A really hot topic at the moment I'm fucked up with is the important frequency of suicides in jail since January 2009.
I think you heard about this without looking for informations about jail, but on our radio, sometimes, we hear it and we don't know anything else about it. Nobody explain the reason, the context... So people continue to not have interest about what is succeeding in jail. But If we want jail change, we have to demonstrate our interest and show that we are not bored with what happen everyday in our jail.
In jail, suicides used to be 6,4 time higher than in general population, but we are in a context of increase of twenty percent of suicides : since the beginning of the year, 13 persons commit suicide.
The problem is that the government doesn't want to admit that this increase is in link with conditions of life very hard to support.
Some of you would think that it's not a big problem : they all are criminal so if they commit suicide, they make some space! We hear that jail are overloaded, this is the solution!
I'm sorry to tell you that I don't agree with this point of view! I want to reflect about the jail's function : what is the goal of an imprisonment? If the death penalty has been abolished (in 1981 for the one's who didn't remember!) why prisoners would die in jail?
The main problem of our jail (in France) are the conditions of life : prisoners live in 9m² in one, two, three, and four sometimes. On one hand, lack of privacy, hygiene, people with they don't agree with... And on the other hand, relationship with guards who don't always respect them...
There would be lot of things to say about this, but I'm not able to talk about this in English (sorry!) and I think you know how can be the situation in jail, so I will limit my comments about suicides. But in fact it's hard to talk about that without talking about the context in jail because it help to understand why people want to commit suicide.
Some organizations as l' Observatoire International des Prisons want the government recognizes that this increase of suicides in jail is in link with the conditions we can qualify as dehumanizing : France is the European country where the suicides in jail are higher.
But we can read : " Le taux élevé de suicide en milieu pénitentiaire ne saurait refléter une prétendue dégradation des conditions de détention ou encore constituer une mesure objective du mal-être en prison, notamment en raison de la dimension essentiellement individuelle des actes suicidaires. Aucune corrélation n'a pu être établie entre les conditions d'incarcération et le taux de suicides." (ministère de la justice, 2004)
Also if the governement makes as a priority prevention of suicides, it doesn't take into account conditions of imprisonment! Furthermore, solutions suggested by the OIP are remained without answer : the governement refuses to consider people who work in jail and who know what would be good or no to reduce the suicides rate.
It also plans to educate better penitenciary employees and identify better people who could present a risk of suicide.
To conclude, we can imagine that jail must change to avoid suicides, and we know that the governement doesn't want that because the public opinion used to think that criminal have to remain in jail which makes them better : but people don't understant that it's not the quantity, it's the quality of imprisonment which is important!
vendredi 27 février 2009
dimanche 15 février 2009
Good Old Ministers...
Since a few months, we can observe how some of our Ministers are dealing with their tasks.
After the disastrous reforms of secondary school made by our Minister of Education, Mr Xavier DARCOS and the collapse of the statutory order (decree) modifying the status of university professors-researchers managed by Mrs Valérie PECRESSE, Minister of Higher Education and Research, it's time for Mr Yves JEGO, Overseas Territory Secretrary of State, to shine with is incapability of dealing with a global strike in Guadeloupe !
Today Matigon is facing a repetition of mistakes and has found judicious to name some mediators who are in fact " crisis managers" to trying to help overwhelmed Ministers and to find solutions to the crises.
After Mr DARCOS' speech on the will of the governement to reform a part of the secondary education's system, the demonstrations of secondary school pupils were so important that the Minister postponed his reform for 2010. In this way, he was helped by Mr Richard DESCOINGS, the director of Sciences Po Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies). However Mr DARCOS does not lose face telling he designed Mr DESCOINGS to assist him.
Mrs PECRESSE, also in great difficulty with the professor's strike and unable to negociate, has also named an "indepedant mediator", Mrs Claire BAZY-MALAURIE. Her work is to re-build the decree modifying the university professor's status instead of throwing it in the bin and think about an other way to reform French Universities.
At last it is Mr. JEGO with an exceptionnal failure in the way he dealt with the global strike in Guadeloupe island which started on the 20th January. First of all he landed on the island twelve days after the beginning of the strike and escaped on the quiet from it five days later, realizing he was unable in finding out a way out of the crisis. So Mr JEGO is now seconded by not only one but two mediators with the responsabilities of correcting mistakes and negociating.
