Interview with Irene Beaudoin of Leominster, Massachusetts. Her husband Bill was also present. Topics include: Irene's father came to Leominster, MA from New Brunswick, Canada in 1894, when he was sixteen years old. Her mother's family was from Canada, but her mother was born in West Boylston, MA. Her father's work history, how he eventually ended up in the insurance business. Her parents met and were married in Leominster, MA. Her parents' involvement with Saint Cecelia's parish in Leominster, MA. Where Irene and Bill went to school as children. Rumors surrounding a fire that burnt the original parish school. Irene went on to Leominster High school, Becker College, beauty school in Worcester, and then worked as a hairdresser until she was married. Her father's work in real estate and as the director of the Leominster Home Federal Bank. Her father's work on the Selective Service Board. Organizations her father belonged to and his work to help Franco-Americans become citizens. Bill and ; 1 SPEAKER 1: Where, where were you born, Irene? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Right here in Leominster. SPEAKER 1: Right here in Leominster? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. SPEAKER 1: And your maiden name? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Uh, Lejier. SPEAKER 1: Lejier. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. SPEAKER 1: Um, your parents, where did they come from? IRENE BEAUDOIN: My father came from New Brunswick, and my mother was born right here in the United States in West Boylston. SPEAKER 1: Uh, about when did your father come to the United States? IRENE BEAUDOIN: In 1894. SPEAKER 1: How old was he then? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Sixteen. SPEAKER 1: Why did he come here? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, I guess he just heard so much about the U.S. he decided he, you know, wanted to come out here and he had 50 cents in his pocket when he came out. SPEAKER 1: And when you say 'when he came out' where is that? Uh, did he arrive here Worcester or Leominster or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, he came to Leominster and from what I can remember he was waiting for a train to take him to Rhode Island, [unintelligible - 0:00:55] Rhode Island, but evidently he didn't like and came back to Leominster and found work. And then a short while after he was here, he found work at the woodshop in – back on [unintelligible - 0:01:12]. I can't remember. BILL BEAUDOIN: Bartlett. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Bartlett. And he finally became superintendent of the manufacturing company but had to leave because he was getting 2 wood sawdust in the lung and the doctor told him either he had to leave or he would die within a year, which he did leave. SPEAKER 1: So, what did he do after that? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well he had to take a year's absence [unintelligible - 0:01:46] and went back to his home in New Brunswick and stayed there for six months until he felt better and came back here. And then he started a grocery business, and then from that, he went into the insurance company. SPEAKER 1: Where was his grocery business? IRENE BEAUDOIN: On 6th Street going down the hill. SPEAKER 1: On 6th Street? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mechanic. BILL BEAUDOIN: [Unintelligible - 0:02:13]. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, [unintelligible - 0:02:16]. SPEAKER 1: Oh is that right? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Oh, they had a store there. How long was he in business there? IRENE BEAUDOIN: That I don't know. I couldn't tell you how long he was in the grocery. I really have no idea. He was in a few years, but how long, I don't know. SPEAKER 1: Right. About when was that, what year approximately? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Perhaps '96,'97. SPEAKER 1: I see. So, your father was a very [unintelligible - 0:02:50] businessman in the French community. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. You see for a while he worked for a Mr. [Wingman] who owned a grocery store, and from there, this is how he got started in the grocery business. SPEAKER 1: So, did he cater mostly to the Franco-Americans? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh yes. He – I remember him telling me. So, he used to deliver, you know, the [unintelligible - 0:03:17] and he used to do this at 3 night many times and he used to carry these heavy bags of flour and sugar. SPEAKER 1: The location is right on the edge of what's called French Hill and then when you get down below there are many Italians. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes. SPEAKER 1: Do you know if… IRENE BEAUDOIN: There were Italians at the time, yes. SPEAKER 1: There were Italians there at the time. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes. SPEAKER 1: And do you know if they bought from the store also? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, yes. There were, you know, neighbors around that area that would come to the store to buy that were Italian. SPEAKER 1: In that case, did he have a language difficulty or did he have enough knowledge of English to carry him through or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: I think my mother helped him a lot in that area because I do believe he spoke French. I don't believe he knew too much English at the time but… SPEAKER 1: Well, you mentioned that your mother spoke English then. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right. SPEAKER 1: Where did she learn the English? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, she had to go to public school. There were no parochial schools where she came from. SPEAKER 1: Was your mother born in the United States? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, she was born in West Boylston. SPEAKER 1: She was born in West Boylston, and what was her name? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Gonville. SPEAKER 1: Gonville. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: Was that related to the Gonvilles that lived on 7th Street when they were here? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Sure.4 SPEAKER 1: Oh, it was. IRENE BEAUDOIN: The father was my mother's brother. SPEAKER 2: [Unintelligible - 0:04:55]. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Of course. They lived right near you. SPEAKER 1: Yes, now I remember. I remember my folks mentioning it, yeah. Well, you mentioned they were born here? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Now who are you talking about, my mother? SPEAKER 1: Your mother, I'm sorry, your mother. IRENE BEAUDOIN: In West Boylston. SPEAKER 1: In West Boylston, I see. So, what brought her here? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Because they took the town over to make a reservoir and that's the reason why she came up here. SPEAKER 1: I see. Well, have your grandparents on your mother's side lived in the United States for a while? Did they come from Canada? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, they've been here for a long time, yes. SPEAKER 1: They had been here for a while? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: I see. You don't recall anyone mentioning when… IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, no. Evidently they've been here for a long time because my grandfather owned the grocery store and the fish market in West Boylston. SPEAKER 1: In the area as a reservoir? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes, yeah. SPEAKER 1: I see. IRENE BEAUDOIN: In fact, it was their home, and the store evidently was very close to the church that still remains there but just collapsed. SPEAKER 1: Oh, is that right? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: Oh, I see. So, your mother went to the public schools of West Boylston, picked up her English, and somewhere she met your father. Was that Leominster or in West Boylston?5 IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, when she came out here to look for work after the –you know, preparing to make the reservoir. SPEAKER 1: Oh I see. She came here to look for work. And where did she go for work? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Clewett's. SPEAKER 1: At Clewett. IRENE BEAUDOIN: And then she did work in a dry goods store downtown. SPEAKER 1: Do you recall the dry goods store? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, but it would be in the vicinity of the Metropolitan Theater, in that area. SPEAKER 1: Do you ever recall your mother talking about wages and working conditions at Clewett's at the time? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, I remember them saying how, you know, the wages were like perhaps $7 a week is what they earned. SPEAKER 1: Did they consider that good or was she satisfied or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, evidently that was about what everyone earned in shops at that time. SPEAKER 1: Do you remember if your mother ever mentioned the people that worked at Clewett's, whether or not they were Franco-Americans largely or a great number of them or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, there were several French people working there, but I think the majority were American and Irish, I think, more than French. SPEAKER 1: I see. And that would be approximately what year or what time? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Probably around, you know, 18… SPEAKER 1: '96? IRENE BEAUDOIN: '96, '97, '98, around. SPEAKER 1: Right around there. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, around that, yeah. SPEAKER 1: All right. So then your parents met in Leominster. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm, and were married here in Leominster.6 SPEAKER 1: And were married here in Leominster. Where were they married? IRENE BEAUDOIN: At Saint Cecilia's. SPEAKER 1: At Saint Cecilia's. So by the time they met, the Saint Cecilia's had been established as a parish? IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right. It was a very small church but it was already established, but they helped the parish grow. I believe they were married by Father Balthasard. SPEAKER 1: -Which was the first pastor. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. Yeah, they were married by Farther Balthasard. SPEAKER 1: Your parents were married, your mother worked at Clewett's, and your father had his grocery store. Now, you say he remained in business three or four years, what did you say? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, possibly longer because he started in the insurance business in 1919. SPEAKER 1: Oh I see, so from just prior to 1900 until 1919, he was in the grocery business. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Right. SPEAKER 1: Where did he start his insurance business and how? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He started from this own home. SPEAKER 1: Up on 6th Street? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, on Mechanic Street. SPEAKER 1: On Mechanic at this point. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm, and from there he had his office across the street from the church. I believe there's a hairdressing parlor there. [Unintelligible - 0:09:50] was on one side and my father's office was on the opposite side. I don't know who's in there now, but then he moved from there to the present location, which is at the corner of Walker and Mechanic. SPEAKER 1: I see. What kind of businesses? You mentioned insurance business. What did he do, sell insurance or…?7 IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. He started with life insurance and then into all types of insurance: general insurance, car, fire insurance and automobile insurance. SPEAKER 1: So, he became an agent for various insurances. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Right. SPEAKER 1: How long was he in that insurance business? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, when he left, it was 50 years. He retired two years after they saw the 50th anniversary. SPEAKER 1: He left the business. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: He sold that business. IRENE BEAUDOIN: He sold it, right. SPEAKER 1: When he first started, did he make it a habit or did he try to cater specifically to Franco-Americans or did he…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes, he did. SPEAKER 1: He did. IRENE BEAUDOIN: He did but he had all types, all nationalities that came to the office for insurance. He was liked, very well-liked by all, yeah, and he helped a lot of people. Grandma said that he did help a lot of people, but no one else knew about it. SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Was he associated in any way with a Mr. Gordon who was also in the insurance business? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No. He was always alone in business. No one that I – I know he worked in the insurance [unintelligible - 0:11:52]. SPEAKER 1: So, he was a very early parishioner at Saint Cecilia's, one of the founders of the parish. I presume that he became an active member of the parish? IRENE BEAUDOIN: They both were very active, raising funds to someday build the church that we now have. SPEAKER 1: Were they involved in preparing for the original school? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, yes, they worked very hard for that.8 SPEAKER 1: Did you go to that school? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes, I sure did. I graduated from there. BILL BEAUDOIN: We were going to school there when the fire… IRENE BEAUDOIN: The fire broke out. BILL BEAUDOIN: When the school burned down and we went to class in various houses around. IRENE BEAUDOIN: I went in [Lamont's]. BILL BEAUDOIN: I went to [Holme's] house which was where the school yard is now. SPEAKER 1: Oh yeah. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. BILL BEAUDOIN: There was an old house there. That's where I went to school. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, and I went in Lamont's Hall which is… SPEAKER 1: It's across the street. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. BILL BEAUDOIN: It was in the old town square. That's where I went to school. She went to… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, something's now. SPEAKER 1: There was approximately a thousand students in the school at the time. Where did they all go? IRENE BEAUDOIN: In homes. BILL BEAUDOIN: All over third… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Third and fourth. Different people offered their homes and converted a room or two into classrooms. And then there were several classes in Lamont's Hall. They divided that up into, you know, several classes. I don't remember how many. BILL BEAUDOIN: Then we got the old church, the old church, the old white church which is where the [back lot], where the present school is – or the present church. SPEAKER 1: When they built the school, the first brick school, did they have the church in there?9 IRENE BEAUDOIN: No. They still had the… SPEAKER 1: They still had the white… IRENE BEAUDOIN: White church across the street. And they had a school house there, next to the church. BILL BEAUDOIN: They had the eighth and ninth grades there. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Right, right. SPEAKER 1: Yes, I think I remember the same pictures – IRENE BEAUDOIN: I remember it, but we didn't go to school there ourselves; in fact, my cousin, Sister [Elinya] who was a convent girl taught there. And I remember, you know, having to go there with my mother to visit her, but I never attended school in that building. SPEAKER 1: Where is your cousin now, the nun? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, she passed away quite a few years ago. SPEAKER 1: Quite a few years ago. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: All right. Now, the first time I asked this question, I've heard stories told about the fire at the school. Does anyone know to this day what actually happened, how the fire got started? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, I've always heard it had been set, but whether that was so or not, I don't know. SPEAKER 1: Wasn't there rumors that the Ku Klux Klan was involved or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: I heard that, I don't know. BILL BEAUDOIN: The Ku Klux Klan was very active in those days, because I remember, you know, we would see from where I lived, we always see the crosses burning on Prospect Hill. SPEAKER 1: And where was that where you lived? BILL BEAUDOIN: On 6th Street, right where the fire was. We could see right across Whitney Field and up into Prospect Hill, and one of the police officers saw it. He was an officer in the police department, Mr. [Karl] lived next door to us. We would always see him go into 10 the room, and if the crosses were burning they would be out chasing these guys around. I'll never forget that. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, it must have been around town, you know, around the hill, because I remember my folks talking. I wasn't supposed to be hearing this, I guess, but I would overhear different things. And I'm sure they used to go up Mechanic Street. BILL BEAUDOIN: They attacked his home one time on Sixth Street, Mr. Karl. They tried to burn that. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Of course, I remember them talking about the white sheets that they put over their clothing and, you know, crosses. SPEAKER 1: So they actually did this in Leominster? BILL BEAUDOIN: Oh, yes, we testified – IRENE BEAUDOIN: I was petrified of them that whenever they spoke of them, I was very petrified. SPEAKER 1: But it was never – the fire was never actually shown to… IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, it was never proven that it was set by anyone. That was a rumor, I suppose. SPEAKER 1: I always heard another rumor that one of the local parishioners had done it, someone's family had trouble with. I don't remember. IRENE BEAUDOIN: I never heard that one. SPEAKER 1: I heard that one a few times. BILL BEAUDOIN: I don't remember how it happened. I just remember very vividly the day it happened and [unintelligible - 0:16:58] was running over, wanting to see the fire. SPEAKER 1: Oh, it was a terrible night. It was all ice. And, of course, living not too far away from the convent, we really could see it well because my father went, but my mother and I naturally didn't go because it was such a bad night out. But, it really hit, you know, the parishioners because they really had worked to have the 11 school and then to have somebody let that happen, it meant starting all over again. SPEAKER 1: Who was the pastor at the time? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh Father [Shiquin]. SPEAKER 1: Father Shiquin. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes. SPEAKER 1: How many years was Father Shiquin in Leominster? Was it forty? SPEAKER 1: I don't know. I know he celebrated his 50th anniversary as a priest here but… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, he came from Worcester here, which would have been – what, Bill? BILL BEAUDOIN: Oh, when Father came here, he'd been … IRENE BEAUDOIN: It was 1919? BILL BEAUDOIN: Yeah. He's been here, I think, five or six years then. SPEAKER 1: And so then the parishioners had to begin all over again? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. They used to have fairs and minstrels. SPEAKER 1: Minstrels? IRENE BEAUDOIN: They had one or two a year. And then recitals from the different students that took piano. In the music department, they used to have recitals and I guess they sold tickets for that because we used to hold it at the Realtor. I know I used to perform as a piano student, and then, of course, the minstrels was a variety affair. I remember as a little kid, I perhaps was seven or eight years old, dancing on the stage for different little skits they had. SPEAKER 1: Do you recall if the parish received any outside help to rebuild the school or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, I don't know about that, but I'm – perhaps from the Diocese of Worcester or… BILL BEAUDOIN: No. The only thing I ever heard about it as I recall is a gift from Mr. [Doyle].12 IRENE BEAUDOIN: Because we were in the Boston diocese at the time, weren't we? BILL BEAUDOIN: Springfield. