The 1970s was marked by the onset of the neo-liberal revolution and food commodity production and the accelerated and uneven transformation of small-holder farming in the Global South was part of that. Jason Moore’s work is significant in asking the question whether this was a conjuncture that signaled the tipping point of neoliberalism or if this was part of a more structural/epochal ecological crisis (Moore, 2010a, p. 233). Araghi (2010) has called the onset of the 70s transformatory crisis an indication of the exhaustion of the regime of “cheap ecology”.

Two themes are important in this analysis. The first is the impact that increased concentration and centralization in the world food market has deepened the trend toward monopolistic and oligopolistic control. This has reinforced the economic power of agribusiness. The lengthening of supply chains under such monopoly control reduces autonomy and independence of especially small food producers increasing vulnerability to world market forces and environmental hazard.The second theme, that has created conditions for the recent food crisis is the penetration of finance capital in the food sector. That has generated increased price volatility and world market oscillations notably because “acceptable” profit margins for equity capital investors are significantly higher than other economic actors (The Economist, 2015). This combination of finance with farming (Fairbairn, 2014) is financial speculation (Clapp, 2014, Isakson, 2014). It is sometimes linked to the boom in biofuels which is estimated to have accounted for 30% of the increase in average grain prices

It helps to explore why and how food as a commodity determines people’s uneven access to what is essential for life and the ways in which large social movements like Via Campesina emerged to mobilize small food producers to protest their increased (global) dispossession from the planet’s most important means of production: land

the dominant food policy response seems to have been an attempt to forge one inclusive package of measures: there was no attempt to establish an understanding of the differential food needs of different social categories of poor, and the diverse socio-ecological conditions of African countries.

Economic growth seemed to represent the pre-requisite for long-term food security, and foreign direct investment was the instrument to get out of the crisis.

The FAO (1986) argued that the growing gap between high rates of demographic growth, and low increases of food production, required the rehabilitation of agriculture with an emphasis on the increase of commercial production. According to the FAO, the crises required “technical adjustments” to pave the way to agricultural investments and agricultural modernization. The productivity emphasis echoed the trade-oriented and market-liberalizing focus of the World Bank that privileged instruments to stabilize food availability

The concept of food self-sufficiency has been a central element of a wider strategy aimed at establishing forms of self-centered and endogenous development.

Many African states were at a crossroad in the early 1970s. They either accepted policy reform of market liberalization advised by the IFIs that de-regulated production and access to food, or they tried to further define a politics of self-sufficiency. This latter was to be anchored in the control and autonomy of the agri-food national system

Our argument is that in its present form the notion of food security has been emptied of any critical political content and mainstreamed. This is the result of a long historical process that we explore below.There was an important and diverse antecedent to the mainstream capture of food security and this can be traced to the post WW2 period. This was the view expressed first by Mao Tse Tung, and then by Latin American and subsequently African radical liberation activists, that premised the objective of development on the central need for food self-sufficiency (and productivity).

1.  Under the previous governance model, the Ministry had a consultative council on clean energy which, at its height, contributed to reviewing renewable energy goals and proposed specific incentives policies for renewable energy, serving to legitimize policy making through NGO and academic participation. These types of stakeholders had formal positions in the council, and could see their specific proposition being included in policy documents stating lists of actions intended during the administration, called sectoral or special programs. For participants having to provide proof of impact to donors, these documents could become critical evidence of influence.  (Back)

contend, offers ways of engaging the Anthropocenewhile highlighting the interscalar complexity of its politics.

This essay experiments with interscalar vehicles as tools and objects of anal-ysis. The possibilities for such vehicles are endless. Here, I take uranium-bearingrocks as my primary interscalar vehicles, riding them from Gabon to France toJapan, from the 1970s to our planet’s early history to the distant future. Innavigating this journey across spatial and temporal scales, I simultaneously observethe interscalar vehicles deployed by historical actors: maps and photographs; com-pensation claims and warning signs; urban development and cosmological theo-ries; atomic bombs. Interscalar vehicles—theirs and ours—have political, ethical,epistemological, and/or affective dimensions. What makes something an inter-scalar vehicle is not its essence but its deployment and uptake, its potential tomake political claims, craft social relationships, or simply open our imaginations.