And now a little bonus...Mr Bernard LAPORTE our former Sports and Youth Secretary of State (yes that's really what he was) is now dispossessed by Mr SARKOZY of the "sector" Youth of his Secretary of State. The main reason for this decision is an absence of Mr LAPORTE in the political scene and the sanction is not the intervention of a mediator but a dispossession. Mr Martin HIRSCH, the High Commisioner in the field of solidarities, wins a new task : dealing with Youth in France. But when looking at the work of Mr LAPORTE we can easily find out that it is not a big loss for us (Could you give at least one important work he made ?).
Well, what can we say apart from : Who's next ?
After the disastrous reforms of secondary school made by our Minister of Education, Mr Xavier DARCOS and the collapse of the statutory order (decree) modifying the status of university professors-researchers managed by Mrs Valérie PECRESSE, Minister of Higher Education and Research, it's time for Mr Yves JEGO, Overseas Territory Secretrary of State, to shine with is incapability of dealing with a global strike in Guadeloupe !
Today Matigon is facing a repetition of mistakes and has found judicious to name some mediators who are in fact " crisis managers" to trying to help overwhelmed Ministers and to find solutions to the crises.
After Mr DARCOS' speech on the will of the governement to reform a part of the secondary education's system, the demonstrations of secondary school pupils were so important that the Minister postponed his reform for 2010. In this way, he was helped by Mr Richard DESCOINGS, the director of Sciences Po Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies). However Mr DARCOS does not lose face telling he designed Mr DESCOINGS to assist him.
Mrs PECRESSE, also in great difficulty with the professor's strike and unable to negociate, has also named an "indepedant mediator", Mrs Claire BAZY-MALAURIE. Her work is to re-build the decree modifying the university professor's status instead of throwing it in the bin and think about an other way to reform French Universities.
At last it is Mr. JEGO with an exceptionnal failure in the way he dealt with the global strike in Guadeloupe island which started on the 20th January. First of all he landed on the island twelve days after the beginning of the strike and escaped on the quiet from it five days later, realizing he was unable in finding out a way out of the crisis. So Mr JEGO is now seconded by not only one but two mediators with the responsabilities of correcting mistakes and negociating.
And now a little bonus...Mr Bernard LAPORTE our former Sports and Youth Secretary of State (yes that's really what he was) is now dispossessed by Mr SARKOZY of the "sector" Youth of his Secretary of State. The main reason for this decision is an absence of Mr LAPORTE in the political scene and the sanction is not the intervention of a mediator but a dispossession. Mr Martin HIRSCH, the High Commisioner in the field of solidarities, wins a new task : dealing with Youth in France. But when looking at the work of Mr LAPORTE we can easily find out that it is not a big loss for us (Could you give at least one important work he made ?).
Well, what can we say apart from : Who's next ?
War in Gaza
In this second post, I would like to reflect with you about the situation in Palestine and about the impunity of Israel. And I also want to make people reflect about our responsibility as citizens.
I went to a debate-conference about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and I heard some accounts from people who went in Gaza during the war and during the truce. These people were : one member of European parliament, one reporter at the newspaper "l'Humanité" and one doctor who went with others Europeans doctors to Gaza.
They told us what they saw in Gaza : people without houses, children alone because their family was dead under bombs... But they all were surprised by the courage and the desire to live of Palestinian.
The main problem of this conflict, is that Israel is colonizing the Palestine since 1948 and doesn't recognize it as a country, Israel is the fourth military strength in the world and nicknamed the "fifty-first state of the USA". So we understand that there is an unsteadiness between the two parts : USA and Europe are supported Israel in this conflict.
Israel told that he wanted to fight the Hamas but these people I saw (they are not the only) described how Israel uses some weapons and a strategy to murder Palestinian, innocents people : they use some weapons witch are made with phosphorus (they burn for 48 hours) and fragmentation bombs, when they explode, they scat lot of piece of steel and even if people are touched on their arm, these piece make lot of damage into the body. These weapons are made to murder most of people as it's possible.
Do you remember when Isreli soldiers ask to people to go in a house and after they put bombs on the same house, murdering 30 persons?
We understand that is not a war against the Hamas but a war against Palestinian.
Even if the UN ask to Israel to stop the war and accuse it of violation of the human rights, This nation doesn't mind and doesn't want to give the name of the generals who could have killed people even though it was not necessary.
Today, The human rights council of the UN is going to send a mission to investigate in Gaza about all the violations of international right. But we can be afraid that they won't find anything to accuse Israel...
The question here is how can we act to show that we don't support this war (witch is stopped now but we know it could start again)? Some associations (for example the Association France Palestine Solidarite, AFPS) want town hall of Lille make some acts of solidarity with Palestinian like put the Palestinian flag on the town hall or build an house of information about the Palestine...
