UIC Live OneWorld '08

OneWorld UIC Spring 2008 1

One WorldVol.2 Issue 2 UIC

2 OneWorld UIC Spring 2008

PRESIDENTPriscilla Kunamalla

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & ART DIRECTOR

Adam Kuranishi

EDITORIAL BOARDAnand Sandesara

Emily FinchumFaizan Shakeel

Sujay Shah

Dear OneWorld readers,

I am very honored to present to you the Spring 2008 issue of OneWorld magazine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. As an organization, we bring forth the product of another semester of hard work, which we sincerely hope has fully addressed our overall theme of awareness. In this issue you will not only read about the current political situa-tions and social injustices taking place glob-ally, but you will also read of recent journeys taken by our readers, and of personal reflec-tions on the state of humanity, all of which have impacted our writers and have come to shape the way in which they view our world. From Pakistan, to Kenya, to Costa Rica – the articles you will find in OneWorld this semester are ones that we hope will open the eyes of our readers and challenge them, if only for a moment, to adopt a perspective on the world that is perhaps di!erent from that of their own. It can often be easy to scan through the headlines that tell of conflict, unrest, and poverty, however taking a mo-ment to recognize the humanity behind those headlines can increase our awareness and bring us closer as a global society. "rough a simple awareness of the issues, we can prove that knowledge really is power – the power to ignite an enduring hope and to create positive change.

Priscilla KunamallaPresident

Acknowledgments:UIC Honors CollegeUIC Study Abroad O!ceUIC Undergraduate Student Government (USG)Chicago Organization Fund (COF)

Front cover photography by Lee SpringerBack cover photgraphy by Carf


OneWorld Magazine4 Cause for Compromise: Turmoil in Kenya 20 Who is an Arab? The Confusion of Arab

Identity by Faizan Shakeel by Anand Sandesara

6 Spring Break: Destination, Refugee Camp 22 The Nirmada Dam Project

by Kathleen Tsai by Shital Gandhi

8 Health for Humanity 23 Heifer International by Emily Finchum by Susan Hogan

9 The Mirage of Alternative Energy 24 Iraqi Kurdistan by Omar Siddiqui by Ramanujan Raghavan

10 Israel at Sixty 25 Photovoice: Empowering to Create Change by Eugene Liebenson by Dan Schneider

12 Global Warming: Our Planet, Our Future 26 Benazir Bhutto’s Legacy by Helly Parikh by Kumud Kataria

14 Sexual Assault in Kosovo 28 Man Humanity on the Moon by Caitlin Sullivan by Joshua Isaac Bishay

16 Chicago Through the Eyes of a German Girl by Jasmin Weinert

Photography by Susan Hardman


Cause forCompromise

During January and February, violence rocked the savannah. Tear gas filled the air as shield-bearing police of-ficers fended off mob after mob and rioting and looting became commonplace in the streets. A thick smog was visible, the aftermath of edifices being set aflame.

Turmoil in Kenya

by Faizan Shakeel

Bystanders did their best to stay clear of the crowds that roamed the

streets armed with machetes and guns. Presently, the death toll as a result of

this violence has reached over 800, and over 250,000 people have been displaced

from their homes. The cause of this violence was Kenya’s most recent presiden-

tial election, the major candidates being the incumbent president Mwai Kibaki

and the challenger Raila Odinga. Many observers from the international commu-

nity called the elections dubious and voiced suspicions of rigging. The Kenyan

people, specifically those who supported Raila Odinga and his ODM (Orange

Democratic Party), found the prospect of rigged elections to be intolerable.

Corruption, however, is not an anomaly in Kenya. Rated as the fifteenth most

corrupt country in the world and a place where the average person pays 16

bribes per month, Kenya and its people are somewhat accustomed to malfea-

sance. Knowing this, one would think that the majority of the Kenyan people

would perceive the election rigging as another minor episode in the country’s

marred past - this is not the case. Improvements in Kenya’s politics, economy,

and education in past years are promising and for the first time many of the

country’s citizens are glimpsing a future of prosperity. Kenya’s recent advance-

ments have fostered a generation that will not take corruption lying down.

Mwai Kibaki is a husky man, one who gives off an air of amiability and

smiles often. His rise to power is a tale of moil and dedication to the govern-

ment of Kenya. In 1960 he helped to draft Kenya’s first constitution, and three

Photography by Pan-African News


years later was elected into its parliament.

He served in several government positions,

including the Minister of Finance and

Economic Planning. In December of 2002,

Kibaki won the presidential election in a

victory where he received twice as many

votes as the runner-up.

Raila Odinga’s climb up the

political ranks was a difficult one. After a

teaching career as a professor, he decided to

pursue a political role and was appointed as

a Deputy Director for the Bureau of Stan-

dards. In the early 80s Odinga was active in

the Kenyan Revolutionary Movement, an

underground organization that was attempt-

ing to bring a multi-party system to Kenya

(which had a one-party system at the time).

When Odinga’s connection with the move-

ment was discovered, he was charged with

treason and was incarcerated without trial

for six years. After being released, Odinga

fled the country. His father, Jaramogi

Odinga, continued to push for a multi-party

system in Kenya in his absence. Only when

the dream of a multi-party system was close

to being realized did Odinga find it safe

to return and he was elected as a member

of the parliament. He ran for president in

2002 and 2007, placing third in the former

and “losing” a controversial election in the

latter.

There are a large number of illiter-

ate voters in Kenya. For this reason, “yes”

and “no” votes are often cast with symbols

rather than written words. For the constitu-

tional referendum held in 2005, an orange

symbolized a “no” vote and a banana meant

“yes.” This is where Odinga’s party – the

Orange Democratic Movement – derived

its name from; the ODM was founded by

a group of people who banded together

to vote against the new constitution. Many

politicians, including President Kibaki,

were in favor of the proposed document.

The final draft of the constitution gave

ultimate power to the President and Kibaki

knew that getting it passed would augment

his authority. The Kenyan people, how-

ever, were wary of a constitution that gave

dictator-like powers to the President. The

constitution’s final draft did not pass the

referendum, with 58% of Kenyans choos-

ing the orange over the banana.

The peoples’ rejection of the

proposed constitution came as a shock to

President Kibaki, who acted quickly and

dismissed every member of his cabinet.

Kibaki explained his decision by saying that

he wanted to re-organize the government

to make it “better able to serve the people

of Kenya.” The public’s reaction to the

cabinet’s dismissal was positive, but many

of the political parties that stood behind

Kibaki withdrew their support. The ODM

gained momentum and followers as it held

rallies to call for new presidential elections.

Meanwhile, Kibaki appointed a new cabinet

consisting mostly of his close political al-

lies.

The December 2007 elections,

in which Kibaki faced off against Odinga,

had several irregularities noted by inter-

national observers. The enigmatic way

that votes were counted was an important

issue, but observers could not say with

certainty which side was responsible for

the wrongdoing. The fact that the outcome

was decided by only two hundred thousand

votes added fuel to the fire. When President

Kibaki was declared the winner, the ODM

accused him and his party of fraud. Rioting

and violence ensued. The largest death toll

in one instance thus far occurred when

ODM supporters set fire to a church with

200 people inside; the people were mem-

bers of the Kikuyu ethnic group, the same

group that President Kibaki hails from.

Thirty-five people burned to death.

The ODM called for rally after

rally, and each time they were beaten back

by the police with teargas, shields, and

guns. One hundred twenty-four people

died in the first two days of unrest alone.

Important figures, including internation-

ally renowned athletes and members of

parliament, lost their lives in the violence.

Violence continued in spurts through-

out the months of January and February.

Concurrently, mediation between Kibaki

and Odinga for a power-sharing deal began.

Third parties were called in to lead the me-

diation at different times, including Presi-

dent of the African Union John Kufuor and

former United Nations Secretary General

Kofi Annan.

After weeks of vacillating opinions

and stubborn statements, an agreement was

signed on February 28th. The agreement

is essentially a power-sharing deal between

Odinga and Kibaki. Its terms include the

creation of the position of Prime Min-

ster, which is to be occupied by Odinga.

Odinga’s duties will involve “coordinat-

ing and supervising government affairs.”

Kibaki will retain his post as President, but

with more restricted powers. Whether the

President can over-rule the prime minister,

or vice versa, is still inexplicit.

All told, nearly a thousand people

lost their lives and hundreds of thousands

lost their way of life. The chaos experienced

by the nation was often downplayed by its

leaders. Government spokespersons insisted

that the situation was a “local problem, to

be handled locally.” Many citizens made

accusations of police brutality, declaring

that the police has opened fire on protes-

tors. After the violence subsided, the police

issued a statement in which they claimed

that they did not intend to kill anyone, and

that they tried to avoid firing their weapons.

The people, the police believed, were being

“used by the politicians.”

As stated earlier, corruption is not

a new occurrence in Kenya. The country

has been making changes for the better.

Kenya’s economy has been steadily grow-

ing since the early 1990s. Several reforms

were introduced, including the privatization

of publicly owned companies, removal of

foreign exchange controls, and reduction

of the number of civil servants. To fight

corruption, the government established

the Kenyan Anti-Corruption Authority

(KACA) in 1999. Reforms involving payroll

transparency for government employees

and an improved judicial process have lead

to donations from major world organiza-

tions. Perhaps the most important step that

Kenya took towards advancing itself was

mandating, and providing, free primary edu-

cation for all children. This move garnered

admiration for the Kenyan government by

prominent figures such as former US Presi-

dent Bill Clinton. The country has unveiled

plans in 2008 to start helping students pay

for college tuition as well.

