The Wellesley Globalist: Volume V, Issue I "Pivot"

P I V O T

Volume V, Issue 1

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Letter from the Editor:

ear Globalist Readers,

The name of our fall issue, Pivot, was chosen back in September. As a noun and a verb, we thought it captured two thematic interpretations. The noun, a central point around which larger forces revolve, and the verb, an entity in the process of turning in a different direction. We identified with the former at the time — as individuals at the center of our own narratives, as citizens of a country that often sees itself as the axis around which the world spins. In many ways, the founding of The Wellesley Globalist was an attempt to push back against this self-definition by focusing on international stories and voices.

However, this past semester changed which of the two interpretations we perceived as the dominant theme. Reckoning with a country that has openly pivoted towards white nationalism, homophobia, and sexism — even though these prejudices were alive and well prior to November 8th — is an ongoing process in listening, learning, and amplifying the voices of those who stand to lose the most.

These months have reinvigorated our mission as a publication. This semester was the first that we published multilingual articles and it is a practice we intend to make standard in future issues. We as a staff believe that considering diverse perspectives on international affairs is essential to growing as individuals, students, and global citizens. Our work this semester was an effort to recommit ourselves to this goal.

On behalf of the The Wellesley Globalist staff, I would like to thank all our writers and contributors whose hard work and dedication brought this issue to life. We hope you enjoy this issue of our publication and encourage you to contribute articles or photographs to our next issue.

Please reach out to us if you have any questions or feedback.

B

est, Your Editor-in-Chief Amanda Kraley ‘17

Editorial Staff: Business Director: Christine Yang

Associate Editors:

Managing Editor: Zarina Patwa

Secretary: Katherine Schauer

Mallika Sarupria Yashna Shivdasani Christine Roberts Tarushi Sinha Yashna Jhaveri

Copy Editors: Laura Maclay and Anastacia Markoe

Layout Staff:

Publicity Chair: Cissy Hao

Amanda Kraley Zarina Patwa Cissy Hao Margaret Flemings

Production Editor: Eliza McNair

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Photo Editor: Anne Kim

Table of Contents: Islamic Thought and Homosexuality by Sarah Shireen Moinuddeen Homes, Not Hoods by Shi Hui Ng The Kashmir Conflict by Mallika Sarupria and Yashna Jhaveri

pg 19

Morocco: Determining Identity Post-Colonialism by Emily Bader

pg 25

Citius, Altius, Fortius by Yashna Shivdasani

pg 27 pg 31 pg 37

The Election Results, Confronted in Russia by Amber Qin Nowhere to Go for Refugees in Europe by Mira Craig-Morse Liberalism and Religion: Friend or Foe? by Callie Kim

Europe

pg 41 pg 45 pg 51

Progress on International Policy Principles by Mary DuBard Ending ISIS: A Different Approach by Catherine Woodhouse The Mystery of Mexico’s Missing Students by Sharleen Garcia

North America

Africa

South America

Cover Photo by: arinta

Asia

pg 3 pg 11 pg 15

Islamic Thought and Homosexuality

Patriarchal Islamic Society and Codifying Homophobic Sentiments into Religious Text and Theory

by Sarah Shireen Moinuddeen

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ollowers of the Islamic faith have long believed that homosexuality was a crime under Sharia Law. Due to these beliefs, numerous laws have been enacted in Islamic countries to persecute homosexual communities. However, against popular Islamic theory, the Qur’an does not explicitly condemn homosexuality; additionally, while it has been claimed that Hadiths contain homophobic sentiments, the validity of these historical recollections is disputed. In fact, it is the patriarchal society into which Islam and the Hadiths were written that promoted intolerance of homosexual individuals, due to the perceived threat feminine men posed to a patriarchal society that viewed masculinity to be superior to femininity, and codified these sentiments into religious text and theory. To better understand how Islamic texts and theory were infected with homophobia and anti-queer sentiments, it is necessary to return to and analyze the elemental scriptures in Islam, the Qur’an, the Hadiths, and the society in which Islam was born.

The Qur’an is a book composed of sacred writings accepted by Muslims as revelations made to Muhammad by Allah through the angel Gabriel (Koran). It is believed that the text is the original word of God and has never been altered by man at any point in the nearly 1300-year history of Islam.

The Qur’an is a guidebook that advises Muslims on how they should live out their lives; however, many of the verses, or ayahs, have incredibly ambiguous and flexible meanings that can be easily manipulated to fit any situation or support any conclusion.

Finding ayahs that contradict each other is not uncommon.

When discussing the ways in which the Qur’an refers to homosexuality, it is first import-

ant to note that the Qur’an never explicitly uses the terms “homosexual,” “gay,” “lesbian,” or “queer;” however there a numbers of ayahs that appear to imply the existence of such individuals and their place in society. The most common ayah in the Qur’an that is used to admonish homosexuals for their sexual orientation is in the chapter, or surah, titled “The Spider.”

And [remember] Lot! When he said to his people “Indeed, you commit such immorality such as no one did before you Indeed, you approach men and obstruct the road and commit in your meetings [every] evil” And the answer of his people was not but that they said Bring us the punishment of Allah, if you should be of the truthful He said, “My Lord, support me against the corrupting people” And when Our Messengers came to Abraham with the good tidings, they said “Indeed, we will destroy the people of that [Lot’s] city Indeed, its people have been wrongdoers” (29:28-31) The Qur’an discusses the story of Lot and his people in numerous surahs; however, this particular ayah notes that Lot’s people were “immoral,” specifically that they were highwaymen that stopped travelers in the night and raped women and men alike. Past scholars of Islam have focused on the fact that because men were sodomized, the perpetrators were destroyed by divine intervention. In other words, because scholars did not read the act of rape, a crime under Islam, and the practice of sodomy as two separate, mutually exclusive actions, they concluded sodomy in itself to be an immoral act, hence determining all homosexuality to be

against Allah’s wishes for mankind. Due to this determination and because medieval Muslim scholars did not view homosexual relationships to be consensual, fatwas, or a legal opinion, was decreed by Islamic religious leaders that defined such relationships to be unnatural (Fatwa).

Defining Community and the Qur’an Although the Qur’an notes the lives and experiences of the Prophets, gives advice on how to conduct war with integrity, and assigns punishments for crimes against humanity, a great portion of the Holy Book is dedicated to expressing the compassion Allah has for his followers and how He desires

all Muslims to have the same compassion and patience for their fellow men, regardless of their religious beliefs. The Qur’an frequently refers to the acceptance and understanding Muslims should have for those of different origins. The following ayah clearly states that humans were created to be different from one another, and that this is a consequence of divine intention.

O people, we created you all from a male and female And made you into different communities and different tribes So that you should come to know one another Acknowledging that the most noble among you Is the one most aware of God (49:13)

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The Qur’an explicitly notes that people belong to “different communities” and “different tribes;” it does not however define what similarities can unite a community or tribe. It is therefore up to the reader and society to interpret what “community” could mean in a sociological context. Past Islamic scholars defined community in a very conservative manner; a community was a social unit formed by the cohesion of people due to geographical proximity. However, this definition is incredibly limited, and for good reason; 1300 years ago, travel over long distances was a difficult endeavor, and therefore geographical proximity became the elemental concept that united people. In the 21st century, however, this limitation on movement no longer exists, and therefore the concept of community has taken on a much more inclusive meaning; a community is made up of a group of individuals that share a common location, interest, religion, race, ethnicity, economic class, gender or sexuality (Community). This is of course not to say that ancient people didn’t belong to a community due to the stated characteristics, but more that society did not recognize these modes of unification as strongly as they do now.

Secondly, the Qur’an states to Muslims that it is their duty to better understand and value individuals that belong to communities different from their own. Although equality between individuals is noted in other surahs as well, this ayah clarifies that, according to the Qur’an, nobility stems not from belonging to any community, but from an individual’s character and connection with Allah.

This confession equalizes all communities in society so that no person can claim to be greater than another due to their origins or other factors beyond their control.

Gender in the Qur’an The Qur’an is also recognized for commanding its followers to behave, act, and dress in a certain manner; specifically, Islamic scholars claim that the text commands women to shield their beauty from the male world, except to those that could not have romantic interest in her, such as parents, siblings etc.

These scholars claim that ayahs in the surah titled

“The Light” place these restrictions on women and their outward presentation.

Tell the believing women to reduce of their vision and guard their private parts And not expose their adornment except that which appears thereof And to wrap their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment Except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband’s sons, Their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their female slaves, Or those male attendants having no physical desire, Or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women (24:31) This ayah clearly indicates that women not need cover themselves before men who have no physical desire for women. Early Islamic scholars claimed these “male attendants” were men who were, for some unspecified reason, devoid of sexual desire.

Though it is understandable that this ayah may refer to men who belong to the aging population, which is presumed by much of the Islamic world, this ayah can easily come to encompass men who do not have sexual desire for women because they have sexual desire for men or are asexual.

The complexity of gender in society and how binary individuals should incorporate individuals that do not explicitly fall into binary categories is also noted in the Qur’an. Again, the text does not explicitly define the types of individuals’ society consists of, but discusses them in relation to other individuals. Most importantly, the Qur’an discusses these individuals as a natural consequence of human diversity and with a tone of tolerance and acceptance: To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth He creates what He wills He gives to whom He wills females And He gives to whom he wills males Or He makes them both male and females And he renders whom He wills barren (42:49-50) Early Islamic scholars believed that the ayah, when stating “gives,” was indicating a process of birth and gender of children being decided upon divinely. However, the decree “makes them both

care, supporting family, fighting for justice, or giving charity, consequently making the world a better place for future generations. This concept of doing good in the world is noted in the following ayah from the surah titled “The Companions.”

For those who do good in this world is good And the earth of Allah is spacious Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account [limit] (39:10) This ayah clearly indicates that doing good in this world is what makes an individual “good” or not, not their gender or sexuality, or any other characteristic not under an individual’s power. This is essential to consider because historically Islamic scholars have preached that homosexuals, and individuals that deviate from the norm in any form, are

“The Qu’ran discusses [non-binary people] as a natural consequence of human diversity and with a tone of tolerance and acceptance.” choosing, as in “give” a life partner to an individual, then this ayah would be stating that Allah “wills” unions between individuals of varying genders.

Regardless of what an individual’s gender may be, He may “will” that individual to have a union with another individual of the opposite, same, or non-gender-nonconforming categorization. With this understanding, the preemptive decree that Allah created these Unions with divine intention instructs society to not question them, as they too are recognized by Allah as valid and moral.

The Overlap of Morality and Homosexuality Another major motif in the Qur’an is the value placed on all life and the blessings given to those who honor its’ sanctity. Allah relayed the importance of life by noting the value in doing good in this life and leaving behind a positive legacy. In fact, Islam is designed to inspire followers to achieve peace by being wholesome individuals who do good on a daily basis, whether that be through self

malevolent individuals that are degrading the value of society. However, the characteristic of being homosexual and doing good in the world as two occurrences that are not mutually exclusive because one does not affect the possibility of being or doing the other. If one defines doing good as leaving a positive legacy behind, homosexual individuals are not exempt from doing so, whether that be through saving a life, charity, advocating for justice, or supporting others in times of hardship. In other words, if homosexual individuals do good in the world, according to Islamic text, they are good individuals and will be rewarded for their deeds.

Whoever kills an innocent life, it is as if he had killed all of humanity And whoever gives life to one, It is as if he had revived all of humanity (5:32) In the previous ayahs from the surah titled “The Food,” the act of doing good by saving a life is explicitly stated. It is important to note that the ayah

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male and female” raises questions as to whether the Qur’an is conveying simply, that couples can have both female and male children, or more complexly, that some children may be non-binary and not fit into either “male” or “female” categories, or may fit into both categories simultaneously. Most importantly, the ayah preempts this discussion of gender with the declaration that Allah created individuals in these diverse manners; therefore, because these non-binary individuals are creations of Allah, they cannot be discriminated against due to some theoretical choice they made to be the way they are.

Even more interestingly, this ayah could be discussing marriages between individuals; if “gives” is alternatively understood to mean that Allah creates or provides unions between individuals of His

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does not distinguish between the values of life, beyond that which is innocent and that which is not.

Innocence is determined by the absence of committing a crime against humanity, whether that be murder, rape, theft, etc. Consensual homosexuality, on the other hand, is not a crime against humanity because it does not affect any individuals beyond the scope of the members in the consensual relationship itself, as in any consensual relationship; additionally, the characteristic of homosexuality itself is not a crime against humanity because homosexual individuals are homosexual due to divine intention, as concluded in the following ayah. In short, homosexual individuals are innocent of any crime in relation to their sexuality, and therefore harming them due to their sexuality is tantamount to harming any other innocent individual—the equivalent to killing “all of humanity.”

ory that individuals cannot be changed in terms of such elemental characteristics of one’s being.

There is no changing the creation of God (30:30) This ayah from the surah titled “The Romans” indicates, simply, that followers of Islam do not have the right to attempt to change others at a fundamental level. It can be concluded that this is so because of the following; first and foremost, individuals and their characteristics are a creation of Allah and decided by divine intent; second, individuals can never really be changed by any force other than Allah; and third, when change to an individual is attempted, especially at such a fundamental level as therapy against Homosexuality, the individual is greatly harmed.

In sum, greater analysis of the Qur’an portrays that the text does not explicitly condemn Homosexuality as Islamic Scholars have long claimed.

“Islam affirms the theory that individuals cannot be changed in terms of such elemental characteristics of one’s being.”

Sexuality and Islam God does not make persons responsible for what is beyond their capacity (2:286) Twenty-first century medical and psychological experts have begun to recognize that sexuality is a varying characteristic with which each individual is born. It is essential to note that characteristics to one’s sexuality are not actively decided upon by the individual, but are rather a result of outside forces and divine intent. This ayah stating that individuals are not morally responsible for that which is beyond them absolves any misgivings society may hold against homosexual individuals for their sexuality. As sexuality is beyond one’s capacity to decide upon or change, Allah does not see fault in the individual, and consequently, in the characteristic itself.

It is important to note that attempts to change or alter an individual’s sexuality invariably cause undue harm to that individual. Islam affirms the the-

The Qur’an does, however, tolerate and accept differences among people, including those relating to the complexity of gender and sexuality, and decrees society to embrace people of all categories and value their lives as tantamount to those of the individuals they are more accustomed to.

