Abroadia Salutes Miguel Algarín

Abroadia joins the Nuyorican poetry community in lamenting the passing of Miguel Algarín, the poet who inspired and drove that literary movement in the 1970s and 1980s. Mr. Algarín passed away on November 30th at the age of 79.

In an era where the the literary power of the spoken word of poetry has been supplanted by the hard scrabble and pulsating rawness of rap music, Mr. Algarín’s words still remain relevant and inspiring. Who will be the next Miguel Algarín? Time will tell.

We can enjoy his work. From his poem “Survival” we recall these powerful lines:

i resist being humanized

into feelings not my own—

the struggle is really simple

i will be born

Rest in peace, Miguel Algarín.

Photo credit: Paul Hosefros/The New York Times

A Perceived Racist Comment Conjured Through Distinct Cultural Lenses

Until this week, few people outside the world of fútbol (soccer), knew of Edinson Cavani, the Uruguayan forward, who until now, was best known for moving to Manchester United from Paris St. Germain. Yesterday, he posted a comment on social media that immediately drew scorn from sleep wokers (I define “sleep wokers” as partisans of wokeism whose passion and righteousness sometimes blinds them to what is right before their very eyes) around the world. In a 2019 article for Medium.com Joe Duncan defined this new movement in these terms:

“Wokeism is the religification of social justice, a bastardization that pollutes original messages of those legitimate social grievances that it consumes as they become hijacked by decentralized players who are more concerned with inflicting harm, shaming, and celebrating together, rather than righting the very grave wrongs of social institutions. It’s the conspiracy-theory arm of the so-called “left” quite often, a term I refuse to use to this particular group of people because their message is so vehemently anti-left on a predictable basis. The point of wokeism is to attack an out-group, it’s never to correct an error, and rarely to criticize the more dangerous elements of society that lead to those errors, namely infinite-growth capitalism. Outrage for outrage’s sake wants to inflict pain, not acquire justice.”

We may disagree with the most precise definition for wokeism, but we cannot deny the impact it has had. It has been said that wokeism has evolved from critical theory, but the present form of this movement eschews any form of constructive debate or criticism. If finds reprehensible the mere notion of considering context or culture in its attacks against alleged perpetrators of 21st century social mores.

Cavani comes from a Latin American culture where interactions between friends center round terms of endearment or affection. It is not rare to call a white friend “negrito” or a heavy-set colleague “flaco”. Irony is part of the friendly interaction in Latin American in a way that no longer exists in the US. Having lived in Cuba for seven years, I am used to this. I was often called by my Cuban friends “mi negro”. I never felt offended, but rather honored that I was considered to be part of the individual’s circle of close friends. In the case of Cavani, he is being judged and condemned by people who are not attuned to these cultural nuances. Oftentimes these keyboard warriors take their shots behind the shields of their social media anonymity and that is a shame. Cavani is not even afforded an opportunity to defend himself against the sleep wokers who have assailed him in such a vicious fashion. It never occurred to them to consider the context or the culture that it was made in.

Racism and wokeism are two sides of the same coin. Both represent the extreme sides of human behaviour and attitude. As international educators we must work hard to build and maintain a middle ground.

The Many Faces of Language Discrimination and Profiling

Every day there appears to be a new form of racial animosity, hatred, discrimination and downright hatred. I would like to say that nothing surprises me anymore, but on reading Allyson Waller’s November 26 article in The New York Times, I was surprised. Ms. Waller wrote about the recent victory of two Mexican-Americans in Montana who were profiled by a Border Patrol Agent and then detained for no other reason than that they were speaking Spanish.

We live in a time where wearing a mask makes one appear weak to some; speaking another language providing tinder to others to fan the flames of nationalism and white supremacy ideology. An exchange between one of the detained women and the Border Patrol agent caught my attention. Waller relates that, “Ms. Suda asked the supervisor if she and Ms. Hernandez would have been detained if they had been speaking French. “No,” he responded, “we don’t do that.”

What an interesting comment to make. Are we to suppose that nothing would have happened if French had been spoken? That the two women, one of whom was born in California and the other in Texas, were speaking Spanish, made them in the eyes of the agent “illegal immigrants”? The supervisor did not even pause to think about what he was saying. And this is exactly what implicit bias is and illustrates how deeply embedded it is in our culture.

Those of us in international education have a lot of work to do!

