L'Shem Shamayim - Spring 2023

םיימש םשל

Community Discourse on International Relations

Every dispute that is for the sake of heaven will be constructive.

Pirkei Avot 5:20

In This Issue

ETHNIC STRIFE

LeShem Shamayim is a periodic opinion journal featuring the writing of Barrack students, alumni, and faculty. Our goal is to provide interested individuals with a forum in which to express their diverse views, while fostering greater understanding in the community of the critical issues that face us as Americans, as Jews, and as supporters of Israel.

Spring 2023

Ethiopian activists protest the deaths of 23 people during an outbreak of ethnic violence.

Maheder Haileselassie Tadese/AFP via Getty Images, via Los Angeles Times

Ethnic Strife

Niva Cohen & Benjamin Zelnick, Editors-in-Chief

Mikaela Garber, Executive Editor

Rachel Loeb, Executive Editor

Lilach Taichman, Faculty Advisor

Layout by Benjamin Zelnick and Andrew Jacoby

In honor of the victims of persecution everywhere

You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 22:20

The editors of םיימש םשל would like to thank Mrs. Lilach Taichman for her tireless work to bring this publication to fruition.

The Ethiopian Civil War: Why It Demands

American Action

Niva Cohen, ’23

The constancy of wars in Africa is a fact that the West has grown to accept. As a result, most African conflicts fly under the radar in the United States, to citizens, but also to leadership. The civil war in Ethiopia, for example, displaced millions of people and killed hundreds of thousands.1 It is no “ordinary” war, as the American public would likely assume (if it knew of the conflict to begin with). Ethiopia is on the other side of the world, but it is in the interest of the United States to nurture its democracy. The Horn of Africa (the region surrounding Ethiopia) depends on it, and by extension, so does the whole world if it is to protect against terrorism. The man responsible, at least in part, for Ethiopia’s war is prime minister Abbiy Ahmed Ali. Once the darling of the West, Ahmed made a 180-degree turn after gaining power. The United States must deal harshly with Ahmed to stabilize Ethiopia. Despite Abbiy Ahmed Ali’s initial appeal to American goals, the subsequent Ethiopian civil war has proven that the US must break ties with Ahmed and interfere in the region to condemn ethnic violence and promote democratic interests.

Abbiy Ahmed replaced an undemocratic government that did not expound democratic values, bringing hope for a more Western-aligned Ethiopia. The Tigrayan people had monopolized the Ethiopian government through the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) before Ahmid gained power, despite their minority status. The TPLF leaders were unrepresentative elites who retained power through repression, arresting journalists and silencing political dissidents.2 Tigrayan rule seemed unending to the Ethiopian people subjected to it. A single leader (Meles Zenawi) held the Prime Ministership for more than twenty years (1991-2012).3 Zenawi escalated regional instability by stirring up conflict with neighboring Eritrea. The oligarchical, repressive, and turbulent nature of Tigrayan leadership rendered it unpalatable to the United States and its allies. When protests forced Zenawi to resign in 2018, Abbiy Ahmed capitalized on the power vacuum, sending waves of optimism throughout the Western World.4 Ahmed’s emergence on the political stage epitomized US ideals of self-determination and international coexistence. With youth and charisma, he rallied popular support. People believed he could bring change and stability to Ethiopia.5 They wanted him as their leader like they had never wanted the Tigrayan minority to rule over them. Shortly after his rise to power, Ahmed seemed to be living up to Western expectations. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering peace at the border with Eritrea. Domestically, Ahmed had rolled back restrictions on liberties, bringing Ethiopia nearer to democracy.6 His reforms validated American optimism –thanks to Ahmed’s leadership, Ethiopia was turning a corner. As conflict brewed between Ahmed’s government and the Tigrayan people, he shifted away from democracy, using his

podium to root out his political enemies. The first democratic alarm bell sounded when Ahmed delayed elections and extended his term in June 2020.7 When the Tigrayans violated federal orders and held elections, Ahmed ordered the Makelle Offensive attack in Tigray in November 2020.8 Under the pretense that Tigrayans had attacked a national military base, Ahmed sent troops into the region. Ahmed further infringed on democracy by obstructing freedom of the press, closing down communication throughout Tigray. Supposedly, the TPLF leaders were Ahmed’s only targets. But his characterization of the TPLF as “cancer” and “weeds” expanded to include all Tigrayans.9 Ethiopian people shared Ahmed’s resentment that a minority had controlled them for so long – they readily got on board with his rhetoric and the war. Ahmed’s embrace of internal conflict negated his work to secure peace with Eritrea. Indeed, he used his new relationship with Eritrea to enlist Eritreans in his crusade against the Tigrayans.10 Ahmed sowed division among his own people and jumped at the opportunity for violence and bloodshed. Such a leader should no longer be in American good graces.

Ahmed’s war has unleashed a torrent of inhumanity and violence toward the Tigrayan ethnic group, which he has enabled by turning a blind eye. The Amharans, the second largest ethnic group in Ethiopia,11 have long begrudged the Tigrayans for subsuming Amharan land (what is now West Tigray) into the Tigrayan state in the early 1990s.12 Amharans tried to gain power in the Western Tigrayan government, but the Tigrayans ignored them and suppressed their protests. Motivated by this anger, the Amharans joined Ethiopian forces during the war. The Amharan Special Forces and Amhara militias have perpetuated vigilante justice against Tigrayans, executing them without trials. They and other Ahmed-allied forces have gang-raped Tigrayan women and girls and looted Tigrayan homes. According to one rape survivor, an Amharan militant said, “You Tigrayans should disappear from the land” – vitriolic ethnic strife underlies the violence.13 Rape is a recognized tool of genocide, as one group seeks to dominate another. Tigrayans have faced massacre and starvation, arguably as tools of ethnic cleansing.14 Although the Amharans have led much of this violence, Ahmed’s forces have either looked the other way or actively participated.15 After all, he is the prime minister and the one ultimately responsible for the war he started. By clinging to Ahmed’s past image, the United States neglects the reality of just how far Ahmed has strayed from any semblance of democracy. Despite press obstruction, there are signs that the violence in the Ethiopian civil war aims to wipe out ethnic Tigrayans, the most repugnant and antithetical goal to American values of multiculturalism and coexistence. Ahmed’s government shut down the Tigrayan internet, an offense to democracy in and of itself, which has made journalism difficult.16 But what is known about the conflict, mostly through satellites, indicates ethnic cleansing. Since January 2022, Amharans have kept hundreds to thousands of Tigrayans in Western Tigrayan prisons, where they are subjected to crowding, hunger, starvation, and torture.17 Such conditions possibly fulfill the definition of extermination, defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as the “intentional

