Coherence and compliance are the kinds of norms worth fighting for. That’s what I love about trade and globalization justice. At the end of the day we can look at international norms and call out those who reject compliance by not settling for merely just one standard, but greedily promoting the double-standard.
Intemerate Earth
As people of the ocean, forests, mountains and plains, people in cities, farms and rural spaces, we have long engaged in trade and supply chains. That is a reciprocity that we must restore because it belongs to us, not investment cabals. Militarized economies that count bombs before trees, and values the shroud of industry before fresh air and clean water have done their damage relegating some families to pick through the waste of our consumption while others flounder in luxury, unwilling to hear the wails of extinction, the loss of habitat and the asphyxiation of those struggling for breath. The shifts of nature have turned violent, yet economies continue to privilege the actions of those muted in gated communities rather than warriors defending regions from plunder and the millions of hands repairing the open wounds of environmental degradation and resource depletion.
Interglobalist
Shift the landscape of globalization. Reset the intersectionality of the Advanced Economies and the Global South, east-west collaborations, the space between indigeneity and labour mobility, semi-sovereign entities and ecological development sectors
Moana Nui
We, the peoples of Moana Nui, connected by the currents of our ocean home, declare that we will not cooperate with the commodification of life and land as represented by APEC’s predatory capitalistic practices, distorted information and secret trade negotiations and agreements.
We invoke our rights to free, prior and informed consent. We choose cooperative trans-Pacific dialogue, action, advocacy, and solidarity between and amongst the peoples of the Pacific, rooted in traditional cultural practices and wisdom. E mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono.
–2011 Moana Nui Statement
Statehood Hawaii
Examining the assertion that 94% of Hawaii’s citizens voted for statehood, actual numbers reveal a much smaller percentage and the numbers suggest that only 35% of eligible voters actively sought statehood.
Random Person
What difference is there between a man as long and sharp as a pencil and that of a man as short and fat as a dime?
–King Arno