37th Edition – Hope – Pike & Hurricane

Life Keeps Going on: The Life of the Ones Who Fled

EditorChief — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 12:49:58 +0000

When the first tents went up at the IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camps of Nineveh, Iraq, no one had figured how permanent the camps would become for all their inhabitants. As 800,000 people were displaced from their homes between October 2016 and June 2017 in just the city of Mosul alone, the need for humanitarian aid and planning was grave. A plethora of organisations and locals continue to work together daily to bring in necessary equipment and help to those in need. I had the chance to speak with Osama, a 24-year old Project Officer for the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, regarding the situation in North-West Iraq.

Longing for Home

Some people come to stay in the camps for longer.

“It can take months or even years to leave the camps”, Osama says.

The city of Mosul, from where more than one million people had fled, is far from normality. It will take a long time for all families to be able to return to their homes, often without a loved one. Homesickness is present, and many can not wait to return back home, whether the security risks are still high or not. Returnees have already started to head back to the ruins of their hometowns, by the thousands, still leaving a mass of people living within camp borders.

From markets you can buy fresh produce, something you would do back at home, too. Photo: Osama

Life for those in the camps is not easy. The tents are vulnerable to weather conditions and life can be really boring without jobs and the normality of weekdays. Osama describes how families inhabiting the thousands of tents are very susceptible to disease and food and water shortages, while going back to school can also be very difficult due to injuries and trauma.

Although many children can be seen to have physical injuries, many more suffer with hidden psychological pain from the war. Many volunteers and staff members are passionate about working with children—slowly teaching the traumatised children to be children again, after everything that they have seen and been through.

“When you are walking down the streets, you will see kids playing and hear them laughing”, Osama says.

“Through the children, you can see the future.”

Bringing Back the Mundanity

“There are two types of ways to work,” Osama says.

“The camp guards allow some of [the IDPs] to leave the camp to work.” Then the people can work in nearby villages and towns, and in a way touch upon the regularity of life back home. “They can then work as anything they want!”

When the IDPs cannot leave, they find work within the camp borders as marketplace sellers or barbers. Unused supplies, such as lentils and rice—which families get through the distributions—are sold forward in markets around the camps. This gives people a sense of purpose and a job, the Project Officer explains. Some NGOs also hire IDPs to work in projects within the camp.

Barbershops have popped up within the borders of the various refugee camps. Photo: Osama

“Some NGOs [organise to] build a water tank or bathrooms … so the IDPs can work in [those projects] and get paid,” Osama says.

The UNHCR administered project in Jordan is a good example, in which refugees were involved in the installation of solar panels for the camp they were inhabiting.

Humans will continue to be humans, no matter what the conditions are. Although, Osama notes that life in the camps is far from an ideal one, people can be seen putting up their own shops and services, almost as if trying to mimic their life back home. People in the camps want livelihoods, they want jobs and an income, something to do. The existence of normality within camp life is what gives the inhabitants hope, hope to continue to live their lives and hope to one day be able to return home.

The use of Osama’s full name has been omitted by the editorial team to protect his identity.

By Laura Korte

Photo Credit:

Iraq Red Crescent Society. All Rights Reserved
Osama, All Rights Reserved
Osama, All Rights Reserved
Osama, All Rights Reserved

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Of Hope and Justice

EditorChief — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 12:31:54 +0000

On October 24, 2017, Sanji Mmasenono Monageng, a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC)—a one of a kind example of international cooperation which tries individuals for the crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity—visited Malmö University, and we were lucky enough to sneak in a quick interview with her about her thoughts on her own position and the ICC. Her story of how she became a judge captivated us, motivating ourselves as students to reach higher with our future plans.

“For me it was a natural progression,” she explains of her path to judgeship at the ICC. Beginning in the national legal system of her home country, Botswana, she worked her way up to the African Commission, ending up at the ICC in 2009.

The field of human rights and international law has developed greatly in the past decades. Post-WWII, the notion of international responsibility and international criminal law has begun to flourish in academia and practice—the infamous Nuremberg trials were the first of their kind. Judge Monageng developed her personal legal skills parallel to this amelioration of international human rights law.

