Newspapers / Brevard College Student Newspaper / Sept. 2, 2011, edition 1 / Page 4
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Page 4 News The Clarion \ Sept. 2, 2011 The Arab Spring I Protests and revolutions of the Middle East and Africa By Patrick G. Veilleux Managing Editor Revolutions and protests have become the standard in Africa and the Middle East, as what has been identified as the Arab Spring carries on. The struggle that appears most frequently in current events is the Libyan Civil War. The rebels continue fighting Loyalist forces in the capital city, Tripoli, in a largely successful mission to claim the city. Libya’s disputed tyrant leader. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has not yet been located despite several raids in suspected locations; including the raid on the Bab al-Azziza compound, where the Libyan loyalists and mercenaries had made their headquarters during the Battle of Tripoli. for change in the Middle East and Africa. Since Dec. 18, 2010 there have been civil struggles of varying intensity in 17 countries, including Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The Arabic slogan “The people want to bring down the regime,” has been chanted in 7 countries protesting against oppressive governments. The Arab Spring began with increasingly violent street demonstrations in Tunisia around Dec. 18,2010. By Jan. 14,2011, President Ben Ali had fled to Saudi Arabia. The Tunisians were protesting against high unemployment, food inflation, corruption, poor living conditions, and a lack of political freedom. The Egyptian Revolution began with a popular uprising on Jan. 25, 2011. The people rebelled against President Hosni Mubarak in response to police brutality, censorship, corruption, heavily regulated elections, low minimum wages, food Even as the Anti-Gaddafi force wins battle after battle, there are still struggles and desires inflation, high unemployment, and against a law that had kept rights “temporarily” suspended since 1967. Despite the primarily peaceful nature of the rallies and protests, violence was a major occurrence up until Mubarak resigned from oflice, and passed authority of the country to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of Egypt. Protests in other countries such as Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, called for massive changes to the political and the economic structures. In Africa similar violent and peaceful protests broke out in Algeria, the Sudan, Mauritania, Morroco, and the Western Sahara. Most of the protests in the Arab Spring have currently and previously used Facebook, Youtube, Skype, and Twitter to organize, communicate, and raise awareness for their respective causes. Syria is one of the countries where the Arab Spring continues in earnest, which Karam Boeshaar spoke about on the front page. Quake shakes Brevard, and rest of eastern U.S. 5.8 Richter scale Virginia earthquake felt as far away as Canada By Thea Dunn Layout and Design An earthquake ... in Brevard? For some, last Tuesday was just a normal day on campus, and the last day before classes began; for others it was their first natural disaster experience. Thankfully disaster isn’t the politically correct term because there have been little to no reported injuries. Among the many who said they didn’t feel anything, there have been many reports of students, faculty, and staff that felt the earth move under their feet. While walking through the SIMS building, sophomore Mark Owens felt the ground shake. “I knew that it was an earthquake because I have been in them before,” Owens says. Another sophomore. Josh Mower, had a different experience. “I didn’t feel it but my family in Ramseur, N.C. [3.5 hours away] did. All the pictures fell off our photo wall and the sidewalk cracked (See pic). I have never heard of an earthquake in North Carolina before, so it was shocking.” From Canada to Georgia people felt the 5.8 level quake, including people in Brevard where, for most, earthquakes seem like something that occur far away, not in the hallway of the art building, or in Kathy Wilson’s case, in the library. “I was sitting at my desk while talking to June Greenberg and for a moment I thought that she was shaking my desk but she said she wasn’t. The signs in the library were shaking and she said it must be an earthquake. It took a lot of people to convince me it in fact was an earthquake.” Allie Hovis, a junior at Brevard, had the same disbelief as Wilson. “I was in my room with my roommate, Hannah Graham, and our whole room started to shake, the blinds, the beds, everything. I didn”t think it was an earthquake, it was weird.” For some, like Cameron Nixon, the quake didn”t feel like much. Nixon says, “It felt like my roommate jumped off the top bunk, it was so minuscule.” IT help desk administrator Jay Trussell had a similar experience. “I was down in my office and my computer monitor shook. I asked the guy in the room behind me and he said he didn’t feel it.” Dean of Student Affairs, Chris Holland said, “It’s funny but I was standing next to two people in the Campus Life Office who said that they felt the building move and I didn’t feel a thing. Then I received a bunch of text messages saying ‘did you feel the earthquake?”’ This seemed to be a common occurrence here during the quake: one person would feel it, and another wouldn’t, even if they were in the next room or on a different floor Professor Jim Reynolds has a scientific explanation for this. “People’s first assumption is movement on Brevard’s fault, but it wasn’t. I was surprised to find that the epicenter was in Virginia because whenever we get earthquakes (every few years) they are mostly from eastern Tennessee. The east coast is not very active because we don’t have plates crashing into each other I didn’t feel it but a secretary next door and a student of mine did. Our college’s core structure is in the center of the buildings so energy just passes through them. The outer parts of buildings and upper floors are a little less stable so they shake more.” So what's the verdict? No damage at BC and no injuries, thank goodness. If you were on the outer parts or higher floors in the buildings you probably felt it more than people taking naps in the middle of Jones Hall. Chris Holland, said, “In the aftermath, I heard various stories of people feeling movement, not feeling movement, etc. As for effects on the campus, I am not sure that this earthquake caused much of a disruption other than for good storytelling.” For some it was their first quake experience, but for our world it certainly was not the last. WANTED staff members to write, report, photograph, draw, edit, and sell advertisements for the student newspaper. The Clarion needs your help! As a volunteer staff member, you can • earn academic credit in COM 106 • get a cool T-shirt for a job well done • reap financial rewards for serving Brevard College Staff meetings are open to all Fridays at 11:30 a.m. in M-G 102
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