Hadiths: Origin and Perceptions In addition to the Qur’an, followers of Islam look to Hadiths, narrative records of the sayings and customs of Prophet Muhammad and his companions, for guidance on how to live a wholesome life that Allah would be pleased with. Although some Hadiths were recorded during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, more often than not, Hadiths were passed down among Muslims by word of mouth, sometimes for several decades, before they were documented. Joseph Schacht, a scholar of Islamic Law, even claimed that some Hadiths were only written as a corpus up to two centuries after the

hellfire rears up high.” (Unknown Origin)

This Hadith is consistently used to claim Islam does not support homosexuality. According to only the text of the Hadith, homosexual relationships do appear to be untolerated in the Islamic faith; however, one need only look at the origins of this particular Hadith to shed light upon its’ possibly suspect origins. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, a conservative medieval scholar who wrote considerably on the perception and practice of love in Islam, warned that the verified chain of transmission for this Hadith was particularly weak. Secondly, Muhammad ibn Tahir Patani, a conservative medieval Hadith scholar coined the “King of Hadith Scholars,” declared this report to be an outright fabrication; although he discovered forged documents to support his theory, he was unable to remove them or the Hadith itself from circulation due to the nature of verbal transmission of these historical recollections.

On the other hand, there are a number of Hadiths with solid foundations that express the tolerance Muslims should hold for one another. In fact, the majority of Hadiths inspire the followers of Islam to be kind, supportive and have everlasting patience for others and oneself. This is often done by portraying Prophet Muhammad’s acceptance of individuals of all kinds, including those who were homosexual.

A man was with the Prophet when another man passed by and the former said, “O Messenger of God! I love this man.” The Messenger of God asked, “Have you let him know that?” He said, “No.” The Messenger of God then said, “Tell him.” So he went up to the man and said, “I love you for the sake of God” and the other replied, “May God love you who loves me for the sake of God.” (Dawud, Book 42, Hadith 5127)

This Hadith comes from a much more reputable origin than that which condemns homosexuality; in fact, it can be traced back to one of the original companions of the Prophet Muhammad, Hazrat Dawud. Medieval Islamic scholars took the expressed love in this Hadith to be one of brotherly affection; however, more than this face-value inter-

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Prophet Muhammad’s death. Because of the time difference between when Hadiths were claimed to have occurred and when they were documented, in what was most likely an abridged version of the actual incident, Hadiths should not hold as much validity as the Qur’an, a document which has not changed since its initial documentation. Opportunities to alter Hadiths were plentiful, and it would be easy to believe clergy altered the text for personal benefit or to use them to support societal norms.

Consequently, Hadiths represent the legal opinions and moral commentary of later Muslim society more than they dictate the Prophet Muhammad’s deeds.

Not only is the documentation time a reason for concern when analyzing Hadiths, but the actual origin of Hadiths is often disputed. It is claimed that some Hadiths may have been erased by Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, when he washed the ink off the pages of a book of Hadiths. Additionally, A’isha, the youngest wife of the Prophet, was known to have accused others in the community of spreading false information in the name of the Prophet Mohammed in the form of Hadiths. Lastly, contradictions are certainly not few and far between when analyzing books of Hadiths.

It is important to note that the validity of Hadiths is often brought into question because of the erasure of some potentially true Hadiths, the addition of false Hadiths, the presence of Hadiths that contradict one another and the extended period of time elapsed before Hadiths were documented. Such is the situation when analyzing how homosexuality is addressed in the Hadiths. The following Hadith is indicative of texts that inspire homophobic sentiments in Islamic Society.

The Prophet said: “When the male mounts another male the angels are alarmed and raise a cry to their Lord. The wrath of the mighty One comes down upon those [men], the curse covers over them, and the tempters surround them. The earth asks its Lord for permission to swallow them up and the divine throne grows heavy upon those who bear it up, while the angels declare God’s greatness and

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pretation, the Hadith can easily come to encompass love between males of the romantic nature. It is important to note that Prophet Muhammad not only did not condemn the love the first man had for the second, but actually encouraged the man to express his emotions to the other, indicating that the Prophet Muhammad did much more than tolerate homosexual individuals; he accepted them and their love as something natural that should be expressed and valued.

Prejudice, a Cultural Construct Considering that the Qur’an does not explicitly condemn homosexuality and that Hadiths with reliable origins encourage Muslims to be accepting of homosexual individuals, the analysis on where homophobia originates in Islamic theory must venture outside the pages of the religious text and into the society Islam was born into. 700 AD in what is now Saudi Arabia was very much the patriarchal society that all societies were at that time— governed by an ideology that instituted the dominance of elder heterosexual males over all others, specifically women of all ages, younger men and minority males who did not accept patriarchal roles that reinforced masculine power. By enforcing gender roles and sexuality norms upon society, elder heterosexual males were able to maintain control over the other populations, manipulate minorities when it benefited their own interests, and curb any threat femininity and individuals expressing feminine characteristics posed to a society that saw femininity as inferior to masculinity.

By enforcing gender norms upon society, elder heterosexual males were able to use other members of society as currency, as in the practice of arranged marriages. Often, for women this meant the prospect of being sold for dowries, to pay off debts, to create bonds between royal lines, etc. Women were seen as possessions owned by men: first their fathers, then their husbands, and after fulfilling society’s demand of them to have children, their sons.

To ensure women did not revolt against the male members of society and demand rights and protections, elder heterosexual males first did not allow women to educate themselves past the practices

needed to fulfil their role as nurturers. Secondly, women were often married at an early age before they were able to discover and define their sexuality for themselves. Third, although divorce was theoretically allowed under Sharia, it was intensely looked down upon and practically impossible to get when asked for by a woman. Lastly, the practice of female infanticide was rampant in this society pre-Islam. By murdering female children, a clear message was declared that females were not valued as equals to males. By implementing all these practices, elder heterosexual males were able to ensure their supremacy in society.

The maltreatment of women is essential to consider when analyzing sexuality norms and homophobia in medieval Islamic Society; women were seen as second class citizens to men because femininity was seen as a degraded version of masculinity; if given the chance to decide, any individual should prefer to exhibit male character-

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mote social roles and power dynamics by reinforcing social unity and stability, strengthening social order and acting as an agent for social change. If homosexuality was seen as a threat to the social order constructed by the patriarchy, then it can be inferred that this fear was represented in the religious literature that emerged from the area at that time.

The populaces that felt threatened by these individuals were generally in a place of power to enact drastic change, such as in the clergy or government, and therefore had their sentiments expressed so that they may be passed down to future generations in the form of religion— “customs, moral standards, and moral ideas” (Ellwood, 1913). Religion is also a “powerful instrument of social control because it adds a supernatural sanction to conduct (Ellwood, 1913);” by incorporating the bias and negative sentiments they felt against homosexuals and homosexual activity into religious text, older heterosexual men were able to ensure that future generations never questioned their past actions and continued their legacies of superiority and manipulation, supposedly sanctioned by Allah. Consequently, religion became an instrument of oppression, forcing individuals to control their conduct in accordance with social demands, not Allah’s desires.

Although it has long been thought that Islamic religious scripture supports homophobia, upon further analysis of texts referencing homosexual individuals and texts referencing the compassion followers of Islam should have for others, it can be concluded that the Qur’an does not explicitly condemn homosexuality. Also, Hadiths of greater validity command Muslims to be understating and loving to all individuals, while only Hadiths of greatly disputed origin command Muslims to be intolerant of homosexuals. It can be understood that the patriarchal society into which Islam and the Hadiths were written is the force that promoted intolerance of homosexual individuals. Only by stripping Islam of these patriarchal influences of the past can one begin to analyze the true guidance Islamic scripture provides.

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istics and fulfill male roles in society than the female equivalents. Homosexual men were viewed as feminized men because they were seen to take on feminine roles in romantic relationships and “corrupt[ing] man’s sexuality” (Al-Qaradawi, 1994); because they chose femininity over masculinity, they consequently proved masculinity was not inherently more desirable and valued over femininity.

This was a threat to the Islamic patriarchy because the only concept that allowed elder heterosexual males to control other populations was the theory of masculine supremacy; without it, they could no longer claim other populations consisted of second class citizens, due to their lack of masculinity, and consequently justify their abuse and manipulation.

The Role of Religion in Society This analysis of homosexuality in Islamic text and Society is a very specific aspect to a much larger question—what is the role of religion in society?

Under sociological lenses, religion is used to pro-

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Homes, Not Hoods

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have been living in public housing for a majority of my life: two years in Singapore and nine years in the United States. In the U.S., public housing, or “the projects,” is notorious for being old, filthy, and overcrowded. It serves an important role of sheltering families of low income, minorities, elderly people, and people with disabilities. According to Emma Whitford, in her article “Low-Income Families Wait For Public Housing As NYCHA Units Sit Empty,” for Gothamist, the wait list for accommodation in public housing was about 270,000 people long, with some waiting years for an apartment. In his New York Magazine article “The Land That Time and Money Forgot,” Mark Jacobson says 90.3 percent of current NYCHA residents are black or Latino, 62.1 percent of residents are women, and 35.7 percent of head of households are individuals over 62 years old. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care.” Affordable housing means that people can put money towards other aspects of their life, such as those mentioned before, as well as education, leisure, and savings for retirement; this creates the possibility of greater social mobility.

In Singapore, the majority of residents live in public housing, which usually takes the form of housing estates. Housing estates resemble satellite towns with their own schools, supermarkets, health care center, and recreational areas. NYC’s population is 8.4 million, five percent of whom live in public housing. In contrast, Singapore’s population is 5.4 million, a whopping 82 percent of whom live in public housing. While it may appear that Singa-

by Shi Hui Ng (Fiona) pore is more egalitarian than the U.S., affordable housing in both nations is affected by complex factors including size of implementation, histories, degree of government involvement, and budget constraints.

History

New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) started in 1934 and is the largest public

Photo By: Bernard Spragg

disrepair. In the 1980s, AIDS and cocaine epidemics started, especially in urban neighborhoods. In 2012, NYCHA was sitting on $1 billion of federal funds. According to figures by Mark Jacobson for New York Magazine, the NYCHA oversaw 334 projects, 2602 buildings, nearly 180,000 apartments, and 400,000 to 600,000 tenants. Presently, NYCHA has been largely funded by New York State and the City, unlike many other public housing authorities in the U.S., which are mostly federally funded.

In contrast, Singapore has not always excelled when it comes to public housing. In fact, Singapore had severe housing shortage after World War II. After the end of British colonial rule, Singapore started its mass public housing project in the 1940s through the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), which built 20,000 new flats by 1959. First Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew from People’s Action Party continued this trend and built 30,000 flats within three years. In the 1960s, SIT transformed into the Housing and Development Board (HUD) and HUD gained the trust of citizens. Today, HUD is responsible for low-income and some middle-income housing. As Singapore’s economy flourished, real estate boomed and luxury estates and skyscrapers emerged. The 1964 Home Ownership Scheme attempted to incentivize people to buy the HUD apartments instead of just renting, hoping squatters would be willing to move in. To protect affordable homes, the well funded HUD stepped in and made regulations to limit the rapid flipping of homes and used their legal power to relocate people living in squatter settlements.

Present Trends

There are many differences between the U.S.’s and Singapore’s approach to public housing.

For example, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness report “State of Homelessness in America 2016,” despite being the U.S.’s largest and oldest public housing program, NYC is still above the national average for homelessness. Many New Yorkers are desensitized to the homeless population, barely noticing as they pass homeless people on the subway or a busy sidewalk. Furthermore,

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housing project in the country today. Although originally intended for working class families, low income families also moved into them. In 1935, the first public housing complex in New York, the First Houses on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, offered 122 apartments with rent adjusted to each family’s monthly income. At first, it seemed to be successful. Families steadily reached NYCHA’s income ceiling and were able to afford better housing.

According to Richard Price’s “The Rise and Fall of Public Housing in NYC” in Guernica magazine, over the years, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, public housing, which was previously occupied by solely white residents, had a larger influx of more black and Puerto Rican residents. From 1970s to 1990s, things went downhill and buildings fell into

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Photo By: Richard Foo NYCHA buildings are in dire need of additional funding, more efficient management, and repairs.

NYCHA is projected to have a funding deficit of $2.5 billion over the next ten years. Many of the buildings were built through the 1940s to the 1960s. Their stairways have mold, vermin, graffiti and human waste, much of which is detrimental to resident health. In addition, buildings have poor security and long wait times for elevator repairs, affecting children going to school and adults going to work. These developments are often built in groups on a city block with playgrounds. Efforts have been made to hold community events and job training classes. In my own building, I have seen efforts to improve security via camera placement in some elevators and the increase in recycling via larger recycling bins. However, small maintenance and repair staff and lack of funding are still ongoing problems, as the Community Service Society of New York’s 2014 report says ”over a third [of residents] considered “heating, leaks or major repairs” a serious problem.”

Trying to recover from funding loss, NYCHA is trying to earn most of that money back and preserve public housing for the next generation of New Yorkers through “NextGeneration NYCHA.” According to the May 2015 press release “De Blasio Administration Unveils NextGeneration NYCHA: A Comprehensive Plan to Secure The Future Of City Public Housing,” De Blasio and NYCHA plan to expand public housing, improve current developments, increase energy efficiency, develop community engagement, and advance communication between residents and management.

Eleven years ago, my family and I lived in Singapore’s Toa Payoh district’s public housing.

The building complexes, town centre, primary school, and hawker centers were memorable parts of my childhood in the city-state. Each district felt like a world of its own, even though you can take the subway to the very commercial Orchard Street.

Public housing did not have a negative connotation in Singapore and was quite common. I lived in a cozy one-bedroom apartment with my mother and

High? Move to Singapore” in the New York Times, even with tax credit and vouchers, if “there are too many vouchers and not enough apartments, ...you have just raised everybody’s rent again.”

How can we stop the reputation of public housing buildings being “hellholes?” NYCHA needs to reevaluate its board and make sure it’s looking into every funding source. They need to prioritize maintaining exisitng 60 to 70 year-old buildings as well as construct new developments to meet the demand for apartments. Actual cameras and more maintenance workers to clean and maintain hallways, elevators, heating, and gas are also important for maintaining the homes of five percent of New York City. Recently, it was found that NYCHA was sitting on $1 billion in federal funds.

“Public housing seems like a safety net for people in the U.S., but in Singapore, it’s almost a given. That’s not to say that Singapore doesn’t also have a growing income inequality and homelessness problem worsened by high costs of living.”

Americans, they can also raise rent for lower income Americans. The dilemma local government is facing is whether to side with homeowners to raise housing values or to invest money in more affordable homes. If leaning towards the former, housing on precious city land would be taken up by high-cost single family homes. Efforts would go towards renovation and separation from crime, pollution, and other elements (such as public housing) that lower value. It would promote neighborhood beautification, historic building styles, and other decoration projects that raise housing values.

