Auteur/autrice : Heidi Barathieu-Brun

Linked with .

Symposium – Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and Arts, Hertogstraat 1, Brussels, February 23, 2007.

He says: ”…Cynicism is enlightened false consciousness. It is that modernized, unhappy consciousness, on which enlightenment has labored both successfully and in vain. It has learned its lessons in enlightenment, but it has not, and probably was not able to, put them into practice. Well-off and miserable at the same time, this consciousness no longer feels affected by any critique of ideology; its falseness is already reflexively buffered ». (more on autodidactproject.org).

He says also: “Where relationships are ‘international’ they are generally inter-megalomaniac too. In the context of a renewed effort to create a political psychology, we grasp the language of diplomacy as a therapeutic discourse in an open institution that is the political collective”. (See on Haus der Kulturen der Welt).

Peter Sloterdijk – Germany

Sloterdijk studied philosophy, Germanistics and history at the University of Munich. In 1975 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg. Since 1980 he has published many philosophical works, including the Critique of Cynical Reason. In 2001 he was named president of the State Academy of Design, part of the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe.

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Linked with The War on Iraq and the Occupation, and with ECONOMIC JUSTICE.

She is a Green Party MEP (Member f the European Parliament), representing the UK’s South East region. She is also an Advisory Board Member of the ‘Protect the Local, Globally’ think-tank. She is a tireless environmental campaigner and has written extensively on trade issues, globalization, the aviation industry, nuclear disarmament and GM. Caroline Lucas talks about the energy options confronting us. She discusses her preference for clean renewable energy and why she thinks nuclear power has little future. She remarks on the many win-win policies that could precipitate a rapid shift towards efficient and sustainable energy supply, but acknowledges a lack in the political required to bring this change about. She talks about the new production and consumption patterns that need to be encouraged, expressing doubt that economic growth can be sustained globally at 3% per annum. (Listen to her 6 minutes video on Big-Picture, recorded in December 2004).

Caroline Lucas – England

Her work – both within the Parliament and in her constituency – includes peace and human rights, international trade and development, transport, planning and health issues and animal welfare. Caroline has also recently worked on the campaign against aviation expansion, worked with farmers affected by the Foot and Mouth crisis,
and campaigned against GMOs and in support of local food markets in the South-East. She is currently fighting against the GATS as a part of her work on globalisation/ localisation. See also her Homepage.

News around Caroline Lucas:

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Linked with Demos, with Background-Report on Cities in Transition, and with Geoff Mulgan’s Spring Conference 2006.

He says: ” … I want to focus this evening on the other face of the state: the idea of the state as servant, an idea associated with duty, care and guardianship; and with power as a gift, to be reciprocated and shared through service. If you examine the historical evidence this other face turns out to be almost as ubiquitous as that of the commanding master. As Weber pointed out most states aspire to legitimacy as the precondition for survival and loyalty. I want to argue that looking back at the evidence, states claims to legitimacy have followed a remarkably consistent pattern broadly fitting into a fourfold architecture of ethical claims and duties ». (LSE Lecture).

Geoff Mulgan – England

founder and director of the think-tank Demos, became director of the Young Foundation in September 2004. Between 1997 and 2004 he had various roles in government including director of the Government’s Strategy Unit and head of policy in the Prime Minister’s office. He has been a reporter for BBC TV and radio and a columnist for national newspapers including the Guardian and Independent.

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Published on The Hindu Businessline, Oct, 13, 2006, by Aparna Pallavi.

She is one of the best-known media photographers in Nagpur, India and has a host of awards. She also runs her own photography business, and is a fiery activist working to better the lot of slum women.

She says: « My life would have been no different from that of other rural girls had it not been for my mother, a Gandhian and Marxist, who had a very different vision of life ».

She says also: « In my years in the slum, I saw much up close. Goons, alcohol, violence, the works. A goon once stubbed his cigarette on my arm. Another time, I reasoned with a goon who walked into our hut with a knife and sent him back.

