Topic Overview · 2019-09-13 · Topic Overview "This is the way the world ends; not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door." ― Amanda Hocking, Hollowland

Dear Delegates, My name is Rose Oh and it is my absolute honor and pleasure to serve as the director of the Future Crisis Committee at Richmond Model United Nations 2019. The journey of the committee, “7 Days to Die” will revolve around a prestigious the Zombie Apocalypse. First and foremost, an introduction of myself and the committee’s dais team. I am a sophomore student currently in the Pre IB Programme at R.E Mountain Secondary. Model UN, after debate, was the first thing I had truly started in grade 6 when I just immigrated from South Korea. The concept of how social and professional environment Model United Nations could be was an extreme shock and opportunity to not be shy and solve important global issues. Model United Nations brought me a purpose to take initiative and recognize the different problems in the global community. Since then, I have delegated at various conferences, built up my knowledge, and extended my opinions, and that is why I am here trying to staff at multiple day conferences to expand my horizons. Along with myself is my splendid dias team. Working with this team has been my absolute pleasure. The dias consists of Dina Zeng, a grade 11 currently enrolled in the IB Diploma Programme at Semiahmoo Secondary who will be serving as a chair. Serena Chen is also a grade 11 at Crofton House school and will chair as well. The entire dais team looks forward to the conference and meeting all the delegates. The entire dais team looks forward to the conference and meeting all the delegates. Throughout the day, we hope to provide a fun, friendly, and an unforgettable experience for everyone in our committee. As a crisis committee director, since this is my first time directing a crisis for a whole entire day, we might not have the best and perfect sessions. Nevertheless, I wish to use the same sense of passion, drive, and commitment I have as a delegate to instill the inspiration for many attending my committee and make it a memorable experience. It is on this basis to make a formidable committee and a dynamic day for everyone attending for this crisis, Dina, Serena, and I look forward to seeing you all at Richmond Model United Nations 2019. Best of luck, Rose Oh Director of the Future Crisis Committee Richmond Model United Nations 2019

Topic Overview "This is the way the world ends; not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door."

― Amanda Hocking, Hollowland

A Zombie Apocalypse was always the one of the most huge conspiracy theories. Many curious human beings, from simple literature writers to scientists have devoted their lives to discover several enigmas surrounding zombies. Some argue it is possible to revive a dead body into an everlasting but hollow creature, but others denied it by calling this creative and absurd. The notion even extends when humans unintentionally tried to mock the potential threat, by just dressing up as these predators in return in festivals or holidays, emphasizing the narrative that the idea of zombies are truly fantasys. Rather than past denials, this epidemic might be the end of humanity. This is when important documents or literature comes into consideration, when the globe as a whole wants to shut the conflict down as soon as possible. What was just a jump scare at Halloween is now slowly tainting the 7.5 billion human beings into ‘the Walking Dead’.

Committee Introduction

The Future Crisis Committee can be imagined as a Global Emergency Crisis, which is spontaneously assembled in response to an enormous threat. As it is trying to contain or stop a disastrous event, countries are granted to do anything they wish, with the approval of other countries, or do private operations by themselves secretly. There is at least one country from every region, because of the fact that a zombie virus can potentially signal the annihilation of humanity. In fact, the dias team wishes for equal representation of every region, for a more dynamic crisis experience. For some extremely general rules that all delegates must know prior the conference, Voting powers are granted for public directives, following the rules of a crisis committee in a regular Model United Nations conference, which requires 1 sponsor minimum, and a minimum of one-third of the committee as signatories. This will be reviewed by the dias team, and will be opened by voting as soon as it is processed Private directives can be sent to the dias team, which no signatories are required. Instead, the dias team will approve or reject the directive, and updates will be made without no notice or acknowledgement of the sponsor. Although this is very basic information, this is written in case of any beginner delegate so that the crisis can flow at the rate that the dias team wants.