If the US wants to contain violent extremism and encourage democracy, it has an interest in stability in the Horn of Africa, and by extension, in Ethiopia.

infliction of conditions of life… calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population.”18 Whether or not these prisons meet the standard of extermination, they violate all that the United States claims to defend – the right to trials, liberties, life’s basic necessities, and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. There is no separating Ahmed from these cruelties. The Tigrayans certainly cannot afford such compartmentalization.

There is now a ceasefire in place, but tensions remain and demand United States mediation, not only to foster democracy in Ethiopia but also stability in the Horn of Africa. Luckily, Ahmed pulled back his troops in December 2022 after agreeing to a ceasefire.19 Tigrayan forces agreed to disarm in a month while Ethiopian forces would take over their airports and other facilities.20 Ahmed’s victory will only perpetuate the ethnic and political issues that provoked the war in the first place, as the Tigrayan ethnic minority is now disempowered and resentful. But there is hope for Ethiopian democracy: the country has a history of avoiding colonization. Its military prowess and relative stability (civil war notwithstanding) make it a possible bastion of security in the unstable Horn of Africa, where most countries are in flux.21 Somalia faces a constitutional crisis;22 conflict erupts in Sudan between the army and a paramilitary group.23 The region needs Ethiopian support. If the US wants to contain violent extremism and encourage democracy, it has an interest in stability in the Horn of Africa, and by extension, in Ethiopia. The US’s position as a global superpower relies on other countries trying to imitate its democratic system –this is what justifies American paternalism, which in turn, compels other countries to look up to America. Furthermore, the United States should mediate Ethiopian and Horn of Africa conflicts to manage refugees. As people spill over into the US, Europe, and other less stable parts of Africa, so do tensions. For self-interest as well as humanitarian reasons, the United States must get involved.

That is not to say that the US has stood idly by –it has taken some action thus far, but each body must go further. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned events in Tigray as ethnic cleansing following 2021 reports of rape and civilian displacement.24 His remarks did nothing. Amharan troops continued to torture, murder, displace, and unlawfully imprison Tigrayans while Ahmed reinforced the communication wall. The US and its allies have tried to send humanitarian aid to Tigray but have not done enough to combat ethnic violence.25 Instead of addressing the pain Ahmed-allied forces inflict, America must try to prevent it by using its influence to disincentivize Ahmed from violence. The most effective stick, as well as the most effective carrot, is money. Words were insufficient, so the United States must give teeth to its condemnation, imposing sanctions or harming Ahmed in another tangible way. The US did raise sanctions on Eritrea in August 2021 for its involvement in Tigray. US President Joe Biden passed an executive order that imposed sanctions on any individual complicit in Ethiopian atrocities.26 What he needs to do, though, is target Ahmed – explicitly and forcefully. Otherwise, Biden is merely addressing symptoms and cronies.

In addition to sanctions, the United States must lead the UN to hold Ethiopia accountable. The United Nations should put Amharan military leaders on trial as a cautionary tale to both Tigrayan and Ahmed-allied forces: the international community should not tolerate such crimes against humanity

in any retaliatory endeavors on either side. Ethiopia belongs on UN agendas: the African Union’s Peace and Security Council and the UN Security Council, for example.27 By putting pressure on Ahmed, the UN can influence the path on which he takes his country. If he feels like he is walking on eggshells, the West is doing something right. Ahmed, too, should be the subject of investigations and trials, if necessary. His Nobel Peace Prize does not immunize him from accountability.

Globalization has revolutionized trade, media, and innovation, but it also comes at the cost of an increasingly interdependent world. Instability anywhere is a threat to stability everywhere (in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior). The United States cannot risk writing off African conflicts as part of the status quo. They might seem remote, but they are not. To retain its place as a global superpower and to promote its values, the US must hold Ahmed accountable and guarantee that aid arrives at Tigrayan shores – American best-interest and American morals depend on it.

1 Lauren Jackson, “Ending a Civil War: A Cease-Fire in Ethiopia Could Bring an End to Years of Violence,” (The New York Times, December 11, 2022) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/11/briefing/ethiopia-war-tigray.html.

2 Ibid.

3 War in Ethiopia,” (The Center for Preventive Action, February 7, 2023) https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ethiopia.

4 Jackson.

5 “War in Ethiopia.”

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

12 Kenneth Roth, “Ethiopia’s Invisible Ethnic Cleansing: The World Can’t Afford to Ignore Tigray,” (Human Rights Watch, June 6, 2022) https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/16/ethiopias-invisible-ethnic-cleansing.

13

21

22 Michelle Gavin, “The Conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region: What to Know,” (Council on Foreign Relations, February 10, 2021) https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/conflict-ethiopias-tigray-region-what-know.

