queen's international observer - winter 2012 vol. 8 no. 2

Winter 2012 - Vol. 8 No. 2

FEATURING:

THE VOICE OF OCCUPY

MOVEMBER IN RETROSPECT

WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT

IMPLICATIONS OF THE ARAB SPRING

PLUS:LAND OF TEMPLES

HALF THE SKY TEDX QUEEN’S AND

AN INFOGRAPHIC

ON THE

EUROZONE CRISIS

Q U E E N ’ S I N T E R N A T I O N A L O B S E R V E R2

FROM THE EDITOR

Hello QIO Readers!

Welcome to our second issue of the Queen’s International Observer! For those of you who haven’t read the magazine before, I’m glad you picked it up! For those of you who read our previous issue, we’ve added a few new features that you’ll hopefully appreciate. For example, instead of picking a theme for this issue, we now accept almost any sort of submission from you – as long as it has to do with international affairs, we want to see your work! With this approach, I think we’ve put together a dynamic and fascinat-ing issue for you to read that spans a wide range of interests. We’ve also included a poll that we carried out last semester around campus, as well as some great interviews and analytical pieces.

You may notice that we focused partially on some of the major news events of 2011 in this issue. Many news magazines have picked up on some of the significant trends. Time magazine argued that it was the year of the Protestor, with the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street taking up much of this past year’s news. On the other hand, publications such as the Economist paid little attention to them – the Occupy Movement received only a sentence of recognition in the seminal magazine’s summary, while the economic crisis in Europe took on far more importance in their analysis.

In this issue of QIO, we cover some of these important world events, while also focus-ing on other international themes that we feel are important to Queen’s students. While we have feature pieces on the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street, we also touched on some important conferences going on on-campus, like TED xQueens, as well as other international movements that are less publicized in the media, such as Movember. We also asked for Queen’s students’ and staffs’ opinions on certain news events to keep tabs on where the Queen’s community stands on current events today. Finally, we explored other topics that hit closer to home, such as Women’s underrepresentation in the Cana-dian Parliament.

All in all, I feel like there’s something to interest anyone in this issue of the QIO. If you like what you see and want to find out more, don’t hesitate to visit us on Facebook (Queen’s International Observer) or follow us on Twitter (@queensobserver) where you can access our newsfeed. You can also check out www.qiaa.org to find out more about the Queen’s International Affairs Association and all of its other projects. Finally, if you have any questions, remarks, or if you want to get published in the next issue of QIO, send us an email at [email protected].

Happy reading, and thanks for picking up a copy!

Joanna PlucinskaEditor-in-Chief Political Studies 2012

Joanna Plucinska

Editor-in-Chief

Idrees Ali

Assistant Editor, Content

Tristan DiFrancesco

Assistant Editor, Layout

Alexandra Petre

Marketing Director

Malvika Dasani

Solicitor of Submissions

Wenhan Chen

Public Relations Director

Maria Rodriguez

Sponsorship Director

Daniel Hershkop

Discussion Coordinator

Miriam Bart

Staff Reporter

Taylor Anderson

Staff Reporter

This publication is licensed & distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommer-cial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) Printed thru Dunning Hall Printing services.

V o l u m e 8 - N u m b e r 2 3

FEATURES4

8

10

12

15

18

ON CAMPUS

THE VOICE OF OCCUPY

TRAVEL

MO LOVE

ARAB SPRING

WOMEN IN THE HOUSE

+Queen’s Half the Sky +TEDx

Analyzing the Movement

The Land of the Temples

Movember in Retrospect

Revolutionary Implications in the MENA.

Trends in Federal Representation.

by Taylor Anderson

by Wenhan Chen

by Miriam Bart

by Devon Mok

by Natasha Mukhtar


CAMPUSFORUM /news /events /opinion

Q: Will Greece default and topple the EU?

Greece will not default.

Greece will default.

The EU will survive.

The EU will fall.


The EU will fall thereafter.

During exam season, QIO reporters were throughout the Queen’s Centre, surveying students on everything from the Eurozone crisis to perceptions of police violence in Egypt and the Occupy movement. The results speak for them-selves, and are a testament to the diverse views on global finance oncampus. BOTTOM - Palestinian martyrs revered on city walls. ThePalestinian question was a divi-sive one, calling into doubt the efficacy of UN statehood in allev-iating the humanitarian crisis athand. RIGHT - Shortly after posi-ting students with questions regard-ing a Greek default, Markozy reachedthe tentative reform agreements thathave yet to alleviate economic uncertaintyand an persistent negative outlook.

Yes No

Should Palestinians seek statehood through the UN?

Agree Disagree

Egyptian Security Forces stated that their tactics were not dissimilar to those of American Police in Occupy sites. Do you...

CampusForum is an amalga-

mation of student voices heard

at QIO events, through discus-

sion @queensobserver and on

facebook, and submissions to

[email protected]

V o l u m e 8 - N u m b e r 2 5

/news /events /opinion

Half the SkyThe UN Food and Agriculture Or-ganization estimates that there are over 925 million people around the world who are undernour-ished. USAID estimates 25 million people have died from HIV-related illnesses since the AIDS pandemic began (which pandemic?). UNI-CEF estimates 1.75 million people, mostly women, are the subjects of sexual slavery. The Half the Sky movement offers a simple re-sponse that addresses all of these issues. Half The Sky’s mission is to empower women in develop-ing nations through education and to fight global poverty by unlock-ing women’s potential as economic catalysts. An education can mean the difference between a young woman growing up to be a success-ful business woman and commu-nity leader instead of a sex-slave in a brothel. With girls comprising 70% of the world’s out-of-school children, there is considerable po-tential to ensure that they do not take the latter path. Educating women from a young age can address numer-ous concerns in a developing na-tion. An educated woman will be presented with more opportunities in life than her uneducated peers. For example, knowledge of family planning is strongly correlated to smaller family sizes. In a devel-oping nation, a family with fewer children is more likely to spend money on their medical needs and invest in their education. Further-more, depending on a woman’s situation, a smaller family with fewer mouths to feed kept healthy and nourished more easily. Ulti-mately, education may mean the difference between a woman be-ing self-reliant, thus being able to provide food and clothing for her-self, versus counting on male fam-ily members to sustain her for the rest of her life.

