MISC. Issue 127

m i s c. issue 127

c m i s

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c o n t e n t s

Contributors Editorial

Editor-in-Chief Mairéad McCarthy

Misconduct in Ireland: The Statistics behind the Student Experience

Cultural Editor: Niamh Burns Catherine Forristal Ciara O’Flatherty

Pandemic Profiteering: An Epidemic of Greed Right or Revisionist The intricate legacy of alcohol in Ireland China’s Repression of Uyghur Muslims Cyberwarfare: the 21st Century’s most Sinister Threat to Modern Life and Security The Dark Side of Consumerism: Animal Suffering to Supply Demand Are we Moving towards a Cashless Society?

Scientific Editor: Honor O’Donnell Loftus Franscesca Corsetti Ella Sloane Samira Rauner Political Editor: Sean Gordon Dalton Ella Sloane Cover Artist Jennifer Hill Illustrations Ella Sloane Maeve Walsh Samira Rauner Photography Kate Lawlor Maggie O’Shea Copy-Editors Jessica Allen Layout Mairéad McCarthy

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l a i r o t i d E I’ve frequently described MISC as a place of cultural, political and scientific zeitgeist. A spirit of the age, with a duty to publish content with candor, and a curiosity to understand and develop from the ideas we print.

The theme of our final issue this year is silence; our silence on oppressive events and regimes and our complicitness in allowing wrongdoings to occur, simply because they don’t affect us directly, or perhaps even benefit us in some way. Often when we fail to object, we normalise a topic. We turn our cheek and never look back because the path we saw was too arduous a struggle. But it is someone’s struggle. - whether we’re willing to admit it or not Within MISC. our duty is to be a platform, not just for writers and artists but for stories themselves; the stories that get lost along the way, that are squashed and neglected or invalidated on their journey from pen to paper to reader.

Like many of us, I used the pandemic as an excuse to revisit some of my favourite novels and writers; whether in pursuit of comfort from their familiarity or simply mere nostalgia I cannot say. But after countless reads, the words of Magaret Atwood in The Handmaid’s Tale, resonated with me more than ever: “The newspaper stories were like dreams to us, bad dreams dreamt by others. How awful, we would say, and they were, but they were awful without being believable. They were too melodramatic, they had a dimension that was not the dimension of our lives. We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.”

There’s many things I wish I could have accomplished while I held the role of Editor of MISC. But for now, I’m grateful to be part of the legacy that drives curiosity within the college community. Finally, as per tradition we ask that you read the following pages with an open mind and a critical eye and we encourage you to share your thoughts with us.

Mairéad McCarthy Editor-in-Chief

Misconduct in Ireland Content Warning:

The following pages detail the statistical information on the level of sexual misconduct experienced by students in Ireland. Accompanying these are artwork and photography that captures the awareness felt on this topic.

Photography: Kate Lawlor

We appreciate the submissions of all our contributors and extend our thanks to DUGES Nourishes for their collaboration. All statistical information derives from the USI Sexual Experiences Survey.

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Image by Ella Sloane

44% of all students reported experiencing non-consensual behavior For 75% of students, their assailant was somone known to them Only 15% of students were aware of how to report misconduct to their college The most common reasons for non-disclosure were the belief that it was not serious enough, that they handled it themselves, did not want anyone to know, or felt shame and embarrassment.Men are less likely to disclose than women

Image by Kate Lawlor

Only one quarter of females felt safe while socialising at night 46% of females had experienced offensive remarks about their appearance, body, or sexual activities, but non binary students experience the worst level of harrasment, with over 80% describing an experience of sexist hostility

Image by Ella Sloane

Image by Maggie O’Shea

98% of suspected offenders of detected sexual violence crimes reported in Ireland in 2018 were male, with just one in 50 suspected offenders being female.

81.1% of victims of sexual violence recorded in 2019 were females

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arts and culture

Pandemic Profiteering An Epidemic of Greed While billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have

accumulated nauseating amounts of wealth over the course of the pandemic, anti-capitalist sentiment has taken hold among Gen-Z and millennials. Over the last number of years, social media has highlighted the growing wealth inequality that exists in Western society, which has led to a widespread condemnation of billionaires who exploit their workers. According to reports from the Guardian in January 2021, billionaires have increased their net worth by $1 trillion during the pandemic in the US alone. In contrast, evidence has emerged that shows the reality of the poor working conditions for Tesla and Amazon employees during this health crisis - at times, not even equipped with PPE, and having to choose between exposure to Covid-19 and putting food on the table. Worse still, it should be noted the labour force in these companies compared to other sectors are disproportionately made up of Black, Hispanic and Native Americans - a phenomenon which has been reflected in the Covid-19 death rates.

This anti-capitalist sentiment has always existed in one form or another. However, it feels as though for the first time, most likely due to social media, widespread discussion has been sparked about the means by which these billionaires accumulate their wealth. Questions have also been raised as to whether this is ethical, either in normal circumstances or in the context of a pandemic; and so the question remains: Should we compel billionaires to donate their personal wealth during a global health crisis?

During World War II, a general feeling existed that individuals over a certain wealth bracket should be compelled to donate to the war effort. Surplus wealth was encouraged to be invested in the “war cause”, which enabled accelerated production of weapons and supplies. In 1944, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested that Congress enact legislation to tax all “unreasonable” corporate and individual profits in order to raise the $10 billion needed for the war effort. He later imposed large taxes on the USA’s top earners in order to give the economy a much-needed boost during the war, resulting in an era of middle-class prosperity as part of his New Deal.

