Category Archives: Rock on-Peace Out

Bougainville Women Turn Around Lives of ‘Lost Generation’ | Inter Press Service

Nowadays, youths struggle to improve their lives and find a job because they are traumatised. During the Crisis, young people grew up with arms and knives and even today they go to school, church and walk around the village with knives,” Tagu explained. Tens of thousands of children were affected by the decade-long conflict, which erupted after demands for compensation for environmental damage and inequity by landowners living in the vicinity of the Panguna copper mine in the mountains of central Bougainville were unmet. The mine, majority-owned by Rio Tinto, a British-Australian multinational, opened in 1969 and was operated by its Australian subsidiary, Bougainville Copper Ltd, until it was shut down in 1989 by revolutionary forces. The conflict raged on for another eight years after the Papua New Guinea Government blockaded Bougainville in 1990 and the national armed forces and rebel groups battled for control of the region. Many children were denied an education when schools were burnt down and teachers fled. They suffered when health services were decimated, some became child soldiers and many witnessed severe human rights abuses. Tagu was in fifth grade when the war broke out. “There were no schools, no teachers and no services here and we had no food to eat. I saw people killed with my own eyes and we didn’t sleep at night, we were frightened,” he recalled. Trauma is believed to contribute to what women identify as a youth sub-culture today involving alcohol, substance abuse and petty crime, which is inhibiting some to participate in positive development.

Source: Bougainville Women Turn Around Lives of ‘Lost Generation’ | Inter Press Service

My Father is an Indian, My Mother a Nepali, and I’m a ‘Stateless’ Child: Apsana – The Ladies Finger – “Racism, sexism, religious bias have no boundaries!”

I am twenty-six now, which is a common age for a girl to get married in my community. I might marry soon. And once I get married to a Nepali guy, I know I will be qualified enough to apply for the citizenship of this country. This constitution gives more credentials to a Nepali man than a Nepali woman despite holding the same citizenship certificates. My husband, a Nepali man, will be the person who will liberate me from this crisis.Though this might be a way out for me, I wonder how my brothers are going to fight for it. Also Read:  How We Make Our Way in Dilli Sheher I have fought lots of battles which I have lost. But I still feel independent and am able to face numerous upcoming fights for my rights. If I ever get a citizenship through my to-be-husband, I am sure I would consider myself a humiliated Nepali throughout my life.

Source: My Father is an Indian, My Mother a Nepali, and I’m a ‘Stateless’ Child: Apsana – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

To the man who asked me if I swallow. | Rebelle Society

If we can’t recognize the links between any kind of sexual harassment and more grave sexual assault, then there is a disconnect. If you think Brock Turner’s behavior is despicable, but see no issue with harmless catcalls, then there is a disconnect. Is every man who catcalls a woman in the street a potential rapist? No. But, every man who catcalls a woman is demonstrating a belief that women exist for men’s viewing pleasure, that they are fair game for foul comments. And that line of thinking is dangerous. When we shrug off street harassment and sexual innuendo, when we minimize indecent behavior and sexist jibes, we are advocating for a world where women are oppressed and objectified. As Ann Voskamp said, “When the prevailing thinking is that boys will be boys, girls will be garbage.” We owe it to ourselves, as women, to stand up and speak out. Remember, silence is often misconstrued as acquiescence.

Source: To the man who asked me if I swallow. | Rebelle Society

Jane Marchant: A Century of Progress – Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics

