7 Billion Reasons to Wage Peace

Something in the news caught my eye this week. The United Nations reported that the World population hit 7 billion this year and would hit 10 billion by 2100. That’s a lot of people!

At 7 billion, the world’s population has tripled from what it was in 1930. In just 90 years, we will have 50 per cent more people on this planet than we did at the beginning of the century, competing for the same food, water, space and attention.

Whether we like it or not, we will all have to learn to share, compromise and negotiate to survive as more and more people compete for limited resources. The waste, profligacy, over consumption and gaping inequalities of our world are simply unsustainable. The problem is not so much the lack of resources. There is more than enough in this world to meet everyone’s basic needs but not everyone’s greed.

To wage peace, we have to first wage war. But not the kind on war on each other that we have become accustomed to. We have to wage war on the injustice, inequities and dispossession that are often at the roots of conflict and violence. We now have 7 billion urgent reasons to do so.

7 Billion Reasons to Wage Peace

11/22/2011 07:47:00 AM human rights, war and peace, world

"How to Write About Africa"

This article by the Kenyan author BINYAVANGA WAINAINA was originally published in the Journal "Granta." The scathingly ironic article captures the often unspoken truth about much of what is written and published about Africa in the West.

"How to Write About Africa"

Always use the word ‘Africa’ or ‘Darkness’ or ‘Safari’ in your title. Subtitles may include the words ‘Zanzibar’, ‘Masai’, ‘Zulu’, ‘Zambezi’, ‘Congo’, ‘Nile’, ‘Big’, ‘Sky’, ‘Shadow’, ‘Drum’, ‘Sun’ or ‘Bygone’. Also useful are words such as ‘Guerrillas’, ‘Timeless’, ‘Primordial’ and ‘Tribal’. Note that ‘People’ means Africans who are not black, while ‘The People’ means black Africans.

Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel Prize. An AK-47, prominent ribs, naked breasts: use these. If you must include an African, make sure you get one in Masai or Zulu or Dogon dress.

In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy with very short people who eat primates. Don’t get bogged down with precise descriptions. Africa is big: fifty-four countries, 900 million people who are too busy starving and dying and warring and emigrating to read your book. The continent is full of deserts, jungles, highlands, savannahs and many other things, but your reader doesn’t care about all that, so keep your descriptions romantic and evocative and unparticular.

Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat. Do not mention rice and beef and wheat; monkey-brain is an African's cuisine of choice, along with goat, snake, worms and grubs and all manner of game meat. Make sure you show that you are able to eat such food without flinching, and describe how you learn to enjoy it—because you care.

Taboo subjects: ordinary domestic scenes, love between Africans (unless a death is involved), references to African writers or intellectuals, mention of school-going children who are not suffering from yaws or Ebola fever or female genital mutilation.

Throughout the book, adopt a sotto voice, in conspiracy with the reader, and a sad I-expected-so-much tone. Establish early on that your liberalism is impeccable, and mention near the beginning how much you love Africa, how you fell in love with the place and can’t live without her. Africa is the only continent you can love—take advantage of this. If you are a man, thrust yourself into her warm virgin forests. If you are a woman, treat Africa as a man who wears a bush jacket and disappears off into the sunset. Africa is to be pitied, worshipped or dominated. Whichever angle you take, be sure to leave the strong impression that without your intervention and your important book, Africa is doomed.

"How to Write About Africa"

11/14/2011 11:24:00 AM africa, history

Taking Liberties: Historicizing 20th Century Human Rights in the English Speaking World

A Research Workshop presented by McMaster University, Department of History and the L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History, 1-2 March 2012.

Research Brief

In 2004 Mark Mazower noted that while the history of human rights in the 20th Century could be written as a triumph of civilization over barbarism, it must also be seen as a campaign imbued with politics, cynicism, and state interest. As he points out, we need to understand the political struggles and conflicts of interest that led to the emergence of human rights on the international arena as they had a profound role in the actual definitions of human rights that have largely triumphed. But not only were such struggles fought out in the international arena, or at the highest level of state policy making, they were also to be found at the level of civil society and amongst a variety of activist individuals and advocacy organizations within societies.

Taking Liberties: Historicizing 20th Century Human Rights in the English Speaking World

11/13/2011 09:29:00 PM education, human rights

Viewing of the Month: Amélie

I do not consider myself a movie aficionado but every once in a while I delight in foreign movies to extricate myself from Hollywood’s stranglehold on our collective psyche. Old Iranian and Russian movies hold a particular fascination. But it is the 2001 French film “Amélie” that recently got me enthralled.

A romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, it is the story of a reticent and quirky Parisian waitress who, confronted by her conflicted life, sets out to change the lives of those around her for the better. In so doing, she manages to transform not just the lives of others but unwittingly her own life too.

The movie reminds me so much of the equally remarkable film by the Italian director Roberto Benigni, “Life is Beautiful” which tells the story of a Jewish Italian whose resilience and fertile imagination helps his family survive a Nazi concentration camp. Both films are must sees and come highly recommended.

