The Caravel | Volume X, Issue III

VO LU M E 10 | I S S U E 3

Find us on social media @TheCaravelGU

WA S H I NGTO N, D. C .

M A RC H 2 02 0

EU Governments Consider COVID-19 Data Surveillance

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Qianyin Wu

A Malian official of the Kayes Region casts his vote during Mali’s 2018 election.

Kidnapping, COVID-19 Mar Mali Elections Max Hamid Fears stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic have plagued the long-delayed Mali parliamentary elections, according to Al Jazeera.

Additionally, unknown gunmen kidnapped the primary opposition leader, Soumaïla Cisse two days before the elections. Despite the health and security concerns, voting took place on March 29, shortly after the country reported its first COVID-19 fatality, according to France 24.

This recent election marks the first time Malians have voted since 2013 when President Ibrahim Keita’s party, Rally for Mali, won a parliamentary majority. Though an election had been

scheduled for 2018, it was delayed by officials citing security concerns.

Now that the first round of voting has concluded, citizens will return to the ballot box for a second round of voting on April 19, reports Anadolu Agency.

Considering the present situation regarding COVID-19, officials have criticized the public health conditions in which the first round of elections took place. In response, the national government’s election spokesman, Amini Maiga, reassured the electorate that hand-washing kits would be made available at polling stations across the country. Incumbent President Keita insisted that the election would proceed regardless of health concerns, stating that it is essential for

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2-3

W. EUROPE & CANADA, 6-7

USNS Comfort Arrives in New York City, p. 2

Johnson Urged to Extend Trade Deal Deadline, p. 6

E. EUROPE & RUSSIA, 4-5 Belarus to Raise Same-Sex Age of Consent, p. 5

Helsinki, Oslo Cut Pedestrian Deaths to Zero, p. 7

reestablishing peace in the troubled West African country, which has seen violent conflicts plague its northern region in recent years.

Much of Mali’s domestic instability began in 2012 following the seizure of a large swath of the country’s northern territory by Tuareg separatists from Libya. Although the separatists have since been pushed back, rural parts of the country remain under militant control, according to the Washington Post. Analysts have argued that this election cycle could represent a turning point in the fight to end the country’s years-long cycle of violence through enacting key reforms.

See MALI ELECTIONS on p. 14

LAT. AM. & THE CARIBBEAN, 8-9 Domestic Violence Reports Rise in Argentina, p. 8 INDO-ASIA-PACIFIC, 10-11 The ‘Nth Room’ Scandal Revealed, p. 10

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads through Europe, countries have responded with a variety of creative surveillance measures.

According to Business Insider, France and Spain used loudspeaker drones blaring messages urging people to comply with confinement measures.

France is testing drones over Nice before expanding them to other cities.

Governments also investigated ways to obtain data that tracks the infection’s spread. As Professor Andrea Renda of the Center for European Studies think-tank explains in Euronews, technology can increase the precision of governments’ responses by “identifying the [people] that should be tested.” Critics worry that tracking such movement violates the European Convention on Human

Rights. Technological applications in Europe must comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which “may legitimize restrictions of freedom” when crises like the pandemic conflict with public interest.

According to Reuters, eight telecommunications companies agreed to share anonymized data, which does not include any identifying information, with the European Commission. Though EU data protection laws do not regulate anonymized data, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) insisted that this data does not violate privacy. The head of the EDPS, Wojciech Wiewiorowski, said that it is “preferable to limit access [of] the data to authorized experts” in order to maximize protection.

See EU COVID-19 SURVEILLANCE on p. 6

Brazil’s COVID-19 Response Meets Backlash Keerat Singh Critics say Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is not adequately addressing the COVID-19 pandemic as reported cases in the country continue to rise.

As of April 5, there are 9,056 reported cases in Brazil.

The global community has come together over the past few weeks to implement preventative measures so that COVID-19 will not overburden the healthcare system in any country.

Many leaders have warned their countries about the dangers of the virus and endorsed preventative measures, according to CBS. However, Bolsonaro’s recent statements have been met with public backlash. He has called the virus “a

measly cold” and claimed that “God is Brazilian,” so “the cure is right there,” reports the New York Times.

Confronted with the rising number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, Bolsonaro bluntly replied that “some will die, and such is life.”

Congressional leaders, editorial boards, and the head of the Supreme Court are urging Brazilians to ignore Bolsonaro’s remarks and to follow the lockdown measures being implemented by local leaders, according to the New York Times.

Bolsonaro responded by likening public reactions to “hysteria” and accusing local politicians of inflating coronavirus figures.

See BOLSONARO FACES BACKLASH on p. 8

MIDDLE EAST & C. ASIA, 12-13

AFRICA, 14-15

U.S. Withdraws From Iraqi Bases, p. 12

Uganda Reverses Ban on Public Gatherings, p. 14

Undocumented in Lebanon Refused Testing, p. 13

Guinea Court Upholds Referendum Results, p. 15

WWW.THECARAVELGU.COM

2 | M A R . 2020

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Pentagon Response Criticized as Hundreds At Risk From COVID-19 on Aircraft Carrier The U.S. Navy’s decision to relieve an aircraft carrier captain who publicly raised concerns about the spread of COVID-19 amongst sailors has drawn sharp criticism amidst disagreements within the Department of Defense about how to protect U.S. service members aboard the carrier.

On March 25, The Department of Defense revealed that three sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean, had been diagnosed with COVID-19. Naval officials evacuated the sailors and quarantined a number of other sailors as a precautionary measure, but said that there were no plans to return the carrier to port.

Later that week, the number of cases on board jumped to 30, and the Navy ordered the carrier to dock in Guam, according to the Wall Street Journal. Although none were in serious condition, eight sailors were flown off the carrier while 5,000 sailors

aboard were tested. However, the Navy’s efforts were hampered by only having 800 test kits available, resulting in more kits being flown in.

By March 31, the situation had become much more urgent, as more than 100 sailors tested positive for the virus. This had led some to fear that the virus could spread rapidly amid the tight quarters of the warship, as it did on cruise ships like the Diamond Princess, where more than 700 people were infected.

The captain urged “decisive action” to disinfect the entire ship and quarantine all sailors.

In an extraordinary measure, the captain of the Theodore Roosevelt, Captain Brett Crozier, wrote a plea for help to senior commanders. He wrote that “we are not at war, and therefore cannot allow a single sailor to perish as a result of this pandemic

unnecessarily.” As a result of the inability for sailors to socially distance, as well as the lack of quarantine space aboard the warship, the captain urged “decisive action” to disinfect the entire ship and quarantine all sailors.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said that the Navy doesn’t disagree with the captain, but that it was a very different situation than a cruise ship, saying, “that ship has armaments on it, it has aircraft on it…

We have to run a nuclear power plant.”

One day later, Modly announced that Crozier was relieved of command for “extremely poor judgment” by raising the alarm of the families of sailors with “no plan to address those concerns.” The announcement invited swift criticism, with a number of Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee condemning a “destabilizing move that will likely put our service members at greater risk and jeopardize our fleet’s readiness.”

Crozier’s removal comes as the Department of Defense ordered its bases to stop publicly reporting new

xcoronavirus cases in a move meant to protect the safety of American soldiers abroad from adversaries who could exploit such information.

As of writing, 1,638 cases within the Department of Defense have been reported, along with five deaths.

While the situation aboard the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt is the most public facet of the Pentagon’s response to the coronavirus, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is increasingly under fire for lack of leadership and

transparency on how the Pentagon plans to keep its service members safe, Politico reports.

One military official cited the “resources, purchasing capability and warehouses” available to the DoD and questioned why they weren’t being used. Even the two Navy hospital ships sent to alleviate hospitals in New York and Los Angeles have been of limited use, with the 1,000-bed hospital ship in New York taking only 20 patients, according to the New York Times.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Caleb Yip

Brett Crozier has been relieved of his duties after expressing COVID-19 concerns.

USNS Comfort Arrives in New York City Sam Havard

Felipe Lobo Koerich Madison Stern Advait Arun Paulina Song

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

Christopher Stein Suzannah Mazur Paulina Song Kate Fin Max Dunat Sarah Weber Cristina Lopez Arin Chinnasathian Juliana Albuquerque Shaily Acharya Zoey Brown Madeline Hart Sam Hoag Ayush Ghosh Martin Hiti Brooke Tanner

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

The USNS Comfort , a Mercy class hospital ship belonging to the United States Navy, arrived in New York City on March 30 to reinforce the city’s healthcare system, which has been left severely depleted by the onslaught of coronavirus patients in the city.

The first positive case of coronavirus in New York City was found on March 1, and ever since then, the city has become the epicenter of the coronavirus in the United States.

The total number of cases in the city is now more than 51,000, which consists of 22 percent of the total cases in the United States, according to the New York Times. This vast number of patients , which continues to rise, has put immense pressure on hospitals of the city, lacking the necessary amounts of beds and intensive care units (ICU).

As of March 30, 84 percent of New York’s ICU beds were full, leaving less than 400 available for new patients, according to the New York Post.

In order to alleviate these stresses,

the federal government deployed the USNS Comfort. This hospital ship of the US Navy, formerly an oil supertanker, contains 1000 beds, 12 operating rooms, and 80 intensive care units., according to the Verge. It will also host non-coronavirus patients, providing much needed assistance for the city’s desperate hospitals.

The hospital ship departed from Norfolk, Virginia, on March 28, and was seen off by President Donald Trump, according to NBC. “In a few moments the crew of the navy hospital ship USNS Comfort, which is really something, will embark for New York City where they will join the ranks of tens of thousands of amazing doctors, nurses and medical professionals who are battling to save American lives,” Trump said, before the ship departed.

“We knew from the outset that expanded hospital capacity was critical. We asked and the federal government answered,” tweeted New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in response to the ship’s arrival.

The governor wasn’t the only

one excited by the USNS Comfort’s arrival. Crowds of onlookers gathered in Manhattan to watch the incoming ship.

These spectators, violating the social distancing regulations, were eventually dispersed by the NYPD, following orders from Mayor Bill de Blasio. The state of New York has prohibited any kind of gathering, and has ordered that people keep a distance of at least 6 feet from each other, according to Newsweek. Mayor De Blasio stated that citizens who violated these orders could be fined up to $500.

The presence of the USNS Comfort in New York City demonstrates the severity of the outbreak. After all, the last time the ship was in the city was after the 9/11 attacks, when it was used to treat first responders. Furthermore, with only 80 ICU beds, the ship is far from a complete solution to the overcrowding of the healthcare system.

More radical measures will have to be taken in order to prevent medical systematic failure in the long term.

M A R . 2020 | 3

Nancy Pelosi Celebrates Women’s Suffrage

On March 5, Pelosi reaffirmed her support of the Equal Rights Amendment.

On March 5, Pelosi reaffirmed her support of the Equal Rights Amendment. She reminded listeners that the Constitution currently does not ban gender-based discrimination.

“It’s absolutely necessary,” she declared. When Mason brought up recent Republican allegations that the ERA would mandate “taxpayerfunded abortion,” drawing chuckles from the audience, Pelosi responded with exasperation: “What are they talking about?”

Three states ratified the ERA after 1982, and five have rescinded their ratifications.

Ayushman Ghosh

D CLAIRE BEEZLEY, (SFS ‘23)

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) spoke at Georgetown University on March 5 in honor of Women’s History Month. Though her conversation with Sirius XM Radio’s Julie Mason began with a celebration of women’s suffrage in the United States, Mason and the audience members took the opportunity to ask Pelosi about many political issues affecting women today.

A LESSON IN HISTORY Pelosi kicked off the conversation on the 19th Amendment by making it clear that women were not “given’’ the right to vote—rather, activists fought, marched, and starved for years to achieve it.

She connected the achievements of women’s rights activists of the past to her own experience making history as the first female speaker of the House.

When she found out she had been elected to that position, Pelosi felt the presence of trailblazing suffragists: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, and Alice Paul “were all sitting there on that chair with me.”

Pelosi celebrated the fact that more than 100 women are serving in the House on the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. She did not hesitate to mention that 91 belong to her own party, while only 16 represent the GOP. The disparity in representation between Democratic and Republican women in Congress has been attributed to a number of factors, including that educated women tend to lean left politically and Republicans generally eschew what they label “identity politics,” which leads to fewer Republican voters prioritizing electing women, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Pelosi pointed to the Democratic Party’s active choice to improve its female representation, and she added that she hopes the proportion of women increases on the other side of

the aisle as well.