In many developing nations, overpopulation can severely com-pound other pre-existing prob-lems. Resource exploitation and environmental degradation are accelerated by population growth. Overpopulation has also been as-sociated with increased health risks (especially for women and children), and can deteriorate quality of life by reducing access to education and nutrition. If over-population of an area is severe enough, it can seriously hinder the development of that area and in-hibit economic growth. Controlling population growth begins with the education of young women. Besides delay-ing marriage, a woman’s level of education is positively correlated with a decision not to marry at all. An educated woman is better equipped to organize her life out-side of the realm of marriage and family. For example, in Thailand, only about 1.9 per cent of women without education do not marry, whereas 14.6 per cent of highly educated women do not marry. An educated woman is less likely to be pressured into having a family she cannot sustain. According to UNAIDS, education is also the most effective way of combating the spread of HIV – a disease that can seriously hinder a woman’s chances in life. In Ugan-da, HIV prevalence among adults fell from 15% in the early 1990’s to 6.5% in 2009, primarily due to widespread educational programs. Education is key to an effective response to HIV/AIDS. Women are twice as likely to contract AIDs as men and, unfortunately, have much less say as to whether pro-tection is used. Studies show that well-educated women are more likely to know how to prevent HIV infection, to delay sexual activity, and to take measures to protect themselves against STIs.

Half the Sky is not an NGO or registered charity. Based on a book by the same name by Nicho-las Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky is a philosophy which argues that the best way to com-bat many global issues such as poverty, famine, human traffick-ing, AIDS and countless others is through the empowerment and education of young women.

Q: Will Greece default and topple the EU?

Greece will default.

The EU will fall.


oncampus

Disagree

A new chapter of the Half the Sky movement has recently been founded here at Queen’s University. More information on the Half the Sky move-ment and how to get involved with the Queen’s chapter can be found at:

qhts.org.

IQ

Q


TEDxoncampus

cross-referenced and used with novel results? Asad Chisthi, the or-ganizer of the TEDxQueen’s conference this year, agreed to share some of his thoughts on our local TED event. For Asad, Queen’s was as good a place as any to host a confer-ence bringing together speak-ers from Michigan, Toronto and even New Brunswick. It was for this reason that he decided to spearhead an independently-

organized rendition of the much larger TED conferences occur-ring worldwide. He believes that the difference between TED and similar events is the deep and passionate commitment of speakers and attendees alike to the newfound reality that ideas have no boundaries, nor bor-derlines. As breeding grounds for innovation, universities are filled with people who love to learn and share. More than that though, Asad thought the room was filled with enthusiasm, or as he puts it, “curious people with open minds.” Curiosity was a powerful theme throughout

The tagline of the TED move-ment is “Ideas worth spread-ing”. When the first TEDTalk conference was organized in 1984 in California, few of us imagined that, years later, this global phenomenon comprised of thousands of independently o r g a n i z e d events and a huge on-line following would devel-op. Initially m a r k e t e d as an aca-demic forum, TED quickly grew to be an experi-ence rather than a series of isolated events. With over 1,050 talks now available on-line for free, courtesy of a Creative Commons li-cense, TED promises to condense new ideas and research in technol-ogy, entertainment and design into blocks of under 18 minutes. While most of us have probably watched a TEDTalk, probably not as many have stopped to reflect on the scale and meaning of this quickly ex-panding framework. Most often, when we ponder the impacts of globalization, we quickly think of trade, of financial sector de-pendence, of debt and loans, and of the increased availability of products made offshore. But what about the spread of ideas, and the increased ease with which research can be shared,

the conference. From his point of view, the TEDTalk organized at Queen’s created a push in the community for sharing more, for being open about new ideas outside of the classroom or lab environment, for thinking more about lifestyle and everyday choices and what they mean rather than continuing to sepa-rate the academic from the per-sonal. Asad found the audi-ence he was looking for. It ap-

pears there was a par-ticular type of person who decided to spend an early Sunday morning at TEDxQueen-su. The room was filled with the buzz of coffee, smartphones and note-pads. Click-ing away, T w e e t i n g , photograph-ing, blogging and connect-ing during the conference, the attendees

were sharing the content of the conference, their thoughts and reactions with the rest of cy-berspace. Megan Gebhart, the girl behind http://52cups.tumblr.com/, was one of the speakers at TEDxQueens. When I asked Megan what drove her to have a coffee, a conversation and learn from a stranger every single week, for an entire year, she simply told me that “curiosity got the best of her.” After being introduced to one of her cur-rent best friends through a blind coffee date, simply based on an introduction from a staff mem-ber of Career Services at the

by alexandra petre

V o l u m e 8 - N u m b e r 2 7

University of Michigan, Megan decided she wanted to continue striking up conversations with strangers with similar interests, interesting lives or remark-able stories. Megan’s project has taken her across continents and given her the opportunity to meet with remarkable people such as Harvard Law Profes-sor Jonathan Zittrain, a former member of the Warsaw Uprising in 1984, Janina Pasik, as well as Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. During her conversa-tions, Megan was able to see a theme emerging: travel while you’re young. This philosophy has solidified along the way. Af-ter cup 52, Megan noted: “If you are open to go where life takes you, you will end up in incred-ible places. However, you can’t sit back and expect a great life, you have to go out and make a great life. Her project, much like the TED concept, examined the uncertainty that defines the current global environment. Whereas TED works to bring ideas together and present them in a concise and acces-sible manner, Me-gan sought out those ideas indepen-dently. Little of her conversations, and little of TED makes the front pages of international news tabloids. Why is it that the global and local media and its audience alike for-get about the glo-balization of ideas? As Seth Go-din, the famous American entrepre-neur notes, “there is currently no com-petition for good news about great ideas.” Perhaps this is understandable.

