food crisis is a man-made constructed phenomenon

what’s been clear and has been re-empahasized by this recent World Disasters report by IFRC is that food crisis is man-made constructed crisis and a side-effect of this sick system we live in. How else one can interpret the fact that currently there are more obese people than starving people.

“The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said hunger existed not because there was a lack of food globally but because of poor distribution, wastage and rising prices that made food unaffordable.” Access to food has been politicized to the extent that millions have been made dependent on receiving food from governments or international donors and been disabled to become self-sufficient in terms of production and buying/ selling of the food stuff. It may sound as a conspiracy, however in some food-crisis hit countries one can find a linkage between chronic shortage of food and election cycles which means access to food may often be just a tool of manipulation of masses to gain keep the political power.

In one part of the world the most powerful organizations and individuals function and enrich themselves by making people want to eat more than they need, whereas in the other part of the world the most powerful organizations and individuals benefit from keeping people in hunger thus maintaining the power and attracting external aid.

RIP common sense

“Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:-Knowing when to come in out of the rain; – Why the early bird gets the worm;- Life isn’t always fair; – And maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies, don’t spend more than you can earn and adults, not children, are in charge. His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife Discretion, his daughter Responsibility, and his son, Reason. He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, I’m A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, do nothing.”

author unknown

dark clouds above Latvia’s head?

As a subscriber of weekly AKE Risk Updates which highlight the most important security and political risk developments worldwide from the previous week this morning i found a section on Latvia being included in this update (as far as i am aware, for the first time ever) due to the Parliament election results.

Though in principle there should not be anything wrong with having a centre-left party as a winner in elections, it is clear that in case of Latvia this fact means so much more in terms of country’s already fragile sovereignty and independence.

after 3 years in UK

exactly 3 years ago i arrived in UK. My only goal was to obtain MA and then go back. However, things changed over the time. And, i guess, i changed too. And, most importantly, i fell in love with London. I started this blog just before coming to UK and in one of the first entries i was wondering why many people before leaving warned me not to stay in UK for good and come home after studies. Then i thought that of course i am not going to stay there. Ha. But, you see, things change and i have no regrets whatsoever. Now i cant think of leaving it (but hey, let’s see what i’ll say after 3 more years).

Now, since i have been here for 3 years, i wanted to note some of the things London has changed about me, around me and inside my mind:

• i am thinking in English most of the time;
• using ‘sorry’ disregarding if i or somebody else has done something wrong; it means, if somebody would run into me while trying to catch the morning train to work, i would say ‘sorry’;
• among my friends and acquaintances there are more non-British than British people;
• foxes are just normal city animals;
• curry is an essential part of my cooking;
• traffic system does not seem to be strange or wrong anymore;
• i am not wearing a regular ring on my left hand ring-finger, because here it is reserved for wedding ring (opposite to how it is in my country);
• now i think sandwich is ok lunch meal;
• i am getting used to the fact that 23 – 24 June does not mean anything here and people dont celebrate name days;
• the more ‘colored’ society around me is, the more comfortable i feel;
• regarding my contacts with Latvian community here, i have one friend (actually, one i knew before coming here) and i know a Latvian girl who is doing manicure/ pedicure for me; that’s more or less it, except occasional ad hoc contact with some embassy people;
• my daily newspapers are: evening standard, metro and guardian;
• i have done afro braids 4 times and might do it some time soon again;
• when i meet new people, 90% guess i am French;
• i am spending here for jazz gigs/iTunes more than for food or it is about the same more or less;
• i have lived so far in 3 places and i am about to move again (reality of renting, long distances, size of London);
• i always have umbrella with me disregarding what is weather forecast;
• in order to support all kinds of initiatives of international development advocacy groups i’m now and then sending mails and emails to my local MP and asking them to make smart decisions (sometimes they are not able to do it themselves);
• every day i spend 1 hour when going to work and 1 hour back, which is ok; it’s normal here;
• i have started to call London (whichever would be the exact place i live) as home;
• BUT – i have not forgotten my The Home and a lot of my spare time is spent in name of creating a positive change there; i hope, next year i will be able to present you some real good stuff.

writing our autobiography with sms

Do you remember when did you get your first mobile phone? In my case, I think, if my memory is right, only in July 2003 i finally bought my first mobile phone. It was one of the Nokia models and ever since i have been loyal to Nokia (my current Nokia is the third mobile phone i have had) as i believe for some reason that Finns make the best mobile phones.

