Opinion
By Naela Cruz (BA Studies of Religions and World Philosophies) There is nothing surprising about a sexual predator lurking behind the scenes of Hollywood. The Harvey Weinstein mania hardly shocks many of those who are aware of sexual assaults that happen every day at work, school, and practically everywhere else.
Featured Articles
By Arooj Sultan (BA Economic and Politics) Last Friday, in a report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund, it was stated that an estimated 340,000 Rohingya children are living in dismal, insalubrious conditions in Bangladeshi refugee camps, where they have little to no access to enough food,
Opinion
by Jennifer Ngo (MSC Migration, Mobility and Development) A group of artists and activists have put together a poetry reading of works by the late Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Liu Xiaobo, and his disappeared widow, Liu Xia. The event is to remember the prominent Chinese dissident not just as an
Opinion
Harry Wise, BA Politics Let me start with a confession: I’ve taken drugs. “Ooh! How could you?” scream the anti-drugs czars! “Do you know the harm you are doing to your body? You could go crazy.” Interestingly, British police forces are starting to care a lot less about my
Education
Maddy Ridgley, BA International Relations When I was 14 I was part of a small group from my high school that went on a weeklong ‘Army Insight Course’ in Oakhampton. We were promised a week of high ropes, obstacle courses, paintballing, meeting soldiers and generally running around and having a
hiv
Florence Goddard, BA Politics There’s still a strongly held belief that those living with the virus in some way ‘deserve it’ for their carelessness, stupidity or immoral behaviour. Even amongst my relatively enlightened peers at SOAS, jokes or comments about ‘catching AIDS’ or ‘people with AIDS’ are fairly common.
climate change
Our friend in Amman takes a look at the intersectionality of climate change in Jordan. Ammanymous King Abdullah II of Jordan attended the recent COP 21 talks in Paris to continue his country’s preparations for climate change. His numerous photo opps with other world leaders will hopefully raise more
Boycott
Mel Plant, BA Arabic and Turkish On the date of publication, it will be almost a year since the SOAS community passed a motion for the academic boycott of Israel. Part of the School’s historic support of the wider Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), the academic boycott motion
east germany
Harry Wise, BA Politics In the third episode of the television series, Deutschland ’83, the East German Secret Service (HVA) is trying to access information stored on a floppy disk stolen from NATO. The disk contains a NATO security report regarding the viabilities of a nuclear attack. It’s extremely
cultural appropriation
Sophia Moghal, BA History and Southeast Asian Studies Deciding to click on the following headline on a news site led me to discover Mango’s newest campaign. The title: “Kendall Jenner’s New Mango Campaign Shows A Side We’re Not Used To Seeing”. “Tribal Spirit”; is apparently the side
Opinion
Joe Dunne, BA Politics How could I forget that quiet Which descended over a city of three hundred thousand? The calm How could I forget those pleas Of a dying wife and child Emitted through the whiteness of their eyes, Piercing our minds and souls – Sankichi Toge, August Sixth The
Opinion
This writer got arrested at the Free Education Demo early in November. He came out of it an entirely changed activist. Since the last issue of the Spirit went to print at the end of October, we’ve seen a fair few protests, one member of staff suspended, and then