The people of Kenya know that

their country is improving. They have seen

an upward trend in their economy and their

literacy rates. They have seen steps taken by

the government to subdue corruption and

they have benefited from the fruits of these

actions. The violence that took place after

the elections this past December represents

the peoples’ voice, a voice that demands

justice and fairness. The people of Kenya

know that they have hope, to one day live in

a country that is prosperous and educated.

They will do what it takes to hold on to that

vision. The past presidential election may

have once again blemished Kenya’s political

reputation, but its people proved that they

will stand for what is right. If the people

of Kenya had shrugged off the presidential

election results, it is likely that a power-

sharing deal would not have been reached.

Kenya’s citizens defended their right to

have an equitable government, but they did

so at the cost of many lives.

Faizan Shakeel is a junior, BioEngineering major,

and editor for OneWorld Magazine. He hopes to

attend medical school after graduation from UIC.

Photography by Usum Delphini

Spring Break Destination

Refugee Camp

by Kathleen Tsai

Photography by Kathleen Tsai


If you have ever been to Costa

Rica, you will understand how enchanting of

a country it is. It is a tropical lifestyle with

people hawking their wares beachside, happy

hours, and crowds screaming, “¡La pura

vida!” This Costa Rican motto means pure

life, a carefree lifestyle within a safe, demo-

cratic nation. Here, the elections are honest,

the military is abolished, and this resource

rich country hosts a thriving economy.

Costa Rica not only hosts 5% of the world’s

biodiversity, but is also a leader in the Latin

American world. The country is not only

politically progressive, but it is also a leader

in literacy, life expectancy, reduction of in-

fant mortality, birth rate, control of tropical

diseases, and protection of the environment.

Costa Rica may seem like the

perfect Latin paradise, but there is a side of

it that is often forgotten or even intentionally

ignored. Unlike Costa Rica,

the country to the north of

it, Nicaragua has continually

been in political and economic

strife. Ever since the Sand-

inistas Revolution in 1981, a

small, yet significant popula-

tion of Nicaraguans have been

exiled from their own country, having lost

their citizenship and having no home to re-

turn to. By far the largest Nicaraguan refugee

population, 250,000 of them have come to

reside in northern Costa Rica. Though Costa

Ricans allow Nicaraguans to stay, some of

them have come to resent the extra eco-

nomic burden these refugees have placed on

them for the past twenty years. Since offering

them asylum, crime rates in the country

increased, health issues have arose, and

resources have been drained. To many Costa

Ricans, Nicaraguans are bearers of bad news

and are viewed as a societal outcast.

It was in one of these Nicaraguan

refugee camps that I gained a first hand

experience of the situation. The five of us

friends had heard about a medical missions

trip in Costa Rica with the Foundation of

International Medical Relief of Children

(FIMRC). Nicaraguan refugees are not

covered by Costa Rican health care and it is

through free charity–based clinics like the

ones we worked in, that they receive medical

aid.

On our first day at the Alajuelita

clinic, Dayan, the health education coordina-

tor took us on a tour of the communities we

would be serving in. One small three-room

clinic served three communities, El Jasmín

(Jasmine), Los Piños (The Pines), and a far-

ther away El Tercercillo. I remember Dayan

taking up us a large hill overlooking San Jose,

the flourishing capital between the valleys.

He said, “Do you see that barren spot? Start-

ing from there is the Ring of Poverty. Look

at how these metal shanties encircle the city.

How can you not want to help?”

Before walking back to the clinic,

Dayan took us to see the water pipe that

fed the Los Piños community. He explained

how these communities survived on stolen

electricity and water and that the water came

from a rich farm up the mountain. The

farmer used this water for his cows, the cows

would excrete into the water, and it is this

infected water that flows down to the villages

below. The largely uneducated refugee popu-

lation ingests this water without understand-

ing basic sanitation. It was extremely sad

to see, but I understood that this parasite

infested water was the only available source

the refugees had.

Being just a group of pre-med stu-

dents, there wasn’t much we could do back at

the clinic. We spent mornings shadowing the

doctor, Christian Elizondo, entertaining sick

children in the waiting room, and doing odd

jobs around the clinic. Most of the disease

cases brought to the clinic were easily treat-

able. Some of them included diarrhea, head

lice, malnutrition, persistent coughs, gastro-

intestinal parasites, unplanned pregnan-

cies, alcoholism, skin funguses, drug

addiction, and HIV. It was dealing with

such a largely uneducated and uninsured

population that made the task difficult.

I remember coming to the clinic at

seven in the morning and already seeing

a line forming at the door. I recall having

to tie up our hair so we wouldn’t get

head lice and that while organizing medi-

cal records, we noticed that every single

child was being treated for parasites. I

remember Dayan telling us a story about

a baby with an ear infection and how his

mother had not understood the concept of

oral medication. She had shoved the pills

into his ear instead and was shocked when

pus started to form. We had to make sure we

counseled the patient very clearly and never

assumed that they had any prior knowledge

of western medicine.

Diabetes mellitus was a common

disease at the clinic, which was extremely

hard to treat. Diabetes is a chronic disease

for which patients are expected to take

medications everyday and make huge lifestyle

changes. But if patients here do not even

have houses, how are they expected to buy

healthier, diabetic required foods? If the

clinic doesn’t even have a regular supply

of medications, how are we going to treat

them for this chronic disease? There is never

enough money, there are

never enoughmedications,

and there aren’t enough

doctors, but there so many

people needing aid.

The afternoons at the

clinic were spent making

health education presenta-

tions to keep the children occupied. A

forestry area by Los Piños used to be filled

with trash and drug addicts, but when the

Alajuelita project started in 2005, the area

was cleared out, a wooden stage was built,

and it was made into a play area for the kids.

During the day all the adults are at work

and the kids are left to fend for themselves.

Most of our afternoons were spent playing

games with the kids and teaching them about

hygiene, heath and exercise, and passing out

vitamins, medications, and toothbrushes with

our broken Spanish. Our favorite game was

“Salud, salud, germens,” a game we made up

to teach kids to run away from the “germs”.

This trip was an amazing experi-

ence. I got to meet many life-long friends,

was able to see many great acts of humanity,

and I got a sense of inspiration and hope

that could not be obtained from anywhere

else. Situations like these are all over the

world, but it only takes the ambition and

drive of a few kind individuals for great

change to be induced. This mission trip

helped me gain a life perspective that no

adventure tour or five-star resort could ever

provide: yes one person can change the

world. All it takes is belief in a cause and a

will to get there.

Kathleen is a 1st year student at UIC’s School of

Pharmacy where she is pursuing a degree as a Doctor

of Pharmacy.

Since o!ering them asylum, crime rates in the country increased, health issues have arose, and resources have been drained. To most Costa Ricans, Nicaraguans are bearers of bad news and are viewed as a societal outcast.


by

Em

ily F

inch

um

Celebrity efforts have had the amazing effect of drawing attention to emerging infectious diseases and raising funds for their prevention, treatment, and research. The negative aspect of this awareness is that some diseases become popularized as haute couture causes, while others get effectively ignored in the media, as well as in the pocketbooks of philanthropic Americans. Practically everyone that owns a television knows something about the global HIV/AIDS crisis and malaria epidemics. Meanwhile, very little attention, both from the media and from “big-name” non-profit organizations, gets paid to common diseases and pain-ful conditions, the breadth of which spans multiple na-tions. Working to change this disparity is a non-profit organization called Health for Humanity. Health for Humanity is a Chicago-based group that attempts to build community health through grassroots treatment and prevention efforts both domestically and abroad. Their potent combination of humanistic support and traditional medical treatment promotes their vision of humanity as a single com-munity. Many of Health for Humanity’s international programs focus on building a community support structure that facilitates the implementation of ef-fective interventions. By coordinating the volunteer efforts of undergraduates, medical students, physi-cians, and administrators they are able to train health professionals in medically-underserved nations so as to instill sustainable change using a “teach a man to fish” philosophy. In 1992, Health for Humanity joined forces with the University of Tirana Eye Clinic in Albania in order to address the issue of insufficient ophthalmologic care in the area. Through philanthropy and volunteer-ism, Health for Humanity was able to update the medi-cal education of Albanian ophthalmologists, increase residential access to the clinic, and provide newer equipment for more effective treatment. Since the project’s inception, the eye care standards in Albania have increased such that most of the eye care needs of Albanian citizens are being fulfilled by Albanian physicians, instead of American physicians. This is the basic principle underlying all of Health for Humanity’s work; change should not be instilled with constant occupation, but through education of new resident health professionals and increasing the accessibility of resources. Another main component of Health for Human-ity’s work is the attention that they draw to widely-unknown diseases, such as river blindness (oncho-cerciasis). River blindness, a disease named for its transmission via infected blackflies that infest river-beds, is the second leading infectious cause of blindess in the world today. It affects a total of 35 countries. The symptoms of onchocerciasis are extremely painful and often severely debilitating, and yet, the condition is wholly preventable and effectively-treatable. The pro-

