#2, January 2021
2020:
A YEAR IN REVIEW
On The ISAD Panopticon January Issue discovering
3 Opening statement:
Rough Start to the
12
Decade
4
Kobiet—All
The Hagia
Poland Wom-
Sophia: Turkey’s 2020 Decision, Christopher Wijono
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en’s Strajk, Khrystyna Hvozdovska
Biden for
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President? Third Term of
word
Obama or The
Puzzle –
New Deal? Artyom Erma-
Once in a Year
kov
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Strajk
Fea-
turette: Those we Lost, by Christopher Wijono
Credits for this issue – ISAD E d i t o r - i n - C h i e f , K h r y s t y n a The ISAD Panopticon Redactory Team welcomes submissions from Hvozdovska (Journalism, 3rd Year) individuals/groups looking to publish their work on the magazine. Send Panopticon Redactory Staff A ut h o r s , A r t y o m E r m ak o v Managing Director, Christopher (International Relations and InterWijono (International Security and national Security, 3rd Year), Development, 2nd Year)
your content and manuscripts to isadpanopticon.redactory@gmail.com to get started.
Also follow us at https://www.facebook.com/isadpanopticon for more updates. 2
Rough Start to the Decade? For the first year of the new decade, many will concur that this year has not been a pleasant one. Chief among these reasons is of course the COVID-19 Pandemic which we have discussed in the previous issue of the ISAD Panopticon. However, due to the overwhelming focus on the pandemic, some events may have fallen off people’s radars. I’d like to take this moment to list off some of this year’s most interesting developments.
The world shifted close to World War Three as tensions rose between the United States and Iran, following the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Iraq.
Brexit officially finalized, marking the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union. 2020 serves as a transition period in which exit procedures were implemented.
Abe Shinzo, the longest serving Prime Minister of Japan, resigned citing ill health and amidst allegations of misdemeanor and corruption. He was replaced by Suga Yoshihide, the first new Prime Minister to take the office in the Reiwa era; continuing the LDP dominance of Japanese politics.
The murder of George Floyd in the United States sparked a wave of protests and demonstrations, mainly on racism and police brutality.
The murder of Samuel Paty in France sparked discussions on freedom of speech, Islamic extremism, and the case of immigration both domestically and within the EU.
The war in Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan continued, seeing renewed violence and intensity this year. A ceasefire was signed in November, with many observing that Azerbaijan won the war through the recouping of territories.
Protests erupt across Europe; Bulgaria saw protests against the cabinet of Boyko Borisov citing corruption, Belarus saw protests in the fallout of Alexander Lukashenko’s reelection, and Poland following a Constitutional Tribunal decision on abortion laws.
Many sporting events saw cancellations, chief among them being the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games and the 2020 edition of the UEFA European Football Championship.
The year has been a tough one, also for us students and faculty with the move into distance learning and online classes. Still, even now, there are things to be thankful for. The opportunity to study. The opportunity to learn everyday. The hard work of our instructors in adapting to distance learning. In the year’s end, it would be remiss to not remind our readers to be thankful for all the good things that have happened this year, and to wish for even better days in the year ahead. 3
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Source: Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org)
The Hagia Sophia: Turkey’s 2020 Decision One event perhaps of less renown yet of academic (and perhaps journalistic) interest is this year’s transition of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey under the Erdoğan government. The study of the Hagia Sophia and Constantinople/ Istanbul is an interesting study in cultural history, and in this article, we will also explore how these matters are able to influence domestic and international politics,
What is the Hagia Sophia? The Hagia Sophia is a structure standing in the city of Istanbul, Turkey. The current structure was built in 537 CE during the time of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire; the name is derived from Byzantium, the former name of Constantinople/Istanbul and the Empire’s capital) by Emperor Justinian I, with the location and prior structures serving as church as far back as 360 CE, during the reign of Constantius I. It served as the main cathedral of the Roman Empire’s state church (Pre-schism Christianity). It was the first building of its kind, having at the
time the largest interior and a pendentive dome.
