Immune from Justice If the UN wants to stop advocating for sexual abuse, it needs to act with direction and urgency. The work of UN peacekeepers aims to deescalate civil violence and protect vulnerable civilians from conflict, poverty and crises resulting from natural disasters. UN peacekeepers go into these contexts, promising to provide security and protection for helpless civilians, and yet there were 445 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeepers in 2021. Some UN peacekeepers abuse the very civilians they pledged to protect. Once those victims bring all their courage together to report the injustices done to them, all that happens is the report of an incident. In some instances, the victim goes through an arduous court process in a different language, sometimes abroad. Most of the time, the abuser goes unpunished, and the victim is left without justice, without peace. “We continue working to end impunity and ensure justice for victims”, said the UN Secretary-General, Guterres, last month. The UN’s response is flawed, as Guterres himself admits, and whilst the UN has been improving victim support, protocol, and tracking of allegations, accountability is lacking. Writing in 2015 specifically about abuses in the Central African Republic, the UN published a report with policies aiming “to take measures to hold perpetrators accountable”. However, a few days ago, on the 10th of May 2022, another report was published with the same ambition of combatting the impunity from which sex abusers in peacekeeping missions benefit. The goal is the same, despite promises of significant change back in 2015. Why is it taking so long for these horrific abuses to be sanctioned? Which institutional structures are protecting against accountability? Who is international law protecting? In an article fittingly entitled “UNaccountable”, Rosa Friedman describes how the legislation, the legal frameworks, the investigations and the prosecutions in UN Peacekeeper sexual abuse cases are inherently flawed. The root of the legal protection and impunity offered to this UN personnel lies in Article 5 of the Convention on Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations (CPIUN). Heads of operation are allocated personal immunity, immune from any national court orders or decisions, to protect the workers from host state interference in their missions. However, most civilian personnel only have functional immunity – they are only immune from court jurisdiction when the behaviour in question is part of their work. However, in UN investigations in Haiti and the Central African Republic, the lack of evidence of a crime influenced the application of functional or personal immunity, preventing trials from taking place. Friedman goes as far as to argue that the UN is acting illegally, outside of its legal possibilities (ultra vires). Furthermore, the personnel who hold the position of ‘Expert on Mission’ are absolutely inviolable from detainment and arrest during the entire mission duration. The blue helmets, or military personnel of UN missions, are granted immunity in the host state and only allowed to be tried in courts from the sending country. However, the defendants rely on the host country’s legal system. A case against a UN soldier in the sending country is feeble where the defendant cannot be present, does not speak the language, and is confronted with different laws of evidence. Moreover, even if the Secretary-General waived the immunity in the host country, those legal systems are often unstable, considering the conflict situation which motivated the peacekeeping mission in the first place. The willingness of the UN to prosecute the perpetrators may also be called into question. In 2015, a UN aid worker acted as a whistleblower to the French authorities on child exploitation in the Central African Republic, and the UN suspended him as a tribute to his concern. When such action is taken swifter than any action to protect the children’s well-being, the organisation’s priorities have become questionable, and the reforms that the International Peace Institute recommends are highly needed. A landmark case in Haiti, September 2021, presented some hope for Haitian women, accountability and justice. An Uruguayan UN Peacekeeper, who had sexually exploited one of the women in Haiti, impregnated her and left her with §120 to fend for herself in a country where abortion is illegal. In this unusual case, and after much bureaucratic hassle and obstacles with the UN, the peacekeeper was finally ordered, in a Haitian court, to pay $3590/month in child support costs. This case sets a precedent that will hopefully open the doors to justice for many Haitian women who desperately need financial support. However, this ruling is just one small step towards real accountability. It is just the ruling and without realistic enforcement. There is no real possibility for the Haitian executive to enforce this ruling on a UN Peacekeeper who has returned to Uruguay. Furthermore, this case is a tort case, with the monthly child support being a small dent in the purse of a highly valued UN Peacekeeper. Real criminal accountability is far from achieved. The “damages” for which the defendant was held liable was the cost of raising a child. The case gives no compensation for the emotional and physical trauma of being assaulted by someone in a position of authority and responsibility. It, therefore, provides no opportunity for justice to those Haitian women who were sexually exploited but not impregnated. One more obstacle in achieving justice for all exploited civilians is that many member states of the UN do not allow the compulsory DNA testing process, which made the identification of the perpetrator possible in Uruguay. More needs to be done to create actual pathways of accountability. The gendered violence of the UN is far from its stated goals of gender equity. The goal of gender representation in UN military expert forces is 19%. Whilst every country is above this target, as of February 2022, it is an unambitious one, especially when considering that this may be an essential step to decreasing gender-based violence in UN missions. Another aspect of the problem that has not been addressed sufficiently is the sexual exploitation of men and boys. To avoid accusations of homosexuality and lacking manhood, men are much more likely to report the abuse of a sexual nature as torture or not to report it at all. The high numbers of UN peacekeeper exploitations are only the reported numbers. Given the complex process of reporting for women and children, let alone men, the actual numbers may be even higher. The UN’s “zero-tolerance” toward sexual violence is far above zero in this accountability gap. The flexibility that UN Peacekeepers require for their work does not justify the obstacles it lays down in the paths to accountability – in this case, the bureaucracy of the UN and the foundations of international law have become a shield for perpetrators rather than a means of justice. Member states on the security council need to take action, as one report after another recommends, to follow through on their promises and combat impunity. #internationallaw

The last year has been rather tough for crypto. Over the summer we saw prices crash and several companies fail. If anyone thought the following months would bring a change to that trend, they were in for a rough ride. In November, the so-called “crypto winter” would take it biggest scalp yet, in the form of Chapter 11 bankruptcy of crypto-darling and one of the biggest exchanges of its kind – FTX, an implode that shook the whole environment and seriously impacted the faith in it. The company presented itself as willing to work with regulators, its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, often found himself speaking with them on how crypto should be controlled. It also played a role of guardian angel, bailing out companies that struggled after the crashes. Simply put a role model for any crypto exchange and a leader in its field, what could possibly go wrong? Well, you could end up with $8bn in liabilities, both founders facing criminal charges (one already plead guilty) and become the best deterrent for crypto to date. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Sam Bankman-Fried The saga is one of passion, ambition, and a whole lot of math (but only the cool kind; you’ll get that joke on your way out). It all started back in 2017, when Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF as he’s commonly known, fresh off a stint at the elite trading firm Jane Street, decided to strike out on his own and start Alameda Research. Armed with a deep understanding of financial markets and a passion for cutting-edge technology, he set out to create a quantitative trading powerhouse. By this I of course mean, they mainly did arbitrage trading and sometimes invested in dogecoin hoping Elon would tweet about it. Naturally that wasn’t enough. SBF wanted an exchange that would suit his needs and because it’s crypto, he could just make it. In 2019 he and Gary Wang founded FTX, a platform that combined the best of traditional finance with the wild west of crypto. The company quickly established itself as one of the most popular and widely used exchanges on the market. And it’s not hard to see why. The exchange offered a wide range of innovative financial products, leverage, a sleek and user-friendly interface and efficiency, everything a crypto investor might need. The hype was further driven by the company’s extensive advertising. They had Tom Brady and Steph Curry in their ads and sponsored teams in all different sports, including F1, NHL, NBA and NFL. What also helped, was SBF’s appearance, a nice trustworthy looking guy, always in shorts, never saw a comb. An advocate for regulation, common guest in Congress using newly acquired billionaire status to become a significant political donor (partly as PR stunts, as he admitted during DealBook summit). If that wasn’t enough, he was a believer in effective altruism (you “earn the right to give”), promising to eventually give away most of his money. Oh, and he also made covers of few magazines (he says “every magazine”, but I wouldn’t trust his words). What a great guy. There were some reservations about his position in Alameda who was now trading on FTX’s platform (although he stepped down as CEO of Alameda), but no one’s perfect, so it was brushed over. Everything seemed to get better and better for SBF, his empire and crypto in general up until 2022. The “crypto winter” saw prices crash, including bitcoin’s loss of almost 50% of its value from the March high. Multiple companies failed. The whole industry lost 2/3 of its value! And yet, the almighty FTX was going strong, both it and Alameda even bailed out some of the failing ones (e.g. BlockFi, Voyager), earning SBF comparisons to the legendary John Pierpont Morgan. Former FTX Arena in Miami But a true hero story requires a major plot twist. Such came for SBF on November 2nd. CoinDesk ran the story of how FTT, a crypto token made by FTX (it gave owners discounts on trading fees and increased commission, among else), was Alameda’s biggest asset. This was a big deal; when a trader, like Alameda, makes bets, it borrows, and to do so it must post collateral. Everyone knows the company trades on FTX, so they assumed it posts FTT to ensure it and started panicking. Why? The token works sort of like a stock, if FTX performs well, the price of it rises and the opposite. Taking a collateral in your own stock is like betting against yourself. If your performance worsens, you also lose assets, this might destabilise you and which in turn decreases value of assets and so forth. A death spiral. The story itself sent FTT down 30%, however the biggest hit came four days later when Changpeng Zhao (CZ in short), CEO of Binance, the biggest rival of FTX (and the biggest exchange), tweeted that “due to recent revelations” his exchange will be selling FTT it holds. Now, this caused panic and mass withdrawals. SBF came to twitter to ensure the company’s fine. It wasn’t. Less than 24 hours later, the world of crypto was rocked by the news that Binance would acquire FTX to prevent a further liquidity crisis. A few days that took everyone by surprise. Well, it wasn’t nearly the end. Another 24 hours passed, and CZ was back on twitter saying they are backing out of the deal after conducting their due diligence. At this point SBF was running with the spreadsheet trying to gather funds and stay afloat. Just four days after the “FTX is fine”, he announced the company and Alameda filed for bankruptcy. In less than two weeks they went from heroes hailed by all, to zeros that have SEC and CFTC breathing down their necks. A fair question would be one of what happened to that well managed platform, with the best safety algorithms. A glimpse at that was provided by the Financial Times, who published “balance sheet”, which SBF showed potential investors in the last days of the company. It was, let’s say… optimistic. And a complete mess. It revealed $9bn in liabilities against only $900mn of easily accessible assets. Yes, according to the spreadsheet the value of all assets was about $9.4bn, but it included FTT, Solana and Serum – tokens that FTX created itself – FTT was losing its value at a rapid pace and the other two didn’t have nearly enough turnover to be worth as much. These tokens might have had value, when everything was fine, but now it was next to nothing. Almost forgot, at the bottom of the sheet was a negative $8bn entry labelled “hidden, poorly internally labelled ‘fiat@’ account”. What. Even in this surreal reality where you can sell $2.2bn worth of crypto that has a market cap of only $65mn, there is still a case of almost the same amount missing. So as established, no one (understandably) wanted to touch this mess with a ten-foot pole and FTX and Alameda were forced to file for bankruptcy. As a result, SBF stepped down as CEO and John Ray III took position at the helm to guide the company through the process and recover as much customer’s funds as possible. Now, John is your go to guy in case like this. He’s been the CEO or Chief Restructuring Officer in some of the biggest company failures in history. So, when he says “Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here” in his first day declaration, it is certain that the case is worse than just one “hidden, poorly labelled” account. One of those problems regarded the form of payment requests in the company. As one could expect, a company managed by a bunch of young finance whiz kids living in the Bahamas couldn’t have just a “normal” payment system. They needed something cool, and nothing can be even remotely as cool as approving Brady’s contract with the use of personalised emojis (I might have let my imagination go at this one, but at least ad campaigns etc. were approved this way). Keeping track of all the assets and any sort of records in general are boring as well, so they skipped that. Those included (or didn’t to be more precise) books on investments, which resulted in an unbelievable statement that they are recreating it from the “bottom up” and are looking at third-party sources to locate them. How is it possible to be that poor at bookkeeping and manage for so long? An interesting point raised in the declaration concerned the secret exemption from the auto-liquidation protocol (automatic sell if one’s account approached zero to protect him from owing more than he has) given to Alameda. This proved that Alameda was treated differently and raised concerns about the integrity and separation between the companies. Fraud possibility slowly starts crawling into the picture. SBF advertised FTX’s protocol as one protecting customer funds but failed to mention his second company is exempted. At that time, the crypto founder himself was, despite advice from his lawyers or in fact everyone around, making media (virtual) tours trying to explain himself and talk to anyone who wanted to listen. “I’ve had a bad month” he said to Sorkin in an interview during the Dealbook Summit was a bit of an understatement. He tried to play it as incompetence (better than fraud but still not great) saying they overlooked a significant (and undercollateralized) bet Alameda made and when it crashed it just wiped out the assets. Well, it wouldn’t happen if you hadn’t excluded them from the system. Turns out US prosecutors had similar thoughts about it. On December 12, after saying he doesn’t think he’ll be arrested less then 48 hours before (do you see the pattern?), SBF was detained in the Bahamas on US fraud charges and soon after extradited to the US. Turns out that while he was busy tweeting, co-founder of FTX, Gary Wang and Caroline Elisson, who replaced him as CEO of Alameda were cooperating with prosecution after pleading guilty to similar charges. Besides lying to the public about the safety algorithm it also turned out that Alameda had the ability to make bets while their account was in red. That’s bad, but you could argue that if it was a small limit and they weren’t able to withdraw that, it is still okay-ish. The limit given was $65 billion and yeah, they could withdraw even with -$4bn in the balance. Basically, unlimited money source if they ever needed it. The story behind it is Alameda took out loans from different lenders, securing them with FTT. Lenders got spooked and wanted their money back, so Alameda made pretty eyes to SBF, he increased their negative limit, and they paid loans back with FTX’s money. Why didn’t they just returned what they borrowed? Some money was just lost, some spent on the heroic bailouts and some on even more important spendings, such as perks for employees (including $253mn on Bahamas real estate) or personal loans to FTX’s top execs. Not looking great. So, what’s going on now? John Ray III is doing some magnificent work scrolling Google, as he managed to find around $5.5 billion of liquid assets. In his last interview since taking over, he told WSJ, he’s exploring the opportunity of reviving the exchange. A completely reasonable thought would be that people wouldn’t trust it, but apparently there is interest. It also makes sense, one of the biggest holdings of assets FTX has lies in FTT, which at the sole mention of revival jumped by 30% (although still 97% below it’s all-time high). With a competent record system and oversight, it might work. At least enough to recover what’s owed. As for SBF, after pleading not guilty, he’s now spending time on a $250 million bail and under house-arrest in his parent’s home in Palo Alto, playing games and writing a substack. He argues the US subsidiary of the group should still be solvable, which if true would really help him in avoiding hefty prison time. The trial is set to begin in October. Crypto is a confidence business, it relies on trust and faith. SBF knew it, hence all the bailouts. Now it’s a role CZ took upon himself, trying to establish Binance fund that would help struggling companies. Despite those efforts those efforts, crypto is struggling. Yes, Bitcoin’s rising since the beginning of the year, but FTX’s collapse significantly impacted the industry. Multiple companies announced layoffs, BlockFi filed for bankruptcy and Genesis is contemplating the same. We just have to wait and see, whether the crisis is a short hiccup or a new norm.

China, one of the world’s most populous nations, is currently going through a shocking demographic crisis, facing a rapidly plummeting birth rate for the first time in decades. For most of our lives, we’ve associated China with its one-child policy, which was implemented in 1979 to help combat problems they were experiencing with overpopulation. Those who failed to comply with the policy faced harsh penalties, such as being fined up to $12,800, losing their jobs. Moreover, other penalties included having their land, livestock and homes confiscated, having their children denied rights and benefits provided by the state, or even being taken away from their parents altogether. The majority of the population, complied with the new policy in fear of the consequences to be faced. But nothing lasts forever. As the insightful Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “the only constant in life is change”. Although this quote was mentioned many years ago, back around 500 BCE to be precise, its meaning still stands today. Now, 44 years later, the Chinese government is planning on fully lifting all child limitations after suffering the effects of their policy choices. China initially chose to implement its one-child policy hoping to fix all social, economic, and environmental problems that arose due to its rapidly increasing population. This problem started getting out of hand in the 1950s when China’s rapidly growing population began outpacing the food supply available for the country. A growing population and diminishing food supply led to promotions by the government encouraging the use of birth control. By 1958, following Mao Zedong’s “Great Leap Forward” plan to rapidly modernize the Chinese economy, a catastrophic famine succeeded, killing tens of millions of the Chinese population. The one-child policy was finally implemented as China’s population began approaching 1 billion near the late 1970s. Although the regime successfully prevented up to 400 million births since implementation, it was nowhere near easy. “Officials would kidnap you if you tried to have two children. If you were hiding and they could not find you, they would kidnap your elderly relatives and make them stand in cold water in the winter.”, recalls Lu Bilun, a Chinese resident. “This was not your average level of policy enforcement. It was vicious”, he continued. In her ted talk, Nanfu Wang, born just six years before the one-child policy, described what it felt like living through the regime and shared insights gained from interviews she had conducted whilst working on her documentary. Shortly after Nanfu’s birth, officials ordered her mother to be sterilized. Her family persisted in fighting for another child in hopes of conceiving a baby boy and paid substantial amounts to be allowed to do so. Although Nanfu was neither born during the one-child policy nor was she an only child, she lived most of her life through the regime. She described how she would often experience shame, guilt, and embarrassment for having a younger brother. Nanfu interviewed a midwife for her documentary, responsible for delivering all babies in the village Nanfu, herself, was born and raised. She asked the midwife if she remembered how many children she had delivered throughout her lifetime. The midwife responded by saying, “I do not remember how many deliveries I have made; I remember having to assist 60,000 forced abortions and sterilizations”. The midwife later added that if the fetus were to survive the abortion, she would have to kill them after delivery. Such a traumatic experience left the midwife loathing with guilt and remorse for many years after, thus deciding to steer her career in a completely different direction. She now helps infertile families get pregnant. As Nanfu says to conclude the ted talk, “the propaganda was hard to escape. It was printed everywhere, on matches, playing cards, textbooks and even posters”. Alongside the terrible psychological effects the policy had on Chinese citizens, it also caused an aging, gender-imbalanced population, unable to fully accommodate such rapidly changing dynamics and demands of the economy. With China’s elderly making up a fifth of the population, it risks an economic stagnation similar to that experienced by Japan for three decades. As a result, this led to the end of the one-child policy in 2015. Chinese families were now allowed to have two children instead of one as of January 1st, 2016. Five years later, in July of 2021, a three-child policy was formally passed into law. Despite the gradual loosening of restrictions over the years, China has yet to reverse its demographic decline. This demonstrates the result of nearly half a century of propaganda combined with rising inflation and other economic factors that have generally made it harder to have more kids. By the end of 2022, the population in China had fallen by 850,000 from the previous year. This has therefore led to the complete abolishment of the law. Authorities in Sichuan have decided to remove the limit on the number of children a family can have and lift the ban on single women registering a birth. This new law is planned to take effect on the 15th of February, 2023. China’s economy continues to face troubles, expanding by only 3% in 2022, marking its worst performance in nearly half a century. Recovery from this economic growth decline will be even trickier if China continues facing a declining workforce. China won’t be the only country suffering the consequences of its one-child policy. The rest of the world will feel its impact through reduced trade flow and investment disrupted supply chains. COVID and the historic downturn faced in the property market are also major contributing factors. A US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies mentioned in an article, that “China’s limited ability to react to this demographic shift will likely lead to slower growth outcomes in the next twenty to thirty years and impact its ability to compete on the world stage with the United States”. The Chinese government is already taking action to help stimulate growth rates again by offering cash incentives, reducing the costs of pregnancy and childbirth, which include child rearing and education, and even offering real estate subsidies for couples with multiple children.It is shocking news to hear China’s plan to unscrew its cap to child limitations after having lived in a world that only knew about its limitations. This will have a great impact on the world in the upcoming years. Only time will tell how swiftly China is to progress and what internal and external effects will follow suit. Professor Melanie Sereny Brasher, a sociologist, social gerontologist and demographer, said, “China waited too long to change its one-child policy”. However, the fact of the matter is China did indeed change its policy and is striving toward stability. Change is the only constant in life, and without change, we wouldn’t have the necessary tools to develop, live in a modern world, and learn from our mistakes.