While the Covid-19 pandemic can undoubtedly be

Words:: Catherine Forristal Illustration: Maeve Walsh distinguished from the war, it appears to require many of the same government emergency measures, including accelerated production and distribution, stimulus plans, rationing resources, and increased government paternalism. Much like how car manufacturers converted their production lines to create tanks during the war, companies are converting their output and focusing on the production of hand sanitiser, ventilators, and PPE. However, this “we’re all in this together” attitude can be quickly dampened, as we’ve seen from this exponential wealth surge among the top 1% of earners.

“Much like how car manufacturers converted their production lines to create tanks during the war, companies are converting their output and focusing on the production of hand sanitiser, ventilators, and PPE”.

Wartime profiteering can be traced back to the American Civil War, but notably came to prominence during WWI and WWII, with military contractors overcharging for their products, exploiting the situation which people found themselves in, simply because they could. In many ways, this is inextricably linked to the emergence of the military-industrial complex, which Eisenhower warned of in the mid-20th century: “This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience… yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications.”

This strange amalgamation of politics and profit still exists today. In a report conducted by Oxfam called “Pandemic Profiteers Exposed”, the systemic inequalities that Covid has forced us to face are outlined.

Oxfam estimated that, “seventeen of the top 25 most profitable US corporations, including Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Facebook, Pfizer, and Visa, are expected to make almost $85 billion more in 2020 super-profits compared to previous years”. Furthermore, the top earners in those corporations are predominantly white and male.

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arts and culture The report continues to outline the need for wealth redistribution in order to minimise economic inequality post-pandemic. By using tax tools used during World War II, Oxfam estimated that “temporarily taxing the excessive profits of the top 25 US companies could raise almost $80 billion annually to re-invest in tackling COVID-19 inequalities across the US and around the world”. Despite hopes for success with the Covid-19 vaccination programme, it appears that the virus will remain present in our lives in some capacity for the foreseeable future. According to reports from the ESRI, the socio-economic implications of this reality are extreme.

“Oxfam estimated that, “seventeen of the top 25 most profitable US corporations, including Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Facebook, Pfizer, and Visa, are expected to make almost $85 billion more in 2020 super-profits compared to previous years”.

With this in mind, it is no surprise that there has been a surge in online activism and pastel Instagram infographics, which has made caring about wealth distribution “cool” for the first time. Has neoliberal policy choice rendered it impossible to bridge the gap between the richest and most deprived? Has the pandemic prompted a more mainstream debate surrounding capitalist values? And what does this mean for the future of Western economics?

Well, it is hard to tell. If there is anything to be learned from the last year, it’s that nothing can be relied upon with absolute certainty. Undoubtedly, the way that we think about wealth and economics has changed utterly: Whether this will manifest itself in positive change is something that depends on our ability to put our values into action.

arts and culture

Right or Revisionist: should museums repatriate the objects and art of indigenous cultures?

I

n light of the recent promise

by The Netherlands to return any artefacts from the country’s colonial past to their places of origin, conversations around repatriation are taking on a renewed relevancy. The repatriation or restitution of cultural heritage is the process of returning art and artefacts to the geographical areas or peoples who produced them, often in the context of historical looting and colonialism. As an international and cross-cultural effort, repatriation can be predictably rife with conflict and political agendas. The still unresolved case of the Parthenon marbles, sometimes known as the Elgin marbles after the Scottish diplomat responsible for their removal, is one of the most well-known repatriation debates of recent years. Restitution cases typically invite discussion on important and ambivalent themes such as ownership, context and conservation of the objects of cultural significance, and the question of who should be afforded constituency over these objects?

One of the issues facing peoples with their cultural artifacts lying in a distant museum is the lack of control over these objects. Without this sense of control, the rightful inheritors of this physical lineage have little to no input over the depth of research performed, not to mention the methods of display, curation and depiction used.

Natives of the original territory have no jurisdiction to hold a museum in another territory to account over issues of ill-representation on the basis of tentative claims of ancestral cultural authority.

Grassroots movements for return

words: Ciara O’Flatherty

and restitution are at a disadvantage due to physical and political distance from the place of display.

Enjoying control over the conditions of exhibition also involves maintaining control over the perception of the objects, and over the culture and history they represent as the physical breadcrumbs left behind. While these indicators of a foreign lifestyle no doubt inform and educate the mostly Western viewers who see them divorced from their original context, those with ancestral ties to the users and makers of the objects would seem to clearly have the more indisputable right to that information and education.

This idea of object culture as a means to learning about history can help us reframe the question of object location through the lens of white supremacy. The treasures and works of art pillaged during colonialism were sent back in a celebration of domination and the success of the ‘civilising’ Western forces, and also as entertainment for those in possession of enough status and leisure time to attain access to such ‘curiosities’ either in museums or private homes. The white conquerors procured for themselves the right to broaden their minds beyond the context of their countries, while stripping the indigenous producers of the right to learn about even their own culture. The right to education for the white is perceived as boundless, militant and assured, while education for indigenous people is dependent largely on occupying powers, destabilised – for example as oral history – and unprotected. Physical, tangible objects give history substance, and while there are plenty arguments for and against the propriety of

assigning mythologies to inanimate things, objects beyond any doubt stimulate our comprehension of this history. The placement of these objects in Western locations legitimises the privilege of white people in terms of access to education and access to history, privileging access not only to the history of their own race and ethnicities, but to the history of others.

