In our previous class, we saw the first twenty minutes of Stephen Frears’ film, Dirty Pretty Things. Despite only having seen a small portion of the film so far, it is already apparent to me as the viewer that Okwe, the film’s protagonist, epitomizes a person who is in the state of exception. Recall from last semester that the state of exception occurs when a sovereign power removes certain people of political agency as a means to ensure the welfare of a greater population. In Okwe’s case, he is an illegal immigrant from Africa to the United Kingdom, therefore meaning that he does not have any form of valid government issued identification. Consequently, once on British soil, Okwe is only able to hold menial jobs through keeping his identity discreet despite his medical expertise as a doctor in his native country. In essence, Okwe lives in constantly fear of being subject to legal action because the British government sanctions illegal immigrants to protect its citizens.

To complement our current study of What We All Long For, I have posted a link to the episode titled, “California Killing Fields”, from a documentary TV series that formerly aired on the History Channel named Gangland. As the name suggests, the various episodes of Gangland explore the criminal activities of prominent gangs in the United States such the Aryan Brotherhood or MS-13. This particular episode is about a predominantly Cambodian-American gang called the Tiny Rascal Gangsters (often abbreviated as TRGs) that originated in California during the 1980s. The reason that I decided to post this video was because I find that there are actually many parallels between the experiences of gang life by past TRGs members with the situation that the various characters in What We All Long For are experiencing.

The founding members of the TRGs were Cambodian youths whose families were refugees who had escaped from the attrocities of Pol Pot’s regime during the early 1980s and took up residence in the United States. “California Killing Fields” primarily presents the experiences of Vanna In, who was a former member of the gang. In mentions in the video that when his family moved from Cambodia to the United States, he initially experienced difficulty interacting in mainstream American society. Very often, this entailed falling victim to bullying by classmates of other ethnic groups. In’s initial motivation to join the TRGs was also fueled by the indifferences he had toward his family, which he claims to have involved parental abusive. In essence, similar to how Tuyen, Carla, Oku, and Jackie see themselves as being “misfits” in both their families and in society, In decided to join the TRGs in order in search of a feeling of belonging. However, it did not take long before he realized that he made a fatal mistake when he landed himself in prison for the crimes he had committed. It is also worthwhile noting that the TRGs have adopted a hip-hop style culture that emulates that of existing Black-American gangs, suggesting how the Cambodian-American youths feel a certain degree of shame over their ethnic identity in the same way that Tuyen or Carla do over their ancestral backgrounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN17Wesr6rU

Throughout the course and even the CAP stream so far, we have been extensively exploring the notion of identity and belonging and how it plays out in different instances of conflict. In fact, the crisis currently taking place in Crimea amply demonstrates this concept, where over the past week, news reports worldwide have triggered widespread pandemonium about the potential of a major military conflict. Crimea, an autonomous region in southeastern Ukraine, has recently been the epicenter of escalating tensions between various parties, which is in part due to the issue of ethnic and national identity in the region. The latest news coverage from CBC has reported that the Crimean parliament plans to launch a referendum on March 16^th regarding the possible accession of Crimea to Russia.

The current situation in Crimea is a highly complex product of both the region’s history and recent events. When the Soviet Union was established in 1921, Crimea was initially an autonomous state in the Russian Republic, but became part of the Ukrainian Republic in 1954. As of currently, Crimea’s population consists predominantly of ethnic Russians. Given this reason, Ukraine’s previous president, Viktor Yanukovich, had tremendous support of the Crimean people because he strengthened Ukraine’s political relationship with Russia through establishing an economic deal with Russia for $15 billion in economic support and for lower gas import prices. However, Yanukovich’s ousting from parliament last month over the use of lethal force against protestors has led to a more ethnically nationalist political party to resume power. Weeks earlier, the Ukrainian parliament under Oleksandr Turchnyov’s presidency proposed a bill to make Ukrainian the sole official language. This consequently angered the primarily Russian-speaking population of Crimea, because most citizens of Crimea viewed this as a backlash against their ethnicity. Additionally, the rationale behind Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision to deploy Russia’s military into Crimea was to protect the ethnic Russian population in the region against Ukrainian government authorities, whom he deems as being “fascist”. In short, the issue of ethnic and national identity in is an important dimension that explains the current conflict in Crimea.

In reality, it is difficult to determine who is really at fault in this crisis. On one hand, the policies of the current Ukrainian government have been insensitive towards ethnic Russians in the nation, in particular Crimea. However, Russia’s decision to carry out a military intervention in this case is also an excessive move in that the mere nature of Ukraine’s current government policies does not provide sufficient grounds for such action. Furthermore, a referendum on whether Crimea should separate from Ukraine join into Russia will definitely carry serious repercussions for Ukrainian government. Given that Crimea’s largest demographic group is ethnic Russian, favor among the Crimean population for joining Russia would very likely be high. If Crimea were to separate from Ukraine, changes to Ukraine’s constitution will result, which would be very disastrous for the Ukraine’s government, just as if Quebec were to gain independence from Canada. (Recall from last semester that Quebec’s independence was right on the edge of the Canadian government’s teeth following the referendum in 1989)

Here’s a link to the CBC news article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/tensions-ease-after-crimean-military-post-standoff-says-local-pm-1.2563430