Roman Catholic cathedral under control of the Crusader-run Latin Empire, before its recovery by Michael VIII Palaiologos. It reverted to
It remained the biggest Orthodox Christian cathedral in the world until the sacking of Constantinople by rogue cruSource: Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org) saders under Venetian doge Enrico Dandolo, who is purportedly still buried in the eastern use for Orthodox Christianity, until gallery of the structure. From 1204 to the 1453 conquest of Constantinople 1261, the building was used as a under Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror 4
of the Ottoman Empire. It served as a mosque for the whole duration of the Ottoman Empire, inspiring similar buildings such as the Blue Mosque, also located in Turkey and proliferating the construction of Ottoman-style mosques, borrowing the pendentive dome from the Hagia Sophia. In 1935, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the formation of the Turkish Republic, the structure was used as a museum. The decision lasted until 2020, when the Turkish government reverted its function back as a mosque.
What is its significance? The Hagia Sophia is a significant building in many aspects, both as a religious monument, a relic of history, and as cultural heritage; it is recognized as such through, for example, designation as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It was once center to three of the world’s major religions: Orthodox Christianity, Catholic Christianity, and Islam. Prior to
Source: Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org)
the construction of other Christian works such as the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome or the Santiago de Compostela, the Hagia Sophia remained the most sophisticated piece of Christian architecture. So much so that its conquest by the Catholics and the Muslims carried with it great implications and changes: the capture of Hagia Sophia by the Crusaders marked the proposed establishment a true Catholic order in the east (marked with control of the city as a de facto
sign of installing a Catholic as a Roman Emperor). The capture of the structure some 200 years after its recapture would forever connect it to one of Islam’s greatest victories against Christendom and one of its most famous heroes: the aforementioned Mehmet the Conqueror of the Ottoman Empire. The structure would then see renovations in line with the change in functions as a mosque, such as a mihrab and a minaret.
function into a museum. The earliest overtures of this direction was the recitation of Quranic verses such as the al-fatiha in the Hagia Sophia. In July 2020, the museum was redesignated as a mosque through the annulment of the 1934 Atatürk government’s decision, citing the decision as violations of both Turkish law and its preceding Ottoman law. The Erdoğan administration contends that the Hagia Sophia was surrendered by its conqueror, Sultan
As a relic of history and piece of cultural heritage, it remains as one of the oldest standing buildings in use and one of the great- Source: Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org) est architecMehmet, as a waqf: an inalienable tural legacies of the Roman Empire, donation of a piece of land or propespecially its eastern iteration in the erty for a specific purpose, often reliByzantine Empire. While many of its gious. Since the Sultan designated original decorations and mosaics the Hagia Sophia’s waqf as a place were pillaged during the icono- of worship i.e., a mosque, it cannot clasm and sack of the crusaders, be used in any other way and for restorations of the mosaics allow for any other purpose. a glimpse of Byzantine-era art and history contained within the Hagia There have been many attempts to Sophia. This legacy is then melded observe the reasons behind the with the changes brought about by transition. A predominant argument the Ottoman Muslim conquest, cre- is that the move is a politically straating a fusion of east and west befit- tegic decision done to garner supting of Constantinople seen very port for the Erdoğan administration rarely anywhere else. from more religious communities. This is also to some extent inline From Museum to Mosque with Erdoğan’s stance of opposition against Kemalism, and by extenWhile the 1934 Atatürk-era decision sion, a leaning towards Neoexplicitly prohibits the structure/ Ottomanism or at least a celebration monument as a place of worship, of its legacy. religious “services” such as prayer rooms were available. Plans to re- Reactions around the world vert the then-museum into a mosque started as far back as 2018, The decision has garnered a multiwhen Erdoğan called for the rever- tude of reactions, ranging from acasion of the Atatürk government’s demic societies to religious figuredecision to transition the structure’s heads. Debates surrounding the 5
mew I, Archbishop of Constantinople and Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow condemned the move as threatening the cordial relations between Christianity and Islam, if not West and East. Pope Francis of the Catholic Church has also released a statement expressing sadness and disappointment at the decision. On the inverse, the move was celebrated across a wide swath of the Muslim world, both from official statements (e.g., Hamas, Pakistan) and popular support. Source: Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org)
decision has revolved around concerns such as: whether the transition of functions would be to the detriment of secular or Christian elements (especially in comparison to Islamic ones), the status of the Hagia Sophia as a cultural and historical heritage of humanity vs. a sovereign structure within Turkey, the continued protection of the building and the artifacts contained within, up to whether the move was necessary in the first place (connected to the discussion behind the reasoning of the Erdoğan administration). Concern was raised by multiple Patriarchs of the Orthodox Christian churches: Bartholo-
UNESCO, responsible for management and designation of World Heritage sites, expressed disappointment over the unilateral nature of decision-making, citing the need for discussion and cooperation over a decision concerning such sites. It has released a statement that the Hagia Sophia’s status will fall under review during the next World Heritage Committee, which was cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Turkey has responded that responsibilities tying to Hagia Sophia’s status as a protected site does not change alongside the change in function.