2011 was a good year for news, for journalists and for writing: the Arab Spring, the meltdown of the Euro, the rising influence of China and the trail of two incredibly painful wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, if one is to reflect on 2011 and ask for the most important ideas be-ing developed and discussed, suddenly the year is much less defined. This is exactly what Asad and the TEDxQueens conference aimed to focus on. To slow down, reflect upon the most powerful ideas that have shaped defined the experiences of the speakers, the organizers, of those in the audience and of those outside the Queen’s cam-pus, and analyze those instead of the news we read everyday. The TED conference paused and, instead of reflecting upon a year of turmoil, looked for ideas that can help create a more stable, meaningful and peaceful future. Megan did the same, but on an individual level. She summarizes her motiva-tion in a simple equation. In or-

der to do that, you have to have the curiosity to discover what you love, the courage to do it, and the determination to do it well. If you can do those three things, you can create an in-credible life, she says. Whether one finds inspiration from TED, from a personal story or from within oneself, the overwhelm-ing feeling is that opportuni-ties await. TED is attempting to make us aware of those op-portunities daily by showcas-ing projects and insights that seemed impossible only years before. Megan’s story fits the mould perfectly: who could have thought that 52 cups would be widely popular through so-cial media, and would ultimately lead to an employment offer at the Office of Alumni relations at the University of Michigan. Megan currently travels all the time, having transformed her passion into a marketable skill. Her stories, along with that of other TED speakers, suggest that an idea can become an op-portunity. What’s your idea? IQ

Q

[email protected]

# THE VOICE OF OCCUPY

# THE VOICE OF OCCUPY

It started, like most things do, with an idea—Canadian-born, no less. Adbusters , a Vancou-ver-based magazine,suggested that there should be an occupa-tion of Wall Street. It would be a request, a plea, for America to take money away from big corporations and give it back to the people. The idea snow-balled until it became a move-ment to be reckoned with on Wall Street, around the U.S., and soon, around the world.

What is most notable about this movement is that it garnered such a widespread base in such a short period of time. While the Occupy movement’s repu-tation has not always been positive, it is hard to deny that it has truly reached every part of North America and the globe. What has caused this growth?

At first glance, the answer could be attributed to the na-ture of the conflict. This is the kind of class struggle that Marx predicted — with only seman-tic differences: Marx’s lexicon has been exchanged for the 1% and 99%. This class struggle is universal, like human nature—we are all prone to corruption if the spoils are great enough, exploiting advantage whenev-er possible. The Occupy Wall Street protests are simply a signifier of the ongoing system if economic subjugation.

When we begin to examine the widespread influence of the Oc-

cupy movement, a few crucial misconceptions need to be ad-dressed. For one, the protest-ers are not ‘anti-capitalist’ nor socialists, at least not most of them. What they recognize is a deep flaw in capitalism—one that is slowly opening the gap between the rich and the poor. These issues came to a head in the global economic crisis of 2008, when the bankers and investors that were mostly re-sponsible for severely disrupt-ing the national economy were allowed to get off scot-free because of their wealth and in-

fluence. Meanwhile, those who had no part in the downfall of the economy—namely, work-ing class Americans—were left homeless and unemployed. As Mohammed El-Erian said so aptly, “You cannot be a good house in a rapidly deteriorating neighbourhood.”

The Occupy movement speaks to these people. It is a way for them to vent their frustra-tions to the government and the 1% who have failed them. The

movement resonates because it has a voice of humanity—the Occupy movement’s branding could never be put in corpo-rate terms, nor into an adver-tising campaign (though it has been attempted). The Occupy movement’s image is by defini-tion, human and relatable.

It’s not just the human image of Occupy Wall Street that cap-tures the attention of the frus-trated working class, however. There is something more pro-found to be observed in the campaign itself—the language. It utilizes, in many ways, the same rhetoric that Wall Street uses to convince somebody to put their money into the mar-ket. It is the language of fear and urgency. Although the Oc-cupy movement’s explicit goals are for ‘peaceful’ occupations, the language they use suggests the opposite.

As I mentioned, the creation of a voice that is both human and frustrated has led the Oc-cupy movement to garner great numbers of followers across the globe and allowed them to develop even more ways to extend their message. Using Google Ads, they have managed to run commercials through major networks like ESPN, the Outdoor Channel, and (ironi-cally) Fox News, relatively in-expensively. This winter, they plan to release a CD with a var-ied lineup of artists, from Devo to Crosby and Nash.

Only time will tell what kind of political discussions and change this movement will inspire. What is undeniable, though, is the strength and growth of the Occupy movement. No longer can the government stand idly by and let the wealthiest of so-ciety reap all the benefits, while leaving the working class be-hind. This movement, more than any before it, has shown what the people can do when given a voice.

“Revolution is necessary…not only because the ruling class can-not be overthrown in any other way, but also because the class overthrowing it can only in a revo-lution succeed in ridding itself of al the much of ages and become fitted to found society anew.” -Karl Marx

by Taylor Anderson

IQ

Q


This winter break, my parents and I took a week-long trip to Thai-land. Never before had I visited this exotic land: but I was delighted to discover a vibrant destination, full of magnetic culture and beauti-ful scenery.

