It’s impossible to get lost. Once in Syria’s north-eastern corner, and after accessing the area from Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey’s presence becomes overwhelming to our right side for the rest of the trip. That set of military watchtowers on the tip where the borders of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq collide may look imposing at the beginning, but one easily forgets them after our sight is completely blocked by a massive concrete wall. It’s a 764 km long barrier along the boundary of two entities, Turkish and Kurdish, that have been at loggerheads for too long. We’re driving across the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), a de facto political entity which may be on the eve of an unprecedented bloodshed. Trump’s announcement last December to pull out his troops from this region led to a threat by Turkey’s president Erdogan to invade the territory, something which still resonates on this side of the border. Those excavators we have spotted along the route were once used to improve the deteriorated infrastructure. Today, digging tunnels is seemingly a much more pressing need. Keep reading
The Indigenous Peoples March in Washington, D.C. went viral online after a group of high school students from Kentucky mocked an indigenous Vietnam War veteran, Nathan Phillips, outside the Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 18. The incident was indicative of the racial politics in the United States and around the world that devalues indigenous rights and sees indigenous peoples as caricatures meant for the amusement of the dominant classes. However, the significance of the march — which was organized by the Indigenous Peoples Movement, a global coalition of indigenous communities — extended well beyond this petty display of white supremacy. Keep reading
