Non-IA Reflections

Reflections for IA Events.

Internment: Now and Then

Date: November 18, 2019

Event: Internment: Now and Then (Non-IA/Campus Event)

Internment: Now and then was an event sponsored through the Center for Ethnic Studies. The discussion began by giving a brief history of internment and what exactly internment is, as well as connections into today’s current state of affairs. Describing internment using the words “exclusionary and marginalizing,” I learned a lot about Japanese internment between the years of 1942-1945 that to be quite honest, I had not previously known about. One thing that was pointed out was the constant changing of descriptors referring to internment camps back in the day. By not explicitly calling these camps internment camps and shifting between calling it an “assembly center,” a “relocation center,” “isolation center,” “temporary camp,” or “Department of Justice camps” instead of what it really was, a concentration camp kept liability off Americans by making these camps seem like less of an injustice than they really were. I think this is important as it relates to international affairs today because the United States is a nation built on exclusionary policies and then blatantly “forgetting,” as if a loss of historical memory means you haven’t committed certain acts.  The “family detention centers” that we have today are very much related to Japanese internment camps of World War 2. Even recently,  the United States’ has planned to house migrant children at Fort Sill, which was formerly the site of a Japanese internment camp. This repetition of history that we see in global affairs is not new, nor is it refined only to migrants. Learning more about such a significant event that occurred in the US’ past further allowed me to make connections between what’s happened before and what’s happening now. Being able to make these connections is wildly important to be aware of in our current political climate.

#Fight4Her “Letter to The Editor” Workshop

Event: Letter to The Editor Workshop held by #Fight4Her 

Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2019 @ 6pm 

 

This image summarizes why we are leading this campaign: men who are making decisions about what women can do with their bodies.

#Fight4HER is a national campaign focused on mobilizing action against Trump’s Global Gag Rule and in support of the bill to block it, the Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights (HER) Act. Activists, organizers, and community leaders around the country are working together to take direct action that puts pressure on members of Congress to support the HER Act. Donald Trump’s attacks on reproductive rights threaten people and communities across the country and around the world. By imposing dangerous restrictions that defy logic and eliminating necessary aid, his policies are having harmful and deadly consequences. The point of the event was to aid in continuing to fight against efforts to restrict reproductive rights and demand laws that respect, support, and empower women, girls, and people seeking reproductive health care both here and abroad.  

The campaign event relates to the topic of international affairs in the sense that even though the fight begins here at home in everyone’s individual states, it is an effort for not only us but for women abroad in other countries as well. Trump’s Global Gag Rule expands offensive restrictions on health care that will have life-threatening consequences such as putting ideology over health, being an undemocratic restriction of free speech, shifting resources to failed policies that will increase unsafe abortion, and ignoring the fact that family planning saves lives. The workshop essentially told us more about the campaign itself and then outlined how to write “Letters to the Editor” to submit to newspapers and bring awareness to the mission. By teaching and assisting us in possibly writing future Letters to the Editor we will be able to elevate the issue in the public view, tell stories and testimonies that aren’t being heard, and most importantly allow us to apply pressure on the people who have the power to do anything, our local and national decision makers. 

What I mainly took away from this event was a more honed skill for writing LTE’s with useful core messages of the campaign to include like the Global Gag Rule being full of disgraceful restrictions and appalling consequences, undermining, rather than improving, global health programs and outcomes. Because LTE’s are often so short, ranging from around 100-250 words depending on the newspaper you’re submitting to, it’s hard to come up with a message that does not look like it was written by one person and mass submitted by multiple people, which would make it less likely to be published in the paper by removing the personal touch that LTE’s should have. I thought it was a good touch that they walked us through the process of writing them so that we don’t all have the same sort of “troubleshooting” issues when it comes down to us writing them.

The First LiNK: Documentary Night

Event: The First LiNK: Documentary Night

Date: Friday, October 19, 2018 in Hitchcock Hall

Picture this: You’re a young girl living in North Korea. Your mother leaves you, your younger sister, and your father due to financial struggles. You have to start working a very difficult job at a young age to contribute to your family’s finances. Your father then passes away when you are in your late teen years. You eventually move back with your mom who, at twenty-two, asks you to move in with a man much older than you are to lessen the financial burden. You don’t like this at all so you leave your hometown in search of a better life somewhere else. Walking for a few days, you reach one of the largest cities in North Korea. You find a lot of odd jobs that provide you the opportunity to make a little money, just barely enough to buy food for yourself. Not being able to save any money, you decide to head home where having you back was just a burden on your mother and sister. After some experiences, you can’t handle all the bad things that keep happening to you. You feel hopeless and pathetic, deciding to commit suicide. Right before you go through with it, you have the thought, “Why do I have to die? Why? I’ve not done anything wrong. I’m still only in my early twenties.”

You decide to live and make the better life you wanted for yourself; by leaving North Korea.

____________________________

This is the story of Yoon Ha, one of 939 refugee rescues with LiNK. LiNk stands for Liberty in North Korea and is an organization dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of North Korean refugees out of the country. For decades, hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have risked their lives to escape the political and economic oppression they are subjected to in their home country. Even if they make it out of the country, the danger does not stop then. China is just as dangerous because the Chinese government arrests and repatriates then where they will then be subject to beatings or admitted to political imprisonment camps.

The featured documentary was called The People’s Crisis. The short film was directed and produced by the members of LiNK themselves. It was a depiction of a rescue of North Korean refugees like the one whose experience is detailed above. The documentary relates to the topic of International Affairs in that it shows the process it took for a group of individuals working across the globe in the U.S., South Korea, and Southeast Asia in coordinating overseas programs to rescue these refugees. LiNK’s mission is not only to rescue, but to change the narrative that goes along with North Korea. North korea is one of the greatest difficulties facing humanity today. By changing the image that the global society has of North Korea, LiNK is helping to make it easier for the people of North Korea to get the international support that they need.

I found the documentary night and the documentary itself to be exceptionally informative and engaging. It brought the challenge of North Korea to a more close to home space, in a place where I can help with the fundraiser being held by the event’s organizers. It’s an opportunity for the attendees, including myself, to take an active role in aiding LiNK’s mission.

Through LiNk, many North Korean refugees have successfully escaped and resettled in safer nations where they are not being subjected to political and economic oppression, but there are still many more to rescue. The People’s Crisis still continues.