When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt won a landslide reelection in 1936, his New Deal political reforms brought forth the Chicago Housing Authority. Chicago’s first three housing projects opened in 1938, with space for 2,378 white families. In 1939, engineers, plumbers, steam fitters, and structural-steel workers broke ground on a forty-seven-acre property that would cost nearly nine million dollars and shelter 1,662 black families. The Homes were segregated in accordance to the federal “Neighborhood Composition Rule,” which required housing developments to mirror the racial composition of the neighborhood they were being built in. Named after the renowned black journalist and social reformer, the Ida B. Wells Homes were composed of two-to-four-story buildings; the community even had space for vegetable gardens. Some 17,544 applications were received, including my great-grandmother’s. Jean miraculously received a housing assignment and she held her head high as she walked through Chicago’s South Side, her three adolescents in tow. They were tired, they were poor, and it was 1941. They had essentially been homeless for a decade when they entered 684 East 39th Street. Between Cottage Grove to the east and South Parkway (now Martin Luther King Drive) to the west, their home had its own kitchen and bathroom. Sisters Norma and Barbara shared a bedroom; their brother, Robert, had his own room; and Jean slept downstairs on the couch. Rent was thirty-six-dollars per month – if one had it. Sometimes, payment arrangements could be made, or neighbors chipped in to help. The Homes were a community and a respite for families during the Depression. Jean’s children took free dance, music, and art lessons at the Abraham Lincoln Center. Norma tapped her pillow at night, practicing her imaginary piano. Barbara dreamed of becoming a professional ballerina. Robert wanted to be a cowboy, like his heroes on the radio. An enumerator from the Sixteenth Census of the United States marked Jean, Norma, Barbara, and Robert Galvin as “Negro” in his wide logbook. The enumerator asked Jean if she worked, to which she replied she had no income. She told the enumerator she’d been married to the same husband since she was eighteen-years-old.

Source: Jane Marchant: A Century of Progress – Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics

Leonard Cohen – Anthem (w/lyrics) London 2008 – Peace for the Soul

There is a crack A crack in everything That’s how the light gets in. We asked for signs and the signs were sent: the birth betrayed the marriage spent Yeah the widowhood of every single government signs for all to see I can’t run no more with that lawless crowd Ah but they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up a thundercloud and they’re going to hear from me.

Source: Leonard Cohen – Anthem (w/lyrics) London 2008 – Peace for the Soul

Can Farm-to-Table Tortillas Help Sustain Mexico’s Corn Heritage? | Civil Eats

Mexico, particularly the southern state of Oaxaca, is known as the birthplace of corn. “Mexico has been producing corn for 12,000 years,” Gaviria says. The country has as many as 59 landraces, or locally adapted, traditional varieties of corn, according to Martha Willcox, Maize Landrace Improvement Coordinator at CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), who has helped Gaviria with his project. “Maize is the culture in Mexico,” she says. “Everyone eats maize every day, and there are 2000 culinary applications.” Within those 59 landraces, Gaviria says there are “tons of varieties” of corn, including many colors such as white, blue, red, and yellow. “There is a huge amount of diversity in the landraces,” Willcox says. Masienda sources its corn from Oaxaca, whose corn varieties are among the most rare and diverse in Mexico. Gaviria buys the corn from the region’s smallholder farmers who have been growing these corn varieties for generations. “These farmers are custodians of a very precious commodity,” says Alan Tank, former assistant vice president of the National Corn Growers Association and an adviser to Masienda. “The value it represents to them and to the world is nothing short of phenomenal.” As an Iowa farmer, Tank appreciates the value of Mexico’s corn heritage. “Being part of family farm, I understand the need for biodiversity and preserving it,” he says. Provides Needed Income to Farmers The average size of the smallholder farms range from about 2 to 12 acres. Oaxaca’s farmers are poor with 62 percent of the population living below the poverty line. Masienda’s purchase of the farmers’ excess corn—most of the corn they need for food—provides the farmers with income they would not otherwise receive. “We are providing a fair price to the farmers for growing the corn and having a big impact on rural communities there,” Gaviria says. “It’s a way to provide markets with good prices for farmers who have continued to grow these landraces,” Willcox says. This year Masienda is working with 1200 farmers after starting with 100 in 2014. Willcox and CIMMYT helped Gaviria identify the best corn varieties, connect with the farmers, source the corn, and pay the farmers. Masienda imports 10 to 15 different landraces. According to the company’s website, this is the first time in history these corn varieties have been available outside of the remote, indigenous communities of Oaxaca. Masienda supplies corn to about 100 restaurants, mostly in the U.S. with a few in Canada. One of those restaurants is Taquiza in Miami, Florida. Owner and chef Steve Santana uses blue and white bolita corn varieties to make masa flour, which is then made into tortillas and chips. Santana is enthusiastic about Masienda’s corn. “Visually it’s really cool looking, and the flavor is unmatched,” he says. Santana could buy much cheaper U.S. domestic corn but he prefers the heirloom varieties. “I like knowing that farmers are getting treated well throughout the supply chain,” he says. “We are preserving a little history; this is pure food in its natural state.”

