Back to School

By Aanvi Singh, Senior Student Life Editor

Fall is a bittersweet period. It brings with itself the end of summer and the beginning of everything new. 

Welcome, and welcome back. 

I wanted to write this earlier but there were some existential crises to be battled, and time got the best of me. A tricky fox, time is. 

To all the first-year students who are busy settling in, I hope your first two months here have been wonderful. I hope you were able to catch the last bit of summer à Genève amidst the French classes. 

To all the second years, I hope your fall semester is more relaxed than the previous one. I must ask though, how does it feel? This past year has felt long and quick, all in one go and it is definitely an unnerving feeling – not in a negative sense but just strange and heady. I cannot believe that I watched some of my friends graduate. I remember I was at a friend’s goodbye soirée in June, and she had reassured us that she would be coming back for graduation. I distinctly remember thinking that’s an eternity away. Lo and behold, there we were taking photos before the ceremony and getting misty eyed watching our second years walk the stage. I am not going to maunder on about the concept of time and how we feel it, that is a discussion for another day. 

So much has happened over the last few months. This summer was not so warm for everyone. The chain reaction set off by Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel, and Israel’s deadly counterattack on Gaza has had grievous effects. It feels dreadful to say that “the two year ‘anniversary’ has already passed us by”. The Declaration and the ceasefire offer a ray of hope, and the world is watching. It’s on the people in power to step up, in a way they have not done yet. Israel has buried Gaza under rubble, and degraded Iran’s regionwide network of non-state groups; demolished Tehran’s own defences. Likewise, brief conflicts erupted out of longstanding tensions between India-Pakistan in May leading to widespread civilian terror, and Cambodia-Thailand in July which led to massive uproar on territorial credibility. There has been a string of elections, and the outcomes have seen a surge in far-right or conservative leaders. Alongside that, a devastating trend – albeit I wonder if I may call it a trend since this has been brewing and erupting over the last decade or so – of more people leaning towards right-wing populist powers. This pattern of support for authoritarian leaders and electoral ‘malfunctioning’ has been a steady case over the Global South, from Brazil, Bolivia, Kenya, India to Nepal. These events just go on to show what frequency the world is on. It is one of uncertainty, pain and also hope. 

There has been an outpouring of pro-democratic reforms protests across Bangladesh leading to Sheikh Hasina’s ousting, Anti-Fascist and Anti-Racist Pride March in Argentina, pro-secularism movement in Cyprus, and rallies against Orbán in Hungary. There is strength in pushing back, and taking the reins. We are here, pursuing our degrees, taking a step towards fixing what needs fixing, from environment and sustainable living, and the politics of health to defending human rights. For the risk of sounding ostentatious, I will try to keep it mellow. Our time at IHEID is meant for us to work on ourselves and give our energy to the things we believe in.

I wish you all a very fun and fruitful semester ahead! Remember to enjoy all that Geneva has to offer.  

Best, 

Aanvi