Week #17 Articles {March 8, '21}

Articles Written By Ananya Nayar and Misaki Tomiyama, Website edited by Misaki Tomiyama

Articles for this week-

World News-

• The US Threatens Penalty on Russian Officials over Alexei Navalny

• Poland Activist and LGBT Virgin Mary

• Protests in Senegal following the arrest of Ousmane Sonko

• Syria War- Detainees missing

• SpaceX's Starship rocket explosion

• Nigeria Schoolgirl Abductions

• Texas and the Other States Ease Covid Rules

India News-

• India’s Vaccination Drive

Other Articles-

• This Week’s topic (1)- What does Coffee do to us?

• This Week’s Topic (2)-Should Single-Sex Education Be Continued?

• This Week in History

• This Day Signifies

The US Threatens Penalty on Russian Officials over Alexei Navalny

Article By Anaya Nayar

In last week’s newsletter, we talked about how Jamal Khashoggi was killed by Saudi spies, and how the US responded in their Intelligence Report. Well, this week, another similar incident occurred.

To begin with, who was Alexei Navalny? Mr Navalny was a lawyer, but also an anti-corruption activist and Russian opposition leader. He organised international reforms against the Russian government and Vladimir Putin, he was an advocate against the manipulation and extortion that occurred in Russia. Through his YouTube and Twitter social media platforms, Alexei Navalny accentuated the corruption in Russia and organised political demonstrations and campaigns.

Last year, in August, Navalny was admitted to hospital in a dire position after being poisoned by a nerve agent that the Russian President- Vladimir Putin was allegedly behind. After an investigation, the EU, US and UK imposed sanctions on senior Russian officials.

Russia replied to the accusations that Moscow was behind the poisoning saying that they were ‘unacceptable’ and that the allegations were ‘damaging already bad (international) relations.’ International reporters were also told to keep out of Russian domestic affairs.

Poland Activist and LGBT Virgin Mary

Article By Misaki Tomiyama

Three polish gay rights activists-Joanna Gzyra-Iskandar, Anna Prus and Elzbieta Podlesna were accused of offending the sentiment of the church by distributing posters of the Virgin Mary with a rainbow halo, to fight for LGBT rights. They were acquitted and have been found not guilty of offending religious beliefs. This case began in April 2019, and if these activists were found guilty, they would have two years of imprisonment under the article Poland's criminal code which forbids offending religious sentiment.

The judge of this case said that "The goal of the activists... was to show support to LGBT individuals, to fight for their equal rights." A group of LGBT supports were outside the courthouse with posters that said “The Rainbow Doesn't Offend." This slogan was widely shared on social media to spread awareness about this court case, and about gay rights.

A bit about Poland and LGBT rights-

In the EU, Poland has been called the worst country in terms of LGBT rights. People apart of the LGBT community are fighting for proper rights, while others have left this country, in search of better acceptance. Andrzej Duda, the current president, has been accused by many activists of using anti-LGBT speeches to get more popularity in his country, so he can win re-election. Around 100 local governments in Poland has pledged to protect the “traditional” family values, and not allowing LGBT communities. Activists who went on pride marches got stones thrown at them, explosives brought in and faced a lot of criticism. Some were even arrested for protesting for LGBT rights.

Protests in Senegal following the arrest of Ousmane Sonko

Article By Ananya Nayar

Senegal is a country located in North-East Africa, previously this week, the country’s capital- Dakar became the locus of what followed to be brutal protests. The protests erupted, and tear gas was used, rocks were thrown, a police van almost ran several people over, citizens clashed with police and vehicles were sent up in flames- it’s seen to be the harshest unrest since at least 10 years. The violent protests were instigated after Ousmane Sonko, the opposition leader in the country, was arrested. He first appeared in court after his detention on Tuesday last week and the mutiny began on Wednesday. Sonko had been detained over accusations of assault and rape, he was then arrested for ‘disturbing public order’ by apparently provoking the unauthorised demonstrations.

On Friday, Sonko’s lawyer made a statement saying he is charged with rape and death threats, however, the judge is going to prosecute him for calling for an insurgency. The second court proceeding will occur today (Monday).

Syria War- Detainees missing

Article By Misaki Tomiyama

Trigger Warning- Violence and Sexual Abuse

There has been an ongoing civil war in Syria since March 2011. The war emerged from a peaceful uprising in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad. There had been mass unemployment and lack of political freedom in this country for years, and since then, there have been more than 207,000 civilian

casualties. According to a recent report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), tens of thousands of Syrians are missing after being detained since the outbreak of the war.