THE LAND OF THE TEMPLES

Our first day in Thailand was spent walking around the neighbourhood near our hotel in Bangkok and exploring. We passed by a little street where venders came to sell Thai treats, like BBQ-ed chicken and squid, lots of fresh fruits. Wafting from small shops were the smells of curry and pad thai! Cars in Thailand also drive on the opposite side of the road, which took some getting used to. Kinda trippy, actually; sitting in a taxi, and suddenly panick-ing: “We’re driving the wrong way!” We later went for a dinner cruise, which was a gorgeous way to see the city! We left from River City, and went along the Chao Phraya River. There was great weather, great sites, and we got to see some amazing views! The great King Rama XIII Bridge spans the River. What a gorgeous scene!

On our second day in Thailand, we decided to take a day trip to visit some of the more famous tem-ples in Ayutthaya, an hour drive away. Ayutthaya was the second capital of Thailand, from 1350 to 1767 when the Burmese Army destroyed the city; Bangkok was proclaimed the capital the following year. Did you know there are over 40,000 temples in Thailand? Buddhism is the dominant religion, with about 90% of the population practicing. The main part of this temple is a giant reclining stone Buddha, draped with a golden cape. It was inspiring just to see all the people that had trekked out to see this famous statue, for tourist or religious reasons alike. Another Thai factoid we learned in Ayut-thaya: the Buddhist calendar and dates still has great significance. This calendar starts from the date of death of Buddha, believed to be 453AD,

A photo essay by Wenhan Chen.

TRAVEL

V o l u m e 8 - N u m b e r 2 11

making this year 2555. The Wat Mahathat, also in Ayutthaya, was once home of the Supreme Patriarch, the head of all the Buddhist monks in Thailand. Today, the central tower of the temple is a ruined mass of bricks. The chief attraction at this temple is the Buddha head in the tree roots; the body had been lost long ago, but the head is resting in the climbing roots and vines of a tree. The Summer Palace is a complex formally lived in by by previous Kings; today it is only used for special state occasions. The Thai-style pavilion seen on the left in the picture, is called “The Divine Seat of Personal Freedom” and was built in 1876 as an exact copy of the Phra Thinang Aphonphimok Prasat Temple in the Grand Palace. The day after our tour to Ayutthaya, we joined another 4-day tour that would bring us to the famous tourist city of Pattaya. We made a couple of stops on the way there, with the Wat Arun, or Temple of the Dawn, being one of them. The Wat Arun is one of the most recognized landscapes in Thailand. Its main feature is actually this picture here, which is a multi-coloured porcelain-encrusted central tower. This is the Wat Pho, or Wat Phra Chetuphon as it is generally known to the Thais, and is mainly famous for the huge Reclining Buddha statue it houses. The highly impressive gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 me-ters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration, and the feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha. The Grand Palace was the official residence for the Kings of Thailand from 1782 to 1925, although it is still used for official events, such as royal ceremo-

nies and state functions. We went on a really gorgeous day, al-though to respect the temples and the religion, we had to wear long sleeves and pants (which made for a hot visit!). It was still an amazing view, with stunning architecture and beautiful décor. My journey was absolutely amazing, and I enjoyed learning about a distinct culture that I will definitely never for-get. Makes me love pad thai all the more, too! Send your own stories and photos to queensuobserver@gmail

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Mo Lovearound the world, we need, ,

Ladies, rejoice! The men are back and moustache free. For all of November, Queen’s campus was covered with men sporting all sorts and shapes of moustaches, participating in

what has come to be known as ‘Movember’.

by Miriam Bart

RAF

V o l u m e 8 - N u m b e r 2 13

, So what exactly is Mo-vember? It is an annual event held during the month of November, en-couraging men to grow their moustaches to raise awareness and mon-ey for men’s health is-sues, particularly pros-tate cancer. Movember began in 2003, with the small goal of getting thirty men to grow facial hair for thirty days. This international movement, having raised over $174 million worldwide for mens’ cancers, originat-ed in Australia with four primary goals: spread awareness, educate, decrease depression in men, increase prostate cancer research and in-fluence change in men’s health. There are five rules that must be fol-lowed in order to par-take in a successful Mo-vember:

With such simple rules for a good cause, why shouldn’t men all around the world par-ticipate? Well, the major-ity have been since the takeoff of Movember in Australia in 2004. The Movember movement spread to South Africa and Europe shortly af-ter its inception, reaching the United States in 2007. Today, there are 1.1 mil-lion men that participate in countries around the

world including Australia, Canada, Spain, South Af-rica, Ireland, England and the United States. Why has the Movem-ber movement spread so quickly? One may argue that men just want an ex-cuse to grow their facial hair. But it also has to do with the 910,000 prostate cancer victims around the world. This disease de-velops as a result of di-etary, environmental and hereditary factors. If de-tected and treated early enough, 90% of pros-tate cancer cases are curable. Unfortunately, prostate cancer does not reveal any symptoms in the earliest stages, mak-ing it difficult to catch. In 2008, prostate cancer was accountable for 14% of all new cancer cases in men; a number predicted to double by 2030. This disease is most prominent in Australia, New Zea-land, South Africa, West-ern and Northern Europe, and North America. It ap-pears to be less relevant in Asia and North Africa, perhaps why those coun-tries aren’t as involved in the Movember movement yet. In Canada alone, prostate cancer is a dis-ease that 25, 000 men have been diagnosed with this year alone. This dis-ease affects one in every seven men, making it the most common cancer for Canadian men. In order to fight prostate cancer in Canada, Movember rais-es money to fund various programs that target vic-tims of prostate cancer. The first of many of these programs is the Canadian Prostate Can-cer Genome Project (CPC GENE). This program is designed to discover the

1. Register at www.movem-ber.com on the 1st of Movem-ber with a shaven face.2. A moustache must be grown for the entire month.3. The moustache cannot join to sideburns as then it be-comes a beard.4. The moustache cannot have handlebars, as that is a goatee.5. Each Mo Bro must conduct himself like a true country gentleman.

