The Caravel | Volume IX, Issue II

V O LU M E 8 | I S S U E 2

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Chile’s Government Arrests Thousands of Protesters

THE WHITE HOUSE

Martin Hiti

President Donald Trump meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the G-20 summit.

Unrest broke out in Chile after a rise in metro fares, which has now been suspended, according to CBS. The movement, led mainly by students, intensified last week into protests against inequality and rising living costs. The protests have led to arson, looting, clashes with the police, and temporary closures of schools, according to reports from BBC. Sebastián Piñera, the president of Chile, declared a state of emergency in the country’s major cities. In addition, he deployed police and military forces that used tear gas and enforced a curfew, according to the Guardian. This occasion marks the first time since the end of Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1990 that a Chilean president has used the military against civilians.

Piñera’s response has intensified the protesters’ anger. While he did suspend

the metro fare increases, he declared that the country was “at war” with a violent enemy, according to BBC. The unrest began when students started jumping metro turnstiles to protest a proposed $0.04 hike in metro fares. The protests soon grew into a movement of students, workers unions, and general strikers demanding better healthcare, education, and wages.

The demonstrators have waved the national flag and chanted, “Chile has woken up,” CBS reports. This reveals the tension between Chile’s former stability and current inequality. Chile’s macroeconomic policy has led to increased wealth and stability, according to the World Bank, but it has the highest level of inequality among OECD countries, according to 2017 data.

See CHILE PROTESTS on p. 8

Congress Urges Removal of Secret Nuclear Narrow Victory For Trudeau Weapons From Turkey Over Syria Invasion Madeline Hart Caleb Yip Senators Chris Van Hollen (DMD) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced the Countering Turkish Aggression Act of 2019, which would “levy immediate, serious sanctions against Turkey,” according to a press release from Van Hollen’s office on October 17. It calls for sanctions on Turkey in response to the Turkish incursion into Syria that has displaced tens of thousands of Kurds and puts the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) at risk.

It also implicitly calls for the removal of nuclear weapons from Turkey.

The bill requires the White House to impose sanctions targeting financial institutions. It would bar senior

Turkish officials—including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan— from visiting the United States and would prevent the U.S. from selling weapons to Turkey. The bill also requires the president to submit a report on “viable alternative military installations… to host assets of the United States Armed Forces currently stationed at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey.” Although the bill does not specifically mention nuclear weapons and the United States does not publicly acknowledge the presence of nuclear weapons in Turkey, it is widely understood that the bill is referencing U.S. nuclear weapons stored in Turkey.

According to the Washington Post, a report from the NATO Parliamentary

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2-3

W. EUROPE & CANADA, 6-7

Google Reveals Quantum Computing Advance, p. 3

British Police Find 39 Dead in Truck, p. 6

E. EUROPE & RUSSIA, 4-5 Russia Detains U.S. Diplomats Near Nuclear Site, p. 4

Denmark Revokes Citizenship of Foreign Fighters, p. 7

Assembly this summer confirmed that the U.S. stores “roughly 150 nuclear weapons” in Europe, including approximately 50 B-61 gravity bombs at Incirlik Air Base. Although relations between the U.S. and Turkey have been tense, U.S. officials were not concerned about the safety of nuclear weapons in Turkey until the Turks invaded Kurdish territory after Trump abruptly ordered American forces to withdraw from Syria.

On October 14, the New York Times reported that State and Energy Department officials were reviewing plans to evacuate the American tactical nuclear weapons from Incirlik.

See NUCLEAR REMOVAL on p. 2

Justin Trudeau maintained his position as Canadian prime minister in a recent election on October 21. However, Trudeau’s Liberal Party lost its majority in the House of Commons, while still keeping enough seats to form a minority government, according to the Guardian. The results of this election, as well as the delicate new balance they create, are sure to cause tension and change in Canada in the years to come.

According to the Canadian election results, the Liberal Party won only 157 seats, losing 20 seats. The Conservative Party, which forms the main opposition against the Liberals, gained 26 seats, ending up with 121 seats. As for smaller parties, the Bloc Québécois gained 22

new seats, regaining its official party status with 32 total seats. The New Democratic Party, a leftist Canadian party and formerly the third-largest party, lost 15 seats, falling to 24.

Altogether, the Liberal Party did have enough seats to create a minority government, even though it lost the popular vote. Canada’s Conservative Party took home a plurality of the vote, 34.4 percent, with the Liberal Party at 33 percent.

Trudeau faced controversy going into the election. A photo published

by Time magazine pictured the prime minister, a teacher at the time, dressed in a turban, robe, and brownface for an Arabian Nights-themed party in 2001.

See NARROW VICTORY on p. 6

LAT. AM. & THE CARIBBEAN, 8-9 Observers Question Fairness of Bolivian Election, p. 8

MIDDLE EAST & C. ASIA, 12-13

AFRICA, 14-15

Israel Attends Anti-Iran Summit in Bahrain, p. 12

Elephants Fall Prey to Drought in Zimbabwe National Park, p. 14

INDO-ASIA-PACIFIC, 10-11 Australian Media Unites in Blackout Campaign, p. 10

U.S. Troop Withdrawal Allows For Turkish Offensive, p. 13

Mozambique Opposition Party Rejects Election Results, p. 15

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2 | O C T. 2019

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Dominion Energy Partners With Virginia Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D-VA) unveiled the largest state renewable energy contract in the history of the United States with Dominion Energy, which will supply the Commonwealth with 420 megawatts of solar and wind energy.

The plan, released in a statement by Dominion Energy on October 18, would extract 75 megawatts of wind energy from Apex Clean Energy and 345 megawatts from proposed solar projects scheduled to begin production over the next three years.

The partnership comes approximately one month after Northam signed Executive Order 43 establishing ambitious goals for Virginia to produce 100 percent carbon dioxide-free energy by 2050.

The partnership guarantees that the state will be able to meet one of the executive order’s clauses, which calls for Virginia to be 30 percent renewable energy by 2030. The new changes represent a shift from long run

trends in the state. According to the American Wind Energy Association, Virginia was one of nine states in the country that had no operating wind energy projects at the end of 2018.

The state will be able to meet 30 percent renewable energy by 2030.

The agreement also follows Dominion’s new stance on zero carbon energy. The company recently announced its commitment to reducing carbon emissions produced by power-generating-facilities carbon emissions by 55 percent from 2005 levels and reducing methane emissions by 50 percent from 2010 levels by 2030. Dominion made steps to honor its word earlier this March as the company closed 10 gas and coal-fired power units in Virginia.

Earlier this week, Dominion Energy claimed that when combined with previous solar projects, “the

Saahithi Dantuluri

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Best Western Leaks Consumer, U.S. Government Records Richmond, Virginia, leans into renewable energy.

power produced is enough to meet the equivalent of 45 percent of the state government’s annual energy use.” The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that the contract would provide enough electricity to power 105,000 households, while also generating jobs and stable incomes for families living in counties where energy production will occur. Apex Clean Energy predicted that installing the turbines could power up to 21,000 homes, create 250 new jobs, and provide Virginia and Botetourt county with $20 to 25 million in tax revenue over the project’s lifespan.

In a public statement, Northam cited this change as an example of “how

states can step up to combat climate change and advance a clean energy economy.” Thomas Farrell, Dominion Energy’s chairman, president, and CEO, stated that he “supports Governor Northam’s goal for a cleaner energy future here in Virginia.”

Aside from this renewable energy contract, Northam has previously taken steps to enact environmental reforms in Virginia, from approving four separate solar projects that would bring in 192 megawatts earlier this month to dedicating $20 million to electric school buses in September.

Virginia’s plan of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 seems more plausible each step forward.

U.S. Nuclear Removal

Christopher Stein Felipe Lobo Koerich Jackson Gillette Claire Hazbun

ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD Publisher Editor-in-Chief Director of Digital Operations Executive Director

Christopher Stein Rohan Sahu Kate Fin Paulina Song Morgan Smith Max Dunat Cristina Lopez Arin Chinnasathian Macy Uustal Juliana Albuquerque April Artrip Advait Arun Madison Stern Suzie Kim Ga Ram Lee Kyle Wang

EDITORIAL STAFF Copy Chief Copy Chief Africa Editor Africa Editor Eastern Europe & Russia Editor Eastern Europe & Russia Editor Indo-Asia-Pacific Editor Indo-Asia-Pacific Editor Latin America & the Caribbean Editor Latin America & the Caribbean Editor Middle East & Central Asia Editor Middle East & Central Asia Editor United States of America Editor United States of America Editor Western Europe & Canada Editor Western Europe & Canada Editor

From p.1 The air base is located just 250 miles from the Syrian border. According to a senior official, those weapons reveal a vulnerability in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The official cautioned that to evacuate the weapons would mark the de facto end of the Turkish-American alliance, which is already strained.

Despite these reports, Trump said that he was “confident” about the safety of U.S. nuclear weapons in Turkey. He also emphasized that Turkey remains a member of NATO, saying, “We’re supposed to get along with our NATO members.” U.S. European Command did not respond to questions about the status of nuclear weapons at Incirlik, saying only that “there have been no changes to the daily operations at Incirlik Air Base,” despite reports that the U.S. deployed additional security squadrons.

Never before has an American ally with U.S. nuclear weapons stationed in it fired on U.S. forces, as Turkey did on October 11, when Turkish artillery fire hit several hundred yards from a U.S. Special Forces observation post,

according to CNN. If the sanctions bill passes Congress, it would represent an unprecedented action by the U.S. against a NATO ally.

The Trump administration imposed sanctions against various Turkish ministries when Turkey first invaded Syria, but the president instructed the Treasury to lift those sanctions on October 23. Some members of Congress are going further, suggesting that removing Turkey from NATO should be considered if they continue attacking Kurdish forces.

Trump has been reluctant to punish or sanction Erdogan. Since Turkey took delivery of Russian S-400 air defense missiles in July, Congress pressured the administration to sanction them under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which mandates sanctions on countries that buy weapons from Russia. Although the State Department spokesperson said in July that Turkey would “face real and negative consequences” if they accepted the S-400, the administration has yet to impose CAATSA sanctions.

AutoClerk, a reservations management system and travel platform owned by Best Western Hotels and Resorts Group, leaked 179 gigabytes of collected data, including private information on hotel guests and users of the platform, Mac Observer reports.

The U.S. government, military, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were the main victims of the attack. The personal details of government and military personnel, as well as their past and upcoming travel arrangements, were revealed in the breach. Property management systems (PMS), booking engines, and data services related to the tourism industry were revealed, according to Security Magazine. Hundreds of thousands of in-depth files were shared, and clients’ names, dates of birth, phone numbers, home addresses, and even room numbers were included in the leaks.

A vpnMentor team that discovered the data breach suggested in their report that this information would be extremely useful to hackers as it concerned private operations pertaining to agencies of the United States government. Reservation details of regular clients could also provide attackers with valuable clues to piece together fraud attacks.

One of the platforms exposed in the database was a military contractor who also worked with the Department of Homeland Security, Security Magazine said. This contractor manages the travel arrangements of other independent contractors working closely with American security agencies, as well as U.S. government and military personnel.

The leak exposed the identifying information of many personnel and their travel arrangements. The research team viewed logs for U.S. army generals traveling to Moscow, Tel Aviv, and many more destinations, finding personal data such as masked credit card information and email addresses, and exposing the dangers of leaving information on unprotected servers.

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Google Reveals Quantum Computing Advance Google announced a breakthrough in quantum computing on October 23, according to Nature magazine.

Google’s computer achieved “quantum supremacy,” meaning that it can outperform classical computers.

Quantum computers work differently than classical computers.

Classical computers use bits, which are either 1 or 0, to store information and complete tasks. In contrast, quantum computers use qubits, which can be both 0 and 1 at the same time.

Quantum computers therefore can theoretically complete tasks faster than classical computers.