23 Kate Bartlett and Michele Kelemen, “Sudan Conflict Explained,” (NPR, April 27, 2023) https://www.npr. org/2023/04/27/1172123699/sudan-conflict-explained. 24

Behind the Scenes of the RussoUkrainian War: Cultural Tensions and a Complex History

Benjamin Zelnick, ’23

February 24, 2022 marked the beginning of the latest outbreak of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, a conflict that has deteriorated into Europe’s deadliest military struggle since World War II.1 From the Kremlin at 6:00 AM, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced “a special military operation… to demilitarise [sic] and denazify” Ukraine.2 As Russian troops launched attacks on its cities, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded minutes later with a declaration that “Ukrainians will never give up their freedom and independence to anyone.”3 Although most of the world believed in the early press reports from the ground—which stated that prospects were “quite bleak for the Ukrainians”— the war has continued for much longer than anticipated because of Russian strategic failures.4

Beneath the overt violence of the RussoUkrainian War lies a tangled network of cultural and ethnic tensions: lingering animosity from past conflicts, unease about the societal and even linguistic connections between Russia and Ukraine, and mutual allegations of human rights violations. The modern conflict between Russia and Ukraine began during the Russian Revolution, when communist leader Vladimir Lenin decried the tsar’s attempts to “throttle … Ukraine.”5 In contrast to the imperialist leaders who followed him, Lenin commiserated with the Ukrainians as—like the Russian proletariat—victims of a tyrannical empire. His solution to the plight of the Ukrainians, however, was not to grant them independence. Rather, he wanted to fulfill his own vision for the spread of communism by transforming Ukraine into a Soviet republic, endowed with de jure equality to Russia but ruled de facto by the Bolsheviks. To the dismay of Ukrainians, even this facade of equality vanished altogether in 1919, when Soviet leaders began attempting to unify the territories of the USSR into a single Russian state.6 For more than one century since the Russian Revolution, Ukraine and Russia have continued to struggle against one another. When the former declared its independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the conflict was renewed, centered this time around fuel resources.7 And just a few years before Russia began its “special military operation” in 2022, the Soviet Union’s successor, the Russian Federation, elicited international outcry by occupying the Ukrainian territory of Crimea.8

According to Ukrainian historian Yaroslav Hrytsak, the constant territorial dispute between the two nations is rooted

in a strong Russian belief that “Ukrainian identity is not a viable concept, and that sooner or later Ukraine should return to Russia.”9 Scholars examining the motivations behind the annexation of Crimea in 2014 have identified five major types of Russian nationalism: union identity, ethnonationalism, linguistic nationalism, racial nationalism, and civic identity.10 Putin, in fact, demonstrated his commitment to these ideals in an article published over seven months before the invasion of Ukraine. In it, he claimed a “[firm] belie[f]” in the Russian nationalist idea that “Russians and Ukrainians were one people,” bound together by a common ethnicity, language, economy, and religion. “The incorporation of the western Russian lands into the single state” as early as the eighteenth century, Putin stressed, “was underlain by the common faith, shared cultural traditions, and … language similarity.”11 In contrast to the President’s assertions that “anti-Russia [sentiment] has been rejected by millions of Ukrainians,” which imply that most Ukrainians accept the Russian identity that their neighbor attempts to impose on them, a 2017 public opinion poll found that the majority of Ukrainians have negative feelings about Russia and that only a small minority support it.12

As Ukraine seeks to defend itself from Russian aggression, its citizens have begun to voice discomfort with the level of cultural connection to their attacker. The shared aspects of language and history have heightened tensions off the battlefield. Many Ukrainians, for instance, are attempting to replace the Russian texts on their bookshelves with Ukrainian books. One library in Kyiv has collected and recycled 150,000 Russian-language books from residents. Russian occupiers attempt to do the opposite, discarding Ukrainian books in schools and replacing them with Russian texts.13 The result is a secondary struggle between the two nations on the homefront: as Russia claims that its goal is to “denazify” its neighbor, Ukraine is attempting to “derussify” its own culture. In a movement that bears resemblance to the United States’s long-overdue removals of Confederate monuments, Ukrainian leaders have begun dismantling historical monuments to their country’s intertwined history with Russia and renaming roads that honor Russian figures.14 Although all of these actions may seem symbolic at best, Ukrainians insist that they represent an important response to Russia’s aggression. “I’m disgusted with the Russian language,” one student asserted in an ABC News interview, “because I’ve lost many relatives in this war. I want to throw it all away.”15 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasizes the renunciation of Russian influence as a blow to the Federation’s conception of its own power. The responsibility for the separation of the two nation’s cultures, according to Zelenskyy, is Russia’s own fault: he told Russia that the war has associated “the Russian language … With your crimes,” and thus “do[ne] everything to ensure that de-russification takes place on the territory of our state.”16

Russia has faced international backlash for its human

As Russia claims that its goal is to “denazify” its neighbor, Ukraine is attempting to “derussify” its own culture.

rights violations in Ukraine, but a less-known facet of the conflict is that the Russian Federation has accused Ukraine of misconduct. President Putin, in fact, claimed in his speech announcing the invasion of Ukraine that he sought to “protect” residents of Ukraine from atrocities “perpetrated by the Kiev regime,” including “humiliation… genocide… [and] numerous bloody crimes against civilians.”17 Although these statements have been widely dismissed as pure fabrication, Russia is not entirely incorrect about Ukraine’s human rights climate. According to a 2019 report by the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Ukrainian government was responsible for 126 serious violations over a 91-day period (about one violation every 17 hours).18 But this figure pales in comparison to Russia’s actions: the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that in three regions alone during the first six weeks of the invasion, Russian troops killed 441 innocent civilians, including 28 children.19 The non-governmental organization Amnesty International has also sounded the alarm on Russian war crimes, which range from executing a civilian who refused to give a soldier cigarettes to targeting aid workers delivering essential supplies.20 The allegations have culminated in the issuance of arrest warrants for President Putin and the Russian children’s rights commissioner Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.21 Although Russia has refused to recognize the Court’s decision, Ukrainian leaders hold that it marks an important turning point in securing Russian accountability.22

“On the morning of February 24,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his Easter address to the nation, “a dark night began.”23 To Americans and others looking on from overseas, it is essential to understand how simmering tensions—deeply embedded in the very fabric of Ukrainian and Russian culture—led to the first of many “dark nights” in eastern Europe over one year ago. Armed with an understanding of how this conflict began, it is everyone’s responsibility—as global citizens—to speak out against the unjustified Russian aggression and educate its proponents. As President Zelenskyy stated years before the war began, “it’s a victory when the weapons fall silent and people speak up.”24

1 Guy Faulconbridge, “Putin Says Russia Ready to Negotiate over Ukraine, Kyiv Says Moscow Doesn’t Want Talks,” Reuters, last modified December 25, 2022, accessed April 26, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-says-russia-readynegotiate-over-ukraine-2022-12-25/.

