are the “five giant challenges” of our times. It seems that in the difficulties surrounding the Brexit process, the government is of the opinion that the environment is something that can be side.

However, the environment is of vital importance to the future of our world and cannot be cast aside so lightly. It remains to be seen how the government’s complacency in this area will stand up to international scrutiny.

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Protests erupt throughout Iran Theresa May’s Bonyads, the charitable trusts that fail to provide for the poor whilst being accused of corruption and of enriching supporters of the regime. A sense of abandonment in rural BA Politics areas and resentment of exploitation has contributed to On 28th December 2017 protests in the city of Mashdad the tensions. Unlike the protests of 2009, which began and began; these protests soon spread rapidly across the countook place mostly in urban areas of Iran, December’s protry. Protesters have clashed with security forces, attacked tests began mostly in decentralised areas before spreading government buildings and chanted scathing anti-government towards the urban centres of Iran. slogans. Officials supporting moderate President Rouhani There are also social factors that have led to the prohave blamed those aligned with his rival, tests. The pertinence of these social hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi for inciting factors is particularly significant for the protests. The situation in Iran howdissatisfied young Iranians. ProtesAs is often the case with ever is more complex than just popular tors voiced their opposition to the political demonstrations, strict dress code and moral repression. support for the conservative opposition of the president.

Women have been heavily involved there is a number of The protests in Iran are very heteroin the protests as exemplified by the underlying long-term geneous. There is not a unified group image of a woman removing her hijab of people organising and participating issues that are brought to in a public protest. in the protests, nor do they all have the At least 20 people lost their lives the surface and culminate in the same motivations for their involvement. unrest, including at least three in widespread protests.

Even disillusioned former supporters of security officers. Hundreds have been the regime have taken to the streets and arrested in relation to the protests. joined the protestors. As is often the case The sudden wave of protests has been with political demonstrations, there is a number of underdeclared over. A commander of Iran’s Revolutionary lying long-term issues that are brought to the surface and Guards claimed on 3 January that what has been labelled culminate in widespread protests. as “sedition” is over, as thousands of people attended pro-

Nayon Ahmed,

cabinet reshuffle falls flat Tom Matsuda, BA Japanese and International Relations In an effort to re-assert her control over her party, Prime Minister Theresa May has reshuffled her cabinet. The news comes after her political power has been stifled by the loss of her majority in last summer’s election. The move, labelled as “pointless and lackluster” by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, has backfired on the Prime Minister. May’s diminishing political clout has arguably been further highlighted by Jeremy Hunt’s refusal to budge from his role position as Health Secretary despite May’s assertions. In addition to his refusal, Hunt has gained responsibilities regarding the administration of social care.

The reshuffle has also resulted in an increase of privately educated Cabinet Ministers. It has also has failed to diversify her cabinet with an overwhelming majority still being white and male.

A meeting between Theresa May’s previous Cabinet (Credit: Creative Commons)

Protests in the Iranian city of Kermanshah (Credit: Creative Commons)

Trade unions and labour organisations in Iran, such as The Teachers Trade Unions Coordination Council (TTUC), have pointed towards poverty and poor economic conditions as a source of grievance for the protesters. On the other hand, there is a part played by the conflict between core and periphery. Some of the unrest originates in the periphery, where agrarian communities and marginalised ethnic minorities, including Iranian Turkmen and Kurds, feel exploited.

The protests in part are also a result of frustrations caused by exploitation of rural communities through the

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government rallies sponsored by the state. Regime leaders have presented the unrest as part of a foreign conspiracy led by Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United States, although this is yet to be proved conclusively. Whether the government will now make major concessions in response to the protests is difficult to say. The protests have suggested nonetheless that Iranians are discontent with the level of state repression, administrative corruption and dire economic conditions.

Moreover, the reshuffle also saw the loss of Justine Greening who quit in the wake of being offered the position of Secretary for Work and Pensions. Greening was seen as one of the more progressive members of May’s cabinet and had made efforts to improve the relationship between the Conservative Party and teachers; many of whom have their salaries slump as a result of Conservative austerity policies.

The reshuffle has also resulted in an increase of privately educated Cabinet Ministers. It has also has failed to diversify her cabinet with an overwhelming majority still being white and male. This calls into question as to whether such a cabinet can accurately represent the UK, an ethnically diverse country where the majority are state-educated. Moreover, according to the Guardian more than two thirds of the cabinet represent seats in the Home Counties, some of the most economically prosperous areas in the country, in disproportion to that of constituencies in the Midlands or Northern England. Such a move could result in the implementation of policies mainly concerning Southern England and thus exacerbating the North-South divide.

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Jerusalem under stormy skies: Trump’s unilateral decision on the Holy City’s status is shaking the world.

Aloïs Aguettant, BA Politics and International Relations On the 6th of December of 2017, Donald Trump once again defied overwhelming global opposition by officially recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In a speech at the White House, the US president stated that he will deliver on his campaign promise by going forward with the process of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Despite Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s expectations that the move would be a fast process, it has been revealed that it would take several years. US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, communicated that it should take at least three years as Trump has directed the State Department to build an embassy from scratch that would be “a magnificent tribute to peace”. This act would symbolically cement Israeli sovereignty over the divided city, of which Palestinians constitute around 40% of its total population (according to B’tselem statistics). Trump said that he is finally delivering a long-kept promise, stating he has “judged this course of action to be in the best interest of the United States of America and in the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians”. This decision has indeed been part of previous presidential programs, however, it has consistently been postponed because of the fear that such a decision would undermine peace negotiations between the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and Israel.

The reactions to Trump’s unilateral decision have been virulent. Protests and riots immediately erupted in Jerusalem and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. These protests and riots were held on Friday following Jummah prayers and were violently repressed by the Israeli military, occasionally with live ammunition. Furthermore, numerous protests took

place throughout the world, notably in Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia. Muslims took the streets to express their discontent and their refusal of Trump’s unilateral decision on the status of their Holy City. In the streets of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, casualties are heavy. In the month of December, at least 13 people have been killed by Israeli, with victims as young as 14 years old Mohammed Al-Dahoud in Gaza. Additionally, over the course of the month, 4,690 injuries due to confrontations have been reported by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and it is estimated over 500 Palestinians have been arrested.

Rejections of Trump’s declaration have been voiced by states around the world. Turkey and Saudi Arabia were among the first to strongly oppose it, the latter qualifying it as an “irresponsible ” act. Prime Minister Theresa May of the UK described Trump’s move as “unhelpful” for the two states solution. May stated she would speak to Trump on the issue but the occurrence of this is yet to be confirmed.

Strong rejections against the unilateral US decision have been explicitly illustrated by the UN votes during the 10th Emergency Special Session on December 21st. The General Assembly “demanded” that all states comply with the Security Council resolutions concerning the status of Jerusalem and called upon all states to refrain from establishing diplomatic missions in Jerusalem. Following an overwhelming vote of 128 against 9 and 35 abstentions. US Ambassador to the UN stated that “we will remember this” and threatened to cut funding to the international organisation. Haley added that “we are being asked to pay for the dubious privileges of being disrespected.” Following the vote, Israel’s Deputy Minister for Diplomacy called for Israel to cut its ties with the UN. Conveniently, Trump’s decision was followed by Israeli Parliament passing an amendment proposed by the far-right

President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu embracing during Trump’s visit in May 2017 (Credit: Creative Commons)

Jewish Home coalition party to consolidates Israel’s control of Jerusalem. The amendment raises the number of votes required to approve any proposal to hand over part of the city to “a foreign party” from 61 to 80. This would make it harder to cede control of occupied East Jerusalem in the seemingly more and more unlikely two-states solution which states East Jerusalem will be Palestine’s capital.

Israel publishes a blacklist of BDS organisations Zain Hussain, MA International Politics The Israeli Government has published a list of organisation that endorse the Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions Movement (BDS) against the Israeli government. BDS aims to put pressure on Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank and its blockade of the Gaza Strip. Anyone who is a member of any of these organisations will be banned from entry into Israel. Organisations include Jewish Voice for Peace, American Friends Service Committee (a Quaker organisation that has received a Nobel Peace Prize for helping to rescue victims of Nazi persecution), and the European Coordination for Committees and Associations for Palestine.

According the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister, Gilad Erdan, has said, “The boycott organizations need to know that the State of Israel will act against them and not allow [them] to enter its territory to harm its citizens." The Israeli Ministry of Interior is tasked with implementing the list. Interior Minister, Arye Dery, is reported by Haaretz to have said, "These people are trying to exploit the law and our hospitality to act against Israel and to defame the country. I will act against this by every means."

The Independent has reported that Gary Spedding, a British consultant on Israel and the Palestinian Territories,

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A protest in support of BDS outside 10 Downing Street (Credit: Creative Commons)

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30 JANUARY 2018 claimed that the list is merely an excuse for Israel to ban human rights activists and observers from entering the country. He pointed out that this was due to the fragile nature of the Israeli regime, and a sign of the extent that Israel would go to curb dissent against Israeli policies towards the Palestinians.

It remains to be said that anyone who is planning to travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories needs to be aware of organisations they may be affiliated with, and the potential repercussions once at entry point into Israel.

Spedding warned that activists planning on visiting Israel and the Palestinian Territories, in order to engage with the reality on the ground, need to keep their social media presence minimal and ensure that they also have tourism reasons to elaborate on when entering Israel.

Israeli media and news channels are particularly sensitive to issues surrounding the boycott. News programmes in Israel often discuss the issue of BDS on university campuses outside of Israel, particularly in the US.

It remains to be said that anyone who is planning to travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories needs to be aware of organisations they may be affiliated with, and the potential repercussions once at entry point into Israel.

Such people could be questioned intrusively for hours about their links and everyday lives. They may need to show their phones, and their social media and email accounts could also be investigated.

■ Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign ■ The Palestine Committee of Norway ■ Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden ■ Palestine Solidarity Campaign ■ War on Want ■ BDS Kampagne American organizations: ■ American Friends Service Committee

Barred organisations The full list of barred organisations, as reported by Haaretz, is as follows: European organizations: ■ France-Palestine Solidarity Association ■ BDS France ■ BDS Italy ■ The European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine ■ Friends of Al-Aqsa

■ American Muslims for Palestine ■ Code Pink ■ Jewish Voice for Peace ■ National Students for Justice in Palestine ■ US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Other groups: ■ BDS Chile ■ BDS South Africa ■ BDS National Committee

Ramaphosa wins ANC party elections in South Africa Emma Ruiters, MSc Development Economics On the 18th December 2017, the African National Congress (ANC) elected Cyril Ramaphosa, 65, as their president.

Ramaphosa took charge of the party of Mandela after defeating Nkosazana DlaminiZuma, 68, ex-wife of current South African president Jacob Zuma. The ANC has been in power for over 23 years since the first democratic elections in 1994 following the end of

South African society.

The win places Ramaphosa as a likely successor to the presidency of South Africa if the ANC wins the national elections in 2019. Ramaphosa replaces Jacob Zuma, a leader who has faced numerous corruption and criminal charges, including rape.

He has also been accused of illegal dealings with the Gupta family - wealthy businessmen who have been alleged to hold undue influence over the South African government. Zuma is perceived by many as central to South Africa's decline. Many observers

Ramaphosa replaces Jacob Zuma, a leader who has faced numerous corruption and criminal charges, including rape.

Zuma has also been accused of illegal dealings with the Gupta family.

Apartheid (the system of segregation on the basis of race that had defined in South Africa since the 1950s).

The election race marked a pivotal battle for the soul of the ANC and the future of South Africa after several years of political instability, corruption and scandals. Recent years have also seen a steady economic decline which saw the country, previously Africa's largest and most industrialized economy, fall behind Nigeria and Egypt. The country continues to struggle with rampant unemployment, poverty and inequality. Critics accuse the ANC of failing the country's people, particularly the poorer sections of

were concerned that a victory by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma would likely mean a continuation of the corruption that has become embedded in the government. Others were disappointed that South Africa would not yet see a female president. While Dlamini-Zuma is a respected figure, whose accomplishments extend to first female chair of the African Union, she has been criticised for her ties to the Gupta family.

