Archive for the 'Developing world' Category

Is neoliberalism finished?

Published
by
Mark
1 week, 1 day ago
in China, Developing world, Economics, Foreign Elections, Foreign policy, International, Markets, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology, USA and War
. 72 Comments

The question’s in the air at the moment. In the Australian blogosphere, John Quiggin thinks the financial markets crisis has killed it off, while Nicholas Gruen is (rightly in my view) more skeptical. [In response to commenters, Quiggin goes on in another post to define what he means by neoliberalism.]

From my (sociological) point of view, the shorter answer to the question is - no.

In fact, I think the way the question’s posed reflects a number of category mistakes. Continue reading ‘Is neoliberalism finished?’

Holidays in blogging hell

Published
by
Phil
3 weeks, 2 days ago
in Activism, Blogging, Books, Writers & Writing, Developing world, Media and Politics
. 5 Comments

picture.jpg In The Blogging Revolution Antony Loewenstein takes us on a personal journey through some of the more difficult places in the world to blog. Iran, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and China.

It’s a timely book on the importance and necessity of blogging and the open web given recent un-informed opinions by writers like Christian Kerr.

The book is also important in that it more thoroughly expands on ideas expressed in David Burchell’s clumsy opinion piece in the Australian in July of this year where he attempted to contrast the “pseudo-expertise and vituperation” of Western bloggers with their counterparts in the less democratic corners of the world; using Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez as an example.

The most impressive thing about Sanchez is her complete disregard for the bad habits of Western bloggers. She refuses to engage in histrionics, vainglory, pseudo-knowledge or personal posturing. Instead she trades in the gentler arts of allegory and satire.

Sanchez is also mentioned in The Blogging Revolution and Burchell is right. She does not engage in the histrionics of so many Western bloggers (mea culpa) but then again our personal circumstances are different to those that live in repressive states.

Are critics like Burchell and Kerr right? Are non-Western bloggers really better than their western counterparts? Are they less vituperative and undergraduate in their opinion? Does living in an information poor society mean that their views can be nothing more than that of a pseudo-expert? What do non-Western bloggers sound like? The Blogging Revolution gives us a peek behind the government filters.

Continue reading ‘Holidays in blogging hell’

Feminism good for families

Published
by
Kim
1 month, 1 week ago
in Activism, Developing world, Economics, Europe, Feminism, History, Industrial Relations, Middle East, Parenting, Poverty, Religion, Sexuality, Sociology, USA and Women
. 123 Comments

It’s been 45 years since Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique. Via The Global Sociology Blog, I’ve just read this op/ed by historian Stephanie Coontz - author of Marriage, A History - writing in the Guardian to mark the anniversary. Coontz deftly turns many of the usual anti-feminist narratives on their head. Continue reading ‘Feminism good for families’

When progress meets an ancient people

Published
by
Brian
1 month, 3 weeks ago
in Developing world and Environment
. 18 Comments

On the weekend we saw the documentary film Up the Yangzte where Chinese Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang goes on a journey of discovery back to the setting whence his grandfather came. The film is not about the Yangtze as such. Rather the Yangtze and the Three Gorges Dam, then filling with water, form a backdrop to a look inside the Chinese modernisation dream.

There are plenty of negatives about the Three Gorges project, including environmental concerns, the destruction of local cultural and archaeological sites and the relocation of 1.13 million people. Yet as the peasant family central to the film stoically relocate their worldly possessions literally carrying them up the hill on their backs there is an acceptance of progress and an understanding of the importance of the project to the country.

The film is not about the worth of the project as such; nor does it attempt to give a summative view of its impact on the local people. It is clear, though, that a small minority are called upon to make considerable sacrifices for the good of the many. The clash of interests is much starker in the case of the Dongria Kondh tribespeople of Orissa, India whose sacred mountain is to be scraped bare of its rich deposits of bauxite. They say they will “fight to the death rather than leave their sacred home”.

