TSW Journal - Sept-Oct 2011

8/3/2019 TSW Journal - Sept-Oct 2011

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- Table of Contents -

Economics & Finance

Science & Philosophy

Politics

Culture & Arts

A Call to End Tax Haven Abuse..........................................................................................3

Political Games Prevent Capital Gain: Americas Economy in an Election Cycle.............4

God for What? The Good, The Bad, and The Evil..............................................................4Justice for All Time: Morality for the Future.......................................................................6

Whos Your Daddy? Paternity and Rights...........................................................................7

The Death of the Republican Party......................................................................................9

The Thinning Line: Palestianian Citizens of Israel............................................................11

International Law: An American at The Hague.................................................................13

Indecision 2012: Multiple-Choice Mitt.............................................................................14Getting Our Electoral System Back to the Basics.............................................................15

#Follow Me: Activism, Human Rights, and Public Opinion in the Digital Age...............17

Stains..................................................................................................................................20

Where East Met West: Art of the Ganhara Region............................................................21


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The School of Washington Journal

Economics and Finance

A Call To End Tax

Haven AbuseBy David Lighton, Johns

Hopkins University

The current debate on how to ap-

proach the federal debt has gone

awry. Fiscal retrenchment, the

project of the right, will help to

close the gap, but will kick theeconomically weak when they are

already down. Cutting spending

at this early stage in the recov-

ery will most likely send the US

economy tumbling right back into

recession.

Debates in the philosophy of eco-

nomics notwithstanding, there

is a simple way for the federal

government to increase revenueswithout hampering growth: col-

lect the taxes it is already owed.

End the abuse of tax havens.

Stricter enforcement of the tax

code seems an increasingly ob-

vious strategy to help restore

strength to the American scal

position without inciting political

upheaval. A sensible plan would:

augment the Treasury and IRSs

enforcement tools; substantially

increase reporting requirements;

and strengthen both rules and pen-

alties on tax shelters. This could

raise $100 billion in revenue per

annum, enough to reduce recent

annual budget decits by ten per-

cent.

This decit reduction strategy is

not a tax increase. Tax increases,

as conservative economists right-

ly observe, hurt growth by direct-

ing capital away from private

investment. Monies in tax ha-

vens, however, are stationary, andtherefore inaccessible for invest-

ment. As such, collecting taxes on

them will have no negative effect

on the American private sector.

The situation as it stands incentiv-

izes corporations to keep prots

offshore, depleting the tax base

while forcing working Americans

to shoulder more of the burden. It

bleeds our Treasury of essentialrevenues. We can no longer af-

ford it.

Political Games

Prevent CapitalGain: Americas

Economy in an

Election CycleBy Julian Gindi

The key issue of the coming elec-

tion will inevitably be the econo-

my. Each party has its own idea of

how to x things, but instead of

actually taking action to right the

economy, they are just going to

talk about what they would do if

they were president an incred-

ible waste of given that action

is needed now instead of later.

The current state of the US econ-

omy is weak. As a matter of fact,

the state of the world economy

is incredibly weak. We are star-

ing multiple economic tragedies

in the face; were a move away

from the dollar as the reserve

currency, another global reces-

sion, and a permanent increase

in income disparity, to name a

few. And though actions needto be taken immediately, politi-

cians are mounting their soap-

boxes and pretending like they

have all the time in the world.

President Obama recently pre-

sented his jobs bill, which sets

out to restore the job market as

well as give the economy a much-

needed stimulus. To no ones

surprise, the bill was dead on ar-

rival. We have reached an unfor-

tunate point in American politics

where decisive action is desper-

ately needed, but there is insuf-

cient political will or capital to

September - October 20113


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4

get any major policy completed.

There are two main actions that

need to be taken in order to right

the economy. Now, there is no def-

inite guarantee that these policieswill be the silver bullet that drags

us out of this slump, but most

economists (that know what they

are doing) agree that these mea-

sures will provide positive results.

Firstly, we need a new stimulus.

Many have spoken out against

Keynesian economic policy, but

historically it has worked quite

effectively. There is one key con-

cept that highlights the effective-

ness of Keynesian theory: the

multiplier. Basically, the multipli-

er is the overall economic impact

a single dollar of stimulus has

on the overall economy. For ex-

ample, if the government spends

money on infrastructure projects,

the money paid to construction

workers would then be used for

their respective purchases, thusmultiplying the original dollar

value spent. In essence, this in-

creases demand and leads busi-

nesses to resume hiring, while

capital investments further boost

the overall GDP. These are exact-

ly the elements that are missingfrom the current economy; busi-

nesses are not hiring and people

are not spending money (because

they dont have any). A scal

stimulus would not only create

much needed demand, it would

also help to build vital infrastruc-

ture that would provide signicant

economic benets in the long run.

Secondly, emphasis needs to be

completely removed from bal-

ancing the budget, at least in the

short term. A key aspect of re-

cessionary scal policy is decit

spending. By balancing the bud-

get, we are essentially cutting all

stimulus (direct and indirect) and

removing incredibly important

safety nets and protable govern-

ment programs. The easiest wayto eliminate a budget decit is

through national income, which

is virtually non-existent dur-

ing recessions. When businesses

begin hiring and people begin

spending again, the national GDP

will rise and our current accountwill signicantly increase - with

a real possibility of surplus. Cut-

ting spending drastically, like

what is being proposed currently,

would simply add insult to in-

jury and most likely have a det-

rimental effect on the economy.

When citizens of the United

States go to the voting booth,

they go in hopes of electing a

strong leader who will make the

right calls during times of na-

tional struggle. Right now we

are in one of the deepest reces-

sions ever experienced, and not

one elected politician is doing the

right thing. This speaks volumes

about our political system and

the leaders we think so highly of.

Science & Philosophy

God for What?

The Good, TheBad, and The EvilBy Christian Geoghegan

A common charge made by the

religious against atheists is that

by doing away with god, atheists

cannot have any sort of morality,

nor ethics. They make this claim

through their own belief that all

morality comes from god through

celestial ats in religious texts

such as the Bible. God has the

authority to command and know

proper moral action precisely

through the belief that god is

omniscient and omnibenevolent.

Therefore, god knows entirely and

perfectly what is good and what

is evil, and, in Cartesian fashion,

Catering to the Kempt, The Unkempt & the Urbane


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would not deceive us by providing

us with good edicts that are ac-

tually immoral. Furthermore, the

religious also claim that god di-

rectly inspires all religious texts,

whether Allah through Muham-mad in the recitation that became

the Quran, or the Bible where

Christians believe that the Holy

Spirit, one of the three manifesta-

tions of god, inspired all composi-

tions. As the Catholic Catechism

says, Sacred Scripture is the

speech of God as it is put down

in writing under the breath of

the Holy Spirit (81), and God

is the author of Sacred Scrip-

ture, (105) and The inspired

books teach the truth (107).

However, it becomes necessary to

also say that it is a common re-

ligious belief that all humans are

imperfect, stained with Original

Sin, and cannot possibly fathom

the mind of god. Despite this be-

lief, every day the religious throw

away many of the barbaric lawsof the ancient texts. For example,

one would be hard-pressed to nd

any modern believer who follows

all of the laws laid out in the Old

Testament, such as stoning unruly

children, the permission to own

slaves, to commit genocide, and

so forth, precisely because they

feel it does not apply in the mod-

ern era. These people claim that

these laws are outdated and only

applied to ancient peoples back

in the Bronze Age. Yet this mode

of thinking creates a fundamen-

tal contradiction. Believers have

doubled back on their own belief

5

by not only denying the univer-

sality of their religion and of god,

but furthermore by using their

supposedly imperfect minds,

incapable of understanding the

perfection of god, to do just that.Thus, either the religious reject

their own beliefs by interpreting

god, or they must take their texts

as absolutes and follow every

religious dictum religiously. In

other words, one cannot attribute

the property of absolute truth to

a scripture whilst simultaneously

picking and choosing which parts

of that scripture are true or untrue.