Topic Introduction A Zombie, defined by Cambridge Dictionary, is “a dead person who has been brought back to life, but without human qualities.”Their traits are narrowed and simplified, from a humans, as they are hollow: not being able to think, attacking and eating the brains of human beings. (Cambridge) Believe or not, zombies have exceptional roots of planting terror in people. From the stone age, people would put counter measures to buried bodies to make sure they will not dig their way out. In the article, “The Surprising History Behind Gravestones,” Mica Matlack explains that the usage of gravestones was to keep the dead in their graves:

“In the stone age, when humans were still nomadic in nature, the dead would be buried and a great stone or boulder rolled atop the grave. These stones were called gravestones and their purpose was to prevent the deceased from rising after death, a fear still prevalent in modern society.”

This belief existed in multiple regions, like in Syria where Archaeologists discovered the burial methods to prevent the rise of the dead was to break their skulls and separate them from the rest of the body. (Historic Mysteries) Although scholars have posed many viable theories, Juan José Ibañez from the Spanish National Research Council in Barcelona states Stone Age cultures may have believed the dead was “a threat to the world of the living”. (New Scientist). The Ancient Greeks may have been the next notable civilization to use the same burial method and belief, depicted from how they pinned the skeletons down by heavy objects to prevent dead bodies from rising back up and reanimating. (History) Furthermore, Haiti highlighted the impactful appearance of zombies into western culture. In the 17th century, when Haiti was “known as Saint-Domingue and ruled by France”, African slaves were hauled in brutally, half dying in the span of a few years just to bring in more slaves. Perhaps, the zombie archetype was there to mirror such inhumane treatment and the horrific plight that existed in Haiti for more than a century. Haitian slaves passed down a belief that dying would release them to a free afterlife, after the “relentless misery and subjugation”. Nevertheless, the ones who took their own life would be enchanted to latch on to the plantation they worked on for eternity because they denied their own bodies, being called a soulless zombie. This projection was the start of zombie folklore, which most know as the Voodoo religion, which in turn shaped zombies as the common rotten-flesh made sharp image, reanimated by voodoo priests, shamans, and west pop culture. (The Atlantic) Today, zombies are almost always linked with the end of the world via the “zombie apocalypse,” a global pandemic that turns most of the human population into beasts ravenous for the flesh of their own kind. But there’s no longer any clear metaphor. While America may still suffer major

social ills—economic inequality, police brutality, systemic racism, mass murder—zombies have been absorbed as entertainment that’s completely independent from these dilemmas.

Historical Analysis The zombies that the Haitians created portrayed the anxiety and horrors of slavery. Nevertheless, there seem to be real incidents recorded in credible medical journals about zombification, which is considered murder in Haiti. In 1997, an article in the British Medical Journal The Lancet described three verifiable accounts of zombies in the past year. The first case was a 30 year old Haitian women who appeared to be dead after a “short febrile illness”. She was buried in a family tomb that was filled with stones, only to reappear three years later. She was recognized by her facial mark, and her close relations. She came out as “mute and unable to feed herself”. Her parents admitted her to a local hospital, and she was diagnosed with Catatonic Schizophrenia, which was based on her “waxy flexibility” (maintenance of limbs and body in externally imposed positions), and “stupor” (marked decrease in reactivity to the environment and in spontaneous movements and activity). (Psychcentral) Contrary to her diagnosis, there was no explanation on the reappearance of the same human being. If she had Catatonic Schizophrenia, she would have suffocated in the tomb, where she was practically immobilized. The second case supported more evidence of the possibility of being zombified. A 26 year old man suddenly became ill with a fever, "his eyes turned yellow," he "smelled bad like death," and "his body swelled up", and died in 3 days 19 months after he was buried in a tomb, he reappeared in the village and accused his family of zombification. He was diagnosed with epilepsy and brain damage, presumably from oxygen deprivation. Again, his tomb was not supervised, and evidence of zombification is hidden… or concealed. More suspiciously, this case was concluded of “mistaken identity”, supported by DNA testing. The researchers posit that these cases have “less to do with mind-controlling neurotoxins and more to do with untreated or undiagnosed mental illness and brain disorders.” (The Lancet) Another well-documented case also describes the revival of a Haitian man named Clairvius Narcisse. He entered a local hospital with severe respiratory problems in 1962 and he slipped into a coma. He was declared dead was buried shortly after. 18 years later, doctors, townspeople and family members all identified the reappeared man as Clairvius Narcisse, who claimed he had been buried alive, then dug up and put to work on a distant sugar plantation. (History) All of these cases may perhaps have been foreshadowing. These case studies, when analyzed by countries, will tremendously help early sightings of potential zombifications.