What do you thing about that? Are you agree or not with my point of view?
I went to a debate-conference about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and I heard some accounts from people who went in Gaza during the war and during the truce. These people were : one member of European parliament, one reporter at the newspaper "l'Humanité" and one doctor who went with others Europeans doctors to Gaza.
They told us what they saw in Gaza : people without houses, children alone because their family was dead under bombs... But they all were surprised by the courage and the desire to live of Palestinian.
The main problem of this conflict, is that Israel is colonizing the Palestine since 1948 and doesn't recognize it as a country, Israel is the fourth military strength in the world and nicknamed the "fifty-first state of the USA". So we understand that there is an unsteadiness between the two parts : USA and Europe are supported Israel in this conflict.
Israel told that he wanted to fight the Hamas but these people I saw (they are not the only) described how Israel uses some weapons and a strategy to murder Palestinian, innocents people : they use some weapons witch are made with phosphorus (they burn for 48 hours) and fragmentation bombs, when they explode, they scat lot of piece of steel and even if people are touched on their arm, these piece make lot of damage into the body. These weapons are made to murder most of people as it's possible.
Do you remember when Isreli soldiers ask to people to go in a house and after they put bombs on the same house, murdering 30 persons?
We understand that is not a war against the Hamas but a war against Palestinian.
Even if the UN ask to Israel to stop the war and accuse it of violation of the human rights, This nation doesn't mind and doesn't want to give the name of the generals who could have killed people even though it was not necessary.
Today, The human rights council of the UN is going to send a mission to investigate in Gaza about all the violations of international right. But we can be afraid that they won't find anything to accuse Israel...
The question here is how can we act to show that we don't support this war (witch is stopped now but we know it could start again)? Some associations (for example the Association France Palestine Solidarite, AFPS) want town hall of Lille make some acts of solidarity with Palestinian like put the Palestinian flag on the town hall or build an house of information about the Palestine...
What do you thing about that? Are you agree or not with my point of view?
jeudi 5 février 2009
Downshifting VS Malthusianism.
As our planet looks more and more like a dump, some people have decided to react to the overconsumption phenomenon and to start exploring other ways to save our planet. This article is about two alternatives to the destruction of our planet.
One of them is the downshifting way of life, the other is the malthusianist theory applied to environmental issues.
Downshifting or Downsizing.
(This is not an exhaustive summary of the downsizing way of life, but just a glimpse of what it can be...)
Downshifting or downsizing (both words have the same meaning), is not a new phenomenon. Far from it. It is a concept that goes way back in time, but that is now starting to spread out a little in the occidental world (in France it is known as "décroissance", in Canada as "simplicité volontaire"). Media finally look at them not as marginals but more as precursors.
In the whole environment frenzy, it is about time people look up to Downshifters instead of looking down at them.
Their point of view is simple, and goes from an obvious fact : economic growth cannot continue eternally. Downsizers think that the accumulation of goods is not a way to improve one's wellness and everyday life. On the contrary, when living in a world of frenetic consumption, you just forget who you are, who the ones you love are, and who the others are.
The whole thing is about taking time. Take time to live, take time to be who you are and who you want to be. Start living a simpler, healthier life and reduce your own impact on the environment.
In the beginning is a principle : less-is-more. As you reduce your consumption of various goods, you reduce your impact on the environment. Downshifters do their best to be as environment-friendly as they can. It is about recycling, thinking of others and thinking of oneself.
For those living in the countryside, it might be a little easier : starting to grow your own vegetables, organically, use only what you need in water, start thinking renewable energy such as solar power cells, stop throwing whatever you can in the trash can, all that is biodegradable is used for composting and then fertilizing crops, etc.
I've put up a short video which shows what the life of downsizers in the country can be. It was found on youtube, and deals with a bunch of Italian downsizers. Watch, enjoy and feel free to leave a comment if you feel so.
Saying that it is easier to be a downsizer in the country, doesn't mean it is not possible to start being one in the city.
Okay, growing artichokes, carrots and potatoes on your balcony (if you are lucky enough to have one) might be a little hard, but it might be time to think about something else to act for environment.
As an example, why not start with food and favour organic food instead of non-organic (unfortunately, organic food is still a little too expensive for my own means).
You can also start thinking about lowering your power consumption: using low energy light bulbs, turning off appliances you don't use instead of leaving them on standby.
As for water, you can take showers instead of filling the bathtub to the top.
Combining simple acts is already a move towards helping to lead a healthier, more environment friendly life. Lots of thing can be done to be less dependant on energy. Into the bargain, it is also a way to save some money.
