The Wellesley Globalist: Volume VII, Issue 1 "Disclosure"

the Wellesley Globalist Volume VII, Issue 1

DISCLOSURE

Letter from the Editors in chief Dear Globalist Readers,

This Fall semester we challenged our writers to uniquely contemplate connotations of our theme, Disclosure, unrestricted by its traditional scope of uncovering obscure, classified and unpublicized information.

A diverse collection of insightful articles were proposed and selected, ranging from topics concerning the attacks on journalistic liberties and freedom of fact-based opinionated expression, to the unhindered persecution of minority populations, specifically within the Asian continent, to the continued empowerment of young students by way of education and community engagement. It is The Wellesley Globalist Staff’s mission to commit ourselves to a publication that engages in the lifelong process of listening, empathizing, debating and amplifying voices and diverse opinions on the international events impacting our students, our communities and our futures.

On behalf of The Wellesley Globalist Staff, we would like to thank all of our contributors, for with their exemplary work and dedication, we present to our devoted readers an academic magazine indicative of the collegiate deliberations circulating our campus. We hope to incite thoughtful dialogue and prompt introspective reconsideration of long held opinions. In future semesters, we encourage you to contribute journalistic-style writings and photographs for inclusion in our physical magazine, as well as opinion-style pieces for our online publication. For inquiries concerning Writer and Staffing positions, please contact us at thewellesleyglobalist_wcso@wellesley.edu.

Best regards, Sarah Shireen Moinuddeen The Biological Sciences Class of 2019

Claudia Lamprecht The Biological Sciences & Economics Class of 2020

Editorial Managing Director Hajira Fuad

Secretary Sabrina Malik

Production Director Stephanie Makredes

Treasurer Manvi Chaudhary

Operations Director Lindsey Bennett

Publicity Chair Devyani Arora

Web Content Director Event Coordinator Elle Song Aryaa Sheth

Associate Editors Martina Silva Anna Wan Manvi Chaudhary Fatima Aslam Angela Qian Ishita Krishan Copy Editors Laurel Stickney Eva Chang Esther Choe Jax Rousselot

Layout Editors Helene Koumans Katie Dretler Dominique Mickiewicz Kyra Du Web Content Editors Helene Koumans Cindy Zhao Mika Thakkar

Table of Contents Current Events

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On the Disastrous Consequences of United States Involvement in the Yemen Conflict Observing the Fight: Complexities for Catalan Independence

World Cultures

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Pitbull Ethnography

Persecution

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Myanmar: Censorship in the Wake of the Rohingya Crisis The Persecution of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, China

Global Issues

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The Attack on Journalism Mounts in Khashoggi Killing

Politics and History

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The Red Legacy in Hungary Trotskyism and Permanent Revolution in Buenos Aires

Wellesley & Beyond

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StemKit: Idealism and Goals Versus Practicality and Ethics of Global Social Work Girls Who Are Going To... Experiences of the Global HerStory Summit

Featured Lecture

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Development in Contemporary India: Perspectives from Economics and Sociology

On the Disastrous Consequences of U.S. Involvement in the Yemen Conflict Hajira Fuad

On August 9 2018, a bomb was dropped on a school bus filled with children in a marketplace in northern Yemen, instantly killing 40 boys all under the age of 11. The Saudi led coalition fighting in Yemen was responsible for the airstrike, but the bomb used in this brutal attack was made by Lockheed Martin, an American weapons manufacturer. Thus, the U.S. enabled one of the most despicable war crimes committed in Yemen since the beginning of the civil war in 2015. This horrific attack confirmed yet again that U.S. military support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen is unjustifiable. So long as we continue to enable the war crimes occurring in Yemen, we erode our already depleted moral authority in the world.

The bomb used in the attack was sold to Saudi Arabia by the U.S. in weapons sales worth billions of dollars. This comes as no surprise, as Saudi Arabia is the number one buyer of U.S.-manufactured weapons.

In 2017, the U.S. Senate approved a $500 million arms sale to the Saudi military. In addition to supplying Saudi Arabia with weapons, the U.S. provides intelligence and logistical assistance for Saudi actions in Yemen. By doing so, it is prolonging and exacerbating a conflict that has been described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The civil war in Yemen began in 2015 when an armed rebel group known as the Houthis seized power

from Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which was backed by Saudi Arabia. Since then, a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been fighting the Houthis in support of the ousted government in what has amounted to a bloody civil war with no end in sight.

Caught in the middle of it all are innocent civilians, such as the boys killed in the August 9 school bus attack.

The attack was not an anomaly or a mistake. The Saudi-led coalition regularly attacks civilian targets such as schools, hospitals, marketplaces, and mosques—a serious violation of international law. Additionally, the country has been on the brink of famine ever since the Saudi-led coalition imposed a sea and air blockade on an important port, restricting key imports of food and medicine. As a result, an estimated 22 million Yemeni civilians need humanitarian assistance to survive, and 8 million are close to starvation. What’s happening in Yemen is a humanitarian nightmare.

By continuing to provide total military support for the Saudiled coalition, the U.S. has been implicated in despicable war crimes alongside Saudi Arabia.

This raises the question of why the U.S. became involved in Yemen in the first place. The answer, unsurprisingly, concerns Iran: the conflict is essentially a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Houthi rebels, who also have committed serious

“What’s happening in Yemen is a humanitarian disaster.”

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human rights abuses, are backed by Iran, though not nearly to the extent that Saudi Arabia is militarily backed by the U.S. Ironically, researchers have found that Iran only started providing significant support for the Houthis after Saudi Arabia intervened in the civil war in 2015.

What the Yemen Civil War comes down to, then, is a battle for regional dominance between Iran and Saudi Arabia waged at the expense of the Yemeni people.

In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September, Donald Trump only confirmed that his administration is committed to supporting Saudi Arabia’s aggression in Yemen while turning a blind eye to the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Saudis.

Considering the Trump administration’s obsession with restraining Iran, this comes as no surprise. But we must remember that no strategic explanation or geopolitical aim can justify the acute, horrific suffering of millions of innocent civilians.

The U.S. has played an integral role in perpetuating this proxy war. In 2015, Foreign Policy magazine reported that the Saudi-led coalition’s “daily bombing campaign would not be possible without the constant presence of U.S. Air Force tanker planes refueling coalition jets.” Additionally, even the mere fact that the U.S. ever got involved in the conflict is problematic.

The U.S. Constitution requires such a significant level of involvement in an overseas war to be first approved

by a vote from the people’s elected representatives in Congress, but this clearly never happened.

Nevertheless, Congress is slowly waking up to the fact that the U.S. has managed to become involved in a genocidal conflict that’s growing more irresolvable by the day. In August, there was a bipartisan effort in Congress to include a provision in a defensespending bill requiring the Saudi-led coalition to reduce civilian casualties. Under this pressure from Congress, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed in September that the Saudi-led coalition is actively trying to minimize civilian casualties, although Saudi Arabia’s actions suggest otherwise. Civilian targets continue to be bombed and the sea and air blockade imposed by the Saudis is still in place, which prevents civilians from receiving much-needed humanitarian aid.

The United Nations stopped counting the official death toll in Yemen two years ago when it surpassed 10,000. Over a million people, many of them children, are suffering from a cholera outbreak in Yemen. To continue remaining complicit in the acute human suffering and misery inflicted by Saudi Arabia in Yemen would surely invalidate any claim the U.S. has a defender of freedom and justice in the world. As the most powerful country in the world, the United States has a moral obligation to stop prolonging and enabling this horrific conflict.

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Observing the Fight: Complexities for Catalan Independence Kendall Smith When I arrived in Barcelona in early September, I was unaware of the intense political bout I was stepping into. I expected the typical struggles of a language barrier, some culture shock, and other normal adjustments when traveling abroad. However, I did not anticipate that my new home would be the epicenter of a political fight for national sovereignty, nor would I understand the depth of this conflict until talking to the people there and hearing their stories.

Within my first week there, one million people had marched through the streets, calling for Catalan independence from Spain and the release of political prisoners by the national government. In short, the conflict involves the autonomous region of Catalonia, whose government and almost half of its people wish to seek independence from Spain and the Spanish government, who does not want to see the secession of this region and has taken drastic measures in order to ensure Catalonia is unable to part from Spain. The motives of both sides are rooted in history, cultural identity, and economic interests.

Laws have been broken on both sides in order to obtain their respective desired outcomes, and the violation of basic democratic processes has heightened the magnitude of this conflict.

Questions regarding citizen’s selfdetermination and Constitutional claims to federal sovereignty have also added to the complexity of the matter.

The only fair and democratic way for this to be resolved is if Spain authorizes Catalonia to hold a legal referendum, allowing its people to determine their own future and government. Because pro-independentists only have roughly 47% of the majority, the referendum would most likely not pass and Catalonia would remain apart of Spain. However, the Spanish government is not willing to risk the possibility of the referendum passing and losing such a great financial and industrial asset.