2 Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” address presented in The Kremlin, Moscow, February 24, 2022, President of Russia, last modified February 24, 2022, accessed April 26, 2023, http://en.kremlin.ru/ events/president/news/67843.

3 Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, “Russia Has Launched a New Military Operation against Our State, Martial Law Is Being Imposed throughout Ukraine,” news release, February 24, 2022, accessed April 26, 2023, https://www.president.gov. ua/en/news/rosiya-rozpochala-novu-vijskovu-operaciyu-proti-nashoyi-derz-73105.

4 Morning Edition, “As Russia Keeps Up Its Attack, How Long Can Ukraine Hold the Capital City?,” hosted by George Louis Martínez, narrated by Tim Mak, aired February 25, 2022, on

National Public Radio, accessed April 26, 2023, https://www.npr. org/1083003231.

5 Roman Szporluk, “Lenin, ‘Great Russia,’ and Ukraine,” in “Essays Presented in Honor of Michael S. Flier on His Sixty-Fifth Birthday,” special issue, Harvard Ukrainian Studies 28, no. 1/4 (2006): 612–613, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41036986.

6 Szporluk, “Lenin, ‘Great Russia,’ and Ukraine” 618–619.

7 Oles M. Smolansky, “Ukraine’s Quest for Independence: The Fuel Factor,” Europe-Asia Studies 47, no. 1 (1995): 68, http:// www.jstor.org/stable/153194.

8 Yaroslav Hrytsak, “Rethinking Ukraine,” in What Does Ukraine Think?, ed. Andrew Wilson (n.p.: European Council on Foreign Relations, 2015), 42, http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep21660.7.

9 Hrytsak, “Rethinking Ukraine,” 39–40.

10 Bundeswehr Bundesakademie für Sicherheitspolitik, Russian National Identity and the Russia-Ukraine Crisis, by Taras Kuzio, research report no. 20/2016 (Berlin: Federal Academy for Security Policy, 2016), 3–4, https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep22141.

11 Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” President of Russia, last modified July 12, 2021, accessed April 26, 2023, http://en.kremlin.ru/events/ president/news/66181.

12 Steven Pifer, “How Ukraine Views Russia and the West,” American Ambassadors Review, Fall 2017, accessed April 26, 2023, https://www.americanambassadors.org/publications/ambassadors-review/fall-2017/how-ukraine-views-russia-and-the-west.

13 Guy Davies et al., “How the Russia-Ukraine Conflict Became a Cultural War,” ABC News, last modified February 23, 2023, accessed April 26, 2023, https://abcnews.go.com/International/ story?id=97332345.

14 Ievgen Afanasiev et al., “Ukraine Agonizes over Russian Culture and Language in Its Social Fabric,” National Public Radio, last modified June 2, 2022, accessed April 26, 2023, https://www. npr.org/1101712731.

15 Davies et al., “Russia-Ukraine Conflict Became Cultural War,” ABC News.

16 Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, “Russian Troops Are Destroying Everything That Makes Us a Nation, but They Will Be Held Accountable for That,” address, March 26, 2022, President of Ukraine, last modified March 26, 2022, accessed April 26, 2023, https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/rosijski-vijska-znishuyut-use-sho-robit-nas-narodom-ale-za-c-73873.

17 Putin, “Address by the President,” address, President of Russia.

18 United Nations Human Rights Council, Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine 16 November 2018 to 15 February 2019, report no. A/HRC/40/CRP.3 (Geneva: United Nations, 2019), 4, https://www.undocs.org/en/A/HRC/40/CRP.3.

19 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Killings of Civilians: Summary Executions and Attacks on Individual Civilians in Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy Regions in the Context of the Russian Federation’s Armed Attack against Ukraine, 6, accessed April 26, 2023, https://ukraine.un.org/en/ download/122952/210727.

20 Amnesty International, “Ukraine: Russian Forces Extrajudicially Executing Civilians in Apparent War Crimes — New Testimony,” news release, April 7, 2022, accessed April 26, 2023, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/04/ukraine-russian-forces-extrajudicially-executing-civilians-in-apparent-war-crimes-new-testimony/.

21 International Criminal Court, “Situation in Ukraine: ICC Judges Issue Arrest Warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova,” news release, March 17, 2023, accessed April 26, 2023, https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/ situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and.

22 James O’Donnell, “Citing War Crimes in Ukraine, International Criminal Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Putin,” PBS

Frontline, last modified March 17, 2023, accessed April 26, 2023, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/putin-icc-arrest-warrant-war-crimes-ukraine/.

23 Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, “Easter Greetings from the President of Ukraine,” speech, April 16, 2023, President of Ukraine, last modified April 16, 2023, accessed April 26, 2023, https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/privitannya-prezidenta-ukrayini-z-velikodnem-82293.

24 Simon Shuster, “’I Don’t Trust Anyone at All.’ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Speaks Out on Trump, Putin and a Divided Europe,” TIME, last modified December 2, 2019, accessed April 26, 2023, https://time.com/5742108.

Growing Polarization: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Mikaela Garber, ’24

While the prolonged and multidimensional Israeli-Palestinean conflict has made it difficult to achieve a compromise, peace is in fact possible if work is done to decrease the tensions so that both groups can work constructively together. Misconceptions about the conflict have affected both sides of the conflict. The intense polarization has made shrinking the solution the only possible path to a compromise because it would work to increase understanding and clear up existing apprehension.