Wolfgang Schneider (ABOVE) and Marco (BELOW), two purebred vic-tors of the World Moustache and Beard Championships, held annually.


grow in the future. From 2004-2010, 447, 808 people were in-volved globally, and $176 mil-lion was raised. Movember 2011 has proved to be another success-ful month of fundraising world-wide. As of December 1, Canada raised the most money for Movember nationally with $36,165,644, and the United Kingdom had the most regis-tered people with 252,828 par-ticipants. In total, there were 852,744 Movember participants with $99,526,186 raised.

link between genes that lead to prostate cancer. CPC GENE is developing both a national and international group of scien-tists to aid in research for the International Cancer Genome Consortium. Another program in Canada that Movember helps to fund is the Clinician Scien-tist Award. This program gives a financial award to scientists who work to translate research knowledge into improved pa-tient care and health. A third program in Canada is the Prostate Health Clinic at the new Edmonton Clinic, locat-ed in the University of Alberta Hospital. At this clinic alone, two robotic surgery systems are used. These machines will also be used for research initia-tives through the Cross Cancer Institute. Where does all the mon-ey for Movember come from? Some of the major monetary contributions come not only from individual donations, but also from various charitable events. Throughout November, events have been held all over the world to raise money and awareness for the cause. Many galas include competitions for Best Mo Character, Team Mo, Miss Movember, and of course, Man of Movember 2011. With the incentives of a potential ‘MO’ title at a fancy event, the support and money from fam-ily and friends, and of course a nicely groomed moustache, why wouldn’t a man want to partake in Movember? Between events, the support from organiza-tions, and personal donations, Movember has raised millions of dollars that will continue to

It has been a great year for moustache grooming and growth around the world, so thank you to the men in Kings-ton, across Canada, North America, and everywhere else in the world for spreading awareness for 30 days by sac-rificing the otherwise smooth area above your upper lip for such a necessary cause. As for women, let’s keep in mind it is for a good cause and disregard the increase of creepy looking men for one twelfth of a year. After all, they are saving lives.

IQ

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V o l u m e 8 - N u m b e r 2 15

It was a critical juncture in the his-tory of the Middle East when Mo-hamed Bouazizi set himself ablaze before the provincial headquarters of Sidi Bouzid. The self immola-tion of this 26-year old Tunisian street vendor became the emo-tional impetus for the rebellion that would in turn precipitate the fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The success of this uprising would go on to inspire a pan-Arabic move-ment for demo-cratic reform that continues to this very day. Years of latent resentment towards corrupt autocracies, com-pounded by the economic woes of the past decade, finally sparked a public outcry when the northernmost country in Africa erupted in na-tionwide revolu-tion. The flame of protest ignited by Bouazizi’s sacri-fice would later spread like wild-fire throughout the MENA Region that consists of Middle East and North Af-rica. A year has passed since the wave of protests known as the “Arab Spring” first began. The disaffected Tunisian public—long mistreated by a cor-rupt and repressive government and beset with high unemploy-ment, food inflation, and poor liv-ing conditions—rallied together in mass demonstrations which culmi-nated in riots across the country. Tunisia’s example prompt-ed the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, during which approximately 840 people were killed and 6,000 were injured. President Hosni Mubarak was finally ousted from his thir-ty-year reign as a military gov-

ernment took control in the in-terim and elections were slated to commence sometime in August of 2011. After a number of de-lays, and further clashes in Tahrir Square, the voting process is now finally underway. That same process of change later occurred in Libya as

anti-Gaddafi forces clashed with what was the incumbent regime at the time in a conflict that esca-lated to the point of civil war. Re-sponding to the popular upheaval that began on February 16, 2011, the Libyan army, under Muammar Gaddafi, implemented a slew of violent acts of repression in order to quell the insurrection. This pro-voked an armed rebellion. Under the pretext of pro-tecting the lives of Libya’s citizen-ry, but more likely to expel one of the MENA region’s least coopera-tive rulers, NATO contributed to the revolution by providing arms

and by implementing aerial of-fenses on pro-Gaddafi military in-stallations. With so many counter-vailing pressures mounted against the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Gad-dafi’s regime seemed destined to crumble. Thus, when the forces of the Libyan National Transitional Council claimed victory with the

capture of Tripoli on October 2011, the outcome was seen as predict-able. Inspired by the civil resis-tance in Libya and the demo-cratic victories in Tunisia and Egypt, people from across the MENA region started taking direct action to oppose authori-tarian rule. Civil uprisings prolif-erated through-out Bahrain, Syria, and Ye-men while major protest move-ments emerged in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Moroc-co, and Oman. Demonstrations also occurred in Kuwait, Leba-non, Saudi Ara-bia, and Sudan. The political slogan, “Ash-

sha`b yurīd isqāṭ an-niṭām”, or “The people demand the downfall of the regime”, echoed all the way from the Persian Gulf to the Hog-gar Mountains as Arab citizens of various nationalities protested for largely congruent reasons. From a broad perspective, the MENA region as a whole pres-ently looks to be experiencing a political shift from the single-par-ty dictates of authoritarian rule to the free elections characteristic of radical democracy. The ques-tion, then, is what does this politi-cal shift in the Arab world mean to the rest of the international com-

The Arab Spring and the

Future of MENA

By Devon Mok


munity? Specifically what does it portend for Israel, and what are its implications for U.S foreign policy? In order to answer these questions the region’s history and the function played by MENA au-tocrats in serving as a collective bulwark against Islamist opposi-tion to American and Israeli inter-ests must be examined. We must assess the possible consequences of democracy in the Arab World for U.S foreign policy, as well as the potential threat represented by this regional transformation to the diplomatic position of Israel.