Some questions to consider As for myself, I consider this question a constructivist one: just we have covered the multitude significances of the Hagia Sophia, different parties place different perceptions and considerations on what the Hagia Sophia is, and what it represents. Scholars, Christians, Muslims, Turks, Greeks, everyone has an opinion. Dear readers, this is where you come in. Do you think Turkey’s decision was correct, proper, or justified? What do you think should have been done? What do you think of the multitude of support and criticisms on the decision? Are they valid, or are they invalid? These are some questions for you to consider. Feel free to share your thoughts in our social media pages.
Internationally, there is also political pushback against the decision, as it is construed as an act in opposition to established values such as tolerance and interculturalism. The biggest opposition would be Greece, European Union member (which Turkey is in the process of joining) and perhaps the closest de facto successor of the culturally Hellenic Byzantine Empire. The decision has been seen as exacerbating the precarious relation between the two countries, marred by other issues such as maritime zone disputes and border control. Christopher Wijono
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Source: Variety
Biden for President? Third term of Obama or The New Deal? Biden has just recently been confirmed as the 46th President of the US after counting the electoral votes on January the 6th after long despite multiple claims of voter fraud. We all remember Obama administration, where Biden served as the VP. What is it a sequel or a solo for Joe Biden? Even the fact that Obama picked Biden for VP is interesting and leaves questions. What makes that fact interesting are some past events from Biden’s life and remarks. Biden called Obama ‘the first mainstream AfricanAmerican who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy’, surprisingly Obama ‘laughed it off’. A 1987 Philadelphia Inquirer story said Biden bragged about receiving an award from George Wallace, former Alabama governor, who was a segregationist and strongly opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the cancelled racial segregation.
During his presidential primary in 1987 he claimed ‘We (Delawareans) were on the South’s Side in the Civil War’. So how did he end up on the ticket with a black man? ‘I want somebody with gray in his hair’ said Obama. NYT called Biden ‘policy heavyweight’. Bill Clinton said to Biden and Senator Chris Dodd from Connecticut ‘you guys would do a better job pointing out Obama’s lack of experience’. It is fair to assume that Obama was looking for an advise from a government veteran, as he was a senator from Illinois for only 4 years. During their first private meeting Biden suggested the two would have the dinner. NYT states ‘their relationship had nowhere to go but up’. Already during 2008 debates, when Biden was seeking the presidential nomination from the Democratic Party, he treated Obama with respect.
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Biden casts himself as someone who will ‘cement the Obama legacy’. It might be said he tries to appeal Obama’s voters. Senator Cory Booker said Biden invokes Obama more than anyone. So will Biden bring back Obama’ record or will it be the ‘New Deal’? Best to find out by looking through Obama’s record and Biden’s program. Among other Obama-Biden administration policies I would like to highlight the most known ones, that, I think, define this administration and its beliefs. Introduced in 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) set standards for healthcare plans, which must cover certain procedures. Particularly, hospitalization, ambulatory patient services, pregnancy, maternity, newborn care, metal health service, prescription drugs, laboratory services, preventive and wellness services,
