En Buscar del Sueño Americano

By: Amanda DePerro

Produced & edited by: Olivia Harlow

Hugo Chinchilla was starving. After paying huge sums of money, crossing the border between Mexico and Guatemala, swimming through rivers and running through the night, then-24-year-old Hugo and his 16-year-old cousin had been left in Mexico City by their coyote. Stranded without food, money or a way to contact family, the two slept in a fruit stand owned by a stranger they’d befriended. Before taking refuge in the market, Hugo and his cousin hadn’t eaten for three days.

“I had family in the United States. I could have called them but I didn’t have a penny,” said Chinchilla.

They had no other choice: They had to return home to Guatemala.

Chinchilla’s story from 2000 is not unusual or unique to Guatemalans. UNICEF estimates that 44,000 people from Guatemala are successful in leaving the country each year, many of whom are undocumented.

It is common for Latin Americans looking to leave their home countries to pay coyotes, or people who are paid to smuggle Latin Americans across borders, close to $3,500 each. Journeys across borders usually require multiple coyotes, and it is not unheard of for coyotes to kidnap and ransom the smuggled once they reach their destination for even more money—money that impoverished people and their families simply do not have.

Guatemalan families deported from Mesa, Arizona in the United States cover their faces as they wait to be processed for re-entry at an air force base.
© Jorge Dan Lopez ; Reuters Images

Chinchilla attempted twice in 2000 to cross the border into the United States. During his first attempt, Mexican police caught him at the U.S.-Mexico border.

For Juan Manuel de León, a Guatemalan farmer, the trip was more successful. Like Chinchilla, he took buses and taxis, shepherded by coyotes, to get to the United States. Along the journey, both Chinchilla and de León were forced to swim across the Rio Suchiate, which marks a section of the border between Guatemala and Mexico.

For de León, the trip took eight days. Running through the night from town to town, through the desert and swimming across the river were just the beginning. Once he reached his destination, a milk farm in Dallas, he faced other hardships.

“I felt marginalized because I did not speak English. I didn’t understand what was happening around me,” said de León.

After paying for false documents and working for a year in Dallas, de León returned to Guatemala. He does not plan to go back to the United States, he said, unless he is able to go back legally. Both of his sons attempted to cross the border; one was successful and has lived in Indianapolis for 11 years, the other was unsuccessful and still lives in Guatemala.

“Most people aren’t coming here because they want to live in California,” said Richard L. Johnson, a Ph.D. student at Arizona who lived in rural Guatemala for two years with the Peace Corps, and is studying immigration from Guatemala. “They’re looking for a way to escape the poverty they’ve been in—when you deport someone like that, you’re deporting them into economic hardships that they’re here to escape.”

More than 5,000 people have died attempting to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, according to the ACLU. Many of those crossing are children; according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, nearly 45,000 unaccompanied, undocumented children from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador combined have been apprehended in attempt to cross the U.S. border in 2014 alone.

“To me it’s incredible that kids do this travel,” said Javier Ronquillo, an international graduate student from Guatemala studying mathematics at Ohio University. “It’s so hard. They get exposed to so many dangerous things; they get raped, they get harassed, they even get sometimes killed.”

However, for many who want to leave Guatemala, obtaining a visa rather than migrating without documents is unrealistic. A visa can get up to 10,000-12,000 Guatemalan quetzals (around $1,300-$1,500), but it is not a certainty that one’s visa will be granted after one’s money is paid. A coyote may be more expensive, but it is often seen as a guaranteed success.

Guatemalans face extreme violence tied to government corruption, poverty and drug trafficking every day. The promise of safety and opportunity in the United States can lead Guatemalans to attempt coming to the States undocumented.
© Giles Clarke ; Getty Images 

“Immigration laws are closing the door for immigrants,” said de León. He had been convinced not to try the journey again without documents, however, after hearing a story of Guatemalans who were locked in a cold, dark room for three days without food by the U.S. border police after being caught.