However, the more the Spanish government pushes against Catalonia, imprisons Catalan politicians, and prevents elections, the more popularity the proindependant side garners.

What is Catalonia?

Catalonia is an autonomy, in northwest Spain.

Home to 7.5 million people, Catalonia produces roughly 20% of Spain’s total GDP. Although the movement for independence is a relatively new one in political form, the buildup has taken place over the last 300 years.

Catalonians claim to have lost their independence in 1714 when King Philip V took power of Spain and diminished the local governments of the various regions of Spain.

Before this, Catalonia was a flourishing region with its own laws, government, and language. Despite being oppressed throughout history, from the reign of Philip V in the early 18th century to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975, the Catalan language and culture have survived.

“However, the more the Spanish government pushes against Catalonia, imprisons Catalan politicians, and prevents elections, the more popularity the proindependant side garners.”

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Today, people in Catalonia speak both Catalan and Spanish, but mostly Catalan. Strong proindependentists feel that speaking Spanish is equivalent to being a Spanish nationalist, and extreme Spanish nationalists believe the use of Catalan is a disgrace to Spain. The Spanish Constitution requires that all people living in Spain speak Spanish, however schools in Catalonia are taught primarily in Catalan, with only some Spanish mixed in as a second language. Street signs often read first in Catalan, then Spanish, and then in big cities such as Barcelona, English. (This is mainly done in order to cater to the 32 million tourists who visit the city each year.) In big cities such as Barcelona, many people who prefer to speak Spanish, however in smaller towns and rural areas of the region, Catalan is the primary language. The use of both languages has become a polarizing issue in the current political climate.

The region also has its own culture and customs, distinct to that of Spain. Delicious dishes such as Botiffara or Crema Catalana (think Creme Brulee but better) give Catalonia a unique cuisine, a flavor the people are extremely proud of. La Merce and Dia de Sant Jordi are two holidays completely exclusive to Catalonia. The first being a five day street party which takes place in Barcelona every fall, and the latter serves as the Catalan spin on Valentine’s Day. Catalonia also has its own parliament, flag and anthem. With different food, holidays, and language, Catalan people feel different than Spain and wish to return to a time where they were not under Spanish rule.

sovereign state. With 90% of the counted votes in favor of independence, the Catalan government declared itself an independent state. The referendum was deemed illegal by the Spanish national government due to a constitutional provision that declares that no part of Spain is to become independent from the whole. With this, the national government dissolved the entire Catalan government, imposing direct rule.

Additionally, thirteen members of the disassembled government were charged with rebellion, causing the former president of Catalonia and other key cabinet members to flee into exile to avoid imprisonment.

Nine other Catalan politicians were taken into custody by the Spanish government and three still remain in prison today, awaiting trial.

Not only were politicians in prison for their fight for independence, but citizens were assaulted and barred from voting in the referendum last fall.

On the morning of the vote, the Spanish national police were present all across the region of Catalonia, in an attempt to block polling stations and prohibit people from participating in the referendum. After much hostility between citizens and police, violence erupted in Barcelona with police officers beating voters and shooting rubber bullets at the crowds, injuring countless people. This deliberate violation of democratic rights did not look well on the Spanish government; nevertheless, their adamant desire to keep Catalonia under Spanish authority was successful, and the Spanish government has proven to be more important than upholding political correctness.

What is Happening?

On October 1, 2017 the government of Catalonia organized a referendum for its citizens to vote to either remain a part of Spain or to become an independent and 7

What is Europe Doing About This?

The EU has formally stated that if Catalonia were to achieve independence from Spain, it would not recognize or allow the state to be in the EU. It has also declared that this is an internal affair for Spain to handle independently, and is not the concern of the EU to interfere. However, this message from the EU insinuates siding with the Spanish government because if left to handle matters themselves, Spain will stop at no cost to prevent the secession of Catalonia.

Carles Puigdemont, the former president of Catalonia, as well as other cabinet members from the Catalan Parliament fled to Brussels when the Spanish government ordered direct rule in Catalonia and charged the government with rebellion. The Belgium government reviewed their case and ignored the Spanish government’s request for extradition of the political exiles. The Belgium government determined that the accusations of rebellion were not accurate to what took place in Catalonia on October 1st because rebellion requires violence, and the Catalan government did not initiate or promote any violence by holding the illegal referendum, only civil disobedience by facilitating an illegal vote.

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“Spain will stop at no cost to prevent the secession of Catalonia.”

As the EU and many European states ignore the escalating tension in Spain, they are indirectly giving their support to the Spanish government. By asserting the matter as an “internal affair” they are denying responsibility in the problem and allowing the Spanish government to continue to take drastic and even illegal measures to ensure the unity of the country. If it is left to Spain to deal with, they will without question prevail every time over Catalonia, because they are the superior and more sovereign party in the matter. Spain has already proven that they will go to great lengths to get what they want: imposing direct rule, police brutality at polling stations, imprisoning Catalan politicians— all signs indicate that the Spanish government is willing to jeopardize respect and credibility, if in the end Catalonia remains a part of Spain.

The Catalan government has been smart to see international attention towards their cause and focus on the ideas of democracy and human rights in their fight for independence. In many ways, this call to the world has worked favorably to garner international news coverage and start conversations about the issue. However, it has not been enough to receive any type of formal support from any other country.

Most of the world views this as a historic dispute, dating back hundreds of years, and only recently ignited by the popularity and sensationalization of political movements such as this. However, what the international community is failing to recognize is the violation of basic democratic processes towards the Catalan people.

will come in the next five years; others feel it never will. But one thing remains constant: the future cannot be democratically determined without a vote. Self-determination is a virtue which makes What Now? people feel good, and often less radical. When In June 2018, the Spanish government allowed people have the ability to decide for themselves Catalonia to hold elections for a new parliament.

While the new government has stepped into office, the their political fate, they often think more rationally, and vote accordingly. The longer Catalans are tensions in the region have continued to rise. Many of denied their voice in determining their future, the newly elected politicians do favor independence, they begin to realize they don’t want to be apart of and those who do not do believe that political such an oppressive and undemocratic regime, and prisoners should be released from incarceration and more will grow anxious and call for the abrupt and others allowed safe return from exile. The general revolutionary declaration of independence from sentiment of the new Catalan government in regards Spain. to independence is comprehensive negotiations with This basic political psychology is poorly the Spanish government, which would allow the miscalculated by the Spanish government. The more people of Catalonia to democratically decide their they push against independence, the more Catalonia own future. Today, Catalan independence flags drape pushes back. The best solution for Spain is to allow Catalonia a fair election. Based on public opinion polls, and previous unofficial referendums, the proindependence side would only garner roughly 45% of the vote, and not pass. However, Spain is not willing to risk the chance of a pro-independence victory, and the grave consequences that would present for the Spanish economy. Nevertheless, the longer Spain stands still, and allows Catalonia to boil over in political unrest, the more difficult it will be to reach a mutual agreement in the future. Action must be taken the balconies of apartments across Barcelona, and fly on the flag poles of homes and businesses in the rural sooner rather than later, or else the independence movement will surely become the majority opinion of country. Yellow ribbons signifying the call to release political prisoners and exiles are sprayed on sidewalks, Catalans.

This all comes down to the basic principle of windows, and worn on the shirts of many, most democracy: ensure the Catalan people their right to notably the newly elected members of the Catalan vote to determine their future, and the results must government. be respected and upheld by both the Catalan and The polarization of the two sides is only Spanish governments. This is truly the only way to deepening, and the future of the region is more rightfully resolve this age old feud. uncertain than ever. Some believe independence

“[T]he future cannot be democratically determined without a vote.�

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Pitbull Ethnography Jovita Solorio-Fielder On October 12th, 2017 I was lucky enough to see the Cuban-American rapper Pitbull live in concert for a second time. Unlike the last time I saw him in 2013, where he was a surprise performer at a charity concert, this time the audience knew exactly who they had flooded Boston’s TD Banknorth Garden to see – Pitbull and Enrique Iglesias. The diversity truly amazed me, as there were ranges in race, ethnicity, age, and gender. Listening to Pitbull’s music and lyrics, I always assumed that the targeted demographic were young partying Latinos. However, as I arrived, I saw middleaged women and their husbands dressed in club attire.

I saw TD Garden transformed into a hub of Latin music, where Pitbull and Enrique Iglesias performed their unique Latin Hip-Hop sound, but also used their platform to draw attention to matters of social justice pertaining to the Latinx community.

