On December 17th 2010 a man set himself on fire. His name was Mohamed Bouazizi, and he was a vegetable seller in a small town in Tunisia called Sidi Bouzid. He had an unlicensed vegetable cart which had been confiscated multiple times before. The final time it was confiscated he was slapped, and his dead father insulted.

Sidi Bouzid is far removed from the coastal cities of Tunisia. Poor infrastructure, poor facilities and local corruption had left the people frustrated, simmering with resentment.

Mohamed Bouazizi went to the local adminstration centre to argue his case, but was refused to be seen. An hour later he doused himself in a can of petrol and set himself alight. He was 26 years old, and was the main source of income for a family of eight. He died of his injuries a few days later.

Fire

“Modern networked movements can scale up quickly and take care of all sorts of logistical tasks without building any substantial organizational capacity before the first protest or march.” - Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest

Thousands of people showed up for Bouazizi’s funeral. Protests spread throughout the Sidi Bouzid province. Social media was filled with images of protestors. Internet campaigns urging protests led to numerous professions including lawyers, doctors and trade unions going on strike. The president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled a few days later.

"We use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world" - Egyptian Protestor, 2011

The impact of social media spilled over to other countries. Throughout 2011 and 2012 President Mubarak in Egypt, General Muhammed Gaddafi in Libya and Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen were all swept from power. The Arab Spring, as it was called, also began to be called “Facebook Revolution”.

Embers

“I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it.” - The Joker in The Dark Knight

As quickly as the wave of protests built up, it broke. The protests, lacking a clear direction, disintegrated into vying factions struggling for power. The Arab Spring provided hope for many people, but is now seen by others as a cautionary tale. Aside from no formal leadership, there was no scope to make collective decisions to changing circumstances. What would happen when they had achieved their goals?

Using social media platforms also leaves movements open to be used for commercial gain, and even can allow censorship. The latter issue was seen more recently when the Russian Government placed increasing pressure on social media within Russia to quell any online protests about the treatment of recently imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navlany1.

New growth

The first time #BlackLivesMatter appeared on social media was a 2013 Facebook post by Alicia Garza after George Zimmerman had been acquitted of the murder of Trayvon Martin.

“stop saying we are not surprised. that's a damn shame in itself. I continue to be surprised at how little Black lives matter. And I will continue that. stop giving up on black life. Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter.” - Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter (BLM)

As more stories of African-Americans being affected by police brutality became known the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag became exponentially popular throughout social media. It hit a peak of awareness after the murder of George Floyd on May 25th 2020 by policeman Derek Chauvin, and sparked widespread protests throughout the US and through the world. This movement did not dissipate quickly however.

Activists organised. Social media was used to distribute protest guides, webinars and further reading. They had a purpose and a goal in mind. Whilst they presented sleek infographics on Twitter and Instagram they used Google Drive and Slack to create and co-ordinate social media content and policy in co-ordination with activists throughout the world. Lasting changes have been made, and the BLM movement continues to flourish throughout the virtual, and physical world.

Infodemic2

We live in a society where the physical and virtual are increasingly enmeshed. This has become even more so throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Our use of social media has gone up accordingly3. People are increasingly using social media to find out about current affairs. This allows people who may not have the chance to be on mainstream media to be seen and heard. Whilst this allows marginalised voices to be heard, it also allows for false information to be distributed. An example is that of fascists who hijack eco-friendly messages to push their agenda.

“In their social media posts, ecofascists use apparently benign emojis such as a pine tree, an Earth and a mountain accompanied by subtle far-right dog-whistle symbols such as Norse runes and ideological hashtags.”4

The amount of information means that it cannot be fully controlled. #BlackoutTuesday was launched by the music industry in solidarity with the protests for George Floyd. Whilst it cut across most platforms and drew huge awareness of the cause, it also muted information about resources and events.

Juxtaposing these images of protest alongside more mundane posts also trivialise these causes, and over-exposure to similar themes saturates those who interact with them. Social media also keeps us in our own social circles, and this is not conducive to productive discourse as everyone will share similar viewpoints. As social media activism becomes more integrated into our lives, its power to generate conversation reduces to a starting point rather than the whole discourse.

“And that’s basically the meme: it’s the headline.” - Deva Woodly, professor of politics at the New School5

Lessons

How do we become better at engaging with activism on social media?

• Check the source - In an age of fake news a lot of information may be fraudulent. If you have a vested interest in the cause, read into it before engaging more deeply.

• Seek the source - Whilst posts may have been shared by celebrities, working to find the original activists who created the post and engaging with them directly allows them to be heard more loudly.

• Support the source - If it impacts you, do something about it. Sharing it is a starting point, but take it from the virtual into the physical. This can be from donating towards the cause, talking about it in social circles, and organising and attending events in support.