It remains to be seen whether Ramaphosa will indeed reverse South Africa's fortunes.

He has promised an end to corruption and to ensure fundamental economic transformation for a country still ailed by its racist past.

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Cyril Ramaphosa, the new head of the African National Congress (Credit: Creative Commons)

Ramaphosa was highly regarded by Nelson Mandela and was rumoured to become Mandela's deputy in the 1990s, a role which ultimately went to Thabo Mbeki. Ramaphosa became a successful businessman after leaving politics in 1997. However, he has not escaped scandal. Ramaphosa was on the board of Lonmin mine, the platinum mine involved in the Marikana massacre in 2012 where 34 miners were killed by the South African

police during a strike. He has also served as Jacob Zuma's deputy president since 2014.

Since Ramaphosa's election, the South African Rand has strengthened, signalling a renewed optimism from investors. However, there is little doubt that the country will require significant economic and social transformation to meaningfully change its fortunes.

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Oslo District Court approves arctic drilling Ludovica Longo, BA Politics and Geography The Oslo District Court has recently declared the opening of the last untouched area of the Barents sea to new oil extractions as constitutional and as compatible with both the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degrees ambitious objective and with the newly strengthened Article 112 of the Norwegian Constitution.

Norway was one of the first countries to sign and later ratify the Paris Climate Agreement. It is the country with a long history of formal commitments to the development of a sustainable economy and to limit the amount of local emissions by investing in renewable resources, but it is also the country that has, only a year after the Paris Agreement, announced it is granting 75 oil drilling licenses (45 in the North Sea, 22 in the Norwegian Sea and 8 in the Barents Sea ) to 34 companies on the country’s continental shelf for the first time in 20 years.

Article 112 advocates for the consideration of long-term implications when the state is to take decisions in regards to natural resource management and assigns to the government the role of using all of its means to make sure people can enjoy their rights to live in an healthy, productive and diverse environment. Bolstered by an ambiguous Environmental Paragraph (which had never been invoked in courts prior to this development) NGOs, namely Greenpeace Norway

An offshore oil in the Northern Hemisphere (Credit: Creative Commons)

and Young Friends of the Earth Norway (Natur og Ungdom), have filed a lawsuit in June 2016 claiming the government’s inconsistency violated both the Paris Agreement and Article 112.

As the polar ice cap keeps melting, new areas of the continental shelf become available to oil extracting companies. However, reports released by the Oil Change International think tank reveal that Norway is the world’s seventh largest exporter of emissions.

Critics have stated that if Norway wants to be aligned with the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement, it must consider the oil buried underneath the Arctic sea as unburnable.

Nonetheless, the verdict suggests that the

constitution has been interpreted to mean that Norway is responsible only for the emissions it directly produces and not for those caused by the burning of the oil exported from the country. The court has therefore controversially adopted a very nation-based framework to approach an issue affecting the whole planet. Furthermore, the Government contended that if oil needs to be extracted somewhere, it is better if the process takes place in a country with strict climate regulation such as Norway, notwithstanding the idea that the failure of global suppliers to limit their production of oil will be self-defeating to the commitment to mitigating the consequences of climate change. The increas-

ing interest in the exploration of new areas of the continental shelf has also been defined as “positive” and “exciting” by Wenche Tjelta Johansen, assistant director responsible for exploration in the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

Despite the ultimate legal loss, the lawsuit also had a highly symbolic meaning in that it was part of a recent international trend which has seen environmental litigation’s accession to the judicial arena and the gathering of enough support from the side of environmental movements to represent a real threat to governments that have not proved to be responsive enough for climate change mitigation. Among the more than 884 exemplary cases of collective movements mobilized against the allegedly inefficient and insufficient government’s action in the past 20 years, the most remarkable are found in the Netherlands where the claims of the NGO Urgenda in 2015 were not only heard by the court but also resulted in the Court releasing an order that forced the government to cut its emissions by 25 % by 2020. The widening of the emission gap (the emissions reductions necessary to achieve the targets agreed in Paris) and the likely emissions reductions from full implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions has provided environmentalists with increasing incentives to push governments for amendments of their targets or to translate their formal commitment into effective action.

8 year old raped and murdered in Kasur, Pakistan.

Wardah Faiz, LLB Law Horror struck Pakistan on 9th January 2018 as eight year old girl Zainab Ansari was found dead in a rubbish pit after being raped. The incident happened while Zainab’s parents were in Saudi Arabia performing Umrah (a minor Islamic pilgramage). During this time Zainab was under the care of her uncle. When Zainab went missing on 4th January at 7PM while she was on her way to her Quran class. Her family began searching for her and her uncle, Muhammad Adnan, lodged a complaint with the Qasur District Police Office at 9:30 PM. Zainab’s body was found from a trash pile on 9th January on Shahbaz Khan Road, while her autopsy confirmed that she had been sodomized and strangled to death. The autopsy also showed that she had been raped before being killed, confirmed by Dr Qurutulain Atique, the medical officer who carried out the examination. There were torture marks on her face and Zainab’s tongue was crushed between her teeth, she said. The report by Dr Atique suggests that when the autopsy was performed, she had been deceased for two or three days already. CCTV footage uncovered by Zainab’s family shows that Zainab was led by the hand by an unknown bearded man in white clothing, assumed to be her attacker, on Peerowala Road in Kasur.

On 19th February, police took two people into custody in connection with the murder; an important development to the case. Furthermore, Muhammad Idrees, the regional police officer of Multan and head of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the case, submitted to the court a report

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on the investigations. He said that Zainab’s case is the latest in eight similar incidents of assault and murder since 2005.

The government was also seemingly swift in condemning the act. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said “deeply pained about brutal murder of an 8-year old in a child molestation case. Those societies that cannot protect its children are eternally condemned. Not going to rest until the penetrators of this dastardly act are apprehended and given severest possible punishment under the law.” He also offered a 10 million rupee reward for anyone who helped find the killers (over $90,000).

The response of the family is seemingly positive towards government support. “The JIT is doing satisfactory work,” the family members claimed. “We pray that the team is successful [in its probe]” they added. However, it is evident that no major headway has been made since the incident has occurred, despite the Counter-Terrorism Department, Intelligence Bureau, Special Branch and Punjab Forensic Science Agency each being tasked with investigating the case. The murder case of Zainab can be seen as a tipping point for a public outcry; public anger erupted on the streets of Kasur and elsewhere in the country in response to the failure of the law enforcement agencies to promptly take action and capture the culprits. Angered local people protesting claim that authorities of Punjab province have done little to keep the children of the country safe after a series of similar killings.

Two people also died in the protests that took place.

Many celebrities also came forward to voice their anguish over the matter. Famed actor Nadia Jamil expressed her despair over the matter and called for justice while opening up about her own experience being sexually abused. Jamil

confessed on Twitter “I was four the first time I was sexually abused.” She comments on how the only way to stop this is education; “the cure is literacy, poverty alleviation and an empathic education that counters all patriarchal, misogynistic discourse on women, women’s bodies and male entitlement to sexual gratification on power. Plus, awareness and

It is evident that no major headway has been made since the incident has occurred, despite the Counter-Terrorism Department, Intelligence Bureau, Special Branch and Punjab Forensic Science Agency each being tasked with investigating the case. protection workshops for kids, schools, parents.” The event of Zainab’s murder has also sparked an outcry on an international level, with many celebrities openly talking about child sexual abuse in the south Asian region. In response to Zainab’s case, the government of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, announced plans to introduce ‘Child Abuse Awareness’ in its curriculum. According to Sahil, a non-government organization working on the problem of child sexual assaults, 1,764 cases of child abuse were reported in the first half of 2017 alone, and in at least 62 of the cases, the children were murdered after the sexual abuse.

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30 JANUARY 2018

Bust commemorating Mohammad Ali Jinnah unveiled in British Museum Ahmad Jamal Wattoo, BA Economics and Politics On Tuesday, the 28th of November, a bust of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was unveiled at the British Museum in London. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan and H.E the Pakistani High Commissioner in London, Syed Ibne Abbas, unveiled the bust at the ceremony, which was attended by over 400 guests, with the sculpture being moved permanently to Lincoln’s Inn later that day.

Jinnah, who matriculated at the young age of 16, was an exceptional student. He was eventually called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn on the 29th of April, 1896. Many decades later, he would go on to make history by founding Pakistan, a state for Muslims in South Asia.

The Pakistan High Commission, the organisation responsible for financing the bust and its placement in the prestigious Lincoln’s Inn, stated that the unveiling of Jinnah’s bust was done to commemorate Pakistan’s 70th year of Independence and to pay a befitting tribute to the founder of the nation.

The SOAS Spirit recently spoke to His Excellency, the Pakistani High Commissioner in

London, Syed Ibne Abbas and had the opportunity to interview him regarding the sculpture.

Spirit: Who financed the bust and what was the inspiration for this idea?

Syed Ibne Abbas: The bust is financed by the Government of Pakistan but the project was conceived by the Pakistani High Commission three years ago. Regarding how the idea for the bust came about, when I came to the United Kingdom, I saw statues of the people who the government of the United Kingdom wanted to pay tribute to. It occurred to me that despite the fact that Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan had been called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn and had lived in London for a long time, he did not have any form of recognition or anything to celebrate his presence in the country. Therefore, we decided to have a bust of his likeness made at his old alma mater, Lincoln’s Inn. Spirit: How long did it take to build it?

Syed Ibne Abbas: The sculpture was built in 6 months and was prepared by a leading sculptor by the name of Philip Jackson. However, the idea was conceived three years ago.

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Spirit: What other events has the High Commission organised or helped to organise in the past year?

Syed Ibne Abbas: Last year marked the 70th year of the independence of Pakistan. We started the year 2017 by participating in London’s New Year parade. It was the first time ever that any High Commission participated in the parade. It was witnessed by 600,000 people on the streets and about 30 million people view it on their television screens. The second event we organised was the Pakistan Fashion Week, which was held at the prestigious Lancaster House. The third thing we did was that we covered London’s iconic red buses with images that represented Pakistan’s vibrant culture. This was very well received by the public. We showcased all things including landscape and wildlife that make Pakistan unique. We also organised an Anglo-Sufi musical called ‘Ishq’ which was showcased at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre. The last event we organised was the unveiling of the bust of Quaid-e-Azam at the British Museum.

Spirit: Do you have any similar events planned in 2018 to engage the Pakistani community in London?

Syed Ibne Abbas: We have dedicated the year to our outreach and engagement with the youth. Throughout the year, we will be reaching out to the youth and we will be working with them to organise several events. Finally, this year I want to organise an event on Allama Muhammad Iqbal, his philosophy, thoughts and vision of what Pakistan should look like as a country.

Spirit: Pakistan’s image in the world has been tarnished by allegations that the country hosts terrorist factions. What can the average Pakistani do to present a softer image of Pakistan to the rest of the world?

Syed Ibne Abbas: My request to the average Pakistanis is that they should act normally as they already are. No Pakistanis needs to bend over backwards to prove that they are something which they are not. We do not need to prove anything to anyone because our actions speak louder than our words. Moreover, we should be mindful that we represent a country, a culture and should do it justice. Pakistan has always been a moderate and modern society and this is what I think we should try to protect, portray and believe in.

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https://soasspirit.co.uk/category/features/ Features Editors: Amelia Storey, Marta Perez Fernandez

Cigarettes and Smiles Milhouse Storey, BA Arabic and History Steve

smoking? I’m smoking butts off the ground someone’s dropped. The only thing I bought is the papers: 30p in Sainsburys, 40p in Tesco and 60p in most corner shops..”

I’d walked by Steve because I didn’t have any cash on me, but stopped further down the street in a quiet place to wait for a friend and smoke a cigarette. It was dark and already cold, although it was only early evening. I saw Steve pick up his bag and cup and head over to a corner next to me, where he’d been spending the nights. As I rolled my cigarette and he lit a butt, I nodded in greeting and remarked at the cold weather.

