20 May 2013. India. During my years in India, I have had my breasts squeezed, my legs and bottom pinched, been propositioned, harassed, demeaned and vulgarised. This has happened in restaurants, buses, trains, on the street and even at work.

I am of mixed Indian and European descent and while I no longer live and work in India, I travel frequently to the sub continent. I still worry about what I should wear, how I should behave and what I should do when I visit, but I have come to the conclusion that sometimes no matter what you do, some men will follow, stare and harass you.

That this societal behaviour has resulted in some horrific rape cases recently, or that reports of it have resulted in a drop in female tourists to India by as much as 35 percent this year, does not surprise me. Sadly however, this wake up call to the issues inherent in Indian society has been a long time in coming.

Neeta Lal wrote for Asia Sentinel in January this year of her daily commute in New Delhi where she suffers similar humiliations. She maintains there is a conspiracy of silence about crimes against women and it’s time women come out into the open to “claim public space as equal citizens”.

Let’s review the recent cases that have made international headlines:

In December 2012 a 23-year-old woman was brutally gang raped by six men on a moving bus in South Delhi. She later died in a Singapore hospital from horrific wounds.

In January 2013 a 29-year-old mother of two was kidnapped and raped on a bus in Punjab state, in a case that had parallels with the one in Delhi. Police described her as being a “bit mentally weak”.

In April 2013 a five-year-old girl in New Delhi was kidnapped, raped and tortured. Police rejected claims of the missing child who was later found in a locked room in the same building as her family. The father said a policeman had tried to bribe them not to report the incident.

These cases are only the tip of the iceberg. About 24,000 incidents of rape take place in India every year, with New Delhi reporting the highest number of any city with some 572 cases in 2012, although other sources listed this as high as 700. While the number has increased 10 percent from the previous year, many do go unreported as women fear the social stigma and indifference of the law.

Another worrying trend is that many of the cases involve young children. In an article by the Associated Press titled “Indian girl’s rape highlights police apathy” they reported that 90,000 children go missing each year and at least 34,000 are never found.

It is believed that many of these children are trafficked, forced to beg on the streets, sold for labour or marriage or even have their organs harvested. Police inactivity in most of these cases is common.

Some parents say they lost crucial time because police wrongly dismissed their missing children as runaways, refused to file reports or treated the cases as nuisances.

Formal police complaints were registered in only one-sixth of missing child cases in 2011, said Bhuwan Ribhu, a lawyer with Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or the Save the Childhood Movement. He said police resist registering cases because they want to keep crime figures low, and that parents are often too poor to bribe them to reconsider.

Police inaction and even their treatment of protestors picketing about the recent cases is worrying, but the endemic and multi faceted reasons behind these cases is the real problem.

The Hindu described these as including an urban economy with prospectless men, a violent form of masculinity encouraged in Indian cities and towns, an increase in the number of young men brought up without a family, the lack of access to sexual freedoms or choices and the way women are seen as commodities.

The place, treatment and position of women in Indian society is best summed up by the facts. Even before birth there is unequal treatment of girls with female feticide still practiced. A 2011 census recorded just 914 girls to every 1000 boys aged up to six-years-old, down from 927 a decade ago. Some of this is due to the Indian preference for sons, but also the economic restrictions of dowry.

Even if women do then marry, they have little recourse for domestic violence, can be ostracised as widows or even forced to commit sati – sacrificing their lives to be burned on their husband’s funeral pyre. Add to this also the objectification of women in popular culture, including the hugely successful Bollywood film industry.

On that note however it was encouraging to note that Shahrukh Khan, the mega Bollywood star, said he would ensure the names of his female co-stars were credited in films before his own. The announcement came a day ahead of International Women’s Day.

Other positive signs across the country include the fast tracking of cases that pertain to crimes against women, the establishment of a helpline for sexually abused women in Karnataka, and the daily hearings in Tamil Nadu for sexual abuse cases and the appointment of women prosecutors.

Laws are an important aspect in giving women a better place in India, but attitudes remain key. And perhaps the most encouraging sign of all has been not just how many young women, but how many young men joined the public outcry against these rape cases. These men had signs such as “ashamed to be an Indian”, while women flashed placards such as “Don’t tell your daughter not to go out, tell your son to behave properly.”

