COVID-19 and The Rise of Armed Groups in Colombia

By Mitchell Litchfield

                                                                         

              

     In 2016, the Columbian and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia signed a peace treaty to stop the violence between the leftist-group and the government. The FARC agreed to demobilize their troops and surrender their weapons, on the terms that rebels be granted amnesty and that they be allowed to represent themselves through political parties among other terms. 4 years later, and violence continues to devastate Columbia. But why? Since the treaty was signed, the government has failed to implement reintegration programs for ex-combatants, leading many to join FARC dissident groups in frustration. In 2019, there were over 2,300 FARC dissident group members, including the 300 that didn’t surrender after the treaty. Ex-rebels may also be joining for revenge as over 300 former FARC members were killed in 2020, yet it is unclear how many guerrillas there actually are (HRW 2020, 2021).

                                                        Lockdown                                                  

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Human Rights Watch has found that these armed groups have been implementing their own measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 in 11 out of Columbia’s 32 states. In at least 5 of these states, groups used violence to force cooperation, and in at least 4, they threatened the locals with violence or fines (HRW 2020).These measures include lockdowns, curfews, movement restrictions, and barring the entry or exit of people within the community. There have been 9 confirmed killings in 3 of these states connected to these rebel groups enforcing their rules (HRW 2020). In the process, they’re further undermining the local people’s access to food, which in the poor rural states these groups are operating, puts communities at risk for starvation. Unemployment in Colombia has about doubled from what it was this time last year, and with much of the economy being informal, most people don’t have a safety net. Then when groups like FARC and ELN come in and offer a way for them to put food on the table, it's hard to pass up. The government is distributing cash and bags of food to affected citizens, but it's inconsistent and hardly enough (Taylor 2020).

                                                Child Recruitment

Other groups like National Liberation Army (ELN) are even hosting parties and messaging kids on WhatsApp to entice them to join, and with Colombia’s schools now all online, children who don’t have access to a computer are likely to look for some other escape from their home lives.  These groups are operating in primarily rural areas and less than 10% of children in these states have access to a computer, subsequently there have been at least 107 documented cases of child recruitment in Colombia this year (United Nations 2021), but the real figure is likely much higher. The majority of these recruits are boys who’re used to grow coca, traffick drugs, and serve as informants. Girls, while recruited less, are generally forced into sexual slavery (Taylor 2020). 

The FARC, ELN, among other paramilitary groups in Colombia are taking advantage of the pandemic to claim former FARC territory in the coca-growing southern states and exploit the people living there. But as the vaccines slowly get distributed around the world, it is unlikely these armed groups will lose their grip on rural Colombia when coronavirus is eradicated, as they continue to gain more members. 

                                                                                                                                                                                     

                                                References: 

Human Rights Watch, 2021, “Columbia: Events of 2020” Human Rights Watch, 2021 https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/colombia#79c873 (2021) 

Human Rights Watch, 2020, “Colombia: Armed Groups’ Brutal Covid-19 Measures” Human Rights Watch, 2020

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/15/colombia-armed-groups-brutal-covid-19-measures (July 15th 2020)

United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. 2021. “Colombia Report” New York City: United Nations

https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/where-we-work/colombia/ (2021)

Taylor, Luke. 2021, “How Colombia’s armed groups are exploiting COVID-19 to recruit children” The New Humanitarian” The New Humanitarian 2021 

https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2020/09/10/Colombia-conflict-armed-groups-child-recruitment (September 10th, 2021) 

 

Human Rights Watch, 2020, “Colombia: Events of 2019” Human Rights Watch, 2020

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/colombia (2020) 

Islamophobia and the French National Identity

 By Jenn McNiff

This past week, French president Emmanuel Macron announced that the French government is going to proceed with an investigation of collegiate academic research. The French government believes certain social science theories, specifically what they have coined as “Islamo-leftist tendencies,” threaten to “corrupt French society” (Onishi 2021). The term “Islamo-leftism” itself, or “Islamo-gauchisme” in French, was coined back in 2002 by right-wing historian Pierre-Andre Taguieff, who used its union of leftism and reactionary Islam to justify anti-globalization (Houeix 2017). Since then, the term has not only gained a stigma, but also maintained popularity among far-right French politicians to “accuse left-leaning intellectuals of justifying Islamism and even terrorism” (Onishi 2021). Islam and Islamism are not one and the same. Islam is the religion itself, whereas Islamism is defined as “Islamic militancy and fundamentalism” and is typically used to describe those who act in hatred and excuse their actions “by incorrectly citing the Quran” (Toutate 2020). France persists with the aversion to discuss the racism France exhibits as they simultaneously enact policy with blatant Islamophobic intent.

