Transylvania Insights - 2nd edition

TRANSYLVANIA "nihil sine veritas" march 2021 Is there racism in the royal family? page 4

'UNTAMED' Book Review page 6

Interview with Flora Kamdar find more about Jainism on page 8

"Being yourself is not your identity..."

How the homophobia in Poland sparked a new symbolic resolution in the EU page 14

What is happening in Myanmar?

After a Military coup Myanmar started to transition to democracy but it didnt last long page 16

INSIGHTS

ABOUT US It all started with a talk in a history lesson between three people that had the ambition to give the students the ability to express themselves and give a new perspective on various topics. This magazine focuses on International relationships, politics, human rights, interviews, and book reviews. This magazine is entirely created by students and it's something that we do with pleasure and with happiness.

CONTENT

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Racism in the Royal Family?

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Book Review: Untamed

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Interview: Discovering Jainism

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Fountain of the Future

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The Future is Tiny: Nanotechnology

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Russia's cry for change

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Being yourself is not an ideology

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Myanmar Coup: What you need to know

by Maria Victoria Rondolean

By Carina Bonica and Maria Victoria Rondolean

By Ariana Rotaru

By Ioan Pristavu

By Razvan Muresan

By Carina Bonica

By Sebastian Stoenoiu

By Beatrice Isaila

Yemen: Death by war or pandemic

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Mossad: The extraction

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Art in politics

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Why do we swear?

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How politics can be affected by public figures

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How has covid affected the global economy

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Propaganda through grafitti

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By Patricia Garrbovan

By Octavian Ghisa

By Maria Victoria Rondolean

By Victor Pavel

By Radu Anghell

By Luca Muresan

By Ioana Stoleru

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INSIGHTS

RACISM IN THE ROYAL FAMILY?

By Maria Victoria Rondolean

In 1986. Prince Phillip was visiting China and he told a group of students: ‘If you stay here much longer you’ll all be slitty-eyed’, and during a visit to Hungary, in 1993, he told a British person: ‘You can’t have been here that long, you haven't got any pot belly.’

On March 8, while Queen Elizabeth II celebrated the friendship, spirit of unity and achievement of the Commonwealth, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry revealed that one of the members of the Royal family had raised ‘concerns’ about how dark their son’s skin was, and that their baby might be ‘too dark to represent the UK’. This information shocked the interviewer, Oprah Winfrey and had started a controversial discussion among the people throughout the world, but this is not the first time the Royal family has been implicated in a scandal about racism.

Prince Andrew was involved in more than one scandal regarding this topic.

In November 2019 he was forced to step back from public life because of his involvement with a Jeffrey Epstein trafficking victim. He denied the allegations, but in an interview, he declared that he didn’t in 2012, accrued a meeting where Prince Andrew and Rohan Silvia were

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present. Silvia told the Evening Standard that after asking Andrew if the international trade department ‘could be doing a better job’ the Prince reapplied ‘Well, if you’ll pardon the expression, that really is the n***** in the woodpile.’ The former U.K. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said that he, his husband and another Labour cabinet minister met with Prince Andrew and had a drink together. He declared that ‘the conversation left us slack-jawed with the things he felt it was appropriate to say.’ The former Labour MP added: ‘it was a dinner for the Saudi royal family and he made racist comments about Arabs. The fact that he thought we might find this amusing was sort of a terrible situation to be in.

I don’t think he’s very bright. ‘I don’t think he really understands the way in which he behaves. He’s the worst end of the royal family, I think.’

After that, a spokesperson from Buckingham Palace told the Independent that the Prince does not tolerate racism in any form.

Prince Harry has spoken against racism many times and declared that after his relationship with Meghan, he had an awakening and has called attention to structural racism.

In his young years, two scandals of this sort involved Prince Harry. The first, and the most famous, was when he dressed up in a Nazi uniform for a dress party. A photo of him was published by the Sun under the headline: ‘Harry the Natzi’. Later he tells a white fellow officer wearing a headscarf: ‘F**** me, you look like a raghead’. After that, a palace statement then said that: ‘Prince Harry fully understands how offensive this term can be, and is extremely sorry for any offence his words might cause.’

After he and his wife, Maghan gave up their titles to go live in California, Harry declared he didn't know that there were so many issues regarding racism, within the U.K. and also globally as well.

Going back to the interview the duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry participated in; they didn't want to reveal who exactly, from the royal family, expressed their concern about their child's skin colour, but they declared that neither the queen nor prince Phillip was responsible. In response Prince William defends the royal family saying: ‘We’re very much not a racist family’. Later, Zac Goldsmith, the junior foreign minister accused Harry of: ‘blowing up his family’ and continued with ‘What Meghan wants, Meghan gets’.

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The most awaited statement was from Queen Elizabeth II, in which the Queen said that the charge was ‘concerning’ and that ‘it would be taken very seriously’ and that it would be ‘addressed by the family privately’.

She also said that ‘Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be very much loved family members’ Not long after the interview, Prince Harry told the media that: ‘this is not a game’ and that they should stop the ‘storm’ that was falling on Meghan.

In his interview with Oprah, Harry says that he fears ‘History repeating itself’, with Meghan facing the same kinds of abuse from the press as his late mother Princess Diana, who died in 1997, in a car crash, being followed by paparazzi.

Meghan Markle and Oprah Winfrey (Photo: Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese via Getty Images)

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Untamed is a controversial but easy to read book. It opens a discussion about how people are “trained” to conform to society’s norms and expectations. It boldly provokes us to look past what we know and dive deeper, look inside ourselves to find the answers we are looking for. It will push you to listen to your first instinct and break free from the cages you were forced to lock yourself into. This book will open your eyes so you can witness what you never imagined you would.

