Taking a break

Due to annoying things in my life which have kind of limited my posting over the past few months,

I'm going to take a more or less official break for the next couple of months.

I may post from time to time as life permits but I won't resume regular posting until May 1, 2009.

Until then I'll post when I post.

But after than I'll be back with a vengeance!

Back in the saddle

After taking a break to re-access things, I'm back with some changes. It struck me that what I was doing here was not really achieving what I wanted to do when I spun this blog off my other blog.

I'm going to focus this blog not just on politics but also sociological and cultural observations - and connect them a lot more with myself and my own life.

Here's why this appeals to me and my rationale.

Consider it a flipping on the Second Wave feminist theoretical observation that the "personal is political." Where there the point was that the difficulties you experienced were actually connected to those of other women because they originated in the same political and societal problems (i.e., sexism.)

Contemporary with that (approximately) was what we consider the birth of the modern environmental movement.

One of the problems that the contemporary environmental movement has had is moded in the same general belief that if you change that which is "out there" things will be better. When you confined actions to things like Corporation X is polluting it was easier to gain support and tackle the changes required (naturally that didn't mean you succeeded in those battles considering the forces being dealt with - major corporations and the government.)

But as the scope of problem became one that really needs changes in individual people's behaviors, choices and actions as well - the problems began to grow tremendously.

The personal is political not just in one direction but strongly in both - actually many directions but that is for exploration over time here.

I'm really coming to believe that the traditional direction of activism (reflected oh so strongly in the flavor of many politically oriented blogs as well) of rage or outrage directed outwards at the actions of corporations, political and other figures is simply too easy and comfortable.

I know that after years of political activism I fall into it at the drop of a hat.

Frankly to really address the issues we face in terms of economic justice, sexism, ecological problems, etc. - involves more.

And that is why I want to focus less on reacting to individual events in news or other blogs but more a context of society and myself.

Do I have answers that I will share? Perhaps or perhaps not.

What I will instead have are thoughts and a journey as I try work at what I'll do next.

In the meantime when I do have urges in the more traditional direction of blogging I'll do those over in my diaries at Alegre's Corner.

Women's gain in state legistures nationwide

Seems the news about the upward trend in the US House and Senate and the leading change in New Hampshire, which I mentioned earlier, are just part of a pleasing broader national increase in Women in elective office in the recent election.

The Center for American Women and Politics newsroom reports (direct link to PDF):

A record number of women will serve in state legislatures in 2009, according to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The net gains are entirely due to an increase in Democratic women, with the number of Republican women falling to its lowest number since 1988, when women held only 15.8 percent of state legislative seats.
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Preliminary figures -- subject to adjustment as states finalize their election returns and hold special elections to fill vacancies -- show that 1,784 women (1,261 Democrats, 509 Republicans, 10 elected non-partisan, and 4 Progressives) will serve in legislatures, making up 24.2 percent of all legislators. This surpasses the previous high of 1,749 (23.7 percent) set in 2008.

The women serving in 2009 will include 1,465 (1,025D, 429R, 7NP, 4P) who won elections in 2008, as well as 319 holdovers (236D, 80R, 3NP) who were not up for election. There will be 433 women in state senates (307D, 116R, 10NP) and 1,351 women in state houses or assemblies (954D, 393R, 4P) The winners emerged from 2,332 candidates (1,541D, 774R, 9NP, 7P, 1I).

A notable first was achieved in New Hampshire, where women will make up a majority of the State Senate (13 women out of 24 senators), the first time this has occurred in any legislature. In contrast, the South Carolina Senate will be the only state legislative chamber in the nation with no women.

So not only record setting levels but ones that broke the previous record that was set last year. Which re-enforces a general upward trend.

And it is tantalizingly close to the magic 30% tipping point - mind you that is an average covering a range from Vermont having 38.3% of its state legislature as women while South Carolina having only 8.8% making them first and last respectively in the state rankings.

Here's an interesting chart of the overall growth from 1976 - 2006, so it doesn't include the past couple of record years:

which shows that both the number of women running and winning has doubled during that 30 year period, which shows some fair steady growth. I suspect we are entering a period of bigger growth that may start to make the critical tipping points both state and nationally.

