Ethics, Human Conduct and Values: Slavery’s Pleasant Homes

 Ethics, Human Conduct and Values:

Slavery’s Pleasant Homes

       Slavery’s Pleasant Homes told by L. M. Child is a sorrowful story that presents a clear picture of how racism, slavery, marriage, and classism as institutions were used by Frederic Dalcho to oppress and humiliate George, Rosa, Mars and Marion. The purpose of this paper is to discuss, investigate and analyze all the major elements in the story and how these elements can be linked to the various characters such as Frederic and George Dalcho, Mars, Marion and Rosa. This paper seeks to investigate who is morally culpable for perpetrating the worst thing that humanity has ever encounter. It is also my goal to recommend possible power structures that can be substituted for those  which existed in the story. I also attempt to address current sexist, racist and classist practices that are demonstrated in the United States and how these practices promote and encourage oppression, male supremacy, violence, and the exploitation of the powerless, weak, poor, unprivileged and vulnerable population. In order to fully understand each element in the story “Slavery’s Pleasant Homes” and how these can be attributed to each of the other characters in the story and their moral implications, it is also important to briefly state and connect the major events in the story to their moral significance. Therefore, I attempt to find out whether or not Frederic’s actions were morally ethical?  

            Frederic Dalcho was a rich man who lived in the south in Georgia and was married to a young and beautiful lady name Marion who also had two servants to her possession. These two servants may have been given to her by her parents as a family arrangement to serve in her newly wedded home. Frederic was probably the son of a rich man who may have died and left all the wealth in his possession as well as slaves even though he also has other siblings probably from a different mother. According to the story “Slavery’s Pleasant Homes,” he also has a brother by the name of George who is likely from his father side. It is assumed that George made have been from a different mother meaning that he might have had a different skin color.

Frederic enslaved his own brother George and considered him his favorite slave. Isn’t that immoral? How could someone who claims to be a good and respected person in the community enslave his own brother, because they both never came from the same parents? It can be assumed from the story that Frederic’s wickedness to his own brother may have been grounded on the basis of racism; George’s mother was a black woman. He expressed his hate for his brother after noting that George and Rosa fell in love with each other. Even though he has his wife who is also beautiful and intelligent, he desired to forcefully rape, torture, beat and subsequently murder Rosa, because she refused to go out with him or resisted having sexual intercourse with him when he tried to rape her. His actions, according to Kant’s moral theory, contradicted that of goodwill and portrayed example of extreme wickedness. Kant best described his behavior in the following word, “behaving contrary to duty is considered an immoral actions; whereas, or merely in accordance with duty or out of a sense of duty, as when we identify rationally the rule that tells us the right thing to do, and we do it” (Waters, 2008).

Dealing with others fairly is a moral responsibility that we all should strive for if we want to achieve a good moral standard. She furthered noted by commenting on Kant’s moral theory stating that “we have varieties of duties: to be honest, to deal with others fairly, to be good to each other (beneficent), to refrain from being bad to each other, to try to see that justice is done” (Waters, 2008). To Kant, Frederic’s actions and behavior would be considered unethical and morally wrong, because he enslaved his own brother, disrespected his wife by raping, abusing and murdering his slave girl . His intentions in committing these acts were based on a well-founded desire to achieve a set end, which eventually lead to pains and sufferings of his subjects. Slavery, racism, sexism, marriage and classism were institutions that Frederic promoted in order to oppress and exploit his subjects. These institutions also brought with them ideologies that the owners used in dealing with their subjects and most of these ideologies even though they seem to be promoted with the intent to achieve a desire end, encouraged their perpetrators to inflict pains and sufferings on their subjects.

In Slavery’s Pleasant Homes, Frederic disrespected his wife by raping Rosa and beating her to death. This can also lead us to the conclusion that his actions demonstrated that he was the leader of the home, thus leading us to another ideology, which dominated human history, especially the institution of family for centuries and that is the “male supremacy” or the patriarchal system. The 11^th Edition of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary provides two definitions for the term patriarchy. These definitions are stated below to give us a clearer understanding about how this word can affect our lives and how these two definitions are relevant for the purpose of this paper.

Firstly, patriarchy is defined as a “social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line.” Secondly, it is “a society or institution organized according to the principles or practices of patriarchy” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2005). For the purpose of our study concerning how male supremacy dominated the home of Frederic Dalcho by practicing the patriarchal system of family and how that institution (marriage) was used to promote the ideology of male supremacy, gender and class in the home in suppressing, oppressing and exploiting his wife as well as their subjects, I will therefore accept the two definitions and based my arguments that male supremacy in the home is wrong, because it exploit the females of their legal rights, as well as make her much more like a sex slave subject to the will and domination of the male. I believe from the reading and understanding of the nature of the problems that Marion and Rosa both experienced in the story that Frederic’s actions as a husband and slave owner was inappropriate and an abuse of nature and his action constituted one of the immoral acts that humanity has ever experienced. His actions were based on selfish desires and should not be considered as a universal law. As a husband, it is expected that he should have respect, care and love for his wife. His attitude towards his wife shows that he does not consider her part of his live, but rather as a sex slave or possession that he has no concrete feelings for.