UNTAMED It will push you to listen to your first instinct and break free from the cages you were forced to lock yourself into.

This book will open your eyes so you can witness what you never imagined you would.

'THIS BOOK WILL SHAKE YOUR BRAIN AND MAKE YOUR SOUL SCREAM' -ADELEBY CARINA BONICA AND MARIA VICTORIA RONDOLEAN

The author, Glennon Doyle, starts by letting us into her own life so that we can get a better image about what she has been through and relate better with her experience. She tells us about how she was caged for a long time, battled addiction. She tells us everything we need to know, starting from how she met her wife, to how she struggled with bulimia at the ripe age of 10.

The first part of the book is called Caged, this part talks about major problems that she slowly began to see were creeping into her life and about how she took control and rebuilt something truly beautiful and inspiring. She managed to take the scattered pieces of what she used to know and rise from the ashes and in this book she will teach you how to do the same. It talks about how small actions and events can make you realise that all along you have been put in a box by society and now that you have realised that it is certainly a good time for a change. It is time for you to take the next step to the journey that awaits you.

The second part, Keys, shows us methods of staying grounded, keeping your head on your shoulders and not giving into the current. The first thing she says in this chapter is that you are allowed to feel it all and that life is not supposed to be all pink. She says that pain is an important part in our life and that from it we can rise. The second thing she explains is that we tend to trust others more than we trust ourselves and that when we finally learn that we can’t please everyone, we become free to learn how to please ourselves. The third point she makes is that we need to dare to imagine, to unleash ourselves and understand not what is in front of us, but what our imagination is trying to tell us. Summing up this chapter she underlines the fact that the most real and true solution lies inside of us.

Free, the final part of the book gives us closure in a way you never would have expected. After the author shatters our hearts and then shows us how to stitch them back together she does something unpredictable, she makes you feel whole, she makes you feel like even if you don’t belong you will always have yourself, you will always be able to rely on your first instinct and even if the road may seem tough, in the end you are sure to find loved ones by your side. You just have to believe you can and you will. You have to listen to what your gut tells you. Liberate yourself and along the way don’t restrict others, show them the right way so they can do the same, because what society needs is ‘masses of women who are entirely out of control’.

This book manages to touch many of the sensible subjects that are out there, it doesn’t only talk about being restricted by society, it doesn’t only talk about feminism, it also talks about racism and how it is ‘in the air we breathe’, it talks about the life of a mother, it talks about teenage struggles and it also talks about spirituality and how it doesn’t matter what you believe in as long as you are content and as long as you can have a safe space for yourself where you can sit in silence and just let the wave hit you so you can rise again and be better than you were before.

Each day we get to explore a new part of ourselves and others and that is what makes life beautiful. We could not have said it better than the author herself: ‘We must unleash ourselves and watch the world reorder itself in front of our eyes’.

DISCOVERING JAINISM

By Ariana Rotaru

Flora Kamdar - Business teacher at Transylvania College Ariana Rotaru - Student at Transylvania College

1. What do you think is the most fundamental thing about your religion?

Jainism started with the Lord named Mahavir and it means the greatest of all, so the fundamental things are: Generosity, because when he was in exile he gave away everything, his clothes including the hair on his head to help people.The second fundamental thing is non violence because during his exile, even when he gave everything and had nothing to eat, he starved, he did not eat animals, he did not hunt and he refused to harm anything on his way including plants.Backing up the non violence thing,Jains not only they do not eat meat or eggs, they also do not consume root vegetables because they have insects living inside.And the third most important thing is that you do not hurt feelings.There is a quote that says ‘’How you feel, is more important that how you act’’So if you feel love for someone but you do not show it is still a positive thing ,and if you feel hatred for something, that also counts.

2. How do you feel about these aspects?

I was born in Jainism and my parents are Jains but we were never forced to to follow along, so I do not agree on not eating root vegetables because i think the human body needs nutrition, so I do consume them but I do not eat any type of meat , I have never tasted meat in my life. I also do not eat eggs or cakes, I consume very little cheese, barely any milk.

But I do respect the non violence aspect and I do think that how you think manifests.In conclusion I respect and mostly follow all the aspects even if i am not a Jain.

3. What would you like other people to know about Jainism?

I would like them to know that when people are Jain, vegetarian or vegan, we don’t starve ourselves, we eat, we still believe that people have their karma, and that Jains are probably the kindest people on Earth.

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4. What are some traditions that you like?

One thing that I love about this religion is when people go to pray and I have been there myself. The only thing that you see in the place of prayer are only 4 walls so there is no idol of worship.

5. Are there things you do not like?

I do not like that Jains think that they are the best in the world when they are not vegans entirely and they post about how great they are, but i do not like that in any religion.I also dislike that the leaders in the religion try to bond people to the religion.

6. Do you have any types of books that you read or movies that you watch that are based on Jainism?

There are many books on Jainism, they allow you to learn a lot.When I decided I do not want the religion for myself, my parents made me read The Bible, books from Jainism to make sure I was making the right choice. A lot of the books are translated and they are stories for children that teach about generosity and kindness,My favorite one is when Lord Mahavir was in the exile and he was exploring by himself these aspects, he was bit by a snake and he sat down and he prayed and said may the snake get the nutrition that he needs from the bite and after that instead of blood, milk came out.This is obviously ridiculous but it teaches us that when you are kind ,even the most poisonous thing will turn out to be a blessing for you, if you are kind.