“Tell me ‘bout it. I lost two this week…overnight to hypothermia.”

“You wouldn’t believe it, the way people treat you, it’s outrageous. People will stand right in front of me and have a conversation, ‘Ooh we’ve just gone shopping, and we’re off to Spain…’ It’s like you’re not even there.”

“I get people stopping in front of me and counting pennies, that’s right, counting...I don’t need your f*cking 5 pence. (He throws and kicks a 5 pence and it ricochets of the side of a polished car, leaving a small but discernible dent. He doesn’t clock it. Some people standing nearby chatting glance over then disappear.) What the f*ck do you expect me to do with that, wait until I get 200 one pennies and then I’ll have £2 for a hot drink? I need £15 to get a bed for the night, but no one would give me that. And I get people offering me hats and gloves – I’ve already got ‘em otherwise I’d be dead by now. I don’t mean to be ungrateful. But it’s just that people don’t understand the half of it. They couldn’t last a night, that lot, they’re soft. Us: we’re made of steel, cos we have to be to last.”

“People say, why don’t you get a job and buy a house. No one will give you a job, ‘cos they’ll say, ‘What are your bank details,’ and you can’t open a bank account if you haven’t got any money, and who’s gonna give me that money?”

“I can’t even stay in one of these hostels, cos that’s where the paedos and what-not are.

They come out of prison and find it hard to get housing – they got nowhere to go so they go there. And I can’t be with ‘em.”

“The Muslims are the best ones. A Muslim guy bought me this bag of food.

Just came up and gave it to me. Cos charity’s still important to them, and they mean it.

But the Christians…it’s in the Bible too, but they give nothing. I’ve worked it out. White Christians, British, they’re the worst. Like that place (gestures to a Catholic Church), just guess how much money they have!

But are their doors even open? No. There’s nowhere to go.”

Features

“I keep a lot in my head; poetry too. I wrote a poem for this girl I loved once, whilst I was walking around the Serpentine, you know in Hyde Park. I walked around it 47 times.”

(David proceeded to recite to me the poem he’d composed for a girl he’d loved. It was beautiful and lyrical; I wish I’d recorded it.)

“I’m owed money you know, by the council, they owe me £-. They’re meant to send it on 18th July and I know exactly what I’ll do with it: there’s an offer on in Holland & Barrett for protein powder, for 3 tubs of -grams it costs £-. So I can buy -tubs straight off, and they’ll keep me going. Then I don’t need to worry about buying food and whatnot. I already have some in my hostel room stacked up from the last time I got money.”

“I’ve got all sorts in my hostel room, stuff I find that I take back to my room and use it as decoration. Lamp shades. I even found some Mickey Mouse leggings on the street, on the street! So I took ‘em and I wear ‘em... so what, they’re warm!”

Carl

Carl was sat outside my local station when I met him, which is in ‘Greater London’ i.e. rural suburbia, not somewhere you often see homeless people. In fact, in the last 20 years, I’ve only seen 2 people I’ve known to be homeless in my small area; they were both in the last 3 months.

“People see me smoking a cig and they think, ‘he’s alright, he doesn’t need money, he’s got tobacco.’ What do you think I’m

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“I walk miles and miles every day. I get up with the sun and don’t stop till she’s gone.

This morning I walked from Victoria to here and I’ll walk back and forth a few more times today. Keeps me active doesn’t it. And the whole time my brain is going, it keeps me thinking.”

“That’s a beautiful name.”

“Yeah and she was too, a goddess. I really believe that. Anyway, she’d be watching it and the whole way through I’d be talking, giving a narration, and she’d get so pissed off! Then when I was in prison, I had to go prison for a couple years, I watched it and I thought, this is actually good!”

I lent him a lighter and said he could keep it.

He handed it back to me and said it’s alright, then he put out his hand to look at it again and saw it said ‘Rasta’ on it. He got excited: “Oh Rasta! That’s so cool! I used to be Rasta you know. Can I keep it? (with a sheepish smile) I had dreadlocks and everything. I’ve had dreadlocks three times in my life. One time, when I got back with Lol, I cut ‘em off but I decided to burn ‘em, cos they’re my dreadlocks, they’re sacred! So I made a fire on this green by our house, but our house was next to a school…”

“You burnt your dreadlocks on a school green!”

“Na it wasn’t that it was the school green that was the issue. But hair smells you know, if you burn a wisp of hair. So I was burnin’ ‘em and it was goin’ right over everyone’s houses and people had their washing on the line and that...! And everyone was closing their windows! And Lol laughed so much, she used to call me Mad Carl, Mad Cockney Carl.”

I explained I had to dash off to SOAS. “Alright Milhouse, you go and do your thing.

Have a good day! See ya babe!”

David

David and I met when I’d been napping on a patch of grass in Little Venice by the canal, a quiet spot in the mayhem of Paddington. He came towards me when I sat up and smiled at him, and he offered to share a cigarette with me. In return, I shared the tangerines I’d bought for lunch with him, and we sat in the summer sun and I listened to him.

“Nice to meet you Milhouse, I’m Carl. Is that your first name? The Simpsons is my favourite. I like Hollyoaks too. I used to watch it with my girlfriend, Lol. Her name’s Olive but that’s what I called her.”

Stats “I’m a bit down on my luck at the moment.

So I thought I’d just sit down ‘ere and drink some wine and read the paper, why not? I’d normally move around a bit but ‘cos of my health problems, I’ve got health problems in the stomach area, my solar plexis. A cigarette won’t help that but I’m a smoker aren’t I, so f*ck it! What’s your name?”

“Milhouse.”

Homelessness has risen in England, 20102017, by 134%.

The rise in rough sleepers has been 60%.

77,000 families were living in temporary accommodation in March 2017, including 120,000 children.

Source: National Audit Office

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My first time:

Keeping tadpoles (and thinking about death) V. A. Douglas When I was very young, and was out on a walk with my parents, I came across a pond full of frog spawn. I wriggled free from my mother’s grip, and ran to the water’s edge. The water was alive with swimming black things. The edges of the pond were bubbling with clumps of white eggs. I stared at them, and a thousand eyes stared back at me. My father lowered a plastic bottle into the water, scooping up some of the spawn to take home. We put them in an old fish tank.

I peered down at them knowing that their bodies awaited transformation; emerging limbs hidden somewhere beyond my view.

Everyday after school, I would go into the garden and stare through the thick glass of the tank. On one of my visits, I saw that some of the tadpoles were floating lifelessly on

Credit: Creative Commons

Do you own your own body?

Hasan Almuawi, LLB Law The question of whether we are truly the proprietors of our bodies has been a surprisingly obscure one. While it is easy to assume that we obviously own our own bodies because we carry them throughout the entirety of our lives, the law surrounding the issue has not been so straightforward. Medical and scientific developments have led to inquiries over whether research institutions can be granted intellectual property rights over cells and DNA or if one can sell parts of one’s own body.

The law in the UK has, as well as in other jurisdictions, has not developed a consistent approach to establishing the legal status of the human body. Courts have traditionally avoided making any judgements that may entail human bodies as proprietary rights. The legal repercussions of such an assertion may well lead to the subsequent authorisation of

prostitution, organ selling as well as assisted suicide–which explains the judicial hesitancy.

The landmark case of Yearworth v North Bristol NHS Trust in 2009 presents somewhat of a turnaround to the previous position. The Court of Appeal recognised the claimants’ proprietary rights over their own sperm. Whilst this is an important step towards recognising proprietary interest in our bodies, its value is debatable.

The Yearworth case has been criticised for seemingly rushing its decision to find a property rights over the sperm in question, without identifying an underlying principle upon which this right is founded. By finding the property right without a firm justification, the court took something of a leap into the unknown. The decision’s lack of foundation arguably makes Yearworth an undesirable precedent. We are left wondering whether the property paradigm has been extended to gametes only or whether it is applicable

the surface of the water, patches of grey fluff sprouting from their cellophane tails. They were dying. One thought lead to another, and I began to imagine what would happen to me after I had died. Where would I go? All I could see was my body hurtling through empty blackness towards distant stars.

Would I ever be alive again? I would never be able to hug those who I loved, ever again.

I did not know what to do: the tadpoles were putrefying, rotting. Some of the others had begun to grow proper legs, and were paddling vivaciously, their new limbs propelling them through the decaying water. I decided that I had to deal with the dead tadpoles. I picked out corpses, one by one, and hesitantly threw them over the fence into our neighbour’s backyard. The illusion of wholesome healthiness had been restored, the sight of decay hidden from view. But I felt the guilt of having disposed of their bodies.

As much as I would like to end this piece with something illuminating, all I can say is that these thoughts still terrify me. I have come to terms with the fact that death is part of life, but perhaps now, I would say that not everything ends, not everything fades. The remaining tadpoles grew into frogs.

There’s no point trying to discuss what happens after death– all that I can say now is that life is there to be lived fully, with love and energy and vivacity and joy.

to other reproductive bodily materials or more widely to non-reproductive organs and tissues.

The American case of Moore v Regents of the University of California of 1990 presented new challenges to proprietary interest in our bodies because of scientific advances.

Researchers used Moore’s cell line to obtain a patent which they sold to a pharmaceutical company for $15,000,000. Moore’s claim that the cell line was his property was rejected as the place of cell’s extraction, his spleen, was declared not his property. Property

right would have entitled him to a share of proceed. The law therefore leaves us in an unsatisfactory position whereby, one does not have a property interest on one’s own body, but another person has the ability to generate a property right in products made from one’s body.

As science and medicine continues to progress, the greater the need for a robust legal base which provides a clear authority on whether we are the proprietors of our bodies or not. As the current position is just as confusing as it is misleading.

Whether we own our bodies is a controversial subject within legal discourse (Credit: Creative Commons)

LONELY SPIRITS You are the hansini Oh meri hansini May this new year be ever so liberating for you to do what cannot be done To spread those swan wings and fly And to fly along – I will try :) Anon I just wanted to send all my love to my favourite editor, your piece of work is absolutely stunning. I always look forward to our weekly catch-ups full of gossip and deep talks about Spanish politics or colonization.

I will forever cherish our first “meeting” at Russell Square park, the beginning of this amazing journey. I am very lucky to have

met you at this stage of our lives, and for being able to witness you growing so much as a person. Love you my friend.

Your Andalusian friend Jamila, You are like the coolest person I know.

Your kindness, strength and beauty shines through onto everyone you meet. Me and my friends often sit down and just talk about how great we all think you are.

Keep making SOAS a brighter place! X Anon To a guy in his third year BA Chinese, you probably know who is writing this. I wish I could have the courage to come and say hi. I want you to know that just seeing you

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makes my day brighter.

Anon Thank you Jack from CISD, for your contributions to we students from International Studies and Diplomacy. You help me a lot in learning and dealing with crisis. Really hope to have success together in Economics and Security.

Anon How to explain?

That it is not the amount Of Arabic tutoring that makes you One of the best of the team.

But rather, your love for teaching, Which is felt by all your students Through the years.

To thank you for each smile given In the corridor when we cross your way, Or for each reassurance you had provided When exams where close, Even the way you soften our heart Upon your regular “tea time” Will never be enough to expose Our admiration for you.

The sun shines through its ray, You shine through your knowledge, And those who are lucky, To have met you, Will merci your radiance.

From all your Arabic students Send in submissions to: soaslonelyspirits@gmail.com, share the love!

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HUMANS OF SOAS

Stephen Chan

Professor, martial arts master, former student activist Interviewer: Ali Mitib, BA Law and Politics What is your background?

I was born in New Zealand to refugee parents. Because of the war, New Zealand was a very poor country and there was also racial discrimination, including laws against Chinese people. I was the first born so I certainly remember those bad years. But it became very clear at an early stage that the only way to come out of poverty was education. When I went to school I couldn’t speak any English, with the added disadvantage that my parents weren’t schooled themselves. It was pretty much make one’s own way – an ethos that has stuck with me.