ERA, 50 YEARS TOO LATE? Mason quickly steered the conversation to a more contentious topic—the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a proposed constitutional addition that would specifically prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.

The amendment passed in Congress almost 50 years ago, but only 35 states ratified it, falling just short of the required 38.

Although Congress set a deadline of 1979 (and later 1982) for the amendment’s adoption, Illinois, Virginia, and Nevada have since ratified it, bringing the total to the necessary 38. However, five states (Nebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky, and South Dakota) have withdrawn their initial ratifications. The legal validity of both the late adopters and retroactive withdrawals is up for debate.

Last February, Congress voted to remove the 1982 deadline from the amendment, sparking even more legal concerns. Speaker Pelosi, a longtime supporter of the ERA, spoke strongly in favor of the bill on the floor of Congress.

CLAIRE BEEZLEY (SFS ‘23)

Claire Beezley

EDITOR’S COLUMN:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks in honor of Women’s History Month.

SUPREME SETBACKS Remaining on the subject of reproductive rights, Pelosi poked fun at her critics who, alluding to her prochoice positions, have said, “Nancy Pelosi thinks she knows more about having babies than the Pope.”

“Yes…” Pelosi (a mother of five) responded. ”I think the Pope would agree.”

Since President Donald Trump appointed Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, many justices’ backgrounds suggest that, for the first time in recent years, the precedent set

by Roe v. Wade could be under serious threat, CNN reports. On March 4, the Court began debating a Louisiana law requiring doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinics.

While this case does not have bearing on the Roe precedent itself, it could indicate where the justices will stand on future cases concerning reproductive rights.

The four liberal judges on the court believe that the Louisiana law in question is similar to one from Texas, Whole Women’s Health v.

Hellerstedt, that the Supreme Court struck down in 2016. The Washington Post reports that Chief Justice Roberts, now the ideological center of the Supreme Court, asked variations of the same question to the three lawyers addressing the court: should the court undertake a fact-dependent, state-bystate analysis when reviewing such restrictions? Roberts was a dissenter in the Texas case and has not indicated what he believed to be the proper answer.

Many fear that this case, if the other judges do not acknowledge the precedent set by the Supreme Court’s ruling on Whole Women’s Health v.

Hellerstedt, will act as a catalyst to Trump’s admitted agenda to strike down Roe v. Wade.

Responding to a question from Mason regarding the Louisiana case, Pelosi vouched for its significance on a broad level, beyond the details of the specific situation. She expressed concern about the prospect of the Court overturning aspects of Roe: “Does this court want to abandon its own precedent? And if so, there are a lot of things that are at risk.”

PATRIARCHY AND THE PRIMARIES When questioned about the lack of younger candidates remaining in the democratic primary race, Pelosi maintained the conversation’s focus on gender issues. She explained that her own age is often pointed out, while young people flock to Bernie Sanders, who is practically the same age as Pelosi. “Is there a little misogyny in all of this?” she wondered.

Pelosi refused to endorse a candidate in the 2020 democratic primaries, emphasizing that the nominee should represent the interests of the voters. She affirmed that she will be supporting whoever is chosen by the Democratic party in the general election, though, in a reference to anxieties over COVID-19, she pledged to “enthusiastically elbow bump,” rather than embrace, the future nominee.

The final question of the afternoon asked Pelosi’s stance on the possibility of massive systemic overhaul, inquiring as to whether steps like abolishing the electoral college and implementing major campaign finance reform are necessary to achieve progress. Pelosi encouraged confidence in existing systems and their ability to evolve and improve. Laying out her hopes for the future, she again brought the conversation back to women: “I do believe if we lower the role of money in politics and increase the civility in politics, we have more women and others willing to take a chance and run for all of us.”

espite the panic surrounding COVID-19 and the measures being taken to prevent it, the United States has become the epicenter of the pandemic, now reporting 270,000 cases and more than 7,000 deaths.

So far, the federal government has left it up to the states to decide what their responses will be.

While almost all states have shut down schools and non-essential businesses, critical differences in the policies still remain, making management of the virus more difficult.

Coronavirus hotspots like New York and Louisiana are enforcing strict stay-at-home orders to attempt to slow the spread of the disease. In contract, states experiencing less severe outbreaks, like Iowa and Kansas, have refrained from issuing such orders.

With states’ differing policies on how to handle the crisis, the federal government’s main priority should be passing measures that halt the spread of the virus nationwide.

While Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said that a national lockdown will not be necessary due to the variation between states, the potential implications of not having one pose their own risks to the country.

According to NPR, Former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Juliette Kayyem says that “we are seeing community spread in every state. You need the nation to shut down.”

While a lockdown sounds extreme in the context of the United States’ decentralized government, it may be the only way to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Several countries around the globe have enacted national lockdowns in an attempt to slow the virus’s progression and provide relief for overwhelmed hospitals to varying degrees of success.

If the U.S. delays passing extreme measures to counter the coronavirus’ spread, it may soon move beyond current hotspots, with countless thousands dying as a result. New York, which has become the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S., had zero cases one month ago. This same drastic progression could happen in other states as well. If the government does not enforce stricter measures across the country now, it could find itself enforcing them later, when more damage has been done and more lives have been lost.

4 | M A R . 2020

EASTERN EUROPE & RUSSIA Sarah Weber

A

s COVID-19 rages, Eastern Europe and Russia have remained largely out of the spotlight, with media attention focused on the rising cases in the West. In the absence of watchdogs, leaders have taken the opportunity to consolidate their power, swiftly institutionalizing dangerous new norms of authoritarian governance that post-pandemic Europe may only notice too late.

Never one for subtlety, Russian President Vladimir Putin has overtly consolidated power, taking advantage of the gap in media coverage on Russian politics. On March 10, the Constitutional Court struck down Russia’s presidential term limits, according to the New York Times. Pending results of a referendum on April 22, Putin will effectively be president for life.

Hungarian Prime Minsiter Viktor Orban has followed Putin’s lead, using COVID-19 emergency measures to carry the country toward dictatorship. On March 30, the Hungarian parliament voted to extend the state of emergency caused by the pandemic, essentially removing the checks and balances on the prime minister’s office, reports the Guardian.

Meanwhile, in Serbia, President Aleksandar Vucic implemented a strict lockdown that has become a pretext for a political crackdown.

While measures like curfews and self-isolation are necessary to combat viral spread, journalists reporting on poor conditions in COVID-19 treatment centers have been arrested, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

Illiberalism in Eastern Europe is not new, but the distraction of the COVID-19 pandemic has provided ample opportunity for despots to tighten their grip.

Though government lockdowns are temporary, dictatorships are far less so. Media watchdogs must shed light on the actions of these leaders, even amid the pandemic, in order to prevent backsliding into autocracy, an outcome the results of which would stretch far longer than those of the pandemic.

Russian Disinformation Flourishes Amid Crisis Christine Ryzhov A leaked European Union foreign policy analysis report claims Russian media outlets tied to the Kremlin are spreading disinformation about the COVID-19 crisis. Business Insider reports the primary goal of this disinformation campaign was to sow panic and confusion in the West.

The report, dated March 16, details more than 110 examples of disinformation from Russian sources in the two months leading up to the release date. These trending false narratives carry a wide range of accusations, including claims that the virus is a laboratory-made biological weapon, that the United States, instead of Wuhan, China, was the actual break-out point, and that the entire virus is a hoax.

Russia is not alone in its disinformation campaign. According to the Guardian, Russia’s campaign has been centered around amplifying theories originating in other countries, such as China, Iran, or the U.S., instead of authoring conspiracies. This tactic ties into an important component of Russian disinformation: to eliminate traces of blame.

Disinformation can be tied back to the Cold War era, when spreading propaganda and sowing chaos via false claims were a common Russian tactic for fighting the West. This method of “information warfare” is known as “active measures” and now plays an integral part in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace details contemporary uses of active measures by pointing to the Russian media’s role in the annexation of Crimea and the U.S. presidential election in 2016. Both events were largely influenced by Russia’s keen ability to spread false narratives to its target audience. The inability to distinguish fake news from the truth is the goal of Russia’s disinformation campaigns, experts say.

The leaked EU document outlines Russian attempts to sow chaos over the virus as the current principal motive of Russia’s disinformation campaign. If Russian efforts succeed, a loss of trust in the U.S., the EU, and other NATO states will result.

However, much of the intended audience is domestic. By spreading chaos in the West, Putin raises his own image at home, critics say.

Polish Activists Fear Limited Abortion Access Max Dunat After the Polish government closed its borders on March 15 to help combat COVID-19, abortion-rights groups in Poland began to worry that the border closure may prevent women from traveling to clinics abroad to receive an abortion, according to Reuters.

Poland has some of Europe’s strictest abortion laws. Abortion is legal only in cases of rape, incest, or risk to the mother’s health. Even when it is legally permitted, many healthcare providers refuse to offer the service, citing conflicting religious beliefs.

As a result, women in Poland seeking abortions must often travel to other countries or rely on illegal abortion pills to terminate unwanted pregnancies.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation writes that Poland has stopped international postage, potentially preventing women from obtaining those abortion pills.

Some people on the religious right have praised this unexpected side effect of the pandemic. According to Gazeta.pl, a Warsaw priest wrote that the number of unborn children saved from abortion may outweigh all of the virus’s casualties in a Facebook post about the “upsides” of the pandemic.

Abortion-rights activists paint a less optimistic picture. According to Marie Stopes International, lockdowns and travel bans will deny planning services to 9.5 million women worldwide, which could result in an estimated 2.7 million back-alley abortions and 11,000 abortion-related deaths.

Countries such as Poland with highly restricted access to abortion would bear a disproportionate number of those unnecessary deaths. Lawyer Kamila Ferenc of the Federation for Women and Family Planning in Poland told Reuters she expects “many women to fail to get assistance because of the spread of coronavirus.”

Disinformation can emphasize the fragility of institutions like the EU and democratic countries like the U.S., while simultaneously highlighting the effectiveness and stability of Russia in a time of crisis. The EU report shows that domestically, Kremlin media outlets “have shifted their focus to highlight Russia’s preparedness to tackle the outbreak, while Russian aid to Italy was extensively covered.” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty notes that a comparison of the weak responses of Western states and the strong, effective response of Russia can increase Putin’s approval rating ahead of an upcoming

THE KREMLIN

EDITOR’S COLUMN:

referendum that would keep him in power until 2036.

Putin has sought to raise Russia’s global standing as well. On March 3, Russia donated a plane full of masks, personal protective gear, and ventilators to the United States, a move that carries characteristics of a “from Russia with love” geopolitical power play disguised as an aid gesture, according to the Guardian.

Amid the virus, Russian disinformation efforts will be as strong as ever in attempting to sow discord and secure the country’s spot as a great power, experts predict.

Putin has sought to use COVID-19 to elevate his own image at home, critics say.

M A R . 2020 | 5

Dennis Azvolinsky After a month of avoiding strict social distancing measures, Moscow’s mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced major restrictions on March 30, effectively putting Russia’s capital under lockdown in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. According to the Moscow Times, Sobyanin’s decree outlined the closure of non-essential stores, the establishment of a nonworking period, and mandatory selfquarantine guidelines.

The drastic measures came as a result of the development of large crowds and traffic days after Sobyanin advised citizens to avoid public spaces, the Moscow Times reports. “It is obvious that not everyone heard us,” the mayor wrote on his website as he announced the new measures.

Sobyanin laid out penalties for violating the mandatory stay-athome order on April 2, reports RIA. These include fines of 4,000 rubles ($50) for being out of home for nonessential reasons and 300,000 rubles ($3,800) for illegal business. Essential activities include grocery shopping, emergencies, and dog walking within a 100-yard radius of the home.

Sobyanin’s precautions against the virus also included preparing hospitals and stocking up on essential supplies, according to Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. “We are mobilizing all our efforts in the fight against the coronavirus,” he stated.

Experts worry that the situation in Russia might closely mirror the disaster in Italy.

President Vladimir Putin, who has largely distanced himself from Russia’s emergency actions against COVID-19, has praised Sobyanin’s lockdown measures as “justified and necessary.”

While lower-level officials deal with the nation’s shutdown, Reuters reports that Putin has focused most of his attention on the oil price war with Saudi Arabia as well as preventing speculation and price-gouging.

“Our country is one big family,” Putin expressed according to the New York Times. “But as they say, ‘Every family has its black sheep.’” Ekaterina Schulmann, a political commentator

and former member of the Kremlin’s human rights council, told the New York Times that Putin “wants to bring only good news, not bad news.”

