2023 GLOBAL WINNING ESSAYS

CREATIVE

FIRST PLACE: Isa Oliveira Taranto, Brazil

SECOND PLACE: Lee Sze-Chyi Claire, Singapore

THIRD PLACE: Olivia Zhang, United States

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER: Haadiya Sobani

First Place

What quote do you live by?

ISA OLIVEIRA TARANTO, CREATIVE CATEGORY

Brazil

We rise

Part I: The Daughter

Does my sassiness upset you? I dug my nails in the calloused flesh of my hands, my palms bloody – but maybe the crimson shadows I saw were the result of a failing vision. Perhaps, I thought to myself, I should hide my tears and let them take my dignity, my chastity, my power, or whatever else they wanted – who could understand what it was that they lacked? But it does not matter now, my temper is too strong; the fighting in me demands the rumbles that come from deep within my throat. I see my mama in my mind’s eye, cleaning the scratches of a playground fight: “Meu bem, I can’t take care of you like this no more”. Should I have listened? If I had subsided, would I have cried less, fought less, hurt less, lived more? Instead, I want to scream what I have known forever: I must be one with the Earth, to return to its womb. I must go where womanhood is no threat to survival. Is there such a place?

Deranged laughter burst out of my chest; I felt my rib cage defy every force that held it down. There she is, the faceless, breathless deity that guides me towards something I cannot see but already recognize, for I want to be the land, I want to be the oceans, I want to be Nature – and, don’t be mistaken, Nature is a woman. I kick with the strength She has gifted me, but She could only offer momentary relief and I could not offer myself salvation; there he still was, hovering above me. My mouth received another punch, my teeth wailed as they twisted, my body begged as it hit the ground one last time. After the first laughter – no longer mine – echoed, I heard nothing more than the oppressive silence of the alley of my hands of my blood of myself of myself. I was no longer; no, I was Her, returning to where I belonged, born of fertility and turned into sorrow. I was, in fact, all of us.

Part II: The Mother

Did you want to see me broken? It had indeed been beautiful, that delicacy of newborn love. In their first ethereal Carnaval, there had been the sweat of others mixed with their own, cheap beer and escolas de samba. There had been cathartic dancing with eyes locked. “Don’t let go of my hand!” he had shouted amidst the noise, and she promised to herself, timidly, never to. Now, she wondered what would have happened if she had let him be devoured by the crowd, let herself stand still while he walked away until there were enough bodies between them that she could forever be protected.

So many years later, she tried to evoke the smell of that day, of the piss in the streets; with her eyes closed, she could feel his saliva droplets on her face. She focused on enumerating the colors of that first Carnaval – her blue blouse, the rainbows of ribbons that adorned the streets – until the reason why he screamed today escaped her memory. Was it the clothes she had worn to the market? 

He marched outside of the house and she sighed with relief: a truce, for now. Sitting at the table, the purple in her neck ached, and she allowed herself to slip back into her trance, the recurrent one – the only thing she truly owned, a secret entirely to herself. She had been visited by the woman with no face, reeking of Goddess; she did not know her and yet strangely sensed they had already met, that transparent person who inhabited her daydreams. Whenever she dared to look at that woman, she was struck by her freedom, by the hair that reached her ankles, by the feet that did not quite touch the ground.

The noise outside violently snapped her back to reality and she got up in a moment, late to pick her kid up from school. Reaching for the keys, she said a prayer, under her breath, that her girl had not gotten herself into trouble this time; but the prayer her heart really clamored for was, most of all, that she would never lose that ability to fight for herself. And in the obscure corners of her soul, this mother hoped that, wherever her other daughter was, she was as fierce as her little sister. She stepped out into the havoc, away from the dreams she left behind.

Part III: The Lost Daughter

Does my sexiness upset you? You might have seen her smoking at a bus stop or entering a brothel and driven by with rolled-down windows to yell puta just because you could. You might have felt entitled to put your filthy eyes on her – wasn’t she asking for it, with those clothes?

She might have told you she did not belong to you; she was property only of herself. She might have told you she deserved diamonds in the meeting of her thighs; that it was men like yourself who stomped on her heart, like her father had when he bruised her mama. She might have told you she still saw, she still saw the air that breathed and the waterfalls that clamored and the pulse that quivered in the core of the Earth – who had the curves of a woman – calling for her to stand up, stand up. She might have told you that, most of all, she was a girl who missed her mother. She might have told you, if only had you listened.

Part IV: The Earth

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

“Meu bem, que que aconteceu?”

The blood that dripped – and the silence where there was usually rage – was enough answer. Once their hands clasped, The Mother leading The Daughter, there was a little less darkness; the fear they held of the world subsided at the joining of hands, like two rivers that meander until they find each other. They walked in silence, each subtly clinging to the other as a lifeline. The Mother held her kid closer, folded her into herself; she knew, because she had felt it in her own bones. Now, her soul hurt more than the purple that painted her skin, having been incapable of protection that she knew to be impossible but had still hoped for. Her child had been replaced by a woman. 

“Come on, let’s get you home. Mama will take care of those scratches.”

They passed by a young woman; The Mother’s heart beat furiously because she recognized in that girl, too, a part of herself that had been lost; The Daughter's pulse quickened with saudade. But it was not her, and both their hearts plummeted in their caves, waiting for the next flicker of a dream.

I wish I could have told them I too could not offer salvation. Instead, I hoped they felt Nature shifting to comfort them, enveloping two women it recognized as its own; that they sensed me in the air that hissed and in the flowers that fought to bloom. I hope they knew I would continue visiting them in dreams as they walked away holding hands, holding each other. 

I was them, and I am all of us. 

In 2021, 56,098 women were raped in Brazil, averaging one every ten minutes.

But still, like air, I’ll rise. We’ll rise.

Works cited:

Angelou, Maya. “Still I Rise”. 1978.

“Violência contra as mulheres em 2021”. Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública, 2021. 

second Place

What quote do you live by?

Lee Sze-Chyi Claire, creative category

singapore

‘All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his.’

 - Oscar Wilde

You told me once, that one would never die as long as they lived on in others; immortal insofar as one carved out a space in another’s heart, bare hands prying through muscle and sinew, rupturing detritus-lined vessels to eke out a nook for oneself. How it wasn’t the sudden, violent process of twisting the dagger in the gut, but rather the slow settling of something over one’s shoulders, like it belonged there.

My hands - rich people’s hands, you used to say. Hands that had never known hard labor, or suffering. Before they came to know that, the first thing they knew was pain, swift and cutting, streaking through the grooves of my lifeline. The first time you did it, I was five; the misdemeanor- I do not recall. The motions cycle through in my mind now - the thin strip of bamboo suspended over my empty, exposed palm, then the fusion with my skin: a slash, a lit match. My palm gaping open for all to see. But I remember too, when tenderness held your hand. When you took my defaced hand in yours and slowly cleaned up the torn bits, tried as best you could to make my hand whole. 

Before the slit healed, you would do it again. 

I see you now, in myself: bloodied cuts on my hand a wet echo of the ones on my heart. How your love was much like Sisyphus rolling the stone up the hill, never truly complete. One day, I will take your hand in mine. I promise to go through the motions- clean it, dress it, bandage it up nicely. Because what are we if not a double-edged sword? One always cutting the other, cleaving until only bone is left.

And there you are again, in the fell clutch of time. Your back, hunched over the kitchen countertop;  a universe between your hands - gaping for the world to see. That night, your chopsticks sticky with molasses and soy sauce, dipped into my bowl of rice over and over, bringing sweet offerings of meat and egg. Your bowl: empty, save for the paltry morsels of rice, long washed down by the hunger gnawing away at your core. Then, barely full, you would scrape at the wok in the sink, until nothing was left of it except for the animals that it had drowned at your behest.

That time, when I had the gall to talk back with the tongue that I stole from you. There you were, in the flick of my tongue, and in the taut silence that followed after. Instinctively, you slashed your hand across my cheekbone, a hairline spool of blood uncoiling on my face, the illusion temporarily shattered. You know how the story ends. You and I: tainted reflections of each other, through the ever-dishonest looking glass. What more did I know, of the fault lines that cracked somewhere in between? 

It is then, that the true tragedy is made abundantly clear: the mother cannot absolve the child of the same fate as her. The child, knowing nothing more, will slowly mimic the mother; the monkey made to mimic the zookeeper.  The mother, knowing nothing more, will not stop the child until it is too late. The child’s umbilical cord is severed, and then it learns that it can survive without its mother. The child’s tongue is severed, and it learns that freedom is bought at a high price. 

Another tragedy - they come in droves now. My name, a vessel for what you never could have been. Expectations and wishes, heaped in abundance on a small child, barely tall enough to see over the counter of the cashier. The most beautiful part of my name, I used to think, was the one that you picked out. That is to say, all of it. One syllable: a knock of the tongue on the palate, before smoothening out into an exhale. You picked it because it was easy to remember, but to forget one’s progeny is not an easy thing. I recall now, how you would call me by anything else other than my own name. To grant me my birthright, then, is to remind yourself of what you should have become. To call my by my name, then, is to imbue me with a wish, a hope, for me to be what you might have been. It is understandable now, your selfishness - to save your child from the miserable hope of it all.

In another lifetime, we are happy. We exchange pleasantries, like mothers and daughters do. But how many pleasantries will we need to make up for the past? How many wounds will have to seal themselves closed before we begin the drudgery of reconciliation? In all the lifetimes, you are still my mother, and I am still your daughter - constant as the slow rise of the days. 

In another lifetime, we might be younger, young enough to still believe that our love can be flown on paper airplanes that reach the clouds; that our love can be tucked away in the handwritten note of a school lunchbox; that our love can be released just like the seeds of a mature dandelion breathe in the freedom of the wind, unshackled at last. 

In another lifetime, maybe the play of our life is not a tragedy after all - but a comedy. Perhaps people can find solace in our story, and carve out their own little nook in their hearts for us. You’d never been one for comedy, wincing whenever I put Seinfeld on, fearing the canned laughter of dead people. How you would demand that I turn it off, hands cupping your ears until one could not distinguish hand from ear - both the same shade of red, the kind that could devour entire houses in its wake. 

