Archive for April, 2009
Speaking of factory farming
11:56 am By la Macha · animals|Health|Media|media justice · Comments Off
29 Apr 2009
Amy Goodman has a great interview about how swine flu intersects with factory farming and how factory farming intersects with NAFTA and poor/third world countries.
But the problem is, is that puts the onus on the swine as being the cause for why this kind of influenza has come about, and it’s just that is simply not the case. The swine are not in the driver’s seat. They are not in a position to organize themselves into what are now cities of pigs that stretch around the world.
We really have to go back to the livestock revolution. Before World War II, poultry and pigs were basically farmed in backyard operations across this country. So we’re talking about poultry flocks of the size of seventy chickens. After the World War II, all those independent farming operations were—many of them were basically put under one roof and increasingly put under the control of particular corporations—Holly Farms, Tyson, Perdue. And the geography of the poultry and pork change. So, while previously pork and poultry were grown across the country, it was now grown, or they’re now raised within only a few southeastern states here in the United States. After the livestock revolution, poultry and pigs were now being grown and raised in much larger populations, so we go from seventy poultry now up to populations of 30,000 at a time. So we have cities of pigs and poultry.
That model was subsequently spread around the world. So, starting in the 1970s, the livestock revolution was brought to East Asia. You have the CP Group, which is now the fourth—world’s fourth-largest poultry company, in Thailand. That company subsequently brought the livestock revolution into China once China opened up its doors in 1980. So we have cities of poultry and pork developing around the world.
And this phenomenon goes hand in hand with the very structural adjustment programs that the IMF and the World Bank helped institute during this time. So if you’re a poor country, you’re having financial difficulties, in order to get some money to bail you out, you had to go to the International Monetary Fund for a loan. And in return, the IMF would make demands on you to change your economy in such a way that would allow you—will force you to open up your economy to outside corporations, including agricultural companies. And, of course, that would have a detrimental effect on domestic agriculture. So, small companies within poor countries could not out-compete large agribusinesses from the North that are subsidized by the industrial governments. So they’re not able to compete with them, so there’s—they either must contract their labor and land to the companies, foreign companies that are coming into their country, or they basically retire out of the business and sell their land to the large companies that are coming in. So, in other words, the spread of the cities of pork and poultry go hand in hand with this structural adjustment program.
This is information that we could all actually use–information on how to stop things like this from happening again or happening in the future. Instead we’re being bombarded with the latest count of who got sick and where they’re sick at.
Call me cynical, but I think there’s something really wrong with our media.
It all started here….
10:40 am By la Macha · animals|children|Controversia|Health|U.S.-Mexico Border · 10 Comments
29 Apr 2009
I’m not really sure why CNN feels the need to run the story about where swine flu started. According CNN, this little boy is “ground zero” of the swine flu–which means what? That this little boy is the original site of destruction and violence? And wouldn’t you figure it, this original site of destruction and violence is a Mexican that is eating ice cream while the rest of us scream frantically and crawl on our hands and knees through the street.
Damn Mexicans.
I don’t know, though. I found this part of the article to be much more beneficial in understanding the whole scope of things:
Edgar has managed to bounce back from his symptoms and playfully credits ice cream for helping him feel better.
His mother blamed the virus on a huge pig farm in the neighborhood. Officials have conducted tests at the farm owned by U.S. company Smithfield Foods, and those tests came back negative.Meanwhile, Mexican health officials suspect the swine flu outbreak has caused more than 159 deaths and roughly 2,500 illnesses.
That little section made me remember that factory pig farms are some of the worst polluters in the world.
“North Carolina’s ten million hogs produce twice as much feces and urine as the populations of the cities of Los Angeles, New York and Chicago combined. Industrial farms, most with thousands of hogs each, store the waste in open-air pits, called lagoons. They spray the waste, untreated, as manure on adjacent fields.”
So those dear little piggies may be as healthy as can be, but anybody breathing in their shit being sprayed on adjacent fields is probably going to have some problems.
But who wants to talk about the ethics and problems of factory farming practices when we can demonize ice cream eating little boys?
April is Poetry Month : Cesar Vellejo
10:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · language|literature|Peru · Comments Off
29 Apr 2009
Today’s poet is Peruvian born César Vallejo.
XII
From TrilcePienso en tu sexo.
Simplificado el corazon. pienso en tu sexo,
ante el hijar maduro del dia.
Palpo el boton del dicha, esta en sazon.
Y muere un sentimiento antiguo
degenerado en seso.Pienso en tu sexo, surco mas prolifico
y armonioso que el vientre de la Sombra,
aunque la Muerte concibe y pare
de Dios mismo.
Oh Conciencia,
pienso si, en el bruto libre
que goza donde quiere, donde puede.Oh escandalo de miel de los crepusculos.
Oh estruendo mudo.Odumodneutse!