Quantum computing began with physicists Paul Benioff and Richard Feynman in the 1980s, who proposed the first theoretical framework for quantum computers. The field grew quickly. By 2007, scientists at Yale University had created the first quantum processor, and IBM released its quantum-computing platform to the public in 2016, according to CNN. According to Science magazine, Google’s paper appeared on a NASA

Google announces a new quantum computer breakthrough at its headquarters.

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research website, but was quickly taken down. A month later, Google and NASA republished the paper, officially announcing the first instance of quantum supremacy. The quantum computer generated a truly random set of numbers in 200 seconds. A state-ofthe-art classical computer takes 10,000 years to perform the same task.

Google’s computer achieved “quantum supremacy.”

The algorithm that Google’s computer solved has no practical use, but it demonstrates that quantum computing has massive potential.

Scientists have shown that quantum computers can simulate complex chemistry problems, opening the door to new medical research, according to the Institute for Advanced Study.

Quantum computing also comes with concerns for financial encryption. Modern RSA encryption relies on the difficulty in factoring

large numbers, according to the University of Waterloo Institute for Quantum Computing. Because classical computers cannot solve the “factoring problem,” most credit card transactions use RSA encryption.

Quantum computing changes this. In 1996 MIT mathematician Peter Shor developed a quantum algorithm for the “factoring problem.” Experts have since noted that quantum computers might undermine the encryption used in most financial systems, according to the New York Times.

Google’s paper assumed a stateof-the-art classical computer takes 10,000 years for the task, whereas the quantum computer takes only 200 seconds. According to NBC, IBM has challenged Google’s claim, pointing out that Google overestimates the time takes for classical computers. In a blog post, IBM argues that classical computers would take only 2.5 days to complete the task.

Regardless, this development attracts attention as well as funding for research. Google’s quantum supremacy achievement may not affect the average person, but it represents a landmark technological development.

California Turns Off Lights to Prevent Wildfires Theodore Fairfield Two wildfires threatened residents of southern California between Santa Monica and Malibu on October 21, according to Reuters. This news comes one day after Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced its second preemptive power outage to help prevent wildfires in northern California, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Firefighters operated throughout the night to extinguish the fires near the affluent beach-front area, while helicopters and other ground teams worked on carving containment lines around the fire zone’s perimeter and dousing hot spots. Authorities also ordered a mandatory evacuation for more than 200 homes in the Pacific Palisades area.

Brian Humphrey, the Los Angeles Fire Department’s spokesperson, said that winds were lighter that night, which lessened the potentially disastrous impact of the wildfires. Four people went to the hospital for smoke inhalation or minor burns. The cause of the fire is still unknown.

This came two weeks after a

major wind-driven blaze ravaged approximately 8,000 acres in northern Los Angeles, resulting in the evacuation of 23,000 homes.

Wildfires have become an increasing problem for California, with over 160,000 acres of land scorched in 2019 alone, according to the Los Angeles Times. This issue has not stayed local to southern California, either.

Energy companies such as PG&E, which powers the northern twothirds of California, have come under scrutiny for their part in initiating fires amid rising threat of wildfires across the state.

The Sacramento Bee reported that PG&E equipment issues may have caused nine small wildfires in northern and central California.

To address these concerns, PG&E scheduled a power outage in early October to prevent its equipment from sparking on upcoming days with hot, gusty winds. The company cut power for over 750,000 households and businesses across most of northern California.

This decision received criticism from politicians and the public for

PG&E’s poor communication before and during the blackout. According to NPR, Governor Gavin Newsom (DCA) said, “Californians should not pay the price for decades of PG&E’s greed and neglect.” Newsom also called on the company to rebate households $100 and small businesses $250.

PG&E had already filed for bankruptcy to mitigate the potential liabilities.

PG&E’s second preemptive blackout will affect sixteen counties in the Sierra Foothills and northern San Francisco. The utility reportedly notified 200,000 homes and businesses of a possible power outage.

PG&E is not the only company to do this. Edison International’s Southern California Edison and Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric, which supply most of the power for Southern California, have also joined PG&E in cutting power due to windy conditions but not on the same scale as PG&E.

PG&E had already filed for bankruptcy in January 2019 to mitigate the potential liabilities that have arisen from the company’s role in initiating wildfires, reported the Wall Street Journal.

CEO Bill Johnson defended PG&E’s decision to cut power for many northern Californians but assured a higher level of communication between the government and customers to facilitate a less disruptive process. “We recognize the hardship that the recent PSPS event caused for millions of people,” he stated in a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission, according to NPR. “We ask our customers, their families, and our local and state leaders to keep in mind that statistic that matters most: there were no catastrophic wildfires,” Johnson also said in this letter, underlining the importance he sees in the blackouts as a preventative measure in fighting wildfires.

Johnson has said that it could take up to a decade for the company to make necessary technological adjustments that would make preemptive power outages unnecessary.

EDITOR’S COLUMN: Madison Stern

A

s news regarding the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky develops every day, officials have focused their attention on one question: was there a quid pro quo?

The impeachment inquiry, which Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced on September 24, concerns Trump’s interactions with Zelensky, the New York Times reports. The inquiry centers around the July 25 phone call in which Trump potentially offered military aid to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into the business dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son.

Quid pro quo is a common legal term used to mean a transaction in which a service has been traded for something of value. Since the announcement of the inquiry, searches for the term on MerriamWebster’s website have surged between 5,000 and 14,000 percent, according to the Boston Globe.

But why does the term matter in impeachment proceedings?

Some quid pro quos are considered useful in governance, such as when a government withholds aid until another country ceases to commit human rights abuses. However, since Biden is currently a political rival for Trump in the 2020 election, the New York Times reports that offering aid in return for an investigation into his family may be a political favor that violates the president’s oath of office by coercing a foreign leader to help advance Trump’s personal political interests.

Politicians remain torn over whether Trump’s dealings qualify as a violation. In a rare White House press briefing, Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, said that the Trump administration withheld aid to help Trump’s political agenda on October 17, explicitly saying a quid pro quo transaction occurred before swiftly denying the statement he made.

As more details come to light in the wake of new testimony, politicians will have to grapple with the question of where the line between standard diplomatic practice and political corruption lies.

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EASTERN EUROPE & RUSSIA Morgan Smith

O

ver the past six months, demonstrators have protested in Belgrade in support of journalists and press freedom. The deterioration of media freedom is not unique to Serbia; the trend can be tracked across eastern Europe.

Last month, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) moved to suspend journalist Silvia Velikova from her job, sparking vocal protest from her fellow journalists.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reports that BNR took action against Velikova due to her support of protests against Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor. For many, Velikova’s suspension epitomized the harassment of journalists in Bulgaria and the “political manipulation of the media,” according to a statement by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

That same week, dozens of journalists marched through Sarajevo to protest violence against media workers in Bosnia. RFE/RL reports that the protests occurred after a group of “hooligans” broke in and attacked the editorial board of Radio Sarajevo.

In Montenegro, investigative journalist Jovo Martinovic is appealing his conviction on charges of drug trafficking and criminal association. According to RSF, Martinovic denies all accusations and claims they were made in retaliation for his investigative crime reporting.

The East Europe and Central Asia region ranks second-lowest in the world on the RSF 2019 World Press Freedom Index. The RSF report notes that journalists have been murdered in Slovakia and Bulgaria, denied access to government proceedings in Hungary, harassed by state-owned media outlets in Poland, and attacked in Serbia. The regional heavyweights, Russia and Turkey, continue to persecute independent media outlets. Turkey remains the biggest jailer of professional journalists in the world.

Press freedom is vital to a healthy democracy. In a region that is struggling to combat corruption and democratic backsliding, a strong and independent press may be the most critical element for success.

Russia Detains U.S. Diplomats Near Nuclear Site

Sarah Weber

Russian authorities briefly held three U.S. diplomats after it appeared that they were traveling to the site of a suspected nuclear accident on October 16, Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reports.

Authorities escorted the diplomats off of a train bound for the coastal Arctic town of Severodvinsk, home to a Russian naval testing site.

The diplomats had requested and received permission from the Russian government to visit Arkhangelsk, a city near Severodvinsk, according to Interfax. They then boarded a train toward Severodvinsk without government approval, prompting their removal from the train.

The diplomats “were on official travel and had properly notified Russian authorities of their travel,” a State Department spokesperson told the New York Times, contradicting Russian assertions that the diplomats had only shared plans to visit Arkhangelsk.

The Severodvinsk Naval Testing Site has been heavily scrutinized

over the past months. On August 8, background radiation tests in the Arctic detected high levels of radioactivity in the region. Two days later, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that a liquid fuel explosion on an off-shore platform had caused two fatalities, later revised to five, according to TASS, a Russian stateowned news agency.

In later weeks, the Defense Ministry revised their statement, claiming that the explosion was the result of an experimental engine test.

Russia’s ambiguous explanation of the incident—including their refusal to directly address the radiation spike, which, according to RFE/RL, returned to normal levels within two hours of the incident—has led to widespread speculation about the true nature of the explosion.

The Foreign Policy Research Institute explains that the covertness of the incident has provoked concern that the radiation may have resulted from a failed nuclear missile test.

The New York Times reports that U.S. intelligence officials suspect that

Health Scare Halts Kosovar Vote Count

Carolyn Ren

Vote counting in Kosovo was temporarily suspended on October 13 due to concerns of contaminated ballots. Twenty-six Central Election Commission officials sought medical help for allergic reactions and skin problems after opening five ballot boxes from Serbia, according to the New York Times.

Telegrafi, a Kosovar newspaper, reports that nine of the ballot counters, including two pregnant women, were hospitalized and treated for symptoms such as itching and vomiting.

“When these envelopes were opened they had a very heavy odor and they smelled, and some of the CEC officials who had physical contact with these envelopes started having reactions,” an election observer told IntelliNews.

Serb List, the main party representing Kosovo’s Serb minority, believes the poisoning incident was

an attempt to manipulate ethnic Serb votes, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty writes. Serb List won all of the 10 seats reserved for the Serb ethnic minority in Kosovo’s parliament.

Blerim Vela, PhD researcher on Contemporary European Studies at the University of Sussex, writes that Serb List enjoys backing from Kosovo Serb municipalities and is funded by the Serbian government—two factors that explain its electoral dominance in Kosovo’s Serb-majority municipalities.

The election ultimately resulted in a narrow win for the leftist-nationalist Self Determination party, who will form a government with the secondplace Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). According to Vela, this coalition has promised to reform the corrupt government led for 12 years by the Democratic Party of Kosovo. Vela expects to see the Self DeterminationLDK coalition set a “new standard for good governance and institutional accountability.”

the accident involved a cruise missile known as Skyfall, reputed by Russian President Vladimir Putin to be one of the most advanced of its kind.

According to Reuters, an American investigation concluded that the explosion occurred during the recovery of a nuclear missile after a failed test. Other weapons that Defense News cites as potential sources of the radiation spike are an underwater nuclear drone called Poseidon and a sea-bound nuclearpowered battery.

Despite rising hostilities between

CAROLYN REN (SFS ‘23)

EDITOR’S COLUMN:

Russia and the U.S., the New York Times reports that it is unlikely that Russia will take measures to deport the diplomats. The statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed bureaucratic displeasure at the unauthorized visit and chastised the diplomats; however, it stopped short of issuing an outright condemnation.

“Apparently, they got lost,” the Russian Foreign Ministry told Interfax. “We are ready to present a map of the Russian Federation to the American embassy.”

The Severodvinsk Naval Testing Site was the site of an explosion in August 2019.

O C T. 2019 | 5

Bosnian Migrant Shelter in Dire Condition Macron Vetoes EU Accession of North Macedonia, Albania The Council of Europe and several human rights groups asked Bosnia to relocate a “deplorable” migrant camp on October 16. The United Nations warned that the influx of new migrants has created a “humanitarian risk” for arrivals living in the Vucjak camp in northwestern Bosnia.