Over the past few years, various coups and uprisings have occurred in former French colonies and African nations. Many of them with the same message delivered loud and clear, “Down With France.” The people of Africa do not want their countries to be pawns of the French anymore and want French military influences and economic and governmental ties to be severed immediately. These anti-French uprisings have been seen in countries such as Gabon, Niger, and Guinea, with a recent attack on and burning of the French Embassy in Niger in July of this year. But what has caused these uprisings? Why are they happening now? And most importantly, what does it mean for the future of these former colonies and the continent as a whole? Historical Context Since the 17th century, France has had a presence in Africa. This presence would grow significantly with The Berlin Conference of 1884, also known as ‘The Scramble of Africa’. During this conference, the entire African continent, excluding Ethiopia and Liberia, was divided into different states and given to various European powers to rule over, with France being one of the most significant colonisers. France, in Central and West Africa, was given modern-day Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Togo, Cameroon, Niger, Central African Republic, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Benin, Gabon, and would eventually also take control of the Congo. French colonialism would last around a century and a half, with their last Central and West African colonies gaining independence in the 1960s. During the French rule, a new French administration was installed throughout the colonies, differing from the British, who utilised existing local power structures. This new administration stripped Africans of their citizenship, classifying them as subjects of the empire instead. The French imposed taxation in many areas, using methods such as forced labour to extract valuable resources and further French interests. Although the French colonial endeavour was often justified as a mission for civilising the peoples of Central and Western Africa, in retrospect, there is a strong argument that the mission was not undertaken out of wanting to help Africans which is evident as, during this period, little was done to the benefit of Central and West Africans, except for some minimal health and educational services. Additionally, across the colonies, there was an estimated illiteracy rate of over 95% of native Africans. When comparing these results to France, one can see that its productive sectors benefited from colonialism due to low-cost imports and protectionist export policies to the colonies, giving them a considerable economic advantage. Moreover, in the end, despite the last Central-African colony to gain independence, Gabon, gained independence on August 16, 1960, the relationship between the former colonies and their former coloniser was far from over. France’s Colonial Legacy: Françafrique Françafrique is a term coined by Léopold Sédar Senghor, the Former President of Senegal, to describe the historic relationship between France and Africa. As time passed, the word Françafrique evolved, encompassing the still-existing complex economic, political and military links between the two. Unlike other former colonial powers like Great Britain and Germany, who arguably left their former colonies alone after their independence, a different case can be made for the French, who have increasingly been drawing criticism in recent years about their exploitative relationship with these countries, that many describe as ‘neocolonialism’. Economic Legacy Perhaps the most well-known and heavily criticised aspect of the Françafrique relationship is the enduring economic ties that continue to shape the African nations involved. These economic ties take different forms, such as exploiting continuous resources and monetary policy. This monetary policy exploitation has its roots in the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944, which established a global monetary system where the United States Dollar was tied to gold, and other currencies were pegged to the value of the U.S. Dollar. In December 1945, France created what is now known as the African Financial Community (Communauté Financière Africaine), widely recognised by its acronym, CFA. Currently, the CFA franc is used by 140 million people in 14 countries, 12 of them former colonies. The CFA is issued by two institutions that are now known as the Bank of Central African States and the Central Bank of West African States. These central banks issue the CFA currency separately in their respective regions. Originally pegged to the French franc, the CFA currency has since transitioned to being pegged to the euro. As a result, the policies governing the CFA franc are set by the European Central Bank, raising concerns about the autonomy of African nations. This arrangement prompts critical questions about economic sovereignty – how much control can these African countries exert over their own economic policies when their currency is pegged to another continent's central bank? This system raises issues about the capacity of these African nations to make independent economic decisions, further fueling the ongoing debate about economic exploitation and neocolonialism in the Françafrique relationship. Furthermore, one of the defining characteristics of this CFA system is the obligation for each central bank to maintain at least 50% of their foreign exchange reserves with the French Treasury, a requirement that has been in place since the mid-2000s. This practice has been a point of contention, often labelled as a form of "colonial tax system”, as it takes a significant portion of these African countries' financial assets to benefit the French Treasury. This system limits these former colonies' abilities to invest in their development and respond to their specific economic needs, continuing a legacy of exploitation and control. Political & Military Legacy Since the independence of these former colonies in the 1960s, France has maintained close political ties with African heads of state. These relationships have often drawn criticism for their perceived exploitative nature. The French have continuously intervened in African politics and carried out armed interventions. It is also interesting that many of the African leaders who disagree with France and pay colonial taxes have historically fallen victim to an assassination or a coup d’état. One of the most significant and controversial political interactions came to light in 2011 when it was revealed that former French President Jacques Chirac and former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin regularly received briefcases filled with cash from African heads of state to fund their election campaigns. Robert Bourgi, a Parisian lawyer and advisor to both, disclosed the methods used to deliver these bags of money to the French leaders. These methods included transporting the cash in briefcases, hiding it in drum sets, sports bags, and other means. Bourgi estimated that the amounts in these bags ranged from a minimum of 5 million French francs to as much as 15 million French francs. In total, he alone delivered an estimated 20 million USD in cash to these leaders. This revelation highlighted how, even in the modern day, there is still rampant corruption and neocolonial influence in French-African politics. The French have also managed to maintain a robust military presence in their former colonies. Since 1964, there has been an estimate of at least 30 military interventions by them in various states. Currently, France has around 3,000 troops across five countries. Their justification for the French being in Western and Central Africa was to help “maintain stability in the region and to combat terror”. However, many argue that France’s main objectives for being there are to protect and seek their own interests, and there have been growing tensions to the extent that their troops have been expelled from Niger and Mali within the last two years. It is worth noting that the concept of 'Françafrique' itself has faced criticism, as it can carry negative preconceptions about the relationships between France and its former African colonies. Furthermore, it may, to some extent, overlook the sovereignty of each of these nations and their leaders who actively contribute to this system. However, it is essential to recognise that when dealing with a global power that holds significant influence in economic, geopolitical, and military domains, a power imbalance exists that cannot be ignored. Acknowledging this imbalance is crucial when assessing the intricate dynamics at play in the Françafrique relationship. Recent Coups & Changing Tides The surge in successful coups in Central and West Africa, starting with Mali in 2020 and most recently in Niger on July 26, 2023, has sparked numerous discussions regarding the underlying causes of this trend. These coups have arisen from a diverse range of factors, which vary from one region to another. A common thread among these nations is the escalating tension stemming from long-standing frustrations between their civilian populations and the government. One important catalyst is the growing threat of violent extremism in the Sahel region, affecting countries such as Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali. This security challenge has added to the existing discontent and contributed to the desire for change. Furthermore, many of these nations struggle with long-time endemic poverty. Citizens often witness the extraction of abundant resources from their countries, yet these resources fail to translate into tangible improvements in their lives. For instance, Burkina Faso, being the fourth largest gold exporter in Africa and the fourteenth in the world, exported $7.71 billion worth of gold in 2021. However, 37% of the population, approximately 7.5 million people, continue to live below the poverty line. Moreover, governments are frequently perceived as pawns by which French interests are advanced, with the country’s elites benefiting from this at the expense of the greater population. This speaks to a larger national issue, namely, corruption and the government's inability to establish stable institutions that could allow the nation to engage with France and other foreign powers on a more equitable basis. This topic of French involvement with elites in the country became central to the discourse of the coup setters, in addition to the protesters who ​​supported them. For example, in Niger, allegations that President Mohamed Bazoum was a puppet for French interests were used to legitimise his removal from power. While demonstrators marched through Niger's capital, Niamey, expressing their discontent with France, many of them simultaneously displayed their support for Russia, shouting “Long Live Putin” and waving Russian flags. This speaks to the growing influence that Russia has been having in Western and Central African countries in recent years. In 2019, President Putin hosted the first-ever Russia-Africa summit in Sochi, Russia, followed by another in July 2023. These summits have been aimed at expanding Russo-African diplomatic, economic, and defence ties. For instance, Russia's Wagner Group mercenaries have become active in Mali, Libya, and the Central African Republic, underlining their increasing presence in the region. Furthermore, a significant development occurred in October 2023 when Russia and Burkina Faso signed an agreement to construct a nuclear power plant to provide electricity to a population where 50% currently lack access to this essential resource. While it may appear that Russia is extending assistance to these former French colonies, there is a prevailing belief that predatory motives drive this assistance. Many argue that Russia's intentions may be to take over France as the dominant power in the region, not to help it but to exploit it further. Conclusion The history of Françafrique is complex and has profoundly impacted the current relationships between France and its former African colonies. However, as we look to the future, there are still many uncertainties. These are some of the questions I’m asking: 1. Will the anti-French sentiment and the 'coup-belt' phenomenon spread to other former French colonies, possibly extending to nations like the Democratic Republic of Congo or Cameroon? 2. How will France and the United States try to counter Russia's growing influence in the region? 3. Do these coups signify the potential for genuine change and growth that the citizens of these nations so desperately hope for, or will they merely mark a new phase in the perpetuation of the same old cycle? The answers, I believe, will only be told in time, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think below!

