Page 299 – Cherwell

Syria: What is the international community’s long term plan?

Opinion

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4th July 2021

Syria: What is the international community’s long term plan?

CW: References to violence and sexual assault.

Syria is a country filled with history. It’s a middle-eastern land with rich cultural diversity, from the ruins of Palmyra to the network of towns, fortresses and panoply of ‘lost cities’ that pepper the ubiquitous sun-kissed dunes. Multitudinous peoples have formed part of the rich tapestry of historical Syria. However, behind this topographical mirage of magnificence lurks a state devestated by a decade-long civil war, and bled by a malign regime headed by a dictator, Bashar al- Assad, obstinate in his desire to retain power at any expense. The expense has been grave, and, as always, has been paid by the people.

Assad’s iron fist and cruel totalitarianism, facilitated by the insouciant Russian state’s pillaring of his power, symbolise an unholy alliance that is a fundamental threat to the core values of freedom, moral decency, and the international rules-based order. This article seeks to deconstruct the evil barbarism that plagues Syria, as well as the inadequate current global approach to Syria, whilst outlining the need for a concerted international effort to liberate the Syrian people from Assad’s blood-soaked tyranny.

The heart-wrenching plight of Syrians at Assad’s hands is emblematic of the acute threat that he poses to the basic values of freedom. Just last month, the international chemical weapons watchdog (the investigative arm of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) provided a heart-rending insight into how the state machinery systematically represses the vulnerable. It said that it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that the elite Syria Tiger Forces Corp of the Syrian Air Force was responsible for a chlorine bomb that was dropped on a town in the rebel-controlled Idlib region in 2018, which killed 12 people. A United Nations report indicated that the Assad regime was also responsible for a bomb that was discharged on the Iqra School in the Aleppo Countryside in 2013 (one of a litany of schools bombed by Assad), killing 11 civilians, most of whom were children. Such rapid aerial assaults by the army on its own people are now lamentably common in Syria, and have been since the start of the civil war.

This is the reality on the ground in Syria despite the use of these types of weapons (chemical and incendiary) on civilian populations being illegal under humanitarian international law. But should we really be surprised? Such human rights abuses and flagrant international rule-breaking is Assad’s and his allies’ modus operandi.

Millions of refugees are afraid to return to Syria because of the Mukhabarat, or secret police, which systematically torture, rape, kidnap, and kill innocent civilians for simply voicing an opinion that may be construed as dissent, or for even for merely be suspected of harbouring anti-Assad sentiment.

The impact of one man’s rapaciousness on Syria itself makes for a sobering read. As a result of Russian and Syrian air strikes and incessant artillery bombardment of cities (such as Aleppo and Homs), homes, infrastructure, and over 800 medical facilities have been reduced to rubble. Most of the more than half a million people killed have been civilians, murdered by barrel bombs and ballistic missiles, famine, sieges, and nerve gas. Not to mention the fact that the UN estimates that more than 6 million people have become refugees outside of the country’s border and another 6.7 million people internally displaced. Syrian economic output has fallen at least two-thirds since the war began which has created an impoverishment crisis. Its currency has lost 80% of its value and the UN estimates that more than 80% of the population has fallen below the poverty line with around 12.4 million Syrians “food insecure”, which is an increase of 4.5 million people in the last year alone and the highest number ever recorded.

The global response has been tepid at best. It is true that the US has consistently taken decisive action. For example, the Obama administration backed the Syrian rebels by attacking the Islamic State. The Trump administration launched a missile attack against Assad in 2017 in retaliation for yet another regime chemical attack. And just a month into office, the Biden administration launched a rocket attack against facilities in eastern Syria that the Pentagon said are used by Iranian-backed militia.

Moreover, a new round of US sanctions against Assad’s regime, and those who aid it, came into force just last year. The Caesar Act 2020 punishes all those who in any way aid the Assads, their government, army and institutions, their support networks and allies, or their business interests. The Act’s main external targets are Russia and Iran, the Assad regime’s external patrons, and the Iran-backed paramilitaries that spearhead its strike forces: Lebanon’s Hizbollah and Iraqi Shia militia. The overarching rationale for such targeting these groups has been to isolate Assad from vital strategic and military partners in order to ameliorate the impact of his armed forces domestically.

Similarly, the UK imposed its first sanctions against Syria since leaving the EU through its new Global Human Rights Sanction Regime; these so-called ‘Magnitsky-style’ sanctions (in homage to the late Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky) seek to target global individuals and organisations abusing human rights. In relation to Syria, UK asset freezes and travel bans to the UK were instituted for six Syrians, including the foreign minister Faisal Miqdad, Assad media adviser Luna al-Shibl, and financier to Assad, Yasser Ibrahim. Coupled with that, the UK have adopted a justly polemical rhetoric on the international stage with the UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, sniping that “the Assad regime has subjected the Syrian people to a decade of brutality for the temerity of demanding peaceful reform.”

However, the Magnitsky-style sanctions, as valuable and coercive as they are, seem unlikely to protect civilians on the ground who are enveloped by privation, suffering, and abuse; and the upper-echelons targeted were already under some form of restrictive international sanction. It also seems to have achieved very little in deterring Assad, and arguably, the stringency of the Caesar Act actuated the demise of the Syrian currency and therefore exacerbated the impoverishment crisis on the ground as Syrian simply can no longer afford basic foodstuffs like bread. Notwithstanding that, the repeated US military interventions from the sky seem to be distant and lacking in substantive success, whilst costing innocent lives in the process and leaving many Syrians too frightened to roam the streets. For me, there appears to be no real concerted strategy or game-plan from the West, vis-à-vis Syria, when there ought to be, given how acute the crisis has now become after 10 years.

