The Not So Humble Cocoa Beans. Or to put it in other words SLAVE TAINTED CHOCOLATE: It is estimated more than 100,000 children work in the Ivory Coast's cocoa industry under "the worst forms of child labor," and that about 10,000 are slaves. Available http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/03/1193619205911.html
Reverend Tim Costello is sounding the alarm bells. I cannot find his TV news report on the internet. What kind of world are we creating ??
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"Hard rain is gonna fall" Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan:The sociological imagination
The blog site will explore the Sociology theories of Marxism, Feminism, Functionalism and Interactionism in the pursuit of academic understanding of Sociology
The White paper 2000 Tony Blair
One in five of the world’spopulation - two thirds of them women - live in abject poverty, in a world of growing material plenty. The new millennium offers a real opportunity to eliminate world poverty. This is the greatest moral challenge facing our generation.
available http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Pubs/files/whitepaper2000.pdf
One in five of the world’spopulation - two thirds of them women - live in abject poverty, in a world of growing material plenty. The new millennium offers a real opportunity to eliminate world poverty. This is the greatest moral challenge facing our generation.
available http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Pubs/files/whitepaper2000.pdf
the world population: 2005
the poorest 40% of accounted for 5% of global income.
the richest 20% accounted for 75% of world income
and the richest 10% accounted for 54%.
Available
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908762.html
The UN's Human Poverty Index, for example, factors in illiteracy, malnutrition among children, early death, poor health care, and poor access to safe water. Vulnerability to famine or flooding, lack of sanitation, exposure to disease, a diet poor in nutrients, and the absence of education are as much the signs of poverty as material deprivation.
Providing the poor with basic social services and infrastructure would in many cases alleviate poverty to a greater extent than simply a rise in income level.
the poorest 40% of accounted for 5% of global income.
the richest 20% accounted for 75% of world income
and the richest 10% accounted for 54%.
Available
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908762.html
The UN's Human Poverty Index, for example, factors in illiteracy, malnutrition among children, early death, poor health care, and poor access to safe water. Vulnerability to famine or flooding, lack of sanitation, exposure to disease, a diet poor in nutrients, and the absence of education are as much the signs of poverty as material deprivation.
Providing the poor with basic social services and infrastructure would in many cases alleviate poverty to a greater extent than simply a rise in income level.
From the Australia Review: This was the moment of hegemony. The recognition that politics has its own logic and dynamics. Hegemony refers to a distinctly political logic of ‘articulation’, in which a particular social force—a particular class, group, or political party, for instance—represents or ‘stands in’ for the whole. goto australianreview
landlocked developing countries:Lack of territorial access to the sea, remoteness and isolation from world markets and high transit costs continue to impose serious constraints on the overall socio-economic development of landlocked developing countries. Their sea borne trade unavoidably depends on transit through other countries. Additional border crossings and long distance from the market substantially increase the total expenses for the transport services.......goto un report
Review Five Priorities in the Almaty Programme of Action
Review Five Priorities in the Almaty Programme of Action
Poorest Countries in the World goto aneki
Rank...Country....GDP - per capita
1.Malawi.............$ 600
2.Somalia............$ 600
3.Comoros..........$ 600
4.Solomon Islands..$ 600
5. Congo, Democratic Republic of the......................$ 700
6.Burundi...........$ 700
7.East Timor......$ 800
8.Tanzania.........$ 800
9.Afghanistan.....$ 800
10Yemen............$ 900
2006 Australias GPD per capita is 32.9 goto index
Rank...Country....GDP - per capita
1.Malawi.............$ 600
2.Somalia............$ 600
3.Comoros..........$ 600
4.Solomon Islands..$ 600
5. Congo, Democratic Republic of the......................$ 700
6.Burundi...........$ 700
7.East Timor......$ 800
8.Tanzania.........$ 800
9.Afghanistan.....$ 800
10Yemen............$ 900
2006 Australias GPD per capita is 32.9 goto index
Most Generous Countries goto aneki
Rank Country Donor aid per capita
1 Luxembourg......$490.59
2 Denmark ...........$389.53
3 Norway.............. $302.51
4 Netherlands.......$241.39
5 Sweden...............$188.24
6 United Kingdom...$176.06
7 Finland.............. $162.36
8 Ireland.............. $147.72
9 Switzerland...... $145.61
10 Belgium...........$103.15
11 Austria...............$83.05
12 Canada ..............$77.87
13 Japan.................$69.84
14 Germany.......... $67.96
15 Australia........... $43.75
18 United States....$22.91
Source: CIA World Factbook
Rank Country Donor aid per capita
1 Luxembourg......$490.59
2 Denmark ...........$389.53
3 Norway.............. $302.51
4 Netherlands.......$241.39
5 Sweden...............$188.24
6 United Kingdom...$176.06
7 Finland.............. $162.36
8 Ireland.............. $147.72
9 Switzerland...... $145.61
10 Belgium...........$103.15
11 Austria...............$83.05
12 Canada ..............$77.87
13 Japan.................$69.84
14 Germany.......... $67.96
15 Australia........... $43.75
18 United States....$22.91
Source: CIA World Factbook
Australia accesses foreign saving through either borrowing (debt) or greater foreign ownership of Australian activities (equity). Foreign direct investment (FDI) is one form of the latter. For official measurement purposes, FDI is regarded as an equity interest of 10 per cent or more in an enterprise. goto FDI
So where is the largest investment ??