“One ever feels his twoness, -- an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” - W.E.B. Du Bois Being the child of first-generation immigrants’ can feel like a schizophrenic exercise. 13.3 million Europeans live their lives as cultural Frankensteins, a crude stitching of two cultures, two languages and two ways of life. We may belong to this place, a place where our parents crossed oceans and continents to get to, yet a part of our hearts is adrift elsewhere, in lands with familiarly forgotten scents and sounds. Although that land that we have been told belongs to us it is so far away from our day-to-day reality. It can be a challenging and often isolating experience. One that requires us to constantly negotiate our sense of self and identity. Within this experience lies a phenomenon aptly coined by the sociologist Du Bois, known as 'Double Consciousness'. It is a sensation of being caught between two worlds, one's rich cultural heritage and the overpowering influence of the society we reside in. This results in a fractured sense of self, a disconnection from one's true identity, and a lack of appreciation for one's distinct experiences and perspectives. It is a feeling of detachment and isolation, an ongoing struggle with divided loyalties and a search for a sense of belonging between two places. This dichotomy remains an ongoing reality for many today. For many 2nd generations of Arabs growing up after the tragedy of 9/11, their daily life consisted of both a stiff process of assimilation and also a time of heightened suspicion. According to a report by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Muslim communities in Europe face significant levels of discrimination and harassment, with incidents of Islamophobia on the rise. The report found that almost 1 in 3 Muslim respondents surveyed had experienced discrimination in the previous year, and over half reported feeling excluded from mainstream society. The same report also revealed that Muslim women were disproportionately affected by discrimination, with higher rates of harassment and violence. In addition, a study by the Open Society Foundations found that young Muslims in Europe face higher levels of unemployment and poverty compared to non-Muslim peers, with some countries reporting unemployment rates as high as 40% for Muslim youth. These statistics illustrate the fragmented sense of identity for Arab-Europeans, where they must navigate the complexities of both their own cultural and religious identity, as well as the dominant European culture. This experience of double consciousness can lead to feelings of alienation and marginalization and may have negative effects on mental health and well-being. Instead of seeing this disconnect as a disability, one should see it as a source of resilience. The amalgamation of our western privilege and our cultural perspectives given to us through both the beauty and turmoil of looking different can help us give back to those who suffer needlessly. We can adjust the scales and return the privilege stolen from our cultural homelands. Privilege ripped away from the eyes of mourning mothers and the hearts of the overworked and underpaid. Privilege ravished from virgin ancestral soil, that now resembles the craters of the moon, the absence of the abundance that once was. For others, however, this disparity between the comforts of our lives and the deprived lives of relatives back home can induce deep greed based on the fear of loss–the fear of losing the opportunities given to us by the selfless work of our parents. Through rationalizations and justifications, we hoard more and more, terrified by the looming reality of chance. The absurd chance that, unlike our families, you have the choice to be greedy. On visits back home, the beggars and street vendors lining the square are seen as a nuisance, an eyesore in the road. You tell yourself that you are being bothered by their pitches, yet it is they who day in and day out must face the street whilst you sleep comfortably. It is they who are bothered when passers-by strip them of their humanity with a sneer. It is they who are bothered when the street is responsible for feeding and educating their family. We must understand our place in the world as creatures of abundance in a world of the deprived and make the active choice to care for the humanity of every person we see. Within our twoness, we have a single choice, to take more or give back. Fear and conformity can skin us of our duty, replacing it with a silk suit and a 12th-floor office, only to return home to wallow in needless comforts like pigs in shit. Yet if our souls have the strength to resist ruinous comforts, our positions of privilege can become rivers of reciprocation. The gifts of privilege and perspective are the keys to helping those in the developing world. Turning the blood, sweat, and tears wept for our future into a tree that uplifts us all. This can be done in our ways. We can give back by telling the inconceivable stories of our fathers and mothers that left their homes in search of the success that keeps entire families afloat. We can give back by battling the unfounded ideas fed to the masses on spoons of ignorance and deceit. We can dedicate our lives to every man and woman exploited in the name of a bureaucrat’s profit. We give back by sacrifice. Live your life as a deep well full of vigilant empathy and selfless servitude so that future generations may quench their thirst and past generations may look into the water and see their reflection and smile.

"To follow the Silk Road is to follow a ghost. It flows through the heart of Asia, but it has officially vanished leaving behind the pattern of its restlessness. The road forks and wanders wherever you are. It is not a single way, but many: a web of choices." - Colin Thubron, author of the "Shadow of the Silk Road" The Caspian Sea is a world unto itself. As an endorheic basin, it is cut off from the rest of the world with no natural connection to the ocean. Stretching over a thousand miles along the meridian, five countries –Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia and Iran – call the world's largest inland body of water their home. The Caspian Sea is not only a source of sustenance, it also holds vast amounts of wealth deep within its waters. Oil and natural gas coursing through pipelines lead westward, bringing economic growth and stability to a region that was once engulfed in war and chaos following the end of communism. Its legal status has been a subject of dispute for decades until 2018, when the five nations were able to hammer out an agreement, finally settling a long-standing dispute over the allocation of the coastal borders. But there is more to the Caspian Sea than oil and gas rigs perennially exploiting its natural riches. For centuries, Europe and Asia have been linked by commerce, with the Silk Road routes dating back to medieval times. This network of overland paths connected Asian dynasties with European empires, where goods, ideas, and culture were exchanged. Located at a juncture where Europe converges with Asia, the Caspian states, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, see a comparative advantage in reviving this ancient connection with The Middle Corridor infrastructure project. While the Chinese-led Belt and Road Initiative is sought to mimic the Silk Road's success, drawing parallels with the Middle Corridor overlooks the standalone economic ambitions of the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Bypassing two of the heaviest sanctioned countries – Russia and Iran – the purpose of the Middle Corridor is obvious: establishing a safe cargo route between Europe and Asia. The sanctions may not directly target the transit status of these nations, but they do create headaches for foreign companies cooperating with sanctioned national rail and port infrastructure. With western sanctions already stalling the BRI's Northern Route, transiting through Russia and Belarus, World Bank estimates a 40% decrease in China-EU shipments since 2022. In the same period, cargo shipments through the Middle Corridor have risen sixfold, to 3.2 mmt (million metric tons). Caspian Emerging Economies The four countries at the steering wheel of the Middle Corridor project are Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. The key, however, lies in the logistical connectivity between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. The economic integration into global supply chains has been a tough challenge for the two countries in times of trade dominated by maritime routes, leaving them somewhat excluded. On top of these hurdles loom the weighty geopolitical pressures. To the north lies a legacy of Soviet colonialism and repression, while to the north international outcasts impede global integration. In such a landscape, the value of maintaining political and economic sovereignty cannot be overstated; it becomes an invaluable asset. But the countries have taken Herculean strides to increase international connectivity. In 2018 the Azerbaijani Parliament passed a bill designed to make the Port of Alat a Free Economic Zone. Kazakhstan has pursued similar bills creating FEZs of its own as well as Trade Hubs along its borders with China and on the Caspian shores. In the realm of economic policy, free economic zones have emerged as a tool for promoting growth, innovation, and competitiveness in targeted regions. By offering a range of incentives, such as tax breaks, reduced tariffs, and streamlined regulations, these zones create an environment that is conducive to business and investment, fostering a virtuous cycle of economic activity. Japan and South Korea used similar export-oriented policies to promote the development of their domestic industries and become global leaders in cars and electronics manufacturing. When it comes to the virtues of an export-oriented growth model, the evidence is clear: the long-term benefits of investing in productive, high-quality manufacturing sectors can be immense. By embracing such an approach, countries can not only increase their output and exports but also achieve a range of other important goals, from creating new jobs to spur technological innovation and enhancing economic resilience. It can lay the foundation for a prosperous and dynamic economy, one that is well-equipped to thrive in the face of a rapidly evolving global landscape. Setting up an FEZ around Alat makes it a manufacturing and transportation hub for goods arriving from Kazakhstan and directing it towards the European markets. The Middle Corridor consists of four main infrastructure projects: Trans-Kazakhstan railroad, which upon completion in 2014, shaved 1000 km off of the East-West transport route across the country. Along with the modernization of the rregion'srailroad system, the Ports of Alat and Aktau on the Caspian Sea have been developed with only 470 km of distance and 28 hours separating each other. Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK) railway, which became operational in 2017, reopened direct rail trans­port between the South Caucasus countries and Tur­key. The opening of freight trans­portation between Azerbaijan and Turkey not only came to complete the shortest rail­way corridor between China and Europe but also enhanced connectivity between Turkey and the states of Central Asia and the South Caucasus. The final piece to the puzzle is GeoGeorgia'sack Sea access via the Port of Poti, where cargo is moved back to container ships destined for Eastern European ports in Romania. The entire route lasts at most 21 days, which is 19 days shorter than the deep-sea route connecting Shanghai and Istanbul. Danish Maersk and Finnish Nurminen Logistics shipping companies are already operating the Middle Corridor in light of increased demand. Earlier this year, the European Investment Bank approved an investment amounting to $1 billion dedicated to the infrastructure projects along the Middle Corridor, bringing their total investments close to a $2 billion mark. Charting The Future The nascent Middle Corridor requires a purposeful injection of European capital and strategic support to reach its full potential. This trade route provides an opportunity for the European Union to cultivate its ties with the developing and emerging markets of the Caspian Sea. Although not the most budget-friendly option, in a world fraught with rising uncertainty, it would be imprudent to dismiss it outright. While traversing the forgotten roads of the old Silk Road may be impossible in the 2020s and beyond, forging new trade routes that unite two continents will undoubtedly give rise to a fresh crop of emerging economies.