gram that Health for Humanity instituted in Cameroon has not only provided educational resources to local citizens, but has supplemented this education with annual health maintenance including the anti-parasite medication, ivermectin. Following major progress in the beginning phases of the Cameroon Blindness Program, Health for Humanity is now in the process of ensuring that the change will be continued by local physicians with the same level of efficiency. Health for Humanity and its smaller, local subsid-iaries have tackled significant domestic issues as well; they currently have projects addressing wellness of senior citizens, overall health promotion, and smoking cessation. The projects are run completely by commu-nity activists under the guidance and support of Health for Humanity. One of the most successful endeavors, denoted by its 11-year lifespan, is the Ohio Wellness Club in Youngstown, Ohio. This initiative helps to inform senior citizens by offering lectures about health changes that accompany the aging process, remedies and treatments for common ailments, and legal con-cerns of the elderly. Another major project in its in-fancy is the Community Health Promotions Program, which aims to bring health education to children in a fun and interesting way. Again, the smaller events take place in secondary schools all across the country and are organized by the community for the community. Topics of discussion in these assembly-like presenta-tions include global health, total wellness, and asthma awareness. In this way, Health for Humanity is not simply a charitable organization, but deeply-rooted in the para-digm of “people helping people.” Their goals are to build a strong community such that it can, with a little help, begin to heal itself. Through smaller organiza-tions on college campuses and with the aid of commu-nity organizers, Health for Humanity is shedding light on issues that have long been trivialized and bringing sharp focus back to humanitarianism in medical treat-ment and education.

Emily is a 3rd year biological sciences/psychology double major. Her goal is to attend medical school and public health school spe-cializing in emerging infectious diseases and social epidemiology.

Hea

lth fo

r Hum

anity

www.healthforhumanity.org

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This year marks the 60th anniversary of Israel’s Declaration of Independence. Many people in the United States know Israel only in the context of con"ict and Palestinian refugees; ask the average American what they know about the country and you probably have them stumped. Israel consists of 20,770 sq km, an area slightly smaller than the state of New Jersey. Yet, it is rare for a program of the nightly international news to elapse without at least one mention of Israel, almost always in the context of the Arab-Israeli con"ict. Many international news viewers know that Israel declared statehood in 1948, and as a result hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs became refugees. #e number of internation-ally recognized Palestinian refugees has grown to 4.4 million because all of the descendents of the original refugees are also considered refugees by the United Nations, regardless of where in the world they may live, a unique status seldom given to other refugees . #ere is more to Israel than the refugees and the con-"ict, but few nightly news watchers know the events that preceded the displacement of those refugees, and even fewer know about the people of Israel and the country’s extremely rich cultural, ethnic, and reli-gious diversity.

In #e Beginning On November 29, 1947 the United Nations (UN) voted to partition Palestine, based on borders that were determined based on population densities of Arabs and Jews. #e proposed Arab State included what is west of the Golan Heights, and expanded areas of the West Bank and Gaza. #e new Jewish state would consist of the Golan Heights, a thin strip of coastland from Haifa just south of Tel Aviv, and the Negev Desert, which had few people either Jewish or Arab, but the UN decided to allocate it to the Jews because it had to go somewhere. #e incipient Jewish state consisted of 60% desert and was noncontigu-ous . #e Zionist leaders accepted, because this was the $rst chance in nearly 2000 years for the Jewish people to have a sovereign nation, and they feared if they rejected the partition plan, it could also be the last. Considering that millions of European Jews were made homeless because of the Holocaust, they felt it was an o!er they could not refuse. #e Arab world rejected the partition plan and began to attack Jewish settlements on the borders. Under the leadership of the country’s $rst Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, Israel declared in-dependence on May 14, 1948 and immediately 5 armies (Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq) amassed on the incipient state’s borders. #e Palestinian leadership, lead by the Grand Mu%i, Haj Amin al-Hus-seini ordered the Palestinians to leave their homes for their own safety and assured them they would return a%er Israel was defeated. Many of

the Palestinians went to the surrounding Arab countries, mainly Jor-dan, as well as the West Bank and Gaza strip. #ough the new Jewish state was outnumbered and under equipped it survived the onslaught and expanded its territory beyond the partition plan. Israel was not the only state to gain land from the 1948 War; Jordan and Egypt con-quered the West Bank and Gaza respectively. Today, Israel’s population is much more than its formative years, both in terms of numbers and demographics. In 60 years Israel has changed in its character and population dramatically. If one were to pose the question of “who are the Israelis?” the answer would be extremely complex. Israel is home to over seven million residents, over ninety distinct ethnic groups, almost twenty di!erent religious groups, and a population that is forty percent foreign-born. To write about every sector of Israeli society is beyond the scope of this article, rather we will explore three of the most visible and distinctive groups in the country. #e Arab-Israelis, the Soviet Jews, and the Mizrachim are three populations that arrived in the modern state of Israel by di!erent means, and their stories are continuing to unfold through the decades and generations of their presence in the country. #ere are about 1.4 million Arab-Israelis, 950,000 Jewish immigrants and descendants from the former Soviet Union, and nearly 400,000 Mizrachim who are Jewish descendants from Arab countries and Iran..

Israel at Sixty by Eugene Liebenson

10 Photography: http://!ickr.com/photos/pensiero

#e Israeli-Arabs Israel’s declaration of independence invited Arab inhabitants to “participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due represen-tation in all its provisional and permanent institutions” . Arabic is an o&cial language of Israel. All public signs, such as road signs, are in both Hebrew and Arabic. Almost all of the Arab-Israelis were descendants of the inhabitants of the land prior to Israel’s o&cial statehood . #e vast majority of Arab-Israe-lis are Sunni Muslims, as well as Christians of various denominations, Bedouins, and Druze (not considered Arabs, though their primary language is Arabic). Arab-Israelis are Israeli citizens with the same rights as Jew-ish Citizens. Israeli Arabs vote in elections, govern their own municipalities and religious functions, maintain political parties in the Knesset (Israeli parliament), and are exempt from mandatory service in the armed forces. Druze, Bedouins, and Circassian (non-Arab Muslims) men are not exempt from service in the armed forces due to the request of the leaders of their communities. Since the founding of the State of Israel the Israeli-Arabs have made tremendous strides forward. From 1961-1996 the median of number of years spent in school for Arab-Israelis rose from 1.2 to 10.4 years, infant mortality rates dropped precipitously (Mus-lims from 46.4 deaths per 1,000 live births to 10, Christians from 42.1 to 6.7, and Druze from 50.4 to 8.9). #ese numbers are even more striking considering the much bleaker situation for Arabs in the countries neigh-boring Israel. #ese statistics are not meant to suggest that there is no gap between the Israeli mainstream and Arab-Israelis. Arabs, like other minorities in Israel and elsewhere, live under lower economic and developmen-tal levels. #e average Arab family household is larger than the Jewish, which renders fewer providers per dependents. Arab women have a lower presence in the workforce than Jewish women, and Arab communities tend to be smaller with less economic infrastructure. In October of 2000, the Israeli government designated resources to improve all sectors of Arab-Israeli communities, including schools, clinics, dental centers, and roads; spending was the equivalent of one billion US dollars between 2001-2004.

#e Soviet Jews A%er the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the door opened for hun-dreds of thousands of people that desired to emigrate. In the former Soviet Union, the government disrupted traditional Jewish life. Synagogues existed is scarce numbers and

under close government supervision. Jewish education was practically stamped out. Many of the Soviet Jews who immigrated to Israel came with their distinct Russian cultural identity and in appreciable numbers with non-Jewish spouses. Tens of thousands of So-viet non-Jews immigrated to Israel with their Jewish family members . #e in"ux of Soviet immigrants has had a profound impact on the country- an impact which is heard and seen on the street by the buzzing of Russian language, the sights and smells of Russian butcher shops, and the massive expansion of the ballet and orchestra. Most of the Soviet immigrants are secular Jews. Many of them came to Israel with excel-lent educations trained as doctors and engi-neers. Partially for that reason, Israel has more scientists per capita than any other developed country in the world: 140 scientists and 135 engineers for every 10,000 employed people . Russian immigrants are still in the process of assimilating to life in Israel and many have found the task daunting. Many are nostalgic for their old country and $nd life in the Middle East strange and uncultured. Overall, however, the story of Soviet immi-gration to Israel is positive. Many of the Rus-sian-Israelis are $nding a balance between the ways of life they were used to in the former Soviet Union and the expectations in their new country. More Russian-Israeli teenagers are taking Russian as their foreign language in high school and a greater number of their parents are acquiring Hebrew.

