The Oxonian Globalist Trinity 2011 Edition by The Oxonian Globalist

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Inside: NHS reform ! Chileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neglected miners ! The Human Genome Project 10 years on

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Trinity 2011 / Vol 1. Issue 3

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A foreign affairs magazine produced by students of the University of Oxford

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Contents

Economics 10

Axe or Scalpel? To cut through red tape, Cameron must win over healthcare professionals and patients alike. By Lisanne Stock

Politics 5

Mining safety regulations

Small Mines Think Alike Chile’s small mines are not safe for workers. Government policy must change. By Hannah Wilkinson

Splendid Isolation An aging Japan should open its borders to African migrants. By Jamie Hunt

Nigerian elections

Primary education in India

Roll Call A large private education survey could potentially revolutionise India’s education system. By Kate Thompson

Japan’s immigration policy

Goodluck Charms US policy towards Nigeria and Egypt prioritises stability at the cost of democracy. By Tom Gardner

The West’s decline

Five Questions for Dambisa Moyo A New York Times bestselling economist returns to her alma mater to discuss deficits and trade protectionism. By Mark Longhurst

Brazilian politics

Healthcare in Britain

The First Lady An historic election ushers in a new era for women in Brazilian politics. By Eleanor Warnick

Canadian currency

Canada’s Plight to Eliminate the Penny Dropping Canada’s smallest unit of currency makes economic sense. By Mark Longhurst

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Art‐dealing in Bulgaria

Antiques Roadshow Rogue excavators routinely steal and destroy Bulgaria’s underground treasures. By Ani Kodzhabasheva

Coca in the Andes

Lethal injections in the US

India’s cosmetic industry

The World’s Largest Barbershop Shaves Over The market for hair-extensions connects wealthy buyers with India’s poorest plebs. By Erin Biel

!"#$%&'"$()*+,%#-,%-./0/1/ Cracking Down on Cocaine President Evo 18 Bringing in the Harvest A recent report Morales is in the midst of a political battle by the Council of Europe makes the that affects citizens and kingpins. By Sarah boldest accusations of organ trafficking in Inman Kosovo to date. Published anonymously

19 2/3456$",$-,%-7/%#-./%# How to Make a Killing Assigning A Niche Market Hong Kong is running responsibility for a series of allegedly botched out of room to house the dead. By Annette executions in the US raises more questions Chau than answers. By James Rothwell

Perspectives

Science 20

Genomics

Reading the Genome Map A decade after the human genome was first sequenced, scientists still have a lot to learn. By Chris Rand

Cancer in developing countries

A Looming Crisis By 2020, cancer could pose a greater threat than HIV for the developing world. Global health policy must catch up. By Diana Koester

Culture 22

Music in Bolivia

Foreign Invasion Electronic music is taking Bolivia by storm. By Helena Malchione

Three Years Later Pakistan’s experiences offer a cautionary tale for advocates of democracy in the Middle East. By Adnan Rafiq

Art in China

Shining in the Rough One Beijing neighborhood is home to a vibrant art scene. By William Barns-Graham

Art in China

Manufactured Art Ai Weiwei’s ‘Sunflower Seeds’ exposes the ever-tenuous link between art and capitalism. By Ani Kodzhabasheva

Democracy in the Middle East

Life in Bogota

The Resilient Cachacos Bogota quickly claims foreigners as its own. By Ellie Horrocks

The View from Oxford

Crossing the Hydaspes A British Indian classicist finds her heritage in an unlikely place. By Natasha Rao

THE

OXONIAN A foreign affairs magazine produced by students of the University of Oxford Trinity 2011 / Vol. 1 Issue 3 Editor-in-Chief Mark Longhurst, Hertford Managing Editor (Print Edition) Sahiba Gill, St. Anne’s Managing Editor (Web Edition) Michael Brodsky, Keble Publisher Tanya Sen, Trinity Publicity Officer Sophie Stewart, Trinity Production Editor Annette Chau, LMH Associate Editors Corinne Smith, Regent’s Park Brian Earp, New Giulio Morello, Merton Mandy Izadi, St. Anne’s Allie Lee, St. Anne’s Illustrators Samuel Pilgrim, Wadham Leila Battison, Worcester Advisors Dr Stephen Fisher, Trinity

DEAR

Globalist

READERS,

In the spirit of welcoming the summer months, when Oxford students emerge from classrooms and college libraries to bask in long-awaited sunshine, this issue of The Oxonian Globalist casts light on activities that are normally enveloped in shadow. Each day, the forces of supply and demand funnel a bricolage of goods, services and migrants across international borders and around the globe. Too often, the long arm of the law is mercilessly overpowered by Adam Smith’s invisible hand. In these cases, regulations that govern production and exchange are powerless to hold back the torrent of market forces. As a consequence, beneath the surface of the visible economy, a thriving clandestine market facilitates trade between buyers and sellers. In this issue, our authors examine a myriad of underground activities. In Colombia, calls from abroad for a moratorium on the production of coca have, ironically, caused the market for cocaine to flourish. Conversely, in Bulgaria, the illegal antiques trade could and should be quashed with stronger legislation. Allegations of organ harvesting in Kosovo, as well as botched executions in the United States, suggest that unregulated trade can perniciously violate personhood. Equally, a shortage of sepulchral storage in Hong Kong implies that underground markets continue to wield power even beyond the grave. Since our Hilary edition, the world has undergone some rapid political transformations. Articles in this issue confront the impact of the Arab world’s spring awakening, the violence surrounding Nigeria’s turbulent elections, the art of imprisoned dissident Ai Weiwei and Britain’s controversial healthcare reforms. We hope you enjoy this issue. Please let us know what you think by dropping us a line at editor@toglobalist.org. Thank you for your interest,

This magazine is published by students of the University of Oxford. The University of Oxford is not responsible for its contents. For the online version of The Oxonian Globalist, please visit toglobalist.org

Back cover photo by Garry Knight

Pictures from CreativeCommons used under Attribution Noncommercial license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0/

Sahiba Gill, Managing Editor (Print Edition) Mark Longhurst, Editor-in-Chief

Also: Japan’s immigration policy ! Nigerian elections ! Primary education in India ! Brazilian politics

Politics

Leila Battison

Mining safety regulation

Small Mines Think Alike Hannah Wilkinson

Chile’s small mines are not safe for workers. Government policy must change

HEN all 33 Chilean miners were released from the San José copper mine in October 2010, after two months of entrapment, the world rejoiced over the happy ending to the story they had followed throughout the summer. But the findings of an official investigation of the San José disaster – released in March – suggests that the case has more sinister beginnings than its ending would suggest. The report blames the owners of the mine, Alejandro Bohn and Marcelo Kemeny, for failing to put in place the health and safety regulations required by authorities. In fact, the company had been repeatedly fined for ignoring these safety rules in the years before the disaster. But that immediate cause was, in turn, facilitated by the absence of regulation enforcement – something the government version of events conveniently omits. Until now, there have been only three inspectors responsible for the 884 mines in the mining-dominated Atacama Region, which covers San José. Chile is the largest producer of copper in the world, and so while the large corporations that drill for copper comply with international regulations, many smaller mines – like the one in San José – fall between the cracks. Invisible Mines Chile’s safety standards are among the most stringent regulations in the world. According to Andrew King, national coordinator for health and safety at United Steelworkers, an American trade union, the “safety standards [that] companies are supposed to adhere to are as good as in the US and Canada”. Indeed, big private mines owned by international giants like BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Barrick and Xstrata enforce the same standards in Chile as they do anywhere else. The

mines run by state agency Codelco operate with similarly high safety standards. Regulation enforcement falls apart at the micro level, where small private mines, many of which are unauthorised, operate beyond the reach of safety legislation. In 2009, the latest year for which figures have been published by Sernageomin, the state body tasked with regulating the mining industry, there was one death in mines with over 400 miners, but 13 fatalities in those employing fewer than 12 people. One reason for this difference is economies of scale: large mines can profitably employ technology that reduces the need for people to be put in dangerous situations, such as trucks that transport materials to the earth’s surface. Small mines cannot. Small mines are also more likely to be owned by unscrupulous entrepeneurs looking to make short term profits when prices rise. The aforementioned report criticised the owners of small mines for prioritising profits over the safety of its workers. One of the authors of the report said that Bohn and Kemeny “wanted to replace safety and increase their income, [and that] this is not only inhumane but it is unacceptable”. Price spikes further incentivise irresponsibility; the most dangerous year for Chilean miners, 1999, coincided with the highest copper prices in recent history. Invisible Hand In response to the report, President Sebastián Piñera criticised the state regulator Sernageomin for its infrequent inspections of mines in the area around San José. In response, Chile’s Minister of Industry and Energy, Laurence Golborne, has instated a new director for Senageomin. The organisation’s jurisdiction has been expanded, and its budget, ac-

cordingly, has increased by 62%. Finally, Golborne announced plans to increase the number of national inspectors from 18 to 45 and train thousands of monitors as an additional measure for securing compliance. Yet he has also told journalists that putting these plans into action takes time, and no evidence has emerged that any new inspectors have actually been appointed. In addition, Piñera has not fulfilled his promise to ratify International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 176, first passed in 1995. This convention requires states to consult with employers and workers in order to formulate, carry out and periodically review a coherent policy on safety and health in mines and develop provisions in national laws and regulations to ensure implementation. However, ratification in the near future seems unlikely. Former Chilean Minister Camila Merino has recently stated that following the general principles of the ILO directives was more consistent with the government’s objectives. That skittishness towards regulation originated with Chile’s historic commitment to the Washington Consensus, a doctrine of deregulation, trade liberalisation, privatisation, tax reform, and fiscal discipline encouraged in Latin America by Bretton Woods during the 1980s. The Chilean state – present government included – has traditionally seen flexible labour markets as key to economic prosperity. Even under the previous Bachelet government, far more left than the current administration, the union representing the San José miners lost a legal battle to close the mine on safety grounds in 2003. Chile’s refusal to ratify the ILO convention provides mining companies with perverse incentives. The ease with which firms can hire and fire temporary and agency staff leads to poor working conditions and increases the incidence of workplace accidents among poorly trained employees. The doctrine of limited regulation and anti-unionism negatively affects workers in all sectors of the "

Politics

THE

Gobierno de Chile via Flickr

Solidarity? President Uribe poses for a photo with a rescued miner " economy. In Chile, almost 200,000 peo-

ple suffered workplace injuries in 2009 and another 443 people died. María Ester Feres, director of the private Central University of Chile’s centre on labour relations, comments that “decent work is not a strategic objective of this country’s model for economic growth”. The nowfamous San José miners are the newest victims of that policy. The government has stopped disability payments for 19 of the 33 San José miners, despite their ongoing complaints of physical problems. The benefits of economic growth in Chile have not been spread equally among the country’s population, and the same ideology which limits regulation precludes government intervention to inJapan’s immigration policy

Splendid Isolation Jamie Hunt

An aging Japan should open its borders to African migrants With a foreign population of only 1.7%, mostly from other parts of East Asia, Japan is arguably one of the most homogenous societies on the planet. Partly for this reason, Japan is in dire demographic straits. Japan’s life expectancy ranks, at 83 years, among the highest in the world, while the fertility rate, at 1.4 births per woman, ranks among the lowest. As the youngest members of the baby-boom generation hit 65 next year, demographers predict that Japan’s working population will be smaller than 1950 levels. Unless Japan’s pension age rises at pace with its ageing population, social security costs are set to rocket. Japan’s naturalisation and immigration policies stem from a culture that in many ways promotes homogeneity as a virtue. This perception is perhaps most

crease opportunities. As long as people continue to be desperate for work, they will put up with poor conditions. Ratifying ILO Convention 176 could potentially improve the situation, but the Chilean government’s response so far suggests that this is unlikely. Preventing future disasters and protecting the most vulnerable requires consistent, proactive intervention, potentially at the expense of economic growth. That, in turn, will require a serious shift in the priorities of the Piñera government. ! Hannah Wilkinson is studying philosophy, politics and economics at Lady Margaret Hall. chyou allenged by immigrants from the African continent. African migration to Japan, while small in scale, highlights the myriad of problems associated with Japanese immigration policy. There are not many people of African descent in Japan – an estimated 30,000 in a country of 127 million, the majority of whom migrated from Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda. This paltry figure is, in part, a product of geographic proximity: Europe remains the top destination for African settlers. The hefty expense that accompanies the 13,700km journey or from Johannesburg and Tokyo renders Japan low on the list of the most expedient destinations for African émigrés. The ambitious young Africans who chose to migrate to Japan do so in order to seek study opportunities or experiences that will advance their career – factors that are more enticing when immigrants face persecution in their home-countries. Journalist Jinichi Matsumoto estimates that 70% of Nigerian émigrés living in Japan belong to the country’s oppressed Ibo ethnic minority, many of whom sought immigration as a last-resort opportunity to achieve a better quality of life.