Moscow’s quarantine orders have been expanded to the entire nation.

According to NPR, Putin extended Russia’s non-working period through the end of April. Legislation imposing a penalty of up to five years in prison for those who spread false information about the virus followed the extension.

According to the official government website for Russian COVID-19 data, the number of coronavirus cases in the nation has been growing exponentially. The country recorded 601 new cases on April 2, most of them in Moscow, bringing the total to 4,149 cases.

Although there is little information on where these cases originated, the majority of patients who tested positive claim to have arrived from Europe.

While much of the rest of the world has been under lockdown for weeks, panic has apparently not yet set in Russia’s capital. As restrictive measures and testing has only recently gotten underway, many experts worry that the situation in Russia might closely mirror the disaster in Italy.

Belarus to Raise Same-Sex Age of Consent Cleary Waldo Belarusian officials are considering raising the age of consent for LGBTQ people in the country, which would make any sexual activity between two persons of the same gender illegal under the age of 18. Dzmitry Pinevich, deputy health minister of Belarus, signed a letter outlining the possibility and speaks generally of “proposed amendments to the criminal and administrative codes,” according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Currently, the age of consent for any sexual activity in Belarus is 16. While homosexuality itself was decriminalized in Belarus in 1994, the nation is still replete with anti-LGBTQ sentiment, and same-sex marriage remains illegal. In 2016, Belarus led an opposition campaign against a UNcreated plan to include considerations of LGBTQ communities in the UN’s urban strategy. This hostility toward LGBTQ rights is influenced by the strong presence of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus, with 68 percent of Belarusians within the Church, according to government estimates.

In 2018, the UK embassy in Minsk flew a rainbow flag in celebration of the International Day Against Homophobia. According to the Telegraph, Belarus’s interior ministry responded by calling LGBTQ relationships “fake” and noted the importance of “traditional family values” in Belarusian culture.

“Sodomy laws” have historically been used to discriminate against gay people.

Across the world, it is rare to have a discrepancy in the age of consent between heterosexual and homosexual activity. Typically, countries that do not have equitable legislation, such as Malaysia, have not made sexual activity between individuals of the same sex legal at any age. The majority of European countries have settled on a “gender-neutral approach” regarding the age of consent, meaning that sexual orientation and gender of individuals does not affect the legality of their

sexual activity. The SRHR Africa Trust (SAT) published their “Age of Consent: Global Legal Review” and stressed the importance of “a clear Age of Consent to sexual intercourse for all persons with no distinction on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or intersex status.”

With such policies and practices widely accepted around the world, a move by Belarus to raise the samesex age of consent would be seen as a regression from prior social progress.

For LGBTQ Belarusians, it is unclear what the implications of this possibility would be should the government choose to enact the proposal.

In theory, a raised age requirement for sexual activity between LGBTQ Belarusians would be difficult to enforce. However, “sodomy laws” have historically been used to discriminate against gay and bisexual people.In the United States, these laws were used to deny same-sex couples the ability to raise children. These laws also were often used as justification for hate crimes against LGBTQ community members, a risk already high due to the less-than-hospitable environment for the LGBTQ community in Belarus.

Hungarian Prime Minister Gains Emergency Powers Sarah Keisler

The Hungarian parliament passed a bill giving Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban unlimited emergency powers on March 30 as Europe faces the threat of the coronavirus, according to Hungary Today. This particular law, intended to help Orban enact policies that will protect Hungary from the coronavirus, has caught worldwide attention from those concerned about the state of Hungary’s democracy. A Washington Post story goes so far as to claim that the country’s democracy may be the next victim of the coronavirus.

According to Balkan Insight, Orban’s power to rule by decree will extend, according to parliament, for as long as he sees fit. The vote passed in parliament in a fast-tracked procedure, with 137 members out of 190 voting in favor.

Opposition leaders argued that the omission of an end-date to the state of emergency gives Orban too much unchecked power. The Hungarian government defended the legislation as a necessary measure to prevent the spread of the virus. Hungary Today points out that the lack of a “sunset clause” on Orban’s rule by decree is justified by the government’s inability to predict how long the pandemic will continue.

Instead, Parliament argued that Hungary’s democracy is still intact: the unlimited power applies only to measures preventing the spread of the virus. Furthermore, Parliament still has the power to oversee the prime minister’s actions.

However, “preventing the spread of the virus” is a vague phrase that

THE KREMLIN

Russia Locks Down in Response to COVID-19

encompasses many more potential public concerns. Evidence suggests that Orban intends to use his newfound power to push his antiimmigrant agenda. According to the Washington Post, Orban’s government has labeled COVID-19 as a threat propagated by foreigners who migrate to Hungary illegally and will likely use the new legislation to pursue more anti-immigrant policies at the country’s borders.

Critics also fear that the new policies allow for human rights abuses to run rampant in Hungary. For example, Balkan Insight reports that provisions in the law allow for up to five years imprisonment for those spreading false information about the virus. Activists fear that this bodes poorly for journalists and the freedom of the press. In response to the opposition, Orban explained, “Now it is time for national unity and not for party political fights.”

For many political analysts, the new COVID-19 bill has not come as a surprise, but rather another step in a long decline into autocracy for Hungary’s government. Hungary’s most recent Freedom House score was only “partly free” for the second year in a row.

Hungary’s recent actions have been closely monitored by the European Union, which requires that member countries maintain institutions guaranteeing stable democracy.

According to Foreign Policy, EU officials believe that this new law may have crossed a line. As the animosity between the EU and Orban’s government grows, Hungary may face sanctions or expulsion from the EU in the future.

Hungarian President Viktor Orban used COVID-19 to justify the move.

6 | M A R . 2020

WESTERN EUROPE & CANADA

Brooke Tanner

T

he COVID-19 pandemic is damaging Europe’s health as a union. While Brexit may be slowed, the rise of anti-EU movements has soared, as many EU member states feel unfairly left behind in this crisis.

Several policy shifts in the EU show the backtracking in the union’s progression toward unity: all European Union member states agreed to greater border controls, Germany and France implemented export bans on medical supplies, and the open-border Schengen Area is all but dissolved. Critics like the leader of the far-right League, Italy’s most popular political party, warn, “once the virus is defeated, we will have to ask ourselves about the future of the EU,” according to the Washington Post.

The European Commission is quick to offer examples of cooperation. In a series of tweets, it shared that “France has donated a million masks to Italy, while Germany has sent seven tons of medical gear.” The Commission also created a shared stockpile of medical equipment, and the European Central Bank pledged €750 billion ($810 billion) to buoy the Eurozone, BBC reports.

For many, this has not proven to be enough financial assistance to weather the crisis. Nine EU member states called on the EU to issue “corona bonds,” combining incurred debt across the Eurozone in order to increase funds, according to the Financial Times.

The EU was created to share the benefits of a globalized world. As protectionism rises in individual countries rushing to safeguard their citizens’ health, their commitments to the EU are breaking down. While the EU is helping member states, it pales in comparison to the billions of dollars of aid from Russia and China to struggling countries like Italy, according to Foreign Policy.

In order for the EU to maintain fidelity across the union, it will have to promote cooperation with stronger messaging than a Twitter thread. Otherwise, these pervasive feelings of betrayal may lead to an “Ital-exit” next.

Johnson Urged to Extend Trade Deal Deadline Andisheh Kamyab British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing pressure from European leaders to extend his Brexit deadline as countries around the world battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Guardian, the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest bloc in the European Parliament, issued a statement on March 30 expressing its concerns with the pandemic’s impact on successfully negotiating a trade deal by the current proposed date of withdrawal, December 31, 2020. Under the terms of the existing agreement, the withdrawal date can be extended by one or two years if both sides agree by July 1.

The calls for an extension are not particularly new, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warning in early January that a comprehensive trade deal would be effectively “impossible” by the end of the year, owing to economic concerns, BBC reports. Amid the pandemic, the fears have only worsened.

According to the Guardian, the plea follows a meeting of European Union and U.K. representatives on March 30, where leaders discussed

how to implement the agreement on the Irish border. Talks on the logistics of withdrawal have been slow in recent weeks, with officials having been diverted to address the pandemic.

Additionally, leading members, such as both the U.K. and the EU’s chief Brexit negotiators, David Frost and Michel Barnier, were diagnosed with the virus, according to BBC. Attempts to move the talks to virtual platforms have created organizational complications with individuals working from home.

Before the outbreak of COVID-19, British and EU officials had conducted only three an a half days of trade talks as the second round planned to be held in London was scrapped, reports the Guardian.

According to the Independent, Christopher Hansen, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Luxembourg who sits on its international trade committee, noted that extending the transition period would be “the only responsible thing to do,” adding that “under these extraordinary circumstances, I cannot see how the U.K. government would choose to expose itself to the double whammy of the coronavirus and the exit from the EU single market, which

EU COVID-19 Surveillance

From p. 1 Mobile applications have emerged as another strategy to gather data about how and where COVID-19 is affecting populations. According to France24, Poland uses an app called Home Quarantine to track people who need to complete the mandatory 14-day quarantine after travel. Users are required to send a picture of themselves to the Polish police force, confirming that they are following the regulation. The app uses geolocation and facial recognition features to confirm the authenticity of the photo, and if users do not respond within 20 minutes, they are flagged so that police can physically check the residence.

However, Reuters reports that the Polish Personal Data Protection Office was not made aware of the usage of the application.

In Finland, the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat collaborated with the software company Futurice to

launch an application that tracks people’s symptoms. Their website explains that people can voluntarily answer questions that are embedded in online news pages to provide information about their respiratory symptoms. They hope this data can help map the spread of COVID-19.

However, not all governments have supported these types of initiatives. DW reports that the German parliament initially passed an amendment on a COVID-19 protection law that included a clause permitting location tracking, but it was later removed after civil libertarians raised concerns.

Opponents of the growing use of data collection also point to its potential long term consequences beyond COVID-19.

According to Reuters, Wiewiorowski warns that “such developments usually do not contain the possibility to step back when the emergency is gone.”

will inevitably add to the disruption, deal or no deal.”

Others, including German MEP David McAlister, placed total responsibility on Johnson. “The coronavirus pandemic complicates the already very ambitious schedule,” McAlister noted. “The EU has always been open to extending the transition period—the ball is now clearly in the British court.”

Even before the coronavirus struck Europe, British and EU negotiators had concluded only three-and-a-half days of formal talks regarding withdrawal.

The second round of talks were due to

PEXELS

EDITOR’S COLUMN:

be held in London earlier this month but were canceled due to the crisis.

Another round of video conference talks, originally set to take place next week, is now also unlikely to proceed.

Despite the EU’s urging, the U.K. government appears unmoved.

According to the Guardian, following the issued statement, the prime minister’s spokesman announced that there were no plans to extend the timeline, saying the date was “enshrined in U.K. law” and unlikely to change, threatening to push the already brittle relationship to its breaking point.

Brexit continues to be a difficult transition for the European Union and the U.K.

M A R . 2020 | 7

Felipe Lobo Koerich French President Emmanuel Macron gave a speech placing France on a war footing against COVID-19 and promising extensive economic support to small businesses on March 16.

In addition to ordering the French to stay home for more than two weeks, Macron announced the deployment of military personnel throughout France to aid medical professionals, transport the sick, and establish military field hospitals, per the New York Times.

Macron also promised extensive financial and economic support for businesses in France. This includes the suspension of utility bills and rent for some small business, a delay in the enforcement of new economic regulations, the postponement of tax deadlines, and the release of billions of euros of loans, according to CNN. “No French company, whatever its size, will be exposed to the risk of collapse; no French woman, no French man will be left without resources,” Macron said during his televised address on March 16. “We are at war.

The enemy is invisible and it requires our general mobilization.”

In the same address Macron also urged French citizens to respect the stay at home warning. Despite the closure of schools, Paris Parks, restaurants, cafes, and non-food shops, many have continued to gather in public spaces. Taken aback back the casual response of the French public, Macron stated, “Any violation of these rules will be penalized.’’ According to the New York Times the French Interior Ministry plans on fining those who are outside without a valid reason.

“No French company, whatever its size, will be exposed to the risk of collapse.”

—President Macron Despite the €45-billion ($48.51 billion) support plan for businesses formalized by Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, experts expect the French economy to contract by one percent this year, instead of the anticipated 1.3 percent growth prior to COVID-19, Le Monde reports.

The government also predicts that

public debt will increase, surpassing 100 percent of 2019 GDP due to the initiatives aimed at fighting COVID-19 and resuscitating the economy.

Other European countries have taken similar steps to boost their economies in the face of COVID-19.