If leaning towards the latter, according to Daniel Hertz’s article “American Housing Policy’s Two Basic Ideas Pull Cities in Opposite Directions” in The Atlantic, one possible solution would be more “public housing, privately-developed affordable housing with programs such as the low-income housing tax credit and housing vouchers,” to encourage housing prices not determined by the marketplace.

However, according to Shaila Dewan’s “Rent Too

Public housing in the U.S. was supposed to be a temporary solution, a place that acted as a springboard for individuals and families. However, there have been families who have lived in public housing for decades and never gained enough mobility or reached the income ceiling due to a myriad of factors. New York City can also give more people rent vouchers. The U.S. is known for welcoming immigrants, leading to huge urban populations and making housing harder to manage.

On the other hand, since Singapore has a strict immigration policy and it’s a small, manageable city-state with a one-party system, it can predict approximately how many people need housing and immediately hand them the keys. According to Colin Cram’s “How do you solve a housing crisis?

Study the example of Singapore” in the Guardian, the government’s “compulsory pension scheme for workers forced everyone to save money,” allowing most people to be self sufficient without much other public assistance. The Singapore government

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grandmother, practiced piano near the main door, rode in clean elevators and walked on spotless, gumless concrete ground. I had Malay, Chinese, Indian, and one white classmate at my Catholic elementary school and the food was delicious. The public housing buildings ten years ago were not modern like the ones being built in recent years, with sleek rooftop gardens and colorful design, but they are always clean and well maintained. I never saw any homeless people who fell through the cracks because of the government’s strict regulations.

Possible solutions

One reason housing is becoming more expensive is because of rising values in home prices.

While housing investments are a source of stabilizing income for middle class, predominantly white

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The Wellesley Globalist - Asia 15

Photo By: yeowatzup focuses on developing stable households and providing people with things like forced savings and housing assets they could use later, in contrast to the European welfare state that depends on putting out money for the poor when they direly need it. It’s like prevention versus treatment of symptoms--treatment can’t cure the problem unless people are given paths to recovery and self-sufficiency through rehabilitation, education, and job training.

While I don’t think it’s feasible to give everyone a home they can own or force savings due to American historical values, the U.S. can certainly try to raise taxes to build public housing and job training or encourage personal savings so people can prepare their own safety net.

Public housing seems like a safety net for people in the U.S., but in Singapore, it’s almost a given. That’s not to say that Singapore doesn’t also have a growing income inequality and homelessness problem worsened by high costs of living.

These problems exist, but on a much smaller scale than the U.S.. Many factors impact availability and

affordability of housing in a country, but Singapore is an example of a system that the U.S. can observe when evaluating funding for public housing.

Future/Conclusion

New York City and Singapore are both urban centers with about 300 square mile of land area.

However, while NYCHA is facing budget cuts and relying on old, deteriorating developments, Singapore is building carefully designed units in high-rise buildings and controlling its real estate. That’s why I believe New York City and other housing authorities in the U.S. should keep investing money into building and remodelling public housing and other forms of affordable housing and improving management efficiency. This can not only improve the safety, health, and dignity of the people living in these buildings, but also create jobs and better communities. This may not mean a homeless person can get his or her own apartment immediately, but it does set up the foundation for warm, occupied homes instead of beautiful, empty condos.

Photo By: Paul Joseph Rio Daza

Education, Economy and Bollywood Fall Victim to the Kashmir Conflict

by Mallika Sarupria and Yashna Jhaveri

The Wellesley Globalist - Asia

K

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ashmir has always been an area of conflict between India and Pakistan, dating back to the partition of India in 1947, when new state boundaries were drawn up and both countries claimed accession to Kashmir. Since then, India and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir, the most notable being the Kargil War, one of the few instances of direct, conventional warfare between nuclear states.

Amidst these active periods of armed conflict, there have also been long periods of inactivity, with relations between India and Pakistan improving through cultural and social collaborations, such as the Dosti Music Project, where Indian and Pakistan musicians came together and toured the US in early 2014.

However, these periods of dormancy should not be mistaken for peace, as hostilities have been embedded not just within Kashmir, but across both countries, through emphasis on religious distinctions, a notion of the ‘enemy,’ and both countries’ simple belief that they have the rightful claim to Kashmir. Therefore, the resurgence of violence in the Kashmir in mid-2016 was an outcome of these brewing tensions of what appears to be an unsolvable, frozen conflict.

In July 2016, Burhan Muzaffar Wani, the leader of the terrorist organisation Hizbul Mujahideen was captured and killed by the police. Wani was responsible for restoring and establishing militancy in the Indian administered Muslim majority area of Kashmir. He propagated the idea that people should go against the Indian government for their exploitation of Kashmiri Muslims.

His death set off a series of anti-Indian protests and riots in Kashmir, creating an atmosphere

of instability and fear. As a response to these volatile conditions, the government cut off mobile networks and implemented a curfew in all the 10 districts of Kashmir on 15th July.

The constant instability in Kashmir has had an impact on the living conditions and lifestyle of the people who reside there. The government implementation of curfews and media blackouts affects not only the lives of Kashmiris, but the future of the state as well. The two and a half month curfew following the death of Burhan Wani was characterized by deserted roads and closed shops, allowing people access to only the bare necessities, or simply shopping for ‘survival.’

The tourism sector, a major source of income for Kashmir, was also badly hit. Businesses and shops were the worst affected, with their temporary closure affecting daily wages of workers, limiting job opportunities, and slowing down the industrial growth of an economy already in turmoil. Furthermore, the constant closure of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the major road connecting Kashmir to the rest of India, also lead to shortages of essentials.

Supplementing this economic slowdown is the media slump. The three-day media blackout by the government aimed at preventing the dissemination of news and information by local newspapers and reporters. While this ban was imposed on all media sources, on other occasions, it is largely the Kashmiri media that is muzzled, while allowing national media outlets full access to the region.

Many people believe such discrepancies are intentional as they allow the Indian and Pakistan governments to report the Kashmir conflict through their own narratives. By eliminating the ability of

community. However, as a response to the unrest in Kashmir, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association announced a ban on Pakistani actors and musicians from working in the Indian film industry, which will remain in effect until the problems in Kashmir reach a standstill.

This ban came at a precarious time when the actors in the Bollywood film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, including the Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, were going to start their promotions in India to prepare for the release of the film. Instead, Fawad Khan was unable to attend any of the promotions and had to stay back in Pakistan.

Furthermore, as a response to this ban in Indian cinema, Pakistan has banned the screening of any Indian movies in cinemas. This action is

“By permeating its way into the arena of cinema, the politics of Kashmir have created problems even within seemingly unrelated sectors in the two countries.� education for such a long period of time could discourage them from studying in the long term.

Previously, children were able to use education as a tool to escape from the conflict prevalent around them.

However, this slowdown in education gives children the opportunity to seek out other interests.

Having grown up in a politically volatile region, they may be motivated to take a more active role in the conflict that surrounds them. While some may join the army and the government, others might be naively coerced into working with militant groups.

What such political instability does is limit the options and perspectives of the children, who cannot see beyond the reality they live in.

The conflict has also found a new battleground in Bollywood. Many Pakistani actors and musicians have long been a part of Bollywood film

bound to affect Pakistani cinemas negatively; since only 15 Pakistani films have been released in the past year, most cinemas will face the problem of having blank screens due to the dearth of movies.

By permeating its way into the arena of cinema, the politics of Kashmir has created problems even within seemingly unrelated sectors in the two countries.

Since the recent conflict in Kashmir has the adversely affected the lives of the people living there, normalcy can only be restored once the conflict is resolved completely or otherwise at a standstill. Since the governments of India and Pakistan are unable to mend the situation themselves, efforts must be taken by humanitarian and non-governmental organisations to ensure that living standards, as well as cultural advances, do not regress past the point of repair.

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local media sources to put a check on their stories, these governments are able to further their own national interests through selective reporting.

The education system in Kashmir has also fallen victim to this conflict. Even though Kashmir has been plagued by dispute for many years, this is the first time in the history of the conflict that militants have decided to specifically target so many schools. A total of 27 schools have been burnt down; as a response to this instability and chaos, the government has ordered schools to shut down completely. By targeting schools, the militants are trying to create a generation of uneducated children who would be easier to recruit and perhaps more attracted to the cause of these extremist groups.

Moreover, denying children their right to

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Determining an Identity Post-Colonialism:

Morocco and the Government-Sponsored Reclamation of Arabism

by Emily Bader

The Wellesley Globalist - Africa

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hen Morocco gained independence from the French in 1956, its monarchy sought to ensure certain practices were immediately put into place that would set Morocco on a path of redetermination and reclamation of a national identity, one that was more attune to an Arab kingdom than a colonial protectorate. Despite the extensive efforts made by the monarchy to Arabize society, reintegrate minority groups, and admonish any French-sympathizers, the French influence and reverence for the French language loomed too large over any and all efforts.

Morocco’s colonial history can be divided into three protectorate periods: the French, the Spanish, and the international. These protectorates and their respective territories developed differently over the time of their colonization, but were all reincorporated into a unified “Morocco” after 1956.

Spain began its occupation of the northern regions of Morocco in the mid-1800s, initiating a period of trade between northern Morocco and Europe.

The international territories--most notably the city of Tangier in the north, which was an international zone from 1923 to 1956--were influenced not only by the French and the Spanish but also by many American ex-patriots who came to the city during those years. The French protectorate began in 1912 and covered a vast region of the country, which helps to explain its wide-reaching influence. Morocco gained independence on March 2, 1956, and in 1957 Muhammad V officially established Morocco as a constitutional monarchy with himself as its king, according to Jonathan Wyrtzen in his book Making Morocco (Cornell University Press 2015).

While the French protectorate in Morocco existed for less than 50 years, it left behind a tangi-

ble impact on the social order and its effects proved difficult to reverse. One of the most substantial conflicts in the Arabization and identity reformation process proved to be the difference between public policy and private life wherein Morocco’s public policy dictated one idea and another idea was practiced behind closed doors. At the same time, however, the monarchy employed the use of

Photo By: Emily Bader ‘18

cess, but that failed.

In 1958, the monarchy brought in Egyptian and Syrian teachers to Morocco to aid in Arabic instruction. The next year, the new Minister of Education Abdelkarim Benjelloun identified four new goals for the educational system: “Unification of a single educational system, Arabization, generalization of education in rural areas, and a Moroccan-ization of teaching corps and curriculum.”1

Arabization was primarily influenced by Islam; Muhammad V even said that Morocco had a “national impetus” to have its education system influenced by Islam and Arab culture. Despite all of these efforts, the use of French in several spheres of education still prevailed, which proved to be an effective block to successful Arabization. In reality, education in Morocco switched between bilingual French-Arabic instruction and solely Arabic instruction. Arabization was most successful in primary education, but French was still largely used in higher education as well as the sciences.

Another aspect of Arabization took place within the government. For example, the judicial system was officially Arabized on January 1, 1956, meaning that Arabic became the official and primary language of all legal proceedings, judicial processes, and more. However, according to Wyrtzen, French was still used more often than not and Arabization did not really take hold. On the surface, the state showed a preference for Arabic, but in practice, French was still favored. This was because French was believed to be a more elite language, and Moroccan colloquial Arabic—or Darija—incorporated a lot of French.2

Adding to Arabization’s ineffectualness, key public figures did not implement Arabization in their own lives. Most elites, including King Muhammad V and the minister of education, were “Francophiles” : many (including the king) sought private education conducted in French for their families. This reveals the clash between public policy and private practice in Morocco, wherein even 1 Ibid., 286.

2 Alexander E. Elinson, “Darija and Changing Writing Practices in Morocco,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 45 (2013).

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force in working against any dissenters in the new Moroccan kingdom or the policies they implemented. Today, this conflict has developed into an identity that incorporates both a strong sense of “Moroccan” and the influence of the French, which typically comes in the form of the wide use of the French language.

Attempted Arabization

The most significant effort made by the monarchy post-independence was the “Arabization” of Moroccan society through educational and governmental reform and the implementation of a new “cultural policy.” The roots of this Arabization came from an “Islamization and Arabization nation-building program” that was established in the 1930s by urban nationalists. Originally, the monarchy planned for this to be a three-year pro-

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The Wellesley Globalist - Africa 21

Photo By: Emily Bader ‘18 the highest-ranking public figures did not want to Arabize their everyday lives. Without this everyday Arabization, Morocco fell back into the practices that began during the French occupation, specifically the use of French language in everyday life.3 Integrating Minorities

In addition to reconciling the conflict over language and culture in Morocco, the monarchy had to reintegrate and recognize its two main minority groups: the Amazigh (or Berber) and the Jews. Following independence, King Muhammad V abolished laws established during the French protectorate that systematically ethnically separated the Amazigh from the Arabs.4 In the following years, he gave public speeches and established policy that seemed to communicate a loyalty to the Amazigh and a commitment to ensuring that the Amazigh people were a part of the new Morocco.

3 4

Wyrtzen, “Post-protectorate Morocco,” 287.

Ibid., 284.

In reality, the Amazigh had little to no role in the nation’s development. The monarchy’s actions proved to be merely symbolic and rather ineffective. The only advantage the Amazigh had in at least appearing to be a part of “mainstream” Moroccan culture was the fact that they were also Muslim, even though they were not considered Arabs. In Muhammad V’s famous Throne Speech, he said that the efforts to include the Amazigh as a part of Morocco’s national identity was a matter of “restor[ing] the law of Islam.” However, his words had an edge of threat or compulsion to them, as if to say the Amazigh did not have a choice in the way in which they were to be reintegrated: “We pledge to send competent men to you to apply the law.”5

Integrating Morocco’s Jewish community proved to be even more difficult because the monarchy had made it clear that Islam was a “non-negotiable” part of the reformation of national identity.

5

Ibid., 285.

6 Jonathan Wyrtzen, “Negotiating Morocco’s Jewish Question,” in Making Morocco (Ithaca: Cornell University Press 2015,) 184.

7 Wyrtzen, “Post-protectorate Morocco,” 285.

8 Ibid., 288.

9 Ibid., 289.

10 Ibid., 290.

11 Ibid., 275.

In this way, the RAF was symbolic of the colonial legacy in Morocco. It was used as a tool of force for the new monarchy in implementing a new identity, but at the same time consisted of people who were representative of what the monarchy was fighting against. This could also be interpreted as the monarchy reclaiming the element of force from the colonial powers: by appropriating the Moroccan officers who were in the Spanish and French colonial armies, the king was sending the message that the monarchy had the power to use the tools of colonialism for itself.