The main focus of the West in relation to Syria appears to be on the management of the refugee crisis stemming from there as opposed to tackling the causes of the refugee crisis, which is tantamount to treating the symptoms, not the cause. For example, some EU countries have recently, and arbitrarily, tightened their criteria for asylum, resulting in more asylum seekers being granted subsidiary protection instead of refugee protection. Indeed this is not isolated but indicative of an alarming trend across EU countries that are implementing policies designed to discourage and deter people from seeking asylum in their countries by stripping away the benefits. However, alas, such policies are fatally flawed by myopia; it is axiomatic that this will not address the underlying cause of why people are coming, nor does it resemble a long-term solution to the refugee crisis despite a resolution being in the international interest.

As an international community, we must recognise that the reason that millions of Syrians are escaping their countries to come to the West is because they have no choice but to leave. We must imagine a world where we feel too frightened to wake up in the morning; insecure going to work or school; and denumbed with angst in our everyday environments because of the reality that we may be killed for wanting basic freedoms. Syria and Russia together have committed the cardinal sin of stripping Syrians of the ability to live. These citizens are haunted by the omnipresent realities of life in Syria: of dead friends and relatives, blood, and war. In Syria, people exist, but they do not live. It is because of that harrowing fact that they leave.

The UN as a tool of change is looking increasingly vacuous in relation to Syria. As Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it has exercised its veto repeatedly (14 times since the beginning of the war in Syria, as of March 2020) to block diplomatic efforts of accountability. That includes vetoing, alongside China, a resolution supported by 65 countries and the rest of the security council that would have referred war crimes committed in Syria to the International Criminal Court.

The only solution to assuage the refugee crisis and bestow hope and justice to Syrians is a long-term political peace settlement in Syria, where people are once more able to regain the ability to live. Working concertedly and formulating a long- term plan with broad bipartisan commitment, as an international community, to end the conflict and help rebuild Syria with united endeavour, resources, time, and treasure; it is the morally noble thing to do. It would alleviate the Syrian people of their suffering, allow Syrians to build futures for themselves at home in lieu of making the perilous journeys across migrant routes or being exploited by people smugglers, and allow Syria to be a bastion of hope and freedom in the Middle East. But it would also be beneficial for the world as it would mitigate the influx of migrants at borders (often a politically vexed issue in the West), deliver a more stable and peaceful Middle East thus reducing the risks of vacuums of power being filled by terrorists preying on the vulnerable, which more often than not culminates in a latticework of terror groups forming, and fomenting attacks globally.
What is clear is that the current approach is not working, and we have a moral obligation to ramp up our efforts. The practical form of a long- term plan is complex and multi- faceted. What it cannot include is simply more sanctions, or greater humanitarian aid alone (although these do play their part). We, as an international community, must champion the values that we believe in, freedom and justice, and never in good conscience passively allow nations of people to capitulate to tyranny. In the words oft-attributed to the late great parliamentarian, Sir Edmund Burke, ‘the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’. We must do much more than nothing.

Image Credit: Chaoyue Pan / CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

Broad Street transformed into temporary ‘Broad Meadow’

News

Estelle Atkinson

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4th July 2021

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Broad Street transformed into temporary ‘Broad Meadow’

Oxford’s iconic Broad Street has taken on a new look for the summer in the form of ‘Broad Meadow’: a temporary, public, green space.

A flower meadow can now be found amongst the usual Broad street sites, including Balliol College, the Old Bodleian Library, and the Sheldonian Theatre. The meadow opened to the public on July 1st after the Oxford City Council received approval to close part of Broad Street to traffic. Councillor Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council, and Tom Haynes, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Green Transport and Zero Carbon at at Oxford City Council, officially welcomed members of the public to enjoy Broad Meadow.

Installation of wooden seating and planters began on June 26th by Oxford Direct Services (ODS). The design was created by LDA design, and the City Council confirmed that the design was informed through discussions with local stakeholders, businesses, and advocacy groups. Groups involved in the conversation included cycling groups like Cyclox, and representatives of disability groups through the Council’s Inclusive Transport ant Movement Forum.

The use of local suppliers and recycled materials was prioritised, with re-used furniture displaying laser-cut slogans like ‘I used to carry vaccines’. Dafydd Warburton, Director at LDA Design, said: “The design and delivery of this new space for Broad Street ready for the summer has been intense. All along the way, we wanted to use recycled materials and local markers.”

Bench made from recycled wood reading “I used to carry vaccines”. Image: Pierce Jones

He continued: “Currently the space [Broad Street] is heavily contested, with pedestrians confined to narrow pavements. This is a fantastic opportunity to test new ideas for a more inviting public realm.”

While Broad Street still retains two-way cycle and cercle access outside the hours of 8am-9pm, the area is much more pedestrian friendly. This is part of a broader movement to pedestrianise Oxford. Councillor Tom Hayes said: “The creating of this large outdoor public space will be a shot in the arm for the whole of the city, helping to bring people together safely. Our aim is to pedestrianise more of the city and give all of Broad street back to people in the long-term.”

The prioritisation of green space follow’s the City Council’s March decision to approve the UK’s first Zero Emission Zone in parts of the city centre. In-keeping with the theme of introducing nature into Broad Street, the City commissioned muralist Bryony Benge-Abbott to create a large, floral artwork on the highway.

Plans are being discussed for community and arts weekend events to take place in Broad Meadow over the summer. The circumstances of these events will be determined following the Government’s reevaluation of COVID-19 guidelines expected to be in effect from July 19th. On Saturday July 3rd, the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland paid the meadow a visit in celebration of Alice’s Day, with the Alice street Theatre performing in Broad Meadow throughout the day.

People are being encouraged to meet up with friends and family in Broad meadow, meaning the space is designed to serve as a COVID-19-friendly social hub. Councillor Hayes said: “On a perfect summer day, children will be able to play, people will be able to pause for cool refreshments.”