In 2007, McKinsey developed—for a Swedish utility—the first marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) to provide such a framework (Exhibit 1). For each potential abatement measure, the MACC assigns a cost per ton of abated carbon and weights it by the amount of abatement that the measure could provide.

mental model is a bathtub

This comes down to a distinction between the flow and stock of carbon. The planet does not care about the annual rate of emissions (the flow), what matters is the accumulated stock of carbon in the atmosphere—that’s what governs the degree of warming. The thousands of news articles during the pandemic wondering if a drop in emissions predicted a drop in temperatures exemplified the flow misconception. “Climate is a stock-not-a-flow problem” should be something that people are taught in schools. And it’s not just laypeople. A classic paper by John Sterman tested engineers and scientists at MIT and found that they too were clueless about stocks in their mental models of climate change: “​​Adults’ mental models of climate change violate conservation of matter.”

We are being battered by extraordinary events at an accelerating clip, and today’s public is increasingly aware that we live in an omnicidal anthropocene. That awareness, however, does not necessarily lead to action. On the contrary, there is a threat that the positive but partial developments in climate mitigation could perpetuate the delusion that present action is sufficient.

GHG emissions are now about twice the rate of GHG removal from the atmosphere. GHG concentrations will therefore continue to rise even if emissions fall, stabilizing only when emissions equal removal. In contrast, results show most subjects believe atmospheric GHG concentrations can be stabilized while emissions into the atmosphere continuously exceed the removal of GHGs from it. These beliefs-analogous to arguing a bathtub filled faster than it drains will never overflow-support wait-and-see policies but violate conservation of matter. Low public support for mitigation policies may be based more on misconceptions of climate dynamics than high discount rates or uncertainty about the risks of harmful climate change.

música fuera de las plataformas

Es de notar que en la Ley Agraria se reconoce el procedimiento del parcelamiento económico o de hecho, siendo capacidad de la asamblea general de ejidatarios o comuneros realizar la asignación de parcelas según su uso sin necesariamente buscar la certificación de las parcelas por la autoridad agraria nacional. Sin embargo no deja de ser contradictorio que este parcelamiento no tenga efectos o no sea considerado al momento de la solicitud de apoyos de instancias de desarrollo rural o forestal.

música fuera de las plataformas

well what they decided was the problem in Indonesian villages and what they thought their diagnostic 00:28:40 ethnography encountered was a real deficiency in participation and accountability somehow the whole new order was clumsy was top-down you know people were invited to participate but 00:28:53 it meant nothing tall and I never thought it would there was no accountability from government officials levels of public service were horrible so they had this idea that they could and it was a huge idea and this 00:29:05 became more than a billion dollar project so we're not talking small stuff here their idea was that you they could transform the whole of Indonesian society by starting from the bottom up 00:29:18 if you could make villagers demanding so that they would demand of their government a good standard of project delivery proper accountability 00:29:31 participate you know participation in decision-making if you could basically train them in new practices and make them expect and demand this from their own government you would not only 00:29:45 transform the villages but they would then put pressure that would transform this whole unaccountable clumsy top-down system from the bottom up so it was social engineering on a fantastic scale 00:29:58 and this was what they set out to do so they they started with about 10,000 villagers and by the end decade later they covered the whole of Indonesia huge money involved basically the model which 00:30:12 then became used by the World Bank everywhere the CDD model community driven development

Transcript

Memories of Malinowski and his coloured pens and cards

Yes, the Rupert Street market, Edmund Leach went straight to heart of problem,

En la historia de la producción analítica con respecto a la comunidad de Cherán es posible identificar tres estudios básicos que se realizan en distintas etapas del Siglo XX.

el arzobispo de Morelia, Alberto Suárez Inda, dijo que la injustificada tardanza del gobierno en resolver los problemas de la pobreza y la democracia estaba propiciando el surgimiento de grupos armados. 

El gobernador reiteró que no se tenía conocimiento de que hubiera brotes guerrilleros ni eperristas en el estado y señaló que todo era producto «del sensacionalismo de algunos medios de información». Reconoció, sin embargo, «operativos de vigilancia» por parte del ejército y policía, «para la seguridad de los michoacanos», en algunas zonas del estado. 

Antes, cuando sí se cuidaba el monte, todos vivíamos del maiz, pero con eso del libre comercio creo que a los grandes empresarios sí les vino bien, pero a los pueblos no, de por sí estamos jodidos y el maiz ya no da, ya la gente no quiere sembrar y mejor compran maiz híbrido (…) Ahí es que se empezó a vender el monte”.