Continue reading ‘When progress meets an ancient people’

China’s pollution goes global

Published
by
Brian
2 months ago
in China, Climate change, Developing world and Environment
. 27 Comments

olympics_pollution.jpg

We’ll be seeing plenty of China on our TV screens in the next little while, as long they don’t give us too many long shots. No matter how spectacular the Olympic opening ceremony, if we can see it, I think the abiding image from the Games for me will be the astonishing soup of pollution. I can’t wrap my mind around the kind of hubris and single-minded neglect that could produce such a mess. Rick Birch talking on local radio said the Chinese Government had assured everyone a couple of years ago that the weather would be fine for the opening ceremony, the weather apparently being subject to government will. Hence no need for a plan B in case it rains. Rick says you always have a plan B in case it rains, but not this time.

Continue reading ‘China’s pollution goes global’

Doha trade negotiations collapse

Published
by
Robert Merkel
2 months, 1 week ago
in Developing world, International, Markets and Trade
. 82 Comments

I blame Geneva. It’s such a gorgeous-looking city (see the Wikipedia article for examples), it’s no wonder trade ministers would prefer to keep visiting it than actually reach an agreement. And, so, another long meeting of the Doha round of the WTO has failed to get a deal.

There’s some useful coverage at The Economist (though one should always keep in mind that publication’s biases when reading anything it publishes). Apparently:

In the end, it was a dispute over protection for developing countries’ farmers that proved the deal-breaker. The draft text envisaged a “special safeguard mechanism”—a right for developing countries to raise tariffs to protect their farmers against a surge of imports. America wanted the import volume that triggered the mechanism set relatively high; India wanted it low. Deadlock ensued; and that was that.

Continue reading ‘Doha trade negotiations collapse’

Liberal lunacy IV

Published
by
Mark
2 months, 1 week ago
in Climate change, Developing world, Energy, Environment, Howardia, Markets and Policy
. 16 Comments

For once, Craig Emerson wasn’t indulging in spin or hyperbole on Lateline last Friday when he claimed that there was a new emissions trading scheme policy every day from the Liberals. For Monday’s edition of Liberal lunacy, we reproduce Bernard Keane’s commentary from Crikey today (with permission). Continue reading ‘Liberal lunacy IV’

Nigerian Evangelicals and violent homophobia

Published
by
Kim
2 months, 1 week ago
in Authoritarianism, Developing world, Ethics, International, Lesbian and Gay, Politics, Religion and Sexuality
. 39 Comments

We’ve featured a couple of posts here about the upheavals in the Anglican Church over conservative bishops’ hatred of teh gay, and the farce that is the Lambeth Conference, where openly gay American Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson has been prohibited from attending - alone of all the 800 something bishops worldwide. At the earlier conservative meeting in Jerusalem, GAFCON, where Sydney’s own Archbishop Jensen was among the movers and shakers, the pr line was that the conservative African bishops were only concerned with the purity of the biblical faith, standing against all the terrible first world postmodern relativism.

In fact, the story of Nigerian Christian gay rights activist Davis Mac-Iyalla, who has just been granted asylum by the British government, goes a long way towards demonstrating what is actually at stake in the alleged Christianity of the Nigerian church’s hierarchy. As does their attitude towards legislation proposed in Nigeria last year. All this is very far from some genteel doctrinal dispute, or a culture war only violent in its rhetoric.

Zimbabwe II

Published
by
Kim
2 months, 2 weeks ago
in Culture, Developing world and International
. 3 Comments

John Quiggin welcomes the agreement to commence power-sharing talks in Zimbabwe, though there’s obviously still some scepticism about. Crikey has a very useful links page to comments from Zimbabwean blogs.

Garnaut - the international perspective

Published
by
Robert Merkel
2 months, 2 weeks ago
in Climate change, Developing world, Economics and Environment
. 24 Comments

The government’s green paper on the ETS postpones discussion on actual emissions targets, and says nothing about the government’s negotiating position on a post-Kyoto agreement. While Garnaut’s draft report has similarly postponed discussion of domestic targets, he does have a fair bit to say about how targets might be allocated amongst nations in such an agreement, and how those targets might be structured in a way that actually drags the the big developing countries in.