#e Mizrachim #e in"uence of the Mizrachim can be heard in the night clubs of Tel-Aviv, where DJs spin pop beats laced over shrieking Yemenite vocals, and it can be tasted in the Malawach bread that is fried fresh and served with chopped tomatoes in the Ja!a bazaars. #e Mizrachim are much less recent arrivals to Israel than the Soviets. #ey have a diverse history but are largely integrated into Israeli society. In 1945, more than 870,000 Jews were dispersed over almost all 22 of the Arab countries and Iran, many of their communi-ties dating back as far as 2,500 years . Com-pared to the Jews of Europe, the Mizrachim, or the Jews from the Arab countries and Iran faced little persecution. However, they still lived under the status of dhimmi, a tolerated religious minority subject to special taxes and restricted from owning property. A%er the establishment of the state of Israel, many Arab governments took their frustration out on their indigenous Jewish population, either expelling them or making life so unbearable that they had little recourse but to immigrate to Israel. In e!ect, an unspoken population

exchange took place between Israel and the Arab countries, but the Jewish refugees were absorbed into Israeli society while the Arab States did not absorb the Palestinian refugees and many remain in refugee camps until this day . More than 600,000 Mizrachim immi-grated to Israel and many others to Western Europe with no compensation by the Arab governments who con$scated their homes and possessions . Most of the Mizrachim came from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. #e Jews who had lived in the Middle East since biblical times were joined by many of their brethren who had "ed Spain during the inquisition in 1492; this is true particularly in Syria. Many of Syria’s Jews supported both the emerging Arab Nationalism and Zion-ism in the mid-1940s. #ey believed that the two ideologies could be reconciled and that friendship could emerge between the incipi-ent Jewish state and the Arab countries. A%er Syria gained independence from France in 1946, anti-Jewish riots occurred in Aleppo. Of the 30,000 Jews that lived in Syria in 1943 almost all have gone to Israel. #e vast major-ity of Moroccan Jews immigrated to Israel in 1963 . In 1949, Yemen agreed to let 45,000 of the country’s 46,000 Jews leave. In a dramatic non-stop operation of 380 "ights code-named Operation “Magic Carpet”, Israel "ew the Jews of Yemen “home” to Israel. Before the 1990s and the massive wave of Russian immigration, Mizrachim comprised over 70% of the Jewish population of Israel; today, they account for about half .

Conclusion #e next time you are watching the international news and there is a story about the con"ict, remember that there are people in Israel with lives like us anywhere else and stories that are as unique as can be imagined. A%er 60 years of statehood there is so much more to Israel than an ongoing con"ict. People from every corner of the world have come to Israel and have added something new to the culture and the society. With its impressive diversity and no clear single ethnic majority all con$ned to a space of 20,770 sq km, Israel is one of the most impressive ethnographic experiments in the world. Arab-Israelis, Russians, and Mizrachim; three of the most distinctly visible sectors of Israeli society, have made tremendous contributions and strides forward since their beginnings in the State of Israel.

Eugene is an anthropology major at UIC. Now a senior, he plans to enter graduate school to study international relations.

11


Imagine a world where snow and ice did not ex-ist. Considering the harsh winter storms experienced by the United States Midwest and Northeast regions recently, a planet with no blizzards would be favorable. Without the win-ter weather patterns, however, the world would be an ecologi-cally draconian environment, threatening human existence. !e world may face these dire consequences if global warming persists. Global warming is the increase in the average tem-perature of the Earth’s near surface air and oceans which has grown into a continual trend for decades. !e global average temperature near the Earth’s surface rose about 0.74 C in the past hundred years. !e rise in temperature has occurred due to the greenhouse gas e"ect. !e greenhouse gas e"ect is a natural phenomenon that helps regulate Earth’s temperature. Greenhouse gases act like an insulating blanket and trap solar energy that would otherwise escape into space. Without the greenhouse e"ect, temperatures would be about 60 F lower and life as we know it would not be possible. In recent years, however, the greenhouse e"ect has been enhanced mostly due to burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. !e United States is the largest consumer of fossil fuels and d eforestation. !e Kyoto Protocol was a proposal to reduce greenhouse gases that cause climate change. !e United States refuse to sign the pro-tocol because their lifestyle would be the most a"ected. Over-all, total U.S. emissions have increased by 16.3% from 1990 to 2005. !e greenhouse gases are expected to continue rising by about 1% per year if the current consumption trends continue. !e Earth is already feeling the e"ects of climate change and these e"ects will continue to amplify until something is done about this issue. One of the main causes of global warming is the greenhouse gas e"ect. Some greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and water occur naturally, whereas some greenhouse gases such as choloro#uorocarbons are produced only through

human activity. !e “greenhouse e"ect” is the warming that happens when certain gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap heat. !e more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the more heat gets trapped. !e Earth receives most of its energy from the Sun in the form of radiation. Most of the energy is in visible wavelengths and infrared wavelengths. 30% of the incoming solar radiation is re#ected back and 70% of the radiation is absorbed warming the land, atmosphere and oceans. !is greenhouse gas keeps the Earth’s surface temperature near 60 C and livable. !rough the burning of fossil fuels and natural gas, humans are enhancing the greenhouse e"ect causing the levels of greenhouse gases to rise which have been fairly constant over the past few thousand years. Occasionally, other factors such as volcanic eruptions or solar variation change the temperature near the Earth’s surface but the changes that have occurred in recent decades are unprecedented. Polar ice caps are expected to melt and sea levels have risen about 4.8-8.8 inches during the last century. Just last weekend a huge sheet in the Antarctic measuring approximately 160 square miles broke o" proving the real threat of global warming. !e greenhouse e"ect is a cause for concern because it is rapidly changing the climate and if the trend continues it will have a huge impact on the climate near the Earth’s atmo-sphere. !e e"ects of this climate change are many and varied. Fiercer hurricanes will be more likely because global warm-ing heats the oceans and hurricanes derive their power from warm waters. Do we really want another Hurricane Katrina or worse? At least 1836 people died in Hurricane Katrina and it has caused an estimated $82.1 billion dollars in damage. Hot, dry conditions are perfect for sparking wild$res. Scien-tist are trying to trace the link between the warmer climate and the recent increase in wild$res. Higher temperatures will also cause more droughts because water will be evaporating faster. !e dried out soil will increase water shortages and put livestock and crops at risk. More rainfalls and #oods like

Our Planet, Our Future

12 Photography by Ben Heine Photography by Slow Loris

Our Planet, Our Futurethe one in New Orleans in 2005 are also possible. Scientists also speculate that “killer” heat waves will be more likely. Arctic ice is also rapidly declining and the region may have its $rst completely ice-free summer by the year 2040. Glaciers and mountain snow is also rapidly melting. For example, Montana’s glacier national park had 150 glaciers in 1910 and that number has now been reduced to 27. We need to take immediate action if we are going to o"set our carbon footprint on the Earth. “Cap and Trade” is right now the most e"ective way to reduce global warming emissions. !is concept is based on the 1990 Clean Air Act. !ere are many congressional bills being introduced to combat global warming. !e Low Carbon Economy Act of 2007 was introduced by Senators Je" Bingaman and Arlen Spector, which will place an emissions cap by 2012 and cut GHG emissions to 0% by 2020 and -15% by 2030. Sources covered by this act include coal facilities, petroleum re$neries, natural gas processors etc. !e Global Warming Reduction Act introduced by Senators John Kerry and Olympia Snowe, which also puts an emission cap by the year 2012 and cut GHG emissions by 15% by 2020 and 67% by 2050. Also urges people to use more fuel-e%cient cars such as hybrids and reduce fossil fuel usage. !e government is tak-ing steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but everyone has to put in an e"ort to reduce GHG emissions. People do not have to wait for the government to take actions. Small changes in our lifestyles can also help reduce GHG emissions. Some of the changes that people can make include taking showers instead of baths, using energy e%cient bulbs, using public transportation or car pooling. !e list continues and even small changes such as these can reduce emissions if people are willing to do them. We should be concerned about the fate of this planet that is our home and should make sure that its beauty is not destroyed. Most importantly, we should make sure it continues to stay our home.

Helly is a freshman at UIC, majoring in Neuroscience, and planning on

pursuing a career in healthcare.

10 facts about Global Warming45%: Increase in world’s solar generating capacity in 2005.

2: Rank of China as global producer of solar cells, behind Japan (U.S. ranks 4th).

$1.5 billion: Amount US government spends a year on renewable energy research.

$1 billion: ExxonMobil’s daily revenue.

$2 billion: Amount GE Energy Financial Services invested in wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy in 2007.

$200 billion: Amount China has committed to invest in renewable energy sources over the next 15 years.

0.74%: Projected cost of smart cap-and-trade climate policy on US economic output in 2030.

100%: Projected growth of the US economy by 2030.

53: Number of senators supporting cap and trade legislation.

0: Number of bills passed by Congress to cap and reduce America’s global warming pollution.

13Photography: http://!ickr.com/photos/sorby

by Helly Parikh

Photography: http://!ickr.com/photos/focusman5

Sexual Assault in Kosovoby Caitlin Sullivan

14

Starting during the NATO bombing campaign, Serbian and Yugoslavian army and legal o&cers have committed war acts of rape against Kosovar Albanian women. Seeming to be an act of terror, these o&cials raped, executed, robbed, and burned the abandoned towns of the Albanian civilians they drove out of the Serbia at gunpoint. #ese acts of sexual violence resulted in many women living in constant public denial about these incidences, as sexual violation is the utmost humiliating and disgraceful thing that can happen to a Muslim woman. Kosovar Albanian, Muslim women say they would rather die than try to live a life a%er rape. Regardless, rape victims have slowly begun coming forward to seek help dealing with their past while some try to raise and love a child that symbolizes the injustices and devastation Kosovo and its people have felt under the Serbian-forced Kosovar Albanian exile.

