Red Light Politics
Welcome to my short form Tumblr blog. My name is Flavia Tamara Dzodan, I am a business developer, writer, public speaker, ideas instigator, content creator, media facilitator and trend watcher living in Amsterdam.
This Tumblr is about the spaces and intersections between politics, culture, race and gender matters with some humor and pop culture thrown in the mix.
My long reads blog is Red Light Politics.
I also blog at Tiger Beatdown.
If you would like to know more about me, visit this page .
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Noted Elsewhere
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What did I miss?
I’ve decided that I am not even going to try to catch up on Tumblr since Friday. Nope. Not gonna do it.
So, did anything important...
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Interesting
Just got a job offer? I know the company, it has a good reputation. And awesome downtown offices.But it’s not quite my style - their...
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“The new rules, which were given the force of an executive order, are a clear improvement over a draft version. If monitored and enforced, they could...”
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Heroism in the Supermarket:
Vitamin Water wants me to believe that drinking their sugary concoction will help to make me a superhero rather than...
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…and The Onion for the win, forever.
Tl;dr: All 10 ways are “Revolutionary Terror.”
(via TheNoobYorker)
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Last night got the pleasure to met and chat with the German Tumblr team.
These women were totally awesome. Total girl crush!
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“The institution of marriage is not under attack as a result of the President’s words. Marriage was under attack years ago by men who viewed women as...”
Tag Results
51 posts tagged Global Affairs
Oh how I wish you could ALL read Spanish
Really, I so wish you could read this. And since I do have many followers who do, I am putting it out there because I have never read anything like it before.
It’s a public letter written by Martha Maiz Mier, to her brother. Martha Maiz Mier is the sister in law of the former Governor of the State of Nuevo Leon in Mexico (who had to face trials for corruption and whose political career came to an end long before this letter saw the light of day). And in this long, morose letter she tells the story of not only many decades of corruption in her family (one of Mexico’s most powerful), but also in the highest public and political echelons of Mexican society. It is breathtakingly plagued by the stuff that makes the best Latin American soap operas: corruption, abuse, political maneuverings, sexual scandals, illicit affairs, violence and a long list of etceteras. Except that it is not fiction and it involves the lives of millions of people in a country that is currently facing serious social issues.
It’s long, but if you can read Spanish and are interested in Latin American politics, this is a must read. And if you are not interested in politics per se, it is still a must read, because truly, our best works of “magical realism” fiction do not even convey half of what goes on in this missive.
Also, about the income inequality post, I love how The Atlantic (the original source of both the map and the quote) states “We’re on par with some of the world’s most troubled countries”. Well, perhaps you could acknowledge that, if you are on par with such countries it might as well mean that you are one of the most troubled countries. But I guess it’s better for collective American morale to point that Latin America is one of those troubled regions, while the US, even though it shares every index that makes Latin America troubled, is exceptional.
France issues first fines to women defying face veil ban
And so, the heinous law comes into full force for the first time. Via France issues first fines to women defying face veil ban - Europe, World - The Independent:
Two French Muslim women yesterday became, to their great satisfaction, the first victims of a law banning the wearing of the full-face veil in France.Hind Ahmas and Najat Nait Ali had been hoping for convictions so they could start the lengthy process of challenging the law before the European Court of Human Rights. Ms Ahmas, 32, and Ms Ali, 36, were fined €120 (£104) and €80, respectively, for turning up at the town hall at Meaux, east of Paris, wearing their niqabs.
The mayor of Meaux is Jean-François Copé, the centre-right politician who drafted the law against the niqab and burka. It was Mr Copé’s birthday on the day the two women came to Meaux.
About 130 other women have been “ticketed” by police for wearing the niqab since the law took effect in April. All the others accepted verbal warnings or agreed to attend lessons on French civics. “This was a question of principle,” said Ms Ahmas, who demonstrated outside the court yesterday with half a dozen other veiled women, who were ignored by the police. “We sought this conviction deliberately. We will be claiming a victory once the law is abolished [by the European Court].”
More at the link, including a video report.
“They demand transparency and direct democracy, and almost one in ten voters in Berlin gave them their vote. The Pirate Party is no longer just a party for Net-nerds in hoodies, but represents demands from across society.”
Children of Marx and Microsoft | Presseurop
This is an excellent read for anyone interested in European politics.