I wrote this article in response to the posts about Palestine on my social media platforms. I saw all of these videos and infographics, but did not know how to engage with them in a productive manner. I hope this post will provide a bit further clarity on how to do that, as it did for me.

Thanks,

SBR

“It is a simple truth that in times of crisis, children suffer most.”1

This week it was revealed that the United Nations (UN) children’s fund, Unicef, would lose 60% of its funding from the British Government. They stand to lose £24 million of funding.

Unicef was formed in the wake of World War Two to provide relief to children and their mothers. It relies entirely on private and government donations. In 2020 they responded to the COVID pandemic by

• Equipping 1.8 million health workers with protective personal equipment and oxygen concentrators throughout the world.

• Shipping over 2.5 million COVID-19 testing kits to 56 countries, including Yemen, which received 18,000 kits.

They also provided safe water to thousands of people affected by floods in South Sudan; and treated over 350,000 severely malnourished children in the Central Sahel.

This year has been fraught with difficulty. The pandemic has amplified the difficulties faced by children throughout the world. 91% of children worldwide have experienced disruption in their schooling. Child abuse is rising throughout the world. Routine immunisation schedules have been broken up in more than sixty countries. These problems are compounded by travel restrictions and risks to volunteers strangling efforts to provide aid.

This is on a background of overall cuts to spending on foreign aid, a loss of £4 billion. As part of a UN pact in 1970, the UK and 29 other high income countries pledged to give 0.7% of its income to overseas aid. This was enshrined into UK law in 2015.

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary of the UK, announced that “Humanitarian response and preparedness” would be one of seven priorities of a £10 billion budget for development priorities. Despite this spending on the largest humanitarian crises has been cut by up to 93%. This included Yemen, South Sudan and the Sahel. All of these regions top the UK’s Famine Watchlist. In Yemen 80% of the population are dependant on aid.

“It undercuts the UK’s moral authority. These are political cuts.”2

From a political viewpoint these cuts do not make sense. The UK’s international reputation, international relationships and ability to achieve foreign policy objectives are damaged by this action. None of the other countries who were part of the UN pact have made similar cuts, and indeed countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Norway have exceeded it.

“You cannot go round with the begging bowl when you are emptying it.”3

From a legal viewpoint these cuts do not make sense. They undermine a Conservative Party commitment as well as a legal commitment. Freedom of Information Act requests have been denied multiple times. They are not transparent.

From a healthcare viewpoint these cuts do not make sense. They put the lives of millions at risk. In the COVID-19 pandemic they plan to cut the budget for the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme from £150 million to £30 million. These programmes have brought clean water to 63 million people. Now 10 million people stand to lose out on this lifesaving intervention, even as its importance has been highlighted by the pandemic.

COVID-19 research is partly funded by the UK foreign-aid budget. Projects such as those involved in identifying and tracking new variants of the Coronavirus in Brazil have lost the majority of their funding. This is not good policy-making, and the shortsightedness exhibited by the government will in the long term lead to the death of many people throughout the world.

The decision to make these cuts is an example of short-sighted nationalism in a global field. It promises a small saving in return for huge losses to the UK and to the world in the long term.

If you would like to help please write to your local member of Parliament. For more information, please check out this page from Care International.

Thank you for reading. As always, I would love to hear your opinions!

On March 19 1987 the Federal Drug Agency in the US approved the first medication for the treatment for HIV, a drug called AZT. It was the only medication that could postpone the onset of AIDs in an individual with HIV at the time.

In 1991 a research scientist in a government laboratory in India called Rama Rao had discovered the method to manufacture AZT. At that time it was only made by one company in America called Borroughs Wellcome, who had priced it at $8000 per year per patient. HIV was rapidly rising in prevalence in India, with the red light district in Mumbai being given the nickname “AIDS capital of India”.

$8000 per year was far beyond what most people in India could afford. In a bid to reduce costs, Rama Rao went to Dr Yusuf Hamied, who owned the Indian pharmaceutical company Cipla. Together, they proposed to manufacture and sell it for less than $800 per year. Even at this price they could not sell any of the medication. It was still too expensive. When they approached the Indian Government to further subsidise the cost, they were denied.

Present

During the initial COVID pandemic in India many people who were living away from their homes for work in the city were forced to return to their homes as lockdown was established. These people were confronted with trying to travel hundreds of miles in the face of a forced stop to most public transport. The government made very little attempt to help these people. Hundreds of people were reported to have died en route.

Every twelve years one of the world’s biggest pilgrimages takes place in a ceremony called the Kumbh Mela where millions of Hindus travel to a specific holy site to bathe in one of four sacred rivers in India. The government put on extra trains specifically for devotees to travel.