Germany announced €500 billion ($538.92 billion) in loan guarantees, Spain released the details of a €200-billion ($215.57 billion) rescue package to provide capital for companies at risk of bankruptcy, and the United Kingdom backed £330 billion ($404.06 billion) in loans and mortgage support, CNN reports. Taken together, these financial commitments from European governments amount to $1.5 trillion with many expecting this figure to rise within the next month. However, France’s initiatives exceed most others with its promise that no business will fail.

Leaders throughout the European peninsula hope that the high government spending will minimize the economic trauma caused by the outbreak and make recovery faster after the crisis is over. However, according to CNN, many economists agree that the world is plunging into a recession.

Van Gogh Stolen From Dutch Museum Grady Stevens A Van Gogh painting was stolen from a Dutch museum on March 27.

The painting, titled The Parsonage Garden at Neuen in Spring and painted in 1884, was the only object robbed. The museum had been closed due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19.

The police were called at 3:15 a.m. to the Singer Laren museum in Laren, Netherlands after the alarm triggered, the New York Times reported. Upon arrival, the police discovered only a shattered glass door and an empty spot on the wall where the Van Gogh painting had been displayed. The museum does not have a regular night guard and has been closed, along with other museums in the Netherlands, since March 13, when the government banned large crowds as part of its measures to limit the spread of the virus.

“I feel enormous anger and sadness… Because especially in these dark days that we are in, I feel so strongly that art is here to comfort us, to inspire us and to heal us,” said Jan Rudolph de Lorm, museum director at

the Singer Laren.

The painting was on loan from the Groninger Museum for an exhibition titled “Mirror of the Soul.”

This exhibition focused on paintings that “offer the viewer a look into [the artist’s] deeper selves,” de Lorm said on the exhibition’s website.

The police discovered only a shattered glass door and an empty spot on the wall.

“Van Gogh made this work in the early spring of 1884, together with a series of pen drawings with a similar subject… it is an atmospheric, engaging work [and] the old clock tower in the background held special significance for Van Gogh,” a spokeswoman for the Van Gogh Museum said, according to Dutch News.

In the period that The Parsonage Garden at Neuen in Spring was painted, Van Gogh was attempting to create a sense of melancholy and romance, according to the Van Gogh Museum.

Van Gogh himself also refers to the

painting as a study of color effects in a letter to Van Rappard. “Am also searching for the color of the winter garden. But it’s already a spring garden — by now. And it’s changed a lot,” Van Gogh wrote.

According to art detective Arthur Brand, the raid appeared to have been committed by professional thieves, reported Dutch News. “Usually they can do the job in two or three minutes.

They go in well prepared with a tight schedule and stopwatches,” Brand said.

He explained that thieves tend to steal paintings to either sell them back to the robbed museum, use them as security in underworld deals, or as a means of negotiating a reduced sentence for another crime.

This was not the first high profile theft from the Singer Laren museum.

In 2007 a bronze caste of Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” was stolen. The sculpture was recovered a few days latter, but was missing a leg, reports Associated Press.

“Every piece of art that is stolen from a public museum is art that is stolen from society,” said Andreas Blühm, the director of the Groninger Museum.

Helsinki, Oslo Cut Pedestrian Deaths to Zero Yichu Huang

Helsinki, Finland and Oslo, Norway saw zero pedestrian fatalities in 2019 due to a number of enforcement and policy changes in the past decade, reports the Guardian.

For the first time since 1960, Helsinki, a city with a population of roughly 630,000, recorded no pedestrian deaths. The city had an average of 20 pedestrian deaths per year in 1990, a figure lower than many major European cities even now. Similarly, in Oslo, a city with a population of 680,000, there were no pedestrian or cyclist deaths in 2019.

Additionally, no children under 16 died in traffic crashes in the entire country of Norway.

Comparatively, in 2018, London had 58 pedestrian deaths, while Washington D.C. had 36, according to DCist. The 2019 figures have not been released.

The progress made by the two Scandinavian capitals can be largely attributed to the Vision Zero strategy that seeks to eliminate all traffic fatalities while increasing safe and equitable mobility for all. First implemented in Sweden in the 1990s, the campaign has proven successful among European countries. In recent years, U.S. cities and counties such as Washington, D.C., and Arlington adopted the vision as well.

Additionally, the Guardian reports that Scandinavian policymakers have adjusted traffic laws to aid the program.

In Oslo, a 70 percent increase in tolls was placed to discourage driving. The plan ultimately led to a six percent decrease in traffic in 2017.

Maximum speed is set to 30

PXFUEL

Macron Promises No Business Will Fail

kilometers per hour (18.64 mph) near schools in Oslo. In addition, the city has created car-free “heart zones” in locations with heavy pedestrian traffic.

Officials say that they hope to reduce traffic by 30 percent by 2030.

Other measures taken include an increase in parking fees. In downtown Oslo, the price increased by 50 percent. A number of parking spaces in downtown Oslo were also replaced by new cycling lanes, a controversial move that sparked opposition from car owners and businesses. “[Politicians in Oslo] have chosen to make it more difficult to use a car — it takes more time to drive from one part of the city to another now and you have to pay money to use the road much more than you used to,” explained Christoffer Solstad Steen from Trygg Trafikk, a Norwegian road safety organization, reports the Guardian.

Arild Hermstad, Oslo’s vice mayor for environment and transport, acknowledged this opposition, stating that it is a hard yet necessary goal.

“When it actually starts happening and people see that it’s working, then no one wants to reintroduce the cars into these roads. So I think more and more people are seeing that this is actually good for the city,” suggested Hermstad, reports the Guardian.

Helsinki introduced similar policies of tightening speed limits in residential areas and city centers to between 30 and 50 kilometers per hour (18.64 to 31.07 mph).

These policies have paid off.

Hermstad said, “It’s one of the things we have been focusing on for many years and probably one of the reasons why things are getting better.”

Speed limits in pedestrian areas has helped make busy areas like schools safer.

8 | M A R . 2020

LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN Shaily Acharya

C

OVID-19 has proved its ability to turn the world upside down in a matter of weeks. The disease’s rapid transmission has left governments in disarray, incapable of protecting their people from the dangerous social, political, and economic ramifications of the crisis. Latin America has been overlooked as a critical area to contain the spread of the disease: does this provide the conditions for it to become the next COVID-19 hotspot?

Latin American countries have adopted different methods to deal with (or ignore) the virus.

Brazil currently faces the most severe outbreak with 3,417 cases and close to 100 deaths. This can be attributed to President Jair Bolsonaro’s denial of the severity of the virus, the New York Times reports. In Ecuador, where the number of cases is nearing 2,000, Fox News reports that cities have begun strictly-enforced lockdowns.

While countries such as Panama, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Venezuela have not yet reached a reported infected population of 1,000 people, they all lack firm policies and procedures to contain the spread of the virus.

Past trends in other parts of the world indicate that a lack of preventative measures sets the region up for a dramatic rise in cases and deaths in the near future. A refusal to learn from the examples of other countries caught unprepared, like the United States and Italy, puts the lives of vulnerable populations within Latin America at even greater risk.

Many Latin American countries have recently struggled with largescale citizen protests and economic stagnation. These issues will only intensify with the spread of COVID-19. And, due to a lack of accurate information-collection techniques, it will be difficult to assess the severity of the virus until the impacts are too obvious to ignore. To avoid this, Latin American countries must take action now to curb the spread of the virus and protect their people.

Domestic Violence Reports Rise in Argentina Maylene Yeh

As social isolation measures sweep through Argentina, rising concerns about domestic violence have been substantiated by increasing numbers of reports. At least six women and girls were killed in the first nine days of national social isolation; calls to gender-based violence hotlines 144 and 137 skyrocketed, according to El País. Neighbors called the police after a young boy screamed for help as his mother was beaten, on March 24, Pagina/12 reported. Cristina Iglesias and her seven-year old daughter Ada were murdered by her boyfriend in Buenos Aires. Across the country, calls for help have flooded emergency lines as victims of domestic abuse are forced into isolation with their aggressors.

While social isolation measures are necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19, they place people who experience domestic violence at increased danger of physical and psychological aggression. Workplaces and schools, which sometimes serve as safe havens or support networks, have become inaccessible. Police stations are difficult to reach. The “Ni Una Menos” movement (Not One Less)

demanded protection measures for women and children on March 31.

“Macho and patriarchal violence is also a pandemic,” movement organizers said in a statement.

Government agencies have also kicked into high gear to deal with the crisis. Clarin reported that a campaign against domestic violence encouraged people to stay connected and take measures to prevent acts of abuse.

The Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity posted on Twitter, “If you know anyone in a situation of gender-based violence, you can help a lot by offering to listen or keeping them company, and also sharing information about #Línea144 and its care channels.

Even in times of physical distance, we need each other close.” The Ministry assured that communication channels to Line 144 are being strengthened as it offers 24/7 hour assistance to victims.

The Federal Council of Defenders and General Advisers of Argentina proposed different measures to respond to the situation, including: extending the validity of the protection measures established in judicial files for gender-based, domestic, or intra-family violence; streamlining the judicial process by

Bolsonaro Faces Backlash From p. 1 So far, all but three of the 27 Brazilian states have ignored Bolsonaro’s continued calls for the country to end its quarantine, instead choosing to follow the advice of international health organizations. The Brazilian Senate is also taking the virus seriously—it has passed an assistance package that will give a $115 monthly subsidy to 30.8 million informal workers in Brazil for a period of three months. The Senate also declared a state of public calamity, which allows it to exceed spending caps, particularly on health care, according to Estadão.

The first case of coronavirus has been confirmed recently among Brazil’s indigenous population of about 85,000, reports the Guardian.

Indigenous leaders have been adhering to isolation guidelines and shutting off access to roads to protect their communities, which have no guarantee of receiving medical care.

The New York Times reports that in Rio de Janeiro, community leaders are urging people to self-quarantine, and drug gangs have imposed nightly curfews.

The strong response on the part of local leaders, despite their president’s noncompliance, is preventing the pandemic in Brazil from escalating too rapidly. In turn, citizens are calling for the impeachment of Bolsonaro— one petition sponsored by Brazilian politician Fernanda Melchionna sports more than a million signatures.

Maria Herminia Tavares de Almeida, a political scientist at the University of São Paulo, has asserted that Bolsonaro remains in power only because “no one wants to create a political crisis to oust him in the midst of a health emergency.” Bolsonaro will either need to come to terms with the severity of the global pandemic or potentially face the end of his presidency.

creating standardized forms for each police jurisdiction; implementing communication strategies into supermarkets and pharmacies; expanding communication options to include WhatsApp and other social media platforms.

“It should be kept in mind that compulsory confinement in homes, the stress caused by the viral pandemic, the fear of possibly becoming ill, and the economic ramifications of the situation, compounded in the context of gender-based vulnerability, are factors that can increase tension in couples living with violent

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

EDITOR’S COLUMN:

relationships. This can mean the escalation of aggressions, with more frequent or more intense incidents, accelerating the escalation of violence,” the Council warned the public.

Estela Díaz, minister of Women, Gender Policies, and Sexual Diversity in Buenos Aires agrees: “One of the characteristics of gender-based violence is the isolation of the victim.

In this case, isolation is compulsory, which increases the [victim’s] vulnerability and possibilities of abuse by the aggressor, since he has greater control and a reinforced feeling of dominance and impunity.”

“Ni Una Menos” demonstrators gather outside in Buenos Aires.

M A R . 2020 | 9

U.S. Announces Venezuela Plan “Eat Crackers,” The U.S. Department of State released a new plan on March 31 for a political transition in Venezuela. The plan calls for the removal of sanctions if Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó, both of which claim the presidency of Venezuela, step down and transfer power to an interim government council composed of their supporters, the Guardian reports.

The plan contains 13 key points and two guarantees. It advocates for the formal reinstitution of the National Assembly as the legislative authority in Venezuela, a move that would require the dissolution of the Constituent National Assembly (CNA) and a Supreme Court order. According to the Washington Post, Maduro and his allies formed the Constituent National Assembly, entirely populated

by Maduro allies, to rewrite the Constitution and supplant the National Assembly as the legislative authority in Venezuela.

The plan also calls for the release of all political prisoners, the removal of all foreign security forces, the establishment of a new National Electoral Council, and the creation

of a Council of State composed of two Maduro supporters, two Guaidó or opposition supporters, and a Secretary-General serving as Interim President. They will remain in power until new, free, and internationally observed presidential elections occur in six to 12 months. In return for these actions, and the renunciation of power

by Maduro and Guaidó, the U.S. would remove sanctions on individuals, state-run businesses, and elements of the Venezuelan government.

