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United Nations
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2021-03-20
Debating Through the Pandemic
I've been doing Model United Nations since my freshman year. Although it is a club infamous for the insanely intense students it produces, it's also known for its beyond fun 4-day conferences with food, a delegate dance (like a Homecoming), and chaotic debate sessions. However, COVID changed all of that for me, when all MUN conferences started going virtual, including our school's own conference. We started making speeches on Zoom and raising our virtual hands to get called on. We used Breakout Rooms to talk with other delegates and sat at our desks through four long strenuous days of debating. This story represents the dozens of other school clubs and sports teams that were thrown off guard in trying to alter their events to fit these new guidelines of the pandemic. But, to echo a larger sentiment, it represents how kids and their interests were able to adapt. Students still had safe spaces to pursue their interests, even if it was over Zoom. During this time, communities banded together and in some cases, even expanded, allowing classes of COVID-impacted kids to continue building their passions. In my case, I actually learned to love MUN for what it is, rather than be distracted by its bells and whistles. So, while the pandemic brought along its own challenges, it fostered adaptation at its finest, and relationships centered on keeping a sense of normalcy alive, even with something as small as a school club. -
2020-09-23
Iran: The double jeopardy of sanctions and COVID-19
This article discusses the effects of Covid-19 on Iran and how the sanctions imposed on Iran by the Trump administration exacerbated Covid’s effect on Iran’s already weak economy. It highlights Iran’s attempts to reduce the fatality rate despite a shortage of medical supplies. Additionally, the article posits that lifting sanctions during the pandemic might have reduced the death toll by thousands. While there is speculation that the true number of Covid deaths in Iran has been reduced and even misreported, this article highlights the connection between U.S. politics and the effects of sanctions imposed on countries during a public health crisis. -
2021-07-26
HERMIT HERALD, ISSUE 122
U.N. asked to critique America -
2020-11-04
Libya Covid assistance
After the Obama administration intervened in Libya and removed Muammar al-Gaddafi; Libya's entire infrastructure of hospitals, emergency services, and universities became totally decimated by US airstrikes. Libya is currently experiencing a civil war post-United States intervention and it has left the population in a refugee crisis. The country most likely would have been able to handle the COVID-19 pandemic considering they had arguably the best healthcare and university systems in Africa pre US intervention. However, it is good to see the US and UN donating money to help the war-torn country currently experiencing civil war and total humanitarian collapse. The money is being given to the US-installed regime so it will be interesting to see how it is spent. Ironically in a country that was totally decimated its oil enterprises are back online and producing crude, which before the US intervention, the money went to the people first, but now is being divided up by BP, Shell, and the US installed regime. -
2020-02-05
Periods don't Stop
United Nations Women advocate for and tell the stories of women across the globe, during the pandemic it is easy to forget the large picture as well as the details. This post refers to the many women who do not have access to gynecological health resources as well the means too obtain basic period related products. -
2020-04-06
United Nations Statement on COVID-19 Guidance for Indigenous Peoples
Recommends that "states should take into account Indigenous peoples’ distinctive concepts of health, including their traditional medicine, consult and consider the free prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples in the development of preventive measures on COVID-19." Recommendations also include measures for voluntary isolation from outsiders. #IndigenousStories -
2020-03-14
Dark humor
Dark humor has colored social media, especially as regards shortages of odd things such as toilet paper. To wit: "As UN doctors move across a dead America, sifting through 300 million corpses, a trend emerges: Their assess ... spotlessly clean. All of them... "