7. How does the religion conflict with science?

A lot of things written in the books about Jainism are very scientific ,for example you should consume no food or drinks after sunset. That is one of the rules known as CHOVIHAR .Jainism has water and intermittent fasting that we use today for losing weight or maintaining a healthy life body style.But there are things that are not relating with science.There is no evidence that generosity will change the world, but it is a good thing.I do not see any negative things in this religion especially coming from me because i am not a believer.

8. Lastly what is the most special thing about Jainism?

For me, I think it is the fact that today during the pandemic we see so many things happening. People are suffering from stress and anxiety and one thing that we can do as human beings is to be kind.

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FOUNTAIN OF THE FUTURE

By Ioan Pristavu

In the West, April 1st is known as "April Fools", a day of pranks, jokes and is generally seen as the only opportunity of the year for tomfoolery.

But in our country, this date means something else. This Thursday, April 1, marks the 80th anniversary of the massacres that took place at Fântâna Albă. In 1941, on Easter Sunday, the Soviet military killed thousands of Romanians from Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, regions recently annexed by the USSR under the criminal Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Just 3 km from the new border drawn

by Stalin, in the glade called "White Fountain", an organized group of Romanians who wanted to reach the motherland, Romania, practically refugees, was greeted by the bullets of the NKVD. In 2011, the Chamber of Deputies adopted legislative proposal no.

796/2010 by which the date of April 1 is established as the National Day in honor of the memory of Romanians victims of the massacres at Fântâna Albă and others, deportations, famines and other forms of repression organized by the totalitarian Soviet regime in Herta , northern Bukovina and the whole of Bessarabia. Every year, the Romanian people commemorate this sober day through cultural events, civil/military commemoration and religious services.

But unfortunately, too few people understand and know the

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the meaning of this day. Sadly, a small number of young people know about this day, about what happened and why we commemorate the heroes who gave their lives for their country.

A strong nation honors its past, and knows its history. Nicolae Iorga's wise words tell us "History makes fun of those who do not know it, repeating itself", and unfortunately, we Romanians repeat many mistakes of our ancestors. Perhaps we have come to wonder what we can do to honor our ancestors as we prepare for the future.

A simple and practical way is through education.

This education should cover our nation's history, delivering it through two methods, through school,in the traditional method, and through the cvic method. This new pedagogy must include the theoretical essence, in which we learn the causes, the circumstances in which these tragedies occurred and how to prevent such tragedies in the future. The practical essence will not be on notebooks, whiteboards or online presentations, but in our souls. We must understand that in all these events, conflicts, regional and continental crises, great, benevolent sacrifices have been made for others to live in normality, to be able to speak our language, to be able to exercise our faith, to be able to live a life which we choose.

At a certain point in history, a Romanian gave up their life, their

their family, to give an opportunity to a normal life to a person they do not know. In a way, we have an obligation to honor their sacrifice, to do something ourselves, no matter how big or small it is, but to do something, to leave something beautiful, positive behind us.

Let's think for two minutes about how we live our lives. Do we fall prey to materialism, to the temporary or do we dedicate ourselves entirely to the cause we have chosen?

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THE FUTURE IS TINY: NANOTECHNOLOGY

By Razvan Muresan

What is Nanotechnology?

Greener and better

Nanotechnology refers to the ability to study and engineer technologies at a nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers and objects at this size scale have really interesting properties. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter or onemillionth of a millimetre. To put things into perspective a human hair is about 75000 nanometers wide. Nanotechnology is especially the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules.

Solar collecting paint is an exciting future possibility. Imagine the paint on your house and your car working as a solar panel.

Richard Bruche and David Weber developed solar collecting paint by using solar collecting nanocrystals. They are 4 nanometers in size and can float in a liquid solution. The nanocrystals were built with cadmium which is a toxic metal and scientists have to find an alternative. Nanotechnology can turn bricks into supercapacitors (supercapacitors are similar to batteries). Washington university’s institute of material science and engineering found that iron oxide or rust is a conductive polymer and that red pigment in the bricks is iron oxide or basically rust. If you apply their polymer process to a standard red brick you end up with a capacitor. “In this work, we have developed a coating of conductive polymer PEDOT, which is comprised of nanofibers that penetrate the inner porous network of a brick and a polymer coating remains trapped in a brick and serves as an ion sponge that stores and conducts electricity.” - Julio D’Arcy, assisted professor of chemistry (50 bricks = emergency lighting system for 5 h )

Why should you care?

Nanotechnology will definitely be the future and there is no doubt about it. With this technology, we will be able to make smaller and more powerful computers, solar collecting paint, nanobots that might cure cancer, and a lot more.

The History of Nanotechnology The father of nanotechnology is Physicist Richard Feynman. In 1959 at a physical society meeting held at the California Institute of technology, Feynman gave a talk that was titled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” in which he described the possibility of synthesis via direct manipulation of atoms.

The term “nano-technology” was first used by Norio Taniguchi in 1974. He worked on ultra-precision machining. He said that “Nanotechnology mainly consists of the processing of separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom at a time. This theory became a reality when the Scanning Tunneling Microscope was invented by Gerd Binning and Heinrich Rohrer in 1981 and it helped scientists to see and move individual atoms. Atomic Force Microscope was invented in 1985 which had the distinct advantage of imaging on almost all surfaces.

Quantum Effects

Nanobots Nanomachines are largely in the research and development phase, but some primitive molecular machines and nanomotors have been tested. The first useful application of nanomachines may be in nanomedicine. For example, biological machines could be used to identify and destroy cancer cells.

Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are using antibodies attached to carbon nanotubes in chips to detect cancer cells in the bloodstream. Another application of nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs, heat, light or other substances to specific types of cells. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have demonstrated a bandage that applies electrical pulses to a wound using electricity produced by nanogenerators worn by the patient.

