Month: Aug 2022

By Lorena Cotza & Ouafa Haddioui, at MASSolidarity.org via thefreeonline Aug 2022

‘Who Will Feed Us?’, small-scale producers provide food to 70% of the world, while using only 25% of the resources.

Originally posted on OpenDemocracy, Article also available in Portuguese

Public finance has a key role to play in agriculture. Instead of propping up corporate interests, it should learn from local producers

In 2017, the people of Zagora, Morocco, took to the streets in what became known as the ‘thirst revolution’.

They were demanding safe drinking water and an end to the excessive use of water by big agricultural companies.

In an already arid area, experiencing frequent droughts and heatwaves due to climate change, much of the available water supply was being used to grow watermelons for export to Europe. Residents had been left with an insufficient, unreliable and undrinkable supply. Twenty-three of the demonstrators were arrested.

In Morocco, irrigation for agriculture consumes almost 90% of the annual available fresh water. This intense extraction dates back to the colonial period, when the French authorities replaced the khettara – a traditional irrigation system developed and managed by local communities – with water-intensive structures that allow production to fulfil the demand of European markets.

Agriculture now constitutes almost 15% of Morocco’s GDP. The industry receives substantial support from public development banks such as the African Development Bank and the World Bank. Both banks supported the 2008 Green Morocco Plan, which aimed to “fully exploit the agricultural potential of the country”.

The plan favoured export-oriented crops with high water requirements, such as watermelons, tomatoes and citrus fruits.

Morocco’s water crisis is not an isolated case. All around the world, water scarcity and food crises are being caused by the man-made disasters of climate change, colonialism, and an extractive economic model – pushed by governments, private companies and development finance institutions – that boosts productivity at any cost and disregards the rights of local communities.

Escalated by the pandemic and the subsequent global economic crisis, water and food shortages have reached unprecedented levels in dozens of countries, with small-scale producers – especially women – disproportionately affected.

Continue reading “World Food Systems are in Crisis, and Big Agribusiness is at its Heart“

Cuerpos parlantes.. Feminismos y ciudad en resistencia

on 12 agosto, 2022 by caracolurbanoEstándar by cuerposparlantes via thefreeonline

ESTAS TIJERAS CORTAN

Retrato del activismo y resistencia de colectivas de jóvenes lesbianas y bisexualas, trans incluyentes en Brasil/Colombia/México, ante un contexto de resurgimiento de la ultra derecha.

Este documental fue grabado durante el estallido en América Latina y realizado por mujeres lesbianas, bisexuales y personas no binaries.

Duración: 41 minutos.
Dirección: Al Vallejo
Producción: México, Chile, Colombia y Brasil (2021)

*Después de la proyección conversaremos con las realizadoras.

SÁBADO 13 de agosto 2022. 8:30 PM

Cuerpos parlantes/La Libertina (González Ortega 531, Guadalajara Centro)

By Ron Paul Source: Ron Paul Institute There is a video clip making the rounds showing President Biden speaking at a recent NATO summit about the seven billion dollars the US government had – at that time – provided to Ukraine. Attached to that is another clip showing the horrific state of several US major […]

More Billions to Ukraine as America Falls Apart — Desultory Heroics

from scientificinquirer August 2022 by bricemarsters via thefreeonline shared with thanks

PFAS, a group of manufactured chemicals commonly used since the 1940s, are called “forever chemicals” for a reason. Bacteria can’t eat them; fire can’t incinerate them; and water can’t dilute them.

And, if these toxic chemicals are buried, they leach into surrounding soil, becoming a persistent problem for generations to come.

Forever chemicals are everywhere, even in our blood, and are incredibly toxic and almost indestructible.. until now. The new simple way to destroy at least a few of them opens the way for a long control campaign, but can only work if twinned by total and enforced production bans

Now, Northwestern University chemists have done the seemingly impossible. Using low temperatures and inexpensive, common reagents, the research team developed a process that causes two major classes of PFAS compounds to fall apart — leaving behind only benign end products.

