NONGOVERNMENTAL POLITICS:Dilemas of Home improvement

NONGOVERNMENTAL POLITICS: Dilemas of Home improvement: Can Clean Energy Technology Mediate Civic Involvement in Climate Change.  (p. 368 by Noorje Marres)

Readings: Non-Governmental Politics / Nongovernmental Generation of International Treaties

This article speaks to access to knowledge issues, intellectual property rights, and the role of the UN in promoting/regulating these fields. It also goes on to describe the entanglement of political ideology with opinions on intellectual property rights.

These are important dialogues to have, especially in an increasingly informational world where small ideas can transform societies. Good questions to ask are: why do we need international regulation of intellectual property issues? Who would write these treaties and who would the regulations best serve? Is the notion of “property rights” a universal value?

These are questions that I had for myself, and I am glad that the author addressed our emotional relationship to property rights issues. This pushes people to think of their basic motives in establishing regulated global intellectual property rights, whether these motives are profit, power, or philosophically oriented.

Readings: Non-Governmental Politics / Civic Think Tank

This chapter talks about an organization in D.C. called Public Citizen’s Health Research Group that lobbies and pushes for legislation on The Hill. They advocate consumer rights via their expertise. The overarching goals are to change larger structures that promote ill industries instead of just changing one or two corporations. Because they work to change regulations, their work is largely non-partisan.

I am very interested in advocacy and lobbying groups in Washington, where private and public interests meet. How is one lobbying group able to speak on the behalf of an entire consumer base? What are the most effective methods of lobbying for health care issues this year, as we are probably going to see a change in the overall structure of the system?

Readings: Non-Governmental Politics / Nongovernmental Generation of International Treaties

This article speaks to access to knowledge issues, intellectual property rights, and the role of the UN in promoting/regulating these fields. It also goes on to describe the entanglement of political ideology with opinions on intellectual property rights.

These are important dialogues to have, especially in an increasingly informational world where small ideas can transform societies. Good questions to ask are: why do we need international regulation of intellectual property issues? Who would write these treaties and who would the regulations best serve? Is the notion of “property rights” a universal value?

These are questions that I had for myself, and I am glad that the author addressed our emotional relationship to property rights issues. This pushes people to think of their basic motives in establishing regulated global intellectual property rights, whether these motives are profit, power, or philosophically oriented.

Readings: Non-Governmental Politics / Civic Think Tank

This chapter talks about an organization in D.C. called Public Citizen’s Health Research Group that lobbies and pushes for legislation on The Hill. They advocate consumer rights via their expertise. The overarching goals are to change larger structures that promote ill industries instead of just changing one or two corporations. Because they work to change regulations, their work is largely non-partisan.

I am very interested in advocacy and lobbying groups in Washington, where private and public interests meet. How is one lobbying group able to speak on the behalf of an entire consumer base? What are the most effective methods of lobbying for health care issues this year, as we are probably going to see a change in the overall structure of the system?

Readings: The Governed in Politics

I just read the introductory essay, Michel Feher’s The Governed in Politics, partly because a friend in my PhD program told me that he didn’t really believe in nongovernmental politics, so I was hoping with this essay to get a better understanding of what they are (or aren’t if my friend is right.) Feher points out that the term covers a wide range of activity, and that some of the actors would certainly not recognize what they are doing as nongovernmental or political. What is our understanding(s) of the term and how it relates to what we’re doing and the world at large? It seems like we’ve talked about it in terms of specific groups and practices, but not so much as a larger unifying idea.

Readings: The Closing of American Society

What does is mean that, as LaMarche notes, many “liberals” have begun referring to themselves as “progressives?” Are Progressives now trusting to the popularity of their vision of/for the US (and marketing it)? Are we now at the beginning of a possible “opening” of American society and if so, what role(s) might artists play?
Many things I’ve read lately were written in the last few years of the Bush administration. This interview (and the concept of nongovernmental politics generally) resonates with Stephen Duncombe’s book Dream: Re-Imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy (I know, I’ve mentioned it a few times, sorry.) In this book, he calls on “mainstream liberals” to learn from the media success of more marginalized, spectacular activist groups – Billionaire’s for Bush & Reclaim the Streets, for example. This is similar to LaMarche’s complaint that liberals haven’t tended to trust in the popularity of their vision(s) and so don’t “package it for consumption” or present it boldly. Has what they were calling for recently come to pass? What has shifted?

LINKS: 090220/NYU Student Occupation & Protest

LINKS: 090220/NYU Student Occupation & Protest

Texts, reports, and images by students at:
http://politicalpoet.wordpress.com/2009/02/20/student-occupation-and-protest-at-nyu-411-photos-editorial/

OPPORTUNITY: 090316(Deadline)/Open Call/Local Farms-Local Art Exhibit

OPPORTUNITY: 090316(Deadline)/Open Call/Local Farms-Local Art Exhibit

For more information contact Mary Votta at Weaver Street Market

application form: Deadline: 5pm, Monday, March 16, 2009
DeaDline: Submissions must be at Weaver Street Market in Carrboro before 5 pm, Friday,
March 16, 2008. Please mail materials to:

Mary Votta c/o Weaver Street Market
437 Dimmocks Mill Road, Ste 10
Hillsborough, NC 27278

about this exhibit opportunity:

This is our second year presenting the Local Farms/Local Art Exhibit. It will
be displayed in Panzanella and the Hillsborough Weaver Street Market from April 5 through June 8, 2009.
While the Piedmont Farm Tour involves only farms within the Piedmont, the artwork may represent farm
subjects anywhere in North Carolina. Artists must currently reside in North Carolina. The submissions will be
reviewed by a screening panel of local art professionals. The artists whose work is selected will be contacted
to arrange for delivery of artwork. All artwork will be insured for the duration of the exhibit, in accordance
with Weaver Street Market policy. Panzanella is a part of the Weaver Street Market Cooperative, which is a
founding sponsor of the Piedmont Farm Tour.
enClose in a 10” x 13” envelope:
1. resume & artist statement: Resume should include arts-related background (previous training,
exhibitions, shows, etc.) Statement should be one to two paragraphs explaining the work submitted.
2. up to 10 images: Submitted images must show the pieces the artist wishes to exhibit. Digital images:
Save in jpeg format, 980 pixels by 1080 pixels, on CD with images numbered. Write name on CD.
If submitting slides: Write with permanent marker image number (to correspond with image script),
name, title. Indicate top of slide. Please submit slides in clear sleeves.
3. image script: Using numbers on slides or jpegs, list the title, medium, size and price for each work.
4. s.a.s.e.: Please include a self addressed stamped envelope with sufficient postage to return your slides
or CD, if you wish to have them returned. (No S.A.S.E. is necessary if you do not want your materials
returned.) Images of selected artwork may be used in publicity materials.
5. Completed application form (below)
6. application fee: Check or Money Order for $15 to submit up to 10 images. No cash or credit cards please.
Local Farms / Local Art

An Art Exhibit Celebrating the 14th Annual Piedmont Farm Tour
This spring, Panzanella and Weaver Street Market’s Hillsborough store will host a juried exhibit
to explore what North Carolina artists create when the inspiration is local farming. Selected
artists will be part of a 9-week exhibit of work based on NC farms. Farmers and their families,
crops, animals, landscapes, farm buildings and equipment are all possible subjects.