Performing Counter-Hegemonic Common(s) Senses: Rearticulating Democracy,Community and Forests in Puerto Rico

Political ecologists have developed scathing analyses of capitalism’s tendency for enclosure and dispossession of the commons. In this context commons are analyzed as a force to resist neo-liberalism, a main site of conflict over dispossession, and a source of alternatives to capitalism. In this paper we elaborate a view of the commons as the material and symbolic terrain where performative re-articulation of common(s) senses can potentially enact counter-hegemonic socio-ecological configurations. Expressly drawing on the concepts of hegemony, “common-senses” (inspired by Antonio Gramsci) and “performativity” (developed by Judith Butler), we argue that counter-hegemony is performed through everyday practices that rearticulate existing common senses about commons. Commoning is a set of processes/relations enacted to challenge capitalist hegemony and build more just/sustainable societies insofar as it transforms and rearranges common senses in/through praxis. The paper draws on the experience of an anti-mining movement of Casa Pueblo in Puerto Rico, which for the last 35+ years has been developing a project self-described as autogestion. The discussion pays special attention to Casa Pueblo’s praxis and discourses to investigate how they rearticulate common senses with regard to nature, community and democracy, as well as their implications for counter-hegemonic politics.     

Intergovernmental councils in the United States

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on intergovernmental councils (IGCs) in the United States in which prominent state-level executive politicians, that is, governors, play a leadership role. In the US case, these IGCs developed out of a desire to facilitate interstate information exchanges and a need for state governments to join forces to protect their autonomy vis-à-vis the federal government. In this latter role, the councils function as lobbyists for state government interests. The research question driving the analysis has to do with impact: what difference do executive-led IGCs make, either vertically or horizontally, in the US federal system? The question of impact is particularly relevant because growing partisan polarization in contemporary federal and state political institutions complicates collective action by states.     

A Two-Step Econometric Estimation of Covariates of Side Selling: The Case of Coffee Cooperatives in Southwest Ethiopia

Despite their apparent economic benefit to smallholder farmers, cooperatives are vulnerable to the problem of side selling. Using cross-sectional household data and Cragg’s regression model, we identified the determinants of side selling by coffee cooperative farmers in southwest Ethiopia. The bootstrapping technique was applied to extract average partial effects from the model coefficients. Certified, elder and educated farmers who have off-farm income and trust in the cooperative leadership have been found to side-sell significantly less. Nonetheless, cooperative group size and late payment favoured more side selling. Based on these findings, possible interventions are highlighted for improving cooperative members’ commitment and the performance of coffee cooperatives in the region.     

“We Cannot Claim Any Particular Knowledge of the Ways of Homosexuals,Still Less of Iranian Homosexuals …”: The Particular Problems Facing Those Who Seek Asylum on the Basis of their Sexual Identity

Many lesbians and gay men apply for asylum in the U.K. each year on the basis that they fear persecution in their home country because of their sexual orientation. The legal basis for claiming asylum on the ground of sexual identity is now well established. Nevertheless, making these claims remains very difficult for applicants. Western cultural expectations around sexual identity often mix with homophobic assumptions about sexual behaviour to present applicants as “not sufficiently gay”. Furthermore, applicants may not initially disclose their sexual identity to legal advisors, leading to assumptions that they are not “telling the truth” to the Immigration Tribunal. In this article, Barry O’Leary, a solicitor and legal activist on behalf of lesbian and gay refugees, discusses these problems and how U.K.-based asylum lawyers have attempted to work round them.     

The challenge of economic integration in the MENA region: from GAFTA and EU-MFTA to small scale Arab Unions

After a 30 years period of trials and errors in creating an Arab economic space for just independent countries and an insufficient implementation of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Agreement (EU-MFTA), the economies of the MENA region have recently relied back on sub-regional trading blocks (Arab Unions) to succeed in opening and developing their economies. From a theoretical point of view this tendency is rising a debate on the possibility, for the Arab countries, to enjoy the dynamic effects that emerge from the internationalization process (like an increasing rate of investment, a higher intra-industry trade and reduced balance of payments distortions), given the structure and the performance of their economies. The aim of the paper is to present the contemporary trends of the economic integration process among the countries of the MENA Region in connection with the wider perspective adopted in the debate on this topic. A closer look at the intra-Arab flows of goods and services will thus enable us to appraise some facts concerning the process of internationalization of MENA economies, revealing an unexpected dynamism in the lights of “deep integration” perspective. On this base an account of the renewed bilateralism in economic relations will be provided.     

Sudden cardiac death and myocardial ischemia indicators: a comparative study of four immunohistochemical markers

The postmortem diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction represents a current challenge for forensic pathologists, particularly when death occurs within minutes to a few hours after the ischemic insult. Among the adult population the single most important cause of sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the well-known atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, commonly asymptomatic or unrecognized. The recognition of early myocardial damage using routine hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining is possible only if death has occurred at least 6 hours after the onset of the ischemic injury. The usefulness of immunohistochemical markers to the diagnosis of early myocardial damage has been recently suggested because most of them can be visible even serologically as early as few minutes after the beginning of the symptoms. To evaluate the usefulness of plasma and cellular antigens, their distribution patterns have been studied among a group of 18 SCD cases in which a myocardial ischemia was strongly suspected. For the present study, 4 markers have been selected on the basis of their different diagnostic potential as follows: among the plasma markers the C5b-9 and fibronectin, among the cellular markers the myoglobin and cardiac troponin. The results show that only the study of multiple markers such as those selected can provide enough evidence of myocardial ischemia and/or necrosis, supporting the final diagnosis of SCD. No single immunohistochemical staining is ideal for diagnosing early myocardial ischemia but a set of markers can improve the ability of forensic pathologists to detect ischemic areas when no macroscopic or microscopic evidence of necrosis is available. However, the interpretation of data obtained in each individual cannot be isolated from the overall assessment of the factors (cardiopulmonary resuscitation and/or agonal artifacts) that can affect the expression of each marker.