Timeline The initial crisis will begin in a small country in Asia who is poorly governed and that was not anticipating any sort of conflict. Due to the dynamic and sudden nature of the committee, no further details will be revealed. The current situation and timeline will be revealed the day of. This backgrounder is only a tool to guide the delegates to think about a plethora of scenarios, and how to adapt to the versatile but chaotic circumstances that delegates will be at in the conference. However, history has documented instances similar to the ideal of a zombie outbreak and are as following: 60,000 BC, Katanga, Central Africa - A cave painting of a zombie devouring a human has been discovered, with a grave of crushed skulls and burned bodies. Traces of fossilized Solanum are being slowly discovered. 1587, Roanoke Island, North Carolina - The English settlers of Roanoke that were from England always sent hunting parties to the mainland. One group failed to return, and a survivor of that group has said he was attacked "a band of savages . . . their putrid, worm-ridden skin impervious to powder and shot!". The settlers ignored the man, and sent another party. One was killed, the rest were badly wounded, but were murdered by the risen one who attacked his former teammates. This English settlement in North America has vanished. 1935, Key West, Florida - After the major hurricane devastated the strong of islands, infected rates and zombies appeared, which many islanders mistook those with survivors. All routes to the mainland were destroyed by the storm, so the majority of the population was wiped out instantly. FVZA troops had to exterminate the island for 3 weeks, and a total of 3500 people were infected. This was a considerably large but understandable number, since a zombie vaccine was available at this time, while the geographic location went in the way of delivering the cure. 1863, Vicksburg, Mississippi - This was during the civil war. Unfazed, confederate troops under estimated the zombies until their supply lines were cut off. There was no FVZA, leading Union soldiers to slaughter the zombies with limited ammunition. 2000 casualties totaled. 1892, Hawaii - In August 1892, a zombie plague begun among Chinese laborers in sugar cane fields and spread amongst the islands, and Hawaii, independent in that moment, had to ask the United States for help. The zombie outbreak killed just under 2000 people. 2019, North America - This is not a zombie outbreak of humans, but a deer zombie plague. This Chronically Wasting Disease (CWD) is an infection spread by prions - pathogenic proteins that

can’t be killed because they aren’t alive - which causes the infection that eats away at the brains of deer, elk, and moose. The impact is less miniscule than the projected, because a study published in the Journal Emerging Infectious Diseases in August 2018 insinuated that prions from an infected animal could infect human cells, making it possible for the CWD to leap to humans. Current Situation

With that in mind, till this crisis, there is no international framework, because no country was prepared physically. The book Theory of International Politics and Zombies avidly predicts how would different theories of international politics predict the outcome if “the dead began to rise from the grave and feast upon the living”. The author Drezner describes that Foreign-policy realists would only appraise “power” in international affairs. He insinuates that from their point, only countries who are strong enough would have potential to survive, and weak ones would "suffer devouring by reanimated, ravenous corpses." This realist point-of-view is not coincidental with the current crisis, as Kazakhstan has no idea of how to handle the crisis, thus making the overall global response late. The realist point-of-view turns out to be strangely suited for thinking about the zombie apocalypse. But the same goes for foreign policy liberalism, which puts its faith in international institutions. Liberals, Drezner writes, would almost certainly see the zombie hordes as "a classic negative externality problem of economic globalization.... A coordinating body, perhaps even a World Zombie Organization (WZO), would need to be formed in order to handle all of the overlapping health, trade, and security issues." Neoconservatives, for their part, would claim that "the zombies hate us for our freedoms - specifically, our freedom to abstain from eating human flesh." Ultimately, none of the foreign policy frameworks do a particularly good job of responding to the zombie attack: they're all, Drezner points out, "state-centric," whereas a zombie horde is a "non-state actor," much like the other twenty-first century problems that our international order is now straining to confront (think climate change, financial panics, and terrorism).