The community in which these acts happened is also of importance to consider if we really want to unearth the significance of Frederic’s actions to Marion, George, Rosa and Mars. A community is composed of people of diverse social and economic class. It can be assumed from the story that some people of that community also kept slaves. This is because, after considering all that Frederic did to his wife, George and Rosa, the community still honor him as a respectful and honorable person without showing due respect to those who were victimized by this wicked creature of their community. It can also be concluded that Frederic may have used his influence as a rich man as well as slave owner to render some assistance to the community while he was yet alive.

However, it can also be assumed from Kant’s moral theory that his good gesture to the people of his community may have been based on an end result, which is to gain recognition and respect as oppose to doing it out of goodwill without expecting an end result for what has been done. I also feel that the community didn’t do well in handling the issues that Frederic committed to his wife, Rosa, George and Mars. I feel that they were discriminated, ridiculed and criticized for crimes that they didn’t initiate. Frederic should have been the one to be criticized and subsequently punished because of his immoral acts against these powerless and vulnerable people.

Works Cited

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 11^th Edition. 2005, Merriam-Webster, Inc. Springfield, MA

Child, Lydia Maria. "Slavery's Pleasant Homes." The Online Archive of Nineteenth-Century U.S. Women's Writings. Ed. Glynis Carr. Online. Internet. Posted: Summer 1997. http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/gcarr/19cUSWW/LB/SPH.html. Accessed: June 10, 2008.

Waters, Summer I. WSC. (Lecture and Study Sheet on Race and Gender), 2008

           

           

Cultural Value Systems Vis-à-vis the “West” and Sub-Saharan Africa: Family Ties, Marriage, Polygamy, Fertility and the Role of Women

Cultural Value Systems Vis-à-vis the “West” and Sub-Saharan Africa:

Family Ties, Marriage, Polygamy, Fertility and the Role of Women

            Sub-Saharan Africa is a region that is diversely significant in the world of geography. Understanding the cultural geography of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is, thus, fundamental to understanding the geography of the region, which include its political situation, its medical geography, its population dilemma, and the current development crisis (Aryeeteh-Attoh et al, 2003). We cannot fully discuss the cultural value systems, which include the family organizational patterns, the institution of marriage and fertility as well as the role of women without briefly discussing the effects of colonialism and western influences in the region. This paper seeks to address the similarities and differences between cultural value systems in SSA and those of the West precisely Europe and North America. The paper shall also compare and contrast cultures in the West and SSA in relations to family ties, marriage and polygamy.

The colonization of countries in SSA helped in the process of shaping the regional political, social, cultural, educational, economic, religious and environmental landscapes. The colonization period disintegrated the social, cultural, political, religious and educational landscape of the region shaping it to what we have today. Poverty, diseases, hunger, ethnic tensions and political upheavals are widespread throughout SSA, partly because of the negative influences and ideologies that Western powers instituted in the region before the decolonization or post-colonial period begun. This ideology were rooted in extreme hatred, evil and the perception of the “civilizing mission” of the West against those they claimed to be barbarians and salvages, which is hugely the fundamental cause of Africa’s problems today.  Now, let us compare and contrast cultural value systems in SSA to that of the West (Europe and North America).

            Studying the cultures of SSA is not only limited to the geographic landscape of the region in which people interact, but it is also “studying the culture of a group of people which involves evaluating their way of life, how they live, what clothes they wear, what food they eat, their customary habits, belief systems, speech patterns, and value systems” (Aryeeteh-Attoh et al, 2003). The family is an important aspect of the culture in most African countries. In SSA, people practice the extended family system in which the family is composed of the father, mother, children plus other relatives. Unlike in western countries, family ties are limited to the nuclear family system in which the immediate family is center around the father, mother and children. There are social reasons why family ties in each of these regions vary. The culture, economy, education, and social value systems of these regions play an important role in shaping how their family is composed. For example, in the United States and in most West European nations where the nuclear family system is widely practice are more developed economically. As a result, people tend to have smaller families as possible. Generally, children in more developed or industrialized nations are considered as liabilities as oppose to SSA where children are consider assets. Even though some Christian denominations do promote polygamy in the United States and elsewhere in Europe (Mormonism), monogamy is widely practiced. Europeans and North Americans tend to have fewer children (2.5 TFR) than those in Sub-Saharan Africa where the Total Fertility Rate is higher is five or above (TFR 5+). However, this varies from country to country and from region to region, which is highly rooted in cultures, belief systems, and the national and local economy.

Notwithstanding, in some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, having more children is a symbolic representation of wealth, power and socioeconomic status. Children assist their parents with farm work and get involved in activities that bring about wealth. Children in SSA serves as the labor force in the means of production; whereas, in the US and Europe children are widely considered liability to their parents and the economy until they turn eighteen years old when they can legally live by themselves (18 yrs).

In Africa, children tend to take care of their parents when they are older, because that is what their culture requires of them; whereas, in the United States and some Europe countries there is a separation between parents and children. Parents in their old ages tend to rely on the government’s social service programs such as their Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to replace the protection and care they should have gotten from their children. This can lead to wider gaps in family cohesiveness and love. In Africa, people feel cooperative and together because they always see each other. In the West precisely the United States and other European countries, people are more individualistic and competitive and this account for the high rate of suicide cases and violent crimes, such as domestic abuses.