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Springfield, that's right. Whether they got help from the bishop at the time, I don't know. SPEAKER 1: All right. So, you, Irene, graduated from Saint Cecilia's, and from there, where did you go? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Leominster High. SPEAKER 1: You went to Leominster High. And did you graduate from Leominster High also? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: What did you do after graduation? IRENE BEAUDOIN: I went to Becker College and then I went into hairdressing. SPEAKER 1: You went to Becker's and then you went to hairdressing. What did you take up in Becker's, what course? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Business course. SPEAKER 1: Business – one or two years? IRENE BEAUDOIN: One year. SPEAKER 1: One year, and then off to hairdressing. That's a switch, isn't it? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. BILL BEAUDOIN: She went to hairdressing school in Worcester. IRENE BEAUDOIN: I went to hairdressing school in Worcester also, yeah. SPEAKER 1: Was that at girls' trade? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, no, no. It was beauty school. SPEAKER 1: And did you go into business for yourself or did you work for someone? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No. I worked as a beautician in two different beauty shops, and then I got married and that was the end of my working days. SPEAKER 1: [Laughs] These beauty shops were they located on French Hill or were they in town? IRENE BEAUDOIN: I worked for Olivia who was on Washington Street. SPEAKER 1: On Washington.13 IRENE BEAUDOIN: She has passed away, and I also worked in Fitchburg and she has passed away also. SPEAKER 1: So that… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, I worked at [Selligs] also. I must say that. I worked at [Selligs] as a biller. SPEAKER 1: Is this right after Becker's then? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, after hairdressing. I went back to the business world. SPEAKER 1: [Laughs] So Sellig's must have been new at the time. IRENE BEAUDOIN: They had just come in. BILL BEAUDOIN: Her father was instrumental at bringing Sellig's] here. In fact, he did bring Sellig's here. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right. SPEAKER 1: Oh, is that right? BILL BEAUDOIN: Her father had that building. SPEAKER 1: Which building is that, the one on Green Street? IRENE BEAUDOIN: On Green Street, right. SPEAKER 1: And when you say your father had that… BILL BEAUDOIN: Well, he was a realtor. SPEAKER 1: Oh. As time went by with his insurance business, he had realty as part of the business. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, he had realty, right. He went into realty and… SPEAKER 1: And he had the place on Green Street. Do you recall how he managed to get Sellig's in here, where they came from or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: There's a lot of concessions [unintelligible - 0:22:38]. SPEAKER 1: Well, it was through – he was also, you see, director of the bank. SPEAKER 1: Which bank was that? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, it's Monument Federal now. It was Leominster Home Federal at the time. SPEAKER 1: Oh, I see. BILL BEAUDOIN: Leominster Home loan. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Home loan.14 SPEAKER 1: Home Loan, which is now Monument, I see, and he was a…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Director. He was a director since, I believe, 1919 or 1920. Right after he got into the insurance business, I think he became a director. He was for many, many years. SPEAKER 1: I see. And it's through that, his position as director and in the real estate business that he was able to bring Sellig's into Leominster. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right, that's right. SPEAKER 1: Where were they from? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Gardner. SPEAKER 1: Oh they were in Gardner. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: That was their home base then? IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right. And he formed a committee with different businessmen in Leominster, and Mr. Buckley was one of the other gentlemen that [unintelligible - 0:23:55]. SPEAKER 1: Which Mr. Buckley? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Cornelius. SPEAKER 1: Cornelius? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: The father of the present Cornelius Buckley? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Right, right. SPEAKER 1: I see. IRENE BEAUDOIN: And the two of them, I remember, worked very hard to get this like concern into Leominster. SPEAKER 1: Now who owned the building at the time, do you recall? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, I don't know… BILL BEAUDOIN: There was a trust [unintelligible - 0:24:21] formed and it was purchased by the group. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, right. BILL BEAUDOIN: Anybody could be a shareholder if they wanted to.15 SPEAKER 1: This was in what years, in what year did this occur, the Depression years? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, no. It was 1937. I would say '38, '37, '38. SPEAKER 1: So, we're still a little in the Depression. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, just about at the end of it, yeah. SPEAKER 1: This was a rather brave attempt then… IRENE BEAUDOIN: And it helped; it did help, yeah. SPEAKER 1: I gather then they must have had to deal with the city officials at the time? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, yes. That's right. SPEAKER 1: The city officials were receptive of bringing them in, I take it? BILL BEAUDOIN: Yes. IRENE BEAUDOIN: It was – Pete Lapierre, I think, was mayor at the time, wasn't he? I think he was. SPEAKER 1: Mayor Lapierre. How did the Depression affect your father's business, or did it affect it at all? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, it did affect it, as far as people being able to pay for the insurance. It was quite head-on at the time, but he managed to hold on to all his customers by paying a lot of premiums himself. And he also was appointed to appraise property at that time, which was a big help. SPEAKER 1: Did he ever hold any position in city government? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. During World War II, he was appointed to be on the Selective Board and was chairman… SPEAKER 1: Selective Service Board? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Service Board, yeah. He was chairman of that board for a number of years. SPEAKER 1: Do you recall any other people that were on the board at the time? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes. Mr. Harris was one of them. BILL BEAUDOIN: Paul Holman.16 IRENE BEAUDOIN: Paul Holman. BILL BEAUDOIN: Are we talking about the carriage company that Paul Holman owned – was one of the owners of… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Of the Whitney Carriage. BILL BEAUDOIN: Mr. [Hart]. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh Mr. Hart, right. BILL BEAUDOIN: Who was the president of [unintelligible - 0:27:04]. Those were the Selective Service Board. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Now another thing, I don't know if I mentioned this, though, where my father was on the board of directors for a bank. SPEAKER 1: Yes, you did. IRENE BEAUDOIN: I mentioned this before, didn't I? He did a lot of appraisals for the bank also on property. SPEAKER 1: Apparently your father was the only Franco-American on the Selective Service Board for quite some time. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right, that's right. Then later on in years, of course, Mr. [Golden] was on the board also. SPEAKER 1: Henry Golden later on joined the… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes, Henry Golden was on. SPEAKER 1: Did your father ever work for the state of Massachusetts? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, just – no, I don't really think he ever had been. No, no, he didn't. SPEAKER 1: When he was an appraiser, was he an appraiser for the banks or was he an appraiser for the city of… IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, that was for the state. That was for the state. SPEAKER 1: For the state, I see. IRENE BEAUDOIN: He was appointed by the governor. SPEAKER 1: He was appointed. Who was the governor then? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Dever, Governor Dever. SPEAKER 1: I see. Now, as far as the city is concerned, besides the Selective Service, did he ever serve on any other, any commissions? Or 17 did he ever run for – was he ever elected to office or anything of that kind? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, no. SPEAKER 1: Was he interested in politics or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, he enjoyed politics but he never really cared to run for an office. SPEAKER 1: Did he ever work to help Franco-Americans become citizens? Was he ever involved in that? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He certainly was. In fact, he sponsored many people that came from Canada here. SPEAKER 1: In that sense, did he belong to – was it Club [Nordier]? It seems to me that they were active, politically active in the city. BILL BEAUDOIN: [Unintelligible - 0:29:33]. SPEAKER 1: He belonged to [unintelligible - 0:29:36]? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, yeah, he belonged to that. SPEAKER 1: And was he ever a member of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, yeah, yes. SPEAKER 1: Any other organizations that you remember that he might have been in? BILL BEAUDOIN: [Unintelligible - 0:29:47]. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, [Jasons], the Elks. BILL BEAUDOIN: [Unintelligible - 0:29:53]. SPEAKER 1: In that case, Irene, your father must have become acquainted with Bill's father? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, he knew Bill's dad and mother for – well ever since his father and mother came here from Worcester. SPEAKER 1: Was that through your… IRENE BEAUDOIN: They were friends for many, many years. SPEAKER 1: I see. Do you think that – how many children did you and Bill have? IRENE BEAUDOIN: We have three boys.18 SPEAKER 1: You have three boys. And were they all educated locally or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, they all went to high school here. BILL BEAUDOIN: Saint Cecilia's. IRENE BEAUDOIN: They went to Saint Cecilia's first naturally, and then two of them went to Notre Dame and one went to Leominster High. SPEAKER 1: And what are they doing now? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, the oldest boy is in Connecticut and he's a doctor. The second boy is in Connecticut and is working with addicts. He… SPEAKER 1: Drug addicts? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He took up psychology. BILL BEAUDOIN: He's an assistant to a psychologist there, a doctor. IRENE BEAUDOIN: And works with drug addicts. SPEAKER 1: Is he working out of the university or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, right in a hospital. SPEAKER 1: In a hospital, I see. IRENE BEAUDOIN: And the youngest is in business with his father. SPEAKER 1: Oh I see. That's the solder business? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Right. SPEAKER 1: You said, when I asked you where they went to school, you said Saint Cecilia's naturally. Why did you say 'naturally'? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Because that's the school we went to as youngsters and it seems to be the school that you sent your children to. SPEAKER 1: So, they teach as much French when your children went through as when you went through. IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, no. SPEAKER 1: How much French did they teach when your children went through? IRENE BEAUDOIN: I believe they only had like 15 minutes or a half hour and, it's all they have; very, very little French. SPEAKER 1: And those were lessons in the language then?19 IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right, that's right. And you could – they could choose catechism, either having a French catechism or an English catechism. SPEAKER 1: I see. And what year did they go through? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Let's see. It would be 1954. BILL BEAUDOIN: What – at Saint Cecilia's? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He went in '54. BILL BEAUDOIN: I don't remember the date that well. SPEAKER 1: They were in school at Saint Cecilia's in the 50s then, the three of them. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes. SPEAKER 1: So that by the 1950s… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Not the three of them. SPEAKER 1: So, that by the mid-50s and into the 60s, the French had just about disappeared from the school except for… IRENE BEAUDOIN: I would say so, yes. SPEAKER 1: Except for that 20 minutes a day of lessons in language. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Exactly. SPEAKER 1: Quite a change from the time that you were there. IRENE BEAUDOIN: We were there, right, because our afternoon was complete French from catechism to Bible to your French language and so on, which took all your afternoon in French. SPEAKER 1: So, coming back to your father now, it seemed to me from having asked you a number of questions that from relatively early in his insurance and real estate business, he was run outside of the French community quite early. Would that be correct? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. SPEAKER 1: In other words, he did a lot of business with many other people in the community, other than French Canadians from almost the beginning?20 IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right, that's right, but the majority of his business was done with the French Canadian but he had many other people, you know, different nationalities: Italian, American, Irish… SPEAKER 1: Yeah. What kind of an education did your father receive? He went to… IRENE BEAUDOIN: He had no education whatsoever. He was a self-made man really. SPEAKER 1: He didn't get through the eighth grade or anything like that? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, no. He had to go work on the farm. I… SPEAKER 1: While in Canada, he worked on the farm? IRENE BEAUDOIN: While in Canada, they lived on a farm and he worked on the farm, and if I remember correctly now… BILL BEAUDOIN: He worked in a coal mine. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, he worked in a coal mine also. SPEAKER 1: In New Brunswick? IRENE BEAUDOIN: New Brunswick. Springhill, was it? BILL BEAUDOIN: Springhill, the one they had all the very serious collapses there [unintelligible - 0:35:13]. SPEAKER 1: Yeah, yeah, Springhill mine, in New Brunswick. BILL BEAUDOIN: Yeah. And this happened – oh, God, I remember there was that shack and, you know, he can remember the track to the shack. He remembered that shack because he worked there. SPEAKER 1: And he came to the United States at 16; then he was rather young when he was working in the mine. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right, because in those days you went to work at any age. BILL BEAUDOIN: If you could do any kind of work in the pit. IRENE BEAUDOIN: If you could carry a shovel and a pick. But I think he went as far as the fourth grade and I don't believe he went any further than that. BILL BEAUDOIN: And that was in New Brunswick.21 IRENE BEAUDOIN: In New Brunswick. And, of course, they lived so many miles away from a school or a church. It was very… SPEAKER 1: Then when he came to the United States, his intention was to go to Rhode Island, was that it? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: And this was for work. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right. SPEAKER 1: Where did they plan on working when he went to Rhode Island and do you recall…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: They had nothing in mind. They were just looking for work. SPEAKER 1: Do you recall where they went in Rhode Island? Was it Woonsocket or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Woonsocket. SPEAKER 1: It was Woonsocket. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, Woonsocket, Rhode Island. SPEAKER 1: And he came back here to Leominster. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right. SPEAKER 1: Why did he stop in Leominster? This puzzles me. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, evidently they had to change trains or something. I don't know just what it was, but he was downtown. I remember him saying he was down town, waiting for another train, and all he had was 50 cents in his pockets. SPEAKER 1: Did he meet relatives when he went to Rhode Island? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He had no relatives out here whatsoever. He came on Canada with another friend of his, and they were both 16. SPEAKER 1: And both of them had intentions of going to work in Rhode Island? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: Did his friend stay in Rhode Island? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. The friend stayed in Rhode Island; he came back here alone.22 SPEAKER 1: And now your great grandparents on your – well, your grandparents on your father's side remained in Canada? IRENE BEAUDOIN: His mother came. His father died, then he went back to get his mother and his sister and they lived in Fitchburg in Cleghorn. He found them an apartment in Cleghorn. Why Cleghorn, I don't know now. I couldn't tell you why they lived there. Why not Leominster, I don't know. SPEAKER 1: There were many French Canadians in Cleghorn probably. IRENE BEAUDOIN: And my grandmother died in Cleghorn, and my aunt died in Worcester, and his sister, his only sister who was in a home there in Worcester… I'm trying to think of the name of that place. SPEAKER 1: You mentioned that your father delivered groceries by horse and buggy. When did he eventually get a car? IRENE BEAUDOIN: I believe it was around – in the 20s, early 20s. It was a turn car; he called it a turn car, which he just loved. And I can remember so many times, well, I guess, I was five or six years old when there was a rainstorm or thunderstorm that came up in the summertime, how he would stop the car and put up the side pieces and then the windshield wipers were on the inside. They had to this by hand. SPEAKER 1: They had to work the manual windshield. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, or the windshield wipers were on the outside but I guess you had to work it from the inside. SPEAKER 1: Exactly, a little handle. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right, yeah. SPEAKER 1: And so he got his first car after he went into the insurance business? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, I'm sure it must have been at that time, yes. SPEAKER 1: And how long did he drive? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He was almost 91 when he retired from driving. We mentioned several times, you know, "How I wish – why don't you give 23 up?" I didn't ask him to give up. I would say, "If you want to give up, I can take you wherever you want to go." And he'd just reply, "What's the matter with you? I can drive as well as you can." So, that was that. SPEAKER 1: Though your father was not active in politics, holding office or anything like that, was he involved in politics in any other way or no? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No. SPEAKER 1: I found that many of the Franco-Americans voted or tended to vote Republican until about the 1930s. Was your father a Republican or was he a Democrat? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He was a Republican and changed when Bill's father ran. BILL BEAUDOIN: And always went back to Republican. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Went back to Republican but to give his father that vote, he had to change – BILL BEAUDOIN: Her father did run for the city council once. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, that's right. BILL BEAUDOIN: But he was defeated and only because he was a Republican, no other reason. SPEAKER 1: Oh your father did run for…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He did run. That's correct. BILL BEAUDOIN: Republicans were non-existent at the time – or close to it. /AT/cw/ee
