First impressions from Thessaloniki
In the wake of increased migration to Europe over the past decade, and due in no small part to substandard healthcare for refugees, a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have started providing emergency medical care. As fourth-year residents in internal medicine, my partner and I had begun to feel confident that we could make a useful contribution. Several colleagues had already volunteered with a German NGO currently operating in Bosnia, Serbia and Greece and recommended them as an experienced set-up with good connections on the ground. After months of planning,…
Keep readingThe forgotten role of lotteries in democracy
What does it mean to live in a democracy? For those of us raised in the West, the response involves the concept of voting; the claim being that we live in a democracy only if we, the people, come together at regular intervals to determine those who will govern us. Yet if we examine the actual meaning of the word, this association is actually rather surprising, with demos translating roughly to ‘the common people’ and kratia to ‘power’ or ‘rule’. A more reasonable definition of democracy would thus entail any system that ensures that…
Keep readingVor Corona sind nicht alle gleich
Seit einiger Zeit werden auf der Intensivstation, auf der ich arbeite, vor allem Menschen mit Covid-19 Infektionen behandelt. Seitdem ist die Zahl der arabisch, kurdisch oder türkisch sprechenden Patientinnen merklich angestiegen. Menschen ohne oder mit nur wenig Deutschkenntnissen zu behandeln, ist hier in Berlin nichts Ungewöhnliches. Da der Stadtteil, in dem ich arbeite, Heimat vieler Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund ist, bin ich regelmäßig auf die Übersetzungshilfe von Kollegen angewiesen, um den Grund der Vorstellung zu verstehen, über anstehende Eingriffe aufzuklären oder Therapieentscheidungen zu erläutern. Dennoch ist das fast vollständige Fehlen von…
Keep readingModern segregation
I was out with a good friend last year, in search of a late breakfast, when I was once again confronted with the extent of modern segregation. It was a crisp and bright Sunday in late November. We were strolling down Eisenbahnstrasse in the German city of Leipzig which had, until recently, been considered the most dangerous street in the country[1]. But a whirlwind of gentrification had moved through the area, removing all signs of former threats. We’d been out all night and barely slept and I was craving a…
Keep readingWhy the Left needs to get its priorities straight
With the rise of Donald Trump, France’s National Front and Austria’s FPÖ, to name just a few, the question of what has happened to the voice of the political Left has been asked very frequently over the course of the last year. One of their most important problems was highlighted quite accurately by U.S. political commentator Bill Maher in his ‘Real Time’ show in January 2017: ‘‘You know in 2016, conservatives won the White House, both Houses of Congress and almost two-thirds of governorships and state legislatures. Whereas liberals[,] on…
Keep readingShould a basic income be unconditional?
An unconditional basic income would see every citizen receive a monthly ‘salary’, irrespective of all other factors. Benefit schemes, thereafter redundant, would hence be abolished. Although suggestions regarding the income level vary greatly (a pilot study [1] in Finland has begun with €560 a month, while a referendum last year [2] in Switzerland attempted to introduce a basic income of around €2250 a month), this idea has superseded the traditional division of ‘left’ and ‘right’ policies; indeed, it has triggered enthusiasm from representatives across the political spectrum. First and foremost,…
Keep readingCounterproductive radicalism
In the following I want to outline some examples epitomising what I will call a ‘radical’ mindset. Across American colleges, large-scale protests have been taking place in recent months with the aim of protecting students from potentially wounding or controversial remarks. Asking a Latino American “Where are you from?” is considered a ‘microaggression’, as it could be seen to imply doubt in their American heritage. To combat such microaggressions, students are seeking the implementation of ‘trigger warnings’; alerting consumers to content which may result in a strong emotional response. For…
Keep readingFor a United States of Europe!