From the Palestinian side, the Israeli War of Independence was the beginning of Naqba Naqba, or “the catastrophe,” is seen as a premeditated plan to ethnically cleanse the land of Arabs.1 They feel as though the War of Independence was just a way to mass evict them.2 As of today, approximately 6 million Palestinians are refugees, many of whom live in refugee camps.3 None of the neighboring countries are willing to take them in, so they remain in the West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan.4 Camps are crowded and lack proper infrastructure.5 There are security checkpoints and curfews enforced by the Israeli Defense Forces, all signs that are perceived as Israeli oppression.6 Now, the Palestinians are striving to take back what they embrace as rightfully theirs. They insist that Palestinians should be able to take back land they held before the Naqba. This demand, called the “right of return,” gets its name from an Israeli founding principle (“The Law of Return”) granting citizenship to any person with one Jewish grandparent.7

However, the Israeli point of view varies greatly; Israeli citizens feel that they did all that they could to end the conflict and now have to deal with security measures to keep Israelis safe. They recognize that while the Palestinians rejected partition plan after partition plan, they accepted every one.8 In addition, Israelis claim that waves of violence have proven that Palestinians pose safety concerns to Israel.9 The First Intifada was in the late 1980s and was composed of attacks and non-violent demonstrations. The start of the Second Intifada, which occurred in the early 2000s, had a conflicted start; Jews blame Arafat while Palestinians turn to Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount as the beginning of the conflict. It was more violent, with suicide bombers, rocket attacks, and sniper fire. In particular, the Second Intifada signaled the end of the process to negotiate peace.10 At this point, security measures such as curfews are necessary for the safety of Israeli citizens.11 The increased need for security and defense has caused many Israelis to question whether a solution is wise and safe for Israel.

As the conflict continues, Jews and Arabs must find a resolution, but the two sides are currently at a stalemate. Currently, there are 4 proposed solutions to the conflict. One

variation is the “Greater Israel” one-state solution, which would apply Israeli law to the West Bank and give the option of citizenship or residency to non-Israelis living in that area, leaving the Gaza Strip as its own entity. This would maintain a strategic advantage and Jewish identity for Israel, and would prevent Palestinians and Israelis alike from having to relocate; however, it could complicate the majority in Israel or make Israel an apartheid state if they choose not to give immediate citizenship to Palestinians.

The other one-state solution, a “bi-national state” or “Palestine,” would combine Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank into one state with a Palestinian majority. Potential benefits include equal rights for all, including access to all shared holy sites, but could become problematic for Jews who would no longer have their own state.

Probably the most known solution, the two-state solution, proposes two countries with Jerusalem as a shared capital. While this could end terrorism due to a lack of a need to fight for a Palestinian state, holy sites could have restricted access, affecting both Jews and Palestinians. In addition, the current Palestinian Authority has a history of corruption, making Israel hesitant to give away its strategic advantage.

Finally, the “shrinking the conflict” model seeks to improve Palestinian lives by adding infrastructure such as roads connecting Palestinian cities, and improving the economy and civilian autonomy by decreasing Palestinian interaction with the IDF and increasing mobility while maintaining Israel’s security in the hopes of someday negotiating peace. Although this option takes realistic steps towards a more constructive environment by gradually adding improvements, it effectively ignores many crucial issues that must be resolved, including the rights of Palestinian refugees and extreme Israeli security measures.

Unfortunately, as Palestinians continue to desire their right to sovereignty and independence, Israelis move further away from the idea of a two-state solution.12 As shown in figures 1 and 2, many Palestinians, Jewish Israelis, and Arab Israelis no longer feel that the two-state solution is viable.

Due to the current polarization, shrinking the conflict is the only way to continue paving the road to peace. For decades, Israeli citizens have argued about the pros and cons of each solution with little movement towards resolution. As such, the two peoples have been at a standstill. Although shrinking the conflict will not solve the problem, it will help to minimize it. For those who have lived in a refugee camp for generations, it is understandable that they would view Israel in a negative light. But helping their socioeconomic situations, along with their daily living conditions, might bring them to the table and make peace possible, or even plausible.

1 “Plan Dalet: Blueprint for the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine,” Institute for Middle East Understanding, March 8, 2013, https:// imeu.org/article/plan-dalet.

2 Zack Beauchamp, “What Is the Nakba?,” Vox (Vox, November 20, 2018), https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080030/israel-palestine-nakba.

3 “Palestine Refugees,” UNRWA, accessed April 1, 2023, https:// www.unrwa.org/palestine-refugees.

4 “Palestinian Refugees,” ADL, May 3, 2022, https://www.adl. org/resources/glossary-term/palestinian-refugees.

5 “Palestine Refugees.”

6 Daniel Miller Assoc. Prof. of Religion, “The History of ‘Israel’ and ‘Palestine’: Alternative Names, Competing Claims,” The Conversation, May 12, 2022, https://theconversation.com/ the-history-of-israel-and-palestine-alternative-names-competing-claims-163156.

7 Beauchamp.

8 “Palestine - History, Religion & Conflicts,” History.com (A&E Television Networks), accessed April 1, 2023, https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/palestine.

9 “Israeli-Palestinian Conflict | Global Conflict Tracker,” Council on Foreign Relations (Council on Foreign Relations), accessed April 1, 2023, https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/ israeli-palestinian-conflict.

10 Zack Beauchamp, “What Were the Intifadas?,” Vox (Vox, November 20, 2018), https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080066/ israel-palestine-intifadas-first-second.

11 Miller.

12 Beauchamp.

Although shrinking the conflict will not solve the problem, it will help to minimize it.