“I started reading about international criminal law. Remember, that when I went to university there was no subject called International Criminal Law, there was no subject called Human Rights Law, I developed an interest in it,” she says.

The Court has publicly indicted 31 people and convicted nine up to date, but Judge Monageng says she “cannot single out one” that has had the most impact. To this she says:

“All of our cases are important, they are different in terms of circumstances, in terms of evidence… The impact has been huge from all of them.”

Being a judge comes with restrictions as Judge Monageng puts it:

“I was an activist, I worked for NGOs, we were moving the agenda, the parity movement, in Botswana and in Africa and elsewhere, and to that extent at times I want to say something very freely, but I can’t because I am a judge! So, yes maybe to that extent I feel a little bit prohibited, but that comes with the territory.”

Although, she has a strong political activist background, she does not think about it when applying the law. What you need to find is a balance between activism and judgeship, she says and adds:

“I think I have succeeded in that.”

Finding the balance plays a big role in the courtroom as well—dealing with difficult crimes comes with its emotional drainage:

“We are talking about massive crimes and I do feel emotionally drained… but again, I am doing my job […] if I allow my emotions to run away with me then I lose my partiality.”

The ICC does not work alone on the world stage of justice. It relies solely on countries to only refer cases to the ICC “as a last resort.”

“States should do their part, they should train their own people, they should domesticate the [Rome] Statute, they should have the ability to investigate these crimes and prosecute them at a national level, so whatever comes to the ICC is what should come to the ICC,” Judge Monageng explains.

The hopes for the Court are high. But, for it to flourish, it requires smooth cooperation from all parties.

“We need to continue on this professional path, in order to give redress for [those who] need redress,” says the judge.

The work of the ICC to fight impunity and complement the work of national courts will continue with the power of more than 900 staff members, but the future of the ICC is dependent on the future generations.

Judge Monageng, once a student of the University of Botswana, now an ICC judge, places her trust in the younger generations:

“Reach for the stars. Empower yourselves. Develop yourselves. Identify what you actually want to do, and follow it. [Your dream] will not materialise unless you make it happen. [In Sweden] you are lucky because your government is able to support you, take advantage of those opportunities … nothing comes on a silver platter, apply yourself!”

After her talk, Judge Monageng left an impression on the student body who were at the UN-day event hosted by Malmö University together with UNA Malmö and UF Malmö. The students largely study programmes such as International Relations and Human Rights, and are a part of the generation Judge Monageng speaks of. UNA Malmö and UF Malmö will continue to offer opportunities for the future generation to connect with leaders for a better tomorrow.

Interview by Julia Glatthaar and Laura Korte

Text by Laura Korte

Photo Credit:

Judge Monageng, UF Malmö, All rights reserved
The ICC in The Hague, Oseveno, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

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Photo Essay: Impressions from Zimbabwe

EditorChief — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 12:19:41 +0000

IMER-student James Morrison-Knight shares photos from his travel in Zimbabwe and interviews his friend Tawanda Maviga about his hopes for his home country in the aftermath of the coup against former president Robert Mugabe.

What brought you to Sweden, and how long have you been living outside of Zimbabwe?

My name is Tawanda and I am a student at the Global Political Studies department at Malmö University. I arrived in Sweden in July 2014 from the United Kingdom where I had been living for over a decade, having moved there from Zimbabwe. My girlfriend, who is Swedish, played a big role in me coming to Sweden. When she enrolled in university in Sweden, I decided to apply too, enticed by the free education mode, coupled by the excitement of learning a new language. In all, I have been living outside Zimbabwe for 17 years.

How did you feel when the coup against Mugabe was announced?

Last November, Zimbabweans and the world woke up to the news that the military had usurped power from Robert Mugabe, after 37 years […] I was one of those who welcomed the army, who stood up to their Commander in Chief and told him he had to go. Some of us were born and only knew Mugabe as the leader of Zimbabwe, and the stories that parents told pointed to a deteriorating situation during his rule. The coup was a welcome development, demonstrated by the celebrations of Zimbabweans of different backgrounds.