 

Fig. 1. The woman’s sign reads “Yes to critique of religion, no to stigmatization of individuals.” “Thousands Protest Islamophobia in France.” 2019. Voice of America. https://www.voanews.com/europe/thousands-protest-islamophobia-france (February 18, 2021).

France has always been very protective of its national identity –even going as far as having a committee dedicated to preserving the purity of the French language. This has allowed concepts such as multiculturalism to be interpreted as a threat to the French identity. This “culture war” is depicted by Macron as between the French identity and social science theories, which he refers to as “American imports,” when in reality the rise in these discussions “has its roots in France’s universities,” not just American ones. The increasingly diverse French social science scholars have come to use social sciences, especially studies of race, gender, and post-colonialism, to dive deeper into the nuance of race in France (Onishi 2021). These conversations are not limited to collegiate scholars, though. Young French activists have become more and more vocal analyzing racism in France and its colonial past in Africa and the Middle East as well as uplifting the Black Lives Matter movement which resonated with similar problems in France (News Wires 2021). Despite its clear relevance to France independent of the US, the latter movement combating police brutality is that of the nature Macron undermines as an “American import.” Rather than listening to the conversation looking to be had, he seeks to delegitimize it since it did not originate in France.

The specifics of Macron’s plan, including criteria his investigators will look for to determine the presence of “Islamo-leftism,” is still yet to be released to the public, if it will be at all. This is far from France’s first Islamophobic government action. Back in 2011, a ban was enacted, barring the wearing of full-faced Islamic veils in public at the penalty of a fine (BBC). In 2017, an “Anti-Terrorism Bill” was passed that expanded the power of the authorities “to search homes, restrict movement, and close places of worship” (News Wires). Hopefully, with the consistent rise in activism and protest from the people of France, the French government will look to retract their discriminatory, Islamophobic legislation as well as understand that scholarly critique of a past or present cultural climate is not a threat to the country itself, but rather an examination of what must be improved for the future.

References:

BBC News. 2019. “Macron Warning on Stigmatizing Muslims amid France Veil Row.” BBC 

News. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50079997#:~:text=In%202011%2C%20France

%20became%20the,head%20and%20hair%2C%20remained%20legal. (February 19, 

2021).

Houeix, Romain. 2017. “Qu’est Ce Que Cet ‘Islamo-Gauchisme’ Dont Le Camp Valls Accuse 

Hamon?” France24. https://www.france24.com/fr/20170125-islamo-gauchisme-signification-manuel-valls-

accuse-benoit-hamon-primaire (February 18, 2021).

News Wires. 2021. “French academics blast minister’s warning on ‘Islamo-leftism’.” France24. 

https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210217-french-academics-blast-minister-s-warnin

g-on-islamo-leftism (February 18, 2021).

News Wires. 2017. “French Parliament Adopts Controversial Anti-Terror Bill.” France 24. 

https://www.france24.com/en/20171018-french-parliament-tough-anti-terror-bill-controv

ersial-macron (February 19, 2021).

‌Onishi, Norimitsu & Constant Méheut. 2021. “Heating Up Culture Wars, France to Scour 

Universities for Ideas That ‘Corrupt Society.” The New York Times. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/world/europe/heating-up-culture-wars-france-to-sc

our-universities-for-ideas-that-corrupt-society.html (February 18, 2021).

Toutate, Issam. 2020. “Morocco World News.” Morocco World News. 

https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/10/324088/islam-vs-islamism-why-france-tar

geting-muslims-wont-stop-extremism/ (February 19, 2021).

‌

Venezuela: Turmoil and Democracy

 

By JJ

Previously one of the world's richest and most prominent democratic nations Venezuela has found itself in a many year long turmoil. From failed presidencies such as those found in office now, to corruption that strings from the government to the highest levels of the military. Venezuela was a very oil rich country that exported worldwide. After Chaves, the country that used to run like a well oil motor now finds itself indulged with corruption dealing with drugs, high levels of police abuse, military abuse of power, and governmental negligence. Covid like everywhere else in the world has sent Venezuela deeper into a whole no one thought could be dug any deeper. There are shortages of food, fuel, medicine, and protection in the form of public services as in the police forces.