Photo credit: Brooke Swaney/ACLU of Montana, via Associated Press

Descansa en paz, leyenda

Abroadia shares the sadness of Argentina in light of the passing of world football legend Diego Armando Maradona. Such was the extent of his brilliance that his skill and virtuosity illuminated even those unaffiliated with the world’s most popular sport. His image and mastery of “el balón” enthralled millions and the entertainment he brought to the pitch is beyond dispute. Even opponents recognized his greatness.

Years ago I read the book “Sueños de fútbol” by Jorge Valdano, Maradona’s former teammate on the Argentine national team. He recounted an incident where a heckler threw an orange at Maradona, who calmly took the fruit projectile out of the air, played with it with his feet like a hacky sack, then stomped and crushed it with his cleats, and kicked it back to the heckler. Even when dealing with the brutishness of a rude heckler, Maradona found a way to use artistry in this response. Brilliant!

When asked about Maradona, Manchester City’s coach, Pep Guardiola, quoted Roberto Fontanarrosa, the Argentine writer and cartoonist who said, “No importa que hiciste con tu vida, sino lo que hiciste con las nuestras” (It doesn’t matter what you did withyour life, but what you did with ours.”). Abroadia completely agrees with Guardiola and Fontanarrosa: Maradonna inspired millions with his play and personality.

Rest in peace, legend.

Source of photo: Getty Images and CBS Sports.

Dr. Christof Van Mol, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Tilburg University will speak to us about student mobility and labor market outcomes on Friday, November 20th at 9 am EST.

Join us!

The registration link is:

http://bit.do/globalthoughts-christofvanmol

Shabana Basij-Rasikh, co-founder and president of the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA), will be our Global Thoughts speaker on November 19th at 2pm.

Please join us!

Here is the registration link:

http://bit.do/globalthoughts-shabanabasijhrasikh

Join us as we speak with Collin Laverty about how he sees the US-Cuba relationship develop under a Biden Administration.

There is no cost! Here is the registration link:

http://bit.do/globalthoughts-collinlaverty

Global Thoughts-Bolivia with Alejandra Leon

Alejandra Leon will join us on Friday, November 13th to talk about Bolivia and why it should be the next big study abroad destination for students.

The registration link is: http://bit.do/globalthoughts-alejandraleon

Karla Studies Abroad!

2020 experiences. 

My experience in the UK could be defined in many ways. It has been such a ... busy year, so full of surprises, some pleasant and others not at all pleasant, but without a doubt it has been a year full of new experiences that have contributed a lot to my life, both personal and professional.

The story begins even before reaching Manchester, England. The story begins in Havana, in my beloved Havana, when one day I decided that it was the ideal time to cross borders and see with my own eyes what everyone called "development." At that time, I was a Cuban who had never left Cuba, had never ridden on a plane, therefore, I had never lived in a different cultural space. Back then, I 'thought' I knew English (once I set foot in the UK, I realized this was not true). Despite all the first few times that waited for me, I was willing to give everything to achieve my dream of studying abroad. Of course, I wanted to know and live the experience, but I was also thirsty for a lot of information and knowledge.

After spending almost a year following all the phases of the application process for the Chevening scholarships, in July 2019 I received what I would qualify at that time as the best news of my life: I had won a full scholarship to study a master's degree in the University of Manchester, UK! At that moment I thought that the nervousness, the uncertainty, the waiting was over. What I didn't know was that I was about to start a stage in my life full of firsts.

KARLA AND HER FIRST TIMES.

So many first times in so little time. First time to separate from my mother, my family, my friends. First time I said goodbye and did not know what was waiting for me on the other side. First time riding a plane and experiencing turbulence in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. My feet were stepping on another country for the first time (Germany - I stopped there before landing in Manchester). First time to feel the cold (the real one, not that of Cuba). First time to call my mom being so far from her. Finally, first time in Manchester, UK. I had already reached my destination. The universe was condescending to me and that September 9, 2019 was sunny.

My adventure began and the first times continued. I began to nourish myself with history from the moment I took a taxi from the airport to what would be my new home for a while. The driver had Middle Eastern features and her accent was peculiar. First time sharing a house with other students, all from different countries, different cultures, different points of view. And the first day I went to explore Manchester. A beautiful city, a mixture of cultures, nationalities, a city open to beliefs and orientations. And I was dazzled to see that university. That magical, majestic, clean, impeccable university, where its walls tell the story by themselves. I felt so small in front of that majestic building, but that lasted a few minutes. I instantly felt great and proud to have gotten where I had come.