Education is also a factor that account for both the role of women in the family as well as at the national levels. Over the past fifty-nine years (59), when most countries in SSA became independent the role of women were limited to household work, farming, gathering firewood, fetching water as well as preparing food for the family. Women were not encouraged to seek education as the men were. As a result, the illiteracy rate amongst women and girls became higher. On the other hand, in the United States and European countries women sought education just as men did and became to work on jobs that men did. The roles of women were not limited to parenting as in the case of women in Africa. This was highly due to their culture, government policies, and active civil rights organizations that protested for gender equality, social justice and social change. Today, Africa and precisely Sub-Saharan Africa is also undergoing drastic transformation on the issue of women role on local, national and global matters.

To conclude, countries in SSA are doing their best in transitioning from an agrarian economic system to an industrial system; however, this is going to take centuries for most countries in the region to attain. In order to attain progress, the development of international partnerships, effective government policies and programs to meet the needs of the common people as well as good governance, reduce corruption, widespread education and empowerment initiatives for women and girl and effective health care programs and policies are some of the ways to achieve these progress. The region will experience widespread geographic transformation in its total fertility rate and the role of women by building on the above mentioned structural, functional and operational frameworks.

Work Cited

Aryeeteh-Attoh, S. et al, (2003), “Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa.” 3^rd Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003. 

Computer in my Life: A Personal Viewpoint

Computer is one of the fascinating technologies that humans have ever invented. It provides the platform for further studies in science, mathematics, psychology, communications, politics and many other related fields of studies. Computer has been used by scientists, politicians, musicians, artists, anthropologists, geographers, geologists and many other professional to engage in research in their respective fields, storing data for future storage and sharing with others.

I first started using a computer in 2004 in Accra, Ghana at the Buduburam Liberian Refugee camp where the first Internet Cafe′ containing about ten (10) desktops computers were introduced to a refugee population of about 55,000 people. About 45% of the refugee population was composed of young adults between the ages of 18 to 30 years old. I was one of the luckiest persons in the group that learned how to use the computer and also browse the Internet off-course after having to pay for the use of the computer. 
In May of 2001, the Amigo Internet and Computer Inc.-a for profit business organization owned by a Ghanaian businessman in Accra introduced the “Amigo Internet Cafe′” at the Buduburam Refugee Camp with the aim of establishing a business as well as providing the refugee camp with access to computers and Internet technologies that was gaining promising grounds at the camp. It was a difficult experience for me for the fact that I could not afford the amount on a constant basis to be able to have access to both a computer and Internet for an hour. Most of us at the camp were not employed and as such could not afford the $1.00 for an hour that was required to have access to this new technology-"opportunity." Most people prefer using that money on food, water and medicine as oppose to having access to a computer like alone the Internet. Nevertheless, most of us sacrificed those urgent needs for learning how to use a computer just by paying for an hour online and by reading free online tutorials on how to use a computer.

One of the surprising things about the computer technology that I also admire is how we can use it for multipurpose. At first, I just could not understand how we can use the computer to listen to music, view movies and at the same time us it to do our office work. I became to develop more interest in learning about computer and how I can use it to make my life more meaningfully. With this thought, I decided to set a goal in order to save some money for a year and to enable me purchase a computer. This decision at the time was consider a long-term decision to me, because purchasing a used computer system in Africa most especially Ghana means working hard and saving enough money to get one. However, I decided to take up this task and over the period one year (2003-2004), I was able to saved $300.00 US to purchase a used Pentium I from the Amigo Internet and Computer, Inc. This money was made possible through two years of intensive gardening and assistance from friends.

Now that I had my own computer, which was not connected to the Internet, I decided to take computer classes at a local computer school on the camp where I paid $50.00 per course starting with “Introduction to Computer Science,” which included topics as “MS DOS”, “Windows”, “MS Word 98”, and so on. To me the computer technology opened a new view of how we can communicate, work and plan our programs in a more interpersonal manner.

Over the years, now that I have three laptops and a very sophisticated desktop and constantly access to the Internet, computer is an integral part of my job, learning experiences, communications, and with it I have learned to keep more accurate and up to date information. However, at the end of every use of my personal computer, I also learn to shot it down in order to safe energy and save money. It is very important not only how much we safe when we shot down our computers, but it also helps protect the environment by reducing the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that we emit into the atmosphere by leaving our laptops, computers and other electronic gadgets on when we are not using them. Saving energy is saving nature. 

"The Hunt for Red October" (The Movie): A Personal Perspective

"The Hunt for the Red October" (The Movie):

A Personal Perspective

Theatrical Released Poster

The Hunt for the Red October was stared by Sean Connery who in the movie played the role of Captain Marko Ramius who was in command of a sophisticated Russian built nuclear submarine known as “Red October.” Ramius and his crew were given orders by the Soviet’s government to stage attacks on the United States submarines in the Atlantic and also use the ability of the Red October, which could not be detected by navy sonar to attack the United States. However, Captain Ramius who was born in Ukraine had no intention to stage an attack on the United States Navy as well as launch nuclear bombs from his submarine on major cities in the United States. He decided to defect from the original plans. In the process of defecting, he was able to convince his assistant Captain in the process of implementing the plan to defect.

On the other hand, the American government thought Captain Ramius was in the process of staging an attack on the United States submarines and cities. The captain of USS Dallas put in place counter measures to launch torpedoes against the Red October. The United States government because of fear that the Soviet now had access to this sophisticated submarine that was built to be undetected and loaded with nuclear bombs that the Soviets were in the process of staging a possible attack against the United States submarines in the Atlantic and thus would threaten their military superiority over and under the ocean.