The plan also calls for a truth and reconciliation commission.

In addition to the transition elements, the plan also calls for a truth and reconciliation commission and guarantees that the military high command will maintain their positions, as will state and local authorities, throughout the transitional period.

The announcement of the plan comes as conditions in Venezuela

and for the Venezuelan government deteriorate further. The price of oil, Venezuela’s main export, collapsed in recent days due to decreased demand and oversupply, spurring fears that certain types of crude oil may sell at negative prices without intervention, according to CNN. Additionally, the country faces the challenge of COVID-19, which the United Nations deems the country’s healthcare infrastructure unable to manage, POLITICO reports.

The plan also comes on the heels of a Justice Department indictment against Maduro, Venezuela’s Minister of Defense, Chief Supreme Court Justice, and 12 other military and political officials.

Maduro has already rejected the plan, called for the lifting of all sanctions, and summoned Guaidó to appear for questioning regarding allegations of a violent plot to overthrow him, the Washington Post reports.

Anti-opposition tactics against Guaidó and his supporters have increased in recent days. Regional analysts believe the indictments combined with the pressure from falling oil prices and COVID-19 will encourage officials to close ranks around Maduro.

Hippos Benefit Colombian River Ecosystem Madison Stern When Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drug lord nicknamed the “King of Cocaine,” died in 1993, the four hippopotamuses he owned entered the waterways of the Magdalena River Basin in Colombia. A new study published on March 23 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science found the hippopotamuses to be potentially beneficial to the ecosystem. While many people feared that the hippopotamuses would pose a threat to local wildlife, the study shows that they may fill a gap in the local ecosystem and food chains, demonstrating a possible cause for hope as a UN report released last year warns of potential mass extinctions.

Escobar, the founder of the Medellín Cartel in Colombia, was known to enjoy collecting exotic animals and kept them on a luxury estate called Hacienda Napoles. After Escobar’s death, the hippopotamuses were deemed too difficult and dangerous to be handled, so they were left unattended on the abandoned estate.

According to the New York Times, the four animals eventually made their

way to the Magdalena River Basin, which they found to be a favorable environment. Current estimates put the number of hippopotamuses living in this region between 50 and 80, with predictions that the number may rise to between 500 to 8,000 by 2050.

“The charisma of the hippos ... creates quite the complex situation.”

—David Echeverri While invasive species often cause great environmental harm to a region by taking resources from native species and changing the makeup of the ecosystem they enter, the hippopotamuses potentially have had the opposite effect. The study found that the hippopotamuses’ natural behaviors fill gaps in the ecosystem left by now-extinct animals, such as the giant llama or a semiaquatic rhino-like animal. According to researchers, the “ecosystem services” that the hippopotamuses serve include funneling nutrients from land to water,

altering the structure of wetlands, and keeping grassy plants in check.

The hippopotamuses present a potential solution to ecosystems facing extinction due to climate change, loss of habitat, or hunting. But while the hippopotamuses have thrived, this incident is not a replicable experiment.

The process of “rewilding,” in which non-native animals are introduced to damaged ecosystems to reverse lost biodiversity, is a difficult procedure.

Scientists cannot predict the potential effects that an alien species will have on local ones, risking the environments they hope to save.

For now, the hippopotamuses will stay in the Magdalena River Basin.

National Geographic reports that, though there is a growing concern about the consequences of their presence when their numbers rise, they are currently a good draw for tourists. David Echeverri, a researcher with the Colombian government’s environmental agency Cornare, which is overseeing the management of the animals, said of the issue, “The charisma of the hippos and the fact that they are such celebrities creates quite the complex situation.”

Says Sint Maarten Prime Minister Felipe Lobo Koerich

Felipe Lobo Koerich (SFS ‘21) is the Caravel’s publisher and is guest writing for the Caravel’s opinion section. The content and opinions of this piece are the writer’s and the writer’s alone. They do not reflect the opinions of the Caravel or its staff.

Sint Maarten Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs took the internet by storm on April 1 with a fabulously blunt message on COVID-19 and the responsibilities of her citizens.

In light of the pandemic and the threat it poses to her small Caribbean country of just more than 40,000 people, Jacobs instituted a national ban on nonessential movement, according to Buzzfeed News. Grocery stores and other essential services remain open, although the prime minister warned that they could close in coming weeks if citizens failed to heed the social distancing guidelines set in place.

Jacobs’ hour-long briefing included a plea for citizens’ cooperation, as well as a thorough scolding. “Stop moving.

Simply stop moving.... if you do not have the type of bread you like in your house, eat crackers. If you do not have bread, eat cereal, eat oats, sardines,” she said.

Jacobs begged her citizens to stay indoors and also threatened—much like a parent to an unruly child—the possibility of a full lockdown. Citizens were warned to stock up with twoweek’s worth of food and emergency supplies prior to the start of the current social distancing guidelines in case a full lockdown was required, in which case even essential services like grocery stores would close.

She bluntly said that she did not

GOVERNMENT OF SINT MAARTEN

Felipe Lobo Koerich

want to enact a full lockdown because she knew that some of her citizens likely failed to properly prepare.

She expressed a hesitation to close grocery stores. But, Jacobs clarified in a statement that she would “have no other choice” if “the people of Sint Maarten do not adhere to the measures that the government of Sint Maarten is putting in place.”

Social media seized on her comments, contrasting her with President Donald Trump’s ineffective and downright dangerous briefings.

Some likened her to a stern grandmother.

Governor Eugene Holiday appointed Jacobs as prime minister of Sint Maarten in late 2019 after the collapse of the previous cabinet. A snap election in January confirmed her cabinet and her position. Sint Maarten is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

In these trying times, as billions of citizens nervously look to their governments for guidance and comfort, Jacobs’s behavior sets the standard. An exemplar of competence, honesty, transparency, straightforwardness, and effectiveness, Jacobs made it clear she was in command, effectively managing her government’s response to COVID-19 and provided her citizens with blunt— but clear—expectations about her potential future decisions.

We can only hope that our leaders rise to the challenge of these intensely challenging times. Honesty, bluntness, and competence will determine whether governments maintain the confidence of their citizens or whether situations worsen and suffering increases unchecked.

Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs bluntly addressed Sint Maarten on April 1.

1 0 | M A R . 2020

INDO-ASIA-PACIFIC

Cristina Lopez

W

hile the leaders of three major international agencies have issued a crucial joint statement focusing attention on how governments’ responses to COVID-19 could potentially disrupt the global food trade and jeopardize food security, a persistent and more basic foe of farmers worldwide dodges more flak than usual: climate change.

As of March 4, five provinces in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta declared a state of emergency after experiencing the worst levels of saltwater intrusion and drought on record. According to World Politics Review, the “rice basket” region usually produces more than half of Vietnam’s rice, but this year’s extreme weather is expected to ruin thousands of hectares of rice paddies, Tuoi Tre News reports.

Farmers in Thailand are also grappling with the worst drought in decades, according to the Bangkok Post. Already, the country’s export prices for rice have climbed to about $550 per ton, a six-year high, while Vietnam’s prices exceed $400 per ton, the Nikkei Asian Review reports.

These droughts are just a few examples of the intense weather events that are associated with El Niño patterns, which have become more common over time. Also linked to the effects of climate change are the infamous Australian bushfires this year that killed thousands of livestock, severely impairing the country’s beef and dairy industries, according to ABC. Right now, governments are taking steps to curb panic buying and maintain the flow of global food supply chains amid proliferating border controls. However, as the above examples and the late March frost that destroyed an estimated $142 million in fruit trees in Italy demonstrate, farmers are facing a second simultaneous threat to their livelihoods: the weather.

While immediate solutions to the current pandemic are necessary, governments must also continue working on longer-term solutions for the looming climate changecaused crises their citizens will face.

The ‘Nth Room’ Scandal Revealed Ye Bin Won

Editor’s Note: CW for sexual violence and abuse

A suspect was apprehended by the South Korean police on March 16 in relation to a recently uncovered online sex trafficking ring, best known by its Telegram chatroom title “the nth room.” The suspect, 25-year old Cho Joo Bin, is thought to be the group’s ringleader. Cho traded videos and images of violent sexual acts, child pornography, and other sexually exploitative materials with more than 260,000 members of the chatroom in return for cryptocurrency. As authorities continue to arrest additional perpetrators in “the nth room,” public outrage towards the case is mounting, and concerns regarding the “invisible” nature of online criminal activity are rising.

Chatroom Dealings According to an investigative report by the Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS), Cho is a recent university graduate who began his online criminal endeavors shortly before graduation by scamming users online with promises of guns and drugs.

However, last spring, Cho transitioned to sex trafficking by establishing the nth room chat group. Going under the pseudonym baksa, meaning “doctor” in Korean, Cho amassed thousands of viewers and active members through distributing sexually exploitative media in return for cryptocurrency.

Since Cho’s arrest, the National Police Agency told reporters that 124 individuals have been arrested and 18 detained in relation to the crime.

Public Information The investigation is ongoing and the South Korean police estimate that Cho coerced more than 74 women, sixteen of whom were underage, into filming sexually degrading and violent videos of themselves for him. Authorities reported that Cho used coercive tactics such as doxxing (researching and publicly releasing another’s private information), bribing low-level public officials for victims’ private details, and threatening revenge porn or physical harm to get these women to do these things for him. In an interview with Huffington Post Korea, two anonymous victims expressed persisting fears of retribution, public humiliation, and impunity despite Cho’s arrest. “I was going to kill myself because of baksa, and now I’m terrified that he’s going to be released after a

maximum ten-year sentence,” one victim said, while another revealed that Cho threatened to rape in her own home if she did not cooperate with his demands. “He [later] threatened to release my personal information if I didn’t continue producing material [that were more graphic and violent],” she said.

Though public discourse in South Korea was dominated by coronavirusrelated issues in the last few weeks, the nth room case immediately ignited an uproar. In reaction to Cho’s arrest, citizens petitioned for the public release of implicated users’ personal information. “It is a relief that the investigation into the nth room is ongoing and that a number of perpetrators were arrested,” the petition reads, “however, such crimes will resurface… because not all 260,000 users of the nth room will be punished… [as such] we ask that the names, occupation, place of employment, age, and faces of each perpetrator is released publicly.”

Though no decision has yet been made regarding the petition’s demands, President Moon Jae In stressed for a continued and thorough investigation.

Cryptomaniacs Cryptocurrency, used by Cho and his customers, is quickly becoming the currency of choice for online criminals ranging from drug dealers and money launderers to Salafi jihadists and right-wing extremists. In a 2019 study on illegal activities financed by cryptocurrencies, researchers estimated that “illegal activity accounts for a substantial proportion of the users and trading activity in bitcoin… approximately one-quarter of all [bitcoin] users… are associated with illegal activity.”

Why might virtual currencies, riddled with considerable market volatility, fake volumes, and a lack of transparency, be so widely favored by criminals? First, cryptocurrencies afford users anonymity and speed that credit card transactions cannot provide. Second, though physical cash transfers also present some secrecy, cryptocurrency transactions are infinitely lighter than cases of cash and require no scheduled visits to back alleys. Finally, the primary challenge of cryptocurrency—the lack of a centralized authority that governs its value, distribution, and circulation— is the very feature that makes it so appealing to criminals operating

online. Clandestine, decentralized cryptocurrency makes tracking the financial transactions of criminal organizations very difficult for law enforcement and intelligence officers.

The Court of Public Opinion The online petition regarding the nth room amassed more than 2.5 million signatures merely three days after it was drafted; this accounts for roughly 4.4 percent of the South Korean population and is the highest number of signatories ever recorded since the government created the

TWITTER

EDITOR’S COLUMN:

online petition channel. This level of public engagement is forcing the South Korean government officials to grapple with the prosecutorial and legislative challenges that will certainly follow the investigation. As suggestions for reforming existing sexual exploitation and sentencing laws roll in from legislators, experts, and citizens, the nth room case is poised to become a watermark for conversations around the realities of sexual exploitation and trafficking both in South Korea and in our global digital age.

A post from user @moss_n_mold on Twitter condemns the nth room chat.

M A R . 2020 | 11

Judy Jiang Millions of migrant workers in India have been left in fear, anger, and frustration after the government announced a 21-day lockdown on March 23 in an effort to firmly check the spread of COVID-19, according to BBC. All passenger trains halted service at midnight on March 23, and only essential services are exempt from the shutdown.

