Jayme F

Community Movements!

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:47:28 -0600

Hey My WTers and Readers- Planning this conference has consumed the vast majority of my time this semester so I thought i'd share it with you. We're looking for 3-4 more presenters/panelists/workshop-facilitators so... who wants to come visit me?! Pass this information along. We're particularly looking for people to facilitate workshops using popular education exercises. And Joel/Naimul, "The End of Agriculture" is totally a play on Fukuyama... oh, academic word play! Community Movements: Food Sovereignty and the Changing Face of Agriculture Trent University, February 6-8, 2009 The Trent Students’ Association in International Development (SAID), in collaboration with the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), invite you to participate in our 2nd annual SAID Conference. The Community Movements Conference is a three-day event, taking place in Peterborough, which aims to facilitate an exchange of views on global food systems and to strengthen capacities of those actively engaged with it. This participatory gathering of farmers, consumers, students, food activists, and academics working in various areas of food and agricultural justice will further deepen communication and promote solidarity both locally and globally through workshops, dialogue and critical reflections on successes and challenges. An important aspect will be the promotion of mutual learning through North-South exchanges. This conference will provide an important opportunity for networking, skill sharing, and fostering linkages between international, national, and local movements. This is an inclusive space where participants can learn tangible skills through engaging with fellow participants on matters of common concern. We are currently seeking proposals for sessions for this year’s conference. You are invited to submit a proposal on any of the following themes: I. Conceptualizing Food Sovereignty a. Defining and understanding the history of the Food Sovereignty Movement b. Exploring the Food Crisis II. The End of Agriculture: The Limits of a Hegemonic Food System a. Global Governance: Trade and Legal Frameworks b. Food, Profits, and Markets c. Seed Sovereignty, TRIPS, and GMOs III. Methods of Engagement a. Identifying tools and strategies used by the trans-national community b. Building a practical toolkit for change: individual and social acts of engagement Call for Proposals We are inviting students, social activists, grassroots organizations, academics, and any persons passionate about community-based change to submit a proposal for presenting papers and workshops at the Community Movements: Food Sovereignty and the Changing Face of Agriculture at Trent University. Presentations may be research and/or experience-based, with a focus on community-based food and agricultural activism. Workshops will provide an opportunity to share strategies, dialogue and to learn from one another. The presentations will be given in an intimate setting, each lasting approximately 30-40 minutes. If you are willing to be on a panel, please indicate so on your application. If you are interested in submitting a proposal, please complete the attached form and return it electronically to communitymovementsconference@gmail.com by December 15th, 2008. Application for Proposal Submission A. CONTACT INFORMATION Name/Organization(s): Email: Phone # (incl. area code): Mailing Address: I am willing to participate in a panel discussion: Yes/No B. PRESENTATION PROPOSAL Presentation Topic: Field(s) of focus (i.e. Agrarian Change, GMOs, Environmental Justice, Food Sciences, etc.): Format (i.e. discussion, skill-building workshop, theatre, lecture, etc.): Creative formats are welcome! Please answer the following question: How will your presentation/workshop contribute to any or all of the goals (skill-sharing, exchange of views, etc.) of the conference outlined in the attached information sheet (p. 1)? C. ABSTRACT Please also attach a 200-400 word abstract outlining your presentation and its context in greater detail as a Microsoft Word document.

From the Front Lines

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:19:48 -0600

I recently have began vermicomposting all of my foodscraps. As almost everyone on this site has known a policy debater at some point, imagine a debate tub full of soaked and shredded newspaper, 500 worms, and a little bit of soil. The first month of my experiment went well. I put my food waste in there and they made it into organic compost- solid gold worm shit I could use next summer. But then, much like the history of the world, something changed. Just as the world experienced violent restructuring with the advent of sugar production, and capitalism, my wormies world and its acidity changed over night when we acquired an electronic coffee maker. Coffee production soared. My personal usage went from three cups/week to three to four cups/ day. So, at least three times a day, coffee grounds were being dumped into my worms lives. Poor babies. They are now trying to escape, and, I suspect, eat me in the night. Hundreds of them are climbing up the walls, and trying to escape from the airholes. I should have been more diligent in keeping egg shells to neutralize the coffee grounds, but I was too hopped up on caffeine to care. And now I cannot pacify them. They have organized. They want blood. Tomorrow I will dump calicum carbonate in, in a last-minute attempt to avoid revolution. Oh, life.

