Category Archives: Voices

HOME
Voices

A “Re-oxygenating” Experience

November 8, 2012
By 19612

This week constituted a profoundly human experience, bringing together as it did musicians of different nationalities in a very particular context.

The encounter with these Japanese students was, for me, absolutely remarkable. In their way of listening, I felt and appreciated a profound respect both for us and for each other. Each musician was absolutely present, ready to give his very best and to work with determination. I was also struck by their remarkable and unusual sense of discipline. In France, we are used to orchestral rehearsals during which it is not infrequent to hear whisperings while the conductor speaks. Here, there was a wonderful silence and a capacity to respond immediately.

I loved the sincerity, the passion, the smiles, and the energy each of these young people brought to the project—despite the incredibly difficult context in which they have found themselves since March 2011. This week gave me valuable new perspectives on what now appear to be our “small problems” in France and our permanent state of dissatisfaction. It also warmed my heart to see young people who respect one another so deeply!

"sound painting"

I really enjoyed playing with all these musicians in the orchestra, and especially being able to work together on “sound painting.”¹ A beautiful exchange…

It’s hard to describe the depth of the impression of being “re-oxygenated” from within—simply by sitting next to a person, without necessarily speaking, but just feeling how he is living and breathing fully this present moment!

¹ In between orchestral rehearsals, “sound painting” workshops were held that called on musicians to improvise on the spot in response to sign language instructions from the conductor. This is a technique used in contemporary music that gives performers greater freedom of emotional expression and stimulates their imagination. Exposure to such experimental techniques was probably one of the highlights of the Michinoku project. A total of approximately 40 curious middle and high school students participated in two fun-filled and engaging workshops.

HOME
Voices

Sylff Winds Workshops and Concerts: An Exemplary Collaboration between Cultures

October 23, 2012
By 19673

Last April, when I first heard about the Tokyo Foundation’s project, Together in Tohoku Workshops and Concert, I was immediately interested. I had never been to Japan, and the simple thought of making the trip was most exciting. When I learned of the project’s scale, I was even more eager to participate, for such a combined artistic and humanitarian initiative resonates profoundly with my own vision of the artist’s role in society as a citizen-musician.

A year and a half ago, when I saw the tragic events experienced by the inhabitants of the Tohoku region, I felt extremely sad and helpless by the enormity of it all. I was frustrated not to be able to help and could only observe the horror unfold on my television screen. I saw a nation deploy all its energy and courage to try to save its citizens. The Sylff project in Tohoku, in which I was lucky enough to participate, provided me with an opportunity to act and contribute—at my own level—in playing a small part in rebuilding the devastated region.

From what I observed, working with 18 saxophonists within an overall group of a hundred musicians aged 13 to 22, I felt that the orientation of the Japanese students was significantly different from that of the French. The Japanese have very good ensemble techniques and excellent orchestral practice habits. My contribution was needed in the area of individual technique. The reverse would have been true in France. This can probably be explained by the difference between the two music education systems. The students had a wonderful spirit, and showed a great thirst to learn.

At the beginning of the week, I found my group very reserved and shy. But this didn’t last long! In the end, each one showed himself to be extremely open-minded and determined. At first, we “coaches” felt hindered by our ignorance of Japanese and by the paucity of translators and interpreters, but this soon gave way, and the magic of music’s universality allowed us to give several private lessons. Personally, I found the challenge of questioning my own teaching methods and ways of communing particularly rewarding. On the last day, to my great surprise, during the small reception given after the special concert in Suntory Hall, I realized that many of the students actually spoke a little English but had not dared say a word!

The experience of working with these young people, victims of the tragedy, was a profoundly moving and exciting one for me. Behind their apparent timidity, I met sensitive, generous, and thoughtful human beings. In fact, I discovered an entire culture during my week in Japan.

Visiting Ishinomaki was a highlight. Seeing this devastated city was a real shock. So many empty spaces in the middle of the city, formerly occupied by houses and buildings, in which grass was growing back; the numerous houses whose ground floors had been destroyed; the school whose blackened walls were destroyed by fire after being covered by the sea; and the incongruous everyday objects still dotting the landscape: They all bore testimony to the ravages of the tragedy.

The concert we performed in this city was both sad and inspiring, coming as it did following our tour of the city by bus. We saw members of the public, often with tears in their eyes, listening to us perform in a community center which had doubtless been used as a shelter. I hope we were able to transmit our sense of hope and caring.

The week in Japan also allowed me to meet Sylff fellows from Paris, New York, and Vienna and to share an experience of living in communion with people I did not know but with whom I shared common interests. I loved meeting the Sylff coordinators—such caring people—and all the extraordinary volunteers involved, including the translators and musicians. I really hope to stay in touch with the people involved in the project.

Following our Suntory Hall concert, David Panzl and I started developing a joint chamber project which should lead to further concerts in Europe. Thanks to Facebook, we have also been able to share pictures and to stay in touch with many of the students.

In the end, I believe I learned at least as much as the students we were there to coach. This experience has made a profound impact on me, and I think how lucky I was to be a part of it. I’d be delighted to participate in similar projects in the future! As students, we often travel—sometimes long distances—to reach teachers in academies or music courses. Here, it was the opposite, with “coaches” from different countries coming together to work with a group of students, to share know-how, and make music together. The presence of outstanding musical personalities, such as Keiko Abe, was also important. The precious moments we shared, in which the concept of distance become relative, struck me as being truly original. This collaboration between cultures will be, I hope, a precursor of future ones.

I would like to express my profound gratitude to the Sylff program, the Tokyo Foundation, the Paris Conservatoire, Juilliard, and Vienna, as well as all the many project partners.