I don’t say this to demonise the museum-goer, rather, I say it to express a desire for a better cognisance of the backstory of an object, how it was procured and its true provenance - something that is often overlooked and even withheld at times. The repatriation of cultural objects is more likely to allow them to be experienced ‘in-context’ near the site of their removal, in proximity to the people whose culture can trace their lineage to the original users and producers. The museumgoer experiences the objects out of their historical context, and this allows the institution to disguise itself as an apparently objective collector and observer, separate from history and from the acquisition of these objects. Any degree of critical thinking will convince the individual this cannot be the case, but in the case of cultural artifacts and history, presentation will influence reception.

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arts and culture Art historian and Uncomfortable Art Tours activist Alice Procter criticises the cold, passive voice of museum labels that fail to acknowledge, for example, British museums’ expressed indication of interest in procuring works during the Anglo-Mysore Wars. She advocates for ‘display it like you stole it’ in a campaign for the recognition of the museum’s role in cultural desecration.In some cultural theory, museums fulfil the function of mausoleums to the state, while under this guise of objectivity, reaffirming national pride and loyalty. In a way, then, the preservation of cultural objects of foreign territories is not only an indoctrination of the preserving nation’s people, but a dispossession of the territories’ own ability to increase national pride, which could be considered an act of cultural violence.

“The museum-goer experiences the objects out of their historical context, and this allows the institution to disguise itself as an apparently objective collector and observer, separate from history and from the acquisition of these objects.”

On the other hand, a symptom of the same colonialism that allowed Western nations to amass these culturally diverse artefacts is the development of the wealth which affords them the ability to maintain such objects. While difficult to rationalise as a moral argument, in terms of practicalities it makes sense for sensitive objects to be kept in museums with vast resources due to concerns about preservation and theft. Native and indigenous communities across the world are often disproportionately affected by poverty as a result of systems of injustice, and thus, understandably, resources are not always prioritised for cultural projects and maintenance. Arguments against repatriation have cited poor attendance or interest in museums in the countries of origin, institutions often symbolically built by withdrawing colonial forces. Additionally, as valuable and rare cultural pieces, communities might be placed in a position where needing to put artefacts back on the market becomes a means to survive, whether by theft or legitimate sale, and the cycle of dispossession, this time under the guise of structural and not physical violence, begins again.

In-fighting on topics of legitimate ownership and place within the country or communities also destabilises

the receiving environment for the objects. Museums, as bodies mandated for the preservation of historical items, will not be so easily convinced as to hand back objects without assurance of their safety and protection, now and into the future. In any case, discussion of repatriation needs to happen with deep care and willingness to understand on both sides.

Museums are likewise mandated to disseminate historical knowledge through widespread access to the objects and spaces, and due to the aforementioned wealth and resource gap between affluent Western nations, particularly cities, and the often isolated indigenous communities, Western museums are often in a position that allows increased access to these objects.

For example, Musée de quai Branly in the major destination city of Paris can verifiably claim more access to a global audience than southern Nigeria, where multiple items in the museum’s collection originate from. In the case of the Elgin marbles, then-MP Tristram Hunt argued that their current position in the British Museum facilitated ideas of globalism, interdependency, and humanism above nationalism, with London as a global hub for these ideals. Proponents of this argument want to prioritise availability of the objects in terms of numbers, I would counter that the make-up of the intended audience is as important a consideration.

Access toWestern cities, never mind museums in those cities, is certainly prioritised to Western people, and especially to those in physical proximity to these cities. This position may hold some weak standing in the case of Greek access to London, but when considering Nigerian access to Paris, it holds significantly less weight.

Repatriation could be considered historically revisionist, in that applying the dominant modern day, moralistic rhetoric to the ways in which property rights were understood in the past frames events in a way that is detached from their contexts and norms.

Historically ownership and property have been understood in a myriad of ways that are vastly different from our contemporary understandings, and even to this day, rights to objects are construed differently across cultures. Examining the past in this way could be said to set a precedent of constantly revising the ways in which events and cultures are understood as different moral standards arise and become dominant. The validity of such a precedent is another discussion altogether.

“Museums, as bodies mandated for the preservation of historical items, will not be so easily convinced as to hand back objects without assurance of their safety”

arts and culture

Another approach to the topic is the ever relevant question of production versus provenance – is an object more a part of the culture which produced it or the culture it physically resides in? In the line of thinking that objects in their place of origin beget national pride, while in the museums of Western countries they would add to the certain cultural identity of its nation of residence. The identification of the possessing culture with the object would increase with time, proportional to the dispossession of the indigenous culture of such identification, suggesting that the longer an object is separate from its country of origin, the less the culture of that place will rely on it.

“Historically, ownership and property have been understood in a myriad of ways that are vastly different from our contemporary understandings, and even to this day, rights to objects are construed differently across cultures” All in all, while concerns about access, conservation and protection urgently need to be addressed on a case-by-case basis, to me the idea of denying indigenous cultures access to the objectified legacy of their ancestors for any longer is not only justifying the thievery of the past, but further robbing people of the opportunity to learn about and further develop an understanding of their own cultural identity. Either way, as Western nations discuss the restoration of cultural artifacts to their places of origin, it seems repatriation will continue to be a contentious topic in the cultural sphere for some time yet

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arts and culture

Nuair a bhíonn an fíon istigh, bíonn an ciall amuigh.

