National News
By Frances Howe, LLB Trigger warning: mention of suicide and sexual violence On 4 January 2021, the United States’ request to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the UK was blocked. Judge Vanessa Baraitser dismissed the request at the Old Bailey Crown Court on the basis that Assange’s mental
National News
By Fakhriya M. Suleiman, MA Global Media and Postnational Communications Following the night Mohamud Mohammed Hassan spent in South Wales Police (SWP) custody on 8 January, he was found dead at his home the next day. Hassan, a 24-year old Black man, was arrested for domestic disturbance but was released
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By Louisa Johnson, MA Global Creative and Cultural Industries The first student magazine by and for people of colour has come to SOAS. The Robeson was originally founded by Hisham Pryce-Parchment and Apoorva Sriram in 2019, but will be officially relaunching this spring. Pryce-Parchment, final year World Philosophies student and
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By Lara Gibbs, BA Chinese (Modern and Classical) On 18 November, Karim Ennarah was arrested in Dahab, South Sinai, and detained in Tora prison outside of Cairo. Two of his colleagues, Gasser Abdel-Razek and Mohammed Basheer, were also detained. Ennarah was held on charges of joining a terrorist group and
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By Deirbhile Ní Bhranáin, MA Media in Development On 14 January, SOAS announced the updates to its No Detriment Policy in an email to all students. The updates apply to all students except those enrolled in the Language Centre, or enrolled on Online Distance Learning (ODL) courses. Here’s the
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By Maliha Shoaib, BA English and World Philosophies Professor Adam Habib has assumed his position as Director of SOAS as of 4 January. Habib is an academic, researcher, activist and public intellectual with a career spanning 30 years. Prior to joining SOAS, he was Vice-Chancellor and Principle of the University
International News
By Rishika Singh, BA Politics and International Relations Farmers in India carried out a large tractor rally in New Delhi on 26 January during India’s Republic Day celebrations to protest three controversial farm bills that were enacted by the central government last September. The decision to continue protests comes
National News
By Fakhriya M. Suleiman, MA Global Media and Postnational Communications The parents of secondary school girl, Siham Hamud, have found themselves embroiled in a potential legal battle. Uxbridge Secondary School (UHS) is threatening the Hamud family with court action due to Siham’s skirt being ‘too long’ and against their
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By Lara Gibbs, BA Chinese (Modern and Classical) On 30 June, SOAS canteen staff were threatened with involuntary redundancy should they not take a voluntary severance offer. The deadline for accepting was 17 July. Although involuntary redundancy did not transpire, there is much anger over SOAS’s handling of the
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By Katherine Brown, MA Chinese Studies The Students’ Union bar and shop normally generate 70% of the Students’ Union (SU)’s annual income. Government announcements on 1 November excluded universities and schools from closing during the National lockdown. However, the majority of on campus amenities, including the student union bar
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By Maliha Shoaib, BA English and World Philosophies Due to a projected increase in students struggling with mental health and wellbeing, SOAS has introduced additional support initiatives. These initiatives are being made available as England emerges from a second lockdown and the winter months arrive. Both events are predicted to
National News
By Fakhriya M. Suleiman, MA Global Media and Postnational Communications Dominic Cummings, the now bygone Chief Adviser to Prime Minister (PM) Boris Johnson, resigned from his post on 13 November. According to the Financial Times (FT), Cummings’ premature departure followed a meeting of ‘intense exchanges’ with the PM. Therein, Johnson