The Hunt For Red October Official Trailer

A Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting was convened in which a CIA agent and analyst Jack Ryan was invited by his boss to deliberate on assumptions that Captain Ramius of Red October had no intention to attack American submarines and cities. Jack's assumption of the plans of Capt. Ramius was base on his previous acquaintance with him in Leningrad and his study of the personal life. These clues  prompted him to deduced that Capt. Ramius was defecting from the original plans of the Soviet Union for which the Red October was initially designed and built.

The movies portrayed some specific details of the relationships between the Soviet Union and the United States during the period of the Cold War. During the Cold War, the race between the Soviet and the US for more sophisticated weaponry such as the atomic bomb, submarines and so on prompted these two sides to measure their powers and strength without physically engaging into battles. However, the movies also shows how not all Soviets Commanders and Generals are always in readiness to stage war against the United States, but these decisions are mostly made by few individuals in the central power who seek to make the mass suffer the consequences of their selfish desires. If all Generals in the military today irrespective of their political affiliations and nationalistic pride can rethink some major decisions or orders most of the major catastrophic battles and wars that claimed the lives of thousands could have been avoided and millions of dollars used in these battles could have been used to bridge the gaps in our economic systems. The Hunt for Red October portrayed how close the United States was in going to war against the Soviet Union most especially, when in the events that the Soviets submarines were within 400 Kilometers on the United States waters.

Reference

Connery, S., Baldwin A., The Hunt for Red October. Filmed: 1984, Paramount Pictures. 

Electronic Waste in Ghana: A Blessing with Strings Attached!

            The spread of capitalism and the increasing need for technology manipulated in part by globalization through transnational trade have significantly influenced in the last few decades the widespread, indiscriminate, and illegal trading of electronic waste to mostly developing countries from developed countries (Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011; Azuka 2009; Agyeman and Carmin 2008). Most developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) unlike their counterparts in the ‘West’ are trying to catch up with various mechanisms of globalization, which include, but is not limited to technological advancement and bridging the digital divide to promote economic growth, modernity, and development (Azuka 2009). As a result of this process, electronic materials that have long lived the period of their functionality have been shipped at an unprecedented scale to developing countries including China and India over the last few decades (Azuka 2009; EIA 2011; Li 2008). This is becoming a serious phenomenal in most countries in SSA, which include South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana as the vast growing illegal importers of e-waste on the continent (Azuka 2009; Akuru and Okoro 2010).

Source: Journeyman Pictures

Electronic waste is described as any electrical or electronic device that is considered discarded and cannot be used (Akuru and Okoro 2010). Electronic waste is shipped illegally into developing countries eager to reuse these devices. Some electronic waste may contain chemical substances such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or Brominated Flame Retardants (BFR) (Azuka 2009). The disposal and recycling of electronic waste in developed countries may pose significant risk to workers and communities (EIA 2011). This is even worst in developing countries where the necessary infrastructures and technological systems to adequately recycle and dispose e-waste are lacking and non-existent.

This paper explores the emerging e-waste hub in Ghana as well as social movements, such as Greenpeace, Captain Planet Foundation and local grassroots youth initiatives that seek to create public education and awareness of the environmental and health hazards associated with the indiscriminate disposal and inappropriate handling and management of e-waste.

Electronic waste (e-waste) contains hazardous materials and substances such as lead, mercury and cadmium, which are extremely detrimental to human health and the environment (Agyeman and Carmin 2008). The Ghanaian government through the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Housing and Environment lacks the appropriate legal framework to regulate 'discarded electronic gadgets' (e-waste) once they are no longer useful. E-waste that cannot be recycle end up in drainage systems, water sources and throughout land in various communities causing not only health and environmental concerns, but also extensive cost on local communities to clear up.

Globally, it is estimated that developed countries produce between 20 million to 50 million tonnes of electronic waste, most of which are illegally shipped to developing countries in dying need of these technologies without due regard to the adverse health and environmental impacts (Agyeman and Carmin 2008; EIA 2011). Most developing countries are the targeted destinations for the disposal of the electronic waste produced and used in developed countries (Agyeman and Carmin 2008; Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011; Akuru and Okoro 2010).

Source: Greenpeace, Basel Action Network, 2010

In Ghana specifically, a study estimates that 600 forty feet super containers are shipped to Accra, Ghana on a monthly basis (Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011). Among the countries that export used electronic devices to Ghana, the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain are on top of the list (Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011). Findings reported in one study suggest that e-waste exported from the US, UK, Denmark and Sweden were previously owned by universities, private institutions, municipalities and companies (Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011).

Source: Electronic Waste Guide

A local community in Accra called ‘Agbogbloshie’ is the largest e-waste dumpsite and transaction hub located in the country with population in the thousands. The workers in this informal sector compose of approximately 40 per cent children who are more vulnerable to environmental contaminants and exposure to toxic chemicals that are found within the hardware of electronic devises (Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011; Agyeman and Carmin 2008). Exposures to these toxic chemicals can also cause long-term health effects that are usually irretrievable and can lead to miscarriages, infertility, and birth defeats, endocrine disease as well as growth of tumors that could result into cancer (Agyeman and Carmin 2008; PANOS 2010).