Nonetheless, the Centre for Disease Control has written a Zombie Apocalypse blog in return to promote awareness on how to prepare for any kind of general emergency. They recommend an emergency kit in every household, which includes basic necessities and supplies to get through the first couple of days to buy some time while properly evacuating:

- Water (1 gallon per person per day) - Food (stock up on non-perishable items that you eat regularly) - Medications (this includes prescription and non-prescription meds)

- Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery powered radio, etc.) - Sanitation and Hygiene (household bleach, soap, towels, etc.) - Clothing and Bedding (a change of clothes for each family member and blankets) - Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate to

name a few) - First Aid supplies (although you’re a goner if a zombie bites you, you can use these

supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado or hurricane)

The CDC has not quite convinced the government of the United States for a National Response Emergency Plan, but this is the closest a country has gone for pre-written measures for a zombie apocalypse. The only palpable downside to what the CDC has done is that this blog is inadequate as a real protocol for zombie preparedness, because it never specifies any guidelines directly about worthwhile strategies; it lacks information of personal protection, route or way of survival, time of travel, and advantages against zombies, which suggests this announcement would serve the public better in general emergencies. (The Atlantic) Although countries would have a better starting point if they continued to develop and refine a comprehensive Zombie Apocalypse Response plan, none of them saw this coming.

Case studies There are several routes that the virus can take, ranging from mutations or sudden outbreaks in various locations that are not related. In response, it is up to the fast actions of delegates to stop the spread, and create some sort of solution in the same timeframe.

Doctor Robert Smith created mathematical models to calculate potential scenarios for zombie intervention. Three interventions were highlighted. The first was quarantine, whereby “a small proportion of the zombies would be kept in isolation”. But given any geographical circumstances and how virulent the infection might be, even leaving a few zombies in the wild would result in a restart of the outbreak. Including a quarantine that makes no difference to the stability of the doomsday equilibrium, which debunks all possible arguments about how other diseases were quarantined and solved. The second intervention was the hope for a cure that would reverse zombification. There lies a huge speculation of if such a theoretical cure could be developed, the intervention lies on a huge amount of luck that possibly could not be quantified. Yet, unless the cure was a 100% effective, humans and zombies would coexist, which will only downgrade the human population into marginal numbers, and possibly extinction, just stretched out because of the cure. Last but never least, the intervention idea was of impulsive attacks,

where humans “mobilize their resources and attack the zombies”, while increasing the intensity of each one, making it a try-or-die situation. “The humans would keep fighting with increasing intensity until either the zombies were destroyed or the humans were torn apart from limb to limb and their flesh consumed by the ghoulish undead.” The bright side is, if every impulsive attack is effective to the very maximum, zombies could be eradicated in 10 days. Yet the world is not that simple.

Beware, because as the world, a global crisis has to be detained in the fast way possible. This is especially stressed in the case of a zombie apocalypse, as a student study from the University of Leicester in 2017 insinuates that in the worst case scenario, “assuming that a zombie can find one person each day, with a 90 percent chance of infecting victims with the zombie infection”, the human population can wipe out in 101 days. Don’t give up the hopes just yet, as the study further indicates that with new parameters on the capabilities of humans fighting back against the undead hordes, human survival is indeed feasible. (Science Daily)

Conclusion Hence, the versatile nature of a zombie apocalypse is quite captivating, nevertheless delegates should have a grip of what dangers or threats an update can possess to their own country. This backgrounder is not there for the current situation because a zombie apocalypse was never anticipated to serious measures, and the crisis is just starting from scratch. It is up to delegates to narrate the future on their own hands. Godspeed.

Guiding Questions

1) In which frontier area should operations against zombies be centered around? If so, which operations?

2) What is more important: stopping the spread of zombies, or rescuing trapped

casualties that has experience and knowledge about the virus?

3) To what extent should warfare be taken against the zombies, or vulnerable areas?

4) Which of the two will you prioritize: waiting while finding a cure to reverse zombification, or kill one’s family members that have already turned into zombies?

5) What are some possible civilian responses, and how do you control the staggering fear while handling the outbreak?

6) What are some shortcoming of some previous disease outbreaks, and how should

such issues be dealt with even a deadlier epidemic?

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