A History of Autocratic RuleSince the beginning of the post-Cold War era, Middle Eastern and North African despots had large-ly been steadfast enforcers of U.S-Israeli dictates. In the eyes of Washington’s mandarins, pro-Western military tyrants were con-sidered better guarantors of order in the Middle East than volatile and unpredictable democracies. U.S officials feared the extension of true suffrage to the Arab citizenry because of the Muslim majority’s tendency to support anti-West-ernforeign Islamist movements. Algeria staged its first multi-party general elections in December 1991 and the Islam-ic Salvation Front, FIS, won by a landslide. In response to this per-ceived threat, the Algerian army cancelled elections and appointed one of their own as head of state, declaring martial law and banning the FIS. From then on North Afri-can and Middle Eastern army elites treated Islamist dissent as a secu-rity problem instead of a political issue, thus sparing the establish-ment from having to actually share power. Recognizing these military dictators and monarchs to be gen-erally acquiescent to Washington’s neoliberal consensus, the United States gave its tacit support to Arab elites in office. It did so even as these elites consolidated their authority by way of constitutional override and other undemocratic means. European and American backers made no attempt to en-

courage improvement in the re-gion’s human rights record or the growth of civil society. The US State Department actually retract-ed its democracy programmes in the Middle East and North Africa to allow sponsored autocrats free reign. Hence, when Tunisian President Ben Ali amended his own constitution in 2002 to grant himself judicial immunity and the ability to stand for a third term, he faced no Western sanctions. Pres-ident Mubarak meanwhile pre-served his 30-year reign by stag-ing a number of rigged elections and periodically silencing political opposition. In spite of this, Egypt’s government continued to benefit from full U.S support, remaining the second greatest beneficiary of American foreign aid next to Is-rael. Saleh in Yemen and King Hamad in Bahrain were also pro-Western tyrannical dictators who enjoyed American and European blessing. For the most part, they served as patrons for U.S-Israe-li operations in the area and as propagators of crony capitalism. Over the past few decades these dictators selectively implemented policies of economic liberalization, opening their countries up to direct foreign investment from primar-

ily European and North American multinational corporations. All the while, they continued to maintain state control over their national economies. In that time, very little of the wealth derived from such transac-tions reached the general populace. As Peter Mansfield wrote, “priva-tization, where it happened at all, became a byword for the hando-ver of profitable state industries to the rulers’ family or churns.” State treasuries were pilfered by cor-rupt administrations and frivolous monarchies. All the while, a ma-jority of the youth demographic in most Arab states remained (and continues to remain) jobless. Arab strongmen also worked to curtail Islamist separat-ist movements within the region, as religious militants served as the only major opposition. This was best exemplified in 1982, when the city of Hama was virtually oblit-erated by Syrian tanks in an op-eration that killed 25,000 citizens and effectively defeated the Syrian Islamist movement. The anti-Is-lamist fervour of these pro-West-ern dictators was also demonstrat-ed in 2002, when President Ben Ali’s government abolished human rights groups, clamped down on the press, and banned Tunisia’s Islamist party, al Nahda.

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Notwithstanding the bru-tality involved in these dictators’ rule, this arrangement was tol-erated by political elites in both hemispheres. American and Eu-ropean leaders were satisfied that local dictators held radical Islam in check while propagating the Washington Consensus, while at the same time, Arab strongmen benefited from both diplomatic and financial U.S support. In short, this was a mutually advantageous compact for elites on both sides. However, it was not an agreement that sat well with the marginalized and impoverished masses of the Arab world.

Israel’s Bulwarks The U.S-backed despots of the MENA region were also cred-ited with the preservation of an uneasy concord between Israel and its Arab neighbours; a nomi-nal peace that has since lasted for decades, despite overwhelming popular support for the Palestin-ian cause in the greater Arab com-munity. Old resentments stemming in large part from past conflicts such as the Six-Day War (1967), the War of Attrition (1968), and the Yom Kippur War (October 1973) remain ubiquitous throughout Arab society. Most importantly, the ex-tent of Palestinian solidarity is wide and pervasive enough that it has provoked suppressive mea-sures from anxious dictators fol-lowing the Washington Consensus. This was seen in April 2002 when a large wave of protesters mobilized in support of Palestine from Teheran to Casablanca. The Middle East’s Arab rulers sup-pressed this movement with the brutality characteristic of their rule. Over the course of that year, the Jordanian government quelled 380 violent demonstrations, while the Egyptian police employed armed containment measures to suppress protests of 80,000 angry demonstrators each day. Concur-rently, the police states of Syr-ia and Saudi Arabia were forced to enact interior ministry bans to prevent pro-Palestinian demon-strators from gathering outside U.S consulates.

The Future of the MENA Region In a 2007 opinion poll, ma-jorities and pluralities of Arab citi-zens stated that the U.S should withdraw immediately from Iraq. In Egypt and Jordan, this option was supported by over 70% of the population. In 2010, 81% of Egyp-tians were recorded as wanting the U.S-led military forces to be re-moved from Afghanistan “as soon as possible”. Only 15% believed the U.S-led military presence in

that country should continue until the situation stabilized. Lastly, an-other poll conducted in 2010 re-vealed that the overwhelming ma-jority of the Arab population felt Israel should return all 1967 ter-ritories including East Jerusalem. These were, and still re-main, the general sentiments of the Arab World. If and when the countries of the MENA region de-mocratize, there will be no central authorities to suppress their re-solve. Changes will inevitably oc-cur as democratic rule displaces the high-handed dictates of au-thoritarian governance. With the possible exception of Libya, we can expect the region as a whole to become less accom-modating to Western interests. The absence of compliant dicta-tors to keep the Arab population in line could enable democratization to take place in the Arab world. America is also likely to face in-creased opposition to its continued occupation of Afghanistan. Pres-sure to withdraw from the territory will intensify as the newly enfran-chised MENA citizens exert their democratic will to oppose Western occupation. Popular support for Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood could mani-fest itself in the form of legislative representation. Moreover, coun-

