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Monthly Archives: July 2018

A Nation Unmade by War by Tom Engelhardt

22 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Recommended Reading, United States

≈ 49 Comments

Tags

A Nation Unmade by War by Tom Engelhardt, America in decline, America’s 45th President, Authoritarianism, Global War on Terror, TomDispatch, USA National Security State

United States Counterterror War Locations 2015-2017

United States Counterterror War Locations 2015-2017
Photo Credit: TomDispatch

 

Embarrassing spectacle. Treasonous. National security crisis. These are some of the reactions to the Helsinki Summit between Presidents Trump and Putin on July 16, 2018. Some among us believe that Trump is responsible for all that’s wrong with America. Not so, Tom Engelhardt reminds us in his latest book, A Nation Unmade by War (Haymarket Books, May 2018).

In A Nation Unmade by War, Engelhardt focuses on “a nation increasingly unsettled and transformed by spreading wars to which most of its citizens were, at best, only half paying attention.” He views Trump’s election as “part of the costs of those wars come home” and envisages that America’s 45th president “might preside over the most precipitous decline of a truly dominant power in history, one only recently considered at the height of its glory.”

When the Soviet Union imploded in 1991, the United States became the sole superpower. Dreams of creating a planetary Pax Americana led to the build-up of this country’s military might. The realization of that dream came on September 11, 2001, with al-Qaeda’s attack on the World Trade Center, and the subsequent launch of America’s Global War on Terror. This never-ending war has now consumed an estimated $5.6 trillion from September 2001 through fiscal year 2018 (Costs of War Project, Brown University, November 2017). Continue reading →

Renewable Energy Soundscapes

15 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption

≈ 29 Comments

Tags

Global transformation to renewable energy, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Primal Sonic Visions by Bill Fontana, Renewable energy photographer Joan Sullivan, Venice Architecture Biennale 2018

Primal Sonic Visions by Bill Fontana

Primal Sonic Visions by Bill Fontana
Photo Credit: Venice Science Gallery, Italy

 

Joan Sullivan – a Canadian-based renewable energy photographer, blogging at Artists and Climate Change – has opened my senses to diverse artists working to help us embrace our transition to a 100 percent renewable energy economy. In her post, “Renewable Energy Soundscapes,” published on July 12, 2018, Sullivan introduces us to Bill Fontana’s Primal Sonic Visions, now on exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2018.

Seventy-one-year-old Bill Fontana, an American composer and sound art pioneer, told Sullivan that the project, commissioned by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), transformed him as an artist through his experimentation with moving images and invention of a new visual language.

“Primal Sonic Visions prompts deep reflection on the power and effectiveness of energy capable of ensuring the future of our planet and triggers an emotional response to the environment, now under violent attack from the effects of climate change and atmospheric agents,” Fontana said at the opening of the exhibition in May 2018. “As people enter the space, they are met with an emotional experience that at first instills a sense of wonder, and later transforms into a deep reflection of the potential and power of these energy sources to be used in securing a future for our planet.” Continue reading →

America escalates trade war with China

08 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Economy and Finance, United States

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

America’s trade war with China, US Trade, US Trade Representative (USTR), US-China trade tariffs

China Shipping Line at the Port of Los Angeles - California

China Shipping Line at the Port of Los Angeles – California – USA
Photo Credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

 

America’s trade war with China is now official. On July 6th, the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced that an additional 818 Chinese goods, amounting to approximately $34 billion, now face a 25 percent import tax on arrival at US ports. Goods affected include Chinese-made vehicles, aircraft, boats, engines, and heavy equipment. Check the USTR website for the complete list.

“We must take strong defensive actions to protect America’s leadership in technology and innovation against the unprecedented threat posed by China’s theft of our intellectual property, the forced transfer of American technology, and its cyber-attacks on our computer networks,” said US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on June 15th.  “China’s government is aggressively working to undermine America’s high-tech industries and our economic leadership through unfair trade practices and industrial policies…”

In retaliation, China has imposed a 25 percent tariff on 545 American products of equivalent value. American soybeans, corn, wine, fresh and dried fruits, nuts, pork, and poultry are among the targeted items.

“[Beijing was] forced to strike back to defend the core interests of the nation and its people,” declared China’s Commerce Ministry on July 6th. China will also file a complaint against the USA with the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In a PBS presentation with Amna Nawaz on July 6th, Yasheng Huang of MIT’s Sloan School of Management said that negotiations between American and Chinese commerce officials failed to reach an agreement because “the strategy pursued by the Trump administration is kind of a take it or leave it. That doesn’t really leave the Chinese with much room to maneuver.”