New Hampshire leads the way to equality...again

There's a story that I noticed in the Boston Globe the other week that I found fascinating - about the amazing gains women have made in New Hampshire in elective office:

New Hampshire last week voted into office a majority-female Senate, the first time any state in the country has elected a legislative chamber in which women outnumber men.
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Indeed, local political watchers focused last week on the fact that Democrats - who in 2006 took hold of the state's Senate, House, and governor's office concurrently for the first time since the 1870s - had maintained power for another term. Only after the dust settled did they realize what women, and voters, had done.

In addition to electing 13 women to the 24-member state Senate, voters also chose former governor Jeanne Shaheen as a US senator, unseating Republican John Sununu, and reelected US Representative Carol Shea-Porter as well as the state's female Senate president and House speaker.

That means Democratic women will hold four of the top seven offices in the Granite State.

That is truly amazing and wonderful to see. Truly New Hampshire is leading the nation in breaking the glass ceiling in politics.

But what is even more amazing is how they apparently have been doing do for a long time with little notice:

The 19th Amendment, which granted women's suffrage nationwide in 1920, was ratified too late for women to file for that year's New Hampshire elections. No matter. Within a few weeks of its passage, two women had mounted write-in campaigns in the primary and went on to win House seats: Mary Louise Rolfe Farnum, a retired physician, and Jessie Doe, the daughter of a former chief justice.

Fifty years later, Farnum, Doe, and the women who followed were commemorated in an official booklet issued after the 1970 election, which put in office 70 female lawmakers, or about 17 percent of the Legislature. At the time, fewer than 5 percent of legislators nationwide were women.

"One of the many democratic features of New Hampshire's giant Legislature is its femininity," the booklet began, describing a perceived high-water mark for what it termed the "fair sex" and "lady legislators."

"No other legislative body on earth has had so many women lawmakers, never has had, and probably never will," it said.

That high point has been surpassed repeatedly. Today, roughly 150 of the state's 424 legislators are women, putting it about 10 percentage points ahead of the 24 percent of state lawmakers nationwide who are female; the percentage in Massachusetts mirrors the nation.

This is the second time New Hampshire's speaker and Senate president have both been women. A decade ago, Shaheen as governor presided over a State House in which women held all three top offices.

So back in 1970 New Hampshire achieved the 17% rate for women in office that we have just achieved in the US House and Senate this year for the first time.

And they passed the magic 30% for all legislators being women this year as well. Way to go New Hampshire.

Hopefully women won't have to wait until 2046 to see the same sort of gains in the US nationally as well.

Frankly I'm surprised not to see this news on the many blogs (like those in the blog roll) that cover women in politics.

I suppose negative news travels way more quickly in the blogosphere than good.

A Cautionary Tale

Here in Massachusetts we have something I'd like to offer as a cautionary tale.

In Massachusetts, our House and Senate has been under Democratic control for a long while and we recently regained a Democratic Governor (Deval Patrick – friend and political soulmate to Barack Obama.)

Here on the local scene this image has become iconic:

This is current Democratic State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, caught on camera stuffing a cash bribe up her bra in a restaurant. It was part of an FBI investigation for taking a series of bribes (some $23,000 worth) which led to her arrest. The investigation is also looking into the Mayor of Boston, President of Senator and others. All with careful disclaimers that they aren't accusing anyone - just gather information, etc. The local papers have had a lot of coverage and the blog Blue Mass Group has talked much about it.

But here is the real issue buried beneath the many disclaimers and slight of hand about all these other politicians aren't under investigation – the fact that a progressive woman of color sudden and strong advocacy for getting a liquor license for opening a strip club didn't send off an alarm bell in the offices of the Licensing Board, the Mayor's, Senate President's or other offices speaks volumes about how common this problem really is.

There is clearly a larger problem than a stray office holder or two. It speaks more of an underlying system of *wink* *nudge* trading of favors for folks who are clearly just rewarding "supporters."

We've had a long period of Republicans being in power nationally, which leads many to look at all the Republican scandals and think of them as just that.

But what they really are is different. They are scandals of the party in power. Now the Democrats are effectively in power and historically they are just a susceptible to such transgressions.