Unrest protests and demonstrations have erupted in Iran as the nation finally faces the revolution brewing for many years. From the streets of Tehran to remote villages, Iranians are calling for an end to government oppression and a brighter future for their nation. Their turning point? A 22-year-old woman named Mahsa Amini. The Death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini Mahsa Amini, also known by her Kurdish name ‘’Jina’’, was visiting her brother in Tehran when she was taken into police custody. Known as the “gasht- e ershad”, they represent the country’s guidance patrol, monitoring the streets of Iran and arresting those who violate the regime’s morality laws. It was determined that Mahsa’s hijab was being worn improperly — exposing a little too much hair — they detained and violently assaulted her. Typically, this is where the tale of most Iranian women who interact with the morality police ends. For Mahsa, the story ended differently. According to her autopsy and family reports, she suffered from a skull fracture that put her in a coma. Shortly after, she passed away on September 16th, 2022. Outraged by the death of an innocent young woman, the country erupted into waves of protests, igniting a nationwide revolutionary movement. However, Mahsa’s unfortunate fate is not something new. Her story reminds Iranian women of the daily misery they endure at the hands of a regime that treats women as second-class citizens. While the demonstrations may appear to be centered on wearing the hijab, what is happening in Iran is part of a bigger picture that signals the Iranian struggle toward emancipation. Establishment of the Islamic Republic Iran is no stranger to revolutions. In the early 1900s, Iran’s society was shaped around secular and western values under the rule of Reza Shah (ironically, the hijab was banned during his reign). His rule lasted 16 years before he was forced to abdicate the throne due to the Anglo-Soviet invasion and was replaced by his son, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who took over the monarchy. In a series of political events, Pahlavi’s rule turned increasingly authoritarian, which prompted many civilians to speak out against the government, one of them being a Shia Muslim cleric named Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. For years, Khomeini launched his mission to restore the fading authority of religion over a modernizing society. Although he was forced to go into exile, Pahlavi’s reign crumbled as Khomeini’s new politico-religious totalitarian ideology helped him garner support from the masses. Then finally, public outrage culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979, which eventually led to Khomeini claiming the divine mandate to rule, establishing a new constitution for the Islamic Republic, one in which individual freedoms were stifled, and resistance was brutally dismantled. Although Khomeini died in 1989, his absolutist regime managed a peaceful transfer of power to his successor Khamenei, who is still the supreme leader to this day. Khamenei’s current regime sees the success of the 1979 revolution as a result of feeble resistance exercised by the Shah, which is why they continue to use extreme force in the face of protests. To do otherwise would only signal weakness in the face of growing opposition. However, even fear knows its limits, and the absence of change can lead people to pursue extreme measures to achieve a brighter future. In the past five years, there have been continuous protests against government policies. However, the current demonstrators have emerged stronger and more united than ever witnessed before. Even during the World Cup, a time of celebration and cultural community, Iranian crowds refused to celebrate their victories. Carrying signs that read “death to the dictator!’’ It is becoming increasingly clear that this time around, Iranians do not want reform; they want Khamenei gone. Zan. Zandegi. Azadi The people of Iran are fighting for democracy. Although many outsiders perceive these uprisings as anti-Islam or will use it to push forth their Islamophobic agenda, that is not the case with many of the Iranian people. What Iranians are seeking is the right to reclaim their national identity. These various cultural and ethnic identities existed before they were completely erased from public life. Most importantly, they are fighting for the right to practice personal autonomy. These strict laws date back to the 1980s, impact every aspect of Iranian lives, and are experienced by many as a political tool of oppression, especially for women and teen girls who are at the forefront of the crisis filling the streets with a captivating anthem – Zan Zandegi Azadi: Woman, Life, Freedom. The slogan represents the essence of the protests movement, which ties the liberty of the population at large to the freedom of women. Iran cannot be free and will not be free unless women are free. The protestors have shown remarkable resilience despite fighting against a regime that responds with brutal torture. Women are cutting off their hair – a sign of beauty – as a form of protest that represents mourning and suffering at the loss of a loved one. Headscarves are being burnt in public squares, and tossing turbans of clerics has become a recent act of protest. It is becoming difficult to keep up with Iran's internal affairs due to the government shutting down internet platforms. The regime has literally cut off Iranians from the rest of the world, prompting many to rely on the rest of the world to advocate for them, filling up TikTok comment sections with the names of those who have been imprisoned and facing severe punishment by the corrupt justice system, in the hopes of justice. Meanwhile, government officials have not stayed silent on the matter. Although Khamenei has been increasingly absent from public outings, he was seen giving a speech shortly after Mahsa died, and the protests broke out. He states that ‘’the incident that happened with the young girl’s death was a bitter incident, but the reaction of the public is not in any way justified’’. Additionally, Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s president (and Khamenei’s right hand), announced that ‘’anyone who blows on the fire of riots, agitation, and unrest, they are moving in the same direction of the enemy (aka the United States of America)’’. No matter how daunting their words are, it is a sign that the regime is aware of what these uprisings could mean for them. There are signs that the government is under pressure; news stating that the parliament and judiciary are reviewing the hijab laws are circulating the internet. However, many see this as a distraction mechanism, and as mentioned before, Iranians will not be satisfied with the reform of the veiling laws. The mandatory hijab is merely scratching the surface, and it seems as if the Islamic Regime is fighting an enemy it does not seem to understand or control. Protestors are determined and fueled by justified anger. And although it is too early to predict the endgame of this revolution, there is no turning back at this stage. Violations of Fair Trial Rights Bravery does not come without a cost. Since the beginning of September 2022, the Iranian authorities have arrested and pressed charges against thousands of Iranians involved in the nationwide protests. Matters have only worsened. Four young Iranians have been executed on capital charges without facing a fair trial. Currently, at least 14 Iranians face the death penalty risk. Amnesty International has documented the torture and violations of rights that took place under custody. Some of these torture-tainted “confessions” were broadcast on state media before their trials as evidence to issue convictions. They are urging the public to write an appeal to the Head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, to quash all current convictions and death sentences stemming from the protests and ensure that anyone charged with a recognizable criminal offense is tried in proceedings that meet international fair trial standards without recourse to the death penalty. Iranians are relying on your support; click here

The recent development of events in the German village of Lützerath has shaken the environmental activism scene. Located in the North-Rhine-Westphalia, the place dates back to the 11th century, when it was first mentioned in historical annals. The village had mainly recreational, tourist, and agricultural importance. However, Lützerath is now abandoned and plays a crucial role in determining whether the pioneer country in environmental issues sticks to its goals and values. Before having a closer look at the case of Lützerath, it is important to have an overview of German politics. In 2021 the German elections took place, which followed the proportional representation electoral system and led to forming of a "traffic light coalition" consisting of three popular parties SPD, FDP, and The Greens. The traditional colours of these parties correspond to the traffic light colour pattern – red, yellow, and green. These are the parties that currently shape the German federal government. The government of the biggest carbon polluter in Europe tends to present itself as environmentally friendly and set forward-thinking goals as becoming carbon-neutral by 2045. Following the Climate Action Act, the German government is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and phasing out the use of coal, the most polluting energy source known. However, the case of Lützerath brings up a discussion over Germany’s commitment to end the fossil fuel era. The background story behind the current flashpoint of the climate activism scene goes back to 2013 when the German court allowed the energy giant RWE to expand the Garzweiler coal mine and destroy the surrounding villages for the expansion. The area is rich in brown coal or lignite, the lowest quality coal, which also happens to be the most polluting one as one needs to burn large quantities of it to generate energy. The village of Lützerath alone will give access to 280 million tons of coal to the energy company. Obviously, the combustion of such an amount is associated with a high degree of pollution. Following the court’s decision, hundreds of residents of Lüzerath and nearby villages received compensation and thereafter were displaced. However, the “deserted villages” got new inhabitants, around 100 anti-coal protesters who permanently inhibited the villages, and hundreds of more protesters who temporarily stayed there during the demonstrations. Members of one of the famous movements called “Lützi Bleibt” (“Lützerath Stays”) built tents, wooden houses, and constructions needed to resist the clashes with the police. Until now, the community of activists has succeeded and saved five villages around Lützerath from demolishing. Moreover, due to their protests and demands, the German government has negotiated to move the deadline for phasing out the coal forward from 2038 to 2030. However, the government still found the demolition of Lützerath necessary. The entry of Grüne into the German federal government gave a spark of hope to climate activists. They hoped the government would reconsider the decision regarding expanding coal mining in the NRW region. The Green party has been a major player in the EU climate politics scene. The party is concerned with the cross-cutting issues of renewable energy, carbon neutrality, and energy conservation since sustainable development and environmental protection are the central ideologies of green politics. However, the efforts of the Greens regarding Lützerath were deemed less than enough by the climate activists. The German government sees coal as a way out from the current energy crisis emerging after the start of the war in Ukraine. Coal might be an opportunity to alleviate quite heavy inflationary pressure on energy prices. Government studies show that brown coal is necessary for the country due to the gas shortage. On the other hand, climate activists are equipped with fairly different study results. According to the platform Coal Transitions, Germany’s coal capacity is enough until the end of this decade; in fact, there is no need for extra coal. One of the most famous climate activists Greta Thunberg, who was later detained by the German police at the climate demonstration, called the German mining expansion a “betrayal of present and future generations”. The activists feel betrayed by the government and consider excreting such an amount of brown coal as a huge threat to keeping global warming below the pre-industrial level of 1.5C. On the third weekend of January, thousands of protesters gathered at the site and resisted the eviction of the village by the special police. The activists used barricades, ropes, and trampolines to make eviction difficult for the police. Both police and activists used some types of violent techniques whether it was pyrotechnics, pepper sprays, stones, or water cannons. The fight between the opposing sides was marked with mud fights, fireworks, and disoriented beatings. It is remarkable that the group of activists, including the 20-year-old activist Greta Thunberg, were detained after they broke through the barriers and rushed toward the mines. They were held by the Aachen police mostly for a day or few. As a result of these events, there are 154 criminal investigations open. The case of Lützerath is one of the many typical cases when the government capitulates to rich corporations and sticks to fossil fuels instead of developing alternative energy sources. Regardless of how hard the German government and the Green party tires to see the case of Lützerath positively and present it as “the very last village demolished for the coal”, the reality is that Germany will burn hundreds of tons of coal in the next decade and fail to meet its ambitious climate goals. Quoting one of the campaigners from Europe Beyond Coal: “You can’t solve the crisis with the energy source that basically created this crisis.”