What was your involvement in student politics?

The Vietnam War, Apartheid, liberation movements, the renaissance of the Maori indigenous population; all these things exploded at the same time. It was a time of great activism and idealism and the students were very much at the heart of it. The real accomplishment of that year was that we fundamentally changed the immigration laws for overseas students.. It taught me that working within the system can achieve results. They’ve never changed the laws back.

My family hated my involvement. I was meant to be the respectable next generation of Chinese integration.

You were involved with a sit-in?

The political protests had been quite polite up to the beginning of 1969, when we held the sit in. As something like this had never been done before and it was completely Credit: Creative Commons

non-violent, the police didn’t know what to do. They issued warnings that we would be charged with trespass and they dragged us out. Our lawyers advised us to plead guilty to trespass, but I was friends with lecturers in the law school so we made a case based on civil liberties. The prosecution had never had an argument of this sort. The judge did find against us but we raised awareness for the rights of people using forms of civil disobedience. I got fined slightly more for being an obnoxious person.

What actions did you take regarding the South African rugby tour?

There was a generation wide revulsion against what was happening in South Africa. People realised that there was a deep symbolism in playing an all white team. So although people didn’t want to mix up politics and sport – the mantra of conservative people – we encountered little real resistance and were able to mount many successful demonstrations–in my time as president, we got the rugby tour cancelled. By the time I’d left, the consciousness of people had been mobilised.

Is SOAS activism similar to what you saw in New Zealand?

In some ways it is. The difference is that the issues are much more blurred than they used to be. There is often a recourse to dogma and ideology rather than a more modern search for ways forward. You can even see this in the Labour party, of which I am a member. You can’t live in the past. The proletariat of today is different to Marx’s. The left have to rethink a lot of its foundation premises and it hasn’t. I think if you want to change our complex society you have to do a lot more thinking. It disappoints me that the left has not adequately engaged with what I think is a foundational intellectual project.

Credit: Creative Commons

What work have you done as a journalist?

For a while, I ran my own literary publishing house. We aimed to publish a younger, more radical prose with a new design sense. I was also the editor of the student newspaper at Auckland University which had a weekly circulation of 10,000, and it was free distribution. Learning the business side as well as the editorial side was very important for me, and I took it into my later work. The most important lesson in my career as a journalist? The ability to keep to a deadline.

How did you get into martial arts?

I blame my grandmother. She was a militia leader in the warlord era of China in the first part of the 20th century. It was anarchy: warlords and gangsters, Japanese encroachment, interior divisions. Villages had their own militias for self protection–you couldn’t depend on the authorities. My grandmother was a swordswoman so we all blame her for everything!

Hard to say which is my favourite martial art, as they are all fantastically creatively destructive. I never intended to keep doing it this long, but it became a huge philanthropic project. We had schools in the slums of different cities. We run a parallel charity to help with education and health issues: if you can get a black belt, you have the discipline to succeed at school.

What was it like to be awarded an OBE? The Foreign Office alerted the then Director of SOAS, Paul Webley, of my nomination. He said ‘you are going to accept this aren’t you?’ My wife and I had been discussing this and were of two minds. He just said ‘you are going to accept this’ so I went home to my wife and said we are going to Buckingham Palace. The ceremony was a lovely occasion.

Everything you see in the picture books is there. It did open some doors–at a Lord Mayor function, a serious business friend of mine introduced me by saying ‘This is Stephen.

He might look like a musician but…’ because I refuse to cut my hair. Handing over a card saying I have an OBE makes a huge difference. My objection is that it is called Officer of the British Empire. They should rename the honours in this country.

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30 JANUARY 2018

Pride

Ahmad Jamal Wattoo, BA Economics and Politics

Pride, one of the seven deadly sins, was found in abundance in one particular man.

He was reclining comfortably in the back seat of a black Range Rover, a rare sight in a village as destitute as Faridpur. His enormous belly bounced as the car sped past cigarettes and wide eyes, honking at an unattended donkey that threatened to block its path. The man was famous in this country. The name, Aurangzeb Khan, echoed from the highest echelons of Pakistani government to the lips of the impoverished farmers and labourers native to Faridpur. A seasoned politician, Aurangzeb was a three-time Speaker of the National Assembly, a two-time Federal Minister and was on track to win another election in a few weeks’ time. Word had spread of Aurangzeb Khan’s arrival and the townspeople now flocked to the single dilapidated road which bisected the village. The people grinned, some even waved at Aurangzeb. He didn’t wave back. He merely wore his sunglasses, gifted to him by his good friend the Foreign Minister of Germany, worth twice the annual income of all the onlookers combined.

The sight of all the people disgusted Aurangzeb. The town didn’t vote for him five years ago in spite of the new roads, the schools, the electricity which he, only he, had provided them. But Aurangzeb was a practical man. He knew that he needed these people. A last ditch effort to win their vote was crucial and only a well thought-out speech with false promises, half-truths and whole lies would suffice.

Forty-five minutes had passed and the crowds surrounding the Range Rover only seemed to grow in size. Murtaza, the chauffeur, knew that the boss’s patience was diminishing by the second. Murtaza had worked for Aurangzeb for nearly three decades and knew that all the stories about him discussed on late-night talk shows and on the front pages of the local tabloids were true; the servant he killed in a fit of rage last December, the drugs and nude women alleged to be found in his mansion in Lahore, and even the torture and subsequent murder of rival political party workers by his paid goons.

‘Best not to keep the man waiting too long.’ Murtaza thought, as he honked ten

times in quick succession and jammed on the accelerator.

They reached the political conference venue an hour late, and yet the crowds had not decreased in size. The major Pakistani news channels estimated that over fifty thousand people had congregated from all over the province to hear Aurangzeb Khan speak. But a crucial fact which the channels missed out: all the attendees would be paid for their attendance at the conference, about 1000 Pakistani rupees each. Aurangzeb knew that the millions of Pakistanis watching the conference on their TV sets at home had to be convinced that he stood for the poor and had earned their support. And so, he had left no stone unturned. Estranged party workers were bought back with brand new motorcycles. The news reporters were bribed to overestimate crowd attendance. The attendees were paid.

‘Assalam-o-Alaikum friends!’ Aurangzeb bellowed the Islamic greeting, as he exited his car.

As soon as he uttered those words, screams of ‘Mian Aurangzeb Zindabad!

(Long Live Aurangzeb)’ erupted from the crowds.

A small army of elite commando bodyguards pushed the ecstatic sea of men aside as Aurangzeb made his way to the stage.

Aurangzeb, meanwhile, waved at the crowd in Queen Elizabeth-like fashion and smiled ear-to-ear as he was escorted there, knowing full well that the whole country would be watching his every move, every gesture, every mistake. Pleasantries were quickly exchanged with the people who awaited Aurangzeb on the stage. All twelve men who received him had helped him reach the pinnacle of political success in the province.

They were now growing impatient, sensing that Aurangzeb’s Cinderella story was about to end. He was growing old and did not have any children who would contest elections after him. The possibilities were mouthwatering.

‘I begin in the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful.’ Aurangzeb began, addressing the thousands in a deep, hoarse voice.

‘Faridpur, are you happy to see me?’

The paid mercenaries roared their approval.

‘In these past five years, I have given you so much. Electricity, gas, schools and roads.

Me and my party, the Pakistan Tarakki League, have changed your lives for the better. And in a few weeks’ time, you will have your opportunity to say your thanks.’

A man on stage gave the signal: he scratched his balding head with grimy,

sweat-soaked fingers before running off the stage. An explosion was heard. Loud. Nearby.

The sea of people went into a frenzy, running out towards the fields. Meanwhile, Aurangzeb turned towards the back of the stage. He was alone. Before Aurangzeb’s facial muscles could contort to form a frown, a bullet pierced the side of his skull. He collapsed onto the stage. A pool of blood began to

form around his motionless body.

In barely a minute, one of the most powerful men in the country was reduced to nothing. Aurangzeb would be succeeded by a man no less arrogant than himself. The next day, the newspapers would read that no suspects had been found in the murder of Aurangzeb Khan. The cycle of violence would continue. Pride begetting pride.

A desolate village in South Asia (Credit: Creative Commons)

Do Not Read Writer: Your existentially subversive sweetheart Right, okay. I met up with a high school friend recently (LSE, high-fly, business owner), who’s further down the rightspectrum than me. In talking to her I found a rather uncomfortable mirror. This is my letter to her. Listen in, if you like.

We think we are the rational ones–the left has no basis in economic theory, the “hard economics” that counts itself a science and boasts Adam Smith’s pedigree. The left has theories whose results aren’t verifiable in fact, citing obscure sources or obtusely interpreted historical data. The leftist experiment failed with the USSR, fell into ice and fire and famine. The left is dangerous because the stripping of individual rights in favor of collective can only lead to dictatorship, to removal of agency, to blasphemy in human rights parlance. The left is utterly closed off, fraught with insurmountable divisions. The left is the picture of hypocrisy; champagne socialists tweeting unfairness while they benefit from capitalism, busy decrying a system from their phantom moral high ground

whilst we, the realists, roll back our sleeves and get about trying to make things work.

It’s scary that no one seems to see it, that everyone–especially the youth, the ones with the biggest potential, the economic drivers, the idea generators–would choose the system that doesn’t allow them to breathe. You told me, when we met up, that you’ve been studying how to develop countries. It worries me.

Do you understand poverty? I was taught the right-wing by people who do understand it, and you were too. But I don’t think they were the full picture of what poverty is. Who designs the poverty models we use? How much data do we have from real experiences–what do poor people think they need? Why are they not getting it? Where does morality fit in?

You grew up in a communist country.

I grew up with my grandfather, for whom hunger was a fixture as a child, who owned one change of shirt until he was well in his twenties, who couldn’t afford a coffee, let alone his education. It’s easy for us both to think we have the insider knowledge, the silver bullet needed to understand why capitalism is an imperative, why the right wing is the best way to survive. I’d like us both to learn that experiences are always multifaceted; I’d like us to learn that listening to people is the only way to broaden our perspectives, to be correct in an inclusive, intersectional setting. That would be really, really nice.

SPOTLIGHT: SOAS World Music Choir What: We are a small, friendly group who sing songs from all over the world, such as Spain, Kenya, Ghana, Wales, England, Russia, Bulgaria and more. It is a completely relaxed atmosphere and there are no auditions. We are always willing to learn requested songs and usually sing acapella or accompanied by guitar/drums. Our Musical Director Camilo is fantastic, full of energy and really makes you passionate about the music we sing! £10/ term for SOAS Students & Staff, £80/ term for

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non-SOAS members.

Where: G3 (next to the DLT), SOAS Main Building When: Mondays 7-9pm Coming up: Hopefully a small performance in the JCR, and another recording of the songs we’ve learnt at the end of term!

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FEATURES

30 JANUARY 2018

Poetry Is Peng Kingdom of God

तुम से दूर हुए तो दिल ने मसरूफ होने की चाह की वो दिन से अब तक ये दिल तुम्हारे इं तज़ार में मसरूफ रहा है As/ When distance separated us, my heart desired to be consumed by some distraction

What is the kingdom of God? twelve-forty-five, I found it, man, it broke my heart, and not for the first time

From then to now, my heart has been consumed/distracted by the thought of meeting you again.

and on a train at seven-a-m-, blue line, north-central until at school, I write a book (and don’t think about you) and what I write, I call Malaika, and wear it like a cape all the way to Africa, north-central, back again

Kudrat

Classifications and categorisations, Of race, class and many more.

Why can’t I just be.

NO Reference. NO Standard. NO Normal.

Just be.

But just be what?

Well you’ll see through my performativity.

you see it goes on this way until the night we visit my grandmother’s house the one she dies in, to find her there I eight years old, she eight older, and pleased, to say the least at last meet to the jewel from the curve of my spine my God, it is a relief to be there (and not thinking about you)

Inddieme

The Price Up in the charging summer air, Down where the sunlight was drumming, They jumped into pure crystal lakes; They take to it, leaping and running.

