Daily Archives: September 3, 2022

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Uttara (2000): Capturing the Zeitgeist of a Contemporary Turbulent Period and Decoupage: For Buddhadev Dasgupta, the subliminal work of art lies in the images conveyed between two lines of poetry. The film opens with a nearly static view of a magnificent forest seen from within. A view of the trees almost seeming to cover the vast, grand landscape gives a tactile feeling with their sensuous forms, alive, concrete, and full of saps. A few dry leaves are falling, giving the image a notion of movement juxtaposed with its tranquil, serene score and birds chirping. A peaceful world is threatened. But the utopic opening shot is a motif in two other important junctures in the movie. A series of disjunctive shots weaving the threads of the story disrupts any idea of linearity introducing us to the various forces that seem to go against one another both figuratively on the screen and on a mental level. The director uses an almost personal interwoven tale adapted from a short story by Samaresh Basu to create tiny fragments of action that hold together when connected, and the viewers contain the duration and location of the story entirely in their minds. These tiny fragments of action can be cut out from the totality in their own rights, called decoupage in French. It is a crucial element of creating a story of elevated realism that gives the tale a distinguishable form.

The story takes place in a remote village called Deulpur, where Balaram and Nimai are the railway station staff. One is a signalman, and the other a gateman. They do not have much work to do except signaling and flagging off just a couple of trains every day. They share a close bond that gets translated into their daily lives, primarily through their shared interest in wrestling. They wrestle in their leisure time, and their illusion of bonding gets embodied in the wrestling ring. The shared interest in an overpowering act seems ironic, and they turn out delusional with the arrival of Uttara. Contradiction also comes to the forefront in the religious tussle between Christianity and Hinduism. Padri baba, a respected figure in the village, is the father of the village church and looks after the well-being of an orphan boy whom he calls Mathew (his real name was Rakhal) but gets questioned for baptizing him. He provides food in the poverty-stricken village in exchange for converting desperate souls. The peaceful ambiance of the village is disrupted by the arrival of the three goons who aggressively roam around the village, stalking and posing a sense of threat to Padri babas workings. As the two men squabble over Uttara turning her into an almost physical entity without any humane side to it, a chain of events leads to the burning down of the church by the Hindu zealots in the village and the padre gets killed as he is tied to a pole and petrol is poured on him. Uttara witnesses the crime, and as she becomes desperate for help, the world around her seems like a purge.

In India, several facets of our lives, like science, religion, mythology, art, philosophy, and politics, seep into our daily lives, trying to overpower each other. We cannot separate these threads to examine their influence on our way of life. Brief moments of respite happen with the surreal imageries of the dancing troupes against large expanses. It provides a moment of pure gratification biting into our subconscious against a violent backdrop. The dwarves looking for a different world resembling the idea of hope invites the dynamic qualities of the fantastical and magical into the biting reality. As the group of dwarves is looking for an alternative and the dancing troupe performing their Natua dance seems to pass off at the end with clever use of deep focus, it shows attributes of a painting. Once the poetry is being written, the images before and after the painting start disclosing themselves in front of our eyes.

The ramifications that slowly start cropping up are almost like a chain reaction reflecting the shaking up of various social fabrics into which we thrive. A moment of true bliss and peaceful harmony takes place when the dwarf station guard talks about how their tribe has gone frustrated with the unnecessary conflicts of tall men and offers a better future to Uttara. But this moment is interrupted by the roaring sound of the jeep of the goons, which has been established as a motif. It is reduced to meaningless and futile violence as the hopeful dwarf is killed with a throwing knife, and Uttara is suggested to be raped. Through the movements and narrative, the film comments on mens social injustice and morally weak nature in contrast to their strong physical and social status. It weaves together all the particles to present a picture that will be best remembered through its moments of optimism and Mathew.

Mathew embodies innocence, trying to learn from the world, taking the best of it, and finally getting shielded by the dancing troupe from the malice that the circumstances present themselves with. The triumph of the lyrical quality in the film lies in the casting of a spell protecting its inhabitants. The opening utopic idyllic image returns at the end, hinting at nature fighting for its people and protecting them from the gore with its wings and eloquence.

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Uttara (2000): Capturing the Zeitgeist of a Contemporary Turbulent Period and Decoupage - High on Films

Ah, Sri Lanka.

In 2020: a beautiful, agriculturally self-sufficient island nation full of tea and tourists and holder of the highest Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investor rating in the world.