HOME
Voices

Music and Hope for Tohoku: My Week with the Michinoku Wind Orchestra

October 11, 2012
By 19661

Uniting Tohoku with the World: The Sylff Chamber Ensemble and the “Power of Music”

There's no temple as great as Matsushima's Suigan Temple.
In front of it is the sea, and behind it a mountain called Komatsubara.
In Ishinomaki is the famous Mount Hiyori.

”Tairyo Utaikomi” (Fisherman's Song)
Folk Song of Miyagi Prefecture

Asked about the value of the arts, it can be hard to come up with an immediate or concrete answer. We cite studies that show that students engaged in art demonstrate improved linguistic or math skills or that it improves creativity, but these points only define the value of art as it influences other fields. Is there a value to art other than more commercial success in the future?

I think most people would say “yes,” but perhaps the difficulty of verbalizing art’s intrinsic benefits stems from its tendency to speak to the intangible or nonverbal elements of the human experience. The arts offer us a means of expression beyond words, and they can allow us to share ideas that transcend the limits of linguistic communication. As a composer and scholar, I am personally fascinated by the potential of art to communicate and explore these elements of life and humanity, and from 2011-2012 I received a Sylff (Sasakawa Young Leader's Fellowship Fund) Fellowship—a program administered by the Tokyo Foundation—in order to pursue my research in cross-cultural communication through music.

Music is uniquely situated as one of the most fundamentally abstract of the arts. There is no reason that a series of vibrations in the air at different rates and magnitudes should hold any meaning. Yet, humans have used music throughout recorded history to convey ideas for which words were insufficient, from the earliest songs praising our heroes and deities to symphonies glorifying individual triumph and Japanese folk songs expressing the beauty of a local area and the pride of the people.

It is no wonder, then, that Steven Verhelst’s “Song for Japan” has become so popular as a means for people all over the world to express their condolences to the victims of the Tohoku earthquake. This piece allows musicians a chance to share their overwhelming emotions where the words, “I’m so sorry for your loss,” seem to fall short. The piece expresses the sadness of loss and hope for the future that those of us living abroad wished to share with the people of Japan.

“Together in Tohoku” Project

Similarly, when I saw a notification in the Sylff Newsletter about the “Together in Tohoku” program, a series of music workshops for students who were victims of the disaster, I e-mailed the Tokyo Foundation to see if there was any way that I could be of assistance. The program involved outstanding young musicians from three Sylff music schools spending a week in Japan, coaching students in Miyagi (aged 12 to 18) and joining them onstage in Tokyo's Suntory Hall as the Michinoku Wind Orchestra. I was thrilled when I heard that I could lend my skills to these events as an amateur interpreter, helping in the communication between the students and the Sylff Chamber Ensemble.

Sylff Chamber Ensemble in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi prefecture

The musicians in this Sylff Chamber Ensemble included Merideth Hite (oboe), Moran Katz (clarinet), and Dean Bärli Nugent (flute) from the Julliard School in New York; Carl-Emmanuel Fisbach (saxophone), Dylan Corlay (bassoon), and Marie Collemare (horn) from the Conservatoire de Paris; and Panju Kim (trumpet), Dietmar Nigsch (trombone), and David Panzel (percussion) from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Perhaps the tangible benefits of the Sylff Chamber Ensemble's visit might seem insignificant compared to the needs of people who lost friends and family members or all of their material possessions, but this international musical collaboration will hopefully provide lessons, models, and memories that will support these students as they continue into adulthood.

How Do You Get to Suntory Hall? Practice!

Before the concert at Suntory Hall, the Sylff fellows worked closely with some 130 students from schools all over Miyagi Prefecture, offering private and group lessons and rehearsing together with them at the Izumi campus of Tohoku High School. For many students, these lessons were the first private instruction that they had ever received and were a unique opportunity for them to engage directly with masters of their instruments. These workshops ran from 9:30 am to 4 pm (with only a short break for lunch) for three consecutive days from August 13 to 15. These students, despite the demands of this rigorous schedule, their commute, and oppressive heat rose to the occasion through the kindness and support of the Sylff Fellows and Japanese faculty.

Click on the thumbnail below to view larger photo

As with any international exchange, there were cultural and linguistic miscommunications, but they were easily navigated as everyone shared the same fundamental goal of providing these students with the best possible experience. The Sylff Chamber Ensemble’s clear dedication to the students quickly broke down the barriers of language and shyness. Several of the fellows too, commented on how impressed they were by the students' efforts and willingness to perfect their performance.

By Wednesday, August 15, many of the students seemed genuinely heartbroken that their grueling rehearsal schedule had already come to an end, and I was inundated with students asking how to say, “I will never forget you” in English.

Performing in Ishinomaki

On Thursday, the Sylff Chamber Ensemble traveled to the coastal city of Ishinomaki to perform a mini-concert at a community salon. Ishinomaki has one of the most tragic stories of last year’s tsunami, with thousands of lives lost and several entire neighborhoods leveled. Now, a year and a half after the disaster, the town is rebuilding slowly but surely.

Click on the thumbnail below to view larger photo

Thursday afternoon’s mini-concert was an intimate affair, attended by between 50 and 70 local residents, many of whom were senior members of the Ishinomaki community, and the Sylff Chamber Ensemble’s performance of “Song for Japan” drew tears from many members of the crowd.

Before their performance, the Sylff fellows visited Sarukoya, a musical instrument shop in downtown Ishinomaki. Teruo Inoue, the owner, didn't have enough time to close the shutters before he fled on the day of the earthquake, and all 30 pianos on display were submerged in the tsunami. Inoue decided to keep the pianos, though, and works to restore them to concert-ready condition.