And that perhaps is the core to this problem for how both men and women behave is taught and that begins at home. India needs a masculinity that does not involve violence, superiority or privilege. The level of transformation required could well take generations, as it needs to take place first in a culture that values everyone – a challenge in a society where class and caste is still important.

Still Indian journalists have likened the public outcry and subsequent soul searching to an Indian Arab Spring. But the first step in any movement for change is also similar to the Middle East in that it needs continued momentum. It is perhaps for this reason that I am addressing this issue again now so the battle for societal change continues and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s words can ring true. After the December rape case he said,

“I want to tell them [the victim's family] and the nation that while she may have lost her battle for life, it is up to us all to ensure that her death will not have been in vain.”

Joanne Lane is a freelance photojournalist based in Brisbane, Australia but her father’s family originated from India. She has lived and worked in the sub continent and visits regularly.

View the video Billions in Grants to Fight Terrorism by MSNBC

Discussion Guide

Lesson Plan 1- How Terrorism has changed the United States

Objective:  Students will explore the terrorism-related sources from Global Issues in Context and create a unique display depicting the ways terrorism has changed the United States.

Lesson Plan 2- Remembering September 11

Objective:  Students will consider the sensitive issues and decisions that must be made as the 9/11 museum is created

Lesson Plan 3- Anti-Terrorism Legislation

Objective:  Students will prepare and present a persuasive speech expressing their opinion of anti-terrorism legislation

21^st Century Core Content
History
Government and Civics

21^st Century Themes
Global Awareness
Civic Literacy

21^st Century Skills
Think Creatively
Reason Effectively
Make Judgments and Decisions
Solve Problems
Communicate Clearly
Access and Evaluate Information
Use and Manage Information
Analyze Media
Be Flexible
Work Independently
Be Self-directed Learners
Produce Results

 Additional Resources:
Terrorism in the U.S. by CBS News
9/11 by History.com
Council on Foreign Relations
Patriot Act by FinCen.gov
Criticism of Anti-Terrorism Laws by Library of Congress

Additional Resources from Global Issues in Context:
9/11: Tenth Anniversary
Anti-Terrorist Legislation
Terrorism
Counterterrorism
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

13 May 2013. Cheshire, United Kingdom. The oldest football clubs in the world were founded in England, and whilst some form of the game was played in China, Greece and Rome several thousand years ago, it was the English alongside the Scots who laid the foundations and order to the modern game, which is much loved and played today all over the globe. The modern game has been in the hearts and souls of the British for longer than any other nation.

Football has now edged its way into the cores of the middle class, spurred predominantly by rising ticket prices and a fresh sense of affluence and glamour attached to what was traditionally a working class game. As a consequence, you are certainly in a minority in Britain if some sort of passion isn’t ignited within you on match day.

It is common for cities in the UK to have two teams, whereby rival supporters can be the best of buddies all through the week, but on match day, they regard each other as the ‘enemy’. Nowhere in the world is this local football rivalry as ubiquitous and potent as in Manchester, where you are either a ‘Red’ if you support Manchester United or a ‘Blue’ if you support Manchester City.

Walking around Manchester on May 8, 2013, I couldn’t help but notice everyone was walking around with a slightly stunned look, as if they had just been hit by some devastating news. The reason why virtually a whole city had been driven into a state of shock and disbelief? – Sir Alex Ferguson had announced his retirement.

If you are on the ‘red’ side of the city, feelings of despondency and anguish were rife on that fateful day, whilst if you are a ‘blue’, your state of shock was likely to have derived from selfish smirks of optimism that with the great manager no longer in charge, lifting that trophy may be more attainable.

Regardless of your ‘colour’ the whirl of dismay, shock, jubilance and attention Ferguson’s announcement generated, not just through Manchester or even the UK, but through the world, is testament to just how prolific the game of football has become.

Since taking over the Manchester United manager’s job in 1986, Alex Ferguson has won 38 trophies including thirteen Premiership titles and two Champions League final victories.  The 71-year-old leaves the team at the end of this current season, as the reigning champions of England, bowling out on a well-deserved high.

Given the age of Sir Alex, announcing his retirement should not have come as a major surprise to anybody, but the news has flooded the world far and wide as if this inevitable moment is a complete and utter shock.