La mañana de un sábado se activó la alarma de que unos de Comachuén andaban caminando por las calles de Sevina. Las dos barricadas se alertaron para  no dejar entrar ni salir ningún vehículo. “¿Cómo se metieron?” “¿qué nadie los vio?”, se cuestionaban entre algunos comuneros. Eran dos abuelos que llegaron a pie buscando a las autoridades comunales. Llegaron a la casa del representante de Bienes Comunales, Noé Chávez, a quien los dos campesinos le explicaban que en Comachuén la gente era buena, pero que ese grupo de “maleantes “que anda robando el monte, también los tiene sometidos. La petición concreta era que reabrieran el camino que conecta a ambos pueblos. “Nos afecta a todos, a los maestros, a los que trabajan, a los jóvenes que salen a estudiar… Ellos qué culpa tienen. Sus papás con mucho trabajo les pagan sus estudios y ahora tienen que rodear una hora más”, explicaba uno de los campesinos. Noé Chávez le respondía que él no podía tomar decisiones porque éstas se toman en asamblea general y que de todos modos Comachuén tenía que buscar los mecanismos para controlar a su propia gente. Unos 20 hombres llegaron a cuestionar a los de Comachuén sobre quién les había dado permiso de entrar a Sevina. –No, señores, aquí las cosas no son así. No pueden andar buscando al jefe de tenencia o a los de bienes comunales. Ellos no toman decisiones, aquí estamos organizados por barrios y todo el pueblo decide.

El boicot de las elecciones expresa también una nueva corriente política que se consolida después de la aparición de la guerrilla zapatista en Chiapas. Centrado en un discurso autonomista, este movimiento cuestiona el sistema de partidos, que considera que no representa los intereses de los indígenas. 30 Adelfo Regino Montes, “La elección por partidos, ¿único camino?”, En Marcha. Realidad Municipal de (...)

54En cada uno de estos municipios la decisión de prohibir las campañas y la instalación de casillas tiene sus peculiares motivos, aunque existen puntos en común. En casi todos los casos la decisión se inscribe en el contexto de un conflicto interno que enfrenta a dos facciones, una de las cuales recibe el apoyo del pri.

Las lógicas de exclusión que describimos no son exclusivas de simples priístas disfrazados de jefes consuetudinarios. Son la obra de verdaderos empresarios políticos que pretenden defender los intereses de grupos o de redes a los que representan y encuentran en ciertas interpretaciones de la costumbre y de la autonomía comunitaria un medio para alcanzar sus objetivos. Establecen alianzas más o menos deliberadas con los partidos políticos, pero puede ocurrir que actúen apoyándose en otros relevos institucionales, como la Iglesia, las organizaciones sociales o las ong, según las oportunidades que se presenten.

las dinámicas de poder en el plano local no son simples réplicas de los conflictos que tienen lugar en el centro. La acción de las autoridades municipales y sus opositores responde a intereses y urdimbres locales, a su vez relativamente autónomos. El pri trata de articularse a los conflictos locales, de crear alianzas con las facciones locales con el fin de garantizar una clientela para las próximas elecciones, pero está en competencia a su vez con otros partidos en ese quehacer. También aquí cabe utilizar la imagen de la confluencia de intereses: las facciones locales buscan apoyos institucionales “exteriores” para reforzar su posición en el plano municipal, mientras que el pri y los demás partidos aspiran a implantarse o a consolidar su posición en los municipios.

los antiguos promotores bilingües, agentes de modernización impulsados por el general Cárdenas, se convierten en los principales defensores de las tradiciones comunitarias. Y con buen motivo: al defender las costumbres defienden su propio poder.

Si definimos “pueblo indígena” como una nación que no formó su propio estado nacional, quedó encapsulado dentro de uno y además sufrió colonialismo, podremos ver que el rasgo indígena se crea y se explica siempre en función de la existencia de un Estado.

El pueblo mixe posee un territorio, una lengua y una historia que contrasta con la del pueblo zapoteco, del pueblo ainu en Japón o el de la nación saami que habita en los países del norte de Europa. En cambio, el rasgo “indígena” contrasta con el rasgo identitario creado por el nacionalismo mexicano.