As my Wellesley friend and I searched for our seats before the show, I noticed a pattern in concert-goers:

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the majority were either white or Latino. Most of the white fans were in their mid-twenties, attractive, and dressed for a small party with skirts and the occasional wedge shoe. The Latino fans had a median age of about forty-five, and outdressed the younger students by a mile. Heels and tight dresses graced one out of every four Latina women, and every man donned a buttondown shirt. The man sitting directly in front of us in the nosebleed seats even wore a suit jacket. Evidently, this event had great personal and cultural importance to this audience, at least enough to break out their semiformal wear on a Thursday night. While not everyone in the audience can “Live in hotels, swing on planes,” they sure tried to dress the part.

Still, the music itself was absolutely the centerpoint of the evening. Half the audience adored any nod to Latin-American culture and the Spanish was sung just as loudly as the English. As for the Spanish Enrique Iglesias, audience members in the lower pit held up a

Spanish flags as he came on the stage, trying to catch his eye. Iglesias was not just an entertainer, but an ally who represented their culture.

Throughout the concert, Pitbull owned his Latin identity, as he took time to discuss hot-button issues in between songs. He discussed topics that spoke to the forgotten Latinx community, including Hurricane Maria, which had hit Puerto Rico just weeks prior to the concert, traditional gender roles, and even briefly US-Mexico relations and the Trump administration.

Stressing solidarity among all Americans—not just in the United States, but across Central, North, and South America—he emphasized that everyone needed to lend a hand in “any way” to make a difference. He claimed that the most important actions

were those that “go straight to the people,” reminding the audience that he sent his personal planes to aid Puerto Rico in evacuations, an ability very few people have.

Pitbull also addressed the treatment of women in the entertainment industry. While his lyrics and visual representations of women only further female hypersexualization, during the concert he proclaims “women are the most powerful things we got” and that “a woman showed me how to be a man.” He preached this idea of female empowerment, despite the contrast between these enunciated ideals and the misogyny in his music, a common theme in hip-hop. He followed these comments with a speech about his single mother carrying his entire household growing up, and then transitioned into the classic “Hotel Room,” a song that touts all of the different franchises of hotels and motels he brings women back to. This being one of his biggest hits, it was obligatory for him to play it, but it showcases the paradox of newly “woke” rappers – they build their careers on misogynistic songs, yet preach modern female-empowerment values. Regardless, the audience roared as the song came on the speakers.

In terms of the songs themselves, Pitbull sang in both English and in Spanish, seeing as a majority of his songs include some form of “Spanglish,” capitalizing on this hybrid language to give Spanish speakers a familiar sound, while still appealing to English speakers. After one song with a fair amount of Spanish lyrics, the singer stated that the universal language of music should always be understood; he remarked that everyone should “come out of this [concert] bilingual,” and encouraged everyone to chant along with him “Paramos? No. Seguimos? Sí.”

The space suddenly felt nothing like a concert venue and became a sort of rally for a collective identity that now comprised the room: one of Latinidad, pride, and power. Contrary to the climate of our country where people consistently proclaim that “this is America where we speak English,” Pitbull pushed back to embrace bilingualism.

“Throughout the concert, Pitbull owned his Latin identity, as he took time to discuss hotbutton issues in between songs.”

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Myanmar: Censorship in the Wake of the Rohingya Crisis Ruby Shealy

On December 12, 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were invited to dinner by police in Yangon, Myanmar.

The two Reuters journalists had been investigating the massacre of Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine State and a mass grave in the village of Inn Din for several months prior to the meeting. Shortly after arriving in Yangon, the two journalists were arrested for violation of the Official Secrets Act, despite a lack of evidence that the pair possessed any confidential government information. They were held in prison without bail for nine months before being sentenced to seven years of hard labor on September 3, 2018.

The stories of journalists like Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are not uncommon. Both the Official Secrets Act and the Telecommunications Act have been used by the government of Myanmar to silence journalists who expose the wrongdoings of high level officials.

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In 2015, activist Chaw Sandi Tun was arrested for violating the Telecommunications Act after she wrote a Facebook post mocking army uniforms by comparing them to a woman’s skirt. When legislation cannot be used against reporters, violence is used as a substitute, as seen in the murder of Ko Par Gyi after his reporting on the conflict at the Thai border. These instances of suppression of the free press have become increasingly common in Myanmar within the past five years, evoking fear among journalists which leads to a lack of legitimate investigation into human rights abuses.

In examining the effect that this censorship could have on the country, it is imperative to examine the existing legislation and the impact domestic journalism had in bringing the persecution of Rohingya muslims into the international consciousness.

The Official Secrets Act received widespread

scrutiny as the story of the two Reuters journalists became international news. The act is a rarelyenforced remnant of India’s anti-espionage law that was introduced during the British colonial era.

It applies to anyone who “obtains, collects, records or publishes... any official document or information” that could be considered “useful to an enemy” and is punishable by up to fourteen years in prison. This means that reporters can be punished for possessing classified documents, even if they never publish them. This vague wording allows for the prosecution of virtually any journalist who reports on issues related to the government. Though the the government of Myanmar claims that the law is in place as a national security measure, since 2014, it has only been used to punish journalists.

The Telecommunications Act was introduced in 2013 and contains similarly ambiguous language.

The law banned citizens from “extorting, coercing, restraining wrongfully, defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening” government and

military officials on online platforms. These broad terms meant that the act could be used to prosecute civilians that criticize government or military officials online.

Since its implementation, the advocacy group Research Team for Telecommunications Law reports that 106 people have been arrested in violation of the terms of the law, including 13 journalists and 19 human rights defenders.

These laws become even more alarming when considering the crucial role investigative journalism has played in revealing human rights abuses within Myanmar. Local writers reported on the state of affairs in the region regarding the treatment of Rohingya muslims and provided photographs that captured the attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Council then agreed to conduct an independent fact finding mission, which revealed the extent of the genocide. Now that freedom of the press is under threat, many fear that vague legislation will be used to prevent reporting on persecution, putting minorities like the Rohingyas at a greater

“Laws become even more alarming when considering the crucial role investigative journalism has played in revealing human rights abuses within Myanmar”

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risk of encountering future violence and oppression.

As Poppy McPherson, a journalist based in South Asia, explained to NPR in December 2017, “It’s a really harrowing decline of press freedom in the past year, but especially since August 25, since the abuse of Rohingyas really ratcheted up and these horrific crimes have been committed.

The decline of press freedom has gone hand in hand with that.”

The decline of free press in the country has come at the same time as the rise of Facebook. Yangon-based digital activist Thant Sin explains that Myanmar, a nation of around 53 million people, has 27 million Facebook accounts.

Many people in the country use Facebook as a news source as well as a social site. Without a trusted free press, false news stories on social media sites cannot be disproved, causing chaos and confusion. These digital platforms also allow for the rapid spread of anti-Rohingya rhetoric. One of the clearest examples of this chaos occured in 2014 when mobs gathered in Mandalay outside a tea shop after false rumors spread on Facebook that the shop owner raped a Buddhist employee. Without a voice of reason to correct these lies, riots broke out, killing two men and injuring 20 others. The ability of false news stories to spread rapidly online makes it more important than ever for journalists to have the ability to investigate without government restriction.

Though censorship has increased in the past few years, there is good news: international pressure has convinced the government of Myanmar to reconsider legislation that stifles journalistic activity. After the story of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo broke, the United Nations, along with the United States and several other countries, looked to Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor of Myanmar and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, to dismiss the arrests. While Kyi has been hesitant to speak on the issue, criticism of these policies has led to some reforms.

In 2017, the Telecommunications Act was amended to reduce ambiguous phrasing that had justified the arrest of government critics active on social media sites. The same year, Pastor Dumdaw Nawng Lat and Langjaw Gam Seng, prominent Baptist leaders jailed for their participation in the investigation of a Catholic church bombing in the northern Shan State, were released from prison after public outcry.

International pressure from the United Nations and humanitarian groups seems to be an effective strategy for generating change in Myanmar, but more focus needs to be put on fundamentally changing the way the country’s leaders think about the press. Myanmar’s government and military leaders must agree to recognize the value of journalistic freedom and take steps to systematically change the culture of distrust towards journalists. The first steps in this process must be amending the use of ambiguous language in legislation and acknowledging that violence against reporters is unacceptable. These changes will require the government and military to come to terms with the human rights violations committed under their watch, but it is the only path forward in a country haunted by genocide to ensure future persecution does not go unreported.

“When legislation cannot be used against reporters, violence is used as a substitute.”

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The Persecution of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, China Fatima Aslam On August 13, 2018, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination concluded that China has instituted a policy that creates internment camps in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, which lies in northwest China. The camps primarily contain people of the Uighur minority who have been accused of religious extremism. Claiming to counteract religious extremism and terrorism, China has pursued an inhumane policy targeting Uighurs based solely on their ethno-religious identity—in effect violating human rights.