English translation after the jump
Read more…
VL’s Own Maegan la Mala is a Powerful Latina (Interview Tonite)
8:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Activism|Linking Latinos|Media|media justice|VivirLatino · Comments Off
29 Apr 2009
Just a little shameless plug. Tonite I am going to be speaking on the Powerful Latinas interview series about the development of my political consciousness, and how my creation of my media outlets are connected with my politics.
I’m really excited and hope you can listen in!
Sign up aqui to be a part of the fun.
La Macha Has Salma, Mala Has……
6:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · mexico|Movies|New York · 2 Comments
29 Apr 2009Don’t think Macha is the only one who can do some objectifying.
Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna are in New York City to see me. Pero first they had to stop at the Tribeca Film Festival for the U.S. premiere of Rudo y Cursi.
Gael can give me his Mexican flu whenever he wants.
Via / Lossip
Keeping Track of the Swine Using the Swine Flu
10:46 pm By Maegan La Mala · Blogs|Internet|Media|media justice · 2 Comments
28 Apr 2009
Hoy, the Editors of The Sanctuary released a statement on how the spreading Swine Flu is being used by anti-immigrant forces to spread another type of illness, hate.
The moment that the news of the “Swine Flu” or “North American Influenza” hit the wires, it was easy to predict what the anti-immigrant faction would have to say about it. People like Michael Savage, Neil Boortz, Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck, Pat Buchanan, and groups like CIS, FAIR, and NumbersUSA are so locked into their views that their voices are unnecessary in a dialogue that actually preferences truth—which by nature requires flexibility and bravery. The stances of those who most vocally oppose immigration today are so predictable that one could paint a face on a septic-tainted soccer ball and paste up word balloons and rest well, knowing that The Nativist Lobby point of view on any immigration-related topic will end in “deport them all” and “seal the borders” if not “round them up” and other tired ideas. …
You know you want to read more, especially the part of how none of this scapegoating is new. Read the whole cosita at The Sanctuary.
You can tweet it too!!!
ProMigrant.Org: Virus Brings Swine-Hearted Lobby Into Foreground http://tinyurl.com/dmwvcd #immigration @promigrant 
Israel Dubs Swine Flu “Mexican Flu”
7:40 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · israel|language|mexico|Religion · 4 Comments
28 Apr 2009
There has been one reported case of the swine flu in Israel so far, but Israeli officials aren’t calling it that. Ultra-orthodox Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman says that calling the disease by its name is “religiously sensitive”:
“We will call it Mexican flu. We won’t call it swine flu,” said Mr Litzman, who belongs to the ultra-religious United Torah Judaism party.Pigs are considered unclean under Jewish dietary laws. Muslims also do not eat pork for similar reasons.
That’s all well and good, but calling it Mexican is no good either. The BBC reports that scientists in Israel are concerned that the term will “stigmatize Mexico”.
Via / BBC News
Obsessed with (re)thinking walking
12:57 pm By la Macha · Health|Women|Word en la calle · 1 Comment
28 Apr 2009If you are like me, you were thrilled to see that bfp and Jess have put the call out for people to submit to their (re)thinking walking series. I’m obsessed with that series, and I think it’s a great way to get connected to our bodies (Latinas, ya feeling me?).
Here’s the call out:
As the conversation continued, we all decided that if we posted these pictures (along with a write up written by WCD), we could use this as an opportunity to ask other women to send in their own stories of (re)thinking walking. Whether it was pictures or words or video or music…documenting our experiences means, as WCD says, building a small community–a small community that knows that women of color taking up space together may not always be safe and beautiful and mean hair dancing in the sun…but it’s always revolution in the making.
What Jess and I would be looking for: any type of medium that can be posted through a blog format that expresses what you understand as your own journey. We’re looking for movement–how you define that is up to you (check out our (re)thinking walking files for starting ideas!).
And as Jess and I have both noted–don’t feel pressure to write up something earth shattering and stunning. A picture of you in your backyard with your kids is just as amazing and revealing and potentially movement creating as the three page long bfp reflection!!!
Send anything you have to rethinkingwalking at gmail dot com!
Are you gonna do it? I will if you will!
Breaking News: Republic Senator Arlen Specter is Now a Democrat
12:14 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|pennsylvania|Politics · 3 Comments
28 Apr 2009Bad news for the Republican Party. Long-time GOP senator Arlen Specter let President Obama know this morning that he is switching parties and becoming a Democrat, citing that he “no longer feels comfortable” with his party. CNN broke the story about an hour ago (video above), and reports that some of the Senator’s Pennsylvania constituents were to meet him this morning when the news leaked, at which point Specter emerged from his office amid roaring applause from them. The UK’s Guardian has more:
“I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans,” Specter said in a statement posted on a website devoted to Pennsylvania politics and confirmed by his office. Several Senate officials said a formal announcement could come later today or tomorrow. [...]
“I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate,” he said in the statement.
“I don’t have to say anything to them. They’ve said it to me,” Specter said, when asked in a Capitol corridor about abandoning the conservatives.
The Guardian reports that President Obama contacted Specter by phone shortly after to say he was “thrilled to have” him and give him his “full support” (more coverage from MSNBC after the jump).