The intricate legacy of alcohol in Ireland

Words: Mairéad McCarthy and Niamh Burns Illustration: Maeve Walsh

With the current lockdown still firmly in place, and the threat of Covid-19 present a full year later, one of the

coveted activities people are yearning for is the return of the pubs this summer that are considered to sustain a sense of community. From sprawling urban cities, to rural landscapes, pubs in Ireland have commonly captured the spirit of friendliness and socialising, becoming such a trademark of Irish culture that their existence has become an international hallmark of the Irish people. Indeed, as we witnessed the global celebration of St Patrick’s day, the celebration of what was - and in many ways still is - a cultural and religious day that recognises the legacy of our Patron saint, has become a global excuse to drink to excess and celebrate - even during a pandemic. While the notion of celebrating is by no means something to frown upon, the connotations of alcohol and the tendency to excuse drunken behaviour as simply ‘celebrating Irishness’, calls into question how our reputation and consequently, this relationship with drinking came to be. Where did such a notoriety for drinking come from and why has the image of Irishness become so convoluted?

Ireland is known by many names: The Emerald Isle, the Land of Saints and Scholars. An estimated 70 million people identify with the Irish diaspora, many of whom have contributed to some of the world’s greatest developments such as the submarine, the stethoscope and the building of famed monuments including the Titanic and the White House. Why then, have the people of Ireland been reduced to an affinity with alcohol and excessive drinking?

Ireland’s legacy with alcohol dates back to our colonial history and shines a very brutal light on the origins of our acclaimed relationship with drinking. Although it is crystallized in the collective consciousness that Ireland is the producer of Guinness and good whiskey, in reality, throughout most of history, poítin was the most produced alcohol in the country. Poítin - a spirit made from grains and potatoes - was more accessible to non-elites, and working peasants during the Plantation era. This period, brandished in our minds as a time rife with disease, plague, poverty and imprisonment, seems as apt a time as any to justify drinking. And to an extent, this must have been true because it is known that Poítin distilleries - small but populous in order to evade British taxation for arrest - became vital community points, with alcohol serving as both a way of defiance and an aspect of socialising.

Moving into the nineteenth and twentieth century, the habits and presence of Irish drinking culture (especially among the diaspora) began to be weaponized and satirized by the British to influence anti-Irish sentiment.

Cartoons published in Punch, frequently depict the Irish as ape-like, and non-human, incapable of rational thought and all consumed with drinking. These images - which fed into pervasive discourses of national race types, and the imperialist civilizing mission - portrayed the ‘Irish’ Apesitting atop barrels of gunpowder, swigging from bottles or screaming obscenities as empty bottles decorate the floor at their feet. Through postcolonial studies we now know that the purpose of these images is to create a sense of otherness; one that ostracized Ireland - among other marginalised peoples - as somewhat barbaric, and Ireland as an undignified place, that could only be improved through British imperialism.

Stereotypes of this sort were frequently contested by Irish poets, playwrights and artists, who sought to undo this image by explaining the multi-faceted nature of alcoholism, whilst highlighting the shame and harm it brought to the country. One example of such work is the acclaimed The Plough and the Stars, by Seamus Heaney, which takes two characters associated with alcoholism and contradicts their narrative by highlighting the tragic reasons behind their affinity for drinking and proving that they are capable of much more than is initially established,, giving credit to the logic of alcoholism as a ‘good man’s weakness.’

Of course, twentieth century Ireland was no stranger to tragedy. Faced with civil war and national division, loss was at the forefront of the physical and mental trauma imparted to the people of Ireland.

arts and culture In a newly formed state with little to no resources, The Church filled a vacuum for the government, looking to rehabilitate Irish drinking habits through the ‘Intoxicating Liquor Commission and Licensing Acts in 1924 and 1927, which limited the number of public houses throughout the country. By 1946, the first Alcoholics Anonymous was established in Ireland and in 1968, it was reported that 42% of Irish adults abstained from drinking entirely. With that in mind, it’s important to note that women weren’t allowed to purchase their own drink in a public house until 1968- even after this they weren’t allowed to be served beer unless accompanied by a man. Therefore, drinking in Ireland, although on the downturn was largely a gendered problem in society, and -one that was left largely untreated, resulting in a generational pattern and normalization of dependency on alcohol - as a means of socialising and as a way to cope with a largely repressed society still trying to reconcile with years of outside influence from both the old British presence and the presence of the Catholic Church. But given the many years and changes in attitude towards drinking in Ireland, why does the perpetuation of the drunken Irishman still prevail?

“The purpose of these images was to create a sense of otherness; one that ostracized Ireland as somewhere barbaric, that could only be improved through British imperialism” As of 2021, Ireland is 7th in the world when it comes to alcohol consumption levels Yet, despite this published data, funding for mental health services remains minimal, with budget reductions worsening it each year, and support for substance abuse struggles to meet the rising call for help. This raises some important questions about the structural problems that underpin this problem. Is it perhaps the inability of the state to support its citizens that is causing harm on a wider level? Or have we as a nation simply dismissed and normalised our drinking patterns, rather than looking at the problem from the root of the disease? Are the two mutually exclusive? Finally, we must consider to what extent the international perception of Irish drinking is really the problem that we should be addressing, rather than the actual social, mental, and physical health damage that excessive drinking is causing. To truly fix this problem, we need to get back to the root of the problem, which, as we have seen, casts a long shadow all the way back to the early modern period.