According to Chapter 12, the world has essentially decided on a path where each participating nation will have targets allocated to it. Nations unable to meet their target will be able to buy permits from nations that go under theirs. But the key question is, of course, how these targets should be set, whether all nations should face the same form of targets, and what form of carrots and sticks would apply to encourage countries to meet the targets.

Continue reading ‘Garnaut - the international perspective’

Micro fiction competition!

Published
by
Kim
2 months, 2 weeks ago
in Books, Writers & Writing, Developing world, Donation challenge, Health, International and Poverty
. 61 Comments

It’s been ages since we’ve done a competition. I’ll donate $300 for the best entry in a microfiction comp to Medecins Sans Frontieres. The idea is to write a story in 300 words or less. Must be prose. No haikus! The theme is “The Postmodern Pirate Queen”. In your story, you must include the phrases “peg leg” and “time streams”. Steampunk is a suggested but not compulsory genre. That’s all!

Suggestions on judging and criteria solicited. And matching donations encouraged! You have til midnight on Saturday.


Portrait of the Queen by *Pirate-Queen on deviantART

The World’s Top Emitter

Published
by
Kim
2 months, 3 weeks ago
in Activism, Climate change, Developing world, Economics, Energy, Environment, Foreign Elections, Foreign policy, International, Markets and USA
. Closed

It sounds like some dumb reality tv show, doesn’t it? But we all know who didn’t get voted out of the house.

As almost everyone in the world knows, it’s election year in America.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (don’t ask, you already know the answer!) might be in trouble. Iraq might be - kinda, sorta - an election issue. But if - like me - you’re following the American Election via either the blogosphere or (oh noes!) the MSM, you’d notice a huge disconnect between how big an issue climate change is here, and how totally miniscule it is in the U S of A.

I hope Al Gore might have something to say at the Democratic Convention.

But that might not occur. And even if it does, and that and all the Arnie stuff aside, it’s going to be pretty much a side issue. Lord only knows what we can do, but those of us who, like me, are Democrats Overseas, might consider a bit of lobbying. But we might think as well about remembering that climate change is a global issue, and trying to get the Australian government to use whatever leverage it has to get it treated as such. Continue reading ‘The World’s Top Emitter’

Which planet are the Liberals on?

Published
by
Mark
3 months ago
in Climate change, Developing world, Economics, Energy, Environment, Howardia, Media and Polls
. 26 Comments

Although he tried to put the best face on it, Malcolm Turnbull could barely paper over the cracks in the Liberal Party’s stance on an emissions trading scheme on Lateline tonight. Turnbull states that the Liberals are maintaining their policy position prior to the 2007 election - the introduction of an ETS by 2012 at the latest, and no intention of tying its introduction to any commitments by developing countries. His former leader, John Howard, appeared to be happily trashing what he avowed last year, gleefully reliving the days of non-core promises, and the current leader, Brendan Nelson, has tied himself up in complete gobbledygook but left the strong impression that he opposes an ETS until after international agreement is reached.

In Crikey today, Bernard Keane characterises the Liberal shenanigans as a tussle between Greg Hunt and Malcolm Turnbull on one hand and denialist-in-chief and hard rightist Nick Minchin on the other.

Hunt, while resisting the opportunity to comment on what other shadow ministers have been saying, also stressed that he and Malcolm Turnbull are running the Coalition’s ETS policy. Yes, he admitted, Nick Minchin — who appears to have licence to comment on any issue that takes his fancy – has a different view on climate change and an ETS. But it’s his and Malcolm’s show, and they’re both absolutely committed to addressing the historical challenge of climate change, through an ETS and supporting measures such as energy efficiency and alternative energy technologies.

Continue reading ‘Which planet are the Liberals on?’