So now, the question still re-

mains of where atheists can de-

rive a moral code. Where the re-

ligious cling to the divine, a priori

foundations of morals, the athe-

ist could have a different view.

This view could be constructed

through a naturalistic analysis

of moral questions and through

a careful understanding of evo-lutionary and moral psychology.

How long human beings have ex-

isted in the world is of some de-

bate in the scientic community.

Richard Dawkins asserts that man

has been here for a quarter of a

million years, whereas Francis

Collins suggests 100,000. For

the sake of argument, I accept the

Collins approach and say 100,000

years. Back in humanitys start,

societies partook in activities such

as cannibalism, human sacrice,

and so on. These societies learned

a posteriori that if they continued

engaging in such activities, there

would be a evolutionary or bio-

logical price to pay. For example,

such activities could either be said

to pose a direct threat to the cohe-

sion of the community at large, orcould be said to hinder the propa-

gation of particular genes in a

group. To respond, human beings

evolved and adapted, learning

that these practices were detri-

mental to overall community sur-

vival. After tens of thousands of

years, like the adaptations of oth-

er animals, humans began to take

these a posteriori truths and regis-

ter them mentally in moral terms.

Thus, from the point of view of

evolutionary psychology, moral-

ity is another feature of human

existence that allows us to co-ex-

ist peacefully in communities for

everybodys mutual advantage.

The atheist could then synthesize

the above considerations with

humanistic elements. We couldextend the meaning of commu-

nity from nomadic kin-based

communities to all human beings;

we could believe in the solidar-

ity of human beings; indeed, it

could be that fraternit guides

our conduct to our fellow hu-

man. Instead of acting morally

only out of a desire for a celestial

reward, act justly to our fellow

man, in line with the a posteriori

moral code we have constructed.

It is a truism that not all atheists

are bound to such a constructed

moral code. It is a further truism



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6

that religious people are also not

bound by their divine moral codes

either. The Crusades, the Inquisi-

tion, Islamic terrorism, and Jerry

Falwell are clear signs that one

must separate the ethical permis-sibility of moral truths to how ad-

vocates of particular moral codes

behave in their personal lives.

Unfortunately, religious peoples

sible. Conversely, name a wicked

action performed by a religious

person claiming the right to do

so because they have god on their

side that could not be performed

by a nonbeliever. Quite simple.

use this precise argument to name

and shame historys immoral

atheists. The voice of modern

atheism, Christopher Hitchens,

uses the following thought ex-

periment to rebut such a crass ar-gument: name an ethically or mor-

ally good action that a religious

person could perform and a non-

believer could not. Quite impos-

Justice for All

Time: Morality forthe FutureBy Raj Patel

One must consider the happi-

ness of ones descendants, and

so, above all, have descendants,

in order to take a proper, natural

part in all institutions and their

transformation. The development

of higher morality depends on amans having sons: this makes

him unselsh, or, more exactly,

it expands his selshness over

time, and allows him seriously

to pursue goals beyond his indi-

vidual lifetime, writes Friedrich

Nietzsche in the eighth book of

Human, All too Human. What is

implicit in Nietzsches proposi-

tions here, written in his typicallyclassical manner, is the recogni-

tion that a higher morality ac-

commodates obligations to fu-

ture generations. This brings up

some interesting questions: how

can future generations, i.e. peo-

ple who may not exist yet, have

rights in the present? What shape

would these obligations take?

Let us rst describe an intergen-

erational problem of justice to es-

tablish some theoretical bearings.

I start from the premise that a full

conception of justice will make

theoretical provisions for future

generations to make claims, per-

haps rights-based claims, on pres-

ent generations. One of the most

important phenomena bearing

on a notion of intergenerational

justice is overpopulation and the

derivative Malthusian crisis, or in

other words, the disparity between

the rate of population growth and

the rate of growth of the food

supply. Malthus original propo-

sition specifying the disparity in

mathematical terms, namely, a

geometric expansion (population)versus an arithmetic expansion

(food supply), has surely been

proved to be untrue because of

his lack of appreciation of the im-

pact of technology on food sup-

ply. In general, food supply has

kept up with population growth.

However, it is taken as given thatindenite exponential population

growth cannot be sustained in a

nite world and thus if population

is allowed to grow rampantly, then

surely a Malthusian crisis is ex-

tremely likely for future genera-

tions. Thus there is a moral impe-

tus for curbing present population

growth in order to ll some kind

of obligation to future persons.

The nature of this obligation

to future persons is directly in-

formed by the way we dene the

nature of harm as an input into our

original consideration of justice.

For our purposes, it will sufce

to say that if the present living

generations activities lead to a

decrease in the living standard of

future generationsthis decrease being relevant to some specied

standardthen present genera-

tions can be taken to be harming

future generations and thus are

morally culpable for their actions.



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Yet how can these future genera-

tions have rights if they do not ex-

ist presently? Surely existence is

a prerequisite to having anything,

including rights. This is true, but

excludes the notion that future

peoples rights cannot be violated

if we accept that present activities

can only violate present rights.

This is a view I do not accept: in-

stead, I argue that future genera-

tions will have future rights (syn-

chronous to their existence) that

will be directly correlated with

their conditions of existence. Wecan also safely assume that such

future generations will have at

least some features of existence

that are similar to ours (e.g. a need

for subsistence) and that further,

present activities can and do have

a direct bearing on such condi-

tions of existence. The common-

ality of present and future condi-

tions of existence rests precisely

on the commonality of the entitiesin question: surely human beings

in the future will share at least

some properties of present hu-

man beings, and this serves as an

ample prerequisite for the basis of

an intergenerational moral code.

cient poverty, for example in

a world in which a Malthusian

crisis such as the one described

above had taken hold and food

supply was severely short of pop-

ulation, it could be argued that

the couple should not have a child

to spare the child a wretched ex-

istence. If we accept this reason-

ing, however, we also implicitly

accept that no existence is pref-

erable to a miserable existence.

These are just some of the inter-

esting philosophical questions

raised by the notion of intergener-ational justice and our derivative

obligations to future generations.

Though one could characterize

the nature of intergenerational

obligations in a number of ways,

it is clear that Nietzsches dic-

tum stands true: a proper moral

code must include provisions for

claims between generations. In a

world where present consump-

tion is allowed only becausethe bill is passed on to future

generations, questions such as

the ones raised above will be-

come more and more pressing.

In the instance above, for exam-

ple, allowing population growth

to run rampant would constitute

a present activity that would vio-

late a future right by worsening

a future condition of existence

leading to a Malthusian crisis.

Notice, however, that the vio-

lation of the future right refers

strictly to a condition of future

existence, not to existence itself.

This last consideration raises an

interesting asymmetry. Surely

nobody has a right to existence;

it would be silly to argue thatprospective parents have an ob-

ligation to procreate simply to

bring into existence possible fu-

ture persons (or indeed, out of

any concern for the conditions of

future existence). It would not,

however, be silly to argue that

there could be a state of affairs

where prospective parents may

decide to forego procreation out

of a consideration regarding thewell-being of the particular child

in question given the state of af-

fairs in the world at the time the

child would come into existence.

For instance, if prospective par-

ents lived in a condition of suf-

7

Whos YourDaddy? Paternity

and RightsBy Thomas Jackson,

University of Leeds

Pro-life or pro-choice? This isthe question I want to spend

some time not talking about. The

questions surrounding the per-

sonhood of the fetus eclipse the

oft-ignored issue of how the ar-

rival (or non-arrival) of a child

can affect the mother and father.

This is the area that I will devote

my attention to, namely: should

a father be able to refute both

his rights and his responsibilities

to his future offspring? I believe



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8

that he should. I will show, at the

very least, that the question of

paternity and rights has not been

scrutinized sufciently. The ma-

jor assumption I will be making

to support this claim is that men

and women deserve equal rights

as far as practically possible.