The properties of things also change when they are made smaller. Phenomenon based on quantum effects, the strange and sometimes counterintuitive behaviour of atoms and subatomic particles. These so-called quantum effects dictate the behaviour properties of particles. Scientists have the power to adjust material properties like melting point, fluorescence, electrical conductivity, magnetic permeability, chemical reactivity, and more.

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Nanotechnology in medicine is going to have a major impact on the survival of the human race.

Nanotechnology is an idea that hat most people simply didn't believe.

-Ralph Merkle

-Bernard Marcus

“People don't want to believe that technology is broken. Pharmaceuticals, robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology - all these areas where the progress has been a lot more limited than people think. And the question is why.”

-Peter Thiel

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Photo from medicaldevice-network.com

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RUSSIA'S CRY FOR CHANGE

By Carina Bonica

We all know that Vladimir Putin has been the president of Russia for quite some time now, almost 9 years. Even if things seem to be working out for him, the nation is starting to look dissatisfied. The president has to fight a war on two fronts at the moment as he is facing his political opponent, anticorruption activist, Alexei Navalny, but also facing the fact that his number of supporters is dropping.

Statistics show that there has been a change in the people’s opinions in the last years. One poll organised by Levada data, says that 49% of the respondents believe Russia to be on the right track, compared to the results from four years ago, when 58% of the people believed their country to be on the right track. The number of Russians who are supporting the parliament has dropped by seven points because they see the government as inefficient and corrupt.

There is also the problem of Putin’s opponent, Alexei Navalny.

In the summer of 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a military grade substance, the activist blaming Vladimir Putin himself for the poisoning. The Kremlin denied any involvement in the incident.

After Navalny got out of the hospital, he went back to Russia where he was arrested. To this he responded calmly by hugging his wife and telling her that all will be fine because the accusations he was being charged with were false.

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Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

Although the people of the country may not be in favour of Navalny, they sure are in favour of the message he is sending: no more corruption. The nation may not be on his side, but they don’t believe he should be arrested. Alexei Navalny is also on trial for calling a 95 year old World War Two veteran a traitor, veterans and the war are seen as sacred territory by most Russians, this being one of the reasons that the people may see him as being divisive. One of the most popular journalists in Russia, Yuri Dud, is one of Nvalny’s supporters, but even he wonders if the activist has a winning strategy.

There have been protests all over the country starting from the 23rd of January 2021. These protests were held to support the opposition leader Alexei Navalny after he was arrested. Many people believed that the arrest of Navalny was only one of Putin’s attempts to sideline his rival.

Putin’s attempts to sideline his rival. “I was never a big supporter of Navaly, and yet I understand perfectly well that this is a very serious situation” Vitaliy Blazhevich, 57, a university teacher, said in a telephone interview about why he came out to the protest. “There is always hope that something will change”, Mr. Blazhevich said. The people who went out to protest were met with a high level of repression, which may be a bit unusual because when the President was met with protests in the past he didn’t oppose as much as he did now. For example in Pushkin Square people were grabbed by police officers even before the riots began. Moreover, in some cases the numbers of officers and guards exceeded the number of protestors.

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Russians around the country are becoming more active each day to make a change. While Alexei Navalny may have a more revolutionary approach, polls suggest that the people of the country are not yet ready for that revolution to happen. The country is ready for change with the right leader, but one question still remains: who is going to be that leader?

Photo 1: Sergey Ponomarev for the New York times Photo 2: Anton Vaganov/Reuters Photo 3: Sergey Ponomarev for the New York times

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"Being yourself is not an ideology. It's your identity."

Ursula von der Leyen

by Sebastian Stoenoiu

The EU Parliament has declared the whole EU territory as being a lgbtqai+ freedom zone. This symbolic resolution passed by the EU Parliament is in response to Poland’s recent acts of declaring the country an “LGBTQAI+ ideology-free zone”.

But what do LGBTQAI+ ideology-free zones imply? Many smalls towns have declared themselves free of LGBTQAI+ ideology which means that gay people living in these areas have the option to move, conform or fight back. They would not tolerate them. The EU resolution states that “LGBTQAI+ people everywhere in the EU should enjoy the freedom to live and publicly show their sexual orientation and gender identity without fear of intolerance, discrimination or persecution”. This is a symbolic and strategic move to fight the discrimination, marginalization, and intolerance that members of this community have experienced. To quote Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission President "LGBTI-free-zones are humanity-free zones and have no place in our union.”

Passed with an overwhelming majority, the EU resolution, supported by 492 MEP, with only 141 votings against and 46 abstaining is in response to Poland's continuous discriminatory policies against the LGBTQAI community. Same-sex couples are not legally accepted, they cannot adopt children and now strict checks are performed if a single parent wants to pursue adoption.

Poland is known for its hard policies restricting human rights, it all began in the late 1980s after the fall of communism in their country. Soon, after the revolution, the country itself became a thriving democracy with a strong Catholic identity, but Poland still had one of the most strict abortion laws in all EU. Women in Poland were allowed to have an abortion, only under three main circumstances: if the fetus was a threat to the mother’s life, if it was a case of incest or rape or if the fetus had severe abnormalities that couldn’t be reversible. This law remained unchanged for 30 years.

With the election of the right-wing political party, Law and Justice, in 2015 everything has changed and the three legal paths to abortion were eliminated. The new legislation imprisoned women seeking abortion and the doctors who performed them, for up to 5 years.

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Terry Reintk, a German MEP, made a very powerful declaration before the vote in the EU Parliament: “You call us lunatics. You call us an irrelevant minority. You call us perverts. You call us an ideology. When all we ask for is equality. You paraphrase books written thousands of years ago to justify your hate. You take away our rights to distract from the shortcomings of your own politics. You scapegoat our communities when all we ask for is safety. You attack our families. You tell people we are a threat.

