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Nov 1st 2012 | Independent Skies Magazine | 1
Seventh Issue
Independent Skies Magazine
2
| Independent Skies Magazine | Nov 1st 2012
03 How to
believe... By Youssef Elrhailani
08-09
The Syrian revolution is nothing but a Qatari-Turkish gas pipeline By Bassem El Remesh
04-05
10-11
Do you need it, or 5TH do you want it? ARTICLE??? By Iskra Duchkovska
06-07
“… I will tell them that I can bring change.” by Lara Schech
How to believe... Nov 1st 2012 | Independent Skies Magazine | 3
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By Youssef Elrhailani
he concept of religion is one among the most complicated philosophical debates in the history of philosophy. It contains many different relative meanings which make its comprehension more difficult than any other linguistic terms. From totemism and animism to magic and witchcraft, toward polytheism and monotheism and finally atheism. But neither chronological ordering nor rational linking is followed in this general use of the term. Thus proving the complexity of convictions and diversity, which are the invisible structures behind our human nature. Yet, we find ourselves confronted with a serious matter because we might get lost in the name of diversity. If all the ways lead to Rome, we must ask ourselves if all the ways lead to that I-donot-know-what which defends every religion in the God’s name or nothingness’ name and also if that I-do-not-know-what is worth to be the truth sought. Classical debates concerning agnostics and believers, immanence and transcendence, or even those prolonged to a rational God revealed by Voltaire or Providence once pointed out by Pascal are just a concept limited to satisfy a spiritual need which can have some logical basis, notwithstanding it is incapable to be proved against diversity. The quest will not justify the ends and judging the cults’ metaphysics is going to be a waste of time because we have no data on which we can base our arguments in order to perceive a divine logic if, besides, it exists. If it is imperative not to ignore the abstract side, the answer of the existential question is enough without going into “how” things are done...because it is not a pragmatic criterion which enables us to pass true judgement concerning disciplines. We admitted that everyone of us finds himself in a certain discipline and according to it; he builds certainties and firm convictions by which his ethical framework is drawn, not systematically observed but all the same recognized as a moral base to which he resorts in the feeling of lost. However, we all stop our analyses there where we should conclude. It’s by re-doubting our convictions and making them under rational criticizes and by confronting them to those of others. The fact of knowing, supposedly, some abstract proves which make the atheist not to believe in God, or those which make Pascal followers believe in their God without proves, it will not be useful but destabilizing instead of making that feeling of inner peace. I was told that inner peace is what must be taken on account actually, and I do respond by a concession which, unfortunately, vexes me: Happiness is indeed the aim of every religion, but diversity and reality proved us that it is too relative to every person so that we cannot take it on account at the time of our analyses. Therefore, we must hold a contrapositive reasoning which starts from physical reality to a metaphysical belief.
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| Independent Skies Magazine | Nov 1st 2012
Do you need it, or do you want it? by Iskra Duchkovska
It’s a quite nice morning in Skopje, and even though it’s October it feels like May. Temperatures might reach 29 Celsius degrees today and yes, global warming I’m pointing at you! Not a lot happened this past week except a new shopping mall opened near me. Now, my neighborhood is one of the quiet ones in Skopje. Or used to be, I should say. Ever since the doors of the mall got the “opened” signs on, thousands flooded the mall. Cars, buses full of people trying to see the new mall and spend their hard-earned money. Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand we like to buy new things and try new products, but do we really need all those goods? After properly educating myself on the subject, I am responsibly going to say no. We definitely don’t. We don’t need to buy a new cell phone after having our previous one for only a year (yup. iPhone lovers, it’s you I’m talking about). So, what is this „social movement“, what triggers it and what is the after-effect? Consumerism is considered as some kind of social movement, social order or belief that encourages buying goods just for the sake of buying them. We are bombarded with advertisements encouraging us to go out, purchase and feel the “good life”. Most of these advertisements showcase happy fulfilled people with the products, creating the illusion that you are going to feel like that as well after purchasing. (A certain beverage brand that I won’t name has a commercial
Nov 1st 2012 | Independent Skies Magazine | 5
away” mentality are of course pollution, wasting natural resources and the toll on ecosystems. Most of the environmental issues today can be linked to consumerism. More need equals more production which equals more pollution. So how do we escape it? It’s not simple. We can’t just stop buying. We can start with using the things we have until they are still usable, and not until they are „in“. I used my mobile phone for 4 years and only got a new one because it broke. Also, pay less attention to commercials. Marketing crews are paid to make you feel like you need the product. They are paid to turn you into a consumer. There is no liquid happiness in a bottle. And no, you don’t need both the red and blue purse. Consider spending money on traveling and excursions over buying more stuff. Think hand-made! Nothing beats a nicely hand-made gift for Christmas. You don’t have to spend money to show your loved ones you love them. Changes like these help your budget and also help the environment. Consumerism is a disease of the 21 century and we are not immune. Maybe we could stop buying and throwing away, and reusing? Are the things on the shelves really better that those you already have?