What is the most exciting prospect you see for the future of Zimbabwe and its people?

The new President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, seems intent on doing better than his old boss. This could be exactly what the people of Zimbabwe need: in trying to impress, he will hopefully fix some critical problems, such as the crippling cash shortages, high unemployment and restoring the rule of law. It is still early days, but it is encouraging that the new president has declared that Zimbabwe is willing to work with the world.

You just returned from Zimbabwe, what were your impressions of how people have responded to the recent developments?

One of the most noticeable things that struck me was the absence of police roadblocks, which had become notorious in recent years […] In 2016, on my last visit, the road from the airport to my parents’ house, a stretch of 15 km, was littered with police roadblocks, but this time there was not a single roadblock in sight. The cab driver seemed pleased as he narrated this to me. This is but one of the many stories of hope I heard on my recent trip to Zimbabwe. I felt a widespread air of optimism and hope. Only time will tell if this optimism will transform to a better life for the long-suffering citizens of Zimbabwe.

How connected do you feel to Zimbabwe currently, and do you see yourself returning in the future?

Zimbabwe has a special place in my heart. I was born there, spent my formative years there, I am Zimbabwean first and foremost. I look at myself as a transnational, someone who maintains ties with both his country of birth and his adopted country. I am deeply invested in the dream of creating a better Zimbabwe, evidenced by the fact that I am currently building myself a house there. I definitely see myself returning in the future, to play my role in making a better country for future generations of Zimbabweans.

By James Morrison-Knight

Photo Credits:

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Stories of Palestine Told with the Oud

Anna Bernard — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 12:15:33 +0000

Hopes and dreams and desires are inherent to the human condition. When far away from loved ones, we experience a sense of longing and nostalgia. Different people find different ways of expressing these feelings; some find a language in art, some in music or poetry. The editors of Pike and Hurricane had a unique opportunity to sit down with Adnan Joubran, a world renowned Palestinian musician, to discuss the language and power his oud gives him.

Musical evolution

The oud is an ancient stringed instrument popular in the Middle East. The expertise in the instrument has been in Joubran’s family for a long time:

“I come from […] a family of oud makers and musicians, my father is the third generation in the family who builds the instrument and my brother is the fourth.”

Joubran explains to us how he was enticed by the oud in his youth:

“[…] in the year 2003 there was this kind of phase where I just started to play the oud on my own in the house and I felt it could be my language.” His big brothers supported him and that is how Le Trio Joubran came to be. He explains his path in more detail:

“In 2004 we formed the band Le Trio Joubran, and in 2014 I made my own band. Here I am in Sweden making my own show.”

Many things have happened in the world and in the music scene as Joubran’s career has evolved:

“The oud was only for the old people, culturally the instrumental music is only for the old people. We’ve made a big movement, not only us, but a lot of other musicians too. Young people find it trendy to listen to Trio Joubran.”

Dimensions of hope

When asked what music can do that politics cannot Joubran answers:

“I think with my art I can prove I have existed, I can prove that there is culture,” he says. Further in the interview he explains:

“I am always pro-culture. We should be building history. Whatever we do good today one day will become folkloric, one day will become tradition. In 50 years my music will become tradition. Mozart was contemporary then, he was rebellious then, but now it’s classical,” Joubran asserts. He continues by explaining that music cannot come just from an idea, it comes from history:

“There is culture, there is Palestine, it was there, it is still there.”

Like many other Palestinians, Joubran is a part of the Palestinian diaspora, splitting his time between London and Nazareth. According to him the diaspora is important in preserving Palestinian identity and culture because “each member is a whole nation,” he emphasises and adds:

“I’ve been lately in Chile. There’s more than 400,000 Palestinians in Chile. [Many of them] went in the 1920s. And it’s nice to see in their houses ouds from that time. For me that was so moving.”