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politics

China’s Repression of Uyghur Muslims Forced labour, mass sterilisation and genoicide in Xinjiang

Words: Ella Sloane Illustration: Samira Rauner

C

hina’s persecution and suppression of its Uyghur Muslim population has been described as the largest incarceration of an ethno-religious minority since the Holocaust, and now meets the United Nation’s definition of a genocide. The Chinese government is currently detaining at least a million Uyghur Muslims in what they are calling ‘re-education camps’ in Xinjiang, where they are subjected to unimaginable violations of human rights. As some of the horrors unfold, it has beenrevealed that political indoctrination, various forms of torture, and psychological abuse are being inflicted upon the Chinese Uyghur population in these mass internment camps.

While light may have only been shed on the conflict in Xinjiang in recent years, it dates much further back. Xinjiang, meaning ‘New Frontier’, was once mainly inhabited by a wide variety of Muslim ethnic groups, the majority being Uyghurs. The region possessed independent statehood until 1759, when it was conquered by the imperial armies of China’s Manchu dynasty. Ever since, tensions have been rife in the Xinjiang region, and have escalated for centuries. A pivotal development in its conflict-ridden history was the establishment of an expansive network of quasi-military Han settlements in the 1950s, known as the “Production and Construction Corps” (PCCs). Since this plantation, which set out to assert Han superiority amongst the region’s Muslim population, these PCCs have created dozens of forced labour camps and other harsh penal institutions, where many long-term prisoners are sent to serve out their sentences. Growing resentment amongst the Uyghur population due to the unjust imbalance of power in the region reared its head in the form of largescale separatist riots in the 1990s, as they fought to regain their independence. In the last number of decades, particularly since China declared its ‘war on terrorism’ in response to 9/11, Chinese authorities have cracked down on Muslim minorities that they view as a threat and enforced a strict regime in the region to counteract the Uyghur separatist movement

“China wields its rapidly growing status as a dominant economic force, warding off critique from global media outlets and the potential of collective sanctions being imposed upon it by other states” Internally, the Communist Party of China (CCP), the country’s predominant political authority, maintains a firm grasp on power through their use of Orwellian surveillance tactics and an elaborate internet censorship system which monitors and effectively mutes public criticism. Externally, China wields its rapidly growing status as a dominant economic force, warding off critique from global media outlets and the potential of collective sanctions being imposed upon it by other states. Anyone who dares to challenge the regime faces dire consequences, a fact that is now glaringly obvious following empirical evidence provided by the Xinjiang Data project, conducted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) The project has gathered rigorous evidence of the human rights violations against Uyghurs and other non-Han minorities occurring in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in western China. It focuses on a range of topics, including “mass internment camps, surveillance and emerging technologies, forced labour and supply chains, the ‘re-education’ campaign, deliberate cultural destruction and other human rights issues”

The ASPI have made shocking revelations into the ongoing governmental campaign to suppress the Uyghur population. Although state population control is not a new phenomenon in China, the lengths to which the Chinese government are going to specifically target Uyghur Muslim women are extreme. Dr Adrian Zenz has uncovered the disturbing truth of the situation in Xinjiang through his research and systematic analysis of government policy documentation and population statistics from the region, which reveal a thoroughly plotted campaign of forced birth control. Witnesses have testified that unknown drugs and injections are being administered by the Xinjiang authorities to women in detention centres. Furthermore, many women have been forcibly fitted with intrusive surgical methods of birth control such as intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUDs) and coerced into partaking in mass sterilization. Internment is threatened as a punishment for those who do not adhere to strict birth control policies. The research reveals that the reproductive autonomy of innocent Uyghur women is being completely erased at the hands of an authoritative government who are actively working to suppress ethnic minorities that they view as a political threat. On top of that, many former detainees reported witnessing or experiencing systemic rape, which occurred either as a form of punishment or at random for the sexual gratification of guards. The extent of this sexual abuse is much greater than initlly imagined and the more women come forward after managing to escape, the clearer the stark reality of the situation becomes.

“The reproductive autonomy of innocent Uyghur women is being completely erased at the hands of an authoritative government who are actively working to suppress ethnic minorities that they view as a political threat.”

Some Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities are being released from internment camps in Xinjiang, only to be relocated to heavily monitored industrial parks where they must partake in forced labour for less than half of China’s minimum wage. Constantly under the surveillance of a vast network of cameras and watchful security guards and forbidden to leave the factory grounds, the workers here live in a constant state of fear. Two middle-aged Kazakh workers, Yerzhan Kurman and Gulzira Auelkhan have provided testimonies of the conditions that they were s ubject to in the labour camp and glove factory they worked in for months prior to their escape. The gloves that were individually stitched by Yerzhan and Gulzira have a market price of over ten times the amount that they were being paid per pair. In another attempt to ‘ethnically cleanse’ the Uyghur Muslim populace, Yerzhan and Gulzira spent their evenings learning Mandarin Chinese, under the threatening presence of guards who scrutinised their every move.

The Chinese government are masking these blatant attempts to suppress Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim minorities, by justifying their actions with the rhetoric of charity, insisting that they are ‘aiding Xinjiang’. In reality, they are not only exploiting them for cheap labour, but also imposing Han Chinese norms upon them and thereby diminishing their cultural identities. The extent of the hardship faced by China’s Muslim population is unknown to the vast majority of people, and this article merely skims the surface of the horrific abuses of human rights that persist in Xinjiang as you read this.

