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Race to the bottom,
Feb 2, 2007
Globalization Game: Race to the Bottom
Wed, Feb 7, 10:30am
Sala Quetzal, Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos
Suppose you were a leader of a Third World country and wanted to attract foreign investment to build a major new factory. You know you will have to compete against several other Third World countries that are also bidding for the same investment. How low would the wages of your workers have to be in order to lure this foreign capital to your shores? Would you offer a union-free environment? Maybe allow child labor as well? How about relaxing pollution restrictions? Perhaps a holiday on taxes would be appealing enough? How far would you have to go to create “a friendly business climate”?
But you also know that you can’t push your people too far. That might create a revolutionary opposition within your country and instability might scare away foreign investors. At the same time, you need to make a better offer (better for the investor) than competing countries.
That is the situation you will be asked to imagine if you play the simulation game Race to the Bottom next Wednesday. The Center for Global Justice will be conducting this globalization game to show how much of the injustice in the global South is generated. It is more fun to play than the popular board game Monopoly, and you will learn the dynamics that drive public policy in much of the world today.
Once a country succeeds in winning the favor of the foreign investor, then the people have to decide if and how they might win. How should the nation’s workers respond? Should they welcome the new jobs it promises, demand higher pay and better working conditions, or oppose the new factory outright? How about the people who live near this potentially polluting factory? How should local businesses respond? And women’s organizations? Human rights groups? You can see that there are many different interest groups with something at stake. So, in part two of the game, you are asked to play the role of one of these groups and enter into the struggle. You might be surprised at some of the alliances that form. And you will go away with a deeper appreciation of the real world issues facing the global South today.
More of the amazing Maya
Lecture
The Magnificent Maya: Part II
Wed, Feb 7, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana, Insurgentes 25
50 pesos
The Maya were the most advanced of all the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica. They inhabited southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and the western boundary of Honduras and El Salvador. They built cities and paved roadways, although they used no wheeled vehicles of any kind. Their astronomers plotted the movements of the visible planets and stars using a mathematics that included zero, a rare accomplishment in world history. They were the only people of the New World to develop a complete written language that could express, in writing, anything spoken.
The Magnificent Maya: Part II is the follow-up lecture to Part I given last week by Professor Guillermo Méndez. The focus of Part II is Maya religion, politics and sex.
Religion permeated every aspect of ancient Maya life. Everything in nature was sacred and possessed spiritual energy. Maya cosmology was complex but intimately connected to daily life. Maya politics in the Classic Period (AD 250–(N)900) centered on semi-divine kings who ruled and expanded their influence through warfare, marital unions (they could have “secondary” wives) and diplomacy. The beautiful (sexy) Maya, male or female, would have had an intentionally deformed skull, filed and inlaid teeth, decorative facial scars and, if lucky, slightly crossed eyes.
Adventures in Music: Infinite possibilities of the human voice
Adventures in Music Series
Elsmarie Norby
Tue, Feb 6, 3pm
Sala Quetzal, Biblioteca Pública
50 pesos
Elsmarie Norby will present the second in a series of classes in discovering new dimensions about timeless music. Throughout history, music has reflected time and place, lifestyle and cultural values. In this class, participants will hear and explore the amazing spectrum of our voices throughout human history and from all over the globe. How have we used our musical voices to express every emotion, to reveal the facts of our lives, to draw clear pictures of our environments, to present and explain our beliefs? Imagine listening to the voices of Bosnian women and getting glimpses of their landscapes and culture. Imagine listening to voices in jazz and learning why one has urban roots and the other rural. But don’t expect a strictly cerebral approach, because Norby brings humor and previously unexplored facets of music into the format through listening and discussion. What makes music beautiful; what makes it offensive; what makes it inspiring, sad, happy? Norby brings an energy to these questions that awakens
the participants to new excitement about their own musical experience.
Norby is a lifelong musician —a Juilliard-trained pianist, violist and choral director—(M)and a 10-year resident of San Miguel. She has been a major force in music activities here, building two Mexican choirs, playing in a number of concerts and other musical events and producing benefit concerts to raise money for ANYÉL, a nonprofit music program that brings music classes to hundreds of young children in their schools, as well as orphanages and daycare centers. She remarks, “Everybody responds to music. It awakens feelings, which lead to thought, imagination and creative expression—nothing is more important for the development in very young children of self-confidence, the awareness of choices, better learning skills, and a lifetime love for the creative arts. The result is children growing into more positive, active members of their families and communities—this is more than music!” This is the passionate dedication of ANYÉL and its director: to give everyone a sense of his or her unique creative, expressi
ve self in an atmosphere free of judgment. See the ANYÉL website at www.anyel.com, and consider volunteering and/or donating funds to expand this wonderful program.
If you are interested in visiting a class, call Juanita at 152-8188 to make a date for a delightful experience in a Mexican public classroom.
The other classes in the Adventures in Music series will take place on Tuesdays, February 20 and March 6 and 20 at 3pm in the Biblioteca Pública’s Sala Quetzal. The 50-peso charge benefits ANYÉL and programs for children at the library.
Light courses through the veins
Lecture
Bioenergy II
Guillermo Galindo Endo
Thur, Feb 8, 5–7pm
Sala Quetzal, Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
20 pesos
The nuclear physician Dr. Aureliano Horta has given us a new vision about the transformation of mass to energy using electromagnetic fields. This microchip technology can be used to stimulate cells and organs in the body, and the technology can expand the energy level of cells, but not necessarily regenerate them. During the process of cellular reproduction, every new generation loses some information, which finally leads to cellular deterioration. In addition, if a cell lacks the right nutrition (i.e., minerals, vitamins and amino acids), a cell grows old and dies. This is why we grow old.
Our blood molecules form pyramids, and our blood also generates resonance, vibrations and electromagnetic manifestations. We are made up of a system of macromolecules that form a network aside from the cell structure that consists of electric and electromagnetic currents. It is estimated that the body has around 1 billion of these ferrous-ferric particles. Dr. Ester del Rio has named this System ECOR (Extracellular Cofactor Oxide Reduction).
We are an incredible harmony of magnets and liquid crystal, and we are parabolic antennas because of magnetic fields that stretch from our hands to our feet. Our vibration affects what is around us.
Dr. del Rio has found that as people get older, the cells lose their capacity to transform water. The process of losing this capacity begins at an early age, diminishing progressively after age 35. Longevity goes hand in hand with the capacity to transform water into liquid crystal.
With a modified x-ray apparatus, the image of the body appears full of fluorescent blue sparkles. The centers of magnetism coincide with those that are traditionally called chakras.
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