Our Rally in Support of Wisconsin and Public Sector Workers Everywhere

We might be a backwards little town in the middle of nowhere. We might be located in the Bible Belt. We might belong to a very conservative area of the country that keeps voting Republican for no discernible reason. Today, however, we gathered to conduct our own rally in support of the protesters in Wisconsin.

 I started taking pictures before the rally began, so there are not that many people around at this point. A lot more people joined us as the rally began. Altogether, I'd say there were between 250 and 300 people. Obviously, I didn't interrupt the speeches by running around with my cell phones, taking pictures. 

There were steel workers, teamsters, carpenters, teachers, healthcare workers, retirees. Hardworking, modestly dressed people who believe that there is no democracy without the people's right to enter into collective bargaining to improve their work conditions.

 "We are the middle class," said many of the speakers. These are mostly people of my parents' age who have seen their standard of living decline and the hopes of their children and grandchildren diminish. "I want to make sure that my son and grandson have the same rights and benefits that I did as a union member," said a steel worker.

"This is what democracy looks like!" chanted everybody at the end, echoing the rallying slogan of Wisconsin's protesters. "Welcome to the workers' revolution!" a young union organizer exclaimed. Everybody cheered.

Today, I finally felt that I belong in this town.

P.S. Whenever I turn on the television, I see programs dedicated to some Charlie Sheen character who seems to have gotten himself into some excruciatingly boring trouble. Finding reports of protests across the country is not as easy. We need to cover them ourselves, people. Go to your local rallies, tweet, blog, Facebook, do whatever you need to get the word out. 

Report the Protests!

Look at these inspiring pictures of protests all over the country. This wave of protests is being severely under reported by the media. Tomorrow we are planning a little rally of our own, and I will post pictures.

In view of the corporate media's attempts to silence the protests, we need to cover them ourselves and spread the news. See more of these inspirational pictures here. And post your own. Or send them to me and I will post them. If nobody will cover real news, we need to do it ourselves.

Save Women's Shelters in Afghanistan!

One more important issue demands our attention today:
"The government of Afghanistan has recently introduced a bill that wrests control of women's shelters in Afghanistan from the local Afghan women's NGOs that have founded and run them, and transfers that control to the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA).  This bill could become the law of the land ANY DAY NOW.  

If this bill becomes law:

Women and girls seeking shelter will be required to plead their case before an eight-member Government panel, including conservative members of the Supreme Court and Ministry of Justice.  This panel will determine whether a woman needs to be in a shelter or should be sent to jail or returned to her home (and her abuser).  

Women will have to undergo "forensic" exams (virginity tests) to determine whether they have had sex and therefore committed adultery. The tests are medically invalid. 

Once admitted to a shelter, women will be forbidden to leave. Their shelter will become their prison. If any family member comes to claim her, even her abuser, she will be handed over to that person, in most cases to be subjected to the harshest retribution for shaming the family." 

Please consider signing this petition to save women's shelters in Afghanistan!

Support Planned Parenthood!

The U.S. House of Representatives has just voted to bar Planned Parenthood health centers from all federal funding for birth control, cancer screenings, HIV testing, and other lifesaving care. 

It is the most dangerous legislative assault in our history, and it cannot go unanswered. We — Planned Parenthood and the three million women, men, and teens who are at risk of losing access to basic care — need you to stand united with us now. 


Sign our open letter to every single representative in the House who voted for this cruel, unconscionable, unthinkable law, and to every senator who still has a chance to stop it.

Read and sign the letter here

American Writers and Actors Helping Belarus

Belarus is a country in Eastern Europe that has suffered one misfortune after another. It shares borders with Russia, Poland and Lithuania that disputed these territories for a long time. During World Wat II, Belarus suffered horrible losses at the hands of the Nazis who destroyed over a third of its population and about a half of its economic resources.

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 dumped 70% of its radioactive materials on the unprotected people of Belarus who for a while weren't even told of what was happening to them. Belarus became an ecological disaster zone. As a result, a 40% increase in cancer rates (that is predicted to go up to 125% within the lifetimes of the survivors of the catastrophe) has been observed in Belarus.

As if that weren't enough suffering, since 1994 Belarus has been ruled by a fascist dictator Alexander Lukashenko. He has been condemned by the EU for horrible human rights violations on a variety of occasions and has been made notorious by his anti-semitic statements. Lukashenko can afford not to care about that, though, since his regime is supported by Russia. Russia isn't interested in being surrounded by strong nation-states and has been punishing its neighbors for daring to seek independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Nobody seems to care a whole lot about Belarus because it's small and located far away. This is why I was so happy to hear about American celebrities who are helping attract attention to the violation of human rights in this country:

Playwright Tom Stoppard, novelists Don Delillo and E.L. Doctorow and actor Billy Crudup are among those who will read Jan. 19 in New York to benefit the Belarus Free Theater. . . Belarus saw political unrest after a controversial election in December.  . . Public protests were swiftly followed by a new crackdown, targeting advocates of civil rights and free speech. Authorities arrested more than 600 journalists and free speech advocates, including members of the Belarus Free Theater. Since its founding in 2005, the Belarus Free Theater has been on the outs with authorities. The troupe rehearses in unofficial spaces and performs its politically charged plays in cafes, apartments and even the woods.