promoting “happiness in a bottle”) However, the increase of things we own is not making humans happier or healthier, according to studies. People are going in debt and working longer hours to pay for the highconsumption lifestyle, which of course results with depression, anger and feelings of worthlessness. (Dave Ramsey – “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.”)In the United States, there are more cars on the road than licensed drivers. People pay loads of cash for satellite TV with 600 channels when they are only going to watch 5-10 channels. Buying Until next time, new gadgets which aren’t really new, just a bit modified. We are consumers, and we consume as it’s our job. Around 2 billion people belong to the consumer class, the group that desires better technology, bigger cars, houses, that maintains a diet with highly-processed food. “As we enter a new century, this unprecedented consumer appetite is undermining the natural systems we all depend on, and making it even harder for the world’s poor to meet their basic needs.” -says Christopher Flavin, president of Worldwatch Institute. That leads us to the after-effect consequences of consumerism and the “buy and throw
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| Independent Skies Magazine | Nov 1st 2012
“They say a picture is worth a thousand words..... well, read the next 1000 words and you will know that there is no picture in the world that can describe what is said here”
- Almustafa M. Khalid (Founder)
“… I will tell them that I can bring change.”
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by Lara Schech
aelle, 16, is from Port-Au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. She is one of the very first two students from Haiti that are able to attend a United World College. Since September she now lives and studies together with young people from all around the world at the Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong. I have talked to Gaelle about her dreams and goals - and how they were influenced by the earthquake in 2010. This is her story. In the beginning it was very hard for me to come here to Hong Kong. As far as I remember, around thirty people from Haiti applied for the United World Colleges. We had to sit an examination on chemistry, biology and other subjects, and we were interviewed as part of the admission process. Two people got scholarships in the end; a boy, who is now in the Lester B. Pearson UWC in Canada, and me. In the first weeks, I had problems in LPC. I missed my family, I wanted to go back and I struggled with the English language. Now I am fine. I have realized that I am here for a reason, for something important that is worth
more than anything else. You must know, in my country, in Haiti, it is hard to realize your own dreams. As it happened to some of my family members; sometimes people finish school but they still can’t go to university. You have to fight with a durable mind and an even stronger will, and still it is not certain if you will succeed in the end. This year, with this scholarship, everything has changed for me. I’m here in LPC, in Hong Kong, and I am very proud of what I have achieved. With that I don’t mean simply being at a United World College. I am proud because I have the opportunity to do something today, tomorrow, that so many people back at home would like to do, but can’t. I will have the chance to go to the UK, or the US, to study at university. Hundreds at home are trying to get only a single visa to the US. They want to travel there and then secretly hide, so that they don’t have to come back to Haiti. But it is very difficult to be granted a visa to the US. You must know, Haiti is very poor. Education is a big issue. I think, around 40% of all children don’t go to school. Seven-yearolds eat, sleep and live in the streets. They have no family, no home. Especially after the earthquake, things have worsened. I witnessed it happening, back in January 2010. I sat in my house, studying biology for school. Suddenly I heard something. At first, I thought it was a car in front of my house. But soon I became afraid; wondering, what car could make such noise. The floor started to tremble. My room was on the second floor, and the basement underneath simply crashed. I fell. I thought my life was over. But I did not get hurt. I survived. It was like a miracle. Yet, when I crawled out, everything around me had broken into chaos. I saw so many people bleeding, everybody was crying. It was a disaster. You feel like life is over, there is nothing to do anymore. You are not dead, but you don’t feel alive either. I was walk-