“There’s forced labor at the border, kidnappings, other forms of violence that people experience,” said Johnson. “It’s a fracaso more often than it’s a success.”

However, the U.S. government has had little victory in quelling the flow of undocumented migrants into the country.

“The idea that we can just deport this problem away is totally false and an illusion that needs to be countered,” said Johnson.

“It’s clear that deportation doesn’t work, because they are going to come back again,” said Ronquillo. “It’s incredible because they face so many risks coming back; getting killed, getting kidnapped, getting raped, getting—a million of things.”

On November 20, President Obama gave a speech on immigration and the steps the U.S. government has taken to lower the number of crossings at the border.

“Are we a nation that tolerates the hypocrisy of a system where workers who pick our fruit and make our beds never have a chance to get right with the law? Or are we a nation that gives them a chance to make amends, take responsibility, and give their kids a better future?” said President Obama in the speech.

 Chinchilla’s brother, who came to the United States successfully and is working in Stanford as a gardener, told Chinchilla not to come back to the United States. “This is not as good as it seems,” he said. Chinchilla’s brother’s wife and children still live in Guatemala. He hopes to be able to save enough to start sending money back to them, but is barely making enough in the United States to support even himself.

“I wanted to change my life, because in Guatemala you are condemned to poverty,” said Chinchilla. “Ir en los Estados Unidos es un sueño.”

“To live in the United States is a dream.” 

Mental Health in the UAE Calls for Community Involvement

By: Zainab Kandeh

Produced & edited by: Olivia Harlow

Depression, Bipolar Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are just few of the many mental illnesses that people all over the world live with everyday including those who have yet to be diagnosed.

While there are facilities and professionals ready and willing to help people who have a mental illness, coming forward and seeking help in the UAE and throughout the world can be a difficult step.

Zayed University Associate Professor and Psychologist, Dr. Justin Thomas said that issues with treatment methods often make people reluctant to seek help. 

“Treatment is often poor and takes little account of the clients world view, Dr. Thomas said. “Anti depressants for example [are] over prescribed and [have] lots of side effects with little evidence of efficacy beyond placebo.”

© ncbhs.org

Zayed University Assistant Provost for Student Affairs and counseling psychologist, Dr. Fatima AlDarmaki said that differences in culture and fear of alienation are factors that contribute to why people may be reluctant to seek treatment. 

“There is a lot of cultural misunderstanding and stereotyping about the mentally ill,” Dr. AlDarmaki said. “Not everybody who’s having mental health issues is insane. That’s what I think mainly people are afraid of. The concern about their image and the concern about how other people will perceive them is sometimes why they try to tolerate the sickness or the problems alone without talking to anyone about it but it gets to the point where they can not tolerate it and they have to share it with somebody.”

A client feeling as if they can share their experience and build a relationship with a health professional is something Clinical Psychologist and Head of the Psychology Division for the American Center for Psychiatry and Neurology, Dr. Susan Partridge said is most important in the UAE.

“The therapeutic relationship is really important in working here,” Dr. Partridge said. “It’s important anywhere but in the Arab world the emphasis on relationships makes it even more central-without it you are likely to fail to engage your client in the therapeutic endeavor.  After that you need a good formulation (an understanding of how the problem started and what maintains it) and that should indicate what intervention is needed.”

Dr. AlDarmaki said that honesty and clear expectations also add to the success of a client continuing with treatment.

© health.com

“You have to explain to the patients and clients how [treatment] works and what the expectation is. If the client expects that in one session, oh, I will feel good or I will recover from my issues, they will be disappointed if they don’t see immediate results and maybe they will not come back. You have to explain how treatment works and you have to explain the role of what they need to do to outside of therapy. Clients need to be motivated. If the client is not motivated treatment usually doesn’t work.”