And then, as part of the larger green effort spurred on by international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), woke capital, and, seemingly, a desire to sit at the big table at the various and sundry global initiative conferences, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa banned the use of manufactured fertilizer in order to create a more climate-friendly sustainable farming sector. In April, 2021, the country went all-organic overnight.

What could possibly go wrong?

By the end of last year, Sri Lanka became unable to feed itself, prices for food (especially rice) and fuel and other daily basics skyrocketed, the tea crop and the hundreds of millions it earns in international trade was decimated. The nation defaulted on its foreign debt, had rolling power blackouts, the tourists are staying away in droves, and Sri Lanka, already wracked by corruption and COVID, spiraled out of control.

The publics response? Even though the fertilizer ban had already been partially rolled back, just last month Rajapaksas presidential palace was stormed by thousands of everyday Sri Lankans and he had to flee the country last word was that he was holed up in Singapore (note to Nancy Pelosi and Liz Cheney this is what an actual insurrection looks like.

It seems Kermit was right it aint easy being green.

But, considering the states claim to be the global leader in fighting climate change, can California with its extremely powerful climate lobby that was able to ban the future sales of new gas-powered vehicles, a concept that would have been unthinkable a very few years ago be far behind?

Californias commitment to confronting climate change cannot be underestimated., as proven by the 86 different climate partnerships, or bilateral and multilateral agreements with national and subnational leaders the state as entered into. (The list can be found here)

Additionally, a quick tour of state department websites finds numerous examples of green, sustainability, and climate pages and plans; even the states prisons got into the act with its climate change plan.

It should be stressed that California is not above shooting itself in the foot when it comes to climate issues. Thursday, the legislature passed a bill mandating 3,200-foot buffer zones around all new and existing oil and gas wells, a move which would practically eliminate the industry and its 13,000 jobs in the state.

And last week, the plan to completely ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035 was approved by the states Air Resources Board. Yesterday, with the already strained power grid facing massive heat-related shortfalls, Californians were asked, among other things, to not charge their electric cars (about 11 percent of the cars in the state) when they got home from work.

A fertilizer ban could have similar severe knock-on impacts, and massive unemployment and other serious disruptions akin to those Sri Lanka experienced could follow.

While there is no specific proposed legislation currently, Governor Gavin Newsom often touts his climate bona fides which could leave the door open to future efforts. No challenge poses a greater threat to our way of life, prosperity, and future as a state than climate change, said Newsom on Earth Day in April, more than a year into the Sri Lanka debacle. With our rich natural heritage on the front lines of this crisis, California is building on our global climate leadership with bold strategies that harness the power of nature to fight climate change and protect our communities and ecosystems.

Considering the states political landscape, it appears the unthinkable could already starting to be thought.

For background, the push to ban or restrict the use of manufactured fertilizers (in other words, not compost or manure) was formerly mostly tied to waterway protection (as the former Mayor of Lake Elsinore, I can personally attest to the kind of rapid growth in our case sadly algae nitrogen and phosphorus can spur in plants. PS since the city and other agencies started large-scale remediation efforts, the lake has been wonderfully clear).

The current push, however, revolves around climate change and is based on the claim that nitrogen is a greenhouse gas so farmers should stop putting it on their plants.While this claim is untrue defining nitrogen as a greenhouse gas is rather new and shaky itself, the overwhelming majority of nitrogen in fertilizers is captured by the plant itself or the soil, and modern farming techniques have greatly reduced the problem of over fertilizing it has not stopped climate change activists from pushing massive restrictions and, in Sri Lankas case, outright bans.

It is true, however, that nitrous dioxide that stuff you inhale at the dentists office is considered a greenhouse gas and that it can be produced by fertilizers. However, it only is produced in significant quantity if far too much fertilizer is used, a practice the majority of farmers eschew because it is usually unnecessary and always more expensive fertilizer isnt free and can add up to about 5 percent of a farms expenses. Here is a graph showing the impacts of over-fertilization and the minimal emissions (essentially indistinguishable from the background noise) when used typically and properly:

(From the University of Californias Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and can be found here)

In the Netherlands, farmers have taken to the streets to protest planned government (and European Union) mandated nitrogen use cuts of up to 70 percent. Such cuts would devastate the agricultural sector, which currently makes the tiny country the second largest exporter of farm products in the world (only the United States exports more food). Due to the impact on livestock feed costs and availability, it is estimated that in addition to massive crop losses about 30 percent of Dutch farm animals would have to be killed to meet the climate change target.