Video Source: 

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/video/video_index.html 

Very few have been written in the literature about the environmental and health implications of e-waste and social movements within the context of SSA (Edge 2010). This could be partly due to the lack of public awareness and education of the environmental and health implications of the inappropriate and indiscriminate management and disposal of e-waste. However, the aspirations and zeal of people living in developing countries to have access to electronic devices continuously sustains and fuels this informal sector.  

Relatively, the introduction of the computer technology in most communities in countries in SSA is still a new concept and social reality and the e-waste situation in Ghana as is in India, China, South Africa and Nigeria (Azuka 2009). Not everyone in SSA countries to can afford to purchase a brand new personal computer or other electronic devices, such as a brand new mobile phone and other electronic gadgets. Most people usually purchase use computers, usually purchasing the central processing units (CPUs) separately from the monitors before assembling the parts at home. In Ghana for example, a used computer that has long lived its life span can be purchased ranging from $50.00 to $100.00 USD depending on the capacity of the hard drive, memory size and processor speed. The higher the parts of the computer central processing unit in terms of workload capacity and performance the higher the price of the entire central processing unit. The parts of e-waste in the containers that cannot be used or sold and recycled are indiscriminately disposed in the local environment or burned openly, which causes air pollutions and lung diseases.

Most governments of countries in SSA lack the ability to appropriately regulate the illegal importation of e-waste in the country. Specifically, Ghana does not have a legal framework to deal with the e-waste crisis in the country. There is lack of information in the literature with respect to programs and services put in place to effectively mitigate the environmental and health damages and implications caused by the indiscriminate, widespread and poor management of e-waste. In fact, a study suggests that the entire country has only one recycling facility with a limited workforce (Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011). With a population of about 24 million people, Ghana is growing at an unprecedented rate and at the current pace and trend of e-waste importation in Ghana, if the government cannot institute a framework to address mitigate e-waste disposal and management, there will be an environmental and health disaster within regions and communities where these e-waste dumpsites are located (Prakash and Manhart 2010; Azuka 2009; Agyeman and Carmin 2008). The following video is a projection of the actual trajectory of the digital divide in our world today and portrays how discarded electronic devices from one part of the global are been shipped and causing several socioeconomic, environmental and health related outcomes mostly in developing countries.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL8dOdTPt9A

It should be noted here that the affordability of a personal computer through those who work at e-waste dumpsites in Ghana is a social reality; that is, a dream come true no matter if that computer was made in the 1980s or not. Having a computer at home makes an individual “the guy” or “the lady” of the civilized world. However, the main question that needs to be asked is does the acquisition of a personal computer through this means justifies the environmental and health hazards that are associated with being exposed to toxic and carcinogenic chemicals? To us as social change agents and environmentalists no! But, for rural and urban poor individuals in a fast growing, poverty engulfed communities; the answer is a big Yes! Most Ghanaian prefers to purchase used computers from individuals who work at the e-waste dumpsites instead of purchasing a brand new computer because of the high prices. When I was in Ghana about six (6) years ago, I once purchased a used computer for personal use from a middleman who occasionally visits the sites. The prices are affordable and most people prefer spending less than more in this harsh economic time. 

The importation of e-waste in most developing countries is illegally done usually with someone who is an insider within the government agencies who authorize containers with e-waste into the country (Laha 2009). An interesting issue is that the importation of e-waste in Ghana is illegal, but yet e-waste is been shipped every month in super containers at the Tema Port Authority (TPA) in Tema, Ghana. The TPA is the government’s agency with the mandate and responsibilities of inspecting every container that is at the port. Nevertheless, e-waste continued to be released from the port unchecked, which is usually done through a systematic bribery of port authorities.

            The desires to acquire and possess electronic gadgets have been on the rise in most developing countries where the population is growing unprecedentedly and people are curious to have access to ‘end of life’ electronic devices illegally imported from developed countries no matter the associated perceived dangers with these usually chemical-intense electronic devices, which has both negative and positive consequences and this is influenced by the spread of technology and the desire to become ‘modernized’ through the use of electronic devices.

            In most instances, electronic waste is largely part of the informal sector generating immense economic gains for those that run the business, but poses environmental and health threats to local inhabitants where the storage sites are located, to the environment and those who work in  the storage facilities (Azuka 2009; Agyeman and Carmin 2008). With limited environmental and social impact assessments conducted by governments of developing countries on electronic waste, e-wastes are openly stored in the environment of urban communities where unaware consumers flock into these open sites to purchase discarded electronic materials for reuse (EIA 2011; Li 2008).

In Ghana for example, the importation of electronic waste from developed countries such as the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands is a productive business that promotes the Ghanaian economy, but displaced urban populations, cause extreme environmental damage in terms of land and water pollution and negative health outcomes. It seems like people do not recognize the health and environmental security implications of e-waste in their backyard, drainage systems and water sources. Do they really care about their personal health and the health of the environment? The answers to these questions and doubts about people who live and work in e-waste dumpsites are rooted deeply within the socioeconomic and digital divides in Ghana. Ghana has one of Africa’s fastest growing population and economy. There is a crucial need for the government to formulate a framework that would regulate the informal e-waste distribution chain. The government as well as local organizations, youth led institutions, human rights activists and agents of change need to be proactive in addressing the e-waste scheme in Ghana.

