On March 22, Mount Holyoke College announced its plan for students’ return to campus for the fall 2021 semester after a full academic year of non-traditional campus living induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of this plan has yet to be released or finalized, leaving the student body to wade through uncertainties regarding their own individual plans for the fall.
On April 12, people around the world began observing the Islamic tradition of Ramadan, which is celebrated on the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is a time for Muslims to reflect, fast, pray and build their relationships with God. The ninth month is believed to be when the Prophet Muhammad had a revelation about the Quran, the holy book of Islam. This revelation is commemorated through Ramadan.
On March 30, the French Senate voted in favor of banning minors from wearing hijab in public spaces. The ban proposal is part of French President Emmanuel Macron’s vision of a “separatism bill,” which, according to Amnesty International, raises “serious concerns that the law will be applied in a discriminatory way.” Since its arrival, the proposal has evoked controversy within French borders and beyond — echoing France’s previous Islamophobic legislation and colonial past.
Of the 206 countries planning to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, North Korea is the first to announce that it will not attend the event due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. According to The Associated Press, the country’s decision, which was released on a government-run website, was made to protect its athletes from COVID-19.
On April 4, Jordan’s former Crown Prince Hamzah bin Hussein released a video through his lawyer to the BBC, which stated that he was under house arrest due to criticism he voiced toward the government. Hamzah is the half-brother of King of Jordan Abdullah II, who has been reigning since 1999. In the video, Hamzah accused the Jordanian government of “corruption, incompetence and harassment.” According to Hamzah, the government was not accusing him of making the criticism himself.
In the past few weeks, protests have spread across Senegal, spurred by the arrest of the opposition party leader Ousmane Sonko. Sonko was arrested for rape, a charge many consider false and politically motivated given that the current head of the Senegalese government has a history of creating legal charges to suppress opponents. Despite this, In 2019, Senegal was categorized as one of the most democratic countries in Africa by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Early in the morning on Saturday, March 6, the body of 42-year-old David Polfliet was discovered in a park in Beveren, Belgium. According to a report in the Flemish newspaper De Standaard, a 17-year-old turned himself in to the police, who later arrested him, a 16-year-old and another 17-year-old as the perpetrators of Polfliet’s murder. The group used a dating app to lure Polfliet to the park. It remains unclear at this time if the trio intended to murder Polfliet or to physically abuse him.
There had been 132,775,013 cumulative cases of the COVID-19 virus across the world as of April 7, 2021. The United States continues to lead this number with 30,907,352 confirmed cases — the highest in the entire world. As vaccinations become more accessible and cases continue to rise, inequities in treatment and testing continue to exacerbate the health crisis.
When Mount Holyoke College closed its campus and switched to remote learning in March 2020, international students were encouraged to fly back home. Throughout the last academic year, international students have dealt with time differences interfering with online classes. In the face of this difficulty, some students chose to take a gap year or semester.
Over the past year, the meaning of a normal college experience has changed drastically. What was supposed to be a time of meeting new people and making memories has transformed completely. The online college experience is devoid of interaction with peers beyond an educational setting, which is negatively impacting many students.
A popular Spanish rapper, Pablo Hasél, was arrested on Feb. 16 under public security law charges accusing him of criticizing the monarchy and glorifying a separatist group. This action sparked massive and widespread protests spanning several major cities and resulting in the arrests of multiple protesters. These arrests follow a long history of repression and separatist support in Spain.
Nine Ebola cases have been reported in Guinea, leading to the deaths of five people, as of Feb. 25, 2021. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization has confirmed its third case of Ebola as of Feb. 12. On Feb. 27, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a travel precaution to all individuals traveling from Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the U.S. Since this year’s outbreak took place in relatively remote areas, the risk of importing Ebola cases to the U.S. is extremely low, meaning this is just an extended precaution, according to CNN.
Greta Thunberg tweeted a “toolkit” for the farmers’ protests currently happening in India on Feb. 2. Thunberg is not the first prominent figure to have spoken out about the current protests. Her tweet came after Rihanna shared a CNN article on the Indian government cutting off the internet near protest sites with the caption, “why aren’t we talking about this?!” These tweets, however, had real-world implications for the activists on the ground, such as 21-year old Disha Ravi.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, is facing charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust, to all of which he is pleading not guilty. The trial, which began in 2019, recommenced on Monday, Feb. 8, a month before the country’s next election. Netanyahu, who has been in power for over 14 years, is facing criticism for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with his right-wing ideology.
The German government prosecuted a former Nazi secretary for being an accessory to the murder of more than 10,000 people in concentration camps during World War II. Although there is no evidence of the defendant’s specific involvement in these deaths, she is being tried for her role in the operation of the concentration camps, the functioning of which led to the murder of thousands.
China Night is an annual event held by the Chinese Cultural Association to celebrate the Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, with song and dance. In past years, it has been an evening of food, music and community. Because of the need for social distancing and remote formats for large events this year, however, the CCA directed students to watch the live CCTV Spring Festival Gala, a variety show broadcast on the eve of the Lunar New Year featuring an array of performances. The CCA posted traditional Chinese customs on Instagram while the Spring Festival Gala aired.