Clearly these claims need some

unpacking before the force of

the argument is evident. Attorney

Melanie McCulley succinctly ex-

plained the situation as it stands

in most of the western world:

The female has several options.She may choose to carry the child

to term and retain custody of the

child. She may carry the child to

term and terminate her rights in the

child so that the child may be ad-

opted. Finally she may terminate

the pregnancy through abortion.

This three-tiered summary brings

to light an option that I believe is

rarely considered for men: the op-tion of aborting parental rights

and responsibilities. Although this

is not the most delicate of phras-

ing, it accurately describes what

happens when a woman chooses

to put a child up for adoption.

This leads me to ask, further as-

suming the man cannot or should

not play any role in the physical

abortion decision, what is thereto stop him from aborting both

his rights and responsibilities?

With the third option of adoption

on the table, the two premises

seem to follow from one another

quite obviously. Women have the

right to terminate their rights and

responsibilities, and therefore so

should men. The question still re-

mains: What stands against this?

I do not have space to ad-

dress all of the counterargu-

ments to this position, so I have

chosen to briey critique two:

Firstly, the most common, and

secondly, the most powerful.

The most common argument that

I have heard is a pragmatic one,

that goes roughly as follows: Ifmen could terminate their rights

and responsibilities to the fetus,

this would cause an undue bur-

den on the state as they would

unfairly incur the nancial cost

of raising the child in question.

This is problematic for a number

of reasons. Firstly, it assumes that

the man has an obligation from

conception. Secondly, it seems to

imply that men are desperate toabandon responsibility en-masse,

rather than deserving the right

to decide if they are emotionally

and nancially able to support

the child. If we look at both the

philosophical and the actual rea-

sons for physical abortion, the

nancial or emotional effects of

children on the mother is taken to

imperative. According to a studypublished in Perspectives on Sex-

ual and Reproductive Health, so-

cial and personal motives account

for 93% of the common reasons

women give for abortion. Again,

it seems unfair to assume that

these burdens do not apply to men.

A second more potent argument

concedes that a change in policy

is needed, but denies that men

should have the right to give up

their paternal rights and respon-

sibilities. Proponents argue that

legislation should be changed

to allow women to be forced

to pay child support to men

who choose to be single fathers,

thus reassessing womens rights

rather than expanding mens op-

tions. This is not sufcient to al-

low the man to feel that he hasgender equality in the case of

paternity. Whilst it may super-

cially appear to enforce equal-

ity, when examined within con-

text of related legislation, the

ndings would be far from fair.

My rst objection is that women

still have the option of abortion,

a means of preventing the nan-

cial burden and an option menare denied. Under current laws,

many abortions are completed for

economic reasons. According to

the aforementioned study, nan-

cial motivations account for over

25%. On top of this, the father

currently has no specic right

to knowledge of the pregnancy,

so responsibility can easily be

circumvented at birth (e.g., themother could simply say, almost

in a classically Maury-esque fash-

ion, I do not know the father).

Secondly, the argument omits

the possibility that the woman



10/24


may intentionally make choices

promoting conception without

discussing this with the father.

This point has been made master-

fully by Ruth Jones in her paper

Inequality from gender-neutrallaws: why must male victims of

statutory rape pay child support

for children resulting from their

victimization? It is understand-

able if you feel the need to sigh,

snigger or scoff. I will also ad-

mit that the cases of male rape

are few and far between, but the

reader must admit the absurdity

of the mans position in the abovecase. The more shocking fact is

that unwanted conception may

not necessarily take the form of

rape; with the most common form

of protection being the pill, many

men place their trust in women to

be honest about their contracep-

tive use. The BBC reports that in

a survey of women conducted by

women, around 25% would al-

Politics

9

low themselves to get pregnant

without the fathers consent. This

shows the clear need for some re-

course where a man can avoid the

nancial consequences of what

can only be described as fraud.

There is obviously much more to

be said on the issues I have raised,

and other arguments that have

been omitted. But what is to be

done, where will we go next? This

is where my point is subtly differ-

ent from that of Melanie McCul-

ley; whilst she argues that there

are three options and that men aredenied the second of those poten-

tial options, I dont believe it is

about taking door 1, 2, or 3. We

should be looking at how, given

the indisputable fact that men

and women are biologically dif-

ferent, men can have something

that approximates as closely as

possible the emotional and nan-

cial decision making that women

are rightly (and naturally) given.

The real purpose of this essay

is an attempt to provoke people

to ask questions, and hopefully

provide some compelling ideas

to insight discussion in the area.Whilst I rmly believe that the

argument provided demonstrates

that there is not equality in the

treatment of men as regards pater-

nal rights, I understand that what

form change should take will be

a matter of interpretation. There

is no need to tell the reader that

more oppressive things happen

in this world than those statedabove. I do, however, hold a rm

belief that oppression needs to be

looked at from the perspective of

all peoples. This issue and oth-

ers in the eld of mens rights

are off the radar for the major-

ity; that is what needs to change.

The Death of the

Republican PartyBy Ben Rimland

The Republican Party is suffering.

It has been ill for years now, yet

little medicine has been adminis-

tered. Perhaps the rst symptoms

began to crop up as a result of

Newt Gingrichs temper tantrum

that lead to the mid-90s govern-

ment shutdown. Or, perhaps the

symptoms began to show them-

selves with the election of Bush

43. Regardless of the time, it has

become evident that the Repub-

lican institution is systematically

ill. What is the diagnosis, you

may ask? Upon closer investiga-

tion, the signs become clear: the

Republican body is suffering from

a brutal autoimmune disease.

From the moment of the Presi-

dents inauguration, its grown

increasingly clear that Republi-

cans have become united by one

desire: to remove the dastardly

Barack Hussein from the presi-



11/24

10

dency. However, a wrinkle soon

entered the fold. With the Dem-

ocrat-controlled government hell-

bent on a progressive agenda,

Republicans began to feel dis-

enfranchised. Seizing on a half-baked stimulus package that had

begun to falter, and a healthcare

reform bill understood by few, a

new Tea Party movement was

born. Pundits and columnists

across the land were stunned by

this new wave of anti-establish-

ment sentiment. The establish-

ment is writhing, they wrote; the

people have proclaimed their dis-taste for the current government.

Soon, small-time hacks and

snake oil salesmen types joined

the fray. With talk of the evils

of Obamacare and Demo-

cratic Socialism, they construed

the President and his party from

something wholly American to

an idea that was foreign and evil.

They soon attacked his very per-son, chipping away at his reli-

gious and ethnic background with

falsehoods and lies. We are tak-

ing back the American dream,

they proclaimed. We are a muse

for the silent majority, they pur-

ported. Seemingly, the mid-term

Congressional elections of 2010

vindicated their message; the for-

mation of the Tea Party caucus

had enshrined their purpose to

tear down the harmful tentacles

of an overbearing government.

Yet, for all of this high-minded

talk of representing the frustra-

tions of Americans across the na-

tion, the ideas embodied by the

Tea Party are not representative

of the ideas of the majority of

Americans. The Tea Party belief

that they represent the majorityhas, in the recent weeks leading

up to the Republican primaries,

begun to unravel. The Tea Party

electorate, and the candidates

who represent them, are in real-

ity fringe ideologues. Like the

Free Soilers and Bimetallists who

came before, the Tea Party rep-

resents the interests of the few at

the cost of the many. The Repub-lican caucus has become hostage

to the demands of a small group

of idealist diehards. I could point

to the countless examples, be it

the debt limit debacle, the gov-

ernment shutdown crisis or the

recent FEMA funding confronta-

tion, but at the current time, they

are irrelevant. The most stunning

example of the Tea Partys weak-

ness, the true symptom of the Re-publican Partys autoimmune dis-

ease, is the 2012 primary election.