You deny us the right to be who we want to be when all we ask is freedom. But we will not give up just because you keep attacking us. This declaration might only be a first step, we know our lives are still in danger, our rights restricted, our freedoms brutally suffocated in far too many places in the European union. But it is a step. We are many, we are everywhere and we are strong.”

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Myanmar Coup: What you need you know

By Beatrice Isaila

Photo from Aljazeera

After nearly a decade since the military gave up some of its power and Myanmar began transitioning towards democracy, the armed forces and the commander in chief Min Aung Hlaing have forcibly taken over again. This caused massive protests around the country, to which the military responded violently.

About Myanmar

Myanmar, formally known as Burma, is a country in Southeast Asia that borders China, Thailand, Laos, India and Bangladesh and has a population of approximately 54 million people. It is an ethnically diverse country with 135 government recognized distinct ethnic groups.

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Myanmar’s Political History

To have an overview of the country's political history, Burma became an independent republic on 4 January 1948, under the terms of the Burma Independence act 1947. The nation had a parliamentary democracy but not for long, as it was overthrown by a military coup in 1962, led

by General Ne Win. The corruption and economic problems of the country resulted in huge protests in 1988, known as the 8888 Uprising, which ended after a second military coup. After that, in 1989, the country was renamed Myanmar. The military government was disestablished in 2011 and a civilian government was installed. In 2015 a general election took place and the National League for Democracy party won by a landslide, with Htin Kyaw becoming president.

Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?

Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is the opposition leader, detained in 1989 and put on house arrest until 2010. She has been the president of the National League of Democracy party in Myanmar since 2011, having been the General Secretary from 1988 to 2011. After the 2015 elections, she became the de facto leader of the county because the constitutional reform did not allow her to become president.

What is happening now?

On 1 February 2021, history repeated itself with a military coup staged by the commander in chief Min Aung Hlaing after the 2020 national elections, where the NLD party won overwhelmingly.

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The military justifies the coup, claiming alleged voter fraud without any evidence. A year-long state of emergency was declared by Min Aung Hlaing, after which another election would take place. The armed forces also detained Aung San Suu Kyi along with several other government figures.

The coup generated massive protests around the country, demanding for the power to be given back to civilian control and for Aung San Suu Kyi to be released. The three-finger salute and the colour red have been symbols for these protests.

The military has responded to these protests in a brutal way. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a local monitoring organisation, reported 550 civilian deaths and 2751 detains, as of 2 April 2021.

International Reactions

The military takeover was condemned by multiple countries. The US and the UK have imposed sanctions on military officials. India, one of their neighbouring countries released a statement expressing concerns and repeating that they support the country's transition toward democracy.

On the other hand, China and Russia have repeatedly protected Myanmar from criticism in the UN. António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the UN, stated: “I am deeply shocked by the killing of dozens of civilians, including children & young people, by security forces in Myanmar today”.

Conclusion

The protests and violence are still ongoing and escalating day by day. They will probably not come to an end until Aung San Suu Kyi is released and the military steps down.

Photo: picture alliance/AP Photo.

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YEMEN: DEATH BY WAR OR PANDEMIC

By Patricia Garbovan

These days, there is a world humanitarian crisis as the United Kingdom wants to cut the overseas aid from 0.7% of the UK national income to 0.5%. The most affected country will be Yemen, as the country was devastated by a decade of war and most of its people require assistance in order to survive. Yemen is not the only country that will be affected by this reduction. More Middle Eastern and African countries are at risk. The UK also wants to cut the aid to Syria by 67%, Lebanon by 88%, Nigeria by 58% and Somalia by 60%.

You may ask yourself if this thing is allowed. Well... In 2015, it has been established a law in which the UN target was set to send 0.7% of the national income to international aid, but the same 2015 International Development Act states that the proposed cut to 0.5% of national income is allowed. The decision was not made yet and we do not know for sure if it is on the government's list of discussion. Some may say that the reduction of international aid may not be voted in Parliament, because they might be exposed to legal action, as the contract of paying 0.7% is until June 2021.

In 2019-2020, the UK gave international aid of £165M. As of this year, they plan to give away only £87M. With this amount of money, only 240,000 children will be fed, there will be clean water for only 1.6 million people and it will offer support to only 400 health clinics. As stated by the Prime Minister, the UK will continue “to do its bit”, by still giving 0.5% of the national income to international aid. He also mentioned that the impact of the pandemic on the United Kingdom forced them for tough and necessary decisions, even temporarily.

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From the UK people point of view, this is a hard decision as they are proud of their history of supporting those in need, but they also feel that the action of the government betrayed the Yemeni communities. The United Kingdom is the fifth richest country in the world and they are cutting the support by half to one of the poorest countries in the world during a pandemic.

On the other hand, most of the Yemen communities need humanitarian assistance to survive, more exactly approximately 20 million people (2/3 of the population), from which 2 million children are malnourished. If the 0.2% international aid will be cut, the UK charities in Yemen will have to make hard decisions to which communities to cut the aid or what type of families will starve.

This pandemic situation has affected everybody, rich countries and poor countries, nobody wanted it.

I understand that for the UK it is not a good time to give money, but that 0.2% will help a lot of people in Yemen. The United Kingdom is rich and I strongly believe that they have enough money to survive but Yemen does not. In this hard time, we should help each other, even in the smallest possible ways . That being said, the United Kingdom should really think about these decisions and give 0.7% from the national income to Yemen and the rest of the Middle Eastern and African countries.