The Uighur are a minority Muslim group hailing from the far west region of Xinjiang, China, which borders Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Xinjiang is home to nearly 11 million Muslims, who have inhabited the region since the times of the Silk Road.

Although Xinjiang is legally an autonomous state, the government of China maintains strict rule over the region, exercising its power from the policing of its people to handling the external affairs of the region.

With President Xi Jinping’s recent consolidation of power in China, the country is experiencing sudden changes, which are intermingled with its burgeoning economy. With such prosperity has come a certain degree of despotic rule, with President Jinping’s elimination of term limits imposed on his presidency, essentially ensuring him power for life. Since his rise to power, Jinping has converted Xinjiang into a segregated region, basically on lockdown, through measures such as detention centers.

The detention centers established by the Communist Party seek to limit the growth of the Muslim population in Xinjiang. Former detainees have stated that inside these camps, they were subjected to hours of hymns praising the Communist Party and were forced to write letters criticizing themselves.

In an interview with The New York Times, former detainee Abdusalam Meuhemet explained, “That was not a place for getting rid of extremism. That was a place that will breed vengeful feelings and erase Uighur identity.”

The Chinese government utilizes multiple methods to inhibit the freedom and liberty of the Uighur Muslims. According to Professor James A. Millward, a scholar of the Xinjiang region, the Uighur population is subjected to tracking through video surveillance along with body and possession checks at police monitoring stations set up around the city. An Uighur in exile, Tahir Hamut, explained in an interview to the Wall Street Journal that the government forced the Uighur population to fill out a form detailing their ethnicity, passport possession, employment, and prayer schedule. Based on the responses, the government assigned a score to each person belonging to the Uighur ethnic group, designating them into categories of “safe, regular, and unsafe people.”

More than a million Uighur Muslims have been subjected to such erasure of their ethno-religious identity, while 10 million Uighurs face intense scrutiny and surveillance everyday. They are ordered to renounce their native language, Turkic. They are instructed to renounce their religious beliefs and

“China has pursued an inhumane policy targeting Uighurs based solely on their ethnoreligious identity—in effect violating human rights.”

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pledge their allegiance to the Communist Party. The cultural and social landscape of the region has changed dramatically, as the government curtails prayers in mosques, prayers uttered at funerals, and any other engagement with the Islamic religion. Ramadan and other religious holidays are restricted or completely banned. Many Muslims have been imprisoned and subjected to hard manual labor that has claimed several lives. According to The New York Times, there are an estimated 1,000 to 1,200 internment camps in Xinjiang.

The Uighur population not only faces intense surveillance and internment camps, but also systemic discrimination. Party leaders popularize Islamophobia, which has led to a skewed perception of the Uighur Muslims as dangerous people who threaten the social stability of the country. The region has seen an influx of Han Chinese people, who have restricted job prospects for the Uighurs.

The Chinese government has denied all allegations that the centers are detention camps. Instead, they

insist that these are “vocational schools” that pursue the alleviation of poverty of people in the region and give them social stability. According to The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, the Chinese government claims that through these centers, “the local government provides free, educationoriented training sessions for people to improve their skills, as well as learn laws and Mandarin Chinese.”

The government has stated that they seek to inhibit the spread of radical ideas and the threat of separatist movements in Xinjiang. In past years, there have been several riots and clashes between the police and the indigenous population, which were caused by reactions to the intensity of surveillance in Xinjiang.

According to an extensive, on-the-ground report by the Wall Street Journal, the region is increasingly evolving into a “war-zone” with the presence of armored tanks on streets, surveillance cameras, police stations at every corner, and body scanners at entrances of supermarkets and restaurants.

The Islamophobia found in the actions of the Chinese state is telling of a growing unease with the presence of Muslims in East Asian countries. With the internment of the Uighur Muslims, especially after the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar which also stemmed from systemic discrimination, the reactions of the global community will play a role in the situation’s future progress. So far, the global community has not interfered in the Chinese government’s activities in Xinjiang. After the UN report on Uighur Muslims was publicized, Yu Jianhua, China’s ambassador to the United Nations, informed the United Nations that the Chinese government’s policies were aimed at promoting unity and harmony in the country. In fact, the reaction of Muslim countries has been in favor of the Chinese government.

According to Foreign Policy, many Muslim countries, such as Pakistan and Egypt, have increased trade with China. Egypt has also deported many Uighur Muslims under the guise of detecting extremist sentiments among them. This apathetic response from Muslim-majority countries can be explained by the burgeoning Chinese investments in their economies under the One Belt and Road Initiative of China, which seeks to connect 60 countries from Europe to South Asia into a modern-day Silk Road. Trade with China

will likely skyrocket under this initiative, bringing promises of prosperity to participating countries.

The United States has considered imposing sanctions on Chinese companies and senior officials in reaction to the human rights violations in Xinjiang.

There have also been calls for American companies to cease the trade of surveillance technology used by the state to monitor the Uighur populations.

However, no definitive action has been taken against the Chinese government for their treatment of the Uighur Muslims. The United States’ sanctions on Chinese companies and goods in recent months have been in reaction to a trade deficit with China, rather than their human rights track record.

Few governments have issued even a verbal reproachment of the Chinese government. The weak response from the international community may result in the intensification of the human rights violations of the Chinese government against the Uighur Muslims.

In the wake of the Rohingya catastrophe in Myanmar, this trend of systemic discrimination may augment the crisis, leading to the ethnic cleansing of a culture and their ethno-religious identity.

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The Attack on Journalism Mounts in Khashoggi Killing: Is an Outright War Against the Press Next?

Dominique Mickiewicz

Information is power. Whoever wields the spread of knowledge has profound influence on the beliefs and actions of individuals and countries. Whoever hinders the spread of knowledge also has that profound power. Independent journalists are diligent scribes who commit themselves to spreading informative truth and disclosing government behavior that occurs behind closed doors. They perform a tricky balancing act on a thin tightrope between remaining in the good graces of those they criticize but risk falling into dangerous waters if they are deemed enemies of the state. Recently, journalist Jamal Khashoggi was caught in these dangerous waters when he disappeared inside the Saudi Arabian consulate. His disappearance turned into an international scandal, laying out the strained relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia and intertwining the United States in a dangerous dispute contesting the power of alliance and the freedoms of speech and journalistic safety.

Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), and often accused him of corruption and consolidating power. He also condemned Saudi policies on the war in Yemen, Iranian relations, and ironically, the rise of arrests of political prisoners due to their criticisms of the Saudi Arabian government. After initial reports of his disappearance, a growing sense of dread arose leading to the belief that Khashoggi was not going walk out of the consulate again, at least not alive. Shorty after, evidence was compiled suggesting that Khashoggi had been tortured, murdered, and brutally dismembered in what was a planned attack. After only being in power for about a year, MBS has been successful in gaining the support of the current international order who approved of his more liberal policies, such as legalizing female drivers, and saw his leadership as a much needed shift away from the staunch conservative policies of past Saudi Arabian governments. However, with this brutal killing and blatant attack on free speech and journalism, it would seem that Saudi Arabia’s trend towards democratization and liberal openness has come to a screeching halt.

“[A] dangerous dispute contesting the power of alliance and the freedoms of speech and journalistic safety.”

Who was Jamal Khashoggi?

Jamal Khashoggi was a prominent columnist for the Washington Post, and a permanent resident of the United States. Unaware of the target on his back, Khashoggi carried out a normal life and was in the process of planning to marry his fiancée when he organized a trip to Saudi Arabia. On October 2, 2018 he went into the Saudi Arabian consulate to pick up divorce papers the day before his wedding, and disappeared inside. Khashoggi was very critical of the 18

Turkey Takes a Stand

Shortly after Khashoggi’s disappearance, Turkish officials emerged with statements denouncing Saudi Arabia and claiming that Khashoggi was murdered in a premeditated attack due to his critiques of the current government. Turkey insists that they have audio and video recordings revealing that Khashoggi

was assassinated by 15 Saudi agents who were waiting for him when he entered the building. The agents were said to have killed him and in an effort to avoid detection when removing the body, dismembered his corpse using a bone saw. Contributing to further scrutiny is the fact that at least nine of the suspects identified Turkish authorities are said to have worked for the Saudi government, military, or security forces, according to the New York Times. Unwilling to let this brutal attack go unpunished by the international community, Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has demanded an explanation from the Saudi consulate.

Turkish and Saudi relations have been far from friendly, as they are often fiercely competing for influence within the Muslim world. On a more personal note, Turkish President Erdoğan views MBS as a personal rival whose youth and more liberal tendencies threaten to override the conservative policies that the region is used to upholding. Khashoggi’s disappearance has only added fire to their regional power plays.

International Response

Saudi Arabia is not the only country being criticized for its actions about the Khashoggi case.