I Make it Rain feat. Dresder, Kofi and John

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:51:37 -0600

I just figured out how to use youtube. Finally! This is a video of 3 hilarious and very talented liberian boys: Dresder, Kofi, and John, who lived in Zone 10 with me on the Buduburum Refugee Camp. The truck they're in is used to bring in sachets of water onto the camp and before he headed back out the driver must have eaten lunch or visited with someone, because they used the back end as a stage. Music that loud would play every morning at 6 a.m. when we had current. It was actually a wonderful way to wake up.

Spring! and I am unstably in love with the world again

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:17:22 -0600

from THE RED HORSE In merrygorounds of lies The red horse of your smile Goes round And I stand rooted there With the sad whip of reality And I have nothing to say Your smile is as true As my home truths to SONG OF THE JAILER Where are you going handsome jailer with that key that's touched with blood I am going to free the one I love If there's still time She whom I've imprisoned Tenderly and cruelly In my most secret desire In my deepest torment In falsehoods of the future In stupidities of vows I want to free her I want her to be free And even to forget me And even to go off And even to come back And love me again Or love another If another pleases her And if I stay alone And she gone off I will only keep I will always keep In my two hallowed hands To the end of all my days The softness of her breasts molded by love - Prévert i am a free little bird, flocking back to the trees and the neighbourhoods i love and which love me and and loving again the earth for all the warmth i forgot was always there. Omaha!

Food Sovereignty!

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:52:34 -0600

Summer is approaching quickly, bringing with it (to those who will be in Omaha) late night break-in's to neighborhood pools, Memorial Park, fire pits, parties, but also delicious strawberries, rhubarb, tomatoes, and other yummy food. I will be trekking downtown this May 3, and every subsequent Saturday to the Omaha Farmers Market, to purchase my food for the week. For anyone who wants to carpool- let me know! WT carpool party : ) Supporting local food markets, and family farms is essential. For anyone who is concerned about poverty, human rights, climate change, big-business, or just their general health, it is so important to buy local. for more information go to: www.foodfirst.org On average, your food travels over 1,000 miles to get on your plate. Not only is the amount of petroleum used to plant and maintain these crops astronomical, but C02 emissions associated with transport is a main contributor to climate change. Consider the mid-west (especially Nebraska and Iowa) 80 years ago. We had food sovereignty- "...the RIGHT of peoples, communities, and countries to define their own agricultural, labour, fishing, food and land policies which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances. It includes the true right to food and to produce food, which means that all people have the right to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food and to food-producing resources and the ability to sustain themselves and their societies." We had a rich diversity of crops during all the seasons. Now we are the Cornhuskers, the corn state. But is this something to be proud of? The fields are in the words of Michael Pollan, "cities of corn" and soya. This is not a natural, or sustainable method of food production. Fast forward to the Corporate take-over and we see the explosion of monoculture, and beginning in the late 1940s, the drenching of our food in pesticides. With Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) some of our food isn't drenched in pesticides (which we can wash off part of) but are now actually in our food, thanks to gene splicing and dicing. GMOs have a defacto import moratorium in the E.U. (which is illegal according to the World Trade Organization) and all products containing GMOs must be labelled. Even countries which are experiencing famine have refused Food Aid of GMOs (we- US, Canada, and the UK- have offered countries tied aid- which means we give them a grant, which they have to pay back 75% of but they are required to spend it on buying GMO food from the U.S., and they have refused. They did this under the banner of "Better off DEAD than GM FED" So why do we eat them? Why do most people not know about them? $! So resist C02 emissions, the destruction of bio-diversity, and poisoning your body and support local markets, healthy eating, and the right of people to decide what they want in their bodies and communities by coming with me to the farmers market. Seriously, it'll be fun, and we can make food and talk to amazing people. Let me know. If you leave me a comment and your e-mail I will contact you with my cell number <3

Consumer. Invader. Crusader. Seducer. Self-hating Westerner. Buffoon.