Unpeeling the Layers of American Intervention in Latin America

Rachel Loeb, ’23

If you ever thought that the corruption and inequality in Latin America is bananas, you would be correct! The connection between the banana and the woes of America’s southern neighbors is a tale of American greed and expansionism that dates back over a century. The international banana trade has had a significant and detrimental impact on shaping modern-day Latin America. The United States’ involvement in the poor governance of Latin American countries has sent many Hispanic refugees fleeing to the US, where they face discrimination, so the United States has a responsibility to protect these immigrants and make Latin American countries safer.

These countries are called “banana republics,” a term coined by the writer O. Henry, referring to a small country with an unstable or authoritarian government whose economy relies heavily on a single export, usually dominated by a foreign power. While Henry originally used this to describe a fictional third-world country based on Honduras, his concept has been applied to many real countries, including those in Central and South America1 like Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, and Nicaragua.2 The banana industry in Latin America started in 1870 when Lorenzo Dow Baker introduced bananas to the United States, where their popularity skyrocketed because of their low cost.3 To capitalize on increased demand, American companies established banana plantations all across Latin America in order to export bananas to the United States. These companies — United Fruit Company, Cuyamel Fruit Company, and Standard Fruit — dominated the industry and owned over 3.5 million acres of land.4 Ultimately, the influence of these companies expanded beyond agriculture to the government. In Honduras, for example, in 1910, Cuyamel Fruit Company hired a mercenary army, and with former Honduran President Manuel Bonilla, they overthrew the government and gained more power. They had their interests secured, but while they profited, native Latin Americans suffered and their national debt grew. The companies developed the nation’s infrastructure — electricity, roads, railways, telegraphs — for their own benefit, thereby gaining monopolies over many local industries. In exchange for tax breaks and land grants, the three companies paid the rich minority, which contributed to the growing economic disparity.5 The emergence of “banana republics” in Central and South America, from the American banana corporations, led to the ill-treatment of Latin Americans, the growing economic disparity, and the

monopolization of many industries.

The United States government acted on behalf of these companies, often militarily, to defend and expand their economic interests in Latin America. These America’s military operations, collectively called the “Banana Wars”, took place in Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Mexico.6 From 1903 to 1925, the United States invaded Honduras seven times.7 The US government also occupied the Dominican Republic for eight years.8 The “banana wars” ended when President Franklin Roosevelt announced the “Good Neighbour Policy” in 1933, which promoted trade and cooperation with Latin American countries instead of military interventions.9

Despite Roosevelt’s new policy, the conflicts between the United States and Latin America resumed after World War II in the guise of the fight against communism. During the Cold War, accusing Latin American countries of participating in a communist regime provided the pretext for the American government to continue to meddle in Latin American affairs.10 For example, the US government assisted in the overthrowing of the Guatemalan government in favor of US-backed dictatorships in 1953.11 In theory, such interference ended with President Ford’s Executive Order 11905 in 1976, which officially prohibited the United States government from conspiring in any political assassinations.12 Nevertheless, the Reagan administration used secret trades with Iran to fund CIA operations in Nicaragua.13 Clearly, the American public can not depend on its leaders to heed the lessons of this history of American military adventurism, so Americans must remain vigilant, lest the government return to its old ways of treating Latin American countries as banana republics.

The impact of American interventions echoes to this very day. Since the Americanbacked governments across Latin America did not earn the support of their publics, they were unable to create strong foundations, and are still unable to maintain control of their countries and contribute to further instability. Their governments face frequent coups and civil wars, and in some cases, are controlled by drug cartels and gangs.14 Another impact that the banana trade has had on modern Latin America, is the widening of the economic gap between the rich minority and the poor masses. The setup of Latin American governments under American oversight allowed all of the power and wealth to go to American banana corporations and a select group of local elites. With their support of the banana corporations, these elites accumulated significant wealth since they owned the land producing the bananas, and gained further political influence.15 This meant that the public was deprived of the benefits of banana exports, leading to widespread poverty, and less access to necessities.16 Also, American corporations were so rigorous in their banana growing that they depleted natural resources and created immense pollution. This has caused a major

Since the problems in Latin America driving people to leave are direct consequences of American intervention, the US has a moral imperative to better treat its Latino immigrants and improve their countries’ living conditions.

problem for Latin American countries, as their soil and water quality have declined.17 Thus, US intervention in Latin America continues to have negative ramifications that impact many aspects of the lives of Latinos.

Due to the current state of Latin American countries, which was enabled by US actions, many Latinos flee the poverty, violence, and extortion prevalent in their countries.18 While Latinos have trouble immigrating and are blamed for their plight and their intentions questioned, the true origins of their countries’ troubles stem from America’s involvement. Even Latinos lucky enough to gain admittance to America, face discrimination, and according to a Pew Research poll, are the second most discriminated ethnic group.19 They are often caricatured as criminals and rapists who all came to America illegally and are stealing American jobs. In his 2015 presidential announcement speech, Donald Trump claimed that “they’re [Latin American immigrants] bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”20 This portrayal is inaccurate since the large majority of Latino immigrants came simply to escape poverty and violence and follow American laws diligently. In fact, immigrants have been found to be far less likely to commit a crime than their American counterparts.21 Undocumented immigrants contribute 18 billion dollars to Social Security and are ineligible for benefits. Without the contributions of these immigrants, Social Security would be in greater distress.22 Also, the jobs they get are, for the most part, jobs that Americans don’t want, for example, in the service and construction industries.23 Currently, people can steal from them, hire them for below minimum wage, force them into prostitution, and much more, knowing that the illegal immigrants will be afraid of deportation if they contact the local police.