Nov 1st 2012 | Independent Skies Magazine | 7
ing up and down the streets, stepping on dead people, tripping over their bodies. So many had died, so many were injured. I know someone who lived in a house together with nine others. He was the only one who survived. There are so many stories like this. I lost my best friend. We were in the same school. It was on a Tuesday, the earthquake, and she had been mad at me because I had said something wrong in class. In the afternoon, right before the earthquake, I called her. I apologized, and she said it was okay, we would talk the next day. At 4:53 her house collapsed and she died, together with one of her brothers. My family was lucky. My mother broke only her arm. My aunt was close to death but she made it. The day after the earthquake we went to Mirebalais, where some of our family lived. We did not have a car, but our relatives drove all the way to Port-Au-Prince. They couldn’t call us, they did not know if we were still alive, but they came nevertheless to look for us. We stayed not far from where our house had been, so we found each other and they took us away. So many dead, so many injured … My sister was at school, when the school building fell apart. She was alright. But so many others were not. Everything in Port-Au-Prince stopped. In the night, nobody slept. Everybody was scared. We didn’t know what would happen next. Everything was destroyed. For three hours after the earthquake, we could not see anything. The dust was stuck in the air, thick and heavy. All we could do was wait till it had settled. Then I looked at the destruction, I could not believe it. Chaos was everywhere, people crying, screaming. Men had lost their wives, women their husbands, parents their children and children their parents. It was the worst thing that happened in my life, the worst day of my life. Today, there is still so much left of this disaster. But I won’t cry, after all it is two years ago. I just go ahead. It will never be like it was before the earthquake. Haiti, my country, might never rise again. You must
know, only two years after the earthquake, we are still in the same state as back then: people without houses sleep in the street and in tents, with no place to stay. It is hard for my country, very hard indeed. But I have to follow my own path. God has a plan for me, so I have to go on. My biggest dream is becoming a doctor. For me, being a doctor is like being a savior. You don’t give life, but you try to save lives. Before the earthquake I wanted to become an engineer, like my older brother. But after the earthquake I said “No, I want to be a doctor”. So many people died, because there were and are still not enough hospitals. For me, being a doctor is something wonderful, something powerful. You have the opportunity to change something. When I’m a doctor I’ll go back, back to Haiti, my country. My first action will be to build a hospital, no, five hospitals in Port-Au-Prince. I will go to the other cities as well, and build hospitals. Of course, it will be hard: I can’t work in all the hospitals at the same time! But there will be other doctors, because so many children in Haiti share this dream of mine, especially after the earthquake. We will have many doctors. We need them. When I go back, I also want to open an orphanage. That is my second dream, right after becoming a doctor. There are so many children without a home, without a family. I want to help them. Being here in LPC is the biggest gift that God could have given me in this moment, after the earthquake. And it’s not only because of the academic opportunities. I am so excited to learn all about other countries! I am very proud to be here. My parents are very proud as well. I think for them it’s one of their biggest achievements, to see their youngest daughter here in Hong Kong, at a United World College. I’ll go back to Haiti in winter and summer, for the holidays, to see my family. I will tell them about LPC. I will tell them about everything I experienced here. I will tell them that I found a second family. And I will tell them that I can bring change.