Sleep catches me by the wrist, or if it were softer, by the round of my shoulders. I close my eyes, the projector of my neurons firing reflected on the inside of my eyelids. The scene is set and fleshed out, me in a white, sterile hallway and you at the end of it. How I would run and run into infinity and you - always slipping through the twist of my hand. If this is heaven, I do not want it. I do not want my temptation, my regret, always evading my clutches like a terrible snap in the mirror, always at one’s disposal, yet always an inch further than my fingers can scrape. 

I’ll leave this story for the maggots to pick at, it should be done now. Your nook in my heart has been cleaned up, sterilized - for you to reside to the pulse of my heart, that betraying muscle. 

Come home; I’ve left a room for you, one you haven’t been in for ages. 

third Place

What quote do you live by?

Olivia Zhang, creative category

UNITED STATES

“The place where light and dark begin to touch is where miracles arise.” - Robert A. Johnson

Age 7: Birth of a Phoenix

I shifted uncomfortably on the cold, hard classroom floor. The SMARTboard in front of me blinked back big red words: What is depression? What is bipolar disorder?

“Class, listen up! Today, we are discussing a very serious topic,” Ms. Taylor stated firmly, her eyes sweeping over us. She pointed at the SMARTBoard.

“What is depression? What is bipolar disorder?” she asked. “Does anyone have an idea?”

I picked at the hole in my jeans. Scratched a spot behind my ear. Folded and unfolded my hands. The deafening silence was agonizing. I did not want to talk about this. What happened to recess?

“Well, both depression and bipolar disorder are mental illnesses that can often be mixed up with one another. More specifically, bipolar is a mood disorder that includes depression; people usually experience extreme mood swings with depressive lows and manic highs,” our teacher said. “They can also experience hallucinations. That’s when they see things that aren’t real.”

I glanced up from the braid I was making. Hallucinations? I had heard that word before. It had come from the mouth of a man dressed in all white. He smelled like the hospital.

“Is that like, they think they’re living in another world?” someone asked beside me.

“Yes, Brian. Sometimes that is the case.”

I raised my hand and hesitantly asked, “Ms. Taylor, um, are phoenixes real? My mom told me she sees a phoenix in her and me sometimes. Is that a hallucination?”

“That’s a great question, Alexis. I think your mom just means that you have a fiery personality. There’s no need to worry,” Ms. Taylor responded, smiling gently. I flushed and nodded my head.

“If anyone you ever know displays symptoms of these two things we just learned about, you need to come to me, okay? Or any trusted adult. We’re here to help you,” she continued.

“Yes, Ms. Taylor,” we replied in unison.

Age 10: Phoenix Rising

I glanced at my hands. They were tinged purple. I blew on them to warm them up, watching as my breath puffed out like a cloud in front of me. Across the street from my house, a little boy played on a sled with his mom.

“Watch me, Mom, watch me!” he yelled.

“I am, sweetie! You look amazing,” his mom yelled back with a smile.

I turned away, resting my head on my knees. The ice was slowly starting to seep into my leggings, stinging my skin. I drew circles in the snow, passing time until my mom’s eyes turned back to blue.

Age 13: Light 

“My Little Phoenix!” My mom called. I cautiously padded downstairs, peeking at her from behind the stairwell.

“Oh don’t be shy, baby girl. Come! Mommy has a surprise.” Her words stumbled over each other, seemingly competing for speed as they hurled themselves out of her mouth. Her eyes were lit up in the most brilliant blue, her pupils glowing like miniature halos as sunlight flitted across her face. She eagerly gestured to me. “Come, it’s in the garage.” Her cold hand shook as it grasped mine, tugging me after her.

Once we reached the garage, she flung open the door and swept her hand across the room. My mouth dropped open as I took in the piles and piles of shopping bags bursting at the seams. Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Chanel bags flashed their tags.

“Isn’t it amazing?” my mom squealed. “You can pick whatever you want!”

I tentatively smiled. “Wow, Mom, thanks…but are you sure we can afford this?”

My mom’s crooked teeth were on full display as she grinned. “Oh, Little Phoenix. Always Mommy’s caring little girl. Don’t you worry. It’s my gift! Promise me you’ll keep it a secret, though, ok? Daddy shouldn't know about this.” She made a shushing movement, throwing her head back as she laughed delightfully. My smile grew.

“Ok, Mom. I promise.”

Age 14: Dark

I padded down to my mom’s bedroom, eyes on my phone. “Mo-” I started to say, stepping halfway through the door. I glanced up from my screen, stopping mid-phrase. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dimness.

The curtains were drawn and the blinds were completely shut, enveloping the room in darkness. I shivered as my eyes focused on a silhouette sitting at the edge of the bed.

“Mom?” I whispered.

The silhouette ignored me.

“Mom!” I shouted, desperation seeping into my voice.

The silhouette at last jolted, turning around so I could see the beginnings of a face. I shivered as I stared into her unseeing eyes. They were clouded, a misty gray haze settling over the usual ocean blue. My gaze tracked down her pale face and frail body.

“M-mom? Are you ok?” I barely squeaked out.

The silhouette seemed to all of a sudden come back to life. She quickly swiped a hand over her eyes and blinked rapidly, color infusing back into her face. “Oh, hey, Little Phoenix. Did you need something?”

I swallowed the sliver of dread I felt creeping up inside me and pasted on a smile. 

“No, Mom. Never mind.”

Age 15: Flames of a Phoenix

The monsters had come back angrier than before. They shoved through the door with renewed strength, splintering it into pieces. There was nothing my mom could do to stop them. I could see them sometimes in the middle of her episodes. They were drowning her. I saw her gasping for breath, trying to escape them, but they were too strong and too many.

“God, I hate you. That would make you happy, wouldn’t it?” my mom screamed. Her face was red, eyes black as coal. “Well, guess what? I’ll do it right now! I’ll slit my throat and kill myself. That’s what you want, right? Watch me!”

Her words echoed around me. They slammed into me full-force, digging into my skin. 

She lunged forward to grab me, except it wasn’t her I saw. Hundreds of demons shrieking over and over replaced her. The only thing holding her back was my dad.

That night I fled the house, running until it felt like my heart would go up in flames. Each heavy step matched the rapid thumping of my heart. I laughed maniacally as I imagined running fast enough until I was flying, soaring overhead as I took the shape of a phoenix.

Age 16: Light & Dark

She twirled around and around, her white sundress swishing back and forth. Her golden hair shone in the starlight—a stark contrast to the midnight sky. Her laughter echoed in my ears. Her eyes shone blue; they were as clear as day. Angelic.

I was asked to produce a picture for her remembrance at her funeral.

But my image can’t be produced. This memory embodies her: someone who is not light or dark but the mixing of both. How could I communicate that through one picture?

I settled for a picture of a phoenix instead.

I had always wondered why she was drawn to the fiery bird, why it was my nickname. Perhaps she thought dying was the only way she would be able to rise from the ashes like a phoenix, free of all the monsters that plagued her in her past life. Perhaps she believed death would bring her the peace she never found on earth. Perhaps she was somewhere now where her Little Phoenix shopped extravagantly with her, our heads thrown back as our laughter rang in the air, stumbling into each other in a rush to hide all the shiny clothes and bags before Dad got home.

english language learner

The year is 2041. AI has led us astray. What has happened?

Haadiya Sobani, creative category

Salvation

Kerosene.

When I was a child - skittish, agitated, lost - they'd told me kerosene would help relieve my worries. A liquid similar to petrol, yet slow to grasp at a flame and cheaper. Much cheaper. Wide-eyed, I'd watched it seep through jagged cracks in the mechanical monster before me. A flame was tossed at me, flickering midair before diminishing in my palm. Burn it, they whispered, avenge your loved ones.

I spent my time learning about the reality of our world. The Movement, it was a new regime; a superior way of living. They'd preached at us, tantalizing the world with the notion of change. We'd be under the protection of science and its revolutionary breakthroughs. Humanity would reform to improve, evolve and prosper.

Liars, all of them.

We knew that - and we were proven right when they stopped constructing top of the line cities for those unable to fund The Movement. Left with half developed metropolises that became overrun with crime and injustice, the weak were left to fend for themselves.

But I found solace in those willing to make a change - willing to act. Citizens mumble our name and the government prohibits acknowledging it. We've proven that everything submits to the wrath of nature; to the wrath of fire. An entire society that found a way to be seen when they weren't heard. A society even those high up the patriarchy cower away from in fear.

Dabbling in the art of arson became our slogan, our repertoire. Our form of rebellion against inhumane creations administered to monitor the population.

I inhale deeply to take in the strong chemical scent wafting towards me. I fix my eyes on the Convoys surrounding us. Seven of them, armed and aiming their weapons directly at us. Heavy chrome armour adorn their bodies; pink, red and blue lights forming hues on their black uniforms. Uniforms they'd chosen to wear.

Slowly, two Convoys shuffle closer, their boots dragging through deep puddles on the ground. The taller one lowers his gun - a Spectre M4 redesigned specially for security. To stun, not kill. He calls out something along the lines of unmask yourself, but I feign ignorance. His partner's grip tightens on her Spectre as she steps closer.

Kal nudges me nervously, his elbow making contact with my bruised ribs. I grunt in indignation, my right hand edging towards the hem of my hood. Time slows down, and my heartbeat forms a heavy tempo against my sternum. I drop my Zippo from my sleeve and into my palm, twirling it between my gloved fingers before flicking it open.

Five letters slide off my tongue as I lean forward ever so slightly, a blur of orange swaying gently in my hand.

"Catch."

Seven Spectres aim at the fallen lighter and we leap off the rooftop, wind hollering in our ears. But it all goes quiet when flames begin their descent through the trail we set within the building. More luminous than any light in the city, more incessant than any artificial intelligence.

 ---

The sensation of pure, unfiltered adrenaline coursing through my veins is an experience unmatched by any other. From the moment my harness hooks onto the ledge and I lose sight of the rooftop, every ounce of tension in my muscles seem to evaporate. Small tendrils of hair come loose from my braid, delicately fluttering against my skin and an enthralling view of chaos ascends from the city - my city- 'Tor' in toxic plumes of smoke. I crave it, that feeling of fear mixed with false bravado. The thrill.

