And everyone in my office in East London, South Africa, chimes in about what they think Americans should care about. The general concensus is that Americans should care more about America and less about the rest of the world.
One girl brings up Katrina, and said how pathetic it is that America hasn't rebuilt New Orleans yet.
Another guy said that America's economy is going to collapse if we don't do something about it fast. "The whole bubble is going to burst," he said.
In South Africa, people know that abstinence-only sex education just doesn't work. Unlike in the U.S., where mum is the word on sex inschools, here, elementary school students are talking about rape, condomns and HIV in school plays, while high school students cover all aspects of sexual health.
A few days ago, I watched 6th graders in Mthatha, a small town in the rural Eastern Cape Province, perform a play on rape and HIV. The young girls in the play talked about paying boys to rape their enemies, giving each other AIDS. They addressed the issue of safe sex, and said that it is okay to have sex when you are old enough, only if you use protection.
For someone who never heard a word from a teacher or parent about sex until I was told "just don't do it" in my 12th grade health class, this came as quite a shock.
Here in South Africa, the theme of the past month has literally been conserve or die, as power failures across the country are leading to forced energy-saving nationwide.
Things are getting interesting here, as every day the power goes out for at least 4 or 5 hours in most parts of the country. This is leaving Eskom, the corporation in charge of SA power, running in circles attempting to save energy.
This is also forcing South Africans to look at energy conservation in ways that most Americans cannot yet dream of.
And I don't mean silly in that bad of a sense. It's funny. It breaks down social conservatives, foreign policy conservatives and economic conservatives.
When Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, he was in the midst of an anti-war, anti-poverty campaign that ostracized him from the mainstream. CNN.com features a pretty decent reminder about King's legacy, and how "I have a dream" has been manipulated to create an icon rather than a complex man.
Sitting in an office in East London, South Africa, I hear a co-worker keep repeating the phrase "that's because of American cultural imperialism!" when referring to any sort of international phenomenon.
I have been gone for quite a while because I have been studying the rain forests of Borneo. The last month has left me with a few conclusions:
1. A lot of people in Malaysia (in fact, the vast majority of taxi drivers that I spoke with) think that Hillary Clinton will win the presidency in 2008 and are happy about that.
2. Palm oil - a new green fuel - is just as damaging to the rain forests as logging.
3. Leeches are my least favorite life form.
4. George W. Bush is just as hated in Malaysia, a country not at all in the EU, not at all liberal, and not at all in line with Al Qaeda, as he is anywhere else in the world. As one cab driver put it, "He just likes to fight too much. The world doesn't like war."
5. Bako National Park in Sarawak is the most beautiful place on Earth.
What's the point of this post? I don't know; I just can't sleep.
I have heard a lot of activists rag on farm subsidies. I couldn't agree more that corporate farm subsidies are bad news bears, but what about subsidies to small farmers? Read More »
Tonight 60 Minutes aired their investigative report on "Curve Ball," the man who convinced the CIA that Saddam did in fact have weapons of mass destruction. For the CIA, the Defense Department and this administration, 60 Minutes' report was quite embarrassing. The man worked as an engineer at a grain processing plant, which he convinced the CIA was a nuclear processing facility. Check it out: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml
Tonight I am working on an editorial for our Campus Progress sponsored magazine, The InterActivist. Our staff decided to deviate from AP guidelines when it comes to racial identification. After talking to professors in the diversity studies and cultural education departments, we chose to capitalize "Black" and "White" as they refer to racial identities, not just colors. Also, we chose to move away from Hispanic, as the word is imperial and colonial in itself, describing the Conquistadors that raped and pillaged the indigenous Americans. Does anyone have any ideas on these issues? Should AP style be changed? Does anyone have any language preferences? These conflicts are always so interesting to me.
Tonight I helped pass out Halloween candy at one of my professor's houses. A few friends and I noticed that all the kids had some pamphlets in their candy bags. Later, the professor's children came in and showed us that a family down the street was handing out Ron Paul propaganda with candy taped to it. Strange.
The Supreme Court decided tonight to halt the execution of a Mississippi prisoner convicted of murdering a woman 20 years ago. This case is part of a larger, procedural question: Does the drug combination used to execute prisoners amount to cruel and unusual punishment? The case actually challenging this won't be decided until next spring. In what is amounting to one of the most pro-defendant yet conservative Courts in recent history, its anyone's guess as to what is going to happen next. As for now, executions in America could be halted until spring.
I just received this email from a fearfully conservative friend:
"IN ORLANDO LAST WEEK, AT A CITGO STATION REGULAR WAS PRICED AT $2.82 PER GALLON. THERE WERE NO CUSTOMERS. HOWEVER ACROSS THE STREET WHERE I FUELED IT WAS SELLING FOR $2.85 PER GALLON AND ALL PUMPS THERE HAD CARS WAITING TO FUEL.
Have you noticed how the Citgo signs have disappeared in the past 7-8 months?
Very clever move by Chavez. But guess what CITGO IS CHANGING ITS
NAME TO? ...this is serious Americans...make sure you read.
NEWS FLASH:
Chavez is NOW getting a Russian Weapons Factory built by Putin. The RUSSIANS are building an AK-47 Kalashnikov Assault Rifle factory in Venezuela to give armament support to Communist Rebel groups throughout the Americas.