U.S. News & World Report says that since 2018 more than 40,000 migrants and asylum seekers have arrived in Bosnia. According to Faktor, over 1,700 of these migrants have been forcibly relocated to the Vucjak camp, where 7,000 migrants currently live.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) first called for reforms in the camp over a year ago, claiming that Bosnia was failing to protect the basic rights of asylum seekers. The Bosnian interior minister denies these claims; however, police have kept records detailing the treatment of migrants confidential, according to EURACTIV. The Vucjak camp has no running water or electricity, and DW reports that the Red Cross is the only organization providing aid in the camp. However, due to worsening conditions, the Red Cross may need to stop operations at the camp. According

to DW, local workers complain of unsafe conditions in which “everyone has skin rashes, open or purulent wounds, and their legs and feet are bloodied.”

The need for reform of the camp is urgent. “With winter coming, the situation cannot but worsen,” the Council of Europe warned in a statement.

Controversy has arisen over who is responsible for asylum seekers.

DW adds that the land itself is unsafe for habitation. The camp was built on a site intended for land-mine disposal.

Pockets of methane gas in the ground cause fires and explosions, according to the International Organization for Migration. Al Jazeera reports that without national assistance, the mayor of the town where the camp is located will stop providing food and water to the camp.

The camp is located about eight kilometers from the border with Croatia. Although many asylum

seekers and migrants try to travel further into western Europe, U.S. News & World Report explains that neighboring Croatia, Hungary, and Slovenia have closed their borders to migrants without documentation.

Controversy has arisen over who is responsible for asylum seekers. Many of the migrants in the Vucjak camp in Bosnia were originally expelled from Croatia. The UNHCR reported in August 2018 that Croatia had forcibly pushed back nearly 2,500 migrants to neighboring countries. A joint Croatian-Bosnian declaration allows Croatia to deny migrants’ entry; however, HRW claims that this law breaks EU asylum law and the 1951 Refugee Convention.

After interviewing 20 people who claimed to have been violently deported from Croatia to Bosnia without due process, HRW reported that “police beat [asylum seekers] with batons, kicked and punched them, stole their money, and either stole or destroyed their mobile phones.”

In July, U.S. News & World Report said that the EU allocated €14 million ($15.5 million) in aid to build new camps in Bosnia. Unfortunately, attempts to approve new shelters have stalled in the legislative process.

Belgrade Protesters Call For Press Freedom Sienna Siu Journalists and press freedom activists gathered outside the Serbian government headquarters in Belgrade on October 16 to call on President Aleksandar Vučić and other officials to stop threatening journalists, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reports.

Titled “Journalists Against Phantoms” and organized by the Media Freedom Group, the protest took place in response to an event two days prior at Serbia’s N1TV channel.

RFE/RL reports that two masked men threw threatening leaflets into the backyard of N1TV’s building.

According to a tweet by N1TV news director Jugoslav Ćosić, the attack was intended to “upset journalists and N1TV employees, and to threaten their integrity and security.”

According to RFE/RL, N1TV regularly covers anti-government protests in Serbia.

In its press release, the Media Freedom Group wrote that Serbian journalists frequently experience intimidation that goes unpunished.

“There is no security for those who treat their jobs seriously,” the statement said. The group added that authorities

intend to silence all media outlets that refuse to spread propaganda in support of Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party. The press release demanded “that the violence against those who speak and think freely, and who do their jobs responsibly and honestly, be stopped.

Serbian journalists frequently experience intimidation that goes unpunished.

A similar event happened in February, when RFE/RL reported that death threats, including a threat to blow up N1TV’s office, were issued to N1TV staff and their family members.

N1TV executive producer Igor Božić noted that the threats were received on the same day that Vučić called N1TV an “anti-government” outlet.

The incidents involving N1TV are the latest in a wave of hostility against journalists in Serbia. RFE/RL reports that the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists recorded 89 incidents of threats or assaults on journalists this year. According to

EURACTIV, this number has more than doubled since 2016. In April, a video targeting Serbian journalist Slobodan Georgiev was released on Twitter, sparking widespread condemnation from journalists and media watchdogs, Balkan Insight reports.

The most serious incident occurred in December 2018, VICE reports, when investigative journalist Milan Jovanović’s home was set ablaze.

Assailants hurled Molotov cocktails and fired shots at his front door, but the 70-year-old journalist managed to escape this third assassination attempt with his wife. Jovanović, a reporter for the news website Žig Info, told VICE that he believes he was targeted because of his corruption coverage.

VICE writes that Vučić is clamping down on press freedom, as his critics are increasingly the targets of threats and intimidation. The government denies this claim, but weekly antigovernment protests, beginning in December 2018, demand protections for press freedom. The protests have been dubbed “One in Five Million,” according to Al Jazeera, a reference to Vučić’s comment that “even if five million people were on the streets, [he] wouldn’t cede to their demands.”

Jacob Cohen French President Emmanuel Macron vetoed North Macedonia’s and Albania’s attempts to join the European Union on October 18 at the Brussels summit of the European Council, reports Balkan Insight. While Macron cast the lone “no” vote against North Macedonia’s accession plans, Al Jazeera notes that France was joined

by Denmark and the Netherlands in voting against Albania’s attempt.

Balkan efforts to join the EU first materialized in 2003, reports the Guardian, when Western hopes were high for the potential integration of the former Yugoslav and Soviet states. Now, with a French roadblock sitting between the current EU and its southeastern neighbors, leaders of these candidate countries have begun to wonder if European promises of unification will be fulfilled.

“The least that the European Union owes the region is to be straightforward with us,” tweeted North Macedonia’s foreign minister. “If there is no more consensus on the European future of the western Balkans... the citizens deserve to know.”

Leading up to the October 18 summit, North Macedonia and Albania enacted significant reforms and worked closely with the EU to further their respective candidacies.

North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev decided to formally change his country’s name to settle a dispute with Greece and clear the way for possible EU membership, a move the Financial Times claims entailed significant political risk.

Albanian reformers allowed the EU even deeper access, reports the Financial Times, permitting the EU to vet Albanian judges and allowing the EU border agency Frontex to have oversight of Albanian police operations. Months before the

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summit, the European Commission recognized the significant changes North Macedonia and Albania had instituted to meet EU criteria on economic, human rights, and anticorruption measures. Despite this official recognition, the two countries still failed to win over France.

Macron’s veto was due less to displeasure with the two countries’ reform efforts and more to his desire that the EU bolster its existing institutions before pursuing enlargement, the Financial Times reports. Macron also expressed concern that, if granted immediate full-benefit membership to the EU, Albania and North Macedonia’s reform efforts may begin to unravel.

“This is a dispute about vision,” Macron told BBC. “The enlargement rules need reform... We should do more to help those countries develop, not just make pledges.”

Many European leaders were quick to criticize Macron’s prioritization of EU structural reform over the accession of Albania and North Macedonia. Along with other EU officials, European Commission Chief Jean-Claude Junker called the French veto “a major historical mistake,” according to BBC. Commissioner for Enlargement Johannes Hahn agreed, tweeting: “To refuse acknowledgment of proven progress will have negative consequences, including the risk of destabilization of the Western Balkans.”

The EU has long seen Balkan integration as a stabilization technique in the historically volatile region, BBC reports. According to RFE/RL, the German Minister for European Affairs warned that Macron’s veto opens a “possible political vacuum” in the region that “will be filled by other powers that certainly have little in common with democracy and the rule of law.”

The European Council vetoed the accession of North Macedonia and Albania to the EU.

6 | O C T. 2019

WESTERN EUROPE & CANADA

British Police Find 39 Dead in Truck Thirty-nine people were found dead in the refrigerated trailer of a truck in Grays, Essex county in southeast England on October 23, according to BBC. Ambulance staff discovered the bodies of 38 adults and one teenager in the early morning.

The cause of death has not yet been determined. Police are conducting a murder investigation and have arrested the 25-year-old Northern Irish driver of the truck, Maurice “Mo“ Robinson, on suspicion of causing the deaths of the 31 men and 8 women.

Robinson has been charged with manslaughter as well as people trafficking and assisting unlawful immigration, according to the Guardian. Four more people have been arrested in the investigation so far.

Although police at first believed the victims were all Chinese nationals, a later police update cautioned that they are not yet certain of the victims’ nationalities. Police also said that some of the victims may have been from

Vietnam, according to Reuters.

Both the Chinese and Vietnamese embassies in London are working closely with the British police to ascertain the identities of the victims, South China Morning Post reports.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “appalled by this tragic incident.”

The truck was initially believed to have entered the U.K. at a port in Holyhead in northern Wales from Bulgaria on October 19. However, according to CBS News, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said that the vehicle has not returned to the country since 2017.

British police now believe that the trailer entered the country from the port of Purfleet, north of Essex on the River Thames, and came from Zeebrugge, Belgium. The police

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Sarah Watson

Transport Workers on Strike Across Italy Matthew Lee

Grays, Essex, on the River Thames, where police found the truck.

believe that the trailer carried by the truck is from Ireland and traveled to Belgium, according to BBC. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “appalled by this tragic incident,” according to CBS News.

Robinson comes from the village of Laurelvale in County Armagh in Northern Ireland, according to BBC. The British National Crime Agency had previously released a statement on October 21 that five men were arrested in southern England after 13 migrants were discovered in a truck in a port at Calais, France. The National Crime Agency has not released any information suggesting the two events

are connected, according to CBS News.

The British National Crime Agency is also investigating if this crime is connected to any larger crime organizations and potential connections with Ireland, according to Reuters.

Essex Deputy Chief Constable Pippa Mills commented that her top priority was “preserving the dignity of the 39 people who have died and ensuring that we get answers for their loved ones,” according to BBC. A candlelight vigil was held outside the U.K. Home Office for the 39 deceased on October 24. Another vigil was held in Belfast in Northern Ireland, the Evening Standard reports.

A Narrow Victory

From p.1 This resulted in Trudeau publicly apologizing and admitting that it was not the only time he had donned brownface or blackface. He revealed that at one point he wore blackface to sing Day-O, a traditional Jamaican folk song popularly known as the “Banana Boat Song,” reported the Toronto Star.

This controversy added to the SNC-Lavalin scandal, which alleged that Trudeau broke Canadian law in order to prevent a corruption trial from taking place, according to the Guardian.

The combination of these events was seen as damaging Trudeau’s image as a progressive intent on fighting racism and injustice. The Conservative party took advantage of these scandals, even using the slogan “Not as Advertised.”

Trudeau’s emphasis on fighting climate change might have helped him win the race in the face of so much adversity. Over and over, Trudeau pushed that he was an advocate for “strong action on climate change,” and

the Liberal Party supports a carbon tax. Although this would incur a tax on citizens, polls show that citizens supported the tax and Trudeau’s views, the Atlantic said.

Thus, Trudeau remains prime minister, but he must work with the other, smaller parties in the Canadian political system. It is likely that Trudeau will attempt to broker a deal with the smaller, left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP), according to the Washington Post. In return, the NDP might desire a greater say in policy, which would consequently move the Liberal party further left.

This potential shift left, especially on environmental policy, could further alienate voters in western Canada who increasingly turn toward the Conservative Party, potentially causing greater political polarization. The Liberal Party failed to win any seats in the oil-producing western provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, long Conservative Party strongholds, the Washington Post reports.

Italian transit workers took part in a nation-wide strike on October 25. Protesters expressed discontent with public and private sector transportation employees about low wages, poor working conditions, and pensions, according to the Independent.

Dubbed the “Black Friday Strike” (il venerdì nero), the strike especially affected major Italian cities such as Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, and Palermo, according to the Local.

Hundreds of flights arriving to and departing from Italy have been cancelled by airlines such as Alitalia, British Airways, Ryanair, and EasyJet, reports the Independent.