Teruo Inoue -the owner of musical instrument shop in Ishinomaki- and Sylff Chamber Ensemble members

Through a variety of ingenious techniques, he has already finished repairing one grand piano, which now travels across Japan for professional performances. The piano has become so popular that there were several bouquets of flowers in the store sent by various patrons. Inoue is currently restoring a second piano for a new middle school being built in Ishinomaki. He admitted that it would actually be much cheaper to buy a new piano than to repair those that were damaged, but he is working to restore them as symbols of renewal in ways that will be meaningful to the community.

Collaborative and Unified Expression

On Friday, the Sylff Chamber Ensemble joined the rest of the Michinoku Wind Orchestra in Tokyo for the concert that was the culmination of the week’s program. The audience consisted of over 1,300 people, many of whom had assisted with the success of this project by donating instruments to replace those that were lost in the tsunami or working behind the scenes for the international exchange. This crowd made the concert a tremendously meaningful event not just for the performers but for everyone in attendance.

Sylff Chamber Ensemble joined Michinoku Wind Orchestra at Suntory Hall, Tokyo

Sylff Chamber Ensemble joined the rest of the Michinoku Wind Orchestra at Suntory Hall, Tokyo

One significant aspect of this concert was the integration of the Sylff fellows into the Michinoku Wind Orchestra, creating an ensemble of Miyagi students and young musicians from the world’s top conservatories. One of music’s most powerful aspects lies in its potential for bringing individuals together in collaborative and unified expression, with groups ranging from duos to hundred-person orchestras. In the case of the Tohoku project, the combination of students from different schools with members of the international musical community clearly demonstrated the ongoing international support for those affected by the tsunami.
The concert at Suntory Hall on August 17 contained many significant and meaningful works, including “Song for Japan” and Philip Sparke’s “The Sun Will Rise Again,” from which all royalties are donated to the Japanese Red Cross. Personally, I was especially interested in the piece “Elegy for Tohoku” by Dutch composer Alexander Comitas. In composing this work, Comitas took folk songs from three of the prefectures worst hit by the tsunami, arranging the melodies of Iwate’s “Nanbu Ushi Oi Uta” (Nanbu Cow-Herding Song), Fukushima’s “Aizubandaisan” (Mount Aizubandai), and Miyagi’s “Tairyo Utaikomi” (Fisherman’s Song) into a requiem for the people of Tohoku.

Click on the thumbnail below to view larger photo

One of the other wonderful things about great art is that it lends itself to multiple interpretations. Heard from a Western musical perspective, these folk melodies have a decidedly “minor” flavor, and this feel, combined with their relaxed tempo, could lead one to hear these songs as a dirge. Perhaps this is what Comitas intended in his recomposition of these melodies. Knowing these songs, though, and their original lyrics of local pride and seeing the Sylff Chamber Ensemble onstage with the children of Miyagi Prefecture, I heard the “Elegy for Tohoku” as a triumphant declaration of local pride, joined together with the voices of people from all over the world.

Hope for the Future

For me, sitting in the audience, one of the most moving things about the concert—and one of the most important lessons—was that, through their efforts in practicing and rehearsing, these students shared the stage with master performers as equals. Working together and performing in solidarity with top performers from around the globe, it is my wish that the students feel the rewards of their own hard work and realize that, regardless of the past, the efforts that they and their communities are making now will build their future.

I hope that this week of rehearsals and the concert at Suntory Hall were an experience that the students will look back on and remember fondly; I hope that the Sylff Chamber Ensemble was able to express their grief and support to the students; and I hope that, as an artistic project, even if they did not understand every aspect of the experience, the students felt the meaningfulness of the week’s events.

I would deem this project a success if any one of these hopes was met, and, from my observation of the joy on the students and Sylff fellows' faces at the party after the concert, I believe that “Together in Tohoku” succeeded in all of these dimensions.

Bravo to all, on the stage and off, who worked together to make this concert a success.

HOME
Voices

Why Regulate Hedge Funds? : Comments on the Brazilian Experience

August 20, 2012
By 19674

In June 2007, two hedge funds linked to Bear Stearns, a major American investment bank, announced losses of US$16 billion, forcing the bank to inject that amount to prevent the collapse of both funds. These funds operated with a high degree of leverage, based on derivatives financed with funds borrowed from large banks, guaranteed with securities backed by mortgages and other debts: the Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO). The funds together accounted for approximately US$18 billion in bonds (of which US$16.2 billion had been purchased with borrowed funds), which led Bear Stearns Asset Management to play a prominent role in the CDO market.

The losses represented the first signs of the serious financial crisis that would reach its peak the following year, in 2008, when Bear Stearns itself was bought by JP Morgan Chase in a deal for only US$236 million, aimed at avoiding bankruptcy.

Despite its seriousness, this was not the first time that the failure of a hedge fund triggered panic on international financial markets and weakened them. Ten years earlier, in 1998, the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) forced the Fed, along with 14 financial institutions, to orchestrate a recapitalization of US$0.6 billion. Like Bear Stearns, LTCM had borrowed large amounts from the banking sector, allowing it to take bets that exceeded the notional value of US$1.5 trillion, while shareholders capital was no more than US$4.8 billion. This fund was, arguably, the most active user of interest rate swaps in the world, with contracts that totaled US$750 billion. The magnitude of the two events and the similarity of strategies used to obtain high returns—high degree of leverage and loans from banks—have raised questions about the effectiveness of regulatory initiatives to avoid the recurrence of systemic crisis.

Debate on Regulation

Traditionally, supporters of “laissez faire” argue that hedge funds increase the efficiency and liquidity of the financial system, either by spreading risk among a large number of investors or by improving the pricing of the traded assets, thus removing any space for more restrictive regulations. Not coincidentally, in the last 10 years, mainly in the United States and Europe, the notion that financial regulatory institutions should interfere minimally and only in situations involving the general public has preponderated. Along this line, the hedge funds, as private investment structures targeting high-income investors—and treated in a different way from regular investors—were placed outside the direct jurisdiction of regulators.