In that same vein, the RAF was also used by the monarchy in ensuring that any and all dissenters were put down immediately so that they could not conflict with the efforts for Arabization. Internal groups that were against Arabization, or even held a reverence for the French, were squashed by the RAF. For example, the RAF cracked down on elites in both the urban and rural spheres of Morocco that were seen as “collaborators” with the French. The monarchy saw these groups as actively working against the efforts to create a new Morocco outside of the French influence. The RAF was also instrumental in implementing the three main reactions the monarchy had to any resistance: “pluralization, arbitration, and delayed democratization.”12 Conclusion

The reforms attempted by the monarchy in the post-independence period proved to have little actual effect on Moroccan society. While the desire for the implementation of these ideas was real, in practice they could not take hold. Arabization and the reintegration of minority groups were the sole focus of the monarchy’s efforts to form a new Morocco that existed outside of a colonial sphere, but the colonial influence and lack of true reforms made these goals difficult to achieve.

The lingering influences, especially that of the French, proved to loom too large over Moroccan society and became too ingrained in everyday life for ideas such as a complete Arabization of language to work. The social systems and strata 12

Ibid., 282.

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This meant that the Jews—a group native to Morocco even before the advent of Islam—struggled to find where they fit into the new Morocco. Before the French protectorate, Jews enjoyed a comfortable co-existence with Muslims and were granted dhimmi, or protected, status.6 After independence, their social status became uncertain. French assimilation and Zionism began to gain appeal amongst Morocco’s Jews.7

However, in his Throne Speech, the king made it clear that emigration from Morocco, presumably to Israel, would be seen as a betrayal of Morocco and the monarchy.8 In 1956, Muhammad V officially restricted emigration as the Suez War ensued, further alienating the Jews.9 Despite the ban, thousands of Jews were smuggled out of the country to Israel during clandestine missions conducted by Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency. Illegal emigration to Israel, Europe, and North America continued throughout the next decade, and by the time King Hassan II lifted the ban, the Jewish population had dwindled so much as to render Jewish integration into Moroccan culture a non-issue.10 Methods of Implementation: The Royal Armed Forces

In the years immediately following independence, King Muhammad V and his government implemented several policies in an attempt to push Morocco forward and out of the reach of the French, or rather to return to the period before the French in which there was a stronger sense of Arabism. One of the first actions Muhammad V took was to establish the Royal Armed Forces (RAF).

The RAF was not an only an imperative tool used by the monarchy in forcing the hand of any dissenters, but also a symbol of the colonial legacy.11

The majority of the new officers in the RAF consisted of former soldiers from the French and Spanish armies, although all were Moroccan.

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‫الهوية املغربية يف فرتة ما‬ ‫بعد االستقالل‬

‫‪Works Cited:‬‬ ‫‪Elinson, Alexander E. “Darija and Changing Writing‬‬ ‫ ‬ ‫‪Practices in Morocco.” International Journal of‬‬ ‫ ‬ ‫‪Middle East Studies 45 (2013): 715-730.‬‬ ‫‪Wyrtzen, Jonathan. “Negotiating Morocco’s Jewish‬‬ ‫ ‬ ‫‪Question.” In Making Morocco, 179-218. Ithaca:‬‬ ‫ ‬ ‫‪Cornell University Press, 2015.‬‬ ‫‪Wyrtzen, Jonathan. “The Monarchy and Identity in‬‬ ‫ ‬ ‫‪Post-protectorate Morocco.” In Making Morocco,‬‬ ‫ ‬ ‫‪273-291. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2015.‬‬

‫‪“Until the French influence wanes completely,‬‬ ‫‪Morocco will never have a complete Arabization‬‬ ‫‪nor can it return to a time in the past in which‬‬ ‫‪minority groups took a more central role in‬‬ ‫”‪Moroccan society.‬‬

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‫مقدمة‬ ‫ عندما حصل عىل املغرب عىل االستقالل من فرنسا يف عام ‪،١٩٥٦‬أراد امللك النظ‬ ‫املليك ووضع بعض األنظمة و املامرسات التي ميكنها أن تساعد املغرب يف تطوير‬ ‫الهوية بدون أي تأثري فرنيس‪ .‬يف هذه الفرتة‪ ،‬أراد املغرب أن يصبح “املغرب”‬ ‫وليس “الحامية االستعامرية‪ .”.‬عىل الرغم من جهود الحكومة يف تعريب املجتمع‬ ‫املغر ّيب و إنشاء الهوية املغرب ّية التي شملت أقليات الوطن إال أن التأثري الفرنيس‬ ‫قوي جدا‪ .‬باإلضافة إىل هذا‪ ،‬بالرغم من أن املغرب كان مستعمرا من طرف‬ ‫يبقى ّ‬ ‫فرنسا و إسبانيا‪ ،‬إال أن التأثري الفرنيس كان أقوى من التأثري من اسبانيا‪ ،‬فاإلرث من‬ ‫فرنسا كان مأخوذ بشكل كبري من إسبانيا‪ .‬ألن فرنسا استعمرت املغرب قبل أزيد‬ ‫من ‪ ١٠٠‬سنة و ال يزال إرثها حارض حتى بعد استقالل املغرب‪.‬‬ ‫تاريخ االستعامر الفرنيس باملغرب‬ ‫ التاريخ االستعامري باملغرب عنده ثالث فرتات‪ :‬الفرنس ّية‪ ،‬اإلسبان ّية‪ ،‬و الدول ّية‬ ‫بدأت إسبانيا احتاللها يف شامل املغرب يف منتصف القرن التاسع عرش و أنشأ‬ ‫محمية يف املنطقة حتى عام ‪ ١٩٥٦‬عندما تفاوض محمد الخامس يف النهاية عىل‬ ‫امللكية يف إسبانيا‪ .‬بدأت الحامية الفرنسية يف عام ‪ ١٩١٢‬و انترشت يف مناطق أكرث‬ ‫من الحامية اإلسبان ّية فكان هناك تأثري ملحوظ يف البلد‪ .‬أصبح املغرب مستقل‬ ‫يف الثاين من مارس من عام ‪ ١٩٥٦‬و بعد ذلك أسس امللك محمد الخامس رسميا‬ ‫باملغرب ملكية دستورية يف عام ‪ ١٩٥٧‬كملكها‪ .‬فور املفاوضات بني الفرنس ّيون و‬ ‫املغاربة لالستقالل‪ ،‬نفذ امللك سياسات عديدة و التي بدأت يف إنهاء االستعامر و‬ ‫إعادة التعريف بالهوية املغريب‪.‬‬ ‫ من بني اإلجراءات األوىل التي قام بها امللك محمد الخامس تأسيس القوات‬ ‫املسلحة امللكية التي كان لها دور كقوات ملكية و كأشخاص يف القوات املسلحة‬ ‫امللكية‪ .‬أغلبية القوات املسلحة امللكية كانت جنود يف الجيوش االستعامرية‬ ‫الفرنس ّية و اإلسبان ّية‪ .‬بالرغم من أنهم كانوا مغاربة إال أنهم تدربوا و اشتغلوا مع‬ ‫الجيوش املستعمرة‪ .‬فالقوات املسلحة امللكية كانت رمزية حيث أنها كانت أداة‬ ‫تستخدم من طرف امللك لفرض الهوية الوطنية الجديدة و لكن يف نفس الوقت‬ ‫عمل عىل تأثري امللكية يف هذه الجيوش للهوية الجديدة من امللك أو امللكية و‬ ‫ليس من الحركات الوطنية‪ .‬كانت القوات املسلحة امللكية تستخدم من طرف‬

‫‪enforced by the French left a lasting effect on Mo‬‬‫‪rocco’s minority groups and made it nearly impos‬‬‫‪sible for them to join the national conversation on‬‬ ‫‪reformation of identity and what it means to be‬‬ ‫‪“Moroccan.” However, one of the only things that‬‬ ‫‪never faltered during this entire process was Mo‬‬‫‪rocco’s devotion to its Muslim identity.‬‬ ‫ ‬ ‫‪The legacy of the French continues today‬‬ ‫‪in which Moroccans still have a dual-identity that‬‬ ‫”‪encompasses both a strong sense of “Moroccan‬‬ ‫‪and an almost Francophile-like identity. This is‬‬ ‫‪most obvious in language: French and Arabic are‬‬ ‫‪both everyday languages; Moroccan Darija (col‬‬‫‪loquial Arabic) is heavily influenced by French. In‬‬ ‫‪sum, until the French influence wanes completely,‬‬ ‫‪Morocco will never have a complete Arabization‬‬ ‫‪nor can it return to a time in the past in which mi‬‬‫‪nority groups took a more central role in Moroccan‬‬ ‫‪society.‬‬

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‫‪The Wellesley Globalist - Africa‬‬ ‫‪24‬‬

‫الفرنسية لعائالتهم‪ .‬هذه املامرسة أدت إىل رصاع امليدانني العام و الخاص‪.‬‬ ‫لحل ما يصطلح عليه “بالشغف بالفرنسية‪ ”،‬كان هناك‬ ‫ باإلضافة إىل البحث ّ‬ ‫حاجة إىل الحسم يف قضية األقليات يف املغرب‪ :‬األمازيغية واليهودية‪ .‬بالنسبة‬ ‫لألمازيغية‪ ،‬من بني اإلجراءات األولية للملك‪ ،‬فقد اتخذ بعد االستقالل قرار إلغاء‬ ‫قوانني العنرصية ضد األمازيغية‪ .‬هذه القوانني خلقت فروق يف النظامني العريب‬ ‫و األمازيغي‪ .‬يبدو يف الواجهة أن ظهور اإلجراءات من طرف امللك ستكون أحسن‬ ‫للعالقة األمازيغية العربية بالبالد و لكن يف الحقيقة أكرث اإلصالحات كانت رمزية‬ ‫يل‪.‬‬ ‫بدال عن إنشاء تغري فع ّ‬ ‫اليهودي” يف املغرب طغى إىل حد كبري عىل الحقيقة‬ ‫ الجواب عن “السؤال‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫امللكية التي تعتقد أن الدين اإلسالمي غري قابل للتفاوض إلعادة تشكيل الهوية‬ ‫املغربيّة‪ .‬هذا يعني أنه من أن اليهود كانوا يف املغرب قبل االستعامر إال أن‬ ‫وجودهم يف املغرب أصبح معقد بعد االستقالل‪ .‬أكد امللك أهمية اليهود بالنسبة‬ ‫للمغرب و لكن يف األساس قال أن هجرة اليهود إىل بلدان أخرى‪ ،‬خصوصا إىل‬ ‫إرسائيل‪ ،‬كان خيانة للمغرب‪ .‬يف نفس الوقت و منذ الحرب العاملية الثانية ناشد‬ ‫اليهود بالذهاب إىل ارسائيل أو فرنسا‪ .‬و ثم كانت كل الهجرة مقيدة من طرف‬ ‫الحكومة بسبب حرب السويس يف عام ‪ .١٩٥٦‬عىل الرغم من هذا‪ ،‬كان هناك‬ ‫جهود رسية من املوساد‪ ،‬جهاز املخابرات اإلرسائييل‪ ،‬ملساعدة اليهود و نقلهم‬ ‫إىل إرسائيل‪ .‬بعدما رفعت القيود عىل الهجرة إىل إرسائيل‪ ،‬و أوروبا‪ ،‬و أمريكا يف‬ ‫غضون عرش سنوات أصبح الكثري من اليهود يتنقلوا إىل بلدان أخرى و “السؤال‬ ‫اليهودي” تالىش‪.‬‬ ‫خامتة‬ ‫ االصالحات التي قام بها امللك بعد االستقالل مل تكن كافية لتغيري املغرب‬ ‫بطريقة أعمق‪ .‬كانت هناك رغبة يف التغيري لكن مل يطبقوا يف الواقع‪ .‬هذا أصبح‬ ‫واضح بشكل كبري ألن التأثري الفرنيس كان أقوى عىل نظام التعريب عىل األقل يف‬ ‫السنوات بعد االستقالل‪.‬‬

‫‪Photo By: Emily Bader ‘18‬‬

‫امللك لقرع الجامعات املنشقة‪ ،‬و فرض قوانني‪ ،‬و إنشاء قوة مراقبة يف املغرب‪.‬‬ ‫كانت كل املقاومة ضد امللكية الجديدة تضع ارضا من القوات املسلحة امللكية‪،‬‬ ‫مبا فيها حملة ضد النخب حيث كان ينظر إليها كالخونة بعد االستقالل‪ ،‬فأكرث فرق‬ ‫املقاومة جاءت من داخل البلد و ليس من قوى خارجية‪.‬‬ ‫املغرب و الهوية بعد االستعامر‬ ‫ الجهد الكبري الذي قامت به الحكومة بعد االستقالل كان نظام التعريب‬ ‫يف املجتمع املغريب‪ .‬فالتعريب جاء يف املقام األول يف سياسة التعليم و الثقافة‬ ‫اللتان جاءتا من “بناء أمة األسلمة و التعريب”‪ .‬منذ ثالثينيات القرن التاسع عرش‪،‬‬ ‫سعت اململكة التعريب املغرب عن طريق النظام التعليمي يف فرتة ثالث سنوات‪.‬‬ ‫هذا الجهد مل يعمل يف األول و جلبت الحكومة معلمون من مرص و سوريا يف عام‬ ‫‪ ١٩٥٨‬للمساعدة يف تعليم اللغة العربية‪ .‬بعد سنة‪ ،‬حدد وزير الرتبية الجديدة‬ ‫أربعة أهداف جديدة للنظام التعليمي‪“ :‬توحيد النظام التعليمي‪ ،‬و التعريب‪ ،‬و‬ ‫تعميم التعليم يف املناطق الريفية‪ ،‬و مغربة سلك التدريس و املنهاج درايس‪ ”.‬كان‬ ‫التأثري الشامل للتعريب من اإلسالم حيث قال محمد الخامس أنه “دافع الوطني”‬ ‫أن نتعلم من الروح اإلسالمية و الثقافة العربية‪ .‬و لكن‪ ،‬عىل الرغم من كل هذا‬ ‫جهود‪ ،‬حفظ املغرب هويته “الفرنسيّة‪-‬املغربيّة” عن لطريق استمرار استخدام‬ ‫اللغة الفرنسيّة يف عدة جوانب يف املجتمع املغريب حتى مع مراسيم الحكومة‪.‬‬ ‫ يف حقيقة األمر‪ ،‬التعليم يف املغرب تغري بني التعليم املزدوج بالفرنسية و‬ ‫العربية و تعليم بالعربية فقط‪ .‬التعريب يف النظام التعليمي كان من املفرتض أن‬ ‫يكون منترشا يف كل جوانب النظام تعليمي و لكن اللغة الفرنسية كانت وال تزال‬ ‫يف التعليم العايل و خصوصا التخصصات العلمية‪ .‬مل يكن التعريب كامال يف النظام‬ ‫التعليمي و ال يف أي نظام وطني آخر إطالقا فمثال كان التعريب يف النظام القضايئ‬ ‫يف واحد يناير يف عام ‪ ١٩٥٦‬و لكن اللغة الفرنسية بقيت اللغة األساسية‪ .‬مبعنى‬ ‫آخر‪ ،‬كان املغرب يفضل اللغة العربية و لكن كانت اللغة الفرنسية تستخدم عىل‬ ‫نطاق واسع‪ .‬حتى النخب‪ ،‬مبا فيها امللك و وزير التعليم‪ ،‬بحثوا عىل التعليم باللغة‬

Citius, Altius, Fortius The Wellesley Globalist - South America

by Yashna Shivdasani

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T

he journey leading up to the Rio Olympics was a difficult one for the International Olympic Committee. Elite athletes began withdrawing from the Games, the Zika virus broke out, and budgets as well as excitement began to deplete.