Socially-distances people gathering in a community seating area. Image: Pierce Jones

The City is encouraging Oxford residents, workers, students and visitors to offer feedback based on their experiences with Broad Meadow. In addition to the online survey, City Centre Ambassadors are asking for people’s views in person on-site. Any feedback could potentially affect plans to permanently pedestrianise Broad Street.

Councillor Hayes said: “Broad Meadow will be a safe, welcoming, and green space for everyone to enjoy. Within a year we want to be in a position to give Broad Street back to the people, and we need to hear from everyone about how Broad Meadow has met their needs.”

Broad Meadow will leave the public car park on Broad Street, bus stops, ad access from Broad Street to Market Street unaffected. Access from Magdalen Street East and Turn Street, however, will be restricted by drop-down bollards.

Image: Pierce Jones

They Always Knew (after Daddy)

Tamzin Lent

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3rd July 2021

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CW: discussions of the Holocaust and antisemitic violence

I never know how I feel about Plath.

I used to revere her as an idol, alongside many other young teenagers who discovered her writing and discovered she articulates a personal agony, which is always a shared agony.

Yet, I find her questionable invocation of the Holocaust in her poetry, and her racism in The Bell Jar, disturbing, uncomfortable and intensely painful to read.

How can we reconcile a non-Jewish writer using the extermination of six million Jews as a means of explaining her own personal sense of suffering?

It is all the more distressing to read her comparison of her father to a Nazi and her similes such as “bright as a Nazi lampshade,” with the knowledge of the fact that she is writing during the 1950s, a period in which many of gory details of the Final Solution were finally unearthed and coming to light.

In Daddy and Lady Lazurus, this distinctly non-Jewish writer invokes death camps, to convey her own sense of agony.The pain is conveyed through the distance of a crafted rhyme scheme which “sticks” on the word “Jew,” and “you”, and rhymes “engine” with “Belsen”.

The pogroms, the victimization of the Jew, the Jew as outcast, is used as a reference point for a concoction of personal emotions towards her father:

“There’s a stake in your fat black heart / And the villagers never liked you. / They are dancing and stamping on you.”

The image is striking in its ability to simultaneously capture thousands of years of hatred in precise, painful, ritualistic language – whilst simultaneously drawing upon the emotive power of such an experience to launch a visceral attack in the lines.

So how do I engage with a writer, a writer who I have previously idolised, and reconcile her undeniable genius with her co-option and appropriation of a struggle which should never, can never, be used as a reference point or an analogy?

This poem is a feeble attempt to wrestle with Sylvia. I am attempting to appropriate her own vocabulary as she appropriates the language of Jewish suffering for her own. I want to use her methods back against her.

It’s a little awkward, courtesy of the rhyme scheme which is somewhat frustrating and perhaps too self-conscious to navigate effectively, but it is an attempt to engage at a time when I have been faced with Holocaust inversions and comparisons on a daily basis.

They Always Knew, (after Daddy)

They are always stripping for you,

shoe, by shoe, by shoe,

choked in a cradle of heels,

cut, cut quite through,

gagging to grasp how or who

Killing me once will never do.

It’s always you, they always knew,

pluck my necklace from my breast and sing,

sweet social warrior — trembling

stick and poke the Jew.

A tower, a tower,

You saved me — and screwed me, too

tied me, — tried over and over

Sank me in the river

and split me in two.

What right have you to take me

and pick me apart for their view

by twelve, faces tainted with rainbows,

capsules and cubicles – that had no showers,

we painted a broken home blue,

You fell like a stone from the rooftop,

And I caught you, only to drop you

again. This thick, mocking pen,

cares nothing, does nothing,

is nothing but scratches, uncertain, untrue.

You wish you were elsewhere too,

Or we had something better to do

than slip past swastikas and shout

through a crack in the canal, thrown out,

Out, out—

Killing me once will never do.

It’s never, never, never new,

No bodies, no bodies, no bodies

They used them to boil their baths,

and, still, I’m called dirty Jew.

It’s all rotten, carrion circles

There’s no compulsion to go on, to go through

—Despite all that. Despite it all.

I weep like a child, despised,

licking my wounds, the very dog you slew,

forever, forever, the wandering Jew.

They pulled us from the smog of family still smoking,

they also put us back together with glue,

a heap of broken golden teeth — unpeopled shoes,

tanks of human hair — scattered candlesticks —

the cacophony of indifference,

ties our threads together in blue.

Image credit:Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme

All 18-30 year olds across Oxfordshire urged to take PCR test

News

Pieter Garicano

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3rd July 2021

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All 18-30 year olds across Oxfordshire urged to take PCR test

With cases rapidly rising across Oxfordshire, the County Council and Layla Moran, MP for Oxford-West and Abingdon, have strongly urged all 18 to 30 year olds to get a PCR test this weekend regardless of whether they have symptoms or not. To facilitate this, three mobile testing centres have been opened.

Over the last two weeks, cases in Oxford have risen six-fold, although the number of severe cases continues to remain stable. Nonetheless, the increased infectivity of the Delta-variant has slowly been driving up hospitalisations nationwide.

The rise in cases in Oxfordshire is largely concentrated amongst younger age groups and the unvaccinated. With many of the cases being amongst younger, less vulnerable, individuals, one in three new cases are asymptomatic – allowing the virus to spread undetected.

To prevent further spread and protect the vulnerable, Ansaf Azhar, Oxfordshire County Council’s Director for Public Health, announced the opening of three new mobile testing centres over the weekend.

The three new testing centres are open from 10am to 8pm this weekend. The centres are operating on a walk-in basis and will not require an appointment. These are located at:

– Blavatnik School of Government, Walton Street

– South Park (St Clements end)

– Oxpens car park

Apart from the mobile testing centres, the Oxford Brookes University and Osney Lane testing centres continue to be open every day from 8am to 8pm. These centres require an appointment to be booked in advance.

Finally, the Council and Moran emphasise the importance of getting vaccinated as soon as possible. The walk-in vaccination centres at Iffley Sports Centre and Mansfield Road continue to be open and provide first doses for those who have yet to receive one. Further information on the University’s vaccination centres can be found here .