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THE SYRIAN REVOLUTION IS NOTHING BUT A QATARI-TURKISH GAS PIPELINE PLAN
| Independent Skies Magazine | Nov 1st 2012
By Bassem El Remesh
In the recent days so many articles have been written that talked about a theory that the Syrian revolution is nothing but a Turkish-Qatari plan to make a new project that will change the political balance in the Middle East: Qatari-Turkish-EU gas pipeline.
The theory seems reasonable, as in the Qatari-Turkish co-operation has been increasing the past few years and common goals are evolving. This evolution in relations has increased dramatically since the beginning of the Arab spring, where Turkey took advantage to promote the moderate Islamic parties and Qatar started exploiting businesses and natural resources. Plans went good in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. The latter was the biggest fish of all, where Turkey and Qatar (members of NATO) got involved in and financed a well written plan that has ended the 40 years old Gaddafi regime. This was followed by new oil contracts and agreements, and a conference when Mr. Abdul Jaleel (head of the former NTC) announced that NATO will remain in Libya under the Qatari leadership. The time for Syria has come, but the Syrian issue woke up a big brother that has been watching in silence, The Russian Federation. But why did Russia ignore Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi and some other allies who we essential to its political power in the
Area? Nov 1st 2012 | Independent Skies Magazine | 9 This brings us to the argument that there is something in Syria more important than the regime Russia and China are fighting for. And it seems that the plan in Syria is way beyond a regime or ideology, and that the Qatari- with continuous gas production Turkish twin plans have messed coming from Qatar. with a world power-something I know it looks confusing, the that they should not have done. point is, a gas pipeline has to pass from Qatar through Syria to reach Europe. This has angered It appears that the theory has the Russians, the main gas supcame to be true, Qatar-the num- plies to Europe. And this is actuber one natural gas producer- ally what the plan is all about, wants to produce more and reduce the dependence on the supply Europe. Europe, wants Russian gas following the crisis to be supplied with cheaper of the Russian-Ukraine boycott gas. Turkey also wants cheaper that had awakened Europe on gas and wants to benefit from the danger that Russian can imits strategic location and have pose on them. an influence over the European countries in order to be able Now, the Russian federation is to join the EU. Therefore, a gas using the VETO power to unpipleline that passes from Qa- dermine any plan that does tar-through the red sea shore- not secure its exclusive right to to Isreal passing though Beirut, produce gas to Europe and will reaching Syria and then Turkey, keep serving the Syrian regime which will in turn supply Europe until an agreement is reached. However, this is still a theory, and the reality is that there are thousand of Syrians being killed everyday by the ruthless regime that is still thriving to power. This theory is not an argument against the Syrian revolution, rather an unfolding of the truth and an eye opening for the Syrians in order to make better decisions for their future after they over throw Assad’s Regime by their own will without any foreign intervention.
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5TH ARTICLE???
| Independent Skies Magazine | Nov 1st 2012
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f you are a regular reader of ISM you would have noticed we like publishing 5 articles per issue, but why not this time???? Well, I would like to use the space of the last article in this issue to thank Quentin Yiu our designer for all the work he has done for ISM. In mid-April this year I talked to Quentin about the idea of Independent Skies, he was a very busy art student at the time….. “Give me 3 days” He said. And 3 days later he told me that ISM’s idea is good and he will be happy to help out. Since then we have worked together very hard to bring ISM to what it is now, building it from scratch. Quentin is studying architecture; you probably know how intense that is…. And thought that he will not be able to contribute as much to ISM as he did in the past. This is the last issue he will be producing for ISM; he has been a great team member….. Someone that I am glad I worked with for the past 7 months. Quentin, I would like to thank you on behalf of the team for your great efforts and outstanding commitment towards ISM, and I would also like to tell you that your place will always be reserved if you think you can volunteer again. On behalf of the ISM team, Please accept our warmest regards and good luck my friend, Almustafa M. Khalid Founder and Editor in Chief Independent Skies Magazine
Nov 1st 2012 | Independent Skies Magazine | 11
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