OXONIAN Globalist

Language barriers and stigma severely limit employment opportunities for African migrants. While many legal immigrants may find well-paying jobs in the Japan’s robust manufacturing industry, the majority of Japan’s immigrants are undocumented male workers. These immigrants face few employment opportunities – many work unofficially in Tokyo’s entertainment industry, serving drinks to businessmen or serving as bouncers at nightclubs. Once in Japan, alien workers tend to avoid relocating for fear of attracting the attention of immigration authorities. Japan’s limited tolerance of underground employment opportunities pushes illegal migrants to the periphery of civic life. As a consequence, African communities are few and far between. Japanese law reinforces this civic marginalisation. Although Article 14 the Japanese constitution prohibits discrimination of Japanese citizens on the base of race, social status or family origin, it does not distinguish between rights guaranteed for nanibito (everyone) and those reserved for kokumin (Japanese citizens). New arrivals from developing countries – derogatively dubbed sangokujin - are often attributed with a lower social status. Additionally, the African migrant population presents disproportionate costs for the Japan’s healthcare system, particularly with regard to HIV treatment. According to the Africa-Japan Forum, Africans in Japan constitute for 25% of Japan’s incidences of HIV. The bulk of sufferers are uninsured and face an unenviable choice of forgoing treatment, or paying $16,000 for HIV medical care, compared to a more digestible $200300 for those who are insured. Margaret Mawanda of Uganda’s Mildmay Hospital relays the story of a Ugandan migrant who, while detained by immigration authorities in Japan, was diagnosed with HIV and tuberculosis. During detention, the woman was not offered treatment, and as a consequence, her condition deteriorated significantly. She returned to Uganda in a life-threatening condition. Over the past decade, the international media has reported a growing number of "

Cradle to the Grave Rate per thousand

Birth Rate 20

Death Rate 1950

1975

2000

Source: Statistics Bureau of Japan

Trinity 2011

Politics

NIGER

" troubling incidents regarding the denial

of treatment and health coverage for undocumented migrants. If the current climate of discourse continues, solutions are unlikely to be found. In a Bloomberg interview in 2007, Tokyo’s governor Shintaro Ishihara asserted that “Africans…are there doing who knows what. This is leading to new forms of crime such as car theft. We should be letting in people who are intelligent”. The strength of Japan’s elderly vote, traditionally conservative, means any drastic shift in the government’s stance on immigration would likely be met with resistance. Pro-immigration policies similarly are unpopular with Japan’s younger generation, who fear that newcomers would place further pressure on unemployment. Japan’s immigration policy is in dire need of reform. Over the next two decades, Japan’s rapidly ageing population will drain the country’s finances and slow the growth of a country flanked by prosperous emerging economies. In Japan, the sun is no longer rising. Greater tolerance to migrants from developing countries is one strategy the government can employ to prolong the sun setting altogether. ! Jamie Hunt is studying English language and literature at Lady Margaret Hall. Nigerian elections

Goodluck Charms Tom Gardner

US policy towards Nigeria and Egypt prioritises stability at the cost of democracy

T the time of writing, all eyes are fixed firmly on the Arab world. Ben Ali has been ousted and Mubarak has fallen. Next door, Colonel Gaddafi is lashing out at his own people in a last bid attempt to cling to power. The NATO coalition has decided to intervene in Libya in the hope that finally a number of Arab states, from Tunisia to Bahrain, will establish functioning democracies. So long as protesters continue to demand political change, the threat of instability will remain. This is a concern for the United States, which fears that riots may give rise to Islamic extremism. The war on terrorism was the justification for the United States’ continued support for Egypt’s US-friendly dictatorship. When Mubarak was ousted, the United States was concerned primarily about the risk of extremist parties gaining power in a democratic process. Despite its purported support for the Arab awakening, the United States remains a power governed supremely by national interest, not humanitarian

BENIN Abuja CAMEROON

State won by PDP Goodluck Jonathan (59.6%) CPC Muhammadu Buhari (32.3%) ACN Nuhu Ribadu (5.5%) Adapted from Wikipedia

concern. This policy, though obscured somewhat by American intervention in Libya, is patently clear in the United States’ relationship with Nigeria. Nigeria has traditionally maintained stability at the cost of democracy, a strategy that has earned it a spot as the United States’ top ally in western Africa. However, Nigeria’s presidential election on April 16th 2011, has brought violence to Nigeria’s Muslim north, placing Nigeria’s stability in jeopardy. Democracy Now? Like the regimes in Egypt and other Arab states, Nigeria’s democracy falls short of the ideal. Since the end of military dictatorship in 1997, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has dominated Nigeria’s political system. PDP has consolidated power by administering an informal party agreement known as zoning. The zoning agreement strikes a balance between northern and southern interests in Nigeria. Muslims in the north lack investment in agriculture and infrastructure, and fear political domination by the Christian south. The zoning agreement addresses the north-south political divide using a metronome model for presdientials elections: a northern Muslim president must follow a southern Christian president, and vice versa. On the one hand, the zoning agreement has served to protect Nigeria’s national elections from falling victim to sectarian divisions. However, the zoning agreement was largely engineered by Nigeria’s political elite, and the public has been excluded from approving this process of political horse trading. In recent years, Nigeria’s voting population has shown signs of increasing political indifference and disillusionment with the system. While Nigeria’s

democratic process may be considered by some to be one of sub-Saharan Africa’s success stories, the reality leaves much to be desired. When the previous president, northerner Umaru Yar’Adua, died in May 2010, he was replaced by his vice-president, southerner Goodluck Jonathan. Rather than stepping aside to allow for a northern Muslim candidate to stand for the ruling PDP, Jonathan chose to run for a second term of office. He won the party’s primaries in January, which was hardly surprising given that primary support usually flows to the sitting president, who has control over Nigeria’s vast oil and gas reserves. Having secured the party’s nomination, Jonathan emerged victorious from Nigeria’s presidential election. While experts remain divided regarding the implications of the election, some interpret Jonathan’s success as the end of the zoning agreement. The United States has a key strategic interest in maintaining Nigeria’s political stability. Nigeria’s much-celebrated transition from dictatorship to democracy occurred in 1999 following 16 years of consecutive military rule. Since the transition, successive administrations in the United States have maintained a close relationship with Nigeria’s political elite. As a result, the oil-rich nation is now the United States’ largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the State Depart- "

Leila Battison

Politics

" ment, oil exports make up 90% of Nige-

ria’s GDP and 80% of government revenue. Nigeria’s economic growth relies heavily on the American oil market. In addition, Nigeria has often acted as a diplomatic intermediatory between United States and nations in the midst of political upheaval, such as Sudan and the Decocratic Republic of Congo. After 9/11, however, the United States sought to expand its political relationship with Nigeria in order to procure broad support for its anti-terrorism mission. Official statements from the United States suggest that Nigeria plays a “leading role in forging an anti-terror consensus among states in Sub-Saharan Africa.” In December 2007, Nigerian President Yar’Adua was hosted by President George W. Bush at the White House, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Nigeria on August 12th 2009 on her first official trip to Africa. Just as Egypt was a bastion of pro-West stability in the Middle East, so Nigeria is the same in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet that position was challenged last year when a Nigerian man attempted to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day. The United States promptly placed Nigeria on the State Department’s terrorism watch list. The day before the bombing, 32 people were killed in Jos while another six died in terrorist attacks on Christian churches in the north-east of the country. In reaction to the April Primary education in India

Roll Call

Kate Thompson A large private education survey could potentially revolutionise India’s education system

N India, the number of school-aged children enrolled in school is almost

THE

presidential elections, Islamic extremism has reared its ugly head once more. While the perception that elections were fair and Jonathan’s victory deserved has prevented a full-scale war, Nigeria is not out of the woods yet. As The Oxonian Globalist went to print, more than 800 people had been killed in post-election violence, 300 of whom were buried in a mass grave. While Nigeria’s president may have been handed a mandate by his people to govern, he will have to convince northerners that their interests will be represented in his and future administrations. As shown by the swift response to the Detroit bomber, countering the region’s potential threats to security remains a central concern for the United States. The international community should rejoice that its efforts to ensure a fair election process in Nigeria have yielded success. However, the United States should remain concerned about Nigeria’s Muslim minority. If northerners continue to feel disenfranchised, their frustrations could provide the fuel that ignites future terrorist attacks on western soil. The primary concern for the United States is not the absence of a fair democratic process, but that its presence in Nigeria will threaten that country’s status as a partner in the war on terrorism. ! Tom Gardner studies English at St. Anne’s College. beyond improvement, with 96.5% of those aged six to 14 enrolled in school in 2010. However, that figure does not signify success for Indian education. In the same year, only 53.4% children 13 years old could read a text designed for seven year olds. This figure comes from the ASER Survey, established in 2005 by Pratham India – the country’s largest educational charity. ASER manages to produce a highly accurate report each year, freely

Pratham Books

Learning to read ASER’s book publishing project provided the skill set needed to create a nationwide survey

OXONIAN Globalist

available to all, for just $1000 per state. Training and capacity building at every stage ensure that the survey adheres to strict statistical randomisation standards, and that each child is tested in the same way. The metrics produced are used by government and charities, but most importantly, by Indian citizens, who can now find out exactly where their 3% cess is going. Before ASER, no national figures existed for the crucial early stages of learn-

25% of parents surveyed by ASER discover that their child cannot read or add despite two years of lessons. ing; the focus was on enrolment. But enrolment is no guarantee of attendance, let alone achievement. Those children who fall behind early will seldom catch up: in classes of 50, teachers simply cannot attend to the needs of individuals. Such children typically fall further behind or leave altogether to start work early. Lack of resources, especially teachers, poor attendance, language differences between teacher and pupils, and policies such as placing children in classes according to age, not ability, contribute to making this occurrence a common one. Inadequate schools are even implicated in bonded child labour, since some parents in the grip of poverty feel that an ‘apprenticeship’ (for that is how such arrangements are presented) in a factory would be a better option for their child than a space on the floor in the back of a dusty classroom. ASER began from a private charity, Pratham India, which has been addressing such issues for sixteen years, reaching 34 million children with just one of its many programs. Pratham’s main focus is supporting and training teachers. The ‘Read India’ programme trains teachers and volunteers in new techniques based on participation: maths is taught with a wide range of activities and reading with the Indian version of phonics – ‘ka, kaa, ki, kee, ku, koo, kay, kai, ko, kow’ – with speedy and impressive results across India. Pratham attacks the problem from every angle: combating child labour, setting up nursery schools, raising awareness and equipping libraries. When they found it difficult to interest children in the small collection of story-books available, they even began publishing their own range of colourful, affordable children’s books which are now used throughout India. However, India is notoriously multilingual, with each region speaking a unique language. This makes creating tools a challenge: stories must be created that are equally easy to read in more than thirty languages, and several alphabets. Tools must be designed so that every volunteer uses them in a "

Trinity 2011

" similar way. Pratham invested in solving

those problems, and in doing so, learned the set of skills that would enable it to grow across India. As it expanded, reliable metrics on learning for the whole country became essential, and its biggest project yet – ASER – was born. ASER is a survey both for and by the people. More than 100,000 volunteers have taken part over five years, testing 700,000 Indian children each year. Recruited locally, volunteers receive training then travel to their states’ rural areas, testing children in their homes. As the children attempt to read simple paragraphs, parents and neighbours gather,

Politics

with an average of 25% of parents discovering that their child cannot read or add despite two years of lessons. Parents who themselves tend to lack basic education are often distant from their child’s schooling, and assume that attendance at school is enough. Surveyors spend time explaining their work with parents, the village sarpanch and panchayat (local leader and committee), who are often motivated to seek extra tuition (surprisingly common: 24% of children had some tutoring in 2010) or improve their local schools. Such tutoring can come from the surveyors themselves, who are often keen to ameliorate the inadequacies

they were surprised to discover. Volunteers trained by Pratham run ‘accelerated reading schemes’ in thousands of villages each year, training children to read in just one month. ASER represents a local approach to education that may be the key to educating India’s vast population. An educated child is likely to be healthier, wealthier, and have fewer children. For India, it’s a worthwhile investment. ! Kate Thompson is studying for a M.St in Greek and Latin languages and literatures at Christ Church.

Agência Brasil

Fewer neckties Brazil’s current cabinet features a record number of female ministers Brazilian politics

The First Lady Eleanor Warnick

An historic election ushers in a new era for women in Brazilian politics

N January 1st 2011, Dilma Rousseff made history by becoming Brazil’s first female president. Her landslide victory in Latin America’s largest election, with more than 130 million votes cast, represented a moment of triumph for women in South American politics. Dilma defies Brazil’s female stereotype: the bikini-clad, hedonistic playgirl whose sensuous playfulness drives tourists wild. Instead, over the past decade Dilma has proved herself to be a competent Minister for Energy, a pragmatic economist, and a worthy political adversary. Her electoral victory is arguably as important for women in Brazil as Obama’s triumph was for African Americans in the United States. Throughout the campaign, politicians struggled to adjust to the presence of a gifted female challenger in a political race that has traditionally been dominated by men. Prior to the election, thenpresident Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who

supported Dilma’s candidacy, christened her the “mother” of Brazilian society. However, Dilma’s past involvement in Brazilian politics indicates that she should be characterised as anything but maternal. Like many latter-day Brazilian politicians, Dilma’s political beliefs were forged during the country’s military dictatorship. Following Brazil’s 1962 coup d’état, Dilma was active in Vanguarda Armada Revolucionária Palmares and Comando de Libertação Nacional, two far-left guerrilla organisations. On account of her involvement, Dilma served almost three years in the so-called Damsel Tower prison in São Paulo, where she survived twenty-two days of severe torture. Hardly the passive stereotype of a nurturing mother, Dilma has shown herself to be authoritative and independent. Dilma’s victory will likely change the public perception of the role of women in Brazillian society. Her cabinet boasts a record proportion of female ministers:

women oversee nine of Brazil’s 37 ministries. Among her reforms, Dilma hopes to incentivise women to join the labour force. These policies seem to be motivated by Dilma’s stated belief that society’s perception of women is fundamentally distorted. Two months after taking office, she remarked in an interview, “It is funny how we women are expected to be fragile. When a woman takes over a high position, she is regarded as being out of her normal role. I think that from now on, this will be seen as a natural, normal thing”. Dilma’s presidency may symbolise the beginning of an era in which women play a much more active role governing Brazil. Her emphasis on equal opportunities adds a new dimension to Lula’s socialist creed, “A Brazil for Everyone”. Whether Dilma can implement the legal and economic reforms necessary to secure Brazil’s future prosperity remains yet to be seen. Nevertheless, her election strikes a blow to political culture in Brazil that for too long has placed limitations on the role of women in politics. ! Eleanor Warnick studies modern language at St. Anne’s College.