Contrarily, the U.S. has been scrutinized for their lack of action. The Trump administration was criticized for its weak stance when the story once broke, as they refused to condemn Saudi Arabia’s actions and instead responded with vague reports. However, slowly as more and more evidence came into light, the administration has leaned towards acknowledging Saudi responsibility. The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has even gone as far as to demand that the Trump administration conduct its own probe into the

affair. In order to try to wade through these muddy waters, the U.S. sent Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to meet with the Saudi king and MBS, and conducted a separate visit with Turkish investigators. Pompeo’s report seemed to change Trump’s mind as he changed

“For now, liberal allies would rather provide soft unspecific threats, instead of risking actual economic and political fallout with Saudi Arabia, which could hurt them domestically.” course, stating he believed that Khashoggi was truly dead and the Saudis were in the wrong. Since then, Trump has threatened to inflict severe punishment, however, no action has been taken to provide credibility to his rhetoric. In reality, the U.S. and other allies, such as UK Prime Minister Theresa May, have yet to take a hard stance against Saudi Arabia.

They defend maintaining close relationships with the country because of its crucial hold on oil supplies and their involvement in important trade deals and economic investment. For now, liberal allies would rather provide soft unspecific threats, instead of risking actual economic and political fallout with Saudi Arabia, which could hurt them domestically.

The Saudi’s Story

When Khashoggi first disappeared, the Saudi government claimed they had no information about his location or status, and MBS even made an official statement claiming that the journalist had left the consulate freely. However, as evidence mounted against them, Saudi media changed their story admitting that Khashoggi was accidentally killed in the consulate after being caught in an argument that turned into a violent fistfight, ending when he 19

was strangled by an unidentified man. Furthermore, local authorities seem to be taking on a strategy into molding the evidence and statements to incriminate General Ahmed al-Assiri who has close ties to the Crown Prince, in order to deflect the blame away from MBS. Despite changing their story multiple times, the Saudi Arabian government is consistent in denying the Khashoggi was not murdered by Saudi Agents.

Tired of international scrutiny, MBS has threatened to respond to any disciplinary action from West with greater retaliation. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter and possess 18% of the world’s proven oil reserves, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). If sanctions were imposed by the U.S. or other countries, the Saudi government could respond by cutting its oil production and pushing up global prices. Already, oil prices have already started to rise, and the Saudis are using their ties to the resource to enhance their security and influence. The U.S. is furthermore intertwined with the Saudi Arabian government who signed a large arms deal worth billions of dollars, proving to be a great asset to the U.S. economy. In addition, Saudi Arabia is an important Western ally that has helped maintain Middle Eastern security by countering Iranian influence and combating terrorism. Ruining this relationship could leave the regional area susceptible to increased hostility and violence. The global interconnectedness of Saudi Arabia makes it very difficult for Western forces to take a hard retaliatory stance against it, given that punishing policy could backfire and hurt Western states both politically and economically.

Just Another Attack on Journalism

Unfortunately, the Khashoggi case is not a rare occurrence. In fact, more and more journalists are be locked away every year. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 262 journalist were imprisoned last year and in 2018 alone, 44 have died, 27 of them in planned murder. There seems to be no end in sight for these attacks that just keep getting more and more brutal.

Daphne Caruana Galizia was a journalist working on the Panama Papers with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. While searching for links between politicians and criminals in Malta, someone ordered a bomb to be placed in her car.

Ján Kuciak was an investigative reporter from Slovakia looking into controversial connections between the Italian mafia and top political and business leaders within Central Europe. Kuciak and his fiancée were shot to death by a gunman who broke into their home.

Pyotr Verzilov, a member of a feminist protest-art group in Moscow was rendered temporarily unable to see, speak, or walk as a result of nerve poison, according to German authorities.

Fan Bingbing, a prominent Chinese Hollywood star who had great power and influence in the public eye, was accused of tax evasion disappeared for three months. She was likely jailed and rehabilitated, only remerging with an apology to Chinese government for undermining them.

These are just a few examples of how journalists are increasingly being sought out and killed for their reporting that often hits a nerve by disclosing

“According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 262 journalist were imprisoned last year and in 2018 alone, 44 have died, 27 of them in planned murder.”

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information about political and financial corruption, fraud, smuggling, money laundering, and organized crime. Causing even more anger and frustration is the fact that almost all of the attack’s organizers are never punished. It has been reported that MBS has backed the arrest of arrested hundreds of activists, officials, writers, religious clerics, and political opponents in an effort to suppress dissent and consolidate power. Harassment, intimidation, detention, violence, and state-sponsored murder are common tactics used by authoritarian and illiberal governments to crush dissent, however the attack on journalism is alive in the democratic West as well. The Trump administration is constantly belittling the media and independent journalists by branding them as enemies of the state. Any reporting that criticizes Trump or does not coincide with his values are labeled as “fake news”, severely undermining the legitimacy of the press’ role in a democracy to hold leaders accountable.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The Khashoggi murder was a horrible act that highlights the threats reporters and activists face as they use their platform to fight discrimination, human rights abuses, and corruption. The role of the media needs to be recognized as a positive force that brings information to its citizens in order to better protect their freedoms and rights. In order to return legitimacy to journalists, political prisoners who were incarcerated

“Harassment, intimidation, detention, violence...the attack on journalism is alive in the democratic West.” for their contradictory views on their governments need to be released. The view of the the media needs to be reversed from considering them enemies to forces of accountability within the state. Information and policy needs to talked about and discussed on an international and local level. Mediums of discussion, such as the Wellesley Globalist, are crucial to exposing students and citizens to the current events in the world in order to spark critical thinking and important connections. While Khashoggi’s death is a great tragedy, it cannot be perceived as a normal occurrence. The attacks on journalism must end now, before they spark a greater war.

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The Red Legacy in Hungary Maggie Brandes Homeless people banished from sleeping on the streets. Independent media outlets forced to shut down. School textbooks rewritten to support leaders’ personal views. Oppressive state control over the arts and universities. Revocation of the legal status of dissident churches. Unconstitutional appropriation of citizens’ private finances. Eviction of the country’s most prominent university. One might assume that the above is a description of a despotic, authoritarian regime, but it is in fact a summary of the recent developments in Hungary, a country in the heart of Europe, which, only a decade ago, seemed to have safely grown past the risk of reverting to its autocratic past.

The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, created his party, Fidesz, as a liberal student movement opposed to Communist rule. Soon, though, he proved to have an opportunistic streak, flipping his ideology in the 90s in an effort to win more votes. It worked – Orbán governed from 1998 to 2002, enacting reforms which, in hindsight, should have caused more concern, like giving the prime minister more executive powers and severely limiting the frequency of parliamentary sessions. It was upon the subsequent loss of the 2002 election, however, that he abandoned his democratic roots completely. As Jozsef Debreczeni, a former advisor to Orbán, puts it, he decided that “[t]his democracy thing, where power can slip so quickly from you, was no good. [Orbán] spent his time preparing so that if he ever won power again, he wouldn’t lose it.”

Fatefully, in 2010, Fidesz did indeed win a supermajority in the National Assembly – enough to draft a new constitution that increased the power of the ruling party at the expense of the opposition.

This made it possible for Fidesz to enact laws, and even constitutional amendments, within mere hours.

Often, bills are introduced by lawmakers so apathetic and uninformed that they later express shock over the content of those same bills.

Orbán’s supporters see him as the defender of traditional Hungarian values against the secular bureaucracy of Brussels and foreign (non-European) migrants. His more liberal opponents have little in the way of a coherent message past being broadly pro-European and anti-Orbán. They can typically only muster around 30% of the popular vote, but command far less of Parliament, due to their fractured organization – they are split between about 5 parties – the questionably fair district boundaries drawn unilaterally by Fidesz, and their limited ideological cohesion.

Fidesz’s power and lack of accountability means that there is not enough space here to list all of his legislative abuses, but two of the most significant changes can serve to illustrate the broader situation.

One is an extremely broad media law passed in 2010 which allows the government to impose substantial fines on content “offensive to common morals” and removes the legal basis for the traditional journalistic principle of keeping sources confidential.

Fidesz’s allies have since bought out the vast majority of the country’s local media outlets, culminating in 2016 when Hungary’s largest independent daily newspaper, Népszabadság, had its circulation suspended by the government, was sold to a friend of Orbán, and finally closed shortly thereafter. Another major opposition paper, Magyar Nemzet, closed in 2018, after Orbán’s

“Often, bills are introduced by lawmakers so apathetic and uninformed that they later express shock over the content of those same bills.”

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most recent reelection. The only significant source of news left outside of government control is the internet, leaving the 20% of Hungarians without internet access with little-to-no exposure to non-governmental media.

Fidesz has also passed judicial reforms which not only limit the power of judicial review, but also allow one single person, elected by Orbán, to appoint all judges. Previous members of the courts have been disposed of by substantially lowering the mandatory retirement age, allowing Orban to quickly pack the courts with loyalists.