Image: George Hodan/Public Domain

Review: “Black Lives Playlist: Track 2” by Sam Spencer

Katie Kirkpatrick

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1st July 2021

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Review: “Black Lives Playlist: Track 2” by Sam Spencer

CW: homophobia, racism

A couple of hours before watching Track 2, I saw a friend’s Instagram story pointing out the comments on a post from the official 10 Downing Street account. The post celebrated the ‘extraordinary contribution of LGBT’ people to Britain, but the comments were full of the kind of vitriolic homophobia that it’s hard to believe still exists in public spaces. It is this kind of hate, as well as the prevalence of outright racism, especially in online spheres, that makes projects like the Black Lives Playlist essential.

Track 2 is, primarily, a monologue about the experience of being Black and gay. It centres around The Speaker’s complex inner turmoil between shame and pride in his sexuality. Whilst we may now fortunately live in a world where homosexuality is far more accepted, this play serves as an important reminder that prejudice still very much exists in our society,and that microagressions can have serious consequences especially where marginalised identities intersect.

In spite of this, Track 2 never feels like a PSA about homophobia or racism. Instead, its character-driven nature is relatable to anyone who has ever felt out of place at a family party; anyone who’s questioned what they really want from life; anyone who’s kissed someone they didn’t really like and regretted it; anyone who’s looked at themself in the mirror mid-breakdown and thought, actually, they look kind of hot. This is the play’s greatest strength: writer Sam Spencer manages to both convey a very specific life experience and connect with universal feelings of anxiety and difference.

The Speaker tells us about a day spent visiting his sister’s boyfriend’s family for the first time – an experience that sparks complex emotions and difficult memories. This central narrative introduces us to the story of his ex-boyfriend, and a rendez-vous with a man from the gay hook-up app Grindr who asks The Speaker some difficult questions. Each of these narrative strands ties together cohesively. Credit must go to Spencer for creating a plot that plays out in such a satisfying manner, and to director James Newbery and assistant-director Grace Olusola for translating it onto the stage so effortlessly.

The different visions of the show’s team work flawlessly together. With one-person shows, especially those performed and directed by different people, it’s easy for conflicting creative visions to come across in the finished product, but no such issue exists here. The use of music adds to the piece brilliantly, and the colourful lighting accentuates the vivid narrative, although the lighting could perhaps have been used to accentuate key moments to a greater extent, and mark transitions between time periods more clearly. Yet, the collaborative nature of the project translates into a show that knows what it wants to be, and executes this vision immaculately.

The greatest strength of the direction is its simplicity: the story is allowed to speak for itself, which is essential to its success. Spencer’s script never tries to be overly clever or conceptual, instead relying on its innately heartfelt character development and engaging humour. He has a talent for visceral description, making both messy hookups and family dinners crystal clear in audiences’ minds, despite the minimalist staging: The Speaker remains sat alone in a dark space throughout. The script is structured very cleverly, with the hook-up acting as a frame that gains new meaning at the end, and the sister’s boyfriend storyline leading us craftily to an emotional climax. In addition to this, Spencer’s mixing of personal anecdotes with general thoughts on the likes of Stonewall statistics and making out with girls helps the writing sit so perfectly on the line between specific and universal. If I were to be especially fussy, it could be said that the script becomes slightly repetitive at times. Some elements, such as the use of the Grindr sound effect, could do with verbal clarification for audiences less familiar with the app, and the ideas around religion could have been fleshed out further. It remains, however, a remarkable piece of writing.

Spencer also performs his writing with a real honesty, transitioning smoothly between a public-facing cheekiness and moments of serious emotional depth – there are points where we feel genuine concern for him. The only things subtracting from the performance are some issues with awkward cuts and poor sound quality – the choppy switches between cuts takes us out of a few important moments, and dialogue with the off-screen voice in the first scene is at times hard to make out. These flaws can be easily forgiven, though; the show would work seamlessly in person, but we are unfortunately still gradually exiting the age of online theatre.

Like every other theatre fan, I’ve watched a lot of filmed monologues over the last year and a half. The influence of the likes of Fleabag can be felt within this piece (what would a review of a monologue be without a reference to Phoebe Waller-Bridge or Michaela Coel?), but it’s clear that the team have taken into consideration the limits and possibilities of the form and made it work for them. With its cohesive structure, engaging character and unfaltering honesty, Track 2 takes its place as one of the best examples of what has become an era-defining genre.

EXCLUSIVE: Lincoln College hosted wedding after banning visitors due to “sharp increase” of COVID-19

News

Charlie Hancock

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29th June 2021

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EXCLUSIVE: Lincoln College hosted wedding after banning visitors due to “sharp increase” of COVID-19

Cherwell can reveal that Lincoln College hosted a wedding on the same day that the College closed to visitors due to rising COVID-19 cases across Oxford University.

The College closed to visitors from 10:15 on 26 June, following a “sharp increase” of COVID-19 cases. This includes visitors to College sites, including the Carfax Quarter “until further notice”, with exceptions for family and friends who are collecting students to return home for the vacation.

An email sent to Lincoln students, which was shown to Cherwell, warned: “Lodge staff will challenge you and your visitor(s) if you do not adhere to this. This would be embarrassing for you and your visitor(s), so please bear this in mind.”

Wedding guests inside the entrance to Lincoln College. Image used with permission from the owner.

The College Chapel can be booked by current students, staff, alumni, and fellows for weddings, baptisms, and blessings. It has a capacity of 80 people.

Restrictions on weddings and civil partnerships have been eased from 21 June. The law no longer sets out a maximum number of guests who can attend. Instead, venues will have to determine the number of guests who can attend while maintaining social distancing practices. The guidance still advises against “congregational and communal singing”, and dancing other than the couple’s ‘first dance’.