During our interview we try to stay away from politics. Nevertheless, we briefly discuss his hopes for the future of Palestine:

“I said earlier I am a bit hopeless, but my mission is to give hope”, he asserts. Joubran’s mission of giving hope comes out of necessity:

“Unfortunately we live in a world where you wake up and you see the news and you suddenly get paranoid: […] is [this] the life that we came for or is [this] the world that we are living in?”

Joubran tells us about a track called ‘I wish I were a tree’ from his latest album:

“We are here only to grow just like the trees. […] we are here just born to love and just born to grow the one next to the other, not to be uprooted, not to be killed. This tree can have red leaves, I can have different coloured leaves, we are different but we should just live this difference and enjoy the beauty that we give to this world, with our differences,” Joubran describes. In addition to giving an awareness of cherishing our differences and a dimension of hope to the listeners, he wishes to provide a space to drop a tear or to get a smile on their faces.

Tears or smiles, Joubran does not seem to give up hope:

“Everyday I wake up with a different dream. I think my pleasure in life is just to dream, to keep dreaming. The way home is nicer than home. […] The pleasure is not fulfilling your dreams, it’s the pleasure of dreaming.”

By Anna Bernard

Photo credits:

Captain.orange, Oud, Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Ida Sharla Løjmand, All Rights Reserved
Ida Sharla Løjmand, All Rights Reserved

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Hope for Uniting Cyprus

EditorChief — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 12:12:18 +0000

The island of Cyprus has interlinked trade and wars between continents throughout time. Its Mediterranean location leads the island to be seen as a part of the Middle East, but also a part of Europe—perhaps it is both.

However, recently it has been divided into two with the Northern Turkish Cypriots holding two thirds of the Northern part under a Turkish military occupation—a country declared to exist only by Turkey—and the Southern part under the control of the Republic of Cyprus governed by the Greek Cypriots—making the Southern part of the island a member of the European Union since 2004.

Since the division of the island in 1974, there have been several attempts to negotiate peace between the parties. With the UN-led negotiations, significant improvement has been made in recent years. The latest negotiations ended in summer 2017, where the UN Secretary General, António Guterres stated that he was deeply sorry about the outcome of the two year negotiations: “I wish the next generation good luck on this and that one day maybe Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots will decide together that there is no longer a need for troops on the island.” He is referring to the Turkish Cypriot troops on the ground that became one of the biggest unresolved issues during the negotiations.

Hope in Time for the Island of Cyprus

As borders change and nationalities collide, people are left with the feeling of hostility and a division between “us and them”. The origins of this are born from the tendency of people to identify themselves through their position towards others. Individuals belong to groups with different kinds of identities. Benedict Anderson, who claims that a nation is an imagined political community, once said: ‘It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion.’ Thus, the collective sense of nationality and the feeling of “us” are essential when forming and governing a stable country. However, this nationality develops constantly over time. And as time heals all wounds, people can start to distance themselves from the conflict and identify the common goals.

The Future Generations

People born in Cyprus post-1974 have never experienced life on a unified island. Still many of them dream of unification. Seeing the conversation of two young representatives of the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, shows the need of unification more clearly. Young Cypriots in the video describe the Cyprus problem as ‘walking on a dark road, where you can not see the end of the road.’ These are the feelings and needs of people who did not even experience the division themselves. The division places its limits on all areas of life.

Elections for the Return of Hope

In January 2018 presidential elections were held in the Republic of Cyprus, whilst parliamentary elections took place in Northern Cyprus. Whether the new leaders and a new parliament will be able to find a new window of opportunities to move toward unification, will be left for us to find out sooner than we think.

The current President Nicos Anastasiades, of the Republic of Cyprus, won only by a small majority in the second round. During the elections it became clear how Greek Cypriots want the next President to prioritise the issue of division on the agenda. In fact, most of the campaigns during the elections were focused on the issue. President Anastasiades ran his campaign with the goal of ‘re-energising the stalled peace process.’

In Turkish Cypriot parliamentary elections, none of the parties could form a majority parliament, so the new formation will be a coalition parliament. The election was a consequence of dissatisfaction toward the current parliament on many levels, and so the focus of the elections was not on the Cyprus problem. Still, as the public is not content with the dealings of the previous parliament, there might be an appropriate opportunity for unification.