In addition to formal legislative changes, Orbán regularly engages in blatant corruption, often awarding billions of dollars in government contracts to his personal friends. His political brand is also extremely toxic in itself; his appeals to the public are usually based on fear of African and Middle Eastern immigrants, Jews, Roma, and the LGBTQ+ population.

So the question is, why is this happening, and why in Hungary?

It has been nearly thirty years since the collapse of Soviet rule in Eastern Europe, a shockingly short period when one considers that Hungary had only 5 months experience with democracy prior to 1989, between the

collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Communist overthrow.

This simple fact has not been remembered well enough by outside observers, partially because accession to the European Union in 2004 served to simplify how we viewed the countries formerly behind the Iron Curtain. It is a known fault of human reasoning that we are prone to over-generalization, and it is easy to see how a kind of political transitive property might function subconsciously, attributing features of Western European democracies to Eastern European ones because of their shared EU membership. Leaders even within the EU were reluctant until recently to publicly confront or condemn Orbán, seeing him as someone who must be worked with for better or for worse. These attitudes persist even today in countries like Austria and Italy, although Western Europe now appears to recognize the threat he poses. By contrast, Orbán has long had a close relationship with Vladimir Putin, which, in hindsight, might have served to tip off Europe to his intentions earlier.

The kind of political culture and institutions in countries like Britain, France, and the United States has been developed over the course of hundreds of years. Gallup polls of the Hungarian public indicate significant public support for the kind of strong-man

“[H]is appeals to the public are usually based on fear of African and Middle Eastern immigrants, Jews, Roma, and the LGBTQ+ population.” rule that Orbán embodes (his approval ratings have doubled over the last 6 years, roughly the period during which his reforms have taken place), implying that the general public did not embrace democratic values as it was assumed it would after the Cold War. For many, the government has little relation to their everyday lives, and they perhaps did not feel the 23

transition on more than a superficial level. This was a failing on the part of Hungary’s first governments, post-independence. A concerted effort to educate the population about its new system of government and its merits might have made the country more resistant to long, drawn out coups of the kind Orban is pulling off.

Another reason the descent of Hungary into authoritarianism was not anticipated, and did not cause enough worry when it began, is that many of its peers have been remarkably successful in their transition to liberal democracy. The Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, have shown no signs of backsliding, despite having been part of the USSR’s core; Czechia’s problems with populist xenophobia are arguably more closely related to movements in the West than to Hungary’s situation. Poland, faced with much the same challenges to its institutions as Hungary, has proven to be much more resilient. In this context, Hungary’s ills were not seen for what they were because they were not expected.

While Hungary proved its compliance with EU rules regarding democratic institutions, civil liberties, and rule of law back in 2004, there are no entry requirements regarding political culture and

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civil society – two crucial elements, without which democracy is a fragile shell vulnerable to the first demagogue to attempt to undermine it.

The European Union should enact stricter criteria for the accession of new member states, but, more importantly, it must create more workable mechanisms to enforce its central tenets in the future.

The current system for revoking voting rights, which requires the support of every member state but the one in question, is virtually useless in all but the best of circumstances. It would also be prudent to consider implementing common civics education standards.

Right now, though, the EU should press ahead with efforts to tie national subsidies to compliance with its rules. This risks pushing Hungary further away, but the alternative is the beginning of a future as an unprincipled, purely economic bloc, continuing to financially support a proto-dictator who continues to have a say in the formation of EU policy. Hungary is, fortunately, the most dependent country in Europe on EU funds. Brussels should use this leverage before it is too late.

Trotskyism and Permanent Revolution in Buenos Aires Mira Craig-Morse The United States, along with the rest of the world, seems to be hurling itself down the wrong side of partisan politics. Candidates run for office on platforms of raunchy, hateful rhetoric and empathy is a quality we demand from our leaders less and less.

However, the trends move both ways: the right may be loud but the left is no pity party either. Bernard Sanders may seem like a candidate from a dream that died long ago (he does seem to age by the minute), but the values he brought into the spotlight are only growing stronger in many Americans and people around the world.

I saw a Bernie movement on steroids in Argentina the summer of 2017. Democratic socialism? Oh no, that’s imperialist bullcrap just like all other movements tucked neatly in the smothering, silky pocket of elite capitalism. It was Trotskyism or bust. What is Trotskyism? Good question. Allow me to share with you what I know – or at least what I have tried to understand ever since. And that may be a very slim understanding at best.

Leon Trotsky, as you may know, was the leader of the Red Army in Bolshevik Russia. He was Vladimir Lenin’s right-hand man and a strong ideologue in the revolution that brought Communism (which is much older than Trotsky or even Marx himself) into the global eye. To put it simply, Trotsky advocated for a so called “permanent revolution”, which posited not only

that revolution must place the means of production in the hands of the working class, regardless of which stage of capitalism has been reached, but also that Socialism in one country is only a success if it also exists throughout the world. This is not an idea original to him – in fact, one of the only socialist leaders who did not recognize this was Stalin!

Socialism has a strong background in Argentina.

During the military dictatorship from 1974 to 1983, socialists were forced to organize in secret.

Throughout this period, now known as the Guerra Sucia (Dirty War), death squads (aptly referred to as the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance) hunted down suspected dissidents of the regime. As the result of oppressive regimes and governments, during and since the military junta, Argentine socialists have had to brave high levels of danger and suppression to continue the fight for workers’ rights.

This fight ranges from supporting strikes to running for election, from forming organizations that support workers to occupying factories alongside protesters. Now, under the neoconservative administration of Mauricio Macri, socialists want more than small compensations or a livable wage.

They want revolution. And a Trotskyist one at that.

Argentina has a multi-party system, with proportional representation through seats held in the National Congress. Partido Socialista (PS), also known as the Socialist Party is the strongest socialist party, left of Peronism/Kirchnerism, and has provided several presidential candidates in recent years.

Similar to the Democratic Socialists of America, the PS represents democratic-socialism, a form of socialism that aims to reform government policies through ballots and candidacies rather than through revolution. This is where divisions arise among socialists – when they are forced to decide between revisionism and total revolution. It can seem like a petty point of contention: don’t we all want social reforms, such as a higher minimum wage, universal 25

health care and equal rights for all? Yes. However, Trotskyists argue that not all of this can be achieved through reform. Reform is simply a modified, and therefore more resilient, form of capitalism.

Without revolution, socialism will never stand.

Out of the mud of the Dirty War in Argentina grew a revolutionary party dedicated to the unity and dictatorship of the proletariat – the working class. Known as Frente de Izquierda y de los Trabajadores (FIT), the Workers’ Left Front is where Trotskyism entered national politics. FIT is an alliance of three Argentine Trotskyist parties that united to run candidates together in 2011. While the parties rarely win separately, together, FIT has gained substantial support even while representing such a niche ideology. While Mauricio Macri’s conservative party dominated the press coverage of the 2017 elections, FIT won a record five percent of the national vote, two congressional seats, numerous municipal seats and 20 percent of the vote in the Jujuy province. On the national level, 1.2 million people voted for the radical leftist party, according to Left Voice Magazine.

This sends a clear message. It demonstrates a shift to the left, even as President Macri, who has been called the Argentinian Trump (every country has to

have one, right?), consolidates power and increases rightwing financial policies that dig Argentina deeper into economic recession, according to a Central Bank survey. The fact that a Trotskyist party now holds two seats in Congress while the establishment Democratic Socialist party holds none also shows that voters want greater change than nominal reforms that, at the end of the day, favor the capitalist class.

The expansion of support for the DSA in the United States is a positive sign for our political future. Americans see the value in socialist policies and have begun to see through the anti-communism rhetoric entrenched in our nation’s dialogue since the “Red Scare” of the McCarthy era.

The next step is to outgrow revisionism – the band-aid cure for the oppression of ravaging capitalism in this country. It is to build a revolutionary socialist party that will fight for the working class, applying Trotsky’s permanent revolution idea until no one is exploited – from Bangladesh to the United States and Argentina and beyond.

When a man like Donald Trump – who represents the epitome of profiting from the blood, sweat and tears of the working class – is elected, we must ask ourselves: why not revolution? Why not socialism? Why not make it permanent and utterly complete?

“Reform is simply a modified, and therefore more resilient, form of capitalism. Without revolution, socialism will never stand.”

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StemKit: Idealism and Goals Versus Practicality and Ethics of Global Social Work Sophia Abdelrahman

StemKit is a low-cost, lab-in-a-box project run by Wellesley students of various academic backgrounds and personal interests, used to teach hands-on science experiments in low-resourced communities. The StemKit is a self-contained set of introductory tools that expose students to fields in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. For example, we most recently introduced experiments using common, community-sourced items – such as local plants – that focused on genetics, density, and pendulum motion. Our target audience includes junior and high school students, with a focus on gender equity.