Viewing of the Month: Amélie

11/10/2011 07:25:00 PM arts and culture

Guy Fawkes: The Face of Anonymity and Defiance

I have always wondered what the real story is behind the ubiquitous “V for Vendetta” mask that has become synonymous with the Occupy Wall Street protests in the US and around the world. The mask has come to represent the anonymity of an amorphous and leaderless grassroots movement. Apparently there is a fascinating history behind the mask.

The mask is a representation of Guy Fawkes who was part of a group of provincial English Catholics that planned a failed assassination attempt against King James I in 1605. Guy Fawkes who was in charge of the gunpowder that had been stockpiled to blow up Westminster palace was eventually captured, tortured and committed suicide before he was due to be executed. For centuries, Fawkes has been reviled for treason in Protestant England and his effigy is often burned on a bonfire.

It is a fascinating story. I find it ironic that the image of a man despised for treason at home has become a universal symbol of people power in the twenty first century. The Guardian of London provides and interesting expose on this iconic image.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/04/occupy-movement-guy-fawkes-mask

Guy Fawkes: The Face of Anonymity and Defiance

11/09/2011 08:37:00 PM arts and culture, history, human rights

Brazil Notes: The Diversity Paradox

Still on my trip to Brazil…

While in Brazil I had the opportunity to attend the annual national academic conference of social scientists in the country. It was a gathering of the crème de la crème of the Brazilian academe.

The conference was held at a scenic resort-style hotel in the serene town of Caxambu in the western part of the country. It is a delightful and breathtaking city with green flowing hills and natural spring rivers. I was told that in the old days, the town was a holiday resort for kings and princes of the Brazilian monarchy who spent their vacations in the lush, calm and relaxing greenery of Caxambu. Given the beauty of Caxambu it is no wonder that the intellectuals of Brazil chose to continue the tradition.

One of the first things that struck me upon arriving at the conference venue was how unrepresentative the faces at the conference were of the Brazilians I had seen and met in the streets of Sao Paulo. This was a very "white" group with very few black, coloured or aboriginal faces. Not even in my years in Scandinavia did I encounter such a racially monolithic gathering at an academic conference. This was definitely not my image of Brazil. Where are the intellectual Peles, Ronaldinhos and Anderson Silvas that Brazil on the map in sport?

So, I asked Dr. Valter Silverio of the Federal University of Sao Carlos (one of the few “colored” faces at the conference) why the Brazilian intellectual community was so unrepresentative of the racial diversity of the larger society. Dr. Silverio should know. He is one of the key academics involved with studying and monitoring Brazil's new affirmative action policy in the universities. He explained that although Brazil has always prided itself as being a racial democracy, racial inequalities are a historical reality. However, racial politics has not always resonated in the country as they have in the US.

As elsewhere in Latin America, the focus has historically been on class inequalities rather than racial inequities. However, in the past decade, the Brazilian government has taken decisive steps aimed at redressing the gaping racial and class imbalance in the educational sector with its affirmative action policies at the university level.

These policies, Dr. Silvero explains, have sometimes been controversial. But on the whole, they have set in motion the mechanisms for addressing lingering historical inequities in the country's ivory towers. Brazil has chosen not to go with the race-essentializing American affirmative action model. Rather it has developed a uniquely Brazilian model that takes into consideration both race and class inequalities in the country.

For me, it is another example of a country’s unique and creative approach to addressing its social challenges.

Brazil Notes: The Diversity Paradox

11/09/2011 07:38:00 PM Development, politics

In Solidarity....

The Corrupt fear....

The Honest support....

The Heroic join.....

In Solidarity....

11/04/2011 02:26:00 PM human rights, politics

Brazil Notes: The “Zero Hunger Program”

Still on my visit to Brazil…

One of the most intriguing discoveries I made during my stay in Brazil was finding out that the country has a ministry dedicated to the prevention of hunger. The ministry is called "The Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger (MDS)." As far as I know Brazil is the only country that has a cabinet level minister whose principal assignment is to fight against hunger.

The ministry was created in 2004 with a mission to promote social development and fight against hunger with the aim of “fostering inclusion and citizenship, ensuring food and nutritional security, a minimum citizenship income and integral assistance to families." This mission statement reflects the country's decision of placing the fight against hunger and social exclusion as a priority in the national agenda. My hosts tell me that the Ministry's mandate is to ensure that all Brazilians irrespective of race, class or economic statues get three square meals a day. They call it the “Zero Hunger Program.”

According to the Ministry, its social policies are integrated in a system of social protection and promotion that currently benefits about 65 million people in situation of poverty, through its several programs, such as: the Bolsa Família Program of conditional cash transfer; the Continuous Cash Benefit (BPC), the Program of Acquisition of Food of the Small Landowner (PAA); the Cisterns Program; the Program of Integral Attention to the Family (PAIF); and the Program of the Eradication of Child Labor (PETI), among others.”