And perhaps I even enjoy the silence that follows me as I plummet from sixty-seven stories of Red Rooms set ablaze.

"Fallon."

The brief silence which instantly dissipates as soon as my boots touch

 concrete.

"Fallon, hurry up."

I stop prodding at my eye with a huff, "If you'd rather leave without properly getting things done, Kal, then by all means - leave."

He pulls his balaclava off, mumbling under his breath. A disapproving frown tugs at my mouth but I don't chide him just yet. He's a newbie. A jumpy, nervous kid. It's why he wore a balaclava instead of a wig like everyone else. It's why I have to be lenient with his immature grumbles.

Besides, I'm far too busy fishing out a colored lens from the surface of my eyeball to care about the hysterics of a panicked infant. It's standard practice; wearing gloves, wigs, lenses, masks, et cetera, et cetera, and burning them at the end of each job. We do it in order to maintain anonymity. Even a miniscule glimpse of any of our faces or the shadow of a fingerprint can result in being executed.

Publicly executed in the centre of Tor with our corpses displayed in all their putrid, rotten, deteriorating beauty.

"That was stupidly uneventful," Kal mutters, referring to our earlier excursion, grabbing me by my collar and hauling me out of my thoughts. We make a left turn that leads us away from the alleyway, the faint scent of petrol lingering on the fabric of our clothes.

I hum instead of snapping at him to be grateful nothing of note had occurred. I've upset him enough for a day. He remains silent with his brow furrowed. I do the same.

As we step out onto the crowded streets of Central Tor, I watch him take in the sheer amount of people bustling about at night, unbothered by the drones zipping through the marketplace with their radars. Children run about, skinny and frail, clothed in tattered yet brightly colored garments. Women who go about bargaining, a feeble and ineffective method to try and lower prices.

It's how people like us live; basic necessities aren't easily obtainable during the day and affording everyday meals is a luxury. I know that, but Kal doesn't. He was born privileged and comfortable in the Capital.

He looks over at me and then at the Convoy near a wine stall close by, a slightly dazed expression glossing over his features, "What now?"

I shrug, a small smile forming on my face. My hands slip into my pockets, gaze flicking up at the pink sky, heavy with smog and the promise of rain, "We celebrate."

His bewilderment doesn't fade for the next few minutes, even as we both drop onto the edge of my apartment's building. Nearly eight hundred feet above the ground and all we do is bite into identical ice cream sandwiches with nothing to accompany us but the bittersweet essence of freedom.

It's comforting and slightly strange how easily I warmed up to the kid in an hour of walking about. We talked about how he'd found himself in Tor looking for its feared Insurgency. He wouldn't tell me how he heard of us but he did say that after the passing of his mother, he had nowhere else to go.

He told me he's surprised I'm being nice to him and I haven't already shoved him off the ledge. I told him not to give me any ideas. Then we lapse into a peaceful silence I find myself enjoying.

"How'd it all happen anyways?" he asks suddenly. I look at him and the sleep evidently weighing down his eyelids. For the first time I truly realise how young he is, still three years away from being an adult.

"The Movement?" When he nods, I sigh, propping myself up on my palms, "It happened because there were too many people."

Too many people and not enough space, not enough resources to go around. Not enough humanity to go around. Everything was an experiment, a means to an end - a profitable end. The experiments weren't carried out by humans though. They'd created robots that looked nothing like people and yet acted just like them. Robots that killed with no hesitation to extinguish any objections, just as The Manufacturers had programmed them to.

Robots that killed the seven world leaders that had begun this new regime.

It was chaos and an opportunity for rebellions to break free. Until technocrats had risen and taken complete charge. I spare Kal the details; the horrors I'd been forced to witness when my parents were murdered for protesting after things started going downhill. After the countless promises made to us were broken.

I'd watched the discreet massacring of the elderly and orphaned in the name of science and salvation. Children were lined up like lambs for slaughter, because that's what we were to them. Lab rats. One by one, the children I'd known for roughly three months slumped to the floor, lifeless and unmoving.

When my turn came, I ran.

I ran until my heart threatened to tear past the confines of my ribcage. I ran until the bitter smell of death couldn't trace my steps and find me once again. I ran until I found my home for the next seventeen years.

I ran until I found my own salvation.

ARGUMENTATIVE

FIRST PLACE: Nguyen My Hai Ngoc, Vietnam

SECOND PLACE: Emil Shadid, Costa Rica

THIRD PLACE: Arvind Salem, United States

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER: Juan Diego Coronel French

First Place

It would be a good thing if by the year 2050, half the pregnancies in developed countries occurred through surrogacy. Agree or disagree?

Nguyen My Hai Ngoc, Argumentative

vietnam

The Market of Maternal Love? - A world of surrogacy and exploitation

“Get ready to go to the hospital, Ngoc.”  This was my final message from my mom before I realized with shock that my mother, LyLy, had to endure the agony of losing her child twice in her life. My heart did indeed have a knot, my blood vessels seemed to have been severed and had ceased to function as I thought of the image of my mother after she lost her children. It led me to wonder, "How do I exist?” My mother’s experience proved to me the impact fertility troubles can have on women. How many individuals can truly sympathize with the despair and pain experienced by women who are having reproductive issues? Surrogacy is a solution for these women - but, as many fear, will the growth of surrogacy only mark a proliferation of a tragic tendency in the exploitation of women 42 years after I was born in 2008?

This piece recognizes the benefits that surrogacy offers in the present day for women, families and children. However, I contend that regardless of these merits, the world this question describes in 2050 is one of the industrialization of maternal love. We can, and should, acknowledge the benefits of surrogacy while seeking to prevent this world emerging. 

Surrogacy in the present day addresses various fertility issues of women, gives a secure life to children in these families, and especially yields happiness to all couples. We have a duty to assist the 39% of women under 35 who have reproductive difficulties  (OASH, 2021) as part of their human right to be treated fairly. Surrogacy is how we can help these women. When the children are born carrying their genes, rather than having to adopt children who they share no biological connection with, surrogacy helps women live the life that they desire and, therefore, allows them more choice and freedom. Furthermore, for many the pinnacle and most reputable status a woman may achieve in life is in parenting. Sharing in God's creative power by giving birth to a human being is a gift that only a mother can properly appreciate. 

Moreover, a Cambridge University study (“Children of Surrogate Mothers”, 2017) found that 86% of surrogates' own children were happy with their mọther’s participation in surrogacy, with a majority of children born through surrogacy having a relationship with both their legal and surrogate mothers. Mitchell Green, who is an English surrogate, has stated “You never think the baby is yours” in heradvocacy for helping couples with fertility issues (The Economist, 2015). Surrogacy brings these children into existence and, handled well, does not entail the splitting up of families.

Furthermore, surrogacy not only supports these families in their troubles conceiving but also protects such couples from breaking up. According to Smart Marriages, in the United States, 66% of couples in 2010 who divorced were childless (EmaxHealth, 2010). The relationship between the absence of children and loneliness in marriages is remarkably significant, a finding which could be explicated by the fact that children are a key motivator to keep families more solid. Divorce is commonly effortless if families do not have children, both legally and monetarily though perhaps not always emotionally. This is because there are no custody disputes or family courts to worry about; all that must be taken into account is who receives what properties and the division of the assets. An empirical study from Wilkinson & Finkbeiner (“Divorce Statistic”, 2022) found that the divorce rate for childfree couples is as much as 40% higher than for those with children. Surrogacy helps these couples to become more sustainable and healthy, helping everyone involved and preventing divorce. These various positives prove that the right to surrogacy should indeed be protected.

However, if 50% of births in the developed world occurred through surrogacy, we must ask whether surrogates would become economic tools commercially and even whether a ‘trade market’ in maternal love would emerge. On this scale, surrogates in the developing world would be exploited brutally, ruthlessly and furiously - as underprivileged and illiterate women attempted to attain ten years worth of their normal salary in a single pregnancy. Remarkably, in 2015, a European Parliament report itself described surrogacy as being “reproductive exploitation” that “undermines the human dignity” of women (“Annual Report on Human Rights”, 2015).

In this new world, we will see greater economic, emotional and physical exploitation of women in the developing world. On economic exploitation, the more supply we have of a service the lower its price will become. Thus, when the sheer number of surrogates increases to this extent the amount each surrogate can earn from a pregnancy is likely to dwindle significantly, making the industry even more exploitative. 

Moreover, the risk of emotional difficulties such as stress and frustration is inevitable because of the hormonal changes during childbearing. A research paper from the National Library of Medicine has indicated that the prevalence of perceived stress amongst pregnant women was 11.6% (NIH, PMC, 2019) while the emotionally destructive surrogacy will place even greater stress on surrogate candidates compared to normal pregnancies when it operates on this industrial scale (Reproductive BioMedicine Online, 2014). A Kashan University of Medical Sciences official publication featured an interview with a 31-year-old surrogate who stated that “I had morning sickness during the entire nine months in my surrogacy. I think I will have to spend all the money earned to treat my problems.” (“The Experience of Surrogate Mothers'', 2020). To cement this point, let’s examine how surrogates' physical health would deteriorate in this world if a study of German women showed that 41% of them suffered reduced physical well-being during pregnancy. (EJNC, 2021). Do we truly want to live in such a world?

Furthermore, in the 27 years until 2050, great cultural and legal problems would emerge as the number of pregnancies occurring through surrogacy rose from 0.2% (NLM, 2022) to 50%. This rise will result in conflict between cultures, as women receive sperm from single men through in vitro fertilization, or in order to carry out surrogacy for recipients such as LGBT couples leading to great legal and cultural conflicts in several nations. Surrogacy in small and controlled numbers to support couples experiencing challenges having children is necessary and fantastic, but due to the effect on society and religion if surrogacy increased so dramatically there would be a tremendous backlash. 

From my family’s history, I am well aware of the value of reproductive technology for helping women. It is undeniable that surrogates enable women with reproductive difficulties to become mothers, while helping society avoid divorce and create families. However, in a world in which 50% of pregnancies occur through surrogacy, would pregnancy continue to retain its powerful link to maternal love or would it simply become a business to abuse women? We should strive to prevent this world from emerging since this society would be worse for women, children and families.

second Place

Is gene editing ethical?

