Food Sovereignty

Author: Acha Nicolas

Teacher: Stella Maris Saubidet Oyamburu

Language and Written Expression IV

ISFD N°41

  

Eating Our Way to Disaster

Our eating habits have experienced drastic changes in the last decades. From recently harvested, fresh vegetables and fruits, to whole meals processed and packed ready to be eaten. The industrialization of agriculture is proving to be an unsustainable system that is causing the degradation of the land and water, as well as our health.  Striving for the eradication of hunger, different organizations of small-scale farmers around the world, are trying to rise our awareness of the rights we have to access to adequate food.

Can we run out of food?

The critical answer to that question is: Yes, if we let international agro-industrial companies such as Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta continue with their activities. The industrial food chain that is composed of a handful of corporations control the world’s food production. Using almost the eighty percent of the total arable land, they produce just the thirty percent of the food supply, leaving almost one billion people hungry and undernourished.  This oligopoly is also controlling the seeds market, which is resulting in a loss of diversity and in an agricultural system based on monoculture. Furthermore, the production of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers needed for the genetically-engineered seeds has extremely negative effects on the soil, water and health of the farmers. The only way to avoid a future famine is to adopt a sustainable food system based on the preservation of the resources and environment, especially land, water and seeds.

The industrial model for food production is threatening our health.

 In an attempt to produce greater amounts of food in a more efficient way, big corporations are using different additives and genetic modification of seeds to increment their production by hectare. Additionally, the use of hormones to raise bigger cattle and increase their milk production is posing serious risks for consumers. These procedures are causing higher rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart diseases than ever, and most of these illnesses are related to the food we consume. Furthermore, the industrial farm system does not consider the environmental needs and tries to compensate it with the use of chemical fertilizers that pollute the soil, water and atmosphere.

There is another choice.

“La Via Campesina” is an international movement composed of hundreds of small farmers and peasants from around the world. It was founded in 1993 to defend small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity. It’s main purpose is the realization of Food Sovereignty, understood as the right of people to produce healthy and culturally appropriated food through a sustainable method. It prioritizes local production and consumption giving the countries the right to protect local producers from cheap imports that destroy their economies. The food sovereignty movement is based on the idea that small-scale local farms and fishers are capable of feeding their communities in a more sustainable and healthy way.

We can help.

It is impossible to accept what the industrial food companies are doing to our world and health, we cannot permit this poisoning system to continue feeding us. There is something we all can do to help the Food Sovereignty movement triumph over corporate power. We must support the campaign in one way or another, we can write to politicians, ask different NGO’s to join the movement and talk to the media. We can avoid buying in big supermarket chains where there is no information of the products origins; instead we should buy the local, organic producers that respect our environment and health.

Works Cited

Food Sovereignty As a Way to Achieve Food Security. Retrieved October 30^th from: http://glopolis.org/en/articles/food-sovereignty-way-achieve-food-security/

Polland, M. We Are What We Eat. Retrieved October 25^th from: http://michaelpollan.com/interviews/we-are-what-we-eat/

The Industrial Food Chain starts with Monsanto seeds. Retrieved October 27^th from: http://seedsavers.net/shop/home/why-save-seeds/industrial-food-chain/

With Climate Change… Who Will Feed Us? The Industrial Food Chain/The Peasant Food Web.RetrievedOctober29thfrom:http://www.etcgroup.org/sites/www.etcgroup.org/files/Food%20Poster_Design-Sept042013.pdf

Essay on Daniel Barenboim

Playing With the Enemy

A very small piece of land is being claimed by both Jewish and Muslims since the Zionist movement took control of the Palestinian territory creating the State of Israel in 1947. The idea of this extremist minority was the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.  After the increasing feeling of anti-Semitism in Europe that ended with the Holocaust killing more than six millions of Jews, in 1947 the United Nations decided to intervene. Under enormous pressure from the Zionists, the UN decided to divide the land giving 55% of the Palestinian territory to the creation of a Jewish State. Inevitably, conflict began since it meant the loss of their homes for millions of Palestinians. Both sides are unable to recognize the other side’s claims over the territory and the dispute has resulted in decades of instability and constant war in the region, becoming particularly contentious and violent in recent years. In this context, the Argentinean-Israeli musician Daniel Barenboim and the Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said, created a foundation with the aim of promoting the spirit of peace, dialogue and reconciliation, primarily through music. Barenboim’s effort to reconstruct a relationship of mutual respect and understanding between people from ethnic and religious rival groups can serve as the starting point for a peaceful solution to this conflict.