As a consequence, the Hindu reports that hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have lost their jobs and homes, with local night shelters filling up and supplies running out quickly.

The 2011 census reports that the state of Maharashtra, which lies along India’s western coast, houses the most migrants in the country, approximately 2.3 million, although seasonal migration causes this number to fluctuate.

In Maharashtra’s capital, Mumbai, the peak season for construction workers lasts from March to May, with monsoon season putting a stop to most construction activity. The lockdown has left many such workers suddenly

jobless at this crucial time.

When the lockdown was first announced, some migrants were able to board buses to travel from the cities to their home villages, according to Reuters.

Thousands of migrants must walk on foot from the cities to their home villages.

With public transportation now suspended, however, thousands of migrants must walk on foot for days.

Inter-state border closings have stranded many others.

In Delhi and other areas, local authorities, companies, and charities have responded by providing stranded migrants and the homeless with free meals twice a day, the Week reports, yet some civic organizations have reported being overwhelmed by the sheer number of those needing aid.

Speaking about his organization, Sadrul Sheikh said, “We have managed to give ration to only 1,200 people.

This is a fraction of the number of people who need help at the moment.”

On March 26, Financial Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a $22.6 billion financial package that aims to alleviate the pandemic’s economic impact on the poor, reports Bloomberg. She said that the plan will include cash transfers as well as measures to ensure food security, but some economists, including Swaminathan Aiyar of the Economic Times, have questioned whether the plan is sufficient.

In addition to facing the challenges of mass migration, India’s migrant workers are also at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 and other communicable diseases. As people crowd streets, shelters, and food distribution points, social distancing becomes nearly impossible. Some people cannot afford to buy soap or do not have access to running water.

Giridhar Babu, an epidemiology professor, said that in spite of the lockdown contributing to health risks among poor communities, “more of these people would have died” had there been no lockdown due to these communities lacking access to highquality medical care. He said, “I still think we have achieved greater benefits for the entire community.”

Court Overturns Murder Convictions Frank Kim A Pakistani court overturned convictions in the 2002 murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl on April 2, according to AP. One of the men formerly convicted in the case, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, is a British national, NPR reports. Having overturned Saeed’s terrorism and murder convictions, the Sindh High Court in Karachi proceeded to find Saeed guilty of the single charge of kidnapping Pearl, downgrading Saeed’s sentence to seven years in prison. Saeed had previously been facing the death sentence.

Saeed has already been in prison for 18 years. One of Saeed’s lawyers, Khwaja Naveed, expects that this could be counted as time served. As such, according to Naveed, Saeed is expected to go free if the Pakistani government does not dispute the court decision.

The Sindh High Court also acquitted three other individuals formerly convicted of Pearl’s murder, according to the New York Times.

A journalist for the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Pearl had been

in Karachi researching possible connections between Pakistani militants and a bomber when he disappeared on January 23, 2002.

The bomber had been arrested on a flight from Paris to Miami on December 22, 2001 because his shoes were filled with explosives.

Saeed allegedly led Pearl into a trap by promising to set up an important interview.

According to AP, prosecutors in the case said that Saeed led Pearl into a trap by promising to provide him an interview with an Islamic cleric whom the police believed was uninvolved with Pearl’s kidnapping.

A video of Pearl’s beheading was emailed to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi.

Saeed was a British citizen and at the time of Pearl’s kidnapping, was training in Pakistan and Afghanistan with militant group Jaish-eMuhammad.

According to the New York Times, Georgetown University’s journalism program published a report in 2011 that cast doubt on the murder convictions of Saeed and his three companions.

The group of faculty and students that conducted the investigation, which was known as the Pearl Project, concluded that the four individuals orchestrated Pearl’s abduction but were uninvolved in his murder.

U.S. authorities point toward the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, as the person directly responsible for Pearl’s beheading.

Regardless, Faiz Shah, the prosecutor general in Pakistan’s Sindh province, said that the government will take the court’s controversial decision to the Pakistani Supreme Court. Pearl’s father, Judea Pearl, described the verdict as a “mockery of justice.”

In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists said, “We are deeply disappointed to see justice in the murder case of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl denied by a Pakistani court today. We urge prosecutors to appeal the decision.”

Duterte Tells Police to Shoot Troublemakers Marisa Morrison Faced with frustrated protesters, President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines ordered police and military forces to “shoot [troublemakers] dead” during a televised address on April 1. This comes as the country is responding to the global COVID-19 outbreak, according to Amnesty International.

The term “troublemakers” seems to refer to leftist groups who are currently protesting unequal food distribution and a lack of government aid. However, Duterte’s words imply using force against anyone who disagrees with the government’s response to the crisis.

Duterte currently has emergency powers, and he has established a curfew as well as travel restrictions in an attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19.

BBC estimates that over 17,000 people have already been arrested for violating these new measures.

Images of those who have violated the restrictions have been forced to stay in dog cages as well subjected to other inhumane punishments that have circulated on social media.

Since taking office in 2016, Duterte has attempted to purge the country of drugs by killing dealers and criminals.

Human Rights Watch has attributed at least 2,555 killings to the Philippines National Police.

Furthermore, Human Rights Watch research has shown that police routinely plant evidence to justify their murders.

Many commentators have stressed that this is extremely troubling, especially in the current climate, in which the declaration of a state of

FLICKR

India’s Lockdown Sparks Mass Migration

emergency has ensured that Duterte has more power than ever.

In his televised address, Duterte threatened those who might inconvenience the police and military, saying, “Instead of causing trouble, I’ll send you to the grave.”

His words have sparked outrage from human rights groups. Speaking in response to Duterte’s statement, Amnesty Philippine Section Director Butch Olano said, “Deadly, unchecked force should never be used in an emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Duterte’s tactics to arrest offenders are problematic for several reasons.

First, they suggest that he will not tolerate any pushback or criticism of his administration.

On top of this, the outbreakrelated implications of arresting so many people at one time are dire, as the International Health Committee of the Red Cross points out. The close physical contact that people experience while in detention could cause COVID-19 to spread at a much faster rate.

By detaining thousands, Duterte might exacerbate the public health crisis rather than alleviating it.

In the U.S, Japan, and other countries, people have criticized their respective governments for being too slow or timid in slowing the spread of the COVID-19, even with travel restrictions and curfews in the most at-risk regions, according to Reuters.

As countries around the world struggle to find the balance between over- and under-enforcement of antiCOVID-19 measures, Duterte’s clearly fall on the extreme end of the scale in terms of severity.

President Rodrigo Duterte made the controversial statement during a televised address.

1 2 | M A RC H 2020

MIDDLE EAST & CENTRAL ASIA Zoey Brown

I

ran’s prisons are buckling under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic. The strain began to show on March 3 when the judiciary announced plans to temporarily release 54,000 prisoners in order to slow the spread of the virus in its jails, reports BBC. By March 17, the number of furloughed prisoners had reached 85,000, including political detainees who just two weeks prior had been categorically denied release. Time reports that by the end of the month, only one-third of Iran’s former prison population remained behind bars.

However, recent unrest suggests that these drastic measures failed to ease the burden on the overcrowded prison system. In the city of Shiraz, inmates staged a riot on March 30 to protest unsanitary conditions throughout the facility, according to Al Jazeera. Only two days before, 74 prisoners in the western Kurdistan province escaped, beating several guards in the process. Al-Monitor reports that only 20 of the escapees have been located; the other 54 are non-violent offenders serving light sentences, fleeing not a life in prison but the threat of disease.

Ironically, the threat of coronavirus in Iranian prisons has been a blessing for highprofile political detainees. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British national arrested in 2016, was temporarily released on March 18 and allowed to return to her parents’ home in Tehran, reports Al Jazeera.

Similarly, authorities granted Michael White, an American arrested almost two years ago, furlough on March 19, fearing that his ailing health would put him at a greater risk of succumbing to coronavirus, according to NBC. For now, the Swiss Embassy in Tehran is housing White, who, much like Zaghari-Ratcliffe, cannot leave the country. For these political prisoners, relief is temporary; they know all too well that the end of the pandemic may see them return to their cells. For thousands of other detainees in Iran facing the threat of the virus, relief from their situation may never come.

Attack on Sikh Temple in Kabul Kills 25 Divjot Bawa

Several gunmen stormed a Sikh religious complex in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, on March 25, killing 25 and wounding eight worshipers, reports NPR. According to Al Jazeera, nearly six hours after the attack began, Afghan security forces freed 80 worshipers before killing the rampaging shooters. Shortly thereafter, SITE Intelligence Group, a nongovernmental organization that tracks the online postings of Islamic militant organizations, revealed, according to the Washington Post, that the Islamic State (ISIS) had claimed responsibility.

The raid on the 400-year old Sikh temple comes nearly a year after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani declared the Islamic State “defeated,” according to Al Jazeera.

Officials estimate that fighters are dispersed across the country and the group’s supply networks have been badly damaged. The group’s decline coincides with the Taliban’s peace deal with the United States last month.

While the deal pressures the extremist group to reduce its violence and engage in peace talks with the Afghan government, ISIS has allied with

neither the Afghan government nor the Taliban, continuing independent attacks throughout the region, according to the New York Times.

Historians traced a modest Sikh presence in Afghanistan back nearly 500 years. While religious persecution is not unfamiliar to Afghan Sikhs, the withdrawal of Russian forces in the late 1980s and the arrival of the Mujahideen placed Afghan Sikhs in an incredibly hazardous position. The Taliban, which rose to power in the mid-1990s, forced Hindus and Sikhs within the region to wear yellow stars or yellow armbands on their clothing to identify their religious affiliation—a requirement uncannily similar to that imposed on European Jews by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.

Due to incessant conflict and persecution by Islamic extremists, the population of Sikhs and other religious minorities in the region has precipitously declined. The government estimates that the Afghan Sikh and Hindu populations have diminished from nearly 700,000 in the 1970s to a mere few hundred today.

Activists, lawyers, and humanitarian workers have, in response to this and other attacks

U.S. Withdraws From Iraqi Bases Jake Powell The United States has withdrawn from its third Iraqi military base in a move announced on March 16, reports BBC. This base, known as K1 and found near the province of Kirkuk, was fired upon by Iranian forces earlier this year. Now, the U.S. is consolidating its bases in Iraq, with officials claiming that ISIS has been “constrained,” according to Military Times.

American troops re-entered Iraq in 2014 with a mission to stabilize the Iraqi regime and defeat ISIS. Before the latest withdrawals, around 5,000 American troops remained in Iraq, according to Time. In the past six months, however, the political climate in Iraq has drastically changed.

Protesters, encouraged by Shia Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, have voiced their displeasure with U.S. involvement in domestic affairs. After the killing of

Qasem Soleimani, 250,000 participated in an anti-American march. and Iraqi Prime Minister al-Mahdi demanded the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, reports Time.

Now, following attacks on American bases, al-Mahdi’s wish is granted; the U.S. has withdrawn from K1 and two other bases. However, the United States’ exodus from the country creates instability. Disputes between Iraq and the Kurds were often mediated by the United States.

Furthermore, ISIS still controls areas near Kirkuk which were targeted by K1, according to Military Times.

Much like Vietnamization during the Vietnam War, America is now turning over its combat operations to the Iraqi Army. If the Iraqi military and government do not have the strength to fight against ISIS, Iraq may become a 21st-century Vietnam—a resounding failure framed as a success.

against Sikhs, clamored for world governments to allow the remaining Sikh and Hindu families an opportunity to seek asylum, according to the Washington Post. While the UN Security Council has since condemned the attacks as “heinous and cowardly,” activists are pushing for more tangible results. Historically, this effort has been led by Canadian-based organizations.

These initiatives include the World Sikh Organization of Canada and, most notably, the Manmeet Singh Bhullar Foundation, which worked

PRITPAL SINGH

EDITOR’S COLUMN:

to convince Canada to open its doors to 65 Afghan Sikh and Hindu refugee families in 2019.

Since the original shooting, two more attacks have taken place in Kabul: bombs were detonated during the funeral ceremonies for the victims of the initial attacks, and landmines were placed around those ceremonies.

While Sikh organizations around the world are frantically mobilizing as many of their resources as possible, help cannot seem to come quickly enough.

An Afghan soldier peers down the hallway of the attacked Sikh temple in Kabul.

M A RC H 2020 | 13

Ye Bin Won Individuals without identification papers have been refused COVID-19 testing at Lebanese hospitals, leaving undocumented migrant workers and refugees particularly vulnerable to the growing pandemic. Coupled with the dire financial crisis that Lebanon struggled with prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the current situation poses a severe health risk for undocumented individuals in Lebanon.