And I stood above, holding the sky, And said that’s the reason I couldn’t, Follow them into lake that’s so pure, That’s why I shouldn’t, I shouldn’t.

Liza Steinberg

birth I’m proud to acknowledge the fire within It comes at a time when I’ve made peace with all that’s behind me The past year has revealed many stages of being torn Experiences that obliterated my soul Both, in a sense of healing, but also learning to understand the importance of acceptance.

Even when it’s not in our favour I’m ready to face who I want to be Without feeling bound to a past that no longer serves me.

it took me two-and-a-half years to find what I came home to find at elevenseventeen when the floor it rose up from beneath the mat to ask of me, “What is the kingdom of God?” and thankfully I knew by then that I had stolen a piece and swallowed it and the form and colour grew in me but I could not breathe back the time before the eight-o’clock train rolled back around to take you back again, L-A-X-, south-central, don’t you dare my God, what would I give for this kingdom?

Samuel Kier

Raheema Khan raheema_ek

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30 JANUARY 2018 Comment Editor: Uswa Ahmed https://soasspirit.co.uk/category/comment/

Comment

Racism happens at SOAS too

didn’t matter to her that she too was a person of colour, and that she was a student at SOAS to advance her learning of the world. I was simply an ‘Indian shit’ to her, I was beneath her and I was to her something fetid and repulsive. To her I was one of a population of people who behaved the same way, and inconvenienced people like her. I wasn’t worthy of respect. My very existence angered her. When someone holds a hatred so visceral, they are not open to rational communication.

Kushie Amin Racism has followed me throughout my life, and I no longer believe that I am just an ‘unlucky’ person who has simply seen the worst. I, like many others, consoled myself with the idea that racism only occurs in certain places by certain people. ‘Be careful in that area, it is majority white – it might be quite racist’ my mum would warn me before going to a friend’s house. ‘London is such a diverse city, I can’t imagine racism happening here,’ a friend once told me. It was a comforting sensation to say that racism is in certain areas, and is not present in others; it gave me a feeling of control that I could actively protect myself by not associating myself with these people or being in these areas. I have since had to resign myself to the fact that I cannot protect myself from racism. Racism can happen anywhere, and as a person of colour, I am vulnerable wherever I go. I hope I can shed some light on the vulnerabilities we face as people of colour, and the prevalence of racism in our society, even in the most unexpected settings.

At primary school, in an affluent area of Marylebone, I was one of a few South Asians meaning I stood out like a sore thumb. I was often at the receiving end of merciless racial slurs like ‘Paki’, ‘ugly Hindu’ and ‘stinky Indian.’ I recall a particularly shocking instance, when I was 8 years old. In the class, my teacher Mrs Gibson scoffed at me ‘sit down, you immigrant,’ with a smirk on her face. She looked to her side at the teaching assistant Mrs Kennedy smirked in agreement and sniggered in approval. I didn’t know what the word meant, but there was a disgust in her tone of voice. I got the feeling it was a negative word and that it was something to be ashamed of. I remember going home and asking my mum and dad what it meant, and I feel pained today to remember the look of hurt on their faces.

The popular girls were a group of white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls, with elegant upper-class names like ‘Rosie,’ ‘Amelia,’ and ‘Monica’. They got the best treatment and privilege from the teachers at school: they were given the main positions in the school play, they would get awarded in school assemblies for their musical talents and, what felt most importantly for a girl growing up, they were the object of every boy in the class’s desire. I didn’t win the genetic lottery, and every day at school I was reminded of that by my peers and the teachers. I believed at the time that to be blonde-haired, blueeyed and white was what beauty was, and that I could get treated better. I recall asking my mum and dad many times if I could bleach my skin white and dye my hair blonde

I was simply an ‘Indian shit’ to her, I was beneath her and I was to her something fetid and repulsive … I wasn’t worthy of respect. My very existence angered her.

Holding up a candle in the presence of racism (Credit: Creative Commons)

for my birthday, so I could finally live my dream of looking like Britney Spears, and be what society deemed beautiful.

SOAS is in no way reflective of the outside world. It is a utopian bubble, and even within that utopia I saw an ugliness that I never thought I’d see.

This was not one isolated experience of racism. I was exposed to the ugliness of racism. I hoped to shut out these painful moments of my life and move on. Moments like that gave me a great sense of pride to be able to attend and study at a university like SOAS. Going to a university like SOAS, ten years later, where my ‘otherness’ would be celebrated and included in its vast multi-cultural student body felt incredible. But I was

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wrong and while a majority of the students aren’t like this, it is naïve to think that everyone thinks the same way. SOAS is in no way reflective of the outside world. It is a utopian bubble, and even within that utopia I saw an ugliness that I never thought I’d see. You would think that given these factors, racism has no place here, and never had. I learnt from my own experience that it is naïve to believe so.

In my final year of SOAS, it became clear to me that racism can exist even in the most liberal, intellectual and diverse settings for it is a total misconception that racism is confined to deprived, uneducated and underprivileged settings. In the university library private rooms one day, a fellow student banged on the door asking me to leave immediately, yelling at me for my carelessness at her timeslot, eventually scoffing that I was an ‘Indian shit,’ and that she was ‘sick of people like me in this country.’

I had nothing to say in return. She already hated and denigrated me because of my skin colour and the associations it held to her. It

I was astonished at her words, and I was lucky that there were two girls standing outside who could confirm that I was not imagining this, and this actually did happen.

I quickly made a joke about it to them, and my friends later, trying to ease the tenseness of the situation. I didn’t like their pitiful looks, I felt so embarrassed and powerless. I needed to save face and show that I was not hurt and I could just shrug it all off. It took me a while the next few weeks to process the situation, and that experience brought back painful memories that I had hoped I would never have to recall.

Any criticism of racial insensitivity can be easily misconstrued by others as ‘having a chip on our shoulders.’ Racial sensitivity is not about us being angry people looking for racism in every instance. It is about asking white people to respect who we are and take into account the lack of privilege we hold in a society that is majorly white. The concept of white privilege arouses much defensiveness and anger from many white people, but it is not a term to denigrate and cause hatred towards white people for being ‘lucky,’ it is a concept that many white people need to fundamentally understand.

There is a vulnerability to being a person of colour that we can never quite escape. At the end of the day, we face a harsh reality. We come into this world as a person of colour, and there is nothing we can do to protect myself from abuse like this. We are vulnerable everywhere we go. We don’t have a choice in situations of racism. This it is the unjustness of racism – we, as people of colour don’t have a choice. To racists we are a colour first, and a human being second.

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COMMENT

2018 Cabinet Reshuffle: Fresh Talent or Fresh Disappointment?

Julia Everett, BA International Relations & Development Studies

The cabinet remains overwhelmingly privileged, white and male Theresa May recently stated that her new cabinet reshuffle has made the government look ‘more like the country it serves’ and is ‘bringing fresh talent into government’. But this statement is far from the truth. The cabinet remains to be overwhelmingly privileged, white and male. Prepare for more of the same.

Prime Minister Theresa May has attempted to combat criticism by advertising her new cabinet as being more diverse and therefore more representative than what has come before. There is a small element of truth to this, as of the 13 new politicians on the government payroll, four were BME (black and minority ethnicity) and eight were women. However, the diversity of the cabinet fails to go much further than this.

This cabinet is more privileged than the one that came before. Research from the Sutton Trust shows that 34% of the 29 ministers attending cabinet went to private schools, compared with 30% of her cabinet last year. David Gauke, a solicitor who studied law at Oxford University and previously worked for a city law firm, has been appointed as Justice Secretary. Amber Rudd, former investment banker and venture capitalist, has also managed to hold onto her position as Home Secretary. Supporters of May might argue that these examples of education and experience render these ministers more qualified. On the contrary, I find it hard to believe that an ex-venture capitalist really holds the interests of the working class at heart. May’s cabinet fails to represent the country it serves, as ministers attending the cabinet are around five times more likely to have gone to a private school compared to the general population.

Even more shocking is that only one cabinet minister, Sajid Javid, is of minority ethnic descent. He is also the first man of Asian descent to hold a cabinet position despite the fact that around 8% of the population is of Asian descent.

The gender inequality of the cabinet is also glaringly obvious as only 5 out of the 22 cabinet ministers is female. How can a government which doesn’t even attempt to represent who we are as a population, represent our political interests?

The new cabinet, same as the old (Credit: Creative Commons)

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Karen Lee, a Labour MP, said that the composition of the cabinet suggests a government that “does not look like the country it represents and whose actions favour a wealthy elite”.

“Millionaires have been given tax cuts while the majority are worse off, the NHS we rely on has been plunged into crisis and schools and children’s services have been slashed,” she said.

“Theresa May claims she wants a Britain that works for everyone, but her actions tell a different story. The Tories remain the party of and for the few.”

Delving deeper into the changes made by May, it becomes increasingly clear that the interests of the general population are at odds with those of the government. Shockingly, the infamous Jeremy Hunt has not only held onto his position as Health Secretary, but his role has been expanded to Secretary for Health and Social Care. May hopes that this appointment will bring, what she believes, is Hunt’s calm and reassuring approach to the NHS to social care. But surely anyone can see that Hunt’s handling of the role since 2012 has been utterly shambolic. From numerous cuts to the 2015 battle with junior doctors over an unacceptable contract, which brought the NHS to a halt on numerous occasions. Hunt’s new position suggests a failure on May’s part to recognise the discontent surrounding the NHS at present, and therefore a failure to represent the people.

Turning to education, Justine Greening has quit her position as education secretary over the issue of grammar schools. Despite the policy’s general unpopularity and the fact that it does little to promote social mobility, May reintroduced the policy in the 2017 manifesto. Greening’s lack of enthusiasm for the policy and her supposed ‘cosying up’ to teaching unions led to her departure from the frontbench.

Her replacement? Damian Hinds, a former grammar school attendee. It remains to be seen whether he will do anything to solve the issue of student debt and university budget deficits, but don’t hold your breath.

If we want to solve the glaring inequalities and crises facing this country, we need a government who is going to

We need more, and we demand more represent and put us first. Simply claiming diversity is not enough. We need more, and we demand more.

30 JANUARY 2018

Fighting Fire with Fire Emma Ruiters, MSC Development Economics Mark Twain once said: “Truth is stranger than fiction.” If the portrait of Donald Trump in Fire and Fury is by any degree accurate, we should all be terrified. Should the leader of the Free World (and in theory the most powerful man on earth, whose influence extends not least in the form of policy, aid, military presence around the world) is so mentally feeble as Michael Wolff describes. The world is surely not far from self-destruction. Trump comes across as an infantile, borderline senile person surrounded by sycophants and opportunists. On one hand, a potentially pliant vehicle for the machinations of his staff (primarily Bannon, Kushner and Ivanka), on the other, his unpredictable moods and love affair with Twitter make him hard to manage. The book reads like fiction. Michael Wolff ’s provocative and often witty writing style belies the gravity of the content. These days the media seems to offer entertainment just as it informs.

Perhaps fuelled by the medium of the Internet, the 24 hour news cycle has stoked an appetite for minute to minute updates on world affairs. The hit of dopamine released with every click of a headline has become an addiction for some.

Even when there is no news, the appetite remains. Wolff released excerpts of the book to the Guardian, before full publication. Despite a curious amount of factual errors and even typos in the book, it held the attention of readers and drove the click counter higher. Politics and the internet make a toxic cocktail.

Fire and Fury feels like the left’s attempt to fight fire with fire The left have acquired new weapons to engage the Trump movement. Just as the alt-right used fake news stories, Fire and Fury feels like the left’s attempt to fight fire with fire. The book feels true, it feels plausible, but the journalistic methods used to produce it are questionable. It has delighted all with its sordid details, has enraged Trumpists, and has brought up an interesting discussion around the ethics and standards of journalism. Wolff has been accused of using underhand or dubious means to acquire the information in the book, cosying up to its subjects, gaining their trust, only to profit on their misfortune. These drawbacks aside, it is certainly the most effective attack on the Trump administration since it began, denting the chaos and smokescreens with its believability. It feels like an attack in the style of Trump himself, provocative, sordid, uncaring of standard conduct.