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:10:04 -0600

Up, Again (never really down yet...) 6:10 a.m. Why? My brain has been launching an all out attack on my ego, and fuck am I confused as ever. I don't want to be a dirty, little neo-colonialist. I doubt any of us do. But... for lack of an original phrase this little proverb will do: The Road to hell is paved with good intentions. How many more bricks must we lie before we see where the fuck we're going? You know, I remember a time, unfortunately not too many years ago, when I went on a Firestone sponsored trip to Cancun, Mexico. Jesus CHRIST. "...in 1970 a computer selected a thin strip of sand outside of Cancun as the sight on which to build a new city for foreign tourists... it is a place outside of history and geography, where there is no poverty, no memory, and no need to change your dollars." The family business, which has paid for my entire education, health, mass-consumption, transportation, etc. etc., is an oil and tire company whose main suppliers are Firestone and Michelin(Nigeria! Oil! AH!) . I worked with Liberian Refugees. Firestone has its biggest rubber plantation in Liberia, basically runs a slave plantation on a 99 year contract sucking Liberia of its natural resources which could be used to generate jobs and income to rebuild its country after 17 years of civil war. Thanks Bush, for dancing, and for the Million books you donated. Fair Trade! Less Aid! I'm writing my history paper on the Role of Transnational Corporations (Basically Firestone) in the Liberian Civil War. I'll be sure to post it if anyone is interested. I study International Development. I worked on a Refugee camp last year, as an 18yo high school grad with no specialized skills or training. Does anyone else take cause with this? I didn't think I was going to save the world. I just knew I wasn't ready for university, that I wanted to help people, and that I wanted to experience a culture other than my own. I had this overwhelming feeling of suffocation and that 'something just wasn't right'. I think many of us have the feeling that something about our culture is horribly wrong, and this sort of priviliged confusion makes us feel guilty for being so unhappy when we have everything we need. I worked, before the Camp, at a school where Teachers would vow not to cane their students in order to secure aid from the Global North (the first world, developed countries, high-income countries, whatever you want to call it). I didn't think I was a missionary. But we all are. "While once colonialism was blatant in its dehumanizing of social relationships, notwithstanding the claims of the "civilizing mission," now that same dehumanization takes place under the acceptable, if not desirable, guise of globalized development. The "poor" has come to replace the "savage/native;" the "expert consultant," the "missionary;" "training seminars," mass "baptizing;" the handphone in the pocket, the cross on the altar. But some things--the foreigner's degree, attire, consumer items, etc.--don't change. And what of the "comprador elites," that band of minority mercenaries who symbolized to the colonialist all that was good about what it meant to be the servile "civilized," who served as the faithful mouthpieces of the master? Today, many go by the names of "government functionaries" and "entrepreneurs." Regenerated by these contemporary ideological weapons of the desired human condition, the processes of ordering, of creating orders of inhumanity, carry on with violence intact." - jayan nayar We live in a world where our everyday actions have far-reaching implications. In the morning we have a cup of coffee (thousands of farmers, pickers, packagers, working 14+ hour days for un-fair trade, to break even, to be in debt) and then maybe we eat a banana and support a banana war in somalia, mexico, brazil, fucking agricultural subsidies... drive our co2 emitting car/or bus to school/work while we throw increased severe weather events/climate change into countries incapable of handling them (i.e. water refugees, flooding in w. africa, droughts, desertification in china) then we spend all day in our institutions eating, learning, pleasuring, fuck, you get the picture. It's not all that bad, we can buy local, drink 'fair trade' coffee, ride our bikes, and public transport isn't so bad... but what