Canada is also proposing nationwide nitrogen cuts of up to 30 percent, leaving farmers there worried about their futures and the continued assurance of the nations food supply.

The impact nitrogen fertilizers have on the atmosphere which is already about 78 percent nitrogen is so small it cannot be accurately measured (see graph above), said Dr. Jay Lehr, environmental scientist and agricultural economist.

I can see why certain politicians are attracted to the idea, but its just too crazy, Lehr said, adding that if the United States and/or California were to mimic Sri Lanka it would lead to starvation and desperation and the bankrupting of the majority of farmers. This movement is trying to roll-back the green revolution.

The green revolution Lehr referred to has nothing to do with the current political meaning of the term green, but the post-World War II movement to increase yields through improved crops, fertilizer use, technological enhancements, irrigation, and scientifically-sound farming practices. The movement is credited with literally saving more than a billion lives around the globe in the past 70 years and led to one of its chief architects, Norman Borlaug who famously said You cant build a peaceful world on empty stomachs to being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Borlaugs revolution is a very specific target of many climate activists and the various international government agencies and NGOs that support them.

In its position paper, Strengthening agroecology for a fundamental Transformation of agri-food systems, the World Future Council a German-based NGO/think tank states: The message has now gotten through: the negative effects of industrial agriculture have long been clear; they include water shortages, species extinction, high greenhouse-gas emissions, soil degradation, and land grabbing. They cause social, economic and ecological damage that harms the livelihoods of peasants.

Borlaug may have passed away in 2009, but another quote regarding such groups seems apropos: Some of the environmental lobbyists of the Western nations are the salt of the earth, but many of them are elitists. Theyve never experienced the physical sensation of hunger. They do their lobbying from comfortable office suites in Washington or Brussels. If they lived just one month amid the misery of the developing world, as I have for fifty years, theyd be crying out for tractors and fertilizer and irrigation canals and be outraged that fashionable elitists back home were trying to deny them these things.

Another international group, the Global Green Growth Initiative (the GGGI, a treaty-based organization that works with the UN where it has Observer status, like the Red Cross) praised Sri Lanka two years before its ban went into place for its three-year climate change plan. To quote the GGGI:

GGGI welcomed the Government of Sri Lanka as its thirtieth Member in January 2019, committing to support the country as it asserts its commitment to achieving its sustainable development and NDC goals. As Sri Lankas delivery partner for the 3-year GCF-National Adaptation Planning (NAP) Readiness Support Program, GGGI will support Sri Lankas NDC on adaptation by further strengthening its adaptation planning process and capacity to implement NAP. It also aims to enhance the countrys access to climate finance for the implementation of its national adaptation plan. Working towards 6 sub-outcomes through 20 key outputs, the projects target impact is a built resilience of the most vulnerable sectors and communities in Sri Lanka to adverse effects of Climate Change through Sri Lankas strengthened capacity to implement National Adaptation Planning. (note this quote is repeated in its entirety to give the reader a better flavor of the citizen of the world/corporate speak most of these endeavors evince. For more on the GGGI, you can read its gender and inclusive development policy statement here).

The GGGI, like many other NGOs and government agencies and some very major financial players like BlackRock (the $10 trillion asset management fund) see sustainability and its related ESG rating (like a bond rating except for non-financial aspects of a company or country) as integral components of investing strategies, grant worthiness, and the like.This pressure to please the international money (and government) people is a significant driver of initiatives such as Sri Lanka undertook and the Netherlands and Canada are currently considering.

Despite the obvious catastrophe, even Sri Lankan activists are not giving up.The Green Movement of Sri Lanka supported internationally by the European Union, etc. seems to embody much of movements zeitgeist and remains committed to the cause, with the website reading, in part:Friends, sustainability is complex and requires a fundamental kindness and empathy among its proponents. Therefore, let us not work with the stupidity of industrial age mindsets in our ongoing effort to shift to sustainability. We do not have to agree but at the very least, let us agree not to disagree.(note the country may change but the attitude doesnt; you can find out more at: https://gmsl.lk/ .)

Back in the United States, American Farm Bureau Federation Chief Economist Dr. Roger Cryan estimates that a Sri Lank-style move would cut domestic grain crop production by about 50 percent within two to four years of implementation, leading to massive price hikes and acute shortages of basic commodities.