Now, assuming that on average I have been sending/ receiving about 5 sms per day (i have never been obsessed with mobile communication, i guess, or if so, it’s been very periodical), it means, that if i would have kept all the sms, i would have now about 14600 or let’s say around 15 000 sms in total.

If i would have kept all the sms just like artist Tracey from east London I could also now publish a book with all my sms in there and become famous for my melodramatic book (and maybe finally earn my first million). My book would be quite short if i compare with Tracey’s book of almost 100 000 texts  since 1999. This certainly sounds like a modern technology-based tool of writing one’s diary or autobiography and, i guess, a pretty straight way to create a bestseller book because of this new extraordinary literature style and extreme transparency revealing so intimate, personal aspects of one’s life (ahh, those nosy people).

But, though Tracey has been obviously obsessed with texting and saving every single message, i wonder what ‘normal’ people normally do with their texts? delete? delete straight after receiving or after some time? saving? if not all, then which ones? Very special ones? from special people? I delete some and save some. i think, i have saved about 2 thousands for various reasons, but probably not for sharing or publishing.

My inspiring women

The most recent edition of the magazine Intelligent Life (part of the Economist family) had a special story on women who have inspired eight currently well-known successful women. It was interesting to realize how much sometimes a very normal person, a woman can inspire others to do big, great, fantastic things.

Disregarding who they were – a nurse, philosopher, writer, actress, human rights activist, musician etc – they all had in common – strength, courage, strong belief in what they were doing, confidence and ability to step into unknown.

It made me think who i would name as my inspiring women and for several days i was thinking a lot about all the influences i have had..I definitely couldn’t come up with only one name.. in different periods these have been different women.

During my primary school years i think my role model was English language teacher. she had this admiring charisma. all the boys respected her. She was elegant with good manners and with very high but healthy levels of self-esteem. and then one day she said, that in our lives we should try to learn something about everything and everything about something. and i think, since then, i have been following this advise. i have tried to go deep in the subjects which interest me most, but in the same time i have tried to preserve my general curiosity about life, world, people and processes around. This is thanks to her and i dont regret.

Also, at age of 9 i started to attend music school and playing flute. My first flute teacher was a young professional, who just had finished her studies and was at the very beginning of her professional career. Unfortunately, after one year she left as she chose to focus on her career as performer. Since then i kept following news about her and kept thinking that i could probably do the same. i think, until age of 14 thanks to her i could keep my dream alive about me becoming a musician.Though, it did not come true, music is still a very important part of my life.

Then, during my secondary school years, i think, it was my history teacher (I am only now realizing how big influence teachers actually have had on me).  Seems like there were nothing she did not know. She had a very analytical mind and was passionate about political processes around. Her knowledge about history and her Politics classes  just inspired me and determined my future professional path. The fact that i chose to study Politics was largely thanks to her and i never have regretted this decision.

and then.. i am stuck. since about 1998 i really struggle to think of women who have immensely inspired me or made an impact on my life. But, possibly i could mention former Latvia’s president Vaira Vike Freiberga, writer Naomi Klein, singer Nina Simone. These are women who have demonstrated their ability to lead, fight for truth and justice; who have had an impressive charisma to be a very public person and drive change; who have been brave enough to speak out, risk their lives and be bold about what they believe in.

however, beyond this, of course, my mum and my closest friends have been my inspiring women too. each of then in their very own way.