Reflections -6th Form Magazine

REFLECTIONS A 6TH FORM MAGAZINE • ISSUE NO.2

EDITORS NOTE This academic year has been a rollercoaster ride of experiences for us all here in the sixth form. A tumultuous journey of ups and downs (with hopefully more ups than downs) all culminating in the taking of our AS and A2 exams. Nevertheless, what a wonderful journey it has been!

I would like to thank our teachers for all the hard work and dedication that they put into their work every day to help us students do the best that we can and make the most of all of our opportunities. I would also like to congratulate all my fellow students for all of they have achieved this year and most of all for turning the page in another chapter of their lives.

This, the second issue of the Reflections magazine, is a space for students in the Doha College sixth form to express their ideas, passions, projects and personal reflections just as the first issue was. I am once again proud to say that I have worked alongside some extremely talented and dedicated students to produce this publication and I am honoured to have been a part of it. I hope you the readers will find it as enjoyable to read as it was for us all to work on.

Noumay Barakat - Editor in Chief.

PAGE ONE |EDITOR'S NOTE

CONTENTS PAGE 3

ARMED WITH CAMERAS - NOUMAY BARAKAT

PAGE 5

WHAT IS OURS IS NOT YOURS - ZAHRA HEGGI

PAGE 9

GAME THEORY - KAVYA RAULJI

PAGE 13

THE SILENT PANDEMIC - NOUMAY BARAKAT AND MERT NAZLIM

PAGE 15

ABDULAZIZ AL-THANI

PAGE 23 DANA HAFEZ

PAGE TWO |CONTENTS

ARMED WITH CAMERAS The War on Journalism On the 11th of May 2022 Shireen Abu-Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist was killed by Israeli occupation forces in Jenin camp in occupied Palestine according to 8 eye-witness testimonies and video evidence. She had been working as a reporter for Al Jazeera Arabic for 25 years and for decades had been a well-known journalist in the Arab world for her coverage of the Israeli occupation. Unfortunately her case, while extremely shocking and brutal, isn’t unique and is part of a worrying trend of increased violence against journalists and media in conflict zones around the world.

According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), in the last 30 years around 2700 journalists have been murdered globally which comes out to almost 2 every week.

Shireen Abu-Akleh Journalists face threats from terrorist groups, separatist movements, local governments and occupying forces which all aim to silence or shape narratives and filter what comes out to the world through their own lens with violent reprisals being extremely common in many cases. Furthermore, as in the case of Shireen Abu-Akleh, the perpetrators of these murders will often go free and face absolutely PAGE THREE |ARMED WITH CAMERAS

no prosecution or even criminal investigations into their murders.

According to the IFJ in 90% of journalist murders globally, there is little or no prosecution whatsoever and in 2 out of 3 cases the killers are never identified at all making the killing of journalists almost completely without risk and a quick and easy way to silence reporters that were causing trouble.

On the day of Shireen’s murder, Israeli military spokesperson Ran Kochav said that by filming and reporting on the Israeli militaries attacks on Palestinians in Jenin, Shireen and her colleagues had been ‘armed with cameras’ and as such she was ‘working [...] amidst armed Palestinians’. Indeed this view of journalists and their role in conflict is as extremely problematic and dangerous as it is widespread amongst terrorists, occupiers and tyrants.

The freedom for the press to be able to accurately report on issues around the world is of the utmost importance not only for dispelling misinformation and spreading the truth of what is occurring but also

for raising awareness which can lead to global efforts to resolve conflicts.

What must be done is clear, greater protections must be afforded to journalists working in conflict areas in order to ensure that press freedom is not compromised and those working tirelessly to promote truth and transparency are able to continue to do so. In the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) journalists are not specifically mentioned even once and although their rights are protected in a general way as humans they aren’t afforded the specific protection that is required in order to maintain journalistic freedom. More action must be taken not only to protect reporters in war zones but also to help prosecute those who target them, only then will it be possible to fully hold perpetrators accountable and make it so that cases such as Shireen’s never happen again.