Stock of Foreign Direct Investment in Australia by Industry 2006
24.4 % Mining 77,067
19.0 % Manufacturing 59,913
16.6 % Wholesale and retail trade 52,477
14.9 % Finance and insurance 47,056
Total $315,396,100.00
Source: ABS Cat. No. 5352.0, December 2006
So where is the largest investment ??
Stock of Foreign Direct Investment in Australia by Industry 2006
24.4 % Mining 77,067
19.0 % Manufacturing 59,913
16.6 % Wholesale and retail trade 52,477
14.9 % Finance and insurance 47,056
Total $315,396,100.00
Source: ABS Cat. No. 5352.0, December 2006
United Nations Climate change conference:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has talked up an 11th-hour Bali roadmap to slash greenhouse gas emissions, putting him at odds with Australia's key ally, the United States.
After a night of gruelling talks following the official end of the United Nations Climate Change conference, the United States caved in and agreed to support a pact to negotiate emissions cuts of between 25 and 40 per cent by 2020. The deal does not include a binding target.
"This is an important step forward because it opens up a roadmap to the future but that roadmap means two further years of hard, tough negotiations between developed and developing countries and among developed countries as well," Mr Rudd told reporters. goto Bali
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has talked up an 11th-hour Bali roadmap to slash greenhouse gas emissions, putting him at odds with Australia's key ally, the United States.
After a night of gruelling talks following the official end of the United Nations Climate Change conference, the United States caved in and agreed to support a pact to negotiate emissions cuts of between 25 and 40 per cent by 2020. The deal does not include a binding target.
"This is an important step forward because it opens up a roadmap to the future but that roadmap means two further years of hard, tough negotiations between developed and developing countries and among developed countries as well," Mr Rudd told reporters. goto Bali
Bali breakthrough and beyond: The full Bali roadmap, adopted amidst high drama at the UN climate conference in Bali, signals the start of two years of tough negotiations. goto scorecard
Following two weeks of meetings and a fractious plenary session that went all night, the 187 country participants at the 2007 Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali eventually agreed to the “Bali Action Plan” or “road map”. goto
lawyersweekly
Following two weeks of meetings and a fractious plenary session that went all night, the 187 country participants at the 2007 Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali eventually agreed to the “Bali Action Plan” or “road map”. goto
lawyersweekly
Greenhouse inventory: Australia’s inventory efforts are well regarded internationally but highlight ongoing measurement challenges. Uncertainties in emission estimates are less than 10% for CO2 in stationary Energy and transport, 5-20% for fugitive emissions,
10-30% for industrial processes,
10-80% or more for agriculture
20-60% for land use change.
The overall uncertainty in the 2003 national inventory is +/-5%, a clear challenge for setting reduction targets.
In particular, the last decade has seen considerable growth in GDP and energy consumption compared to many industrialised countries, and rapidly growing energy exports – Australia is now the world’s largest coal exporter, second largest uranium exporter and a major LNG exporter. This is a challenging context for developing an effective climate change policy framework. Energy-related emissions (representing around 70% of total emissions) rose by approx 35% between 1990 and 2004 and are projected to rise 50% above 1990 levels by 2010. (page 1)
CoAG’s (Coalition of Astralian Governments) role is to develop consistent Federal and State-level policies on matters of national significance. One of CoAG’s three agreed energy policy objectives is “Mitigating local and global environmental impacts, notably greenhouse impacts, of energy production, transformation and use.”