Due to Covid there are no restrictions that are being enforced. This means that the cases are on a consistent rise. Joint to that problem is the fact that health services are almost nonexistent and the government run by a man that the former president met in Venezuelan jail and was previously a bus driver with no prior experience in any governmental position which has put venezuela in a very difficult position to return to the times in the past where they were an efficient profitable democratic country. The newly found problems consist of the fact that the country is now completely shut down. The Citizens of Venezuela are at a complete loss when it comes to finding ways to feed themselves and their families. The whole country shut down. "We couldn't get anything and we had to start trading fuel for food," (BBC News World). The loss of fuel for food is a surprising problem due to the fact that Venezuela has one of the largest oil reserves in the world even to this day.






In Reference to the surplus of oil and fuel that Venezuela was once known for we now hear of reports like the following: “But it is impossible to cover up because, everywhere you drive, Venezuelans are queuing for petrol. This is a country whose people used to have fuel on tap, and who are used to paying next to nothing for it.” (BBC News World). Another comment on the BBC News World article states: "It's absurd that in such an oil-rich country, the government has finished the industry off," she says. "It's not just petrol either, I get home from this hot queue, sweating, I want a shower, there's no water, then no electricity, it's a total mess." (BBC New World). The people in this country are lost and tired of the new system that has embedded itself in their once beautiful prosperous country.


Watson, K., 2021. 'A total mess': Venezuelans see little hope of improvement. [online] BBC News. Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-55259362> [Accessed 18 February 2021].

North Korea attempted to hack Pfizer for coronavirus vaccine information

By Grant B.

The North Korean government has been accused of trying to hack Pfizer’s computer system to get access to their covid vaccine information. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service member Ha Tae-keung briefed that, “North Korea tried to obtain technology involving the Covid vaccine and treatment by using cyberwarfare to hack into Pfizer." North Korea is known for hacking, which makes this accusation not surprising. Experts say those responsible were North Korean groups named Zinc and Cerium. U.N. security experts recently found that North Korea has stolen about 316 million dollars to improve its missile and nuclear arsonal. Other cyber warfare attacks from North Korea include a 2013 attack that impacted the servers of South Korean financial institutions, the 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures, and the WannaCry malware attack of 2017.

North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un

North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un still insists that no one in his country has had Covid-19 although outside experts doubt that. In January last year, North Korea shut down its border and have been in self imposed isolation ever since. This was an attempt to protect themselves from Covid-19 from neighboring China, where the virus originated. This closure has put pressure on the North Korean economy which is already struggling from international sanctions due to North Korea's banned weapons system. This has put pressure on the North Korean government to get the Coronavirus under control so it can reignite its economy. This might raise an answer to the question of why North Korea would want to steal information on the vaccine, especially when Pfizer alone is expected to send out 2 billion vaccines this year. North Korea might be attempting to steal information to help boost their struggling economy.



Covid-19 Vaccine

Microsoft says not only is North Korea stealing information, but Russia has attempted to steal Covid vaccine information from many pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer. Experts say the group responsible was a Russian group nicknamed Fancy Bear. The Kremlin has denied hacking other countries' vaccine research for its own gain. While Microsoft says most of the attempts did not work, they warn that some had been successful in obtaining information. While North Korea is a major leader in the hacking field, experts say since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, many countries have been deploying hackers for the Covid-19 crisis. Some have just been intelligence gathering, but others have been theft of sensitive information used for personal gain.




Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

When thinking about the Coronavirus, not many people immediately think of the hacking aspect of the pandemic, but it has been a huge part of it. Many countries throughout the world have been using hackers to try to steal information about vaccines to use for their own personal use. Hacking is in its own field when thinking about problems the coronavirus has caused, but it definitely should not take a backseat. The US and Pfizer need to make sure powerful countries like North Korea and Russia do not steal information about the Covid-19 vaccine. In the wrong hands, leaders will use that power to their advantage by either withholding the vaccine to get extra money or just to gain more power over other countries. Whatever the reason, the US needs to keep a close eye on hacking and make sure that it keeps it Covid-19 vaccine information secure.