That resulted in the rise of costs of these plans. Individual mandate enacted in 2014 obligated people to buy healthcare plans or pay fines. As a result 8.2 million people ended up paying fines that year. The mandate was ruled to be unconstitutional. The study reveals that gross premiums (before subsidies) for healthcare plans from 2014 to 2015 rose by 6% and stated in 2008-2010 premiums in the individual market rose by 10%+ per year nationwide. Obama introduced tax hikes for the rich to expand the welfare state. He inherited the crisis of 2008 and did not open the economy but taxed and regulated it (21 new ACA taxes and 156% federal tax on tobacco). CNN wrote in 2016 about the slowest recovery since World War II, even though the longest one. In September 2010 NYT said that the US lost more jobs than added since the recovery. Obama added 9 trillion dollars to the national debt. Obama’s time in the office also was not smooth, quite the opposite. He and his team did made some questionable decisions and statements, that put the whole team and him under question. 2009: There was an operation Fast and Furious. The idea was to allow gun shops to sell guns to illegal gun traffickers and trace them to Mexican Cartels. During the operation, some gun and drug traffickers were caught, but sources tell CNN that approximately 1400 weapons were lost and two of these weapons were related to the murder of a border patrol agent. 2011: Obama-Biden administration withdrew from Iraq rapidly, which resulted in the rise of ISIS, as the security was poor. 2011: VP Joe Biden openly said in May ‘a rising China is a positive
development’. In May 2019 ‘China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man.’, the Associated Press characterized this as downplaying of the ‘economic threat posed by China’. 2013: Obama refused to take military action against Assad after the chemical attack since he vowed to take it if chemical weapons to be used by Assad, it also allowed ISIS to expand even more. 2015: Obama signed a controversial nuclear deal with Iran, that gave Iran a free path to nuclear weapons, access to frozen assets of 150 billion dollars, the deal gives no way to monitor military sites of Iran, it gets to inspect them itself. The deal guarantees the US will teach Iranian military to protect their nuclear program from sabotage. This state is a sponsor of terrorism; its government killed American soldiers and seeks to destroy Israel. Obama sought before to make This country a regional power, he said in 2014 in regard to it ‘very successful regional power... That would be good for the United States, that would be good for the region’. 2016: Under President Obama the FBI lied to the secret FISA court, which approves or disapproves spying on Americans, to obtain permission to spy on Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page.
One cannot argue that this whole record is at least questionable. One of Biden’s liabilities, that is often exploited by Trump is his handling of the economy, as it was the ‘slowest recovery’ by CNN, that is in contrast to Trump’s record. in 2016 Treasury department and Federal Reserve concluded that the economy was at full employment, the unemployment was 4.7%. The consensus was there would be no further reduction in un8
employment. However by December 2019 the unemployment fall to 3.5%. In 2016 real median household income was 62,898$, 257$ above the 1999 level. Up to 2019 it grew by 6000$. In 2017 Trump introduced tax cuts, Biden on the other talks about tax hikes for ‘the rich’.
Both candidate are criticizing each other for pandemics’ handling. In October 2020 Biden said ‘I have a plan to deal with this pandemic responsibly’. In 2009 Obama-Biden administrator had Swine Flu to handle. Later Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain said, “we did every possible thing wrong”, citing the over reliance on the vaccine as the core issue. The vaccines critical, but takes time to be researched, tested. It is crucial to eliminate all possible side effects and ensure vaccine’s applicability for people with medical conditions. Then it needs to be distributed wisely and effectively. The 2012 report of Health and Human Services says there were difficulties with distribution, big amounts of the vaccine arrived ‘too late’. Associate Professor of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Science warns ‘just relying on the vaccine is not advised’.
It is a very high time to predict what will the coming administration bring to this country and the world. No reason to suggest that trends from VP Biden times changed. Biden’s VP, Kamala Harris is very left and progressive. Favors the idea of 70% top tax rate, the Green New Deal, fracking ban, Medicare for all, including for illegal immigrants, open borders, defund the police and big welfare state. Biden is not different. All those proposals are problematic. Biden’s people in Congress are mostly radical progressives, that will push him to the far-left.