Also: The West’s decline ! Canada’s penny

Economics

Gene Hunt via Flickr

Healthcare in Britain

Axe or Scalpel? Lisanne Stock

To cut through red tape, Cameron must win over healthcare professionals and patients alike

CONOMISTS celebrate division of labor and specialisation as classical linchpins of market efficiency. However, the latest National Health Service (NHS) reforms, proposed by Tory Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, would remove both features from Britain’s national health care service. The Health and Social Care Bill, introduced in Parliament in January, requires that doctors subsume the role of accountants in the name of fiscal discipline, with the aim of slashing management costs in the healthcare industry by 45% over the next four years. If passed, the act would remove an entire tier of healthcare administration by shifting the onus of purchasing NHS patient services from primary care trusts (PCTs) to GPs. The proposed reconstruction of the NHS architecture would have considerable implications for Britain’s health system. Opponents fear that the quality of service provided by GPs to their patients could decrease as doctors struggle to adapt to their new commissioning role, and believe that the bill’s goals could be achieved using less extreme measures. Advocates argue that taking this hatchet to the NHS bureaucracy will reduce costs and enhance the healthcare efficiency and efficacy. Regardless, the reforms will not succeed unless the government can convince the public that cutting bureaucracy does not require cutting patient care as well. The government’s plans have thus far proved unpopular among medical practitioners, many of whom assert that they possess neither the time nor the expertise to manage finances without assistance. James Gubb, director of the Institute for the Study of Civil Society’s Health Unit, argues that “the risks of ripping up the

current commissioning structure in its entirety in favour of new, inexperienced organisations…are unquantified and in all likelihood unacceptably high.” Chris Ham, chief executive of health policy think-tank The King’s Fund, describes the proposals as “a very powerful cocktail of policies that are being pursued all at the same time when the NHS budget is getting very tight.” The British Medical Association, the country’s largest professional association of doctors, sharply condemned the proposed privatisation of medical services in March, arguing that market forces are ill-suited to achieve outcomes specific to the medical profession, such as patient satisfaction and holistic medical care. Giving individual GPs the power to allocate NHS funds could ultimately neglect funding for less common ailments, such as mental illness. Conversely, in 2006, the Audit Commission published a report that claimed that the bill will distribute resources more fairly. Then-chairman Sir Michael Lyons summarised the report by claiming that the changes “would enable trusts and PCTs to achieve better value for taxpayers’ money and contribute to consistent, reliably funded services for patients.” Prime Minister David Cameron, who was elected on the promise that he would cut funding to the NHS, claims that the bill contains few policies that have not been implemented successfully in times of crisis by previous governments. He also maintains that the bill has attracted the support of many professionals in the medical community, and notes that more than one hundred practices have volunteered for a pilot scheme. The government is selling the policy as a “win-win-win” situation for all par-

ties: the NHS, clinicians, and patients. However, at present, the public remains skeptical. In April, David Cameron begrudgingly embarked on a two month “listening exercise” to persuade stakeholders in the healthcare system that the proposed changes will serve their interests. To succeed, he must convince the nation that patients, first and foremost, stand to benefit from the health reforms. If he fails, Lansley, the central architect of the proposed changes, will likely be remembered not for his brave attempt to slice through red tape, but for the nimbus of controversy that surrounded his reforms. ! Lisanne Stock studies medicine at St. Anne’s College. The West’s decline

Five Questions for Dambisa Moyo Mark Longhurst A New York Times bestselling economist returns to her alma mater to discuss deficits and trade protectionism

N 2009, Time named Dambisa Moyo, author of Dead Aid, among the world’s 100 most influential people. During Hilary term, Mark Longhurst spoke with her about her latest work. The interview below is an edited account of their conversation. In your latest book, How The West Was Lost, you argue that while the West has lost its competitive edge, Europe and the United States have an opportunity to win it back. What choices must the West make to avoid economic decline? I think education is first and foremost. All of the fundamental problems that the West faces – education, infrastructure, energy efficiency, and so on – are things that are structural in nature. They are "

Trinity 2011

Economics

" long-term problems that have been erod-

world. In the real world, we know that Western countries engage very aggressively in protectionist practices – things like agricultural subsidies to Africa, that lock out African goods. My book is not saying that protectionism is not a good idea. What I am saying is that it’s a nuclear option, and it’s certainly on the table given the fact that a place like the United States has 30 million people who are out of work in the manufacturing sector.

ing capital, labor and productivity over a long period of time. It will take a long time to remedy these things, but those are three examples of things that they could do starting tomorrow in a very credible way. Your book argues that education, infrastructure and deficit financing are three important priorities. On which factor should the West first focus? There’s no one thing. You can’t have highly educated people without infrastructure. You can’t pick one. It’s about a portfolio of things. People will need healthcare, people will need education, you have to fund national security. But there has been too much investment in things that are consumption-related. This is fundamentally the problem. They have to move the focus away from consumption goods towards more on investment. Is the West worth saving, or is the world be better off with a geopolitical shift in power toward emerging economies? No, absolutely not. No one should rest easy if there is any form of suffering anywhere in the world. The notion that we should just let the US go, or let Europe go, is clearly unfounded. My first book, Dead Aid, touched on exactly this

Helen Jones Photography

Prophet of doom? Dambisa Moyo point. It’s not acceptable to let the continent of a billion people go in the way that the world has. Economists tend to rail against trade protectionism. In your book, you note that the United States and China levy manufacturing and agricultural tariffs and subsidies. What role do you believe protectionism will play in the next fifty years? To be clear, I am absolutely a supporter of free trade and the movement of capital and labor. But we live in the real

Canada’s currency

Canada’s Plight to Eliminate the Penny Mark Longhurst

Dropping Canada’s smallest unit of currency makes economic sense

OR decades, the United States has heard a steady increase in calls from economists for the federal government to eliminate one of America’s most timehonored and recognised symbols: the penny. In 2006, Harvard economist and then-head of the Economic Council of Advisors Gregory Mankiw listed the action among the top ten priorities for pol-

Purchasing power of the Canadian penny % relative to 1915 levels 100 80 60 40 20 1915

1945

1975

Source: Bank of Canada

2005

icy makers in the United States. In 2008, popular magazine the New Yorker reignited the debate with a pithy piece which advocated an end to the penny era. Despite the popular debate, Congress is loathe to agree. Legislation to cease production of the penny was twice introduced to Congress in the past decade, but has always failed to make it out of the House. Further north, in Canada, the movement seems to be gaining ground. In December 2010, the Canadian Senate Finance Committee recommended that the federal government cease production of the penny and remove the coin from circulation by 2012. A few days later, polling data from an Angus Reid online survey found that 55% of Canadians support legislation to drop the coin from circulation. After a century of inflationary pressure, Canada’s penny has lost more than 95% of its purchasing power since 1900. The Canadian nickel now holds approximately the same purchasing power as a penny in 1972. Each penny costs the federal government 1.5 cents to produce, which means that the Canadian

You speak about the political reform that needs to occur in the United States and Europe, if the West wants to win back what it has lost already. How will Western governments begin to initiate the process of political reform? I’m not a political scientist, or a person who deals in politics. This is obviously very complicated, and in some sense, people may argue, intractable. We have to get past the politics and the cycles. Politics encourages policy-makers to focus on short-term agendas and to not deal with the long term. The more pressure that is brought to bear on developed countries, the greater the demand on these countries to sort out these structural problems. ! Mark Longhurst is studying for an M.Phil in Economics at Hertford College. Mint manufactures pennies at a loss. The economic utility gained from the coin is marginal: pennies are rarely used by consumers to purchase items, and are not accepted by toll booths or vending machines. A 2007 study predicts that eliminating the penny could save the federal government approximately £83 million annually. Unfortunately for penny opponents, Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty released a statement in December that claimed “there are no plans to eliminate the penny.” Nevertheless, that a majority of Canadians are in favour of the measure suggests that, for better or for worse, the penny’s days are numbered. ! Mark Longhurst is studying for an M.Phil in Economics at Hertford College.

Mark Longhurst

Also: Coca in the Andes ! Lethal injections in the US ! India’s cosmetics industry !!"#$%&'(#%)*+,-&$!-&!./0/1/

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Ann Wuyts via Flickr

Art‐dealing in Bulgaria

A national treasure The National Archaeological Museum in Bulgaria

Antiques Roadshow Ani Kodzhabasheva

Rogue excavators routinely steal and destroy Bulgaria’s archaeological treasures

URROUNDED by the quiet streams and oak groves of the Strandja Mountains in south-west Bulgaria, the village of Rosenovo is home to 30 people who live bereft of standard luxuries, such as running water and paved roads. This is where my father was born. When he was a boy, he discovered the ruins of an ancient fortress on a hill nearby. Two millennia ago, a division of Roman soldiers controlled an area that stretched for 30 km to the city of Debeltum. I visited the site three years ago to accompany my father on a trip through his childhood memories. There, I found traces of plunder. I vividly remember standing over a gaping hole in the ground, almost two metres deep and four meters wide, full of tattered pieces of stone. Aggressive digging had revealed the outline of a small rectangular chapel with a rounded apse. I reached into the rubble and picked up a fragment of a painted mural about the size of my cupped hands that portrayed an important historical figure – perhaps an emperor or a saint. The mural had been shattered. I experienced an art historian’s tragedy. Careful excavation might have revealed new insights into early Christianity in these lands. The historical foundations could have disclosed information about Roman defense strategies in this province. But this evidence has been all but lost, destroyed beyond recognition by organised human action. Today, approximately 300,000 people engage in unregulated excavation for ancient Roman, Greek, and Thracian artifacts. The archeological gold rush began after the fall of the Communist regime in 1989. The early years of democracy and a free market in post-communist Bulgaria brought food shortages, hyperinflation, a defunct judicial system and rampant treasure hunting. Over the past two decades, thousands of years of history have been destroyed in Bulgaria. Only now is the government beginning to take up the challenge of regulating excavation and preserving Bulgaria’s ancient heritage. The Vandals Ratiaria is a city on the opposite end of Bulgaria from the Strandja Mountains, in the north-west. While this is the poorest area in Bulgaria, it is built upon one of the richest archaeological sites on the European continent. Unlike other cities from the Roman era, it stands buried exactly as it was abandoned in the fourth century AD. ROMANIA The richness of urban life in the Roman Archar Rosenovo Empire has been preserved there for centuries; foundations 2/*% of buildings, streets, household objects, burials and temples lie untouched beGREECE neath the surface. A Adapted from Wikipedia

man from Archar, the village nearest to Ratiaria, admits in an interview that he has unearthed and sold artifacts here. Many of his fellow villagers, for whom digging is one of the few available sources of income, supplement the meager earnings from their day-jobs with the proceeds generated from trading artifacts. Archaeologist Krasimira Luka calls Ratiaria “the local Klondike.” Most locals use small tools, such as shovels of their bare hands, to search for pieces. Those with the means to do so use bulldozers and explosives to excavate larger antiques. In either case, information used to date the objects is inadvertently destroyed during the process. The dynamics of treasure hunting mean that only objects that yield significant profits – such as precious metals, luxury vessels, jewelry, statuaries, and stone reliefs – tend to survive this process of “natural selection”. Unmarketable artifacts are abandoned or destroyed. Many Bulgarian locals locals consider collecting samples of mortar and domestic wall paint a pointless exercise while valuable coins, jewelry pieces, and small statues lie untouched beneath the earth’s surface. For this reason, intangible, though archeologically valuable information, such as evidence relating to city-planning or specific architectural styles, is often completely lost. In Ratiaria, the economic incentives govern the politics of ancient art.