In the beginning, there was Mitt

Romney. Soon, there were oth-

ers. And yet, the Tea Partiers

were not satiated they wanted

more. First, it was Michele Bach-

mann who captured their collec-

tive consciousness. With her rm

roots in Waterloo, Iowadid

you know that it was the home

of John Wayne (Gacy)?she

catapulted to the forefront of the

scene. A victory at Ames seemed

to galvanize her standing. More

choice, demanded the Tea Par-

tiers. Sensing opportunity, Rick

Perry, a man who jogs with a

laser-sighted .38, joined the fray.

After a number of bumbles and

gaffes, the torch was passed yetagain, to a pizza salesman with a

penchant for the number 9, Her-

man Cain. Suddenly Mr. Cain,

who proudly proclaims that he

knows nothing about foreign pol-

icy (nor anything about the Presi-

dent of Ubeki-beki-beki-stan-

stan, shockingly), is at the center

of attention, enjoying a limelight

that seems to be mercurial at best.Why the Hamlet-esque indecision

on the part of the Tea Party (and

therefore Republican) electorate?

The answer is shocking in its sim-

plicity. No Republican candidate,

whether it be the perma-front run-

ner Mitt Romney or the establish-

ment pariah Ron Paul has man-

aged to capture the hearts, minds

and brains of the Republican Par-

ty in the way that past candidateshave. With candidates swapping

places at the top on a avor-of-

the-week basis, polls have be-

come useless; it seems as if the

primary process could simply be

replaced by a magic eight ball.

Finally, Americans are beginning

to wake up to the pseudoscience

and pseudo-economics practiced

by the Tea Party. Mr. Perrys in-

sistence that global warming is

a myth concocted by scientists

eager to be published is pathetic

in its wishful thinking and its

denial of the general consensus

of the scientic community. Ms.



12/24


The Thinning

Line: Palestinian

Citizens of IsraelBy Kareem Rosshandler

Nations born of a colonial legacy

and directed by colonial progeny

all have a common challenge to

their establishment: indigenous

peoples. In the case of the United

States blessed with her geo-

graphical abundance the major-

ity of indigenous peoples were

obliterated relatively soon after

the nations conception by acts

of ethnic cleansing and, most

notably, the spread of disease.

Today, the remaining AmericanIndians an estimated 0.8% of

the U.S. population live either

on reservations or have blended

into other ethnic populations.

On the other end of the spectrum

is South Africa. For much of its

history, colonialists made use of

the indigenous peoples as a la-

bor force, keeping them in mar-

ginal ghettos and shantytowns in

order to reinforce the apartheid

system. Today, black South Af-

ricans an estimated 80% of the

South African population are

the core of South African soci-

ety and, despite disproportionate

white ownership of land and cap-

ital, have governed the country

since 1994. The case for Israels

indigenous peoples, the Palestin-

ians, lies somewhere in between

these two seemingly polar exam-

ples of colonial outcomes, draw-

ing characteristics from both.

Israel, ostensibly the only de-mocracy in the Middle East,

was established in 1948 on the

territory of Palestine, as carved

out of Greater Syria in the inter-

war years by France and Great

Britain. The largest exodus of

refugees in history occurred the

same year, when some 750,000

Palestinians dispersed around

the world due to attack or threat

of attack. This gure should be

taken in the context of 900,000

Palestinians hitherto living in his-

torical Palestine. The majority of

Palestinians who were internally

displaced within historical Pales-

tine were pushed to the fringes of

the land: the West Bank and the

Gaza Strip. However, there re-

mained a minority within this mi-

nority: those Palestinians living

within the 1967 borders of Israel.

Today, Israel proper the terri-

tory in between the West Bank

and Gaza is comprised of 20%Palestinian citizenry, or as more

allegorically labeled, Arab-Is-

raelis. It was once the case that

Arab-Israelis served as a valuable

labor force and commercial asset

for Israel, but with large waves

11

Bachmanns insistence on not

extending Americas borrowing

authority is startling in its igno-

rance of basic economics. And

the entire eld of candidates is

guilty for misrepresenting the

policies of one John Maynard

Keynes, calling his policies bor-

row and spend when in fact, Mr.

Keynes only advocated govern-

ment investment in times of dire

recession and only in projects that

would pay for themselves. The

ultimate irony resides in the call

he campaigned on. He will win

because the American people un-

derstand that he is the only adult

in the room. When the Republi-

can candidates are attempting to

vet each other on their individual

records as true conservatives,

Obama has largely kept him-

self above the fray. While I hope

that the Republicans will be able

to pull themselves together and

prove my obituary premature, the

present situation does not bode

well for the party of Lincoln.

of the current candidates to tear

down the job killing edice of

big government, when 66% of

the Republican electorate is in

support of keeping the entitle-

ment programs that have proven

to be anathema to each campaign.

This is why President Obama will

win re-election. Not because he

has accomplished all of his un-

realistically high goals, nor be-

cause he has instituted the poli-

cies of change and hope that



13/24

12

of Ethiopian and East Asian mi-

grant workers, Arab-Israelis have

increasingly become more of a

burden to Jewish land consolida-

tion. Arab-Israelis, one-fth of

Israeli society, now have owner-

ship of roughly 2.5% of the land.

This situation is not necessarily a

product of historical misfortune

and poor land management; it is

arguably the result of attempts

by successive Israeli govern-

ments to continue the expul-

sion of Palestinians from Israel.

This objective has manifesteditself through several designs,

most apparent in the highly con-

tested city of Jerusalem. Captured

by Israel in 1948, West Jerusa-

lem is inhabited predominantly

by Jews whereas East Jerusalem

has historically been the sec-

tion inhabited by Palestinians.

However, the Israeli government

and largely foreign-sponsored

real estate magnates have run aheightened campaign to expel

Palestinians from their historical

neighborhoods. Through coercive

measures such as housing license

revocations (mid-night evictions

are common) and Jewish-only

real estate brokers taking ad-

vantage of desperate situations,

Palestinians have been forced to

leave their historic homes in Jeru-salem. One can glance at an East

Jerusalem hillside and nd an Is-

raeli ag spanning the full three

stories of a house in the midst

of a densely populated Palestin-

ian neighborhood. This house,

once Palestinian, is likely to be

occupied by an Israeli settler

who would more aptly be called

a colonialist receiving housing

subsidies from the Israeli gov-

ernment.These actions foment

animosity between Palestinians

and Jews, as Israeli soldiers now

have a reason to freely patrol

Palestinian neighborhoods and,

if needed, impose curfews and

temporary travel restrictions to

ensure the safety of these settlers.

Aside from the obvious struggles

associated with being the minor-ity group in the context of a long-

standing conict, Arab-Israelis

are also faced with the double-

edged dilemma of identity. Their

efforts to be productive members

of Israeli society, which naturally

implies distancing themselves

from the Palestinians in the occu-

pied territories, puts them at odds

with those Palestinians who ac-

cuse them of having a Palestinian-applied House-Negro complex.

There are both Jewish-Israelis and

Palestinians in the territories who

consider them traitors. Palestin-

ians living inside Israel have had

to walk a ne line between their

Palestinian and Israeli identity.

The line has gotten increasingly

thinner under the heat of more

severe Israeli domestic policy.

In 2010, ndings from a report

by an independent research group

showed that Israels current par-

liament under the far-right Net-

enyahu administration is the most

racist since 1948. This nding

was partly based on the number

of draft laws that constantly chal-

lenge Arab-Israelis legitimacy as

Israeli citizens. As of 2010, there

are twenty-one draft laws of thisnature, such as, Anyone denying

the existence of Israel as a Jewish

and democratic state faces impris-

onment, and a law that, Makes

it illegal for citizens inside Israel

to organize demonstrations on the

anniversary of the creation of the

Palestinian refugee catastrophe.