There are many facilities throughout the UAE equipped to help people with mental illnesses, including centers such as the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City managed by the Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi and the American Center for Psychiatry and Neurology located in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

While facilities continue to expand and improve American University of Sharjah Assistant Professor of Psychology, Dr. Sabrina Tahboub-Schulte said the effort must continue.

“It is great that there is an increasing number of clinics and hospitals available,” Dr. Tahboub-Schulte said. “This trend should continue combined with more awareness campaigns and educational programs.”

Zayed University Psychology Professor Man Chung echoed Dr. Tahboub-Schulte’s sentiment and challenged the public to take an active role in learning about mental illness.

“I think we have to educate the public first on what mental illness is,” Dr. Chung said. “We need to educate the public about that and almost begin to change the way in which people think about mental health difficulties. Mental health is nothing that people need to be afraid of. People with mental health problems are able to help themselves but I think the general public doesn’t necessarily see that.”

© universitiesnews.com

The World Health Organization hopes to and is activly steps to ensure that the importance of mental health education is known around the world. In its Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020 the World Health Organization plans to influence mental illness with four objectives; to strengthen effective leadership and governance for mental health, provide comprehensive, integrated and responsive mental health and social care services in community-based settings, implement strategies for promotion and prevention in mental health and strengthen information systems, evidence and research for mental health.

While the world has come a long way in the treatment and understanding of those who have mental illnesses, it is on the radar of many countries that more should be done, including the UAE. Being as that mental health affects all people, Dr. AlDarmaki said she hopes that people realize the role that mental health plays throughout one’s life.

“Mental health is part of our lives,” Dr. AlDarmarki said. “Mental health is what brings you to work and makes you interact with people so it’s important that we support any effort to emphasize mental health and the services for mental health for those who need mental health services. Policies, procedures, services, accessibility, education and awareness are all important. As physical health is important mental health is important. As education is important mental health is important. Emotional support and mental health support is important.

Parental Rights Challenged During Medical Emergencies

By: Caroline James

Produced & edited by: Olivia Harlow

Stepping off the plane in Spain, the parents of Ashya King were met by Spanish police and arrested. Their sick son was taken and they were detained for child endangerment and suspicion of neglect. While the charges would soon be dropped, international attention had already been called to the King’s story.

Five-year-old Ashya King was diagnosed with the often-fatal medulloblastoma tumor at South Hampton’s Hospital in England. The survival rate of such a diagnosis is 70 percent and the effects of radiation and chemotherapy can be devastating to other internal organs, especially in young patients.

Ashya King being admitted to treatment in Prague. © Independent

British citizens Brett and Naghemeh King wanted their son to undergo proton beam therapy, a treatment that targets the cancerous cells while leaving the surrounding tissue unharmed.

“It zones in on the area, whereby normal radiation passes right through his head and comes out the other side and destroys everything in his head.” Brett King said in an interview with the Guardian.

Proton beam therapy was not available in England or covered by the National Health Service. The Kings would have to sell their home in Spain to pay for the treatment in Prague. Because they could not immediately transfer Ashya to a treatment center, the Southampton General Hospital said they could not endanger Ashya’s recovery by taking him out of treatment. The Prague Motol Hospital said they would immediately start treatment of Ashya if the parents could raise the funds.

In a desperate move, the Kings took Ashya from the hospital against doctor advice. The hospitals reported their fears to the police that Ashya would be medically neglected and suffer from the lack of treatment. This incident set off a storm of international debate concerning parental rights in the face of medical emergencies.

The Prague Family © Dailymail

In recent years, a number of governments have had to reconsider this issue. In many situations where parents challenge traditional medical treatment the law must also consider religious protection laws as well. Certain “faith healing” religions forgo medical treatment in favor of prayer for themselves and their children.

The United States has currently been undoing several religious protection laws to allow for murder charges to be pressed against parents whose refusal to medically treat their children leads to the child’s death.