Photo 1: The Cairo Review of Global Affairs Photo 2: Al-Thawra Photo 3: US News - The United Nations Photo 4: Reuters TRANSYLVANIA INSIGHTS

MOSSAD: THE EXTRACTION

By Octavian Ghisa

The story I am going to describe will probably feel like a movie, something made up by Hollywood. The tale is about a Mossad operation that changed the fate of tens of thousands. But first, what is Mossad? It is the Institute for Intelligence and special operations, the secret service of Israel, founded in 1949. It deals with counter-terrorism, intelligence collection and covert operations. The topic of this article is the mission called ”Operation Moses''.

Story Background Ethiopia was in the middle of a civil war back in 1984. The two sides?

Communists and anti-government rebels. Motive? Power. This war pushed a population of Ethiopian Jews to relocate. They fled to Sudan for shelter, food and security. But, Sudan was only a stop on their way, not where they wanted to be: Israel. For thousands of years they dreamed of the Holy Land, their home, the desire to create a life in the Promised Land.

Israel and the Mossad supported this desire and idea. So, a group of unknown numbers started their journey with the aid of the Israel government and the Mossad. Unfortunately, there were many obstacles to overcome.

Challenges in Sudan Sudan was also going through a civil war during the year of 1984 to determine who was to rule the country, the Central Sudanese Government or the Sudan People’s Liberty Army, guerrilla troops. The war caused famine and destruction all over the country. I have to mention that Sudan was a Muslim country, with no intrest in helping Israel and with a longlasting rivality between the two countries. Sudan had no diplomatic or commercial relations with the ”Zionist” State. So, although the Ethiopian Jews made it to the refugee camps, they could not leave. The conditions were miserable. Soon, disease settled in causing casualties and suffering. The group’s survival mission was in peril.

The Israel government was determined to get them out, so Operation Moses was set in motion. The process started by smuggling a few hundred Falashas,a community of Ehtiopian Jews, using the Israeli fleet in the Red Sea. Now, here comes the part that will sound like a Hollywood movie.

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Mossad agents, disguised as entrepreneurs from Switzerland, rented an abandoned tourist complex in a village called Arous on the Sudan’s Red Sea coast. The resort soon became fully operational and tourists actually came for attractions such as scuba diving. Its true purpose was hidden from the public, of course. From time to time, the Mossad agents brought lorries filled with Ethiopian Jews smuggled out of the refugee camps and helped them get onto ships that were taking them to Israel. Soon, airlifts started.

Success By 1985, massive airlifts were in place. Over 6000 Ethioptian Jews were extracted. The Sudanese president, Jaafar Nimery, was convinced to cooperate under immense pressure from Israel and the USA. He agreed but had some conditions: money and complete secrecy. He used the finances from this to support the civil war against the separatists in Sudan.

Although sometime during the year the story was published, and Nimery halted the airlifts, the USA helped evacuate 492 other Jews who were left behind after Operation Moses and sent them directly to Israel using American Air Force. The operation was the first massive relocation of Jews out of their countries to Israel since the creation of the nation in 1948. The Ehtiopian Jews were immediately made citizens of Israel. The interesting fact is that their ancestors never set foot there.

Illegal activity?

If international law is to be considered, such smuggling of people by an “occupying country”, an external force, was and still is illegal, as such states are forbidden to move their own citizens into an occupied territory and change its demographics. Furthermore, International law considers these kinds of activities as a ‘crime against humanity’. However, International Law was set apart in times of need where a population was hurting. The humanitarian urgency of the matter and the mission were much more important than the International Law of the time.

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Israel never was held accountable and it should never be. With American protection guaranteed since 1948 as well, the International stage did not have any reproach, and no blame was thrown upon Israel for Operation Moses which was a salvation operation How? Why? Israel is a nation that never declared its borders, having no official boundaries.

This is in order for the 1950 Law of Return to work. “Every Jew has the right to come to Israel as an oleh (immigrant)”. Israel has a huge connection with every Jew on this planet and the love between the two sides is enormous and undebatable.

Photo: The conversation

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ART IN POLITICS

By Maria Victoria Rondolean

Art plays an important role in social life, this role can be analyzed from an art theoretical and an art historical perspective, but also the point of view of political science. Art can contribute to political discourses and it can be seen as a way to transcend the political.

This relationship between art and politics is a subject that was analyzed in many academic studies. Most of these studies are oriented on fine arts and let out key trends in current culture work performed by citizen artists, who put as much value in being a good citizen as they do in being an artist.

New political agents appear and contribute to the constitution in a manner that does not match with the traditional political analysis, which proves that looking beyond fine art is mandatory.

Art is political if it complicates not simplifies and if it brings new ideas, knowledge and understanding beyond what was previously seen and known.

Artists can be implicated in political movements, but they also may address this subject without joining or supporting any political movements.

Michael Shapiro suggests that art can be critical if it transcends “the mere recognition of established opinion or the extrapolation from established versions of facticity.” From a different point of view Chantal Mouffe says that as critical those artistic practices that “can contribute to unsettling the dominant hegemony” by “bringing to the fore the existence of alternatives to the current post-political order.”. Art then is not critical if it merely anticipates the motives of the political elite. knowledge Alex Danchev says that “art articulates a vision of the world that is insightful and consequential, and the vision and the insight can be analyzed.”. But can the vision that art creates be analyzed politically? What kind of knowledge

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Photo from The Times the artist’s vision of the world can provide? And what can the viewers and readers do with that knowledge?

Knowledge of politics and art can supplement the knowledge collected elsewhere in the social sciences and can help explain what other forms of inquiry can’t.

Social sciences is a discourse that gives us knowledge about the world.

