Environmental Injustice Case Study Sarnia, Ontario, July 2021
Notes on "Everyday Exposure"
-denial of environmental heath issues, blaming the sick
-box ticking ans cover up, red tape bureaucracy
-"sensing policy": embodied, place-based,relational, responsible
Safe Side Off the Fence
EfeCengizThe documentary is missing because the documentary is as safe as the fence it mocks in its title.
In the beginning we are asked to bear witness to the construction and use of the most devastation weapon of indiscriminate death the world has ever seen, and all the harm the construction of such a tool, yet its construction and its use is justified near instantaneously by repeating the same old propaganda.
In continuation, we are asked to bear witness to the continuous production of similar weapons and the devastation caused by the mishandling of the waste that accumulated in their production, yet why such a production took place is not only left unquestioned, but simple hints of cold war propaganda is left in their places for safekeeping.
In the end, we are asked to bear witness to a sombre victory, same spectres of patriotism and nation-of-God watching over our shoulder, yet how the pitiful situation of being forced to celebrate even such a small victory is never explored.
To sum up, we are shown people, good people, who struggle against the symptoms of a disease, yet this disease itself never named, nor challenged. It could not have been challenged, as it would force a complete change in their discourse.
If we sincerely would like to critique how the bodies of these workers were made disposable; used, harmed, dislocated and discharged as deemed necessary; if we wish to explore this topic as the necropolitical issue it is, we cannot stop halfway through. This inability to stop chasing connections, relationalities wherever it fits our ideology, is not a call for “objectivism”, it’s a call to respect the term of Anthropocene with all its rhizomatic connections.
An investigation of nuclear waste, that does not factor the use of its product, the socio-political effects of said product, and the historical conditions that even led to the possibility of producing it in such ways and such quantities, are of no use for us. It cannot penetrate the barrier of capitalist realism. If it could, at least a single mention of workers unions would have existed. Instead, it has confessionals by atomic weapons lawyers whose heart goes out to these workers.
An America that refuse to face up to the fact that it is what it is by the great necropolitical project it led for hundreds of years, I struggle to accumulate sympathy for, what I can easily accumulate is rage however, which this documentary is missing..
Wish the documentary would have at least attempted to say something radical, instead of praising these disposable bodies for being patriotic about it. There are lives who never had false fences built as idols for safety, the collective idols of old America, the patriotic nation under God were built upon their broken bodies, what would you ask of them?
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maryclare.crochiereNYC Dept of Correction,
Legal Aid Society,
Susi Vassallo - monitored temperatures on Rikers Island,
Rikers,
Hailey-Means, Freddie McGrier (both inmates)
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maryclare.crochiereThis policy addresses the issue of mental health, a prominent issue in today's medicine. It helps to evaluate treatment facilities, and defines that the burden of caring for young and middle-aged people is one of the states, where as those outside of the specified age range will be covered for mental disabilities by the national government.
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maryclare.crochiereMembership is contingent on each state depositing "the necessary legal instruments", and events are held in many different member states, to make educatiuon available all across the world. Those member states control the direction of the agency based on their needs and funding, so it is really self-run to a large degree. Correction to founding question: The IAEA was founded much earlier, in the 1950's to advance knowledge, safety, and peace associated with atomic and nuclear energy. The majority of the world is now involved.
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maryclare.crochiere"It is tempting for a medical social scientist to enumerate the cultural beliefs concerning thecause and workings of epilepsy, then compare these with beliefs in other societies. People of course reason about illness, and culture provides the logic of that rationality. I have resisted, however, focusing on the structure of reasoning. The transformation of these narratives and the modes of aesthetic response associated with stories into "beliefs" or "explanation" would be extremely misleading."
"I began this chapter with questions about the relation of "fainting" to "epilepsy" in Turkish culture provoked by Meliha Hanim' s stories about her illness. Through the course of our research it became clear that epilepsy belongs in popular discourse to the larger domain of "fainting." This should come as no surprise, not only because fainting is less stigmatizing than epilepsy in Turkish culture."
"Emine was silent. Her story was told exclusively by those around her."
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maryclare.crochiereMost of the argument is developed through the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) essays and reactions to the compilation. Laws, humanitarian efforts, and wars are also studied.