“We took to heart... the students’ love of holding anything physical in their hands that link to scientific ideas.”

scientific ideas. We had a wonderful time teaching with these low-cost and sustainable tools, and witnessing the students’ excitement for learning.

Through our research in Ghanaian classrooms, our results further cemented our belief that handson science learning is a powerful educational tool.

Our data analysis research demonstrated that 80% of students enjoyed interactive science education more than lectures. We believe this is because the nature of science is the process of observing a real-world phenomenon, building a model with our own hands, and searching for the answer through our own analyses. Because most of the classrooms we worked with are dominated by lectures – characteristic of Ghanaian public school education – we hope to bring kinematic learning to these classrooms. Most importantly, hands-on science is a great way for students to have fun and enjoy the process of learning science by beginning to see the awe of the world of science.

In the summer of 2017, I was honored to support a team of two StemKit interns who returned to Nsawam, Ghana for the second year in order to develop and prototype the StemKits in secondary school classrooms. We worked with around 150 students and teachers across three schools. While teaching students from Methodist 1 and 2 using Biology, Chemistry, and Physics StemKits for two months, we distributed pre- and post-student questionnaires and ran focus groups in order to understand and analyze the effects of our work. We collected demographic information, looked into student perspectives and attitudes towards science learning, and tested their scientific knowledge.

An insight we took to heart was the students’ love of holding anything physical in their hands that link to 27

Another one of StemKit’s primary focuses is improving girls’ inclusion and involvement in STEM fields. Within the schools StemKit worked with in the summer of 2017, significant gender disparities were found throughout our survey results regarding perspectives and approaches towards science learning.

Our findings from our surveys this year have shown that StemKit could possibly play a role in encouraging students, especially girls, to feel confident asking for

“As college students working with people in different environments and cultures, we need to continuously strive to become more conscientious of their needs and circumstances.”

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help and voicing their thoughts in the classroom.

Challenges like these need to be very carefully considered. As college students working with people in different environments and cultures, we need to continuously strive to become more conscientious of their needs and circumstances, rather than blindly enforcing our own ideals in a “savior complex”. We should prioritize the ideas, proposals, and solutions of the students and teachers who we are working with.

StemKit grapples with decisions regarding gender inclusivity, sensitively and efficiently working in a community that is not our own, all within an education system that relies heavily on remote memorization.

Such challenges need to be carefully considered and practically addressed, not just for us, but for anyone working to create genuine social change.

Girls Who Are Going To...

Experiences of the Global HerStory Summit Katie Dretler

“I am passionate!” A woman steps forward from the group standing tall with fists raised.

“I am PASSIONATE!” The rest of the group joins her, closing the circle to a mass of people.

“I am positive!” Another woman shouts.

“I am POSITIVE!” The call-and-response continues.

A young girl, initially looking hesitant, takes one small step towards the center of the room. “I am courageous!” She says. When the group echoes her words and actions, she smiles and breathes a sigh of relief, rejoining the masses.

The Global HerStory Summit (GHS) is an annual five-day conference that gathers girls and women leading their communities in education. The summit solidifies a partnership between LitWorld and Global G.L.O.W (Girls Leading Our World), two of the foremost organizations for furthering childhood learning across the globe, by bringing girls from their home base literacy clubs to New York.

Delegations from five countries – Nepal, Thailand, Brazil, Colombia, U.S. – and four cities – Los Angeles, Detroit, Baltimore, and New York City – were present at the summit. I popped in with three other Wellesley

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students to experience a small part of the festivities and, needless to say, the positive energy emanating from the room was overwhelming. Every second of GHS was packed with the kind of empowering femme energy most young girls only dream of, and something few of us had experienced before our arrival at a predominantly women’s institution.

LitWorld was founded in 2007 by Pam Allyn, a literacy educator and early childhood education activist, after a trip to Kibera, an impoverished region of Kenya.

There Allyn met girls who did not have the resources within their community to learn to read, write, or

“These organizations do not simply teach girls ABC’s by the book; they make learning exciting and explorative.” share their stories, but sustained a strong yearning and passion to do so. Afterward, Allyn gathered a group of her friends and set out to create a community-first approach to creating programs and other learning methods. G.L.O.W. was founded by Kylie Schuyler under similar circumstances in Cambodia before expanding to over 60 programs across 27 countries across the world. These organizations do not simply teach girls ABC’s by the book; they make learning exciting and explorative, assigning a mentor to meet weekly with Literacy Club (LitClub) participants and coach them as they grow as storytellers.

“What I love most about working with these organizations is that the girl is always at the center,” Jennifer Estrada, director of the HerStory Campaign, said. “The first question is always how we can make sure her experience is the best it can be.”

Sure enough, every face in the room is grinning ear to ear, a testament to the success in their programming across the board. In the first activity, one of the LitWorld employees asked attendees to think about the positive adjective and motion that described them best and to project that out to the crowd. Attendees then created stained glass windows with one side containing how 30

they believe the world saw them and the other side — where the light shone through — describing how they saw themselves.

The activities are a blast, but the HerStory curriculum is rarely one size fits all. “Our model is to partner with a local organization that is already successful, already doing programming—not necessarily this particular kind of programming— but they’re known to the community as a positive resource,” Estrada said. “[They] help us identify which girls would get the most of the programming, who could use mentors, and what space the program needs to succeed. They are our experts on the ground.”

One of these experts is Aoy Sereethammaphilat, a veteran of the Friends of Thai Daughters (FTD) program where the Thai LitWorld program takes place.

FTD is made up of two non-profit homes for hill-tribe girls providing them with access to better education since its establishment in 2002. Sereethammaphilat was part of the initiate class and is now the LitClub coordinator for the program where she spent the latter years of her childhood.

“Nowadays, girls have to confront many issues,” Sereethammaphilat said. “Lack of education is one major issue that drags them to a wrong path, such as human trafficking, child labor, or prostitution. Some girls were blocked from the opportunity of education because of [their families’] religion and beliefs …

Parents did not realize how important education is to girls. Giving girls a chance to educate themselves is

not only [a way to] uplift girls’ lives, but it is a way to change communities. Education is the only thing that no one can take away from them.”

Three current members of the FTD program came to New York as part of the delegation: 17-year-olds Junjira Krisaenphum, Seeda Kulao, and Faii Prachitburichan.

Krisaenphum, Kulao, and Prachitburichan gained entry to the summit through their project “The Rainbow House.” With help from their friends—one of them being Nara Kulao —they converted Nara’s abandoned home in their hometown of Som Pi Neung, Chiang Rai Province, into a small school. There, they reimplemented the Litworld curriculum weekly with young children from their village.

“I like to meet new friends,” Krisaenphum said about her experience with LitWorld. “Both adults and children are all very kind and we are very happy together. We share the experience together.”

Kulao agreed, elaborating on her feelings about the summit, “I was very excited to meet foreign children whom I’d never met. I feel that they are very kind and very friendly. [What I like] most is the Statue

of Liberty, because I was very glad to see it for the first time. And I want to meet with [my new] friends again In response to the question of how a predominantly women’s college can best advocate for women’s education globally, Estrada said, “Follow our stories. Amplify our voices. We found that a lot of the time, people don’t know what it is to grow up as a girl, to live as a girl, and illuminating that experience makes it a lot easier to get that message across. Even illuminating simple things like the fact that girls drop out of school when they get their periods…having young women advocate alongside us while giving the girls the microphone is [critical].”

To learn more about LitWorld, Global G.L.O.W and HerStory, please visit their websites at litworld. org, globalglow.org, and herstorycampaign.org.

Special thanks to Paige Jones ’22, Annika Schafer ’22, and Kat Swint ’22 for asking the interviewees fantastic questions during the summit and providing us with wonderful material for this article.

“Education is the only thing that no one can take away from them.”

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Development in Contemporary India:

Perspectives from Economics and Sociology Aryaa Sheth On Tuesday, December 4th, the Wellesley Globalist organized a lecture on Development in Contemporary India. Professor Kartini Shastry and Professor Smitha Radhakrishnan offered their perspectives from the fields of economics and sociology, respectively. In order to create awareness about issues in developing nations such as India, the lecture was co-hosted by Girl Up, a UN Organization for girls in developing nations.

With a population of 1.3 billion people, India is the second largest country in the World. As of 2018, only 34 percent of the population lives in urban areas. With the sheer size of the population, and the constraint on resources, there arise several development issues in this heterogeneous.

Despite a GDP growth rate of 6.7 percent, over 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. This lecture explored social and economic avenues for development in contemporary India.

Professor Shastry’s research interests lie in the field of economic development and focus on issues of education, health and saving behaviors among poor households. During the lecture she discussed her research based on efforts of fortifying school meals on child health in Orissa, India.