Feeding the world is not an easy thing to do, Cryan said. Sri Lanka was clearly a failure.

After re-iterating the fact that, given its uptake into plants and the soil nitrogen and phosphorus do not represent a greenhouse gas problem, Cryan also noted that if Sri Lankas overnight organic model were followed that there is simply not enough manure and compost on the planet to make up the difference to keep crop yields steady.

Id hate to see something done if they dont do the math, Cryan said. We shouldnt be talking about farming less it cant be a trade-off.

The impact in California, home to $50 billion agricultural industry and about 12 percent of the nations entire farming output, would be devastating.

A.G. Kawamura, an Orange County farmer, former Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and co-chair of Solutions From the Land, an international, UN-backed group dedicated to increasing agricultural productivity (including ecosystem services and societal benefits) and incomes; adapting and building resilience; and reducing and removing greenhouse gas emissions expressed doubt that many climate activists truly comprehend the complexities of farming.

Its the nightmare of the good intentions of the activists who dont understand how the food supply system works, Kawamura said. They either cant understand or will not understand because it doesnt play with the people who pay them.

Eliminating manufactured fertilizers from the agriculture equation removes a tool to keep the system robust and when you start taking away tools it becomes challenging if not impractical to continue, Kawamura said.

With the worlds eight billionth person expected to be born in November, Kawamura strongly believes that protecting the capacity to feed people is paramount.

Abundance allows for choices, said Kawamura. It allows for organic farming, it allows for laboratory meat, it creates the space to innovate. But scarcity leads to mere state of survival, effectively closing off those avenues, he warned.

Kawamura added that a fertilizer ban would collapse the production curve in California within a few years of implementation.

As for the possibility of the enactment of severe restrictions, while Lehr believes California farmers are likely politically powerful enough (unlike Sri Lankan farmers) to forestall such a move, Kawamura is less sanguine.

The legislature and this governor do not appear to prioritize agriculture, Kawamura said. For years, farmers havent been negotiating (in Sacramento) to get more, but just to lose less.

The dream of an organic-only farming world is a chimera anyway, said Bjorn Lomborg, President of the Copenhagen Consensus (a group that acknowledge anthropogenic climate change but believes the approaches being currently taken to combat it are misguided) and Visiting Fellow at Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution.

Long simply a fashionable trend for the worlds 1%, environmental activists have increasingly peddled the beguiling idea that organic farming can solve hunger, Lomborg said. However, research conclusively shows that organic farming produces much less food than conventional farming per hectare. Moreover, organic farming requires farmers to rotate soil out of production for pasture, fallow or cover crops, reducing its effectiveness. In total, organic approaches produce between a quarter and half less food than conventional, scientific-driven agriculture.

Lomborg added that these facts not only makes organic food more expensive, but it means that organic farmers would need much more land to feed the same number of people as today possibly almost twice the area. Given that agriculture currently uses 40% of Earths ice-free land, switching to organics would mean destroying large swathes of nature for less effective production.

Should California take the path of most destruction and implement restrictions or even fertilizer bans, the social and economic impacts would be catastrophic and could hearken back to the conditions during the Great Depression of the 1930s except this time there wouldnt be any bread lines because there wouldnt be any bread.

The article has been updated to reflect legislative actions.

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From Sri Lanka to Salinas: Will California Learn Anything from Sri Lankas Green Apocalypse? - California Globe

The indigenous aesthetics of the Northeast are rooted in the recognition of their unique cultural identities and diversity. Taking inspiration from their rich tastes in cuisine, clothing and a vibrant natural setting, creatives from the area are now the leading aesthetes in the industry and are in many ways curating the modern aesthetic sensibilities of India.

These young minds are crafting an identity that is both relevant in a contemporary context while staying true to their cultural roots. Each one of them paints an appealing image of niche subcultures of their particular states; employing tools of social media to gain a wider reach and further propagate their dynamic culture.

The Northeast is diverse and its cultural expressions are unique across every state. Multiple different ethnicities make the region with the charms of their own separate identities. At every step of the way, one will encounter a new style of textiles or art. This vibrant display of multi-cultural artistry is what makes these young creatives truly captivating.