As for myself, I cannot say that I am a downsizer, but that is something that I find really fascinating, as well as definitively tempting . Everybody knows the earth's resources are not eternal, and it is highly about time we reflect on alternatives to the way of living we have now.
I hope someday I can really start with being one, in the country, but at the moment I can only try to be as environment friendly as I can, in the city.
Malthusianism.
Malthusianism applied to the environmental issue is the alibi for my post (actually, what would a post in this blogg be if it wasn't to show something I find a little fucked up?..).
For those who wouldn't know what malthusianism is in the beginning, here is a short cut to the economical theory : Malthus thought, on the verge of the eighteenth and the nineteenth century, that there was a strong dichotomy between the growth of population, and the growth of food-supply. The first one grows in a geometric rate (i.e. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16), whereas the second one grows following an arithmetic rate (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc.). This dichotomy is the base of the malthusian theory, of which the main point was to help less the poor (and eventually encourage them to have less children) to stress less the government funds. But this is another story.
Today has the malthusian theory found an echo in a certain category of ecologists (and I even began to wonder if they really were ecologists). Their point is to encourage people to have less people to stress less the Earth's resources. Given that we are being more and more, and that our resources grows smaller and smaller, the idea would be to get people to have less babies. Babies are bad. Babies contaminate. Etc.
It is true that I would love to see less mothers pushing buggies equipped like they would soon be off to the Paris-Dakar. And I'm quite tired to see those mothers wander in the streets thinking that the entire side walk is theirs. And that I should make way for them.
And it is true that I would love to set up a trade market like the one about greenhouse effect gas existing since the Kyoto protocol in 1997 (and effective since 2005). I could trade my own children non-desire against some extra money.
Wouldn't that be heaven?
Seriously. My opinion about all that is that malthusianism doesn't really help to find new ways to save the earth, but more to find a way to slow down the disappearing of resources. It feels more like a way to preserve our way of living a little longer than to start something new, from scratch. As I regard it, it is only a disguised way to a conservative reflexion, or how to accuse the poor, who, of course have large families, to be the cause for all the trouble. Clever.
Here is an article I found on the internet that I thought relevant. From my point of view, of course.
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/malthus.htm
It gives an overview of the issue i tried to deal about.
Now I'd like to know what you think about all that. Agree? Disagree? Feel free to comment.
One of them is the downshifting way of life, the other is the malthusianist theory applied to environmental issues.
Downshifting or Downsizing.
(This is not an exhaustive summary of the downsizing way of life, but just a glimpse of what it can be...)
Downshifting or downsizing (both words have the same meaning), is not a new phenomenon. Far from it. It is a concept that goes way back in time, but that is now starting to spread out a little in the occidental world (in France it is known as "décroissance", in Canada as "simplicité volontaire"). Media finally look at them not as marginals but more as precursors.
In the whole environment frenzy, it is about time people look up to Downshifters instead of looking down at them.
Their point of view is simple, and goes from an obvious fact : economic growth cannot continue eternally. Downsizers think that the accumulation of goods is not a way to improve one's wellness and everyday life. On the contrary, when living in a world of frenetic consumption, you just forget who you are, who the ones you love are, and who the others are.
The whole thing is about taking time. Take time to live, take time to be who you are and who you want to be. Start living a simpler, healthier life and reduce your own impact on the environment.
In the beginning is a principle : less-is-more. As you reduce your consumption of various goods, you reduce your impact on the environment. Downshifters do their best to be as environment-friendly as they can. It is about recycling, thinking of others and thinking of oneself.
For those living in the countryside, it might be a little easier : starting to grow your own vegetables, organically, use only what you need in water, start thinking renewable energy such as solar power cells, stop throwing whatever you can in the trash can, all that is biodegradable is used for composting and then fertilizing crops, etc.
I've put up a short video which shows what the life of downsizers in the country can be. It was found on youtube, and deals with a bunch of Italian downsizers. Watch, enjoy and feel free to leave a comment if you feel so.
Saying that it is easier to be a downsizer in the country, doesn't mean it is not possible to start being one in the city.
Okay, growing artichokes, carrots and potatoes on your balcony (if you are lucky enough to have one) might be a little hard, but it might be time to think about something else to act for environment.
As an example, why not start with food and favour organic food instead of non-organic (unfortunately, organic food is still a little too expensive for my own means).
You can also start thinking about lowering your power consumption: using low energy light bulbs, turning off appliances you don't use instead of leaving them on standby.
As for water, you can take showers instead of filling the bathtub to the top.