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Quotes from Josep Colomer:Constitutional Polarization. A Critical Review of the U.S. Political SystemRoutledge, 2023. CLICK to purchaseA collection of 6 posts. 1 - Why a Federation? The aim of the Convention in Philadelphia was not to experiment with democracy in a large territory, but to create a "stronger", "firmer" government able to defend the new independent states from the British and other foreign troops still over the continent. The priority was to create a standing army, to pay the debt for the War for Independence, and to introduce the subsequent federal taxes. The basic institutions were the states-appointed Senate and the mighty President with war powers.Some delegates warned that in the new and independent United States, people would not accept, again, taxation without representation. That's why the House of Representatives was embodied as the democratic component of the government. Then, the delegates responded to its perils by designing a series of "filters" and "checks" to prevent the House from prevailing over the other components. The separation of powers and their institutional checks were a cap, intended to tame and temper democracy. NOT A DEMOCRACYMadison warned against "the amazing violence and turbulence of the democratic spirit," and stated, "democratic communities may be unsteady, and be led to action by the impulse of the moment." Later, in the campaign to ratify the Constitution in New York, he would hold that, in the past, democracies "have ever been found spectacles of turbulence and contention … and as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."Alexander Hamilton would allege that "the zeal for the rights of the people has been a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government." In his view, democracies are manipulated by people who "commence as demagogues and end being tyrants."Gouverneur Morris was an influential delegate from Pennsylvania who is credited as the main redactor of the final text of the Constitution. He also cautioned against "the turbulence, the precipitation, changeableness, and excess" of democratic assemblies.Other delegates in the Convention referred to "the fury" and "the folly" of democracy. One confessed, "It's the anarchy, or rather worse than anarchy of a pure democracy, which I fear." Another simply stated, "democracy, the worst of all political evils." DIVINE HANDAbout the divine hand guiding the constituents, see, for example: "America felt that the hand of providence was on the young republic … There can be little question that the hand of providence has been on a nation which finds a Washington, a Lincoln or a Roosevelt when it needs him," Seymour M. Lipset, American Exceptionalism, W. W. Norton, 1997, pp. 13–14. "I can't wait to go to Heaven and meet the Framers and tell them the work that you did in putting together our Constitution is a work of genius. Thank you. It was divinely inspired," Mike Pence, Vice-President of the United States in December 2020. Reported by Gregory Jacob, Counselor of the Vice-President, to the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol, June 16, 2022. 2- An elected MonarchyMONTESQUIEUIn the imaginary Constitution of England described by Montesquieu, the powers of the three institutions were so challenged and limited by mutual checks that the most likely result would be governmental paralysis. He held that in order to prevent abuses, "Power should stop ["arrête" in French] power"; brake, not just "check" as it was sloppily translated. In Montesquieu's words, with these rules, "these three powers should naturally form a state of repose or inaction." In the perhaps unlikely or infrequent case that public affairs required some action, he conceded that the three powers should be "forced to move, but still in concert." Madison would only ambiguously paraphrase, "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition." There was a problem: Montesquieu had misunderstood how the British system actually worked. What he described was closer to an old-fashioned, outdated model that, in the best of cases, could be identified with a transitory, provisional past period in England's history. It did not correspond with the political system in motion when he visited London, and even less with practices contemporary to the Framers gathered in Philadelphia several decades later. By following Montesquieu's obsolete account, the authors of the US Constitution misunderstood the source.MONARCHYThe monarchical proposal was most explicitly presented by Alexander Hamilton. He did not attend most of the Convention sessions, but on June 18, he showed up, took the floor, and delivered a prepared speech for more than five hours, no break for lunch, that left the delegates flabbergasted. Hamilton proposed a president that would be chosen by electors and serve for life. Such an "elective Monarch" would appoint the state governors and could veto state laws. At the federal level, the president would also be the arbiter for expected regular conflict between the Senate also appointed for life and the popular House: "This check is a Monarch," he suggested, "capable of resisting the popular current." The president, with absolute veto over congressional legislation, would be "a salutary check upon the legislative body." According to Ron Chernow, his biographer, Hamilton had written in his personal notes for his Convention speech that the president would not only be appointed for life but also "ought to be hereditary and to have so much power that it will not be his interest to risk much to acquire more." Yet, probably sensing the audience's reluctance to his already delivered proposals, he skipped that part. Adams, who would become the US' first vice president and the second president, was suspected of having monarchist leanings. He would propose calling George Washington "His Majesty the President," thought hereditary rule inevitable, and, after Washington's childless tenure prevented it, he would be the first to make his son run for president.3-The Founders' Portraits in WashingtonWhat one can see and guess about these characters by looking at eight portraits, the first five by Gilbert Stuart and the next two by John Trumbull at the National Gallery of Art, and the eighth by Joseph Siffred Duplessis at the National Portrait Gallery. 4- How the System Actually Works CHECKS AND GRIEVANCESAlexander Hamilton clearly lay on the side of scant congressional legislation. He said, "The injury that may possibly be done by defecting a few good laws will be amply compensated by the advantages of preventing a number of bad ones." It was like fasting for the sake of not being poisoned; the result is anemia, not good political health.In practice, there are checks but no balances. The existing blockingmechanisms in the US constitutional system do not produce balances in favor of a few good laws. They are largely unbalanced in favor of the Presidency and its powers, which is aggravated by the biases of the presidential elections.The US constitutional plan, instead of relying upon positive institutionalincentives, such as the expectation of sharing power in the Cabinet, countedon politicians' virtuous behavior. Yet, absent our better angels' motivations, the system of negative checks becomes a machine for sustained conflict. PRESIDENTIALISMThe greatest increase in presidential power has derived from wars. From General George Washington, leader of the Revolutionary War for Independence, through Theodore Roosevelt, a high-level combatant in the Spanish-American War in the Caribbean, eleven of the first twenty-five presidents were war men. Whether as generals, national heroes, or upper-echelon military officers, Andrew Jackson, William Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, Ulysses Grant, Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and William McKinley fought in the wars against the British, the Indians, the Mexicans, or, in the Civil War, other Americans, and their military feats helped them to be elected.Alexander Hamilton had already identified the management of foreign affairs as the main way to expand executive powers: "It is of the nature of war to increase the executive, at the expense of the legislative authority." Discussing rates of presidents, historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. observed that war "made it easier for a president to achieve greatness. 5- No Parties, But PolarizationNO PARTIESThe Framers were confident about the future of the republic because they miscalculated that in a great, expanding, and diverse Union with multiple institutional checks, it would be unlikely that nationwide parties could be created. They expected that the best individuals with "enlightened views and virtuous sentiments" would lead the new politics against "the pestilential influence of party animosities" and "the pestilential breath of faction," as scorned by both James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, respectively. Currently, the two major political parties in the US encompass a range of policy proposals and ideological orientations comparable to the typical European system with multiple parties: There are liberals and socialists within the Democratic Party, and conservatives and populists within the Republican Party, with the minor Greens and Libertarians flanking each side. However, the political competition is polarized by two parties or candidates because of the electoral system and the election of the president.POLITICAL, NO SOCIAL POLARIZATION The polarization of parties and candidates is more politically consequential than the polarization of voters. Generally, parties can lead and carry voters in their direction, either to closeness or to distance from each other, but to a limited extent. That is because it is less difficult to coordinate and mobilize a few thousand politicians than millions of voters. If parties and political leaders move to radicalize their positions and provoke polarization, voters may follow and become more polarized in their preferences, but usually less than the politicians and parties come to be. If, conversely, parties moderate and converge in their positions, voters may also moderate themselves but less than the partisan politicians do.FEAR AND NATIONAL FERVOR During the Cold War, many citizens developed a sense of unity, love of patriotic values, and pride in the American way of life. They trusted the rulers, who appeared as their protectors and providers of security. Challenging the government in the middle of a war would have been regarded as treason. In parallel, the ruling officials were able to keep many state secrets, their policy performances were not seriously evaluated, they enjoyed discrete privacy from the media, and gained support and devotion from the public.After the Cold War, without the threat of a nuclear war, the public lost their fear. There was a new openness to indiscretion and transgression. The new political atmosphere became the opposite of the previous period: a general mistrust of government, close scrutiny of corrupt practices, leaks of confidential plans and messages, frequent scandals about politicians' business or private affairs, and loud calls for more transparency and accountability. After the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the "peace dividend" that appeared to be a potential source of domestic progress led instead to domestic mayhem. With just a little exaggeration, one could say that, over the years, the international Cold War was replaced with a domestic cold war. 6- Towards the 2024 ElectionPRIMARIESThe primaries mechanism is a substitute for the formation of multiple parties. To build a majority, in Europe and other democracies, a coalition of multiple parties must be formed after the election; in the US, a coalition of multiple factions within a party must be formed before the election. In European parliamentary systems with multiple parties, the mess comes after the election; sometimes, the formation of a coalition in parliament for the choice of a prime minister takes months. In the US, the mess is before the election; the process of simplifying the pluralistic setting to only two major presidential candidates starts more than a year before Election Day. These alternative experiences both confirm that, in the absence of a traditional monarch, simplifying a complex society to one single executive leader is always a challenging endeavor.The main drawback of the system of partisan primaries is that it may not produce a majority in support for the winning candidate but it can result in the nomination of an extreme or unqualified demagogue who would be rejected by a majority of voters.The turnout in the presidential primaries has increased to nearly 50% of the party voters in the general election since the 2010s. However, the number of primary candidates within each party has also increased, up to double digits in recent seasons, which reduced the support for the winner. In 2016, Donald Trump was voted in the primaries by only 22% of his voters in the general election; Hillary Clinton, by 26% of her votes in the general election; and in 2020, Joe Biden by only 23%.SPLITTING CANDIDATESIf popular participation increases, partisanship becomes more compact, and the potential political pluralism of the country is not well articulated by the party system, third and further candidates reappear. They indirectly made a winner by splitting partisan support in at least four of the first eight presidential elections after the Cold War. The independent Ross Perot split Republican voters twice, in 1992 and 1996, and twice produced a Democratic winner with a minority of popular votes. The other way around, the Green Party's Ralph Nader split Democratic voters in 2000 and produced a Republican winner with a minority of popular votes. Also, the Greens and other candidacies absorbed potential Democratic voters in 2016 and helped make a Republican candidate the winner with a minority of popular votes.CAN TRUMP RETURN?There are also precedents of traitors who persisted in politics, ran for office, were elected, and provoked further turmoil. At least two former presidents joined the Confederacy during the Civil War. Former Whig President John Tyler, who had replaced William Harrison at his death one month after entering office, was first elected to and chaired the Virginia Secession Convention, and during the Civil War, he was elected first to the Provisional Confederation Congress and then to the Confederate House of Representatives. Former Democratic President Franklin Pierce collaborated closely with Confederacy President Jefferson Davis. Also, former President Andrew Johnson was elected senator on an anti-Reconstruction platform.Collection:1- Why a Federation2- An Elected Monarchy3- Psychological Portraits of the Founders and Framers4– How the System Actually Works5- No Parties, But Polarization6- Towards the 2024 Election
La tesis doctoral "Participación política de las personas jóvenes desde la perspectiva del patriarcado en España (2000-2011): factores y límites" tiene como fin indagar cómo las juventudes han desarrollado su participación política en el periodo, entendida ésta como convencional y no convencional, teniendo en cuenta qué elementos de tipo socio-demográfico y de participación han influido para que participaran y qué barreras se han encontrado para realizarlas, sobre todo por cuestión de edad y género. Para estudiarlo se ha procedido a establecer tres objetivos específicos: - Objetivo específico 1. Analizar qué factores intervienen en la participación política convencional de mujeres y hombres jóvenes. - Objetivo específico 2. Analizar qué factores intervienen en la participación política no convencional de mujeres y hombres jóvenes. - Objetivo específico 3. Estudiar los límites a la participación política convencional y no convencional de las personas jóvenes por razón de edad (adultocentrismo) y género (dominación masculina). Con el fin de dar respuesta a estas cuestiones se ha procedido a la utilización de varias metodologías analíticas (pluralismo metodológico) para abordar el objeto de estudio, pues se trata de un fenómeno complejo, empleándose varías técnicas con la finalidad de obtener una aproximación a la realidad con gran calidad en la investigación. En efecto, se han llevado a cabo técnicas de análisis propias de metodologías cualitativas como cuantitativas, tal como se refleja a continuación. - En primer lugar, del lado teórico, se ha procedido a una revisión crítica bajo las perspectivas del patriarcado –dominación adulta y masculina- de las teorías de la participación y de los estudios de participación política de las personas jóvenes en España, con el fin de poner de manifiesto los límites existentes. - Del lado empírico, se ha llevado a cabo un análisis del contexto de tipo normativo relativo a espacios internacionales en los que se enmarca España -Universal, Europeo e Iberoamericano- en materia de participación y juventud, estableciendo el marco en el que se encuentra el país. También, en este sentido se ha procedido al análisis legislativo de las Constituciones Españolas (tomando como inicio 1812) y la normativa relativa a la participación política, reflejando el proceso de construcción socio-histórico y dirigido por las élites de las personas jóvenes como sujetos políticos y su institucionalización. Además, se ha comparado los derechos políticos "concedidos" previos a la mayoría de edad con los derechos políticos. - Además, se ha analizado, de forma descriptiva bajo la perspectiva de género y la crítica adultocéntrica, y a partir de fuentes de datos secundarias -estudios convenio CIS-INJUVE, Ministerio del Interior, Congreso de los Diputados e Instituto Nacional de Estadística-, las formas de participación política de las personas jóvenes en relación a la población general. - Para lograr una mayor profundización sobre la participación de los jóvenes se han aplicado técnicas predictivas, a través de regresiones logísticas, que ha permitido establecer qué variables de tipo socio-demográfico –edad, situación de estudia, trabaja o estudia y trabaja y nivel educativo- y de participación – voto, asistencia a mítines, afiliación política, asistencia a manifestaciones, consumo político, firma de documentos- influyen en la participación convencional y no convencional de mujeres y hombres jóvenes entre 2000-2011. - En cuanto a las técnicas cualitativas se ha interpelado al 'actor social' –personas jóvenes que participan en políticas- a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas. Se han analizado qué límites manifiestan para participar, especialmente focalizados en los límites androcéntricos y adultocéntricos. Ello ha permitido abordar de forma global y omnicomprensiva los factores determinantes y los limites existentes a la participación política de las personas jóvenes en España entre los años 2000 y 2011, destacándose los siguientes resultados: - Las teorías y estudios sobre la participación política de las personas jóvenes suelen adolecer de ciertos límites teóricos y pueden ser tachados tanto de androcéntricos como de adultocéntricos,. - La participación convencional de hombres y mujeres jóvenes está influida por haber alcanzado el nivel máximo de estudios, mientras que este fenómeno no ocurre en la participación no convencional. - Los hombres jóvenes participan más de formas convencional que las mujeres, estando en ambos casos influidos por el nivel máximo educativo alcanzado y la asistencia a manifestaciones. En el caso de los hombres, además, por la participación por medio de firma de peticiones. Las mujeres jóvenes declaran más que se han visto influidas por el entorno familiar, mientras que los hombres jóvenes que participan de forma convencional lo relacionan con su ámbito social –amigos y universidad-. - Las mujeres jóvenes participan más de forma no convencional que los hombres. Esta forma de participación está condicionada por variables participativas tanto para hombres, como para mujeres jóvenes, como son votar y asistir a mítines. Además, para las mujeres jóvenes influye también el que estén trabajando, estudiando o estudien y trabajen y, también declaran que consideran que se ha producido influencia familiar. - Con relación a los límites de la participación política de los jóvenes existe cierta tendencia en el ámbito internacional a una consideración más inclusiva y heterogénea de las personas jóvenes, así como a incentivar