Her research is motivated by widespread nature of nutritional deficiencies in India. Based on the notion that micronutrient supplement and fortification can improve health, this study aims to explore whether school based nutritional programs can improve child health.

Keeping in mind existing programs like the Midday Meal (MDM) Program and the Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (IFA) Program, this research also seeks to understand how different nutritional programs interact with each other.

The testing carried out for the research included two important tests: fortification of meals with a micronutrient mix and high intensity monitoring. These tests were held in the Keonjhat District, Orissa. In this rural part of India, 44 percent of the children were underweight and 60 percent were anemic.

The results of Professor Shastry’s study indicated that schools used the micronutrient mix, irrespective of the number of visits; however, in terms of effects on child health, whilch the micronutrient mix had no effect on hemoglobin, high intensity monitoring was proven to increase hemoglobin levels.

The study hence concluded that school based nutrition programs have the potential to improve hemoglobin levels in children with increased monitoring; however, limitations of the study persist: restrictions on dosage, irregular attendance, managerial issues, et cetera.

“While India experiences unprecedented macroeconomic growth, there are sections of society that lack essential access to resources and opportunities.”

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Professor Radhakrishnan came with a very different perspective on development. Coming from the field of Sociology, she is a feminist ethnographer of gender and globalization. Her academic interests include general, finance and development in India, among others. She discussed her research and onthe-field experience with gender, loans and livelihoods in the slums of Bangalore, India.

In particular, she explored the role of commercial microfinance in communities where there is a need for access to credit. She explained the transition of microfinance institutes from highly unregulated firms with extremely high interest rates to a more commercialized field in recent years. Beginning 2005, the Indian microfinance sector became highly commercialized. Following the 2010 microfinance crisis in Andhra Pradesh, the Reserve Bank of India stepped in with regulations. Following this, it is largely the well established actors in the industry that survived.

Professor Radhakrishnan began with an anecdote of Shankari, a woman in the community. She was a carpenter by profession, but also fulfilled the role of a “social-worker” in the community.

Shankari’s role as an organizer for microfinance loans entails using her social capital to ensure companies feel confident that the locals with repay their loans. With key information about the locals, she takes on the role of an unpaid leader to make available these resources to the community.

The study shed light on two important findings. First, gendered labor allows microfinance institutes to be profitable.

The role of a mother

in a community provides leveraged collateral. The role that Shankari previously described to be “social work” is essentially the labor of borrowers and is similar to community management for non-economic reasons.

The second finding was that gendered labor extends the frontiers of the global financial system. The role of microfinance is to make “unbanked” adults more credit worthy and inch towards the dominant global financial system.

To summarize the mechanism of microfinance institutes in developing India, they assemble groups of hand-picked members in a carefully constructed risk pool. These groups consist of all women. The leader of this pool is the unpaid labor that makes microfinance work.

As discussion persisted in the lecture, there was one concern that still remains a question mark. While Professor Shastry’s work involved a very poor community, it was not the worst of cases in India. Similarly, Professor Radhakrishnan’s work analyzed urban microfinance.

Most developmental literature, research and efforts are also focused on similar groups. However, there is a section of the society that remains untouched and unheard despite these efforts: the ultra-poor.

In conclusion, while India experiences unprecedented macroeconomic growth, there are sections of society that lack essential access to resources and opportunities. In combining government efforts along with the work of NGOs, there has been progress on this front; however, existing avenues need to be sharpened and new ones created, in perpetuating this progress in a sustainable manner.

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Photo Contest Winner: Tara Kohli, for “Young Buddhist Monks at Angkor Wat” Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia (2016)

Disclosure is the divulgence of a revelation; the exhibited photo is such a disclosure of the past and its’ relation to the present. There is a juxtaposition between the ancient temples of Angkor Wat in the background and the young Buddhist monks in the foreground.

The temples represent the magnificence of the 12th century Khmer Empire, yet simultaneously are a symbol of the violent, genocide inflicted history of Cambodia. The hazy presence of the grey facade fades into the background and provides structure to the image. The ancient exterior exists as a reminder to the splendid, yet callous legacy of the site; although dulled with time, the ground’s present shall remain deeply intertwined with its heritage.

The young Buddhist monks, clad in rich hues of scarlet and marigold, are a token of the present and the serenity and vibrance that are still found in the simple pleasures of life amidst the steadily burgeoning chaos and turbulence.

Photo Credits Aliuyargraphics. “FaceBook logo.” Pixabay. 20 August 2017. (Page 34) Andrew. “Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Madres de Plaza de Mayo).” Flickr, 31 May 2007, https://www.flickr.com/photos/willposh/540086019. (Page 25) Benedetti, Mike. “Free the Uighurs” Flickr, Flickr, January 26, 2009, https://www.flickr.com/photos/mike_benedetti/3229552410/in/photostream/.

(Page 17) Brady, April. “Jamal Khashoggi.” Flickr, 21 March 2018, www.flickr.com/photos/pomed/26087328517. (Page 19) Burmesedays, amendments by Globe-trotter and Joelf. “Map of Myanmar with regions colour coded.” Wikimedia Commons, 31 December 2009, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burma_Regions_Map.png. (Page 14) Clker-Free-Vector-Images. “Twitter logo.” Pixabay. 4 August 2014. (Page 34) Davis, Felton. “Cholera Treatment Center.” Flickr, 26 September 2018, https://www.flickr.com/photos/felton-nyc/44662232162. (Page 03) Davis, Felton. “Vigil for Yemen.” Flickr, 3 March 2018, https://www.flickr.com/ photos/felton-nyc/39706613275.” (Page 05) Deutsche Welle. “Training young Rohingya to become a citizen journalist.” Flickr, 10 July 2018, https://www.flickr.com/photos/deutschewelle/30346856668/. (Page 13) Dretler, Katie. “New York group.” 9 October 2018. (Page 29) Dretler, Katie. “Activity poster.” 9 October 2018. (Page 30) Dretler, Katie. “Line of girls.” 9 October 2018. (Page 31) European Parliament. “Evaluating the Hungarian presidency: debate with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.” Flickr, 5 July 2011, https://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/5904498778. (Page 23) “Frente De Izquierda in the Plaza De Mayo.” Prensa Obrera Por Un Partido Obrero, 9 Oct. 2014, https://prensaobrera.com/prensaObrera/457/congreso-del-movimiento-obrero-y-la-izquierda/el-frente-de-izquierda-y-el-luna-park. (Page 26) Gómez, Laura. “Barcelona.” El Nacional, 27 September 2018, https://www.elnacional.cat/en/news/civil-guard-referendum-violence-paper-planes_308808_102.html.

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Guppy, James. “A lot of homelessness in Hungary.” Flickr, 7 February 2016, https://www.flickr.com/photos/97938415@N00/28044710144. (Page 24) Hacaloğlu, Hilmi. “Protest in Front of the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul Following the Murder of Jamal Khashoggi.” VOA, 25 October 2018, www.amerikaninsesi.com/a/suudi-arabistan-kaşıkçı-protesto/4629392.html. (Page 21) “Issuu logo.” Issuu. https://issuu.com/wellesleyglobalist. (Page 34) “Kashgars location in China.” Wikipedia, Wikipedia, August 6, 2008, https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashgar. (Page 16) Marcoli. “Red and yellow ribbons.” Wikimedia Commons, 31 May 2014, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diada_per_la_Llengua_2014_(08).jpg.

(Page 09) Moinuddeen, Sarah Shireen. “Ghanaian Children.” July 2018. (Page 28) Moinuddeen, Sarah Shireen. “StemKit Lecture Board.” July 2018. (Page 28) photo-gator. “Calle Ocho.” Flickr, 13 March, 2011. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ gogator/5533897436. (Page 10) Popovic, Sasha. “Aftermath of the Catalonian Independence.” Flickr, 3 October 2017, https://www.flickr.com/photos/68637044@N05/37432282446.

Troy. “Pitbull.” Flickr, 14 April, 2010. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mystifyme07/4527832662. (Page 07) TUBS. “Map of Ghana.” Wikimedia Commons. CodeOne, Sting, & NordNordWest. 7 April 2011, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ghana_in_Africa. svg. (Page 27) Wang, Ann. “People march to show solidarity for jailed Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in Yangon, Myanmar, on September 1, 2018, two days before a local court sentenced them to 7 years in prison on charges of breaching the country’s Official Secrets Act.” Committee to Protect Journalists, Reuters, September 3, 2018, https://cpj.org/2018/09/cpj-condemns-conviction-in-myanmar-of-reuterss-wa-.php. (Page 12) The White House. “President Donald Trump & Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.” Flickr, 14 Mar. 2017, https://www.flickr.com/ photos/whitehouse/33971294553/in/album-72157684053680295/. (Page 20)

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