Literature and other humanistic disciplines tell us about the human conditions, but in what regards the global war or Third World poverty, our best hope in solving them is by appealing to the social sciences.

Analysis of politics and art is multidisciplinary and multidisciplinary comes in many forms.

Poststructuralism and feminism have shown interest in art and visual representation since the 1980s. These approaches identified many gaps and omissions in international relations theory. Work on politics and art borrow from art history and theory, media and communication studies, film studies, etc. While “collaborative work

with artists and practitioners” is still the exception. In consequence, the body of work on politics and art in political science is different from such work and is often linked to questions of power, violence, war, interests, and identities. There is a vast body of work regarding international relations and security studies on art’s operation in violent conditions, offering political interpretations of art in the context of violence, war and terrorism. There is less interest in art’s operation under peace, peaceful adjustment and nonviolent change.

Words and images Political analysis of the visual arts consists of critical investigation on the connection of what is seen and what is known. But how do we know what we see? The knowledge that images are capable of generating is usually produced by means of language, which are practically a translation of what we see into what we say or write about what we saw.

Peter Gilgen says that the relationship between words and images is an

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“intellectual stereoscopic effect” and underlines the fact that “the image gains in profile through the verbal information conveyed in the caption; from the accompanying image this information gains persuasive power.” Saying the fact that words and images are equally important. Other authors contradict Peter and say that “it is in vain that we say what we see; what we see never resides in what we say.”. Also, Jae Emerling, says that “one never sees what one says, and vice versa.” One problem that we find in saying what we see is that images and text not only tell us things in a different way but can also tell us different things. The absence of a text near an image can sometimes create confusion and so fake news can develop.

People can interpret images differently. So photography has an important role but it is always better if explained.

Viewer’s independence is what most of the critics fear, assuming that the visual is either “too open to misinterpretation” or “too engaging, for it draws the viewer into an interpretive relationship that bypasses professional mediation.”. Most often in the case of visual representation of human suffering. However, in this case, it is often required contextualisation.

The ‘excess meaning’ of an image can often be translated into a multitude of interpretations. This is not always unproblematic but it can also be understood as a platform of discursive engagement with what we believe we see.

Art in peace vs violence The visual representation of peace in journalism and visual arts is usually used negatively: by showing its opposite, presenting war and conflict, violence and destruction, to trigger opposition to war and intervening photographically into situations to capture violent situations.

Peace photography depends on where it emerges. Some artists know how to capture actual peace and some do the exact opposite. But, what some viewers may see as a photograph of peace can be interpreted by others as a photograph of violence.

Fred Ritchin says, referring to an aerial view of the World Trade Center taken months before the attacks on September 11, 2001 “showing the Towers as if in heavenly repose—peaceful reflection on what was no more.”. His interpretation, however, is unlikely to be shared by those people who saw the towers as a symbol of violence.

Conclusion Art is more and more present in politics and a lot of people depend on the fact that it can explain thoroughly what words, articles and speeches can’t. But, it is important to know that some of these people may use art as a form of manipulation showing only what they want people to see. Regarding the overall regime of images and visual arts in the twenty-first century, there is a reason for both concern and celebration but they should follow from analysis and not before it.

Photo from Pinterest

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“I’ve been accused of vulgarity. I say that’s bullshit.”

— Mel Brooks

Why do we swear?

By Victor Pavel

How does swearing impact our daily lives?

When we are little we are always surrounded by older people. Those people tend to influence us.

This influence can be good or it can be bad. In general, we as humans, pick up bad influences faster than good ones. The most common area where we get influenced as children is our vocabulary. Most of us, these days, know every swear and offensive word there is, but we have the self-control not to use them because we know the repercussions that come with it. On the other hand, little kids don't have this amount of control, so they are at risk of using swears without knowing the consequences. Another incentive for little kids to start swearing is the fact it is considered a bad thing. Kids usually are drawn to do things that they aren’t supposed to do because we consider that it is “cool”

So why do we curse in the first place?

For a word to be considered “bad”, it has to offend. You can offend a lot of things (Romanians especially have a very creative curse vocabulary) like Race, Culture, Religion, People in general and sometimes you can even swear at yourself. “Bad words” have been on this planet since the first humans started to interact with each other. Almost everyone cursed at least once in their lifetime. Some of us are using these words a lot, others not so much.

The most common place we use them is when we are among friends. You will seldom use bad words at a job interview for example.

Swears can also be used in many different situations. You can swear if you are happy if you are sad if you are confused The Scientific explanation behind these wordsI

Photo: leungchopan / Shutterstock TRANSYLVANIA INSIGHTS

The scientific explanation behind these words n the book “The science of swearing” by Claire Luchette, sometimes, she concludes, using dirty words can actually help us gain credibility and establish a sense of camaraderie A study was recently made by a college in the USA: The study measured how long college students could keep their hands immersed in cold water. During the chilly exercise, they could repeat an expletive of their choice or chant a neutral word. When swearing, the 67 student volunteers reported less pain and on average endured about 40 seconds longer.

"Swearing is such a common response to pain that there has to be an underlying reason why we do it," says psychologist Richard Stephens of Keele University in England, who led the study.

“How swearing achieves its physical effects is unclear, but the researchers think that brain circuitry linked to emotion is involved.

Earlier studies have shown that unlike normal language, which relies on the outer

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few millimetres in the left hemisphere of the brain, expletives hinge on evolutionarily ancient structures buried deep inside the right half.” b

So is swearing a good thing or not?

In my opinion, swear words are good and bad at the same time. Swear words are part of all of us. Obviously, it is not ok to offend people or their race with swear words. But that is the thing, in my opinion, swear words aren’t just for offending, they are also there with us when we are happy and when we are excited about something. For us Romanians, it is actually funny to hear new words combined that have no sense if by themselves, being turned into a “Swear”.