Undocumented people in Lebanon are primarily migrant workers from Southeast Asia and Africa and Syrian or Palestinian refugees. According to Human Rights Watch, refugees often lack any documentation and have little access to adequate healthcare in refugee camps. Many migrant workers lose any documentation they have, as employers often confiscate passports and IDs. This practice, Al Jazeera reports, is pervasive among employers in Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East. Many migrant workers escape abusive employment situations only to find themselves as undocumented aliens. The combination of the Lebanese financial crisis and the rise of COVID-19 leaves

migrant workers and refugees in a dangerous limbo.

According to Al Jazeera, a source at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut reported that the hospital will treat anyone in “an emergency condition.” However, since the hospital is required to provide the name of every person tested to the state, they need documentation in all but “emergency” cases to administer a COVID-19 test.

Refugees fear that they may be deported back to Syria if they seek medical attention.

It is possible that the hospital makes tests available for purchase, but cost becomes another hurdle. In parts of Beirut, COVID-19 tests cost anywhere from $99 in certain private clinics to $498 in larger hospitals.

These high costs make tests prohibitive for undocumented individuals, who often struggle to pay rent and afford basic necessities.

Undocumented people also face another fear: deportation. In

an interview with NPR, one Syrian refugee expressed her concerns for the health of her family as well as the prospect of being sent back to Syria, still grappling with a decade-long civil war. In addition to the lack of social distancing at refugee camps that have “barely any space between each tent,” many refugees fear that they may be deported back to Syria if they seek medical attention. Although Lebanese General Nabil Hanoun assured that “no Syrian seeking treatment would be sent back to Syria,” skepticism towards this statement is not unfounded. Human Rights Watch reported in 2019 that the Lebanese Armed Forces demolished around twenty Syrian refugee camps and deported thousands. This leaves refugees hesitant to reach out to healthcare providers.

While the crisis-stricken country attempts to manage its financial and COVID-19 challenges, the possibility of a humanitarian crisis looms. Arab News reports that as Lebanese medics predict “horror movie conditions” and the government braces for peak infection rates in the coming days, the hope that undocumented people receive necessary medical attention seems unlikely.

Saudi Arabia Calls OPEC+ Meeting Ali Taha Brown Saudi Arabia declared its intention to call an emergency meeting between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies on April 2. This move comes in the middle of a burgeoning oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Oil prices have remained stable throughout the past three years due to a pact labeled OPEC+, reports Vox. This pact includes the 15 oil-exporting countries represented by OPEC and their allies, including Russia. However, in an attempt to keep the price of oil high during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia proposed that the OPEC+ participants collectively cut production by 1 million barrels per day. Russia declined, leading to dramatically increased oil production in both countries.

Though Moscow’s reasoning behind its refusal is unclear, some observers have speculated that the lowering of oil prices was designed to hurt the US shale industry, according to the National Interest.

The impact of the price war has been substantial. On March 31, the

price of oil hit an 18-year low, reports the Street. The share price of West Texas Intermediary (WTI), a U.S. oil benchmark, had dropped by 69 percent since the start of the year, as of April 2. This free-fall has gravely impacted the U.S. shale industry.

Colorado-based Whiting Petroleum filed for bankruptcy on April 1, and experts warn that more companies will follow suit if prices continue to plummet, according to NBC.

Some energy experts doubt that Riyadh has international interests at heart.

The OPEC+ meeting succeeded in providing short-term economic relief with the share price of WTI rising by more than 30 percent. President Trump supported the Saudi-led effort, tweeting, “Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with President Putin of Russia, & I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million

Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry.”

Despite Trump’s optimism that this meeting will usher in the end of the oil price war, some energy experts doubt that Riyadh has international interests at heart. Samantha Gross, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Al-Jazeera, “US shale producers are their competitors. There’s no way the Saudis want to cooperate to save the US market.” For now, the White House is facing pressure to bail out the shale industry; however, the administration’s attempt to add a $3 billion provision for the shale industry onto the recent $2 trillion package to resuscitate the economy was denied

by House Democrats, according to Al Jazeera.

The U.S. is considering alternative policy options. Six senators wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, expressing a desire to bolster U.S.Saudi cooperation at the expense of OPEC. While the OPEC+ meeting may not end the oil price war, it shifted dynamics as the U.S. gravitates closer to Saudi Arabia, leaving Russia in the cold.

COVID-19 Threatens the Gaza Strip Malak Abusoud

As the first cases of COVID-19 reach Gaza, inhabitants are realizing that they are more at risk than people in many other parts of the world.

When the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in February, according to the Real News, Gazans joked that life under quarantine would not be any different from their daily life under siege for the past 12 years. However, in recent weeks, the reality of life in a pandemic has become all too apparent.

The population in Gaza is more vulnerable to the virus due to its decade-long siege. Gaza, considered the third most densely populated place in the world, has the highest poverty rate in the region, which as forced large families to live together in close proximity.

The non-profit organization B’Tealem reports that the healthcare infrastructure in Gaza could not support its population even before the spread of COVID-19. Shortages of medical supplies, equipment, training and doctors make it impossible for Gaza to adequately respond to the crisis. The head of WHO in Gaza, Abdelnasser Soboh, has confirmed that there are just 62 ventilators in the region serving 2 million people, according to the Guardian.

The government in Gaza has responded by shutting down institutions, offices and even mosques. Economically unstable with shortages of electricity and water supply, the region already faces high unemployment rates that will be exacerbated by the new social distancing measures keeping people home.

PIXABAY

Undocumented in Lebanon Refused Testing

The lack of education about the pandemic in the Gaza Strip also creates issues when social distancing measures are ignored “In general, there is a massive percentage of Gazans who are still normalizing the pandemic and are not feeling its seriousness and danger,” said Khaled Al Saidi, a Gazan studying Business Administration at American University of Beirut. “Some of the people [in Gaza] are saying that because we have lived through three harsh wars, and because of how we are used to severe circumstances, the virus won’t become an issue for us.”

According to Al Saidi, youth in Gaza have been stepping up by educating friends and family about social distancing and encouraging others to stay at home.

Organizations in and outside Gaza recognize the lack of a strong governmental response to the pandemic and are helping to fill in the gap. One of these initiatives, started by an activist group in the West Bank called Babyfist, responded to the deficit of face masks in the region. They fundraised via Instagram and other social media outlets and have produced at least 50,000 face masks approved by the World Health Organization in their factory in Gaza.

Many organizations also called on Israel to respond to the crisis, believing that Gaza’s vulnerability stems from Israel’s blockade against it.

On March 29, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders tweeted that “the Israeli government must also lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid.”

Failure of Gaza to be able to control the domestic spread of COVID-19 could result in its spread to Israel as well.

Medical staff in the Gaza Strip face a critical deficit of supplies, including face masks.

14 | M A R . 2020

AFRICA

Paulina Song

W

hile other countries and international bodies rush to aid African countries in fighting a physical battle against COVID-19, a concurrent information war rages on. Misinformation and disinformation have been rampant across Africa and the world, prompting the World Health Organization to declare an “infodemic” amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The deluge of verified and unverified claims flooding the information ecosystem have resulted in mass confusion and eroding trust in credible sources.

According to one Brazilian doctor’s false claim on social media, fennel can cure the coronavirus, BBC reports. The post prompted a rush to local markets in Cape Verde.

Similarly, a Nigerian newspaper , the Punch, falsely reported, “To be safe from coronavirus, shave your beard, CDC warns.” By the time it added a correction note at the very bottom of the article, the rumors had already spread.

The U.S. warned that disinformation brings further challenges to addressing the virus in African countries because of increased skepticism of Western responses, according to the Guardian. Misinformation has also literally killed, as Democracy Now reports that two Nigerians died from overdosing on chloroquine after U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that the drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and would be made available “almost immediately.”

In Nigeria, 58 percent of people surveyed by the Pew Research Center expressed confidence that Trump will “do the right thing in world affairs.”

The deaths of the two Nigerians who put their faith in Trump’s words are not “tragic accidents.”

Words manifest in real, tangible harm, especially in an environment of panic and confusion exacerbated by false and conflicting information. The consequences of careless remarks by world leaders must not be overlooked.

Uganda Reverses Ban on Public Gatherings Sonya Hu Uganda’s Constitutional Court nullified a highly controversial segment of a public order law on March 26, ending a five-year-long prohibition on public gatherings, according to the International Center for Transitional Justice. The law was used to justify a crackdown on protests and political activity.

According to Justice Cheborion Barishaki, who was quoted in Chapter Four Uganda, a human rights nonprofit, the contested section eight of the Public Order Management Act (POMA) granted the inspector general of police “supernatural powers” to stop or disperse public gatherings.

Barishaki was joined by three other justices—Kenneth Kakuru, Geofrey Kiryabwire, and Elizabeth Musoke—in the four-to-one decision that POMA severely violated the constitutional right to freedom of assembly, according to the Daily Monitor.

The majority rejected the government’s argument that excessive protests would hinder economic growth and business operations, ruling that the minimal financial consequences failed to outweigh the

centrality of free assembly to a thriving democracy. The court also called the government’s actions contradictory, as numerous state agencies had frequently used demonstrations to publicize their own programs.

The Guardian notes that the contentious provisions were remarkably similar to a previous law declared unconstitutional in 2005.

Barishaki voiced confusion over these similarities and concern that it may foreshadow a government indifferent toward court rulings, saying that it “defies logic as to why parliament would rush to pass an act of parliament containing provisions that are pari materia [the same] as those that were declared unconstitutional.”

Joel Ssenyonyi, spokesperson for Wine’s People Power Movement, echoed these concerns, telling the Guardian in an interview that “this government is notorious for disregarding court orders.”

In 2015, Human Rights Watch condemned the widespread police obstruction of public gatherings in Uganda, citing the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and physical force to obstruct political meetings and rallies.

On September 10, 2015, police in the

Mali Elections From p. 1 Specifically, a new parliamentary regime could strengthen efforts to negotiate peace with the country’s armed rebels. Additionally, the election could shape many future attempts at healthcare and other public service reforms. These issues have greatly contributed to the insurgency plaguing Mali, as many residents, particularly in rural parts of the country, are driven to join armed militant organizations due to a lack of access to basic provisions.

The conflict in Mali’s northern territory raised further election controversy, as those displaced may have faced difficulties in reaching polling stations, according to DW. BBC reports that up to 200,000 internally displaced persons could not vote.

The most controversial aspect of the election, however, remains the kidnapping of Cisse, the leader of the Union for the Republic and Democracy part (URD) and threetime presidential runner-up. She and

staff disappeared while campaigning in central Mali, according to Africanews.

Local security blamed the local AlQaeda-affiliated terrorist cell Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).

The group has claimed responsibility for dozens of deaths just since the beginning of 2020. In response to the incident, Keita promptly announced that “no effort would be spared in securing [Cisse’s] release,” reports DW. Concerned that this incident would discourage Malians from coming out to vote, the URD issued a statement published by BBC calling on its supporters to redouble their efforts in the upcoming round of elections.

All but 797 out of Mali’s 22,147 voting stations opened during the first round of voting as planned, reports Africa News. The stations that remained closed due to security concerns were situated in Mali’s highly volatile northern and central regions.

Mali is scheduled to have a second round of elections on April 19.

eastern Ugandan town of Jinja threw tear gas canisters into a primary school, harming children. In the lead-up to the February 2016 elections, police used POMA to justify the prohibition and dispersion of rallies organized by opposition politician Kizza Besigye, as well as other local candidates.

More recently, on January 6, local police forces again applied POMA to suppress former-musician and opposition politician Bobi Wine (Robert Kyagulanyi), Amnesty International reports. According to Human Rights Watch, the national police force arrested Wine and fired

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

EDITOR’S COLUMN:

teargas at his supporters, arguing that they had failed to follow the guidelines set out in POMA. Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s director for East and southern Africa, said that the law, which was passed in August 2013 and came into force in November, “has for years been used as a tool of repression in Uganda.”

Amnesty International reported in December 2013 that a coalition of human rights organizations, including Chapter Four Uganda and Human Rights Network Uganda filed the petition that led to the court’s decision.

A 2016 local council candidate rides through Bukedea, a town in eastern Uganda.

M A R . 2020 | 15

COVID-19 Prompts Cameroon Ceasefire South Africa Ramps Up A rebel group operating in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions declared a ceasefire on March 29 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to BBC. Other rebel groups have not responded in kind, failing to adhere to the United Nations’ call for a global ceasefire to help combat the spread of the virus. Experts do not view this ceasefire as a sustainable end to the growing conflict in Cameroon.