Since the problems in Latin America driving people to leave are direct consequences of American intervention, the US has a moral imperative to better treat its Latino immigrants and improve their countries’ living conditions. America should not interfere with the government of these countries, since this interventionist policy is what created trouble in the first place. Instead, Americans should focus on helping the people by donating to humanitarian NGOs, nongovernmental organizations that work to improve conditions for the people in these countries, and sending Peace Corps volunteers to build important infrastructure and provide training to help make the people self-sufficient. Such efforts will improve the standard of living and ultimately decrease the flow of migrants to the US. In the meantime, America should streamline the process of accepting refugees. All people who present themselves at the border should get a fair asylum hearing and families should remain intact during this process. Also, local police should concentrate more on protecting immigrants from exploitation than enforcing immigration laws. Individual Americans can help out by lobbying for these changes and supporting organizations that help welcome immigrants and combat xenophobia.

The United States’ involvement in Latin America has benefited American corporations at the cost of the Latin

American people. America set up corrupt “banana republics” that have had lasting effects on their government, economy, and society. These problems have caused Latinos to flee to America, where they are maltreated and exploited. Even if we cannot completely undo a century of neglect, America should make changes and try to live up to its democratic ideals, as a place of refuge for the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free”.24

1 Mary Gormandy White, “What Is a Banana Republic? Explanation and Examples,” YourDictionary, August 23, 2022, https:// examples.yourdictionary.com/what-is-banana-republic-explanation-examples.

2 “Banana Republic Countries 2023,” World Population Review, accessed March 22, 2023, https://worldpopulationreview.com/ country-rankings/banana-republic-countries.

3 Olymar Oceguera, “Let’s Talk about the Banana,” ViaNolaVie, January 28, 2021, https://www.vianolavie.org/2021/01/28/consider-the-banana-alternative-journalism-fall-2020/.

4 Jen Phillips, “The Dangers of Bananas,” Fergus Falls Daily Journal, October 21, 2022, https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/ opinion/the-dangers-of-bananas/article_7ad31c06-32c8-11ed934c-77b7d60212c8.html.

5 Gary Arndt, “The Origin of Banana Republics,” Everything Everywhere, December 30, 2021, https://everything-everywhere. com/the-origin-of-banana-republics/.

6 “Banana Wars,” Boundless, accessed March 22, 2023, https:// bluebox.creighton.edu/demo/modules/en-boundless-old/www. boundless.com/definition/banana-wars/index.html.

7 “The Banana Wars – 10 Quick Facts about America’s Military Interventions in the Caribbean & Latin America,” MilitaryHistoryNow, September 20, 2020, https://militaryhistorynow. com/2020/09/20/the-banana-wars-10-quick-facts-about-americas-early-military-interventions-in-the-caribbean-latin-america/.

8 Robert Estrada, “Banana Wars - Dominican Republic,” History of the Marine Corps, September 13, 2021, https://www.historyofthemarinecorps.com/episodes/2021/7/19/banana-wars-dominican-republic.

9 “The Banana Wars – 10 Quick Facts about America’s Military Interventions in the Caribbean & Latin America.”.

10 Lindsey Morey, “Blood For Bananas: United Fruit’s Central American Empire,” Washington State University, accessed March 22, 2023, https://history.wsu.edu/rci/sample-research-project/.

11 “June 27, 1954: Elected Guatemalan Leader Overthrown in CIA-Backed Coup,” Zinn Education Project, February 3, 2023, https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/jacobo-arbenz-guzman-deposed/.

12 “Executive Order 11905,” Encyclopædia Britannica, February 12, 2023, https://www.britannica.com/event/Executive-Order-11905.

13 Daniel W. Fisk et al., “Policy Roundtable: Reagan and Latin America,” Texas National Security Review, January 16, 2019, https://tnsr.org/roundtable/policy-roundtable-reagan-and-latin-america/.

14 Daniel Zovatto, “Latin America Political and Electoral Outlook 2023,” International IDEA, January 17, 2023, https://www. idea.int/news-media/news/latin-america-political-and-electoral-outlook-2023.

15 Nicholas D. Kristof, “KRISTOF: The Rich Prosper in Our Banana Republic,” The Press Democrat, June 27, 2014, https:// www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/kristof-the-rich-prosper-inour-banana-republic/.

16 “Peeling Back the Truth on Bananas,” Food Empowerment Project, accessed April 26, 2023, https://foodispower.org/ourfood-choices/bananas/.

17 John Soluri, “Empire’s Footprint: The Ecological Dimensions of a Consumers’ Republic ,” Oxford Academic, October 1, 2011,

https://academic.oup.com/maghis/article/25/4/15/1037442.

18 Oceguera.

19 “11 Facts About Discrimination and Poverty in the Latino Community,” DoSomething, accessed March 22, 2023, https:// www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-discrimination-and-poverty-latino-community.

20 “Donald Trump’s Presidential Announcement Speech,” Time, June 16, 2015, https://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/.

21 “Immigration Myths,” Latino Memphis, accessed March 22, 2023, https://www.latinomemphis.org/immigration-myths.

22 Nina Roberts, “Undocumented Immigrants Quietly Pay Billions into Social Security and Receive No Benefits,” Marketplace, January 28, 2019, https://www.marketplace.org/2019/01/28/ undocumented-immigrants-quietly-pay-billions-social-security-and-receive-no/.

23 Evin Millet and Jacquelyn Pavilon, “Demographic Profile of Undocumented Hispanic Immigrants in the United States,” The Center for Migration Studies, October 14, 2022, https://cmsny. org/publications/hispanic-undocumented-immigrants-millet-pavilon-101722/.

24 “The New Colossus,” National Parks Service, August 14, 2019, https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/colossus.htm.

Woman, Life, Freedom

Andrew Jacoby, ’24

September 13, 2022; Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old young woman, was arrested by the Iranian Morality police for wearing an ‘improper hijab.’ On the 16th of September, she died after falling into a coma, following what the Iranian government alleges was a heart attack.1 Several witnesses state that during Mahsa’s time in state custody, she was severely beaten and eventually suffered a stroke due to her extensive head injuries. While the Iranian regime denies that her death was a result of the Morality police’s actions, Amini’s family says she had no health condition that would have resulted in her death and that her limbs appeared covered in bruises.2 Mahsa’s suspected murder by police set off a wave of political dissidence protesting the growing power of the far right Morality police, loss of women’s basic rights, and generalized loss of individual freedom in Iran.3 Citizens of the world need to stand in solidarity with the people of Iran and support their fight for freedom as the Iranian protests represent more than country-specific atrocities but also a growing retraction of women’s rights and push towards authoritarianism.