These laws deny non-Jews, spe-

cically Palestinians, of a fulll-ing Israeli citizenship and from

reconciling their identity. Talk

among high-ranking Israeli of-

cials of instituting Palestinian

family-planning laws is also quite

disconcerting but ever more im-

minent as the Arab-Israeli growth

rate leads that of Jewish-Israelis.

The chasm between Arab-Israelis

and the broader Israeli society has become more omnipresent and

problematic, even as Arab-Israe-

lis strive for inclusion and par-

ticipation in their country. As the

Palestinian Authority seeks state-

hood for Palestine it is important

not to lose sight of the importance

and place of Israels largest mi-

nority population. Eventually,

with the rapidly growing popula-

tion of Arab-Israelis, Israel will

have to reckon with this reality on

an unprecedented level. Though

there have been courageous and

effective Jewish-Israelis and

Arab-Israelis working together



14/24


to bridge gaps through the chan-

nels of civil society, if trends in

Israeli government policy per-

sist, the future of Israels indig-

enous population appears grim.

International

Law: An

American at

The HagueBy Parth Chauhan

To the average American col-

lege student, studying abroad inthe Netherlands would be a car-

nal delight. The red light district

of Amsterdam, the coffee shops

dotting the country and the ex-

tremely open Dutch culture all

come to mind when one men-

tions Holland. However, to a stu-

dent at The George Washington

University (and furthermore, a

student at the Elliott School of

International Affairs), the men-

tion of the Netherlands brings

to mind a far different notion.

A mere sixty kilometers from

Amsterdam is The Hague, a city

of half a million people and the

seat of some of the worlds pre-

eminent international institutions.

The presence of the International

Court of Justice, NATO Consul-

tation, Command and ControlAgency, Europol, and over 150

other international bodies puts

The Hague on the same level as

New York City and Geneva in

terms of international importance.

Unfortunately, despite the high

ideals embodied by the institu-

tions of The Hague, the fact re-

mains that the lack of member-

ship of many important players in

these international organizations

severely weakens their effective-

ness. The United States is not a rat-

ied party to the two most impor-

tant establishments in The Hague:

the International Criminal Court

and the International Court ofJustice. It is amazing that a nation

like the Netherlands, formerly a

colonizing imperialist power with

a brutal past and currently a state

smaller in size than West Virgin-

ia, has taken it upon itself to pro-

mote the benets of international

law. The US, on the other hand,

one of the worlds most powerful

nations, blessed with abundant

resources and proud of its dem-

ocratic heritage, often ignores

and violates international law.

International law is often seen in

our country as a waste of time, a

meaningless philosophical con-

struct without much substance.

However, my time here in Amster-

dam has given me a far different

perspective. Class with European

students and with professors whohave worked at the Peace Palace

has taught me that having respect

of international law, the ICC and

the ICJ is an important value.

The Dutch have a great deal of re-

spect for international courts, and

though the average Dutch citizen

may not be fully in tune with the

more theoretical ideas behind

international law, their lives are

shaped far more by international

customs than our own. In fact, the

constitution of the Netherlands

allows for the certain treaties and

conventions of international law

to be directly applied domesti-

cally. This results in a far morerelaxed and balanced society,

where the average person is not

only concerned with himself, but

with those around him as well. It

is a far more socially, environ-

mentally, and politically aware

society than the one I have grown

up with in America. In just one

short month here, I can see that

recycling abounds, public trans-

port and biking are more popular

than cars, and the relatively high

tax rates are met without much

complaint. There is a real sense

of civic responsibility and so-

cial egalitarianism, and I believe

that it comes from the deep con-

nection with international law.

When viewed through Dutch

society, the voluntary nature of

international law, long deridedas one of its weaknesses, actu-

ally becomes one of its strengths.

Nation-states join international

covenants and obey their laws

on a voluntary basis because

the ideals of those covenants

13 September - October 2011


15/24

14

are in line with the ideals of

those nations. The Dutch people

choose to work with each other

and to help each other in times

of need on a voluntary basis.

Similarly, the reciprocity factor ofinternational law is eerily analo-

gous to the essential kindergarten

life lesson we all once memorized.

Criminal Court and International

Court of Justice on the grounds of

national security and sovereignty,

but perhaps our leaders ought to

reconsider such organizations for

their social benet. The positiveinuence of the ICC and ICJ may

be exactly what our people need

to get us out of our current mess.

The golden rule, to treat others

the way we want to be treated,

applies to the international com-

munity and Dutch society equally

well. Both want a more equitable

environment and are willing tomake sacrices for to reach that

goal. The United States has long

railed against the International

Indecision 2012:

Multiple-ChoiceMittBy Scott Challeen

In 2004, Democrats learned rst-

hand what a fabulous idea it was

to nominate an uncharismatic

elitist from Massachusetts with a

notorious record for ip-opping

out of political convenience to

challenge a vulnerable incum-

bent president whom their party

so desperately wanted to beat.

The ironic parallels of what is

unfolding in the 2012 election on

the Republican side are simply

astounding. Enter former Massa-

chusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Never mind that Romney is run-

ning on creating jobs when hisstate ranked 47th in the nation in

job growth while he was gover-

nor, ahead of only Ohio, Michi-

gan and Louisiana in other

words, two rust-belt states and a

state whose largest city was de-

stroyed by a hurricane. Never

mind that his campaign is touting

him as the most electable Repub-lican (which may be true given

his main opponents in the prima-

ries) despite the fact that hes lost

every election he has ever been

in except for one. In that one suc-

cessful election, to the governors

ofce in Massachusetts, he cam-

paigned on his business creden-

tials and assured the voters that

he knew how the create jobs yet

he failed to deliver. At the end of

his rst term his approval ratings

were so low that he would have

very likely lost reelection, and he

knew this, so he decided not to run

for second term in 2006. Rather

than lose and hurt his presiden-

tial chances in 2008, he decided

it was safer not to run for reelec-

tion at all. For further evidence

that he likely would have lost his bid for reelection, his Lieuten-

ant Governor, Kerry Healey, ran

in his place and lost to the cur-

rent Democratic Governor Deval

Patrick by a whopping 20 points.

Never mind that he claims to not

be a career politician, though it

was not from a lack of trying.

Never mind that his campaign isone big contradiction; his ip-

opping alone is enough to de-

rail his prospects of winning.

If there is any doubt that Rom-

neys ip-opping will prove to

be a major liability, I have com-

piled a list of notable issues he

has been on multiple sides of. But

instead of making a bullet-point

list, I made a fun little interactive

Mad Libs multiple-choice game

where you can decide for your-

self where Mitt Romney stands

on issues. The beauty of the

game is when you play, no mat-

ter which option you circle, you

are never wrong. Mitt Romney

has literally taken the position

of every option offered at one

point of time or another. Enjoy!

Mitt Romney Interactive

Mad Libs (circle one):

Hi, Im Mitt Romney. Im run-

ning for (Senate/governor/presi-



16/24


dent). I am tried and true in my

beliefs. I always have been and I

always will be. I am (pro-choice/

pro-life) when it comes to the

controversial issue of abortion.

On the issue of gay rights, I am(in favor of an Amendment to the

Constitution dening marriage/

to the left of Ted Kennedy). I am

(for/against) stem cell research. I

am also (in favor of/opposed to)

gun control laws because they

(keep us safe/infringe upon our

2nd Amendment right). I feel

this way because I (am a lifelong

hunter/hunted small varmints on

two occasions in my life). But

enough about social issues, lets

talk about what Americans re-

ally care about: the economy.

President Obama (has made/has

not made) this economy worse.

I (supported/was opposed to) the

Stimulus bill which (accelerated

the start of the recovery/was a

complete failure). I (supported/

was opposed to) the auto industry

bailouts. I was (in favor of/quietly

opposed to) the Bush Tax Cuts. I

think the at tax is a (good/bad)

idea. I think privatizing Social Se-curity is a (good/bad) idea. I think

the Norquist tax pledges are (stu-

pid/something Ill sign). As you

know, S&P recently downgraded

the U.S. credit rating, which (is/

is not) completely Obamas fault.