In response to the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic in recent months, UN SecretaryGeneral António Guterres called for “an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world.” He urged warring parties to stop fighting in order “to help create corridors for life-saving aid” and “to bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.”

In response to the UN call, a rebel group called the Southern Cameroon Defence Forces (Socadef), announced a 14-day ceasefire to allow people to get tested and treated for the virus, according to RFI. However, other rebel groups have refused to do the same.

The Ambazonia Governing Council, which controls the Ambazonia

Defense Forces (ADF), one of the largest English-speaking armed groups in the country, announced its refusal to stop fighting. It declared on March 27 that “there shall not be a unilateral ceasefire in the Ambazonia war of independence because of [sic] Covid-19 pandemic.”

Experts do not view this ceasefire as a sustainable end to the growing conflict in Cameroon.

Cameroon’s various Anglophone rebel groups have increasingly clashed with the national government since late 2016. Their emergence coincided with a movement led by teachers and lawyers in Cameroon’s Englishspeaking regions in the north and southwest. BBC reports that these mass demonstrations protest the government’s lack of recognition for English education and legal systems. The protesters lamented the government’s alleged treatment of Anglophone Cameroonians as “second-class citizens,” according to

International Crisis Group (ICG) Cameroon analyst Richard Moncrieff.

Soon after the protests, several English-speaking rebel groups formed and began fighting with the Cameroonian military, according to the ICG. In October 2017, the militant secessionist groups symbolically proclaimed independence for Ambazonia, the autonomous Englishspeaking region to the south, and sporadic fighting has continued since. Both the military and the rebel groups have been accused of killing civilians. In the past three years, at least 3,000 people have been killed, and approximately 680,000 displaced.

Cameroon’s language divide dates back to colonial divisions between Britain and France. The Englishspeaking population now makes up approximately 20 percent of the population. President Paul Biya, who has been in office for nearly 40 years, has rarely addressed the rebel groups.

Chief mediator from the conflict resolution group Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue Alexandre Liebeskind, has said that he hopes other rebel groups follow Socadef ’s example.

The Cameroonian government has not yet commented on the UN’s call for a ceasefire.

Guinea Court Upholds Referendum Results Kate Fin The Guinea National Electoral Commission has confirmed constitutional changes that the public overwhelmingly supported in a March 22 referendum. According to the commission’s decision announced on March 28, 61 percent of eligible voters participated in the referendum, and 92 percent of these voters supported the changes, thus legitimizing the results.

By extending the length of presidential terms from five to six years, the change enables current Guinean President Alpha Condé to remain in power for 12 more years, Anadolu Agency reports. The 81-yearold head of state has ruled over Guinea since the country’s transition from a military dictatorship in 2010, according to Human Rights Watch.

Under the terms of the former constitution, Condé would have been required to step down after the conclusion of his second term, which will end this year.

Beyond extending presidential terms, the referendum contained a number of progressive gender provisions, including a ban on female

genital mutilation and under-age marriage and a 33 percent quota for women in parliament, according to the Japan Times.

The day of the referendum saw widespread protests led by the country’s opposition coalition.

The day of the referendum, which coincided with parliamentary elections, saw widespread protests led by the country’s opposition coalition, the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), according to Al Jazeera. Multiple polling stations were ransacked and one location’s staff was kidnapped by protesters. The government reported that two people were killed in the violence, while the FNDC claimed security forces killed ten.

Following the elections, the U.S. Embassy in Conakry expressed concern about the legitimacy of poll results. “Our own observations,

and government reports of closed or ransacked polling stations, bring into question the credibility of the announced turnout figures and results,” the embassy wrote in a press release.

The country’s 2020 elections have raised concerns in the international community. Since the constitutional changes were first proposed in October 2019, an estimated 31 people have been killed in popular protests against Condé’s perceived power grab, according to Al Jazeera.

Protests and demonstrations have been led by opposition leaders such as Cellou Diallo, who was the runner-up in both the 2010 and 2015 presidential elections. He has been a fervent critic of the constitutional changes since their announcement.

“We encourage citizens to continue to demonstrate—today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow—until our legitimate demands are satisfied,” he said at a rally in October, at which at least four protesters were killed by security forces, according to Al Jazeera. “We need a clear, firm and irrevocable declaration from Alpha Condé renouncing a third term.”

Response to COVID-19 Mark Agard South African President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered a three-week national lockdown on March 27, which is being enforced by the military. Ramaphosa made this decision because South Africa passed the threshold of 900 confirmed COVID-19 cases, reports NPR. In an interview conducted

by Berkeley News, University of California, Berkeley economist Edward Miguel doubted the ability of African governments to respond to the spread of COVID-19. He cited concerns with “low-capacity governments, a lack of health facilities, and a risk that health providers will come down ill.”

South Africa has taken steps to curb the spread of COVID-19. The country has implemented harsh and thorough restrictions, including travel bans and border closures which began in midMarch, according to Quartz Africa.

As reported by US News and World Report, South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced that medical teams would be sent to townships across the country to test people for COVID-19. Mkhize explained, “we are targeting those [townships] where we want to deal with already identified cases of positive people or contacts.”

However, Ramaphosa’s COVID-19 response has been marked by violence.

According to a report by the Guardian, police fired rubber bullets at a crowd assembled outside a grocery store on the second day of the lockdown.

Emily Ndemande, a local worker, told the Guardian, “We are staying at home now. Before we were going to the shops, but the soldiers are beating people so everyone is inside now.”

Nevertheless, WHO DirectorGeneral Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed support for

PIKREPO

Marianna Aslund

Ramaphosa’s heightened COVID-19 response, tweeting, “I thank President Cyril Ramaphosa for his leadership and all South Africa’s government and all of society COVID-19 response with citizens doing their best to adhere to the measures taken to contain the coronavirus.”

Despite current efforts, the country faces considerable challenges to its COVID-19 response. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in South Africa places additional strain on healthcare infrastructure and leaves a large portion of the population particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Professor Glenda Gray of the South African Medical Research Council explained to France24 that “the concern is that if you do not have a good immune system, your ability to ward off this infection could be compromised.”

“Individuals living with HIV have an eight-fold greater burden of hospitalization for pneumonia due to influenza virus, and a three-fold higher case fatality risk,” according to a statement released by the Academy of Science in South Africa.

South African researchers are working with the WHO to conduct COVID-19 treatment trials, which are set to begin in mid-April, reports Daily Maverick. The efforts of healthcare workers and researchers to limit the consequences of COVID-19 has continued in spite of the immense danger to their persons. A worldrenowned South African HIV expert, Gita Ramjee, passed away after returning from a presentation she gave in London, reports BBC. “We have indeed lost a champion in the fight against the HIV epidemic, ironically at the hands of this global pandemic,” said South African Deputy President David Mabuza in a statement on Ramjee’s passing.

Densely populated slums like this one make South Africa’s poor especially vulnerable.

1 6 | M A R . 2020

EDITORIAL BOARD

The way forward is through meaningful and creative structural reform.

Capitalism on Pause The skies are not clearer and the rivers are not cleaner because humans are out of the picture or because we are dying from COVID-19, as many of these posts tragically imply. The environment is improving because, by instituting quarantines and

The USNS Comfort is now stationed to help relieve strained New York City hospitals.

Tributes left behind after a Mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.

lockdowns, countries around the world are effectively shutting down their economies and by implication, suspending capitalism. The temporary halt to capitalism provoked by shelterin-place orders and the suspension of all but the most essential services is the underlying reason for the noted environmental improvement. We have stopped producing, consuming, and polluting as much as we would have done without the spread of COVID-19.

The System Is the Problem Witty posts comparing humanity to COVID-19 utterly miss this critical connection between the environment and our economic system. The economy we took pride in—before COVID-19 laid it to waste—is the same one responsible for the climate change specter that haunts us. The hopeful still believe that we can continue exactly as is. Unfortunately, that is simply not true: three major studies concluded that we cannot continue to grow our GDPs, one of the main goals of capitalism, without drastically increasing resource use.

High taxes, cap-and-trade, and innovation funding not only perpetuate the capitalist system in the name of conservation, but none seem likely to succeed at lowering our resource use to acceptable levels.

That’s not as hard as it sounds. We need to stop consuming as much, stop producing wastefully, and start phasing out industries that do not matter.

The world has enough resources for everyone to share. We just need to distribute them better, both for our planet and for those capitalism leaves at the bottom.

We humans are not the virus, and

it would be a mistake to devalue each other as such. But, we do collectively choose to participate in an economic system bent on improving profit margins even if it means starving and exploiting the global poor, our soils, and our oceans. By involving us in a system that does just that, capitalism is the virus. Not us.

After the pandemic, we will see efforts to improve global public health, to change our institutions to promote pandemic readiness and informationsharing, perhaps even efforts to reform pharmaceutical and hospital practices to best set up society to fight the next pandemic. But, most of these efforts probably will not change the capitalist structure of our economy. We must focus on global public health after this crisis, but we cannot leave climate change and its required economic reforms behind to do that.

In fact, we need to start thinking about how to do that now. Pollution levels actually rebound after economic collapses: governments will push dirty construction and industrial

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“We were the virus all along.”

No. We are not a “virus” on the planet. We never have been, and subscribing to this line of thought is dangerous and reckless.

Social media has been flooded in the past weeks with posts adhering to this theme. Usually, they refer to recent environmental developments in countries under quarantine and lockdown resulting from the suspension of business-as-usual. They bring up the dolphins in Venice (a false story, by the way; while canals in Venice have cleared and residents have spotted fish, the common pictures of dolphins and swans were actually taken in other locations) or clearer skies and decreased pollution in China and other countries.

While it is true that the various responses to COVID-19 have resulted in temporary and entirely incidental positive effects on the environment, misdiagnosing “humans” as the problem buys into a quasi-ecofascist line of thought that inevitably leads to eugenics and ethnonationalism.

Ecofascism & Ethnonationalism Ecofascism advocates tackling climate change through fascist action: eugenics aimed at ethnic, racial, and other minorities. Posts calling humans the “virus,” while not explicitly ecofascist, subscribe to a near-identical style of thinking by framing individual humans as dangerous, threatening, and worthy of extermination (as one would do to

a virus). Ecofascism frames humans as obstacles to successful environmental recovery and protection and allows for, by extending that line of thought, advocacy for dramatically limiting the number of humans on the planet.

Using such language, whether jokingly or not, feeds into a narrative appropriated and dominated by ethnonationalists and ecofascists that advocate eugenics to eliminate minorities. The two are practically inseparable in modern ecofascist thought. Both the El Paso, Texas, shooter and the Christchurch, New Zealand, shooter, who collectively killed 73 people, referenced ecofascist ideology in their manifestos. Both explicitly tied ethnonationalism to environmentalism and argued for the “removal” of massive numbers of people (read: non-white, nonChristian people) to protect their “way of life” and the environment.

Ecofascism not only represents a dangerous and appalling view of environmentalism, but it also falsely frames it as a problem where humans are the issue.

U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND

The views expressed herein represent the views of a majority of the members of the Caravel’s Editorial Board and are not reflective of the position of the newsroom staff or Georgetown University.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Humans Are Not the Virus

production past pre-crisis levels in their efforts to restart the economy.

Our climate may be set on a worse trajectory after the pandemic than before, which makes it more important than ever for governments to consider green stimulus packages.

Meaningful Structural Reform The way forward is through meaningful and creative structural reform that will require engagement on a much deeper and more critical level than offhand Twitter comments. We have to reexamine how we operate and reexamine the economic structures we use. We cannot fall prey to defeatist attitudes that assume the only path forward is by somehow fixing humans as the problem (whether by ascribing humanity itself as literal the cause of climate change or believing the only path forward is by radically decreasing our numbers).

The issue of climate change stems from the systems we use, systems that certainly have their merits. Instead of calling defeat on humankind, we need to structurally reform the systems we use to make them sustainable. That is a balance we can achieve, and it is one that we know we can achieve (experts have told us that repeatedly and for years). We cannot afford to not act.

But, we also cannot afford to lose our humanity in the process of acting, to subscribe to or enable genocidal and racist strains of thought. We are not the virus. We have never been, and we never will be. The fault is neither in our stars nor in ourselves but in the systems we have created—and which we can fix.

Read the full, expanded piece covering ecofascism on our website.

Protesters in Detroit, Michigan, advocate for the Green New Deal.