Following this line of thinking, regulatory efforts in the period focused on improving the ability of banks and other financial institutions to monitor and manage risks by individually managing exposure to these funds. The promotion of transparency about the risks assumed by those investment companies would be sufficient, it was argued, to enforce an adequate market discipline, with no need for a more direct regulation.

The predominance of this view has hindered the adoption of a more restrictive regulatory framework, especially with regard to the systemic aspects of these funds in financial markets. Even in the context of the last global crisis, the belief that hedge funds played a limited role in the genesis of the systemic turmoil has prevailed, in spite of the substantial losses they have suffered.

In this scenario, hedge funds have fed paradoxes with serious implications for the dynamics of the international financial system. First, they present themselves as managers of large private fortunes, mainly for large institutional investors; however, they usually take loans with the formal banking system, and thus they naturally transfer the risk of their positions to the entire credit system, that is, they transform the operations of private funds into operations throughout the investing public. Second, they claim to be able to deliver high absolute returns, in any condition, exploiting price anomalies in the market; however, they often suffer significant losses in situations of turbulence, as seen in the last global crisis. Third, while they remain largely outside the scope of regulations, they are undoubtedly channels of transmission of systemic risk. Fourth, despite the large number of these agents and the diversity in their investment strategies and objectives, they present a noticeable similarity in their risk exposures and the securities they trade, which tends to cancel any eventually positive effect of a possible heterogeneity of these agents.

The recent, post-crisis initiatives on the regulation of hedge funds, both in United States and Europe, have exhibited superficial and still timid proposals to effectively counter the contradictions listed above. On the other hand, unlike most countries that are still discussing and trying to adopt their laws, in Brazil it has already become a reality. Interestingly, most of the claims for stricter rules on the behavior of hedge funds are particularly familiar to the Brazilian financial markets, and Brazil may be able to make a significant contributions to the design of a more effective regulatory framework at the international level.

The Example of the Brazilian Experience

Traditionally, the Brazilian capital market has been marked by the presence of restrictive regulatory and supervisory structures. Particularly in the segment of investment funds, while the offshore vehicles enjoy wide freedom in conducting its operations, onshore funds must conform to strict standards of regulation and supervision. These standards, although targets of criticism by those who advocate a more flexible market, recently have received worldwide attention because of the low vulnerability demonstrated by domestic financial institutions during the unfolding of the international financial crisis, initiated in the subprime mortgage market in the United States.

Among the major domestic requirements, all investment funds based in Brazil must be registered with the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM, or the Securities Commission) that acts as the primary regulator and supervisor of funds and investment firms in the country. In accordance with CVM instructions, all funds, including hedge funds, must provide daily liquidity reports and disclose, also daily, the value of their quotas and assets to the general public. Moreover, managers must monthly deliver to CVM statements with the composition and diversification of the portfolio, as well as a summary trial balance of their funds. Additionally, every year they have to send to CVM a consolidated balance sheet approved by an independent auditor. At the same time, the Associação Brasileira das Entidades dos Mercados Financeiros e de Capitais (ANBIMA, or the Brazilian Association of Financial and Capital Markets Entities), which pools the institutions that manage funds in Brazil, also plays an important self-policing role.

In addition to these requirements that provide more transparency to the public, an important restriction applied to the funds in Brazil is that these entities are prohibited from contracting and receiving loans from financial institutions. This limitation establishes an important difference between domestic and offshore funds, since it reduces the possibility of highly leveraged funds being supported by third parties and eliminates a disturbing channel of exposure of the formal banking system to hedge funds, which proved to be particularly disruptive to the international financial market in the last crisis.

On this point, it is important to note that Brazilian authorities do not officially consider hedge funds to be a different family of investment funds and usually subject them to the same regulatory rules that are applied to other funds. Another specificity of the Brazilian financial sector involves the over-the-counter market, in which all financial derivative instruments and securities traded are recorded with the Central de Custódia e de Liquidação Financeira de Títulos (CETIP, or the Central Securities Depository), an agency supervised by the Central Bank of Brazil and whose activities are regulated by CVM. Thus, all securities exchanged between private investors outside the regulated market (São Paulo Stock Exchange) are subject anyway to observation by national regulatory authorities. Again, in the context of both the international financial crisis and the collapse of LTCM in the United States, the absence of such information was particularly harmful in assessing the real extent of risk exposure between different financial institutions.

All these restrictions have been relatively successful in preventing and avoiding the propagation of systemic risk within the domestic financial market, although they are not fully able to prevent the contagion of crisis in the unregulated global markets. Amid the recent turmoil, the defense of more direct, coordinated, and continuous supervision of financial institutions in different countries has gained importance in international forums, making it increasingly more urgent. In this scenario, the Brazilian experience on the regulation of the investment fund industry can be a relevant reference in guiding these discussions at the international level.

The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization with which she is or has been affiliated.

HOME
Voices

Nuclear Environmental Justice in Arizona and Beyond (2)

June 11, 2012
By 19636

Linda Richards, a historian of science and a Sylff fellow at Oregon State University, has been informing the public about the issue of nuclear “environmental justice” in the Navajo Nation—once the source of a quarter of the supply of uranium in the United States—for over 25 years. In April 2011 she organized a Sylff-funded workshop to address the issue of uranium mining contamination in the land of the Diné—the Navajo people in their own language (see part 1 of this article)—in Arizona. Workshops were also held in October 2011 at three Oregon campuses under the Oregon Sylff Consortia—University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and Southern Oregon University. The following notes depict the highlights of the discussion in Oregon:

* * *

It is estimated that 80% of the nuclear fuel chain (the mining, milling, production, testing, and storage of nuclear materials for weapons and energy) occurs on or near remaining indigenous communities worldwide. Just one example of the consequences of this disproportionate exposure is unveiled in the history of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.