My first day of school was unforgettable. Entering a room full of international students, mainly from the Asian continent, but I also met many countrymen from my Latin American region. It was enough just to look at us and smile to start building our new family. I enjoyed every day to the fullest, or so I thought. I confess that during the first semester of my course I devoted endless hours to studying and I was leaving the other part of the experience aside. We continued to share in our Latino family and with some infiltrated Asians and more than welcome, but our new home was the library and our pillows were books and our laptops.

Unfortunately, when I started changing that style, which I can say did not work 100 percent, it was too late. After finishing the first semester, with their respective exams and just two weeks into the second semester, the world began to turn gray. The pandemic had reached the UK. From one moment to another my plans to visit Bath, Cambridge, Oxford, Cardiff and many other cities in the UK vanished and we all began to live a quarantine that became more and more eternal. And here is my first experience of this journey. Don't put off what you can do today until tomorrow, stop making excuses and enjoy every minute to the fullest. Life changes in the blink of an eye. Yes, I know that these phrases are very common and that everyone repeats them non-stop, but there are few who apply them to their daily lives. I began to enjoy every minute of my life since then.

The first thing I did was change my hair. I am letting it grow naturally and decided to stop following beauty stereotypes that have been instilled in me since I was little, and I am loving the process of watching my real afro hair grow and have learned how to take care of it. I have learned to love myself a little more as I am. I discovered yoga, and I confess that today it is an important part of my life. This activity helped me a lot to find my inner self and to dedicate time to myself, my soul and my spirit. This activity also helped me to stay focused on my goals and not to let myself go crazy because of the difficult external situation that was happening. Definitely, the day I left Cuba I knew that I would be away from my family and friends, that I would miss them a lot, that there would be times when the longing would be stronger than me (being in the UK, I have come to miss the endless queues in Coppelia), but what I never imagined was that I would experience a global pandemic. And it is so, in these moments where you realize that everything changes from one moment to another.

The second semester of my course was very difficult. Another "first time" was beginning to approach. Write a dissertation in English and apply acquired knowledge, much of it online, due to the isolation restrictions that were put in place due to the pandemic. The stress was undeniable, yoga helped, and a lot, my family and friends helped a lot, I felt great support from my supervisor, but it wasn't until one day that I talked to myself and stopped worrying and started to take care when everything changed.

I finished my dissertation even before the scheduled deadline, again I felt proud to be a student at such a prestigious university. Neither the pandemic, nor being in a completely different country from mine, nor being away from my family prevented me from realizing my dream. Someone once told me that each thing in life, each event or event has its positive side, even those that are harmful and that kill people, such as this pandemic. For me the positive side is that people have learned to love each other more in recent months. They are learning to enjoy the present more, they are not fully focusing on planning a future that is uncertain. And it is not an uncertain future now due to this conjunctural situation that the world is experiencing, the future is uncertain by nature, just as the past cannot be changed, because we cannot go back in time. It is the present, it is today and not tomorrow, it is now and not later.

Despite everything I have cried (I have to be honest, I think this year I have cried more than in my entire life, and I am not exaggerating, believe me), I would not trade this experience for anything. Every minute has been a new life lesson. Even now writing these lines I feel full that I will be able to share my experience with other people.

Karla Hernández Jústiz

Chevening Scholar

Abroadia Endorses Biden/Harris

“A house divided against itself, cannot stand.” These words uttered by Abraham Lincoln 162 years ago resonate now in ways that even he could not imagine. In 1858 Lincoln assailed the institution of slavery as the issue that bifurcated the country into two distinct camps: pro-slavery and anti-slavery. Now in 2020, it is not an institution or practice, but a political party that promotes division, derision, racism, bigotry, hatred and xenophobia in a way that has not been seen in decades.

For the last four years we have seen a president promote a policy to prohibit travelers from Muslim countries from entering into the US; a policy that separates immigrant children from their parents at the border and incarcerated in cages; a unilateralist approach that has adversely impacted US relations with other countries in the world forcing them to shun our country. International students have been vilified by an administration that refuses to condemn xenophobia and outright bigotry displayed many of its supporters. The failure of the current administration to protect the environment or its unwillingness to support a resolution supporting the rights of women raped during war is glaring in its inhumanity.