When taking actions against a conflict, surely one will find resistance and opposition, mostly from the involved parties. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) accused Daniel Barenboim of being a fervent Zionist that promotes normalization i.e. collaborating with the idea that the oppressed Palestinian people should subscribe to and cope with the reality as it is. He has been praised for Palestinian organizations as a peacemaker but at the same time, he has been accused of not recognizing the Palestinian’s rights or rejecting the Israeli colonialism and apartheid. Moreover, he faced accusations of refusing to the return of refugees to the homes they were thrown out of during the nakba ("Day of the Catastrophe" - 1948) and of being against the self-determination of peoples.

As part of the Barenboim-Said Foundation, the project of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra was conceived with the purpose of gathering Israeli and Arab musicians to provide not only musical education of the highest level, but also the experience of sharing knowledge and foster dialogue between people from rival cultures. “We are an orchestra against ignorance” Daniel Barenboim says, and he believes that the opportunity of having personal contact and the possibility to dispel their ignorance about each other, is the most meaningful way of acknowledging the dispute from different points of view and reaching to a better understanding of the conflict. The WEDO is an experiment that breaks down barriers of hatred and allows participants to get to know each other.

 In spite of his detractors, Daniel Barenboim is one of the very few who are trying to do something for the future of the region. He brought to light a problem caused by his own country, he took responsibility for it and looked for a solution. No matter what the solution is, both peoples will have to live together, and the only way to achieve this is breaking the wall that separates them. The Argentinean-Israeli musician is convinced that there cannot be a military solution to the conflict, has a very courageous view on the Palestinian question and the occupation of territory, he opposes to both the occupation and to the right wing politics that has dominated Israel for decades.

 To conclude, it is possible to say that in times of political turmoil and savage violation of human rights, there are very few people that can make a significant contribution for a pacific settlement of conflicts. The talented pianist and orchestra conductor Daniel Barenboim has interceded in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is trying to bring both nations to a peaceful agreement. He may succeed or not but I believe that the idea of an orchestra composed of musicians from contending countries might create the basis for future projects that will ultimately attain the eluding peace.

Works cited

Barenboim, D.(2009) “The Illusion of Victory”. Retrieved September 29^th from: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jan/01/israel-gaza-bombings-hamas

 Barenboim, D. Defeat of Hamas would be no victory. Retrieved September 29^th from: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/defeat-of-hamas-would-be-no-victory/article366211.ece

The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict. Retrieved September 28^th from: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/

The West Eastern Divan. Fundacion Barenboim-Said. Retrieved September 27^th from: http://www.barenboim-said.org/en/proyectos/orquestaWED/

The Presentations Divergence

The idea of having to prepare an interactive and creative class about a topic that I was not very familiar with, was a little bit intimidating at first. During our course of studies, we have been doing different kinds of presentations, but they were all focused on the speaker’s activity and the audience would just have to sit quiet and listen. In this case, thinking about possible activities to make our audience understand and experiment the topic, was cognitively more demanding than simply talking about a subject by heart, but at the same time, it was also very helpful for my own understanding of the peculiarities and relationship between the skills of speaking and writing.  

Flouting Grice's Maxims

Speaking in the Light of Writing

Speaking in the light of writing from Gus Tavo

Comfort Women Essay

Acha Nicolas

Teacher: Stella Maris Saubidet Oyhamburu

Lengua y Expresión Escrita IV-ISFD 41

August, 2014

The Aftermath of Horror

         During World War II, approximately two hundred thousand women from Korea, Japan, China and the Philippines were abducted by the Imperial Japanese Army and taken to Japanese brothels. Most of these women were under the age of twenty and some of them as young as twelve. They were forced to work as sex slaves in the “comfort stations” and have sex with up to a hundred men a day. The so called “comfort women” underwent the worst atrocities that a human being could tolerate and at least two thirds of them died or were killed during the war. But in spite of all the horror they suffered on the Japanese brothels, for those who survived, the aftermath of the war meant even greater pain and suffering from the degradation and shame that they had to live with everyday for the rest of their lives.

          Even though the “comfort women” were subjected to the most inhumane and degrading treatment during the time of their captivity, when they were finally released and returned to the patriarchal and rural Asian societies, another period of languish began. First, they were not considered as victims, instead they were viewed as dirty women collaborating with the Japanese army. Second, due to the extreme treatment they received from the soldiers, many of them were infertile and infected with sexually transmitted diseases, what made them incapable of getting a husband and raise a family. This meant being totally excluded from the social life. And third, many of these women were not even capable of returning home because of the dishonor and shame that would have meant for their families to have a daughter that was forced to serve as a sex slave. This is why some of them preferred to commit suicide rather than going back with their families carrying the social stigma with them.