Just like Willie Sutton robbed banks because that's where the money is - you have to have real power to develop those scandals and corruption.

I'm not arguing a simple minded all politicians bad, as much as nudging those people who fall into simple beliefs that their Party equals Good and the rival Party equals Bad.

Getting Democrats into power was the first battle for those of us who call ourselves progressive, liberal, etc. The REAL battle is keeping them honest and focused on serving in office rather then being served in office.

Otherwise, we're just biding time until the Republicans sweep back in under a Reform banner as they have done in the past.

Women gain in 2008 Election!

Despite the fact the primary season was rough for women, the election itself offers a strong sign of hope in the US House and US Senate results as the Center For American Women and Politics newsroom reports in a press release today entitled RECORD NUMBERS OF WOMEN TO SERVE IN SENATE AND HOUSE (direct link to PDF):

Record numbers of women have won races for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Center for American Women and Politics, a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

U.S. Senate

When the 111th Congress convenes in January, 2009, 17 women (13D, 4R) will serve in the U.S. Senate, besting the previous record of 16 set in the 110th Congress. Four women (3D, 1R) won Senate elections this year, including 2 incumbents and 2 challengers. Newcomers Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) will join incumbent Susan Collins (R-ME), who was re-elected. Incumbent Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) lost her race to Hagan. Thirteen incumbent women did not face re-election.

U.S. House of Representatives

A total of at least 74 women (57D, 17R) will serve in the 111th Congress, setting a new all-time high. Ten new women (8D, 2R) will join the 64 incumbents (49D, 15R) who were re-elected, topping the previous record of 71 women set in the 110th Congress (2007-08). The newcomers include 5 challengers (4D, 1R) who defeated incumbents and 5 winners of open seats (4D, 1R). Among the congresswomen will be 12 (12D) African-Americans, 7 (6D, 1R) Latinas, and 2 (2D) Asian-Americans.

By my count that is now up to 17% of the US Senate and 17% of the US House of Representatives. Each breaking the previous records held by the previous Congress. So that is two record setting elections in a row!

Still not the golden 30% needed for real change, but moving in the right direction, and especially in an election that saw a strong showing for Senator Clinton in the Democratic Primary and the Republicans finally having a female VP (only a couple of decades behind the Democrats!)

Now's the time to work hard to increase those percentages in the coming elections!

Slips Through the Cracks

There has been recent coverage in the US media about the conflict in the Congo and buried in them are fleeting references to "mineral wealth" and the conflict, but there is more to the story that I originally read years ago first in the Earth Island Institute's journal.

Some who follow the alternate press may have also heard about it last spring over at Common Dreams when they posted a story called, Apocalypse Found Coltan, Cell Phones and Crisis in the Congo originally from Bear Deluxe Magazine.

I blogged about it myself in another blog of mine back then but given the re-appearance of it in the news, the story behind that casual reference in the US press to "mineral wealth" is very much worth going over again.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has seen several horrendous conflicts over the past decade leading to massive deaths and terrible acts of violence. But that violence has a context that has never been talked about in the mainstream US media. I once saw a CBC story concerning important stories ignored by the media a few years back and it is this story that is buried in these articles.

The CBC story focused on the unreported scope of deaths in the conflicts, which are repeated in the article:

Since the mid-1990s, two massive wars have devastated Congo, leaving 4 million dead, more than any military conflict since World War II. And all during that time, the illegal extraction of natural resources in the country has only increased.
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"Militias from Rwanda and Uganda may justify invasions on the grounds that they are defending their people against rebels, but they earn billions from the tantalum they collect and smuggle across borders during these raids," writes John Perkins in The Secret History of the American Empire (Dutton Books, 2007). (from Bear Deluxe story)

Coltan, is an extremely rare element where the majority of world's remaining supply is in the Congo. From it you can process niobium and tantalum. Coltan is key in the production of certain electronics - most importantly cellphones and video game consoles. Back in 2002 the Earth Island Journal reported that:

Democratic Republic of Congo - The 100 to 130 surviving Grauer's gorillas (Gorilla berebgei graueri) in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, are facing extinction because of growing demand for cellphones. The critical cellphone capacitors are made from the mineral colombo tantalite (coltan) and one of two known deposits of the mineral lies inside the park. The demand for 500 million new cellphones in 2001 has driven up the cost of coltan to the point that smugglers are now building illegal airstrips in the forests to spirit the coltan to foreign buyers. The Kahuzi-Biega Park, a United Nations World Heritage Site, is occupied by the invading armies of Rwanda and Uganda. Uganda has acted to protect the park; Rwanda has allowed thousands of miners to pillage the park, slaughtering wild monkeys and antelope for food.