Panelists at a Sylff-sponsored workshop in Oregon on uranium mining contamination on the Navajo Nation.

However, the Sylff workshops in Oregon shared the experiences of the Navajo as not only a declension tale but also as a story of empowerment that explained the efforts of the panelists (Jeff Spitz, filmmaker of The Return of Navajo Boy, http://navajoboy.com/; Elsie Mae Begay, Navajo advocate and grandmother; Perry H. Charley, Navajo scientist/educator and cultural specialist; and Oliver Tapaha, Navajo educator) to inform the public and spark an environmental cleanup on the Navajo Nation.

The audience at all three campuses were especially interested in Navajo culture, current cleanup efforts, and a recent court ruling that will allow further uranium mining in an area immediately adjacent to Navajo lands, but outside its jurisdiction, that could contaminate already scarce drinking water supplies.

Charley, a Navajo elder who co-founded Diné College’s Dine Environmental Institute and the Uranium Education Project, discussed traditional Navajo relationships with the earth and their ties to Mother Earth. These ties begin before birth and are consummated shortly after birth by the burial of their umbilical cord in the earth. The earth is not viewed as a resource to use but as a sacred gift to protect for future generations. These relationships are not discussed or considered in federal risk assessment strategies. From 2002 to 2008, Charley served on the National Academy of Science’s Committee on Improving Practices for Regulating and Managing Low-Activity Radioactive Wastes to help develop safer regulations for mining waste.

The report—which took years to draft—concluded that radiation management, handling practices, transportation, disposal, long term monitoring and safety was a patchwork of inconsistent federal, state and tribal regulations, but this never made headlines. Charley’s work, though, became part of grassroots initiatives—such as decades of effort by local organizations, the film The Return of Navajo Boy, and a 2006 in-depth report by journalist Judy Pasternak in the Los Angeles Times called “The Peril That Dwelt among the Navajos”—that eventually caused Congressional hearings to be held in 2007.

The hearings inquired why so little had been done by the responsible party—the US government, the sole purchaser of the uranium from the 1940s until the 1970s—to remedy the pollution facing the Navajo. A five-year, multiagency cleanup plan was consequently begun in 2008, but it continues to be underfunded, and the residual radioactive contamination has not been moved off the Navajo Nation but remains indiscriminately scattered throughout it.

Updates on the cleanup, which has so far removed 34 of the literally hundreds of residential structures and only 14 cubic yards, out of millions of cubic yards of radioactive waste associated with mining and milling, can be found at the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, “Addressing Uranium Contamination in the Navajo Nation.”

Repeated requests for a comprehensive epidemiological study for the Navajo Nation have continued to be ignored, however, and the mining companies see an opportunity to come back and start mining again, even though there is a Uranium Mining Ban. The Diné College Uranium Education Program initially started the process that after many years became the essence of the Navajo Nation’s 2005 Diné Natural Resources Protection Act.

The act banned mining and processing sites on the Navajo Nation until all the contamination is removed. However, the President of the Navajo Nation recently took a special trip to Paris to look at the French nuclear and radiation safety program. The moratorium on mining may be in reality, only symbolic, subject to the whim of the leaders.

In addition, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has awarded four in-situ uranium mining licenses to mine on what is considered by many to be Navajo land despite the ban. All federal legal avenues to stop the threatened mining have been exhausted, but the dissenting judge in the final Court ruling of March 8, 2010, said that the NRC had allowed its own limits on radioactivity for drinking water to be exceeded.

A local group, the Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining, with the help of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, submitted a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in May of 2011 arguing that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision to grant Hydro Resources Inc. a license to mine uranium ore near Church Rock and Crown Point, New Mexico, is a violation of national and international laws, including the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People that President Barack Obama has committed the country to uphold.

The new mines, first permitted by NRC in 1999 but contested in court since then, could contaminate drinking water for 15,000 Navajo residents in and around two communities that lie just outside the Navajo Nation boundaries drawn by the federal government but are considered by members of the tribe to be part of their homeland.

”By its acts and omissions that have contaminated and will continue to contaminate natural resources in the Diné communities of Crownpoint and Church Rock,” the petition reads, “the State has violated Petitioners’ human rights and breached its obligations under the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man.”

Uranium is not the only environmental health threat to the Navajo, moreover. There are rich reserves of coal, and two of the most polluting power plants in America are on the Navajo Nation. Some days the air in the Four Corners area is yellow, and the incidence of upper respiratory disease and certain kinds of cancer is present, along with the threat of high levels of mercury from the pollution. However Navajo tribal administrators approved a new super coal fired plant to also be built.

Charley, after spending all of his professional life addressing and researching the sad legacy of uranium mining, currently suffers from a form of laryngeal cancer. Despite his illness, he continues to inform and educate others. While the problems facing the Navajo are complex, the Sylff forums also raised awareness of indigenous rights on the whole, particularly in Ashland, where the program was a part of the SOU United Nations Club celebration of the 2007 Declaration of Indigenous Rights. There, after the film and question-and-answer session, Whistling Elk Drum, a local drum group of the Red Earth Descendants, performed several sacred traditional songs.

After the performance, the 2007 UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights was read in its entirety by Grandmother Agnes Baker-Pilgrim of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers (see http://www.grandmotherscouncil.org/), Jane Ayers, and Daniel Wahpepah.

The Declaration is the result of a 20-year process of negotiation and advocacy for its inclusion into the United Nation’s legal structure. Jane Ayers is a national journalist and leader who was a participant in the early discussions of the document 20 years earlier, and Daniel Wahpepah is a local leader and founder of Red Earth Descendants and the 501 C3 Natives of One Wind Indigenous Alliance. Wahpepah’s late uncle Bill Wahpepah was a national leader in the American Indian Movement who worked to protect the rights of all Native Americans.