The seven sisters are a treasure trove of ethnic and folk-inspired aesthetics. The emerging image-makers, stylists, chefs and photographers from the land introduce us to clean, rich and fascinating projects gleaming with cultural pride. Here are seven artists on our radar, carving out a special place for their own separate Northeastern identities.

I. Thokchom Sony, Manipur

An artist from Manipur, Thokchom Sony paints vivid expressions of the tribes of the Northeast. He employs colourful techniques that present the natives with a grandiose charm that captivates the viewer at once! His distinct style plays with geometric expressions of the flora and fauna of the region with exaggerated poses and elaborate clothing choices.

Thokchom presents ethnic cultures with traditional and digital mediums of art. He keeps a youthful spirit alive throughout all his paintings and illustrations while playing with the silhouettes and textiles of the Northeast.

View their work here.

II. Menty Jamir, Nagaland

A freelance photographer from Nagaland, Menty Jamir, currently based in Delhi works around themes of intimacy and isolation where nature plays an integral character in the storytelling. As she derives a sense of calm from plants, the viewers are also transported to a state of serenity with her images.

The fluidity of her subjects, whether its models or natural setting, are evident through the passive depiction of motion in different imagery. She effortlessly captures landscapes, striking portraits, and intimate shots of objects that all personify a fluidity of movement.

View their work here.

III. Kristi Kikon M, Nagaland

A food blogger from Dimapur, Nagaland, Kristi Kikon is a homemaker who curates special food recipes for YouTube and Instagram. Her content has a cosy and homely vibe associated with Indian cooking. As someone who loves experimenting with different ingredients, she favours Naga food for its authenticity and simple presentation.

She has two personal favourite Naga recipes. The first is a smoked pork cooked according to her grandmothers recipe in fermented dry fish, red chilli powder, tomatoes, and dried taro stems. The second is Rosep, a traditional dish of the Ao Naga Tribe of Nagaland thats made of mixed vegetables, dry fish and bamboo.

View their work here.

IV. Dhana Maibram, Manipur

A freelance artist from Manipur, Dhana Maibram is a young artist and photographer employing a range of artistic expressions; capturing the mundane through street photography while creating combinations of bold and surreal styles through studio photography.

Dhana plays with both minimalism and maximalism through their imagery; juxtaposing vibrant colours, contrasts as well as earthy tones. Their intimate shots also reveal the range of the human experience through close-ups of expressions.

View their work here.

V. Aien Jamir- Nagaland

A fashion content creator from Nagaland, Aein Jamir has been curating content and visuals to celebrate all things beautiful in the most sublime manner. Her style is an ode to all the places, experiences and people shes encountered in her life.

The young creative works with traditional textiles as well as high end brands to cultivate a vibrant and diverse following. There is a sense of authenticity in each image that captives the viewer while maintaining the experimental nature of her choice of clothing.

View their work here.

VI. Angus Guite, Manipur

An image-maker originally from Southern Manipur, Angus is currently based in Delhi. The photographer and visual artist delves into nostalgia and his body of work revolves around the exploration of memories from his childhood and hometown including folktales passed down from his grandmother and the search for a certain place, which may lie somewhere even further beyond.

Angus is a self-taught photographer and his inspiration is autobiographical, focusing on his coming of age and a search for a home and an identity.

View their work here.

VII. Dennis Hauzel, Manipur

Fashion stylist Dennis Hauzel from Lamka, Manipur works with playful prints and thrifted pieces. The young artist brings a range of stylistic expressions in their work using colour blocking as well as minimalism to curate a captivating visual story. The creative has a way with colours, complimenting their shades with statement pieces and jewellery.

Nature often plays an integral part in the imagery and their love for natural surroundings also is evident in their curated Instagram shop, Bygone Echoes where they work with upcycled and vintage pieces.

View their work here.

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Northeastern Creatives Bringing Their Art & Identities Into The Cultural Zeitgeist - Homegrown

From the underground to the Ultra mainstage, thefuture rave genre is sinking its teeth into the electronic music zeitgeist.

We recently sat down with MORTEN in Miami, where the Danish dance music star and future rave flag-bearer opened up in an intimate interview before appearing onstage at Ultra Music Festival with his parter-in-crime, David Guetta.

In many ways, future rave is emblematic of the euphoric ethos of the return of electronic music in Miami after a brutal pandemic. Bridging the gap between dark techno and soaring progressive house music, the genre has inspired a post-electro wave of hungry music producers.