The future will show what happens, probably we will see things moving forward already during 2018. With time, trust and respect shown by both parties, a common ground in all aspects can be found.

By Jenni Hilska

Photo 1: The Kremlin, Press statements following Russia-Cyprus talks. President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Picture 2: Adam Jones, Along the Green Line – Nicosia – Cyprus – 03, CC BY-SA 2.0

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Boycott: A Silent Revolution

monta.nitisa — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 12:07:12 +0000

In the classic story of nonviolent resistance “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story”, Martin Luther King, Jr. states six principles of nonviolence. The first principle is as follows—nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. It does take audacity to directly oppose anything, to stand against injustice. I had the opportunity to have a conversation with Ronnie Barkan, an Israeli human rights activist, who could be one of those people who King wrote about 60 years ago.

Ronnie Barkan defines himself as a privileged Israeli Jew. Besides being a human rights activist, Barkan is a co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement which is a global Palestinian-led campaign for freedom, justice and equality. It started in 2005, combining 170 different Palestinian organisations that signed up to a shared mission, which urges to put pressure on Israel until Israel acts in accordance with international law and respects fundamental human rights.

How Does a Boycott Work?

Barkan looks at the BDS campaign as a grassroots movement. He states that there is a way how boycotts can be something that everyone of us can participate in:

“When you choose where your money goes, you choose whether you buy products that are produced in a sweatshop or not, and you can also choose whether you buy products that come within the expense of oppressing Palestinians.’

Nonetheless, BDS goes far beyond economic consumer boycott; it also involves around cultural and academic spheres. One part of boycotting is divestment—the controlling of companies which fund, for example, pension funds. Students can ask universities not to invest in companies which are acting against human rights.

When talking about who is being boycotted, Barkan explains:

“For cultural and academic boycott, we have clear BDS guidelines, which make sure that we are not boycotting every Israeli simply because they are from Israel. We are only boycotting those that are the representatives of that state. We don’t boycott the individuals.”

Even Music Takes Part in Boycott

As and example of cultural boycott Barkan mentions the recent case with an artist from New Zealand, Lorde:

“There was a call on her not to perform there and she decided to hear the call and not to perform and this raised a lot of international attention. This is more about symbolism. The fact that a certain artist doesn’t perform in Israel doesn’t harm the economy or any individuals. It is just that some artists decide not to perform there but it really touches the nerve.’’

Nonviolent Resistance versus Arms

When being asked about the role of nonviolence, Barkan does not hesitate to share his thoughts on the present situation:

“I am not here to condemn Palestinian armed resistance, but it is not very effective. When you struggle to fight against the fourth of fifth largest nuclear superpower in the world, it doesn’t really make sense to resist with weapons. I am happy that I have the opportunity to not use weapons against anyone […] Our power as activists is gained by doing things transparently and not being ashamed by what we do.’’

The Unclear but Promising Future

Towards the end of the discussion, Barkan shifts towards the hopeful picture of the upcoming. He talks about reassuring signs that keeps his outlook on the future positive:

“Firstly, I am very optimistic about the media’s campaign to change the discourse and it is definitely happening. This discourse is slowly seeping into the mainstream media. Secondly, that I am optimistic about is the whole blockchain technology—cryptocurrency. There are a lot of discussions, misconceptions about that but we are just at the beginning with this revolution, which makes banks and authorities pretty much abundant. There are endless possibilities that come up with that—from the distribution of wealth to the redistribution of information.”

In the fast-paced world we live in today, it has become too effortless to accept the illusions of equity. Slipping out of this mindframe, re-evaluating our values is indeed challenging, but if nonviolence combined with courageousness is our hope, I think we are on the right path.

By Christiana Nitisa

Photo credits:

Gaza, Elvert Barne, 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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Apocálypsis

Merle Emrich — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 12:05:19 +0000

the uncovering of what one could not see before-

a path out of the darkness.

rarely have i seen a gift

such as your eyes of indigo

that see the kindness of the world

and turn a wasteland into fertile ground.

rarely have i known a darkness

that does not bare within

the discovery of hope

or a new beginning.

rarely have i come upon a truth

that could not be rewritten,

never has there been a lie

that could not be resisted.

rarely have i seen a gift

such as your eyes of midnight blue

that gaze upon deserts and destruction

and in this wasteland let wild roses grow.