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scitech

Cyberwarfare - the 21st Century’s Most Sinister Threat to Modern Life and Security Words: Ella Sloane Illustration: Ella Sloane

Rapid technological advancement in the last decade has resulted in the birth of a dangerous form of political and criminal weaponry: cyberwarfare. This digital mode of conflict presents a wealth of previously unimaginable opportunities for both cybercriminal activity and the more sinister prospect of crippling virtual attacks between opposing nation-states. The motivation behind such attacks is to disrupt the activity of a target organisation or nation-state, often for strategic or military purposes. As the role the internet plays in our daily lives continues to increase exponentially, so too does the threat that cyberwarfare poses to modern life and security.

Critical infrastructures, such as those driving electricity production, water treatment, and power generation, are common targets for terrorists or hackers engaging in cyber warfare. These infrastructures are interconnected to form an energy ‘grid’, making them vulnerable, and allowing hostile nations or groups to exploit weaknesses and penetrate poorly secured computer networks. Although these networks are now denser and more complex, the potential risk of cyber-attacks being carried out on critical infrastructure still remains omnipresent. Energy systems, transportation and telecommunications networks are the most likely to be targeted because of the havoc wreaked when these essential services are disrupted.

In December 2015 Ukraine experienced an unprecedented power outage caused by malicious hackers, the first of its kind. The power grid in the Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine went down for a reported six hours, due to a software-based attack, leaving approximately half the homes in the region with a population of 1.4 million without power, according to the Ukrainian news outlet TSN. The success of this operation sent seismic waves through the realm of cybersecurity and opened the world’s eyes to the stark reality of cyberwarfare and the wide-spread damage it can incur. It provided an eye-opening lesson to other nations, and a sharp reminder of the importance of cyber security. Some control centres in the U.S. were found to be surprisingly less secure than those in Ukraine, which were well-segregated from the control centre business networks with robust firewalls. However, these protective measures were not enough to withstand the hack. The lack of two-factor authentication requirements for workers logging into the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) network that controlled the grid proved to be a fatal flaw. This weakness effectively allowed the attackers to hijack their credentials, gaining crucial access to systems that controlled the breakers Cyberwarfare can also be used as a method to sow discord within a state, intentionally stimulating government destabilization. Arguably, the most notable instance of this was Russia’s recent interference with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The recent cyberwarfare tactics utilised by Russian intelligence officers and professional trolls alike sought to create a favourable image of candidate Donald Trump and effectively disparage Hillary Clinton’s campaign through the spread of misleading content and promotion of disinformation on various social media platforms. This highly developed campaign weaponized social media, subjecting the American population to propaganda and manipulating public opinions in the lead up to the election.

The Internet Research Agency, based in Saint Petersburg, is one of Russia’s leading companies specifically designed to engage in online operations organised on behalf of Russia’s economic and political interests. In the runup to the U.S. elections, employees were dedicated to exploiting increasing polarization in the U.S. in order to further deepen existing political divisions. They created fake social media accounts and blogs to distribute disinformation, pitting U.S. citizens against one another. Trolls aggravated racial tensions and even organised activist events and protests for opposing groups at the same time and place to deliberately evoke conflict. Russia’s military intelligence agency, GRU, are also alleged to have targeted prominent US figures and institutions, with hackers sourcing and releasing information that could be potentially damaging into the public domain via WikiLeaks.

Crucially, the scandalous release of Democratic documentation and private emails fatally undermined Clinton’s campaign efforts and tainted her reputation.

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The ever-growing sophisticated nature of cyber espionage and intellectual property theft conducted by adversaries endangers both public and private sectors, the impacts of which are being felt by all. In particular, China has become notorious in this arena, allowing their nation-state to assert its power and dominance in the cyber sphere both at home and abroad. Chinese hackers have successfully infiltrated and taken information from dozens of U.S. weapons programs, ensuring they are at a military advantage. arious other targets have included the headquarters of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan exile centres, and many diplomatic and government offices. China’s motivations are purely political, and highlight both the risks to global security and rising tensions between superpowers who have become engaged in a race to master the art of cyberwarfare. By garnering this wealth of information, China is rapidly gaining control over its rival nation-states via the ability to manipulate them using their own information The increasing occurrence and severity of cyberwarfare, as well as the vast range of methods being used to inflict damage on nation-states across the digital divide proves the threat that cyberwarfare poses to modern society and security, in a world that has now become primarily digital. Whilst traditional warfare will continue to pervade military spheres into the future, technological forces are more likely to be the most prominent form of weaponry on our new cyber battlefield. Cyberwarfare will dominate global conflict for centuries to come, and as history has demonstrated, it is paramount that military strategy adapts to this rapidly evolving domain promptly and with caution. The imminent risks to humanity and society as we know it presented by this potentially lethal weapon are certainly not to be underestimated.

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The Dark Side of Consumerism: Animal Suffering to Supply Words: Samira Rauner Demand Illustration: Ella Sloane

At the end of last year, a campaign launched by Shark

Allies called on the Food and Drug Administration after it became public that some COVID-19 vaccines rely on squalene. Squalene, a compound found in the livers of sharks and other fish, is known for increasing a vaccine’s immunization efficiency and is therefore being used by some pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline and Seqirus. GSK has announced that once their vaccine is approved, they plan on producing one billion doses. Though GSK claims that the sharks they are using are not endangered, Stefanie Brendl, founder of Shark Allies, asserts that the global shark trade is not transparent. She suggests that, if two doses of the vaccine are needed to ensure immunisation, vaccinating the global population with a squalene-containing product will necessarily result in the slaughtering of around 500,000 sharks per year. Shark Allies argue that with one-third of shark species already vulnerable to extinction, relying on squalene is “an unsustainable demand to place on a finite natural resource like sharks”.