“Medical treatment must be a higher priority than respecting cultural or religious customs,” Ali Salman, a doctor from Syria, said. “We never considered cultural or religious beliefs when there is harm to human life, including children, during my practice.”

Though some medical professionals feel that religious customs must be respected for the good of the individual as a whole.

“I think the cultural or religious customs should be respected when we talk about medical treatment,” Yi-hui Lee, a doctor from Indonesia, said. “The cultural and religious customs may affect the psycho-social aspects of an individual, and the psycho-social well-being may play significant roles on the health outcomes and the chosen treatment."

The U.N. Declaration of Rights of the Child established that a child is entitled to medical services and protection from neglect. The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights establish that States parties should condemn harmful, unnecessary and religiously motivated medical procedures, such as female genital mutilation.

Religion is not the only reason parents give for not seeking medical treatment for their children. The recent growth of non-vaccination groups cites mistrust of certain medical treatment itself as their main deterrence. Belief that vaccinations are dangerous and cause mental impairment has been growing throughout the world.

Even though all reliable medical reports have refuted such claims, the fear of dangerous vaccinations has kept children from receiving them. It is estimated that over six thousand people have died as a result of parents refusing vaccinations for their children.

The U.S., Latvia, Slovenia, Germany, the Czech Republic and almost all developed countries have compulsory vaccination regulations that require vaccines for children in order to attend public school. Other countries, such as Australia, offer financial benefits to getting children vaccinated.

While the methods may be different, both sides feel that what they are doing is in the best interest of the children. Believers in faith healing genuinely believe that their child will be cured; parents who refuse vaccinations fear that their child will suffer from side effects.

This is also what happened in the situation of Ashya King. Both the King’s and the hospital’s goal was the health and safety of Ashya. The trouble occurred when the same goal was approached differently by the two groups and set off the debate of who had the final say.

As soon as the arrest was made in Italy, prosecutors from England dropped the charges. They cited that they did not want to arrest parents seeking medical care for their child; they just wanted to ensure that medical care was being sought.

The Proton Therapy Center in Prague where Ashya was treated © The Prague Post

“I know that everyone shares my relief that Ashya is now in Prague Motol Hospital,” Fiona Dalton, the Chief Executive of South Hampton’s General Hospital, said on her blog. “Where he will be able to receive the treatment that he needs.”

While these issues will continue to concern both families and lawmakers in decades to come, the King family is free to focus on the care and health of their seven children. Ashya received treatment in Prague and responded well to the proton beam therapy. He was seen in a recent video at the park right before he was discharged from the hospital.

“Taking him out to the park, that’s such a huge thing!” Naveed King, Ashya’s eldest brother, said. “We haven’t actually taken him out since we’ve been here.” 

Remembering WWI in Europe

Growing up in the United States, you learn throughout your childhood about World War II. I’ve done a class project that required me to speak to a living witness of the war. I’ve read countless books and have seen numerous movies romanticizing The Greatest Generation. I’ve tried for countless hours without avail to make sense of the horrors of the Holocaust. I’ve memorized battle maps and names of WWII generals.

WWII was arguably the most influential war of recent times. It changed everything, and we still see its effects. But WWII couldn’t have happened had WWI not have happened. However, I have spent much less time learning about the First World War. I remember reading All Quiet on the Western Front in a high school history class. I remember spending just one lesson of a collegiate WWII class learning about WWI. I know a little about trench warfare and the introduction of modern weaponry. But that’s about it.

The Nov. 11 Memorial Ceremony at Menin Gate
draws thousands of visitors every year.

This isn’t exactly shocking. Like other countries, the United States educates its youth about the historical events that shaped its people. While we lost thousands of young people in WWI, it was nothing compared the American deaths in WWII. The United States entered WWI three years after the fighting had begun, and less than a year before it would end. Therefore, most Americans felt the destruction for a shorter period of time than the other Allied powers.