The fall out has resulted in Steve Bannon’s subpoena and inclusion in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, doctors have been called in to confirm Trump’s fitness to hold office. For all its flaws, Fire and Fury appears to have pushed back against the seeming untouchability of Trump’s transgressions. It also highlights the media’s curious relationship with Trump, since the book’s release the headlines have focused on little else, no doubt he has been the greatest thing to happen to the media in terms of profit, but they have no choice but to revile him (or adore him if you are Fox News).

The falling standard of journalism has resulted in a more entertaining news cycle, episodic and dramatic like an episode of Game of Thrones, but it has undermined the function of the news media which is accurate reporting. The news media should not be a weapon in culture wars. Alternative facts and truthiness should not be the norm. But these are strange times we live in.

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COMMENT

30 JANUARY 2018

Sadiq Khan and “very stable geniuses” Mayor of London’s speech interrupted by anti-Islamic White Pen Dragons Becca Thompson, MSC Development Economics A group of pro-Trump protestors attempted to make a citizen’s arrest of London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, as he stood to make the keynote speech at the Fabian Society’s New Year Conference on Saturday 13 January. One man from the group proudly told Mr Khan that he did not speak for all of London, adding “some of us agree with Trump.” The group, sporting t-shirts saying “take back control” and raising an American flag and a sign saying “No 2 EU”, were looking to have the Mayor arrested for treason following his recent ‘disagreement’ with President Trump. They were met with jeering from the audience, with shouts including “scum” and “go back to Millwall”, which the chair of the event tried to suppress the disturbance.

Two Fabians scurried off and returned with an EU flag and a “Labour against Brexit” flag in response to the anti-EU sentiment of the protestors. The group were eventually escorted out by police, allowing Sadiq Khan to take to the stage. Before proceeding with his speech on gender equality, he gave mention to the “very stable geniuses” who had disrupted the event. He expressed that such comments were laughable except that these ideas have come from men in positions of power, referring of course to Trump, and also recent comments made by Boris Johnson.

The protestors were part of a relatively new far-right group called the White

PenDragons whose members have openly expressed anti-Islamic sentiment, subsequently gaining Facebook bans as badges of honour. The vile group are professing to be non-violent, and are looking to ‘take back control’ by democratic means; but with an aim to remove the constraints political correctness puts on free speech, or rather hate speech. It is clear their message is dangerous.

They are attempting to appeal to working class people who have been struggling due to government putting business and banking first, professing to be anti-corporation, antibanker, and anti-fascist, but the scapegoating of the Islamic faith is clearly central to their identity.

Although they profess to be apolitical, they are currently in the process of setting up their own political party, called ‘Take Back Control’. Their populist agenda has dark nationalist and racist qualities. The party website ironically claims inclusivity, ‘an allegiance to England no matter what a person’s colour, religion, atheism or sexuality’, but the targeted attack on the Islamic faith is not difficult to unveil. The group is looking to outlaw any groups affiliated to Muslim communities, again on claims of treason, and they state ‘war and violence must not be encouraged by “any” religion’. It does not take much deciphering to understand the “any” that the ignorant group are referring to. This criticism of anti-religious current runs throughout the party ‘manifesto’ as they stipulate religion should have no part in politics they litter the page with

Credit: Creative Commons

Credit: Creative Commons

amens and comments about the God given rights of the English. They attempt to use women’s rights as a further attack on the Islamic faith: ‘No religion may subvert or attempt to subvert human rights, women’s rights, children’s rights and animal rights.’.

This issue is being manipulated by many right-wing groups who have shown no previous interest in the feminist agenda and the White PenDragons are no different. A quick glance at the Facebook pages of the principal ‘dragons’ reveal their true regressive attitude towards women, and make it

obvious that this is just Islamophobia in the name of women’s rights.

The inconsistencies in their messaging are rife and currently the White PenDragon “movement” can hardly be described as a movement. The optimist in me would say that people like this have no chance of gaining support, but in the era of Trump and Brexit it is extremely important to call out racist groups for what they are, and ‘very stable geniuses’ they are not.

‘Thousands of migrants on flying carpets spotted over Dover’ – A Response Yasar Ohle LL.M. Law and Gender In response of my article on the ‘Aladdin Musical’ in the December edition of the SOAS Spirit, I received a comment on the online addition of the website that read: “Who is being misrepresented??? Agrabah is a fictional city you nonce.”

In light of this comment I wish, not to go into detail about the persuasiveness of the argument presented in this online comment, rather to share some thoughts I had after

reading this comment.

Just to make one thing very clear: ‘fiction’ is constituent part of popular Orientalist images and fantasies, just as ‘reality’ is. To put it in the words of Edward Said from the introduction to his seminal publication Orientalism, it’s not about “the correctness of the representation nor its fidelity to some great original”. Evidence can also be found in “openly imaginative” stories which appears to be quite obvious to me, since the whole concept of Orientalism is about fantasies and images...

Upon being asked by the editors to

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give my take on the criticism, I felt rather reluctant to do so at first. Why should I use my resources to explain something (which I perceive to be rather simple) to someone who probably did not even take time to think their comment through? Especially when having in mind that people are often asked to explain everything as soon as it is about their own discrimination, be it men expecting to get explanations about sexism or white people on racism etc.

Before writing the initial comment I was uncertain if this was actually interesting to anyone at SOAS. I thought, it’s SOAS,

everybody is aware of what I was going to say about the Musical anyway, so what’s the point of me mansplaining it to people?

Assuming that the Spirit is mostly read by people at SOAS and therefore the comment was written by someone here, I see my decision to write it notwithstanding my doubts confirmed, and my assumption that everybody at SOAS is aware of the mechanisms that shape our lives anyway proven wrong.

This is the reason why I decided to also clarify the ‘misunderstanding’ of the commentator – someone might learn something out if this.

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COMMENT

30 JANUARY 2018

Jerusalem:

Israel’s for the taking, and Trump’s to give away?

Protests in the Islamic Republic: One Take On A Multifaceted Issue Darya Maryam Sarrafan, BA Near and Middle Eastern Studies

Credit: Creative Commons

Kushie Amin With great urgency, President Trump has decided to meddle in another region’s affairs, causing instability and provoking chaos. Trump declared last month that Jerusalem is to be recognised formally as the capital of Israel. To mark this change, the US embassy will move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This is not only catastrophic for US foreign policy but also for any potential peace in a conflict that has spanned 70 years. This length of time is a testament to the complexity and difficulty of finding a mutual solution.

In fact, politicians have had to tread carefully when broaching this topic. US presidents have been notoriously unable to follow through with this policy, often backing out at the last minute. They have all feared the backlash it would cause around the world, and the instability it would create.

Former US President Obama was said to have ‘backtracked’ in formally announcing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. He deemed it an act that would be ‘explosive.’ This is not dissimilar to the presidents that preceded him. George Bush made the same promise but backed down, opting to focus efforts on peace negotiations instead. Bill Clinton saw that this policy having the effect of undermining peace efforts.

Palestinian land is further being taken away and Palestinians are further being side-lined. Israel, a fully functioning state with their military strength and wealth will always have power over Palestinians and win. Palestinians lack a state and a military to defend themselves, but instead they resist through protests, mobilising through social media platforms, and in some cases, violent resistance. Instances of violent resistance against Israel will always be used to define the Palestinians as a whole and innocent civilians will always be held accountable. Israel’s violent responses will be justified by Israel as a form of ‘retaliation.’ Any opposition to Zionism is deemed ‘anti-Semitic’ by those who deny the ruthlessness of the Zionist mission.

The emotional sensitivity felt by Jews regarding a Jewish homeland and their sense of identity a homeland gives them is widely understood. While there are peace-seeking, and war-weary Israelis, campaigning against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, the Israeli public and governmental discourse is acting relentlessly against Palestinians in Gaza.

Everyone deserves an equal place for Jews’ and Palestinians’ lives should be valued equally. So far, the Zionist cause has not even attempted to achieve this. Checkpoints, demolished homes and refugee camps show us that Palestinians do not have the equal freedoms displayed in a holiday destination like Tel Aviv. Zionism created hundreds of thousands of refugees since the creation of Israel. This number has now reached four million.

Trump’s recent decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and declare it the capital of Israel solidifies the US relationship with Israel and legitimises the Zionist mission.

Donald Trump is using his presidency to redefine history and national identity on his own terms, and this further side-lines minority groups he refuses to acknowledge, moving others to the forefront. This decision is particularly distasteful and

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crude, given its lack of sensitivity to the plight of Palestinians and their struggle for autonomy. Donald Trump’s politics is loud, brash and cheap. In his politics a respect for history and compromise have no place. Trump is keen to affirm Israel as America’s ally, and he will go to great lengths to appease them.

In another controversial issue, Trump decertified the Iran nuclear deal and authorised sanctions on the Revolutionary Guard. We can see that Trump is giving Israel precedence over other matters in the Middle East, such as the Iran deal. The US and Israel share a common enemy, Iran, and it appears that Trump is willing to show us where his loyalties lie. He has stated clearly this is not only the interests of the US but Israel too. In his speech he declared the US should avoid Iran’s ‘sinister view of the future,’ and cautioned that ‘their two favourite chants’ are “death to America” and “death to Israel.”’ By coupling the US and Israel together, he shows a clear partnership and alliance between the two nations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that the Israeli-US alliance is ‘greater than ever,’ perhaps suggesting previous relationships were tenuous. The Yesha Council, a Jewish settler organisation, is finding that the priorities of Zionist Jews are being met, and they ‘definitely agree that we are getting the VIP treatment.’ Israeli ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer is quoted to have said that relations ‘have never been better than they are right now under President Trump.’

Many are keen to stress that Trump is appeasing his Christian evangelical voters. Christian Evangelicals, hold a firm belief the biblical prophecy that Israel is homeland to Jews, and have lobbied to see this affirmed by the US. Christian right-wing groups and American Jewish Israel promoters have provided large amounts of funding to his presidential campaign. Trump has always prided himself in being able to deliver to his electoral base, and fulfilling every promise, as radical as they seem.

Trump has completely alienated Palestinians, dismissing their struggle and existence completely. To decisively announce Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is to give Israel a monopoly over the past, and shed away any other historic ties. This demonstrates the idea that Jerusalem is a sacred city that cannot be shared, and its history is under exclusive ownership by Israel and the Zionist movement. Zionism shows co-existence to be irrelevant and the presence of Palestinians an impediment to the homeland of Jews.

President Donald Trump only cares for peace for those he thinks deserve it, and he has alienated other nations to prioritise Israel. Appealing to his electorate base at home should not be a factor in setting out such a contentious policy.

Especially a policy that has the potential to further destabilise the Middle East, and cause mass outrage. It is an insult to the dignity of innocent Palestinians who have seen their homes demolished and their land occupied. One can only laugh at the façade of the US being the middle man. Now Trump has revealed the lie, and shed that image. No one should be getting priority treatment, especially not at the expense of innocent civilians as we have seen in this conflict.

The most obvious by-product of the protests taking place in the Islamic Republic of Iran seems to that suddenly everyone is an authority on Iran. Out have come those who claim to be Iran analysts or Iran experts while I am still trying to work out exactly what happened there and what qualifies the army of experts to analyse the situation and prescribe solutions. I do not claim to be an authority when it comes to Iran, however as a second generation British-Iranian, I hope my article has less of a one-sided coin view on a multi-dimensional problem. My main objective will be to dismiss the notion that there are no protests going on in Iran and that there is an external attempt at reducing Iran’s influence in the region.

It is also claimed by many that this is why coverage of these events were so comprehensive in the west.

