Sunday, February 7, 2010

Book Club Starting Soon

Hi everyone.

Long time no see. I'd like to invite anyone who's interested to join my bookclub. We're going to be reading a selection of literature about human trafficking. We'll be meeting once a month at the start, and will be reading a half a book or so per meeting if we can manage it.

We're going to be starting with Not For Sale by David Batstone.



Our first meeting will be at our place, on March 13 at 5:00. Want to come, or read along, send me a note!

A BIT ABOUT THE BOOK:

Award-winning journalist David Batstone reveals the story of a new generation of 21st century abolitionists and their heroic campaign to put an end to human bondage. In his accessible and inspiring book, Batstone carefully weaves the narratives of activists and those in bondage in a way that not only raises awareness of the modern-day slave trade, but also serves as a call to action.

With 2007 bringing the 200th anniversary of the climax of the 19th century abolitionist movement, the world pays tribute to great visionary figures such as William Wilberforce of the United Kingdom and American Frederick Douglass for their remarkable strides toward framing slavery as a moral issue that people of good conscience could not tolerate. This anniversary serves not only as a commemorative date for battles won against slavery, but also as a reminder that slavery and bondage still persist in the 21st century. An estimated 27 million people around the globe suffer in situations of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation from which they cannot free themselves. Trafficking in people has become increasingly transnational in scope and highly lucrative. After illegal drug sales and arms trafficking, human trafficking is today the third most profitable criminal activity in the world, generating $31 billion annually. As many as half of all those trafficked worldwide for sex and domestic slavery are children under 18 years of age.

Monday, February 1, 2010

What I am reading this week...

For one of my courses, Principles, Practices and Policy of International Community Economic Development (or PPP for short, because who ever wants to say that mouthful?), we are studying corruption as a hindrance to development. Our main reading is "Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations" by Ray Fisman and Ted Miguel. Based on in-depth and long-term research, it is written in everyday vernacular and reads in a couple days - or a couple more, if you're taking detailed notes ;)

The basic idea behind the book is that while most of us are textbook economic entities - rational beings who make choices based on logical decisions, not rash impulses - economic gangsters are those people who are unconstrained by scruples of conscience. Although all people are reduced to the rational calculus of survival when they are in desperate circumstances, wherein conscience is a "forgone luxury", economic gangsters are those who abuse of public office for private gain.

It's a great read if you're at all interested in the subject. It's quite entertaining, too, like when the authors measure corruption by the number of unpaid parking tickets by UN diplomats in New York City. Even though diplomats are not obligated to pay the tickets, tickets are still issued on their cars if they are parked illegally. Funny enough, although a lot of parking tickets are issued close to UN headquarters, there are also a vast number of tickets issued outside very high end restaurants and boutiques... hmm, interesting. Rest assured: although Canada did incur two or three tickets over the period studied (compared to hundreds and thousands from some other countries' diplomats) the tickets were paid with the utmost speed. Based on this measure, Canada is not a very corrupt nation :)

Here's one for the road, for lack of a better one. Apparently people find how I sleep in hotel beds funny, because this is the second time someone's taken a picture of the occurence. This one is from January in New Hampshire, taken by Charlie. What can I say, I love down pillows!