Chavez NOW has IRANIANS operating his oil refineries in Venezuela for him.
It is likely only a matter of time, if not already, before Chavez has
Iranian built LONG RANGE missiles, with a variety of warhead types aimed at....
Guess Who?
CITGO is NOW in the process of Changing its name to PETRO EXPRESS due to the loss of gasoline sales in the US A due to the recent publicity of ownership by Chavez of Venezuela.
Every dollar you spend with CITGO or PETRO EXPRESS gasoline will be used against you, your basic human rights, and your freedoms. He will start wars here in the Americas that will probably be the death of millions.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT because Chavez is starting to feel the loss of revenue from his holdings. HE OWNS CITGO. This is a very important move that everyone should be aware of.
ANNOUNCED JUST RECENTLY, CITGO, BEING AWARE THAT SALES ARE DOWN DUE TO U.S. CUSTOMERS NOT WANTING TO BUY FROM "CITGO-CHAVEZ," HAS STARTED TO CHANGE THE NAME OF SOME OF THEIR STORES TO:
"PETRO EXPRESS."
DO NOT BUY FROM "PETRO EXPRESS" EITHER!!!
"PETRO EXPRESS" IS ALSO 100% OWNED BY "CHAVEZ."
KEEP THIS MEMO GOING SO THAT EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT IS HAPPENING. BOYCOTT "CITGO" AND "PETRO EXPRESS."
MAKE SURE THIS IS PASSED ON TO EVERYONE IN YOUR E-MAIL LIST IN THE UNITED STATES AND OUTSIDE OF AMERICA."
I can see it now: "Chavezfacism Awareness Week." Maybe I shouldn't give them any ideas.
Tonight, I was required to attend an information session for all students at OU who are studying abroad. It was really boring, actually, but that gave me time to observe my surroundings. I counted 46 students in the room. Out of those 46 students, only one was black. I began wondering if this trend is consistent nationally, and I surely will follow-up on this. Any insight?
A farmer not far from the Ohio side of the Ohio-Kentucky border told me that he bought 17 horses for $1500 last week in Kentucky. Folks, this is not good news. The price of hay is skyrocketing as the supply dwindles. Farmers all over the country struggled to bring in half of their usual hay crop, and that means that horses, cows and other livestock are not all getting the food that they need to survive. This same farmer told me that in Kentucky, horse farmers are taking horses that they cannot afford to feed up into abandoned strip-mines and letting them go. These domesticated horses are left to roam the hills of Appalachia in search of food. Many are dying. Corporate farms can afford to exploit their local water resources. Small farmers must rely on what little rain falls onto their crops. Yet another example of how the negative effects of global warming are felt most heavily on the poor (the farmers) and innocent (the horses).
Friday, Ohio University held a race issues forum to help students, faculty and community members come to terms with the racism that is far too prevalent in Athens and the world. At the forum, I spoke up about how white activists at OU did nothing in support of the Jena Six. (See earlier post - Racial Divide in Campus Activism) After I said I felt that we "sat that one out," and that white activists should be ashamed for not taking part, a black student from the back of the room spoke out against me. She said it hurt to hear me speak about the white activists, when the black activists worked so hard to raise money to send students to Washington, D.C., to protest. Damn, did I feel bad. I didn't mean black students didn't do anything, I meant white students didn't help them. I suppose she looked at it as my white privilege allowing me to dismiss her efforts and think that black students needed white students' help. That was not what I mean at all, but I felt terrible.
I have two horses and compete in professional rodeos, meaning I use far more gasoline than the average college student. In the summer, I am on the road pulling a truck and trailer sometimes 5 days per week across the East Coast. This leaves me with a lot of unanswered questions. As a political and environmental activist, how can I possibly justify this fuel usage? Horses are a luxury, I know. Rodeo, though profitable and sustainable for me, is a luxury. It is a life that I have grown very used to. With the globe warming at exponential rates, how can I justify my fuel usage? How can I change this? Does the blame fall on my shoulders, or does it fall on the auto industry for not making environmentally friendly vehicles capable of pulling a horse trailer? Should the burden to fix this problem fall on me and should I give up this lifestyle? Or, should the burden fall on policy makers and the auto industry?
Tonight I was called "sweetie" and "retarded mermaid" all in the same sentence.
Ironically, I was working on a photo shoot for a sexual assault prevention group when a group of college men on a balcony above began heckling me for holding a clipboard. “Bring that clipboard up here, we’ll sign whatever you’ve got,” one said.
When I ignored them, the sexual harassment increased: “Look at these guns baby.” No, I’m not making this up.
Ohio University in Athens, OH, has been a liberal stronghold in Appalachia for years. Hippies roam the streets and student activism runs rampant.
Currently, though, there has been a strong racial divide, with white radicals being accused of racist tactics in the protests, and black students being accused of not being active enough in the name of student power. The divide manifests itself in the form of protests, counter-protests, picketing, and bantering letters to the school paper.
The core of the debate began in the fall of 2006 when white radicals and white conservatives formed an alliance in a group called Students for Effective and Accountable Leadership (SEAL) challenging OU's first black president, Roderick McDavis, to give more power to students. Read More »
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