Wedding guests in the Lincoln College lodge. Image used with permission from the owner.

A spokesperson for Lincoln College told Cherwell: “Following a sharp increase in Covid cases among students within the last week, the College took the difficult decision at 3pm on Friday 25^th June to cancel all remaining student events planned for 25^th June to 2^nd July. We very much regret the disappointment that is felt by students, fellows, and all college staff alike to this change of plan, which was taken to reduce the cases of transmission.

“A wedding was held in Lincoln College Chapel on Saturday, 26 June 2021. The ceremony complied with current covid regulations and was subject to a detailed risk assessment. The College does not host receptions after weddings and the guests left the College after the wedding ceremony in the Chapel.”

Image: Caro Wallis/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via flickr.com

“Return home as soon as possible”: colleges respond to rising COVID cases

News

Charlie Hancock

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29th June 2021

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“Return home as soon as possible”: colleges respond to rising COVID cases

The final week of Trinity term saw an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases reported across Oxford University. At a meeting of the Conference of Colleges, cases were described as having “exploded”.

Some colleges which had planned to allow students to stay beyond the end of term have urged them to return home. The University’s coronavirus advice page is encouraging students to take a lateral-flow test before leaving Oxford. Events such as finalists’ dinners have also been postponed or cancelled.

34% of tests taken between 21-25 June were positive, leading to 109 cases being identified. This takes the total number of cases recorded by the University’s Early Alert System since 20 August 2020 to 1,415.

In Oxfordshire, 503 COVID-19 cases were reported over the weekend of 26 June. The infection rate in the county stands at 5,225 cases per 100,000, which is lower than the average in England of 7,350 per 100,000 people.

The Acting Rector of Lincoln College, David Hills, asked students who had planned to stay after term ended, especially for social reasons, to consider returning home. All dinners, evensong, and garden parties were cancelled. The College was closed to visitors from 10:15am on 26 June.

15% of students at Hertford College were isolating as of 25 June across the main site and College accommodation in South Oxford. Principal Tom Fletcher announced in an email to students that the finalists’ dinner, schools’ dinners, and a cricket match on 27 June have been postponed.

Jamie Clarke, the Hertford bursar, advised students to leave College residences “as soon as is practicable”. Undergraduate students had previously been allowed to stay until 30 June.

At Jesus College, the freshers’ dinner, halfway hall, giving dinner, and schools’ dinner were all cancelled due to rising cases within the College.

Helena, a history and politics student at Jesus, expressed her frustration at the rising number of cases in her College on Twitter. “Help I’m stuck on a plague ship and someone’s set it on fire”, she tweeted after learning she needed to self-isolate.

She told Cherwell: “I went into isolation as a close contact after a friend tested positive on Wednesday 23rd June, and tested positive myself the following Sunday, extending my isolation period from ten days to sixteen at least. I’ve been lucky to have no symptoms (as of yet) but while much focus is on the physical impact of isolation, I’ve found the mental impact far worse – the constant lateral flow testing, wearing a mask around the flat, and waiting for symptoms to potentially manifest is emotionally draining, not to mention the effects of being stuck in one small room. It’s especially difficult as someone who suffers from chronic pain and mental health issues – and I’ve struggled to find support resources for people like myself in this position.

“It’s particularly gutting that this outbreak has come at the end of Trinity – I lost the end of my first year to the COVID crisis, and now my second year has been tainted too. Both my best friend and boyfriend are leaving Oxford at the end of this year and it feels like I’ve been robbed of time with them.

“It’s especially difficult watching people leave for the vac from my fourth floor window, unable to say goodbye or have any sort of meaningful sendoff. I’d always wanted to stay in Oxford into eleventh week, but I’d never thought it would be quite like this.”

The Warden of Wadham College told students it was “imperative that all UK undergraduate and taught PGT graduate students who have completed their exams should take a lateral flow test and, if negative, should return home as soon as possible”. The College had previously planned to allow students to stay until the end of 10th week. However, the Warden warned students that staying would put “[themselves], [their] friends, and our staff at risk”.

The Magdalen COVID-19 Working Group “strongly recommends” that students leave College “no later than 28 June”. Exceptions could be made for students who had travel arrangements which could not be rescheduled, were self-isolating, or who had commitments to the University or College.

At St Catherine’s College, 23 positive cases were reported as of 28 June, including among students living out. 16 households, comprising 121 students, have been ordered to isolate. An email from the Dean and Home Bursar said: “We will continue to do what we can to help and support you – as usual, the Porters can be contacted at any time of the day, and the Junior Deans are around and happy to talk.”

The Dean of St Hugh’s College received reports that some students who tested positive had not isolated in their room. Some had even returned home after a member of their household tested positive. According to an email seen by Cherwell, anxiety surrounding people not abiding by COVID restrictions has caused some students at St Hugh’s to “[take] matters into their own hands by shouting and telling fellow students off”. Professor Perera asked students not to assume that people who left their rooms were breaking the rules, and told students to report suspected rule-breakers to him or the Lodge.

Further advice for students in Oxford and those looking to return home can be found here.

Image: Amir Pichhadze

Oxford through refugee eyes: Asylum Welcome takes local leaders on refugee-led walking tour

News

Joshua Low and Yan Chen

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28th June 2021

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Oxford through refugee eyes: Asylum Welcome takes local leaders on refugee-led walking tour

On the drizzly Friday afternoon of 18th June, six local Oxford residents who are also refugees or asylum seekers doubled as tour guides and took local community and political leaders around organisations and locations that were vital to them as newcomers in the community. Among those present were Lord Mayor of Oxford, Councillor Mark Lygo, and five other Oxford City Councillors.

The walking tour was organised by Asylum Welcome, an Oxford-based charity for refugees and asylum seekers, to give local leaders a glimpse into the experiences of refugees living in Oxford.