Due to these problems, when the IOC announced that they would be hosting a Refugee Team, the world dismissed it as one of their marketing techniques to revive the dying Olympic brand. But what many failed to realize is that this step towards the inclusivity of refugees is exactly what humanity needs at this point in the global refugee crisis.

Having a team that does not represent any country, but instead walks under the Olympic flag, to the tune of the Olympic anthem, takes us back to the original ideals behind this international event. The Games were built on the principles of non-discrimination, unity, and joy found in effort. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the institutor of the modern day Olympics clearly stated his idea behind it, “The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.�

But over the years, the Olympics has come to become a channel for nationalism and a stage for extraordinary athletes to continue to prove their excellence year after year. The introduction of a refugee contingent challenges this idea. It enables the world to cheer on humanitarianism, to learn the exceptional stories of these ordinary people.

Critics may complain that waiving the qualifying timings for these athletes may be unfair. But what they forget to consider are the hardships the refugees have faced; suffering that would suffice for

a lifetime. A mere nine months of training is nothing compared to the years of work Olympic ath-

letes put in. And if they could, the refugee athletes would have spent all their time training hard in the sports they love. But they were far too busy fighting for their lives, running away from home or almost drowning in the ocean.

Swimmer Yusra Mardini fled from war-torn Syria, leaving her parents behind. She mounted an inflatable dinghy with her older sister and set out for Greece. When the dinghy’s motor died at sea, she had no choice but to jump in and swim, pulling an entire boat of people with her. All of their lives

The Wellesley Globalist - South America

Photo By: United Nations Photo

were literally on her shoulders.

The Mardini sisters swam for three hours without resting. Even though swimming was their forte, they hated the ocean for days after this lifethreatening incident. The water they knew all so well, had almost destroyed them. For Yusra, it was daunting to get back into the pool. But she did it for her love for the sport and to show that nothing could beat her down.

Five of the ten refugee athletes are natives of South Sudan. The United Nations declared that the country has been in “one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the world.”

These heroes have borne the pain and lived through it. Losing family members and being forced into child marriage instead of attending school were commonalities they all had to face. The first time they “ran” was to escape militants trying to coerce them into becoming soldiers.

For people who had never lived like athletes before or even heard of Rio de Janeiro, the 2016 Olympics became the chance of a lifetime.

A chance to be a proud refugee, to show that refugees are far from the “criminal” stereotype they are labelled with. This team would have an important aim: to remind the world that refugees are human too, and that they have the ability not only to enjoy and live life to the fullest, but also to participate in the most fiercely competitive international games.

Introducing this team could have possibly started out as a promotion tactic, but it has metamorphosed into so much more. It has given a voice to refugees all over the world to prove that their rough backgrounds are what make them stronger.

And that instead of fearing them, we must embrace them with open arms.

Having a refugee contingent at the Olympics, an event that is diligently watched on most television sets, is the best way to spread the message. It shows the world that the refugees too are victims of international terrorism, just like us. It gives all refugees a sliver of hope for a better life, and me a hope in a humanity, that could be moving towards the original Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius.”

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The Election Results, Confronted in Russia

by Amber Qin

The Wellesley Globalist - Eruope

I

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did not sleep well on the night of November 8th. Election results were supposed to trickle in starting from 8 p.m. EST onward, which after the end of daylight savings translates to 2 a.m. here in Moscow, Russia.

1:30 a.m. I lay in my bed, compulsively refreshing CNN, the New York Times and Politico.

2:00 a.m. I could not resist the gripping sense of exhaustion, and fell asleep with my computer still on by my pillow.

6:30 a.m. I woke up in fright as my phone buzzed.

My friends at Wellesley have been messaging our facebook groups frantically, as the “Trump winning Florida” forecast keeps climbing on NYT. I tried to swipe the frenzies aside and go back to sleep.

“There is no way Hillary would lose; there is just no way,” I thought to myself.

8:30 a.m. I stared at my phone in horror, as I discovered Trump’s chance of “winning the presidency” had remained at 97%. “What is happening?”

I asked my roommate, “What is even happening?”

“I don’t know… Hillary is losing ground in Ohio, Michigan and New Hampshire as well… I don’t even know.” My roommate answered with an equally terrified voice. I looked outside the window.

A snow storm was gathering momentum, reflective of the days ahead of us.

12:00 p.m. I went into the university. We were supposed to meet our program director from St. Petersburg for lunch. The group sat in silence for two hours as she went on and on about programming for the rest of the semester.

2:00 p.m. While in line to buy coffee, I was behind some Russian students, who saw me and easily identified me as an American. They began loudly discussing the election results, mentioning Bill

Clinton and Trump’s names. One of them cast a glance at me and upon seeing my gloomy expression, laughed.

Russia, after Daesh, has been one of the most talked about common enemies during this election season. However, no Russian—not even those who dislike Putin—believes Russian officials

Photo By: Audrey Stevens ‘17

olutions of the late 1910s, the civil war of 1917, the rise of Stalinism and the Great Purge in late 1930s were tragic, and they exhausted the Soviet people to no end. Skipping forward, the 1990s was also an extremely dark and scary period for many.

For example, when a market economy was implemented overnight, with no proper economic and democratic structure to carry out the reform, people lost access to basic necessities. Just a couple of years ago, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, decided to extend the presidential term from four to six years; many people today joke that “у Путина в запасе вечности” (Putin has all the time in the world). To many Russian people, political instability is usual, habitual, and demands civil indifference.

It is quite difficult, therefore, to explain to a common Russian person, a friend, or a professor why I was visibly upset and distraught by the election outcome. Most of them just shrugged their shoulders and said: “а тебе нравится Клинтон? Ладно, ну что делать” (So you like Clinton? Well, what can you do.). If Trump was elected president, well, he was elected. He might be bad, but he will be just as bad as all the other bad presidents in history; might as well just accept the reality and roll with it.

A combination of both Trump being the preferred candidate, and general public distaste for politics, made it very difficult for me to find an appropriate space, outlet or channel for my feelings.

I had been, after all, one of the hardcore Hillary supporters; I canvassed for her, phonebanked for her, and even put a “Massachusetts for Hillary” sticker on my laptop, which has drawn many unnecessary comments and criticisms from strangers.

I had been so sure that our next president would be not only a woman, but also Hillary Clinton specifically—an outstanding, qualified and compassionate candidate. I had been so sure of not only the progressive values, but also of civility and respect.

I know that the system is still deeply problematic in many ways, but from the bottom of my heart I simply could not believe that the United States of America could push aside all the racist, sexist

The Wellesley Globalist - Europe

would interfere with U.S. elections. The principle of national sovereignty and non-interference, after all, is a central pillar of the Russian foreign policy (принципа национального государственного суверенитета).

Nevertheless, the general public in Russia does embrace Trump as the obvious favorite.

US-Russia relations are forecasted to fare better under Trump than under Clinton, given the latter’s notoriously realist—or hawkish, as one would say—policy on security issues. But this was certainly not the only reason why it felt particularly difficult for me to carve out a space of my own for political mourning.

As many of us know, Russia has gone through a fair share of political turmoil. The Rev-

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The Wellesley Globalist - Europe 29

Photo By: zio fabio comments Donald Trump made and could be okay with voting for him. So for me, as for many other Wellesley students, the loss and the grief on the morning of November 9, 2016 was personal and real.

But how do you mourn in a space where no one understands your mourning? Thanks to social media, I learned about the Babson student incident at Wellesley almost at the same time as everyone else on campus. The only difference being, I had no one to talk to, to yell at, to scream with. I wanted more than anything to take part in the fight against the intrusion of Trump’s America into our beloved space. I wanted someone to answer my confusion, my anger and my hate, because it felt very dark; something felt very dark inside.

I started talking with Wellesley friends, and (secretly) Skyped into one of the post-election fac-

ulty panels. This was and remains to be one of the most healing moments since the election for me: one student asked how do we organize from here, and I started snapping at the exact same time as everyone else in Pendleton atrium. I felt a tremendous amount of connection with people halfway across the globe; it made me so proud to be a Wellesley woman, to know that we get attacked but we never get beaten. We console each other, we get up and we keep on fighting.

This fight will continue no matter where we are, in America, in Russia, or elsewhere in the world. It will not be Trump’s America because we won’t let it. We will love. We will be protective of the vulnerable. And we will actualize the power of our knowledge and passion to be of service to others, in ways big or small.

“To many Russian people, political instability is usual, habitual, and demands civil indifference.”

Photo By: Marco Giumelli

Nowhere To Go for Refugees in Europe

by Mira Craig-Morse

The Wellesley Globalist - Europe

‘T

31

he Jungle’ is, or was, a refugee camp in Calais, France, next to the border of France and Great Britain. The camp housed around 8,000 out of the roughly 1.3 million refugees who were seeking asylum in Europe.

Standing since the early 2000s, the camp hosted migrants and refugees attempting to reach the allegedly more hospitable country of Great Britain.

Some residents who lived there for a number of years built their own businesses, shops, and restaurants from scrap wood, tarpaulin and blankets.

They served everything from mobile phones to fresh produce to Pakistani food.

The camp has been portrayed throughout the world as an archetype of the struggle of refugees who flee to Europe. Pictures, articles and videos emerging from the Jungle show chaos and misery, a result of the harsh conditions and lack of resources in the camp.

This summer I spent three months in Europe, in three different camps in northern France — including the Jungle — and in Lesvos, Greece. I also visited several refugee camps in Germany and the Netherlands. While I didn’t see the violence or the lawlessness in these camps the media often depicts, I did see countless aid workers, government representatives and generally curious white people visiting and taking pictures of the camp. What I found most appalling was that they all seemed to be gawking at the conditions in which the refugees lived.

The Jungle was torn down in the span of two weeks in late October. Inhabitants were evicted, some left on their own while the rest were put on buses to be taken to different shelters around France. Britain is accepting unaccompanied mi-

nors from the camp, however only around 200 of the over 1,600 children have been accepted thus far. Shelters burned and collapsed throughout the demolition.

The two other camps I worked in, both within an hour’s drive of the Jungle, were essentially offshoots of the Jungle — camps that had sprung

Photo By: Mira Craig-Morse ‘18

are not allowed to leave the island until their status of asylum is decided, a process that often takes months.

Furthermore, European borders are mostly sealed now, leaving refugees with the options of paying high fees to smugglers and walking miles through forests, or attempting to sneak onto transport trucks that cross the borders. There is no exception to the danger of crossing a border, yet many refugees waiting in camps near borders attempt the crossing nearly every night.

I realized this summer that as viewers of this humanitarian crisis in Europe and in North America, we have the refugee crisis all wrong. With the help of the media coverage of places such as the Jungle, we tend to view the refugees—an empty term for a population that cannot be named by any single word—as victims who need our help.

I have to tell you plain and simple, they don’t need our help.

They don’t need us to feed them, clothe them, pick up after them or even give them shelter, at least not in a refugee camp. What they need is the freedom to live their own lives, which they are completely capable of living. By labelling people as refugees, as victims, as helpless people without hope, we conveniently excuse ourselves from responsibility. We shirk the responsibility of granting citizenship, especially here in the United States, and we deny our responsibility for the situations people are forced to run from.

I don’t mean to say that refugees aren’t escaping true horrors. Refugees, by the simple fact they can be called that, often show a resilience and determination that those of us without their experiences can never access.

Some of the most harrowing stories I heard, however, happened in Europe or on the way there.

The journey between Turkey and Lesvos is notoriously dangerous. This strip of coast sees beautiful sunsets and weddings at the village church most summer nights. But it has also seen thousands of deaths. Boats are packed three times beyond capacity by smugglers who send the boats off in the middle of the night without a driver. Boats get lost, sink

The Wellesley Globalist - Europe

up after portions of the Jungle were torn down or after refugees refused to live in such inhumane conditions. Both of these camps are also being closed, if more gradually than the Jungle.

Refugees are accustomed to the transience of the camp and used to constant displacement.

This is just one of the ways in which the European governments thwart the human right to flee danger and seek asylum.

A deal made between the European Union and Turkey in March effectively equated refugees entering Greece with illegal migrants. Upon arriving in Lesvos, for example, refugees are immediately under the control of border agents, taken to a detention center that has notoriously harsh conditions and that recently suffered from a large fire. They

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The Wellesley Globalist - Europe 33

Photo By: Mira Craig-Morse ‘18 or flip and the landing is the most fatal part of the journey.

Ahmad, a recent college graduate from Syria, swam for fourteen hours to cross the six-mile passage. Then there’s Waleed, who was a successful cartoonist in Damascus before the war. He swam for eight hours after his boat sank. He carried an eight-year-old girl as he swam alone, only to discover after he was rescued that she had already died along the way.

The reason nearly a million refugees have crossed this particular stretch of the Mediterranean is because the land border is sealed and nearly impossible to cross. Border control is much harder in the sea, so they cross the water—however dangerous it may be.

In three months spent in refugee camps and ports of arrival, I never once met a helpless victim.

Not the man from Iraq who was missing a leg, not the teenage boys traveling alone, or the single mothers, not the widows or widowers, the orphans. Even the youngest children, thrifty and wise beyond their years, seemed able to survive better in this world on their own than I could.

This line that we draw between us and them

became the line between volunteer and refugee in the camps. But this line blurred continuously until I began to see it was completely constructed and ultimately unreal.

Every camp functions largely thanks to the work and cooperation of the camp’s inhabitants.

Every job I performed had help from a refugee whether it was greeting refugees landing in Lesvos, cooking for the camp or rebuilding shelters.