But I have the experience to get

America working again because

Massachusetts ranked 47th in

the nation in job growth when I

was governor of Massachusetts.

I also spent part of my life in

the private sector, where I cre-

ated and destroyed a lot of jobs.

When it comes to health care, I

think that individual mandates

are a (good/bad) idea because

individual mandates (promote

personal responsibility/are un-

Getting Our

Electoral System

Back To The

BasicsBy Taylor Sappington

If there is one thing that the

American voter can agree on, its

that they dislike our government

and frown upon our current par-

15

constitutional). I think my Mas-

sachusetts health care plan that

was the model for Obamas Af-

fordable Care Act (should/should

not) be implemented on the na-

tional level. When it comes toeducation I am (for/against)

Obamas Race To The Top initia-

tive. I have generally (supported/

opposed) most of the policies

enacted by this Administration.

I am a (conservative/moder-

ate/socially conservative/so-

cially liberal) Republican who

(wants to/does not want to) re-

turn to what it was like in the

eras of Reagan and Bush. If I

have not said anything you agree

with yet, I can keep talking

Mad Libs is a registered

trademark of Penguin Group

(USA) Inc. All rights reserved.

ties and their institutions. Dissat-

isfaction is about the only term

used to describe both the left and

the right. Many in power blame

the other side; their political

opponents are either obstruction-

ists or radicals. Still, some others

blame the voters, asserting that

Americans are easily swayed or

not adequately informed. We hear

these arguments over and over

again and many of us are incul-

cated into thinking that these are

the causes of the dysfunction that

we face. First, one should ques-

tion most excuses given by those

in power. Remember the WMDs?

But more importantly, its long

overdue that we begin to recog-

nize our political systems funda-

mentals as the cause of our woes.

The last eleven years have been

one giant warning siren that

something is amiss within our

political system. Our nations



17/24

16

rst severe electoral crisis in

2000 followed by a decade of

mismanaged wars, increased

poverty, economic decline with

a near collapse, and shocking

incompetence showcased dur-ing crises like Hurricane Katrina

are examples of these warning

sirens. Put simply, the structure

and traditions of our government

are buckling under the pressures

of our pressing issues. This is an

important stipulation: our gov-

ernment is performing ineffec-

tively against the problems we

face, but it does not cause these

problems. Both this ineffective-

ness and, by association, the lack

of response to national issues, are

caused by the way we elect the

people who run our government.

We have one of the most mud-

dled, confusing, and money laden

electoral systems in the demo-

cratic world and most sweeping

reforms should take place at the basic electoral level. First, our

representatives are elected from

some of the most egregiously ger-

rymandered districts in the world,

encouraging them to focus only

on their small, homogenous elec-

torate. Partisan districting should

Americans have become much

too comfortable with: the preva-

lence of money in politics. Is it

impossible to extract all money

from politics, but many devel-

oped nations have effectivelycurbed most outside money in

their electoral systems. All inter-

est group money, fundraising,

and donations should end with no

exceptions. Switching to a com-

pletely publicly nanced system

would free our leaders from the

narrow-minded restraints of com-

peting for donations from corpo-

rations and interest groups. Hav-

ing leaders elected by voters, not

moneyed factions, is what George

Washington and the founders in-

tended. This nal step of remov-

ing private donations from the

electoral process would effective-

ly force our government in a new

direction. Along with the reforms

to the redistricting process and

the adoption of more functional

election practices, our representa-tives would be left with no other

choice: either address the issues

at hand with all deliberate speed

or face the wrath of the voters.

end in this era of modern gover-

nance. With diverse districts, our

representatives will be forced to

address a broader range of issues

with forceful intent to solve them,

or face backlash at the ballot box.

The second prong of meaning-

ful reform involves two policies

that would fundamentally alter

the way we elect our leaders.

Firstly, we must wrestle the cam-

paign season under control. At

the moment, our campaigns are

24/7/365. Our leaders often admit

that they do not go one day with-

out making a call back home to

donors and interest groups. Sec-

ondly, we must enforce stricter

elections laws such as limiting

campaign activities and fund-

raising to small periods of time,

usually around three months be-

fore Election Day. With shorter

campaigns, our leaders would

be free to work on what they are

paid to do, and campaigns would be forced to focus on policy is-

sues instead of allowing for the

distraction of the silly sideshows

that normally occupy their time.

The last part of meaningful re-

form deals with a topic that we

Culture & Arts



18/24


#FollowMe:

Activism, Human

Rights, andPublic Opinion in

the Digital AgeBy Claudia Powell

There are a number of words that

I feel certain we will never fully

reclaim from their technological

repurposing. Perhaps the most

obvious of all to those familiarwith the popular social network-

ing site Twitter is follow. Pre-

2006, the word implied a leader

worth going after, if not physi-

cally then certainly in a dedicated

way that further implied signi-

cance. Today, you might as well

follow me. All it takes is a few

taps of your nger. In fact, today

you can follow almost 200 mil-lion registered users on Twitter.

The popularization of social me-

dia in the last several years has

fundamentally changed not only

what it means to be a follower, but

also what it means to be a leader.

While boundaries to distribut-

ing information have become

essentially nonexistent, unbe-

lievable opportunity for a demo-cratic exchange of ideas has sur-

faced. Even ten years ago, who

would have thought that a #

(now hash-tag) or a @ would

be predominant linking forces

among humankind? Like the

word follow, the signicance of

each within the social network-

ing world has led them to become

almost universally coded with

meaning. Through Twitter and amultitude of other online networks

that have cropped up in recent

years, public discourse has trans-

formed immensely not only in

the simple repurposing of words

and symbols, but also in the inu-

ence of new everyday leaders and

the collective thought and action

of followers around the globe.

In an October 2010 article ti-

tled Small Change, Malcolm

Gladwell posited that discourse

about the inuence of social me-

dia had fallen prey to digital

evangelism, exaggerating its

power and detracting from tra-

ditional modes of activism. Ac-

cording to Gladwell, web-based

movements garner higher par-

ticipation because they do not askmuch of partakers and are less ef-

fective due to a lack of hierarchy

(and thus, allegedly, strategy and

discipline). Where activists were

once dened by their causes, they

are now dened by their tools,

he wrote. It makes it easier for

activists to express themselves,

and harder for that expression

to have any impact. Gladwell

further asserted that activism based in online relationships

could not lead to sustained par-

ticipation because such activism

lacks the strong-ties (invest-

ed personal relationships) that

structure high-risk activism.

Gladwells premier example is

the American Civil Rights Move-

ment, which involved incredible

community organization as wellas staggering personal risk for

those brave enough to partici-

pate. According to Gladwell, the

motivated hierarchical structure

combined with high-risk activ-

ism (boycotts, sit-ins, and non-

violent confrontations) ultimately

led the movement to success. He

argues that the networks built

by social media lack the author-

ity necessary to take on a power-

ful, organized establishment. In

light of recent events, Gladwell

added that the use of social me-

dia in revolutions is only sig-

nicant if it can be proven that

pre-Internet movements suffered

markedly without these tools. To

me, comparisons seem fallacious;

not only was the social climate

radically different, but participants in the Civil Rights Move-

ment undoubtedly utilized every

method available to communi-

cate their message effectively.

Instead, I would argue that the

effectiveness of any revolution

is ultimately determined by the

fortitude of people (regardless

of how they connect) and their

use of the resources available tothem. The Internet has made it

possible to like or follow ev-

ery social cause with little com-

mitment or personal sacrice

but why should we consider this

a negative thing? More people

17 September - October 2011


19/24

18

are made aware of a greater num-

ber of social causes regardless of

their level of participation. The

fact that people will participate

selectively in activism that hastouched them in some way is

not new. The exposure of soci-

etal problems is most benecial

to democracy when handled with

rational diplomacy that allows

citizens to harness the strength

of public opinion. Did the Civil

Rights Movement occur without

the use of digital media? Abso-

lutely but the strategies used

were successful because the peo-

ple were united and persistent in

their cause, not because they sole-

ly employed high-risk tactics.