su participación, pero éstas son declaraciones sin elementos de implementación o reclamación. - La normativa nacional, además, genera límites de participación de tipo adultocéntrico en el caso que las personas jóvenes entren en contacto con personas adultas a la hora de participar –asociaciones-. Además, hay derechos con intereses marcadamente económicos y que benefician a los grupos dominantes –hombres y personas adultas- que reducen la edad de concesión de derechos, como es el uso de armas, mientras que los derechos políticos están supeditados a la mayoría de edad. - Las personas jóvenes que participan identifican que existen límites a su participación por edad. En las personas que llevan a cabo prácticas de participación convencional se detecta que éstas son "utilizadas" por los partidos políticos para transmitir una imagen de juventud, desarrollar la infraestructura de los actos o trabajos de menor incidencia política, limitándoles su acceso, incluso, en los casos de comités de juventud. En los casos de participación no convencional no se detecta tanto el límite a dicha participación, aunque también se declara que sus opiniones y actitudes han sido cuestionadas por razón de edad. - Las mujeres jóvenes, y algunos hombres jóvenes, han declarado que participan tanto en formas convencionales, como no convencionales, y que se dan límites a la hora de participar por cuestión de género. Han declarado que se produce un techo a la hora de ascender dentro de las estructuras de los partidos –participación convencional-, en la apropiación de las palabras de las mujeres por parte de hombres, en las formas de comunicación con ellas, etc. Es de destacar que algunos hombres, tanto en formas convencionales y no convencionales, han considerado que en su entorno "esto no se produce", sin ser prácticamente así en el caso de las mujeres jóvenes. - Además, se ha puesto de manifiesto la necesidad de abordar el fenómeno de la participación de las juventudes teniendo en consideración a los actores sociales y sus heterogeneidades, así como superando los límites adultocenténtricos y androcéntricos. The aim of the doctoral thesis "Political Participation of Young People from the Patriarchal perspective in Spain (2000-2011): Factors and Limits" is to inquire how the young people have developed their political participation during this period, understanding this participation in a conventional as well as in a non-conventional way, and taking into account the sociodemographic and the participation elements that have had an influence in the political participation of young people, as well as the obstacles that they have found when doing so, especially due to age and gender reasons. For the research, there are three specific objectives: - First specific objective: Analyse the factors that take part in the conventional participation of young women and men. - Second specific objective: Analyse the factors that take part in the non-conventional participation of young women and men. - Third specific objective: Study the limits to the political participation of young people in the conventional and non-conventional spheres based on age (adultcentrism) and gender (male domination) reasons. With the objective of answering these questions, we have proceeded to use different analytic methodologies to present the subject matter, as it is a complex phenomenon, and different techniques have been employed in order to obtain a research of great quality in the process of approaching these realities. In fact, analysing techniques typical in qualitative methodologies, as well as quantitative, have been used. - In the first place, from the theory framework, a critical review from the patriarchal perspective –male and adult domination- to the participation theories and the researches of the political participation of young people in Spain has been done to expose the limits they have. - From the empiric research, a legislative analysis of the context has been done, taking into account the international area in which Spain plays a role – Universal, European and Ibero-American spaces- in the participation and youth field. In addition, an analysis of the Spanish legislation has also been made, as the different Constitutions (starting with the one which dates from 1812) and the regulations concerning political participation reflect how the socio-historical construction as political subjects has been influenced by the elites, as well as what has happened with the institutionalisation process. In addition, a comparison between the political rights and those who are given to young people before reaching the age of majority has been carried out. - In addition, the sundry forms of political participation of young people compared to the general population have been also analysed. This analysis has been elaborated from the critic perspective of gender and adultcentrism and from the descriptive perspective with secondary sources of data – researches from CIS-INJUVE, the Home Office, the Chamber of Deputies and the INE. - In order to go deeper into the details about the political participation of young people, predictive techniques have been applied such as logistic regression that allows to set up the different socio-demographic variables –age, studies level and studies and/or labour situation- and participation variables –vote, public meeting assistance, political affiliation, take part in demonstrations, political consumption and signing of documents;-variables that have had an influence in the conventional and non-conventional participation of young people between 2000-2011. - Concerning the qualitative techniques the 'social actor' – young people who participate in politics- has been questioned by means of semi-structured interviews.T he limits that they said that they had to participate have been analysed, especially focusing on the limits represented by androcentricity and adultcentrism. This has allowed us to analyse in a global and all-inclusive way, the decisive factors and the limits that young people have had with regards to the political participation in Spain between 2000-2011. As a result of that there have been the following significant results: - The theories and researches about the political participation of young people lacked some theoretical background and they could be considered to be based on a point of view based on adultcentrism and androcentricity. - The conventional participation of young men and women has been influenced by the fact of having reached the maximum level of their studies (according to their age), while this phenomenon does not happen in the non-conventional participation. - Young men participated more in the conventional way than young women, being in both cases influenced by the maximum level of their studies and the demonstrations´ assistance. In the case of the young male, he has been also influenced by the signing of demanding documents. Young women said that they had been influenced by their family, while young men who participated in the conventional way said that they were more influenced by their social groups –friends and University-. - Young women participated more in the non-conventional way than young men. This way of participation has been determined by participative variables as vote or meeting assistance in both cases. In addition, for young women, the fact of being working, studying or doing both has also an influence. They also consider that family has also influenced them. - With regards to the limits of the political participation of young people there is a certain tendency in the international realm to have a more inclusive and wide cross approach of young people as well as a higher tendency to stimulate their participation but these are declarations which have neither elements of implementation nor of reclamation. - Spanish laws produce some limits derived from adultcentrism to the participation of young people in case they get in contact with adult people –associations- as well. In addition there are some rights with clear economic interests and which benefit dominant groups- men and adult people- where the age required to rejoice those rights is lowered such as the right to carry weapons; whereas political rights are limited to the age of majority. - Young people who participated said that they had some limits to participate because of being young. Young people who participated in the conventional way said that this practices had been "used" by the political parties in order to offer an image of youth, including developing the infrastructure of events or tasks with a lesser political incidence; they even stated that their participation had been limited even in cases of youth committees. Concerning the non-conventional participation the limit to that participation is not so evident although they have also stated that their opinions and attitudes have been questioned due to their age. - Young women, and some young men, said that they participated in conventional and non-conventional ways alike, and that they had found some limits to participating based on gender reasons. They said that there was a glass ceiling to promote inside the political organisations –conventional participation-, the appropriation of the words of young women by men and in the way to address women. It must be mentioned that some young men who participated in both conventional and non-conventional ways said that they had not seen those practices in their environment whereas almost all the women said they had seen those practices. - In addition it has become evident the need to analyse the phenomenon of the participation of young people bearing in mind the social actors as well as their differences, as well as by overcoming the limits based on adultcentrism and androcentricity.
This toolkit is the first of its kind to provide information on promoting and protecting the nutritional status of mothers and children in crises and emergencies. Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to major crises and emergencies. This toolkit aims to improve the resilience of the most vulnerable in times of intensified nutritional needs, most notably pregnant and lactating mothers as well as children less than two years of age. Its principal objective is to offer countries, when faced with the transition from stable times into and out of crisis, clear guidance on how to safeguard the nutritional status of mothers and children during times of stability, crisis, and emergency. The principal objective of this toolkit is to offer clear guidance, in a single-source compilation, that will assist countries in safeguarding the nutritional status of mothers and children during times of stability, crisis, and emergency. It aims to inform changes in countries' policies and practices and to guide their attempts to deal with persistently high prevalence rates of malnutrition among their poorest, least educated, and indigenous populations. This toolkit has been crafted so that it can be readily used by non-nutrition specialists.
Transport has been identified as one of the biggest sectors that contribute to climate change (23%) due to its energy demand and polluting emissions and therefore one of the sectors that needs to take action to mitigate its impact. A few countries in Latin America (Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Colombia) have started their transport NAMA development and are at different stages in the process. Peru has started this process more recently and this report aims at facilitating the NAMA development and a strategy for its implementation. A key issue in the Peruvian case is the need to set a wave of change in the way transport is usually perceived and addressed in Peru. Thus this report considers both the requirements and changes needed in order to implement a successful and appropriate transport NAMA. What is a NAMA? A NAMA (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions) is a concept that originated under the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Bali 2007, as a mechanism to engage "Nationally appropriate mitigation actions by developing country Parties in the context of sustainable development, supported and enabled by technology, financing and capacity-building, in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner;". With two years of application; NAMAs have managed to attract transport sector decision-makers due to their alignment with national priorities and potential large financial and technical support to implement them. Overall Vision of a Transport NAMA in Peru The overarching aim for the transport NAMA in Peru is the achievement of the minimum optimum mobility required to stimulate economic growth and thus improve the quality of life. This report suggests that three areas of priority should be tackled in order to achieve the overarching aim – Urban Mobility, Energy Efficiency and the role of land use and planning – in the development and implementation of carbon emissions targets. In order to reduce emissions by any significant amount, it is necessary to devise measures for each of these priorities. For Urban Mobility, the measure to be adopted is the development of an integrated mobility system; for Energy Efficiency, the measure is the development of a programme to increase the energy efficiency of vehicles; for Land use and planning, the measure is to develop demonstrator Green Zones to show how low carbon living might work in reality. Each measure amounts to a set of interventions and each intervention has a set of Actions. The Actions are measurable, reportable and verifiable. In the draft NAMA, there are 16 Interventions and 51 Actions explained in Chapter 4 and some suggestions for indicators of successful outcomes (See chapter 4 intervention time frame tables). The dominance of the capital city of Lima and Callao in relation to the rest of the country means that significant effort needs to be made in the capital in order to influence the success of the policy at the national level. Many of the actions will therefore apply to and be developed in Lima and Callao. Most can be repeated elsewhere in the country as appropriate. A major finding is that to achieve the aim, it is crucially important to ensure coherent, consistent and comprehensive governance over the transport system, without which environmental and operational actions will fail. Therefore a major Mobility Reform must be put in place – some initial steps have already been taken but the path is longer than the political cycle; therefore in the case of Lima and Callao this reform could be facilitated by the creation of a Unified Technical Authority (UTA). This will incorporate all government bodies involved in transport in the capital city; to oversee the overall transport system in the city in order to have a low carbon means to provide the urban mobility required by the community. The UTA can then develop actions to optimise mobility for the population and improve the energy performance of the transport system by implementing the interventions. Some of the Actions suggested in the draft transport NAMA are substantive – designed to achieve the NAMA objectives. Other Actions are facilitative – intended to set up the governance and contextual situations required for successful implementation of the substantive actions. The report presents the arguments to support the choice of these outcomes, objectives, measures, interventions and actions and a suggested initial timescale for implementation. The 16 Interventions are (Please see Table 28 in appendix IV for summary of all actions): 1. Creation of a Unified Technical Authority 2. Mobility Reform for Lima and Callao 3. Creation of a Multi-institutional Transport NAMA Committee 4. Revision of draft Transport NAMA 5. Development of Travel Plans for commercial activity and employees 6. Development of an energy-efficient Mobility Plan 7. Support for education and training 8. Development, design and implementation of new infrastructure to encourage low energy mobility 9. Seek international finance for the implementation of the transport NAMA 10. Implement a vehicle labelling system and a compulsory system to achieve energy efficiency in light duty vehicles 11. Ensure that fuel quality is improved 12. Adopt mechanisms to achieve the declared emissions target 13. Design and Planning 14. Governance and Delivery 15. Carbon accounting and sustainability 16. Tendering and Feasibility Key Concepts Institutional Structure The overarching aim for the future of the world s citizens is the improvement in the quality of life – and Peru is no exception in this respect. This aim is so overarching that it extends beyond the limitations of political ideas and preferences: it is hard to imagine a political party not wishing to improve the quality of life of the population. It therefore extends beyond the political cycles of elections and terms of office, but requires commitment from all parties so that the initial actions are started immediately and there is a continuity of purpose – even if the methods and priorities change as one political philosophy is exchanged for another. The nature and scale of the problem (long term) transcends political differences, therefore it is necessary to have the right institutional structures in place in order to ensure that the technico-political discussions can take place in a meaningful way. A decision to implement a transport NAMA will require actions which will only return results beyond the current political cycle and this requires bold political action Technical Leadership Politicians have a duty to bring the societal consensus to the heart of government decision-making but sometimes this will conflict with the practical, technological and methodological requirements of the implementation of their decisions. However important and beneficial the political desire might be, the occasion does arise when it is simply not possible to put it into practice. Therefore there is a need to ensure that there is a body of technical wisdom at the disposal of the politicians. This wisdom includes the knowledge of what is possible, what happened before and an understanding of how to improve the predictions of what could happen in the future. This wisdom needs to be independent of political influence because its role is to provide advice that is independent of political wishes and, in effect, to provide the knowledgeable intelligence that enables politicians to be able to act in a responsible way with society s resources. It should be the norm that a politician turns to the technical leadership for objective advice of the highest order so that all decisions are made on the basis of the best evidence, advice and support. This requires technical leadership that is independent of the political process and therefore free from the changes that often occur as a result of the political cycle. Therefore continuity and leadership is also required at the technical level. Analytical Tools Three main tools have been selected to support the draft NAMA process; (1) the Outcome-based Strategy (OBS) which is a tool that formalises and facilitates the decision-making process; (2) the RED (Reduce, Exchange and Decarbonise) strategy which aims to drive and guide priorities increasing carbon reduction and improving quality of life; and (3) Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) which is an alternative method to cost-benefit analysis (CBA) enabling more effective assessments of strategic actions. Final remarks Further work is required in order to transform this draft transport NAMA into a NAMA proposal and this entails firstly the adoption and, if necessary, adjustment of the suggested interventions, followed by assessment of financial and incremental costs, development of appropriate metrics of success (including measurement, calculation, reporting and verification) and achievement of suitable GHG projections. Peru is currently recognised as a very promising emerging economy attracting international investment and the transport system plays a vital role in this economic development (transporting goods and people). Initial steps have already been taken to improve Mobility in the Metropolitan city (Lima and Callao), however more work needs to be done to ensure Peru s growth reaches its maximum potential. The large technical and financial support available and the potential social cobenefits that can be achieved, make a Transport NAMA the ideal tool to facilitate this goal.