Emil Shadid, Argumentative

costa rica

Knowledge at the service of humanity

What's the point, doctor? I'm dying regardless, aren't I? This was Brian Madeux’s (49) leading dispute with doctors at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, California, a few days before getting injected with gene editing tools to treat a metabolic inherited disease called Hunter Syndrome. For decades, he experienced a life filled with despondency and trepidation due to a single defective chromosome that triggered organ failure, brain damage, and developmental delays inside his body. Finally, on November 13th, 2017, CRISPR-Cas9, the world's preeminent genome editing machine, was utilized to implant a vast amount of the corrective gene in the patient, which resulted in a slow yet effective amelioration of his condition. Undoubtedly, this technology is relatively new and is in its experimental stages, but disregarding such futuristic machinery out of fear undervalues the substantial effect on others.

The first sightings of gene editing date back to the late 1900s. In 2009, scientists had a breakthrough with CRISPR-Cas9, which outperformed previous methods in terms of speed, simplicity, cost, and accuracy. Incipiently, this idea was deemed meaningful, but as the research progressed, many were scared of its outcome. Due to ethical concerns, the United States, Japan, Norway, China, and India determined that continuing this trail would be precarious and therefore proclaimed it illegal to perform. In addition, they believed that genome modification amounted to playing God, which relies on the outlook that everything natural is favorable. However, if replicated, we would be unable to use antibiotics, practice medicine, combat famine, or tackle diseases that kill millions of humans yearly; yet, this is all perfectly natural. In other words, why use religion to paint the study as immoral when, in reality, we overlook the possibility of eliminating numerous conditions that cause others unimaginable pain?

Nevertheless, despite the widespread concern for mosaicism and the unknowingness towards genome editing, this is not the first time that society has questioned a medical discovery. In 1847, Idnaz Semmelweis conducted research on puerperal fever. It revealed that when doctors performed autopsies, cadaverous particles would adhere to their skin, thus transmitting the virus. Although he faced criticism, hand hygiene now ranks among the best infection prevention methods. To quote German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “To live is to suffer; to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” The Bible extends this idea in Philippians 2:4 by stating, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” As a result, it is unjust to enact legislation prohibiting the discovery of cures to diseases that afflict humans daily when the technology to assist and revolutionize their lives for the better exists.

Gene editing is controversial, but whether it is ethical or not, the answer is a heartfelt yes. From a moral standpoint, it is only righteous to allow others to experience life without suffering and find their meaning. As Socrates once wrote, “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”

However, is it immoral to disregard the variegated interpretations that ethics possesses and their veracious repercussions? Ever since the dawn of time, human beings have never established a universally accepted definition for such a term. Given that everyone is distinct, there are various justifications for our moral compass, which defines what is virtuously right or wrong. Additionally, our opinions on whether a subject is ethical or unethical are not valued because they develop in a governmental setting where arbitrary and prejudiced evaluations occur, which is beyond our control. For instance, a pregnant woman had heard that her son would most likely be affected by her family's long-term experience with cancer. Afraid of the life he might lead, she decides to undergo the gene-editing procedure, depriving him of a saddening lifestyle. Nevertheless, the young boy, who is now an adult, considers the challenges and issues he faced as having played a role in shaping his identity. The mother in this storyline views the approach as ethical because she understands it would significantly deteriorate her financial situation and mental health if he acquired this disease. On the other hand, her child would not grow up to be the same individual, which debates the unethical side of the concept. If gene editing were legal, regardless of the risks, the mother could go against her hypothetical son's wishes without knowing what could have happened. As a whole, ethicality has always been a two-way street regarding the difficulties millions of humans endure daily. Without a doubt, the lack of a clear meaning of the word ethical leaves us all in doubt that the solutions to many worldwide problems, such as dangerous inherited conditions, are more complex to solve without considering every perspective.

Undoubtedly, ethics have always been a part of history, whether it was to avoid bloodshed in wars or to keep the world balanced and fair, as shown at the conference in Paris that set the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. While arguing over morality, French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas once defined its necessity as a way to save oneself from violence and terror and apply infinite responsibility to others. In other words, it is a way to reflect on specific issues and avoid conflict if necessary. Unfortunately, the intricacy linked to the matter is often undervalued under certain circumstances, which creates a path for citizens to follow politicians or the country's jurisdiction mindlessly and exploitatively while concealing their true objectives. Even though it might not seem accomplishable, genome editing is not far off from being utilized only to benefit certain people recognized by their money and influence over social media. The concept of immortality has been assumed to be unreachable by humans. It is considered impossible due to highly reactive molecules that initiate chemical changes, ultimately leading to death. Nevertheless, what if there was a way to stay alive forever? What if gene modification is the answer to a mystery most of our ancestors fantasized about solving? Realistically, all of these doubts matter, but the most crucial question is: do we want to find out? Not only would wealthy individuals subsidize and eventually misuse the technology, but the outlook that life is not endless inspires others to take risks and follow their dreams. After all, we must establish limitations for this machine to prevent the future of medicine from leading to society's downfall.

Overall, genome editing has one of the best chances of becoming a cure that not only heals but also provides guidance to humans worldwide that need support. There are many people that forget the importance of caring for others and help them achieve happiness since not everyone is born with the same qualities. Without this, the world would become unjust and no one would understand the true meaning of helping others. There should never be a time where we have to choose between the interest of others and what we believe is morally correct. Our time living is not limitless, which means that we should not take every minute that counts for granted. It's better to live, than to die regretting not fighting for a cause. However, we can only focus on the dangers and disadvantages that CRISPR-Cas9 could bring. It is inhuman that we give up and watch as our friends, colleagues, and fellow citizens suffer from the continued prejudice and injustice they did not choose or deserve. More often than not, ethical and unethical describe specific projects or ideas but only partially reflect what they represent. Typically people forget that there is never a black-and-white scenario. We should not let others' mischievous intentions disregard our true objective: to improve the lives of many people around the globe. Through the continued effort and compromisation of citizens and the open-mindedness regarding newer technologies, we shall overcome such unethical arguments and grant other Brians the possibility to step into a future greatly prophesied about and only observed in fiction. 

References:

Wilber, David. “The Messiah’s Preexistence and Divinity in Philippians 2:5-11 — David Wilber.” David Wilber, 18 Jan. 2023, www.davidwilber.com/articles/the-messiahs-preexistence-and-divinity-in-philippians2v5-11.

“A Human Has Been Injected With Gene-editing Tools to Cure His Disabling Disease. Here’s What You Need to Know.” Science | AAAS, 18 Feb. 2023, www.science.org/content/article/human-has-been-injected-gene-editing-tools-cure-his-disabling-disease-here-s-what-you.

Associated Press. “Second Man Undergoes Gene Editing; Therapy Has No Safety Flags so Far.” VOA, 7 Feb. 2018, 

www.voanews.com/a/second-man-undergoes-gene-editing/4242428.html.

Associated Press. “Newer Methods May Boost Gene Therapy’s Use for More Diseases.” New York Post, 2 June 2021, www.nypost.com/2021/06/02/newer-methods-may-boost-gene-therapys-use-for-more-diseases.

Gyngell, Christopher, et al. “Moral Reasons to Edit the Human Genome: Picking up From the Nuffield Report.” Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 45, no. 8, BMJ, Aug. 2019, pp. 514–23. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2018-105084.

Ethical Issues: Germline Gene Editing | ASGCT - American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy |. www.patienteducation.asgct.org/patient-journey/ethical-issues-germline-gene-editing.

Nhgri. “What Are the Ethical Concerns of Genome Editing?” Genome.gov, 13 Mar. 2019, www.genome.gov/about-genomics/policy-issues/Genome-Editing/ethical-concerns.

What Are the Ethical Issues Surrounding Gene Therapy?: MedlinePlus Genetics. www.medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/therapy/ethics.

What Are the Ethical Issues Surrounding Gene Therapy?: MedlinePlus Genetics. www.medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/therapy/ethics.

“Pro And Con: Should Gene Editing Be Performed on Human Embryos?” Magazine, 3 May 2021, www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/human-gene-editing-pro-con-opinions.

Bergman, Mary Todd. “Harvard Researchers Share Views on Future, Ethics of Gene Editing.” Harvard Gazette, 8 Nov. 2022, 

www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/01/perspectives-on-gene-editing.

“What Are Some Medical Breakthroughs That Were Initially Ridiculed or Rejected?” Quora, www.quora.com/What-are-some-medical-breakthroughs-that-were-initially-ridiculed-or-rejected.

“Hunter Syndrome: Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment and Outlook.” Cleveland Clinic, www.my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17932-hunter-syndrome.

“Inherited Metabolic Disorders - Symptoms and Causes - Mayo Clinic.” Mayo Clinic, 12 July 2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/inherited-metabolic-disorders/symptoms-causes/syc-20352590.

Third Place

It would be a good thing if by the year 2050, half the pregnancies in developed countries occurred through surrogacy. Agree or disagree?

Arvind Salem, Argumentative

united states

“I felt like someone that sold my child.” These were the words that emotional surrogate mother Tanya Prashad choked out when recounting giving up her surrogate child at birth: a decision that still haunts her a decade later. Years later, on one of her visitations, her child could only muster one question: “Why did you give me away?” The same question haunts hundreds of surrogate children including Brian, who bluntly states "It looks to me like I was bought and sold." 

Tanya’s story is not offered to shun surrogacy in every circumstance: in some instances, surrogacy is necessary, particularly when biological and social considerations leave the prospective parents with no other choice. Surrogacy has blessed many infertile and homosexual couples with children and allowed women to balance motherhood and their career. However, it is clear that surrogacy is fraught with complications. Thus, while surrogacy is necessary in certain cases, its adverse effects on both individuals and society make it undesirable on a large scale. 