While one can’t generalize that WWI was “worse,” for Europeans, they were involved in the fighting much longer than Americans. The war started and ended in Europe. Millions of soldiers and civilians were killed in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. While America arose out of World War I as a budding superpower, the entire map of Europe was redrawn, power was redistributed, and millions of families were never the same.

Knowing all of this before moving to Belgium, I was still amazed and impressed by the respect paid here for those who lost their lives during WWI. There are memorials, museums and cemeteries everywhere. Whether you’re in a big city like Antwerp or in the Flemish countryside, you’ll pass dozens of WWI graveyards. They include the graves of not only Belgian soldiers, but other allies and German soldiers as well. The cemeteries are maintained beautifully. The graves look brand new and the landscapes are always fresh and green. Locals even “adopt,” graves for upkeep, despite having no direct relation to the deceased.

November 11 is a very poignant day for remembering WWI, as the war ended that day nearly a century ago. I was lucky enough to attend the Menin Gate Memorial Ceremony in Ypres, Belgium, which draws large crowds every November 11. The ceremony is a tradition that actually takes place every single night. Think about that. Every night service members from the area proceed through the street into the Menin Gate, to honor those who have fallen almost 100 years ago. On November 11 however, the ceremony also includes prominent politicians, nobility from around Europe, and crowds of people from all over the world.

Procession at Menin Gate Memorial Ceremony

The procession is completed, speeches and prayers are given, the bagpipes are played and much more. I will never forget the haunting chanting, “We will remember them. We will remember them.” It was absolutely beautiful.

What makes all of this so special is that WWI ended almost 100 years ago, and all the veterans have passed away. This means that thousands of Belgians and other Europeans go out of their way to honor a generation that is entirely gone. The majority of today’s young people have never met a WWI vet, but still appreciate their services and honor them out of tradition. It’s not just Belgians either. During weekend trips to England, the Netherlands and Germany, I saw the same graveyards and memorials.

It’s poignant as well to be able to stand on the actual battlefields themselves. There are numerous historical sites that are still provincial and agricultural. Some fields look exactly as you’d imagine them to look during WWI. To this day, farmers still find old boots and army helmets in their land.

I have never experienced such mourning and honor for the veterans of WWI. It is truly magnificent. While the history of it is extremely interesting, what I’ve learned the most from this is respect and remembrance. I hope we all can do the same for the next generations of veterans once they leave us completely.

The Truth About Learning French in Belgium

By Caleigh Bourgeois

I was very confident about my French speaking abilities before moving to Belgium. I could clumsily muster a, “Je voudrais un café.” I could even ask for directions! I understood French films! Upon boarding my plane ride to Belgium I was convinced I would be fluent within a few months.

I quickly learned that taking classes in a second language in your home country does not make you immediately proficient in the real world.

"Grande-Place," en Francais, "Grand Place," in English

Surprise, surprise, the locals don’t speak as slowly as my French professors did. While everyone tends to speak quickly in native tongue, the French language in particular lacks staccato. While beautiful, French words flow together with few pauses, which makes distinguishing them more difficult.

My pronunciation needed some work right away. While a Midwest accent may do just fine in a classroom, native French speakers often have a hard time understanding my speech, even when I "technically" pronounce words correctly. Learning not to pronounce an “r” is almost as difficult as learning to roll it.

It isn’t always difficult. For me, the easiest aspect of studying French has always been reading it. I can recognize street signs and decipher food labels quite well. Although in Brussels, they are also in Dutch.

This brings me to an entirely new dynamic I face. There are two official languages in Belgium, Dutch and French. In fact, the country is split up into three regions, Vlaanders, the Dutch region and Wallonia, the French region, and a third extremely small German-speaking region gained after the Treaty of Versailles.

Photo Credit: SicMagazine.Org

Brussels falls in the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) region, but because of its one-of-a-kind status as home to the EU, both Dutch and French are spoken. Every sign, label and metro stop is in both languages.