Furthermore, pilots, airline cabin crews, airport staff, and air traffic control monitors are all participating in the strike, closing down many smaller Italian airports.

Rome in particular was subjected to additional striking, as trade unions representing up to 30,000 municipal employees pledged to join a general strike on October 25, Wanted in Rome magazine reports. The strike encompassed government employees such as metro and bus drivers, teachers and janitors in public schools, museum workers, lawyers, and other social service employees. More than 75 percent of waste collection workers joined the strike in Rome.

The general strike in Rome in particular is a collective response by three major trade unions in Italy— CISL, CGIL, and UIL—to the poor management and “humiliating” working conditions faced by the various professions, as well as the municipal government’s “controlled liquidation” of the construction company of the city’s Metro C project, according to Wanted in Rome.

Many Italian motorists and commuters faced extreme traffic delays. Most forms of public transit were unavailable and motorway employees, including toll booth workers, were also on strike, forcing traffic to trickle through at a slow pace.

O C T. 2019 | 7

Denmark Revokes Citizenship of Foreign Fighters Denmark passed legislation on October 24 stipulating that dual citizens who have fought or will fight for foreign armed groups will have their dual-citizenship status revoked in order to prevent re-entry into the country. The ruling Social Democrats, the center-right Liberal Party, and the right-populist Danish People’s Party supported the bill, while the Social Liberals, the Red-Green Alliance, and the green party Alternative opposed it, Al Jazeera reports.

Under this legislation, Danish immigration will have the jurisdiction to revoke citizenship while an individual is still abroad and without a court hearing, both of which used to be requirements.

According to Al Jazeera, the predominant aim of this new legislation is to target Danes who have fought for the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq.

Since 2012, at least 158 Danes joined Islamic militant groups in Iraq and Syria, according to Reuters. Al Jazeera reports that 36 people travelled

Christiansborg Palace, where the Danish Parliament is located.

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Elisabeth Cajurao

from Denmark to the Middle East in order to fight for militant groups in September, according to Denmark’s justice minister.

This bill comes in response to an escalation of conflict in northeastern Syria, where IS captives are imprisoned

by Kurdish militias. The Turkish offensive into Syria that started on October 9 has increased the likelihood that these captives will escape and return home.

This bill comes in response to an escalation of conflict in northeastern Syria.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of the Social Democrats responded to the new development in Syria, saying, “There is a risk that the Kurdish-controlled IS-camps in the border area will collapse and that foreign warriors with Danish citizenship will move toward Denmark,” Reuters reports.

Before it was passed, the bill was amended twice. The first round of

amendments were geared towards permitting exemptions to the prescribed four week period given to those affected by the law to make appeals to the decisions. The second round of amendments created a “sunset clause” stipulating that the bill would expire, unless otherwise decided by the Danish Parliament, in July 2021.

“These people have turned their backs on Denmark and used violence to combat our democracy and freedom. They are not wanted in Denmark.” Frederiksen also said that the government “will therefore do everything possible to prevent them from returning to Denmark,” the Danish prime minister said in response to this bill, according to Reuters.

Other European states such as the U.K. and Germany have been implementing the same policy of revoking the citizenship of dual nationals who join foreign Islamist militant groups, according to the Local.

Many European countries are reluctant to prosecute foreign fighters, due to difficulties in collecting evidence and fearing renewed attacks by militants in Europe, Reuters reports.

Parliament Legalizes Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage in Northern Ireland Ayushman Ghosh Members of the British Parliament have decriminalized abortion and legalized same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, according to BBC. Northern Ireland’s government, which has implemented some of the most restrictive laws against abortion, failed in its last-ditch attempt to block the changes on October 21. Northern Ireland is now required by law to implement the new rules for abortion

by March 31, 2020, and provide for same-sex marriage by January 31, 2020.

The decision came in the backdrop of the Northern Ireland Assembly, or Stormont, remaining closed for over 1,000 days, according to Euronews.

The collapse of Northern Ireland’s government was triggered by the resignation of Martin McGuinness of the nationalist Sinn Féin party,as deputy first minister after disagreements with the opposition party, the Democratic Union Party (DUP), in January 2017.

The Belfast government was designed as a power-sharing government, where parties are

allocated ministerial posts according to their representation in the Assembly, by the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. According to Euronews. Due to the nature of Stormont’s structure, it requires both the DUP and Sinn Fein in order to form a government, as the positions of first minister and deputy first minister are appointed from the largest and second-largest parties, respectively.

Northern Ireland has had very strict laws against abortion, mainly due to religious values.

The resignation of McGuinness forced First Minister Arlene Foster of the DUP out of power. This dissolved the executive, according to the Independent. Fresh elections have been held, but both parties are unable to agree on certain terms and policies, creating a political vacuum in Northern Ireland for more than two years.

The British Parliament stepped in and voted to decriminalize abortion

and legalize same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland on July 9 earlier this year, unless Stormont has reconvened and formed an executive by October 21, according to Time magazine. 31 members of Stormont, including 27 from the DUP, signed a petition to force a recall of the Assembly a week prior to October 21, seeking to block the law, according to the Guardian.

Despite the attempts to do so, the members that showed up at the Assembly session were unable to do anything before the deadline because the passing of any legislation required the election of a new speaker, which the nationalist parties had not agreed to, according to BBC. Sinn Féin did not take part in the session, while the only attending member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, the other nationalist party, left the chamber, making the election of a speaker impossible. The sitting was suspended after less than an hour.

Northern Ireland has had very strict laws against abortion, mainly due to religious values. In the Offenses Against the Person Act of 1861, Section 58 makes the procurement of abortion-

administering drugs or instruments illegal, leading to a possible felony and imprisonment for life if found guilty of its violations. Section 59 of the act criminalizes the supply of drugs and instruments leading to abortion with a misdemeanor offence and penal servitude as consequences. The 1945 Criminal Justice Act allowed abortion only when the mother’s life was in danger.

Despite the introduction of the 1967 Abortion Act, which legalized abortion in the U.K., Northern Ireland was still able to keep its own laws against it, even in cases of rape and incest. People from Northern Ireland travelling to the rest of the UK to get an abortion could also be prosecuted and sentenced under Northern Ireland law.

On October 3, a High Court judge in Belfast found Northern Ireland’s abortion laws violate the U.K.’s humans rights commitments, according to the Guardian. The case was of a woman who was not allowed abortion despite scans showing that her fetus would not survive, and the judge stated that no woman should have to bear similar “trauma and pain.”

EDITOR’S COLUMN: Kyle Wang

I

n the wake of the collapse of its ruling coalition between the Christian-democratic Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the farright Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), Austria held a snap election on September 29. The result was a resounding victory for the ÖVP, as it picked up 37.1 percent of the vote, its best result since 2002, according to the Guardian. The FPÖ, on the other hand, saw its vote share fall to 16.1 percent.

The coalition-ending Ibiza scandal, which exposed the leader of the FPÖ for allegedly providing government contracts in exchange for campaign contributions, no doubt contributed to the success of the ÖVP. The FPÖ also saw its reputation suffer further as new allegations of embezzlement of party funds surfaced days before the election, DW reports.

At the same time, the ÖVP under the leadership of the former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz actively co-opted the FPÖ’s platform by adopting its anti-immigration rhetoric, shifting the party to the right. This strategy has seemingly paid off as an analysis by ORF showed that the FPÖ lost 258,000 voters to the ÖVP. Similar patterns of centerright parties co-opting the policy platforms of far-right parties are playing out across Europe. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in 2017 warned immigrants to “act normal or go away” in the run-up to a general election where he faced off a challenge from the far-right Party for Freedom, according to the Washington Post. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, of the Conservative Party, has effectively co-opted the Brexit Party’s platform, expelling moderate members when they objected to his leadership.

In other European countries, the presence of far-right parties in government is becoming increasingly normalized. Aside from the Austrian case, Italy’s previous governing coalition included the farright League, while in Norway the far-right Progress Party remains in the governing coalition.

As the far-right becomes a permanent fixture in European politics, mainstream conservatives have seemingly made their choice to embrace them.

8 | O C T. 2019

LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN Macy Uustal

F

rom Port-au-Prince to Santiago, demonstrators have taken to the streets carrying signs and rioting in opposition to their governments. Barricaded streets bring normal life in Haiti to a grinding halt, as schools struggle to function. Tanks roll down the streets of Santiago, while protesters encounter tear gas and rubber bullets. Honduran police, too, are using tear gas on demonstrators calling for the removal of the president. This month, the Peruvian president dissolved Congress.

Meanwhile, Bolivians are burning ballot boxes. In Ecuador, protests forced the president to move the government to Guayaquil as the capital descended into chaos.

Nineteen Latin American states experienced protests or underwent intense periods of political violence over the past two years, reports El Universal. Alma Guillermoprieto, a Mexican journalist explained to the Guardian how seemingly little things, like the three percent hike in metro fares in Chile, can prompt fierce opposition, “Life is tough, and you put up with it, you put up with it, you put up with it, you put up with it—and all of a sudden this one small thing comes and you say: ‘Fuck this!’”

People protesting today are willing to put their lives on the line for their cause. The Guardian reports that 20 have died in Haiti, while the death count reached 18 in Chile. However, regional analysts have been quick to declare that this is no Latin American Spring.

Instead, they point to three determining factors behind the trend: political corruption, economic stagnation, and the influence of other global protest movements. A wave of corruption scandals has decreased faith in government, while inequalities have become intolerable as people become less optimistic for the future. People also look outward and get inspiration from protests in Hong Kong and Barcelona.

Across Latin America and the Caribbean, people are indignant.

They are refusing to accept norms of corruption and inequality. It is clear that if their governments do not respond adequately, the uprisings will continue.

Observers Question Fairness of Bolivian Election

Shaily Acharya

Incumbent Bolivian President Evo Morales ran for reelection against opposition candidate Carlos Mesa on October 20, DW reports. In order to avoid a runoff election, the leading candidate had to win the vote by at least ten percentage points. On the evening of the election, Morales led by a small margin, leading national and international election authorities to conclude that a runoff election was needed, according to DW. However, for unclear reasons, the vote-counting was suspended for 24 hours, DW reports. Upon resuming the counting process, Bolivian election authorities declared that Morales had successfully passed the ballot threshold and was declared the president without a runoff vote.

Multiple international bodies, such as the European Union (EU) and the Organization of American States (OAS), denounced the results of the election due to the lack of transparency regarding the votecounting hiatus. According to DW, EU foreign affairs spokeswoman Maja

Kocijancic said, “the unexpected interruption of the electronic vote counting after the first round of the general elections in Bolivia has sparked serious concerns that need to be fully and swiftly addressed.”

Morales claims that the Bolivians that support the runoff election are starting a coup d’etat and that any opposition is a conspiracy to unjustly remove him from office, according to the Guardian.

The election has been controversial from the start—critics of Morales claim that he did not have the right to run for a fourth term in office. Morales, the first indigenous and longest-serving president of Bolivia, held a referendum in 2016 to abolish presidential term limits, according to the New York Times.

The referendum ultimately failed, but Morales was backed by the Bolivian constitutional court, which ruled that term limits were actually in violation of an international human rights treaty from the 1960s.

However, the New York Times adds, many experts doubt its validity.

Mesa, the opposition candidate,

Chile’s Government Arrests Thousands of Protesters From p.1 It is the combination of these two trends, growing wealth and high levels of inequality, which has caused Chile to “wake up.”

“What ends up happening is that people get fed up. Chile has a population that is increasingly educated, that is increasingly aware of the things that are happening, so I think it becomes more difficult to pull the wool over their eyes,” said Rodrigo Pérez, a professor of Development Economics at Santiago’s Universidad Mayor.

For many, like Camila Tapia, a student from Santiago, the spread of good education has actually helped fuel the tensions and unrest.

“When you get to university, they open your eyes. They teach you that you have human rights. And they’re not respecting them,” she said in an interview with Reuters.