89:-?/0'&*/554%,0'-:"$@0-A:$+-3$Aenforcement has allowed criminal %:'A/"+0-/(-=,##:"0-$%=-'"$=:"0-'/:1/31:-,%'/-$-'":$04":&94%',%#-5$)$B The Villains The promise of greater profits persuades many diggers to export antiques to markets where they can fetch the highest price. On March 7th 1994, Svetozara Kirilova, a flight attendant on a Balkan Airlines flight from Sofia to New York was asked to forward a small suitcase to an individual in the United States. Suspicious of the contents, she opened the suitcase to discover what was later reported as “over 3000 silver, copper, and bronze Roman coins, plaques, fragments, earrings, bracelets and other valuables” valued at almost £45,000. By law, all of the artifacts belonged to the Bulgarian state, and a trial ensued accusing four people as the organisers of the illegal export. However, four years later, Kiril Ivanov, district prosecutor for Sofia City, discontinued the trial. In 2001, it was reported that the confiscated suitcase had disappeared; nobody could determine the location of the coins. In 2009, a newspaper reported that the documentation about the trial had disappeared. After a journalist requested access to the court records, it turned out they were no longer extant. In the absence of strong law enforcement, criminal networks of diggers and traders have evolved into a treasure-hunting mafia. The judicial system had failed to protect the “national” valuables; they were not more secure under its custody than they were as contraband to the United States. Ministers can do little better. Stefan Danailov, then-Bulgarian Minister for Culture, sent an official letter to the auction house Christie’s in London asking them to stop the auction of a silver dish of either Roman or Byzantine origin. The artifact was illegally looted near the town of Pazardzhik in 1999, Danailov claimed, and it belonged to Bulgaria. Christie’s replied "

Trinity 2011

" that the dish was exported from Bulgaria to the UK back in

1903, and was now legally part of the Stanford Place Collection. Even when a man from Pazardzhik stated he was the one who found the plate with his metal detector, the auction house did not consider returning the object. Yet Christie’s auction house raises a fair objection to the minister’s claim. Many Bulgarian artifacts belong to ancient cultures whose heritage is spread over the territories of different nations today. Roman antiques, in particular, are mobile and international by nature; from coins to column capitals, their artifacts present a unified style that was used by the empire authorities to export their influence to the most distant provinces. Why Bulgarian state ownership? Why not Italian or (as Christie’s wanted) private ownership? The Hero? Admittedly, some collectors are making a considerable effort towards preserving ancient artifacts for Bulgaria. The figure of the philanthropist-collector is epitomised by Vasil Bojkov, a Bulgarian businessman with a fondness for Thracian treasures. Bojkov has registered his collection with the Bulgarian Museum of Natural History; he is one of only 200 collectors to comply with an ultimatum that requires such officiation. He is also preparing an exhibition of rare silver and gold Thracian rhytons: royal drinking vessels of cast metal sculpted in the shape of animal heads. In a public statement, he said: The Cultural Heritage Law and its enforcement by the state administration leave Bulgaria outside of the European museum network. It must be known that the collector is not a treasure hunter, but rather a guardian of the national heritage.

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the state and likely (given the objects’ cultural worth) seized by the government. The law as it stands is weaker than its original version, which mandated that collectors provide documentation for all objects in their collection that possessed significant cultural value to Bulgaria, regardless of whether the items were involved in a transaction. This law was criticised by archeologists, who claimed the mandate would force otherwise honest collectors to produce fraudulent documentation, and by collectors, who considered the law too intrusive. The constitutional court agreed with collectors and declared the provision unconstitutional. Consequently, the remaining statute provides collectors with an incentive to hoard their pieces, lest the government confiscate their artifacts during a sale. Bulgaria is attempting to negotiate a compromise between a model of total government control inherited from Socialist era and the market approach pioneered by capitalist economies. Already, the government can point to some modest success. Last year, police brought a record number of legal actions against treasure hunters. Private homes were searched and hundreds of artifacts were confiscated. However, progress is inhibited by the legal onus placed on the government to demonstrate its right to ownership. The process of staking a claim remains cumbersome. The government must establish not only that Bulgaria is the most probable place of origin for a certain object, but also produce specific evidence of when and where the object was unearthed. As demonstrated by the situation in Ratiaria, such records are often impossible to obtain. Bulgaria’s relics, both above and below the earth’s surface, deserve protection. As long as the antiques trade remains lucrative, market demand will continue to provide a driving force for illegal excavation in the future. In response, the Bulgarian government should prohibit archeologically destructive practices and prosecute offenders. In addition, using a delicate cocktail of market regulation and state controls, the government must

In some cases, artifacts fair better in private collections like Bojkov’s than in museums. Typically, private collectors have greater access to suitable funding for research and conservation than museum curators. A museum internship in a small Bulgarian town led me to a leaky basement where stacks of historic paintings from the Socialist era were slowly decaying from the effects of mould damage. Limited state funding prevented management from purchasing proper facilities to preserve these Ann Wuyts via Flickr .34%#+5/0!.%6/7(0-0!1-%!83-+,# works. For this reason, private collectors tend to resist complying with orders made All that glitters is not gold Gold artifacts are more valuable than ancient mosaics by the government to confer what they believe is their rightful property. work with collectors to protect Bulgaria’s existing antiques. While Bojkov may not be a treasure-hunter, chances are that Only then will academics be able to piece together the narrahis treasured rhytons were acquired illegally. In April 2009, Bul- tive of a country whose artifacts trace more than 7000 years of garia passed the Cultural Heritage Law, which requires any sale history. ! of cultural property purchased legally to be registered with the state, and offered first to the Culture Ministry for purchase by Ani Kodzhabasheva is a visiting student from Vassar College, the national collections. If the rhytons were purchased legally, United States. She studies Art History and Philosophy at Worcester then any sale that Bojkov made would have been registered by College.

enough to cause even the most-seasoned athlete to feel nauseated and pant from exhaustion – a phenomenon known in Spanish as soroche. Following local custom, tourists who descend the Sarah Inman steep, winding road into La Paz in cramped buses chew handfuls of dry, green foliole from plants native to the region: coca President Evo Morales is in the midst of a political battle that leaves. affects both citizens and kingpins In addition to providing weary travellers with relief from the effects of altitude sickness, coca serves as the raw ingredient HE satellite city of El Alto is a series of dusty roads trav- used to produce cocaine. For this reason, the abundance of coca elled by Andean women wearing tall bowler-like hats over leaves in Bolivia presents a tension that affects almost all aspects long black plaits and carrying food, clothes or even children in of life and government. President Evo Morales’ solution is to brightly striped cloth slings. Translated, El Alto means ‘the high’ rid the country of illegal cocaine production by developing an – an apt moniker for a city nestled into the side of mountains industry for coca-based products, such as shampoo and liquors. 4000 meters above sea level. At this altitude, a short walk is He makes the distinction simple: “Coca: yes. Cocaine: no.” " Coca in the Andes

Cracking Down on Cocaine

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THE

OXONIAN Globalist

" But desperate economic dependence,

livia. Experts have questioned the impoverished state’s wisdom in dealing with narcotics trafficking without the US. In Bolivia, the EU has funded measures to provide Bolivian farmers with incentives to farm crops, such as pineapples, instead of coca. By and large, these measures have proved inGive Me Coca or Give Me Death effective. Bolivia’s poor infrastructure The practical, social and spiritual prevented many of the crops from significance of coca leaves in Andean ever reaching the market. In addiculture can scarcely be overstated. tion, the low price of food crops in Apart from curing soroche, the leaves comparison to coca leaves has meant actcolombia via Flickr also provide Bolivians, many of whom Leave it to the locals Coca: the raw ingredient such initiatives have never taken root. work long days in mines and fields Other South American leaders have for cocaine from a young age and suffer from attempted to find alternative markets poor dietary habits, with a stimulant to fight hunger, thirst and for coca-based products in the past, with little record of success. fatigue. Most importantly, coca plays a central role in many anWhile Bolivia is currently the third biggest cocaine produccient rituals for Bolivia’s indigenous people. As part of a rich tra- er in the world, the majority of cocaine that reaches Western dition called hallpay, villagers celebrate a participant’s member- countries can be traced to Colombia. Colombia, where cocaine ship of the ayllu (community) by preparing and sharing a k’intu barons are tolerated by the FARC, has traditionally been where (a bundle of coca leaves). The order in which the k’intu is passed shipments undergo the final stage of processing. However, as from person to person reflects the community’s social hierarchy: forces loyal to the Colombian government have gained the upsenior members are offered bundles first, while junior members per hand in the country’s ongoing civil war, cocaine producers receive the bundle last. The act of chewing the coca leaves acts have been forced to scout for new locations – most notably, Boas a rite of passage: children are not invited to chew, but rather livia. As some choose to flee southward, they bring with them help their parents prepare the k’intu. As children progress to knowledge and expertise that increases the efficiency of cocaine adulthood and accumulate adult chores, they are invited into production and reduces the frequency of detection. By both intervening in Colombia and taking a hard-line stance on coca In a country where over half the production, the United States bears at least some responsibility population is indigenous, Morales’ for the “lose-lose” choice that Bolivia faces about the future of election is a testament to the growing coca production. The Obama administration’s decision to retreat from using the phrase “War on Drugs” could signal – for political importance of issues that better or worse – a change in US anti-cocaine policy. Certainly, primarily affect the indigenous the intervention in Colombia has done little to stem the flow of community – pivotally, coca drugs to the US. production. Morales and those charged with administering drug policy hallpay. Before a member of the ayllu begins to chew, they of- in the US must treat the issue of cocaine production in Bolivia fer an invocation to the Earth, the Sacred Places, and the ayllu. delicately. Morales has displayed considerable political courage This tradition, passed down from the Inca, is a deep source of by resisting US pressure to halt the production of coca, thereby cultural pride for indigenous Bolivians. standing by his “Coca: yes” pledge. Whether he has the political However, the UN currently considers coca an illegal narcot- muscle required to tackle the violence, corruption and drug baric, alongside other substances such as heroin, and calls upon for- ons in Bolivia that his “Cocaine: no” stance demands remains eign governments to criminalise the act of growing coca leaves. to be seen. ! Over the past four decades, the US has offered billions of dollars in military assistance and foreign aid in an effort to control and Sarah Inman studies politics, philosophy, and economics at Waderadicate cocaine production in Latin America. Those projects ham College. met resistance when, in 2006, President Evo Morales became the first politician of indigenous descent to hold Bolivia’s highLethal injections in the US est office. In a country where over half the population is indigenous, and which underwent a transition from dictatorship only four decades ago, Morales’ election is a testament to the growing political importance of issues that primarily affect the James Rothwell indigenous community – pivotally, coca production. Morales, a former coca farmer, rose through the ranks of peasant organisations and first ran for president in 2002. Though unsuccessful, Assigning responsibility for a series of allegedly botched exhis Movement to Socialism (MAS) party found widespread sup- ecutions in the US raises more questions than answers port in 2005. It was in part the “Coca: yes. Cocaine: no” policy T is 5:31pm in Jackson, Georgia and Emmanuel Hammond that contributed to Morales’ presidential victory. Support for is waiting to die. His last meal arrives on a small orange tray: the policy is widespread in the countryside: a common slogan painted in brightly colored block capitals onto walls, houses and fried chicken, French fries, corn on the cob, jalapeno peppers, sometimes even onto mountainsides is “coca o muerte” – coca mint chocolate chip ice cream, and cherry lemonade. The hours pass slowly. His family and close friends arrive for an awkward or death. exchange of goodbyes; they do not know what to say. Guards enter. They escort Hammond to a requisite medical check-up, Coca: Yes. Cocaine: Perhaps Morales’ views on the coca leaf have had a chilling effect on the last formality before the state puts him to death. Then the Bolivia–US foreign relations . In 2008, Morales expelled former reporters arrive, scratching on their notepads. Their scribbling US ambassador Philip Goldberg after accusing him of conspir- intensifies when the relatives of Hammond’s victim file in, eyes ing against Bolivia’s government and promptly suspended the dull and lifeless, seeking final retribution. A door opens. A coroperations of the US Drug Enforcement Administration in Bo- rections officer appears and leads this unlikely congregation " along with the cultural significance of the coca leaf, means that while the first part of Morales’ slogan is very unlikely to be defeated, Bolivia will, despite its best efforts, likely continue to say “yes” to cocaine.

How to Make a Killing

Trinity 2011

" into the sterile execu-

tion theatre. 11:26pm. An officer drags back a curtain, revealing Hammond to the audience. He is strapped onto a gurney and tilted towards them, an IV infusion carefully poked into his wrist. Silence. Everything is white – the walls, Hammond’s shirt, the uniforms on the nurses, the dazzling flash of the hypodermic 946#-414!:. needle under fluorescent light. The guards L is for Lethal Alavi’s office glance at the clock on the wall, exchange nods, and administer a sequential cocktail of lethal drugs. The first is sodium thiopental, a sedative inducing deep sleep, followed by pancaromium bromide, a powerful muscle paralyser. The bromide should prevent Hammond from thrashing around, should the sedative malfunction. Finally, potassium chloride, to stop his heart, is pumped into his veins. Josh Green, a reporter for the Gwinett Daily Post, is in the audience. A minute passes. Green frowns. The thiopental sedative has dripped through the surgical tubes by now and entered Hammond’s body, but his eyes are wide open. Then he mouths some words to his victim’s fiancé in the front row, inaudible because microphones in the theatre are been switched off. The man, bereaved, passes out. Some reporters tentatively eye the vomit bags placed on the seat. 11:39pm. Hammond is dead. Twenty years ago, he kidnapped and raped Julie Love, a 27 year-old primary school teacher. Then he shot her in the face at point blank range with a shotgun. Now, an anonymous orderly draws a curtain across his corpse. Justice is served. Case closed.

