Il Pensiero Selvaggio

Gli elettrodomestici e le rose

2015-03-07T18:25:00.000+01:00

Secondo uno studio citato dal New Internationalist (http://newint.org/blog/2015/03/06/cook-stoves-asia/) le donne che utilizzano per cucinare utilizzano stufe tradizionali a legna impiegano in media 35 ore alla settimana per cucinare e procurarsi la legna. Tra l'altro, il fumo generato da queste stufe causa numerosi problemi di salute. Sarebbe sufficiente dotarle di stufe più avanzate, o addirittura di elettrodomestici, per liberare ed emancipare ore ed ore di tempo. Sgravando, oltre alle madri di famiglia, tutte quelle figlie chiamate prematuramente a rimanere ad aiutare in casa.

Certo, anche la modernizzazione avrebbe i suoi rovesci. Questo tempo dovrebbe essere liberato per che cosa, semplicemente per sradicare e immettere milioni di individui nel circuito della produzione? E se tutte le case di questo mondo, se tutti i forni elettrici e le lavatrici e i condizionatori del mondo si unissero, che ne sarebbe delle risorse del nostro pianeta?

Ma in molte società rurali il problema non si pone, almeno non per ora, perché l'acquisto di questo genere di bene spetta abitualmente ai mariti, restii a investire in questo genere di innovazioni. E poi c'è la cultura, le tradizioni, le aspettative di genere e di ruolo. Aspettative nemmeno troppo esotiche: si pensi al mito della casalinga e della donna di casa, che nasce o almeno si sviluppa in Europa proprio in concomitanza con il boom degli elettrodomestici e della meccanizzazione e con la società piccolo borghese (perché le donne del popolo, in fondo, hanno sempre dovuto lavorare doppio: in casa, e pure fuori). Che dovranno mai fare, queste donne, fuori?

Fatto sta che milioni di donne rimangono così confinate, la loro energia intrappolata, l'orizzonte ristretto alle immediate vicinanze del focolare. Ad anni luce dalle battaglie per l'autodeterminazione.

When schoolgirls dream of jihad, society has a problem (Guardian)

2014-10-16T19:30:00.000+02:00

Don’t underestimate the role of the burqa ban in turning teenagers into would-be militants. The influence of repressive and discriminatory legislation on vulnerable young minds should not be ruled out.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/03/schoolgirls-jihad-society-problem-france-burqa-ban

The abortition ministry of dr. Willie Parker (Esquire)

2014-10-14T19:30:00.000+02:00

In Mississippi, there is only one clinic where a woman can go if she needs an abortion. The state is trying to close it down. At that clinic, there is a doctor who tends to the needs of these women, and he has to fly in from out of state to do it. There is no shutting him down.

http://www.esquire.com/features/abortion-ministry-of-dr-willie-parker-0914?src=soc_fcbks

Obesity: Africa’s new crisis (Guardian)

2014-10-09T19:15:00.000+02:00

Fat is no longer just a developed world problem. Forget those tired old clichés beloved by the aid industry. Today more people in poorer countries go to bed each night having consumed too many calories than go to bed hungry.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/21/obesity-africas-new-crisis

Still stateless, still suffering: It’s time for European leaders to take action (Open Democracy)

2014-10-08T19:20:00.000+02:00

Life without a nationality means life in limbo. Statelessness is a man-made phenomenon which afflicts millions across the globe. It demands international attention.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/chris-nash/still-stateless-still-suffering-it%E2%80%99s-time-for-european-leaders-to-take-action

The Destruction of Mecca (New York Times)

2014-10-06T19:15:00.000+02:00

The dominant architectural site in the city is not the Sacred Mosque, where the Kaaba, the symbolic focus of Muslims everywhere, is. It is the obnoxious Makkah Royal Clock Tower hotel, which, at 1,972 feet, is among the world’s tallest buildings. The initial phase of Mecca’s destruction began in the mid-1970s. Innumerable ancient buildings, including the Bilal mosque, dating from the time of the Prophet Muhammad, were bulldozed. The old Ottoman houses, with their elegant mashrabiyas — latticework windows — and elaborately carved doors, were replaced with hideous modern ones. Within a few years, Mecca was transformed into a “modern” city with large multilane roads, spaghetti junctions, gaudy hotels and shopping malls.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/opinion/the-destruction-of-mecca.html?_r=1&referrer=

A 9-Year-Old at a Shooting Range, a Spraying Uzi and Outrage (NYT)

2014-09-19T19:00:00.000+02:00

The four-hour tours offered by one of the big gun ranges here are a popular tourist attraction. Starting at $200 a person, a bus will pick up visitors at their hotel in Las Vegas, 25 miles to the north, show them Hoover Dam and bring them to a recreational shooting range called Last Stop, where they can fire the weapons of their dreams: automatic machine guns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers. A hamburger lunch is included; a helicopter tour of the nearby Grand Canyon is optional.

But on Monday, one family’s adventure went horribly wrong.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/us/arizona-firing-range-instructor-killed-by-girl-9-in-accident.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=US_A9Y_20140827&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=2&referrer=

Why Did Crowd Flee Shanghai Subway After Foreigner Fainted? (NPR)

2014-09-17T19:00:00.000+02:00

"The prevailing ethical system in traditional China is based on close-knit community ties, kinship ties." Yan says in traditional, agrarian society, Chinese sharply divided people into two categories: those they knew and those they didn't. "A person might treat other people in the person's social group very, very nicely," he says. "But turn around, when facing to a stranger, and [a person might] tend to be very suspicious. And whenever possible, might take advantage of that stranger."

[...] but As more young Chinese are exposed to the world, Yan expects them to continue to adopt a newer, more modern notion: empathy.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/09/01/344033379/why-did-crowd-flee-shanghai-subway-after-foreigner-fainted?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20140901

Is Everyone a Little Bit Racist? (NYT)

2014-09-15T19:00:00.000+02:00

"Research in the last couple of decades suggests that the problem is not so much overt racists. Rather, the larger problem is a broad swath of people who consider themselves enlightened, who intellectually believe in racial equality, who deplore discrimination, yet who harbor unconscious attitudes that result in discriminatory policies and behavior".

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/opinion/nicholas-kristof-is-everyone-a-little-bit-racist.html?referrer=&_r=0

How much has the Ice Bucket Challenge achieved? (Bbc)

2014-09-02T18:30:00.000+02:00

From 29 July to 28 August this year ALS received $98.2m - compared with $2.7m donated during the same period last year.

From 1 August to 27 August this year, the ALS Wikipedia page had 2,717,754 views. This compared with the 1,662,842 people who had visited the page during the whole of the preceding 12 months, according to data company Dataviz.

Average daily visits to the ALS association website were about 17,500 before the ice bucket challenge, compared with the peak of 4.5 million visits on 20 August (of which 83% were new to the site). During the past month there have been about 30 million visitors in total.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29013707