However, Brendl also states that each year the squalene of an estimated 70 to 100 million sharks is used in a variety of products, such as sunscreen or skincare, with vaccinations only accounting for 1% of that number.

Therefore, with global headlines late last year taking up Shark Allies’ prognosis that half a million sharks would need to be killed to satisfy the demand for vaccinations, the fact that it was this minimal percentage that caused a global outcry not only reflects the impact consumerism has on the environment but, more importantly, it begs the question whether people are oblivious or simply indifferent to the use of the other 99% of squalene, which accounts for the vast majority of shark killings each year. However, with millions of other animals also being killed each year simply to satisfy the demand of animal-derived ingredients used in cosmetic products, sharks are quite literally only a drop in the ocean.

According to a BLOOM study conducted in 2012, the “main consumer of animal squalene” is the cosmetics sector. Squalene is used as the key moisturizing ingredient and even though plant substitutes like olive oil or sugar cane are available, sourcing it from animals predominantly sharks - is estimated to be 30% cheaper than using plant-based alternatives. According to BLOOM, the estimated global demand for squalene in

2012 was roughly 2000-2200 tons, which would mean the killing of around 3 million deep-sea sharks per year alone. Though the study asserts that the cosmetics industry accounts for 90% of the squalene used, the shark trade is not transparent, and a large percentage of shark killing is unregulated. It is the demand for shark fin soup, in particular, that results in the finning of a large number of the fish each year, with the number roughly estimated to sit around 75 million. Finning a shark includes the removal of its fins and discarding the animal back into the ocean, often alive. Though shark finning has been banned in a wide range of countries, including all member states of the European Union, India, South Africa, and parts of the US, this does not necessarily mean that the demand has ceased to match.

Writing for National Geographic, Rachel Fobar reports that the “underground” shark trade can be compared to the “illicit drug trade” in how difficult it is to regulate. The case of the United States, as well as countries like Hong Kong, the largest shark fin importer in the world, show that the demand for shark remains stable.

However, the world’s addiction to consumerism is by no means limited to products derived from sharks. The global cosmetics market, which was valued at around $380.2 billion in 2019, is estimated to be responsible for the deaths of approximately 100,000 to 200,000 animals each year.

According to the New York Times, animal-derived ingredients commonly found in beauty products include “lanolin (wool grease), carmine (crushed-up beetles), gelatin (cow or pig bones, tendons or ligaments), allantoin (cow urine), ambergris (whale vomit) and placenta (sheep organs)”. Lanolin, for instance, is a waxy substance naturally produced by sheep. Because of its greasy consistency and conditioning properties, it is a standard ingredient in moisturizers, lotions, or lip balms. Though the process of extracting lanolin itself does not harm sheep, the cruelties of the wool industry are still rampant. By having to meet certain quotas, an investigation by PETA uncovered that sheep are subject to a variety of abuse, including getting “hit in the face with electrical clippers” or having shearers “stand on their heads, necks, and hind limbs”. It is arguably very questionable how we as consumers seem to consistently fail to prioritize animal welfare for our own economic benefit.

scitech Another example of the amount of animal suffering needed to satisfy our demand is an ingredient commonly found in both skin care and cosmetic products such as lipstick, nail polish or blush carmine. Carmine is a colour derived from crushed-up cochineal bugs, and it is estimated that around 70,000 bugs need to be killed to produce one pound of carmine.

According to the BBC, in 2017, Peru “exported 647 tonnes of carmine for a total value of $46.4m (£33m)”, a number that is only hinting at the staggering total am ount of bugs killed each year, solely to satisfy society’s demand in red colour for skincare and beauty needs.

Moreover, though banned in the EU, the UK, India, and Israel, among others, animal testing still plays a large role in not only the skincare and cosmetics consumed but also the food or pharmaceutical industry. PETA estimates that animal testing leads to the deaths of some 100,000 animals annually, including frogs, mice, dogs, cats, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, monkeys, birds, and fish. The Straits Times reports that in order to test if ingredients or products are fit for the consumer, animals are “exposed to test the substances [via] application to the eyes or … bare skin, by injection, by inhalation or by force-feeding”. They state that typically, animals are used for testing for a limited duration of time, often between “28 and 90 days”, after which they “are then killed”. PETA estimates that in 2017, a staggering 1 million animals were held captive in laboratories in the United States - that number excluding small animals like mice, birds, rats, and amphibians and reptiles.

"The global cosmetics market is estimated to be responsible for the deaths of approximately 100,000 to 200,000 animals each year" Even though animal testing is illegal in the EU and the UK, not only is animal testing nonetheless used for medical drug development, but cosmetic companies reportedly circumvent this ban by testing their products and ingredients in countries where it is still legal, such as China. According to PETA, these companies include wellknown and popular brands such as Estée Lauder, Maybelline, Clinique, NARS, L’Oreal, Bobbi Brown, Victoria’s Secret, and Benefit. Even though we, as a society, are largely aware of the amount of animal suffering caused by, for instance, the meat industry, demand does not seem to cease - even if it is at the expense of an animal’s wellbeing. Whether that is due to blatant indifference or pure ignorance, the cosmetics industry seems to be no different from the meat industry. Truth is, cosmetics are an economic enterprise in a consumerist society, essentially only functioning to supply a demand.