- Noumay Barakat PAGE FOUR |ARMED WITH CAMERAS

WHAT IS OURS IS NOT YOURS Zahra Heggi We all enjoy going to museums, exploring the artefacts that's full of exciting history which defines many nations' pride and shame, but how many times have you thought about how the museum comes to get a hold of these artefacts. In a world once centred around power and greed, lies the peak of colonisation. The true crimes hidden behind the glory of capturing new lands and regions. What we deem as morally correct and criminal were oftentimes vastly different to what was deemed ok during the era of colonialism. Can time heal all damages and should we hold museums accountable for keeping the evidence of such brutality?

Qianlong Emperor (the sixth Emperor of the Qing dynasty), the Old Summer palace was the main residence of the Qing dynasty royalty and where the ruling elites handled their affairs. The palace housed a collection of priceless cultural treasures such as the 12 Zodiac Bronze Heads. However, that was until the Second Opium War, 1860, where one of the country's most beautiful palaces were ruthlessly destroyed and looted by the British and French armies.

The Palace’s fate is still bitterly resented and can be seen resurfacing in movies, books, social media debates and international art sales.

12 Zodiac Bronze Heads - Old Summer Palace There is a place that tells a story of cultural destruction that everyone in China knows about but hardly anyone outside of China is aware of. The place is called the Old Summer Palace, known as Yuanming Yuan in Chinese or “The Gardens of Perfect Brightness”. Built in the early 18th century by the

Before and after the Second Opium War. PAGE FIVE |WHAT IS OURS IS NOT YOURS

What was the Second Opium War and why was the palace destroyed as a result of it? The Second Opium War (also known as the Arrow war / the Anglo-French war in China), 1856-1860, was between China, Britain and France over international trade. It was the result of Britain's desire to win additional privileges including legalising the opium trade in China. The Opium Wars arose with China's attempt to stop the opium trade which had been illegally exported to China mainly from India since the 18th Century. France had joined Britain giving them the upper hand and sent a small party to negotiate China’s surrender. However, China was in no mood to negotiate while soldiers looted anything and almost everything they could get their hands on in the Old Summer Palace. As a result China had imprisoned, tortured and killed 20 men in the negotiation party.

As revenge the High Commissioner of Britain, Lord Elgin, had ordered the complete destruction of the Old Summer Palace as the final act of 2 bloody wars. It had taken around 4,000 British and French soldiers 3 days to spitefuly burn the Palace to the ground. More than 300 maids and eunuchs were tortured to death by the intruders. The attack is seen as one of the largest acts of vandalism in China’s modern history. The European forces had stolen rare cultural artefacts such as books, gold, paintings and sculptures

and more, including a rare breed of dog given to Queen Victoria which she called Looty. An auction had been held in which the soldiers had shared the amount gained. Although some of these treasures had been returned back to China, many can still be found in museums and homes around Europe.

Today many Chinese historians and art collectors are trying to reconstruct the old summer palace through digital renderings and buying stolen relics at auctions. Out of the 12 stolen zodiac bronze heads only seven have been returned while the remaining five’s location remains unknown. In 2007 the late casino tycoon Stanley Ho bought the Horse Zodiac head for 8.84 million US dollars. In 2019 Ho decided to donate the statue to the national museum of China before being permanently on display at the Old Summer Palace. This is the second zodiac head recovered and donated by Stanley Ho with the first being the Pig Zodiac in 2003. In 2009 two zodiac heads (the Rat and the Rabbit) had appeared in a French museum before being bought by the French Pinault family before being returned to China and are a part of the national museum of china. "Cultural relics lost overseas are an inseparable part of Chinese cultural heritage,” said Liu Yuzhu, head of the Chinese National Cultural PAGE SIX |WHAT IS OURS IS NOT YOURS

4 Zodiac Heads

Heritage Administration. With the slow return of relics and artefacts getting underway there is growing hope of seeing a reunion of the 12 Zodiac Heads as well as a form of restoration of the Old Summer Palace to its former glory.