"I think it's limitless," MORTEN said when we asked how big the future rave movement could become.

MORTEN chats with EDM.com live at Ultra Music Festival 2022 in Miami.

Danny Drew/EDM.com

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Before future rave mushroomed into a bona fide movement, it started out as an idea for a solution. Jaded by the trite "3, 2, 1, jump" mentality of electronic dance music, MORTEN says he and Guetta set out to reshape the frame of mind surrounding that trend, which was tough to escape if you frequented the mainstage at virtually any festival.

Driven by his passion for DJing rather than stream counts, MORTEN has confidence that future rave can redefine the way artists approach their DJ sets, which he believes need to connect with ravers on a more visceral level.

"For us, future rave needs to be a sound that keeps developing," he explained. "It needs to be the leading sound in mainstage music. We want to be inspired by others and we want to inspire people. But most importantly, we want to make music we love."

You can watch MORTEN'S full EDM.com interview live from Ultra below.

Facebook: facebook.com/MORTENofficialInstagram: instagram.com/mortenofficialTwitter: twitter.com/mortenofficialSpotify: spoti.fi/3jd5rt8

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"I Think It's Limitless": MORTEN On the Volcanic Potential of the Future Rave Movement - EDM.com

Todd Heywood

Chipotle employees in Delta Township are worried they will be out of work after they approved unionizing the store last week, one organizer said.

It seems clear to us that Chipotle could close the store, Atulya Dora-Laskey said. And if that happens, a lot of us are just going to kind of keep fighting, either in a different Chipotle workplace or in a different workplace altogether.

A spokesperson for Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. denied there was any plan to shut down the west Lansing store the first Chipotle in the nation to be unionized. Chipotle has over 3,000.

Dora-Larkey, 23, was one of 11 workers who voted Thursday night to join the Teamsters in order to gain collective bargaining. Three employees voted no. The employees will be represented by the Teamsters Local 243.

Chipotle shuttered the store in Augusta, Maine, at the same time it was facing unionization. The company had challenged a union election, and the National Labor Relations Board had scheduled a hearing to listen to that challenge. The company closed the store, claiming it was the result of staffing issues.

Closing the Chipotle restaurant in Augusta, Maine, had nothing to do with union activity, Erin Wolford, a spokesperson for the company, said in an email. Our operational management reviewed this situation as it would any other restaurant with these unique staffing challenges. Chipotle respects our employees rights to organize under the National Labor Relations Act.

Just like in Augusta, workers in Delta Township organized in part because the store was chronically understaffed, Dora-Laskey said.

We have had a night shift, around the dinner hour at peak, where we are trying to run the store with one manager and three crew members, he said. And it is untenable. But Chipotle doesn't mind if we're super stressed out, because for them, they make close to the same amount of money. And we ask individually for them to schedule more people on these shifts, and to use more labor hours. Of course, the answer was no. But we know that collectively, if we all ask, they have to take these much more seriously.

As the employees met quietly outside of the restaurant to organize, they prepared by researching the issues related to unionization, obstacles they might face and which union was the best choice. Dora-Laskey said the entire process was explicitly democratic, giving voice to everyone so that consensus was reached regularly.

But once paperwork was filed with the NLRB, Chipotle turned up the heat on the employees. Dora-Laskey said management from other stores were brought into the store, hitting a 2-to-1 ratio over employees. He said the goal was often to prevent employees from congregating and talking. He called it oppressive.

The company also brought in a consultant to discuss unions with the employees, Dora-Laskey said. It became apparent quickly that the consultant who was claiming to present unbiased information about unionization was presenting anti-union information. That included a one-page document claiming that only 4% of employees were unionized. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 10.3% of American workers are in unions.

But organizers had inoculated employees on this talking point.

We were able to, before they even brought out the sort of graph, the declining union membership, we had talked about in meetings, about how the declining union membership has resulted in really skyrocketing income inequality, Dora-Laskey said. And it makes sense, because if workers are having this individual relationship with their employers, they're a lot easier to be taken advantage of, or dismissed, or ignored, if they ask for too much money.

Dora-Laskey said the union is part of a larger, national movement by younger workers, mostly in entry-level jobs like fast food and delivery, to find value from their employers for their work.

An August 2022 poll from Gallup found 71% of Americans support unions, the highest approval rating since 1968. It also found that 40% of those in a union found their membership extremely important.