The president announced a new welfare reform package, including

a raise in pensions and increased government coverage of healthcare, after nearly seven days of protests, according to the Guardian.

The announcement, however, failed to quell anger in the streets as the protesters believe that the billionaire president’s plan has come too late. In fact, days after the announcement, the protests continued to grow. On October 25, over one million people flooded the streets of Santiago. The song “The Right to Live in Peace,” composed by Victor Jara, a Chilean artist killed during the military dictatorship, has become an anthem for the demonstrators, and can be heard throughout the country.

Chilean political scientists have said that many doubt the new proposals will be implemented because the president has repeatedly ignored opportunities to create meaningful social dialogue with groups advocating for change in Chile’s privatized economy.

has been capitalizing on the election turmoil in order to promote himself as an alternative to Morales, according to Euronews. He was the Bolivian president from 2003 to 2005 but was ousted from office due to protests led by Morales and a lack of cooperation from the Bolivian congress. While Morales appeals to the rural populations of the country, the middle-to-upper class urban population is Mesa’s base.

The outcome of this election will have dramatic effects on Bolivian society. First, it will indicate whether

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EDITOR’S COLUMN:

Morales has the authority to stay in office for a fourth term, even after the controversy surrounding his 2016 referendum. Second, it has the potential to impact critical issues such as wildfires and the environmental crisis in the Amazon, femicide and the safety of women, as well as an impending economic crisis, according to Euronews. For now, before analyzing the issues that dominate Bolivian politics, the international community must wait to confirm who will lead Bolivia going forward.

Evo Morales, the incumbent Bolivian president, runs for reelection in 2019.

O C T. 2019 | 9

Channing Lee Venezuela won one of the two Latin American seats up for election on the United Nations Human Rights Council on October 17. Brazil led with 153 votes; Venezuela followed with 105 votes; and Costa Rica, which ran in an effort to block Venezuela from victory, lost with a total of 96 votes.

BBC reports that the government of President Nicolás Maduro has been accused of severe human rights violations, including jailing, torturing, and arbitrarily arresting opposition figures. However, the support of China, Russia, Cuba, and their allies secured Venezuela’s seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza called the victory against such a “ferocious” campaign “historic,” celebrating “the Bolivarian diplomacy of peace at the UN.” Venezuela joins a disreputable cast list: China, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Cuba all vote on the Human Rights council. The Hill details the abuses of human rights in each country, citing Saudi Arabia’s action in Yemen, China’s treatment of the Uighurs and other Muslim groups, Cuba’s repressive regime and the

Filipino government’s violent “war on drugs.” Sudan, Libya, and Mauritania were also elected onto the council on the same day. Due to this extensive record of human rights abuses, critics question the council’s credibility, claiming that these countries only seek to prevent investigations into their own affairs.

Critics question the council’s credibility.

The Council was created in 2006, replacing the United Nations Human Rights Commission, and periodically examines human rights in every UN member country. The New York Times reports that the commission was “largely discredited” due to the presence of human rights abusers in its ranks.

In July, for example, UN Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet said that Venezuelan security forces were committing murders and then staging scenes to make it look like the victims had resisted arrest, according to Reuters.

Many leaders have openly criticized

Venezuela’s victory.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft said on Twitter that “It’s simply unconscionable that massive human rights violators like the former Maduro regime in Venezuela are allowed to play a role on the [Human Rights Council]. I won’t stand for it, and neither should the UN.” Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, praised the council’s fact-finding missions and commissions of inquiry as having done “outstanding work,” adding “we don’t need countries like Venezuela who try to undermine the good work.”

According to Reuters, Venezuela’s opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries, including the U.S., condemned Venezuela’s “seat of blood,” pointing out that the election of Venezuela to the seat occurred on the same day opposition activist Edmundo Rada was found dead in Caracas after being shot and set aflame.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described Venezuela’s election as “truly tragic,” calling it a “harsh blow not just against the victims of the Venezuelan regime, but also against the cause of human rights around the world.”

Haitian Protests Against President Enter Sixth Week Julio Salmeron-Perla Haiti has entered its sixth week of massive protests aimed at ousting President Jovenel Moïse. Enraged protesters accuse him of introducing policies that have slowed economic growth and impoverished thousands.

According to the World Bank, Haiti is considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti’s unemployment rate has reached 14 percent, and 2.5 million Haitians live in extreme poverty.

According to UNICEF, approximately 681,500 children will die within the next five years due to a lack of access to permanent sources of food and potable water.

Moreover, an additional 1.5 million people need immediate access to food and healthcare. The Washington Post reports that Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Throughout the past few weeks, different organizations across the public and private sectors have joined the citizens in protest. Although the clergy generally remains politically neutral, catholic leaders have gotten involved. They organized a peaceful protest in Port-au-Prince on October 22 to demand political change and the

“deliverance” of Haiti.

The ongoing protests have blocked the streets of the capital city, closing businesses and disrupting government events. At least 20 people have died as a result of the pervasive violence, according to the Washington Post.

Thousands of people attended the funerals.

Although the country has experienced recurring cycles of political and economic instability, this crisis seems to have pushed the patience of the Haitian people to its limit.

Protesters have attempted to march on his residence.

The Washington Post reports that tens of thousands of people participated in the protests against the president. Moïse came into power in 2017, and his term does not end for another three years. The elections were controversial, and at the time, many accused him of having ties with the United States. These suspicions still remain widespread, according to the New Yorker. Protesters have attempted to march on his residence, held back

only by the police forces launching tear gas into the crowd.

Last week, Moïse and his cabinet were forced to host a traditionally outdoors event behind closed doors.

The official event commemorated the death of Haitian military leader, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who was instrumental in sparking the Haitian revolution that eventually led to the country’s colonial separation from France.

The regional directorate for Best Western in an upscale neighborhood of Port-au-Prince announced that it would be ending its operations in the country at the end of the month.

Its representatives claimed that the continuing protests and political instability made their stay in the country financially unsustainable.

One of the protesters, Jean Ronald, claimed that Moïse is an incompetent leader, as “it is not normal to live in a country with so much economic inequality.”

“There is no hope in this country.

There is no life anymore,” said Stamène Molière, another protester. He is one of the thousands of Haitians who have lost their jobs as a result of the deepening political and economic crisis.

Argentinians Fight For Abortion Rights Catalina Llorente Around 200,000 people participated in the 34th National Women’s Meeting (ENM) in La Plata, capital of the Buenos Aires province on October 13. According to the ENM’s official website, this demonstration, which kept the city occupied by tens of thousands of cisgender and transgender women and allies, demanded action from the new chief of state in response to the effect on women of the Macri administration’s policies.

The demonstration occurred as television channels aired the national presidential debate. All six of the candidates at the debate are men.

Current President Mauricio Macri remained silent regarding his views on the legalization of abortion, while Alberto Fernández, his primary opponent, declared himself a staunch supporter of a woman’s right to choose.

In the recent presidential debate, Alberto Fernandez, winner of the primary election held on August 11, said, “abortions happen in Argentina, and punishing them only criminalizes conduct and makes everything become clandestine.” He believes that people “must tend toward legalization.”

“The consequences of these politics on our lives are expressed by the feminization of poverty, the amount of young girls who have become mothers, in the ever-increasing regular sexism… the lack of response by part of an absentee government that does not take responsibility, but does make itself present to suppress, criminalize, and beat us by way of punitivism,” said a statement on the ENM website.

According to El País, one of the

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Venezuela Wins “Seat of Blood” on U.N. Human Rights Council

top demands at the demonstration asked for “legal abortion in hospitals,” which is the second in the ENM’s list of legislative proposals. The demonstrators wore green scarves and knotted green ribbons around their belongings, a symbol of their support for increased reproductive rights.

“The mobilization in the streets must remain permanent so that abortion is legal by law next year, and that we are not told [again] that it is not the right time, that they have to wait because the Pope is coming, or that we have to include the Church in the social pact. There are women who are dying due to their clandestine abortions, and we cannot wait any longer,” Carolina Lopez, a health specialist supporting the legalization of abortion, said to El País.

El País reported that the Argentine Criminal Code currently holds a sentence of up to four years in jail to women who voluntarily cut their pregnancies short. The only cases that justify such an action are the times in which the woman has been raped or her health appears to be in grave danger.

According to the National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Free, and Safe Abortion, around 500,000 clandestine abortions happen each year in the country. According to Telesur, unsafe abortions have been the cause of more than 3,000 deaths since the reestablishment of democracy in Argentina in 2003. The Project for the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy (IVE) was first presented in Congress in 2007, but only seven members voted in favor of it. Ten years later, 71 legislators supported the initiative.

The 34th National Women’s Meeting closes in La Plata.

1 0 | O C T. 2019

INDO-ASIA-PACIFIC

Arin Chinnasathian

D

espite K-pop’s global fame, the industry—as well as its fans—are not always supportive of its stars. Former Korean girl group member and mental-health activist Choi Junri, known by her stage name Sulli, was found dead at home by her manager on October 14, sparking a debate over K-pop culture, abuse, and exploitation of stars.

K-pop stars are expected to behave according to Korea’s social norms, but Sulli’s career was mired with rumors and vile comments.

A rumor spread in 2014 that Sulli was dating another K-pop star, Choiza, who was fourteen years older. According to the Guardian, she publicly acknowledged the relationship, contradicting the message from the official band page, which called the claims “malicious and untrue rumors.”

Sulli quit the band a year later.

Sulli also provoked a flood of negative online comments after posting pictures of herself not wearing a bra in public on Instagram, defying Korea’s conservative attitude toward young women, Reuters reports.

Despite criticism, Sulli continued to post no-bra images, hoping to make society understand that “this isn’t that big of a deal,” according to BBC. The pressure is high for K-pop stars. Park Jong-seok, the head doctor at a psychiatric clinic in Seoul, told the Korea Times that “many celebrities who debuted at young ages suffer from depression and anxiety” and “can be vulnerable if they get too much attention.”

Sulli is remembered as an outspoken supporter of mental health, feminism, and body positivity. She acted as a character with dissociative identity disorder in a single released in 2018 with SM Entertainment. Sulli also criticized the industry for not providing her and other stars with enough support and protection from negative comments.

Sulli’s death has rejuvenated support for an online antidefamation bill which, despite receiving approval from 70 percent of the population in a Realmeter poll, remains under contentious debate in the Korean legislature, reports Reuters.

Australian Media Unites in Blackout Campaign Max Zhang

Virtually all leading Australian media outlets published heavily redacted front pages in an effort to publicly protest perceived legislative threats to domestic press freedom on October 21, the Associated Press reports. The campaign, a rare display of unity among rival outlets, pushes for stronger protection of media freedoms in Australia, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The Herald cites a “growing culture of secrecy” within government bodies, developing from recent federal national security laws.

Entities under two of Australia’s largest media companies partook in the unprecedented blackout, including publications the Australian, the Age, the Daily Telegraph, and the Sydney Morning Herald. Participant newspapers printed large blackedout tracts of front-page text adorned with red “SECRET” stamps on their October 21 releases.

The redactions specifically seek to draw public attention to national security laws that heavily penalize

whistleblowers and potentially endanger the work of investigative journalists, according to the Guardian. Writing by email, Monash University Associate Professor of Journalism Johan Lidberg cited an ever-increasing “web of laws” encroaching on the press’ capacity to cover national security issues.

“However you turn, as a journalist, you risk breaching a law. It’s an impossible situation that must change.”

Lidberg’s comment comes amid terse interactions between law enforcement agencies and journalists across the country. According to the Guardian, in June, Australian federal police (AFP) raided the home of a News Corp Australia journalist investigating a leaked government surveillance proposal that would allow undetected access to bank records and text messages.