Poem by Merle Emrich

Illustration by Sofia Evers

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The Fate of Cuban Entrepreneurs

EditorChief — Sat, 10 Mar 2018 18:04:36 +0000

Entrepreneurship. A great buzzword. Defined as the process of designing, launching and running a new business, it has also been described as the capacity and willingness to develop, organise and manage a business venture. It is sometimes mistaken as a panacea to fix dysfunctional economies. Probably, at best it is a potent band-aid in said economies. Long before we attached a name to what now produces more than 102.000.000 hits in 0.47 seconds (for English results only), entrepreneurship has propelled the process of human civilisation. It is among the most important activities to drive progress and transformation of market places, developed or not. It is driven by the hope and determination that the status quo can be changed, no matter what.

Hope is not conditional. It can overcome societal norms that do not encourage individualistic initiatives, or an interventionist state that does not promote or allow entrepreneurship in the first place. It can overrise economic activity of a state that is largely predetermined and planned. Rather than as reactionary to demand, when hope is just a byproduct, there is no real relationship between employer and employee, nor the concept of private enterprises. Hope stands by, even when creation of wealth is considered revolutionary.

Entrepreneurship in Cuba

Cuba is a formally socialist economy with a planned economy, dominated by state-run enterprises, that has recently begun moving towards a more mixed economy. In some ways, we see round II taking place for the private sector. The Cuban government already began a small experiment in self-employment in 1978, but the collapse of the Soviet Union put a quite immediate end to this. In the 1990s, to fight unemployment the government allowed private restaurants and Bed & Breakfasts again, yet strictly regulated. Since then, entrepreneurship, cuentapropismo, has become more common, most notably when in 1997, Cubans were allowed to rent out their homes and apartments.

Household production, village enterprise, artist collectives, and similar small-scale market-like activities have been on the rise since the ratio of public to private sector employment was 76 percent to 23 percent in 2000, compared to 91 to 8 in 1981. Since Raúl Castro succeeded his brother in 2008, the Cuban government has started to further relax restrictions on private ownership, markets and entrepreneurship. In 2010, the government announced plans to legalise small-scale private enterprise, some forms of land rental, and other capitalist practices. Yet the ideologies underlying capitalism and socialism could not be more different—the battle between those who want to preserve the status quo and those who want change is real.

Not everything that glitters is gold

Homeowners in Cuba who want to rent out their houses as casas particulares or set up restaurants, called paladares, require a license from the state. Licenses might not be granted and they can also be revoked. Setting up shops and renovating houses require access to raw materials and capital. Cuban entrepreneurs need to find suppliers abroad, rely on emigrated relatives for financing, and are also faced with high taxes and bureaucratic rules. Few homes have access to the Internet, and for most Cubans hourly internet passes, which can be bought for private hot spots, are too expensive.

The Cuban case showcases that human creativity, ingenuity, and the drive to improve can never be totally extinguished, not by lack of capital or resources, or by a totalitarian state. Even at the height of the Cuban Revolution, private initiatives and enterprises continued to flourish, even if underground. With Raúl Castro’s decision to expand the private sector, entrepreneurship has become a legal business activity.

So what will happen as limitations and restrictions, psychological and regulatory alike get lifted? How long will it take for entrepreneurship to truly flourish and bring about a significant improvement to the standard of living? The cards may not have been dealt equally for all Cubans. Prerequisites, such as connections, capital and house ownership, have already created two classes of Cubans; those who can and those who cannot start businesses.

Things will probably not change overnight. Entrepreneurship is still not a panacea, it can only be a band-aid and eventually it will drive progress and transformation, because at the core of entrepreneurship, there is always hope. Luck. Aspiration. Persistence. But most fundamentally, a hope that we can improve the status quo with our own hands.