15OneWorld UIC Spring 2008

To provide historical-political context, in 1989 Serbia suspended the autonomy guaranteed to Kosovo in Serbia’s 1974 constitution and diminished Kosovo’s human rights. Further, in 1999, Serbia dissolved Kosovo’s govern-ment, and at this time, Belgrade, Serbia took complete executive control over Kosovo. Under Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's control of the Serbian government, Serbia was responsible for destroying much of Bosnia and parts of Croatia, killing hundreds of thousands of people in these nations. In response, NATO launched an air strike on Serbian military targets in Serbia, Montene-gro, and Kosovo, aiming to wound and disband Milosevic’s regime. Serbia retaliated by continuing it’s ethnic cleans-ing, and drove Kosovar Albanians out of Kosovo. Hun-dreds of thousands were forced into Albania, Mecedonia, and Montenegro as Paramilitary forces descended upon Kosovo, burning towns and executing civilians. As of April 20, 1999, over a half million refugees have been forced out of Kosovo. In greater detail, while burning towns, executing ci-vilians, and robbing the "eeing Kosovar Albanians, Serbian Paramilitary o&cials also committed rape o!ences against Kosovar Albanian women. #e Human Rights Watch reports that there have been 96 documented cases of rape by Serbian and Yugoslav forces against Kosovar Albanian women surrounding the 1999 NATO bombing campaign. However they believe that this $gure does not represent the entire number of o!ences and that many more incidences of rape have gone unreported. In Bosnia, the Serbian army raped tens of thousands of women and set up Bosnian ''rape camps'' where mostly Muslim women were held captive for days. In these Bosnian rape camps, women were repeat-edly assaulted and o%en killed a%erward. BOES.org, a civil rights advocacy, writes that Serbian-Albanian border towns in particular were used as rape posts by the Serbian army. Here Serbian Paramilitaries drove the towns clear, then $led Kosovar civilians through, separating women and teen-aged daughters from their families to rape the females - sometimes raping them there in front of their families. As rape is the highest form of humiliation, the public rapes were no doubt hardest on Kosovar families #ese rape camps in Kosovo towns remain discour-aged rumors among even victims, because of the shame it brings the women and their families. Even within families, members sometimes refuse to admit to one another that sexual assault took place, let alone seek help dealing with this trauma. To exemplify Muslim families’ wishes to keep these incidences hushed, I introduce Valentina Gjuraj, 24 and a journalist in the western city of Djakovica, (where

one of the worst massacres of the Serbian terror campaign occurred) and her husband Behan. #eir story was fea-tured in a New York Times article. Valentina, married four months, says she was taken from their small southern village by Serbian forces, held for a day in the local police station, beaten, then threatened with death. But she was not, she said, raped. Her husband, Behan #aqi, thinks di!erently. “‘I am 100 percent certain that they raped her,’ said Mr. #aqi, 34, a farmer imprisoned by the Serbs for supplying weapons to the Kosovo Liberation Army, the Albanian guerrillas who fought Serbian forces. ‘I know that when women get in their hands, there is no chance [for that woman] to escape [without being raped].’” Mr. #aqi says his wife denies the rape because “‘she doesn't dare tell that kind of story.’ If she admitted it to him, he said, ‘I would ask for a divorce -- even if I had twenty children.” As his wife listened, silent and shamefaced, in a corner of their empty home, looted of all furniture and possessions by the Serbs, Mr. #aqi added: ‘I don't hate her, but the story is before my eyes. I feel very cold toward her.’ … ‘Kissing her’, he said, ‘is like kissing a dead body.’” (NY-Times). It is hard for these Kosovar families a!ected by the Serb’s war tactic of rape, to recover. It is expected that it will take some time for the Kosovo people to become more conscious of their civil rights in order to accept the reality of what happened to their Kosovar Albanian women. “…Just as in Bosnia, where a post-Communist urban feminist movement encour-aged rape victims to speak, investigators expect that more testimony from women will come to light during the next several months, a%er one million refugees settle back home and bury their dead” writes the New York Times. It is expected that as time passes and people return home from refugee camps that the number of rape victims will climb as more and more seek help dealing with the resulting emo-tional trauma. But for now, “a horri$c social stigma accom-panies rape in Kosovo, bringing lifelong shame to a woman and her family” (NYTimes). I hope that these women gain social freedom with their independence as a nation, and that they seek help overcoming the shattering events that are estranging these women from their families.

Caitlin is a senior at UIC with a major in secondary math-ematics education. A!er graduation, she hopes to obtain a job teaching high school mathematics.

Photography: http://!ickr.com/photos/agroni/

Photographed and authored by Jasmin Weinert

I took up photography as a hobby for the same reasons I play music and write poetry. Only occasionally do I partake in this amusement. I don’t see myself as an artist by any means. #ese visual, acoustic, and linguistic devices allow for me to let out emotions and thoughts, and transform it into something subsumable. I have an the opportunity to handle problems others wouldn’t fully understand. When taking photographs, I mostly focused on nature motifs, including the human being, o%en as a substitute. #e im-ages re"ect my expression of nature which is especially important to me as it means relaxing, $nding back to me, and my inner wishes and needs. Taking those pictures helps me to experience the silence of nature, its pure essence, and the variety of colors, as well as shapes and textures in a much more intense way. #ese images also represent a little piece of home.

Chicago through the Eyes of a German Girl

Photographed and authored by Jasmin Weinert

When I came to Chicago, I had an issue with its lack of a natural and rural environment. It was difficult for me to con-nect with nature. I am not very fond of the modern architecture and I feel more comfortable with smaller cities and old-fashion buildings. I prefer a little disorder and winding streets and hills, as opposed to 90 degree angled streets. Indeed, the roads are conveniently made, yet very boring and bland for my eyes. At first, the perfectionism and order of the city was painful. There were no interesting corners that varied from street to street, nor were there wild growing plants. Nature did not seem to have a change to grow amidst Urbanization.

17

In an attempt to discover the tiniest bit of natural elements, I ventured near the lake shore and Millennium Park. I viewed myself as an outsider because I could not identify with my new surroundings. The lack of people in the photos is a reflection of my loneliness, homesickness, missing friends and family from home, and remaining disconnected from Chicagoans.

Despite my loneliness, I was able to discover common elements with water and reflection. I identified with the colorful butterfly and its contrast with the grey, big city in the background. From my perspective, Chicago was not a tourist attraction or an admiring enormous metropolis. My experience was of an individual searching for similarities that would remind me of home.

18

My view would change, over time, as I discovered Chicago’s unique beauty and style. Using a special camera, the Holga, I capture images that represent the heart of Chicago. Using my hobby as a tool for connecting with nature and my surroundings, I no longer perceive myself as a stranger.

19

Foreign to the Middle-Eastern and North African cul-ture, I walked into my sociology class on Arab society at the American University in Cairo with high expectations. As one of just a few Americans in the class during my time studying abroad in Egypt, I learned a great deal and shattered many of my own misconceptions about what is referred to as the Arab World. The very "rst day, my e#ervescent professor walked to the front of the room and asked, “So how many of you con-sider yourselves Arab? Raise your hands.” Not a single hand in the class of twenty-"ve was raised, and I was stunned. But, for the most part, the students were Arabic-speaking Egyptian Muslims, so why didn’t they consider themselves Arab? This conversation extended a few class sessions, and I learned more than I ever thought I would. The media sometimes uses the term Arab inter-

changeably with national or regional identities in the Middle East and North Africa, as is seen with constant mention of the Arab-Israeli con!ict. Often, Arab is used in a manner to indi-cate a follower of Islam from this particular region. However, attaching a religious de"nition to the term is misrepresenta-tive and misleading. The area traditionally identi"ed as Arab is home to a diversity of religions and religious traditions. Egypt is home to a strong Coptic Christian community and Lebanon is nearly half Christian, the majority of whom are Maronites. Arabic-speaking Jews exist, as do various sects of Islam that vary greatly from what is traditionally thought of as Islam, such as the Su"s. Despite the fact that the religious factor is most commonly associated with the term Arab, the majority of the world’s Muslims do not even inhabit the so-called Arab world, as the largest concentrations of Muslims

by Anand Sandesara

Who is an Arab? The Confusion of Arab Identity

Photography by Anand SandesaraOneWorld UIC Spring 200820


are found in South and Southeast Asia. Some try to racially distinguish Arabs, but there are Arabic speakers in North Africa and the Middle East who are black, white, and every shade in between. When attempting to de"ne an Arab, scholars have tried to approach the term from a genealogical, linguistic, or political perspective. By taking a genealogical perspective, Arab is de"ned as someone who can trace their ancestry back to the original inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula. With such a de"nition, most of those that even identify them-selves as Arabs presently would be excluded. There is no such thing as a “pure Arab” at this point when taking into account the centuries of migration and mixing that have taken place in the Middle East and beyond. It is thought that the only remaining “pure Arabs” remain in southern Yemen. Some have chosen to de"ne an Arab as the individu-al who speaks Arabic as his or her "rst language. This de"ni-tion is much more encompassing for the North African and Middle Eastern region, but problems still emerge. The "rst problem arises from the fact that there are large segments of the region that do not speak Arabic as their "rst language. For example, many Algerians speak French as their "rst language, and therefore speak French better than they do Arabic. At the same time, there is much diversity even among those that speak Arabic, seeing that it exhibits the phenom-enon of diglossia. This means that the language consists of two levels, one of which is classical and the other is spoken. Modern Standard Arabic, derived from the classical Qur’anic Arabic, is the unifying marker across the Arabic-speaking world for use mainly in printed material, such as newspapers and magazines. The spoken form, however, varies tremen-dously. Moroccan Arabic, for example, integrates Spanish and French elements into its conversational form. A speaker of Iraqi Arabic would have di$culty understanding a Tunisian speaker of Arabic, and both dialects would di#er respectively from Gulf Arabic or Egyptian Arabic. Therefore, language is a unifying factor, but loosely so. The third way to approach the de"nition has been to approach it through a political lens. This perspective espous-es that if an individual is a citizen of a country where Arabic is an o$cial language or a member of the Arab League, they are to be considered Arab. This de"nition would include