More from the article:
Only in two things do the voters of the city of Berlin, which breaks down so distinctly into several different ‘milieus’, seem able to agree: no one likes the FDP, which even in the middle-class western districts pulled in no more than three percent of the vote – and the Pirates lie well above the five-percent threshold in all parts of the city. In some corners they are ahead of the Greens, in others even ahead of the CDU. The prefabricated blocks of flats of Marzahn-Hellersdorf and the bourgeois avenues of Berlin-Steglitz, however, are so far removed from such young digital bohemians that the voter base of the pirates cannot be reduced to some form of sworn ‘net community’. The emphatic concept of freedom put forward by the Pirate Party appears throughout all society to be more realisable than the hair-gel-and-tie-liberalism of the FDP.
The party principles and the electoral programme of the Berlin Pirate Party, including points such as free public transport and the right to an unconditional basic income, were tagged as ‘radical left’ by commentators on election night. The hoodie-wearing habits of some members might reinforce such an impression. But the basic values of the Pirates escape classification according to the classic right-left split.
This is my dog’s passport. I was putting away my travel documents and since I keep her passport and mine in the same drawer, I just took it out and then it hit me: my dog has more rights and more travel privileges than any non European Union immigrant (myself included, of course).
All it took for her to obtain this travel document was to go to the vet, get a couple of shots (the usual, anti rabies and something against parasites, I think) and then she was granted free transit across the whole continent. No special provisions need to be made if she has to travel to, say, Belgium or France or any such country. Moreover, she doesn’t even need to be in my company to travel freely, even though I am appointed in her travel documents as her “guardian”. I could send her out with a friend or family member and she would still be entitled to free transit across borders.
Me, on the other hand, as someone classified as a “non Western foreigner”, if I want to acquire a Dutch passport, need to prove my “worth”. Which is to say, I need to prove that I am “integrated” into this society (through tests and interviews) and if the State finds me wanting, I would be denied the right to have a similar document issued to my name. Asylum seekers are not even given the consideration these days. Their applications are systematically rejected and they are quickly sent back to their countries of origin without further explanation. Undocumented immigrants are just invisible. Unable to travel across borders because a routine check would have them deported practically on the spot, they usually cannot leave the confines of the city in which they reside. Some of them cannot even go in the proximity of airports (not even to wave goodbye to family or friends) because being requested proof of identity (which happens often in European airports, whether you are about to travel or not, as security checks) would mean their status as undocumented would have them immediately sent to a deportation center.
And yet my dog is fully recognized as a “free traveler” across European borders.
Dozens of bodies found in eastern Mexico
(Warning for very disturbing image at the link)
The bodies of 35 people with links to organised crime have been found in two abandoned lorries on a highway underpass in eastern Mexico, authorities say.
The bodies were discovered near a shopping centre in Boca del Rio, adjacent to the port city of Veracruz, state prosecutor Reynaldo Escobar told television station Milenio.
“These were people involved in organised crime,” Escobar said of the victims. Seven had been identified.
Al Jazeera’s Frank Contraes reporting from Veracruz said “the bodies piled up on the streets showing marks of torture, while body parts were also found.”
Newspapers Milenio and La Jornada said some of the bodies had their hands tied and showed signs of torture.
Local television showed some corpses dumped on the street and others in the vehicles covered with blue plastic sheeting.
I haven’t posted about Mexico’s ongoing social issues for a couple of reasons: for a start, I have very close family living in Mexico City and I try not to read related news because I know I’d become super worried. But also, the other reason I haven’t been posting about the subject is because almost every report coming out in English language media fails to address the structural issues that Mexico faces and that have led to these problems.
For instance, the news above, cannot be reported without contextualizing US immigration laws, border politics, the US “war on drugs”, free trade agreements like NAFTA and the socioeconomic imbalance created by all these combined factors (and several others too long to elaborate on a brief post like this). Instead, we are invariably presented with news items that report on crimes and drug related troubles as if they happened in isolation and not within a macro landscape that surely involves Mexican responsibility but that cannot be removed from a few centuries of different kinds of colonial/ imperial forces at play (first from Spain and later on by the US).
Just to illustrate what I mean, the closing quote from the article linked above:
About 42,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched a campaign against drug cartels at the beginning of his term in late 2006. Most of that violence has been focused on the northern border with the United States.
Lacoste asks Norway police to ban Anders Behring Breivik wearing their clothes
via Telegraph:
The 32-year-old gunman who killed 77 people on July 22 even wrote in his online manifesto that “refined people like him should wear brands like Lacoste”.
But his choice of clothes has been described as a “nightmare” for the French company’s exclusive image.