I don't whether we can reasonably expect this instance of activism to make a big effect, but at least this will attract attention to Belarus's plight. If you are in New York, this is the information on the benefit:

Wednesday's benefit for the Belarus Free Theater, which promises to include special guests, will take place at Le Poisson Rouge in New York; doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $25.

Activism Make Sense

In case you thought that it made no sense to struggle to preserve the Humanities from complete destruction because it isn't going to work anyways, here is some really good news. The Comparative Literature program at the University of Toronto has been saved from being disbanded:

The renowned Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto has been pulled back from the brink after an outcry from scholars around the world and the determined protests of students and faculty. The director of the centre said he has been assured that the school, which was slated to close at the end of this academic year, will survive. “Comp. Lit. is saved. The centre will stay open and we’re taking students for next year,” said director Neil ten Kortenaar. “I think it was the outcry from around the world. We had a lot of support from a lot of big-name people in academic circles.”

Everybody who took the time to sign the petition to save UofT's Centre for Comparative Literature should realize that our actions do matter. I know that it's easy to get discouraged in the face of constant and concerted efforts to destroy the academia, but we still have a lot of power to prevent such things from happening.

This is an encouragement for all of us to fight harder against the raging anti-intellectualism.

Saving Modern Languages at Swansea U: A Petition

Our colleagues at Swansea University have started a petition to save their Department of Modern Languages. Here is the link to the petition. Please check it out and think about signing.

Modern Languages at Swansea: The Fight Continues

The folks at Swansea University started their own blog where they share details of their struggle. Check it out here and send the link to your friends.

I really admire these people because they are not giving up. I wish academics in this country start learning how to fight for their rights and follow the example of their colleagues at Swansea.

My Letter to the Administrators of Swansea University: Please Join Our Struggle!

It will take you just a couple of minutes to send an e-mail to Prof. Davies and Mr. Ciborowski of Swansea University but the benefits of doing so might prove to be enormous.

To: Professor Richard Davies, Vice-Chancellor, Swansea University, vc@swan.ac.uk

Cc: Raymond Ciborowski, Registrar and Head of Administration, Swansea University, raymond.ciborowski@swan.ac.uk

Bcc: mlswansea@yahoo.co.uk


Dear Professor Davies and Mr. Ciborowski,

I am writing to express my deep concern over the proposed cuts to the Department of Modern Languages at Swansea University. Here in the United States we hold your university in high respect because of the outstanding quality of teaching and the impressive standards of research. This is why the the news that you are planning to halve the number of teaching faculty at the department has caused me and many of my collegues in the United States and Canada such great dismay.

The proposed cuts will deal a severe blow to the field of Modern Languages and Literature not only at your university but in the English-speaking world at large. If Swansea University stops being a serious contributor to the field in terms of research that comes out of it and the kind of students that graduate from it, it will leave a gaping hole where we are used to seeing a vibrant and productive department.

I understand extremely well that financial concerns are forcing many great universities to adopt painful policies of budget cuts. No academic institution has been immune from the consequences of the global economic crisis. However, it seems unfair and counterproductive to single out one department (in your case, such a crucial department as that of Modern Languages) and subject it to such extensive cuts. This is why I am joining my voice to those of my colleagues who are asking you to reconsider these cuts.  If there is any way to save Modern Languages at Swansea from such extensive lay-offs, I urge you to  consider it. Either through a policy of reducing administrative staff or by spreading these cuts more evenly across the university, the Department of Modern Languages at Swansea deserves that extra effort be made to save it.

Languages Fight for Survival in Wales: Action Needed!!!

I have been asked to distribute the following sad news. Please do the same and take action to save Modern Languages in Wales. We cannot stand by while the Humanities are being destroyed everywhere in the English-speaking world. If it feels like Wales is too far away and shouldn't be any of our concern, think about all the similar measures that are starting to take place here in the US. Tomorrow, we will need our British colleagues to do the same thing to save our jobs and our departments:

22 staff in Modern Languages at Swansea University are threatened with compulsory redundancy. A proposed restructuring announced by the University on August 6, with no prior consultation, would delete 40 academic jobs in all, in 9 departments, over the next three years. 95 people have been told that their jobs are at risk. Of the 40 redundancies, 11.8 are planned in Modern Languages, with effect from summer 2011. The department has 22 lecturing staff. Just 10 will remain. Its the swiftest, most savage cut proposed. Its also very bad news for education in Wales.

Swansea University's Department of Modern Languages is a national and international centre of excellence in Wales for research and teaching in French, German, Italian and Spanish. (Until last year, also Catalan, Portuguese, and Russian.) Modern Languages are recognised as strategically vital to the economy of Wales, and protected under Welsh Assembly policy for Higher Education.