the greatest amount of individuals, but there are still some problems. Berbers, Kurds, and Somalis would be accepted, but they do not speak Arabic. Somalia and Djibouti are members of the Arab League, but they are not traditionally Arabic-speaking nations. Also, by limiting the de"nition so, the entire Arab diaspora that has moved out of Africa and the Middle East no longer would qualify as Arabs seeing as they are citizens of di#erent countries. These explanations were all fascinating at the schol-arly level, but I also wanted to know how locals felt. When I saw that not one Egyptian had raised their hand, I was deter-mined to "nd out more. My friends told me that they never identi"ed as Arab because it was a term that forcibly tried to umbrella hundreds of millions of people together when Egyptians were simply proud to self-identify as Egyptian and nothing else. One Egyptian regarded the term as slightly derogatory, especially with the Western media portrayal of the term and thus the negative Western preconceptions that were associated with it. Others used the term Arab solely when speaking about individuals hailing from the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf region. And still, others referred to the Bedouins and other tribal nomads as Arabs, which in actual-ity is what the word A’rab means. Those that claim that Arabs are uni"ed by a common culture also face the argument that Arab culture is analogous to a mosaic consisting of di#erent ethnic and religious groups that never fuse together to form a common culture but simply exist side-by-side. The term itself gained use concurrently with the rise of Pan-Arabism under Gamel Abdel Nasser, Egypt’s second president, but while the idea of Pan-Arabism has lost popularity, the term has remained. The confusion with Arab identity essentially underlines the problem of categorizing groups of people. The use of a single term always produces con!ict (not necessarily violent) because outsiders have cho-sen how to identify individuals who may self-identify di#er-ently, whether it is nationally, religiously, racially, or culturally. Anand Sandesara is a junior majoring in History with minors in Sociology and French. He hopes to become a physician involved in international urban public health and policy.

21

OneWorld UIC Spring 200822

by Shital Gandhi

India has gone from being a poverty-stricken country to one of the

leading industrial nations in the world. Going back today after a long period

of time, it would seem as if one has entered a whole new world. India has

gone from having dirty roads and little money to having more efficient cars

and enough funding to industrialize its infrastructure. Unfortunately, not

all of this money goes to the people in need; rather to beautifying its land

and often causing people to lose their homes. Since the 1940’s, the Indian

government has been working on the Narmada Dam Project, known as a

plan to build a series of dams on the Narmada River, in order to irrigate

farmland and transport water to parts of India such as Kutch and Saurashtra

in Gujarat. The Nirmada River is located in the state of Madhya Pradesh

and flows into the Gulf of Kambat between Hindustan and the Deccan

Plateau. As helpful as this idea may seem, the Project is causing people to be

displaced from their homes and forced to live in flooded acres of farmland.

In the 1940’s, India’s prime minister at the time, Jawaharlal Nehru,

planned the Narmada Dam Project, however it was not carried out until

1979. The idea was to build 3,000 small dams, 135 medium dams, and 30

large dams, the biggest being the Sardar Sarovar which has a height of 136.5

meters. Its main purpose is to irrigate 18,000 acres of land in drought-prone

areas such as Kutch and Saurashstra and to increase hydroelectricity. Other

characteristics of the Narmada Dams include the ability to send drinking

water to 8,215 villages and 135 cities in the state of Gujarat, a flood capac-

ity of 5.7 cubic kilometers, protection against desertification, flood control

reaching 300 squared kilometers, and the potential to develop communica-

tion systems. The building of these dams is also said to increase agricultural

production, domestic water supply, and power generation.

Not everyone is happy with the benefits that come with the

Narmada Dams. An organization known as the NBA, or Narmada Bachao

Andolan, consists of farmers and other human rights activists in opposition

of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. One can not build without destroying, and the

NBA activists have opposed the destruction of trees within the borders of

the Narmada River, as they would be drowned in the dam’s water. Though

this is still an issue, the bigger problem is the effect that the project has on

the lives of the poor who have no place else to go. As the waters rise, the

hutments are flooded, and the citizens find themselves left with absolutely

nothing. The government does not seem to find this to be a huge problem,

because they gave no notice to those living near the river. It was realized

that, though the World Bank agreed to finance the Project, they had not

taken the aftermath into consideration, and therefore the World Bank later

withdrew their financial assistance. The NBA protested against the Sardar

The Nirmada Dam Project

A Problematic Solution

Photography by Ashit Parikh

Photography by Gunnar Geir

Sarovar Dam through hunger strikes, mass media publicities, and

by obtaining support from celebrities. One of the organization’s

spokespersons, Medha Patkar, went on a twenty-two day hunger

strike which forced the Indian government to withdraw from its

loan agreement with the World Bank. This is because they

wanted to give up the loan before the World Bank itself took it away

after seeing that India was not complying with its policies of reduc-

ing poverty and achieving supportable development.

Another reason that the NBA protests to the Narmada

Dam Project is that they feel that it is a waste of money since 10%

of India’s agricultural products are lost to rodents. Also, as the gov-

ernment claims that the dams will help distribute electricity, 70% of

households still do not have any, while the poor are in greater need

of food and shelter. 114,000 people from 162 villages have been

displaced with no prior notice as they were chased out by floods and

rats. These people went from being farmers to laborers, some work-

ing as servants in the officers’ bungalows. The rising of the waters

is also causing diseases such as malaria and diarrhea and as well as

sickness among animals and livestock because they are stranded in

the mud. After one year of resettlement 38 children died due to

malnutrition in a rehabilitation site. These displaced families are

forced to start all over again and must learn new ways of living. This

includes learning a new regional language as well as simply how to

use western-style bathrooms.

After a hearing of the Supreme Court of India, The

Narmada Bachao Andolan seems to be getting its way. Today, the

project is still an issue, although the ruling determined to have the

project stopped until the rehabilitation process is complete. The

government has not been completely successful at this and is still

contemplating raising the heights of the dams. It has been argued

that the dams can help produce more food for India’s growing

population, but the long process is causing hardship among families

all across the region, and the people still feel that the government is

not acting on its ability to help its people.

Shital is a second year student as UIC. She is majoring in Mathematics and

French and is exploring possible careers in either Optometry or in teaching.

It’s about creating change for the better. In the neighborhood that was once Chicago’s stockyard district, you will now $nd an urban farm of fruits and vegetables. #is project, called “Growing Home,” is an initiative of Heifer International, an organization dedicated to ending world hunger and poverty. Here in Chicago, they provide an opportunity for the formerly homeless to manage this farm, where they grow produce for local restaurants and farmers’ markets. #e farm provides new meaning to the lives of those who work on it, not only improving their health, but granting the workers $nancial stability as well. #is is one of the newer endeavors of an organization that began in 1944, when the $rst shipment of seventeen young cows, or heifers, le% Pennsylvania for Puerto Rico, on their way to families whose children had never even tasted milk, according to their website, www.heifer.org. #ey de$ne themselves in their bi-monthly publication, World Ark, as “a global nonpro$t working with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the Earth.” In the time since those $rst seventeen heifers were delivered to families in need, more than 8.5 million families have been positively impacted by Heifer International, in more than 125 coun-tries around the globe. Heifer works to provide struggling families with livestock and training in environmentally sound agriculture, helping people move towards greater self-reliance. #ese gi%s come entirely through donations. Whether on their website, through their catalogue, or in insert to the World Ark magazine, people throughout the world can share what they have, by paying for heifers, llamas, chickens, honeybees, or other livestock animals. Heifer also encourages thoughtful gi%-giving, such as donating a "ock of geese in your mom’s name, instead of buying her another sweater for her birthday.

And, unlike that sweater, which will eventually $nd a permanent home in the back of the closet, this gi% will keep on giving. Heifer International has an important compo-nent to its program called “passing on the gi%.” Every family that receives an animal through Heifer International agrees to pass on one or more of its o!spring to another family in need, thereby building ties between di!erent families and communities, as well as increasing the impact of the initial gi% exponentially. An example of Heifer’s recent success takes place in Rwanda, with the story of Agnes Uwanyiligira, who lost twenty-$ve members of her family in the devastating con"icts between the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups. She also lost her entire farm and all of her livestock. However, through a contribution through Heifer International, which started with just one cow, Agnes now has milk to feed her children and can derive an income from the sale of extra milk, which she puts towards food, medicine, and clothing. Heifer International is supported by Bill Gates, Walter Cronkite, Bill Clinton, and other thoughtful people throughout the world. In 2004, the organization was awarded the world's largest humanitarian award, the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize. While their main o&ce is located in Arkansas, they also have a local o&ce at 311 N. Aberdeen St., Chicago. Further information can be found at their website, www.heifer.org.