Combining simple acts is already a move towards helping to lead a healthier, more environment friendly life. Lots of thing can be done to be less dependant on energy. Into the bargain, it is also a way to save some money.
As for myself, I cannot say that I am a downsizer, but that is something that I find really fascinating, as well as definitively tempting . Everybody knows the earth's resources are not eternal, and it is highly about time we reflect on alternatives to the way of living we have now.
I hope someday I can really start with being one, in the country, but at the moment I can only try to be as environment friendly as I can, in the city.
Malthusianism.
Malthusianism applied to the environmental issue is the alibi for my post (actually, what would a post in this blogg be if it wasn't to show something I find a little fucked up?..).
For those who wouldn't know what malthusianism is in the beginning, here is a short cut to the economical theory : Malthus thought, on the verge of the eighteenth and the nineteenth century, that there was a strong dichotomy between the growth of population, and the growth of food-supply. The first one grows in a geometric rate (i.e. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16), whereas the second one grows following an arithmetic rate (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc.). This dichotomy is the base of the malthusian theory, of which the main point was to help less the poor (and eventually encourage them to have less children) to stress less the government funds. But this is another story.
Today has the malthusian theory found an echo in a certain category of ecologists (and I even began to wonder if they really were ecologists). Their point is to encourage people to have less people to stress less the Earth's resources. Given that we are being more and more, and that our resources grows smaller and smaller, the idea would be to get people to have less babies. Babies are bad. Babies contaminate. Etc.
It is true that I would love to see less mothers pushing buggies equipped like they would soon be off to the Paris-Dakar. And I'm quite tired to see those mothers wander in the streets thinking that the entire side walk is theirs. And that I should make way for them.
And it is true that I would love to set up a trade market like the one about greenhouse effect gas existing since the Kyoto protocol in 1997 (and effective since 2005). I could trade my own children non-desire against some extra money.
Wouldn't that be heaven?
Seriously. My opinion about all that is that malthusianism doesn't really help to find new ways to save the earth, but more to find a way to slow down the disappearing of resources. It feels more like a way to preserve our way of living a little longer than to start something new, from scratch. As I regard it, it is only a disguised way to a conservative reflexion, or how to accuse the poor, who, of course have large families, to be the cause for all the trouble. Clever.
Here is an article I found on the internet that I thought relevant. From my point of view, of course.
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/malthus.htm
It gives an overview of the issue i tried to deal about.
Now I'd like to know what you think about all that. Agree? Disagree? Feel free to comment.
lundi 2 février 2009
BLACK THURSDAY
Thursday 29th January, a large national movement took place in Lille and in the whole France in order to protest against the government's way of doing politics and also the way he is trying to deeply change the France society with all the measures voted by the parliement. Indeed, most of French Trade Unions called their employees in National Train Company, from the Ministry of National Education and employees from public and private company... to strike on the 29th January 2009.
Their demands are :
You can find here an article from the Times, to have a view of Thursday's strike from abroad.
Here are some figures from the French newspaper Le Monde of the number of people in the streets :
As a student I feel concerned by some reforms of this government because they are directly changing the Education field in which I want to work in the near future. Competitive examinations rules are changed, for example you need to have a Master 1 today in order to be a teacher in secondary education but I think this only the first steps to deeper reforms in the way the State will recruit future teachers.
Many things can be said about those State measures but they are all leading to the establishment of a new French model which is good for the country as the government says...
Their demands are :
- to defend the public and private employment,
- to fight against precariousness, social and economical problems,
- to ask for some political measures guaranting a level of salary which is enough for employees, retired and students to afford the cost of life,
- to defend the National Health System,
- to improve the quality of Public Services which is necessary to answer to social needs and the lack of solidarity.
Here is a video of the demonstrations with two small subtitled interviews
You can find here an article from the Times, to have a view of Thursday's strike from abroad.
Here are some figures from the French newspaper Le Monde of the number of people in the streets :
- France : 1 million from police, 2,5 million from Trade Unions;
- Paris : 65 000 from police, 300 000 from Trade Unions;
- Lille : 26 000 from police, 35 000 from Trade Unions.
As a student I feel concerned by some reforms of this government because they are directly changing the Education field in which I want to work in the near future. Competitive examinations rules are changed, for example you need to have a Master 1 today in order to be a teacher in secondary education but I think this only the first steps to deeper reforms in the way the State will recruit future teachers.
Many things can be said about those State measures but they are all leading to the establishment of a new French model which is good for the country as the government says...
BUT IS CHANGING NECESSARILY POSITIVE ?
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