A day later, the AFP carried out a raid of the Australian Broadcasting Company’s (ABC) Sydney office in response to the network’s running of “The Afghan Files,” a series of articles containing classified information

Japan Holds Emperor’s Enthronement Ceremony Meg Kurosawa

Emperor Naruhito and his wife, Empress Masako, were formally enthroned as symbolic emperor and empress of Japan in a traditional rite.

Reuters reports that leaders from over 180 different countries, including Prince Charles of Britain and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, attended the traditional ceremony.

The Japanese government postponed the public parade until next month to focus on recovery from Typhoon Hagibis, a typhoon that killed over 82 people in early October.

Celebrations, however, have been taking place since October 15. The enthronement ceremonies began on October 22.

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako officially became emperor and empress of Japan on May 1, 2019.

The recent ritual is a centuries-old tradition that serves as an official proclamation of their enthronement.

The ceremony was the first one of the 21st century and faced scrutiny from many. According to Asahi Shimbun, critics especially dissected the language of the speeches, which still incorporated elements of political emperorship, as well as the ritual’s objects that have mythological implications. Amid comparisons between the ceremony’s processes and Japan’s current democratic constitution, the Japanese government pointedly endorsed the symbolic nature of the emperor’s position.

Abe delivered a congratulatory speech during the ceremony, and led a “banzai” cheer that preceded a 21-gun salute. Emperor Naruhito pledged to act according to the constitution and voiced his hopes for the future.

Naruhito promised in his speech to “act according to the constitution and fulfill my responsibility as the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people.”

fixating on Australian special forces operations in Afghanistan. Some critics see the police interventions as forms of government intimidation to silence investigative reporters, thereby precluding public access to information.

The Federal Court of Australia has rejected legal challenges to the raids, and three journalists face the threat of prosecution, ABC reports. Officials have also struggled to respond to the Right to Know coalition’s six core demands, which include legal exemptions for

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journalists and further protections for whistleblowers. However, on October 22, responding to the frontpage blackout, Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared that the “whim of politicians” should not dictate the prosecution of journalists, the Australian reports.

Given the government’s mixed response, Lidberg noted, “The media needs to make a much more compelling case to the public for support, [and] explain how this goes beyond media freedom and directly connects to other civil liberties.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (right) expressed support for journalists.

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Asia Struggles With Continuing Waste Crisis More Than 60 Killed in Deadliest Afghanistan Mosque Bombing in History

New reports reveal a continuing waste crisis in Asia. Global trade in tire waste has nearly doubled since 2015, according to Reuters. In the last ten years, the amount of waste in landfills across Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, has more than doubled, according to a UN report. In addition, a team of scientists working on a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean found that 75 percent of the bottles that washed ashore were from Asia, according to BBC. In late 2018, the World Bank released a report claiming that global waste will increase by 70 percent by 2050. This statistic is largely based on the probability of rapid urbanization and population growth, which are both expected in Asia. The report detailed that the East Asia and Pacific region is currently responsible for generating 23 percent of waste worldwide.

Asia also contributes to the global waste crisis by purchasing waste from wealthier countries. For example, in the tire industry, shipping tire waste abroad is cheaper than domestic recycling for developed countries.

This dynamic is a key contributer to the global rubber waste trade, which

amounted to almost two million tons, or the equivalent of 200 million tires, in 2018. In developing countries such as Malaysia and India, people often burn these tires to make cheap, lowquality fuel. This process, known as pyrolysis, can release toxic chemicals and gases into the air, which can cause health issues. Reuters reported that a mass poisoning in southern Malaysia earlier this year could have been caused by the tire-burning process.

In 2018, the rubber waste trade involved 200 million tires.

Several major waste-exporting countries have acknowledged the environmental and health impacts of pyrolysis. A spokesman for the Australian official monitoring waste reduction noted that Australia did not want “to be part of such practices” but did not provide concrete details of when and how to implement a ban.

Similar issues occur all over Asia.

BBC reports that plastic waste now mainly comes from Asia rather than South America.

Various countries have attempted to

enact policy to combat the increasing waste. “It makes economic sense to properly manage waste. Uncontrolled waste has significant health and environmental impacts,” said Silpa Kaza, a World Bank specialist in urban development.

Cambodia recently partnered with the Chemical and Waste Management Program to promote a coordinated implementation of various international environmental agreements, as stated in a UN report.

Cambodia also plans to enact a nationwide education campaign on chemical safety.

China, a huge polluter in Asia, has tried various waste management methods. The country recently announced that the city of Tianjin is attempting to go waste-free, according to Straits Times.

However, waste management comes with a downside. Many Asians are losing their jobs due to the limit of certain waste practices. “The people protested the reduction of imports, they will suffer because they don’t have additional income,” said Daru Setyo Rini, a member of the Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation, according to the Asia Sentinel.

New Zealand Implements Armed Patrols Frank Kim New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush announced on Friday, October 18 that Armed Response Teams (ARTs) will start to regularly patrol areas within Waikato, Canterbury, and Auckland, the nation’s largest city. According to the Department of Police, these teams will be on a six-month trial starting October 28 and will act as “armed, equipped, [and] mobile” support for front-line police officers.

New Zealand, along with the United Kingdom and Norway, still prohibits regular police officers from carrying firearms while on duty, according to Reuters. Handcuffs, rifles, and tasers must be kept in cars and used with strict permission from a supervisor.

However, the Christchurch mosque attack in March instigated a series of gun reforms, among which included the mobilization of armed policemen, notes CNA. The gun reforms also include the passing of laws banning military-style semi-automatics, tighter gun ownership laws, and a buyback scheme of semi-automatic weapons in the nation, PBS reports. The government has collected more than

29,000 guns since the reforms went into effect.

According to AP, Prime Minister Jacinda Arden said that the laws enjoyed quick acceptance because most New Zealanders disagree with the American view of gun ownership as a constitutional right rather than a privilege.

Since the reforms, the government has collected 29,000 guns.

An estimated 1.5 million guns are currently circulating in New Zealand, and citizens must have a license in order to own a gun. Police Minister Stuart Nash commented, “Police turn up to… callouts with no knowledge of what they are walking into. Every month, police turn up to 200 incidents where a firearm is involved.” For people like Nash, the police have a responsibility to ensure security in communities, and part of that means the “right tools, skills and knowledge” for any situation, including ones that involve firearms.

Insider reports that the two policemen who arrested Brenton

Tarrant, the 29 year-old Australian suspect in the Christchurch shooting, were fully armed and were returning from a training session on how to handle armed criminals.

Under New Zealand’s previous system, a subsection of the police called Armed Offenders Squads (AOS) was the primary means of response to armed conflicts. However, according to the New Zealand Police website, these squads are primarily composed of volunteers within the police force and do not go on regular patrols. The new ARTs will be a specialized group of AOS who will patrol New Zealand’s urban areas seven days a week.

The implementation of a specifically armed force within the police force also drew criticism. According to the Radio New Zealand (RZN), many members of New Zealand’s indigenous Māori community, who face disproportionately high rates of incarceration and police pursuits, worry about the new policy of armed police patrols. Lawyer Moana Jackson said that making firearms more accessible to police will put Māori at a higher risk of getting shot than any other group and exacerbate current tensions, given Māori’s historically conflicted relationship with the police.

Neha Malik A two-part explosion at a mosque in the Nangarhar province of eastern Afghanistan killed 62 people and severely wounded 36 on October 18, according to BBC. The roof caved in and collapsed onto worshippers, who were in the middle of Friday prayers.

A local police officer from the scene recounted his experience, stating that one second the mullah, an Islamic theologian, was speaking, and then “suddenly his voice was silenced with a boom.... When I arrived on the scene, people were trying to bring out the bodies and injured who were stuck under the fallen roof.”

Information on the blast is limited.

No group has claimed responsibility.

Many, including President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesperson Sediq Sediqq, have denounced the Taliban for attacking civilians. However, the Taliban has denied responsibility for this explosion, TOLOnews reports.

Suspicion continues to linger, especially because both the Islamic State (ISIS) and the Taliban are known to be active in this region.

The tragedy comes only a day after a United Nations report revealed that civilian casualties in Afghanistan have reached unprecedented, record levels.

Just from July 1 to September 20, 1,174 people were killed and another 3,139 were wounded—the deadliest quarter on record, according to Al Jazeera.

In fact, civilian casualties increased by almost half—42 percent—in comparison to the same period the previous year.

Additional figures from the report paint a similar picture. Of these casualties, 41 percent were women

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and children. Sixty-two percent of casualties were at the hands of insurgency forces such as the Taliban, marking the first time this year that the U.S. and pro-government forces in Afghanistan were not responsible for most casualties.

This recent presidential election season was correlated with a spike in election-related violence The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that across a total of over 100 separate incidents, 85 civilians were killed and over 370 were wounded. The Taliban often discourages voting out of opposition to the government system through terrorist attacks and blasts. As a result, Afghanistan’s voter turnout reached record lows this year.

The results of this year’s election have yet to be announced. Regardless of election season, this quarter’s violence is unprecedented and more deadly compared to past election seasons.

The UNAMA points to this spike in violence as proof of the need for peace talks in the region. According to NPR, Tadamichi Yamamoto, the special representative for Afghanistan from the UN, said, “Civilian casualties are totally unacceptable, especially in the context of the widespread recognition that there can be no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan.”

Yamamoto continued by saying, “Civilian casualties at record-high levels clearly show the need for all parties concerned to pay much more attention to protecting the civilian populations.”

The U.S. has begun to discuss with the Taliban the prospect of restarting negotiations, though they have not yet reached an agreement.

The explosion took place at a mosque in Nangarhar, Afghanistan.

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MIDDLE EAST & CENTRAL ASIA Israel Attends Anti-Iran Summit in Bahrain

Report Finds Central Asian Poverty-Reduction Slows A recent World Bank report states that, while poverty rates in Central Asia continue to decline, there has been a visible, concerning fall in the pace of poverty reduction.

According to the World Bank, all Central Asian countries have made significant anti-poverty progress in the early 2000s, with some countries such as Tajikistan (from 70 percent to 25 percent) and Kyrgyzstan (from 70 percent to 20 percent) dropping an average of seven percentage points per year in the first few years of the 2000s.

However, since 2009, the average poverty rate drop had decreased to one percent per year in Tajikistan and to nearly zero in Kyrgyzstan. Today, Tajikistan’s poverty rate is projected to be 13 percent, while Kyrgyzstan’s remains steady at 20 percent.

The region’s slowing rate of poverty reduction reflects a number of economic challenges, including a difficult job market and concentrated wealth in small pockets of the

countries, the World Bank reports.

These poverty rates are, in small part, attributed to youth and women who struggle with unemployment and low incomes.

Moreover, Central Asian poverty maps suggest that poverty levels peak in rural areas that lack connections to urban centers. This disconnect plays a major role in the poverty rates in both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan: according to the World Bank, poverty rates in these secluded districts reach above 40 percent.

The region’s slowing rate of poverty reduction reflects a number of economic challenges.

World Bank economist William Seitz said of the disparities in poverty rates, “The highest rates of poverty in the region are concentrated in

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Rural Kyrgyzstan has one of the highest poverty rates in Central Asia.

rural and remote parts of the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, and to a lesser extent, Uzbekistan.”

He added that poverty is a “country” phenomenon as well as an “urban/rural” one.

According to a World Bank infographic, the cost of living in Central Asia’s more populated and prosperous cities remains higher than the national average.

The report also illustrates that the Central Asian middle-class remains heavily concentrated in and around these major urban growth centers, including Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Tashkent, Dushanbe, and Bishkek.

Addressing the issue of slowing poverty reduction rates, the World

Bank recommends that governments increase employment opportunities, grow access to affordable housing in expanding cities, incite faster wage growth, and support “vulnerable groups so they can be more competitive in the labor market.”

According to Lilia Buruncian, World Bank country director for Central Asia, “the good news is that Central Asia continues to make progress towards eliminating poverty.”