References

North Korea accused of hacking Pfizer FOR COVID-19 Vaccine data. (2021, February 16). Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56084575

CBS News. (2021, February 16). North Korea tried to hack Pfizer For COVID VACCINE information, South's spy agency said to have reported. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korea-pfizer-covid-vaccine-hack/

Aaro, D. (2021, February 16). North Korea attempted to hack Pfizer for Coronavirus vaccine information: Report. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-attempted-to-hack-pfizer-for-coronavirus-vaccine-information-report

France-Presse, A. (2020, November 09). Covid vaccine 90% effective in Phase 3 TRIAL, Says Pfizer. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/vaccine-90-effective-in-preventing-covid-in-latest-trial-says-pfizer-2322812


Afp. (2021, February 14). Putin accuses west of Using Navalny to 'Contain' Russia. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/02/14/putin-accuses-west-of-using-navalny-to-contain-russia-a72930

North Korea, Cryptocurrency, and Cyberattacks

    On Wednesday, February, 17th the U.S. The Justice Department and other federal officials have identified and indicted three North Korean computer programmers for committing a series of cyberattacks. Investigations show that the alleged members intent was to hack a variety of companies and banks in over a dozen countries. The hackers were part of a long-lasting plot to steal upwards of $1.3 Billion for North Korea's capital, Pyongyang (Mangan, 2021).

    In past years, North Korea has shifted their approach to criminal activity by utilizing cryptocurrency through cryptocurrency apps, software attacks, and other forms of cyberattacks. Two of the three criminals that were indicted for hacking and fraud charges were unheard of before the recent attacks. The other man, Park Jin Hyok, had been charged in 2018 for allegedly assisting in a 2016 attack that stole $81 million at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from Bangladesh's account (McMillan and Viswanatha, 2021). In conjunction, experts have claimed that between 2019 and the end of 2020 roughly $316.4 million in crypto assets had been stolen by North Korean criminals and used for the regime's counterfeiting of currency, and drug smuggling and distribution (Akhtar, 2021).

    These North Korean schemes have been quite clever and unique because of the inability to regulate cryptocurrency at any level. In 2017, the state created a currency similar to the popular bitcoin call Marine Chain. Marine Chain lets investors buy digital money or tokens that are equivalent to fractions of stakes in maritime vessels (Nakashima, 2021). Eventually, the currency was taken off the web because it was found to be fraudulent. The Marine Chain was a success for North Korea allowing them to gain immense funding while evading sanctions from countries like the U.S. North Korea has been seen laundering cryptocurrencies from hacks through brokers in China to acquire hard currencies such as the U.S. dollar. In addition to stealing crypto, the nation has malware to mine currency and send them to North Korea (Liebkind, 2020). From unpredictable price fluctuations to technical glitches and hacking, it is frightening to see how dictatorships can manipulate a currency and use it as a modern day weapon.   

    The motives of North Korea's approach to cryptocurrency and cyberattacks are no mystery. Continuous years of financially straining sanctions and political discrepancies from global superpowers forced the nation to adapt. In turn, while being cut off from the world's global economy and hard currency Kim Jong Un's regime can still strengthen their military, terrorize the world, and build wealth. From decentralization and virtually no oversight, crypto's like Bitcoin are an easy way to avoid foreign authorities and promote rogue agenda.

 

References:

McMillan, Robert, and Aruna Viswanatha. “North Korea Turning to Cryptocurrency Schemes in Global Heists, U.S. Says.” The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, February 17, 2021. https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-authorities-charge-north-koreans-in-long-running-hacking-scheme-11613581358. 

DanMangan. “North Korean Hackers Charged in Massive Cryptocurrency Theft Scheme.” CNBC. CNBC, February 17, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/17/north-korean-hackers-charged-in-massive-cryptocurrency-theft-scheme.html. 

Akhtar, Tanzeel. “UN Says North Korea Funded Nuclear Weapons With Crypto Hacks in 2020: Report.” CoinDesk. CoinDesk, February 9, 2021. https://www.coindesk.com/un-says-north-korea-funded-nuclear-weapons-with-crypto-hacks-in-2020-report. 