i'm getting at is that it is inevitable in a globalized world, while living in the Global North especially to not feel some sort of obligation to those whose lives suffer from our affluence. And I don't want to be the developer/missionary. But I know that something must be done. That I am obligated. If anyone has studied anything about the World Bank/IMF and the Strucutral Adjustment Programmes in the 80s, or the PRSPS of the 90s, the WTO and TRIPS/anything they will understand why I cringe at the thought of working for a Development Agency. I know not a lot of people read this, but I must say, for all the people who i've non-chalantly said, "Yeah, man, you gotta go to West Africa... it's the shit." I don't know WHY I say this. Maybe because It's a little awkward to call someone a colonizer at a party, or a little fucking uncomfortable to admit that of myself. But, I retract my statement. I'm not saying don't go, but I'm saying, that I do not have the sound-mind or expertise to tell you it's okay travel... "We think our motives are purer, that in the correct frame of mind, a trip to exotica means independence and not exploitation, as we come and see and -- well, not quite conquer but globalize with every dollar spent. It's easy to say: "My aim is true, my morals are on track," but Christopher Columbus and a million missionaries said so, too. Easy to think it's not corrupting or condescending or anachronistic but cool to collect snapshots of the other, trading smiles with strangers to brag about at dinner parties later: souvenirs. Off we go, from Berkeley and Brooklyn, we Marco Polos, Attilas the Hun, Captains Cook, Rudyard Kiplings with tattoos." Okay. I'm a colonizer. I know it. My life is a giant orgy with the WTO. But this fact doesn't debilitate me (except, sometimes, with the sleep) and I study and listen and learn so that one day I might understand what course of action to take. Today I talked with two Liberians who I consider my family, who brought me cold water when I had Malaria, who let me sleep in their bed with them after the Armed robbery until I could sleep alone, who love me, and who I love, who changed my life for the better, and who tell me I have changed their lives for the better as well. And I always forget that part. What I want to know from you guys... what do you think? I realize this may, in particular, strike a chord with Joelie, as he is going off to peace-corps it. While the peace-corps was originally founded in the 60's (first peace corps volunteer ever worked with Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana) as America's new policy enforcers, you can have a good experience. You can be good. That's how I get through every day, telling myself that. Because I've met some volunteers who had great impacts in their placements, I've also read stories of volunteers who've been asked to spy by the US embassay. Naimul? Dave? Dana? Joel? I know you all are intelligent, well educated, and have travelled. If you could even just point me in the direction of some good literature on the subject matter? I met some amazing people three weeks ago at a conference put on by my Univesrity and one guy told me, "Never go anywhere (to work) unless you're invited". I like that. And realize that when we travel (or volunteer) that we are taking from these people, we are taking their experience, and knowledge, and using it for our own growth, and that we are indebted to these people. The problem is I just don't know how to repay them without maybe further entrenching them in a system which is built against them. I'm really annoyed with how this all came out. I've reread this, and I sound (oh, god) like an uneducated 14 year old trend-following leftist who, self-righteous off of refusing to buy Starbucks coffee, nails fresh with black paint from Hot-Topic, is pointing fingers. Please realize that I haven't fully articulated myself, I've digressed, I've rambled, I haven't slept, like Rob, I'm just tired. And that while I may come off a bit craz-o I am okay, and I feel like i'm on the right path (finish school, move to liberia, work with locals) it's just constant reflection is necessary, and I respect your opinions, and I would really hope that we could all have an open dialogue about this, and many of the other issues we all might think about. There is so much more to give than white-guilt.