IX years earlier. A chemist at Sandoz Pharma, Austria, is synthesising a batch of sodium thiopental. He stores the chemicals under strictly controlled conditions before dispatching them in a frozen container to Archimedes Pharma, based in Reading, Great Britain. Soon afterwards, Archimedes sells the chemicals to a tiny company based in Acton, London, transporting the vials at a fixed temperature. It is presumed the drug will be employed for palliative care in the health industry. In Acton, a pale, thin man steps out of the back of a driving school, carrying three small vials. He tapes them up inside a Federal Express package and drops it off at the post office. A few hours later, the vials rattle in the hangar of a plane, at air temperature, before a postman eventually grabs the package. He drives to Jacksons’ Penitentiary and dumps it into their mailbox. The invoice inside the package is signed with best wishes from Matt Alavi, Managing Director of Dream Pharma Ltd. His website describes the company as “an independent pharmaceutical wholesaler committed to excellence by providing high quarlity (sic) products at competitive rates and superior service.” In addition to drugs used for state executions, sold at 1000% mark-up, Dream Pharma also provides healthcare products to hospitals and third world relief agencies. The company does not publish a list of the drugs on offer, nor do they publish a standard price list, as the prices “are constantly changing”. Last January, I began an investigation into Alavi’s business, and the furtive international market in which he trades. After ruling out complicity on the part of the Pharma companies in Austria and Reading, I made a phone call to Mr Alavi one rainy afternoon, to learn more about his role in Hammond’s execution. The phone rang twice before a soft-spoken voice introduced

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itself as Matt Alavi. “Hello, Mr Alavi. This is James Rothwell speaking, a student journalist from The Oxonian Globalist. I have a few questions about the sodium thiopental which you sold to the state of Georgia, for its execution of Emanuel Hammond. I just need to clarify some of the allegations being made against you at present.” “I thank you very much for your concern, and for your interest, sir, but I’d like to make no comment on that matter.” “Were you aware that the batch of drugs which you sold to Georgia was going to be used in state executions?” “I would like to refrain from making a comment about that.” “Do you intend to continue selling these lethal drugs, in spite of the media attention your company has recently attracted?” A long pause. “Sir, I understand that you’re at Oxford, a dedicated educator, and I appreciate and admire that, but I’d like to make no further comments.” “Is it true you sold enough drugs to execute over a hundred people?” “No comment.” “Is it true that most of the vials of thiopental were damaged in transit to the US, or had expired already when you posted them?” “No comment. I thank you for your concern about this matter, but I really do have no further comments and...Actually, I have another call coming. Goodbye, sir.” He hung up abruptly. I returned the receiver to its cradle and surfed the internet for stories about Hammond’s execution. The tabloids had united in condemnation of Dream Pharma. Families of other prisoners who were recently executed had started to come forward, doubting the potency of the drug which put their husbands, sons, and fathers to sleep. Further down the results page, a law charity called Reprieve was preparing to sue Vince Cable, the UK Business secretary, who had refused to prevent Alavi’s transaction from taking place. This was the organisation which had published a detailed transcript of an affidavit filed by Dr Mark Heath, a medical expert based in New York. According to the document, Heath witnessed dozens of executions, and never before had any of the prisoners opened their eyes after the sedative was administered; they were in a deep, deep sleep. He claimed Alavi’s batch of drugs contained “expired thiopental,” and referred several times to an inmate named Brandon Rhodes. Rhodes was also executed courtesy of Dream Pharma, shortly before Hammond. Rhodes’ eyes “remained wide open” after the guards administered the sedative, and Heath found this “very surprising and unusual...it implies that the sedatives were ineffective and that Rhode’s death would have been agonising.” The possibility that Alavi’s sedative had expired and that Hammond had been fully conscious while the drugs seared through his veins and stopped his heart seemed to rear its ugly head everywhere I looked. I called the Georgia Department of Corrections to address this concern and was eventually put through to the Death Row press office. Their spokesperson refused to comment on the efficacy of the drugs and claimed the press office had nothing to say regarding their origin. Yet, as to the possibility that Hammond’s death was “agonising,” she responded calmly: “We had no issues with our execution.” I then contacted Josh Green, one of the reporters present at Hammond’s execution. He had delineated the process in vivid detail for an article in the Gwinnett Daily Post. Anti-capital punishment groups were rapidly syndicating his account across the internet. In his article, Green describes the eerie silence of the death chamber, and how the victim’s fiancé had fainted in the front row, with his head draped over the bench. Immediately after the curtain hid Hammond’s corpse from view, he remembers scribbling the following visceral impressions into his notebook: “Clinical, anti-climactic, eerie, tense, almost cinematic, haunting, professional, dizzying, fascinating, macabre, respectful, "

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" terrifying.”

Green’s account also mentioned that Hammond mouthed words to the witnesses behind the glass screen, although they were inaudible. This was particularly bizarre as the thiopental injection should have rendered Hammond totally unconscious. Yet when speaking to Green about his experience, he told me that “Hammond’s eyes were not fully open...but I can’t say I’m certain they were fully closed, either.” When I pushed further about the possibility of a botched execution, he responded: “Other than some laboured breathing, he seemed to slip slowly, peacefully into death.” Green would go on to adjust his account of Hammond’s execution. A few days before Green responded to my e-mail, I had contacted Reprieve. They vehemently insisted that Hammond’s sedative was dysfunctional, and that he therefore suffered a slow and painful death. They pointed to the statements of Dr Heath, describing the sensation of the muscle paralyser flowing into the veins as a “caustic burning”. It must be stated that their argument that Hammond was not properly sedated, ultimately, hangs upon the “eyes open” phenomenon. Several prisoners to this date, including Hammond, have been executed by Dream Pharma’s drugs, and in nearly every case, observers claim that the prisoners’ eyes remained wide open throughout the process. They undergo a locked-in-body sensation, during which they are fully conscious and aware of their surroundings, but unable to move, to even twitch a single fibre of their muscles. A few days after I spoke to Green, yet another execution witness came forward to question the efficacy of Dream Pharma’s sedative. This time it was Dale Baich, an Ohio-based lawyer who had defended one Jeffrey Landrigan and watched him die on the gurney. Landrigan, convicted for murder in 1989, was executed shortly before Hammond using the same batch of drugs procured from Dream Pharma. Here is an extract from Baich’s sworn affidavit: “The execution of Mr. Landrigan commenced on October 26, 2010 shortly after 10:15:30pm when Mr. Landrigan’s final words were “boomer sooner.” At 10:16:30pm, Mr. Landrigan’s chest heaved three times and his eyes closed slightly. At 10:17:20pm, his eyes were half-way open. At 10:17:55pm, Mr. Landrigan’s eyes were still open. At 10:18:25pm, Mr. Landrigan’s eyes were still open. At 10:19:00pm, Mr. Landrigan’s eyes were still open. At 10:20:00pm, Mr. Landrigan’s mouth opened. His eyes were still slightly open. At 10:21:03pm, color began to leave Mr. Landrigan’s face. His eyes were still half to a quarter of the way open. At 10:26pm, it was announced that the execution was complete. Mr. Landrigan’s eyes were still half to a quarter way open.” Landrigan’s sedative was almost certainly a dud. And it was the same sedative used on Emanuel Hammond. Any further

THE

OXONIAN Globalist

doubts I had vanished when Clive Stafford Smith, who had been Hammond’s lawyer over twenty years ago, sent me the following message: “I understand that you heard something from a journalist about Emanuel Hammond. You should know witnesses have stated that he mouthed different words after the execution began, indicating again that the anaesthetic did not work.” With every e-mail, every phone call, the integrity of Hammond’s execution was further called into question. Smith has worked death row cases for over twenty years and saw six of his clients die in the execution chamber. He knows when something isn’t right. Interestingly, a few weeks after Green told me he “couldn’t be sure” if Hammond’s eyes had been fully open, he seemed to change his mind: he now thinks, according to Reprieve, that Hammond closed his eyes when the thiopental was administered, only to open them again some minutes later. How does the British government respond to these claims? My last port of call was the office of Vince Cable. Unsurprisingly, he was unwilling to comment on the controversy surrounding Dream Pharma and the integrity of their sedatives. However, two weeks after my phone call I received a letter from Tom Smith at the Department of Business Innovation and Skills. The letter said that Vince Cable, “after careful consideration... had decided to limit the export of sodium thiopental to the United States.” It went on to assert that the government is eager to encourage other European Union states to adopt these export limitations and “is currently considering the merits of imposing controls on other drugs used in execution, such as pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride.” The letter failed to address the accusation that Dream Pharma’s thiopental did not render Hammond or Landrigan unconscious. The world of capital punishment is a murky one – enquiries are usually met by a wall of silence. The process itself is so medical, so sterile, so contrived, that not even the witnesses can ascertain what was intended to happen, and what was not. Opinions change, memories change, statements change – but the drugs never change. And they never take sides. At the time of writing, Roy Blankenship, convicted of murder in 1978, is the next American prisoner due to be executed with Dream Pharma’s cocktail of lethal drugs. The US District Court Judge has postponed the execution over fears that the sedative is “outdated”. Yet Blankenship will likely as not, in due time, take Hammond’s place in that impossibly white, medicalised death theatre. The drugs will surge through the IV infusion, deep into his veins and upward towards his heart. Eventually, it will stop beating. Of course, Roy Blankenship might feel nothing at all. Or he may suffer every nanosecond of it. Only he will know. ! James Rothwell studies English and French at Wadham College.

India’s cosmetic industry

The World’s Largest Barbershop Shaves Over Erin Biel

The market for hair-extensions connects wealthy buyers with India’s poorest plebs

ESTLED in South India’s Seshachalam Hills lies the famous pilgrimage town of Tirumala. Here the Sri Venkateswara Temple is open for worship and acts of devotion – which, at this particular shrine, usually means a haircut. According to ancient lore, Vishnu – an avatar of God and the Preserver of the World – once took out a loan in order to pay for his wedding celebration. Now Vishnu requires assistance in paying off his debt. The devout poor are happy to help, trekking hundreds of miles in order to offer up perhaps the only gift that they can: their hair. Piling into the temple, devotees

sit cross-legged, heads bent forward. Scissors and razors flash as 600 barbers deftly shave over 20,000 heads a day, making this “the world’s largest barbershop,” according to Britta Sandberg of der Spiegel. In a rapidly commercializing India, a new industry has grown out of these rising piles of hair. Collecting over 500 tons of human hair each year, the Tirumala temple has now found a way to cash in on India’s luscious locks. While China supplies the most real hair to the extension market, Indian hair is considered more valuable, as Julia Angwin reported in the Wall Street Journal. The hair is naturally "

Trinity 2011

Theme: Underground Markets

" silkier and has never been treated with artificial dyes. Originally,

Indian hair was used to fill bed mattresses and make oil filters; now the increasingly high international demand for real hair extensions has placed the Tirumala temple and others at the center of a lucrative market. Each day, over 50,000 Hindu pilgrims trek to the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala in order to show their devotion to Sri Venkateswara, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Half of these visitors end up donating their hair to the temple.

First Stop SDTC Exports is India’s largest exporter of human hair, maintaining five factories throughout South India with over 1,000 employees. SDTC’s chief executive, Mayoor Balsara, has seen the company grow from the ground up. When the company opened nearly 15 years ago, Balsara “got in the car, drove around the whole of Southern India and went from temple to temple, trying to understand what this business was that I wanted to initiate,” he said. “I would stop women on the street who had shaved heads and asked them where they donated their

Dieter Telemans & Thomas Gold

Disappearing Act Each day, 25,000 pilgrims trek to Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala and donate their hair locks.” Balsara now obtains his hair from nearly 20 different temples. Hair is sold per kilogram, and the price varies depending on length, density, volume, and quality. Hair over 18 inches long is the priciest pick, at roughly $300-$450 per kilogram. At the SDTC factories the hair undergoes a meticulous refinement process. As Balsara noted, “One small mistake and the quality of the hair is seriously compromised. This process requires extraordinary skill, and a rigorous training program of around six months is required for employees to be considered for this operation.” Upon arrival, the hair is scrutinised and grouped according to various grades and colors. Then it is washed, treated, and dried with natural sunlight. Balsara’s factories contain no machinery; instead, women sit bare-footed on the ground and monotonously brush strands of hair through hackles, comb-like mechanisms that remove impurities. Then the hair is collected into strands of 200 hairs, bundled and ready for a trip around the world. The True Gold-i-locks SDTC sells all of its top quality hair to Great Lengths International, the world’s “premier” real hair extension corporation, based out of Italy. In 1991, thermoplastic-applications expert David Gold invented the landmark Heat Frequency System, which uses a keratin polymer to attach real hair extensions to pre-existing hair. Great Lengths has grown exponentially within the past two decades. It exports hair extensions to 60 different countries and over 40,000 salons. As David Gold said in an interview with ABC’s Tracy Bowden, “Hair, as a commodity, should be quoted and is up there with gold and silver and platinum.” Needless to say, he has had no problem finding interested – and very devoted – customers. The international glitterati jos-