Syrians have been arbitrarily detained and have disappeared while others have been “to torture, sexual violence or death in detention, according to the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic.” These tortures include sexual violence towards children only 11-year-old, forcefully extracting confessions and more. This has lead to severe physical pain and emotional trauma for these detainees and is a “national trauma” according to the report.

Detainees were forced to drink unclean water, stay in overcrowded cells without bathrooms, using unsanitary accommodations and were not given medical care. There are many missing detainees, the fate of these Syrians are unknown, but many assume that they have died due to severe living conditions, executed or living in inhuman conditions.

SpaceX's Starship rocket explosion

Article By Misaki Tomiyama

After two of SpaceX’s starship prototypes crash-landed, they have finally been to land their new Starship rocket-Starship SN10 spacecraft after a high-altitude test flight. However, after the landing, the area near the Starship started to catch fire, and just around eight minutes later, the Starship prototype exploded.

Despite the prototype’s explosion, SpaceX was highly motivated by their feat of landing their Starship. They are aiming to have a successful landing on the next test flight.

Nigeria Schoolgirl Abductions

Article By Ananya Nayar

600 girls have been kidnapped from schools in North-West Nigeria, Africa. At the beginning of last week, the second mass kidnapping in less than 10 days occurred- 300 girls were captured from their school premises and released on Saturday 27th of February. The Nigerian Government said that the kidnappers are called ‘bandits’ which is a loose term for people who raid or rob isolated areas that the law doesn’t have much control over. The reasoning behind the mass abductions is solely wealth, it brings millions of dollars from ransom payments along with media publicity.

The schoolgirls that were kidnapped last week by the unidentified attackers from their boarding school told the press that the gunmen threatened to shoot them, and most of them got injured.

"They said they [would] shoot anybody who did not continue to walk," she said. "We walked across a river and they hid us and let us sleep under shrubs in a forest."

Another of the girls, aged 15, said that some of her classmates found it difficult "walking in the stones and thorns" and had to be carried.

"They started hitting us with guns so that we [would] move," she told Reuters news agency, adding: "While they were beating them with guns, some of them were crying and moving at the same time."

Many blamed the government for not keeping their generation safe and for not having good social security, however, most were pleased to see their children home safely.

Texas and the Other States Ease Covid Rules

Article By Misaki Tomiyama

Governor Greg Abbott has announced that Texas will allow businesses to fully open and also end the mandate mask rule. After this announcement was made in Texas, other states such as Michigan, Louisiana, and Mississippi eased their covid rules as well.

This is mainly thought to be because of the roll-out of the vaccines, which boosted confidence amongst the government to “open Texas 100%." However, President Joe Biden has clearly announced that all Covid rules should be properly enforced, and that restrictions are still necessary.

The new executive order that was announced is lifting the mandatory use of masks, and also forbidding local authorities to fine residents without masks. Hospital admission rates have drastically dropped since January, but the number of Covid cases in the U.S. is the highest amongst all of the countries- double of the cases in India (11 million).

India’s Vaccination Drive

Article By Ananya Nayar

On Tuesday, India’s Covid Case count passed 12 million cases, with more than 12,000 new infections, meanwhile, India’s vaccinated drive is moving fast and steady around the nation to quickly immunise the population of 1.3 billion people.

Earlier this week, states were directed to fully utilise the capacity of private hospitals to operate as a vaccination site. In the first few weeks of March, most patients age 60 and over or patients 45 over with cardiovascular or respiratory diseases or generally lower immunity will get their first dose.

This week’s topic (1)- What does Coffee do to us?

Article By Misaki Tomiyama

We all love coffee, or at least many of us do. Many say that coffee is bad for your brain and health, and one should not drink a lot of it, but is it true?

Coffee has a substance called caffeine in it. Caffeine is a natural stimulant that stimulates the brain and the nervous system- this is why drinking coffee helps you stay awake and alert.

Caffeine is said to positively impact your brain in many ways such as your mood, attention, learning, etc. Some research has shown that it enhances your short term memory, while others report that caffeine doesn’t impact your memory at all. Although caffeine’s effect on short term memory is still unclear, we know for a fact that caffeine does enhance long term memory (according to recent research by Johns Hopkins University).

According to another study, people who regularly drink coffee are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Research has indicated that people who drink coffee are less likely to get dementia by 65%. Coffee also has a positive effect on mental health and is said to greatly decrease the risk of depression.

It is not only the positive effects coffee and caffeine have on mental health, but it also greatly influences one’s physical health. Caffeine increases the adrenaline levels in your blood, which links to heart rate and expanding air passages to lungs, and improves physical capability. Coffee also helps break down body fat.