My mother’s relentless courage against such intimidation also gave me a different vision of my own life ». (All three on The Hindu Businessline).

Read: When a Woman Wields the Lens.

Sangeeta Mahajan – India

She works as the only female press photographer in the city of Nagpur.

And she adds: « If my work was not twice as good as anyone else’s, I was useless. And if my work was good, the bosses used it to taunt my male colleagues, who became, if anything, more insecure and resentful ».

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She is Laureate for the Prize for Women’s Creativity in Rural Life.

Hongxia REN – China

She works for reforestation.

Early 2000, the Chinese government issued a policy accelerating the development of deserted mountains, wild slopes, waste- and swampland; especially encouraging civil servants to take up the challenge of reforesting and developing these areas. Ren Hongxia (40), who was born and brought up in rural areas, was familiar with the living conditions of rural women in such regions. With great courage, she contracted to develop 313 hectares (over 1200 acres) of a bald mountain – the first woman civil servant to accept such a challenge. The mountain she contracted to reforest was in a remote area with no roads or electricity. People and animals used water from the same ponds. Villages were isolated and the standard of living was extremely low.

Hongxia Ren started by organizing the people to build a 17 km road, one pump station for water and 42 wells. She then organized 200 young people to plant over a million trees. There are now 1.19 million trees, including 253 hectares of ecological forest (i.e. trees planted essentially to stabilize and regenerate the landscape) and 60 hectares planted mainly with fruit trees of different varieties (peach, apricot, walnut, pear, etc). She met major disasters with equanimity and courage, such as the 2000- 2001 drought, which almost wiped out the project right at the onset. But the area is now covered with trees, and an aging, balding mountain is now a source of great activity and significant income.

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Linked with Labour Market Flexibility and Foreign Direct Investment, and with The Bank that rules Europe? The ECB and Central Bank Independence.

Book Review: Britain & the EU, Alternative Futures, by Mark Baimbridge, Brian Burkitt & Philip Whyman (April 2005): This timely contribution to the growing debate in Britain and across Europe on the need for fundamental change in how European countries work together in the 21st century provides a groundbreaking analysis of the economic and democratic effect that EU membership has had on Britain. Published by the CIB, this important new book offers not only a concise examination of the costs of EU membership but also a well reasoned study of alternative relationships Britain, perhaps together with other European countries, could more beneficially forge in the future. Options scrutinised include a defence of the status quo through to various renegotiations of membership and options for withdrawal. (Read more on Referendum.org).

Mark Baimbridge – England

Book Review: ‘Implications of the Euro – A Critical Perspective from the Left’, Mark Baimbridge, Brian Burkitt, Philip Whyman – … critical analysis of the EMU project has largely been advanced from the centre-right spectrum of British politics.

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Linked with New social justice movements in a changing reality, with The WDM Death Counter, with The International Gender and Trade Network IGTN, and with The World Development Movement WDM.

She says: ”The Collapse of the WTO Doha negotiations are good for Africa and Women. This is an opportunity for Africa to move away from the myth that the Doha Round was a ‘developmental round’. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the start, the aim of the developed countries was to push for greater market openings from the developing countries while making minimal concessions on their part. Invoking development was a cynical ploy to make the process less palatable. The break down of the talks, is a turning point for Africa to contribute to developing a multilateral trading system based on developing Africa, women’s rights and sustainable development ». (Read the whole, on July 2006, on International Gender and Trade Network/ see also their Homepage ).

Read: THE NEW AFRICAN INITIATIVE IS A TRAGEDY FOR WOMEN.

Mohau Pheko – South Africa

Go to: The Ethical Globalization Initiative.

She asked the following questions (October 2002, but still valuable): I will try to address the following questions:

Why should Africa and African feminists be concerned about Europe’s move to the right? How are right-wing policies influencing the trade & economic discourse in Africa? What are the policy implications, in terms of gender justice?

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