Gladwells argument about so-

cial media applies interestingly

to recent comparisons drawn be-

tween the Arab Spring (beginning

in December 2010) and the Oc-

cupy Wall Street movement (rstcalled for in July 2011). Though

we must be careful in attributing

causality, social media clearly

plays a facilitating role in public

discourse that ultimately serves

to drive public activism. Its a

tool that depends on human ap-

plication to decide its functional-

ity. While its erroneous to inate

social media as some unfaltering

force of change, its also wrong toignore the tremendous opportu-

nity that it affords people all over

the world. Digital media works in

tandem with existing networks (or

so-called strong-tie networks)

while also extending relation-

ships based on the common cause.

Virtually initiated movements

may even gain traction more rap-

idly, because there is less riskwhen one can vet participation

in the digital world before act-

ing in the analog world. In con-

trast to prior movements, the new

progression might be re, ready,

aim, as the dissidence precedes

the solution or specic mandates

for remedy. Because it doesnt

necessarily require the same

courage, the protests can evolve

quickly and have a profound im-

pact. To say that social media

only forms weak ties seems

to underestimate the everymans

ability to recognize and react to

genuine injustice. Today, fellow

protesters may not even live on

the same continent. A combina-

tion of systems old and new al-

lows participants to construct

a force that feels (and is) muchgreater than is visible to the eye.

Just as we cannot accurately com-

pare twenty-rst century protests

to the Civil Rights Movement,

forthcoming comparisons be-

tween the Arab Spring and Occu-

py Wall Street seem problematic

beyond the analogous triggers of

lacking opportunity and perceived

(or real) oppression. Neverthe-less, each demonstrates the still-

evolving ways in which social

media has and will alter the nature

of public discourse and activism.

The notion of participation is be-

ing reshaped entirely; methods of

disseminating information have

transformed, while the speed with

which it reaches an ever-growing

audience has rapidly accelerated.

Admittedly, this is not without problems. Sometimes going vi-

ral means that potentially in-

ammatory information catches

re before ever gaining credibil-

ity, whether deliberately or by ac-

cident. The 24-hour news cycle

in America has yielded a degree

of sensationalism that contributes

to a pervasive attitude of alarm.

Occupy Wall Street protesters

claim to represent the 99%, a

gure derived from the statistic

that the remaining 1% of the coun-

trys population controls 40% of

the nations wealth. Its undeni-

able that with more than 46 mil-

lion Americans living in poverty,

action must be taken. However, it

is irresponsible to claim that the

hardships faced by the averageAmerican are comparable to the

denial of basic human rights that

drove one Tunisian man to set

himself aame and many others

across the region to join in arms.

In short, the Occupy Wall Street

protests bring into focus citizen

backlash against the economy and

what demonstrators contend is an

out-of-touch corporate, nancialand political elite. The process

of resolution will undoubtedly

be complex as our country is cur-

rently under the siege of a highly

polarized election period. This

only drives the public sector fur-



20/24

ther apart while the private sphere

remains frozen by poor scal

policy. Despite these problems,

herein lies the vital difference

between recent protests across

the Middle East and the Occupy

Wall Street demonstrations that

are sweeping the western world.

A democracy allows citizens to

criticize their leaders; an autoc-

racy does not. In America, peace-

ful demonstrators exercise their

freedom of speech and assembly

in criticism of our system, fearing

that it has failed them. Citizens

of Middle Eastern autocracies,however, subject themselves to

enormous dangers in a call for

the establishment of democracy.

The stakes in each movement

are even more disparate. Brave

and noble American citizens

have demonstrated time and time

again that they are willing to die

in the name of our country. Such

stalwart nationalism is not lack-ing. However, the Occupy Wall

Street cause is unlikely one that

will inspire individuals to sacri-

ce their lives and because of

our free and democratic society,

its perhaps even less likely that

it will ever escalate to that point.

According to the United Nations,

nearly 3,000 people have already

lost their lives in Syria alone.More than 800 died during the

protests in Egypt, and nearly 500

in the demonstrations in Tunisia,

Yemen, and Bahrain. The death

toll in Libya, while it includes

some Gadda loyalists, is esti-


19

mated to be as high as 30,000.

The globalizing and digitizing

environment makes authoritarian

rule more complicated to begin

with. Content transcends bound-

aries to form a global narrative

that seems, in large part, to de-

mand social equality. The global

communication of ideas has been

altered vastly by the digital trans-

mission of images and videos,

which break down the language

barrier in such exchanges. Videos

posted to YouTube, for example,

allow for a visual of human suf-frage that illustrates inequities un-

deniably and adds substantively

to the spread of such information.

In response, authoritarian regimes

in the Middle East and North Af-

rica have attempted to suppress

the online voices of the Arab free-

dom movement. Back in January,

then-President Hosni Mubarak

forced Egypt into an Internet blackout that lasted for several

days. It was an act that demon-

strated the Egyptian rulers recog-

nition of the threat posed to their

regime by rebellious citizens and

their online activities. Regimes

in both Syria and Libya tried to

quell citizen uprisings with cell

phone blackouts. Just this month,

the Taliban in Afghanistan suc-cessfully coerced cell companies

into shutting down networks at

night by threatening to destroy

cell towers, which cost around

$250,000 to replace. Censorship

is like this remains immensely

problematic as social media ac-

tivism is obviously most effective

where access is greatest. In a 2010

address, Secretary of State Hill-

ary Clinton asserted that Internet

access should be considered a

basic right, calling information

networks a new nervous sys-

tem for our world. Traditionally,

global relief efforts have focused

on to citizens rights to health

and safety. Given the eruption of

the online world as a forum for

the exchange of information and

ideas, it is clear that we must ac-

knowledge the emergent interde- pendence between these rights.

Recognizing the injustices suf-

fered by censored (as well as

under-informed) citizens, nu-

merous tech and hacking groups

have stepped in to assist. Since

Mubaraks blackout, Telecomix,

a loosely organized international

network of techies in Europe, has

worked to both disseminate in-formation and provide concrete

assistance to those denied on-

line freedoms. On October 5, the

group published a massive cache

of data showing how the regime

of Syrian President Bashar Assad

has monitored the online activi-

ties of citizens, blocking both

Internet access and individual

pages. Further, it revealed thatthe Syrian government has uti-

lized advanced Western technol-

ogies to aid in its spying and to

prevent citizens from accessing

online communications services

such as Skype. Though they can-



21/24

20

not prevent censorship entirely,

groups like Telecomix have dem-

onstrated the kind of signicant

and supportive participation that

Gladwell once argued was not

feasible for such distanced causes.

According to research published

in The Digital Origins of Dictator-

ship and Democracy, since 1995

the most consistent causal fea-

tures of democratization include

a civil society that uses digital

media to undermine authoritarian

rule, allowing the course of public

opinion to lead. Though Gladwellwarned of the frailty of move-

ments born online, both the Arab

Spring and Occupy Wall Street

movements have demonstrated

the capability of digitally-formed

and grown activism to turn into

real world change. Authoritarian

rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya

and Yemen were ousted while

many others have been forced

to institute reforms in responseto civil uprisings. As of Octo-

ber 17, Occupy Wall Street has

raised close to $300,000 through

contributions on the movements

website and through people who

donated in person at Zucotti Park.

While early protests were criti-

cized for lacking a unied mes-

sage, a designated demands com-

mittee is now debating whether

to issue concrete demands. Any

resulting proposals will be de-

bated before the groups gen-

eral assembly and would require

a two-thirds vote for passage.

