Roundup #1: Mount Hopeless
Welcome to Roundup! The internet provides a mind boggling amount of content so, here is an effort of mine to roundup content I've consumed and my thoughts on them.
Mount Hopeless
In a reading of mine, a brief history of Mount Hopeless, Australia, is described. A Brit in the 1820s known as Edward Eyre was faced with the dilemma of continuing school or the military. In a bid to avoid an unwanted fate, he decided to be an explorer and travel to the then-unknown Terra Incognita, modern-day Australia.
After arriving in Adelaide, he bought a sheep farm and eventually sold it after it failed, and with the funds, Eyre was finally able to fund his expedition. On 18 June 1840, he and other Europeans set off for the unexplored Australian interior.
After 3 excruciating months of barren land, whiplash heat & endless horizons of sand, Eyre stumbled upon a tall mound of sand and decided to climb it. After the incline, he journaled in his diary, “Cheerless & hopeless indeed was the prospect before us.” The hill had no resources, provided no Birdseye view to any nearby water body, and simply gave him a better look at distances of nothing. Unfortunately, as life more often tells us, most stories lack a succinct and good ending. Eyre tracked back to Adelaide, determined to satiate his itch, he set off on another two-month track westward and was guided by 2 Aboriginal guides this time. After finding nothing, the guides unfortunately murdered a member and took off with the supplies, leaving Eyre devastated and helpless, completely surrounded by endless deserts and no water bodies. Eyre continued to trek and barely survived by extracting water from plants and feasting on a rotting horse carcass. By good fortune, he eventually found a ride off the coast off Albany. In total, Eyre had trekked an estimated 2,500 km, without a single discovery.
It was quite a gloomy read yet, I found it provided plenty of insight into the Old World, where one couldn’t be sure where the sun ended and where humanity had left untouched. Mount Hopeless seems to be a perfect homage and reminder of the many great explorers who hadn’t managed to carve up their names in the stars.
Continuation of the Rohingya Exodus
This week, over 1,000 Rohingya people battled harsh seas to find themselves in Sumatra’s Aceh Province. Unfortunately, due to pressure from the local Acehnese, the Indonesian government has been forced to deny them refuge. As Indonesia is not part of the UN Refugee Convention, it has no international obligation to take them in.
The Muslim-majority Rohingya people have been persecuted and forced into a mass exodus from the Buddhist-majority Burma. After years of strong Buddhist nationalism, this has resulted in the unwilling exile of almost a million refugees. This mass exodus has led to the creation of the world’s largest refugee camp, at the border at Kutapalong, which sits between Bangladesh and Burma. The camp is home to almost 900,000 refugees, with many facing some of the harshest living standards.
As Burma continues to face its ongoing civil war, more traction in the war is picking up as fierce guerrilla warfare in the Northern Shan region between the Military junta and rebel groups takes place.
In 2017, I had the opportunity to travel to Burma. From Yangon to Bagan and amongst the fishermen of Inle Lake, it was a strong reminder that countries weren’t just bodies of landmass on a map but the people on the street, the children in the homes, and the farmers on the plow.
Having been able to visit Burma was a privilege in itself; the country carried this peculiar air of melancholy. The tone of Buddhist righteousness seemed to embody everything the people did. The little devil and angel sat on the shoulders of every Burmese I saw. During the walks I had, I truly wondered how each of them felt. Some seemed indifferent, while others concerned. The sun-kissed kids with Thanaka on their faces to the women in the market, Burma was alive and beautiful.
Due to the nature of civil war and Burma’s geography, humanitarian aid flows in significantly slower than in many other conflicts, not forgetting the closed Indian border. Furthermore, regarding the Rohingya crisis, it seems more alarming that the Islamic world has provided significantly less aid than Western countries, given the rise in prominence of countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE.
One truly needs to ponder on the political fate of Burma. Situated between India, China, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Laos, as well as the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, Burma enjoys strong geographical advantages should opportunities present themselves in the future. One cannot say for certain the direction its governance is heading in during these tumultuous years.
During the years of Democratic-led governance, Burma’s GDP grew at an average rate of 6%; however, its PPP during those years hovered around $1,360 on average, while the average PPP in Southeast Asia was $6,900. Humanitarian rights issues were also prevalent as the country struggled to move away from its military-led culture, and poverty rates remained largely the same even as investments flowed into the country.
Ceasefire in Gaza
Since 7 Oct, the highly enflamed conflict has sparked headline news. Continuous streams of information ranging from fabricated media to fake news and misshaped opinions have been plastered all over. The World saw in horror as Hamas launched a massive assault on Israel and the Israeli military responded with countless amounts of artillery and firepower back on the tunnels that hide below civilian areas.
Since then, Israel hasn’t fared well in the eyes of international relations, with many friendlier countries explicitly drawing a line.
I find it regressive to focus solely on the negatives that have occurred over the last few months without acknowledging the progress being made. There are plenty of negatives in this two-sided argument; arguing that Israelites or Palestinians are evil contributes and feeds into the very stigma that has driven this conflict.
As of this writing, 39 Palestinians are being released from Israeli jails in exchange for 13 Israeli hostages. In the meantime, people on the ground are tirelessly rushing humanitarian aid to those who need it the most.
I would like to highlight that since the end of WW2, humanity has experienced the greatest amount of peace in comparable history, and the largest driver has been globalization. Globalization has forced countries into global trade and made the wealth of the people the true ‘currency’ that these countries gamble with. Sprouting behind its trail have been organizations like the WTO, which has brought the rise to collective accountability of nations.
Unfortunately, this accountability is only appreciated and valued by countries where there is some sort of functioning economy. This is why, if you believe in peace and co-prosperity, the conflict needs to loosely align with the following:
Total surrender of Hamas and a permanent ceasefire from Israel
Resolution treaty:
West Bank and Gaza are kept under UN Peacekeeping Mandate for the foreseeable future, similar to Cambodia or Kosovo.
Israeli commitment to demilitarization around Palestine.
Palestinian commitment to disarmament.
Commitment to infrastructure and housing development in Palestine.
Two-state solution with borders returned to 1967 lines.
State of Jerusalem to be placed under Jordanian Mandate.
Currency pegged to the Durham.
IMF loans given progressively over greater development.
Israeli post-war development funding.
This is the best-case solution for the region. As Israeli relations with all Islamic countries have reversed, there is a need for multi-religious acceptance on a secular framework. A Middle Eastern Peace Pact must eventually be signed to steer the Middle East away from any military conflict.
For the sake of peace, there is no alternative solution to the two-state solution. There cannot be justification to allow Hamas to stay in power, and Palestine must restart with a clean slate. Since conflicts are always in the grey, Israel must undergo condemnation and should be forced to pay post-war development funds due to the reckless nature of the invasion of Gaza.
Due to the highly controversial nature of this conflict, I would like to encourage civil discussion over the fate of Palestine in a manner that carefully threads fact and fiction.
Update: As of writing, information surrounding the 3rd day of truce has came out. A Palestinian farmer was killed by the IDF under unknown circumstances and both Hamas & COGAT has blamed both sides for the lack of aid coming in.