Benin Bronze Heads and Plaque In the 19th Century disputes between Benin and Britain over trade had escalated as many European nations tried to divide Africa into their colonial empires. In 1897 a large delegation set off to Benin City led by James Phillips (Britain's acting consul-General) despite the monarch Oba Ovonramwen requesting to postpone their visit. On January 4th 1897 the British delegation was ambushed by an Edo force (Edo being the vernacular name for Benin City) that had acted without the Oba’s knowledge (to prevent the British party from interfering with the annual royal rituals), with almost all of the delegation being slaughtered (around 6 British officials and almost 200 African porters with two British officials managing to escape). Within the week the news had travelled to London. Soon after, a large British military force had been

assembled, consisting of 1,200 men under Sir Harry Rawson, which was sent to Benin in a punitive expedition under orders to invade and conquer. Oba Ovonramwen was captured and exiled into Calabar, a town east of Benin where he died in exile (1914). The palace was burned and looted in February 1897 and the kingdom made a part of British Nigeria (which became Nigeria after it gained its independence in 1960). The Benin Bronzes are a group of thousands of objects that were looted from the expedition.

Although the exact number remains unknown, it is estimated to exceed 3,000 pieces. Some of the bronze heads were sold to fund the expedition while others were kept in private collections until the owners had died.

So where are the Benin Bronzes now?

Currently, Germany has returned 1,100 artefacts to Nigeria. The British Museum has refused to return its 900 bronzes back to Nigeria but agreed to lend some bronzes to the new museum being built in Benin. Many UK universities and institutions such as the University of Cambridge ( 27th October 2021, being the first UK institution to

PAGE SEVEN |WHAT IS OURS IS NOT YOURS

officially repatriate one of the looted bronzes) and the University of Aberdeen have returned the bronzes back to Nigeria. With many countries and institutions under pressure and heat after the Smithsonian Institution returned most of its Benin collection to Nigeria, after a review of its collection practices and the ethics behind them.

Conclusion Whilst many museums are starting to return artefacts that had once been looted, some established and respected museums such as the British Museum refuse to return many looted artefacts such as the Benin Bronzes and the Rosetta Stone from Egypt. One of the main reasons stated by the British Museum as to why they can not return such artefacts is because of the British Museum Act 1963 which prohibits repatriation of artefacts.

However there are multiple speculations as to another reason why the British Museum have not returned the looted artefacts and changed the British Museum Act is because of the amount of money they have gained from such artefacts. With a need for transparency and a growing culture of historical understanding and appreciation, is withholding artefacts from the country they were looted from really ok? By keeping these artefacts are we playing a part in the violence of stealing countries' heritage and culture?

And lastly, should the West still be glorified for the power through their barbaric acts during the colonisation era and was the West really justified?

And in the words of Victor Hugo, the French author known for Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame when reflecting on the brutality practised in the Old Summer Palace in a letter in 1861, “One day two bandits entered the Summer Palace.

One plundered, the other burned, and back they came to Europe, arm in arm, laughing away. We call ourselves civilised and them barbarians. This is what civilisation has done to the barbarians.”

The Benin Bronzes at the British Museum (Son of Groucho/Flickr)

PAGE EIGHT |WHAT IS OURS IS NOT YOURS

Game Theory HOW DECISIONS ARE MADE Choices are always present therefore the act of decision making itself is inevitable, however, making decisions starts to become impossibly difficult as soon as serious consequences start to arise. Whether it’s a business deal, or a medical treatment plan, or even military strategy, there will always be both positive and negative outcomes to your decisions, which is what makes the act of choosing so nerve-wracking. Human nature ensures that failure (or a negative outcome) is dreaded and success (or a positive outcome) is rewarded and the lengths we will go to in order to avoid negative outcomes is plausible.

What if you were told that there was a way to optimise your ability to navigate the crossroads of life? A method behind the madness that comes with decisionmaking? This is where game theory comes in. Game theory is the science behind logical decision making and the crossroad between mathematics and economics which helps describe, predict and understand human behaviour. Game theory was theorised and developed by John von Neumann

and Oskar Morgenstern (a mathematician and an economist respectively) and published in their book ‘The Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour’.

Von Neumann (left) and Morgenstern (right).