The simple technique potentially could be a powerful solution for finally disposing of these harmful chemicals, which are linked to many dangerous health effects in humans, livestock and the environment.

“PFAS has become a major societal problem,” said Northwestern’s William Dichtel, who led the study. “Even just a tiny, tiny amount of PFAS causes negative health effects, and it does not break down.

We can’t just wait out this problem. We wanted to use chemistry to address this problem and create a solution that the world can use. It’s exciting because of how simple — yet unrecognized — our solution is.”

Dichtel is the Robert L. Letsinger Professor of Chemistry in Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Brittany Trang, who conducted the project as a part of her recently completed doctoral thesis in Dichtel’s laboratory, is the paper’s co-first author.

‘The same category as lead’

Short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS has been in use for 70 years as nonstick and waterproofing agents. They are commonly found in nonstick cookware, waterproof cosmetics, firefighting foams, water-repellent fabrics and products that resist grease and oil. 

Over the years, however, PFAS has made its way out of consumer goods and into our drinking water and even into the blood of 97% of the U.S. population.

Although the health effects are not yet fully understood, PFAS exposure is strongly associated with decreased fertility, developmental effects in children, increased risks of various types of cancer, reduced immunity to fight infections and increased cholesterol levels.

With these adverse health effects in mind, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently declared several PFAS as unsafe — even at trace levels.

“Recently, the EPA revised its recommendations for PFOA essentially down to zero,” Dichtel said. “That puts several PFAS into the same category as lead.”

Unbreakable bonds

Although community efforts to filter PFAS from water have been successful, there are few solutions for how to dispose of PFAS once it is removed. The few option that are now emerging generally involved PFAS destruction at high temperatures and pressures or other methods that require large energy inputs.

Continue reading “First ‘Forever chemicals’ dissolved by easy cheap new method.. but they must be banned worldwide”

This year, members of the Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee will join with prisoners and their families to call for an end to their incarceration. IWOC will reach out to members incarcerated in Ireland and extend it solidarity with them directly. This year we will draw attention to the case of our member John Paul Wootton […]

IWOC: Week of Action & Solidarity

“While Beijing has a repeated history of forgiving loans like this, Western governments have made baseless, politically motivated accusations that China uses “debt-trap diplomacy” in the Global South”.

By Benjamin Norton at multipolarista.com August 20 2022 via thefreeonline

Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2018

China is forgiving 23 interest-free loans for 17 African countries, after already cancelling $3.4 billion and restructuring $15 billion of debt from 2000-2019. Beijing pledged more infrastructure projects and offered favorable trade deals in a “win-win” model of “mutually beneficial cooperation.”

The Chinese government has announced that it is forgiving 23 interest-free loans for 17 African nations, while pledging to deepen its collaboration with the continent.

This is in addition to China’s cancellation of more than $3.4 billion in debt and restructuring of around $15 billion of debt in Africa between 2000 and 2019.

‘Debt Trap’ is a US financed Propaganda Myth

The United States has turned Africa into a battleground in its new cold war on China and Russia.

And Washington has weaponized dubious claims of Chinese “debt traps” to try to demonize Beijing for its substantial infrastructure projects on the continent.

For its part, China has pushed back against the US new cold war.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a meeting with leaders from various African countries and the African Union on August 18.

In the conference, Wang condemned the West’s “zero-sum Cold War mentality.” He instead proposed a model based on “multi-party cooperation” with Africa that brings “win-win results” for all sides.

Continue reading “China forgives 23 loans for 17 African countries, expands ‘win-win’ trade and infrastructure projects”

Por Semanario Voz Las comunidades campesinas tienen la esperanza en las transformaciones que permitan la superación de la pobreza, el acceso a la tierra y la defensa de la soberanía nacional. VOZ conversó con Nury Martínez, presidenta de la Federación Nacional Sindical Unitaria Agropecuaria, organización que realizará su congreso nacional Claudia Flórez Sepúlveda La Federación […]

La reforma rural, una deuda histórica del Estado