tries such as Egypt will no longer be as protective of Israel’s ac-tions in the Palestinian territories. With the expulsion of acquiescent strongmen like Mubarak, there will be no force to prevent the pro-Palestinian masses from act-ing upon their convictions. Popular opposition to Israel’s settlement of the West Bank is bound to become more vocal in the near future. The already precarious diplomatic po-sition of the world’s only Jewish-majority state will likely worsen as political opposition throughout the MENA region intensifies. Still, these forecasts are predicated on the assumption that widespread democratization will actually take place. While Tunisia has managed to elect a new ad-ministration under the moderate Islamist Nahda party, it remains to be seen if this new government will actually be representative of the people. Moreover, Libya and Egypt are currently under the control of provisional governments and have yet to complete elections, so we are still waiting to see whether even the countries who have ex-perienced governmental overhaul will manage to achieve democratic reform. It might also be premature to assume that the rebellions still being waged will facilitate regime change, let alone democratization; the governments of Syria and Ye-men continue to suppress all op-position, despite limp-wristed Western sanctions and pressure from the Arab League. At the same time, there are those who claim that NATO’s underlying objective in Libya was merely to replace Gaddafi with a more submissive puppet—perhaps manifested in the NTC or the administration it births. Nevertheless, if the vast majority of the population wishes to overthrow their government, they will invariably succeed. In that event, we are sure to notice a profound shift in the disposition of the Middle East and North Africa as a whole. In response, both the United States and Israel would do well to modulate their respective foreign policies to address this change. IQ

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The underrepresentation of women in Canadian ParliamentWomen in the House

An important function of Cana-dian political institutions is rep-resentation. Ideally, the different arenas of a democratic govern-mental apparatus making policy decisions regarding the popula-tion should mirror their constitu-ents. Yet, women, who comprise half of Canada’s population, are far outnumbered by men in important governmental institutions such as the House of Commons and Cabi-net. This “democratic deficit” of underrepresentation will be the focus of this article (Trimble and Arscott). Women’s underrepre-sentation in terms of employment in Canadian government will be discussed, with a focus on how Ca-nadian institutions are constrained in their effort to represent women and require the implementation of institutional reform. Furthermore greater representation of women will be defined as greater employ-ment in government and the formal decision-making process. Finally, the constraints of institutions will be explored by examining their efforts and subsequent inability to enforce employment and pay equity for women in order to en-courage their involvement in gov-ernment. These past efforts faced fundamental institutional barriers of party pressures, lack of speci-ficity, and difficulties in passing legislation which limited their po-tential success. Institutional re-form in the form of lessening such internal constraints is needed to help pass legislation to increase representation of women and de-crease the democratic deficit on a larger scale. To understand the need for investigating the underrepresen-

tation of women in Canadian gov-ernment, it is necessary to exam-ine certain pertinent facts. Women constitute nearly 52 percent of the Canadian population and about as much of the electorate. Though women slightly outnumber men in the population, they continue to be a minority in the government. Few women have held the high-est positions in provincial and fed-eral governments; the number can be counted on the fingers of two hands. Women constitute 20 per-cent of members in the House of Commons. The House, represent-ing the bulk of Canadian Parlia-ment, is recognized as housing

the dominant legislative chamber in the federal government and is expected to represent differ-ent ridings, and thus constituents, across the provinces. Low num-bers of female representatives are particularly apparent in high lev-els of government. This observa-tion is what Bashevkin terms, “the higher the fewer”. By this, Ba-shevkin means that the higher one goes in the levels of government, the fewer women one sees. This demonstrates that a crisis is un-folding in Canadian government. More than half the population of a democratically governed society is disproportionately represented by a small minority. Legitimacy and

representational functions of gov-ernmental institutions appear un-fulfilled and a shortage in Canadian democracy thus becomes appar-ent. While women are gener-ally underrepresented in Cana-dian government, major strides have been made by political deci-sions to increase women’s politi-cal employment in the past. From the 1970s to the year 2007, the number of women in Ontario legis-latures peaked in the 1990s. This marked a high point in the rep-resentation of women in govern-ment, likely due to a combination of feminist social movements and political decisions. The latter con-sisted of policies passed by the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP). Affirmative action legisla-tion, requiring the improvement in the representation of women in in-ternal party bodies, was enacted in 1982. The party also demanded a focus on the nomination of candi-dates from minority target groups, which included women. As a re-sult, the NDP nominated a record number of women candidates in 1990. Other awareness activities about the need to employ more women in political bodies were conducted and various provisions, such as child care subsidies, were provided by the NDP to further encourage women to become po-litically active. When the Ontario NDP came to power in 1990, it brought a striking number of wom-en into Parliament. It is not sur-prising that just a few years later these successes resulted in the election of the first female Prime Minister, Kim Campbell, and an unprecedented amount of women