Guest post by Peter Murphy - Zimbabwe: Despotism or Democracy?

Published
by
Guest Poster
3 months, 1 week ago
in Developing world, Elections, Feminism, Health, Imperialism, International, Politics, Poverty and Women
. 48 Comments

Peter Murphy from the Zimbabwe Information Centre writes:

Opening Remarks

This story of Zimbabwe and its political, economic and social turmoil is really a story about how women are trying to have their human right to a say in their society, about how the people want to help those millions who have HIV, about how the trade unions want to develop a prosperous, peaceful and just society, about how the professional classes want to create a way of governing that is straightforward, fair and works.

It is a story for the whole of Africa, and that is why all of Africa and in particular South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and Botswana are part of this story.

As I write the people of Zimbabwe are being called out to a one-horse election that they don’t want, because it has already been drowned in blood, violence and cheating.

Between the March 29 presidential and parliamentary elections and today, almost 100 activists from the Movement for Democratic Change have been murdered, often in the most terrible way, over 3,000 have been very badly injured through torture, and now about 100,000 have been internally displaced because their homes and property have been looted or completely destroyed.

Zimbabwe now faces a chaotic regime collapse, with perhaps a minimal role for the international community in the immediate crisis.

Continue reading ‘Guest post by Peter Murphy - Zimbabwe: Despotism or Democracy?’

Now that Pamela Bone is dead…

Published
by
Kim
3 months, 2 weeks ago
in Activism, Apocalypse, Crime, Culture, Developing world, Donation challenge, Ethics, Feminism, History, Howardia, Imperialism, International, Iraq, Masculinity, Media, Politics, Polls, Race, Religion, Sexuality, Sociology, USA, War and Women
. 46 Comments

Yeah, you might have noticed already. I’m in a Truthiness mood tonight, as Stephen Colbert might say. Remember all the loud denunciations I copped from Harry Clarke, Tim Blair et al et al etc. - all the feminists of total convenience - for not denouncing the female genital mutilation loudly enough? Coz it’s all about teh Islam and threats to Western Civ, etc., and that mob are all on the side of women’s rights, and that manly man of steel John Howard is taking us to war to free Afghani women from burqas. And George W. Bush is going to hunt those Al-Qaeda evildoers down. (And Islam is not a race, and some of my best friends… oops, hang on?) While Laura and Condi look after the oppressed women. Or something… Oh yeah, it isn’t 2003 any more… Remember that word fistula - you might not have read that on teh Blair blog - being a word of three syllables and all. And in Latin.

But I talked about it at the time. Now that Pamela Bone is dead (and God rest her soul, may she be blessed with eternal rest, and may perpetual light shine upon her), where are the voices with the loud condemn? What’s with that Australian crusade for women’s rights in benighted Islamic Middle Eastern countries? After all, we - Dolly Downer and John Howard and Tim Blair and Andrew Bolt and Planet Janet told us so - are all (post?) feminists now. It’s on the citizenship test, dude - and dudette a la 50s pinup style no doubt. (Ps - don’t use that politically correct, activist judge f-word though…)

Well, never mind. Here’s a post from The Global Sociology Blog for the benefit of anyone who wanted to continue highlighting the horrors perpetrated on women in the developing world even if there’s not a convenient culture wars damn the left angle in it. (And that’s not to say that women in the developed world don’t still cop a lot - but there’s something to celebrate about a very large majority of Australians agreeing - at least in theory when asked by pollsters - that women have rights over their own choices and bodies - even if that masks continued gender inequality in oh, so many ways…).

You can donate to Medicins San Frontieres here.

And you might be interested in the fact that rape has finally been recognised by the UN as a war crime, something I wrote about last year, but something the keyboard warriors seem to… well, gloss over is far too kind. Because the fact that women are overwhelmingly the victims of war seems to be recognised neither by the pro-war Right nor the “humanitarian intervention” so-called Left. Continue reading ‘Now that Pamela Bone is dead…’