The Australian Government played a lead role in establishing the Asia Pacific Partnership (AP6) between the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, China and India.
Greenhouse emission projections: Projections have considerable uncertainty because of these measurement challenges as well as a wide range of unknowable factors where assumptions have to be made. Australia’s 2010 emissions may lie between 102-118% of 1990 levels. (page 7) Goto Climate change policy
10-30% for industrial processes,
10-80% or more for agriculture
20-60% for land use change.
The overall uncertainty in the 2003 national inventory is +/-5%, a clear challenge for setting reduction targets.
In particular, the last decade has seen considerable growth in GDP and energy consumption compared to many industrialised countries, and rapidly growing energy exports – Australia is now the world’s largest coal exporter, second largest uranium exporter and a major LNG exporter. This is a challenging context for developing an effective climate change policy framework. Energy-related emissions (representing around 70% of total emissions) rose by approx 35% between 1990 and 2004 and are projected to rise 50% above 1990 levels by 2010. (page 1)
CoAG’s (Coalition of Astralian Governments) role is to develop consistent Federal and State-level policies on matters of national significance. One of CoAG’s three agreed energy policy objectives is “Mitigating local and global environmental impacts, notably greenhouse impacts, of energy production, transformation and use.”
The Australian Government played a lead role in establishing the Asia Pacific Partnership (AP6) between the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, China and India.
Greenhouse emission projections: Projections have considerable uncertainty because of these measurement challenges as well as a wide range of unknowable factors where assumptions have to be made. Australia’s 2010 emissions may lie between 102-118% of 1990 levels. (page 7) Goto Climate change policy
WOMEN AND APEC
APEC Business Womens goto women
13th Meeting of the APEC Women Leaders’ Network Place: Convention Center "Cerro Juli", Arequipa 2008
Monday to Wednesday, 12-14 May, 2008.The Women Leaders’ Network is a loose network of women that is affiliated with APEC which is flexible and consists of a multisectoral approach to recommendations.
Its members are composed of the private sectors, academia, government and civil society.
The purpose of WLN is to seek ways and develop strategies so that women’s concerns are heard, their aspirations considered, and their involvement firmly established when decisions and policies are made within APEC.
The overall mission of the 13th meeting is to encourage and empower women in dynamic economic activities.
13th Meeting of the APEC Women Leaders’ Network Place: Convention Center "Cerro Juli", Arequipa 2008
Monday to Wednesday, 12-14 May, 2008.The Women Leaders’ Network is a loose network of women that is affiliated with APEC which is flexible and consists of a multisectoral approach to recommendations.
Its members are composed of the private sectors, academia, government and civil society.
The purpose of WLN is to seek ways and develop strategies so that women’s concerns are heard, their aspirations considered, and their involvement firmly established when decisions and policies are made within APEC.
The overall mission of the 13th meeting is to encourage and empower women in dynamic economic activities.
APEC IS BECOMING A CENTRAL THEME
The social policy aspect to APEC
Funding: APEC is not a donor organisation. Instead, APEC activities are centrally funded by small annual contributions from APEC Member Economies - since 1999 these have totalled US$3.3 million each year. APEC's trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation goals: Projects generally -
(1)Relate to the priorities of APEC Economic Leaders and APEC Ministers
(2)Cover the interest of at least several APEC Member (3)Economies
(4)Build capacity
(5)Improve economic efficiency, and
(6)Encourage the participation of the business sector, non-governmental institutions and women.
goto APEC
MY FEMINIST PERPECTIVE: IS there structural inequality ??does APEC sponsor women representatives on APEC meetings ??
The social policy aspect to APEC
Funding: APEC is not a donor organisation. Instead, APEC activities are centrally funded by small annual contributions from APEC Member Economies - since 1999 these have totalled US$3.3 million each year. APEC's trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation goals: Projects generally -
(1)Relate to the priorities of APEC Economic Leaders and APEC Ministers
(2)Cover the interest of at least several APEC Member (3)Economies
(4)Build capacity
(5)Improve economic efficiency, and
(6)Encourage the participation of the business sector, non-governmental institutions and women.
goto APEC
MY FEMINIST PERPECTIVE: IS there structural inequality ??does APEC sponsor women representatives on APEC meetings ??