An Ethiopian family made their own shelter in one of the camps in France, built with wood and nails salvaged from the garbage dumpster. It was clean and perfectly measured—far superior to our makeshift structure next door. They laughed when they told us that the rats we had kicked out of the repaired shelter by putting chicken wire in the ground had only moved on to torment their house.

This is an example in which the work I did as a volunteer may have done more harm than good. Besides passing the rat problem on to the next shelter, construction in that camp was illegal.

Helicopters flew overhead and took pictures of the camp. Photos of the new shelter being erected may have contributed to a lawsuit the camp faced this summer that determined whether or not they

would be evicted from the land.

Whether we see refugees as dangerous animals invading our peaceful country or as helpless victims who need our care and paternalism, we diminish them to less than who they are. In doing so, we actively prevent them from living full and successful lives. This is a greater problem than displacement itself.

One thing Western governments forget or choose to ignore is that refugees would not only make up the fiscal cost of hosting them, they would boost the economy of their host country. Countries with much smaller populations and economies

have taken many times the number of refugees that European and North American countries have accepted. Refugees have not only cost a small amount for host governments, they have also boosted the economies of every country they have lived and worked in.

Maybe it is time we overcome our ideas of otherness and welcome refugees here where we may need diverse, qualified, multi-lingual and conscious people in the uncertain times to come.

Note: All names have been changed.

The Wellesley Globalist - Europe Photo By: Mira Craig-Morse ‘18

“Whether we see refugees as dangerous animals invading our peaceful country or as helpless victims who need our care and paternalism, we diminish them to less than who they are.”

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This picture is of the Lifejacket Graveyard in Lesvos where somewhere arou is now seen as a memorial to the refugees who have landed in Lesvos, partic it is important to either see the graveyard or see pictures because, for me at been forced to make this very dangerous journey. The lifejackets given to re jackets would not

und 70,000 lifejackets and hundreds of rubber dinghies have been dumped. It cularly the large number who have died during the perilous journey. I think t least, it left a powerful impression of the sheer number of people who have efugees in Turkey are also notoriously bad quality and so many of these lifet have saved a life.

Photo and Caption By: Mira Craig-Morse ‘18

Liberalism and Religion:

Friend or Foe?

by Callie Kim

The Wellesley Globalist - Europe

T

37

he proper relationship between state and church is a long-standing liberal concern for many nations. Perfectionist liberalism and political liberalism provide two different ways of understanding the liberal value of religious toleration. In this article, I argue that liberalism is not inherently antagonistic to all forms of religion if we endorse a political liberal version.

John Stuart Mill’s political theory as explained in ‘On Liberty’ is an instance of perfectionist liberalism. Mills argues for a pair of controversial doctrines about: (1) the good life for individuals (i.e. a life of pleasure/happiness) and (2) the moral life (i.e. one that maximizes aggregate utility). Mills bases his political principle, the harm principle, on these hedonist and utilitarian doctrines. He claims that both individual and social welfare are maximized when the law allows citizens’ broad liberties of speech, action, and association, provided that they do not harm others.

However, not everyone is convinced by these fundamental values for which perfectionist libertarians advocate. Some argue that it is impossible for citizens of a society containing a wide range of ethical, religious, and philosophical beliefs, to reach unforced agreement on a single conception of justice for regulating their social and political institutions.

Consider religion in a liberal society. Stanley Fish argues in his article in The New York Times, “Liberalism and Secularism: One and the Same,” that liberalism is inherently antagonistic toward many forms of religion on broadly perfectionist grounds. In the article, Fish observes that there is “the divide between those who subscribe to a form of politics uninflected by religious faith and those

who would derive their politics from faith.” Given that many religious people do endorse liberal values, such as tolerance, mutual respect, and diversity, the divide shows certain forms of religions will reject liberalism.

In general, political liberals criticize perfectionist liberals for regulating social institutions on the basis of moral and metaphysical assumptions that not all citizens can reasonably be expected to endorse. There are four steps to understand Martha Nussbaum’s account of political liberalism in her book, Philosophy and Pubic Affairs: Perfectionist Liberalism and Political Liberalism. First, she recognizes the pluralism embodied in a liberal soci-

Photo By: Matthew Fearnley

Third, the reasonable pluralism embodies the Principle of Respect: a social order consists of respect for all reasonable persons who voluntarily agree to the basic principles of a liberal society (Nussbaum 18). The rationale of the Principle of Respect derives from the concept of reasonable pluralism; the term “reasonable” in the ethical sense: (a) “reasonable” people propose fair terms of cooperation and to abide by them provided others do; and (b) “reasonable” people treat everyone equally. Both (a) and (b) connect closely to the idea of respect. Fourth, liberalism is a political doctrine because a respectful social order cannot be based on any comprehensive liberal principles, but only on political liberal principles. Unlike comprehensive liberalism that promotes an overall theory of value, an ethical theory, and a metaphysics of the person and society, political liberalism involves a set of more minimal commitments regarding purely political matters that might be the subject of consensus amongst all reasonable citizens, including those who are not comprehensive liberals.

In the conflict of liberalism and religion, Nussbaum argues that the only solution to this conflict is “respect” in political liberalism—“respect for one another, not respect for the doctrines they hold, for the grounding of those doctrines, or for anything else about them” (Nussbaum 33). Upholding the Principle of Respect in a liberal society is necessary because religious citizens deserve respect from the government and spaces to unfold their lives based on their comprehensive doctrines. In this respect, Nussbaum emphasizes the importance of avoiding defining “reasonable” in a way that denigrates the grounds of some people’s doctrines. Otherwise, she argues, antagonized individuals would be more likely to disrespect “the controversial epistemological and metaphysical doctrines that political liberalism rightly asks reasonable citizens to insist upon” (Nussbaum 33). Specifically, Nussbaum proposes to stick with the ethical definition of “reasonable” — a “reasonable” citizen respects other citizens as equals, and a “reasonable” comprehensive doctrine shows a serious commitment to treating people equally as a political value.

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ety that contains a wide range of conflicting “comprehensive doctrines” on morality, metaphysics, and the meaning of life. Second, she agrees with John Rawls’ account of “reasonable pluralism” that some of the comprehensive doctrines are unreasonable, but many of them are not (Nussbaum 23).

The rationale behind “reasonable pluralism” is “burdens of judgment” that people who adhere to different comprehensive doctrines disagree not simply on account of irrationality, but on account of factors that make the disputes between them cases of “reasonable disagreement” (23). An example of the reasonable disagreement would be the existence of normative considerations on both sides of an issue (23). Therefore, Nussbaum agrees with the reasonable pluralism that (a) the reasonable comprehensive doctrines are compatible with a commitment to living with others on terms that those others, understood as free and equal, can also reasonably accept, and (b) the unreasonable doctrines are not compatible with that sort of commitment.

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Both theories — perfectionist liberalism and political liberalism — are versions of liberalism that are committed to freedom of religion. The difference between them is not so much a difference between the kinds of rights and policies that they imply. Instead it is a difference between the justifications that they give for the same rights and policies. Perfectionist liberals appear to endorse comprehensive views of the good life, and political liberals do not. I personally endorse political liberal justification of freedom of religion in a liberal society because Nussbaum’s notion of political liberalism is not inherently antagonistic to all forms of religion if we endorse a political liberal ground.

There are two reasons to support my argument.

is more plausible for people to grapple openly with their deepest moral differences than to tell people that they must put aside their deepest convictions while considering the important political matters.

Thus, according to these critics, the political stability has more to do with affective ties than shared political principles.

In response to the criticism to political liberalism, I argue that there are two plausible reasons to endorse political liberalism in a pluralistic society. First, while political liberalism cannot avoid ruling out some accounts of what has ultimate value (i.e. respect), it does not rest on a particular comprehensive account of truth or the good as a whole.

Essentially, the virtue of political liberalism allows

“It is necessary to recognize that the basic principles within the political liberal society are not static.”

First, Nussbaum’s notion of liberal society is capable of accommodating both religious and nonreligious people. Her proposal of the Principle of Respect does not deny the fundamental human right of taking spaces in the society. In fact, her proposal not only allows religious people to unfold their lives in a liberal society but also promotes mutual forbearance among all forms of difference. All in all, these two reasons allow me to endorse Nussbaum’s notion of political liberalism and to conclude that religion and liberalism will not conflict with a political liberal ground.

However, the chief remaining problem faced by the political liberalism is its stability. Some critics argues that when establishing basic political principles (i.e. the Principle of Respect), people should not be expected to put aside their religious and other comprehensive moral views. In this respect, political liberalism seems impossible because the citizens must assume some values that are intrinsically good (i.e. respect). These critics are in favor of a strategy of engagement that promotes a wider and more profound respect. Essentially, it

us to focus on shared political values without requesting and expecting agreement on ultimate ends or a comprehensive set of moral values governing all of our lives. Second, I argue that it is necessary to recognize that the basic principles within the political liberal society are not static. If those basic principles are static, then we might violate some forms of comprehensive doctrines and fail to uphold the Principle of Respect. Nonetheless, a set of more minimal commitments embodied in political liberalism needs a larger respect to accomodate—a respect that is hard to sustain. As a result, from the above reasonings, I still endorse political liberalism, as religion and liberalism will not conflict in the society that upholds the Principle of Respect.

Works Cited Fish, Stanley, One and the Same: Liberalism and Secularism.

New York Times, 2007 Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: Longman, Roberts &

Green, 1869 Nussbaum, Martha C. Philosophy and Pubic Affairs: Perfe

tionist Liberalism and Political Liberalism. Wiley

Periodicals Inc, 2011.

Statue of John Stuart Mill

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Progress on International Technology Policy Principles The Wellesley Globalist - North America

by Mary DuBard

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S

ince the World Wide Web’s creation in 1990, the Internet has become a global tool, used by people across the globe to communicate, check the weather, research, and much, much more.

Due to its ubiquitous use in modern-day life, many countries, like the United States and the EU, have passed laws and made proposals to ensure the Internet’s protection. However, many other countries have not followed suit.

If laws are not put in place to protect the Internet, it could very easily be put at risk. Already, we see governments like China restricting their citizens’ access to websites. The EU’s “Right to Privacy” Act, allowing EU citizens to remove unwanted links from search engines like Google, was a win for privacy but a loss for freedom of speech on the Internet. Even in the United States, there has been debate about whether or not the Internet is a luxury or a utility, which has broad implications for the government’s regulation of Internet Service Providers.

To encourage positive Internet policies and to provide guidelines for developing countries, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental economic organisation founded in 1961, released fourteen Internet Policymaking Principles in December 2011. These policies were enacted by thirty-four nations, including the United States.

The document consists of recommendations for countries to focus on while handling the complicated issue of Internet and technology in their lawmaking. Almost five years have passed since the document’s initial release. This article analyzes areas where the United States and parts of the international community have improved and

where there is still room for improvement.

In the five years since the Internet Policymaking Principles were passed, technology has continued to expand rapidly, while the government’s pace has remained the same. Five years ago, cars couldn’t drive themselves, rockets couldn’t be reused, phones couldn’t be credit cards, and many

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“Startup America,” and the America Invents Act to encourage more people, with a diversity of ideas, to contribute to the growing field of computer science.

To encourage creativity in all areas of science, President Obama has also created Kid Science Advisors, choosing children from across the country to come to Washington D.C. and provide their input on science innovation in America. In 2015, the Obama administration released a new strategy for innovation in America, the first plan of this type since 2011.

This strategy addressed new technology areas in the past five years, including self-driving cars and big data usage by cities, and reinforced past goals in areas such as the government’s innovation.

To see the proof of America’s creativity and innovation there is no better place to look than the growth of Silicon Valley, the hub for technology companies in America and the world. In a population brief from Silicon Valley Indicators, it was reported that since 2011 Silicon Valley’s population has grown from from around 2,850,000 to almost 3,000,000 in January 2015, its highest growth rate yet. Home to world-renowned companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, and many start-up companies, it exemplifies the United States’ tech environment.

2. Promote the open, distributed and interconnected nature of the Internet.

By far, the biggest achievement made in the past few years to promote the openness of the Internet was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules. Net Neutrality encompasses the idea of an open internet, where users can go where they want, when they want. The fight for Net Neutrality has been going on since early 2011, when Verizon Communications initially filed a lawsuit against the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules.

These rules ensure that Internet service providers will treat all web traffic the same.

Some companies, like Verizon, wanted to provide faster Internet service to people who paid

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other inventions didn’t exist yet. How has the United States responded to these policies and new technologies? This article will address two standards the United States has met or excelled in these past five years and two standards that need improvement.

Standards Met: 1. Promote creativity and innovation.

Several initiatives have begun in the past few years to help keep America ahead in technology innovation. The government funds technology research, encouraging Americans to explore new areas in Computer Science and the Internet. President Obama often speaks about the importance of innovation, particularly in the tech world, and has initiated several programs such as “Computer Science for All,”

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Photo By: You Belong in Longmont more, but the FCC’s Net Neutrality regulations clearly ban “fast lanes” like this. The fight for Net Neutrality has led to a public discussion in America, igniting online petitions, making national headlines on news sites like NPR and Buzzfeed, and gathering public support. This has had a positive effect on citizen involvement, as Net Neutrality has become an issue of high public importance. This will, in turn, help the United States retain our open Internet.

Recommended Areas for Improvement: 1. Ensure transparency, fair process, and accountability.

Internet users in America do not always have access to information relative to their rights. As seen by Edward Snowden’s leaks, there are many areas regarding citizens and the government, like NSA watchlists or what is done with users’ information, where transparency is lacking. There are movements towards increasing transparency, spurred on by public outrage after the aforementioned leaks, but the

United States still has many steps to take.

During the Apple v. FBI case of 2016, the FBI used a third-party hacker to gain access to an iPhone, owned by a convicted murderer.

However, the FBI did not disclose the name of the third-party hacker or the vulnerability of which they took advantage. This is clearly not a transparent process, and there needs to be legal progress for situations like this one.

The United States could also improve their accountability on the Internet. With the rise of social media giants like Twitter and Facebook, anonymity is easier than ever. Problems like cyberbullying and online threats are increasing.

If someone on a fake Twitter account makes threats, it’s difficult for local law enforcements to figure out who or even if they should press charges.

2. Maximize individual empowerment.

Currently, Internet users are mostly at the mercy of online corporations. For many online applications, users have no say in the Privacy

figure out their own implementation.

As a world leader, the United States stands as an example for technology policy across the world.

With leading technology companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Facebook all based in America, other governments look to the United States’ legislation as an example. Under the Obama administration, the United States has made significant steps towards the OECD’s Internet Policy Principles.

However, technologies and policies are continually adapting and moving forward, so the government will need to continue to pass up-to-date policies to regulate new technologies and encourage innovation. Internet has proven to be an essential part of our future. We must make sure we continue to support it as a nation.

