Sweden’s Plague of Loneliness ... and OZY Through Maroosha’s Eyes

Reporter Maroosha Muzaffar, based in Delhi, shares her favorite OZY features from 2018.

Maroosha Muzaffar is the latest addition to our global editorial team. Working from New Delhi as OZY’s Asia Fellow, Maroosha hails from Kashmir, the heart of a decades-old conflict between India and Pakistan, where she witnessed human rights abuses up close. Seeing loved ones injured and experiencing military crossfire is indelible, and the experience made her well aware of the uncertainty of life.

As a writer, Maroohsha is keen to share her passion for storytelling. During her childhood, her father encouraged her to read the editorials of local newspapers to better understand varied perspectives on political and community issues. The storyteller in her was also inspired by her grandfather, who serialized his stories — making storytime a great experience for his grandchildren.

Separated from his family, 15-year-old refugee Hussain Raza fled persecution at home and somehow lived to tell his story.

At 15, I landed in Quetta, Pakistan, full of excitement to see my family again. Three years before, we had left Afghanistan to get medical help for my brother. He had been tortured by the Taliban because they suspected him of helping NATO forces.

In Quetta, my brother didn’t make it, and after his death, my mother faced a difficult choice. Just like in Afghanistan, she knew we faced persecution for being ethnically Hazara — people who came from Mongolia long ago, and who have distinct faces and light skin. For my safety, she sent me to a place in Iran where young boys could work in unskilled jobs. But the police found me and sent me back to Afghanistan.

I finally made my way back to Quetta, excited to see my mother and sister after three years. But my family wasn’t there, and I learned they had left for Australia. I knew I must go too. I missed my family, I had never been to school and there was no life for me at home. A former landlord and family friend helped me find a smuggler and, even better, agreed to pay the $5,000 cost.

Clair Brown believes that following the tenets of the Eastern religion will lead to economic gains.

The Chevron oil refinery in Clair Brown’s hometown of Richmond, California, frequently pumps thick, black smoke into the air, testing the limits of acceptability under Environmental Protection Agency regulation. Asthma and other breathing problems persist, as low-income residents statewide are four times as likely to develop chronic lung disease than their wealthier neighbors. The answer to those alarming environmental concerns, Brown contends, is her innovative mix of Eastern religion and Western economic theory.

A longtime labor economist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Brown has focused her research on wage determination, poverty and high-tech industries, but her book last year hit on a fresh concept. In Buddhist Economics: An Enlightened Approach to the Dismal Science, Brown, 72, explores how economic performance can be measured based on the quality of life, and she applies her theory to the state of California.