Nakashima, Ellen. “U.S. Accuses North Korean Hacker Spies of Conspiring to Steal More than $1.3 Billion in Cash and Cryptocurrency.” The Washington Post. WP Company, February 17, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/north-korea-hackers-banks-theft/2021/02/17/3dccf0dc-7129-11eb-93be-c10813e358a2_story.html. 

Liebkind, Joe. “What Is North Korea's Role In Bitcoin and Does It Affect Prices?” Investopedia. Investopedia, January 23, 2021. https://www.investopedia.com/news/what-north-koreas-role-bitcoin/. 

Failed Elections Trigger Havoc to Myanmar’s Democracy

In 2010, Myanmar transitioned from a military dictatorship to a democracy (The Convo 2020). There was hope that this opportunity could put away Myanmar governments ongoing discrimination and violence towards the diverse ethnic minorities and institute a democratic regime that would support equal human rights of all ethnicities. Thousands of pro-democratic activists, who were previously suppressed by the Tatmadow, Myanmar’s military force, were released from their imprisonments following this change(The Convo 2020). One particular activist was Nobel Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Once released from house arrest, she took charge of the pro-democracy activist movement and developed the democratic political party, National League for Democracy Party (NLD) (The Convo 2020). In the following 2012 by-election for parliament, the NLD emerged as the favorites, but lost the election. Instead, the opposing party, the Union Solidarity & Development Party (USDP), won because of their continuous help from the Tatmadow leaders who have been in the government for awhile. It was obvious that some of the election ballots were tampered with, and most likely was rigged by the USDP(BBC 2012). Despite this loss, the country's demand for democracy was evident, and in 2015, a fair election led to the NLD securing the super majority in parliament, and Suu Kyi to be elected as state counselor.

 

Fig. 1. Aung San Suu Kyi  at press conference post 2015 election

from : May Ng. "Aung San Suu Kyi and.." Mizzima, 8 Nov 2015

Suu Kyi’s biggest challenge was to solve the ongoing Rohingyas refugee crisis. For decades the Tatmadaw, under government order, has been forced to kill off the Muslim minority known as the Rohingyas (CFR 2015). To avoid being part of the genocide, most Rohinyas have fled to boarding countries such as Bangladesh(CFR 2015). This was a challenging task for Suu Kyi because the Tatmadow still had several military leaders in key positions of the government who used their power to ensure the continuity of the crisis (The Convo 2020).

Fig. 2. Tatmadaw soldiers controlling a Rohingya refugee camp

from: Reuters. "Acts of Genocide.." DNA, 8 May 2018.

Suu Kyi had lost  international support due to lack of change in Myanmar. With the 2020 election near, Suu Kyi had intentions to be re-elected. In 2019 Suu Kyi defended the Tatmadaw actions of genocide at the international court of justice (Guardian 2019). Her defense towards the Tatmadow was most likely a tactic to gain support in the next election.                                                         

In November 2020, Suu Kyi’s NLD dominated the election, but the USDP and the Tatmadaw military denied their winnings. They made claims that the election was rigged, and detained Suu Kyi and other members of the NLD (VOA 2021). In what looks to be a military coup, Tatmadow has wreaked havoc on NLD protestors throughout the country evoking chaos. The neglect to leave power is similar to the situation that occurred in the 2020 United States Election. Instead of using military forces, President Trump allegedly influenced a riot on the capitol building by some of his radical supporters. During the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, havoc broke out in and outside of the capital. The failure to step down from power and the lack of accountability of their positions in both countries has led to devastating impacts on their democracies. President Trump has stepped down, but if the USDP is to not step down soon, civilians are to going to continue to be negatively effected.

Fig. 3. Protestors are held back by police following rigged 2020 election from: Reuters. “Anger over Protests..” East Asia Pacific, 13 Feb 2021

Works Cited 

Abdullah Yusuf Lecturer in Politics. (2020, December 14). Myanmar's election, the Rohingya crisis and the road to democracy. https://theconversation.com/myanmars-election-the-rohingya-crisis-and-the-road-to-democracy-143161. 

Aung San Suu Kyi TELLS court: Myanmar genocide claims 'factually misleading'. (2019, December 11). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/11/aung-san-suu-kyi-tells-icj-myanmar-genocide-claims-factually-misleading. 

Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi wins by-election: NLD PARTY. (2012, April 1). https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-17577620. 