Historically, game theory can be dated as far back as 424 BC as recounted by Socrates in the Laches and the Symposium about the battle of Athenians and the Boeotians. A soldier in the line of defence would certainly die if the defence was unsuccessful, however they still risk death even if their defence is successful. A crossroad is reached. Considering that most if not all the soldiers would have thought the same, the best option to survive without consequences would be to run away. Although, I’d assume they didn’t PAGE NINE |GAME THEORY

run away simply because no self respecting (or prideful) person wants to admit weakness or seem like a coward, especially at a time when power and strength were the basis of society. This was one of the very first examples of game theory.

A lot of Greek myths also refer to the concept of game theory despite the fact that game theory was not a full fledged theory at the time. The Odyssey has examples of its hero—Odysseus— unwilling to join the army. In order to evade becoming a soldier he pretended to be insane. Odysseus was then tested to see if he was truly insane. He was asked to plow a field with his child in front of it. The reasoning was simple: if Odysseus diverged and did not kill his kid, he was sane, and if he killed his kid during the plowing, he was truly insane.

A strategy called ‘separating equilibria’ is used here to understand the truth about the nature of Odysseus. It’s a bit wacky if you ask me. Other examples of game theory in mythology include the legend of Dionysus being abducted by pirates and Helen testing the Trojan Horse to see if there are men inside.

She may not have done the best job at imitating the soldiers’ wives because clearly we all know the fate of the Trojans.

Diverging from mythology, other civilisations in history such as the

ancient Chinese have produced some of the most influential texts on military strategy. The Art of War by Sun Tzu was written in around 500 BC can be interpreted using a game theoretic lens in order to strategically win battles and understand the opposition in war. If one of you wants to wage war and fire some nukes around (or even go into politics and business), maybe understanding game theory would be useful.

In order to understand game theory, one must first learn the assumptions made in order to play the game (or make a decision under the circumstance). The assumptions are: 1. Rationality and maximisation are assumed.

2. They will also have a finite number of competitors and therefore a finite number of possible actions (infinite games can also be played without the notion of a 'win' or 'loss' but simply with the incentive of continuing the game - a bit like life if you will).

3. The choices are made simultaneously hence neither player will know the choice of the other until after their choice has been made 4. The payoff (or consequence i.e. profit or loss) is predetermined and unchangeable.

Lets take a look at an example of this in the real world: PAGE TEN |GAME THEORY

Where Life Meets Conscience

One example of game theory is that in the field of healthcare. The doctor and the patient could both be modelled as players in the finite game and they would compete against the disease/illness. There are the following possibilities: The right diagnosis is made and the patient gets better—a win.

The right diagnosis is made and the patient does not get better—a loss.

The wrong diagnosis is made and the patient does not get better—a loss.

Another possibility is to model the game as an infinite game where the players wouldn’t win or lose against the disease, however they would be playing in order to continue playing the game.

Whatever treatment plan is used to treat the patient would be used to treat every other patient with the same condition (assuming all other factors remain the same), but there won’t be any guarantees about how the patient fares. The patients can come and go and in the infinite game, it wouldn’t make a difference as the only aim is to continue playing. When you play the infinite game you maximise the patients chances of winning the finite game by managing them in the best way possible allowing them the greatest possibility of survival. Playing the infinite game often takes time before the

results are tangible but it also means that the players in the game commit to a set of rules and strategies which requires an immense amount dedication, honesty and equality helping those in need win in the smaller finite games which add up to contribute to their survival.

Conclusion Decisions are best made when all possibilities are evaluated, analysed and weighed. The pros and cons are considered and the opportunity costs of the decision are taken into account.

They are also preferably made with consideration of other people because we as humans evolved together. We hunted together and we developed together and we faced our fears together, and deeply ingrained into our subconscious is emotion and gratification at the sight of other individuals’ wellbeing. Helping other people helps us and it might be time to put our pride and greed to a side and walk in the light of compassion. I guess our best bet going into the future is to make positive changes which add up to make a huge impact for those that will come after us and I’d hope our legacy would be one filled with good decisions.

So here’s to making better decisions in life! Although, I might be a bit hypocritical considering I cannot make great decisions to save my life, but it is what it is and we can only ever aim to do better!

PAGE ELEVEN |GAME THEORY

- Kavya Raulji

PAGE TWELVE |GAME THEORY

THE SILENT PANDEMIC COVID-19’S IMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH The COVID-19 pandemic has been an on-going struggle for all of humanity since December of 2019 and it has affected us in unimaginable ways.