Now take a look at what consequences might these policies cause. While sounding nice, they will bring a lot of challenges. 70% top tax rate is aimed at people who are at the top 1% of income brackets. Economist Art Laffer rightly claimed, “People do not work to pay taxes”. He discovered that rising taxes rise budget revenues, but at some point, people just stop working, because they do not work to pay taxes, it is called Laffer’s curve. Billionaires’ money are important economic actors, that are responsible for most of the economic growth. 1% have the biggest abilities to create new jobs and invest in R&D. From a 5G smartphone and wireless headphones to new medical discoveries, that make our life much more comfortable. The longwaited Chinese COVID-19 vaccine is also the result of R&D. High taxes take away the ability to invest in R&D and create jobs. They give fewer incentives to work more, thus the buffet revenues are smaller. This taxed money is used to provide a welfare state. Badly set big welfare state may discourage people to work (affordable housing, Medicare, education, etc.). The current welfare state in the US is about 1 trillion for 90 programs per year. Welfare is not widely provided for couples. In 1955 Lindon Baynes Johnson declared the War on Poverty, a set of welfare programs designed to eradicate poverty. Up to 2017 the US government spent on it around 20 trillion dollars, the poverty rate in America in 1966 was 14.7%, in 2016 it was 13.5%. The green new deal is a plan to transform the US energy system, which suggests stop using fossil fuels and move to 100% renewable energy. The major sources of energy will be solar and wind. However,
they are unstable sources. Wind turbines take big lands, they kill birds. Solar panels’ production require the use of fossil fuels to mine, manufacture and transport, manufacturing also requires toxic chemicals. Physicist Mark Mills from Manhattan Institute, regular contributor to Forbes claims that wind and solar energy have hit physics limits in their improvement. California tried to apply renewable energy (solar and wind), later they started cutting off electricity to their own citizens. You will also have to build the infrastructure to connect these energy sources with consumers, which are transmission lines and batteries. Production of batteries require heavy metals and acids, that might be toxic for the environment after their disposal. 63% of the US energy comes from coal and natural gas. Rapid transfer to green energy will have horrendous energy consequences, it will drive tens of millions of people out of jobs in fossil fuel industry. Since energy will be coming from unstable sources like wind and solar, it will become less accessible, therefore more expensive. Medicare for all or socialized medicine (including illegal immigrants) is very costly. A study shows that Sanders plan for Medicare for all costs 3.2 trillion dollars over the year. In comparison, the combined wealth of 2200 billionaires in the world is over 9.1 trillion dollars. Harris claimed no tax hikes for the middle class. This proposals is just impossible without new taxes. Open borders create a national security threat from drugs and not only, particularly in the South. Regarding drugs 99.9% of illegal marijuana seizures come from the Southern border, 99.8 of meth seizures are from the South, 38.3 percent is cocaine. The data is for 2015.
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Fracking Ban. Fracking is a new strategy of accessing oil and natural gas, that allowed the US to outpace Russia and Saudi Arabia in oil and gas producing. The technology found a way to access deeper layers of oil and gas. Critics argue that it might cause earthquakes, while the data shows that most induced (caused unnaturally) earthquakes are not due to fracking directly. Oklahoma has the biggest number of induced earthquakes, 2% of them are due to fracking. It is still a debatable issue. Technology also reduced CO2 emissions. In 2019 there was the largest decline in energy-related CO2 emissions. It made America less dependent on foreign oil. If fracking to be banned, the decision may have serious socio-economic, national security, ecological consequences. Defund the police is said to be one of the strongest factors that drove people away from the Democrats or leftists. The three most violent cities are run by Dems, where the police was defunded, are Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Minneapolis city council with Democratic mayor is alarmed by crime surge two months since police defund. There are certainly the remnants of Obama’s record in Biden’s program, particularly Medicare for all, that is an enhanced version of Obamacare, tax hikes, welfare state. It is fair to assume he will get back to Iran nuclear deal, as two of his cabinet members favored the deal, Anthony Blinken, incoming Secretary of State, and Jake Sullivan, incoming national security adviser. The prospects of bringing back this record does not let to be overly optimistic.
Artyom Ermakov
Featurette: Christopher Wijono
Alongside impactful world events and the overarching changes brought about by the “new normal”, 2020 saw the unfortunate passing of several significant individuals. The world will never be the same without them and their contributions.