faukan and james

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:27:27 -0600

as told by james: faukan and i were looking at the most beautiful of star-full night skies when asked him, "what are stars?", he replied without changing the direction of his upwards gaze "They are people." a silence fell between us shortened by a shooting star, "whats that then" i asked, "some one leaving" he said. We continued to look sky wards, pondering our own worlds, i asked faukan if he had a star, to which he straightly replied "of course i do", "which one" i ask; at which point he turned his head, looked straight at me with a "are you serious look" and said "dont be silly, you cant see black stars"!

Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign (You can read it now!)

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:21:50 -0600

The UNHCR (The United Nations High Commission for Refugees) apparently doesn't think twice about its' rhetoric. This is at the Entrance to Budaburam Refugee Camp outside of Accra, Ghana. "If you are not able standing, sit down!!!" This is from Burkina Faso. Please note that The White Man (pronounced "Why Maan") can't aim very well and The Black Man can, and is significantly (seriously- thats a baby arm) more well-endowed than the why maan. Ahhhahaha, yes. Its one of those "it's funny cause its true" things. This was a man we met in Mali (One of the 10 poorest countries in the world) who was at a birthday party the village invited us to. Notice the torch on his head, you can tell Obruniis (White people, Foreigners. Literally: Those who swam across the sea.) come through here often. This is "we"- me, Duncan, and Channing, riding through the Sahara desert in Mali when the trotro stopped because it was Mecca Time! Earlier that day we'd ridden through the cliffs in the back of this death trap: We're so happy! It was petrifyingly unstable and bumpy and the roads were winding over the cliffs and we thought we weren't going to make it a few times. Me and Chanchan in Mali by the Niger River, "We Will Defeat You HIV/AIDS" I really look like AIDS. kind of scary. Seriuosly, there is so much sex at the refugee camp. Walk around at night, and you'll hear it. Think about it you've got 65,000 + people on 100 acres of land (that's about 90 Football fields) who are indirectly forced to stay in that area with little access to jobs which are poorly paid (teachers get around 10-15 usd/ month) and who aren't legally allowed to work outside the camp. People get bored... they have sex... Just a scam. Visa's are not free. "As you can see on the picture how an individual is affected by the HIV AIDS and also you can see how his friends are taking care of him. If you have AIDS it doesn't mean that you should be avoid. An if a person is affected by the virus you should show love to the affected person by encouraging, keeping company, and telling he she about Jesus. Prevention: you can prevent yourself from getting the virus by 1) Using your condom during sexual intercourse 2) Avoid instrument that have been used by another person 3) Wait until you are matured enough 4) Your partner should be tested before marriage" Ghana's 50th Birthday was insane. !Oprah! was there >: Actually the celebration was the shit, drumming and dancing. The best combination in the world. This is the UNHCR dumpster outside of my favorite bar on the Camp: Intersection View. Everyone pees on it, i've peed behind it. A lot of people think you can get HIV if you share a toilet with an affected person. Worse than the misconceptions about how you can contract HIV are the misconceptions about how you can cure it- Sex with a Virgin, Sex with a Child, Sex with _____, etc. These I believe are pictures of events that the UNHCR has sponsored- immunizations, food handouts, etc. Most of the blue post boards are filled with pictures of missing people or unclaimed children. They never came. The UNHCR decided the "atmosphere" on camp was "too violent" so they met with the Camp Manager in Accra and then wrote up a report. But things like this are just illusory, they know they wont come to camp (there would have been riots, they were right in that sense) but there is no "discussion" between the refugees and the unhcr. The UNHCR is pretty much petrified of the refugees, so they don't ever come into contact. blah Boredom sets in at the guesthouse. Simon <3 Lamp. Jayme <3 Simon. The two most peaceful, light hearted Muslims i've ever met... I don't think they even know about the "terrorist organization" the Brotherhood. ha I don't know how to explain it but this captures the essence of camp so well. "I LOVE CHRISTIANITY" My Favorite- Look closely at the letters... what the FUCK? U- Flexible self-masturbation? S- He's going down on her, hellll yeah. E- About to jizz on her face... A- I know theres a name for this but I can't remember it. For such a homophobic society like Ghana's I think it's great that the two guys are kissing while they both penetrate the chick. C- ? Guy eating out girl while he jizz's on another girls stomach? O- ? N- ? That's fuckin team work. D- ? Pre-sex tantric work up? O- ? M- ? Acrobats? I'm making shirts of this, if you want one let me know, they'll be less than 10usd I think. In other news, I have Malaria AND Pneumonia, which is great for my mental/emotional/physical health. Not to mention, my grades. I had to go to the ER, and the doctors don't really know so they want me to go see a Tropical Disease Specialist, ahhhhahha. I never realized how truly crazy you go during malaria. And I stick mby my "Anything worth doing is worth getting hurt for" faint quote. Ghana/Burkina/Mali was definitely worth getting hurt/permanently ill. This was written during the day, with a temperature varying between 99.5-101. I'm somewhat stable now, but tonight when the vomiting starts, and the fever goes up to 104 and I cant move... it feels like a horrible horrible trip, where I can't control my mind, and I don't know how to tell my body to move. I have crazy ass dreams that scare me when I wake up because I'm afraid they will come true or that they reflect something very wrong within my psyche, but its pretty much the drugs and parasites battling it out. A lot of my dreams seem to involve some representation of my life falling off the edges of of some object. I sometimes listen to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack to inspire my body to fight back! Anyway, tonight is the final, epic battle as it was my last day of treatment for the Malaria. Ahhaha. At night I totally sound like Gollum, too. Fuck Malaria, guys. If you go anywhere take your prophylaxis, sleep with a mosquito net no matter how hot it is, and wear insect repellent all the time. If a mosquito bites me here, and then bites someone else, and they haven't traveled out of the country they could die becasue they just think it's a flu. That's totally fucked. And a child dies of Malaria every 30 seconds, I don't like saying those A ___ dies of ___ every ____ second things but I guess I can't not say it in this case. Malaria is totally fucked, it kills 1 million children in Africa every year and when you don't have the money/access to health care you have to watch your children die. It was very common on the Camp, a huge health threat. The life expectancy on camp is 45 because of infectious diseases like this. I'm just rambling now, sorry if this is not exactly making sense but yeah. I have Malaria, I don't have to make sense. Love you all, Jayme