tle for his extensions, which come in over 50 different carefully dyed colors. He counts Jennifer Lopez, Tyra Banks, Paris Hilton, and Beyoncé among his biggest “devotees.” Ironically, even Bollywood stars buy from Gold, giving these extensions a true world tour. Gold began eying “Indian Temple Hair” after hearing about its divine qualities from a wig-making acquaintance. At the time, Gold’s son Thomas was attending school in London. His best friend was an Indian boy named Mayoor Balsara. At Thomas’s university graduation party, Gold took Balsara aside and made a business proposition: Gold would fund the rest of Balsara’s education if he promised to go into the hair extension business and serve as Great Length’s on-the-ground supplier of Indian Temple Hair. Balsara agreed immediately to what he referred to as “a life-changing decision.” As global demand for Indian Temple Hair has increased, prices across the supply chain have increased as well. Balsara noted, “Good hair is finite in supply, yet demand is seemingly infinite. Hence we are able to sell our hair sometimes for even $800 per kilo.” The increase in price has certainly not deterred Great Lengths, as it now purchases between four and a half and five kilograms of hair each month. “They have such a voracious demand for the best quality, they always need more!” exclaimed Balsara. With an annual growth rate as high as 150%, Great Lengths now churns out $80 million worth of hair extensions per year. A Questionable Arrangement The disconnect between the high-fashion buyers and impoverished suppliers of this commodity is striking. Poor Hindu worshippers are unaware that their hair is being used to create hair extensions 7,000 miles away. Most don’t even know what hair extensions are. Nevertheless, Indian temples bring in a total of over $106 million yearly from hair sales. While turning such a profit from pilgrims’ donations may seem incongruous, “the money collected is entirely re-invested in the upkeeping of the temple and for charitable purposes,” a director at the Tirumala Temple affirmed. “For example, we financed children’s education by building schools, we distributed approximately 30,000 free meals everyday for the poor and needy, and we have built hospitals to cure those who, otherwise, could never afford such expensive treatments.” To combat corruption, the temple has even established an oversight committee to ensure that funds from hair auctions make their way to the local communities. Even when devotees are notified of their hair’s final destination, they seem unfazed. As one Hindu man told ABC’s Bowden, “For us, hair is not important – for us, God is important.” In fact, both Balsara and the Golds maintain strong ties to their temple suppliers and greatly respect the tradition of Hindu hair sacrifice. Balsara noted, “It is a symbolic gesture to God, a sacrifice. For many women in India, their hair is indeed something they take great pride in. To donate their hair to God is a greater sacrifice than donating money. Whether the hair is sold, burned, or buried – this will not stop this age-old Hindu tradition.” Thomas Gold justified the sale of hair as “a win-win situation.” He added, “Even the women interviewed with bald heads say, ‘we hope that they make good use of the money.’” An illicit hair trade outside of the temples has developed alongside the legal hair export business. “Rag pickers” – impoverished individuals trying to scrounge a bit of money to survive – go weekly to villages, encouraging women to collect any hair that falls out when brushing. In return the women are paid with little barrettes and hair clips. It takes about a month for these men to collect a kilo of hair, which earns them about $12, according to Bowden. But sometimes the needy take darker measures. Husbands desperate for money have been known to force their wives to shave their heads, a $10 windfall. Even children get exploited by their parents in this fashion. As E.V.K.S. Elangonvan, minister of state for textiles and commerce in Tamil Nadu, admitted to the UK weekly the Observer, the Indian "

Theme: Underground Markets

" temple hair trade is “obviously an environment that breeds il-

legality.” Nevertheless, large companies such as Great Lengths deny using illegal means, noting that it would be too difficult to acquire the large amounts of hair that they need. In a country that is 85% Hindu, hair supplies are unlikely to run low any time soon. The devotees will keep coming, the

THE

OXONIAN Globalist

locks falling, and the real hair extension trade growing. With the help of millions of pilgrims, Great Lengths is well on its way to making hair extensions a luxury commodity for the masses. ! This article was originally published in The Yale Globalist. Erin Biel studies religious studies at Yale University.

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Bringing in the Harvest A recent report by the Council of Europe makes the boldest accusations of organ trafficking in Kosovo to date

HERE is a yellow house in a village in Rripe, a village near the town of Burrel in central Albania. The walls and floors are blood-splattered and there are tables on which lie various medical instruments. Some locals will tell you that the blood is from the delivery of a baby, and that the reason for the entire house being recently painted from yellow to white was in preparation for a wedding, but you would have good reason not to believe them. The story of the yellow house features in a two-year study of allegations that during the 1999 Kosovo war, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) systematically harvested organs from Serbs to be sold on the black market. The Council of Europe, the executing body for the European Court of Human Rights, published the report in December 2010 and adopted it – after much consternation – in February 2011. Organ trafficking – and the alleged criminal network responsible for it – has been a long-time shadow over the story of Kosovo’s fledgling democracy. There have been ongoing criminal proceedings by the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) over post-war organ trafficking in Pristina, the Kosovoan capital, and a number of individuals have been charged with participating in the responsible criminal network. Allegations of wartime trafficking, beginning with the story of the yellow house in 2004, have been handled separately by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). But the current report is a response to the 2009 publication of The Hunt: Me and the War Criminals in which Carla del Ponte, former Prosecutor at ICTY, made the strongest allegations against the KLA to date – among them, organ harvesting. The high-profile revelations could result in criminal investigations, but only if EULEX can supply legal infrastructure and political will. A Row of Yellow Houses The findings of the Council of Europe report centre on an organisation within the KLA called the Drenica Group, named after the region traditionally known to be a hotbed of KLA activity. Hashim Thaqi, present-day prime minSERBIA ister of Kosovo, was the wartime leader of the group, which controlled a host of criminal enterprises in both Pristina Kosovo and Albania. While Drenica has been ./0/1/';3<%&-% found to be involved border in beatings, detentions, ALBANIA money-laundering, and assassinations related MACEDONIA to narcotics trafficking, Burrel its most sinister trade Adapted from Wikipedia

was not in drugs, but in organs. The report states that the infamous yellow house served as a “way station for those taken captive for organ trafficking…The end point was the detention centre in Fushe–Kruje, a two-storey farmhouse set back from main roads but in close proximity to Tirana Airport, where the organs could be shipped abroad.” The report finds at least six separate detention facilities, ranging from Cahan in the far north to Durrës on the Mediterranean coast. Three of the six were operational during the conflict between April and June 1999, during which the breakdown of the Kosovo-Albania border allowed easy transportation of victims. The methods used to procure the commodities from the victims have often been given the macabre title of organ-harvesting. The Council of Europe report includes testimony of witnesses that “credibly and consistently” state that captives were killed “usually by a gunshot to the head, before being operated on to remove one or more of their organs.” European Union prosecutor Jonathan Ratel testified that the KLA promised £12,000 per organ to lure victims from as faraway as Moldova, Turkey, and Russia. Western Complicity The report’s author, Swiss senator Dick Marty, has given an unequivocal acknowledgement of KLA brutality, commenting in the report itself that he “examined these diverse, voluminous reports [of organ harvesting] with consternation and a sense of moral outrage.” The West, arguably, shares some of the blame for the crimes. When the KLA first emerged in 1996, a year after the wars following the break-up of the former Yugoslavia had ended, the West denounced its attacks on the Yugoslav state as terrorism. Only two years later, however, the KLA received explicit endorsements from various Western powers and, as such, the world began to see it as the leading force in the struggle for the "

Trinity 2011

" freedom of Kosovar Albanians; the CIA and SAS even helped

train and arm its members. In a recent interview, Marty explained the West’s attitude at the time: I think that the philosophy in the beginning was – and this is the expression used by American diplomats – the past is past; we need to look toward the future. As they saw it at the time, they had chosen the team that seemed most up to the task of controlling the local authorities. Political stability and political expediency outweighed the sense of justice, to put it simply.

The new Council of Europe report – more extensive than any investigation to date – could throw off this US balancing act. I spoke to Sir Ivor Roberts, British ambassador to Yugoslavia from 1994-1997, about the United States’ response. He admits that “These allegations…produced an inconvenient truth for those Western countries who had decided to support the KLA.” That much is true. But if the Council of Europe report is not followed by criminal investigations, the United States may be able to sweep its alleged support for organ harvesters under the rug. According to Roberts, criminal investigations will be hard to justify until more evidence is collected to verify the report. He told me, “until a thorough investigation has been completed it is impossible to verify the extent to which these allegations prove to be accurate.” The truth about what activities the KLA partook in will be extremely difficult to come by; in his report, Mr. Marty repeatedly cites the desperate need for effective witness protection

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A Niche Market Annette Chau

Hong Kong is running out of room to house the dead

ONG Kong, with far too little space, is facing a serious shortage of niches – tiny, locker-like spaces which contain the ashes of the dead and serve as a place for families to visit and remember their ancestors. Governments say that 50,000 new spaces will be needed over the next twenty years. Given that columbaria are lined from floor to ceiling with niches, and that no-one wants a columbarium near their house for reasons of superstition, convenience and cleanliness, it’s a difficult feat to house the dead. The cost for a single niche – crammed in with countless others – is estimated to range from £250 to £15,000. That the problem remains unsolved is surprising given Hong Kong’s reputation as a modern city defined by pragmatism and

Theme: Underground Markets

in Kosovo. Of the forty witnesses who spoke up in the 2007 Hague trial of Kosovo’s former prime minister, none would testify in court and several were killed. EULEX, who would be in charge of a further investigation, has no agreements with other countries to which they could relocate witnesses. The threat of

If EULEX cannot offer credible witness protection, then the Council of Europe’s allegations of organ harvesting will be left unprosecuted. further investigation does not appear to worry the prime minister, who – despite claiming that the report was a fraud intended to discredit the KLA – has called for investigation by EULEX and promises his full cooperation. His claim that Kosovo’s government “looks forward to the cooperation of our international partners in ensuring that criminality has no place in Kosovo’s development”, is laughable for a man who has been open about his criminal past and is suspected of having a criminal present. The United States may have planted democracy in Kosovo, but it has come at a heavy price. The international community must heed the Council of Europe’s advice and conduct a thorough investigation of the claims with all necessary measures, such as a functioning and reliable witness protection programme. Both the European Union and the United States must not hide this dark chapter of history for the sake of political expediency. ! By the author’s request, this piece is published anonymously.

efficiency, but less so for those who know the city and its superstitious side intimately. Most residential buildings, when numbering their floors, skip floors four and 14 and so on because the Cantonese word for the number four sounds (vaguely!) like “death”. In one rich suburb, a major apartment block has a massive hole in the middle to give the local dragon living behind the building access to the sea. It is not uncommon for feng shui or divination to cause relocations. Hong Kong hit a breaking point with niches after officials discovered an unlicensed underground columbaria with a capacity of 12000 niches. Now, the city has launched a scheme to regulate licensing more heavily and seize such illegal projects. Other parts of China, too, are beginning to see opportunity in the business of providing niches to wealthy Hong Kongers, even though most Hong Kongers would prefer to see their dead rest locally. It seems that Hong Kong’s age-old problem of lack of space is one that goes beyond the grave. ! Annette Chau is studying philosophy, politics and economics at Lady Margaret Hall.

Eric Hunt via Flickr

Also: Cancer in Developing Countries

Science

Jer Thorp

Genomics

Reading the Genome Map Chris Rands

A decade after the human genome was first sequenced, scientists still have a lot to learn

N 26th June 2000, the Human Genome Project made a statement at the White House. They announced that they had finally completed a comprehensive draft sequence of the 3.4 billion DNA “letters” that make up the human genome. President Clinton described the achievement as “without a doubt, the most wondrous map ever produced by humankind.” However, since that discovery over a decade ago, this genetic map has proven rather difficult to interpret. Approximately only 1% of the human genome is protein coding, the type of sequence once thought to be the only DNA of functional importance. Given that humans are over 99.5% genetically identical, some have argued that only the 0.5% of DNA that varies between humans needs to be examined to find hereditary disease-associated genetic variants – the purported benefit of the Human Genome Project. On further consideration, that view is prematurely dismissive. Examining the rest of the human genome has the potential to contribute tangible benefits to mankind – most notably the hope for a cure to infectious diseases like HIV. Around half of the genome consists of repetitive DNA sequences, a small proportion of which have been shown to affect human health. The rest of the genome includes functional non-coding genes, DNA that interacts with the important protein coding genetic material,

8/-*4":-=,0:$0:0-3,+:HIV/AIDS, scientists must study the genetic material of the diseases themselves, not just the DNA that codes for human variation. and many uncharacterised sequences. Recent quantitative estimates of the proportion of the genome that is functional vary well over two-fold from around 5-12%. Undoubtedly, much progress has been made in identifying DNA associated with diseases. Scientists now know the genetic basis of over 2,800 simple hereditary dis-

eases, and can identify over a thousand genetic variants contributing to over 150 complex diseases. Such diagnostics have significant benefits for human health. For example, those at high risk for colon cancer can now be identified for early monitoring, which in turn allows potentially cancerous polyps to be treated before the disease spreads. Therefore, those promoting genomics talk excitedly about the potential medical benefits of genomics and the progress that disease genomics has made. Craig Venter, one of the head scientists for the project, stated during the same White House announcement that “as a consequence of genome sequencing efforts…there’s at least the potential to reduce the number of cancer deaths [occurring in the United States] to zero in our lifetimes.” But limiting research to cancer in the United States does not capture the potential that DNA beyond the 0.5% of the human genome holds. Genomics can be used to investigate important issues traditionally addressed only by other disciplines. For example, conservation genomics can help protect biodiversity, which must be maintained in order to provide vital products such as certain food crops, as well as to regulate natural processes like nutrient cycles. Genomics also holds promise for international killers like HIV. Pharmacogenomics, which uses a patient’s unique DNA to develop individualized medication, could be part of the solution. However, for infectious diseases to be more completely understood, the genetic material of the diseases themselves must also be studied – and that will require knowledge of DNA far beyond the strands that code for human variation. Yet infectious disease work is relatively underfunded, partially the consequence of the Western-centric research councils who issue grants. The advances already achieved in genomic cancer research make it clear that genomic maps are worth the effort. With a wealth of sequencing data readily available, funding should be prioritized towards sequence analysis rather

than generating more sequence. Rapidly improving computing technology is facilitating this process to progress much faster, as computational biologists build their automated “satellite navigation systems” to help guide experimental biologists – and further down the line clinical researchers – through genome maps. ! Chris Rands is studying for a D.Phil in Genomics at Hertford College. Cancer in developing countries