In May 2012, the Guardian newspaper ran a story stating that Manchester United’s fan base around the world was 659 million strong. In fact Manchester United’s global appeal has been criticised, with some claiming that as the club has more fans in Asia and America, United’s followers are not ‘real.’

Whilst the club’s worldwide magnetism could be witnessed through the thousands of tributes to Sir Alex Ferguson that have come flooding in from around the world, if you were in Manchester on May 8 this year, you would realise that the surmise that Manchester United’s fans are based everywhere but in Manchester, couldn’t be further from the truth.

Although regardless of whether you love the ‘Reds’ or hate them, there is somewhat mutual respect for Sir Alex Ferguson, resulting no doubt from the fact he became the most successful football manager in history.

While the talk amongst British everyday folk was dominated about Sir Alex’s retirement, who would be his successor and what it would mean for Manchester United, some of the most prominent individuals in the UK made tributes to the managerial legend. Prime Minister David Cameron, an Aston Villa supporter, said about Sir Alex:

“Hopefully his retirement will make life a little easier for my team,” and went on to describe Ferguson’s achievements as being “exceptional.”

Former Manchester United player Denis Law, aka ‘The King’ said:

“I was with him last week and he said nothing about retiring. I expected him to be there when he was ninety.”

Former Manchester United player Bryan Robson, alias ‘Captain Marvel’ remarked:

“It’s unbelievable to change around probably four different squads and have the success that he had.”

While Christiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid, who had some well publicised disagreements with Ferguson during his time at Manchester United, tweeted:

“Thanks for everything boss.”

Of course not everybody loved Ferguson. He had had a long running spat with the BBC, which lasted for years after the BBC made a programme about football agents, which was none to complimentary about Ferguson’s son.

Then of course there was the legendary “Fergie Time,” where Ferguson was accused of influencing referees to add more time onto a game. Perhaps the opposition should have held the view that any extra time added would have enabled them to score as well!

Matches between Manchester United and Arsenal have often been “tetchy” and one particular game became infamous for a scuffle that broke out in the tunnel at the end of the game. The players were given pizza to replace their energy levels and a slice was thrown from the Arsenal camp, which hit Fergie right in the face. Arsenal may have dropped away from the highest level in the Premiership in recent years but no doubt they will be back tougher than ever to cause grief for Manchester United’s new manager.

Love him or loathe him, Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement is the end of an era. The winning mentality of the man and the way he picked himself up after defeat is probably nowhere better demonstrated than this season’s league title win, which was won with many games to spare.

The phenomenal reaction that progressed from a generic initial shock and quickly evolved to MPs, celebrities, former players and even the Prime Minister making tributes on social media channels and in statements to the press, shows not only how respected and valued Sir Alex Ferguson is but also how important football is in the UK.

Whoever is chosen as the new manager of Manchester United has very big shoes to fill and there must be sighs of relief from rival teams all over England that the shoes will no longer be worn by Sir Alex Ferguson.

Gabrielle Pickard is a freelance writer based in Cheshire, United Kingdom.

View the video Unpredictability makes Kim Jong Un Dangerous by MSNBC

Discussion Guide

Lesson Plan 1- Korean Conflict

Objective:  Students will research the Korean Conflict using Global Issues in Context and create a mock textbook chapter explaining the topic fully

Lesson Plan 2- Nuclear Proliferation

Objective:  Students will examine the controversial issue of Nuclear Proliferation and complete a worksheet summarizing the pros and cons

Handout Lesson Plan 2- Nuclear Proliferation

Lesson Plan 3- International Relations

Objective:   Students will conduct research to learn about the complex relationship and history between the United States and North Korea

21^st Century Core Content
Economics
History
Government and Civics
Geography

21^st Century Themes
Global Awareness
Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy
Civic Literacy

21^st Century Skills
Think Creatively
Reason Effectively
Make Judgments and Decisions
Solve Problems
Communicate Clearly
Access and Evaluate Information
Use and Manage Information
Analyze Media
Be Flexible
Work Independently
Be Self-directed Learners
Interact Effectively with Others
Produce Results

 
Additional Resources:
Korean War by History.com
Official Webpage of the DPR of Korea
North Korea Issues New Threat to U.S. Base by CNN
Kim Jong-un by the New York Times
Nuclear Proliferation by The Economist

Additional Resources from Global Issues in Context:
North Korea: Nuclear and Missile Programs
North and South Korean Conflict
Nuclear Proliferation
United Nations

07 May 2013. Kathmandu, Nepal. The roads of Kathmandu are a barrage of horns, trucks, motorbikes, food carts, cows, goats, bicycles and people. They are chaotic, dirty and noisy. But they are also the lifeblood of this city of almost one million.