Although coffee has many advantages, and helpful impacts on our body, it also has some negative impacts as well. Overconsumption of coffee can lead to insomnia. The caffeine in the coffee blocks adenosine receptors in the brain- the sleep-promoting chemical. We all have internal body clocks that control when you feel tired or awake. It is known as the circadian rhythm, which operates on a 24-hour cycle, and caffeine disrupts this rhythm and disrupts your sleep.

Coffee is not healthy for pregnant women, children and people with high cholesterol. For others, coffee can be extremely beneficial, if you’re drinking the right amounts. Experts say that you should not consume more than 400mg of caffeine which can be equivalent to around 4-6 cups.

This Week’s Topic (2): Should Single-Sex Education Be Continued? (Opinion Piece)

Article By Ananya Nayar

Today we will discuss a controversial topic: should same-gender schooling remain?

Gender Isolated education is the practice of teaching boys and girls in separate buildings and classes, even schools. It came about to first teach children about culture and religion, along with sex-education, and it is still practised in many countries today. People often advocate for this type of education to make it ‘less distracting’ and to allow students to connect with the material they learn in school- for example, schools try to read books that would probably more to a typical girl or boy.

To begin with, let’s look at why it’s not a good idea and we should not go back to this form of schooling. Well, recently more and more countries around the world have increasingly opened up same-sex schooling (a tradition from even before the 18th century) all over their respective countries. This means that the ideology of gender isolation education appeared hundreds of years ago when we weren’t alive and most probably before the idea of equality and the civil-rights amendment came about. As you know, single-sex education is the idea of an all-girls or all-boys school, for one particular gender- and this aim is quickly gaining power again.

In my opinion, same-sex education should not be continued in the foreseeable future since it puts some students in uncomfortable situations. As we see the world and many countries begin to develop and become more open and inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community, the idea of single-sex schooling may exclude young members of the community who are still discovering their sexuality or identity. Young children and teenagers will be forced to decide their gender quickly or they’ll be forced to be in a school with students that are not the same sex as they are. You should be concerned about this comeback of same-sex institutions for various reasons. Look how much progress we still have to cover, our generation needs to achieve full equality. I’m sure many of us are closeted, and I don’t think it’s fair to any of us to face the pressure to out ourselves and decide our schooling. I mean, we’re still teenagers, right? We should be allowed to come out when we want to, at our own time.

Imagine going back to the 19th century where the gender stereotypes were at their highest, it’s the 21st century, we should be able to decide who we are and what we want to be.

Imagine going back to the discrimination and the sexism, the objectification of women.

Imagine reversing all the work of our ancestors, and probably not being able to return to the progressed state we are in for equality.

Along with these valid and exigent points- we should also realise that it becomes harder for people to socialise with the other gender, and people often don’t know how to react and they'll be shy or uncomfortable.

In addition to this, gender-isolated education also reinforces the gender stereotypes that people have been trying to tackle for the past century. As a student who used to go to a same-sex school, I can say that we played sports that would be considered more ‘feminine,’ like volleyball, or netball, or lacrosse- rather than rugby or baseball, which are deemed more ‘masculine’ when in reality, sports have no gender. We were also taught sewing or knitting and sometimes taught fewer STEM subjects. You see, these subjects and classes slowly enhance the societal standards of what a girl or boy should be. When- a) there is no gender for anything, b) there shouldn’t be boundaries for what someone should be and c) gender isn’t just boy or girl, it’s so much more than that- which is why same-sex education should gradually decrease.

This Week in History

Article By Ananya Nayar

Growing up, we all read Dr Suess books when we were children- The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham or How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We loved those books written by Dr Suess. Last week, on the 2nd of March, Dr Suess would have celebrated his 115th birthday! The children’s author was born in 1904 and sold millions of copies of his 48 books- some for adults too. On the fourth of March, during the peak of the Great Depression in America in 1933, the 32nd President of America- Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His speech brought people together and emitted optimism and hope, leading a majority of citizens to unite to work together economically to lead the country out of the Great Depression.

Did you know? This Day Signifies...

Article By Misaki Tomiyama

8th March 2021 is International Women’s day!

International Women’s day is an international day celebrated to celebrate achievements in political, scientific, cultural and economic fields. This international day plays a large role to spread awareness of gender equality and mainly to celebrate achievements by women in the past.

Women only make up 24.9 per cent of national parliamentarians. Women only make approximate 82 cents to every $1 a man makes. According to research, if the progress of women equality doesn’t accelerate, it will take around 257 years to completely close the gender gap.

This year, 2021, the theme for International Women’s day is “Choose To Challenge.” This theme was chosen to make a change since from challenge comes change.

How can you celebrate international women’s day? You can attend online panels which talk and tackle gender inequality! You can also spread awareness about this day, and about gender inequality. Use the Hashtag- #ChooseToChallenge on social media!