Once again.. combination of the travel and the baby birth.. I’m now in New Jersey and about to go to sleep for the first time in a while. So citizen reporting will commence ASAP.
Category Archives: Text
My Niece Is Born
Today my niece was born. Amazing, I have a niece. I have a wonderful nephew and now a niece. I can think of no better reason to travel tomorrow to the US and A…. so today there is no post in honor of my brand new niece Riley who was born on this day Nov. 27th, 2007. One day she will read this..years from now.. and smile.
A cycle? Or an explosion?
I often listen to my own podcast. Might sound strange, but one of my rituals, besides losing most of my nights sleep preparing a podcast, is to listen to it the next day as I ride my bike through town. I listen to try and hear what others might hear; an idea or an experience that teaches me something, gives me a new idea or leads to deeper questions.
Lately I’ve noticed a common thread; through all the podcasts about work, income, quality of life, and history. That common thread is the question of whether or not things are happening as part of a cycle or have we reached some kind of major confrontation.
I’m referring to the strikes but I’m also referring to the inequality in the world. I’ve read the reports, looked at the statistics, and listened to individuals tell their stories and their evaluations about this moment in history. The strikes around the world, pitting people struggling to make a living against companies or governments who also struggle to do what they think is necessary for the future. Pension cuts, job cuts, contract negotiations collapsing, governments against workers, corporations against workers, public opinion against strikers, the conflicts and alliances go on and on.
Of course I’m too young to make some bold statement that this is some unique moment in history. Whenever I ask more experienced people they give me a mix of reactions, that these things happen in cycles and this is just the return of old stuggles as old as time itself.
In a recent interview for a forthcoming podcast, I asked a very excellent journalist who covers labor, if he thinks we’ve reached some climax in the struggle to make ends-meat. He didn’t see it as a climax, yet he did talk about what a huge boom of interest there is for his work now more than ever before. More and more individuals want to know about their rights as working people, and have a clear idea of their wages and benefits and they’re using the internet to find out about these issues.
Still I’m left wondering… is this truly a unique moment in history? Is this more of the same or the return of some age-old cycle?
BioFuel and Food
The topic of biofuels is not always my favorite to talk about. It is complex, it is a very grey area when it comes to benefits versus drawbacks.
Yet overall as someone who supports social justice, sustainability, human rights, and cleaning up the mess we have made of the world, I welcome the era of biofuels that we seem to be at the beginning of.
Among the great points of the big debate is the issue of world hunger and the price of food. As many of you will know by now, there is a great deal of speculation and already some evidence that food prices will go up because so much food is being turned into fuel. Many critics say, this is the problem if we make the global focus bio fuels.
The initial issue I have with this argument is the idea that world hunger will worsen and that food prices will increase. It is a fact that IF the leaders of the world wanted to, there is enough food in the world to feed everyone. But when you introduce the politics and economics of food production, that food never reaches the hungry. So this is already a problem no matter what we’re using to fuel vehicles.
Then comes the issue of rising food prices, a much tougher one for me get into since I’m neither a farmer nor can I see the future in terms of prices. I do however believe that governments could cooperate to make sure prices would not get out of control. Again it requires that they WANT TO solve the problem, and based on history it is clear that ending hunger is NOT the priority of world leaders.
Of course there’s alot more to it and I hope to build on this discussion through both writing and podcasts. For now I want to recommend the latest edition of The State We’re In; specifically a conversation they have with a Brazilian farmer that, for me, is very interesting and informative.
Thanksgiving and Guinea-Bissau
It is no secret that I’m a huge admirer of my friend Pauline’s travels and writing in West Africa. She is my journalistic hero and Im so excited to see how her blog is evolving. People should stop reading blogs about stupid new devices that cost too much money, and start reading about how people live their lives in places like Guinea-Bissau through the great observations of someone like Pauline.
Many of you are with family eating alot today and relaxing. That is nice and I’m certainly somewhat jealous as I have to wait another week before finally seeing my family in New Jersey. But in the mean time, I once again recommend you read Pauline’s blog as she is travelling in Guinea-Bissau and with every sentence I read I find myself wishing I was there with her. One of my resolutions in the coming months, is to do just that…
One Year Ago Somalia
Greetings from Amsterdam, where winter has set in nicely.
While I have a tremendous amount of love for independent podcasters out there, I still look to many alternative and even get what I get from mainstream media podcasts as part of the quest to piece together what is really happening in our world. One of my favorites for this purpose is the Guardian’s daily podcast. The program is actually an excellent example of how newspapers and magazines could create an original podcast that makes use of, and even promotes, the material in their newspaper. I get an excellent overview of the Guardian each day when I tune into this podcast.
Recently, in their Friday edition, they had a guest on who’s been writing about the one year anniversary of the invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia. Of course, always one of those regions of the world that is under-reported and in fact, quite difficult to get reports from, Ethiopia invaded after so-called Islamists took over Mogadishu and intended to form some kind of fundamentalist state in Somalia. At least that’s what the few reports making the rounds taught us last year.
The reporter spoke about how when Ethiopia invaded to prevent that government from exercizing power , they were successful in that mission. However, in a familiar turn of events, after being there one year they are finding themselves the targets of frequent attacks and in desperate need of help.
It brings me back to what has become a classic question. To do or not to do, and if to do… then how? If your neighboring country is being taken over by an extremist group, do you try to stop them? Do you use a military to do so? My initial answer, and even more after seeing what happens, is NO. Yet, I don’t believe in isolation. I don’t believe you ignore suffering when you know full well what is happening next door or anywhere in the world. Then what to do? What kind of engagement? What kind of action or dialog?
As I biked down to frisbee practice, re-listening to this report, I could not think of an answer. I know I believe in nonviolence. I know there is plenty of evidence that this method of occupying a country by force is not only wrong but also disastrous. So what then? The only thing that comes to mind is to understand the problem before it happens. To look at the ingredients that lead to such a government taking power, that drive people to support such groups or policies, and work at an international level to alleviate these symptoms before they result in what we’ve seen in place like Somalia.