2000/2001 ; Ogni sistema di trasporto delle merci si presenta generalmente molto articolato e complesso: in particolare l'esistenza di numerosi soggetti che, a diverso livello e con diversi obiettivi, sono tenuti ad operare decisioni rappresenta un elemento che influisce in maniera spesso importante sull'assetto del sistema stesso. Il lavoro prende in esame un sistema di trasporto merci con due attori, denominati P e Q, che attraverso le rispettive decisioni determinano l'assetto dei flussi sulla rete. Il soggetto P, in particolare, è incaricato di soddisfare una data domanda di trasporto (ad esempio espressa mediante una matrice 0/D data) e può decidere come ripartire i flussi su una rete multi modale della quale percepisce i tratti fondamentali. Al momento della sua decisione, P conosce il costo generalizzato degli archi della rete e cerca di minimizzare il costo totale del trasporto. Inoltre il giocatore P deve rispettare le decisioni del giocatore Q. Il giocatore Q, che controlla una porzione della rete che connette le origini alle destinazioni di P, invece conosce il profitto unitario che deriva dal transito veicolare sui suoi archi e cerca di massimizzare il proprio profitto complessivo. Nel far questo può modificare la capacità degli archi della sua sotto rete, ma anch'egli deve comunque soddisfare la condizione di bilanciamento ai nodi e deve rispettare le decisioni di P. Quale primo elemento di originalità del presente lavoro può essere considerato il tentativo di condensare in un unico approccio alcuni elementi presenti singolarmente in filoni diversi. Infatti, tra i modelli della letteratura che intendono rappresentare esplicitamente le dinamiche decisionali interattoriali si ricordano i modelli multiattoriali sequenziali, i giochi su rete e la programmazione lineare bilivello i quali formano il quadro di riferimento in cui la presente lavoro si inserisce. Il quadro attoriale appena delineato offre l'opportunità di affrontare una serie di problemi diversi, nel campo dell'affidabilità della rete, a seconda dell'ordine con il quale i due giocatori decidono. Infatti il caso in cui la decisione di P preceda quella di Q può essere significativo, per P, al fine di valutare la peggiore situazione che potrebbe presentarsi per effetto di Q una volta stabilito l'assetto dei flussi sulla propria rete. È questo un tipico esempio della cosiddetta "worst case analysis. Viceversa, se gioca prima Q, P riesce a determinare il migliore assetto dei propri flussi nel rispetto di vincoli imposti da Q su una parte della rete interposta tra la sua origine e la destinazione. Si pensi ad esempio alla problematica dell'attraversamento di Paesi, quali Austria e Svizzera, che impongono severe limitazioni per i veicoli pesanti. Il problema descritto viene formulato come un gioco su rete nel quale i due giocatori, P e Q, non cooperano tra loro. Si ottiene così una formulazione di programmazione lineare bilivello (BLP) dove il giocatore che gioca per primo è il leader, mentre l'altro assume il ruolo di follower. Ricordando che i problemi BLP sono NPhard, è stato sviluppato ed implementato un algoritmo euristico di ricerca della soluzione ottima. Sfruttando però l'osservazione che, nel particolare caso in questione, la soluzione ottima del problema BLP è anche un punto di equilibrio di Nash, l'algoritmo restringe la sua ricerca nell'insieme dei punti di equilibrio di Nash. Da un punto di equilibrio di Nash si passa ad un altro corrispondente ad una soluzione "migliore per il leader fino a quando l'algoritmo non si ferma. Purtroppo però non si è sempre in grado di determinare un ottimo globale, ma solamente un ottimo locale individuando così, nel caso sia P a giocare per primo, un limite superiore alla soluzione ottima. Lo studio di tale modello è stato motivato dalla volontà di rappresentare, con riferimento al sistema del trasporto merci su gomma tra la Thrchia e l'Europa Occidentale, la situazione che si è venuta a creare nella regione dei Balcani a causa dei recenti eventi bellici. Tra le due regioni, annualmente, si registra un traffico dell'ordine delle centinaia di migliaia di veicoli commerciali. Per ragioni di semplicità, si è fatto riferimento alla sola componente verso l'Europa, fermo restando che la direzione opposta potrebbe essere analizzata in maniera del tutto analoga. Nell'esempio affrontato, la domanda di trasporto delle merci, che viene misurata in numero di veicoli all'anno, e che si sposta con origini diverse nel Sud-Est asiatico e destinazioni pure diverse nell'Europa Occidentale, è stata concentrata in due sole polarità (1 origine e l destinazione). Nel sistema appena descritto l'Associazione Industriali della nazione di origine (UND) svolge il ruolo di decisore centrale ed è stata assimilata al giocatore P di cui sopra. In breve, nota la domanda da trasportare, l'UND decide la distribuzione delle merci tra vari percorsi sulla rete che collega l'origine (Turchia) alla destinazione (Europa occidentale). Conosce pure il costo generalizzato degli archi di tale rete e opera le proprie decisioni con l'obiettivo di rendere minimo il costo del trasporto. L'evento bellico ha causato, come riflesso su detto sistema, una decisa modifica alla capacità degli archi di una porzione della rete stradale iniziale, che garantiva la connessione tra origine e destinazione. Alcuni archi sono stati eliminati (la rispettiva capacità posta pari a zero), altri hanno subito una netta riduzione della capacità, o un significativo aumento del costo generalizzato. La guerra quindi ha assunto un comportamento analogo a quello del giocatore Q. In questo caso però, non ha significato parlare di un'utilità che la guerra cerca di massimizzare secondo quanto esposto in precedenza, a meno che non si proceda ad assimilare l'utilità del giocatore Q con i costi di P: se Q gioca per massimizzare la propria utilità e quest'ultima corrisponde ai costi di P, automaticamente Q gioca per massimizzare i costi di P e il modello acquista proprio il significato di una analisi del caso peggiore per P. La rete considerata è stata semplificata in accordo con il livello di dettaglio delle informazioni di cui dispone P ed è formata da 99 nodi e 181 archi, di cui solamente 100 sotto il controllo di P. Gli altri 81 archi, concentrati nella regione dei Balcani, sono sotto il controllo di Q e costituiscono una sottorete connessa, che disconnette l'origine dalla destinazione. La capacità degli archi è stata determinata in accordo con il numero dei permessi di transito annui che ogni Stato concede ai veicoli turchi. Tale numero viene annualmente definito, mediante contrattazione tra le parti, in accordi bilaterali. In questa fase non si è tenuto conto delle differenti tipologie di permessi. In accordo con alcune necessarie ipotesi semplificative, la rete stessa è aciclica. I valori del costo per veicolo percepito da parte di P per transitare sugli archi della sottorete propria od altrui rispettivamente, sono stati determinati come funzione del costo monetario, della lunghezza fisica dell'arco e del tempo di percorrenza, tenendo in considerazione le varie voci che concorrono alla formazione del costo unitario (per veicolo-chilometro) di produzione di un servizio di trasporto sull'arco preso in esame. Per quanto riguarda i termini che compaiono nella funzione obiettivo di Q, si suppone che la guerra non tragga beneficio alcuno dal transito dei flussi veicolari sulla rete di P, mentre il profitto di Q è stato posto pari al costo sostenuto da P cambiato di segno come descritto in precedenza. Ai fini di valutare le prestazioni dell'algoritmo, il medesimo problema, viste le sue contenute dimensioni, è stato risolto anche con un algoritmo esatto, cioè in grado di determinare l'ottimo globale. Il risultato dell'algoritmo proposto si discosta di solo lo 0,3% dal risultato ottenuto con una procedura di branch and bound. L'esempio applicativo ha consentito di comprendere le potenzialità dell'approccio proposto e nell'ottica di un suo utilizzo concreto ha fornito delle utili indicazioni su possibili sviluppi da intraprendere legati sia all'algoritmo, sia al modello sia al caso di studio. In conclusione, il lavoro presenta un modello per la definizione dell'assetto del sistema di trasporto delle merci, con la trattazione esplicita delle dinamiche decisionali interattoriali. In particolare si prendono in considerazione due soggetti, che operano scelte in sequenza gerarchica, uno dei quali agisce per minimizzare i costi totali del trasporto e l'altro cerca invece di massimizzare il proprio profitto che dipende dal volume di traffico lungo gli archi sotto il suo controllo. Si propone una formulazione di programmazione lineare bilivello, per risolvere un gioco infinito statico non cooperativo con insiemi di vincoli accoppiati. Sono descritte le condizioni di esistenza e alcune proprietà dei punti di equilibrio di N ash, dalle quali discende un algoritmo di ricerca di un ottimo locale. Viene infine discussa un'applicazione del modello al caso del trasporto merci dalla Turchia all'Europa. Alcuni futuri sviluppi sono possibili. Essi portano alla progressiva eliminazione delle assunzioni semplificative che sono state adottate allo stato attuale nella formulazione del modello. In particolare si tratta della configurazione della rete, della struttura e delle proprietà dell'algoritmo (oggi trova solamente un ottimo locale). Inoltre si intende procedere con il perfezionamento del caso di studio. ; Freight transportation is generally a very complex domain where several players, each with its own set of objectives, act and operate at various decisional levels. There are different players in the field. The shippers who decide how much of each commodity to move from every origin to every destination and the means by which the goods will be moved. The carriers who respond to this transportation demands and route freight over the actual transportation network under their contro!. Finally, the government defined as the set of international, national and local authorities involved in any way with freight transportation via regulation and the provision of transportation infrastructure. In this work, we consider the case where only one shipper determines the demand for transportation over a network. However, he cannot decide fiow levels on arcs in a fully independent way due to the presence of a second agent controlling some links of the network and optimizing her own objective function. This situation is modelled as a game between two players P and Q acting o n the same network G. Player P fixes the fiows o n the arcs of G in such a way t ha t their divergence at some given nodes (sources and sinks) is equal to prescribed values. Such divergences may represent demand and availability levels for some commodity. On the other hand, player Q decides the values of the maximum capacities of some arcs of the network. Both players are interested in the fact that the connectivity between the sources and the sinks in the network is respected, i.e., they both want that the goods can reach their destination. However, they have different objectives. Player P aims at minimizing the transportation costs, whereas player Q aims at maximizing her profit (or, in generai, her utility) that is proportional to the fiow passing through the arcs under her control. Note that, in generai, the profit of player Q is not assumed to be equal to the cost of player P for the same are. Such game between players P and Q is modelled as a minimum cost flow problem for player P, where the are costs are given and the player Q decides the are capacities. The modelling of the games under investigation are mainly based upon three different research lines. First, the players understand the freight transportation system as a system where the actors involved do not act simultaneously and they explicitly take into account the sequential nature of the interactions among them. Second, they play a (hierarchical) game over a flow network which causes severe limitations and constraints to their action sets. Finally, the games exhibit linear characteristics and can be solved using bilevel linear programming. All these issues have already been discussed in the scientific literature, even though in different separate contexts. The merging of three mentioned approaches in only one single framework is a major contribution of our modelling perspective. Furthermore, bilevel programming is rich of theoretical results and numerica! algorithms, but is scare in actual applications. From this point of view, the present work might be considered as an interesting addition to the field. Bilevel noncooperative games in which one player ( called the leader) declares his strategy first an d enforces i t o n the other players ( called the followers) w ho react (rationally) to the leader's decision are referred to as Stackelberg games. Since the payoff functions and all the constraints in our Stackelberg games may be expressed in a linear form, these games will be formalized as bilevellinear programming problems (BLPPs). In generai, bilevel programming problems are difficult to sol ve because of their inherent non-convexity and non-differentiability. To face their NP-hard nature, we identify some properties of the game solutions which allow us to define a heuristic algorithm restricting its (local) search on the set of the Nash equilibrium points. The optimal solution of any BLPP lies on a vertex of the leader's inducible region. Relying on this result, we develop an algorithm which allows to move from a starting point of the shipper's inducible region to another point in the shipper's inducible region always providing a better solution for him. When no further better points may be attained, the algorithm stops. Unfortunately, only a local optimum is identified. The rationale behind the algorithm stems from the consideration that the optimal solution for our BLPP is also a Nash equilibrium point. In particular, the algorithm moves from a Nash equilibrium point to another better Nash equilibrium point of the BLPP under study. This framework may describe, as an example, the situation where restrictions are imposed by some alpine country on the number of trucks allowed to cross it by road each year. A different context involving the presence of a second agent o n the shipper's network occurred when the International Transporters' Association (UND) of Turkey had to face when the war in the Balkans started. This situation motivates our investigation on hierarchical noncooperative network games. The road freight traffi.c from Turkey to Centrai and Western Europe and viceversa suffered major disruptions because of the war in Balkans during the nineties. UND is the shipper controlling the quasi-totality of this traffi.c thus assuming the role of player P. H e had to cope with an "adverse entity" able to modify the available capacity on some specific links his vehicles had to pass through. The region involved in the confiict may be represented as a connected subnetwork disconnecting the origin and the destinations of the road transportation network since alternative road routes are not easily affordable. Other possibilities, like the seaborne links now operating, did not exist at that time. Hence the whole freight traffi.c was performed using a single mode of transport. The models developed in this work allow the shipper to perform a worst-case analysis at the strategie level for this situation assuming that player Q wishes to maximize the costs he has to afford when going through the region under her control. In fact, it is meaningless to talk about the utility or the profit the war may seek t o maximize. However, i t becomes a sensible modelling when the utility of player Q is strictly related to the costs afforded by player P on this portion of the network. lf player Q is maximizing her utility which corresponds to player P's costs, automatically she plays to maximize player P's costs. Hence the model represents a worst-case analysis for player P. A simple graph composed of 99 nodes and 181 arcs is presented. Player P controls a sub network composed of 100 arcs. The others 81 links representing the connections within the Balkans and Eastern Europe form a connected sub network. Only the main road links ha ve been considered ( motorways or highways). The capacities are calculated taking into account the total number of transit permits available for each country. This figure is annually fixed in bilatera! Joint Committee Meetings. Player P's costs are the average generalized costs derived as a function of lengths and transfer times in the physicallinks. Player Q does not have profits or losses for the fiows passing through the P zone and it is also assumed that the profits she earns for each unit of fiow going through the arcs under her control are equal to the costs afforded by the shipper when traversing these arcs. All the relevant data required to calculate these figures are collected in the UND Annual Sector Report 1997-98 (1999). The heuristic algorithm has been tested on this network and its results have been compared with the outcome obtained by using an exact enumeration procedure. Since it turns out that the percentage error of the heuristic algorithm is equal to 0,3%, we may claim that its performances are certainly highly satisfactory, at least in this specific example. Different extensions of the models and the algorithm developed may be easily envisaged both from the theoretical and the application side. These advances would provide either faster local or global search algorithms either more complete models representing in deeper detail the actual system and the interactions among the actors involved. Hence a decision support system for the shipper's decision making process at the strategie level can be built and effectively used by freight transportation practitioners. ; XIII Ciclo ; 1969 ; Versione digitalizzata della tesi di dottorato cartacea.