CNN just reported that Republican Senator for Maine Olympia Snowe was quoted as saying that Specter’s switch is “devastating” for the GOP and symptomatic of the dominance of the extreme right within the party.
Specter had been a Republican since 1966.
Read more…
May Day / Pro-Migrant Events Around the US
11:26 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|Cities|Events|Immigration|States · 3 Comments
28 Apr 2009
This Friday is May Day. Traditionally a workers holiday, now it is a day to show support, solidarity and represent for immigrants. With ICE raids still happening, detention facilities making money for private companies with the blood of our community, and the DREAM Act still not passed, communities across the country need to make this May Day one of the largest.
1. ARIZONA Phoenix, AZ – Marcha Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum to State Capitol 8:30 AM AZ
2. Tucson, AZ – Marcha y mitin – South Gate Shopping Center 8 AM AZCALIFORNIA
3. Berkeley, CA Rally y Marcha – Sproul Plaza al City Hall, 11 AM CA
4. Cal State Dominguez Hills: Labor and Social Justice Fair Conference CA
5. Calexico, May 1st Binational immigration symposium Conference – 08:30 AM-08:30 PM CA
6. Chico, CA Mitin/Marcha – City Hall, 3 – 8 PM CA
7. Davis, CA Mitin y marcha – UC Davis Campus, 11 – 2 PM CA
8. Farmersville, CA – Marcha – Parque Memorial 4 PM CA
9. Fort Bragg, CA – Marcha, Tienda La Bamba 9:00 AM CA
10. Fresno, CA Eaton Plaza March (at the water tower) Gathering at 5:00 p.m begins at 6:00 p.m. CA
11. Fresno, CA Mitin y marcha – Centro Civico – Fulton Mall 4 – 8 PM CA
12. HAYWARD, CA – March & Rally – 10 a.m. Weekes Park @ 27182 Patrick Ave, 10:30 – 12:30 March to City Hall, 1:30 Rally @ City Hall CA
13. Los Angeles, CA ABRIL 30 Immigrant Rights Teach In – Antioch University 2 PM CA
14. Los Angeles, CA March by MIWON & LA County Fed, 1:30 PM Meet @ Echo Park, 4:30 PM Rally& postcard action @ Placita Olvera CA
15. Los Angeles, CA Marcha – Cinco Puntos a City Hall 11 AM CA
16. Los Angeles, CA Marcha – Olympic/Broadway 12 PM CA
17. Los Angeles, CA Marcha y Mitin – 3rd/Vermont a McArthur Park 2 – 7 PM CA
18. Madera, CA – Mitin, 5 PM CA
19. Martinez, CA – Vigilia y marcha, Martinez Marina 5:30 PM CA
20. Mendota, CA ABRIL 29 Marcha de los Niños – 10 AM CA
21. Modesto, CA – Mitin – Hatch Road/Crow Landing, 10 AM CA
22. Modesto, CA ABRIL 29 Rally-March – Gil’s Plaza 3 PM CA
23. Mountain View, CA – Vigilia – The Worker Center, Calvary Church 5 PM CA
24. Mountain View, CA Vigilia – The Worker Center, Calvary Church 5 PM CA
25. NAPA, CA – Vigilia / Vigil – Veterans Park in Napa Downtown From 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m CA
26. Oakland, CA: Program at Fruitvale Plaza 3:30-4:30pm Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum to State Capitol CA
27. Oakland, CA: Students/Youth MARCH to City Hall! 10:00 AM-01:00 PM GATHER at High St. and International Blvd. CA
28. Riverside, CA: Immigrants / Workers Rights = Human Rights MayDay March CA
29. Sacramento, CA – Marcha, Hiram Johnson High School a State Capitol 10 AM CA
30. Salinas, CA – Cuatro marchas – Constitutional y Laurel, 12 PM – 5 PM CA
31. San Diego, CA – Marcha – Chicano Park a City Hall, 10 AM CA
32. San Diego, CA – Rally – City College, 3 PM CA
33. San Francisco, CA: SF May Day March And Rally – Dolores Park 12 Noon March to Civic Center for 4 PM Rally CA
34. San Jose, CA: May Day Action – Mi Pueblo Shopping Center, Story Rd. & King Rd. to City Hall, 04:00 PM-06:00 PM CA
35. San Rafael, CA – Vigilia y marcha – Community Center – Canal, 6 AM – 10 AM CA
36. Santa Barbara, CA – Begins at 6:30pm in Presidio Springs at 721 Laguna Street CA
37. Santa Cruz, CA: May 1st March & Rally for Immigrant & Worker Rights CA
38. Santa Rosa, CA – Marcha – Old Albertsons Shopping Center 11 AM CA
39. SFA ‘Dine with Dignity’ May 1st Campus actions CACANADA
40. Vancouver CANADA Marcha, Solidaridad con Inmigrantes, Migrantes e Indocumentados- Clark Park a Grandview Park 6 PM CanadaMore event listings after the jump.
Read more…
Hola!
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