Maintaining the absurd and antiquated policy toward Cuba is another testament of the current administration’s inability to see beyond political rhetoric to reach a common ground with a people who have suffered so much over the last 60 years.

The abysmal efforts to contain the Coronavirus pandemic illustrates very clear to us all, that this administration does not care about the citizens of this country. Labeling the Coronavirus a “Chinese” or “Asian” disease is symptomatic of a racist and mentally unfit person.

But when the country needed leadership regarding violence toward African-Americans by the police, this current administration did nothing to ease tensions and bring unity, but rather he inflamed already testy feelings.

We could go on. There is no shortage of crimes against internationalism, humanity or decency that this administration has employed to retain its hold on power.

It is time for a change. We must turn the page on this abominable chapter of our history and write another chapter.

We believe that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can do this.

Abroadia endorses Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

The Notorious RBG...Thoughts from a Cuban Law Student

Whenever we can, Abroadia likes to feature the viewpoint of someone from a country where our students study in. This is essential, since the American student narrative is not the only voice that forms part of the abroad experience. We often see (American) student blogs writing about things that, despite the international environment, are US-centric. This is fine, of course, but it is equally important to let others write and share their thinking and feeling.

Today’s blog post will feature a Cuban student who is about to earn her law degree from the Universidad de La Habana. She writes passionately about the influence Ruth Bader Ginsberg has had on her philosophy and growth as a soon-to-be lawyer. This is another example that despite the US embargo, ideas and philosophies can still transcend borders.

Thank you, Dania.

Chronicle of the same dream

“I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability.”

-RBG

The year 2020 begins, and all the images that were once erected distant, sprout again from a near spectrum, turned into almost realized dreams. The anxiety, the fear, uncertainty, and insecurity with which we began our law studies at the University of Havana are left behind, demonstrating that there is nothing more real than the immovable will to be…and to do, and  that we’re about to graduate in July.

Suddenly, the media alarms sound in the distance. Australia burns, world peace is threatened by a politician who plays God by taking the life of one of his opponents in Iran, the light of one of the NBA’s stars turns off in the sky of L.A. In the distance the sound of an ambulance can be heard. This time it is not the smoke caused by the flames that does not let them breathe, but a deadly virus that threatens to become the biggest epidemiological emergency of the century. But, we’re still in January, and this year we’re going to graduate… what could ruin it?

Then March comes, and the reality of an interconnected world becomes common. Cuba begins a new battle against a microscopic enemy that to date has taken the lives of thousands of people around the world.

What’s gonna happen with our prom? – we kept asking to ourselves- but now it was time to reinforce the pillars that support a nation that doesn’t believe in defeat, and some of us did not lack the same will to be and to do, now framed within a single verbal form, to help.

Among all this wave of events, September surprises us with the death of the symbol of feminism of the legal guild of United States of America: Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Until then, my vision of her was limited to her justice and legal achievements, her well-known victories in favor of gender equality, and the defense of the national Constitution. The enormous media coverage of this regrettable incident provoked in me a constant concern, the eagerness to know in depth a figure that goes beyond the small judge who boldly broke down the fence of inequality in a nation where civil rights are preached as if they were within everyone’s reach. The incessant question – who was RBG and why did she dedicate her life to defending progressive ideals?- made me think about the inexorable comparative analysis of her dreams, interests, her epoch, her life, her history, because, as I always say, we all are made of them. Could it be that we are different, or, on the contrary, we are united by ties of a morality oriented by sensibility and justice?.

At first, and taking as a premise the idea of a human being is a reflection of their time, I decide to delve in Ruth’s thought by studying the historical moment in which she had to live. Certainly, if we combine her experience within this epochal frame, we will be able to glimpse some of the most accurate and defining lines of her legacy.

Thus we come to the sixties and seventies, a time marked by social activism in the U.S.A. During these two decades, The Unites States experienced the interruption on the political scene of new actors that profoundly transformed society. Among these new social actors, the vanguard movements were the Afro – American population, the pacifist and student organizations, the movement for homosexual rights, the environmental movement, and the feminism movement.

The action of North American social activism in this context generated changes in family relationships, between sexes, couples, in the way in which people visualized themselves as individual beings in constant interaction with their peers. This situation brought with it, that the demand for rights that had already achieved some recognition because of  the levels of social cohesion that existed in those days about the idea that democratic effects could not dispense with the material guarantees of equality between all individuals and sectors of society. It was a true cultural revolution that generated a reformulation of concepts, lifestyles, all of it, hand in hand with the questioning of power and its various instruments, among them, the law.