A Looming Crisis Diana Koester

By 2020, cancer could pose a greater threat to the developing world than HIV. Global health policy must catch up

HANAIAN schoolgirl Regina Addae was born with a malignant tumor. By age 13, it had grown to the size of a rugby ball. It covered more than half of her face, and if left untreated, it would kill her. Unlike many other Ghanean cancer patients, however, Regina ran into some very good luck. In 2004, British nurse Kirstie Randal met Regina while aboard a medical ship on the coast of Ghana, and vowed to help her. Six years and £30,000 later, Regina was able to travel to London for treatment. On November 5th 2010, a BBC team accompanied Regina as she underwent twelve hours of risky surgery at the London Hospital in Whitechapel. The operation was successful – insofar as it saved her life. Yet media coverage of Regina’s journey failed to highlight not only why Regina remained untreated for so long, but also why her illness is part of a larger trend. Once known as the disease of the rich, cancer is becoming alarmingly prevalent in the developing world. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), nearly eight million people died from cancer in 2010. More than two thirds of these deaths occurred in the developing world. While the number of cancer deaths in wealthy countries, at 2.4 million annually, is expected to remain fairly stable, low and middle income countries are facing an increase in mortality from 6.4 million in 2010 to a "

Trinity 2011

Science

" projected 9.5 million in 2030. As a result,

WHO estimates that by 2020, cancer will kill more people in developing countries than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. A glance at Regina’s home country, Ghana, reveals three underlying causes of this development. First, several key risk factors are on the rise. According to the Ghana Health Services, fewer than 10% of Ghaneans eat an adequate amount of fruit and vegetables. Between 1993 and 2009, the percentage of overweight and obese Ghanaian women increased from 13% to 30% as a result of increased physical inactivity. Finally, because many high-income countries have banned tobacco advertising, cigarette companies are increasingly targeting the African continent. According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, smoking in Africa is increasing by a record 3.5% per year. Data from the American Cancer Society suggest that in combination, these factors are estimated to cause 63% of cancers. Second, Ghana lacks the resources to meet the high costs of managing the resulting increase in the number of cancer patients. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), more than half of the men and women diagnosed with cancer need radiotherapy at some point during their treatment. Giv-

en the hefty cost of a single radiotherapy unit (£2.5 million), Ghana has only two radiotherapy cancer treatment centres. They serve not only as central treatment centres for Ghana, but also for its neighbours, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire, leaving supply for treatment much lower than demand. In addition, poor working conditions, few prospects for career development, and the expense of training mean that approximately 3000 cancer care workers required to staff Ghana’s treatment centres. Prevalent misconceptions do not help the situation. Miriam Owusu, an oncology nurse at Sekyere of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, recalls that some people tried to dissuade her from this career because they believe that proximity to radiotherapy may result in cancer or infertility later in life. “I was discouraged and frightened,” she says. Third, most patients simply report their cases too late for treatment to be effective. For example, only 25% of patients with breast cancer at Korle-Bu teaching hospital survived beyond five years after diagnosis because those patients waited an average of ten months with their symptoms before coming to the hospital. That figure is the result of widespread ignorance about the symptoms of breast cancer, as well as the community’s perception that surgery actually

hastens the onset of the disease. This, in turn, discourages more women from seeking treatment. Yet there are some reasons for hope. Unlike HIV/AIDS, cancer is curable in 30% of cases identified, according to WHO. In addition, low-income countries are increasingly aware of the scale of the challenge and, with the help of the international community, taking measures to meet it. In 2004, the IAEA, bestknown as the UN’s nuclear watchdog, established a Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy. The program conducted a mission in Ghana to help assess its cancer burden, and it subsequently assisted the government in securing loans worth £8 million to help meet the needs identified. In May 2010, Ghana hosted the kick-off meeting for the organisation’s most recent project: a Virtual University for Cancer Control designed to provide low-cost, long-distance learning for health care workers in participating countries. It is an innovative first step for treating Ghanean cancer patients domestically, so that being cured of cancer does not (as it did for Regina) depend on blind luck. ! Diana Koester is studying for a master of philosophy in European Politics and Society at Mansfield College.

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A Career in Law 2010

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Also: Music in Bolivia ! Art in China

Culture

Bridget Coila via Flickr

!"#$%&'()%The 798 art district is no longer the heart of Beijing’s art scene Art in China

Shining in the Rough Helena Malchione

Beijing is fostering a bohemian, more authentic art scene

HIS past summer, gallery owners, artists, and collectors raced around the world to catch the openings of the newest cutting-edge galleries. They didn’t head to long-established art capitals like New York, London, or Berlin but to Beijing, searching for the “latest thing” in art in the capital of communist China. Beijing first arrived on the international art scene 30 years ago, when a group of experimental artists called the Stars defied government orders and displayed their art in public. But only in the last decade has China become known as the hot new market in the world of art. “I have been active in the contemporary art field for 25 years, and I have never experienced such a boom, at such a speed, to such heights, in such a short period of time,” explained Fabien Fryns, Belgian owner of gallery F2, which he relocated to Beijing from Spain in 2007. The journey to international recognition, however, has brought about major shifts within Beijing’s art community. The 798 Arts District, an arrangement of formerly abandoned Soviet factories which now house galleries and studios, has been the historic nucleus of Beijing’s contemporary art scene. But as boutiques and tourists crowd its streets and inflate its prices, artists and gallery owners are increasingly establishing or re-establishing themselves in Caochangdi, a village on the outskirts of Beijing’s urban sprawl that has become a more serious and subdued home to China’s modern art. The food stalls, dirt paths, and shirtless construction crews of Caochangdi are a far stretch from the charming Bauhaus spaces of 798. When artist Ai Weiwei, considered the godfather of contemporary art in China, moved to Caochangdi in 2000, he set a bold precedent that his colleagues considered crazy. Today,

the gallery space Ai opened within the compound he built for himself and his friends, China Art Archives and Warehouse, is among Beijing’s leading contemporary art galleries. In the years that followed, many more galleries opened in Caochangdi. The 2008 Beijing Olympics accelerated 798’s transformation into a glitzy tourist attraction, and the global economic downturn has hastened the movement of artists and gallery owners from 798 to Caochangdi, where tourists are few and real estate is cheaper. By now, a critical mass of new galleries and anchor organisations – many of them, including the well-known Pékin Fine Arts, Galerie Urs Meile, and Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, housed in compounds designed by Ai – have joined China Art Archives and Warehouse (CAAW) in Caochangdi. Two clusters of art spaces have emerged in Caochangdi. To the north are galleries CAAW, F2 Gallery, Platform China, and Three Shadows. F2 shows the work of new artists alongside long-established names and often displays more controversial pieces, such as a recent collection of paintings by Sheng Qi. With its opening in May 2009, the twentieth anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Sheng Qi’s show “Power of the People” drew unusually high attention from the Chinese government for its references to the protests. Several overly political pieces were not permitted to be

shown. In Caochangdi’s southern cluster, a vast arrangement of galleries lies tucked between the narrow streets. One of them is the veteran Beijing establishment White Space, the first truly influential gallery to relocate from 798. “We got to 798 early and we left early,” reflected White Space owner Tian Yuan on the decision to move her gallery. “There are very few people in Caochangdi. It is possible for us to work more peacefully here.” The shift from 798 to Caochangdi represents a formative moment in the continuing development of contemporary Chinese art. The rising prices and touristic ambiance of 798, which prompted some galleries to close and others to relocate, have helped weed out the ambitious hopefuls from the real talent. The quiet, more serious atmosphere of Caochangdi has allowed some of China’s most celebrated artists to reflect upon their bodies of work. In the September 2009 issue of The Beijinger, arts editor Madeleine O’Dea wrote that a “new bohemianism” had taken root in the city’s arts scene. If the rugged alleyways of Caochangdi speak to anything, it is this spirit of bohemianism and renewed creativity, and the promise of many more years of extraordinary art. !

Music in Bolivia

hanging above the marble-floored entrance. Most importantly, Traffic is usually immersed in a constant stream of house music, the same stuff you would find in any respectable club in Europe. Bolivia has traditionally been known for traditional South American sounds like cueca, kullawada or huayno. But now, clubs like Traffic are catering to a new taste in Bolivia – electronica. Step into clubs like Namaste or Blue in La Paz on any Saturday night and you will hear most types of dance music: house, trance, drum ‘n’ bass. Even dubstep, which has only gained mainstream popularity in the UK in the last few "

Foreign Invasion William Barns-Graham

Electronic music is taking Bolivia by storm

F you look around while waiting for a drink at Traffic, a club in La Paz, Bolivia, you might think you were in Paris, London, or New York. Traffic exudes western-style elegance: its bar is fully stocked with Smirnoff and Jack Daniels, and there are light-catching chandeliers

Helena Malchione studies economics and East Asian studies at Yale University. This article first appeared in The Yale Globalist.

Trinity 2011

" years, has a scene in Bolivia. While Euro-

Culture

populist. Over 60% of Bolivians live under the poverty line, so clubs are the exclusive purview of rich and privileged students. Yet Bolivian DJs like Bedrow are proud to be mixing electronic and traditional Bolivian sounds, saying, “Now more DJs are doing different stuff like drum ‘n’ bass and a guy from Argentina is doing Cumbia a lot, experimenting a lot, inspiring loads of new [Bolivian] DJs to do different stuff. It’s noisy!” When the clubs get too loud, Bolivians escape to the country to get their electro fix. The Andean Trance Festival, held on the spec-

the seeds’ history and to inscribe them within a system of economic relations. The space the work is displayed in is, itself, also a monument to industrialization and the endless need for more goods in globalized cities. Tate’s Turbine Hall was not created to house art, but was once filled with the mechanical noise of metal turbines powered by tons of oil. There is something poignantly honest about the state of the world in Weiwei’s work. On my way out, I noticed the large Unilever logo present on the title plaque for the piece. This detail added yet another layer to the work: the funds that made it possible came from the production and While most of the DJs in Bolivia are Bolivian or sale of millions of ice creams, shampoos Andean, it is glaringly obvious that the people and whatever else Unilever makes. So after I had tried to imagine thousands of listening to their music are not. workers crafting sunflower seeds at the culture.” Admittedly, even so-called tra- tacular Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca, opposite end of the globe, now I began ditional music in Bolivia has borrowed and the Samhaim Festival near La Paz in to visualize sweets and cosmetics on all from outside cultures. Although it has October, attract DJs from across South levels of production, and also their packlargely escaped the influence of Span- America. If it is not always Bolivians lis- aging – chemical factories turning petrol ish colonialism, Bolivian music has in- tening to electronic music, it is Bolivians into plastic bottles…too much. This arttegrated the sounds of the surrounding creating it. work is so powerful it almost shows too Andean countries, most notably Chilean The growth of electronic music has al- much. nueva cancion, and of West African beats lowed Bolivian DJs to inaugurate a new Weiwei’s playful suggestion that the brought to the continent with the slave wave of musical creativity for the country. Han Dynasty urn is connected to Coca trade. And that, according to Prudencio, doesn’t Cola was only a teaser for this work. However, while most of the DJs in mean giving up huayno and cueco entire- Sunflower Seeds expands on the message Bolivia are Bolivian or Andean, it is glar- ly. “Some music is meant to disappear”, by showing that the artist, artwork, auingly obvious that the people listening to he says, “but the real ancestral music will dience, museum, and urban environtheir music are not. Pablo Bedrow, one never be lost. You can listen to songs from ment are all linked to the global market of La Paz’s most iconic DJs, tells me that 10 years ago, 15 years, and they are still in some way. The workers who made the “the public that likes it the most is the on the radio. Electronic music is the fu- seeds remain silent; the corporation that [ex pats and gap year travellers]. There are ture…but the roots will always be here”. ! funded the project uses it as an advertiseclubs where there are 70% foreigners and ment venue; and the artist alone has the 30% Bolivians. Foreigners like it better power to make all of this manifest for the than Bolivians.” Even among Bolivians, William Barns-Graham studies philosophy audience to see. ! the electronic music trend is by no means and theology at Regent’s Park College. Ani Kodzhabasheva is a visiting student from Vassar College, United States. She Art in China With Sunflower Seeds, however, Ai studies Art History and Philosophy at Weiwei is not just making a comment on Worcester College. mass production, but engaging in it himAni Kodzhabasheva self. For this project, Ai Weiwei takes on the role of a capitalist entrepreneur. The work is not fully hidden under the safe laAi Weiwei’s ‘Sunflower Seeds’ exposes bel of “art”; the sunflower seeds are a part the ever-tenuous link between art and of business, global trade, and their power capitalism structures. What we see are delicate, tiny artiHE installation of Sunflower Seeds at facts: the seeds invite us to come close the Tate Modern is not the first time and to discover that each one is unique. the artist, Ai Weiwei, has toyed with the Some have rounded tips and gently apidea of consumerism and mass produc- plied color; others stand out with their tion. In 1994, he desecrated a ceramic sharp edges and bold white lines on their urn from the Han Dynasty by inscribing black surface. Each was held in human the logo of Coca Cola onto it. His sculp- hands and crafted with care. But the seeds ture Working Progress of 2007 ridiculed we see in the Turbine Hall are only markthe brightest symbol of communism from ers of the unseen map of the workshops the early days of the USSR. Vladimir Tat- where they were made, and of the routes lin’s Monument to the Third International, of the aircrafts that brought them from a model for a new helix-shaped govern- Asia to the UK. ment tower in Moscow, was transformed The viewer is asked to fulfill the imby Weiwei into a chandelier-like object possible task of seeing both the individual decorated with crystalline beads. In short, seeds at his or her feet and the whole sea Loz Pycock what was the beacon of economic eman- of them stretching into the distance. At cipation was turned into a commodity. the same time, he or she has to imagine Mass production pean and American pop music has gained popularity in Bolivia before, the ongoing electronic revolution is seeing a far greater influence on young Bolivian DJs and the mixes they play. Of course, the migration of western music to a South American country has to make any music lover wonder – is electronic music played in Bolivia and mixed by Bolivian artists Bolivian, or western? DJ Ricardo Prudencio, aka “Deep South”, tells me that “the youngest generations seem to like the electronic music. It’s our job to expand this music, this