It is us as a society, creating and sustaining that demand, that results in the cosmetics, meat, or fashion industry producing cheap products featuring animal suffering over more expensive, cruelty-free items. We continue to buy the affordable blush in the deep crimson colour, trying to suppress that article we once read about millions of beetles being killed specifically with the intention of making our cheeks look flushed. As a society, we continue to buy that really thick, greasy lip balm, ignoring the number of sheep suffering because it’s simply perfect for our cracked lips in winter. As a society, we continue to order that fancy shark fin soup, just because it’s illegal and an adventurous story we can tell strangers we don’t care about to spice up our life, indifferent to the pain of millions of sharks floating down to the bottom of the ocean without their fins, drowning. As a society, we need to stop blindly consuming just for the sake of it, and sort out our priorities.

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are we moving toward The arrival of the pandemic has raised questions about the future of payment methods, but not all countries

approach the idea of change in the same way. If technology allowed an increasingly frequent use of online shops and internet banking, the stricter measures that the pandemic forced us to adopt developed these habits even further.

Not only are we able to purchase and track our shopping leisurely from our homes but over the last decade, society has increasingly put aside coins and notes in favour of digital and cashless transactions such as credit cards and mobile apps. Despite the World Health Organization highlighting that cash is no more dangerous than using other common items such as handrails or doorknobs, since the beginning of the pandemic, we have begun a global practice that has moved us towards the introduction of a cashless society. The main reason is clearly because people could not leave their houses. Yet, governments also aimed to limit the use and exchange of cash (as a potential carrier of the virus), promoting so-called ‘contactless’ payments. But are we really moving towards an era without cash?

According to the European Central Bank (ECB), in 2016 cash was the preferred method of payment, accounting for 79% of all transactions. In July 2020, the ECB also conducted a survey to measure the impact of the pandemic on payment behaviour. The survey accounted for 17,779 respondents and illustrated a national divide on the topic.

In Ireland, more than a half of those interviewed declared that they were using less cash since the beginning of the pandemic. Indeed, 55% of them expressed their concern about catching the virus when handling cash.

In contrast, countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Malta, not even the 25% of the population diminished their use of cash. Only 14% of the participants in Estonia were concerned about getting infected when touching bank notes. However, what is expected after the pandemic is a general and faster shift from cash to electronic payments. On this subject, the survey reports that 46% of the respondents will certainly continue to use less cash, 41% of them will probably do so and only 13% will revert to their original habits.

“55% of participants expressed their concern about catching the virus when handling cash.”

In the UK, data revealed that since the beginning of the lockdown, the number of withdrawals at ATM counters has decreased by 60%, while over 50% of the population already lives mostly cashless. In addition to the UK, Nordic countries are also moving rapidly to decrease the flow of physical cash, placing it on track to become the most cashless region in the world. Early in 2016, four out of five transactions were already cashless in Denmark and Norway, whereas in 2019 the number of retail cash transactions had fallen by 80% per person in Sweden.

However, in countries such as Italy, data shows that consumers used cash for 87,1% of their transactions in 2018 thus indicating a reluctance to embrace cashless payments, though some improvements have been made in the last year, based on new government strategies As illustrated above, there are great differences between each of these countries. Yet, even on a national level, based on varying circumstances, citizens are not equally prepared to face the transition from cash to contactless payments.

Younger countries are likely to embrace the change; with cities moving faster to meet these innovations in contrast to the countryside. It is now clear that it is a fragmented process, depending on the characteristics of each country.

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ds a cashless society? words: Francesca Corsetti

At this point the question that must be asked is: are countries ready to develop into completely cashless societies?

Setting aside physical cash means that each country must be able to guarantee equal access to internet banking for each citizen, regardless of age or location, so citizens can access funds and digital banking services everywhere.

Going cashless has its pros and cons. Certainly, it would be much simpler for the government to track transactions, thus making it easier to monitor tax evasion. Bank notes and coins are more cumbersome for those who use them, but especially for banks. Cashless supporters also highlight a reduction in money laundering, fewer violent attacks and robberies and it would also mean saving resources otherwise used in the production of cash. In addition, the growing global digital generation, that is to say, the younger generations, rely on faster and impersonal forms of payments. Cash supporters acknowledge that, psychologically, it is less painful to pay with cards as opposed to cash.

“in a cashless society, many people would be left behind. this includes those who are ‘unbanked’, but also the most vulnerable” However, one of the biggest concerns about a completely cashless society is surrounding privacy issues: internet banking requires the transfer of personal data, which in the case of a country run by a political dictatorship, might become accessible to the government for the purpose of tracking citizens. Additionally, it may mitigate physical acts of violence, cyberattacks might become more frequent, causing more serious harm on an international scale. Or, in a less dystopian scenario, an internet breakdown or other technological issues might put a stop to an economy. It thus requires a very strong digital infrastructure in order to be successful.

Arguably, in a cashless society, many people would be left behind. This includes those who are ‘unbanked’, but also the most vulnerable: cash is used for charity, as well as those people with physical or mental problems who struggle with digital services, and even by those who are abused, for whom cash is a way of independence. In short, cash leaves no one behind.

Whilst we wait to see where the pandemic will lead us, the ECB has made it clear that it will continue to provide banknotes, considering cash is the ‘only direct link to central-bank money’. This decision has been made so that, should cash eventually disappear, it will be solely based on the choice of the consumer.

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