But since it was only "gorillas" versus cellphone sales, the media breezed by it without a mention of the connection. Just vague reports of violence and rebels harming the gorillas, but not why.

In 2002 the UN issued a report on the conflict, final report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (document S/2002/1146). which noted:

Progress towards peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo would not be sustainable unless the economic issues that contributed to armed conflict there were resolved, according to Mahmoud Kassem, the Chairman of the Expert Panel on the Illegal Exploitation on Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as he addressed the Security Council this afternoon at a meeting to consider the Panel’s final report.

Three distinct elite networks, Mr. Kassem said, had a grip on the country’s economy that extended beyond precious natural resources to encompass territory, fiscal revenues and trade, in general. Anticipating developments demanded by the international community, the networks now protected their interests, not only through national armies, but also through paramilitary groups, military-backed companies with civilian facades, and foreign soldiers integrated into armed factions.
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The Foreign Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo emphasized that the Congolese people were the major victims of the situation in that country. As the Panel rightly pointed out, the war had cause the death of more than 3.5 million Congolese, a direct consequence of the occupation of the territory by Rwanda and Uganda.

In 2003, again the UN condemned the exploitation of the country noting:

According to the report, the Panel identified 12 States in the region through which goods originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo may be passing. They include Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe, as well as other regional States, such as Angola, Central African Republic, Kenya, Mozambique, Congo, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia. Of those countries, only Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe responded to the Panel’s inquiries about measures being taken to assist in curbing illegal exploitation of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In essence, the neighboring countries were supporting different rebel factions and using the pretense of the conflict to occupy and exploit minerals such as coltan so they could sell them to Western companies.

In 2006, Earth Island Journal followed up as the problem escalated and the group Friends of the Earth filed a complaint with the US State Department about the Boston based Cabot corporation, reporting:

In October 2002, Bodman's former company came under fire when a United Nations Panel of Experts produced a report accusing the company, along with several other US corporations, of helping to fuel the wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) while he ran Cabot by purchasing columbo tantalite (coltan), an ore from which the metal tantalum is extracted, from Congo during the conflict and illegally plundering the country's vast natural resources.

Cabot has publicly denied the allegations in the UN report, but a report by the Belgian Senate states that Eagle Wings Resources International had a long-term contract to supply Cabot with coltan, which it too purchased from Congo during the war. Eagle Wings was also identified in the UN report as contributing to the war.

In response, environmental group Friends of the Earth US (FOE) and the UK-based human rights group Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) filed a complaint with the US State Department last August against Cabot and several other western corporations for their role in aiding the rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo by conducting business there, essentially, if inadvertently, aiding a violent conflict that contributed to widespread human rights abuses.
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The UN panel said in its report that a three-year investigation found that sophisticated elite networks of high-level political, military and businesspersons, in collaboration with various rebel groups, intentionally fueled the conflict in order to retain control over the country's vast natural resources. The Panel implicated many Western companies for directly or indirectly helping to fuel the war.
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In 1999 and 2000, according to Corporate Watch UK, coltan prices experienced a sudden surge driven by a sudden and steep rise in the demand for tantalum powder, caused by an over valuation of the technology market triggered by a new generation of mobile phones and the consumer rush following the launch of the Sony Playstation 2.

Thus the connections:

• increased demand for cellphones and game consoles
• leads to increased demand for coltan rocketing its price
  
• Western companies and neighboring countries use networks of money and arms to increase destabilization in the Congo allowing them to exploit the mineral wealth for profit.
  

At the cost of millions of dead, war, famine and epidemics of rape in the Congo over the past decade.

Any wonder why the fuller story of the conflict in the Congo has not been talked about much in the news.