Norwegian daily Dagbladet said bosses had now written to Oslo police demanding 32-year-old Breivik be stopped from wearing their garments.
An Oslo police spokesman told the paper: “The company feels that such a man sporting their clothes could do considerable harm to their reputation.”
I ugly laughed at this because just a few weeks ago, Greenpeace released their annual report on toxic water pollution in China, specifically, how clothing manufacturers, Lacoste’s main supplier and producer of their garments being one of them, are releasing hazardous chemicals in the water. These chemicals are highly contaminant and contain hormone disrupting properties affecting local populations and factory workers alike.
Of course Lacoste is horrified that such a notable symptom of dehumanization, embodied by Breivik would be associated with their brand, hurting their reputation. By the looks of it, they are more keen on less visible, more low key forms of destruction.
“Proposals to allow trans people to change their names and gender on legal documents could be another landmark measure”
Argentina’s big step towards true sexual equality | Flavia Dzodan | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
My latest for The Guardian about the debates in Argentina’s Congress for a proposed gender identity law.
“We won’t surrender again; we are not women; we will keep fighting”
Manly wisdom courtesy of manly man Gaddafi via Live updates @ guardian.co.uk
Cuba denounces inclusion in State Department “sponsors of terrorism” list
via peoplesworld:
Once again, the U.S. Department of State has included Cuba, along with Sudan, Syria and Iran, in its list of “State Sponsors of Terrorism.”
The reasoning (at the link above) is flimsy at best. I mean, there are many possible reasons to not agree with the Cuban regime or dislike it on an ideological basis, but the terrorism accusation sounds like a remnant from the Cold War days. And there are real life consequences for Cuban people because this inclusion by the US State Department limits trade possibilities for Cuba as well as further imposed isolation from the West.
Trafficking in people’s desperation
via BBC News, Dutch gameshow for failed asylum seekers
A Dutch gameshow is giving failed asylum seekers the chance to win 4,000 euros (£3,525) to help them start a new life back in their country of origin.
The winner is the one who can best demonstrate just how well they know their adopted country.
In an interview with Radio Nederland (in Dutch), the producers expressed that they are doing this to “raise awareness”. Well of course, click at the link above and check out the video to see the moment when one of the participants is eliminated and made to board a faux airport gate. Because nothing says “awareness” like a crowd clapping at a failed asylum seeker or an immigrant forced to leave the country.
The public can also participate from home, answering the quiz questions. The winner, who will be decided on a draw between everyone that got all the answers right will get a trip to Curacao, a current Dutch colony in South America.
For those in The Netherlands, the show will air tonight at VPRO. Do not expect me to see it, though, I find it not only tasteless but awfully sad.
From the article:
The ransacking of Moammar Gadhafi’s compound is turning up some bizarre loot. Following on from the Libyan leader’s eccentric fashion accessories and his daughter’s golden mermaid couch, the latest discovery is a photo album filled with page after page of pictures of Condoleezza Rice.
From the site:
The day intends to remind people of the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade. It gives people a chance to think about the historic causes and the consequences of slave trade. This year the day has special meaning as 2011 is the International Year for People of African Descent.
“The Netherlands can take an important role in rebuilding Libya once the fighting in Tripoli is over, foreign affairs minister Uri Rosenthal told the press on Monday evening. In particular, he sees a role for the Dutch in setting up a new legal system.”
DutchNews.nl - Libya needs help with rebuilding: minister
What?! You thought NATO was carelessly dropping bombs out of the goodness of their heart? Gaddafi was functional to the European Union while he kept away the influx of North African immigrants reaching Lampedusa on precarious boats. Now, of course, ailing European economies can profit from reconstruction efforts. Meanwhile, a vast number of European Twitter users celebrate the prospect of Libyan democracy. A chorus of RAH RHAs cheering for freedom! The freedom to have European States rebuild the same stuff they just bombed, perhaps?
Meet Camila Vallejo, president of the Federation of Chilean Students (FECH) and leader of the protests for education reform in Chile. On Thursday, the march she led gathered more than 100,000 people who came in support of students’ rally for free university education. Yesterday, “Families for education”, an informal get together for families with young children, gathered more than 1 million participants. She was the main speaker and organizer.
I am surprised English speaking media is not all over her case already. She has encountered bitter misogyny from government ministers that refer to her as “the bitch”, she has successfully created a political movement that is demanding concrete action and she is extremely media savvy and articulate. Charismatic, young, smart and beautiful, those are not qualities found in many political figures these days.