Susan Hogan is a junior, with a major in English and a minor in Russian. She aspires to be a published poet and to be "u-ent in multiple languages. Susan is also Co-Editor-in-Chief of UIC’s Red Shoes Review.

/*$+8&+8!,*)!=2%74>!"+)!/20!$,!$!?&#)!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 7'!S0)#4!"/5#4!

23http://www.heifer.org/


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The recent intervention of Turkey into Northern Iraq caught many people by surprise. The event has highlighted a number of challenges that the United States faces in the foreign policy arena with both an international and domestic component. In the case of the former, a number of issues can be raised regarding the autonomy of Northern Iraq, the question of Kurdish sovereignty, and the current geopolitical situation that the United States "nds itself in. The autonomy of Iraqi Kurdistan has been often cited as a model for the central government of Iraq. Self-governing and with low levels of violence and increas-ing levels of socio-economic stability, Northern Iraq has been highlighted by analysts on all sides of the political spectrum as a positive sign of progress. There are internal issues that have arisen, of course, regarding the potential secession of the region from the country. The deep in-volvement of Kurdish leaders (for example Jalal Talabani, the current president of Iraq as well as the secretary gen-eral of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan), however, seems to suggest that this can be avoided. What is more pressing is the Turkish invasion’s potential impact on the stability of Northern Iraq. It should be noted that Turkey has been present in Northern Iraq for many years in order to combat what it recognizes as terrorist elements who seek refuge in Kurdistan. This latest invasion, on the other hand, seems to have involved an intrusion into the civilian regions of Northern Kurdistan, rather than the mountainous regions previously used by the Kurdistan Workers Party (Turkey’s objective). This highlights a number of problems for the United States that it must somehow resolve. The primary di$culty that the United States faces is maintaining its politically vital relationship with Turkey. Turkey has been receptive of American forces, is a key member of NATO, and is currently pushing for acceptance into the European Union, a move that would solidify its place as a role model for Middle Eastern countries. Its mili-tary is one of the most pro"cient and well-equipped, an ef-fect of its relationship with the United States as well as its membership in NATO, making its incursions into Northern Iraq potent. Looming beyond all these di$culties is the well established fear of an independent Kurdistan arising in the Middle East and annexing part of Turkey’s territory, an idea which complicates the situation even further, and is particularly antagonizing to Iraq’s neighboring nations.

The United States is therefore caught between a rock and a hard place in trying to determine which mode of action to pursue. An endorsement of Turkey would threaten the stability of Northern Iraq, which in turn would have certain repercussions throughout Iraq and on an already burdened American military. Any move towards endorsement of Iraqi Kurdistan’s resistance to these attacks threatens to antagonize a fragile and pivotal geopolitical relationship between the United States and Turkey, as well as potentially damaging future relation-ships with other neighboring countries. The Unites States’ domestic problems are not helping the situation. A civilian populace, largely unaware of the situation of Northern Iraq (of either its stability or of its problems) makes "nding a solution to the problem di$cult. While polls suggest a large majority of Americans are in favor of a withdrawal, it is predictable that the col-lapse of a Turkish-American relationship or the collapse of Iraqi Kurdistan would deal a severe blow to the United States position in world a#airs in general, a notion which has not yet dawned on the minds of many Americans. Concern over the current state of the economy, as well as the prolonged absence of “positive” media reporting from Iraq, has lead to a general apathy amongst the populace. Despite one’s political tendencies, the situation deserves our full attention, for the solution will demand the creativ-ity of both our political "gures as well as our citizenry.

Ramanujan is a second year student at UIC He is a double major in biology and psychology. His career goal is to pursue a doctorate in cognitive science.

Photography: http://!ickr.com/photos/kurdistan

Photovoice Empowering to Create Change by Daniel Schneider

Realizing that a social problem exists in a community, is the first step to creating positive changes, but it still leaves the question: What can I do about it? This is not necessarily an easy question to an-swer, especially if one is not a member of the community in which this inequality exists. It becomes exponentially difficult if the people in that community themselves, are not in control of the forces that are causing the problem. Caroline Wang of the University of Michigan developed an answer to that question in the late 1990s: Photovoice. Photovoice is a methodology that empowers people to better understand and create change within their own communities, and it can be an affective strategy in combating social problems. To undertake a successful Photovoice project one needs three things: a group of people bound together by similar experience, cameras, and film. Each person in the group is given a camera and basic knowledge about the ethics of photography. Following this instruc-tion, participants are encouraged to go out into their community and take pictures that exemplify the community. Often the best photos are images of the characteristics that illicit emotional response: feelings of pride, respect, fear, anger, sadness, or worry. Utilizing these images, participants discuss the reasons that such emotional responses are pres-ent and together embark on a journey to discover the hidden themes represented in each. Dialogue and discussion lead the group to uncover-ing the sources of both positive and negative aspects of the community. The positives give the group a platform from which it can base the struggle to change the sources of the problems. The initial struggle will be fought to change the things in the community that its members have the power to change. From there, the fight moves on to the policy mak-ers that have the greatest influence. By using the knowledge obtained from the Photovoice methodology, the community can educate policy makers to legislate changes that are powerful and create a long-term positive impact on the community. Photovoice was used by the Neighborhood Violence Pre-vention Collaborative in Flint, Michigan in 1999. Flint struggled with economic transition, race relations, and cultural issues. These issues were eating away at the community and causing it to slide into a stream of deterioration and escalating violence. In 1987, Flint was named by Money magazine as the worst community in the US to live in. The collaborative gave cameras to youth participants, community activists, and policy makers themselves. By following the methodology explained above, the Flint Photovoice Project was successful in obtaining an in-creased awareness of the community, a deeper community understand-ing of violence prevention techniques, as well as the creation of Youth Violence Prevention Center.

The benefits of Photovoice are many. Firstly, Photovoice empowers people to create change themselves. Often the people in need are the ones who feel the most helpless to create change. By utilizing Paulo Freire’s philosophy of educating for a critical consciousness, Pho-tovoice provides a voice to the voiceless. Secondly, Photovoice restores a sense of humanity to people often represented only by numbers and percentages. Photographs represent real people living in real situations; accompanied by the proper captioned context, photographs can rouse emotions that people with a good conscious cannot ignore. Putting a face to the statistics instills a sense of “realness” to problems that seem to exist only in abstract dimensions. Finally, Photovoice is applicable to people of all education levels. The cameras utilized are simple and easy to operate. With a little practice, almost anyone can take pictures. Furthermore, with the understanding that each person is an expert in his own life, individuals gain a sense of self-importance and new found feelings of ability to positively affect one’s own life. Photovoice has a lot of promise, but it certainly is not a perfect methodology. The camera is a source of power that can also be used to negatively impact a community. Proper judgment and care must be taken to ensure the safety of subjects and to do no harm to the community. The photographer’s power can also put her or him in danger. If the camera is seen as an item of value or if individuals being photographed do not want to be, the photographer could be harmed by others wishing to obtain the camera and/or prevent pictures from being taken. Lastly, Photovoice has the power to instill false hope. A photography project does not automatically equate to social change. An understanding must be established between the project leader and the community that Photovoice is simply a tool, not a primary means to an outcome. If this understanding does not exist, the relationship between the leader and the people involved could be damaged greatly. In conclusion, Photovoice is an effective way to empower people to create change. It has the ability to unite people along shared experiences and create stronger ties within a community. Photovoice also has the power to do more harm than good, but if precautions are taken and participants are educated in the methodology, the dangers of Photovoice can be reduced dramatically. If someone is looking for a tool to launch a grass roots attack on the social problems within a com-munity, consider Photovoice as a possible plan for action.

Daniel is a second year student at UIC, majoring in anthropology.

25 Photography: http://www.!ickr.com/photos/ejazasi/ Photography: http://www.!ickr.com/photos/recompose

Benazir Bhutto’s Legacy

When we $rst hear the word democracy, we usually almost imme-diately associate the concept with revolution, egalitarianism, liberty, and even feminism. In fact, taking a glance at our current presidential race, we see exactly that – a woman and a black man running for president. By-and-large, Americans would agree that democracy is the best form of government. In fact, other countries too have illustrated their support for a democratic government, as they currently $ght to establish a democracy in their own homelands. One woman in particular who was valiantly com-bating to transform her nation is late Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, who was recently assassinated on December 27, 2007 at the age of 54. As she fought to bring Pakistan out of a military dictatorship, the Pakistani people came to see Bhutto as the embodiment of not only change, but also of hope that one day there will be justice and freedom to practice their complete human rights.