Abstract: Transcription of Utah International shareholder's meeting to finalize the merger with General Electric. The meeting took place December 15, 1976. Speakers are Edmund Littlefield (EL), Bruce Mitchell (BM), Charles Travers (CT), and seven unknown speakers labeled by number as they appear. Also, when the audience speaks as a group, it is labeled All. This document is transcribed verbatim, with a few changes included to provide clarity. December 15, 1976 Transcript: EL: I see we are playing to a packed house and I would like to suggest that there is a whole row of seats down here in the front that we would be glad to have you come use. Well good morning ladies and gentlemen, would the meeting please come to order. Welcome to this special meeting of the shareholders of Utah International, called for the purpose of considering the proposed merger with the General Electric Company. I am Edmund W. Littlefield, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. On my left are Alexander M. Wilson, President and Chief Operating Officer and Director, and Bruce T. Mitchell, Secretary of the company. It is my privilege to introduce to you the other members of our board of directors who are here today, Alf E. Brandon, Senior Vice President of the company; Val A. Browning, Chairman of the Board, Browning; Thomas D. Dee, Vice President of First Security Bank, Ogden, Utah; William R. Hewlett, President of Hewlett-Packard Company; J. B. Ladd, President of Ladd Petroleum Corporation, a subsidiary of the company; Arjay Miller, Dean, Graduate School of 2 Business, Stanford University; Paul L. Wattis Jr., President of Wattis Construction Company; and last and certainly by no means least, a gentleman who's served on this board for fifty-six years, Marriner S. Eccles, former President and Chairman of the Board of the company and now Honorary Chairman of the Board. [Applause] Thank you. These gentlemen, together with the two of us on the platform, who you met earlier, constitute the Board of Directors. Unfortunately, Ernest C. Arbuckle, Chairman of the Board of Wells Fargo Bank and our host for this meeting is unable to be with us today. Fred J. Borch, George Eccles and Bill Kimball are also unable to be with us. Ernie, unfortunately, is undergoing some surgery at this time. We also have with us today representatives of Arthur Anderson, our auditors, Pillsbury Madison and Suite our counsel, and Lehman Brothers and Dean Company, and our investment brokers are also present here today. I now ask the secretary to report on the notice of the meeting, the presence of a quorum, and other matters relating to this meeting. BM: Mr. Chairman, there are available the following documents: 1) A list of the stockholders of Utah International Inc. as of the close of business on October 29, 1976 being the stockholders, entitled to notice of and to vote at this special meeting. 2) An affidavit of the company's transfer agent to the effect of written notice of the special meeting was mailed to each stockholder entitled to vote more than twenty days before the date of the meeting as required by Delaware general corporation law. 3) A signed registration of all stockholders and proxy holders 3 present at the meeting. Management proxies received and other proxies who are personally present represent more than the majority of 31,540,032 shares of stock entitled to vote at the meeting, and constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. This meeting is accordingly properly called and constituted, and is empowered to proceed as a special meeting of the stockholders of Utah International Inc. EL: Thank you, the Board appoints Mr. J. B. Nelson and Mr. Swineheart of Utah International Inc. and Mr. Dennis Conco of the Crocker National Bank, inspectors of election to inspect assigned proxies and credentials presented to the meeting and to conduct a voting to receive and count the votes and to determine the results of the meeting. In the notice of the Special Meeting in the attaché proxy statement, the only item of business to be considered by the stockholders is a proposal for the adoption and approval of the agreement in plan, the reorganization and agreement of merger as amended by which Utah International Incorporated will become a wholly owned subsidiary of General Electric Company. The secretary is requested to submit the resolution which has been prepared for this purpose. BM: Mr. Chairman, the resolution is as follows: resolved that the merger of G. sub of Delaware Inc. with an end to this corporation as set forth in the agreement and plan of reorganization dated as of April 1, 1976; as amended by an amendment dated as of August 13, 1976, attached are annex one and annex two respectively, and the agreement mergers set forth as exhibit A to said annex one to the proxy statement dated October 29, 1976, and mailed to stockholders of record at the 4 close of business on October 29, 1976. Also included are the terms and conditions of the purposed agreement and plan of reorganization as amended, along with the agreement of the merger, providing among other things, for this corporation to become a wholly owned subsidiary of General Electric Company, and the mode of carrying such terms and conditions into effect; as well, the manner and basis of converting the shares of common stock of this corporation into shares of common stock of General Electric Company, as therein provided be and hereby are, approved. 1: Mr. Chairman, I'm a stockholder and I would like to move the adoption to resolution. EL: Thank you. Is there a second? 2: Second. I hereby second the motion. EL: Thank you. It has been moved and seconded that the resolution which the secretary has read be adopted. The affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding shares of the corporation will be required to carry the motion and adopt the resolution. Before opening the matter for general discussion, I would like to make some comments. This is a special meeting of the shareholders of Utah International Incorporated. It is special in two ways, first in the statutory sense in that it is not a regular annual meeting, but calls specifically to consider and act upon the merger of Utah and General Electric. It is also special in the sentimental sense in that it is destined to be the last public held meeting of this fine company whose antecedents go back to January 1900, when its 5 predecessor was incorporated with six shareholders. When the business of the day is done, Utah International will be merged with a single shareholder. General Electric has of record some 529,000 shareholders, Utah 23,000. These are located in fifty states and in many foreign countries. The actual number of shareholders is far greater. For often the shareholder of record is a broker or trust department of a bank acting as a nominee for many, many shareholders. You received a rather weight proxy statement. If the proxy material required and printed for the Utah and General Electric shareholders meetings today were stacked one on top of the other the pile would be over three and a half miles high. If the individual pages were laid end to end these would cross the continental United States three and three-quarter times. The proxy statement contains, and it's a hundred and seventy-six pages, considerable detail of the terms of the merger, historical financial and operating information of both companies, formal statements of the merge company and other information which the Board of Directors of the respective companies and or the Securities and Exchange Commission deem pertinent and appropriate to put before the shareholders so they may arrive at an informed decision. The merger has been recommended by each Board of Directors. It has been examined on Utah's behalf by the investment banking firms of Lehman Brothers Incorporated and Dean Whitter and Company Incorporated. Each of whom has expressed the opinion that the exchange ratio is fair and equitable to the shareholders of Utah. The same information has been put before the shareholders of General Electric, who met today, this morning, in Stratford, 6 Connecticut at 9:30 AM eastern standard time and they have approved the merger. The Utah shareholders have also considered the merger, and the company is in receipt of proxies representing over 86% of the shares issued and outstanding. The proxies have been instructed how the shares are to be voted and as a consequence, the outcome of the voting on the proposals before us has already been determined and from a practical standpoint, nothing we can say or do here will in fact change that. Even though the outcome is ordained I have no intention of conducting these proceedings in a perfunctory manner. Many of us in this room have devoted most of our working lives to the furtherance of the fortunes of Utah International and we come to today's proceedings with mixed emotions. We recognize and stipulate that it is in the best interest of the Utah shareholders and its employees, that over the years we have given much of our substance into making this company what it is today. We are proud of our handy work and I believe properly so. We do not intend to let this moment pass into history, without noting these accomplishments and recording the concerns that caused us to believe that a merger between these two great companies would serve the best interests of the shareholders of each. Let's pick up the story twenty years ago when the company had 257 shareholders, some 2,400 employees and gross revenues less than 43 million dollars of which 76% was derived from performing contract construction. The stock was traded over the counter at a book value of $1.12 a share and trade from a low of $1.18 to a high of $1.51. That year the company earned 4.2 million dollars or 16 ¢ a share, and paid a dividend of 4.9 ¢ a share. With that as a 7 starting point let us examine the progress that has been recorded. Gross revenues grew, not always steadily, but over the years have climbed to over 944 million in the last fiscal year. The composition of these gross revenues has changed as the nature of the company has changed. Until we sold our heavy construction assets in 1969, construction was the major source of gross revenues. With the sale of construction assets to 1969, and the dredges in 1971, mining became and remains overwhelmingly the dominant business of the company. Gross revenues from land development have been on the decline. More recently through the acquisition of Ladd Petroleum and other companies, gross revenues from oil and gas have become a significant item. As our business grew, so have our earnings, from the 4.2 million earned in 1956, earnings have risen to 178.8 million dollars the past year and have set record highs in each of the last 12 years. In only three out of the last twenty years have earnings been lower than the preceding year. Earnings have increased from 16 ¢ in '56 to $5.67 this year and the dividend has gone from 4.9¢ to $1.15 this year. As the company grew and prospered the stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. As you can see the number of shareholders has increased very substantially. Inevitably, death and taxes forced the estates of some of the long time shareholders to bring shares to the market. The company sold convertible debentures to obtain funds for expansion and conversion of these debentures, and our merger with Lucky Mc, Ladd Petroleum and LVO have also contributed to the increase in the number of shareholders. There has been some modest decline in the number of shareholders since the acquisition of LVO in 1974, but 8 today we still have almost 100 times as many shareholders as we did twenty years ago. The increase in the number of employees required the conduct growing business of the company has not tracked the change in either gross revenues or net income. Construction is a labor intensive activity, while mining is capital intense. Our employment peaked in 1958 at 12,000, dropped sharply when we sold our heavy division assets, but has gradually expanded as the company's mining activities have grown rapidly. Our mineral sales backlog was insignificant twenty years ago, and even ten years ago was only about a sixth of its' size today. Nevertheless, the creation of the mineral sales backlog was and is an important aspect of Utah International's character and one that distinguishes it from most other mining companies. Very frankly, when we were embarking upon the rapid expansion of our mining business, we had neither the capital, nor the credit to finance the growth at the pace we wished to pursue without resorting to forward sales of new production to strengthen our credit. We made a virtue out of a necessity and today Utah's mineral sales backlog has grown from a modest 1.1 billion dollars in '66 to 6.1 billion dollars today. 96% of this backlog is represented by long term contracts with escalation clauses protecting against future cost changes. It was the existence of this backlog which in considerable measure excited investor interest in the shares of Utah International and caused the price of the stock to increase dramatically over the years. From a low of a $1.18 in 1956, the stock has closed at a higher price than the preceding year in sixteen out of the last twenty years, including the $65 price of the stock on October 31 the close of this 9 last fiscal year. In the early years, the stock sold close to its' book value. Again, in the early years, price earnings ratios on the stock were also modest, generally below twelve times the earnings. As the investing public came to realize the growth, earnings and the qualities of those price earnings ratios rose and remained for several years in excess of twenty times earnings, until the last few years, when investors have not been willing to accord so high a multiple for Utah shares, nor in fact for virtually shares of all other growth companies. Those who have invested in Utah shares and maintained faith in its management and its future have fared well. Earnings have grown at the compound rate of 19% for the last twenty years, 23% for the last fifteen years, 28% for the last ten years, and a startling 37% for the last five years. If you had invested a thousand dollars in the stock in 1956, you would have received in the interim dividends of $4,291, and the stock would have appreciated to $42,900. If you had made the same investments, but reinvested your dividends in Utah shares at the last price for each of the ensuing years, your $1,000 investment would have been worth $69,800 at the close of fiscal 1976. While I have not attempted to research the matter thoroughly, certainly there are few, if any, companies who have served their shareholders so well and so consistently in a period measured in five year, ten year, fifteen year or twenty year spans. Why then would a company who has so outstanding a record consider a merger even with the best of companies? The reason lies in the changing nature of the company's business and the source of its profits, present and prospective. Twenty years ago the company derived 87% of its' gross revenues from North 10 America, Later, even though we were heavily involved in contract construction outside North America, our gross revenues were well balanced for most of the time during the last twenty years. Ten years ago, only 8% of our mining revenues came from outside of North America, but this has been changing drastically in the last six years. As the next slide shows, 1976 witnessed 74.3% of the gross revenues earned outside North America and only 25.7% within North America. All of our land development and oil and gas gross revenues are earned within North America, but today only 22% our mining gross revenues are earned within North America and only 13.6% in the United States itself, far more significance, in my view, than the source of gross revenues or the sources of gross profit and other income. In the remarks that follow, I shall refer to this income account category simply as gross profits, but please consider it includes income from affiliates, joint ventures and partnerships as well as the gross profit earned by the parent company and its subsidiaries. This figure has grown from 8.7 million dollars in '56 to over 353 million dollars this past year. In the earlier years, the share provided by affiliate companies like Marcona and Cypress Pima, joint ventures and partnerships was a significant factor in the total. Reaching a high of 51% in 1967, but earnings from these sources have not been significant the last two years, dropping to a half of 1% in 1975 and actually producing the loss of 9 million dollars in 1976, the decline being primarily the result of the ill fortunes that have befallen Marcona. Mining has become increasingly the source of the company's gross profit. As you can see, ten years ago in 1966, mining contributed 31% of 11 the total of 22.7 million dollars gross profit, while in 1976 it contributed 344.7 million dollars or 97% of the gross profit and other income of 353.7 million dollars. However, it is not the concentration of gross profit and mining that so concerns us as it is the concentration of mining gross profit in a single commodity in a single country. Let's compare gross profits in '66 with those of '71 and those of '76. The well diversified business we enjoyed in '66 and indeed even in '71 has given way to a growing concentration of earnings from coal. Not only was our business increasingly concentrated in coal, but the earnings potential was increasingly concentrated outside North America. Earnings from North American sources provided 56.4% of gross profits in 1966. This has followed the 7.7% in 1975 and 14.2% in 1976 when the sharp increase in uranium increases did boost North American income. However, this trend toward increasing concentration of earnings from metallurgical coal produced in Australia is likely to continue for two probable reasons. The first indication is found in the mineral sales backlog which total 6.1 billion at the close of '76 with 71.3% of this related to future production outside of North America and 69.3% represented by metallurgical coal. The second reason this trend is likely to continue comes because of the undeveloped reserves that we have in hand. Certainly, one of the companies most promising investment prospects is the new metallurgical coal mine called Norwich Park in Australia, and we have abundant other coal reserves in the