Neil Peart (September 12, 1952 - January 7, 2020) Neil Peart was the drummer and primary lyricist of the Canadian progressive rock band Rush, alongside fellow band members Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee. Rush, which stopped touring in 2018, remains one of the most influential bands of the genre and perhaps one of its most popular faces. As a drummer, Peart was recognized as one of the greatest drummers of all time, nicknamed “The Professor” and honored by multiple magazines. However, I personally find that Peart’s greatest strength as a musician remains the knowledge and proficiency with storytelling he displayed through his lyrics. Fans like to call Rush “the intelligent man’s rock”, and while the three members’ proficiency in their instruments play a big part in the sophistication of Rush’s music, it is Peart’s lyrics that complement it and make it what it is. Peart draws from multiple genres and concepts, from history and literature (Tom Sawyer, Manhattan Project), fantasy and science fiction (The Trees, Red Barchetta), to politics and philosophy (Limelight, A Farewell to Kings, and many of Rush’s early works, when Peart maintained a level of fascination with Ayn Rand). Some of them are more relevant than ever now than when they were written; everlasting proof positive of Peart’s genius. When they turn the pages of history When these days have passed long ago Will they read of us with sadness
For the seeds that we let grow? We turned our gaze from the castles in the distance Eyes cast down on the path of least resistance A Farewell to Kings (Rush, 1977)
Christopher Tolkien (21 November 1924 - 16 January 2020) Christopher J. R. Tolkien was at his core an academic, having studied English and worked with it and French as an editor. Those, however, are not his greatest claim to fame or greatest accomplishment. For the former, it is that he is the son of John R. R. Tolkien, an academic in his own right and author of perhaps the most famous work of high fantasy, The Lord of the Rings. For the latter, it is his work on editing his father’s manuscripts and worldbuilding notes into what made The Lord of the Rings one of the most comprehensive works of high fantasy; the Legendarium. His work included the publication of works such as The Silmarillion (to explain very loosely, the cosmology of the Legendarium) and comprehensive additional stories set in Arda and Middle-Earth such as Unfinished Tales and The Children of Húrin. Something that is very impressive for me, and which I respect, is how well he adapted and presented these works based on his father’s. Many “successors” have done this as well, such as Brian Herbert for his father’s Dune and Brandon Sanderson for The Wheel of Time, but it is safe to say that almost none of them succeeded the way Christopher Tolkien did, nor were they as well received.
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Those We Lost Geert Hofstede (2 October 1928 - 12 February 2020)
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Source: cnn.com
Geert Hofstede was a social psychologist, former IBM employee, and research academic. He is most famous for his pioneering model of cultural dimensions, a model that aims to enable cross-cultural comparison through establishing common elements and characteristics between cultures. Through this model, Hofstede aimed to achieve what is quite uncommon in this field of study, a quantitative model in a constructivist paradigm. His model has been employed in a number of fields of study, such as social psychology, management, business administration, and intercultural communication. ISAD students might recognize his name through the introduction to his cultural dimensions concept in the course Cross-cultural communication, where students had to propose critical feedback for it. As students and those pursuing knowledge, we would do well to remember its linear, yet cyclical (however contradictory that may be) nature: those who come before us, those who are with us, and those who are yet to join us. We study so in the hopes to make a difference or impact, perhaps the same way Hofstede or other scholars did before us. Recall the famous adage attributed to French philosopher Bertrand of Chartres:
“We [the Moderns] are like dwarves perched on the shoulders of giants [the Ancients], and thus we are able to see more and farther than the latter. And this is not at all because of the acuteness of our sight or the stature of our body, but because we are carried aloft and elevated by the magnitude of the giants.� Grant Imahara (October 23, 1970 - July 13 2020)
Source: tlu.ee
Source: pendect.com
Grant Imahara was a man of many talents. A scientist, an engineer, a roboticist, and a television personality; host, actor, etc. He had a long list of achievements on his resume: Visual effects for Industrial Light & Magic, where he worked on films such as Star Wars and the Matrix, appeared as both contestant and judge on BattleBots, and most famously as host and part of the team of the Discovery channel show Mythbusters. I consider Imahara one of the contemporary best examples of the melding between scientific method and study, with pop culture appeal. Part genius and part geek, he helped popularize and introduce his area of expertise (robotics, engineering, etc.) to a wide audience in an engaging format. As a political science student which subject’s popular reach would only perhaps encompass news media and polemical discussion (talk shows, etc.), this phenomenon is unique indeed.