The walk spanned seven locations: Asylum Welcome’s office; The Porch, a homelessness service that provides food parcels to refugees; Oxford Mutual Aid, an organisation that provides emergency food parcels; Restore, a mental health charity; East Oxford Community Centre, a centre with an “Open Door” café for refugees; Refugee Resource, a charity that specialises in trauma therapy and women’s support; and Za’atar Bake, a popular Cowley café and bakery where Asylum Welcome’s tour guides and staff members, staff from other Oxford refugee charities, and the City Councillors all sat down to share food and reflections.

Refugees as partners, not participants

A recurring message in the walk was how refugees can enrich the cultural, economic, and social lives of the communities they find themselves in.

“Refugees are not participants in the community, they are partners,” said Maya, a refugee from Kenya. Five years since she first came to the UK to seek asylum, Maya is now pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Community Development and Youth Work at Ruskin College. She has also completed a placement at Asylum Welcome.

“So much of the dialogue [about refugees] today is so negative,” said Holywell Councillor Edward Mundy, who also volunteers at Asylum Welcome, working on education initiatives. He said he was worried about when discourse surrounding refugees goes “too far the other way”, when “people think of refugees as people who are needy without anything to offer.”

Michael, a Zimbabwean asylum-seeker, shared about how during the COVID-19 lockdown, he drove around delivering free food parcels to the community. During the Christmas holiday, he also helped with Pitt Rivers Museum’s Multaka-Oxford project, a project that relies on volunteers to give tours, provide perspectives, and conduct research about a collection of Islamic scientific instruments and Arabic textiles.

Michael has been waiting for an asylum decision from the Home Office since 2014. As an asylum-seeker, apart from £39.63 per week on a payment card for essentials, he has “no recourse to public funds” (NRPF) and no legal right to paid work.

“Despite our hardships, we are still able to smile, go out, and help the community we live in,” Michael said.

Multiple Councillors criticised the NRPF policy when interviewed after the walk. Donnington Councillor Lucy Pegg, St Mary’s Councillor Chris Jarvis, and Holywell Councillor Imogen Thomas all stressed that barring asylum seekers from public funds, and therefore from benefits, and housing assistance also limits how much local Councillors can help these constituents. “The central government has ripped away the ability for local governments to do meaningful things that will improve people’s lives,” Jarvis said.

Pegg saw one of her responsibilities as “mak[ing] sure that everyone in our community knows that they can come to councillors for help”, and encouraged fellow councillors to direct refugees and asylum seekers “in the direction of the services that do exist”. Thomas emphasised what Councillors could do to provide support “as citizens”, including “volunteering, listening to stories, and following up on whatever [one] can do.”

*Councillor Mark Lygo, Lord Mayor of Oxford, reads a recipe book by members of Refugee Resource’s Women’s Service while sitting on the floor of their office. Credit: Joshua Low*

The New Plan for Immigration

The walk took place in the context of the UK Government’s plan to overhaul its immigration and asylum system, which carries potentially immense ramifications for refugees and asylum seekers. In March, the Home Office announced its New Plan for Immigration, which was open to public consultation for six weeks and expects to be brought before Parliament in the autumn.

Among the Plan’s proposed measures are the branding of asylum seekers who pass through a “safe country” before reaching the UK as “illegal” and “inadmissible”, as well as sending them to reception centres with “basic accommodation” to be — wherever possible — removed from the UK. Asylum Welcome has raised concerns about the use of these centres, saying that they are “unsafe, crowded, often remote, with no Wi-Fi” and “unsuitable for those who have been through traumatic situations.”

“[The Plan] is criminalising migration. It is criminalising suffering,” said Councillor Mundy.

During the walk, tour guide Maya described her experiences in an immigration detention centre as “traumatic” and “abusive” as she suffered from mental health issues and was refused vital medication by the authorities, to the extent that she “didn’t know who she was”. A medical justice doctor later successfully intervened for her release from the facility.

Nine immigration detention centres are currently used by the Home Office to house foreign nationals awaiting asylum decisions or deportation. According to The Migration Observatory, in 2019, 24,400 people entered immigration detention in the UK, the lowest number since 2009. Around one-third of immigration detainees are held for longer than 28 days. Campsfield House, an immigration detention center in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, was closed in 2018 after a 25-year long battle by local activists.

Oxford as a Sanctuary City

At Za’atar Bake, Thomas, a Labour Councillor, reiterated her support for Oxford’s City of Sanctuary status, which the Council voted to declare in 2008: “I am very happy that Oxford is a City of Sanctuary. We welcome people, and we do not abide by hostile, Tory policies on immigration.”

The tour guides also reflected on how they benefited from Oxford’s support for refugees. Maya positively highlighted the city’s network of services of local charities and organisations, calling Oxford “a city that helps refugees”. Muradi, a refugee from Syria, spoke about her family’s struggle to find a safe place, describing their flight to the UK as “a dream becoming real”. She also compared receiving the hospitality of Asylum Welcome to being “in my parents’ house”, and called for “more government support” for the charity.

Guides and staff at refugee-supporting charities voiced ways for Oxford to improve conditions for refugees and asylum seekers as well. Sushila Dhall, Capacity Building Lead and Counsellor at Refugee Resource, strongly urged for more “good, safe, secure housing” options for newcomers, pointing out that refugees, including those with children, sometimes stay on the streets or in unfit housing with abusive households.

Asylum Welcome Education and Employment Officer Nicky Barnetson (in blue) describes to the walking group outside the East Oxford Health Centre the issues refugees face, including destitution and homelessness. Credit: Joshua Low

A Day Of Listening

“Today has been a day of listening”, Councillor Thomas reflected after the tour.

She described a personal conversation with one of the tour guides, who asked her how many siblings she had. “I said, one, only to realise that the person I was speaking to lives in a different country from her family,” Thomas recounted. “[This] everyday question actually had a sad history behind it. Digging a bit deeper, they also unfortunately had to miss the passing of their father. I can’t imagine how painful it must be to grieve in a different country from your loved one.”