Individually, surrogacy adversely affects the birth mother and the child. Due to the sheer number of medicines the mother must take for the embryo to be successfully implanted, any surrogacy is automatically characterized as a high-risk pregnancy, with complications including ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, blood clots, cancer, and even death. Additionally, many mothers, like Tanya, experience emotional trauma when giving up the child they carried. A 2014 study published in the Iranian Journal of Reproductive Medicine concluded that surrogacy was a high-risk emotional experience and recommended that surrogates receive professional counseling throughout the process, with a 2018 study published in the Journal Human Reproduction finding that surrogates have higher levels of depression both during and after their pregnancy. Moreover, surrogacy has an adverse impact on children: a 2017 study published in the American Society for Reproductive Medicine found that children born through surrogacy are at increased risk for low birth weight, hypertension, and placenta previa, and even worse, a 2014 study from the Journal of Perinatology found a 4-5 times increase in stillbirths from pregnancies conducted through assisted reproductive technologies, including those used in surrogacy.  Furthermore, it is widely acknowledged that children born from surrogacy have problems adjusting especially in adolescence.  A 2012 study from the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry found that children born from surrogacies had higher levels of difficulty in adjusting, even beyond levels found in children conceived from gamete donation, indicating that the lack of a gestational connection between mother and child hinders the child's development, with the study's authors noting that mothers are prone to understating their child's psychological adjustment difficulties  so the difficulties are likely greater than those found in this study. Crucially, the results hold for children who are not aware of their origins, although they are weakened, since mothers who hide their children's origin express distress as a result of guilt, which has a negative impact on the child: an effect amplified if the child knows the true reason. 

It follows that since surrogacy is harmful to the individuals involved that it is harmful at a societal level. However, surrogacy's adverse effect on society exceeds its total individual harm. Proponents of surrogacy argue that surrogacy is a societal benefit because it allows more couples to have children. Furthermore, since these parents go through many extra steps to have children, they are likely more loving, endowing the child with an environment conducive to success. For women, surrogacy also represents a happy medium between career and childbirth, allowing women to have the best of both worlds. By extension, women are free to focus on their careers, allowing them to compete with men, enhancing societal productivity, by freeing up women's time when they are at their peak. Thus, surrogacy represents a potent vehicle for social equality and productivity. Yet, the very fact that society requires this many surrogacies is a cause for concern. Societally, the frequency of surrogacy is a barometer to measure the frequency of the constraints that necessitate surrogacy. Thus, a rapid proliferation in surrogacy would mean that society has a high rate of these constraints such as infertility and a continued penalty on career-oriented women, which would ideally wane as society advances, making surrogacy societally undesirable not as a result of what it causes per se, but of what an increase in surrogacy indicates. A much more desirable outcome would be a decrease in infertility and stronger protections for new mothers, allowing them to balance their career and childbirth, not an increase in these conditions that force couples to turn to surrogacy. 

A possibility overlooked in the previous argument is that medical advances could make surrogacy cheaper and more accessible, resulting in an increase in surrogacies without necessarily meaning an increase in the underlying conditions behind surrogacy. However, extending this argument reveals dangerous implications behind the expansion of surrogacy. If half of the pregnancies in the developed world are through surrogacy, demand would increase, driving up prices and restricting access to surrogacy. Eventually, there wouldn't be enough women available to serve as surrogates, making its growth self-limiting. The only way that surrogacy could continue to grow is by introducing a new supply of women to lower the price, counteracting the lack of available women. Since the scenario specifies that surrogacy’s growth would appear in the developed world, the surrogacy industry could outsource the service, by paying women in developing countries to carry the child. Yet, women in developing countries are often ill-equipped to consider this life-altering decision. HBO correspondent Gianna Toboni discovered that surrogacy companies utilize predatory tactics to recruit women in developing countries, specifically in India. Women are routinely recruited from impoverished areas, directed to sign contracts that they cannot read, much less understand, and forced to spend a year away from home in a facility and undergo a painful and risky Cesarean section delivery to maximize the number of births per day even when not medically necessary. Additionally, doctors often implant multiple embryos to increase the chances of the woman successfully becoming pregnant, without notifying the intended parents. Additional children are often sold into the black market to families from wealthier nations. If not, they are sentenced to a life of human trafficking, slavery, sexual exploitation, and forced marriage unbeknownst to the intended parents.  

Moreover, surrogacy’s globalization and profitability mean that women in developing countries focus more on surrogacy rather than living a normal life and bearing their own children. Surrogacy may leave them too physically and emotionally drained to have their own children, which has dangerous implications for the demographics of developing countries. The number of children in future generations will vastly drop, leaving these countries unable to maintain a robust social safety net to care for the elderly and disadvantaged.

Thus, surrogacy’s harm to both individuals and society renders it undesirable on a large scale. Individually, it physically and emotionally harms the birth mother and the child. Societally, the very need for surrogacy highlights structural biological and social problems that prevent traditional pregnancies, while exploiting the developing world. For every surrogacy, there is a Tanya forced to give up their child, a Brian haunted by his very existence, and two parents with no other choice. On the other side of the globe, women are packed into facilities, coerced into carrying someone else's child, and a host of additional children dismissed as collateral damage, sentenced to a life of subjugation and abuse, all in the service of a billion-dollar industry that degrades individuals and destabilizes society.  

english language learner

What should the ideal age of voting be? 

Juan Diego Coronel French, Argumentative

Lowering Voters’ Age: A Step Towards Youth Empowerment in South America

The year 2012 marked a turning point in Argentina’s history, as its National Congress made a historic decision towards strengthening democracy. Almost unanimously, they lowered the voting age, allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to participate in political processes1. This decision started the path of not just one, but thousands of future political leaders who, from a young age, will have made their voices heard.

Lowering the voting age represents a step forward in the constant search for universalizing the right to vote. At first, this right was reserved for privileged males, however, over the years the requirements were considered precarious and subsequently modified in favor of women, racial minorities, and even young people2. Nowadays, there is a global debate about whether the conventional voting age of 18 years should be labeled as obsolete. While most States are still deliberating, some South American countries have made significant progress in this regard. As mentioned, Argentina, together with Ecuador and Brazil, are among the minority States that have successfully implemented this reform3, while the remaining countries of the region face the consequences of not doing so.

South America has a unique opportunity to expand democracy and set an example for the rest of the world by standardizing a lower voting age. Despite facing challenges associated with its underdevelopment, South America has a strong tradition of youth involvement in politics through protests and activism. By lowering the voting age young people would be empowered to take an active role on political issues, while creating a strong generation of leaders. All sectors of society deserve representation by their rulers, and underage people, excluded from voting, feel disconnected from their governors. This leads to political apathy, a phenomenon seen in today’s world. The development of a future generation active in politics is the only way to combat it, and this can be achieved by giving young people suffrage. It is essential to analyze precedents where voting age was lowered, and where it has not, with emphasis on ensuring young people can re-engage with politics. South America, rather than a place of trial and error, has the potential of being seen as innovative and committed to democracy. 

Following Argentina’s case, the “Voto Joven” (Youth Vote) law went into effect for the 2013 legislative elections. However, only 20% of young people participated4, allowing critics to label the initiative as a failure. This situation made the Argentine Government realize that if they wanted to see results in youth turnout, the effort needed to extend beyond a mere law. On one hand, the national Undersecretariat for Political Affairs recognized youth vote as a fundamental human right, partnering with other national and sub-national institutions to promote young people’s interests on public affairs5. The objective was to reduce the participation gap between 16 to 17-year-olds and all other voters. After five electoral processes, a peak of 63% youth turnout was registered, as a result of the aforementioned efforts6. This led, on the other hand, to international organizations supporting the youth vote because of its positive impact. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), for example, has promoted lowering the voting age on a global scale through dialogue and recommendations to States7. Furthermore, UNICEF has launched campaigns encouraging young Argentines to vote, reinforcing the government’s initiatives8. “Voto Joven” has been successful in lowering the voting age, and other States can learn from this example and implement similar policies to benefit their citizens.

In recent years, South America has seen an increase in protests with socio-political causes, with young people as the main protagonists. In contrast with previous generations, most people have the right to freedom of expression, which they use to voice dissatisfaction with their governments. One of the most known protests was the Chilean Winter in 2011, where students demanded an improvement in public education. They organized strikes, occupied schools and universities, and blocked roads9. Unlike people of voting age, who can express their views through ballots, young Chileans could only protest. Their only option was to stay in the streets until the government responded, at all costs. The government implemented the requested changes and budget increase, however, the damage had already been done. The massive amount of injured caused many young people to become both fearful and unmotivated to participate in protests10. These events distance underaged people from politics, when the opposite should be the case. Young people should be encouraged to participate in democratic processes. Giving them the opportunity to vote is a way to develop their interest in public issues while reducing the risks usually associated with protests. Although more protests in Chile arose many years later with the 2019 social outburst, these were not entirely motivated by students, compared to what happened in 2011. The Chilean Winter is just one of several cases of youth fighting for their interests, and they should be taken seriously.

Despite the reasons outlined above there is opposition to lowering the voting age, based on three main points. Firstly, critics argue that young people lack sufficient academic knowledge and comprehension of the national issues and candidates to make informed decisions when voting. However, this argument is flawed as young people are the main users of social media apps such as Twitter, where 66% of the content consumed is about politics11.  In addition, voting does not require professional qualifications and it is a fundamental right in a democratic society. Secondly, some argue young people are not interested in politics and may be manipulated by adults. Nonetheless, this position ignores the many protests and movements organized by underaged people, such as the Chilean Winter. Moreover, studies have shown young people are capable of forming better-informed opinions than older generations on topics such as human rights and climate change, as they have more access to information12. Critics also argue young people have not experimented political decisions, and therefore do not understand the impact of voting. However, it is important to understand that politics affect everyone, including young people, and they should have a say in shaping their future. With proper education and campaigns, young people can understand the implications of their choices. Finally, critics say lowering voting age would worsen the situation in imperfect democracies. Yet, leaders have started to recognize the importance of youth participation, as recently seen in Chile’s Constitutional Convention debate, where both left and right-leaning groups agreed on the necessity of empowering young people13. “Voto Joven” is a demonstration of how developing countries can seek improvements on their electoral systems to move in this direction.