By: Clara Bieler

Photo Credit:

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A New Hope –Not Only a Star Wars Story

Nina Kolarzik — Sat, 10 Mar 2018 18:01:59 +0000

When I heard about the theme of this edition, hope, the first thing that came to mind was Star Wars.

“But I cannot write about Star Wars in the UF magazine”, I thought.

“Why not?”, the others asked.

And they are right: fiction books and movies mirror what is happening in our world, and Star Wars has grown into a whole universe of stories, which deals with political and social issues we face in the real world. It is a reflection of recurring situations on Earth, only with planet systems instead of nation states.

How do I relate issues in real world politics to the first Star Wars movie “A New Hope”? In Star Wars, hope was materialised in the form of the Rebel Alliance’s successful strikes against the Galactic Empire. Rebellion is a recurring feature in most science-fiction stories. Rebellious groups represent the oppressed people’s hope for a better world. And so I asked myself, how justified is this hope? Do rebellions often succeed? And what do books and movies teach us?

Two Rebellious Movements: The Rebel Alliance vs Euromaidan

Rebellions are understood as armed resistance against an authority, a government or a leader. Star Wars movies and reality have their differences and similarities, comparing the Ukrainian Revolution of 2013-14 to the movie can help us to understand these.

For those who do not know Star Wars, the Rebel Alliance formed itself during the last wars, when the Galactic Empire arose. In “A New Hope”, it is fighting an insurgency war against the Empire to overthrow it and to create a new democratic Republic.

As a comparison, take the Ukrainian Revolution. It started of as a student protest against the Ukrainian government, who did not want to sign an EU association agreement. These protests then developed into a revolution, aiming to replace the ruling government.

Both cases are rebellions aiming to overthrow a ruling government. But while the Ukrainian Revolution started out peacefully, the Rebel Alliance was formed from pre-existent, violent resistance movements.

The main difference is that in reality things are not that clearly separated into the good and the bad. The relations between affected parties are far more complex, and the international community and law play a much bigger role, restricting parties’ use of violence and ability to manoeuvre.

At first sight, both rebellions were successful—the Empire got defeated, the Ukrainian president Yanukovych fled and a new parliament was elected. But you have to keep in mind that in recent years, new Star Wars episodes came out, with new rulers, new problems, and new rebels. The parliamentary elections in Ukraine and the Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula were followed by riots and conflicts in Eastern parts of the country. This raises the question: at which point can a rebellion be called a success, when the long-term effects are not immediately visible?

Learning through Movies

Movies do not often deal with the long-term effects and how daily life continues after a happy ending. But we can still learn a great deal from movies and books, as dozens of Star Wars interpretations and analyses can point out. You can come across books, such as “Sex, Politics, and Religion in Star Wars” and “Harry Potter and International Relations”. The stories show us examples of courage and wisdom, of violence and cold bloodedness, and of political wit and military strategies.

According to Christine Cornea from Edinburgh University, writers draw inspiration from reality to their stories, and give us something new to learn about since “science fiction has become a significant and widely accepted element of cultural reality.”

With the heroic imagery of the rebels in movies, these stories can give us hope. Movie-rebels succeed far more often than rebels in reality. And no matter how small the chances of success are, there is always some hope. Of course, in reality rebellions can be either in the right or wrong—the government is not always on the dark side.

Whether rebellions in reality fail more often than in movies, and whether they actually create change socially or politically—hope is the one thing that drives them forward. Hope is what most people need. Governments and rebellious leaders know that. The more I learn about the complex interactions and dependencies in the world, the more often I think: is it worth the fight? Does it even make sense to fight a superior power? But the moment you want to give up, thinking it is useless to carry on, something you do not learn about at university, pushes you forward: hope.

By Nina Kolarzik

Photo Credit:

Soldiers of the Rebel Alliance: Michael Neel (CC BY 2.0)

Ukrainian Revolution: Ivan Bandura “Climbing the crane for a better view” (CC BY 2.0)

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Politics in Verse

Merle Emrich — Sat, 10 Mar 2018 17:58:14 +0000

While one might think that mere words stand no chance against the power of governments, poetry is banned and censored, and poets are imprisoned and exiled out of fear of a few verses. Yet, there is still hope. Words possess a power that violence can never have, and it is difficult-if not impossible-to silence everyone who speaks.