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Others detained by military. https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/myanmar-leader-aung-san-suu-kyi-others-detained-military. 

What forces are fueling myanmar's rohingya crisis? https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/rohingya-crisis.

Yemeni Civil War: What is behind the denying of targeting children?

    In 2014, After several weeks of street protests against the former president of Yemen Hadi’s administration, which made cuts to fuel subsidies that were unpopular with the group, the Houthis fought the Yemen Army forces under the command of General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and drove the internationally accepted government from the capital, then Yemen's civil war began. (Wiki)

    Until now, the Saudi-led alliance, attempting to return power to the country, that supported by Britain, still remained deadlocked with the opposition Houthis who are funded by Iran. 

 

Humanitarian crisis

    According to human rights workers in The Yemeni city of Taiz, over 450 children have been killed or injured by Houthi sniper fire (BBC, 2021), though the Houthis refute to recognize the claim. In fact, the Houthis are not alone: children with more than one-third of fighters reported to be under the age of sixteen, the age that was meant to receive educated, are also constantly recruited by various parties to the conflict (Giulio, 2018).

Orla Guerin, Goktay Koraltan, Claire Read, Suad Al-Salahi, and Wietske Burema (2020). Ruweida was shot in the head and her brother, Amri, was dragging her to safety [documentary]. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-56072279

    Besides child abuse, the famine in Yemen became an emergency. In 2016, the United Nations reported that more than three-quarters of Yemen's population lacked access to clean drinking water and sanitation, while almost half lacked access to adequate food and medicine. Then in 2018, the battle of Al-Ḥudaydah effectively blockading the main source of food imports. By the end of 2018, nearly 16 million Yemenis were on the brink of starvation, and the country was facing the world’s worst famine in a century. (Britannica)

Famine risk in Yemen. Via. Coppi Giulio

And until 2020, It is estimated by the United Nations that about 80 percent of Yemenis dependent on food aid, and around half of all children suffer from stunted development due to malnutrition. The U.N. on Nov. 20, The Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said Yemen was “now in imminent danger of the world's worst famine in decades.” (New York Times, 2021)

    Instead of being sympathetic towards citizens that have been killed and a passion for the state’s future, the eyes of Yemeni look indifferent and hopeless. 

 

The Loss of the National identity

    The loss of the national identity was the first thing that jumped into my head and it can be largely explained by the association between history and the political system. Even though Yemen, officially, transformed into a multi-party representative democracy after the re-union, each government still remained its own governance; for example, in the north, each province was subdivided into district and tract levels, sensing a decentralized government. The South, in contrast, was composed of the indigenous centralized British government and tribal affiliations in the hinterland. Different governance turns out different local civilizations. Suffering such a long-term difference, also, even they changed into a federal government, people would not simply change the way of thinking and recognize others’ culture based upon the tradition. Moreover, the incumbent government of Yemen actually failed on becoming a genuinely democratic country but an authoritarian regime (EIU Democracy Index, 2020), showing a high autonomy that the head of the state is able to fulfill basic tasks with a minimum of public, which limited individual freedom to some extent. An authoritarian government seems reasonable when recalling the past that “in order to eradicate both the remnants of British occupations and traditional socio-political structure of Yemeni society, the South Yemeni started the Marxist experiment on the new, socialist state, but found it inappropriate at the end (Müller, 2015).” In general, the traditional norms and rules and the experience of communism both indirectly caused people a less sense of belonging and identity. 

    Warfare as the lack of regulation and the absence of the national identity, any of both would be fatal for the democratic future of Yemen.

 

 

References

 

BBC News. 2021. “Yemen: The boy who saved his sister from a sniper.” (February 16, 2021)

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-56072279

The New York Times. 2021. “The U.S. to Declare Yemen’s Houthis a Terrorist Group, Raising Fears of Fueling a Famine”. (February 16, 2021) 

Britannica. 2021. Yemen. (February 16, 2021)

https://www.britannica.com/place/Yemen 

Giulio (2018). The Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen: Beyond the man-made disaster. (February 16, 2021)

https://css.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/gess/cis/center-for-securities-studies/resources/docs/IPI%20Humanitarian-Crisis-in-Yemen.pdf  

Müller (2015). A Spectre is Haunting Arabia: how the Germans brought their Communism to Yemen. transcript Verlag. (February 16, 2021)

https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/45632

The Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index. (February 16, 2021)

https://www.eiu.com/topic/democracy-index

The New York Times. 2021. “The U.S. to Declare Yemen’s Houthis a Terrorist Group, Raising Fears of Fueling a Famine”. (February 16, 2021)

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/politics/us-yemen-houthis-terrorist-group.html

The rise of new generation--Protest really help now?

