Despite my views on religion, I found this incredibly moving. It’s a message from members of the Abahlali baseMjondolo shackdwellers movement in South Africa, appealing to friends in the Church to support the shackdwellers in their upcoming trial – and you can find out more about that, and how to pitch in to the legal fund for that trial here. If you missed S’bu Zikode’s US tour, in which he explained the broader shackdweller’s struggle, you can watch him here and here. But the letter below doesn’t really need an introduction. Keep Reading »
From The China Labour Bulletin, [via PR]. Add another country to the roster of those experiencing food rebellions. Keep Reading »
In Philadelphia, a report finds that open space
- Increases homeowners’ property values by an average of $10,000;
- Supports nearly 7,000 jobs and generates $271 million in annual salaries and $30 million in state and local tax revenue;
- Generates more than $566 million in annual spending;
- Saves businesses $500 million in workers’ compensation and costs related to lost productivity;
- Spares local governments and utilities more than $132 million a year in costs associated with environmental services such as flood control and drinking-water filtration, and,
- Helps open-space users avoid $795 million in medical expenses and businesses avoid $485 million in lost-productivity costs.
Keep Reading »
The latest food security report was released this morning by the USDA – the headline is that 50.2 million people were food insecure in 2009, up a little from the previous year’s 49.1 million. Read it here, and watch this space for more analysis.
The African Studies Association is having its meetings in San Francisco at the moment, but is holding them in the Westin St Francis, a union boycotted hotel. All’s not lost though. There’s a fine-looking meeting on African and Global Food, with some excellent panelists, at the San Francisco Public Library on Nov 17th, and S’bu Zikode of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Shackdwellers Movement will be in town giving talks in Oakland and San Francisco. Full details on these events below the fold. Keep Reading »
Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, our local listener-supported Pacifica station has been taken over by lunatics. You can read about the idiocy of firing the staff of your highest fund-raising show, what it’s like to live under management siege – and then get fired, or about the difference between listener democracy and the ballot-box mayhem of KPFA’s elections. But if you can, please support KPFA’s workers – visit their site here – and call Pacifica’s board and Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt demanding that she reinstate the Morning Show, accept the KPFA Sustainable Budget, and then resign. Her number: (510) 849-2590, ext 208.
Thanks to CF for sharing this link from The Atlantic, an article by Kelly Brownell on whether children are being consumed by the fast food industry.