Halving the number of research-active staff will devastate provision of BA degrees, Masters degrees and PhD programmes. The staff under threat are overwhelmingly youngish (under 50), and productive researchers. There has been a long-term decline in applicants wanting to study Modern Languages. But recruitment has stabilised. The university's financial case is based on misleading statistics about staff-student ratios, and ignores the research strengths of the department. Most crucially, they assume that degree-level and postgraduate teaching in Modern Languages can be delivered by teaching-only staff with no research qualifications.

If these plans go ahead, Wales will lose its only nationally and internationally recognised centre for Modern Languages research and teaching, which has been built up over the past 20 years. Talented students of Modern Languages will not be well advised to study in Wales at all. Swansea University will only offer bare-bones language-skills teaching, without the cultural enrichment provided by research-active staff. These staff not only teach language skills to the highest levels, they teach courses in culture, history, and social, economic and political issues. Many also teach or co-teach courses in other departments such as English, History, Politics, or Media Studies.

Why has Modern Languages been targeted, on the basis of spurious figures and short-sighted arguments? It seems that the senior management of the University (and of the College of Arts and Humanities) see Modern Languages as a soft target. They think it is easier to attack us than to restructure staffing in a rational way, in the long-term interests of the University and of Wales.We aim to prove them wrong.

TAKE ACTION!

If you share our concern we urge you to write a letter of protest (with a copy to mlswansea@yahoo.co.uk ) to:

1. Professor Richard Davies, Vice-Chancellor, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP E-mail: vc@swan.ac.uk

2. Raymond Ciborowski, Registrar and Head of Administration, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP E-mail: raymond.ciborowski@swan.ac.uk

Please, people, consider doing this. It's just an e-mail that you can base on the following sample text (or copy-paste it directly) and send to these e-mail addresses:
Sample text of a letter of protest:

Dear Mr Ciborowski, I am writing to add my voice to those who have already expressed dismay at your universitys proposals for the reduction in size of Modern Languages.There are several elements in the proposals that cause me concern. The first of these is that Modern Languages provision at Swansea should be cut to a level where the subject ceases to be viable enough to attract students. At a time when it is generally agreed that national interest is being threatened by the shortage of people equipped to speak foreign languages, I would expect universities to be the first to consider what they can do to improve the situation, rather than take steps to aggravate it. I understand that the motives for your proposals are financial, but if universities are do not regard themselves as the guardians of national, let alone cultural, interest then this is a sad comment on their sense of the purpose of higher education.Secondly, I am appalled that the university should have decided on a plan without consulting the departments concerned. This seems to me a deeply regrettable attitude to adopt to highly qualified and dedicated academics.Thirdly, I am quite astonished that you are requiring those in the relevant departments to reapply for a much reduced number of posts. This is a particularly cruel and inhuman form of musical chairs.Fourthly, at time when university departments are constantly under one form of assessment or another, it seems particularly cynical to ignore the ratings that the departments of Modern Languages at Swansea have been granted in the RAE, student satisfaction, and post-graduate provision.

Sincerely yours,

Why Is Eat, Pray, Love So Popular?

We have already discussed the imperialistic and racist dimensions of Eat, Pray, Love. Today, a movie based on this book is coming out and it is predicted to be a huge success. So why is there such a huge (mostly female) following the book and movie about what one reviewer calls a "pampered princess on constant display" with a "petulant, overblown ego"?

Female life choices are still pretty limited. Marriage and babies are touted as an only acceptable path for women from the TV and the movie screens, newspaper and magazine pages. Even within this limited model there are further limitations: planning the wedding the right way, giving birth the right way, breast-feeding the right way, bonding with the baby the right way, even holding the baby the right way. Female weight, appearance, mode of behavior, drinking habits, the volume of women's voices, etc. are endlessly policed. We are routinely stopped in the street by complete strangers and exhorted to smile, lose weight, quit smoking, and (as happened to me the other day) stop reading.

It is no surprise that women are sick and tired of this restrictive model. They gulp down rubbish like Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia because it offers a celebration of an escape from the obligatory marriage and motherhood, from the ubiquitous and unattainable standards of female thinness, from the condemnation of women who put their own pleasure before the that of men and children.

What saddens me is that this female discontent is not being channelled in the direction of political activism. Feminism does not have much to offer to these women since "choice feminists" have made the movement completely toothless. "Choice feminism" proposes that the greatest freedom women can desire is the freedom to be obedient little consumers. It is terrified of questioning any aspect of the gender status quo. The two major ruling parties in the US (which are mirrored by regional equivalents petty much everywhere in the West), have no use for women. Hatred of women is part of the Republican agenda. As for the Democrats, the first thing that Obama did when he came to power was to sell out women. Politically, such topics as parental leave, accessible and affordable daycare, equal pay, etc.  are dead. If politicians talk about women at all, it is to patronize us and condescend to us. Women are needed to come to the polls, vote, and shut the hell up afterwards. Which is what women do because, as usual, the eternal female role is to do what men want them to.

Until there is a legitimate political force interested in channeling female discontent into activism, women will have no alternative but to escape into idiotic fantasies like the one offered by Eat, Pray, Love.