This year has seen a movement to unionize several significant workplaces such as Google, Amazon, Stabucks and Apple.

Despite an adversarial relationship, over 200 Starbucks have voted to unionize over the last year. JFK8, the Amazon on Staten Island, voted for unionization earlier this year. Amazon is challenging the validity of that vote. It spent $4 million in required anti-union meetings, according to CBS.

In an emailed statement, Chipotle executive Laurie Schalow said the corporation was disappointed in the vote.

At Chipotle, our employees are our greatest asset, and we are committed to listening to their needs and continuing to improve upon their workplace experience, the statement reads. Were disappointed that the employees at our Lansing, MI restaurant chose to have a third party speak on their behalf because we continue to believe that working directly together is best for our employees.

The statement went on to tout the benefits of employment at Chipotle, claiming workers can climb the chain of command to management within three and half years, and begin receiving a total benefits package of approximately $100,000.

Ruth Milkman, a labor expert and professor at the City University of New York, told CBS News the money from employment is not the key to the union battles in the country right.

"What's different, I think, is the zeitgeist, especially (among) young workers who've lived through a lot of turmoil," Milkman told CBS News in April. Her observations echo those of Dora-Laskey. "They have these high expectations for what their work life is supposed to be about. And then, they can't afford the rents. They might have a lot of student debt. They end up living with their parents. I mean, this is not what they were promised.

Milkman said the COVID pandemics other impact has been the labor shortage. People have retired or exited the economy, leaving a giant hole in employment. That, she said, is good for workers right now.

"The pandemic also created a labor shortage, which gave people more leverage, and made them less fearful of organizing," she said. "Unions are cool again for this generation."

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Chipotle workers in Lansing fear closure after union vote: Delta Twp. location first in the nation to be unionized - City Pulse

The Herald

@Jamwanda2 on Saturday

A crossroads

ASKED what he wanted his novel to be, the 1947 French Literature Nobel Laureate, Andre Paul Guillaume Gide, answered with characteristic wit and philosophical tinge: A crossroads a rendezvous of problems!

Threats from MAGAs

United States President Joe Biden is in campaign mode. The other day he was lashing out at MAGAs whom he accused of putting Americas self-vaunted democratic soul in jeopardy.

Americans are notorious for acronyms including coining many from banalities. Donald Trump won and lost elections on the banal mantra of making America great again.

Out of that unimaginative mantra was born MAGA, which Biden now blames for imperilling American democracy.

Before this stunning claim by the Chief Executive Officer of America, one Republican had warned that forcing Trump to appear in court on any charges would plunge America into civil war.

The prediction was quite dire, and a clear indication that Trump, whose nominees are winning primaries, has a support base broadly cross-cutting enough to create generalised instability.

It got me to wonder if this is not what is behind ardent attempts by the Biden Administration to arraign Trump, hoping that would disqualify him from running for office.

When the global model collapses

Over a century, America has prided itself as the shibboleth or touchstone of democracy.

This has gone beyond mere pride. American democracy has become a forcible export to the rest of the lesser world.

Any departure from it is automatically indictable or, worse a causa belli reason for war.

We in Zimbabwe are no stranger to this American high-handed haughtiness. Americas ZIDERA uses the pretext of democracy its democracy to mask her aggression against us, all of it triggered by our subsoil assets which it covets.

Imploding America

With America and Americans themselves questioning the viability of their democracy for it and themselves respectively, I am sure the world is slowly becoming a safer place.

Amidst self-doubt, and against an introspective imbroglio, there is no way America is in a position to package and ship broad its pernicious commodity its example!

And with so much happening at home whose unwholesome sum for America of course! is raising serious questions against its values, the rest of the world can easily give a sharp retort to its pretences for nonpareil democratic standards.

End of history

Of course the biggest beneficiary of an America in self-doubt and at war with itself is Putins Russia, and Xis China.

The burden of developing an antipodal ideological standpoint to that of mighty America becomes lighter: American democracy is being derided at home, and by its own people.

And going by the statement of President Joe Biden, it is no longer assured of self-reproduction, meaning history has come to an end, to use Fukuyamas favourite but now useless phrase.

Pasting illness on Putin

Which takes me to a related point. I notice the Western media is donating all sorts of maladies and ailments to President Putin of Russia.

As I write this piece, the Daily Mail reports that Putins leg shook savagely as he addressed Russian school kids on the special operation in Ukraine.