          World War II finally ended in 1945 but the damages suffered by the survivors of the Japanese military system of sexual slavery would remain in their consciences and bodies for the rest of their lives.  People who have been exposed to traumatic situations such as life threatening experiences or sexual assault, develop a wide variety of symptoms and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the case of former comfort women, their PSTD symptoms were characterized by fear and avoidance of men, especially soldiers. They avoided forming relationships and falling in love, thus unable to lead a family life. The difficulty to think about the traumatic experiences made them stay silent for more than fifty years and most of them considered to commit suicide. And certainly the scars of wounds inflicted by the soldiers remain as daily reminders of the past. Clearly, the physical and psychological harm inflicted to these women is still defining their lives.

          Perhaps the anguish underwent by these women could have been diminished if the Japanese government had assumed its responsibility, made a formal apology and paid the correspondent compensation to the victims. To begin to feel some kind of reparation, the victims of this extensive system of human sex-trafficking must be acknowledged as victims and receive a sincere apology as a first step to change their lives. A formal investigation should be conducted by the Japanese authorities aiming at the elucidation of the perpetrators and all the victims. In addition, a proper compensation ought to be paid as a final demonstration of concern and remorse. If these conditions were met, former comfort women would think that there’s still hope for the future generations that the atrocities that took place during WWII will not happen again.

          In conclusion, the lives of these women have been a constant torment, even more than sixty-five years after the war, as a consequence of the damage caused to them. Their youth and innocence was stolen from them, and as a direct effect of their experience in the comfort stations they developed a strong dislike of men and marriage. They avoided almost every social relationship and were excluded from their families and societies. For the surviving comfort women, the oppression and humiliation they have to face in the aftermath of World War II, meant even greater dishonor and shame that no apology nor monetary reparation could ameliorate.

Works Cited

 Amnesty International Oragnization, New Zealand. “Stop Violence Against Women: Comfort Women”. Retrieved from http://www.amnesty.org.nz/files/Comfort-Women-factsheet.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,-12,848, Available on August 19th, 2014.

Stratton, J. Comfort Women: Systems of Domination Revealed . retrieved on August 21, 2014 from:  http://castle.eiu.edu/historia/archives/2008/Historia2008Stratton.pdf

Former comfort woman tells uncomforting story, FELDEN E., Retrieved on August  18, 2014 from http://www.dw.de/former-comfort-woman-tells-uncomforting-story/a-17060384

Summary: What is "Academic" Writing?

What is “Academic” Writing?

Acha, Nicolas

Teacher: stella Maris Saubidet Oyamburu

Language & Written Expression VI

July 13, 2014

L. Lennie Irvin

Introduction: The Academic Writing Task

Writing in college is something different to what you have been doing in school. This composition class will be focused on what “Academic” writing is like and hopefully will give you the tools you need to face the challenges you will encounter in your career.

Once you are given your first academic writing task in college, you have to know that your success depends mainly on how you understand and approach to the writing task. Indeed, the mental representation of the task makes a huge difference. Some students arrive at college with strange ideas about what they will be asked to do and others with no idea at all, but some misconceptions are general to most students and must be clarified.

Myths about Writing

These are some of the things people believe about writing and that lead to problems in their attempts to write.

Myth #1: Writing is a Formula

Writing is not a linear process. On the contrary, it is a recursive process in which we are constantly moving from one step to the other.

Myth #2: You can’t start writing until you know the end

Ideas come up as you write, you have to start writing and you will find your way.

Myth #3: Perfect First Drafts

There is no such thing as a perfect first draft. Start writing something, think about it, revise it and correct it; maybe then you can have a respectable first draft

Myth #4: some got it, I don’t­ - the genius fallacy

Of course, some geniuses had it. But the rest of us mere mortals can become good writers after some effort and study.

Myth #5: Good grammar is good writing

Good writing implies causing a particular effect upon the audience. Concentrate on the content of your work and you will have time to correct the grammar

Myth #6: The five paragraph essay

The most classic format for compositions with an introduction, three supporting paragraphs and a conclusion. Although it is a very useful format for writing an essay, it is not the only one.

Myth #7: Never use “I”

In fact, most of the times you will be asked to give your opinion and make an analysis. It is ok to use “I” in the semi-formal style of your writings.

The Academic Writing Situation   

The most common problem in novice writers is the lack of sense of the writing situation in general. The challenge for the writer is to create a context for the reader. In a speaking situation, we can use different strategies to make ourselves clear. Separated in place and time from the audience, the writer must use punctuation and word choice to convey meaning.

