By Matilde Da Luz
By now, most women recognize the script. Raise a point about sexism, feminism, or gender equality and the response is often predictable. You are “angry.” You are “too woke.” You have, somehow, made things awkward. The figure of the angry feminist woman has become so familiar that it no longer feels like an accusation so much as a reflex – a shorthand for dismissing political discomfort without engaging it. You become labelled, often unconsciously, as the “killjoy.”
What is striking is that this stereotype persists at a moment when anger is hardly in short supply. Much of it belongs to men, and is increasingly confident, public, and political. It circulates online, where terms like incel and manosphere emerge in everyday vocabulary. It is surfacing in dating culture, classrooms, and family conversations, where feminism is framed less as a demand for equality than as a provocation. And it is showing up in electoral politics.
According to a recent study that...
By: Gracyn Elizabeth McGathy
Every evening at 6:35 p.m., the iron bars of Diavata Refugee Camp glow orange. The sun sets fiercely over its weed-covered fields, illuminating a collection of discarded goods: a worn shoe, crushed soda cans, and ripped plastic. The bus to the nearest city, Thessaloniki, will have come and gone by now, completing its second of only two stops it does each day in Diavata.
The only piece of evidence left to prove that help was once there lies rotting by the side of the road. With faded letters barely legible now, a scrap of once-white tarp labeled “United Nations.” The 2015 refugee crisis, a consequence of the Syrian Civil War, drew many major humanitarian organizations to the desolate expanse of Diavata. Casa Base, a small local NGO, housed in a rusting warehouse adjacent to the camp. The only organization left of its kind, forced to be the main organization responsible for providing critical humanitarian aid to the refugees...
By Mara Bulzan
It’s 2024 and I could not stop staring in disbelief at the costumes worn by Columbia students at Halloween parties. Ostentatious reproductions of stereotypical Roma clothing (derogatorily referred to as “gypsies”) worn to frat parties by young, white, and highly educated women. And no one called them out for it. They were not Roma, so their smiles and dancing could not have been weighed down by a history of over 800 years of enslavement, genocide, forced displacement and eugenic policies. They were not stigmatized for “looking Roma,” so they could use it as a costume. When they looked in the mirror that night, the face of someone deemed a perpetual outsider did not glare back at them.
Contemporary popular culture has normalized the stereotypical depiction of Roma women to the point in which it has become an aesthetic with fetishistic tendencies. She is only allowed to be a free-spirited, sly seductress with fortune-telling abilities. It is preferable that she...
By Co-Editor Jess Gallagher
Content note: ableist language and disablism
“Dear leftists, I see that many of you were offended by my Fetterman comments, calling me an “ableist.” After thinking about it, I’d like to apologize … for absolutely nothing. I expect potential senators to be able to form complete thoughts and/or sentences. You idiots.” –Donald Trump Jr.
And so, the age of ableism and apologia is among us, once again, in the political sphere. But where can we even begin to address this deeply ingrained rhetorical pattern amongst politicians? Let’s start with the most recent midterm election, and analyze what the victory of Pennsylvania State Senator, John Fetterman, shows us about the future of ableism in politics.
In the Pennsylvania race for the state’s U.S. Senate seat, Democratic candidate John Fetterman has had to continuously defend his “fitness” to serve in office after experiencing a stroke in May. Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz, and his campaign continued to add to...
By Guest Writer Emma McDonnell
Art is a means to document, a means to capture emotions, feelings, and history. Art has the capacity to chronicle and tell the story of a bygone era—to depict events and places which the world no longer knows of. And ultimately, art is a marker of the past, present, and future. As such, it ties us to periods and moments–persevering through devastating and disastrous times such as war and conflict.
Hosted by the Harriman Institute together with the President’s Office of Columbia University, Art in Time of War: Celebrating the Resilience of Ukrainian Culture celebrated the strength and talent of Ukrainian culture through a variety of artistic mediums. The event combined music, poetry, film, art, and conversation to showcase Ukrainian creativity and artistic talent.
The event began with opening remarks from the Director of the Harriman Institute, Valentina Izmirlieva, followed by remarks from the Executive Vice President for Columbia Global, Waffaa El-Sadr. Both highlighted what a unique, monumental,...
