The 140-characters blog Twitter has recently faced some scrutiny over its balance between business interests and the defense of freedom of speech. In a portrait of Twitter’s lawyer, Alexander Macgillivray, the NYTimes observes:
This is a reality of the digital age. Sovereign nations have their laws. Internet companies have their rules.
For what they are worth – and they are worth a lot less than one is made to believe – diamonds can have a bloody history. As a reminder some recent reports by Human Rights Watch on the conflict related origins of some of the gems as well as the child and slave labour that often is part of the chain of production of the precious commodity.
As always, The Atlantic piece by Edward Jay Epstein on “Have you ever tried to sell a Diamond?,” here as a reminder on the actual value of diamonds and the power of marketing.
The BBC relays a study reported by the British Medical Journal suggesting that health related inequality is currently greater than it was during the Great Depression in the 1920ies.
Construction work and the right to housing collide frequently. A particular concern are building projects, which destroy the already appalling “living” conditions of homeless people who try to get by in make-shift “homes”. Often migrants from rural areas, they get by in little “huts”. One such example was featured in the IHT, which reported on a Chinese blogger, Zhang Shihe, who covers the plight of the homeless South of Tiananmen Square.
The shiniest kid on the block of fundamentalisms is “market fundamentalism”. The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd is sparring with his conservative counter parts over the role of capitalism as a cause for the current financial crisis: “Free market fundamentalism, underpinning greed, caused the global financial crisis which has now caused a global economic recession affecting every country in the world,” he observed.
Outrage in Davos, where a shop owner was forced to remove a Tibet flag on orders of the police as the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China visited the World Economic Forum, reports the NZZ.
As the year comes to an end, some of the human rights issues that should have been tackled and were regrettably not:
E. Benjamin Skinner highlights the growth of slavery and points out that the focus on human trafficking – as pressing as this human rights violation of epic proportions is – has narrowed the issue. “The idea that all prostitutes are slaves and all slaves are prostitutes belittles the suffering of all victims.” And: “for every one woman or child enslaved in commercial sex, there are at least 15 men, women, and children enslaved in other fields such as domestic work or agricultural labor.” Read “A World Enslaved” here.
The quote from Schiller’s second drama, the Fiesco – the Genoese Conspiracy – is frequently invoked in Austria: “the moor has done his duty, the moor may leave.” There is also an Austrian dessert, a chocolate pudding with lots of whipped cream, called “Mohr im Hemd” – literally: “the moor in a white shirt.” It was featured, with the German name in theChicago coffee house of the Austrian company Julius Meinl.
Julius Meinl, which used to consist of a chain of supermarkets and now has a gourmet shop in down town Vienna, has sported a bowing moor in its company’s logo for years:
Also in light of the racism that plagues Austria, Mein Julius, an initiative, which is also supported by the African community, highlights the colonial and racist connotation of the logo:
The need for this initiative is highlighted in the recent ups and downs of an affiliate of the Meinl Group, MEL – Meinl European Land. In covering the glam and potential prospects of the undertaking, the company’s chairperson, Julius Meinl V. was portraied in an almostErsatz-Emperor fashion. However, the downward spiral of the company was frequently described as the “moor” not doing so well …
Reuters’ Japan reporter, Linda Sieg referred to the longing for a “kinder, gentler capitalism” in Japan’s current political reforms. The piece was featured in the print version of the Jordan Times and may be found here.
Valentine’s Day is behind us. International Women’s Day – celebrated in the formerly Communist ruled countries of Eastern Europe – just ahead of us: 8 March. Time to reflect on the sparkle of pebble stones, commonly referred to as ‘diamonds’. Why? The marketing campaign surrounding them is the picture-perfect-finish to utilizing gender roles.
The slogan “Diamond’s are a girls best friend” are the epitome of women being passive recipients of the value that the patriarchal system sees fit and taking care of these goods – be they gems or children – for ever after. As has been demonstrated by Edward Jay Epstein the goal is that the supply of diamonds is to be solely on the diamond “producers”; women are thus to hold onto their jewelry and not bring it back into the market. The price is set solely by the “producers.”
Obviously, there are numerous human rights and exploitation issues involved in the selection of mines – endangering indigenous tribes, the mining process and the cutting of diamonds. To top it off, there are also press freedom concerns related to the books (e.g. Janine Roberts, Tom Zoellner) that have been published about the diamond industry, which tend to not be written up in media dependent on advertising by diamond dealers.