Manufactured Art

Also: Life in Bogota ! The view from Oxford

Perspectives

Democracy in the Middle East

Three Years Later Adnan Rafiq

Pakistan’s experiences offer a cautionary tale for advocates of democracy in the Middle East

OR many Pakistanis, watching the uprisings in the Middle East brings on a sense of déjà vu. Only three years ago Pakistanis rebelled against their own government to finally depose General Musharraf, another self-proclaimed leader who considered himself indispensible. Sadly, the world did not pay much attention. Over the past few months, however, the international community has eagerly followed the uprising of the masses in the Middle East. For the first time in a generation, protesters are taking on the autocrats, monarchs, and despots who have for centuries oppressed their people and squandered the wealth of their nations. There are a number of similarities in the conditions that led to the 2008 uprising in the Pakistan and the Arab awakenings in the Middle East. Socio-economic inequality has grown in both places over the last decade. While Pakistan’s economy grew by 6% between 2002 and 2007, the elite classes benefitted most from the boom. In the Middle East, profits generated from the sale of valuable national assets, particularly oil, have flowed to elites friendly to the ruling regime for decades. The global financial crisis, increasing food and oil prices and rising unemployment further exacerbated the growing discontent among the masses. The explosion in popularity of private news channels in Pakistan, and emergence of channels such as Al-Jazeera, facilitated the political awakening of the people from Karachi

to Cairo. These developments provided the masses with access to real-time information and reduced the ability of the authoritarian regimes to censor or manipulate news. All that was required was for someone to strike a match (which in Tunisia, was literally the case). But the Pakistani example illustrates that a change in leadership does not solve the problem of reforming the political system. The Musharrafs, Mubaraks and Ben Alis of the world may depart the political stage, but overturning the system that brought them to power requires a much greater resolve and a much longer struggle. A democratic system depends crucially on the strength of civilian institutions, such as the legislature, judiciary, bureaucracy, electoral commission and media. These institutions, however, require time to develop and mature. Whether public pressure can be sustained long enough for

Building a stable democratic system is a process of evolution, not revolution. the critical state institutions to take shape remains to be seen. Pakistan has achieved mixed results in this regard. Since Musharraf, while the independent press and judiciary have consolidated their power, other important institutions, notably the legislature, civil bureaucracy and electoral commission, still lack the independence

and strength required to resist the emergence of a future authoritarian regime. However, the revolutions in the Middle East demonstrate that Muslim societies are compatible with modern ideas of democracy, liberty and freedom. For decades, Muslim leaders have sold their people the myth that in the absence of an authoritarian regime, their respective countries would plunge into extremism and become theocracies. The current uprising in the Middle East has been led by the young, educated, middle class and moderate sections of the society and has overwhelmingly exhibited liberal and democratic fervour. Similarly, in Pakistan 2008 elections, the moderate and liberal political parties emerged triumphant. If challenging Israel’s oppression and undermining undue US influence in the region was the goal, then Muslim youth, using mass mobilisation, have achieved more in just two months than what Al-Qaeda has achieved in the past two decades. The revolutions have shown that democratic and peaceful struggle can effectively usher political change. The Arab awakening may well define the future political trajectory of the Middle East. However, the greater challenge of developing a sustainable democratic system of governance still lies ahead. Events so far demonstrate that the masses crave freedom and justice. These tendencies will grow stronger as young people exploit technological innovation to communicate with one another and express their political hopes and grievances more effectively. Perhaps other democratic movements around the world will be inspired by the changes in the Middle East, and the events of the spring will apply pressure for reform on other authoritarian regimes. Certainly, the events in the Middle East will refocus Pakistanis’ ef- "

Trinity 2011

" forts to improve their democratic system.

The world may have just witnessed the beginnings of a democratic renaissance in the broader Muslim world. Only time will tell. !

Adnan Rafiq is studying for a D.Phil in Politics at St. Cross College. Life in Bogota

The Resilient Cachacos Ellie Horrocks Bogota quickly claims foreigners as its own

T is morning in Bogota, Colombia, and its eight million residents are beginning their daily fight to make ends meet. Locals, or cachacos, dart across streets, dodge taxis, and purchase buñuelos donuts, arepas breads, and tiny tinto coffees on street corners to aguantar (stave off) the early morning hunger. Their eyes sting from the fumes emitted by queues of colectivo buses, and the harsh light of Bogota’s high altitude. They rise at 5am and spend their first two hours in darkness on packed busetas, hoping for seats to finish the night’s sleep. Bundled up, hair still damp, they sleep, chins dropping on to their chests as the bus crawls and hurtles, coughing out black smoke and dodging potholes. The city is gripped by a yellow fever of taxis, whose meters creep up respectfully, each mile adding hundreds of pesos to the fare. At days end, cachacos will arrive home late on cold dark evenings and retreat to the safe havens of tiny fifth floor apartments, where they drink Chocolisto brand chocolate milk by scrubbed silver sinks, heap blankets on beds, and watch telenovelas and news reports of the goals and traffic accidents of the day. But for now, as the sun rises, the cachacos wake to watch each other guardedly, and sigh together silently at traffic witnessed from the bus window. There is harsh, guarded solitude, yet a sense of collective understanding – an anonymity that paradoxically unites everyone in shared experience. Bogota, the enigmatic capital of Colombia, is a sprawling metropolis – the kind of city that swallows you whole. Those who live in Bogota are the city’s advocates. Many wonder why. Each cachacos appears entirely solitary, battling against an aggressive city that seemingly stacks everything against them. In reality, cachacos share these hardships collectively, and rejoice in them. Unlike its Latin American neighbours, Bogota is defined

Perspectives

by its substantial middle class. The view flying over Bogota is not a landscape of slums, as in Rio or Mexico City, but a patchwork of red brick, made up of the cosy Lego-like apartment blocks of the middle class. Yet although cachacos dream big, life is hard. There is a solidarity between all those who can negotiate Bogota’s pitfalls, understand its bus routes, and still swear blind that the city’s weather is not really that cold. Bogota, perched surprisingly on an Andes plateau and flanked to the east by a mountain range, is the third highest capital in the world. Bogota itself is wrapped in clouds and chill and treated frequently to thundering aguaceros, or rainstorms, that last for days, destroying roads and bringing the city to a standstill. In recent weeks intensifying rains have caused landslides, washing away the fragile houses perched on steep terrain in the far south of the city. After weeks of rain, cachacos look up incredulously and, at an altitude of 2600m, the bright rays scorch their cheekbones and wipe their memories of months of solid rain. Then they swear earnestly to costeños (coastal Colombians) that Bogota’s weather is sunny all year round. In many ways Bogota shares the predictable economic disparity of other South American cities. There is a dramatic gulf between the Zona T, home to posh restaurants and Bogota’s upper class, and the neighbourhoods of Usme and Bosna, populated by refugees displaced by Colombia’s rural conflict. Desterrados (displaced people) flee to the city from rural areas racked by crossfire violence and brutalities committed in the name of hereditary hatreds. The last sixty years have borne witness both to Bogota’s urbanisation and to a period of horrific

brutality. In 1948 Liberal leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán’s assassination triggered the brutal Bogotazo riots. A decade-long civil war followed claiming over 200,000 lives. In 1964, CIA-trained military bombed communist enclaves in the south of the city. In response the communes radicalised, and remobilised to form the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In 2002, during President Uribe’s inauguration, these FARC guerrillas launched homemade bombs at the presidential palace. Although Colombia’s armed conflict has now been primarily consigned to its periphery, Bogota’s residents rarely forget that the country is at war. Bogota has necessarily absorbed reintegrados, the disarmed paramilitaries and guerrillas granted freedom in return for their weapons. These groups now form highly organised bandas criminales, and carry out atracos with startling speed and precision. Periodically, homemade bombs evade sniffer dogs and video surveillance, and are detonated in Bogota’s squares. Though the homicide rate in Bogota has dropped in recent years, high unemployment and institutionalised crime continue to mark the city. Cachacos are well aware of Bogota’s dark underworld – far more so than tourists, who wander innocently around the sanitised Plaza Bolívar, impressed by the police presence and facade of security. Admittedly, that makes cachacos more reserved than most other Colombians. The cacachos’ model of friendship is built on the presumption that people outside the family should not be trusted. Personal relationships are private and cautious, and often intertwined with formal alliances. Locals can benefit from a relationship with the right notary, the best meat seller, or a reliable clinica. Barricaded "

Ellie Horrocks

Good morning Bogota Sunrise over Colombia’s metropolis

Perspectives

" from each other, cacachos guard their city

from dishonour. The political sleaze rife throughout the alcaldía is taken personally. Mayor Samuel Moreno is referred to as el innombrable, or “He who must not be named”, and widely vilified for his failure to deliver on the promises of his campaign. Moreno’s multi-billion peso family deals engender a collective visceral sense of betrayal among the cachacos – further

THE

proof that they are fiercely protective of their city. Tourists, therefore, barely see the authentic Bogota. Only the foreigner who comes to Bogota to learn its secrets will reap its reward. The city will claim them – as it does each cacachos – as its own. ! Ellie Horrocks studies modern languages at Trinity College.

The view from Oxford

Crossing the Hydaspes Natasha Rao

A British Indian classicist finds her heritage in an unlikely place

“S

O what is it that you do?” the Aunty simpers, while my mother stirs nervously beside her in her sari. Another day, another Indian gathering of friends and relatives. “Classics,” I say – not without a hint of acidity, I admit, but there are only so many times I can deal with this conversation. She blinks in distate. But she recovers quickly. “Oh...that’s – nice. You know that Priya is doing Accountancy at Bolton University?” She addresses my mother again. The chat continues. I slip away. It’s always the same – the confusion, the disapproval, and then the smug smile that her own daughter Priya, or Esha, isn’t wasting her time with an Arts degree. As an Indian girl studying Classics at Oxford, I recognise that I’m not exactly a stereotype. But sitting there in a lecture on Homeric style, I wonder – how? How did I end up reading the subject that is possibly the very antithesis of the “typical Asian degree”? I certainly grew up in a household that was as Indian as any other. I would wake up with a jolt on a Sunday to my father yelling down the phone to my grandparents in Bangalore – as if some-

how by increasing the volume of his voice, it might get to India faster. I would smell my mother cooking Sunday lunch – daal, chapattis, and subzi – with the wails of some classical singer resonating around the house. I would grumble and duck under the covers. But, naturally, I rebelled against my heritage. Listening to cooler girls in my class gossiping about which parties they were going to that weekend just reminded me that, at fourteen, on a Saturday night, I sat with my family and watched the latest Bollywood film. So understandably, I started defying all things Indian: I pulled away from my traditional Asian friends at school, I started dating nonIndian boys, I didn’t learn Hindi or wear salwar kameez unless it was necessary. Two years later however, having grown out of my teenage angst, I started to feel like something was missing – I missed my roots. I tried everything to reconnect with them. I went to garba, a traditional North Indian dance festival but ended up with sore legs and a sore ego. I tried to make an extra effort in the kitchen, but my puris were flat and my raita was bland. I even thought about doing medi-

Mahesh B

OXONIAN Globalist

cine, but the smell of the hospital during work experience made me nauseated – and, to my embarrassment, I discovered that I fainted at the sight of blood. Somewhere along the way, I started doing Classics. I immersed myself in stories of Greek heroes, their values, and their culture – so inspired by it that I chose to study it at University, over the traditional options like law or medicine. I was never really sure why, though. No one in my family has even studied Classics. In fact, ironically, most of them are doctors. Then, recently, my eccentric grandmother sent me a copy of the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic about the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas, asking me excitedly (and completely unrealistically) to translate it into Ancient Greek. While I perused it, something struck me. Classics, while it seems an odd and bizarre choice of subject, was made for me. It isn’t taking me away from my cultural heritage, but bringing me back to it. The Ancient Greeks, in a weird and wonderful way, are just like the modern Indian community – their religiousness, their eccentricity, their myths. When I learn about ancient customs of guestfriendship, I remember my mother telling me as a young girl how we never turn away a guest. When I read about Odysseus’ feats with a bow, I remember the days my grandfather put me to sleep with tales of the archery skills of Rama while I lay in bed, my nightclothes sticking to me in the Indian humidity. My degree, somehow – crazily – has helped me feel more in tune with my heritage than any garba or daal-making disaster. And that is more than can be said, I think, for Accountancy at the University of Bolton. ! Natasha Rao studies classics at Worcester College.

Lisa Lunamoth

Not so different after all Descent of the Ganges, a group of monuments at Mahabalipuram in India, and the Elgin Marbles

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