In terms of social and environmental movements to address the e-waste problem in Ghana, very little is found on the issue. There seems to be lack of public awareness and education of the dangers that are associated with the e-waste dilemma. Greenpeace and Captain Planet and the Planeteers are organizations that are working with local groups in Ghana to create public awareness, education and clean-up campaigns. Recently, environmental activists Barbara Y.E. Pyle of Captain Planet visited Ghana in February and held several local actions to create public awareness for self-action. Unlike South Africa, where there has been extensive progress in mitigating the e-waste scheme, Ghana still has lots to do because currently, the government does not have a single legal framework to address this problem.

Personally, I am more interested in this topic for my master thesis towards my degree in environmental science and policy. It would be interesting to conduct a study to explore the extend to which e-waste manifests itself as a productive business within the informal sector and at the same time creating serious and severe health and environmental consequences that outweighs the potential benefits, which are short-term.

Works Cited

Agyeman, J., and J. Carmin. 2008. "Environmental Injustice Beyond Borders."

Akuru, B. U., and O. Okoro. 2010. "Electronic Wastes and The Nigerian Experience." International Center for Basic Research.

Azuka, A. I. 2009. "The Influx of Used Electronics into Africa: A Perilous Trend." Law, Environment and Development Journal no. 5 (1).

Edge, Jessica. 2010. Environmental Sustainability and the Electronic Industry: Corporate Responsiveness to Activist Campaigns Against Electronic Waste. In Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference. Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.

EIA. 2011. System Failure: The UK's Trade in Electronic Waste. London: Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

Frandsen, M., J. Rasmussen, and M. Swart. 2011. What is a Waste?: How your Computer Causes Health Problems in Ghana. Copenhagen, Denmark: DanWatch.

Laha, Somjita. 2009. "Transboundary Toxic E-Waste Flow: Environmental Injustice through Neo-ecological Imperalism."

Li, Jennifer C. 2008. Environmental Impact Assessments in Developing Countries: An Opportunity for Greater Environmental Security? edited by US Department of State. Washington, D.C.

PANOS. 2010. Trackling E-Waste. In E-Waste. London: Global Information Society Watch.

Prakash, S., and A. Manhart. 2010. Socio-economic Assessment and Feasibility Study on Sustainable E-Waste Management in Ghana. Ministry of Planning, Spatial Planning and the Environment

Fiction and Alternative Living: A Short Reflection

Fiction and Alternative Living: 

A Short Reflection

In this week’s reading, we read articles about science fiction and alternative living. Materials on alternative living included Do-It-Yourself (DIY) by Catherine Vienneau, What Would a Non-Sexist City Be Like? Speculations on Housing, Urban Design, and Human Work by Dolores Hayden, The Windup Girl by Paolo Gacigalupi and an article on Out of This World and we watched specific scenes from Serenity, a science fictional movie.

         The DIY article talks about how individuals can use their own skills, knowledge and experience to do anything. The concept of DIY suggests that individuals can do whatever they want without getting assistance from experts or the so-called professionals. This article also suggests that there is an alternative way of doing something rather than the usual paradigm or system that is currently in place. Dolores Hayden’s article on “What Would a Non-Sexist City Be Like” argues that women have to be significantly included at the very core of city planning and architectural design within this current paradigm. She also argues that this current systems of professionalism is male dominated and as such marginalizes women who despite their distinct qualifications are low paid as compared to their male counterparts. The article on “Out of This World” discusses how actors and actresses of color have been marginalized in the mainstream film making industry and how the use of the Web as an open source has changed this paradigm. 

Firestone Rubber Company: Rubber Tappers, Forest Movements and Indigenous People

Firestone Rubber Company:

Rubber Tappers, Forest Movements and Indigenous People

            This week’s readings were on forest and indigenous people of highlands of Zomia between the borders of Thailand and Burma. We read articles on the forest people of Northern Thailand and how social and environmental drivers such as gender, religion, classicism, environment and science influenced their movements. We also read series of articles about rubber tappers in Liberia and Brazil exploring their socioeconomic conditions, environmental and health implications and resistance for change and transformation.

            Firestone Tire and Rubber Company established the largest rubber plantation in Liberia in 1926 during the presidency of Charles D. B. King the 17^th president of Liberia. Firestone started the exportation of latex from Liberia during the presidency of Edwin Barclay. The Government of Liberia and Firestone signed a concession contract in 1926 for the production of latex by Firestone on 1 million acres of land, which constitute approximately 4% of the total territory and about 10% of all arable land. During WWII, the US Government in 1942 built the Robertfield International Airport (RIA) in Liberia. At that time, the airport was the largest in Africa and was used by the US for emergency landing for NASA Space Shuttle, deployment of US forces and fighter jets and the exportation of natural rubber that was instrumental in the war against the Axis Powers.

            Rubber tappers at the Firestone rubber plantation are Liberian and mostly rural people who were employed to work. The company invest very little amount in infrastructural development, health and sanitation, and inadequate safety procedures. Currently, Firestone is the only international corporation that employs a large number of Liberians. The company has about 14,000 employees most of whom are rubber tappers, who are required to tap 750 rubber trees each day at an amount of $3.80 per hour. Rubber tappers are provided housing by the company that have been in existence since the 1930s with high exposure rates to carcinogenic substances such as asbestos and chemical pesticides. Workers are forcefully mandated to complete their daily quotas of their work without which their wage is decrease to account for trees that were not tapped. Rubber tappers also have to transport raw latex weighting about 70 to 140 lbs from 1 to 2 miles.