She added that, “however, poverty reduction is happening much less quickly than before. Rekindling inclusive growth should, therefore, be among the region’s most urgent priorities.”

Palestine Boosts Economic Ties With Egypt Ali Taha Brown An October 7 visit to Cairo

by Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh revealed that Egypt and Palestine are boosting economic ties at the expense of Palestine’s ties with Israel. The visit, which included cabinet ministers from both sides, concluded on October 11 and was described as successful by Shtayyeh.

Not only was it the first visit of its kind between the two nations since 1994, but both sides also made concrete commitments. According to Egypt Today, trade between the two countries prior to this meeting was worth less than $160 million. Ibrahim Millem, a Palestinian government spokesperson, told Al-Monitor that the two sides discussed making it easier for Palestinian businessmen to travel to Egypt. He added that they explored “opening the Egyptian market to Palestinian exports, especially in the agriculture field, while calling on Egypt to replace Israel in importation of various items such as cement and

expertise in areas such as oil and gas exploration and in fish farming.”

The Palestinian delegation has asked for Egyptian assistance in the creation of economic zones, with Egypt also agreeing to increase imports of Palestinian dates, according to Ma’an News.

The Israeli government’s midFebruary decision to reduce Palestinian funds by $138 million motivated the Palestinian government to secure a deal with Egypt, France 24 reports. With Palestinian-Israeli trade worth nearly $5 billion, Shtayyeh has recognized that their dependence on Israel may be a vulnerability, especially if Israel chooses to restrict funding.

Al-Monitor reports that Shtayyeh elaborated on this point during his Cairo visit, giving a lecture at the Ahram Center where he said that Palestine’s reliance on Israel is cause for concern. With Palestinian delegations also having visiting Baghdad, Iraq, and Amman recently, the Shtayyeh government is making their position clear: they are seeking new trade partners.

Dana Benvenisti-Gabay, the head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s regional security and counter-terrorism department, attended the Working Group on Maritime and Aviation Security in Bahrain on October 21. The summit focused on countering Iranian aggression in the region, according to the Times of Israel. The working group is part of the Warsaw Process, which was created earlier this year as a part of the Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East. This effort, led in part by the U.S., Poland, and Israel, aims to counter Iranian influence in the Middle East.

The attendance of this Israeli official shows that relations between Israel and the Arab states could continue to warm, due to their shared concerns about Iranian influence and actions in the region, according to the Times of Israel. Though Israel does not have official diplomatic relations with Bahrain, along with most other Arab states, unofficial ties between Israel and the Gulf states have increased in recent years. In June 2019, in an interview with the Times of Israel, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said that “Israel is a country in the region... and it’s there to stay, of course.”

Although the conference appears to be about countering Iran, “aviation and maritime security are at [the] top of the policy agenda in the region,” alKhalifa told Reuters in a statement.

On the other hand, both Hamas and the Bahraini opposition criticized Israel’s participation. A Hamas spokesman said in a statement to Al Jazeera that this effort would “normalize relations with Israel for [sic] Israeli assaults on the Palestinian people and their holy sites.” Bahrain’s opposition expressed anger as well, claiming that this action does not represent the entirety of Bahrain, Al Bawaba reports.

Despite the summit’s high profile, it is unclear it will lead to a further thaw in relations between Israel and the Arab states.

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More Than a Million Lebanese Take to the Streets October 24 marked the eighth day of protests since the Lebanese government announced a tax on calls on WhatsApp and other free online applications in order to raise revenue during a fiscal crisis. According to Al Jazeera, these protesters are fighting to end government corruption and nepotism and are calling for the government to resign. They hope to change Lebanon’s sectarian government structure, which they claim has divided Christians and

Muslims, fostered clientelism and quid pro quo corruption, and hindered development.

Sectarianism has plagued Lebanon since its independence, Al Jazeera reports. The Lebanese National Pact, the country’s unwritten constitution, mandated that the president, prime minister, and speaker of parliament be, respectively, a Maronite Christian, a Sunni Muslim, and a Shia Muslim, while giving Christians a 60-50 majority in Parliament. The 1989 Ta’if Accord ending the country’s civil war created a 50:50 ratio in Parliament

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has announced reforms to try to quell protests.

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between Muslims and Christians while calling for a gradual end to its sectarian structure.

However, Karim Makdisi, a professor at the American University of Beirut, argues that this accord was unsuccessful, saying that “politicians of all affiliations are deeply committed to political sectarianism, no matter what they preach or say, whether this commitment be out of greed, fear or to maintain the status quo.”

Economists believe that Lebanon has reached the brink of economic collapse.

Although the Lebanese government quickly reversed the taxes, the protests have continued.

The Lebanese economy, with one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios in the world, is stagnating: the Carnegie Middle East Center reported that, from 2014 to 2015, the top one percent of the Lebanese population held more than 25 percent of the national income. Economists believe

that Lebanon has reached the brink of economic collapse, and the Lebanese people have felt this pressure through increasing taxes on various services.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced on October 21 that there would be a 50 percent reduction in government salaries, financial assistance for lowincome families, improvements to electricity infrastructure, and the creation of a corruption-fighting body.

However, this news did not quell the protests.

Hassan Ballout, sixty-five, claims that the protesters no longer trust the government because it has broken promises in the past: “I don’t believe that what he promised will be done.”

According to Time, the protesters have singled out Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil with their most piercing chant, “Hela, Hela, Hela Hela Ho, Gibran Bassil kes emmo,” which is a vulgar reference to his mother’s genitals. “This is a next-level insult, that’s how angry the people are,” said Chamoun. The protests in Lebanon have united the Lebanese across religious and ideological divides and put the Lebanese government on notice.

U.S. Troop Withdrawal Allows For Turkish Offensive Amanda Feldman President Donald Trump declared on October 6 that he would be pulling American troops out of Kurdishcontrolled northern Syria to pave way for a Turkish military offensive. Now, with American troops out of the way, Kurdish fighters are facing a joint Turkish-Russian incursion that aims to secure a zone along the Syrian border with Turkey free of Kurdish forces.

In March 2011, what started as pro-democracy and anti-regime protests calling for the fall of the alAssad regime devolved into a civil war that has resulted in hundreds of thousands displaced and massive civilian casualties. According to BBC, the multi-sided conflict includes a number of actors in addition to the alAssad government and Syrian rebels, including Islamic State (ISIS) fighters, Kurdish forces, and other regional and ethnic groups.

According to the New York Times, Syrian Kurds have historically resided in northern Syria, close to the border of Turkey where a large population of Kurdish people also reside. Following the outbreak of war, the People’s

Protection Units (YPG), a local Kurdish militia, emerged as one of the only groups that was successfully able to combat extremists like IS in the region. Under the Obama and early Trump administrations, the U.S. allocated funds and training to YPG units, which enabled them to reclaim a large section of land in northern Syria.

At least 750 associates of ISIS were able to escape camps after Turkish shelling.

NPR reports that Kurdish forces, long regarded by the U.S. as pivotal in the fight against ISIS, are classified as terrorists in Turkey given their ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a group with a history of insurgency in Turkey.

The New York Times reports that the Turkish offensive was thus regarded

by Turkey as necessary to combat the security threat posed by Kurdish control of the area close to the Turkish border.

According to the Syrian

Observatory for Human Rights, the offensive has resulted in more than 176,000 people being displaced and over 120 civilians killed in battle. In addition, ISIS fighters previously held as prisoners by Kurdish forces have been able to escape, NPR reports, as the Turkish offensive has forced the Kurds to direct their efforts toward stopping the offensive. According to the Guardian, at least 750 associates of ISIS were able to escape camps after Turkish shelling. In addition, Marvan Qamishlo, a spokesperson for the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said that five ISIS fighters escaped from a prison located in the Syrian city of Qamishli, which borders Turkey and was under bombardment from Turkish forces. The SDF currently jails around 12,000 captured ISIS fighters.

As a result of the Turkish offensive, geopolitical power in the region has shifted in favor of Russia as the U.S. has relinquished its role. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a Turkish-Russian deal to push out Kurdish troops from the border regions, which BBC reports

is in order to house some of the over three million Syrian refugees currently residing in Turkey. According to BBC, starting from noon on October 23, Kurdish fighters have 150 hours to pull back 18 miles from the border. After the expiration of the deal, on October 29, joint patrols of Turkish and Russian troops will begin overseeing the contested area. According to Reuters, Russia has been in communication with Kurdish forces, though Kurdish retreat remains uncertain. According to the Atlantic, Kurdish forces have withdrawn from a small section around the border in conjunction with a cease-fire between Turkish and Kurdish troops, but further troop pullouts remain uncertain.

The Syrian civil war has impacted the country and the region both geopolitically and socially. The massive number of displaced civilians, both internally and externally, has created a massive humanitarian crisis. Most recently, the withdrawal of American troops has paved the way for a Turkish offensive that has brought further displacement and allowed the escape of ISIS prisoners who are now free to re-organize.

EDITOR’S COLUMN: Advait Arun

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fresh round of protests spread across troubled Lebanon this week. This time, however, the protests cut across the whole of Lebanon’s ordinarily sectarian society: Christian, Shia, Sunni, and Druze alike are demanding the end of not just their current government, but the end of the Lebanese regime, Al-Monitor reports. Accusations of inadequate social services and an impotent government have been met with tear gas and sweeping arrests. Not to mention, parts of Lebanon are literally on fire, according to Foreign Policy, and the government does not seem able to fix even that.

In Iraq, under fire from security forces and militias, thousands of protesters are doing something quite similar: demanding not reforms and restitution but an end to a government system that does not serve them, according to the Washington Post. The Atlantic Council reports that protests have flared in majority-Shia centers against a Shia government, a notable departure from sectarian loyalties.

The reforms promised by these governments echo past hollow promises, and the Iraqis and Lebanese risking life and limb to protest are intent on achieving their goals. The protesters are likely aware that, to achieve their goals, the end of their current regime will require the establishment of a new one.

Yet the protesters do not seem to be championing policies or parties of their own. While political elites may label such behavior anarchic and destructive, it seems to have prevented the political establishment from fielding candidates or policies that could claim to repair the system and placate voters. The protesters refuse to be co-opted. “[The political leaders] don’t represent us. We don’t want parties anymore. We don’t want anyone to speak in our name,” an unnamed Iraqi protester told Al Jazeera.

Maybe this destruction is vital. Only after the old regimes have burned to the ground— the corruption, sectarianism, hollow promises, all of it—can the protesters plant the seeds of the societies they wish to grow.

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AFRICA 31 Killed, 18 Injured in Bus Accident in the D.R.C. A bus accident in the Democratic Republic of the Congo killed at least 31 civilians and injured 18 others on October 19, according to Al Jazeera.

The bus was bound for Kinshasa, the capital, and crashed due to brake failure, erupting into flames along the highway.

The driver lost control of the vehicle in the western part of MbanzaNgungu city on Highway 1, according to Anadolu Agency. The bus was carrying fuel, which worsened the explosion, threatening the lives of the 100 passengers on board, according to CNN. After the fatal crash, D.R.C. President Félix Tshisekedi canceled his trip to Japan to focus his attention on the incident. On October 20, he visited the site of the accident and those recovering in the hospital, Reuters reports.

This kind of incident is not a surprise to the Congolese. Bus-related accidents are common in the country.

The New York Times reported a similar crash on October 6 that killed 50 and injured 100 passengers. In 2013, the

World Health Organization (WHO) measured the fatality rate in road accidents in the D.R.C. at about 21 percent, about three percent higher than the global average.

Road injuries are the seventh-greatest cause of premature death in the D.R.C. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized road injuries as one of the top ten leading causes of death in the D.R.C., along with stroke, HIV, and malaria. From 2007 to 2017, these fatalities have risen 12 percent, said the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. This rise in road injury deaths represents one of the greatest increases in death rates around the world, almost doubling the rise of diarrheal disease and neonatal disorders. Road injuries are also the seventh-greatest cause of premature death in the D.R.C., with rates significantly higher than other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Uganda Backtracks on Anti-Gay Legislation Road injuries are one of the top-ten leading causes of death in the D.R.C.