Queensland area that can and should be developed in the future using both surface and underground mining methods. Pursuit of our most promising prospect will make Utah less 12 diversified rather than more diversified and more dependent on Australia for the major share of its' gross profits and its' futures growth. I repeat that this concentration of mining was not in our view in and of itself alarming, but the composition of the mining gross profit and the concentration coking coal produced in a single country, and so primarily is a raw material for the steel industry in Japan and Europe, was too much concentration of risk for our company standing alone to bare. We cannot, and we should not, be so dependent on either a single commodity or single country no matter how solid either or both now appear. The attitude of the Australian government when the Labor Party was in power was a matter of extreme concern to us and this concern was no doubt deepened by having Marcona's assets in Peru expropriated by the government. We have great confidence in the people and political institutions of Australia and in the present government, and we are proceeding to increase our investment there because we have the coal reserves to do so and an attractive investment opportunity. However, with this abiding faith in Australia, in our view, this concentration of earning power in a single country and in a single mineral is too great a risk to be born alone, either by the shareholders of Utah or the employees of Utah whose livelihood while employed or in retirement are necessarily deeply affected by the fortunes of Utah International. This concern about the concentration of Utah's earning power was evidently shared by the investment community, which no longer was willing to assign a price earnings ratio of twenty-six to twenty-seven times earnings that prevailed in 1971, 1972 and 1973, but dropped the ration to 13.9% in 1974 and 13 to 13.3% in 1975. Thus we found ourselves faced with a paradox of having both our earnings and our dividends sharply increasing and the price of our shares flat and failing to respond. Certainly in these circumstances it seems only prudent to seek diversification of this risk. There were two broad courses that could be pursued. The first was to go on an aggressive acquisition program and seek to acquire other companies. This course of action posed considerable peril. First, the magnitude of the assignment was mind boggling, even if we were to attempt to reduce the risk to say roughly 50% and on the assumption that we could acquire other companies at ten times the earnings, we were faced with the necessity of attempting to acquire in short order, assets of around 1.5 billion dollars. Obviously, any effort to do this in the mining field would very quickly bring us under attack from the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice. This in turn meant that we had to seek these investments outside the field of our expertise and in areas of business we knew little or nothing about. We were almost certain to make mistakes along the way. All in all the prospects of trying to diversify by a series of acquisitions seemed an unpromising and even perilous course to follow. The other broad path to diversification was to seek merger with a company already diversified, but the company had to be large enough to digest a 2 billion dollar bite. This narrowed the field. There are indeed companies larger than General Electric, but none so well diversified nor in my view so ably managed. 14 The risks that were of concern to Utah International standing alone were not the least unreasonable to take when the assets of General Electric and Utah were combined. General Electric is one of the largest and most diversified industrial corporations in the world. It is engaged in well over a hundred different businesses and in most of these it occupies a leading position in the market it serves. These businesses range from consumer items to capital goods, from fairly simple and well known technologies to the most advanced technologies required for aerospace and the jet age. While General Electric operates in more foreign countries than does Utah, its' business is far more oriented to the domestic market, and the merged company will be nicely balanced between domestic and foreign operations. There will be no undue concentration of merged company. Out of the merger, the Utah shareholders will in my view be exchanging the prospect of a faster rate of growth with its attendant risks in exchange for greater diversification, higher yield, and a premium on their shares as the other parties to the bargain. The General Electric shareholders will acquire assets with earning power and potential for growth that would indicate an increase in General Electric's earnings per share, entering into the natural resource business giving GE still further diversification and what I believe to be, although my views are obviously biased, the best mining organization and the best mining company in the world, each of the parties to the bargain is benefited. It is the biggest merger ever undertaken and I am confident that history will prove it to have been the best. 15 Before entertaining discussion of the motion that is before us, I would like now to introduce to you the principle officers of the company who are with us today and whose labors are responsible for the record of accomplishments that I have presented to you. First, Edwin C. Demoss, Senior Vice President Manager of Mining Division and newly named President of Lucky Mc Uranium Corporation, Ed Demoss; Keith G. Wallace, Senior Vice President Manager of Australia Division; John S. Anderson, Vice President Manager of Domestic Coal Operations: James T. Curry, Financial Vice President and Treasurer; W. Drew Leonard, Vice President of Corporate Purports and Internal Audit; Ralph J. Long Vice President Manager of Australian Operations; Charles K. McArthur, Vice President Manager of Metal Mining and newly named Manager of Mining Division; Boyd C. Paulson, Vice President Manager of Construction Services; M. Ian Ritchie, Vice President of Technical Services and newly Manager Operations Lucky Mc Uranium Corporation; Robert O. Wheaton, Vice President Manager of Exploration. Thank you. Nor would the list be complete without acknowledging that there are others in the audience that have made great contributions, but who are now retired. Let me ask those that I have spotted here to stand and be recognized: Albert L. Reeves, formerly Senior Vice President Secretary of the Director of the company, Albert; Orville Dykstra, Financial Vice President; Joseph K. Allen, Vice President; Weston Bourret, Vice President; and Charles Travers, Vice President. Thank you very much, and now the chair will entertain the discussion of the motion and will be pleased to answer such questions as we can regarding the purposed merger. Are there questions or discussions? If there is no 16 discussion of the resolution, if not the matter will… the meeting will proceed to vote upon the motion to approve the purposed merger with General Electric. 3: Mr. Chairman? EL: Yes? 3: Would you describe the status of the attitude of the federal government towards this motion? EL: What we did was to put the matter before the Department of Justice and asked in advance for their approval under the business advisory clearance procedure. While it was sometime in coming, it was forthcoming. To meet the concerns they expressed about it, Utah has agreed and has put its uranium assets in a separate subsidiary company that is now called Lucky Mc Uranium Corporation. When the merger becomes effective, the voting stock of that the company will be put in the hands of five independent voting trustees who will see to it that the company will elect the board of that company, and see to it that that company's affairs are conducted in a way that does not help GE in such things as the sale of its nuclear aspects. That company is not allowed to sell uranium to GE, but from the standpoint of the government we think we are completely in the clear. Any other questions? If not, any stockholder who is present who has not executed a proxy should raise his hand in order that the inspectors of election may give him a ballot, which he may now cast. If you have sent in your proxy you need not cast a ballot unless you wish to do so. Are there those that would like to vote in person? One here, one there, Boyd, one up here too. Boyd, 17 there's two in the back of the room, three. Will the inspectors of election proceed to collect the ballots? Those who have ballots would you raise them when they are completed so they can be picked up? Thank you. Over here Boyd. If the ballots are all collected would you please advise us of the inspectors report? Are you ready to speak to that? John, there's another one up here. You will bring them to me and I'll read the numbers, right. BM: Mr. Chairman? EL: Mr. Secretary? BM: The inspectors report that more than 27,147,464 shares of common stock of the company were voted in favor of the resolution and that not more than 200,456 shares of common stock were voted against such resolution. Accordingly, the purpose merger has been approved. When the exact number voted for and against the resolution has been ascertained, the inspectors will execute a certificate setting forth such number. EL: Thank you Mr. Secretary. We have acted on the business that was to come before the meeting. Is there any other business to come before the meeting? CT: Mr. Chairman, I would like to present a resolution at this meeting of these shareholders. My name is Charles Travers, I am a stockholder and I retired from the company. You've heard the view from the top. I think now maybe you ought to get the view from the ranks. The view from the top had to necessarily be 18 austere, maybe Mr. Chairman I can be a little more lighthearted. I started at Utah about twenty-four years ago. Mr. Littlefield hired me. I remembered the office in San Francisco as a very small office, very small and compact and you had to go in the front door, which was the only entryway, and there was a row of offices on your left as you walked in. Those were the executive offices. Mr. Littlefield's office was the first office as you came in the door and he assigned me an office down at a sharp right angle off the main corridor. I also remember as a young fellow reading Horatio Alger's book, Ragged Dick, and in that book the way it said to get ahead in business, one of the ways at least, was to get to the office early and beat the boss in if you could. Well I found that was a very difficult task at Utah. You had to go through the front door and Mr. Littlefield always kept his door open, his light on. The first morning was a Monday morning and I got in about ten minutes ahead of time. I think our starting time was 8:15, but Mr. Littlefield said hello to me as I came in the door. We went on through that week. I got my time narrowed down a little more each day. By Wednesday, I was down to five minutes to 8:00 and on Friday I got there at twenty minutes to 8:00 and Mr. Littlefield said good morning to me every time I came in the door. So that weekend I figured out that there was a better way to do this and I'd get in real early and I'd beat him to the punch. So on Monday morning, I got there twenty-five minutes past 7:00, I walked in the door and the office was dark there was no light on, the door was open and Mr. Littlefield was not there. So I went to my office and at 8:15 I came sauntering down figuring now this is where I get my punch line. He's going to see me going out the door, he's 19 there and I say hello to him this time first. I looked in, the light was on, but Mr. Littlefield wasn't there. So I walked over to his secretary and said, "Where is Mr. Littlefield?" and he said, "Oh, he went to Chicago." [laughter] He left on the seven o'clock train. With all that due diligence I figured we ought to get ahead pretty fast some way or the other. And so I waited for my first year. You had to be in the Utah profit sharing plan one year in order to get your first statement. I waited my first year and I got my first statement. I have it here with me and I'd like to tell you that the date of it is December the 15th 1954. That's exactly twenty-two years ago to this day and here is what it says, extract: "Seasons greetings. Utah Construction Company retirement plan based on profit sharing, December 15, 1954. Dear fellow employee, your account in the retirement plan based on profit sharing on October 31, 1954 stood as follows: balance on October 31, 1953, zero. Added during the year by income, zero. So October 31, 1954, zero. And then it says during 1954, the net profit earned did not reach the levels your profit sharing permits. Your company would be required to make a contribution to the plan." And then it says, "Despite the fact that it is not required to do so, your company through its management is desirous of sharing with you a portion of the profits earned during 1954. To accomplish this, the board has approved a contribution of $50,000." Then it says, "we're going to try to get the IRS approval for that, and if so we will contribute the $50,000 to your fund, but if not we'll have to pay your share in cash. If the amount is received by you in cash, you will have to pay income taxes on it. Your share of the $50,000 contribution would be $201.75." I was beginning 20 to think that Horatio Alger wasn't right after all, $201.75 for getting in all those first eighteen months at 7:30 in the morning didn't seem fair to me, but nobody quit. I didn't, management didn't. About three weeks ago, I received this news release from the company in the mail, it's dated as of December 3, 1976 and here's what it says in the first few lines: "Utah International Inc. reports record earnings for fiscal 1976, San Francisco. E. W. Littlefield, Chairman of the Board, reported today that Utah International earned $178,821,000 or $5.67 per share. This fiscal year ended October 31, 1976." We have come a long way since those days in 1954. But Utah had more than profits. It had the forward look. My view from the ranks runs something like this: Utah's profit sharing and incentive plans were way ahead of their time back in those days. Mr. Littlefield, to my knowledge, had a rare understanding of the corporations standing in the social structure, what the corporation's obligations were to society. Utah's mine lands were restored to better than what nature had them long before that became a primary concern of many people in the United States. Utah's mining operations were conducted on a basis of we'll go sell the merchandise and then we'll get the production and that reduced the risk very greatly. Even today, Utah's section on environment stands out as a very aggressive and important function that helps to finish the project properly in the eyes of the people of this country. Well, I could go on and spend many more minutes saying that, but I think it's time now for me to present my resolution and I would like to do that. Mr. 21 Chairman, I will give you a copy of the resolution so you will have it for the record and I would like to read the resolution. EL: Thank you, Charlie. CT: The resolution says resolve about the stockholders of Utah International Inc., meeting for the last time as public shareholders in San Francisco, California on this 15th day of December 1976, do hereby express their gratitude and sincere appreciation to Edmund W. Littlefield, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer; Alexander M. Wilson, President and Chief Operating Officer and the Director; Marriner S. Eccles, Honorary Chairman; and to all the officers, directors and employees of Utah International Inc. for their devoted services in behalf of the shareholders. 4: Mr. Chairman, I move the resolution. EL: Thank you, Mr. Travers. I must say Charlie, you always speak well, but you don't speak briefly. [laughter] I think that comes from attending too many meetings of Town Council in Alameda. The motion has been presented to the shareholders, is there a second? Thank you, I must say that those of us at this end of the room, I'm sure have an abiding faith and agreed with its sentiments, but since we do not control the vote. I will put it to vote. All those in favor please say aye. All: Aye 22 EL: Opposed? Thank you. Thank you very, very much. And thank you Charlie. [applause]. There's no other business, the proposed merger has been approved. I thank you. Excuse me. 5: On behalf of all of the stockholders, I wish to thank all of the officers and directors of Utah International for having worked so well for us. I also think at this time, it would be appropriate to bow our heads in silence for one minute in memory of E. O. Wattis who was founder of Utah International and also for all of those who worked and lost their lives to make the company what it is today. Amen. EL: If you would amend that to include all of the founders the chair will entertain it. On the assumption that it is so included, we will so do. Thank you. With the merger approved and not further business, I'll entertain that motion to have the meeting adjourned. 6: I'll back the motion. EL: Thank you, is there a second? 7: Second. EL: All those in favor, please say aye. All: Aye. EL: Opposed? Thank you, the meeting is adjourned. ; This is a myriad of items throughout the UC/UI collection. It includes the minutes of the stockholder's meetings with both Utah International and General Electric, correspondence, a reel-to-reel tape of the merger meeting and the official merger documents. ; 4.25 x 6.5 - 8.5 x 11 in. handwritten or typed on paper ; Reynolds Securities Inc. Transamerica Pyramid 600 Montgomery Street San Francisco, Calif. 94111 Telephone 983-8000 Members New York Stock Exchange, Inc. and other leading exchanges Main Office 120 Broadway New York, N. Y. 10005 December 13, 1976 Mr. Edmund W. Littlefield Utah International 550 California Street San Francisco, Ca. 94104 Dear Ed: I regret that I will be unable to attend the meeting Wednesday because I will be in the East for a Directors meeting. This is an occasion that I hate to miss, but I am sure that many of your other happy stockholders will be there. Sincerely, Gerry Gerald F. Brush GFB: 1c
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As much as COVID-19 is a health and economic crisis, at its core, it is also a governance crisis.