APEC mottos:
Strenghtening the global trading system
Connection people and economies through Trade, Investment and Technology
Strenghtening the global trading system
Connection people and economies through Trade, Investment and Technology
Our Lost National Identity
A recent exhibition Coathangers at Shepparton Art Gallery was a reminder of how distant contemporary Australian culture has come from the idioms of local flora and fauna that once were conventional symbols of national identity. Where are our kookaburras, platypuses, lizards and local flora in our Australian culture ???
Let's have a radical shift in our arts program to promote our unique National identity.......
MASS MEDIA AS THE FUNCTIONALISM UNIT:Let's have our history lessons readily available on telly one half hour every morning......
Let's have a radical shift in our arts program to promote our unique National identity.......
MASS MEDIA AS THE FUNCTIONALISM UNIT:Let's have our history lessons readily available on telly one half hour every morning......
Our Lake corangamite
AUSTRALIAN ICONS
TOM ROBERTS: LEGEND
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and unglorious is to die daily. - Napoleon Bonaparte
FEMALE SOCIOLOGIST
TASLIMA NASRIN From Bangladesh
'Freedom of expression for some is not enough.
We must work for freedom of expression for all.
Human rights for some is not enough.
We must work for the human rights for all.
Peace for some is not enough.
We must work for peace for all.
I, come what may, will not be silenced.
Come what may, I will continue my fight for equality and justice without any compromise until my death.
Come what may, I will never be silenced.'
One of her poem's goto Nasrin
Recently, in March 2007, an Indian Muslim group offered a bounty of 500,000 rupees for her beheading.
GOTO Nasrin
'Freedom of expression for some is not enough.
We must work for freedom of expression for all.
Human rights for some is not enough.
We must work for the human rights for all.
Peace for some is not enough.
We must work for peace for all.
I, come what may, will not be silenced.
Come what may, I will continue my fight for equality and justice without any compromise until my death.
Come what may, I will never be silenced.'
One of her poem's goto Nasrin
Recently, in March 2007, an Indian Muslim group offered a bounty of 500,000 rupees for her beheading.
GOTO Nasrin
Hard Rain
Hard Rain - the clash of human nature and environment.....This is an amazing story from Africa
The exhibition came about through the travels of photographer Mark Edwards, who, in July 1969 was lost on the edge of the Sahara desert and was rescued by a Tuareg nomad.
The story continues that the nomad takes Edwards to his people, rubs two sticks together to make a fire, and produces a cassette player from which Bob Dylan sings A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall.
From that experience, the idea comes to Edwards of illustrating each line of the song. In the years that follow he travels to over 150 countries to photograph human kind's headlong collision with nature.
Click on hard rain
ABC, the. 2008 Fact Sheet: Half the world facing water shortages by 2025 [online] Available http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s803659.htm
"Thirty percent of the world is living under water stress - they do not have enough water to live or wash, and if we continue at that rhythm, it will become more than 50% in 2025. It is not sustainable," William Cosgrove, vice president of the World Water Council, told reporters in Tokyo.
The exhibition came about through the travels of photographer Mark Edwards, who, in July 1969 was lost on the edge of the Sahara desert and was rescued by a Tuareg nomad.
The story continues that the nomad takes Edwards to his people, rubs two sticks together to make a fire, and produces a cassette player from which Bob Dylan sings A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall.
From that experience, the idea comes to Edwards of illustrating each line of the song. In the years that follow he travels to over 150 countries to photograph human kind's headlong collision with nature.
Click on hard rain
ABC, the. 2008 Fact Sheet: Half the world facing water shortages by 2025 [online] Available http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s803659.htm
[accessed 22/05/08]
"Thirty percent of the world is living under water stress - they do not have enough water to live or wash, and if we continue at that rhythm, it will become more than 50% in 2025. It is not sustainable," William Cosgrove, vice president of the World Water Council, told reporters in Tokyo.
drinking rain water
"Hard rain is gonna fall" Bob Dylan
HARD RAIN OR NO RAIN ??