These accidents are primarily due to poor road standards, overcrowded public transportation, and conflict, according to World Nomads, a travel insurance agency. Vivien Foster and Daniel Alberto Benitez, authors who have written extensively on the D.R.C., said, “The Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C.) faces possibly the most daunting infrastructure challenge on the African continent.”

In response, international organizations have launched projects to repair and build safer and more effective infrastructure, according to the World Bank and the WHO. Many are calling for the government of the D.R.C. to address the fatalities as a

public health issue and take political action. In response to these issues, the United Nations developed the Decade of Action for Road Safety to raise international standards in the years 2011-2020.

As the country focuses on its internal groundwork, it has continued to emphasize individual safety on national roads. The program coordinator for the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility said, “It is crucial to strengthen the effectiveness of road safety lead agencies across the continent. And these efforts need to be integrated into the wider African road safety agenda to achieve greater and sustainable impact.”

Elephants Fall Prey to Drought in Zimbabwe National Park John Fallows More than 50 elephants have died in Zimbabwe’s largest game reserve over the past two months, according to the Zimbabwe Parks and Management Authority (Zimparks). The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Company (ZBC) reports that the Hwange National Park, where the elephants were found, has become increasingly inhospitable for the animals due to a variety of factors, including drought and habitat loss.

The Hwange National Park has been experiencing a severe drought for months, which experts are attributing to climate change. The drought and subsequent water shortage has led to competition for water among the park’s 45,000 elephants. ZBC reports that many of the elephant carcasses were found within 50 meters of water sources. Ecologists say this shows that current water sources are too far apart, as the elephants are succumbing to dehydration traveling between sources.

Zimparks cites climate changeinduced drought as the primary cause for the death of the elephants, with Zimparks Public Relations Manager Tinashe Farawo describing the situation as “dire.” Farawo also noted that as the drought intensifies, it will become increasingly common for elephants to wander into local towns in search of food, resulting in dangerous human and elephant interactions.

Twenty people have died after coming into contact with elephants since January, according to Farawo.

Farawo also says that the park’s remaining elephants are still at serious risk of dehydration, prompting Zimparks to seek additional funding to drill more boreholes, according to the ZBC. These boreholes pump water from underground in order to fill surface-level water pans from which elephants are able to drink from. According to Hwange Zambezi Cluster Manager Samson Chibaya, there are simply not enough boreholes to compensate for the current drought.

A spokesman for Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said that Uganda would not introduce the death penalty for homosexuality, according to Reuters. The announcement comes after Ugandan Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo claimed that Uganda would reintroduce the death penalty for convicted homosexuals on October 10.

Lokodo previously told Reuters that “those that do grave acts will be given the death sentence,” and “anyone who is involved in promotion and recruitment has to be criminalized.”

The minister blamed the existence of homosexuality on “massive recruitment by gay people in schools.”

Reuters reports that Lokodo’s statements stirred discontent among Uganda’s largest aid donors, including the World Bank, the EU, and the U.S., before the Ugandan government disavowed them. Museveni’s press secretary stated that Uganda has a law on the books that “already handles issues of unnatural sexual behavior, so there is no law coming up.”

Homosexuality is already punishable by life sentence in Uganda, according to CNN. A similar bill introducing capital punishment for convicted homosexuals was drafted in 2009 and another was passed in 2014, but Uganda’s constitutional court overruled the bill for technical reasons.

Uganda struggles with discrimination and violence against gay and transgender people, as reported by the Guardian. In the past three months, four Ugandan LGBT activists were murdered, including a gay paralegal who was beaten to death in his house in early October.

Despite many gay Ugandans having fled or having gone into hiding in recent years, Uganda’s LGBT community has continued to oppose practices they see as hateful and unfair, according to the Guardian. As LGBT activist Clare Byarugaba said, “We fought so hard against legalized homophobia and discrimination, and we shall do the same if they introduce another law.”

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Johannesburg Mayor Resigns, Splits With Party Zoey Brown

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Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba announced his resignation on October 21 after three years in office. In his statement to the press, Mashaba stated that he chose to resign from his post due to his political party’s attitudes towards racial inequality in South Africa.

Mashaba formerly belonged to the Democratic Alliance (DA), the primary opposition party to the ruling African National Congress. The New

York Times notes that the DA is a historically white party, and Mashaba served as one of the party’s topranking black officials.

"I cannot reconcile myself with a group of people who believe that race is irrelevant in the discussion of inequality and poverty in South Africa," Mashaba said in his statement.

Mashaba also cited the election of Helen Zille to a high position within the party as a factor in his leaving. As BBC reports, Helen Zille is a white politician who faced intense scrutiny in

Herman Mashaba tours a research lab in South Africa in 2018.

2017 following a series of tweets which touted positive aspects of colonialism in Africa. BusinessDay reports that Zille was elected to serve as the DA’s federal council chairperson during a DA convention on October 20, just one day before Mashaba’s resignation.

The former mayor viewed Zille’s election as a sign of unwelcome changes within the party. “I am gravely concerned that the DA I signed up to, [sic] is no longer the DA that has emerged out of this weekend’s Federal Council,” Mashaba said in a statement released on social media before his resignation. He also called Zille’s triumph “a victory for people in the DA who stand diametrically opposed to my beliefs.

Mashaba is not the only politician to leave the DA. According to the New York Times, Mmusi Maimane, the DA party leader, and Athol Trollip, the party’s federal chairperson, both stepped down from their positions at a meeting on October 23.

In his statement, according to the New York Times, Maimane discussed his continued efforts to expand the DA’s appeal to black South Africans.

Maimane claimed that the party’s attempts to achieve this goal were undermined by a "consistent and coordinated attempt to undermine my leadership and ensure that either this project failed, or I failed.”

"I cannot reconcile myself with a group of people who believe that race is irrelevant in the discussion of inequality and poverty in South Africa." — Herman Mashaba These three resignations and the fear of more departures puts the DA in a precarious position for the 2021 elections. However, Al Jazeera reports that DA officials remain optimistic, and that this shift in leadership "does not signal an end to our commitment to the people of Johannesburg and South Africa."

Mozambique Opposition Party Rejects Election Results Atharv Gupta Mozambique’s main opposition party, the Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo), called for the Mozambique Election Commission to cancel the results of the October 15 general election. The party has accused the ruling party, the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), of voter fraud and violence, according to BBC. AfricaNews reports that 39 percent of votes from roughly 13 million registered voters have been counted as of October 21. Incumbent President Filipe Nyusi of Frelimo currently leads with 68.85 percent of votes while his main competitor, Osuffo Momade of Renamo, has secured 26.20 percent of votes. Renamo General Secretary André Magibiri released a statement calling the election "brutal and barbaric, with total violence, arbitrary arrests, ballot-box stuffing, and other irregularities," per Al Jazeera. Magibiri claimed that it did not align with the will of the electorate.

The international community saw the election as an indicator of the strength of a peace deal signed between the two parties earlier in August 2019, according to Al Jazeera.

Renamo was originally a rebel

opposition group started in 1976. The group fought a violent civil war with the Frelimo government, resulting in almost a million deaths, according to Britannica. Upon signing a peace treaty with Frelimo in 1992, Renamo gained status as a political party and participated in Mozambique’s elections.

This is the tenth election-related murder since the start of the election campaign.

However, the group still retained its armed wing, leading to renewed violent skirmishes in 2013, reports Al Jazeera. Talks regarding another peace deal began in 2016 and culminated with a recent agreement between Frelimo and Renamo. The agreement required Renamo to begin demilitarizing, with thousands of its fighters forfeiting their weapons to the government and integrating into the military and police forces. In return, the Frelimo government passed legislation offering clemency to all fighters who committed crimes in civil

conflicts since 2014.

The general election between Incumbent Frelimo President Nyusi and Renamo candidate Momade took place just over two months after the passage of the peace deal. However, AfricaNews writes that both Renamo and other third parties charged Frelimo with election violence and intimidation intended to skew the vote.

AfricaNews further reports that a European Union observer mission in Mozambique observed unfair voting conditions and inappropriate use of state resources by Frelimo, along with widespread violence. The EU Observer Mission said in a statement, "an unlevel playing field was evident throughout the campaign. The ruling party dominated the campaign in all provinces and benefitted from the advantages of incumbency."

The U.S. embassy also expressed "significant concerns regarding problems and irregularities" during the voting process, which "raise questions about the integrity of these procedures and their vulnerability to possible fraudulent acts," according to AfricaNews.

However, the African Union observer mission in Mozambique noted, in its statement

analyzing the election, that voting was “generally calm and well administered”.

Human Rights Watch researcher Zenaida Machado has been documenting election transgressions on Twitter over the course of the past few weeks. On October 18, she posted a Tweet reporting the deaths of a Renamo Women's League leader in Tete, along with her husband.

According to the Mozambique Public Integrity Center, this is the tenth election-related murder since the start of the election campaign. Machado has also consistently reported news of ballot-stuffing across the country, such as at one polling station in the city of Beira which reported 252 ballots in the box but only 158 voters.

Frelimo is widely expected to win all levels of the election: presidential, parliamentary, and provincial, as reported by Al Jazeera. The electoral commission is expected to announce the final results within 15 days of the vote. However, given the recent finalization of the Frelimo-Renamo peace agreement and Renamo’s insistence on another election in light of voter intimidation and violence claims, there are concerns about renewed violence and tensions in Mozambique.

EDITOR’S COLUMN: Paulina Song

Z

imbabwe declared October 25 Anti-Sanctions Day, a new public holiday with the express aim of protesting U.S. sanctions, according to AfricaNews. In addition to giving citizens an extra day off, the Zimbabwean government planned festivities, including a march, a soccer match, and an all-night concert in the capital, Harare.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in 2002 and 2003 in response to the government’s alleged human rights violations, according to BBC. Simon Khaya Moyo, chairman of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, called the sanctions “an act of terrorism against Zimbabwe,” according to Bloomberg. The country is currently experiencing deep economic woes as inflation has reached 300 percent.

In response to the new holiday, the U.S. Embassy in Harare tweeted “5 Facts about U.S. Sanctions in Zimbabwe,” including the “fact” that Zimbabwe’s economic ordeals are caused by its own failed policies and corruption, not sanctions.

Zimbabwe’s distress adds to a long list of grievances against outside actors on the continent.

According to the National, the African Union has expressed “deep concern over continued external interference in Libya's internal affairs." Sudanese Finance Minister Ibrahim Elbadawi called the U.S. classification of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism “a crippling impediment,” according to News24.

Foreign intervention in the region has only grown. AEI’s China Global Investment Tracker found that China invested more than $300 billion in sub-Saharan Africa between 2005 and 2019, prompting concerns over debt-traps. The first-ever Russia-Africa summit resulted in $12.5 billion worth of agreements between the parties, according to the Financial Times.

The Intercept revealed that the U.S. has maintained an extensive military presence in Africa with bases in at least 34 locations.

Whether Africa's woes should primarily be attributed to foreign actors or domestic governments, the fact remains that people are suffering and reform is stalled as countries play an endless game of hot potato over whom to blame.

1 6 | O C T. 2019

TRAVEL

APRIL ARTRIP (SFS ‘20)

CHRISTOPHER STEIN (SFS ‘20)

Check out the photos below to follow fellow Hoyas on their adventures!

The view of Taipei 101 from the peak of Elephant Mountain in Taipei, Taiwan.

Annecy, France, is commonly called “Venice of the Alps.”

SONIA VOHRA (SFS ‘20)

RHEA RIJHSINGHANI (NHS ‘20)

The view of Amman, Jordan, from the Citadel.

Sign positioned at the exit of the Mount Ijen volcanic crater in East Java, Indonesia.