The moving reading was followed by a panel on indigenous rights facilitated by Richards and including Pilgrim, Wahpepah, Charley, Elsie Mae Begay (who was the lead character in The Return of Navajo Boy), and Oliver Tapaha, (Diné, PhD in education). Tapaha discussed his hope to increase knowledge of the issues and his efforts to discuss and share the issues with his students on the Navajo Nation. The group shared their individual perspectives reflecting on the many issues facing indigenous and subsistence cultures worldwide, especially due to climate change. The panel reflected on how cultural, physical, and spiritual rights are strongly articulated in the document but are not guaranteed, nor made enforceable, without the help and will of civil society around the world.

The forums provided an intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and multicultural opportunity for discourse. The University of Oregon forum included many students from environmental studies courses, and at OSU nuclear scientists and engineers were in attendance. At all three venues, the audiences provided feedback in surveys that showed listening to the filmmaker, the elders, and Navajo people had impressed upon them the value of listening to other cultural perspectives, speaking out in the face of injustice, and preserving the environment.

HOME
Voices

Japan’s Lay Judges and Implications for Democratic Governance

May 11, 2012
By 19600

On a sunny January morning in 2010, I sat high above the bustling streets of Tokyo in the central offices of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA), speaking with a professor and noted scholar of Japan’s newest judicial incarnation, the saiban-in seido, or “lay judge system.” As I listened and learned more about the Japanese lay judge system that January morning, I found it amazing that it was my position as a Sylff fellow that had led me here.

The sign in front of the Supreme Court of Japan.

In May of 2009, Japan began formal operations of the saiban-in seido, a quasi-jury method of trial adjudication that blends elements of the Anglo-American jury and the European lay assessor adjudicatory systems. Mandated by the Lay Judge Act of 2004, this system represents the first time that Japanese citizens have been asked to formally participate in the criminal adjudicatory processes of the state since 1943. At its core, the Lay Judge Act established a form of criminal trial adjudication where citizen jurists serve with and work alongside their professional counterparts on trials where the offense falls within a limited range of high crimes.

Under the saiban-in seido, in cases where the defendant contests his or her guilt, the judicial bench is composed of three professional judges and six lay civilians chosen from the population at random. These mixed tribunals are charged with not only determining the guilt of the defendant but also the sentence to be imposed. Decisions and judgments by the lay judge panel are based on majority vote, although any valid verdict is required to include the votes of at least one professional judge and at least one lay jurist. On a sunny January morning in 2010, I sat high above the bustling streets of Tokyo in the central offices of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA), speaking with a professor Continue reading →

HOME
Voices

Valentine’s Day and the Environment: A “Love Affair with Nature”

February 9, 2012
By 19608

I visited Palawan, the Philippines, in 2010 and February 2011 to conduct fieldwork for a master’s thesis. There, I was amazed by an annual project called "Love Affair with Nature: Mangrove Plantation" conducted in the city of Puerto Princesa.

"Mangroves are trees or large shrubs, including ferns and palms, which normally grow in or adjacent to the intertidal zone and which have developed a special adaptation in order to survive in this environment"(Spalding, Kainuma, and Collins 2010). Mangroves can be found in some northern latitudes as high as 32 degrees, even though they are usually found within 25 degrees north and south of the equator (Maltby 1986). Mangroves are considered a rare global habitat. They currently make up less than 1% of tropical forests worldwide and less than 0.4% of the global forest estate (39,520,000 square kilometers) (FAO 2006).

Dwindling Mangroves

Figure1

There are two main reasons for the destruction of mangroves. One is pressure from increasing populations in coastal areas, and the other is over-harvesting of timber and other wood products. Figure 1 shows that between 1980 and 2005, there was a dramatic loss of mangrove forests in every region except Australia. Southeast Asia, North and Central America, Oceania, and East Asia showed the highest decrease of more than 20% in 25 years.
Figure1: Decline in Mangroves by Region, 1980–2005 (Source: Estimates based on 2007 FAO data)

Status of Declining Mangroves in the Philippines

The mangrove forest area in the Philippines was estimated to be around 500,000 hectares in 1918. This has declined due to conversion to fishponds and salt beds, the cutting of trees for firewood and other domestic uses, and the reclamation of coastal land for industrial and other development purposes. By 1995 it had dwindled to 117,700 hectares (Fernandez et al. 2005).

Figure2

This is a rate of depletion of about 3,700 hectares per year. Between 1980 and 1991, in particular, some 20,000 hectares were lost annually.
Figure 2: Decline of Mangrove Resources in the Philippines (Source: Compiled by the author based on DENR Statistics, 1998)

Undoubtedly, mangroves are showing signs of degradation in every region of the world. There is one project, though, that is seeking to reverse this trend. It is an initiative in the city of Puerto Princesa in Palawan, Philippines, known as a "Love Affair with Nature."

Expression of Love

The program, spearheaded by Mayor Edward S. Hagedorn of the city of Puerto Princesa, is one answer to the problem of global warming. It was launched on Valentine’s Day, February 14, in 2003 with the planting of 2,500 mangrove seedlings along a two-hectare denuded area in the village of San Jose.