Bob Dylan:The sociological imagination
Ancient human footprints found in Australia
Researchers believe prints were made approximately 20,000 years ago
About 20,000 years ago, humans trekked along the margins of a shallow lake in Australia, leaving behind records of their passage in the soft, wet sand.
In 2003, an aboriginal woman who is likely a descendant of those early Australians stumbled across dozens of timeworn footprints in the same area. Excavations of the site have since uncovered hundreds more. The discovery, detailed in a recent issue of the Journal of Human Evolution, represents the largest collection of Pleistocene human footprints in the world, and the only footprints from that era ever found in Australia. In total, 457 footprints have now been uncovered. click on footprint
Researchers believe prints were made approximately 20,000 years ago
About 20,000 years ago, humans trekked along the margins of a shallow lake in Australia, leaving behind records of their passage in the soft, wet sand.
In 2003, an aboriginal woman who is likely a descendant of those early Australians stumbled across dozens of timeworn footprints in the same area. Excavations of the site have since uncovered hundreds more. The discovery, detailed in a recent issue of the Journal of Human Evolution, represents the largest collection of Pleistocene human footprints in the world, and the only footprints from that era ever found in Australia. In total, 457 footprints have now been uncovered. click on footprint
Economic growth: Since 1990, Australia’s real economy has grown by an average of around 3.3 per cent a year. http://www.dfat.gov.au/aib/competitive_economy.html
ECONOMIC growth in Australia could struggle to reach 3 % per cent over the next decade, well short of expectations.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23308937-29277,00.html
The global economy had been expanding vigorously, with growth running above 5 % in the first half of 2007. China's economy growing by 11½ %, India also continued to grow very strongly at more than 9 %, and Russia grew by almost 8 %. These three countries alone had accounted for one-half of global growth over the past year. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2007/RES1017B.htm
Since 2001, sub Saharan growth has exceeded the global average. In 2006, we found ourselves referring to 'the 6 per cent Club' -a grouping of African countries. Last year, we considered revising this to the '7 per cent Club'.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200801141611.html
ECONOMIC growth in Australia could struggle to reach 3 % per cent over the next decade, well short of expectations.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23308937-29277,00.html
The global economy had been expanding vigorously, with growth running above 5 % in the first half of 2007. China's economy growing by 11½ %, India also continued to grow very strongly at more than 9 %, and Russia grew by almost 8 %. These three countries alone had accounted for one-half of global growth over the past year. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2007/RES1017B.htm
Since 2001, sub Saharan growth has exceeded the global average. In 2006, we found ourselves referring to 'the 6 per cent Club' -a grouping of African countries. Last year, we considered revising this to the '7 per cent Club'.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200801141611.html
WHAT IS GLOBALISATION?
by Michael Bond
http://www.eveoftheapoc.com.au/Downloads/WhatIsGlobal.html
The global economy is at the centre of globalisation and is its primary focus. At the heart of the global economy are privatisation and deregulation..terms like market economy, neo-liberalism. The flaw in global money supply ensures that national debts will always grow at a much faster rate than national economies. The present form of globalisation-by-economics is needlessly destructive and is currently destined to destroy itself before the year 2030.
Globalisation: Studies in Anthropology by Thomas Hylland Eriksen. Available http://folk.uio.no/geirthe/Globalisation.html
If economic globalisation refers to the increasing transnational character of production, marketing and transactions, and cultural globalisation refers to the increasing irrelevance of distance (Giddens: ‘the world has become a single place’), then the recent widespread use of the word is likely to give misleading connotations.
by Michael Bond
http://www.eveoftheapoc.com.au/Downloads/WhatIsGlobal.html
The global economy is at the centre of globalisation and is its primary focus. At the heart of the global economy are privatisation and deregulation..terms like market economy, neo-liberalism. The flaw in global money supply ensures that national debts will always grow at a much faster rate than national economies. The present form of globalisation-by-economics is needlessly destructive and is currently destined to destroy itself before the year 2030.
Globalisation: Studies in Anthropology by Thomas Hylland Eriksen. Available http://folk.uio.no/geirthe/Globalisation.html
If economic globalisation refers to the increasing transnational character of production, marketing and transactions, and cultural globalisation refers to the increasing irrelevance of distance (Giddens: ‘the world has become a single place’), then the recent widespread use of the word is likely to give misleading connotations.
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