Election rallies were held throughout the pandemic. Even now, as one person dies every four minutes in New Delhi, the state of West Bengal opens for elections. In the South Indian state of Telangana, election rallies are still occurring.

shwetakapur

A post shared by @shwetakapur

Past

In the late 1990’s, a specific combination of medications were found to be highly effective in controlling AIDs. This combination was known as HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy). This cost $12000 per person per year. As nations like South Africa who had been affected very severely with the HIV/AIDs disease burden tried to change laws to be able to get medicines for cheaper and side-step patents the pharmaceutical industry rose up against this. In this stalemate, millions of people continued to die of AIDs.

In August 2000, Yusuf Hamied was contacted by a group of activists. They wanted to know: How cheaply could he make HAART? Hamied worked it out to $800 per year. He was invited to speak at the European Commission’s conference in Brussels on HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and poverty reduction a month later.

He told the conference he would: provide HAART for $800 per person per year, give freely the technology to make the drugs to African governments who requested it and would also provide a drug that prevent mother to child transmission for free.

“We call upon the participants of this conference to do what their conscience dictates.” - Dr Yusuf Hamied

None of the nations present took him up on it. The pharmaceutical community was tied up by patent protection, trade agreements and sheer profiteering. To break the stalemate, they had to hit a golden number. After discussions with HIV activists throughout the world, Dr Hamied offered to price HAART at $1 a day. The pharmaceutical industry in turn accused him of piracy and poor workmanship.

“I am accused of having an ulterior motive. Of course I have an ulterior motive: before I die, I want to do some good.” - Dr Yusuf Hamied

One month and one massive PR (public relations) disaster later, the pharmaceutical companies were forced to drop their lawsuits. Without patent issues cheap, safe and effective versions of HAART flooded into Africa.

Present

More than seventy countries received sixty million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from India. In adopting a policy called Vaccine Diplomacy, India moved toward global equity in terms of vaccine availability. Whilst this has been criticised as the second waves rips through India, the generosity of this deed must be remembered. It is even more powerful in contrast to the Vaccine Nationalism demonstrated by wealthier countries, who hoarded 60% of the world’s vaccine supply. That would be enough to vaccinate their citizens several times over. When India approached the United States for raw materials to increase their vaccine product they were quickly denied. They promptly reversed this when faced with an immediate backlash.

In an entirely expected turn, the western media has fallen on the crisis without respect for those affected by it. Images of burning pyres and dying patients serves to feed into the narrative of the superiority of the west, and desensitises us further to the scale of loss in India. In a chilling echo of pharmaceutical companies’ condescension of Dr Yusuf Hamied, Bill Gates further propagated this in an interview as he expressed the view that developing countries should not be allowed to manufacture the COVID-19 vaccine as they would produce substandard vaccines.

give_india

A post shared by @give_india

On the ground

In the vacuum of an effective official response, the people of India have risen up. Social Media hums with networks providing medical supplies to those who need it. Even as the government scurries to hide the backlash by censoring hashtags such as #ResignModi and #SuperSpreaderModi on Twitter and Facebook, ordinary people work to provide help for those most in need.

It is important to note however, that whilst this grass-roots movement is a powerful symbol of human connection, it is a poor replacement for an organised and state-led response. There is no equity in this approach; if you have no access to a phone, or have no contacts at a local hospital you have very little chance of procuring aid. There are lessons to be learned from this, and whilst we endure this tragedy it is in the hope that we will come out of this with a vision of an India which holds the needs of the individual at the heart of its democracy.

priyism

A post shared by @priyism

Thank you for reading. I have placed links to various campaigns to offer help to Indian citizens throughout this post. As always, I welcome any comments or suggestions you have via email or social media.

SBR

I still remember my first day of working in a small refugee camp in Calais. It was a small clearing next to a busy main road, just adjacent to a roundabout. The sky was overcast. The ground was bare, rough concrete with a steep drop to a drain on one side. We set up a small table, opened up suitcases full of medicines and basic supplies, and waited.

Thirty minutes later we were surrounded by men, women and children. We would bandage cuts, give out multivitamins and cough tablets, and just listen. The stories we heard, the journeys related to us, were often unimaginable. It was difficult for me to comprehend that such experiences belonged to only one person. How could I ever hope to understand people with such different lives, let alone do anything to help them?

As we were leaving, two Eritrean men asked for a lift to the train station. They wanted to travel to Paris to visit their friend. As I drove trying to make conversation, my Spotify started shuffling through some old Hindi songs. I could not hide my surprise when they started singing along better than I ever could. It was that day I learned of the love Eritreans have for Bollywood films. We spent the rest of the journey talking about our favourite actors and films. They loved the stories in Bollywood films, the narratives they weaved, and the hopes they gave to people. After I had dropped them off, I realised how our one common interest had put aside all of those differences I had thought insurmountable.