Lowering the voting age to 16 is a crucial step towards strengthening democracy and promoting the participation of young people in political processes. The benefits of youth voting are clear, as it allows them to participate in decisions that will influence their future in a direct way. While critics argue that young people lack sufficient knowledge, interest, or life experience, these arguments are flawed. In the era of information, young people are the main consumers of the internet, and it is inevitable to be a stranger to the political situation. Underaged people fight for their interests, as seen in the Chilean Winter. Argentina’s success in lowering voters’ age should serve as an example of an integrated strategy that not only focuses on reform but ensures the measures are effective. The support from international organizations is also functional for promoting youth vote throughout the world. By standardizing a lower voting age, South America can set an example for the rest of the world. It is time for governments to recognize the potential of young people and give them a voice in the decisions that will shape their future. 

Sources

1. BBC News. (2012, November 1). Argentina Lowers Voting Age to 16 for National Elections. Retrieved from

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-20164573

1. Carnegie Corporation of New York (n.d.). Voting Rights Timeline. Corporation of New York. Retrieved from

https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/voting-rights-timeline/

1. Bhatt, S (2021, September 8). Legal Voting Age by Country. WorldAtlas. Retrieved from  

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/legal-voting-age-by-country.html

1. CIPPEC (2017). El espíritu adolescente: el voto joven en Argentina. Retrieved from https://www.cippec.org/publicacion/espiritu-adolescente-el-voto-joven-en-argentina/

1. Subsecretaría de Asuntos Políticos (n.d). Voto joven. Gobierno de Argentina. Retrieved from

https://www.argentina.gob.ar/interior/subsecretaria-de-asuntos-politicos/voto-joven

1. Ministerio del Interior, Obras Públicas y Vivienda (2016). Voto joven: Balance de la primera elección nacional en Argentina con voto a los 16 años. Retrieved from https://www.argentina.gob.ar/sites/default/files/voto_joven_6.7.pdf

1. UNICEF. (n.d). Free to be young. Retrieved from

https://changingchildhood.unicef.org/stories/free-to-be-young

1. UNICEF. (2021, August 6). Activistas de UNICEF visitan a jóvenes para hablar de voto joven. Retrieved from

https://www.unicef.org/argentina/comunicados-prensa/activistas-unicef-anmisita-voto-joven-2021

1. El Soberano. (2019, August 27). Chile: el invierno estudiantil. Retrieved from https://www.elsoca.org/index.php/mundo/internacionales/2096-chle-el-invierno-estudiantil

1. Ojo Público (2020, November 16). Un memorial a los adolescentes y jóvenes muertos en las protestas. Retrieved from

   https://ojo-publico.com/4045/un-memorial-los-adolescentes-y-jovenes-muertos-las-protestas

1. Twitter (2019, September 5). Twitter es la red donde la información política tiene mayor relevancia en Argentina. Blog. Retrieved from

https://blog.twitter.com/es_es/topics/insights/2019/twitter-es-la-red-donde-la-informacion-politica-tiene-mayor-rele

1. Lindekilde, L., Togeby , L. (2022). The Great COVID-19 Lockdown Experiment: Voter Responses to Government Performance. Politics and Governance. Retrieved from

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17461979221097072

1. Cooperativa Chile (2022). Nueva Constitución: Voto voluntario para jóvenees de 16 y 17 años, obligatorio desde lo 18. Retrieved from

https://cooperativa.cl/noticias/pais/politica/constitucion/nueva-constitucion-voto-voluntario-para-jovenes-de-16-y-17-anos/2022-05-06/185308.html

journalistic

FIRST PLACE: Dominic Craig L. Carpio, The Philippines

SECOND PLACE: Madeline Magielnicki, United States

THIRD PLACE: Daniel Liang, Australia

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER: Laura Vasilachi

first place

Modern journalists primarily chase clicks, scandals, bad news, and public take-downs. What impact does this have on our society?

Dominic Craig L. Carpio, journalistic

the philippines

Blinding Spectacles

“Wherefore, all the accused…are hereby found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of two crimes of kidnapping and serious illegal detention and are hereby sentenced to imprisonment of two reclusiones perpetua (life sentences).”

In the middle of the cramped, hot courtroom, amid the uproar of the court’s decision, the 21-year-old accused Francisco Larrañaga—commonly known as Paco—is embraced by his family as they are drowned in the flashes of cameras. 

Paco is charged, along with six other men, to have abducted, sexually violated, and murdered two sisters in the central Philippine island of Cebu. Paco, the gang’s alleged leader, also belongs to a prominent political family in the country which includes a former president and other local political figures. His privileged upbringing and his Spanish-Filipino descent made him what Filipinos would call a mestizo: a term carried from the Spanish colonial caste to refer to an upper class of mixed heritage. 

The year was 1997: the country was in the infancy of rebuilding from the upper class’s kleptocratic reign. Just a little over a decade ago, the Philippines underwent one of the most fundamentally transformative chapters of its history: a bloodless revolution monikered “People Power” ousted and exiled former dictator President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. Under his brutal 14-year rule, the freedoms of the press were significantly stifled. Under the presidency that followed, the country with a new constitution created what is described as the “freest press in Asia.” 

The press now unafraid and bold, the country’s insatiable hunger for a big story was sparked. “People think in terms of flashing headlines,” said Sheila Coronel, an investigative journalist. Tabloids in the country’s many languages would prove very popular, and television newscasts that have adopted a tabloid format of reporting have captured as much as 60% of nightly national audiences in their prime. 

And for a country obsessed with headlines on justice: crime stories, corruption scandals, and holding the powerful to account, Paco’s arrest caught the media’s undivided attention. For the sheer gravity of the crime, what left a particularly sour taste in the public’s mouth was the fact that Paco was a mestizo. As political families are pervasive in the Philippines, coming from such a lineage was in itself perceived as corruption. Thereupon, the unfolding saga “was the story that was selling headlines and much more interesting,” said documentary filmmaker Michael Collins. 

“I said, well, good for the justice system. A rich boy is going to jail, I mean, it works... Right? None of [his family’s] power could stop him because that was what I was getting from the newspapers,” said Solita Monsod, a journalist and economist.

His arrest and the baring of the crime’s details caught the country by storm. Graphic pictures of the dead body of one of the sisters ran on papers and television. “Cop describes violated body,” a headline ran. A Filipino journalist doing a piece on the case cupped his two hands together, saying: “This much sperm was found inside the victim’s body.” 

Paco, who the media often described as a “scion” of a prominent family for his lineage, was soon painted by journalists as privileged drug-addict along with his accomplices. A nightly television magazine news program, Assignment, did a piece on Paco’s crime. “The fate of the…sisters shows what drugs can do. These animals were not born drugged. They made themselves into drug addicts,” said the reporter.

Meanwhile, the media also made a spectacle of the daughters’ bereaved parents. The victims’ mother would testify how Paco and his companions pursued her daughters. The parents sat for interviews and would retell how Paco’s group repeatedly threatened the two. “My daughter told me Larrañaga was always trailing her in school. They ruined my children’s future. And I think that I deserve justice,” said the mother of the victims in a televised interview.

Despite months of investigation and a presidential intervention that saw more law enforcement agencies looking into the case, substantial evidence was yet to be found against Paco in what the media now called “the trial of the decade.” 

That was until the 8th member of Paco’s gang surfaced. 

Davidson Rusia turned himself in, saying his conscience was haunted by his victims and immediately confessed. He soon became the star witness for the case and the central basis of the prosecution, outlining exhaustively the gruesome details of their crime. 

“Rusia took the witness stand for several days, and every day it’s like a teleserye (soap opera) that people watch, and people want to know what Rusia had to say. It’s like he has this fan club,” said Suzanne Alueta, a journalist, on his time as a witness.

One need not imagine what a soap opera based off of Rusia’s account would look like. Even before Paco and the defense could present their case, a highly dramatized reenactment of the crime was broadcast across the nation by a prominent television network in an installment of a true crime investigative documentary series. 

Now already two years since the crime took place, the verdict to the case could finally be delivered. A large convoy of government vehicles bringing police and the accused to the court were greeted by crowds of citizens and the media that surrounded the courthouse. The courtroom was visibly packed beyond capacity, with the squeezed crowd dotted by both photographers and television cameramen who brought along their equipment.

Immediately after the court’s conviction, the room erupted into chaos. Cameramen raised their heavy equipment above the heads of people to capture the maelstrom of journalists swarming the victims’ mother who was screaming in distress. “We want death!” she screamed. As if echoing the calls of the victims’ weeping family, the scores of people that surrounded the courthouse shouted “Death!” as they jeered and booed Paco and his accomplices. 

Amid all this spectacular media sensation, one could easily see how this story is an arc of justice: how a “scion” of a wealthy and prominent family was brought to justice when he dared to heinously cross the line.

Indeed, justice saw its way, and the word “death” left people’s mouths and found itself on paper.

The Supreme Court, acting on appeal of the conviction, elevated the sentence of life imprisonment and ordered Paco and his accomplices to death by lethal injection.

It was only by that point when everything unraveled. 

Paco, at the time when the alleged crime occurred, was attending classes in Manila, an entirely different city on an entirely different island, more than 500 miles away. Classmates, teachers, passenger records, and photographic evidence stood irrevocably in his defense.

Despite countless witness testimony and evidence that would otherwise serve as unequivocal facts that supported his alibi, a corrupted justice system deprived him of a fair trial.

“In this fight for justice,” goes a message recorded by Paco in prison, “I have no voice. I need you to be my voice. My hands are shackled. I need you to be my hands.” With the crazed spectacle he has become, his pleas now succumb to the deafening, spectacular “truth.”

An otherwise innocent man with every good reason has been turned into a vile thug by the cyclical hunger for a spectacle. In an overload of graphic pictures and emotional rhapsodies, the “truth” can seemingly materialize itself. However, when we want the story to climax, when the narrative is so convenient, must we allow sensation to speak for the truth?

Perhaps this conviction needed no courtroom—the media’s spectacle was enough for the country to pass its resolute verdict on Paco.

second place

Modern journalists primarily chase clicks, scandals, bad news, and public take-downs. What impact does this have on our society?