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Strajk Kobiet – All-Poland Women’s Strike
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There happened a lot in 2020. Every month brought an incident the humanity had to deal with. The pandemic, environmental catastrophes or strikes and demolishing sadly became the ‘normal’ thing in 2020. While entering the 2021 we try to make the New Year resolutions, promise to become better versions of ourselves. We put so much hope for the new year, trying to forget all the negativity the previous year brought in our lives, but focusing on a new beginning, there is still a matter we should remember about. To fulfil this essay, I would like to present a shortcut to one story. There is a legend about a girl of exceptional beauty and mind, who once saved the women of her kingdom from oppression of the King. Scheherazade is known as a major female character or storyteller of the Middle Eastern collection of tales, known worldwide as the “One Thousand and One Nights”. Once, King Shahryar discovered that his wife was untruthful to him, he decided to marry a virgin every day, but then beheaded her in the morning before she could dishonour the ruler. As the source claims, when there left no more girls of noble blood to please King Shahryar, Scheherazade volunteered to become monarch’s next wife. She was the eldest daughter of vizier, a pleasant girl of a rare beauty and remarkable mind, she wanted to save women of her country from a terrible oppression. Once she came to the royal bedchamber, knowing about terrible fate she might face in the morning, Scheherazade asked the King about the last farewell to her beloved sister. When she came to say goodbye, a girl asks Scheherazade to tell one of her stories. The King Shahryar laid on the bed listening to the sweet voice of his newfound wife. As Scheherazade applied all her eloquence telling a tale, the King did not notice the dawn, which interrupted the narration. Wishing to hear the end of a story, King Shahryar kept his wife alive ‘till the next evening. Every time finishing one tale, she moved to the new one, again stopped it halfway through dawn. So, the King Shahryar kept her alive day by day, until Scheherazade told the ruler, that she has no more tales for him. The 1001 story is a tale about the King Shahryar and Scheherazade, as for 1000 nights they spent together the monarch fell in love with his wife. Thanks to her braveness Scheherazade saved thousands of women from a horrible death. And for a reader it may seem strange, why I am referring to some old fairy-tale from ancient times and how does it relate to the present we are facing today? For a lot of women in Poland King Shahryar could be a symbol of abuse, injustice, and violation of a fundamental rights of every woman.
Each of us is different, each of us has her own limits. Since 2016 after first strikes of women in Poland a social movement focused of women’s rights was established. On September 23rd, 2016, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland rejected the civic draft act of the Committee to Save Women, liberalizing abortion law. Two days later polish party ‘Razem’ (Together) set up a demonstration calling ‘#czarnyprotest’ (black protest) in the biggest cities of Poland. Women refused to go to work and had black clothes while participating in the protest. In a result on October 6th Sejm rejected the bill called ‘Stop Abortion’. Moving forward, it would be necessary to say that abortion law in Poland is one of the strictest in the European Union, usually violating the right of a girl to manage her own body. Abortions are only allowed in 3 cases: if it was a case of a rape or incest, when the woman’s life or health is in danger or when the foetus is diagnosed with a severe or fatal anomaly. But even though strikes were transmitted all over the world and the Polish government seemed to agree with people’s resistance, women had to defend their rights in 2017 and in 2020 it happened again. Starting from October 22nd, 2020 after the Constitutional Tribunal issued a judgement, the massive demonstration against polish ruling party and an imposing role of a church in government business began. According to a judgement the possibility of abortion due to a serious or irreversible fatal impairment or an incurable disease that threatens its life is unconstitutional. The protest gathered hundreds of thousand people all over the Poland and its borders. About 100,000 people took part in the Great March in Warsaw on October 30th. There were protests at the seat of the Constitutional Tribunal, at the local offices of PiS, at the house of Jarosław Kaczyński in Żoliborz, at the Sejm, as well as in churches and bishops' residences, as the Polish episcopate supported the decision to tighten the abortion law. These were the largest demonstrations in Poland since the political changes in 1989, and, in the opinion of some commentators, the largest street protests in the history of Poland. People in different countries are facing so much of wrongness still, then when the degree of government’s permissiveness goes too high, people unite in one big organism telling ‘that’s enough’ to its humiliator. That is what happened in Poland. And that is something we should take care about and watch after, always reminding to ourselves that women’s rights, as well as her body, is a temple only she rules.
Khrystyna Hvozdovska 13
Crossword: Once in a Year
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Top scorer of the 1986 FIFA World Cup President-elect of the 1960 United States Presidential Election Alpine folklore creature; associated with Christmas Demography celebrated on May Day Governing organization of the Olympic Games(abbv.) Location of the headquarters of RIMPAC Ninth and important month of the Islamic calendar Flower associated with Remembrance Day Location of the WEF's annual meetings International Aviation and Space Show (Russian, abbv.)
11. Host of St. Petersburg Regional Economic Forum (two words) 12. The holiday in which the world's largest parade is held 13. WWE's largest yearly event 14. Oldest tennis tournament in the world 15. Assumed supreme power in Poland on November 11 16. British quasi-annual music festival 17. 2016 laureate of Nobel Prize in Literature (two words) 18. Yearly award for board games and card games; colloquial 19. Host leader of the first ASEAN Summit 20. Yearly student festival, held in Krakรณw
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