I could end on what everybody tells us, that goes like this “You should never offend anyone”, but I am not going to because that is next to impossible to achieve. In my opinion, we should TRY not to offend anyone with these swear words because first of all it says something about you, and the worst part is that it is reflected onto your parents.

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How politics can be affected by public figures

By Radu Anghel

In a democratic society we could all consider ourselves little politicians, we all have the chance to think about what is better for our country and then vote for the party that shares those same views. Oftentimes we gather together with people that have had to go through the same life experiences as us and fight for what we believe should happen to our country. Such acts have led to some of the greatest political changes in recent history such as the end to segregation or women's right to vote. But is it correct to allow people with a hard past to be given more power than any other, everyday person?

We all know how a powerful story and how unique life experiences can instantly propel someone into politics, this was the case in a recent article I read about 37 year old Pamela Addison who through Zoom training and virtual lobbying days has gained a wide notoriety. Many people who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus are trying to influence federal policy. Pamela, the self proclaimed, “shyest person in this world” is one such person. At first glance she would certainly not strike you as the sort of person who would submit an op-ed to a newspaper, or start a support group for strangers, and certainly not the kind of person to ask a United States senator to vote for a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan in response to the covid pandemic that is still at large in the US. Recently the legislation was passed with a 220-210 vote in congress. Thanks to this most Americans will be receiving a $1400 check in order to help with unemployment and coronavirus testing.

Her husband, Martin Addison, a 44-year-old health care worker in New Jersey, died from the coronavirus on April 29 after a month of illness. The last time she saw him was when he was loaded into an ambulance. Now at 37, Ms. Addison has been left all alone to care for a 2-year-old daughter and an infant son, and to make ends meet on her own. That would be hard on anyone let alone someone who has just gone through a trauma.

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Mary Wilson-Snipes was hospitalized with pneumonia in both lungs when she got Covid-19 in November. Photo from: Desiree Rios for The New York Times

However this does raise the question, is this ok?

Should people be allowed to have this much power on social media, due to how strongly correlated media and politics are these days.

Purely because of a heart wrenching back story.

We have to remember that people such as Ms.Addison do not have any political experience, they do not understand how to please the general public. Should they really have this much influence on what people believe is right and what these people then ask of their political party.

I personally do believe that it is good for people to fight for what they believe in as that is the only way that our world will change for the greater good. As i have previously mentioned, some of the biggest and most positively impactful changes in political history. What do you think?

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How has covid affected the global economy

By Luca Muresan

Since it was identified in China at the end of 2019, coronavirus has taken over the world.It received pandemic status in March, as it spread to all continents.At the same time, after the virus began to spread mercilessly around the world, many strict rules appeared.

For example , people need to distance themselves and to wear masks everywhere they go. One of the most well-known government rules for protecting the population is to limit the number of people in shops, offices, restaurants, etc.Because the limitation of the number of people in closed spaces has become widespread globally, employers have had to lay off many employees. Because of this, the global labour power has decreased a lot.So, many people were fired , because of the safety rules given by the governments.For this reason, many protests and demonstrations have taken place worldwide.The pandemic rules have led to the closure of many small businesses , such as restaurants and clubs. Many entrepreneurs have had to give up their dreams and the work to get their businesses up and running.The biggest problem that has affected the global economy is the fact that people who have no longer income couldn’t afford anymore to buy goods and services.This led to the bankruptcy of many large companies , which had no longer reasons to produce goods and services.

However, it is believed that these restrictions and rules are done intentionally by the great powers of the world.These are economic and political interests which target is to buy the bankrupt companies and to win some businesses , which produces face masks, medicine , hand sanitizer etc.

Therefore, the covid 19 pandemic had a negative influence on the global economy, even if these interests were preconceived.

Photo: imperial.ac.uk

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PROPAGANDA THROUGH GRAFITTI

I think everybody knows what art is and how much it influences people’s minds and perspectives over matters. From famous pieces of art to the advertisement on the package of gum you buy at the store, every bit of it has an impact on the way we view things.

Arts and politics are two subjects that are often mixed.

From social injustice to persuading people, it has been a key to reaching into people’s minds and pulling some strings.

But does it have to be in a museum for it to be seen?

No. Does it have to be done by a famous painter? No. In fact, the most impactful pieces of art are found on the streets! That’s right! The scribble on a wall you walk past every day on your way to school is political art.

The graffiti that people so constantly view as vandalism is the most truthful art form you will ever come across.

That is because it isn’t done by a famous painter whose ideas may have been altered to fit the public eye or a well-known songwriter that only exposes the simulation of a perfect world; it is done by citizens that experience reality. And while not everyone will agree with it, street art will forever be a big part of our world.

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Take the example of Banksy. He is an England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed. His artworks feature striking and humorous images occasionally combined with slogans. The message is usually anti-war, anti-capitalist, or anti-establishment.

One of his artworks,” Devolved Parliament” shows a bunch of monkeys in the House of Commons had such a big effect on people that it was sold for £9.9 million.

The meaning of the artwork sparked a big interest in people. I mean… What do you think a bunch of monkeys in a courtroom suggests?

From my point of view, political art is a form of free speech. It is a way for people to give ‘feedback’ to society. If it weren’t for street art, the power of speech that we now have wouldn’t even be half of what it is today. But art isn’t made for everyone. Art is made for those who stop and look. It is made for those who care to listen, who care to think. So, yes, some people might walk past the walls in the city and see vandalism; but if they took a moment to understand why it is there, it would show them a different side of reality. One they’ve never seen before.

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