While I work for a Flemish/American newspaper, my knowledge of Dutch consists of, “allo,” “dank u,” and any Germanic words that cross over with English. This wasn't an issue until I traveled out into Vlaanders for work. I went to a gorgeous city called Antwerp, a major diamond retail hub and former port for emigration. Everyone there spoke Dutch and everything was in Dutch. Even my French knowledge couldn’t save me.

Dutch-speaking city of Antwerp

The opposite happened when I traveled to Wallonia . There, everyone spoke French, no Dutch, but more importantly for me, no English. While most people speak English in Brussels, and insist on doing so after hearing my accent, no one I met in Wallonia could.

After getting off at the wrong train stop in Verviers, Belgium, I had no other choice but to speak French with an attendant at the train station. I was lost and alone and it was the best possible practice I could have received. It was exhilarating and prosperous.

Although I’ve had moments of extreme embarrassment, goofy mix ups and sheer panic, it is so much fun practicing my French with the locals. I certainly am not at the level of proficiency I wanted to be after two months, but my adventures in learning are more memorable than I ever could have imagined.

Every successful interaction in French feels is a victory, whether it’s speaking with a cashier or asking for directions. It’s incredible how some words come back to me seemingly out of nowhere, words I haven’t used since high school French six years ago.

 Speaking in French the only fun part. I love eavesdropping on conversations in the Metro to find context. I buy French magazines and spend up to 30 minutes on a two-page story, finding new words and trying to grasp the article’s purpose. It feels like I’m cracking a secret code.

Last night, I dreamt entirely in French. I’ve heard it said that dreaming in a second language is a sign that you’re well on your way in learning it. Although I’m not going to come home singing Edith Piaf with perfect pronunciation, I am satisfied with the progress I am making, and look forward to working toward true fluency.

Australian chemical plant incites biggest environmental protest in Malaysian history

By Heather Farr

On the morning of Feb 19, 16 protesters, including grandparents, farmers, office workers and businessmen, in Kuantan, Malaysia publicly shaved their heads. As he watched his hair fall, resident Winson Ooi felt a deep sense of injustice, anger and disappointment overwhelm him.

“In our tradition, shaving all of our hair off is a highly symbolic and serious act to show one’s strong feeling and sacrifice to mark one’s determination for a worthy cause,” Ooi said in a release issued by Himpunan Hijau 2.0. “I have to do this for my family.”

Ooi and his young son are just a few of the many citizens acting out against the construction of the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Kuantan, a quiet town on the east coast of Malaysia. The Australia-owned plant will process rare earths – a groups of 15 metallic elements used for items like iPhones, electric car batteries and wind mills – shipped from Lynas’ Mount Weld in Australia. Protesters fear that radiation from the plant could be linked to a number of health concerns and argue that the corporation chose to build outside of Australia for this reason.

Lee Tan, an environmental consultant for the Climate Justice Program, was working in Australia at the Conservation Foundation when she heard about the Lynas project. A native of Kuantan, Tan felt it was her duty to come back and fight the company she says could put farmers, seafood producers and residents who drink local water at risk.

“The location of the plant is within 30 kilometers of a population of 70,000 people – my family and friends among them. The waste water will be discharged into a natural river, which is a major seafood production area and a habitat of tropical mangrove,” Tan, who is also external advisor for the Stop Lynas campaign, said. “The plant is also expected to discharge 1,000 cubic meters of waste gas per hour, which is a lot for a city located so close to the sea and effected so heavily by the wind and ocean current.”

Despite public concerns, the Malaysia Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) recently granted Lynas a temporary operating license, which could translate to a permanent operating license if Lynas completes requirements set by the Board. According to AELB Director General Raja Dato’ Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan, waste water will be treated to comply with international standards, acid spills will be contained in a bonded concrete structure and beaches surrounding Kuantan are too far away to be affected by radiation emitted by the plant.