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Policies they must agree to if they want to use technologies almost essential to modern life.

While in the EU, users can take down unwanted search results, American citizens do not have this same right. There needs to be a concerted effort by lawmakers to provide comprehensive user agreement reform. Individual empowerment on the net still has many areas for improvement.

The internet is a vital part of developing technology. As technology continues to move forward, more information and access is provided solely via the web. It is vital that governments across the globe continue to protect their citizen’s access and encourage the internet’s growth in their nations. The OECD’s Internet Policy Principles set a good baseline for countries, but each nation must

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“It is vital that governments across the globe continue to protect their citizen’s access and encourage the internet’s growth in their nations.”

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Ending ISIS: A Different Approach The Wellesley Globalist - North America

by Catherine Woodhouse

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“Everyone’s worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there’s really an easy way: Stop participating in it.”

T

errorism is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “The unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims […] such practices used by a clandestine or expatriate organization as a means of furthering its aims.” The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also referred to as ISIL, IS, and Daesh, represents the very definition of a terrorist organization, inflicting violence and intimidation on countless victims in order to enforce its view of conservative Islam and expand its political hold on other neighboring territories.

In the events following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, political theorists have devised countless explanations for why terrorism occurs, and, more importantly, how to stop it, according to Michael Hirst of BBC News in his video “In 60 Seconds: What Does Islamic State Want?”

Piketty and the Exploitation of the Arab World

According to Graeme Wood in the Atlantic article “What ISIS Really Wants,” ISIS has been considered to be an organization driven purely by religious fanaticism and hatred. Economic inequality has been widely overlooked as a contributing factor to the recent “radicalization” that has taken place and lead to events like the recent attacks on Paris and Beirut. This lack of understanding has

-Noam Chomsky

increased isolation and conflict between ISIS and the Western powers, and will continue to grow out of hand as more death, destruction, and chaos ensue.

Fighting this terrorist organization purely through violence is not enough. Piketty, cited

by Ferro Shane in the Huffington Post article “How Economic Inequality Makes Terror Attacks More Likely,” offers a different approach to analyzing the foundations of ISIS and how it maintains its effectiveness in recruiting and expansion. He dives straight into his thesis, stating, “One thing is obvious: Terrorism thrives on the inequality in the Middle East which is a powder keg we have largely contributed to creating,” through the natural byproducts of neoliberal capitalism.

Piketty, in his article for La Monde, “Le Tout-sécuritaire Ne Suffira Pas,” provides evidence for his proposition through his discussion on the annexation of Kuwait by Iraq. In the following events Western forces sent in their troops to return lost oil reserves to their economic allies and their own oilbased companies, “This inaugurated a new cycle of technological and symmetrical wars—some hundreds of deaths in the coalition to ‘liberate’ Kuwait against the tens of thousands on the Iraqi side.”

This exploitation creates long-term social and economic consequences, isolating entire populations of generally impoverished people and perpetuating

ing the money directly to infrastructure, Piketty argues, there are no more economic incentives to join a terrorist organization, for the people do not have to rely on ISIS anymore for the promotion of economic equality and for their basic needs.

This argument is a new and controversial perspective on terrorism. In the past, according to Oliver Libaw’s article in ABC News, “How Do You Define Terrorism?” the stereotypical scapegoat of terrorism is someone who is generally from the Arab world or Muslim. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Representative John Cooksey stated, “If I see someone come in and he’s got a diaper on his head and a fan belt around that diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over and checked.”

A study, “Stereotypes of Muslims and Support for the War on Terror,” conducted by John Sides and Kimberly Gross for the Journal of Politics noted, “Many Americans see both Muslims and Muslim-Americans as violent and untrustworthy—a finding that dovetails with theories of stereotype content and with depictions of Muslims in the media. Muslims and Muslim-Americans are denigrated more strongly on the warmth dimension than the other ethnic groups we examined.

Moreover, Americans do not differentiate Muslim-Americans from Muslims. Muslim-Americans are considered just as violent and untrustworthy as Muslims, on average.” Those that group all Muslims into a box, regardless of place of origin, widely support policies associated with the War on Terror.

Most importantly, the study concludes, “[…] given the longevity of these stereotypes, as well as the ongoing violence in Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and elsewhere, the prevailing depiction of the Muslim world will likely continue to emphasize the threat that Muslims pose to Americans. It will thus be difficult for many Americans to think of Muslims as anything but enemies.”

By adhering to this stereotype propagated by social media and recent US presidential candidates, according to Jeremy Diamond in his article for CNN “Donald Trump: Ban All Muslim Travel to U.S.,” the definition of terrorism will be permanently skewed to an ignorant, prejudicial ethnic profiling

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an even greater gap of wealth between those people and the oil-controlling families who represent a fraction of the entire population.

To put the consequences of these actions into perspective, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman maintain roughly 70 percent of the regional GDP (around the Arabian Peninsula) despite having less than 10 percent of the total population, according to Shane. The wealth gap is only exacerbated by continuous Western engagement in Middle Eastern oil production, which, Piketty argues, catalyzes the omens of terrorist activity.

The money received from Western investment does not go into regional development.

Bennett Gordon argues in his article “Animation: Where Does the Oil Money Go” for Utne that the exploited land and polluted areas are not properly regulated or cleaned up afterwards, leaving the mess and inhospitality in the hands of the impoverished people who live in the land and do not have the adequate tools to reverse the destruction. Piketty writes that beyond this, “a large part of the population, including women and migrant workers, are kept in ‘semi-slavery.’” People are driven to ISIS because they are led to believe that the terrorist organization offers a way out of this perpetual state of poverty, promoting economic equality to those who are believers in their followings. ISIS offers basic sustenance, shelter, and a conglomeration of like-minded people who want what’s best for themselves and their families.

Piketty concludes by writing that the only way to fully demolish ISIS and terrorism in general is to funnel the money spent on oil to regional development, where impoverished people can begin repairing their lands and not only survive, but also thrive. Jim Tanskerly, in his article for The Washington Post, “This Might Be the Most Controversial Theory for What’s behind the Rise of ISIS,” writes, “To gain credibility, it should be demonstrated to the population that [the West] is more concerned with social development and political integration of the region than with our financial interests and our relationship with the ruling families.” By rout-

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that not only hurts an entire Muslim population of innocent people, but also bars the legitimization of the violence of other terrorist organizations that are not built on Islamic foundations, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Medellin Drug Cartel, and the Irish Republican Army.

To truly reconstruct the way terrorism is thought about in the West, it is important to understand the root of terrorism and strip away all biases connected with the term. Political Scientist Eric Helleiner provides a system that helps to begin this process of bringing into question what many believe to be fact to analyze solely the objective information.

Helleiner’s Reconstruction of Thought: Bretton Woods

Eric Helleiner completely reconstructed the way the Bretton Woods system was analyzed in his book, The Forgotten Foundations of Bretton Woods: International Development and the Making of the Postwar Order. He begins by relaying the story taught by so many political scientists to their students, in which they attribute all conglomeration and achievement to former president Harry Truman. He then introduces other non-Western influences on the conference, such as Sun Yat-Sen, the first true advocate of international development in financially aiding underdeveloped countries like China at the time.

Yet another great influence throughout the conference was the talks between the United States and Latin American countries, who required assistance in economic development in turn for better relations between the two regions and voting support for the US1. Since Latin American countries were geopolitically significant at the time (due to their vast lands, resources, and the fear that they could turn to communism if left “unchecked”), they gained much respect and were able to push for certain policies that would greatly help their people economically.

Though this, the United States swept the North-South dialogue under the carpet when the Cold War ensued, placing development on the back 1

Ibid.

burner. The Latin American contribution quickly faded out of the history books, but Helleiner redefined the Bretton Woods conference by analyzing the facts and understanding the breadth of Western influence on political thought and stereotype. This example translates directly to the issue faced today concerning traditional, flawed views on terrorism.

If one could step back and view all of the facts and figures uninhibited, the evidence would show that terrorism is far more expansive and comes from more than simple Islamic fanaticism.

Limitations of Piketty’s Argument

Graeme Wood tells a different tale of the foundations of terrorism. In his article, “What ISIS Really Wants,” he notes that the prime motivations of ISIS are religiously based2. Through his research and interviews with people working in the terrorist organization, Wood concludes that ISIS’s main task is to portray themselves as engaging in an apocalyptic war against “infidels” (anyone not devoted to their particular sect of Islam). The basis of this terrorist organization does not stem from economic inequality, rather the differences in fundamental religions across the globe. Princeton scholar Bernard Haykel thoroughly researches Islamic State’s ideology and believes that the organization is trying to recreate the earliest days of Islam and, as a result, is reproducing its norms of war. He states, “There is an assiduous, obsessive seriousness”3 about the group’s dedication to the text of the Koran. Their form of terrorism is conducted in order to further its aims of complete religious dominance and bringing about doomsdays noted in their texts.

This presents a vastly different interpretation of ISIS than Piketty’s article does. The people recruited for ISIS internationally are not all impoverished people seeking economic equality for their own territory. In fact, “Middle and upper middle class Americans and Europeans have also been drawn to join ISIS or other terrorist groups despite growing up in the wealthiest countries on 2 Wood, Graeme. “What ISIS Really Wants.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 15 Feb. 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

3 Ibid.

4 Long, Heather. “Thomas Piketty: Inequality Caused the Rise of ISIS.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 03 Dec. 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

5 Krueger, Alan B. What Makes a Terrorist: Economics and the Roots of Terrorism. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2007. Print.

6 Bloom, Mia. “Cubs of the Caliphate.” Foreign Affairs. Council on Foreign Relations, 21 July 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

This will discourage allegiance to ISIS, because the terrorist organization would then be against an alliance of powers that aim to make the land more resourceful and the profits more free-flowing to the people who need it. The foundations of ISIS would begin to break down as its members eventually lose support from people who would rather have the Western powers protecting them from poverty than a volatile organization who beheads and crucifies whoever dares to cross its path.

Cadbury’s Quaker Mentality

Deborah Cadbury and her book, Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World’s Greatest Chocolate Makers tackle the process of how to overcome economic inequality.7 Cadbury describes the history of the Cadbury Company, and how, through devotion of the Quaker faith and the implementation of their principles, the Cadburys were able to create a chocolate empire and give back to the workers that lived around the factory, as well as the impoverished people residing in slums in the neighboring cities.

Quakers believe that they should live their lives simply through pacifism and dedicate themselves to good works and moral purity. The Cadbury Company prided itself on the quality of their chocolate and the way they treated their employees. As Deborah Cadbury wrote, “Business was not an end in itself; it was a means to an end.”8 The Cadbury family never meant their business to be a profitable chocolate hegemon, rather as a way to employ people of low income in order to give them 7 Cadbury, Deborah. Chocolate Wars: The 150-year Rivalry between the World’s Greatest Chocolate Makers. 1st ed. New York: Public Affairs, 2010. Print.

8 Ibid. 31.

“The continued isolation, “Islamophobia”, and killings of innocent civilians further reinforce ISIS’s motivations and drive even more people to join the terrorist organization.”

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the planet.”4 And even in the local areas, leaders of these terrorist organizations do not always come from poverty. Osama bin Laden was a rich Saudi and his second-in-command and successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is a well-to-do doctor. Princeton economist Alan Krueger has extensively studied the recruitment and foundations of terrorism in his work, “What Makes a Terrorist: Economics and the Roots of Terrorism.” His findings demonstrate that wealthier citizens are also often involved in terrorist events. In his final remarks, Krueger writes, “Most terrorists are not so desperately poor that they have nothing to live for. Instead, they are people who care so fervently about a cause that they are willing to die for it.”5

But Krueger falls short in seeing the longterm impact of economic inequality in the Arab world. His findings do not directly account for the vast amount of impoverished people who financially rely on ISIS to survive, or are forced to support them because they are locally threatened by the group.6 If the United States along with its allies begins diverting the funds of oil production directly into redefining the economic structure in impoverished places in the Arab world and redistributing the wealth owned by the minority 10%, then the people there can begin to truly make a life for themselves, liberated from the shackles of poverty.

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a better life for themselves and their families. The Cadburys designed products that would provide relatively cheap sustenance to families, and also functioned as an alternative that would keep alcoholics away from spirits. When the empire grew, the Cadbury family dedicated a portion of their profits to building a community center, where employees were granted nice housing, a garden for vegetables, courts and parks to get exercise, and higher wages than offered by many companies around the area.9 The village became such a success that poverty in the neighboring areas drastically decreased as well, and new schools that educated the communities emerged in the regions. In the end, the Cadbury family “wanted [their] model community to become a template to raise living standards of the poor elsewhere in England.”10

This example marks the solution to the growing economic inequality and degradation in parts of the Arab world. The Quaker methodology of living simply while aiding the reconstruction of war-torn, exploited areas would greatly benefit people facing extreme duress. Creating a village like the success story generated by the chocolate company will ensure that the people in these impoverished places will not only survive, but also thrive. Building schools, incentivizing people of all ages to learn, will bring forth a generation of educated people who can begin filling the roles of schoolteachers, doctors, and a diverse range of other professions. “Any investor, [the Cadbury family] believed, could operate such a scheme without losing money,”11 because eventually, the community will become self-sufficient and most of its members will maintain healthy, pacifist lives.

Violence, as the West has seen, is simply not the answer. Jürgen Todenhöfer, a German journalist who has actually been inside the Islamic State’s stronghold and lived among the people there, has mentioned that the missile strikes and bombs dropped on ISIS by the U.S. do not impede the organization from recruiting and plotting against the West; rather, it only makes them more resolute in 9 Ibid. 133.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

their plans. “With every bomb that is dropped and hits a civilian, the number of terrorists increases,” he said.12 Joint staff operations director Lieutenant General William Mayville also argues that military strikes are ineffective, stating that “these strikes are unlikely to affect IS’s overall capabilities or its operations in other areas of Iraq and Syria. IS remains focused on securing and gaining additional territory through Iraq and will sustain its attacks.”13 The continued isolation, “Islamophobia,” and killings of innocent civilians further reinforce ISIS’s motivations and drive even more people to join the terrorist organization.

Instead of perpetuating an unrelenting hatred for the West, it is time to show the people of the Arab world that the United States and its allies are dedicated to creating a long-term solution and peace through their dedication to economic development, just as Helleiner discovered that Latin America wanted in the Bretton Woods system. The United States has the capabilities to bind itself to the terms and conditions it had originally agreed on with the Latin American countries, only this time follow through with its promises and create real change to the places it had originally exploited and left to the corrupt hands of rich oil lords. On the local level, the institution of villages such as the one designed by the Cadbury family will usher in an era of healthy, educated, thriving citizens of the Arab world. These changes will ensure that support for ISIS will drastically decrease as people realize that the U.S. and its allies are not working against them, but for them.