So when the streets close in the Nepali capital and you aren’t allowed to drive your car, go to work or school, and there’s no public transport, the whole city is paralyzed.

The strike or “banda” basically means closed in Nepali and they seem to happen on an alarmingly frequent basis, sometimes with violent outbreaks – buses have been burnt and strikers have sometimes resorted to violence.

If you’re a local the banda is of course a major inconvenience; children are sent home from school, people leave their offices early, shops close and cars are often forcibly abandoned. For tourists it can mean sights are closed and you may not even be able to travel around the country as you wish as it can be impossible to enter or leave the strike area.

My arrival in Kathmandu in March coincided with a series of bandas that even the locals declared was most unusual in their frequency. I was staying with friends and almost every day for a week we were informed of pending bandas; these tended to be enforced from about midday onwards and usually lasted just one day but longer strikes can also occur.

Sometimes these didn’t affect us too much, although the kids were usually returned home early from school, but we were often forced to take different routes through the city with strikers, often just young teenagers, barraging our car with sticks. It was confusing, chaotic and scary.

My friends told me that often these youngsters are paid to enforce the strike and have little knowledge or involvement with the issues at hand. They also admitted that little was ever achieved by the strikes and the people most inconvenienced were locals who could do little about the problems anyway.

So why are there so many strikes? Well there seem to be numerous and rather intricate reasons for all of them, but most seem to stem from the fact that despite becoming a democratic country in 2008 Nepal still hasn’t formed a constitution. As a result the political situation is unstable and changeable.

While I was in Kathmandu there were strikes about fuel, human rights, student and teacher issues and even the Maoists were out—the force that helped remove the monarchy in 2005–with protestors blocking traffic with placards and microphones.

After experiencing a few altercations with the stick wielding strike enforcers and seeing how nervous my friends were dealing with strikes, I asked people what it was like to live with so many bandas. A parent said it made it easier for their kids, who would normally go to school six days a week, because it gave them some time off. A hotel manager seemed frustrated at the loss to business and the economy while others shrugged as if it was just part of life.

While some seemed rather amenable, including my hosts, after one particular drive when a child of 15 refused to let us drive down a road, the frustration came out and my friend let loose at him asking him what exactly his behaviour was doing to help Nepal and why he was making them all suffer.

While the political situation in Nepal is a far cry from the violent days when Maoists ruled the streets in the 2000s, demanding the end to the monarchy, the resultant changes have brought little comfort to residents.

Fuel strikes are common when there’s a shortage of fuel coming into the country, a price hike or even conflict at the border with India. Long lines of cars and motorbikes are all too common in Kathmandu – one day we queued for an hour and received 10 litres for our trouble but we were also one of the last cars to get any fuel as they ran out soon after.

There are also water shortages, particularly in summer, despite Nepal having the world’s second largest water resources after Brazil. And electricity is apportioned around the clock and all Nepali residents know their grid and exactly when the power will be on again. This changes from day to day so work is set according to when the power is on.

While I was in Kathmandu on March 14, Khil Raj Regmi became the new Prime Minister of Nepal. He is the 37th Prime Minister but also the sixth since Nepal became a federal democratic republic in 2008.

A lot of Nepalis seemed indifferent to the change or even cared too much who their new leader was. It’s very different from the goings on in my native country Australia, where every move of our prime minister is watched, assessed, analysed and even agonized over.

The political situation in Nepal could also change again soon. The political parties here have agreed to hold Constituent Assembly elections by June 21 this year to end the political deadlock. But again about that, no one seems to be holding their breath. They do however seem to want a prime minister that can stay in power for a full term to be able to make changes.

And after several weeks in the Kathmandu valley teaching at a children’s centre, I came across one young boy of 17 years, Manoj, who was actually keen to be prime minister one day. I asked him should he become prime minister would he put an end to bandas and he said yes, so perhaps the future could yet be rosy for this country.

Joanne Lane is a freelance photojournalist based in Brisbane, Australia.