Evacuation

It was a cold morning. We had stayed up the night before packing supplies and first-aid equipment. In preparation for the use of tear gas we loaded the van with 2 litre bottles of water and clean cloths. There was to be an evacuation of one of the refugee camps today. This camp was a 200 tent strong site under an underpass in the La Chapelle district of Paris. The ground was littered with discarded camping equipment, food containers and trash. A distant siren drew closer. The police vans, and buses designed to take refugees to processing centres, rolled up.

More people poured out of the camp that I had thought possible to fit into the space. The police walked through, corralling people into lines for the buses. They tore down tents to ensure they could not be used again. Behind them there was an industrial clean-up operation. Some people dispersed into the surrounding neighbourhoods, ready to come back as soon as the police had left and claim whatever they could from the detritus left behind. There was little resistance and as people moved into the buses their faces were expressionless and resigned. This was not a solution. This would happen again, and again, and again.

By nightfall a few tents had been re-installed. The clean area was now a prime ground to establish a camp. Some Afghan men had put a few old sofas around a makeshift fireplace and were sitting around drinking tea. They had managed to salvage a few tents, and would sell them to newly-arrived refugees. We had a few more supplies which we handed out to those who looked most vulnerable; there was nowhere near enough for everyone. We were provided tea, and they made space at the fire. They did not have enough logs to last the night, and still they threw them in to build the fire up.

We had one further place to go to that evening. It was a park further towards the district centre. When we got there, it was locked. One of the men inside came out, and after we had explained who we were he showed us how to vault over the wall to get in. Inside, there were five men who had set up a camp by a bench next to a table-tennis table. They offered us some food, and welcomed us to sit with them. They would not be refused. It was a privilege. As I lay in bed later that night I wondered about the surreal nature of where I was, and how such kindness could exist. Even if I could not understand it, I would embrace it.

COVID-19

“The coronavirus disease (Covid19), knows no borders, no language barriers. It threatens everyone on this planet – including refugees and other displaced people” - UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi

The World Health Organisation (WHO) first declared the COVID-19 pandemic on 11th March 2020. There was immediate concern about refugees. The reasons for this were numerous: they lived in densely packed areas with poor infrastructure, there was poor and inconsistent access to healthcare, rapid movement of individuals through countries could lead to rapid transmission and a rise in xenophobia which would limit the amount of aid they could access.

The pandemic also threatened not just the health of refugees but their livelihoods. With wider economic deterioration refugees would face issues such as lack of jobs, eviction and a forced return to their own country. A report also warned of “negative coping behaviours” - that they may be forced into sex work to survive.

How to help

“Refugees and migrants live and work in often-harsh conditions with inadequate access to health, housing, water, sanitation and other basic services. It is vital for all countries to reduce barriers that prevent refugees and migrants from obtaining health care, and to include them in national health policies” - Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General

I have not been able to work with refugees since the COVID-19 pandemic started. Travel restrictions and my work in the NHS has meant that I have grown increasingly frustrated by my inability to pursue something of great importance to me. In looking for ways to help from a distance I realised that raising awareness is itself a form of help, and therefore I decided to make this my first post.

If you would like to help in supporting refugee populations through the pandemic please check out the following ways:

Donations

• The Refugee Council

• The UN Refugee Agency

• Refugee Support Network

Volunteering

Medical

• International Medical Volunteering

• Medical Volunteers International

Non-medical

• Refugee Support Network

• Refugee Action

Thank you for reading.

In simple terms, I write out of gratitude. I write because I have been given the opportunity and the means to do so. I write for the people who brought me up to love literature, and the generations of poets, writers and activists in my family and friends. I write because I want to have a concrete piece of evidence that I can look back on in years and see the growth in myself. I write because I am most eloquent when I have my thoughts on paper, and I do not want to lose this ability. It still fills me with wonder that I can take the most complex concepts in my mind and lay them out for everyone to see clearly anywhere in the world.

The reason I am putting this (and future works) out into the world is because I want to be proved wrong. I want to outline my views and see if they hold the strain of differing perceptions and opinions. I want to stop being trapped in an echo chamber of my own views. Some of the greatest moments of clarity in my life have been when someone has pointed out flaws in my beliefs. They have often been the catalyst for lasting change. Who knows, maybe my thoughts will change other peoples’ mindsets too.

It has been difficult for me to write this. As someone who is usually very private, the concept of laying out my thoughts (permanently) for people to read is something that fills me with worry. I have realised even in writing this introduction that perhaps outside of my own circle, outside of the ephemeral nature of spoken conversation I am not confident enough in my own words and thoughts. This realisation is growth in itself, and therefore both an example of what I want to identify and a promise of what I hope to achieve with this project.

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