Source: Can Farm-to-Table Tortillas Help Sustain Mexico’s Corn Heritage? | Civil Eats

Elizabeth Warren Endorses Clinton and Goes Taunt-for-Taunt With Trump – The New York Times

“What she is doing right now, focusing on the outrageousness of Donald Trump is really important,” said Senator Tammy Baldwin, Democrat of Wisconsin. “In the universal sense I am always saying, ‘Go, Elizabeth, go!’” Ms. Warren officially endorsed Hillary Clinton on Thursday. “I’m ready to jump in this fight and make sure that Hillary Clinton is the next president of the United States and be sure that Donald Trump gets nowhere near the White House,” Ms. Warren told The Boston Globe. Never short on confidence, when asked on Thursday by Rachel Maddow, the MSNBC television host, if she believes that she herself could be commander in chief, Ms. Warren said, “Yes, I do.” Mrs. Clinton’s aides had been pressuring Ms. Warren for an endorsement, and the senator decided to do so after talking with Mr. Sanders over the weekend, aides close to her said. Ms. Warren shares Mr. Sanders’s dislike of superdelegates, who are typically longtime Democratic officials and activists. She waited until Democratic primary voters across the country had their say, but before the superdelegates formally cast their votes, to weigh in. Continue reading the main story Presidential Election 2016 Here’s the latest news and analysis of the candidates and issues shaping the presidential race. O.K. I’m With Trump. I Mean, He’s Almost the Nominee. JUN 10 Hillary Clinton Denounces Donald Trump as Untrustworthy on Women’s Issues JUN 10 Mitch McConnell Won’t Rule Out Rescinding His Endorsement of Donald Trump JUN 10 Obama’s Endorsement Leaves Hillary Clinton With a Balance to Strike JUN 10 Bill Clinton and Orrin Hatch Among Speakers at Muhammad Ali’s Memorial JUN 10 See More » Mrs. Clinton’s decisive victory in California’s primary on Tuesday and President Obama’s endorsement on Thursday provided additional impetus for her endorsement, people close to Ms. Warren said. Photo Senator Elizabeth Warren in Washington last month. Ms. Warren has called Donald J. Trump’s candidacy a “serious threat.” Credit Zach Gibson/The New York Times “She maintained her neutrality in the primary and that gave her a special space,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois. But her attacks on Mr. Trump were hatched in her own brain, and carried out with a combination of vehemence and apparent pleasure. Through speeches, carefully chosen television appearances and tweet storms designed to skewer the businessman’s remarks, policies and dynamism, Ms. Warren has gone taunt-for-taunt with Mr. Trump, calling him a “loser,” a “small, insecure money grubber” and “weak.” And she is only warming up.

Source: Elizabeth Warren Endorses Clinton and Goes Taunt-for-Taunt With Trump – The New York Times

Must-Read Links: Everything’s Coming Up Hillary Rodham Clinton | Dame Magazine

This week we witnessed history in the making, when Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first woman in America’s 240 years to secure the presidential nomination for a major political party. Even many of the feminists who solidly feel the Bern, couldn’t help but get a little verklempt listening to Clinton’s speech after the delegate-clinching Tuesday primaries. She began with a shout out to Seneca Falls, “when a small but determined group of women and men came together with the idea that women deserved equal rights,” and continued with a gracious celebration of that monumental crack in the political glass ceiling. Here, we relish in the groundbreaking nature of this week’s events, with a roundup dedicated solely to HRC.

Source: Must-Read Links: Everything’s Coming Up Hillary Rodham Clinton | Dame Magazine