Protesters criticize the Malaysian government’s quick and quiet approval of the plant and the absence of public consultation or a waste management plan. Many also argue that the history of past rare earth plants is an indicator of Lynas’ future. Similar plants and radio-active waste dumps have been closed in Papan, California and Bautou due to pollution of river water used for farming and links to lung cancers in workers, among other things. Thirty years ago, Mitsubishi operated a refinery, ARE, in the nearby Malaysian city Ipoh.

“Like Lynas, ARE had no long-term waste management plan, and ad hoc arrangements eventually led to a situation of indiscriminate, clandestine dumping of radioactive thorium-containing wastes in and around Ipoh city,” Chan Chee Khoon, social and preventive medicine professor at the University of Malaysia, said. “The greater Kuantan community similarly faces the prospect unknown number of dump sites at unknown locations scattered in and around the city if Lynas does not come up with an acceptable plan for long-term waste disposal.”

Dr. Jayabalan, a physician in occupational medicine and toxicologist at the National Toxicology Centre (University of Malaysia), was heavily involved in the research of ARE. According to Jayabalan, the main issues involve waste disposal, the use of other chemicals in the extraction process, the overuse of natural resources and the widespread contamination of the surrounding habitat and population.

“We looked at the issue of young, healthy mothers living close to the plant experiencing miscarriages. We noted offspring born with congenital defects. Beyond that, we found at least eight cases of leukemia -- seven of which were acute lymphoblastic leukemia. One of the known causes of this type of leukemia is ionizing radiation,” Dr. Jayabalan said.

According to Cameron Morse, an outside external affairs coordinator for Lynas, it is inaccurate to compare Lynas with a plant like Bukit Mehra because the companies process two different products.

“We don’t doubt Bukit Mehra had some real issues associated with it, but our inputs and outputs are totally different,” Morse said.

Morse adds that the International Atomic Energy Agency reviewed LAMP in 2011 and affirmed its compliance with the highest health and safety standards. According to Morse, it is also important to note that LAMP is located in a designated, large-scale specialist chemical and petrochemical industrial zone that already housed a number of multinational companies including BP Chemicals, Petronas and BASF.

Ionizing radiation is a concern of citizens because rare earth elements, while not radioactive themselves, are often found in conjunction with radioactivity. According to the Lynas website, because the mineral concentrate used by LAMP has such low levels of radiation, it is classified as “safe, non toxic and non hazardous by all international standards.” According to Dr. Jayabalan, however, there is no “safe” level of ionizing radiation.

“It is acceptable in terms of legal language, but in terms of public health, there is no such thing as safe radiation. If it were safe and such a financial gold mind, they wouldn’t transport the materials thousands of miles to Malaysia, they would build in Australia,” Dr. Jayabalan said.

The campaign against Lynas reached new heights on Sunday, Feb 25, when an estimated 20,000 Malaysians came together in protest. According to Wong Tack, chairman of the Green Assembly 2.0 and organizer of the rally, this is the first time an environmental issue has caused Malaysians to take to the streets in such large numbers.

“They are taking advantage of our corrupt system and of a non-functioning administration. They are coming in from the back door and attempting to use us as a dumping site. The people of this country will not accept it,” Tack said. “The voice of the people has been ignored, so now we have no choice but to bring down the plan ourselves.”

Photos contributed by Himpunan Hijau 2.0 and Kelvin Chow, respectively.

Special Correspondent Visits Scripps

By Andreya Carlson
Executive Member, SGMD

Rebecca Hamilton, author and Washington Post special correspondent, discusses the current situation in Darfur and U.S. involvement over the years.

The genocide in Darfur may have ended, but international correspondent, Rebecca Hamilton, argues that there are still major problems in this western region of Sudan.