Figure3

Approximately 2,500 Puerto Princesans participated in this mangrove tree-planting event, aimed at protecting and conserving the remaining mangroves and beach forest species and at reviving denuded coastal areas. As of April 2009, the Puerto Princesa city government has been able to enrich or revive 58.5 hectares of denuded mangrove areas in the adjoining villages of San Jose and San Manuel. Some 56,500 mangrove seedlings and 29,000 propagules have been planted, as shown in Figure 3, with a survival rate of 71.7% (City Environment and Natural Resources Office, 2011).
Figure 3: Planted Seedlings and Propagules, 2003–09 (Source: Calculations based on Puerto Princesa City ENRO statistics)

Mass wedding in 2011, followed by mangrove planting (photos by the author)

Mass weddings are now held as an added attraction to the tree planting event, with newly wedded couples planting seedlings as an expression of their marriage vows. In September 26, 2005, City Ordinance No 287 was issued declaring February 14 as Love Affair with Nature Day in the city of Puerto Princesa. This is aimed at institutionalizing Love Affair with Nature Day on Valentine’Day as an expression of not only romantic love but also love for Mother Nature and as a continuing call for the protection and sustainable use of natural resources. Mass mangrove tree plantings and mass weddings have been conducted concurrently ever since.

Reasons for the Continuation of the Program

The municipal government, the City Environment and Natural Resources Office, the Provincial Environmental and Natural Resources Office, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Office have been the main providers of funds for environmental projects in the city.
Communicating the project’s benefits, such as protection from storms, prevention of rising sea levels, and creation of breeding grounds for fish, has promote participation among members of the local community. Anticipated long-term benefits, such as larger fish hauls, have been enough to convince locals to join without any cash incentives.
The project represents heightened ecotourism opportunities, and the city has begun actively promoting ecotourism.
These activities have become an important social function for the local community, and for some students it is a requirement in order to receive scholarships.
A series of meetings are conducted every year to educate village leaders and to spread the program’s message to local communities.
At this point, no company in the timber industry is involved owing to a law initiated by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1981. The industry has been a major cause of mangrove destruction, and only ecotourism activities that do not result in the cutting down a single mangrove tree are currently conducted today.
Many policymakers believe that once the trees mature, the task of rejuvenating the forests can be left to the forces of nature, and further plantings will become unnecessary.
Civic organizations have taken responsibility for protecting local areas and providing forest rangers to monitor the forests.

Halting the Decline

Figure4

A study conducted by the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development in 2005 with the support of the Japan Forest Technology Association (JAFTA) is the most reliable and up-to-date data available to evaluate mangrove forest cover in Puerto Princesa. This study shows that the current cover in Puerto Princesa is 5,896.40 hectares, as shown in Figure 4. The mangrove forest was 4,052 hectares in 1992. PCSD conducted the survey in 1992 using SPOT Earth observation satellite images. Figure 4: Mangrove Cover in Puerto Princesa (Source: PCSD, 2010)

There has been positive growth of mangroves in the province of Palawan as well as in the city of Puerto Princesa.

Figure5

It was just 29,910.14 hectares in Palawan in 1992 and increased to 57,386.52 hectares in 2005, as shown in Figure 5. All these planted areas were granted protected status to form part of the Integrated Protected Area System (IPAS). The increase of mangrove forests in Puerto Princesa is backed up by these policies. Figure 5: Mangroves on Palawan Island (Source: PCSD, 2010)

Conclusion

There is clear evidence that mangrove forests in the world are declining. In the Philippines, this decline rate has been huge over the past few decades. However, there is one example that shows a different trend.

Scenes on a flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa (photo taken by the author in 2011)

Government involvement, effective law enforcement, political will, proper leadership, community involvement, alternative livelihoods, an education campaign, involvement of local and national organizations, and the willingness of local communities are needed to change this trend of mangrove degradation.

A "Love Affair with Nature" is a successful project that combines all these ingredients. This project has been implemented and maintained by the personal efforts of Mayor Edward Hagedorn. Every citizen of Puerto Princesa is proud to be environmentally sound. The beauty of the project can be seen when flying from Manila to Puerto Princesa. The left side of the photo shows the view of Manila, where there is no greenery, while the right side shows the verdure of Puerto Princesa.

References

Fernandez, Cheryl Joy J., Rodelio F. Subade, and Paul Erwen T. Parreño. 2005. Paper presented at the 8th National Symposium in Marine Science, held at Palawan State University, Puerto Princesa, on October 20-22, 2005.
City Environment and Natural Resources Office. 2011. “Love Affair with Nature” internal communication document. Puerto Princesa.
Food and Agriculture Organization. 1994. Mangrove Forest Management Guidelines. FAO Forestry Paper 117. Rome.
Food and Agricultural Organization. 2006. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005: Progress towards Sustainable Forest Management. Rome.
Maltby, E. 1986. Waterlogged Wealth: Why Waste the World‘s Wet Places? London: Earthscan Publications.
Spalding, Mark, Mami Kainuma, and Lorna Collins. 2010. World Atlas of Mangroves. London: Earthscan Publications.

HOME
Voices

Can Japan Make the Transition from Nuclear to Renewable Energy?

October 5, 2011
By 19634

On a recent visit to Japan to attend a conference in Hiroshima, I started to reflect on the tremendous changes in attitudes and energy policy that Japan has experienced in the months following the Fukushima accident, and I was impressed by the resilience of the Japanese people.

With two-thirds of all nuclear reactors being closed for routine maintenance and none reopening, Tokyo lost a fifth of its energy supply. In any other city, this would probably have led to blackouts and shortages of electricity.

Not in Japan. The government responded with an ambitious plan to save electricity, and asked private companies to cut power consumption by 15%. Nearly all companies fulfilled the target, with many of them exceeding it by saving up to 20%.

Extraordinary measures were taken, such as raising office thermostats, switching off lights, cutting down on working hours, and shifting the workweek so that employees took weekdays off and worked on weekends—when electricity demand is generally lower. I spoke to a Taiwanese-American working for a Japanese company who told me that he was forced to take three extra days off during the summer.

The power-saving campaign was also evident when I visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in August. A young diplomat informed me that the air conditioning had been switched off in all the rooms except for the one we were using—on an exceptionally hot day in Tokyo! Many of the corridors were left dark. It seemed that bureaucrats and high public officials were also making a sacrifice for the country.