For Councillor Pegg, the walk showed her the “on-the-ground action” happening in Oxford to “help migrants and refugees navigate a system that just seems to be built against them” and helped bring home “the human side” to refugee stories.

Also important, Pegg stated, was the necessity for fellow Oxford residents to remember the interconnectedness between themselves and refugees who share their community. She cites the example of global climate change, one of her core concerns as a Green Party Councillor, noting how it impacts the rise in numbers of asylum seekers and refugees, many of whom are from developing countries.

“Refugees and migrants have specific problems, but they also experience the same problems that all other people living in Oxford experience. It’s all linked up to the broader things that we face.”

Image: Joshua Low

This article has been updated on 3/7/2021 to clarify Michael’s situation.

Ethical fashion: Woven by women from the Earth to our bodies

Culture

Anushka Shah

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28th June 2021

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Ethical fashion: Woven by women from the Earth to our bodies

Meet Jeanne de Kroon and Madhu Vaishnav, women who strive to remind us that fashion, much like food, comes from the earth, and that the most beautiful garments are those that tell stories. Amsterdam based Jeanne, founder of Zazi Vintage, started her business with 500 euros in her pocket in her student bedroom in Berlin. From a young age, her fashion journalist turned art-historian mother instilled in her a love for the beauty and magic of fabrics that tell stories, she had a preconceived idea of what fashion is, but this fantasy was soon shattered. After dropping out of law school and immersing herself in la vie bohème in Paris playing the ukulele and singing on street corners, she was scouted to model and was taken to New York where she posed for fast fashion brands in $10 polyester dresses. She found herself questioning that if these dresses cost so little to buy, how much did the people who make it earn?

She then stopped modelling and went on to study philosophy. During her studies, Jeanne travelled to India and was introduced to Madhu Vaishnav by one of her 200 Instagram followers at the time. It was an instant meeting of minds and hearts, together they embarked on a journey of learning, growing and empowering women through the beauty of creating garments that travel directly from the earth to our bodies. Being a woman in a rural village near Jodhpur, Madhu had a traditional and conservative upbringing: she had an arranged marriage at the age of 23 and was told that her future consisted of being a housewife. After craving freedom and the opportunity to study, she was finally granted permission to learn English, and at the age of 39 she was accepted to do a diploma in social welfare at UC Berkeley. Upon her return in 2015, she started the Saheli Women initiation in her village, in which a group of women learnt how to embroider and make garments. Slowly but surely, cultural norms were being broken by women in a society that was run by men. Zazi is a love letter to artisanal work, it gives a platform to those without one while bridging the gap between the creators and buyers of garments.

1. The terms ‘ethical fashion’ and ‘sustainability’ are thrown around by brands such as H&M and Zara who gratuitously greenwash. To be truly ethical, brands must demonstrate transparency and evidence of working conditions. How would you define the term ‘ethical fashion’?

Jeanne: “For me, fashion is a woven story that you tell as a brand. Ethical fashion is when you are facilitating the stories of the products and the people in the community in the most authentic way. There are two pillars when it comes to fashion: land and labour, and if you take these two things into account and really come on top as a brand to co-create something rather than dictate it, that is the true meaning of ethical fashion. It’s the same with food… when something is ethical it’s wholesome and nourishing for the entire community and the earth that produces it. This mindset of symbiosis with land and labour is an essential part of the global decolonisation process as well as a global rising of consciousness to connect people to the garment they are wearing.”

2. The exploitative nature of fast fashion brands is no longer a dirty little secret, yet they still buy clothes from such brands that exploit women and land. Can you think of an effective deterrent for people to actively stop supporting fast fashion?

Jeanne: “We tend to point fingers at specific big fast fashion brands when actually the global fashion industry works in the same way – for example high fashion brands like Prada produce their clothes and uses the same sorts of chemical dyes as fast fashion brands, they may add the finishing touches in Italy however the process is pretty much the same. The whole system of global fashion is complicit in terms of waste, it’s a vicious cycle in which consumerism is the culprit.”

Madhu: “The responsibility is on the young generation, and new businesses. It must be a collective effort with the producers, artisans and brands who sell the clothes. With Saheli women we tell the story of where the garment comes from, all the garments have the women’s sketches and stories behind them. We need to build the relationship between consumer and creator.”

3. Humans are wired to connect to stories. How can one facilitate a connection between the buyer and the maker?

Jeanne: “We have a conditioned gaze with which we look at fashion, which has only existed in the last 100 years. As a brand, we are thinking about how we can put the farmers and weavers in the limelight, so they can tell their own stories. For me Zazi is an amazing place and opportunity to learn about these dynamics and be aware of it myself while going through my own process of decolonisation. I said to Madhu when she was struggling in the beginning that she could work with a big commercial company to make napkins for example, so you always have a stable income and you know that the women can do that. She then said to me ‘Jeanne, this isn’t a factory. My ladies don’t care, they would get bored.’ That really proved that in a Western capitalist society we would rather do what we hate just to put food on our plates.”

4. Western feminism is centralised around women being successful within a patriarchal, capitalist society. From what I know of the way your brand operates, it values ‘feminine’ qualities such as love, respect, and compassion to succeed. Do you believe a feminist can authentically succeed in a capitalist society without compromising her morals?

Jeanne: “No. On a spiritual level the world is cyclical, which is the feminine force of beauty, life and nourishment. Women and the moon move on 29.5-day cycles, that’s the magic of the moon and the menstrual cycle. The masculine however works with the day and night: testosterone goes up as far as it can go and then sleeps and repeats this every day, and our system is built through male energies. Unlimited growth doesn’t work in any system, we need to work within the cycle of nature rather than against it. We are starting to see a deconstruction of all the systems that were man made, and by raising the voices of women we will be able to rise as a global community in a more balanced way. In the past few years, the world has seen so many shifts and it’s just the very beginning of what’s about to come.”