As this article goes to press, nei-

ther the Arab Spring nor the Oc-

cupy Wall Street movements have

shown signs of losing momentum.Of course, while social media has

been essential to the Arab Spring

movement, it is not indicative

or illustrative of the decades of

toil that went into its observable

execution and ultimate break-

throughs. Though Occupy Wall

Street is not paralleled to the Arab

Spring uprisings across the globe,

or even the Civil Rights Move-

ment a half-century ago in thisvery country, each of these move-

ments represent a demand for so-

cial equality. We have not forgot-

ten what activism is, as Gladwell

alleged; rather, we have redened

it in a way that has proven to be

applicable from corrupt autocra-

cies to a distressed democracy.

Our world today has more willing

and able leaders than ever before.

Social media has thrust open the

door of peer-to-peer communica-

tion and activism and now rests

as a vital pulse of public opin-

ion. To be a leader or a follower

in this is not mutually exclusive.

Whether citizens lead by send-

ing information via Twitter hash-

tags or follow by marching the

streets in protest does not matter.The increasing accessibility of in-

formation to citizens around the

world has encouraged the build-

ing of a global standard of human

rights that people are prepared

to ght for, no matter the media.

A special thank you to my Chang-

ing Media Technology professor,

Dr. Kerric Harvey (Associate

Professor of Media and PublicAffairs at GWU and Associate

Director at the Center for Inno-

vative Media), for her thought-

provoking insights into the eld.

StainsBy Charles Irving

You didnt want to break myheart, at least I dont think so,

but you did. You bandaged

it, glued it back together, and

then just tore it back out again.

How could you do that to me?

Im tired of always being the one

with the problems! We both have

problems, do you not realize that.

Do this. Fix that. Why not thisway? Youre always bossing me

around, telling me what to do. Why

cant for once. ugh. you know

what never mind. Im done!

When you turned around and

walked through the gated white

picket fence, all I noticed, in

spite of everything, was the in-dent in your back left pocket.

Right there, in the jeans that you

wore to work every day, not the

indent of a wallet, but that of a

canister. Round and thin, it left



22/24


21

the faded denim looking stained.

You were always smiling when

you chewed, as if it made you

happier, calmed you down. It was

an awkward smile, though, your

lower lip overlapping your bot-

tom teeth and one side of your

jaw a tad higher. Your cheek,

jutting outward, created just the

right sized pouch, and eventu-

ally grew a small white stain.

I stood there and cried, thinking

of all the times Id yelled and

screamed at you to stop, eventhough I knew youd keep do-

ing it anyways. Every day, the

meaningless ghts wed have,

always stemming from my want

to change you. Had I driven

you away? Was it my fault?

Later that night, I lay in bed still

crying, and of all things, what do

I notice, but the smell of tobacco

coming from the canister on your

nightstand. At rst, like always,

the scent was raw and explosive,

but then it quickly became more

and more bearable. For a second,

I could see the aroma, lingering

above, and then wrapping itselfaround me just like you would.

The smokiness, the sweetness, the

ruggedness, all seemed to be per-

manently staining the bed sheets.

Im sorry for what I said

and how I mustve made you

feel. I promise to never do

it again. Youre my angel.

You may have walked away, but

you certainly werent leaving. I

couldnt get rid of you that easy.

Just like the back pocket of your

jeans, even if you didnt know

it, you had stained my heart too.

Where East Meets

West: Art of the

Gahara RegionBy Lily Colley

Nestled between what is mod-

ern-day northern Pakistan and

eastern Afghanistan is the Gand-

hara region. Centered around the

Kabul River, it is named for the

ancient Buddhist kingdom that

occupied this area from the rst

millennium BC until the 11th

century AD. Historically, this

area has been under the control

of Alexander the Great, the In-

dian Mauryan Dynasty, the Par-

thians, the Indo-Greeks and even

the Indian Kushan Empire. Logi-

cally, what developed as a result

of these diverse inuences is an

eclectic melting pot of cultures,

religions and aesthetics. Never-

theless, Buddhism managed toremain the singular uniting force,

historically providing the largest

aesthetic inuence upon the area.

Buddhism, a religious ideology

founded by Siddhartha Gautama

in the 4th Century BC, diffused

from India along the silk roads

toward the East and especially

throughout the Gandhara region.

The resiliency and historical in-

uence of the faith in the region is

most clearly exemplied through

its unique artistic heritage.

Thousands of miles and seeming-

ly worlds away from the Gandhara

region, in New York Citys Upper

East Side, is the world acclaimed

Asia Society. Curators have spent

the past six months dodging an

endless run of geopolitical road-blocks regarding the question of

75 sculptures from this historical

area, according to the New York

Times. The inuential canons of

Buddhist art from the region were

scheduled to appear for the rst

time outside of Pakistans Lahore

and Karachi Museums. Delays

were the result of heighted level of

Anti-Americanism in the region

following the killing of Osama

Bin Laden, combined with visa

issues and the death of longtime

advocate Richard C. Holbrooke.

Yet, after the tireless work of the

Pakistani-American ambassador,



23/24

22

it was decided that the exhibition

was necessary because it is a

unique opportunity for us to show

the cultural heritage of Pakistan

at a time when U.S-Pakistan rela-

tions are probably at their lowest

ever, curator Melissa Chui said.

The exhibition closes on October

30 and aims to show the com-

plexities of the region through the

metaphor of its diversely inu-

enced Buddhist art. Traditionally,

Buddhist art of India is classied

within two major schools, the

Mathura style and the Gandharastyle. The Mathura is character-

ized by traditional Indian artis-

tic techniques and iconography,

while the Gandhara is character-

ized by classical inuences upon

artistic canons. The exhibition

features pieces that are far from

what todays viewer would ex-

pect to be the ancient heritage

of Pakistan. The pieces in the

show include everything fromthe world-famous Visions of

Buddhas Paradise to a column

chunk. Logically, these religious

works demonstrate the develop-

ment of Buddhist artistic canons

over time. At rst the Buddha

was preferred to be artistically

represented aniconistically (not

in human form). Instead, various

symbols were used to represent

the Buddha artistically, including

a footprint and various anthropo-

morphic (animal form) symbols.

The Buddhist art of the west-

ern Gandhara region developed

The sum total of this collection of

sculptures that managed to nally

make its way to New Yorks Asia

Society is ironically a coherent

compilation of works with scat-

tered inuences. I believe that

each work from the collection

contains not only an intriguing

combination of aesthetic quali-

ties, but also represents a period

of diverse historical inuences

and forces. Amazingly, the cu-

rators have selected pieces in

which each work seems to both

connect with the others yet still

manage to achieve a seeminglycompletely independent style.

This only further exemplies the

disjointed and therefore uniquely

indenable style of the region.

independently from that of the

Methura region in central India.

This distinctive developmental

trajectory was largely due to the

external cultural inuences previ-

ously mentioned; it is primarily

evident in the artistically classi-

cal elements of the pieces after

the late 1st Century, when an-

thropomorphism (or the human

representation of the Buddha)

was nally accepted as common

practice. This resulted in artis-

tic standardization of the human

representation of the Buddha.

These standards are commonlyknown today; they include elon-

gated earlobes, a high bun, vari-

ous symbolic mudras (hand ges-

tures) and asana (seated poses),

the budi tree, a urna (dot between

the eyes)a halo, the lotus, and the

presence of Buddhisatvas. Af-

ter this occurrence, the diffusion

of a standardized Buddhist ico-

nography developed uniquely in

Gandhara. This unique Gandharastyle combined traditional sym-

bols of the Buddha with the strik-

ing classical stylistic qualities.

These qualities are realized in the

form of classical drapery after

the conquest of the Indo-Greeks.

This incorporates the previous-

ly mentioned iconography with

classical canons, which include a

more idealized and plastic bodily

appearance, Greco-garbs with a

wet-drapery appearance, wavy

hair, almond downcast eyes, ar-

chitectural elements including

Corinthian capitals, and Greco-

roman mythological motifs.



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TSW Journal - Sept-Oct 2011