The elevators were switched off at subway stations, and the government ran advertisements encouraging people to spend energy wisely. This campaign created new business opportunities for companies producing long-lasting light bulbs. The 7-eleven chain of convenience stores invested 10 million yen in such energy-saving measures as installing 1,000 solar panels and 5,000 LED bulbs in shops and outlets in Tokyo.

The swift response of the Japanese government came as a result of a natural disaster—the earthquake and tsunami—and a man-made one: the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. It shows that with political will, resources can be mobilized during a crisis that would otherwise not be possible. However, even greater threats to humankind—global warming and climate change—have not been met with the same urgency. Why?

According to psychologists, people tend not to act on threats that seem distant and far off. Politicians tend to think only four years ahead to the next election and are unable to take tough measures to phase out fossil fuels and move toward a renewable and greener future. Only when there is a sense of crisis or emergency—the threat of war, for instance—are politicians willing to mobilize resources and take measures that were considered unthinkable or impossible just yesterday.

The nuclear disaster in Fukushima created a state of emergency in Japanese society and created an energy crisis. This mobilized the efforts of individuals, private companies, and the government to save energy for the good of the nation.

It also spurred Prime Minister Naoto Kan to state that Japan should make the transition from nuclear power to renewable energy, a remarkable statement when you consider that Japan is heavily dependent on nuclear energy. In Germany, Angela Merkel said that the government would phase out nuclear power altogether by 2020. Who would have thought this could happen before March 11, 2011?

Some say that closing down nuclear power plants would be a setback for reaching the goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions, as stated in the Kyoto Protocol. It is true that Germany and Japan for a temporary period would become more dependent on natural gas and petroleum to cover its energy needs. However, as the case of Japan has shown, there is an enormous potential to reduce energy consumption if the public and private sectors work together.

Both Japan and Germany are known for their advanced technology, innovation, and industrial capacity. A coordinated effort to cut energy consumption, combined with massive investments in renewable energy, such as solar, wind, and geothermal, would place Germany and Japan in the forefront of the development of clean energy for the world.

In fact, some would say that few other countries are more suited to make the transition to a renewable age than Japan and Germany. In this sense, a crisis can be turned into an opportunity that would benefit the private sector, the environment, and society as a whole, as energy is scarce and should be used wisely.

It is a win-win situation for everybody, and the best part is that it can be achieved without relying on the dangers of nuclear energy.

What lessons can a country like Norway draw from the experience of Japan? In contrast to Japan, Norway does not depend on nuclear power. The first—and probably the biggest—reason is the rich endowment of waterfalls, as 99% of the country’s energy needs are covered by hydropower.

But it is also due to the successful mobilization of the environmental movement in the 1970s, when the government planned to build nuclear reactors. It was at that time that Norway discovered rich reserves of oil and gas in the North Sea. This has led to a prosperous economy and revenues that have been used to finance a generous welfare state.

Most of the oil revenue has been put in a fund to prepare for the financial burden of an aging population. The endowment of natural resources means that Norway has not had to worry about a shortage of energy. The consumption of electricity per capita is one of the highest in the world; a cold, northern climate cannot explain why the consumption of an average Norwegian is higher than our neighbors in Sweden with a similar climate.

Although foreigners are shocked by the cost of living in Norway, electricity prices are relatively cheap when you take into account the high wage levels in the country. The luxury of cheap and plentiful energy has led Norwegians to be careless about their consumption. People often do not switch off lights in rooms they exit from, and it is hard to find a single household in rural Norway without a light on the outside.

While the center-left government talks about saving electricity and developing renewable energy, there does not seem to be any sense of urgency to carry out measures that would bring down energy consumption in private households, industry, and office buildings.

A government-appointed commission on climate change presented its report with more than 15 concrete recommendations five years ago, but implementation has been painfully slow. Does Norway need a Fukushima to wake up and face the realities of a world with a scarcity of energy and a growing population? That would be a horrible thought. But Norway does need to look to Germany and Japan and not lean back on its oil and gas reserves.

In the next decades, oil reserves will shrink and be increasingly more expensive to exploit. Prices will rise and businesses will start looking for other alternatives. If Norway does not jump on the train now and develop the technologies needed to shift to renewable energy sources, we might find ourselves being left behind.

HOME
Voices

Elections and Political Order: A Cross-National Analysis of Electoral Violence

August 25, 2011
By 19691

Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Eastern bloc, the international community has actively pushed for competitive elections in developing countries. This has led to the rapid proliferation of countries with "democratic systems" in the sense that the holders of public office are filled by means of regular public elections; indeed, by this definition, there are more democracies today than at any other time in history.

Underlying the push for elections were two optimistic beliefs: that they would reduce civil strife by providing a means for peaceful resolution of conflicts within a society, and that they would improve the quality of government by giving citizens the opportunity to replace unsatisfactory leaders. As elections have proliferated, however, these sanguine assumptions have being challenged by harsh reality. Continue reading →

HOME
Voices

Witnessing History in the Making

August 19, 2011
By 19687

It’s strange to think I’ve witnessed history being made. History that my children and grandchildren will study in school. This week, I saw the man who six months ago used to be the most powerful man in Egypt, and one of the most powerful men in the region, lying on a hospital bed in an iron cage in court. Humiliated in front of the entire world. An 84-year-old pharaoh who lifted his hand up and went “Yes sir, present,” to the judge, like a schoolchild to his teacher. Two days before that I was in Tahrir square, just before it was forcefully cleared out by the military. Where Egyptians from all walks of life had gathered to express their demands peacefully. So many events and so many emotions. The past six months have passed like a whirlwind. Everyone keeps asking us where do we go from here. What it’s like to be here. What things on the ground are like. What Egyptians are feeling. Continue reading →