Madeline Magielnicki, journalistic

united states

When Fiction Becomes Fact: Sensationalized Reporting in the Modern World

On November 2nd, 2016, American far-right journalist Alex Jones reported on his website, InfoWars — which attracts 7.7 million unique visitors per month — that Hillary Clinton and other Democratic officials were sexually abusing children in the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizza restaurant. Similar illegitimate platforms like Breitbart and HagmannReport publicized the same claims, effectively penetrating mainstream media. Less than one month later, Edgar Maddison Welch traveled from North Carolina to the nation’s capital with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, a .38 handgun, and a knife, prepared to hold Clinton accountable. He thought his mission to be noble, claiming that it would require “sacrificing the lives of a few for the lives of many,” according to court documents. After firing three shots, Welch was arrested and sentenced to four years in prison. This infamous case became known as Pizzagate, and demonstrates how the endless quest for viewer engagement by journalists like Jones breeds ignorance, thereby increasing societal danger and polarization. 

In his novel, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Showbusiness, Neil Postman describes disinformation as “information that creates the illusion of knowing something but which in fact leads one away from knowing.” Oftentimes, it stems from journalists correlating their success with high audience engagement, resulting in chasing ‘clicks’ or ‘scandals’ that may not always encapsulate the truth or are entirely false. Pizzagate is one of many instances that successfully altered peoples’ perceptions of reality and generated vehement mistrust of opposing viewpoints for virality. Others include an article by the online British Newspaper, The Exposé, which published false statistics about COVID-19 in the United States for the sake of widespread viewership and, consequently, revenue. In November of 2022, the paper claimed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 118,000 children and young adults “died suddenly” since the distribution of the Coronavirus vaccines. The piece was republished across various social media platforms like Instagram; one post of the article’s screenshotted headline earned over 15,500 likes as a reward for intimidating gullible readers into risking their health. Together, these instances convey that inaccurate reporting is taking precedence over critical forms of journalism, and degrading the institution as a whole. To prevent this, journalists and society must collectively recognize that the truth is not always the most dramatic event that will generate high revenue. Rather, honest information promotes critical thinking and forces readers to examine a story from various perspectives. 

This proliferation of false news that stems from journalists amassing clicks also has an astounding polarizing effect on our society. A 2020 study conducted by Brown University acknowledged that the increase in political polarization in the United States over the last four decades is directly associated with the rise of 24-hour partisan cable news. Pew Research Center further proved this in a 2016 study; the analysis of 376 million Facebook users’ interactions with over 900 news outlets found that people tend to seek information that aligns with their own biases. This increases negativity, and, in some cases, hostility, towards opposing viewpoints, consequently fostering political polarization. As views become profitable, readers become customers to whom journalists must advertise. Thus, a click is no longer an endeavor into informative news, but instead a political product at the cost of full-breadth discovery and bipartisanship. As John Jost, co-director of the Center for Social and Political Behavior at New York University puts it, partisan news sources are “making money by energizing polarized audiences.”

In addition to these rather concentrated cases, dishonest reporting at the hands of technological metrics is posing dire threats to international politics. In her book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future, Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa describes how “impunity online naturally led to impunity offline, destroying existing checks and balances…I began calling it democracy’s ‘death by a thousand cuts.’” She points at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 as an example, arguing that the accumulation of nearly eight years of misinformation and lies issued by incentivized journalists led to the tragic war. When Russia annexed Crimea in May of 2014, the country undertook a massive disinformation campaign to advance President Vladimir Putin’s image and subvert his adversaries. According to Ressa, Russian news networks “viciously attack[ed] facts with its cheap digital army” through various claims, including that Crimea had consented to its annexation, for example. 

These same harmful techniques and narratives continued into 2022 as the war between Russia and Ukraine erupted, with reporters globally promoting ‘bad news’ for attention and polarization. NewsGuard, an acclaimed tool for journalistic credibility, has identified 358 separate Russia-Ukraine disinformation sites that have spread false narratives since the beginning of the war alone. In November of 2022, journalist Tony Cox published an article in the Russian state-controlled news outlet, Russia Today, that inaccurately posited that the Ukrainian military is dominated by neo-Nazi militias. Cox is credited as a “US journalist who has written and edited for Bloomberg and several major daily newspapers” at the end of the article, inferring legitimacy around such ludicrous claims to the untrained consumer. This counter narrative that justified the invasion of Ukraine by Russia through clicks, then, also lent credence to it. Anyone armed with the internet has access to this inaccurate and potentially harmful information, revealing the need for hard legislation in the online realm; American-owned social media conglomerate Meta has amended its content policy six times alone since the inception of the war. These deficiencies, as showcased by the Ukrainian invasion, have the power to place the sovereignty of entire nations at risk. As long as society’s growing engagement with online journalism and social media remains unregulated, all platforms and their constituents hold the ability to construct new realities. 

The threat of disinformation and its ability to alter our perception of the world as we know it evades sociopolitical, medical, and geographic boundaries, making honest and objective journalism more vital than ever. Ultimately, journalists’ power lies in their agency to select the types of content our society consumes. They hold the ability, and, more importantly, the responsibility, to educate their audiences— not reaffirm their beliefs through flashy, superficial writing. As long as these pioneers ignore this core civic mission of journalism, America and our world at large will inevitably trudge along the path toward self-destruction. 

third place

What is an ongoing technological development that is helping society advance?

Daniel Liang, journalistic

australia

Modern Eugenics: “The revolution of our evolution?”

Forty-five years ago, in a research facility in Japan’s prestigious Osaka School of Science, first-year student Yoshizumi Ishino came across a peculiar pattern in the DNA sequence of the E. coli microbe. Confused to its purpose, he simply noted the anomaly. Though unbeknownst to him at the time, Ishino had at that moment discovered a sequence of nucleotides capable of editing any genetic sequence on Earth; and thus, had become a pioneer of modern eugenics.

Eugenics, simply put, is the study of desirable genes. Researchers of this topic, dubbed ‘eugenicists’, for decades had to navigate challenges posed by a controversial past, ethical restraints and technological limitations. However, with the recent advances in the gene-editing technology CRISPR, eugenicists have the chance to not only implement their ideas and advance our society, but to also re-define their field entirely.

CRISPR, or Clustered-Regularly-Interspaced-Short-Palindromic-Repeats, is the flagship piece of technology leading the modern eugenics revolution. Explained by biotechnology engineer Zhang Feng, CRSIPR “acts as a molecular ‘scissor’”, producing enzymes that detect specific genetic patterns within our DNA. This allows it to ‘cut’ unwanted genes out of our genetic sequence. 

But perhaps the most exciting - and contentious - possibilities that CRISPR provides comes from its ability to add to an individual's genetic sequence. Through its ‘Cas9 protein’, CRISPR can ‘copy-and-paste’ specific traits and characteristics into our DNA. From genes for blue eyes and height, to genes for disease immunity and high aerobic capacity, nearly every physical aspect of the human character can be implanted within a person's genetic capacity.

Proponents are quick to point out that this technology has ground-breaking ramifications for today's society. High resilience and immunity to diseases would extend lives by decades, saving perhaps millions of disadvantaged people who might not have ready access to healthcare. Consequently, it would also take a great burden off the global healthcare system, allowing funding to be diverted to other necessary causes. In fact, already, the United States National Institute in Health has used CRISPR to successfully eliminate muscular dystrophy in mice, allowing them to live twice as long.

Moreover, modern eugenics and CRISPR’s main benefit to society may be its ability to promote equality. If everyone has the genetic potential to be faster, stronger, and healthier, then the inherent differences that separate individuals would become minimal. As put by Australian philosopher and bioethicist Julian Savulescu, genome editing would “stop the genetic lottery”, saving those who would have otherwise “drawn the [genetic] short straw”. Though perhaps not capable of creating a perfectly equal society, modern eugenics could partially level the playing field, giving the previously disadvantaged a better shot at success. 

However, in a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre, most participants voted against using CRISPR in medicine. Religious beliefs aside, these results reflect a cultural mistrust of eugenics, most likely rooted in Nazi Germany’s appalling usage of this ideology to justify forced sterilisations of disabled people; and further perpetuated today by its dystopian portrayal within pop culture. Though rooted in events that are decades in the past, the cultural antipathy towards eugenics presents a major obstacle to the progression of the study.

Nevertheless, opponents argue that not all concerns regarding CRISPR are outdated. When considering eugenics and the implementation of gene modification, it is important to understand that certain characteristics and traits would be considered ‘desirable’, while others considered ‘undesirable’. Therefore, if more and more of the next generation possess similar ‘desirable’ genes, the human gene pool would inevitably shrink. In fact, in eliminating ‘undesirable’ genes, we may accidentally create a less genetically diverse species, vulnerable to inbreeding and unknown diseases. Moreover, many ‘undesirable’ genes may have unknown benefits. Take UBE3A: a risk gene for autism. Though UBE3A has been long known to cause this developmental disability, recent study in the early 2000s revealed that the gene also played an essential role in processing information. Thus, removing it would have caused severe unforeseen consequences. As Jim Kozubek, author of Modern Prometheus: Editing the Human Genome puts it, “you don’t get an advantage [in gene editing] without risking a disadvantage.” 

Furthermore, it is also important to consider how CRISPR would be distributed. Currently, the technology is estimated to cost well over two million dollars per patient, a figure that grants it virtually inaccessible to anyone but the super-rich. If only the upper class has the financial ability to purchase this technology, only their children would benefit. Thus, CRISPR would entrench the division between social classes. However, even if CRISPR technology is made commercially available to the general public, there will still be individuals who choose not to use it. The problem arises when genetically ‘superior’ humans occupy all the positions of power in society, while individuals who did not undergo genome editing are pushed to the side. Australian philosopher Matthew MacDonald even goes as far as to draw links with science fiction film ‘Gattaca’, where genetics alone determine an individual's future.

On the other hand, as a wider variety of genomes becomes commercially available, the limits of ‘human’ characteristics and traits may be challenged. Imagine parents of a human embryo, given free rein to modify his or her genetics. Naturally, most typical parents would eliminate genetic diseases and susceptibility to disease. More ambitious parents may even add to their child's genome, perhaps preferring one eye colour over the other. However, a problem may arise when irresponsible parents are given this full authority. From an extra finger to an extra eye, from an extra inch in height to an extra thirty, CRISPR may be abused, significantly affecting the child's future ability to function in society.