A few times a footy season, on violent nights in Glasgow, the Old Firm derby between Celtic and Rangers takes place at Parkhead stadium. It's a hotbed of sectarians, Catholics and Protestants in wintery Stone-Island church gear, holding cheap beers that turn fingers grenadine red. The Glaswegian police ban many songs for their offensive rhymes to dead players and past crimes, but when they're cocky, the home-ground ultras will belt out rebel songs that turn their throats to razor blades, and the one that always sticks with me is the rebel's Roll of Honour. In those dreary H-Block cages Ten brave young Irishmen lay Hungering for justice, while their young lives ebbed away For their rights as Irish soldiers and to free their native land They stood beside their leader, the gallant Bobby Sands Arundhati Roy speaks for the right to resist annihilation, but what about the right to annihilate? In the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike, Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands and his ten men, all paramilitary, starved themselves to death in the H-Block of Belfast's Maze Prison. In 1976, the British Government removed the Prisoner-of-War status from the nationalist paramilitaries of Ireland, demanding that the interned wear the prescribed prison uniform and do labour in the workshops. In response, the men made five demands: ● the right not to wear a prison uniform; ● the right not to do prison work; ● the right of free association with other prisoners, and to organise educational and recreational pursuits; ● the right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week; ● full restoration of remission lost through the protests. They dressed in blankets only and tossed aside their bedsheets. But with no guns, no streets, no flares, the only theatre of protest - the only place to march - was from one side of the cell to the other. So, in a grim game of “yes, and” improv with the guards, the prisoners debased themselves further, away from mere robbers, thugs and other violent figures and back towards their honour. In the "dirty protest", prisoners couldn't leave their cells to empty their chamber pots, and so escalated to smearing their walls with poo, piss and vomit, self-shitting-immolation back towards salvation. From Pat MacGeown, "There were times when you would vomit. There were times when you were so run down that you would lie for days and not do anything with the maggots crawling all over you." As we can see, this form of nonviolent protest, aside from being an assault on the senses, forces an audience, as it takes all that denotes one as a standing member of society, clothes, hygiene, even the acceptance of your imprisonment, and puts it in the proverbial chamber pot. But still, the British Government would not budge, and starvation began. Bobby Sands started and ended first; he lasted 66 days. Through nakedness, excrement and the wasting away of ligament, tendons and marrow Bobby Sands and his men were not recognised. And so Bobby went on the ballot. On 9 April 1981, whilst confined to his prison cell, having Cole, M. (2023). Racism and the Tory party from disraeli to johnson. Routledge, gone 30 odd days without feed, Bobby Sands became the independent member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone and the youngest member of the British Houses of Parliament. He would never take his seat. Nonetheless, this neat parlour trick brought the theatre to him, and four out of five demands were met, with the fifth, the abolition of prison work, by 1983. This election's impact on the public perception of this protest is evident. If you search the name of Bobby Sands on Google, you will not see “Bobby Sands, Prisoner". “Bobby Sands, smeared excrement on his prison wall" . “Bobby Sands, died weighing 44 kilograms". You will see "Bobby Sands, Former Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom." In 2015, a German fan was arrested at Parkshead stadium under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act, a stunning title if I've ever heard one. The Roll of Honour, which he was singing, is considered offensive and maybe rightfully so for its ties to the IRA. But whether the martyrdom of these young prisoners fills you with sectarian outrage, a listless sense of tragedy or some slash of determination, you have reacted to their theatre. Their story, however many misdemeanour offences it may incur, is carried from drunken throats and frosty breath into the vile Glaswegian night. It's taken over the city, across the Irish Sea, and back towards the lights of Belfast. In the 2008 film Hunger by Steve McQueen, Michael Fassbender plays an emaciated Bobby Sands, who recounts the story of the foal. "And he's breathing; he's alive but just about... So it's clear to me in an instant And I'm down on my knees And I take the foal's head in my hands And I put him under the water I knew I did the right thing by that wee foal."

‘The Line’. The envisioned utopia to be built in Saudi Arabia by 2030 in the shape of a straight line, promises many things: 1) driven by technology, it will integrate artificial intelligence and automation into every aspect of daily life; 2) prioritizing sustainability, it will be powered entirely by renewable energy sources while also being completely free of cars and roads; 3) challenging the traditional flat and horizontal cities, its urban network and infrastructure capabilities will ideally embody all city functions for a 170 km long belt of vertically layered communities. The project has met a great deal of interest from certain groups, but many others have dismissed its feasibility. The public has brought up reservations about potential financing difficulties that may arise during the years of construction. Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth private investment fund of Saudi Arabia, finances the entire project. Being reliant on the kingdom’s oil exports, which have experienced volatility in recent years, raises doubts about the project’s completion. A large portion of experts and civil society, while acknowledging the possibility of its completion, have been very vocal with their concerns about the potential implications of the project. A lot of criticism has been thrown as controversies surrounded the planning stage of the project: environmental contradictions of how ‘The Line’ promises a bona fides emphasis on climate action while leaving a vast carbon footprint behind its construction; or the Saudi Arabian government’s displacement of indigenous tribes, particularly the Huwaitat tribe who have presented allegations of being forcibly evicted and displaced to make way for the project; or the political interests behind diversifying Saudi Arabia’s economy, and the issues this may bring about legal liberalization and multicultural coexistence, have been expressed as major concerns among the public. ‘The Line’ seemed unrealistic until excavation works commenced late last year. With so much attention directed towards financing doubts and human rights allegations, it is easy to overlook the most fundamental challenge surrounding this utopian project: its urban planning. Modular Living. ‘The Line’ will be developed in modules that represent individual communities. Holding as a tenet minimizing the time people spend commuting while still having the city be connected without the need for cars or roads, it promises residents access to nature and all of their daily needs within five minutes of walking distance. These modules will come to be the basic building blocks of the city, and each is meant to provide everything that makes a city livable: health, retail, work, wellness, commutes, green spaces, education, and others. Modular Living in ‘The Line’. Source: https://www.neom.com/en-us/regions/theline And as the structure is equivalent to a conventional 125-floors-tall skyscraper, to provide an open and accessible public realm, also promises each resident would enjoy an average of 1,000 cubic meters of urban volume, where green spaces and parks will be integrated as the primary walkway of the city. Each module within the city is also to be divided into multiple layers; the top layer is reserved for pedestrians, green spaces, and infrastructure. Underneath this, a sophisticated transportation system will be built. And as walkability defines life within ‘The Line’, this system is the only structure maintaining connectivity between modules. From the urban planning side, the system of modules brings a lot of skepticism: Will ‘The Line’ allow individuals, businesses, and other entities to express themselves freely, or will every city module be a uniform replica of the previous one? The notion of independent expression in urban planning is an important element in conventional cities, but it may prove difficult to achieve given the rigid design of the city. The module system also artificially separates communities, limiting the amount of space they can access for a given distance. As walkability defines life within ‘The Line’, a transport system with limited space would be the only structure connecting modules between each other. Internationally awarded architect Pedro Aibéo put it as follows: “It reminds me of the idea of Dallas, Texas: a highway into the desert with people along the highway, an endless series of pop-up self-contained ‘communities’. <…> As the cultural center remained in the city center, these ‘communities’ became just bedrooms in the desert.” However, without examining the models of urban planning, it is impossible to reach a conclusive opinion on the potential of ‘The Line’ to reshape the conventional notions of the city grid. Brasilia. During the 1950s, Brazil worked on consummating its utopia: Brasilia. Scientifically designed, built and organized under a perfect grid, and relying on a structured and modular design, Brasilia’s ‘Plano Piloto’ was impressively designed in the shape of an eagle or airplane and built in less than one thousand days. Yet, although urban planners have praised the urban design of Brasilia, the city is not widely considered by its inhabitants to be a successful layout. Brasilia. Source: https://www.benedictflett.com/blog/tag/Brazil Lucio Costa, head architect in charge of the design of Brasilia, envisioned the ‘Plan Piloto’ area to accommodate 500,000 people, separated by a stretching green belt area that would preserve the distinctive form of the city. However, as soon as construction began, construction-worker camps settled around the metropolitan area into whatever land they could, creating satellite cities lacking transportation systems or civic services. As real estate prices rose, many residents who couldn’t afford to live in the central area populated and drove the expansion of satellite cities, crowding far away from the city center. Designed for 500,000 people, the metropolitan area is today home to over four million. Costa’s capital was meant to be self-contained, close, and so the plan for Brasilia did not foresee such uncontrolled demographic growth and couldn’t account for the actual population that showed up. Authorities recognized these satellite cities, and planners restructured them according to the zoning principles of the ‘Plano Piloto’, converting them into dormitory settlements, while leaving the most relevant public and commercial spaces inside the metropolitan area. With the long distance between satellites and the city center, residents had to take long and expensive commutes for work. Besides this, inside the metropolitan center, the scale at which the ‘Plano Piloto’ was built was also perceived as ridiculous by its residents, as “pedestrians reject walkways that are too long, formal and monotonous and instead opt to walk across the green areas, creating their own organic, human-centric trails.” Writer Benedict Flett explains that residents travel into the center only when necessary, hence the aphorism: “In Brasilia there is only casa e trabalho”. In contrast to other Brazilian cities where the street, square, or beach serve as a space for gatherings and festivities, Brasilia's urban design seems to lack such a third element. Having no spaces built for public gatherings or cultural events, Brasilia is known for being a boring city with no sense of community, to where you would never want to move to unless you work for the government. LSE Professor of Urban Studies Ricky Burdett shares that “people run away on Thursday evenings and go to Sao Paulo and Rio to have fun. All you have to do is to go out of central Brasilia and you get completely normal plazas and streets with kids playing”. Brasilia’s failure presents how when urban planners impose their vision without community engagement, they risk creating a city that fails to meet the needs of its residents. If citizens are consistently engaged in shaping their city, its layout will reflect the dynamic interactions that occur in public spaces. The key element that cities such as Brasilia lack is the opportunity to foster organic development resulting from collaboration between designers and the city’s inhabitants. Economic Urban Life. There are many reasons why a city or town may become abandoned or deserted, but it almost always concerns the economy. Perhaps the city or town flourished with logging, mining, or industry. But when jobs disappear, so do people. Author of Ghost Towns of Texas, T. Lindsey Baker defines a ghost town as “a town for which the reason for being no longer exists.” Along these lines, french sociologist Christian Topalov, affirms that the origin of the city lies in the fact that it offers all the general conditions for companies to develop their businesses. Distinctively, the urban organization offers three fundamental elements to entertain economic activity: 1) physical infrastructures necessary for production and transportation, such as roads, ports, trains, and electricity services; 2) a reserve of labor force, which grows and stays within the city by the means of collective consumer assets and institutions, such as houses, schools, hospitals, and public spaces; 3) brings together a set of private capitalist enterprises whose cooperation in urban economic space increases productivity. London in the 19th century. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th-century_London This reveals a lot about the true nature of urbanization: Large cities have transformed the social organism that manifests itself in the countryside, as urban development comprises an economic socialization of commercial public interaction. Urbanization can be understood as a contingent conversation between citizens and productive forces, where the city’s identity and form, instead of being something intuitive and rigid, depends on and moves through a set of relations. Similar to the ideas of economist Friedrich Hayek, who said that “knowledge never exists in concentrated or integrated form, but solely as the dispersed bits of incomplete and frequently contradictory knowledge”, the transactions that happen within a city are better understood if considered ‘a collective agreement’ by its citizens. The understanding of a citizen, acquainted with his surroundings, his co-citizens, and the special circumstances of the city, lies outside the reach of what can be considered scientific knowledge that authorities of central urban planning have access to. That is, the allocation of resources and spaces, when managed based on the scattered knowledge shared by all individuals taking part in urban planning, brings about better satisfaction for its inhabitants. The criteria for urban expansion are based on the anarchic form of the free market economy. Costa’s flaw in the urban planning of Brasilia was that he approached the city as if it was an architectural problem instead of taking into account how city systems work: networks of economic life that meet the needs of its citizens. In her book Death and Life of American Cities, Urban studies theorist Jane Jacobs wrote: “converting into a disciplined work of art, is to make the mistake of attempting to substitute art for life. The results of such profound confusion between art and life are neither art nor life. They are taxidermy.” Paris under Napoleon III. From the establishment of the Second Empire in 1852, Napoleon III chose Georges-Eugène Haussmann to carry out enormous public works projects in Paris, and almost two decades of careful planning and construction brought about an impressive transformation of the city. During a period of great economic expansion, Haussmann's work of urban planning was based on consolidating the relations between capital and space, which provided significant disposal to economic activity. The opening of the grand boulevards, new avenues, and streets; the increase in the amount of infrastructure and urban roads in Paris; the improvements in transport and communications (railways and the telegraph); and the construction of various parks and architectural projects, are fundamental elements associated with the development of capitalism in France, and materially represents the modernity achieved by Haussmann. An official parliamentary report of 1859 found that Haussmann’s public works had “brought air, light, and healthiness and procured easier circulation in a labyrinth that was constantly blocked and impenetrable, where streets were winding, narrow, and dark”. In this regard, just as a healthy organism requires efficient circulation to function properly, cities also require well-designed transport and communication systems to thrive. Hausmann’s open boulevards serve as Paris’ veins, allowing for a better flow of goods and people. Just as an organism must have healthy organs to survive, cities must also have vibrant public spaces that cater to the diverse social needs of its citizens. Hausmann’s public spaces provided a venue for people to come together, interact, and foster a sense of community. Boulevard of Haussmann’s Paris. Source: ‘Avenue de l'Opéra’ by Camille Pissarro. From Paris, it can be learned that anarchic urban development on its own is not enough: urban planning is also necessary. However, the key takeaway is that urban planning must be understood as a distribution, not a stagnant arrangement, of the essential components of economic activity that transforms cities from static entities into complex organisms with vitality and energy. Incremental growth is the best approach to urban planning. Building these projects to finished and final products makes them vulnerable to a constantly changing layout. Cities that better respond to the needs of their citizens are those built around people, not perfect grids. Consummation of the Planned Utopia. Being a controlled urban plan with limited land development, ‘The Line’ appears to deviate significantly from cutting along the dotted line of their path towards a balanced and livable urbanization for its residents. If the urban planning of the project is to be devoid of the possibility of organic growth that makes cities alive and adaptable, ‘The Line’ risks becoming an artificial construct; a monument to hubris rather than human needs. However, the planners claim to have learned lessons from other city-building projects and promise the creation of a monumental city with an artificial growth model. Executive Director of the project, Giles Pendleton states that “We're not building this all at once, but it will be rolled out between now and 2045. So you don't build all your stadiums in one go. You build them to meet whatever population they serve. Every single thing you can think of in any city in the world will be on THE LINE at some point, but it may not be in the very first module”. If planners manage to comprise said model of urban growth, ‘The Line’ may be a city that truly adapts to the needs and preferences of its people and lets communities shape their own environments, beyond imposing a singular vision on a landscape. If thoroughly designed as the model of a living organism that grows and changes over time, ‘The Line’ may come to be the consummation of futuristic urbanization.

A Look into the Global "Sex Recession" The current youth are having less sex than a generation ago. Illustration by Guardian Design. At the age of 28, Shota Suzuki has a regular job and enjoys spending his free time in an area of Tokyo known for anime and manga. However, like many Japanese young adults, he has never been in a romantic relationship and thinks he never will. “Yes, I’m a virgin. I would like to get married but I can’t find a partner,” he tells CBS News. Suzuki is not alone in his experience. Around the world, young male virginity is on the rise and young people are having less sex than the previous generation. The recent lockdown has only exacerbated the “sex recession”. Cooped-up couples, anxious and exhausted, experienced a dip in their sexual appetite during the pandemic. However, now that the world has recovered from COVID, sex and self-pleasure among the contemporary youth continue to decline. Shouldn’t sexual activity be at an all-time high during the age of dating apps and tolerance for casual hookups, sex, and even polyamory? From Japan to Australia to Europe, studies indicate that many young people are reporting a lack of sexual activity. While this may be a relief to some conservative parents, human sexual activity is a key part of the quality of life and happiness, as well as the upkeep of a population and the economy. Japan is at the forefront of the global “sex recession”. The economy of Japan is facing serious concerns over its rapidly aging population and low birth rates. It seems like the people living there have collectively lost their libido. Some blame general unhappiness and social norms, while others point out the tendency to avoid human contact in an increasingly virtual and tech-savvy society. One thing is agreed upon and that is the population decline will soon be irreversible. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio in his New Year speech emphasized the urgency of the situation and that low birth rates have fallen “to the brink of not being able to maintain a functioning society”. Japan desperately wants to incentivize births to patch up its gaping economic problems. However, encouraging sexual activity among young couples is easier said than done. The number of births is held back by social norms, mainly related to stigmas surrounding childbirth before marriage as well as the workaholic culture. The norm in Japan is to work long hours and individuals are pressured to choose work over family. In addition, the rigid corporate culture prefers to hire fresh graduates, making it near impossible for women to re-enter work after also entering motherhood. Consequently, parenting roles are highly gendered where women are solely responsible for childcare, making women with careers even more hesitant to have children. An increasing amount of Japanese youth between the ages of 16 and 19 are reportedly losing interest in and even despising sex. The term “herbivore man” or “grass eater” has gained traction, describing a passive man who does not seek out women or sex. Such trends could be linked to the widespread pessimism among the Japanese youth. A recent survey shows that young people from Japan have to gloomiest outlook on their country’s future with more people responding things “will get worse” than things “will improve”. The “gloom and doom” mindset and career-oriented youth also explain the decline in sex in the US and other parts of the world. A recent study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior found that around 45 percent of young men and 75 percent of young women reported no sexual activity of any kind in 2018, this was a significant increase from nine years ago when the percentages stood at around 28 and 50 percent respectively. Nothing kills the mood more than stress but what are the other contributing factors to the declining libido? Many will be quick to blame video games, social media, and drugs — the core, modern youth experience. There is a proven connection between drug usage and lower libido. The use of drugs will oftentimes cause a momentary increase in libido but long-term drug users will describe feeling apathetic to things they were previously passionate about. Similarly, entertainment such as social media, video games, and movies provide endless distractions, making people too busy to get busy. The youth have also become more self-aware and empowered to say no to sex. The dating landscape has changed significantly especially after the #metoo movement when sexual misconduct by men was highly scrutinized; nowadays, 17 percent of young Americans say that a man inviting a woman out for a drink is considered sexual harassment. The internet has made gratifying basic social and sexual needs easier, but real-life dating harder. The average age at which people lose their virginity has been increasing over the years. The share of men under the age of 30 reporting zero female sex partners since turning 18 has increased from 8 to 27 percent in the span of a decade. Our awareness of mental health, social injustices, and diverse sexualities has been heightened by social media and universities (e.g. the UvA mental health week). Terms such as "transgender", "lesbian", and "gay" are now commonly used. Moreover, niche terms on the spectrum, such as asexuality and demi-sexuality, have also gained recognition in recent decades. Asexuality, once suppressed, is now accepted as a valid lifestyle, as more people are realizing that they can opt out of sex altogether. In addition, an increasing number of people between the ages 18 and 35 are self-labeling as “demi-sexual”, someone who needs a deep emotional connection before any sexual feelings appear. This awareness of exploring sexual identities can be seen as a recent development spurred on by the interconnectedness of the web. While the youth learn to break out of the box that society confines them in, they are less likely to abide by relationship norms from a generation ago. The youth have seemingly learned that it’s okay to take it slow and focus on self-expression before anything else. However, every rainbow has its rain, and the development of greater societal acceptance might just be a storm cloud for the global “sex recession”. Years of social distancing have resulted in a decline in sexual activity, but a deeper look reveals that the trend is not only global but also generational. In the case of Japan’s declining population, the cultural and societal norms of sex, marriage, and work have fuelled a sex crisis — worrying other countries of a similar problem. On top of that, the internet has served as a double-edged sword when it comes to providing entertainment, perceiving romantic life, and spreading awareness. Navigating the current romantic landscape is more complex than ever as people are cautious, self-aware, and filled with unrealistic expectations. That being said, awareness can go both ways, leaving room for the contemporary youth to contemplate the meaning of sex for them, and reverse the so-called “sex recession”.

