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Decoder: What was the Soviet Union? Why does Putin miss it?

Decoder: What was the Soviet Union? Why does Putin miss it?

by | 7 Mar 2022 | Asia, Decoders, Educators' Catalog, Europe, Human Rights, Politics, Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the fall of the Soviet Union was a catastrophe. What was the USSR, and what does Putin really want? Russian communist party supporters commemorate the death anniversary of the founder of the former Soviet Union, Vladimir...

It’s next to impossible to fathom why Russia might have invaded Ukraine without understanding the Soviet Union and Vladimir Putin’s attachment to the notion of an empire led by Moscow. Few are better placed than Julian Nundy, whose links to Ukraine go back more than half a century, to explain the complex relationship between Russia and its western neighbor. In his decoder, Nundy takes the reader from the upheaval of the Russian revolution to the collapse of the USSR and, with it, Russia’s loss of buffer states – for Putin, an intolerable affront.

Exercise: Ask your students to choose a revolution – if their country had a revolution, then that should be their focus – and to assess the good that may have come out of it, and the bad.

Helping LGBTQIA+ immigrants endure adversity in the U.S.

Helping LGBTQIA+ immigrants endure adversity in the U.S.

by | 18 Feb 2022 | Educators' Catalog, Hewitt, Human Rights, Student Posts, Women, Youth Voices

Transgender and queer immigrants can face hardship in detention and when settling in the U.S. Here’s a group that helps LGBTQIA+ migrants. Protesters at a rally jointly organized by the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project in New York on 4 July 2021. (Photo...

Relocating and integrating to a new country is difficult on its own, but individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or asexual are even more vulnerable, particularly in immigrant detention centers. Hanna Rahman, a student at The Hewitt School in New York City, reports on one organization’s work to aid, empower and advocate for LGBTQIA+ detainees and undocumented individuals.

The Queer Detainee Empowerment Project (QDEP) provides health, educational, legal and emotional assistance to the LGBTQIA+ migrant community, making sure to involve the community in planning and activities. QDEP’s grassroots model and inclusive strategy inspired Rahman to consider her own perception of how community service is organized.

Exercise: Ask students to compare large aid organizations such as UNICEF or the UN High Commission for Refugees with smaller grassroots organizations like QDEP. How are they similar and how are they different? What do they think is a more effective and equitable approach to humanitarian assistance?

No choice but to toil for Syrian refugee children in Lebanon

No choice but to toil for Syrian refugee children in Lebanon

by | 1 Feb 2022 | Educators' Catalog, Human Rights, Middle East, University of Toronto Journalism Fellows

Lebanon is suffering one of the worst crises the world has seen in 150 years. The children in one Syrian refugee family have little choice but to work. The Hemo family working in a greenhouse where they earn $10 a day for their labour, November 2021 (All photos by...

More than half a million refugees have fled Ukraine since war broke out one week ago, with more still fleeing the fighting. Throughout history, displacement has gone hand-in-hand with conflict. Decades of violence in Afghanistan displaced more than 2.6 million refugees, with thousands more fleeing last autumn after the U.S. troop withdrawal. (Some, like correspondent Zamir Saar, sought refuge in Ukraine.) According to the UNHCR, since 2011, the crisis in Syria has forced 6.8 million people to leave their country, with another 6.7 million internally displaced.

Now, an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees are living in Lebanon, including Sanam Hemo, her husband, and their seven children. While Lebanon provides safety, the country is experiencing a dire economic crisis, leaving no choice but for all family members — even their four-year-old — to work. Katherine Lake Berz, a journalism fellow at the University of Toronto, gives an up-close account of the reality of refugee life for Sanam’s family and how organizations like UNICEF Canada are seeking solutions to child labor.

Exercise: Ask students to put themselves in Sanam and Othman’s shoes. What would they do differently? What would they do the same?

Languages in Tibet under threat — and traditions at risk too

Languages in Tibet under threat — and traditions at risk too

by | 6 Dec 2021 | China, Contest winners, Culture, Educators' Catalog, Human Rights, Politics, Student Posts, Thacher School, Youth Voices

Tibet’s many languages are under threat from Beijing’s policies and economic realities, putting cultural traditions and memories at risk. Tsupkhu Lama in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India in June 2019. (Photo by Li Keira Yin) This story won honorable...

Li Keira Yin of The Thacher School examines the difficulties that minority languages face surviving in Tibet without falling into the trap of concluding that it’s all the fault of the Communist Party leadership in Beijing when economic pressures in a globalized economy are part of the explanation. For her nuanced view, Yin draws from her unique perspective as someone raised in China who is studying in the United States. Her account of the complexities of language in Tibet started when Yin listened to her Chinese grandmother speak a dialect at home while speaking in Mandarin when picking up the phone. “I started wondering why dialects and minority languages have to be overpowered by Mandarin in China, and so I dug deeper,” Yin said. A lesson for other students struggling to understand how their lives fit into the bigger scheme of things.

Exercise: Ask students to discuss when it’s important for authorities to protect minority languages.

Human Rights