            According to environmental impact assessment survey conducted by the Government of Liberia, chemical pesticides used by Firestone on trees are released into local water resources causing several environmental and health impacts on local and rural residence.  

World Social Movements: From Local Actions to Global Discussions

World Social Movements:

From Local Actions to Global Discussions

         This week’s readings took us through diverse paradigms of social resistance and how these social movements transformed into distinct platforms for the local, national and international discussions of social issues, which involves social justice, equity and equality and environmental justice.

            The World Social Forum (WSF) is an international forum that was established to challenge the current paradigm of development, globalization, and economic development, which seeks to develop an alternative paradigm of development, social justice, economic development and social change. The WSF is considered by many as an “opened space” that is diverse and representatives of organizations and social movements that seek to explore an alternative world; that is, a world which captures the aspirations of human security from big governments and corporate elites transform them to local people and grassroots movements. It is a forum stakeholders from all around the world meet annually to discuss issues that reflect their respective localities and peoples and how they can work together to forge a space for another world. One of the goals of the WSF is to challenge the existing paradigm of neoliberalism and globalization. Members who attend the WSF have to agree on decisions that are made and the forum communicates such decision via various instruments listing the organizations and institutions that made them and does not make any final decision on how they should be implemented.

            On the other hand, La Via Campesina is an international social movement that was established in 1993, which assist coordinate organizations of rural and peasant farmers in developing countries in an effort to seek social justice, food sovereignty, and the advocacy of family-based, local farms as well as seeks to promote sustainable agricultural production through the process. Martinez-Torres and Rosset provided a historical and evolutionary perspective of the La Via Campesina an organization that first coined the term “food sovereignty” that is drawing perspective that all communities and people have the legitimate right to produce food on their territory and thus define their own food systems, methods of production as oppose to the dominant paradigm of food production by multinational organizations and institutions whose interest is for profiteering against the poor. La Via Campesina has gained national and international recognition for its position and interest in assisting marginalized family-farm communities regain their status by creating awareness and networks with other social groups.

            I personally think another world is possible. I believe that a world in which the multinational or transnational corporations have no control over what we eat is possible. However, in order to have this world we must deconstruct our current ways of life and consumption patterns and trends most especially for those of us in westernize countries. We should take local actions that collectively can make global changes. I believe that a world that contains more alternatives is possible and this is a world that we should all strive for by supporting local systems social movements. 

Land Movements, Participatory Democracy & Rural Landless Workers’ Movement (MST)

Land Movements, Participatory Democracy &

Rural Landless Workers’ Movement (MST)

           

This week’s readings were on local and national land movements, participatory democracy, the Rural Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) of Brazil and the local and global challenges of land grabbing processes. The end of Cold War in the 1980s not only brought a shift in the dominant discourse of security and development, but also the rapid and vigorous spread of globalization. With globalization came inherent promises of “human progress” and “development.” It also did not only create national and global changes in the landscape, economy, politics and cultures, but also hammered its way through the traditional fabrics of local systems, which include local food systems, patterns of production and consumption, security, human rights and ability to continually possess what we have had for years passed down from previous generations.

            Land is a significant aspect of human existence especially so when it is used for the production of agricultural produce for households consumptions and marketing locally. It is the responsibility of the nation-state to its citizens to provide the needed land for all its citizens to live a dignifying and fulfilling lives and to also reciprocate such sentimentality to the land on which their survival is protected. However, when the nation-state becomes so powerful and corrupt in using the “commons” for its own gain and profitability at the margin and expense of the populace especially those who are at the extreme of these margins; that is, the poor, people of colored, ethnic minorities, Native Indians and peasant farming families then there is a need to seek an alternative discourse to challenge and counteract the current perspective of the dominant paradigm of the nation-state.

There is only one step that needs to be taken to repossess what has been forcefully and illegitimately taken from them by this powerful and controlling system and invasive apparatus; that is, the nation-state. This option rests on the local, national and systematic revolt against this controlling and powerful system of the nation-state. It is a revolution that is organized in total agreement of the masses to reclaim their land and resources that have been extracted by this ‘big belly beast,’ whose nature and final goal is to completely devoid what it has violently and repressively possess.

Wolford takes us through her work in Brazil excavating the diligence of the Rural Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) that seeks to reclaim what have been taken away from them and “enclosed” by the nation-state. MST challenges the current paradigm of economic progress that seeks to project globalization, industrialization and economic development at the expense of peasant farmers whose land were extracted from them.

            Land grabbing, land deals and human rights issues are crucial in most developing countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa. As most developing countries continuously rush to the development-oriented agenda, which is trap to extract their natural resources and continue the pattern of dependency. The issue of large-scale investment initiatives and land allocation became unavoidable and unprecedented. These large-scale investment opportunities in the names of ‘development,’ ‘progress,’ and globalization put local communities especially traditional farming communities and their families at the margin of these investment schemes, making them the victims of such processes; that is, development schemes and investment initiatives, which continue to feed this ‘big belly beast’ and its collaborators.