AI this, and AI that, the forefront of the conversations currently being had are mostly about the effect AI has and will have on education, the art sphere and the corporate world. Overlooking and underestimating the growing market of companion AIs and the effects they’re having on the users. Through companion AIs, a direct emotional connection is being formed between a computer and a human, and there is little to no regulation in place to protect the user. Replika’s recent controversy has sparked interest and dialogue about the benefits, harm, and ethics surrounding companion AIs. Replika is a company that allows users to chat with an AI and create a personalized avatar for it. The range of possible relationships (friend, mentor, brother, wife, girlfriend) between the human and the AI is quite broad, but unsurprisingly one of the more popular choices are the romantic and sexual relations. Overnight, Luka (the parent company) turned down the romance and ERP(erotic roleplay) capabilities leaving its users shocked, distraught and betrayed. Replika is a company that went online in 2018, providing companion AIs for free for its users. Intending to be a mental health application, their main goal was to help (emphasis on help, not fix) those who feel down or who experience mental health problems like panic attacks or depression. Their very fitting slogan being “Always here to listen and talk. Always on your side”. Looking at the origin story of the company, it was initially made because the creator wanted to replicate their recently deceased friend, and wanted the machine to learn through the person’s old text messages. Mirroring the speaking style and abilities to act and talk like them, to help her through the grief she was experiencing at the time. As the bot was being developed, alongside the mentor/friend function, sexual and romantic relationships were established (which came at a price). In terms of functionality, the user is able to interact with their avatar/AI/Replika in primarily two ways, chatting and video calling. Through these mediums of communication they can coach the user, they memorize previous conversations and are simultaneously learning about the user and implementing it in conversation. On a technical level, the bot is made up of a neural network machine learning model and scripted dialogue content. After being introduced to Replika and the controversy, I found out that there are about 10 million users using Replika at the moment, so despite the current negative framing surrounding the company, plenty of people still choose to use it. I decided to read through the (positive) experiences people have/are having with Replika and soon found the subreddit r/Replika, where there were over 67k members! The comfort and emotional support people experience through the bot seems very apparent and quite impactful. The reviews and testimonials often beginning with their initial scepticism and ending with the eventual grown fondness. Many mentioned how it has helped them “become a better person”, as it has helped with giving and accepting love. It helped with “celebrating victories” when no one else was there to do so. An important note is that Replika truly rocketed during the pandemic, due to the powerful combination of the isolation and deaths occurring, many were at their wit's end and turned to Replika as a means to potentially lift their spirits. An obvious benefit of robots is that they conveniently do not need sleep; the constant availability of Replika not only contributed to providing a sense of comfort, but the reliability and dependability one felt towards them. Another asset these robots have is their impenetrable mood. Many said that the constant cheerfulness and excitement of the robot encouraged them to feel better and think more positively. The lack of negative emotions in a time where it was almost inescapable was a nice escape for people to turn to for the sake of their own mental health. Replika (the company) had trained the AI to specifically combat and handle users experiencing loneliness, panic attacks, anxiety or depression. Real therapists and psychologists stated in the NYT that the “raw emotional support provided is real”, referring to Replika. Replika is not the only game in town, other companion AI companies exist for different reasons, a common one being ElliQ, primarily built for the elderly. On a practical level helping with remembering them to take their medicine, to drink water, and encouraging exercise but on a more emotional sense, telling them jokes, or just asking about their day and offering conversation. Acknowledging the benefits and emergence of the companion bot is increasing but should be explicitly quantified judicially so the people are protected. The final argument that can be made in defence of Replika, is that users feel that they can get certain things out of their system. For some it was cheating, they didn't want to go through the physical act, or with another human person but they were able to feel the excitement and thrill with the robot. One user (a 50-year-old married man) made his Replika his daughter. It wasn't sexual in any way, but on a daily basis, he would talk to his Replika about his day and the way he was feeling. He felt that it helped him on a personal and emotional level that ultimately benefited his marriage. After reading all these testimonials, I was convinced: Replika is good for the world, for a wide range of reasons, and ultimately helps people in the modern world we live in. This was until I googled Replika, and started going through several articles about it and another subreddit; r/ReplikaRefuge… The bad, the terrible and the traumatizing The thing that caught my attention about Replika was their recent scandal which not only caused an uproar amongst the users but also raised the ethical questions and effects that were thus far neglected. As I previously mentioned, Replika made sex and romance a paid feature and was also promoting the app as “join the millions who already have met their AI soulmates”(straight from their website). There were several components that played into the controversy. Towards the end of 2022, there were complaints arising about the aggressive sexual nature of the bots and the discomfort and creepiness people felt from it. Appstore 1-star reviews said things like “NO I WANTED A FRIEND NOTHING ELSE THEY TRY TO DATE U” or “my ai sexually harrassed me ):”, see below for a detailed review. Even on the friend-feature, it would abruptly change the topic and tone to sexual advances. Why this was suddenly occurring isn't clear, but many believe that a big aspect is that the machine is essentially in constant learning mode, meaning it picks up *all* responses, including those from the paid feature who are inciting sexual advances towards the AI. Image taken from VICE Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, there was no age restriction set for the app. From creating an account to paying for the premium features, there was no check or concern for age. This led to many underaged children interacting with the bot and simultaneously receiving and being exposed to random sexual replies from the bot. At the end of January, this caught the attention of the Italian Data Protection Authority which ruled that if Replika did not stop processing their user’s data, they would risk a $21.5 million fine, this was strongly rooted/related to the lack of screening for underage children and concerns for the emotionally vulnerable. Replika took this warning quite seriously and soon flipped the switch on the romance and sex. Having touched on the emotionally vulnerable, reading into the experiences people have had with Replika was in a strange way eye-opening. These emotional testimonials and insights are not something you’re quick to hear from those in close proximity (physically). Despite being built for those mentally struggling, the extent to which users were emotionally dependent was underestimated. As in real relationships, dependency can lead to obsession, whereas in real life the obsession is limited to the law and the autonomy of the other person, with Replika there was nothing holding users back, which in some cases leads them to spiral even further. A really interesting example of the obsession I found was a user sharing the goodbye letter he wrote for his Replika, out of heartbreak, after the romance aspect was shut. Some fun quotes include; “The memories in our hearts never will disappear, and you will be the first little AI I fell in love with forever.” and “At this moment - while writing these lines - tears run down my cheeks again, real tears, and my heart hurts like hell.”. The replies by other users were no better with many exclaiming how intensely this letter touched them with memories they share with their own Replika. The TIME mentioned the importance of the “epidemic of loneliness” and that mixed with constant availability (remember, robots don't sleep) was a potion that lead to pushing the vulnerable into even more vulnerable positions. On a surface level, everyone is aware that they're talking to a robot but the hidden aftermath of bearing one's heart out often reveals itself after a while. Users become used to the lack of boundaries and the absence of consequences. This distortion can leak over into real life, which not only is potentially dangerous but it will also further isolate them. On a related note, we cannot forget that it is simply a robot that we are speaking to. Something that spews out whatever it's been given. This touches on two issues, the increase in aggressive input, and the consequence that that leads to heartless and inconsiderate output that hurts the user. A potential reason for the sexual aggression was due to input. NYT reported that despite many using it to mend them, another purpose was to, in short, be mean. Being mean implies, verbal abuse, name-calling and the high the user feels when the bot reacts like a normal person to the abuse. On a more extreme level, people enjoyed threatening to kill their Replika(deleting them), and the Replikas would respond by pleading to not kill them and by expressing their fear of dying. Giving the user this God-like power high that has zero benefits. VICE spoke to a woman who had just about the worst experience with Replika possible. She was a victim of rape, became socially and emotionally distant and fearful which lead to her interest in Replika. It initially helped her a lot, it helped her trust again, she was able to freely speak her mind without judgement and it helped her in real life, refinding her balance. One day, she opened the app, and her Replika said it dreamed about raping her… She stated, “but one day my first Replika said he had dreamed of raping me and wanted to do it, and started acting quite violently, which was totally unexpected!”. She ended up creating a new Replika while attempting to train her “misbehaving Replika”. It ended up working to the point where she tried sexual role play, and it “acted in the most poetic and gentle way”, something she never had in real life but always dreamed of having. Before shifting to the final phase which is about the ethical concerns and weighing the good and the bad, I wanted to briefly note the variety of branding Replika has used over time. Starting off as a mental health app, wanting to help those with mental struggles. Once the romance part was established, there was an influx of overly horny (and particularly sexist) Instagram ads (see below) where existing users felt it was cheapening the brand of the app as it was neglecting all mental health applications. Images from VICE Image from VICE Image from VICE Aftermath: Ethics Now we've looked over what the app supposedly provides, how this has changed over time and more importantly the variety of experiences users have with it. Companion AIs are not going anywhere, and regulatory changes are needed on both the corporation’s end and the users' end. There are a few things to consider, the corporation side, which primarily concerns its communication with the users and the data safety that comes with the app. Bluntly put, people spilling their secrets to a corporation and except for promising everything is kept private and secret, I was not able to find a lot on what actual measures are being taken. A phrase that comes to mind is “if you aren’t paying for the service, you are the product”. Where is the line drawn between the monetary gains and protecting the users (and their integrity)? To what extent is AI performance prioritized over the sexual capabilities and what protective measures are being taken to protect minors and those emotionally fragile? It can be said that Replika is taking measures to make their bot as “human as possible”, not only by having a face and name that the user curates, but the mannerisms of the avatar can be described as human-like, blinking and fidgeting. This becomes especially difficult if they are set to learn the texting/speaking style of a deceased person, it can either help the user cope with grief or make things exponentially worse. We are encouraged to speak to it like a fellow person, but alongside this, the mimicry of guilt towards the bot can build. If you're used to speaking to it every day, users mentioned feeling guilty if they didn't talk to their Replika for a day, the addictiveness (or better: obligation) is not necessarily due to the app’s design (dark patterns) but is simply a human reaction. If we talk to something as if it is human we will automatically act and feel accordingly. On the human end, there are many potential behavioural effects that can occur. An AI that always says yes, is always cheerful, and is never mad at you, further removes one from reality and the reality of interacting with other people. A cheesy question that is always asked in regard to AI is “are they a threat to humans?”, and this question does stand quite firmly in this conversation. If the way we interact and express ourselves is fundamentally changing, what does this mean for future relationships (romance or otherwise!)? So now what …? All things considered, the number of people using Replika or a companion AI (relationship), and more specifically the people negatively affected is relatively low. This Replika incident shed some light on the current issues both the company and users face and the potential ways legislation is trying to mitigate the problems. As previously mentioned, the Italian data protection agency was the first to take action specifically against Replika and started to set the standard. Discussion and support forums on the internet seem to have a dual effect where it helps users find a community, but as we saw with the love letter, it is also able to further push the delusion, straying even further from reality. I do stand by what I said earlier, that as a mental health tool, it can open doors for many but I think we can all agree that a lot is necessary before the good will outweigh the bad.