By Guest Writer Avanti Deshpande
Introduction
Free and fair elections underpinned by the universal adult franchise are undoubtedly the cornerstone of a democratic state in today’s standards. Yet, while most democratic countries acknowledge the importance of voting rights, voter suppression and voter disenfranchisement are not new problems and have long been plaguing democracies.
Indian law places a blanket ban on voting for all prisoners; i.e., not only convicts but under-trial prisoners whose innocence or guilt is yet to be proven conclusively in a court of law. With no exception, reasoning, or rationale being provided under law for denying prisoners the right to vote, this piece will attempt to critically engage with the issue of the disqualification of prisoners from voting in elections and argue that it is fundamentally unconstitutional and violative of the basic tenets of a democratic state.
Overview of the Present Legal Framework
The issue of the disenfranchisement of prisoners in India stems from Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act,...
By Co-Editor Jess Gallagher
“Nobody’s free until we are all free.”
These are the words of Lois Curtis, the woman whose case determined the most influential court decision for people with disabilities in history. Ms. Curtis served as one of the plaintiffs in the landmark Supreme Court case, Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), which established the right of people with disabilities to live in the least restrictive settings possible under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
As the Disability Community mourns the loss of one of the nation’s greatest advocates, we reflect on her efforts to achieve justice for all. Her work secured the right of millions of people with disabilities to live within their own communities and away from the forced institutionalization that she faced throughout her life.
Growing up in Atlanta, GA., Ms. Curtis was diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities as a child and, due to a lack of support services for her family, she often wandered away from home. Missing person...
By Staff Writer Carina Goebelbecker
How can words, language, grammar, and narrative be used in the fight for social justice? The Columbia University Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities’ Language Pedagogy and Social Justice virtual event on May 11th explored the previous question. The roundtable discussion highlighted perspectives from language educators, featuring: moderator David Borgonjon (Public Humanities Fellow and PhD Candidate in EALAC, Columbia University) Maya Krinsky (Associate Director of Multilingual Education, Rhode Island School of Design), João Nemi Neto (Senior Lecturer in LAIC, Columbia University), Karim ElHaies (Worker-Owner, Algarabía Language Co-op), Aldo Ulisses Reséndiz Ramírez (Worker-Owner, Algarabía Language Co-op), and Pamela Rose (Mandarin Educator).
Each panel member reflected on their own teaching practice and how language pedagogy can be taught with a focus on social justice. Social justice themes and conversations are typically labeled as “advanced” in the language classroom. However, these topics are present within each unit of study, and denying this fact can perpetuate harm and...
By RightsViews Staff Writer Sydney Smith
On March 10 2022, SOGI rights researcher and activist Ajita Banerjie (she/they) spoke about the legacy of the landmark Supreme Court of India decision, Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India. On September 6, 2018, in a unanimous decision by the court, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (1860), which criminalized unnatural sex between two individuals, was considered unconstitutional on the grounds that it violated the rights to expression, equality, privacy, and human dignity.
Banerjie details three reasons why this judgment is unique. First, the judgement not only decriminalized same sex acts, but went above and beyond to recognize LGBTQIA+ members as equal rights-holding citizens who deserve a life free of persecution. Second, the judgment offered an expansive interpretation of the right to privacy. The court recognized Section 377’s unreasonable restriction on privacy and freedom of choice. Additionally, privacy was no longer only relevant in the private sphere; rather, the court recognized social privacy and...
By Noah Smith, RightsViews Co-Editor and a graduate student in the human rights MA program.
The opinions expressed in this article are Noah’s own and are not representative of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) or Columbia University.
As of November 3, 2021, the Student Workers (SWC-UAW Local 2110) of Columbia University went on an indefinite strike, prolonged by the unwillingness of Columbia University’s administration to offer a fair contract to student workers. With the end of the John Deere strike earlier this week, the Columbia student workers strike is now the largest strike action in the country. The SWC-UAW Local 2110 has been legally recognized by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) since 2017, and there are over 3,000 members in the unit, making it one of the largest student worker unions in the country.
Columbia’s student workers are demanding a fair contract that includes a living wage, better healthcare, union recognition for all student workers, and protections from...