“These strides justify the need for political decision-making bodies to actively

introduce measures enforc-ing greater representation

of women. ”

by Natasha Mukhtar

V o l u m e 8 - N u m b e r 2 19

Women in the House

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in the House of Commons. These strides justify the need for politi-cal decision-making bodies to ac-tively introduce political measures enforcing greater representation of women. These measures, howev-er, did not succeed in eliminating all systemic barriers to women’s political employment in Canada. Bashevkin recognizes that cer-tain “stage” barriers to women’s involvement in political office still exist. The stage of politics in Can-ada is one in which certain electoral rules, policies, and party conditions make it difficult for women to be-come active in political office. From this, it can be interpreted that the current stage or rules of the game of Canadian politics inhibit repre-sentation of women. This points to a larger systemic problem of Ca-nadian institutions – they clearly fail to fulfill their democratic role of representation. These rules or conventions include the fact that parties in power are less likely to recruit women, or that women do better in less competitive politi-cal environments. The measures which Bashevkin calls for to alle-viate the hostility towards women in the political environment con-sist of the creation of a non-ad-versarial political stage in which

egalitarian, left-wing parties who have good relations with feminist groups are in power. With the op-posite of these conditions current-ly in effect, women face structural stage barriers to political employ-ment. According to this scenario, the capacity for representation of women depends on a change in the current rules and conventions of Canadian political institutions. The current rules of Canadian politics are unfair and undemocratic. A

change or reform in the running of Canadian institutions is therefore necessary. In the past twenty years, Canadian political institutions have devised various policies to in-crease the number of women in government. These employment strategies were meant to enforce greater gender equality and thus representation in government. Of these strategies, pay and employ-ment equity measures in particular have an ability to promote greater representation in political office by increasing the quality of work for

women. In terms of pay equity, legis-

l a tion for equal pay o f equal value was

passed federally and provincially

i n the 1950s and was also included in the 1971 Canada La-bour Code. How-ever, the legisla-tion was vague in defining equal val-

ue, making complaints difficult to file. Yet, this vagueness was fundamental

t o its passing in Par-liament, as it ca-tered to many in-terests, provincial and federal, in-herently reduc-

ing the complexity of most issues tar-

geted by the legislation until only a bare bones of the intended pol-icy is left. Employment equity for women was targeted by the Ca-nadian Human Rights Act in 1977 and the Charter in 1982, with the aim of eliminating discrimination based on identity in recruitment. Like the pay equity legislation, these all-encompassing measures lacked a clear mandate and proved logistically impossible to enforce. Though these measures appeared forward-thinking on the issue of women’s employment, they stand as examples of how institutional constraints can reduce the actual success of these well-meaning ef-forts. Women continue to consti-tute only 20 percent of members of the House of Commons. The reason for the apparent stagnation in success of policies designed to strengthen equality can be linked to broader institutional issues and constraints. These constraints perpetuate the “democratic defi-cit” in Canada, which is caused in part by the underrepresentation of women in government. Democracy, though notoriously hard to define, is taken to be largely a measure of how well political decision making bodies represent or mirror their constituents. In such a government,

With or without affirmative policy action, women are progressively assuming roles of greater independent power. ABOVE - Elizabeth May, sole MP and Leader of the Green Party of Canada.

“There is a need for insti-tutional reform in Cana-

dian government”

V o l u m e 8 - N u m b e r 2 21

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there is a greater diversity of val-ues and ideas essential to unbiased democratic decision-making. Nat-urally, it is expected that half of the population of a country not be underrepresented in a democratic government. Some may argue that even the election or employment of women may not increase the number of politicians striving for and supporting women’s issues. However, it would still increase the diversity of ideas and policies debated by governmental institu-tions, thus enhancing democracy. Though measures to eliminate this deficit exist, there continues to be a discrepancy or “glass ceiling” between their intended effects and real world potential of these mea-sures. Sometimes, it seems that the measures themselves stagnate efforts to increase representation. This may be due to the institutions which design and implement them as well as their vague nature and indirect approach to addressing issues. Institutional reform can consist of simply fewer constraints on institutions such as the courts or legislature when they attempt to pass bills or policies that will help

solve widely agreed upon chal-lenges to democracy in Canada. In this sense, it is not a complete restructuring of the political sys-tem or even radically different employment policies that must be adopted to increase representa-tion of women. Instead, the poten-tial of past policies in attempting to bridge the gap between num-bers of men and women in govern-ment must be recognized. It argues that these policies had some im-pact, but were restrained in their effectiveness because of the way institutions were required to de-sign them. Legislation and reports tackling the issue of underrepre-sentation of women are often made to be a small part of larger, and thus vaguer, bills meant to solve too many ills in one time. This may be because other similar anti-dis-crimination efforts are often com-bined with women’s legislation in, for example, the Charter and La-bour Code. Passing separate, more clarified and in depth legislation for each cause seems too difficult and vulnerable to opposition. It is for these reasons that this paper argues for less constraints on in-stitutions when passing legislation

for pro-democratic efforts, such as those to increase the represen-tation and employment of women in government. In conclusion, the current situation in Canadian political institutions contributes to a democratic defi-cit. This discrepancy is the con-tinued underrepresentation, in the form of employment, of women in government. The current rules of the game, it appears, perpetuate this inequality between men and women. Though strategies to in-crease female employment such as pay and employment equity have made some impact, they appear to have stagnated in their success in recent years. This is proven by the persistent low percentage of female representatives in govern-ment. This persistence points to a larger systemic problem in Cana-dian government, - the constraints around decision-making institu-tions. Policies to fight discrimina-tion are often vague and indirect when passed and remain difficult to enforce as a result. This indicates that there is a need for institution-al reform in Canadian government; specifically, a lessening of internal constraints.

RIGHT - Helena Guergis, former Conservative MP and Minister of State (Women’s Is-sues). Before her controversial oust-ing from the CPC and Parliament, Guergis had what many deemed a “token” role as parliamentary sec-retary for Women’s Issues. Despite this, recent cabi-net shuffles have further placed women in greater positions of pow-er, from Leader of the Government in Senate, or Min-isters for Health, Public Works, or the new role of Minister for Status of Women.

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V o l u m e 8 - N u m b e r 2 23

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queen's international observer - winter 2012 vol. 8 no. 2

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