Madhu: “Women are born with the opportunity to make everything possible. It’s part of our DNA, if we can deliver children in this world, we can do anything. Women are the best managers, we manage the home, pregnancy, periods, family – Saheli women is run by women from top to bottom. I have learnt a lot from these ladies, even though some of them are illiterate I’ve learnt that intelligence doesn’t come from academic language and going to good schools. They are the most open minded and non-judgemental people: they have cultural competency and humility which is so important to learn. Women nurture everything – creativity is part of our DNA. In our studio we do not have a single amount of waste material – we don’t need a third party to create a sustainability model for us as that is naturally the way we operate, and this is mainly because we are a female-led organisation.”

5. How will the industry change in the next few years?

Jeanne: “My big dream is to create a platform where consumers can directly buy from artisans, this would make artisanal work more affordable and it would be possible to have 100% rural supply chains, and we would no longer have to mass-produce. Once we can decolonise the supply chain, artisanal communities can be self-sufficient without a person like me (white and European) to make it happen.”

Madhu: “It’s changing a lot. The pandemic has taught the consumer to think about how they are consuming. Now is the time for small businesses to grow again, it’s almost criminal the way big companies machine copy designs made by small designers by using factories: art is someone’s livelihood, it is so wrong to cheaply copy art using machines and sell it cheaply.”

6. Who designs the clothes at Saheli women?

Madhu: With every garment, all the women are very involved in the designing and aesthetics of them, they have so much knowledge about technicalities. Even though the brand sells the clothes, it is us who works with the garments every single day, and we understand the nature of textiles, stitching, design, fabric and all their complications so well. Our master designer called Shoba is from the Dalit community (known as the untouchables) which is the lowest caste in India. She’s a widow with two children and for many years she was living outside the village and she was disrespected and that her job was nothing more than to just sweep roads. On a grassroot level, caste discrimination still exists very much; the teacher at the centre refused to teach Shoba in the beginning because of her caste. Now, however, she is a role model for the community: she is a master pattern cutter and embroiderer. This proves that creativity is inherently part of us.

Image credit Farhan Hussain

Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio speaks at Oxford Union

News

Flora Dyson

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27th June 2021

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Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio speaks at Oxford Union

Jed Mercurio talked to the Oxford Union on 4th June. The highly acclaimed TV writer of Cardiac Arrest, Line of Duty and Bodyguard spoke about his career path to success. He trained as a doctor before writing medical and police dramas for the small screen.

The six-time BAFTA nominated screenwriter told the Oxford Union that his directing style was influenced by American dramas, including Hill Street Blues and Star Trek which brought together action and sci-fi, leading Mercurio to add a sense of dynamism to his work. In spite of Mercurio’s partiality to television dramas, he said he showed little creativity at school and trained as a doctor. The writer said his change from medical to artistic professions was partially catalysed by a lack of realistic depictions of the NHS frontline in contemporary television.

Jed Mercurio depicted the NHS frontline in Cardiac Arrest, which he said received a polarised and “marmite” reception among the medical community. Mercurio said it represented the burden of work upon junior doctors, a group who were receptive to the programme. Mercurio did not argue that Cardiac Arrest represented the realities of medical life and stressed the differentiation between drama and reality. Instead, he believes “drama is much more usefully about point of view”, rather than seeking accurate depictions of reality.

When questioned further about depicting point of view in television dramas, Mercurio argued that the setting of The Grimleys in the Black Country and Line of Duty in the west-midlands gave a unique point of view of an underrepresented region on screen and showed the region’s talent.

As well as representing a specific region, Mercurio’s dramas also tend to depict specific and familiar institutions – the NHS and the police. When asked by Cherwell what catalysed the change from writing medical to police dramas, Mercurio said “when I was doing medical dramas I tried to create the idea that bad things could happen to the doctors through making mistakes and getting blamed for it… with the police it is a hazardous job: you’re interacting with dangerous people so, as a writer it is a little bit easier to create scenes which are tenser”.

He told the audience that he spoke to retired police officers and used the internet to pinpoint a “target culture” within policing which Mercurio represents in Line of Duty. Mercurio said he used this information to create a “drama of reassurance with honest coppers getting bad guys” whilst simultaneously depicting corruption within the police. Mercurio added that his dramatic intention in Line of Duty’s exposition of corruption was to expose its complexity and close relationship to incompetence. When Cherwell asked the screenwriter who Mercurio’s favorite corrupt member of the police force was, he commented that most of the ‘bent’ coppers were not truly ‘bent’, just misunderstood or incompentent.

Mercurio spoke of the complexities of depicting police corruption. Cherwell asked the screenwriter whether on-screen representations of anti-corruption officers overly-glamorizes the police. Mercurio argued “the main characters believe in doing the job right and they believe in catching the bad guys who do just happen to be police officers, so, in that sense, they’re showing the ideals of policing rather than all the vices of policing.”

Mercurio told the Oxford Union that he tried to draw comparisons between real life policing and on-screen policing. He spoke of parallels between the deaths of Stephen Lawrence and Christopher Alder in racially-motivated attacks and the plot and name of Christopher Lawrence in Line of Duty’s season six. Mercurio desires his audience to recognise and research these parallels to real life attacks, wanting them to consider the United Kingdom’s public institutions carefully.
As well as negotiating Line of Duty’s plot, Mercurio spoke of negotiating Covid-19 when filming season six. Filming the sixth and latest season of Line of Duty was disrupted in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Mercurio believed that, though it did not alter any trajectories for characters it did create limitations in filming intimate moments on screen. He discussed the multiplicity of challenges faced by screenwriters and told the Oxford Union that failures should be recognised and considered inevitable in any writing process. He advised budding TV writers and directors to write, shoot and edit short films cheaply with friends.

Image: The Oxford Union

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