The Future of ISIS

The Western powers face a fork in the road.

One path leads to the continued bombardment of millions in the Arab world, creating an intrinsic hatred for the Islam and anyone who is Muslim, looks like a Muslim, or resides in a place built on the Islamic faith. The other path relies on trust and be12 Withnall, Adam. “Inside Isis: The First Western Journalist Ever to Be given Access to the ‘Islamic State’ Has Just Returned – and This Is What He Discovered.” The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 21 Dec. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

13 “US Military: Airstrikes ‘Won’t Stop ISIS’” Sky News. Sky UK, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

“Instead of perpetuating this unrelenting hatred for the West, it is time to show the people of the Arab world that the United States and its allies are dedicated to creating a long-term solution and peace through their dedication of actual human and economic development”

Works Cited: “Terrorism.” Def. 2. Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford

University Press, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Irshaid, Faisal. “Isis, Isil, IS or Daesh? One Group, Many

Names.” BBC News. British Broadcasting

Company, 2 Dec. 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Hirst, Michael. “In 60 Seconds: What Does Islamic State

Want?” BBC News. British Broadcasting Company,

23 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Tankersley, Jim. “This Might Be the Most Controversial

Theory for What’s behind the Rise of ISIS.”

Washington Post. The Washington Post, 30 Nov.

2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Wood, Graeme. “What ISIS Really Wants.” The Atlantic.

Atlantic Media Company, 15 Feb. 2015. Web. 10

Dec. 2015.

Ferro, Shane. “How Economic Inequality Makes Terror A

tacks More Likely.” Huffington Post. Huffington

Post, 01 Dec. 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Piketty, Thomas. “Le Tout-sécuritaire Ne Suffira Pas.” Le

Monde. Word Press, 24 Nov. 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Gordon, Bennett. “Animation: Where Does the Oil Money

Go.” Utne. Ogden Publications, Inc., 01 Feb. 2010.

Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Libaw, Oliver. “How Do You Define Terrorism?” ABC News.

ABC News Network, 11 Oct. 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Ervin, Clark K. “Stereotyping Terrorists: The Usual Suspects

Editorials & Commentary.” International Herald

Tribune. New York Times, 27 June 2006. Web. 10

Dec. 2015.

Sides, John, and Kimberly Gross. “Stereotypes of Muslims

and Support for the War on Terror.” J of Pol The

Journal of Politics 75.03 (2013): 583-98. Web. Diamond, Jeremy. “Donald Trump: Ban All Muslim Travel

to U.S.” CNN. Cable News Network, 08 Dec. 2015.

Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Helleiner, Eric. Forgotten Foundations of Bretton Woods :

nternational Development and the Making of the

Postwar Order. Ithaca, NY, USA: Cornell University

Press, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 10 December 2015.

Long, Heather. “Thomas Piketty: Inequality Caused the Rise

of ISIS.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 03

Dec. 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Krueger, Alan B. What Makes a Terrorist: Economics and

the Roots of Terrorism. Princeton: Princeton UP,

2007. Print.

Bloom, Mia. “Cubs of the Caliphate.” Foreign Affairs. Cou

cil on Foreign Relations, 21 July 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Cadbury, Deborah. Chocolate Wars: The 150-year Rivalry

between the World’s Greatest Chocolate Makers. 1st

ed. New York: Public Affairs, 2010. Print.

Withnall, Adam. “Inside Isis: The First Western Journalist

Ever to Be given Access to the ‘Islamic State’ Has

Just Returned – and This Is What He Discovered.”

The Independent. Independent Digital News and

Media, 21 Dec. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

“US Military: Airstrikes ‘Won’t Stop ISIS’” Sky News. SkUK,

12 Aug. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

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nevolence, aiding a war-torn people who, as a vast majority, condemn the bastardized Islamic faith that ISIS uses to justify the beheading, crucifying and murdering of hundreds and thousands of innocents.

It is time for the United States to condemn stereotypes and ethnic isolation. Government leaders thrive off of such prejudices, and use them to continue their exploitation of vast lands, feeding the inequality that makes the rich allies richer and the poor even poorer. This inequality drives native populations into the arms of ISIS and similar terrorist organizations that promise redemption and freedom from the shackles of poverty. If the United States and its allies could see the effects of their actions in this light, they can begin to make real, lasting change that would show the citizens of the Arab world that they are committed to peace and mutual respect for each other’s lands, cultures, and people. Only then will ISIS crumble as the world engages in a new era of peace and prosperity for all.

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Will the Mystery of the Missing Mexican Students Ever be Solved?

¿Se Resolverá el Misterio de los Estudiantes Desaparecidos?

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By: Sharleen Garcia

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T

he night of September 26, 2014 is an unforgettable one for many Mexican citizens.

Almost 100 student activists planned to hijack several buses that evening as they had done in past years to protest a student massacre that had occurred in 1968. The students — many of whom hoped to become teachers at a school for impoverished children — were from a rural college in Ayotzinapa found in the mountains of Guerrero state just south of Mexico City.

On October 2, 1968, police officers and military troops shot into a crowd of unarmed students.

While the government said only four people had been killed and 20 wounded, in an NPR broadcast recorded in 2008, eyewitnesses who were nearby the massacre that night said they saw bodies being driven away in trucks. The Mexican government released statements in March 2014 saying local police captured those students who were later killed by gangs, but many, including a panel of lawyers and human rights experts, did not agree. With the help of other investigators and forensic scientists, the panel found evidence showing inconsistencies with the government-led investigation. History was repeating itself once again.

Riots and demonstrations against the layers of corruption that exist in the government have heightened since the similar event two years ago.

Even if more people around the world begin to acknowledge that human rights violations can occur in one of the wealthiest cities in Latin America, the mystery might never be solved like so many others because of the manipulation of power that has existed in the Mexican government for too long.

According to some students who fled before being shot at that night, everything seemed to be going smoothly until one of the bus drivers stopped at

L

a noche del 26 de septiembre de 2014 es inolvidable para muchos ciudadanos mexicanos. Casi 100 estudiantes activistas que un día esperaban ser maestros de primaria de niños de bajos recursos, de un colegio rural de Ayotzinapa que se encuentra en las montañas del estado de Guerrero al sur de la Ciudad de México, planeaban tomar algunos autobuses esa noche como

Photo By: iivangm

lo habían hecho en años pasados. Irónicamente, irían en grupos para protestar una masacre de estudiantes que ocurrió en 1968. Aunque el gobierno mexicano dijo en marzo del 2014 que la policía local fueron los que capturaron a los estudiantes y luego asesinados por pandillas, muchas personas incluyendo un panel de abogados y expertos en derechos humanos no estaban de acuerdo.

Con la ayuda de otros investigadores y científicos forenses, el panel encontró pruebas que mostraban inconsistencias con la investigación dirigida por el gobierno. La historia se repetía sin ningún cambio alguno.

El 2 de octubre de 1968, policías y soldados dispararon contra una multitud de estudiantes desarmados. El gobierno dijo que sólo habían 20 heridos y cuatro personas muertos, pero también habían testigos que vieron cuerpos tirados en camiones. Las manifestaciones contra la corrupción que existe en el gobierno se ha intensificado desde el evento parecido que ocurrió el 26 de septiembre de 2014. Aunque la gente empiece a reconocer que violaciones de derechos humanos pueden ocurrir en una de las ciudades más ricas de América Latina, el misterio tal vez nunca podría resolverse como tantos otros debido a la manipulación del poder que ha existido en el gobierno de México por décadas.

Los estudiantes que huyeron antes de ser fusilados en esa noche hace dos años, contaron su experiencia. Ellos dijeron que todo parecía ir bien sin problemas hasta que uno de los conductores del autobús se detuvo en una estación central de autobuses en la ciudad de Iguala. Allí el conductor los encerró a todos dentro del vehículo. Después de que algunos de sus compañeros de clase los pudieron liberar y los otros autobuses empezaron a despegar, coches de policía comenzaron a seguirlos y disparar. Al día siguiente, después de una conferencia de prensa, las autoridades encontraron el cuerpo de Julio César Mondragón. En las notas de los científicos forenses obtenido por el New York Times, ellos describieron cómo “su piel y músculos faciales fueron arrancados de su cabeza, su cráneo estaba fracturado en varios lugares y como sus órganos internos se dañaron.” Cuando el público se enteró que los investigadores contratados por el gobierno mexicano fueron incapaces de averiguar quién cometió el asesinato, la gente empezó a cuestionar las acciones del gobierno y

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a central bus station in the nearby town of Iguala and locked them all inside. After some of their classmates freed them and the other buses took off, police cars started to follow and open fire. The next day, after a news conference had been recorded, the authorities found a body later identified as Julio César Mondragón. The forensic scientists report obtained by the New York Times describes how “his facial skin and muscles were torn away from his head, his skull was fractured in several places, and his internal organs ruptured.” Still, the investigators hired by the Mexican government were not able to find out who committed the murder. It was at this time when family members and concerned citizens started to question the government’s actions and demand the truth.

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Photo By: Alvaro Sánchez

A panel made up of five lawyers and human rights experts from Latin America and Spain appointed by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission have been the only people from other countries who were outspoken about not trusting the government’s investigation. Since 2014, they have released forensic evidence showing that no bodies were burned in a trash dump like the government had said, a video appearing to show personnel from the Mexican attorney general’s office planting bone fragments of some student remains in a river a day before they were recovered, and when attempting to question the federal police and military personnel who were located near the shooting that night they were denied access. The president of Mexico, Peña Nieto, has thanked this panel once in a press conference for their search in trying to uncover the truth and even said the government authorities would analyze all their reports and recommendations, but not much has happened since then.

When I visited Mexico City this last sum-

exigir la verdad de lo que realmente sucedió.

Un panel integrado por cinco abogados y expertos en derechos humanos, designados por la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, fue el único grupo integrado de gente de otros países que apoyó a la mayoría de la población mexicana que no confiaba en la investigación del gobierno. Desde el año 2014, ellos han publicado pruebas forenses que demuestran que no se produjo ningún incendio en un basurero donde el gobierno mexicano había dicho que los cadáveres fueron quemados. A la vez, de ha publicado un video que muestra al personal de la oficina del fiscal general mexicano plantando fragmentos de huesos de algunos estudiantes un día antes de ser recuperados. Cuando el panel de investigadores trató de interrogar a la policía federal y al personal militar que se encontraba cerca del tiroteo esa noche, se les negó el acceso. El presidente de México, Peña Nieto, ha agradecido a este panel una vez en una conferencia de prensa por su intento de descubrir la verdad e incluso dijo que las autoridades iban a estudiar todas sus notas y recomendaciones, pero la realidad es que nada ha

pasado desde entonces. ¿Qué oculta el gobierno mexicano?

Cuando visité la Ciudad de México este último verano, noté que los famosos monumentos de la ciudad se habían convertido en lugares de protesta. Muchos de los padres de los estudiantes desaparecidos o activistas de derechos humanos estaban en marcha por manifestación. En camino al camino al Zócalo, vi retratos de todos los jóvenes desaparecidos en forma de una espiral afuera de Bellas Artes, una famosa sala de espectáculos y un museo. Junto a las fotos, la gente se juntaba alrededor de un padre que quería justicia. Otros se acercaban a una mujer que estaba gritando en un megáfono leyendo versos bíblicos a pocos metros de distancia. A pesar de que era claro para mí que ambas personas tenían mucha esperanza en que no iban a dejar que el gobierno

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mer, I noticed how the famous landmarks of the city had become places of protests. Often they were being led by the parents of the missing students or human rights activists. On my way to el Zócalo, the main square, I saw the portraits of all the young students who had disappeared laid out in a spiral on the floor just outside Bellas Artes, a famous performance hall and museum. Next to the pictures, people crowded around a father of a deceased student who demanded justice, while others went towards a woman screaming into a megaphone reading biblical verses a few feet away. Although it was clear to me that both of these people had a lot of hope and truly believed that they were not going to let the government get away with the story it told, the protests have been happening for more than

Photo By: Numbdog

“If no other countries governments will challenge the Mexican government, then nothing will change.”

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two years now and nothing has changed.

Interestingly, the U.S. government has released a statement saying that it is aware of the situation and trusts the Mexican government to find the evidence needed for closure. However, it is unlikely that the U.S. truly believes this. The U.S. government has long recognized the corruption and human violations that have been committed before, but prefers not be involved or acknowledge this issue for mainly one reason: it needs Mexican cooperation with other pressing issues such as immigration, commerce, and drug-trafficking. If no other countries governments will challenge the Mexican government, then nothing will change.

On my flight back home overlooking a city I know is full of rich culture and history, I cannot help but think of the students faces and how the mystery of their deaths might never be solved just like all the students involved in the student massacre in 1968 because of the greed and abuse of power that has existed in Mexican politics for over half a century.

se saliera con la historia que contaron, lamentablemente nada ha cambiado después de dos años.

Por consiguiente, el gobierno estadounidense ha dicho que confían en que el gobierno mexicano encuentre las pruebas necesarias para el caso y para las familias, pero eso no es exactamente cierto. El gobierno de los Estados Unidos sabe que no deberían desafiar al gobierno mexicano. Ellos saben que existe la corrupción y que se han cometido violaciones humanas, pero prefieren no participar o reconocerlo por varias razones.

La razón principal es porque los Estados Unidos necesita la cooperación mexicana con otros temas apremiantes como la inmigración, el comercio y el narcotráfico. Si no hay gobiernos de otros países que estén dispuestos a enfrentar al gobierno mexicano, nada cambiará.

En mi vuelo de regreso a casa, no podía dejar de pensar en esta ciudad llena de rica cultura e historia pero en particular en las caras de los estudiantes de los retratos y cómo sus muertes tal vez siempre será un misterio a causa de la corrupción y el abuso de poder que existe en la política mexicana.

Works Cited “Mexico’s 1968 Massacre: What Really Happened?” All Things Considered, NPR, 1 Dec. 2008. Accessed 6 Nov. 2016.

Semple, Kirk. “Missing Mexican Students Suffered a Night of ‘Terror,’ Investigators Say.” New York Times, 24 Apr. 2016.

Accessed 1 Nov. 2016.

Wilkinson, Tracy. “New Report Raises Chilling Possibility That Mystery of 43 Mexican Students’ Disappearance Will Never

Be Solved.” Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr. 2016.

Photo By: OrniCosa

Photo By: Alvaro Sรกnchez

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- President Paula Johnson

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