The protests that have recently taken form, under the Islamic Republic of Iran, started off as an internal power struggle combined with economic issues which has since gained political momentum. The economic situation in Iran has been drastically damaging for the average Iranian for some time now. Whilst the GDP of Iran is the second highest in the MENA region (after Saudi Arabia) at $412.2 billion, this hefty figure fails to address inequalities faced by the people of Iran.

According to a variety of sources, 28.1% of Iranian households are living on less than $4,000 a year. This is no coincidence considering the wide ranged embezzlements and in particular those in the banking system which have left many not only defenceless but also penniless. As a people who hold symbolism in high regard, a recurring joke surrounding the protests was how inflation has led to the price of eggs going up 4 folds in this month alone. To the Western reader, this symbol may not mean much at all, let alone be a catalyst for the political turn of events. Put simply, the average Iranian felt: If the Iranian people can’t afford something as minuscule to the economy as eggs, how is this anything but unjust?

Consequently, for the first time in the 39 years since the Islamic Republic was founded, these protests have created openly voiced doubt of the Iranian people on the legitimacy of the regime. In some respects, it could be argued that the Iranian people would not have turned this into a political protest had they felt that the country did not have the resources to help them. On the contrary, Iran has come to the rescue of other countries, giving millions away, (exact numbers are disputed) leading to people marching and asserting: ‘Not Gaza, not Lebanon, our lives for Iran.’

In summary, to say that the protests in Iran have not happened is factually incorrect. The notion that this was purely a Western imposed phenomenon is also wrong and there are clearly multiple layers of complexity in this complicated conundrum.

Credit: Creative Commons

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COMMENT

30 JANUARY 2018

Why I like Donald Trump

Democracy

Trump is an example of both the triumph of democracy and flaw of democracy.

Triumph because a non-political person and an outsider whom a majority of elites opposed, still managed to win because people who believed in him, which according to reports were a large number of working-class people, outnumbered the elites and voted him to power. Flaw because democracy doesn’t guarantee a strong, sensible leadership and government. If not for democracy, President Trump and his antics wouldn’t have been there today. Though let me make it clear, that I am not advocating any other regime type being better than democracy.

My simple point is just that democracy too is not one hundred percent perfect, and President Trump is the biggest example of that.

Unity

Credit: Creative Commons

Ashutosh Nagda, MSc Asian Politcs Yes, I heard when you said, “Who is this idiot?” just after reading the headline.

Well, I am a twenty-something postgraduate student who loves politics but has very little idea about American politics, and no idea whatsoever about state policies of America. This piece is not about Trump and his policies. I consider myself inept to comment on President Trump’s policies to make ‘Make America Great Again’, and to also comment on why the American citizens (don’t know the statistics) don’t want him as their President. I am sure many of you would have already considered me incompetent to comment by just reading the headline. The thought behind writing this piece is a bit philosophical, it’s about extracting positivity out of Trump. Yes, I heard you say ‘This guy is insane.’ Allow me to explain myself.

I believe in the idea that no person can be one hundred percent flawed. There always is that 1% of goodness that a person possesses which can be intentional or unintentional.

President Trump surely has no intention to allow the world to tap into positivity of his because that is what he is most scared of.

Negativity fuels him. That is what got him

the Presidency. Sorry President, I have found out the positive treasure of yours which makes me like you, and I am going to persuade your naysayers to even like you more.

No political background

For me, a complete political outsider becoming the President is a positive sign.

He is an outsider. True, a rich businessman who surely must have held political links, but nevertheless a person who has never held any political office in his life, and directly became the POTUS. The latter fact has been discussed a lot by his naysayers.

Personally, I don’t believe in the argument that a political background is necessary to become the head of a state. The merits and demerits of the same can be argued. For me, a complete political outsider, becoming the President is a positive sign. Yes, I would have been a lot happier if a not so rich person would have become the President. That would have been a bigger triumph.

Politically incorrect

One thing I am sure each one of you will agree on with me is the fact that President Trump has proved that ‘political correctness is a myth’. Being politically correct was till now believed to be pre-requisite to succeed in politics, not anymore. Yes, political incor-

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rectness, especially the type President Trump advocates, causes sentimental breakdowns and increases a lot of political hatred. But the positive aspect of it is that it makes the said politician a lot more transparent. We as the public knew what Mr. Trump stood for, and then he got voted as the President. This is unlike most of the politicians in the world, who use political correctness to fool the people and then show their true intent once voted to power.

Humor

I haven’t seen a more humorous politician than President Trump. Yes, my home country India has its fair share of politicians who can give a tough a fight to the President in this category, but for me, POTUS takes the lead - unlike all the opinion polls. First thing I do in the morning is going through President Trump’s twitter timeline to start my day with a good laugh. I swear to God I do that. And when I say I swear to God I mean it because that’s the most convenient thing we Indians do. I like his juvenile, knee-jerk, raw responses on Twitter through which I guess he makes the majority of his government’s decision public. Come on, which head of a state ever has or will give a nuclear threat out on twitter. I know that’s not funny, but it is funny.

We have to mess with his head and that mop of his orange hair. This can be done with positivity and love.

This for me is the biggest positive of President Trump. I can’t think of any world leader in the recent past who has united the world so strongly. Albeit in Trumps’ case, he has managed to unite many in the world against him and his policies. He has got us thinking and discussing on many important issues. At the time when the world was slowly disintegrating, I believe Trump’s arrival has integrated the world once again on some common topics of concern. Issues like sexual harassment, gender discrimination, right for ethnic minorities etc. are common in probably each and every country. Post Trump’s arrival, an integrated discussion of these issues has started around the world.

That is a big positive sign. Being an Indian, Trump’s statements and policies get me thinking, and no, that has got nothing to with the H-1B visa. There are many like me sitting in different parts of the world who have got thinking unitedly on many common world issues.

In some part of India, some local auto rickshaw drivers quote a ridiculous amount of money when you ask them for the amount of money they will charge to take you from place A to place B. They do this to mess with the commuters knowing that we won’t agree with their quoted amount and will argue.

This for them is a form of entertainment. So what I sometimes do is that as soon as they quote a ridiculous amount, I just agree. This for them is an unexpected response. This messes up their head. This is exactly what has to be done with someone like Trump.

We have to mess with his head and that mop of his orange hair. This can be done with positivity and love. Negativity fuels him, positivity will make him stop and think. We have to make him think. In all probability, we have to deal with him for next three years.

We can’t remain negative for next three years.

Why not try a different approach to counter this negativity? Let us all get some positivity out of Mr. Trump. Let us all mess up with his head and bring calmness to ours. Let us all show President Trump that our heart is bigger than his.

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Review Editors: Abigail Moselle https://soasspirit.co.uk/category/reviews-features/

Book Review

Reviews

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House Mariam Mahmoud The 2016 elections (the first to be held without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act of 1965) and victory of divisive businessman Donald Trump unleashed among the Left a kind of theatre, one obsessed with asking What Happened. The spectacle of the elections has lingered into Trump’s first year and the collective incredulity that helped us slog through an absurd campaign has congealed into a state of relentless surrealism where the very essence of fact, of reality, of truth is challenged on an almost daily basis. Michael Wolff ’s Fire and Fury​, which sold over a million copies in its first week, secured a 7-figure TV deal within its first month and at this point has produced enough commentary to fill a new book entirely, promises to tell the behind-the-scenes story of Trump’s first year in office.

The book, however, offers very little to surprise anyone familiar with the major news headlines of this year, and for the most part reads like grimy, sensationalized, namedropping gossip. The portrait Wolff paints validates ideas

most of the country already hold of Trump: he doesn’t read, he doesn’t listen and he didn’t want to be president. The story of Fire​and Fury​is less about Trump, and the book itself, than it is about contemporary America and what it means to live in the perpetual conflation of, and confusion between, fact and fiction. Wolff frames Trump in literary terms: “a character — a protagonist, a hero…[he] lived...as a real life fictional character.” This sentence, mundane and casually nestled in as it is, is at the heart of the disorientation of Trump’s America. We are living with Trump in his real-life fiction.

Fire and Fury is not totally without merit, insofar as anything this widely consumed deserves a charitable interrogation that makes room for the intelligence of its consumers.

A thoughtful reading of Fire​and Fury​necessitates a comfort with ambivalence, an ability to hold onto two opposing truths. On the one hand, there is the introspective acceptance of the thrill that comes with reading political gossip that validate one’s opinions. On the other hand, Fire​and Fury​ must be read with the knowledge that the descent of politics into performance is part of the reason we are here and that,

in reporting on said spectacle, Fire and Fury reproduces and heightens it. It is likely that we will have a dramatization of Trump’s first year as president before he finishes out his term, and while that may not be cause for alarm, it is worth pausing to consider the implications of representing a historical moment as it happens.

President Donald J. Trump (Credit: Creative Commons)

Book Review

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: A not so happily ever after Khadija Kothia, BA History

Fairy-tales. The classic story of the helpless princess, locked up and waiting to be saved by her handsome, golden-haired Prince Charming. A story unavoidable in childhood, and in an increasingly gender-equal society, a tale somewhat unsatisfactorily anachronistic against the barrage of increasing feminist campaigns.

Francesca Cavallo and Elena Favilli aim to do the same. Aspiring to reinvent the traditional boys saves girl narrative, their new book, Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, instead helms the “heart-warming and thought-provoking” real-life stories of 100 “heroic” women.

Bound together in a hardback, sleek cover, the book is indeed a spectacle. Enveloped in vibrancy, each page is etched in beautifully intricate illustrations of each heroine. Side-byside and page-by-page, the women stand, embodying all ages, sizes, colours, nationalities and talents. From Serena Williams, to Nina Simone, Malala Yousafzai to the Bronte Sisters; the diversity of watercolour strokes alongside bold, acrylic portraits perfectly captures the sheer multitude of female achievement and triumph.

In fact, the entire concept of the book is very much a celebration of female accomplishment. The feel-good stories of achievement are accompanied by the collaboration, not only of 60 female illustrators, but also the joint contributions of over $1 million, making this rewarding effort the most crowd-funded original book in history and a visual representation of the power of the growing feminist movement.

But for all the showers of praise and never-ending scrolls of positive reviews, the book does not come without its unfortunate discrepancies. In place of the conventional sexist rhetoric that the book aims to override, the ‘boys will be boys’ stereotype instead becomes the tale of Zaha Hadid, who once upon a time, unapologetically threw a fit of anger in response to plane delays, and demanded to be escorted off because, ‘that was just who she was’. For all the current promotion of body positivity campaigns comes the story of Maria Callas, who in a land far away, was a clumsy girl who believed her mother loved her prettier, slimmer sister far greater than her. Perhaps most strikingly, for all conversation of gender-fluidity and non-binary categories, the tale of a transgender child, asking to be “fixed” into a girl for loving “dresses, the colour pink and shiny shoes”, brought to explosive life.

However, that is not all, for if the narrative could not be more questionable, the choice of

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“inspirational women” raises even more concerns. Promoting her “message of democracy and peaceful change” is Aung San Suu Kyi, a figure silent over the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims within her state. Pirates, smugglers, and controversial politicians such as Margaret Thatcher and Hillary Clinton are also given mentions, watered down to rosy fairy-tales of individual success and, as a result, raising question marks over what type of ‘rebel girl’ Cavallo and Favilli are aspiring to encourage.

For all the heart-warming stories of strength and inspiration that the book aims to conjure up, digging beyond the collection leaves the sceptical reader with a rather unsatisfactory residue. For the young girl, the book is great. Bright, vibrant and with a variety of bed-time stories to choose between. However, the stories are arguably short, somewhat repetitive, and with the inclusion of a large number of controversial figures, one wonders how the young, impressionable girl would react to growing up and realising the not-so-rosy truth of the inspirational figures she grew to admire in Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls.