   Just around last October, a large-scale student protest broke out in Thailand. Thailand's government, led by the army chief turned Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, announced after the protest that it would not be allowed with public meetings and should censor the media in response to the growing student protests. The protestors refuted the emergency decree as another attempt by the government to take their rights away and vowed to incite. Bunkueanun Paotong(Peck, G., & Blake, C.,), the one leader of the student movement, is also regarded as a criminal organization leader. The crime charged may lead to his life in prison.   

                                                 Picture of students hold three salute fingers represent in resisting in protest                                                    Photo via AP photo/Gemunu Amarashinghe, File

    The reason for this massive student protest is Thailand's monarchy, which dates back to the political coup in 2014 when Prayuth came to power and continues. The so-called monarchy is a political system based on one's indivisible sovereignty or rule. It applies to countries where the supreme power belongs to the monarch, the individual ruler as the head of state, and obtains status through heredity. These rules also strengthened the military government's control overpower and the people. In 2014, many critics of the monarchy disappeared in the end. The reason was apparent. In 2015, it spent the US $540 million, more than the Ministry of foreign affairs' budget, to launch a propaganda campaign called "worship, protect and defend the monarchy". In the 2016 budget, the ruling military government increased the expenditure on "maintaining, protecting and maintaining the monarchy" to 18 billion baht (514 million US dollars) (Wikipedia). Moreover, the money distribution to the monarchy caused a series of wealth gaps in Thailand. When an anti-monarchy candidate took part in the election, it disappeared in the end, and the students' hope dashed.

                                                            Picture of the reform Thai monarchy

                                                                Photo via: AP photo/Gemunu Amarashinghe, File

   As more and more students learn about politics, they learn different things. They wanted the king's assets to be separated from the State Property Bureau. Banned the king from expressing his political views, called on the prime minister to resign, formulated a new constitution, gradually adopted the Democratic regime to produce a fair, transparent election, and stopped attacking dissidents and opposition parties. This request is unprecedented because if someone talks about the disadvantages of the monarchy in Thailand, he/she may be sentenced to 15 years in prison. But the students chose to do it. As a result, the police arrested some of the protest leaders, the government started a state of emergency and warned students not to challenge and discredit the monarchy. If they do so, the government will take more severe actions.   

   Let us review the riots in Hong Kong in 2019. From the most straightforward point of view, this unprecedented riot is also because the Hong Kong students are afraid that they will lose their high degree of autonomy. Therefore, they want to make Hong Kong Independent through their radical actions. They want to have self-government and use democracy to rule their "Country," so if these radicals want to get rid of the "one country, two systems" and Beijing's control, they use the worst tactics and methods. Nevertheless, in the end, what did the students in Hong Kong get? Students of different ages were arrested. Some of them were only seven years old. Furthermore, the government introduced the national security law in Hong Kong to restrict them. And the leader of the riot was arrested in 2020.

                                                Picture of HongKong police capture the radicals

                                                                       Images via Shutterstock

   The protest in Thailand and Hong Kong have common characteristics:

   1. They are all led by young students.

   2. They all have common aspirations, and their goals are a democracy.

   3. They all want to achieve their goals through protest.

Nevertheless, does protest help them with the democracy or autonomy they want? All of the results are that the protest leaders were arrested in the end, and the government has become more sensitive to the issues they want to protest against and strengthen its prevention. It also makes students' ideas more and more impossible to realize.

References: 

Johny, S. (2020, October 19). Explainer: Why are Thai STUDENTS protesting? Retrieved February 10, 2021, from https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/explainer-why-are-thai-students-protesting/article32873772.ece

Monarchy of Thailand. (2021, February 08). Retrieved February 10, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_Thailand#The_monarchy_in_the_21st_century

Peck, G., & Blake, C. (2020, October 27). Thai student-protesters aim for ambitious political change. Retrieved February 10, 2021, from Bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53589899