Before CRISPR progresses any further, it is imperative that eugenicists set firm boundaries to its implementation. We should consider an international moratorium until further research into possible dangers is satisfied. Regulations should be agreed upon and enforced, with a limit to the degree of gene modification and subject consent especially important. Furthermore, we should place sanctions on unscrupulous individuals and corporations to deter abuse and exploitation. What’s more, if CRISPR technology is approved, steps should be taken so that the technology is equally accessible to all socio-economic backgrounds, and not monopolised by just the wealthy. Moreover, we should educate the general public regarding the risks of CRISPR, so that decisions made in the future will be informed and ethically responsible. Finally, with the current progression of CRSIPR into ‘germline’ editing (genes that can be inherited by the subject's offspring), the future of the human gene pool is open to manipulation. Therefore, we should also reach a global consensus concerning our direction as a species before any further steps are taken.

Ultimately, questions that were once the realm of science fiction now need to be seriously debated by governments and professional bodies. In the past unregulated, inaccurate and immoral applications of eugenic science led society to disastrous conclusions. However, with recent advancements, it is becoming clear that this science could be giving humanity control over its future evolution. As the limits to CRISPRs applications in health and science are still relatively unknown, who knows how far the boundaries of our evolution can be pushed? If we are to take this genetic leap as a species, how different will humans and society look, act and function, one, two, or ten generations into the future? While the questions regarding CRISPR are difficult and the answers unclear, they can no longer be ignored.

Agar N. (2019). Why We Should Defend Gene Editing as Eugenics. Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees, 28(1), 9–19. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180118000336

Bergman, M. (2022, November 08). Harvard researchers share views on future, ethics of gene editing. Retrieved March 5, 2023, from https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/01/perspectives-on-gene-editing/

CRISPR helps heal mice with muscular dystrophy. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2023, from https://www.science.org/content/article/crispr-helps-heal-mice-muscular-dystrophy

Genome editing pros and cons. (2023, February 27). Retrieved March 4, 2023, from https://www.leopoldina.org/en/topics/genome-editing/genome-editing-pros-and-cons/

Kozubek, J., & Modern Prometheus: Editing the Human Genome with Crispr-Cas9. (2017, January 09). HOW CRISPR and gene editing could ruin human evolution. Retrieved March 4, 2023, from https://time.com/4626571/crispr-gene-modification-evolution/

Sufian, S. (2021, February 16). The Dark Side of CRISPR. Retrieved February 16, 2023, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-dark-side-of-crispr/

Questions and answers about CRISPR. (2023, January 18). Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.broadinstitute.org/what-broad/areas-focus/project-spotlight/questions-and-answers-about-crispr

Watson, B. (2022, June 24). Is there gene therapy for autism? Retrieved March 4, 2023, from https://www.xcode.life/genes-and-health/gene-therapy-for-autism/#:~:text=The%20main%20focus%20of%20gene,spectrum%20of%20disorders%20is%20challenging.

english language learner

What event had the largest impact on your community in 2022?

Laura Vasilachi, journalistic

Trapped in the Crossfire - Moldovans Endure the Trials of the Russian-Ukraine Conflict as Their Country Faces Unprecedented Challenges

Moldova’s populace voiced great concern regarding their country’s future as Russia, its primary supplier of natural resources, launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, which shattered their hopes for a stable and secure life.

Sharing a border of some 900 km with Ukraine, Moldova has long been considered a vulnerable nation. Despite attaining sovereignty from the USSR more than three decades ago, it continues to rely on the aggressor, Russia - its main distributer of gas, having no choice but to comply with its manipulative tactics.

“The abnormally high prices for natural gas and Russia’s attempts to weaponize gas and oil supplies to Europe have triggered an unprecedented energy crisis,” the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, said. “We are one of the most vulnerable countries in the face of this crisis.”

Lacking other suppliers, the country was compelled to accept exorbitant gas tariffs, facing staggering inflation, its rate rising to 34.62 percent by October of 2022, half a year after the invasion. 

For its citizens, such news was nothing short of catastrophic. In response to the cost-push inflation, the already existing agitation turned into irrationality – people frantically emptied store shelves, panic buying in fear of prices rising even further. 

Aside from potential food shortages, Moldova got struck by another obstacle – destabilization. “We are facing a wide spectrum of hybrid threats, from disinformation and propaganda to cyber-attacks and energy pressures,” the president added.

Disinformation swiftly became uncontainable as pro-Russian sentiments arose in its separatist region, Transnistria. The pro-Kremlin enclave complied with the superpower’s disruptive plans and became a gateway of threats and propaganda. Moreover, the 1,500 Russian troops settled in the region since 1992, so as to maintain Russian influence, now threaten the sovereignty of Moldova, “increasing the security risks” according to Sandu.

With its EU integration hampered by its Achilles heel – Transnistria, it did not take long for Russia to exploit Moldova’s compromised defense. Starting on 18 September 2022 it orchestrated protests, the demonstrators, chanting “Down with Maia Sandu,” tasked to disseminate its one goal – to weaken the pro-Western government and to deepen the political divide.

Subsequently, the president promulgated a law to counter Russian propaganda by banning all affiliated TV news channels. “I do not see why such a law is needed. It’s probably a move of the current government to show how pro-Western they are,” said the administrator of TV6, one of such channels, Dumitru Chitoroagă. Other supporters shared his sentiments as Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced this action as “a flagrant violation of the right to freedom of access to information.”

2022 challenged Moldovans’ solidarity like never before, bringing many trials for them to face. Regardless of political stance, however, everyone shares the same fears as missile strikes reverberate throughout the nation, the cities – shrouded in darkness for hours on end. As Maia Sandu put it, “It is a difficult time for everyone, and our task is not only to endure - we must develop, and move forward.” 

Amid overwhelming crises, the immense influx of Ukrainian refugees caught the community off guard. However, people swiftly mobilized and came together in an attempt to alleviate the pain of the unfortunate – despite the ongoing discord between pro-Russian and pro-European factions.  

Regardless of the challenges at hand, Moldovans stayed true to their word, showing nothing but compassion to those in search of safety. Although the migration management capabilities were stretched thin by the influx of fugitives, the country and its citizens remained steadfast in supporting the vulnerable. 

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after 10 months from the onset of the war, more than 649,000 Ukrainians have entered Moldova’s territory, of which 87,000 have sought asylum. Border crossing data from July 2022 indicated that the country had received the most refugees per capita among all countries, nearing to 4,000 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Francesca Bonelli, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative to Moldova, commended the Government’s swift response to the wave of refugees, and praised its willingness to provide aid and support, despite the setbacks posed by the crisis. “The effort made by the Government during this period is incredible,” she said. “Moldova has become a global example in the management of this crisis.” 

The citizens’ unwavering commitment to accommodating the refugees was highly praised by the Executive, which offered monetary support of 3,900 MDL ($207) per month to the generous host families, intended to cover additional expenses such as housing and food. Overall, the initiative was a success, motivating many to join in and help. 

Additionally, the Government, with the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), UNHCR, and NGOs such as Caritas and the Charity Center for Refugees in Moldova, issued various financial aid programs which further ensured that the asylum seekers would meet their basic needs and live comfortably.

Victoria, 32, who fled Ukraine with her children, is among the many beneficiaries of the monthly assistance, which allows her family to carry on. “You must know that I received money on my card, and I used them to buy medicines, fruit, and food for my children. They were so happy, and I was also happy to afford that,” she said, in an interview with UNICEF. 

The European Union's aid also extended to providing employment opportunities for the refugees. With the support of the National Employment Agency, job fairs were conducted in several cities, offering thousands of positions to those looking to join the workforce, including locals, as well as Ukrainians. By November 2022, over 870 Ukrainian citizens found a job, as economic agents became more accepting, willing to hire them, despite being reluctant initially.

Moreover, in light of the humanitarian crisis, Moldova has seen an astounding surge of volunteers, who have stepped up to provide support for these newcomers. Valeria, 18, is one of the many who offered to serve as a host. "We wanted to be in solidarity with the people there,” she said, explaining that even though Moldova is poor, the people are generally welcoming – from what little they have, they want to help those who have no possibilities. In her view, her desire to help refugees represents nothing more than “basic human values” that “everyone should have”. 

While many have opened their hearts and homes to the refugees, others have grown resentful of the perceived burden that the newly-arrived Ukrainians have placed on the economy. Dumitru Udrea, General Secretary of the Government, explained that “instigators of hate” – fuelling negative sentiments to the locals – aim to undermine the strength of the community and succeeded in causing unrest. They are propagating the idea that Moldova has no monetary resources to spare – while in reality, the country is receiving generous international support from the EU and NGOs alike. 

However, as resilient as they may be, while Moldovans continue to cope with the aftermath of the war, an alarming rise in cases of anxiety and depression has been reported – particularly among those living near the conflict zone, where the distant sound of bombs and gunfire can be heard. Furthermore, a significant portion of Moldovans have lived through the Transnistrian war of 1990 – a violent conflict between Moldova and its enclave – which has made them all the more susceptible to the effects of warfare noises, leaving behind a long-lasting impact on their emotional well-being.

Jana Chihai, head of the Department of Mental Health at Moldova’s State University of Medicine, added that, according to the World Health Organization, the effects associated with the COVID-19 pandemic led to a 25% rise in anxiety and depression globally. Therefore, social isolation, strained economic circumstances, and the pervasive fear of illness and death have further compounded the stress and trauma of the invasion, leading to a significant increase in mental health concerns among the population.

Nevertheless, the conflict has also inspired many to change their lifestyles – in order to adapt, they have increased their political engagement, advocating for peace, acceptance and stability in the region. By doing so, they have shown that even in the face of great adversity, the fortitude of the human spirit can prevail.

Throughout it all, the Moldovan community emerged stronger than before. Despite facing opposition aiming to sow discord – to tear them apart – they have only grown closer together, with their unity faltering at times but never breaking. The challenges and the uncertainty were but a testament to their strength – a key factor in the country's ongoing recovery and development.