Goodnight stories for Rebel Girls, inspirational stories for young girls against the traditional fairy-tale tide (Credit: Creative Commons)

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REVIEWS

30 JANUARY 2018

Food Review

Café Van Gogh, Brixton Road Lucy McCall, MSc Migration Mobility and Development

A selection of the vegan dishes on offer in Café van Gogh (Credit: Lucy McCall)

Café Van Gogh believe in the power of food to bring people together, serving delicious, affordable and 100% vegan food. Situated at the northern end of Brixton Road near Oval tube station, the restaurant is a hidden gem, a charming sanctuary amidst the hustle and bustle of South London’s busy streets. You’ll find this utopia in the annex of a church, a small, welcoming space filled with colour, greenery and a spiral staircase draped with multi-coloured fairy lights. With a ceiling painted to

mimic Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’, the quirky upstairs boasts a record player, board games and shelves filled with random objects, from top-hats balanced atop stacks of National Geographic magazines to colourful paintings and plants. This delightful space combines the relaxed feel of a friend’s living room with the distinct romanticism of an artist’s hangout.

Inspired by the vibrant fruit stalls of Caribbean streets and lively spices of South Asia, every dish tells a story of travel, community and fusion. From seitan sticky ribs to jerk plantain to burgers, the menu is bursting with diverse flavours. As a rookie vegan I found it hard to believe that their mac and cheese would actually taste good, but upon ordering it was pleasantly surprised! The ‘cheese’ sauce was a combination of butternut squash and nutritional yeast; whilst it didn’t quite reach the tangy kick of that ever-addictive cheddar cheese, it was creamy, comforting and richly satisfying. 3 accompanying salads helped brighten the plate and add variety. In total, the whole meal only set me back £6.25 (with 10% student discount).

On top of the delightful atmosphere and delicious food, Café Van Gogh is a social enterprise which reinvests its profits back into the community through programmes such as nutrition workshops and training courses. For anyone venturing south of the river, I cannot recommend it enough!

Taste: 9/10 Service: 8/10

The beautiful interior of Café van Gogh and the ceiling painted to imitate van Gogh’s starry night (Credit: Lucy McCall)

Food Review

Bone Daddies: Japanese soul food?

Uswa Ahmed, BA World Philosophies ‘Japanese Soul food’? Well that’s what this restaurant chain claim to have on their hands. This little Ramen joint first opened their doors in Soho back in 2012 and now have 4 locations dotted all over London. I’ve heard the buzz around this place for quite a while now and I knew I had to check it out. Upon entering, my attention was immediately stolen by the fully visible kitchen where food was being prepared. This served (no pun intended) to further build my anticipation. As I was seated and handed a menu, I ordered the infamous T22 (chicken ramen) which consisted of pulled chicken, ‘cock scratchings’ (crispy bits of chicken skin), onion, bamboo, nori, shiitake mushrooms and a Clarence Court egg. I also ordered the Korean Chicken Wings. There has been a lot of hype about this Ramen joint but the food fell short of my lofty expectations. The Ramen was unlike any other Ramen I had had prior to this experience. The oily broth contained a gelatinous bone quality, which some may find refined or tacky – depending on your tastebuds. The richness of the chicken overcompensated for its lacking flavour. The taste of bone was prominent and overwhelmed the rest of the ingredients. While the noodles were cooked to perfection, they did not make up for overwhelming taste of bone. I turned to the Korean Chicken wings coated in a deliciously enchanting and somewhat hypnotising sweet and spicy sauce topped with sesame seeds. The creamy and flavourful tomato-based sauce consisted of the perfect blend of spices which ticked the tongue.

While I do not claim to be an authority on Japanese food, I do believe what I had was maybe a distant cousin of ‘Japanese Soul food’ but did not live up to my expectation of the real thing. But if your not a fan of the Ramen, the scrumptious chicken wings are enough of a reason to pop into (Credit: Uswa Ahmed) Bone Daddies.

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30 JANUARY 2018

Sport Editor: Holly Sampson https://soasspirit.co.uk/category/sport/

Sport

Society Spotlight: SOAS Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Zaki Sarraf, LLB Law Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a grappling martial art that focuses on the control of an opponent and leading to a submission. The martial art combines different grappling systems, including Judo, Sambo, Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, to create a complete system of taking an opponent to the ground and controlling them with technique and leverage to get a submission via chokehold, arm-lock or leg-lock.

The rising popularity of BJJ is mainly attributed to its showcase in UFC 1, whereby experts from different styles fought to ascertain what the most effective martial art is. Royce Gracie represented BJJ and despite being outweighed significantly by his opponents, he was able to defeat all of them with ease. The concept of a smaller, weaker person successfully defending themselves against a larger opponent through proper technique is personified in BJJ. When a practitioner takes an opponent to the ground, strength becomes relatively nullified and technique take precedence.

To illustrate this, take the case of a javelin thrower. The athlete must perform; a full powered sprint, a jump, a massive turning of both hips and shoulders, and a throw. All the quintessential explosive elements of the human body are involved in this throw, which allows athletes to throw javelins over ninety metres. If the javelin throwers were required to perform the

same action on their knees, most throws would not pass ten metres. The closer a person gets to the ground, the less one can employ explosive force. Therefore BJJ takes away the single most dangerous element of fighting: quick dynamic movement; so it is common for a much smaller practitioner to dominate a much larger opponent through superior technique.

All the classes at SOAS are catered for beginners–regardless of fitness levels, weight, age and strength. If you do own a Gi, it would be useful to bring it for the Gi sessions, otherwise No-Gi attire is fine for all the sessions (t-shirts, shorts, tracksuits etc). However please avoid wearing clothing with extra pockets, belt loops or baggy fabric due to the risk of fingers and toes getting caught in them.

(Credit: SOAS Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Society)

Class times: Monday–13:00-14:30 (Gi) Wednesday–13:00-14:30 (No-Gi) Friday–13:00-14:30 (Gi) Saturday- 17:30-19:00 (No-Gi) The Monday and Wednesday sessions operate through a “pay what you can model”–if finances are a problem, the £3 fee for the class will be waived. However, to continue funding the society and the instructors, the Friday and Saturday classes are £3. The average cost of classes in London is around £15, so I urge you to make use of this heavily subsidised and discounted price while you are at SOAS.

(Credit: SOAS Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Society)

Spotlight: Consent Workshops Youssra Elmagboul, BA Economics and Development When designing these workshops it was imperative that they were focused on sport, and the culture surrounding it, as many students have already taken part in a workshop during their respective freshers’ weeks. While the opening section of the workshops is largely still the same (covering the basics of what the law defines as consent and what we, as a society, think of consent) they quickly move on.

The more we talk about consent the more it will become a part of a Sports Culture that we will be proud to be a part of.

The bulk of the workshop focuses on what exactly sport culture is– something giving you a sense of belonging when you first start university, a family and so much more.

However, darker aspects can also fester, such as so called ‘lad culture’ and ‘locker room talk’, all of which are not confined to any gender. Add to this the constant presence of alcohol, whether it be celebrating a win or going out on sports

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night, and we have a dangerous mix where lines can become ‘blurred’. There is a reason why so many sexual harassment and assault cases have alcohol involved, with an altered state of mind and inhibitions fading, cases quickly become a game of ‘I said, they said’. These workshops aim to prevent such instances and to provide everyone with the same arsenal of information–the tools they need in order to communicate appropriately when they are next put in a situation where there is a need to exercise consent and to remember to check if the other person is comfortable. No one is saying that you have to stop and ask, “Are you consenting to this?” (though there would be nothing wrong with that). A simple “Is this okay?”, “Are you enjoying this?” can go a long way. It lets the other person know that you care about their well-being and want them to enjoy whatever is about to happen. The workshops also aim to empower people, to remind them that they can retract their consent at any point and that, just because they have consented to one sexual act, it does not mean they have to consent to another. Consenting once, twice, one hundred times before, does not mean they have to consent now.

It is safe to say that many sport members felt apprehensive about attending these workshops; even after we assured them that we had altered the workshops given during freshers’

week. In fact, one of the first remarks from an attendee was, “I know a lot of us don’t want to be here.” Luckily, this was followed by, “but I think we can all appreciate how important these workshops are in the current climate.” This student was referring to the #MeToo movement, through which the topic of consent has been brought into households across the world.

It is becoming clearer that consent is not as black and white as we like to think. For example, an issue that was explored in depth in one workshop was the allegation against Aziz Ansari; the group talked about this story for a good half an hour–was it sexual assault? Yes, of course, if that’s how the victim survivor felt; but many members of the group could also see Ansari’s side of the narrative. How are we meant to navigate the minefield of sexual consent? It seems that the answer is quite simple: to talk about it. Talk to the person in front of you, the person whose consent you are seeking. Talk to your teammates about what they are saying and what it could imply. Talk to those around you to ensure that not only they are comfortable with the position they are in, but that you are too. The more we talk about consent the more it will become a part of a Sports Culture that we will be proud to be a part of.

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SPORT

30 JANUARY 2018

Varsity returns to SOAS Sophie Bennett, BA Development Studies It’s that time of year again; the SOAS Warriors take on the Sea of Red, London Met. In a battle of over 20 games across 11 sports SOAS will showcase its best athletes in a bid to take this years title. Games will take place between the 26th and 28th February across 5 different locations. Follow our social media ‘SOAS Sports’ on Facebook and Instagram to be kept in the loop about timings and locations for all games as well as live updates, videos and results throughout the event.

2018 is the second year of this long sought after tradition at SOAS and as such we are still in the building process of what we hope to leave as a distinguished legacy. Fundamental to this process is getting as many people involved in varsity matches as possible–whether you have been part of the team or are yet to be involved. So, if uni work got the better of you in term 1, or you didn’t know we had a mixed volleyball team, 2 sensational netball teams or 3 men’s football teams to name a few, now is your chance to get involved.

If playing is not your thing, varsity is still for you with plenty of spectating and parties to get involved with! SOAS will once again be hosting the infamous varsity warm-up party at a secret location (TBA) on Wednesday 21st February with a range of home-grown SOAS DJs brushing off the cobwebs of reading week and getting us pumped up and ready for the games to come.

Once we’ve got you in the spirit of varsity we want you to sport your finest yellow and black and get down to one of the many nail-biting games. Highlights from last year include an unbelievably close women’s basketball final, a fiery women’s football 2-1 win and an unforgettable netball match. Will our undefeated netball team keep their title after varsity? Our teams have been training tirelessly since September to compete in the LUSL and BUCS leagues and this our time to show them support and show London Met whose boss in North London!

Following the basketball finale, London Met will be hosting the Varsity Closing Party at their students union–a good time to celebrate our win! Finally, we are looking for a ‘spirit coach’ for the event–we need someone loud and ready to lead supporters through cheers and chants to support the warriors! (Yes, you will be given a megaphone!) If you think you can make varsity even better and want to get involved, drop us an email an sports@soas.ac.uk !

When a presidential candidate can dismiss the remark “grab her by the pussy” as simple ‘locker room talk’ and then be elected, we have a problem. When many sport stars fear people finding out that they identify as anything other than heterosexual until many years after retirement, we have a problem. When you search “sports and sexual assault” and get 49 million news articles from 2017 alone (Google), we have a problem. The English Football League has taken steps to tackle this problem by providing sessions on sexual consent to all the 72 clubs it is responsible for, in order to “really narrow down that grey area between consent and non-consent”. It is in the same spirit that SOAS decided to introduce compulsory consent workshops for all SOAS Sports Team members.

SOAS Sports Captains (Credit: Ali Mitib)

SOAS Womens Netball Team (Credit: Ali Mitib)

SOAS Mens Football Team (Credit: Ali Mitib)

WWW.SOASSPIRIT.CO.UK

All SOAS Sports Teams (Credit: Ali Mitib)

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Join your student-run newspaper Interested in journalism, writing, design or photography? Want to gain valuable experience to pursue a career in the media or publishing?

Want to express your opinions?

Email spirit@soas.ac.uk to find out about your student-run newspaper!

The SOAS Spirit is your independent student-run newspaper; an on campus presence since 1936.

We publish monthly throughout the term. We have opportunities to join our team as a writer, photographer, and much more.

SOAS SPIRIT