Of course I am used to this black propaganda by the white world. I suffered it during the term of our founding President here.

The Western media never ran out of maladies to give him.

But I got to know that this is the Wests back-handed tribute to a sturdy opponent they cannot overrun.

It turns to prayers so the heavens can join in the fight through all manner of maladies so the West is rid of its intractable opponent. Long live President Putin.

Rendezvous of problems

The Gokwe Kabuyuni by-election came and went. Triple C got quite some thrashing. The result went deeper in terms of portents: it indicated a movement in mortal decline, at a time when its opponent the ruling Zanu-PF continues to defy gravity.

As if that was not bad enough, Triple C does not hesitate to do further harm to itself, including digging deeper after it has hit the bottom.

Formless, structureless, hierarchy-free, endogenous value-free and worse leaderless, it has become Gides rendezvous of problems, in spite of itself.

A party in atrophy

Leaderlessness in politics shows by way of many situation figures popping up, and of course by way of many messages for which there is neither reason of rhyme.

That is Triple C at the moment. Even political upstarts like Hopewell Chinono fancy themselves in the driving seat, indefatigably dishing out expletives they confuse for directional policy.

In sum, the whole movement has been pimping for grievances and national slights from friend and foe, hoping to patch up a cause for elusive cohesion.

Inorganic and therefore inchoate, the only organic thing about Triple C is the palpable sense of despair and dispiritedness within its warring ranks.

This is very good news for national politics.

No sorrows, no dirge

Generally funerals are spectacles of sorrow, particularly when the departed was dear.

Triple C struggles to elicit any modicum of sympathy.

It is not of this earth, having been bred abroad. Its value-system if any it has is anti-people, anti-nation; pro-foreigners and pro-imperialism.

It deserves no dirge; only triumphant laughter following the demise and irrevocable departure of something so baneful.

The point is better made when one contrasts woes of Triple C with those of the African National Congress, ANC.

Close to its nadir, we all worry that a vanguard movement of the South African black underdog is threatened, both from within and from without.

There is a real risk of a watered-down outcome, come the next polls. It never too good when erstwhile forces of apartheid rally back so strongly, against brooding malaise that afflicts a fellow liberation movement, the oldest on the Continent, and thus a trope of African resistance.

When the glue fails

My deepest worry is not ANCs organisational status; the liberation movement can always improve its appeal and step back from the brink.

What worries me is the gradually disintegration of the very glue that held it and the masses together, namely the pan-African, anti-Apartheid and anti-imperialism for which its retinue of iconic founders were famed.

Even more worrisome is that this assault on its founding glue is both from without and from within.

Here is how. ANCs opposition has been playing the anti-African card of xenophobia.

I never call it an anti-foreigner card because foreigners who are white or off-black go about unmolested.

The xenophobia is anti-African, strictly. That is not necessarily tragic.

Gold rusts like iron

The tragedy comes about when gold apes iron in rusting.

Unable to reformulate its electoral agenda in the face of opposition-inspired xenophobia, the ANC has now elected to ape that degraded ideology, thus toppling itself from the lofty plinth of a liberation movement.

How sad!

There is a deeper and even sinister side to the whole thing. When imperialism targets a country, the goal is not to capture a political party, necessarily, usually an opposition party.

Many wrongly think that is the goal. Imperialism invents opposition in targeted countries not so much to capture power, desirable though that may be.

It invents opposition in order to instrumentalise it in changing the political ethos of a target society.

This is a game of numbers; of critical mass. Once that is achieved, then a new zeitgeist forms, which changes the politics of a people, a nation forever.

What a better way to do this than to get a ruling party to succumb to messages of a sponsored opposition!

That for me is the tragedy unfurling in South Africa.

Unlike Zanu-PF in 2008

Imagine Zanu-PF in 2008 swaying itself towards the predilections of Tsvangirais MDC and the Mujuru-led internal wing within its own structures?

That would have been the end of the Zimbabwe Struggle. Which is to say, the beginning of the return to Rhodesia recast!

In terms of national politics and national vision, the tragedy is not when an opposition rises or declines; it is when a ruling party apes the ethos engendered by a foreign-sponsored opposition!

Imagine donkeys leaving their braying ways for a cows moo!

I am out to donkey world.

Go here to read the rest:

@Jamwanda2 on Saturday: Triple C: Rendezvous of problems! - The Herald