“By prioritizing social investments, Brazil has achieved significant results in reducing poverty and inequality, and has improved access to food, education, health and infrastructure services. Between 2003 and 2006, 14 million people escaped poverty, entailing a 31.4 per cent decline in the country’s poverty levels.”

The rest of the world is taking notice of Brazil’s fight against hunger. According to a 2009 ActionAid report, Brazil ranks first among developing countries in the fight against hunger. The report assessed 29 developing countries on the basis of legal commitment to the right to food, investment in agriculture and social protection, and performance on hunger and child nutrition. Brazil came in first, ahead of China, Ghana and Vietnam.

Brazil Notes: The “Zero Hunger Program”

11/04/2011 01:16:00 PM Development, human rights, politics, world

Brazil Notes: An Alternate Model of Development

For the past two weeks I have been in Sao Paulo, Brazil as a guest speaker of the "Centromere de Estudo de Cultura Contemporanea" (Centre for the study of contemporary culture). It is my first time in Brazil and I must say that it has been a revelation. In the next few weeks I will be blogging about my random observations of Brazilian society and culture.

Before vising Brazil, I had heard a lot about the social and political changes initiated by the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva but visiting the country gives one a real sense of the impact of these changes.

Lula's policies have been credited with creating the conditions for the greatest reduction of the number of people living in poverty in the recent history of Latin America. Brazil is doing in Latin America what China is doing in Asia. With more people moving up the social ladder and with more purchasing power, the Brazilian economy is booming even at a time of global recession. Evidence of the resurgence of capitalist consumerist culture can be seen everywhere from the new city metro line systems to the sprawling American style malls springing up across the city.

The interesting thing about the Brazilian development model as I see it is that the triumph of the capitalist consumerist property model has not been allowed to run a mock as has been the case elsewhere. Great care has been taken to put in place social safety nets to ensure the rights and welfare of the poorest and most vulnerable in the society are protected. Call it capitalism with a conscience.

I ask my host, Dr. Rosanna Reiss of the University of Sao Paulo which of the government’s many social policies she thinks has had the most profound impact on Brazilian society. "Clearly the Bolsa Família program" She says. The Bolsa Família is the $150 cash transfer to poor families throughout brazil. " These cash subventions have transfomed the lives of many ordinary people across the country.” They enable the poorest families to invest in education and gain financial security.

When the grants were first proposed, there was the familiar concern that it would lead to the "indolence and dependency of the poor on the nanny state." However, documented evidence shows the contrary. The funds have had an empowering effect of the country's poorest. My hosts tell me of anecdotal evidence of Bolsa Família program recipients requesting government agencies to discontinue payments to them when their economic situation improve. This challenges the arguments that state welfare programs inevitably foster dependency among the poor.

A true test of the humanity of any society is how well it treats the least of its members. Brazil provides an alternate development model for Latin America and the rest of the developing world. The problem as the Brazilian example shows is not necessarily free market capitalism but the virulent form of avaricious corporate capitalism that currently dominates the global political economy. There is, I think, a place for conscientious and regulated free-market economics that seeks as its goal, not only the unending accumulation of economic surpluses in ever fewer hands, but rather doing the greatest good to the greatest number of people while providing safety nets for the most vulnerable in the society.

Brazil Notes: An Alternate Model of Development

11/04/2011 12:00:00 PM Development, human rights, politics, world

Reading of the Month: "The Death of the Liberal Class"

My reading for the month has been “The Death of the Liberal Class,’ by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges. In it he makes the argument that the “liberal class” which has historically been at the forefront of championing social reforms for the poor and middle class is increasing becoming irrelevant.

Hedges point accusing fingers at five specific groups and institutions in America for failing Americans and allowing for the creation of a “permanent underclass.” These are the Democratic Party, churches, unions, the media and academia.

Hedges argues that for motives ranging from self-preservation to careerism, the “liberal establishment” purged radicals from its own ranks and, as a result, lost its checks on capitalism and corporate power.

Although the book is essentially about American politics and societies, I find the that some of the questions it raises bear universal relevance. Hedges indictment of the academia and its complicity in the corporatization of the global socio-political space is one that I think resonates with many observers. League universities, he argues have become essentially, vocational schools. There has been a “kind of withering of the humanities” in which the liberal education that would normally ask broad questions and challenge structure and assumptions has become corporate. Academic departments now carry the burden of raising their own funds. “This is pretty hard to do if you’re in the classics department,” Hedges notes.

Hedges also faults the “purging within economics departments and business schools of people who challenged what I call the utopian vision of globalization — the idea that somehow the marketplace should determine human behavior and guide human activity.”

Not everyone will agree with the Hedges' blanket indictments in this book, but I think it makes for very thought provoking reading. The books comes highly recommend.

Reading of the Month: "The Death of the Liberal Class"

11/04/2011 11:58:00 AM education, politics