Parafraseando al periodista mapuche Pedro Cayuqueo, declaro que “soy mixe pero tengo pasaporte mexicano por un lamentable y trágico accidente histórico que a veces preferiría no recordar”. Sin embargo, aunque me pese, no puedo negar que ese rasgo, ser mexicana, forma parte del conjunto de los rasgos identitarios que contrastan en mí

Cada persona posee un sinnúmero de características. Cada persona es un continuo que puede dividirse en un haz de rasgos potencialmente infinito. He pensado en llamar identidad al subconjunto de rasgos que establecen contrastes.

La identidad es una operación mediante la cual las personas se piensan y existen como entes discretos. Las personas somos los fonemas o las palabras-individuo impuestas sobre este chorro continuo que es el universo.

Por otra parte, la organización política fue a partir de la unión de los militantes del PRI inconformes con su partido. Algunas personas que habían participado activamente en el PRI se unieron a la Corriente Democrática y rompieron con el partido oficial, como el médico Adalberto Muñoz y el profesor Froilán Velásquez, en Cherán, y Luis Vázquez Morales, Alfredo López y Mauro Sánchez, en Nahuatzen. Estas personas expresaron su desacuerdo contra la falta de libertad política en este periodo:

Si hubiéramos de caracterizar en una síntesis compendiosa a los pueblos indígenas de la Meseta Tarasca diríamos, sin temores ni dudas, que constituyen una sociedad que ha creado una cultura centrada en la comunidad.

legal cynicism is not, as the literature suggests, simply the result of the state’s inefficiency or ineptitude but also a product of its ambivalence.

Existing research shows that legal cynicism among residents has material effects on crime and violence. When people perceive the law as unavailable or unreliable, they are left to resolve their problems independently. Examining the case of Chicago, Kirk and Matsuda (2011) find that in neighborhoods with high levels of legal cynicism, residents are less likely to report crimes than in neighborhoods where people have more trust in the police.

the set of clandestine interactions described above show that the state is a deeply ambivalent organization.10 Judicial proceedings illustrate the actions of an ambivalent state with two coexisting and seemingly contrary qualities, acting simultaneously as an enforcer of the rule of law and an accomplice to criminal acts

residents in Arquitecto Tucci share a general perception that police do more to facilitate the drug trade and to line their own pockets through extortion than to protect residents.

traffickers pay not only for goods and information but also for direct police intervention on their behalf—in this case, to maintain an economic monopoly on their territory with police help.

traffickers can be protected by one arm of law enforcement and pursued by another arm of the same state. While different state security forces sometimes work together, they can also act against each other

First, the case clearly documents the violent tactics used by Los Vagones to acquire and maintain dominance over the area by forcibly eliminating competition. Second, it shows how the police engage in and facilitate this violence. Finally, it exposes the negotiated and sometimes volatile nature of these illicit relationships by documenting a limiting factor of collusion.

The exchange of information can be grouped into two general types: protective information serves to shelter traffickers from police actions and competitive information provides insights into the operation of illicit markets.

state-sponsored protection racket is an informal institution “through which public officials refrain from enforcing the law, or alternatively, enforce it selectively against the rivals of a criminal organization, in exchange for a share of the profits generated by the organization”

The Italian notion of intreccio best captures these illicit liaisons, referring to the “dense interweaving” between Mafiosi and the official state actors and political elites who take measures to protect them. The term draws attention to “more than a simple reciprocity between the mafia and the state,” but rather “a vast gray area where it is impossible to determine where one leaves off and the other begins”

Those living at the urban margins are sometimes “abandoned” by the state and sometimes overpoliced (and brutalized) by it. But they are also subjected to what Arias describes as “police-criminal collusion”: an “active political constellation” of state and illicit actors that not only erodes the rule of law, but also institutes “a separate, localized, order”

the shared belief that law enforcement agents are not only “illegitimate, unresponsive, and ill equipped to ensure public safety,”

How does police-criminal collusion impact the ways in which residents of a marginalized area perceive the state’s actions and legitimacy?

poverty, unemployment, inequality, the accumulation of structural disadvantages, the lack of social cohesion and informal social control (“collective efficacy”), and the twin influence of the illicit drug trade and the fragile legitimacy of the state’s monopoly of violence

Second, I suggest that concerns about bias and discrimination in machine learning in recent years can in part be attributed due to the increased use of ML models not just for static classification but for practical action.

Notes