The protests sparked by Mahsa’s death are ongoing and have resulted in increasing crackdowns by the Iranian government4 and sadly the deaths of several more young women. The extent of the protests demonstrates both a rising populist discontentment within the Islamic Republic of Iran and a continued fight for women’s rights. Since Mahsa’s death, the Iranian government has detained over 20,000 protestors, with hundreds being killed.5 In these protests, the protestors chanted “Woman, Life, Freedom” as a populist call, often given in both English and Farsi, that can be globally embraced in the push against authoritarianism.6

In conjunction with the detainment of protestors, the Iranian government’s trajection toward greater authoritarianism accelerated in other arenas. Iran began to push greater limitations on free speech - both expressed and written. They began to implement internet censorship by decreasing access to social media and methods of online communication.7 Officials hoped that the intensity of the demonstrations would decrease if the protesters no longer had an effective way to communicate and if there was less opportunity from scrutiny from the outside world. However, the extreme internet censorship had the opposite effect; the protests only increased. In response, under the cover of a communication blackout, the Iranian government cemented their commitment to being a fully authoritarian regime by executing a large number of protestors.8

Beginning in November 2022, orchestrated chemical attacks on schools, primarily those teaching girls, began. Over 52 schools across 21 provinces have been affected by the poisonings.9 Hundreds of children have been sickened

as a result of the toxins.10 The targeted schools were ones that specifically educated girls and have resulted in parents across Iran removing their daughters from school for fear of an attack. The UN has suggested that schools were targeted in retaliation for the girls’ assumed involvement in the women’s movement and to limit the education of women. The Iranian government’s draconian repression of women’s advancement by blocking girls’ education represents one more attempt to suppress the freedom of all Iranians and to eliminate the populist voice.11

In response to all of the atrocities committed against women in Iran, the UN removed Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women’s Rights.12 This resolution passed on December 14, 2022, with 29 votes in favor of removal, 8 against, and 16 abstentions.13 Yet, this action still had minimal effect. Iran has begun adopting a new approach towards catching violators of their compulsory dress code: cameras. Iranian authorities have begun installing cameras in public places to catch women who are violating the hijab law.14 People who are caught by this technology could face public rebuke, fines, or arrest.15 Despite this, there is still a large resistance to these government actions. Iranian women are posting images of themselves without hijabs or other mandatory articles of clothing in opposition to the government’s dress code laws. Many women choose to remain anonymous but some are posting pictures that include their faces or locations, thus challenging Iran’s social media blackout while also keeping the conversation around the “Women, Life Freedom” movement at the forefront of global consciousness. 16

2 Hassan, Tirana. “World Report 2023: Iran.” Human Rights Watch. Accessed April 12, 2023. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2023/country-chapters/iran.

3 Hassan.

4 “Events in Iran since Mahsa Amini’s Arrest and Death in Custody.”

5 Gambrell, Jon. “WATCH: Women and girls are still protesting in Iran. Here’s why.” PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/ watch-women-and-girls-are-still-protesting-in-iran-heres-why.

6 “Events in Iran since Mahsa Amini’s Arrest and Death in Custody.”

7 “Events in Iran since Mahsa Amini’s Arrest and Death in Custody.”

8 “Events in Iran since Mahsa Amini’s Arrest and Death in Custody.”

9 “Those Who Poisoned Iranian Schoolgirls Guilty of ‘Unforgivable Crime’, Supreme Leader Says.” PBS NewsHour. March 6, 2023. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/those-who-poisonediranian-schoolgirls-guilty-of-unforgivable-crime-supreme-leadersays.

10 “Those Who Poisoned Iranian Schoolgirls Guilty of ‘Unforgivable Crime’, Supreme Leader Says.”

11 “Iran: Deliberate Poisoning of Schoolgirls Further Evidence of Continuous Violence against Women and Girls.” United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. March 16, 2023. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/03/iran-deliberate-poisoning-schoolgirls-further-evidence-continuous-violence.

12 “Iran Removed from UN Commission on the Status of Women | UN News.” United Nations. December 12, 2022. https:// news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131722.

13 “Iran Removed from UN Commission on the Status of Women | UN News.”

14 “Iran to use cameras in public spaces to identify unveiled women | News.” Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/ news/2023/4/8/iran-to-use-cameras-to-identify-unveiled-women.

15 “Iran to use cameras in public spaces to identify unveiled women | News.”

16 Maziar Motamedi, “Iranian women post images without hijabs despite crackdown,” Al Jazeera, 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/11/iranian-women-post-images-without-hijab-despite-crackdown.

the murder of one

While the murder of one woman for improperly wearing a hijab may seem like a small event, it represents a systematic attempt to control and repress the freedom of Iranian women by their government. As evidenced by the protests, the Iranian people are no longer content to accept the suppression, and the push for women’s freedom grows. Citizens of the world have a duty to fight for freedom everywhere, as the curtailment of freedom anywhere can cascade to the retraction of basic rights everywhere. People have a fundamental right to express themselves and their religion however they choose and no government should limit that. The world should use its collective power to pressure the Iranian government to expand women’s rights, decrease the intensity of punishments, and provide a space for freedom of expression.

1 “Events in Iran since Mahsa Amini’s Arrest and Death in Custody.” Reuters, October 5, 2022. https://www.reuters.com/world/ middle-east/events-iran-since-mahsa-aminis-arrest-death-custody-2022-10-05/.

While

woman for improperly wearing a hijab may seem like a small event, it represents a systematic attempt to control and repress the freedom of Iranian women by their government.