More tariffs are yet to come. President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “And then you have another 16 [billion dollars] in two weeks, and then, as you know, we have $200 billion in abeyance and then after the $200 billion, we have $300 billion in abeyance. OK? So we have 50 plus 200 plus almost 300.”

I doubt that our president’s bully tactics will curb China’s trade abuses. Meanwhile, import tariffs put in place earlier this year on washing machines, solar panels, steel, and aluminum are already impacting American jobs. In his July 6th article in The Week, Jeff Spross concludes that our president is recklessly rushing into a trade war without any clear objectives or endgame.

“It’s worth remembering that the president was a reality TV star,” Spross writes. “And in that profession, the point is ratings. There’s little differentiation between putting on a show and getting results; the show is the result. And it’s hard to escape the conclusion that this trade war is just another show Trump’s putting on.”

Unlike America’s endless wars in the Middle East, upon which our military-industrial complex gorges itself, America’s trade war with China has an expiry date. As the global market adjusts, more American manufacturers will relocate their factories overseas to remain competitive and secure their markets.

“Broken System” – Spoken Word Poem by Guyanese Poet Renata Burnette

01 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Poetry

≈ 36 Comments

Tags

Domestic violence, Georgetown/Guyana, Guyanese Poet Renata Burnette, Guyanese Spoken Word Poet, Sexual harassment

houston-home-50

Victim of domestic violence with her mother – Guyana

 

My Poetry Corner July 2018 features the spoken word poem, “Broken System,” by young Guyanese poet Renata Burnette. Residing in the capital, Georgetown, she is a second-year undergraduate at the University of Guyana, pursuing a degree in Communications.

Renata’s poetry calls attention to the daily struggles and issues of young Guyanese, especially those in their late teens and twenties. She gained national attention in August 2016 with her poem, “Dear Mr. President,” expressing her challenges in finding a job as an undergraduate.

In “Broken System,” published on Guyana’s Independence Day, May 26, 2018, the poet portrays a system that offers little to no protection to the country’s vulnerable youth.

We have 15-year-old girls being gang raped; boys being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just children running away from their homes because the ones that are supposed to be protecting them, they’re now physically and sexually abusing them… These children, they have no faith in us because we have failed them…

Renata observes that the justice system fails these abused children by either condemning them to the juvenile penitentiary or returning them to their abusers. Further on, she raises the issue of drug dealing and the difficulty of finding work, even for someone with higher education.

So how do we fix the system, the same system that’s putting away our young men for selling or smoking weed, but we’re yet to curb the increase of lung cancer disease that’s mainly caused by tobacco smoking, also known as cigarette smoking. So what do we do? We put a warning label on the pack and just hope that it stops… And even when I graduate from one of the highest institutions in the land, they cannot guarantee me a job…with or without this degree. And you want to know why our young people are out here selling weed. Food for thought. Stay woke. See, plugs make more money than teachers make on their government salaries.

Without a pause, Renata addresses sexual harassment. No subject is taboo for our young poet.

And if you’re a woman in today’s society then sexual harassment is something that you’re almost guaranteed. It’s like a rite of passage, so be careful. Don’t wear anything loose, don’t appear to be too revealing, because when the man across the street shouts for you, calling you every single thing except your name, you better look… But really and truly all our tongues burn to say is just stay away from me. But we’re too scared because our system is broken; it’s backwards…

The system also fails victims of domestic violence. The police, the poet notes, not only show up until after the attack, but there’s also no justice for the woman.

And even though she’s the victim, there would be no justice for he [the abuser] knows people in high positions. You know, that can make a police report disappear regardless of how he acts. Those kind-a people in authority that have a knack for sweeping every single thing under the mat…

Like a maestro conducting an orchestra, the young poet controls the rising and falling rhythm with expressive hands. Without a script. Giving voice to the voiceless.

On America’s Independence Day, I offer these closing words of insight from our young Guyanese spoken word poet (emphasis mine):

If history has proven anything, it’s that the truth would always survive and, if needs be, it would bleed through crooked lines.

You can watch Renata Burnette’s performance on YouTube. For my complete transcript of “Broken System” and to learn more about the poet, go to my Poetry Corner July 2018.

CAPTIONED PHOTO
Victim of domestic violence with her mother, Guyana
In 2013, Natasha Houston’s husband killed their two children, slashed her arm and hand, then killed himself.
Photo Credit: WGVU News

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