Looking More Closely at the Academic Writing Situation

As any other specialized writing situation, writing in college has its own codes and conventions that you have to be aware of. These are some of the aspects you have to consider.

• Audience
• Context
• Message
• Purpose
• Genres

This is like what you have been doing for years at secondary school, but there are some differences in college. Lee Ann Carrol got to this description after a study of student writing in college:

What are usually called “writing assignments” in college might more accurately be called “literacy tasks” because they require knowledge of research skills, ability to read complex texts, understanding of key disciplinary concepts, and strategies for synthesizing, analyzing and responding critically to new information, usually within a limited time frame

Every writing assignment is an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and show your proficiency in the skills of thinking, interpreting and presenting. Let’s analyze the elements of the college writing “literacy task”.

Ø  Knowledge of Research Skills

One of the most important steps of your writing is carrying the necessary research. You will have to find for in depth information from different sources and keep track of them.

Ø  The ability to Read Complex Texts

Reading complex texts implies thinking critically on what you are reading. You have to be able to distinguish facts from opinions as well as biases and assumptions. Making inferences based on known information and get your readers to make the same inferences that you have made.

Ø  The Understanding of Key Disciplinary Concepts

You have to demonstrate that you know what you are talking about by applying and using the key concepts correctly in your writings.

Ø  Strategies for Synthesizing, Analyzing and Responding Critically to New Information

For every writing assignment you will be asked to deal with unfamiliar information that you have to grasp and use later in your writings.

In College, Everything’s an Argument: A Guide for Decoding College Writing Assignments

Based on a particular topic or reading, you will be asked to write an “essay” in which you will have to present an argument and support your claim with appropriate evidence.

v  Academic Writing is an Argument

Presenting an argument in college writing means to state your point of view in a persuasive way so that you win your audience’s agreement of your position.

v  Academic Writing Is an Analysis

When you are asked to write an analysis what is really expected of you is to break the subject into small parts and show how they relate to each other. The interpretation you make of this relationship will be the claim that you have to support with strong evidence.

Three Common Types of College Writing Assignments

There are different kinds of assignments based on the level of the teacher’s direction that you might receive in college. These are:

The Close Writing Assignment

•                Is Creon a character to admire or condemn?
•           Was the south justified in seceding from the union?

These kinds of assignments are already making two counter claims so your task is to decide which one is right and find the evidence to support it.

The Semi-open Writing Assignment

• ·         Discuss the role of law in Antigone
• ·         Explain the relationship between character and fate in Hamlet

It asks you to analyze a particular topic or subject, arrive at some interesting insights and present your findings in the form of a claim.
 

The Open Writing Assignment

• ·         Analyze the role of a character in Dante’s The Inferno
• ·         What does it mean to be an “American” in the 21^st century?

These tasks give you the freedom to choose your writing subject and your thesis statement. It may seem easier to write without restrictions, but you must have a good understanding of the subject matter before selecting an interesting and manageable topic for your writing.

Ø  Picking and Limiting a Writing Topic

One of the most difficult challenges in writing is to select an interesting and appropriate topic to develop. You should look for gaps and confusing items in the readings until you find a question that can be stated and then answered. Try to limit your topic to a manageable size that can be properly supported.

Three Characteristics of Academic Writing

There are certain characteristics that all teachers expect to find in your writings. Chriss Thaiss and Terry Zawaki conducted a research and found three dominant characteristics:

1-   Clear evidence that you have been persistent, open-minded, and disciplined in study.

2-   The dominance of reason over emotions or sensual perceptions.

3-   An imagined reader who is coolly rational, reading for information, and intending to formulate a reasoned response.

The Format of the Academic Essay

There are specific characteristics that your pieces of writing should have according to the assignment, but in general, the characteristics of the “Critical Essay” will serve you as a reference.

Characteristics of the Critical Essay

• ·  It makes a point and supports it with enough evidence to be convincing.
• ·         What it claims should be a debatable interpretation.
• ·         It consists of an introduction, a body and a conclusion.
• ·         Transitions between the different main points should be clear to the reader.
• ·         It should be carefully edited to avoid grammatical mistakes.

Conclusion

You must be very conscious of the kind of tasks you are doing because your success depends on your understanding and approach to the writing assignments.

Works cited

Carroll, Lee Ann. Rehearsing New Roles: How College Students Develop as         Writers. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2002. Print.

Thaiss, Chris and Terry Zawacki. Engaged Writers & Dynamic Disciplines: Research on the Academic Writing Life. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 2006. Print.