Since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union at the end of June, a discussion has been unfolding regarding the direction which this project should take. Regardless that such change only ever occurs after the fact — in this case, the belief that the EU needs reform was only publicly acknowledged by those in power after the UK referendum, although this has surely been apparent for a long time — the content of these discussions is both interesting and promising. And despite the divide which is slowly etching…
Keep readingThoughts for a New Social Contract
DOWNLOAD LINK: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2dl96gtb3udqbzl/nsc%20FINAL%202.%20auflage.pdf?dl=0 Title: Thoughts for a New Social Contract (2nd edition) The length of our work is around 43,000 words. The proposed market for our work is anyone who is interested in potential solutions to problems of inequality and justice, in particular students and younger individuals — for whom much of the competing literature may be less easily accessible. It is a book for general readers, which doesn’t require any particular prior knowledge. The main idea is an expansion of the social contract developed in political philosophy, serving…
Keep readingShort-sighted politics
As the weather continues to improve and another summer is almost upon us, the number of migrants dying in the Mediterranean Sea in a desperate attempt to reach the western world is on the rise once more. In just one week alone, reports claim more than a thousand drowned, their lifeless bodies now washing up on the sandy beaches of Libya, Greece and Italy. As this mass influx of migrants into Europe, from Africa and the Middle East in particular, is slowly ebbing into the second year, we can, once…
Keep readingThe hypocrisy in modern politics
The word ‘idealistic’ is becoming increasingly linked to dogmatism, to extremes that few wish to identify themselves with. In this sense it is becoming dirty, foul, insulting; the hidden, or perhaps no longer hidden connotations associated with it suggesting a mindset of being undemocratic and irresponsible. Yet idealism may also be used in a very contrasting way, in the sense of political consistency: a fight against double standards and unjust, situational treatment of citizens. Idealism in this sense is a worthwile pursuit, because it allows not just the determination of…
Keep reading‘Hey Cabral, where’s Amarildo?’
BY MARIANA TORRES Versão em português (English version below) Ei, Cabral, cadê o Amarildo? Essa foi a pergunta gritada por dezenas de pessoas nas ruas do Brasil durante alguns meses em 2013. Amarildo Dias de Souza é um ajudante de pedreiro brasileiro que ficou conhecido nacionalmente por conta de seu desaparecimento, no dia 14 de julho de 2013, após ter sido detido por policiais militares, na Favela da Rocinha, em direção a sede da Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora do bairro, ironia que essa mesma polícia que foi elaborada com os…
Keep readingEuropean arrogance?
Since the founding of the EU in Maastricht in 1993, the European idea has surpassed mere economic cooperation to both political and social spheres, and beyond. Citizens living within any of the countries encompassed by this label increasingly identify with ‘being’ European, and certain European ideals have begun to crystallise out. Values such as human rights, freedom of speech, the acceptance of racial and religious diversity; the list is long, and the shared support of such values, indeed their implementation, universal. Through its creation the European idea has opened the…
Keep readingLessons not learned
Europe over the last decade was confronted with the worrying development of uprisings by young people without any sort of apparent political goal. As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the 2005 Paris riots, we would like to ask whether lessons have been learned from these events. Considering the fast pace of today’s media, which barely allows for the consideration of a problem before covering us with a mountain of ‘newer’ issues, have politicians pushed through those promised measures, with which we were appeased in the immediate aftermath of each…
Keep readingOne last call for the legalisation of cannabis
Although considered acceptable on an individual basis by many, little has changed to the cannabis laws across most of Europe over the last few years. Not, actually, since its reclassification in Britain from Class C to Class B drug in May 2008[1], moving it up the scale away from ‘soft drugs’ like anabolic steroids, and towards the ‘harder drugs’ of the Class A crack and cocaine, amongst others.[2] In the aftermath of this change in policy, Professor David Nutt was sacked from his position as head of the Advisory Council…
Keep readingWMDs: Widespread Media Deception and the 2003 invasion of Iraq
BY ROSS MORAN Air strikes on Iraq!’ Does this remind you of anything? The 1990 Gulf War? Or, maybe the 2003 invasion? Either-or, we’re here again. Less than three years after the last convoy of British and American troops left Iraq following the humiliating 2003 invasion, the United States and its allies are beginning another intervention in Iraq – this time to combat the growing threat of the Islamic State (or IS, or ISIS, or ISIL, or whatever they liked to be called). We are not going to get into…
Keep readingPrecipice
BY JOE BALSON “…no more right to the information they requested than if they were being executed in the electric chair, they would have no right to know whether OG&E or PSO were providing the electricity; if they were being hanged, they would have no right to know whether it be cotton or nylon rope; or if they were being executed by firing squad, they would have no right to know whether it be by Winchester or Remington ammunition,” Justice Taylor Steven On 29th April 2014, Clayton Lockett was executed…
Keep reading
Isolatarium 