Iran, 1988-today

From 1988 to 1998 over 80 Iranians, among them poets, are killed for political reasons. One of the killed poets is Mohammad Mokhtari. His ‘crime’: Mokhtari intended to re-start the Association of Iranian Writers. Even today, poetry is censored in Iran – at times seemingly randomly. Some poets are even forced into exile. Yet, no matter how many poets’ works are censored, they continue to write and make their political voice heard. And sometimes there even is a chance to get away with it. After all, what is better suited than poetry and metaphor to hide meaning between the lines?

Israel, 2000

Israel’s minister for education, Yossi Sarid, seeks to include Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish’s work in the school curriculum. Following Sarid’s suggestion, right-wing members of the government threaten to introduce a motion of no-confidence should Darwish’s poetry be included in Israel’s school curriculum. The poet comments: “It is difficult to believe that the most military powerful country in the Middle East is threatened by a poem.” As it turns out, a few verses might have the power to make even the smallest voice heard, and to bring down a government.

England, 2017

It’s been two months since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, a few days since he announced his Muslim ban. From 10 Downing Street to Westminster Station the streets are flooded with people. They are here to protest against Trump, his Muslim ban, and Theresa May’s “appeasement policy”. Somewhere in the ocean of bodies and protest signs, somebody holds up a piece of cardboard that shows a drawing of the Statue of Liberty and a quote from Emma Lazarus’s poem The New Colossus. The poem was written in 1883 and it is still relevant today: a symbol of hope used to express political discontent with governments, and solidarity with fellow human beings.

(Protest in London, January 2017. Photo: Merle Emrich)

Turkey, 2017

Bulaşıcı Cesaret (Contagious Courage) is the title of Selahattin Demirtaş’s poem that is banned because it contains “terrorist propaganda”. In November 2016, Demirtaş, the co-leader of the pro-Kurdish opposition party HDP (People’s Democratic Party), was sent to prison for five months. There he wrote the now banned poem: “They will say, let there be no voice/ Let there be no color, they will say./ You have rebelled by laughter […] They will say let there be no sunrise/ They will hold Hope at gunpoint/ You have rebelled, running/ They will put the blame on you/ Let us run then.”

Poetry Is the Fuel That Feeds the Fire

Audre Lorde wrote that poetry “forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change.” Throughout time, all over the world, poets have framed their hopes and dreams in words-be they personal and individual, or political. UK-poet Matt Abbott’s call for a Labour government got nearly 250 likes on facebook. Rhythmical Mike’s poem on immigration receives applause, and Salena Godden’s poem written for the Nasty Woman movement remains uncensored. Elsewhere, poets are imprisoned and their work censored or banned completely. In Iran, for example, Godden’s poem would be censored since it is forbidden – especially for women-to write about the body.

The Sword and the Pen

Poetry is not a privilege-not for the writer at least. Poetry is existence and survival, identity and catharsis, boiled down to a few lines. Like a novel or a newspaper article, a poem contains a message. Sometimes that message is a call for action and change. But unlike most newspaper articles, poetry does not only function on an intellectual, but on an emotional level. And therein lies the (political) power of poetry. After all, there is a reason why “the pen is mightier than the sword”. As the cases of Turkey and Iran, Israel and England show, there is a power in language that authority and violence-be it physical or nonphysical, legitimate or illegitimate violence-can never possess. While state power demands respect and obedience and at times induces fear, the power of words sparks inspiration, fuels dreams and worldviews, and gives hope that opposes fear. And if you give back hope to those starved of it, who can tell what might happen?

By Merle Emrich

Photo Credit:

Burning Book, August Allen, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Iranian Flag, Blondinrikard Fröberg, CC BY 2.0

Mahmoud Darwish, Reham Alhelsi, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Turkish Flag, erdalde, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Salena Godden, Isabelle Adam, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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