This was the social climate that Ruth lived through, and whose existence she tried to demonstrate, not from a massive strike in the streets, but from teaching first, and then at the courts. Her greatest enemy, a federal legal system riddled with regulations that revealed clear manifestations of discrimination based on gender, especially in detriment of the female sex.

In defense of particular interests first, when she was a lawyer, and later representing those of the generality of the citizens in her functions at the high judiciary of the Supreme Court, Ruth was in favor of the historical-changing notion of Law as a science, as a social phenomenon. On this basis, it was inconceivable the permanence of legal norms and institutions in conflict with a social reality. That means Ruth incorporated into her professional labor in an extraordinary way a maxim of her Constitutional Law professor who preached: “The judges read the newspaper and are influenced, not by the climate of the day, but by the climate of the time”.

RBG’s legacy is enhanced if we consider that the judicial proceeding in the United States is based on the British common law legal system, where judges use the judicial precedents set by the Supreme Court or courts of appeal as true legal norms of mandatory applicability for lower courts to new cases with similar factual and legal issues. Let’s think for a moment that this dynamic implied the possibility for RBG to channel the future of American legality towards more inclusive, egalitarian, humane, and just paths. Yes, reaching the top of the legal world, meant for her, having a direct impact on social and legal relationships, as they are also creators of laws. She was not just another piece in a high court tinged by the bipolarity of liberal and conservative political affiliations. The experiences that she added to her life made her see the law as a strong weapon to make changes that were already alive in people’s minds.

At this point, I ask myself again how similar and how different could I be from RBG?

Every society is vulnerable to some manifestations of inequality. We have to admit we are human beings differentiated by countless elements. But, what we cannot let happen is preaching equality based on the Constitutional norms without providing real guarantees of its true realization, or worse, to institutionalize inequalities.

Fortunately, it was not gender inequality issues that mobilized my passion for Law. Although the battle against discrimination on the basis of sex is still a long road from a social point of view, Cuban laws have shown the consensus on the political will to offer men and women equitable treatment with regard to the possibilities of participation in the various sectors of social life, and above all, the acquisition of rights and obligations arising from the numerous relationships generated in such environments. It is enough to take a look at our laws about family, jobs, security and social assistance, elections, and clearly, our Constitution, which establishes the principle of equality as one of the axiological guidelines that should radiate the entire network of norms and behaviors that meet the constitutional norm.

I believe that just like Ruth, I am driven by unbridled love for the achievement of a more just society, where each person finds in others an image of similarity, empathy and solidarity, where the differences serve only to remind us the intrinsic diversity of nature. Like her, I decided to become a lawyer with the strong conviction to serve people in the materialization of their dreams and hopes, in the aid of those who claims for solutions to the situations that life puts in its finite and complex course. As lawyers, we act at the request of justice, we owe it to it. We are similar in the desire to know ourselves useful by practicing a profession that requires intellectualism, but also courage, sacrifice and faith in the human being in an increasingly selfish world, indifferent to the simplest and most essential things.

Just like her, we finished our law studies, and we jumped into a different dynamic with no more clothing or armor but our eagerness to continue learning, dressed by dreams of robes and podiums, devising the smile of happiness of that one we helped, of constant legal debates, of evenings of codes and regulations in the search for a good  legal argument, of that future that patiently waits to see us become those who we dreamed when we first climb the 88 steps of the university staircase.

There are many RBG nowadays, and it’s not the result of the trivialization that pop culture made of her image. Her essence is alive in all those people who conceive Law as a way of living because of the values that it contains, its behavior guidelines.

We are already in October, and next month we will graduate. It has been a difficult year, but also full of teachings, among them: that in a world with constant interaction as a rule, and the selfishness of a few threating life, individual well-being depends on everyone else’s, on their responsible conscience, on their sensibility.

But there we will be, in that same place where in the first year we observed with amazement the ceiling paintings, the elegance of each space, and the imposing energy that flows through the room. Where we will receive the materialized fruit of our sleepless nights and friendly smiles that rang out in the front park. And in that moment, I will look at you all with affection, grateful for coinciding in this eternal story full of joys. Then, I will understand that Ruth and I are united by the same feeling of passion for change, for justice, for the same unshakable will, to be useful, and to do good.

Dania Delia Perez Batista

Universidad de La Habana

Class of 2020