One such impact has been experienced behind the scenes, it is a battle that has been fought in peoples’ homes and in their minds.

The mental health pandemic due to COVID-19 has been largely overlooked, with much of the world’s attention going, understandably, towards combating the COVID-19 pandemic itself. Nevertheless, it is essential for us to take a step back and peer into the shadows to bring this hidden, silent pandemic to light in order for us to understand its causes and consequences and how we can combat it.

Globally, mental health has been greatly diminished particularly when looking at the prevalence of anxiety and depression. Some countries were particularly hard hit such as Mexico which, according to an OECD report went from 15% prevalence of anxiety in 2019 to 50% in 2020. The same report found that the prevalence of depression in Sweden increased threefold in the same time period. Children in particular have been one of the groups that were worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, one survey in the UK found that 81% of children agreed that the pandemic had made their mental health worse. Additionally, Mental Health UK found that in 2020, 30% of children in Britain met the criteria for suffering from PTSD. Various factors have contribute to the global trends that we can observe regarding COVID-19's impact on mental health. Firstly, economic factors have played a huge role in fueling anxiety and depression.

Globally the pandemic caused a huge wave of unemployment, particularly in PAGE THIRTEEN |THE SILENT PANDEMIC

areas such as tourism, recreation and travel. In the United States alone, nearly 3 million fewer people were employed in 2022 as compared to before the pandemic. Fear of becoming unemployed as well as feelings of inadequacy and low selfesteem in addition to financial troubles as a result of becoming unemployed have fed the beast that is the global mental health pandemic.

Secondly, social factors such as increased time away from friends and family as a result of lockdowns and reduced real-world interactions have exacerbated feelings of isolation and loneliness contributing to worsening mental health. This has disproportionally negatively affected children who have been forced to spend many hours at home, isolated from their schools, teachers and friends. Finally, fears due to misinformation and sensationalist media coverage - particularly at the start of the pandemic - caused increased anxiety across the board, especially for the elderly and those with older family members.

In summary, we have observed a significant overall decline in mental health across the globe through all ages, demographics and populations with regards to depression and

anxiety. However, as we emerge from the pandemic proper into what is increasingly becoming the postCOVID era, the toll taken on global mental health is something to be considered when judging what the global response will be in terms of bringing back some semblance of normalcy to our lives. What is certain is that the effects of the silent pandemic will far outlive the pandemic itself and the strategy we employ to combat this is essential to determining our success or failure in dealing with it. So what can be done?

Already extensive online mental health and telepsychiatry networks exist, however, the issue still remains that oftentimes people don’t know where to find such support or even that they should seek it in the first place. Indeed what is apparent is that in order to successfully resolve the silent pandemic we must break the silence and make clear to all that it is okay to not feel okay and that help is out there should you need it.

- Noumay Barakat & Mert Nazlim

PAGE FOURTEEN |THE SILENT PANDEMIC

ABDULAZIZ AL-THANI

PAGE FIFTEEN |ABDULAZIZ AL-THANI

PAGE SIXTEEN |ABDULAZIZ AL-THANI

PAGE EIGHTEEN |ABDULAZIZ AL-THANI

PAGE TWENTY |ABDULAZIZ AL-THANI

PAGE TWENTY-ONE |ABDULAZIZ AL-THAN

PAGE TWENTY-TWO |ABDULAZIZ AL-THAN

Dana Hafez

PAGE TWENTY-THREE |DANA HAFEZ

PAGE TWENTY-FOUR |DANA HAFEZ

PAGE TWENTY-FIVE |DANA HAFEZ

PAGE TWENTY-SIX |DANA HAFEZ

CREDITS EDITOR IN CHIEF NOUMAY BARAKAT

WRITERS

NOUMAY BARAKAT ZAHRA HEGGI KAVYA RAULJI MERT NAZLIM

PHOTOGRAPHERS ABDULAZIZ AL-THANI

ARTISTS

ABDULAZIZ AL-THANI DANA HAFEZ

PAGE TWENTY EIGHT | CREDITS