Rebecca Hamilton, special correspondent for the Washington Post, spent four years reporting and writing her book, Fighting for Darfur: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide. Hamilton spoke at Ohio University on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011, in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Her visit was sponsored by the Institute for International Journalism and the African Studies program at Ohio University in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

In an interview with this author, Hamilton said that now her focus is “to get people interested in actually learning the lessons that are there to be learned from our engagement with Darfur – what worked, what didn’t work, and what that means for how we can do better next time.”

The American public’s interest in the Darfur conflict dramatically increased after former Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2004 referred to the situation as genocide during his address to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“That determination was pivotal as a catalyst for the formation of what can broadly be called the ‘Save Darfur Movement,’” Hamilton said. “I think the use of the word ‘genocide’ resonated very, very strongly for many communities in the United States.”

During her speech at Scripps Anderson Auditorium on Tuesday evening, Hamilton said several factors contributed to the genocide in Darfur, including land disputes as a result of desertification in the area, a pan-Arab ideology, and arms flows as a result of the Cold War.

Click Here to Watch her Video Interview

The Sudanese government in Khartoum fed off of an already existing inter-ethnic conflict by providing weapons and monetary aid to the Janjaweed, a nomadic Arab group at odds with the generally sedentary non-Arab Sudanese in Darfur. This was done when non-Arab groups known as the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement rebelled against the government on the grounds that they were socio-economically marginalized and were not being represented in power sharing.

The Janjaweed are responsible for such atrocities as looting and ravaging towns and for abducting, sexually assaulting, gang raping, and murdering non-Arab Sudanese citizens on a mass scale.

The Sudanese government signed a ceasefire agreement with the Justice and Equality Movement in February, 2010.

Millions of the Sudanese people are currently displaced as a direct result of the conflict in Darfur.

Hamilton has met some “phenomenal” women at these camps who are raising children in “conditions that are totally unacceptable, and still retaining – trying to retain – some hope for the future because they just have to keep going for their kids as much as anything else.”

The displacement camps are heavily skewed toward women because often during the violence women were raped and men were killed, and those men who were not killed were often part of a rebel group.

“But now the world is starting to walk away from Darfur, even though the situation there is not resolved,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton noted that the situation is actually much worse now than it has been in many years, as there has been more displacement in the past two months than in the five years before that.

“Today, I think people have started to realize that it’s not the 2003, 2004 situation,” Hamilton said. “But they sort of think that if there are not these huge massacres occurring, that somehow the situation is fine, failing to appreciate that when you still have 2.7 million people who can’t return to their homes, this is not a situation that is okay and that still needs a huge amount of work.”

Another part of Sudan has been in the news recently. A referendum occurred in January, resulting in the decision to have an independent South Sudan.

Hamilton said a lot of people know that there was a referendum in southern Sudan and that it went peacefully. “What’s frightening is that very many people think that that dealt with the situation in Darfur, failing to realize that South Sudan is a completely different part of the country.”

Southern Sudanese have decided to make English the official language. Since the official language has long been Arabic, these Arabic-speaking teachers are now struggling to teach their students in English.

A language barrier in Sudan is not the only obstacle in the classroom – there are also a disproportionate number of boys to girls in school.

Certain economic situations further complicate relations between northern and southern Sudan. The government in Khartoum has gathered a $35 billion debt, and they want the Southern government to take on a piece of that debt.

Part of this debt was incurred from fueling the military budget for the long war against southern Sudan in which 2 million people died.

“What does it mean for 2 million people to die?” Hamilton asked during her public lecture. “Every single person I interviewed had a family member who died. That’s the only way that I could wrap my head around it.”

There are also questions of citizenship rights in the new two-state Sudan, and an agreement needs to be reached concerning the sharing of oil wealth.

There has been a great deal of media attention on the referendum that passed in January in southern Sudan, but this has detracted from the media coverage in Darfur.

“It seems we can only focus on just the South, or just Darfur, and never able to put the whole picture together,” Hamilton said. “That’s what really needs to happen.”