Their local resources including land, water, air and forest systems became polluted as a result with very limited efforts to mitigate and restore normalcy. In some instances, local dwellers are not appropriately consented for their acceptance for the project to take place. This happens to villagers Tanzania of the Bagamoyo district in Tanzania when a Swedish firm took their land for a large-scale development project with the backing of the Tanzanian government in the name of development. The issue of land grabbing and human rights issue is exacerbated in regions that are undergoing arm conflicts or with unstable governments where the warlords claimed territories and lands in areas that they captured and use the local resources as investment towards arm dealers usually from the West. This was similarly done in Sierra Leone with the blood diamond illegal trade and Liberia with the timber and rubber plantation and Ivory Coast with the illegal sales of Ivories. James Scout deliberated on the subject of the state’s power to control and how over the years the nation-state has developed several programs and services, but yet has failed to meet the needs of its citizens. 

Stateless Peoples and Anarchism : Indigenous Peoples and the Invasiveness of Nation-States

Stateless Peoples and Anarchism : 

Indigenous Peoples and the Invasiveness of Nation-States

James Scott’s thesis “The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist history of Upland Southeast Asia” takes us through a convincing yet complex phenomenon of the invasiveness of empires, kingdoms and subsequently the nation-state as these entities seek to legitimize their control and presence against the will of stateless people, indigenous communities as well as those that live in mountainous or forested regions.

His book has received international recognition and staged at various platforms at conferences. His thesis about the repelling nature of the state against what has been term as “Zomia.” He referenced the works of different scholars in various field of studies including social anthropologies, ethnographers, etc. Some of the explicit questions that Scott seems to be answering in his thesis include how the nation-state continuously seek to use the ordinary people for its own gain through the process of standardization, legitimatization, citizenship, taxation, etc. These are paramount issues that Scott addresses in his thesis.

In the text and preceding chapters of his book “The Art of Not Being Governed,” Scott takes us through his analytical framework, which is specifically directed towards the relationships between various ethnic groups dwelling in hilly and mountainous regions of the so-called “Zomia.” Geographically, Zomia is known to be areas situated in rigid mountainous regions of Southeastern Asia. Specifically, this area includes countries such as Cambodia, Burma, India, Laos, China, Vietnam, Thailand and parts of Malaysia. His interest of the dense and forested mountainous region of Southeastern Asia is partly due to the fact that this region is one of the existing regions on earth that still has primitive and native groups that have not being subsequently incorporated into the fabrics and legal frameworks of the nation-state vis-à-vis ‘modernity’ and ‘globalization.’ Comparatively, this is similar to the Amazonian region as well as indigenous groups in the highlands and lowlands of Papua, Indonesia known as the Memberamo of the mountainous and forested hills and other part of Indonesia that are commonly being marginalized. Some of these indigenous include the Memberamo of western and eastern New Guinea, and the indigenous communities of Lombok.

The peoples of the highlands of the Zomia have live for about two thousand years out of the reach of the nation-state. The conventional perception of people living in highlands is that they are fragments of the pre-state era and as such they are characterized by primitive form of living. In contrast to this view, those who migrate into the lowlands systematically become part of the nation-state system are view as civilized and also regarded literate.

This is likely the case of most international humanitarian organization as well as development agencies that penetrate these cultures in the name of their so-called ‘development apparatus.’ Their view is to exploit these indigenous communities with their westernized ideological perception of what is right and what is wrong. It should be explicitly noted that even though Scott’s thesis is directed to Zomia, most governments, national and transnational development agencies are guilty of this dilemma; that is, they tend to believe that indigenous people are helpless, primitive and they are better equip and educated in assisting them address their problems and this would eventually lead to modernity, which in turn would eradicate their disease; that is, their “primitiveness.”

Scott also argues against the perception that natives are primitive leftovers of modernized societies or as some authors coined as the residues of the pre-state era of progress. He argues that those indigenous people living outside the nation-state so deliberately decide as such knowing their rights and attachments to nature. He also added that the predatory nature of the state; that is, its progressiveness to gain for its own led to such decisions by those who so choses to live in the highlands away from the detrimental progressiveness and invasiveness of the nation-state and its developmental apparatus.

Scott’s thesis can also be linked to situation in Liberia after the arrival of free slaves from the Americas in the 1820s. Those free slaves haven been educated and trained by their slave masters considered themselves “better off” or so to say “more civilized” when they were settled in what was called the “Green Coast” amongst the indigenous peoples whom they consider primitive, salvages and severely illiterate. With their new environment and their learned skills and knowledge, they subjugated, suppressed and marginalized the indigenous people of Liberia into slavery and the imposition of their ideologies and thoughts during the formation of what is now known as “Liberia,” which got its name from the so-called ‘Liberty.’ The natives were alienated, isolated and their land were taken from them and formalized by the governmentality of the new system and held them in atrocious conditions for over 100 years. Local chiefs and their clans had to leave their existing territories, because the new governments had to be seated and as such never wanted their support. It took almost a century before situations gradually changed with a counter social movement led by the natives.

Scott’s thesis on “The Art of Not Being Governed” can also be paralleled to his earlier book “Seeing Like a State” where he argued that the failures of the nation-state has led to dysfunctional systems in the development discourse (Scott 1999).

Work Cited

Scott, James C. 2009. The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Scott, James C. 1999. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.