by Kumud Kataria

27OneWorld UIC Spring 2008

Being the $rst woman to lead a Muslim coun-try, she carried strong ambitions of advancing Pakistan in every aspect from education and healthcare, to providing opportunities for the underprivileged. Among the myriad changes she advocated, the most exemplary, however, was her activism in promoting women’s right in Pakistan, a country that held women as secondary. Bhutto was born into a prominent politi-cal family on June 21, 1953 as the daughter of Zul$kar Ali Bhutto, a political leader and former Prime Minister of Pakistan, and Nusrat Bhutto, former Member of Parliament and Deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan. At a very young age, there was pressure for her to follow her father’s footsteps into the politi-cal world, which she eventually did as means of keeping her father’s legacy alive. Bhutto attended Harvard University at the age of 16, where she completed her undergraduate studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Subsequently, she continued her education at Oxford, studying International Law and Diplomacy. Bhutto had always desired to go into journalism and wanted to be a diplomat, but instead had no choice but to complete her father’s un$nished work a%er his imprison-ment and subsequent assassination – that is what was expected by her father’s support-ers. #e unfortunate reality, however, is that both Bhutto and her father died $ghting for a promising political future for their country. Following her father’s death in 1979, who was hanged by the military government of Gen-eral Zia Ul Haq, Bhutto started to lead the Pakistan People's Party already established by her father. A%er completing a period of exile given to her by the military, she returned to Pakistan and was elected prime minister in 1988 and once again in 1993, but both times expelled from o&ce on charges of corruption. Bhutto faced accusations of cor-ruption not only in Pakistan, but also in Britain, Switzerland and Spain. Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, found his role to be a contentious issue following her expulsion. A well-known $gure during both of her administrations, Zardari has been indicted by the Pakistani government for stealing millions of dollars, and has served eight years in jail. Today, there is speculation as to whether Zardari was a player in Bhutto’s demise.Regardless of what her negative reviews may have been, some even claiming her political actions being “imperious” and “impulsive,” Bhutto’s progressive movements and e!orts do not go unno-ticed. Upon being elected as the $rst female Prime Minister in an Islamic State twice, from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to1996, she brought immediate reform during her reign. Bhutto expended

much of her hard work caring for the poor and the underprivi-leged communities in Pakistan. As she brought electricity to the countryside and built schools throughout the country, Bhutto also focused heavily on crucial topics particularly hunger, housing and health care. Additionally, she advocated independent press along with free market, just a few of the many rights that many Americans take for granted. Bhutto’s goal was to instill in Pakistan the roots of democracy, pulling it from its impoverished condi-tions. Essentially, she wanted to provide equal opportunities in all aspects for every citizen, with an intense focus on women’s rights. Seizing the opportunities that came with being in power, Bhutto immediately became invested in giving women a chance to suc-ceed. However, the road traveled to achieve this came with several hardships. A%er receiving the prestigious title of the $rst woman executive of an Islamic state, Bhutto inevitably became the victim of much criticism and verbal abuse. In one interview she claimed, “…that was the biggest challenge. I don't know how to deal with

Photography by Zahid PixPhotography by Naeem Khan

OneWorld UIC Spring 200828

that, I can deal with political di!erences, but how do you deal with it when someone says I don't like you because you're a woman and you've taken a man's place.” Taking the disparage-ment directed toward her quite hard at times, Bhutto eventually learned to handle it. She later learned in the process she didn’t have to adapt male leadership characteristics, in order to prove to the male population of her strong leadership abilities. She could simply be a female leader, and be just as e!ective in her tasks. On this matter Bhutto stated, “…now 30 years down the line, I think we can be more comfortable with the notion that its no longer only a man's world. #ere are quite a few women out there and we women can start being more like women, we don't have to outdistance or outperform men we can start being con$dent about ourselves.” Furthermore, in order to promote the role of women in Pakistan, Bhutto pushed toward controlling popula-tion growth and domestic violence, allowing access to credit for women to venture into their own businesses, along with opening women’s police stations, courts, and women’s development banks. Even though Bhutto accomplished much for her country, the rewards came with great personal sacri$ce. Bhutto admitted that with having both a career and a family, she had to pay the price by not always being there for her children when they needed her. Additionally, a%er trying to juggle both family and career, she realized that it le% her with very little time for herself in the end. However, even a%er admitting this, she claimed that the sacri$ce was worth it and that she found great satisfaction in it. Bhutto’s love for her country is further illustrated in one of her quotes declaring, “If I had thought it [marriage] might hurt my political career, I know I would never have taken this step. I would never have gotten married at any stage. I would have never sought personal happiness at the cost of my country. If people have given their lives for the cause of freedom and constitutional rule, then I surely could have sacri$ced marriage and children.”#e tragedy of this woman’s life, however, was that her sacri$ces would be more than she had imagined. On December 27, 2007, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. A%er leaving a rally in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, just two weeks before the elections, she was shot in the neck by a suicide bomber. Immediately a%er the shot, the bomber blew himself up, while also taking the life of many others around him. For the citizens of Pakistan, Bhutto’s third term was a hope for freedom. Sadly, this was taken away from them. #is tragic incident led to the devastation of an entire country. However, even a%er her death, Bhutto will always be remembered as the “Daughter of the East,” who became the “martyr of democracy.” Regardless of how we remember her, let us not forget to remember her as how she had desired to be remembered, “…but above all I want to be remembered,” she once said, “for what I did for women. My identity comes ultimately from being a woman and I felt that my life has to make a di!er-ence to the lives of other women…” Whether as a politician or a feminist, her incomplete legacy will always remain in the hearts of her believers.

Kumud is a "eshman neuroscience major who aspires to be a neu-rologist.

Man Humanity on the Moon We all have moments in our lives that o!er realizations that truly alter our perspectives on humanity, the world, or even ourselves. These moments may be the result of a professor, a friend, an event, history, or even self-meditation. On February 20, 2008 between the hours of 7:30 and 10:30 pm CST, the world witnessed a spectacular celestial event: a lunar eclipse. We are living in a western, developed, modern nation. We have technology. We have Science. Yet we all gazed at the sky in complete humility. We were captivated in a child-like trance as our beautiful blue planet darkened our massive moon, which normally lights up our sky.


by Joshua Isaac Bishay

http://!ickr.com/photos/atomicshark/2280919507/

It then occurred to me, we mirror our ancient counterparts: the Maya, Aztec, Inca, Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Arabs, Persians, etc. Even with our scienti!c explanation of what exactly was happening, I couldn’t help but imag-ine the girl next to me who was wide eyed, jaws open, smiling in complete awe as an ancient Mayan, gazing at the sky the same way, believing it was an Omen from the gods. Or even as a Chi-nese woman watching an eclipse serving as a messenger to the King, warning to the possible end of the mandate of heaven. I looked further at the now growing collection of stargaz-ers, each sharing the little bit they knew about eclipses in order to further the group‘s overall knowledge of cosmic events. In the crowd were Asians, African Americans, Arabs, Indians, and Caucasians. We all looked the same; the sight be-came almost as beautiful as the moon itself. Sure, they tell us phenotypic variations make us di"er-ent, but I beg to disagree, I do not see race in this moment. None of us do. So what makes us so diverse? My experi-

ences based on the short time I have spent in this !nite life tells me there is no one factor, it is a beautiful cocktail of ideologies, religions, world-views, and idiosyncrasies. When one thinks about it, the di"erentiation between “Us” and “Them” doesn’t seem very hard. In fact, we are taught it is natural. However, anthropological !ndings sug-gest that the degree of genetic variation observed between a Black man and an Asian man is equal

to the degree of variation observed between two Asian men. So there is absolutely no biological basis to the “us” and “them” theory. I know this won’t make it

tempting to cross o" “race” category in an appli-cation and write in human or Homo sapiens. I am not advocating homogenization, only a celebra-tion of di"erences or even (more likely) tolerance. When one practices tolerance, they do not have to harmonize or even love their neighbor, but simply coexist in peace. Break that word down: coexist. Co-: joint, mutual or common, -exist: to have an essence of being. So we are in existence together, even now there is no lie in that statement.

So as I hear about genocides, persecution, child soldiers, war, racism, or even abuse against women, I cringe and think of the term coexist. It seems impossible.

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Man Humanity on the Moonby Joshua Bishay

Photography: http://!ickr.com/photos/atomicshark

So as I hear about genocides, persecution, child soldiers, war, racism, or even abuse against women, I cringe and think of the term coexist. It seems impossible. Almost like peace and love do not exist. How can they exist when all we see is the absence of love in a never-ending black hole of hate? Pessimistic? Probably. But look at the posi-tives; human rights organizations speak for those who have no voice, regardless of their color or creed. Nations like Indonesia are breaking the stereotype of violent Islamic nations; songs like “Imagine” are being played across the globe sharing the universal message of coexis-tence. People like you and I advocate love and peace. So it is not impossible: “be the change you wish to see in the world” because “an eye for an eye will only make us all blind”. I could not help but wonder if everyone thought this way, what would this lonely planet be like? This world is shrinking, it is not hard to spot a Chinese freight on a truck in Chicago, or see imported Italian clothing in Cairo. The clothes you wear are sewn in Taiwan or Vietnam, the food you eat is in#uenced by Mexico, the language this article is written in is Europe-an, the channel you are watching is showing live footage of riots in Kenya, the internet depicts the globe in one instantaneous moment. A war is fed to you with 24-hour coverage of every bombing campaign, while extremists do the same for their side. No longer is racism, intoler-ance, or ignorance an option. As our population reaches 7 billion, it becomes crucial; we have more to lose. Once again my mind began to wander, I began to question where in the world this magni!cent display of cosmic beauty could be seen, Palestine? Kosovo? Kenya? Darfur? Uganda? Is it possible that in these crisis areas, each party could lay down their arms for a moment, to feel as uni!ed as we felt at that moment?

Joshua Isaac Bishay is a second year student at UIC. He is an anthropology major and intents to pursue a career in archaeology.

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