NDI President Derek Mitchell and new Director of Democratic Governance Kristen Sample delve into ways governments and the international community have risen (or not) to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Derek Mitchell: As we all continue to shelter in place and respond to the colossal health and economic crisis that is COVID-19, we must not forget that at its core, pandemics are as much a result of governance failure as any failure of healthcare or health system. Since working to support democratic processes, institutions and governance around the world is what NDI does for a living, we thought it useful to delve into the role governance has played in the COVID-19 pandemic with NDI's experience in more than 50 countries around the world serving as a guide. Welcome to DemWorks. My name is Derek Mitchell, president of the National Democratic Institute. To discuss all this with me in this podcast, I'm joined by NDI's new director of democratic governance, Kristen Sample. Kristen Sample: Thank you so much Derek. DM: Kristen just joined us on March 1. She brings more than 20 years of democratic governance experience with her to NBI having advised and evaluated programs at UN Women, UN Democracy Fund, the Open Society Foundation, Global Partners, Governance and International IDEA. Kristen is an expert on countering corruption, legislative strengthening in the nexus of gender and politics and she has led projects focused on the impact of democratic reform on economic development and citizen security. At a moment when the global crisis in governance is at the center of international conversation, at least before the pandemic push pause, we are thrilled to have Kristen aboard to look at that issue with fresh creativity here at NBI. So welcome Kristen to your very first DemWorks podcast. KS: I'm really pleased to have the opportunity to speak with you today on such important issues. DM: So we'll speak about the crisis of governance but also the pandemic factor as well. But I do want to start with this global governance crisis that has sort of preceded this. This is a broader overhang. We've seen all over the world popular demonstrations over the past year and more and everywhere from Moscow to Managua, to Hong Kong, to Khartoum, to Algeria, to Istanbul, to Paris. You can go on and on. And what it represents is a frustration with the quality of governance. Democracy somehow is not delivering for people. And I want to hear your thoughts on that. It's a moment of turmoil certainly. People will look at this and say, "Well, democracy is failing," but it's more than democracy that this is happening. It's a general quality of governance question that I think actually provides an opportunity. So let me just ask your thoughts on that first off, Kristen. KS: Yeah. Thanks so much for that question, Derek. I think that NDI, since we have officers or programs spanning every region of the world basically in more than 50 countries, we're in a very good position to be able to take the pulse of what's happening in the different countries. In fact, we have been conducting surveys every two weeks of our country programs to get a sense of what's happening on the ground and we've received some very interesting signals that I'm really happy to be able to share with you today. On the one side, we are saying that in many countries governments are responding very seriously, in very concerted ways to the health crisis. I mean in more than two thirds of the countries. The governments in the countries where we work are closing nonessential businesses in over 60%, they are communicating in ways, having very intensive communication campaigns that really are reaching all citizens. But when it comes to the democracy side, when it comes to implementing that response and pursuing a response that's consistent with democratic principles and norms and values and institutions, we are seeing some troubling developments at the same time. For instance, the number of governments by our account, over 40% of the governments in the countries where we work are declaring emergency powers and it's clear that this is an extraordinary situation that requires extraordinary measures, but in many cases these emergency powers are inconsistent with democratic principles. They are not linked to the crisis. There is no provision for legislative oversight or in many cases, these have no sunset class, so there's no time limit and these are simply open-ended. And link to that and linked in many cases to these emergency powers, emergency decrees, we're seeing an uptick also in threats to fundamental freedoms. For instance, nearly half of our countries are reporting that there are measures in place where governments are repressing non-state media who are critical of the government's response to the pandemic and that in some cases, again, almost 50% of our countries, there are measures in place where governments are limiting space for civil society to engage in political actions. Another factor that I'd like to highlight too is while we're all distracted by the pandemic and while people are at home and perhaps with less access to information and less direct contact with government, there are also signals that many governments are using this as an opportunity to diminish anti-corruption controls. So that means that in some cases economic response packages or healthcare delivery is taking place with less transparency and less openness, which as you can imagine is a risk in terms of making sure that those resources are actually getting where they need to be. And all of this, all of the stresses, the frustration and these concerns of course also have impacts when it comes to citizen trust, interpersonal trust citizen trust of the government and also we're seeing greater potential for civic unrest and a deteriorating security environment. So all together, I hate to start with such a pessimistic view, but I think it is important again, through the networks that we have, the relationships that we have with political and civic actors on the ground, to convey the seriousness of the situation and to make sure that we're always communicating that well, this response requires really drastic measures. These measures need to be consonant of course, with the principles of democratic governance. DM: Right. It fits into this broader competition of narratives that occurred even before the pandemic began, where China or Russia saying, "Look, authoritarian governments are more efficient in providing services. We do this stuff better. Democracy is messy." And they're able, as you say, to take advantage of this moment when people are looking for strong central control to make that case and to both do that rhetorically but also through provision of services. And then it's not just those major countries. You'll have folks whether it's Hungary or Poland or you just go around the world, they're postponing elections. They are shutting down civil society, they're settling scores with adversaries. They're constraining public debate, saying that those things are luxuries during a time of crisis and that gives them an opportunity then as you said, for not just power grabs, but resource grabs and money grabs and they say, "Look, these are extraordinary times. They require extraordinary measures." And the concern is that these extraordinary measures will be permanent, that they'll say you need us to be surveilling people. So this is a challenge for certainly those who do democracy work and for folks inside these countries. But I think the broader question of security, we'll talk about that maybe a little bit later, but it's interesting what we're seeing on the ground as you say. You do a lot of work in the legislative sphere, you have a lot of background on that. How legislatures are particularly important. Civil society is too, but just focusing on legislature's role as a check and balance against executive overreach, can you talk about from the NDI experience or your other observation, how legislatures are being challenged, how they're dealing with this moment, how they're adapting to deal with the COVID-19 moment. KS: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm so glad you brought this point up. The first challenge that I'd highlight is this risk that the legislative branch is getting sidelined. In a crisis like this, the executive branch is generally front and center. Their role is clearly understood by citizens. Head of state might be the one out there doing daily press briefings or a health minister communicating medical reports. And there's this sense of emergency that as I sort of alluding to before, it seems to empower the executive branch. And unfortunately that seems to be, in many cases, at the expense of the legislative power. And additionally, another challenge and another reason that legislatures are perhaps getting crowded out or sidelined is simply that, the coronavirus, by it's dynamic, it's not socially compatible. And since parliaments are these multi-member bodies that have more diffuse operations, more diffuse leadership and that involve hundreds of different people, it's simply just a challenge to assemble a large group of people together, bring them together and keep them front and center in this crisis. So if that first challenge is making sure that people just keep in mind that legislatures matter and the legislatures are able to exert their rights and their authority, I'd say that the second challenge of course is just how do parliaments, legislatures operate in a virtual world. Politicians are by nature, they like to shake hands, they like to get out on the street, they need to be in touch with their constituents. And there are so many challenge involved in this current world that we have where we should all be social distancing. So looking across the world where we work, their parliaments are adopting different measures. Some of them are using social distancing restrictions like reducing the number of MPs in sessions. Others are moving to remote voting, remote deliberations. And then others are not meeting at all, which of course is quite terrible. And in those cases where legislatures have been dissolved or have been suspended for long periods of time. We are working too, as you were saying, as NDI closely with parliaments in a number of countries to try to do those adaptations to the rules of procedures so that they're able to continue meeting in session and continue deliberating and continuing exercising oversight. For instance, we have connected parliamentarians in Colombia with parliamentarians in Ecuador. We have virtual sessions to learn from Ecuador's experience in adopting a regulation for the implementation of virtual session and teleworking. So we are trying to connect parliamentarians across countries to understand how some parliaments have been moving forward in terms of remote procedures and how that's going for them. And two more challenges. One I'd highlight is that oversight role that we've been talking about. And from the same survey that we conducted with our country programs, we found that in 59% of the countries, checks and balances have been weakened, have deteriorated under the pandemic. And this is happening at such an unfortunate time when there's so many policy measures that need to be approved and put in place. If we just take the issue of debt policy for instance, I saw a statistic from the Westminster Foundation that more than 80 countries have already requested emergency aid from the IMF. I mean these countries are struggling of course to meet different types of fiscal obligations and they are desperate for cash in order to ramp up health services and put in place economic measures. And so these governments are taking on debt obligations, debt burns that are going to have far reaching impacts and long lasting impacts that should really be approved by the legislative branch and include monitoring and reporting. And that's not always the case in most of these instances. DM: So you just say it's a very dangerous time and folks are adapting procedurally, but there are really implications to this longterm, including for security. And I think we'll get to that after the break. For more than 35 years, NDI has been honored to work with courageous and committed pro-democracy activists and leaders around the world to help countries develop the institutions, practices and skills necessary for democracy's success. KS: Welcome back. Derek, I've heard you speak to the issue of authoritarian systems and how they're operating in this crisis and that the authoritarian nature in itself makes health crises more likely. And you've also said in some of your speeches and some of the conversations we've had that it's not a coincidence that the pandemic started in China and I'd really like to hear from your expertise, your deep background on China specifically. Can you explain to listeners why that is? Why there is that connection? DM: Well, as I said at the top, this is not just a health crisis, it's a governance crisis. It's a factor of governance both in the prevention of the pandemic and the response to it. We talked so far mostly about the response, how we're responding to the pandemic, but the core of the pandemic is a failure of governance. The difference between a local health crisis that is contained and a pandemic lies in the ability of a political system to respond to that early challenge quickly and effectively. And that requires both government and civic action. And if you're going to deal with this crisis early, it requires both. To do that, you have to act swiftly. You have to have widespread testing and contact tracing. You need critical support from citizens. In order to do all that and to ensure that that happens, you have to have basic civic trust. Closed societies routinely fail that test of having that civic trust and that rapid action for some very practical reasons. When a government suppresses a free flow of information, when it fails to empower independent civic institutions, when it's too insecure to convey bad news candidly, doesn't feel that it has a political legitimacy, therefore, it's insecure to convey bad news. When its data can't be trusted because it's opaque, when its officials are afraid to speak truth to power or communicate inconvenient truths to their superiors or act decisively, absent waiting for some strict orders from the very center and they can't move quickly, the result can be deadly. It turns what is a local health issue into a pandemic so it crosses borders. It becomes not just a problem for one country but for all others. So democratic governance is very, very practical and once again in this regard, transparent, accountable, inclusive, responsive, open governments is essential to crisis response but it's also essential to prevent the crisis from emerging to begin with. And it is a matter of national security. This highlights frankly what many of us have known all along, that this is not just nice but has very practical national security effects. And as we just talked earlier, the irony is that just as the world needs more open democratic societies to prevent future crises and deal with the current one, there are opportunistic politicians who are closing political and civic space. That I think is a very practical reason why that closed societies cause these pandemics. KS: I think that all of those points that you've been raising in terms of the threats and the vulnerabilities are so important for us to keep front and center. At the same time, here in NDI, as you know, is we're very keen to make sure that there are also opportunities to elevate the many examples around the world where governments are acting democratically and effectively in response to the crisis and they're framing and working with citizens in ways that are absolutely consistent with democratic values and principles. And so I do want to showcase some of those. I think it's received a lot of press around the world how New Zealand, for instance has reacted, and I read this week that New Zealand is perhaps one of the very first countries to have been able to successfully eliminate COVID. They have no new COVID cases. And it's a case that really stands out for the way that the prime minister has been able to deliver information in a very clear, compassionate, inclusive way, a way that's very grounded in science of course, and transparent. And at the same time where the legislature has had an important role developing a parliamentary select committee that's providing scrutiny of the government's response. The government has also been very affirmative there I think, in terms of issues of freedom of information and media freedom and has said that they would not slow down, for instance, their commitment to responding to requests for information during the crisis. So there's certainly the case of New Zealand, which is so interesting and it's shown such early success, but there are other places around the world too where specific measures taken by the government I think have been so positive and far reaching. Uruguay comes to mind for instance. We see so many cases where authoritarian leaders are using this crisis to be able to settle scores as you were saying, or to act in a very partisan fashion. But in Uruguay, the president convened all of the former presidential candidates to give a joint press conference to send a powerful message of unity and to show that across the party divide, they were working together to develop responses. Taiwan also really stands out for its cross party coordination, the transparent communications they've had, the very creative efforts that the government has put in place there, I think they've called it humor, not rumor. A campaign to share facts in real time to counter disinformation, to manage fear. So there aren't many cases out there as I was saying, of governments that are responding effectively and in ways that are building that citizen trust that you were mentioning. DM: Yes. And then a further one, another democracy that's a leading democracy, probably the first out of the gate is South Korea. They did exactly what was necessary. People are looking at that example, a democratic example. They didn't sacrifice rights at all. They obviously had very strong controls at times of the society, but it took very swift action. They did widespread testing, contact tracing and they worked with civil society and is shown over and over that civil society is probably one of the most important factors. It's not simply a government driven thing that makes a response success. Civil society serves as a very efficient force multiplier for government. We saw that in Katrina, hurricane Katrina. We see it's proved over and over that it really is effective in getting the word out and messaging. Ensuring is like in Taiwan through their civic tech community, they're sort of hackers. They're young citizens, who themselves in a voluntary fashion, formed a community. They were viewed as allies and partners not alienated from the government. And that partnership has been a success in Taiwan, has been a success in South Korea and is essential for a success. And that means that governments need to be open, need to be transparent, they need to see society as partners. So this is absolutely critical. KS: Yeah. And I just want to add on the South Korea example. I'm so glad you brought that up because South Korea held elections during the pandemic on April 15, they had national assembly lessons and they were actually able to organize those elections in a way that was seen as very transparent, that was very consistent with electoral integrity and they had higher levels of turnout than in previous elections, which is pretty amazing. And there's so many countries around the world that are facing elections in 2020. I think the way that South Korea was able to do it with a very intensive communication campaign as you were speaking again to their transparency of communication, they had expanded early voting measures in place. They had home voting, they had very comprehensive safeguards for people to be able to vote in person. So even organizing an election in a time that seems so difficult and so challenging, I think that as you were saying, democracies like South Korea are showing that there is a way forward. DM: Right. And I think we can learn some lessons from that as well. There are groups, including NDI has been at the center of this, of putting together documents that say here are the election integrity guidelines for this moment, that democracy should not be sacrificed at the alter of crisis response, that elections need to move forward if they can be done in the right way and if they need to be postponed, it's postponed within a certain timeframe and only during a period of high crisis. So there are principles here where democracy can continue to move forward. It makes the society stronger, it builds that civic trust that's important for crisis response. But we need to... You can walk and chew gum at the same time at this moment. So I'm glad we were able to talk about some of these democratic examples. KS: Absolutely. And I will be right back after this quick message. You can hear more from other democracy heroes by listening to our DemWorks podcast available on iTunes and SoundCloud. DM: Welcome back with Kristen Sample. Of course you're new to NDI, but you know NDI very well and it's a fundamental principle everywhere that nations will only succeed when societies are fully inclusive, where they don't leave anybody behind. They enable all to contribute equally. That means women, that means young people, that means traditionally marginalized groups, LGBT communities, et cetera. It's just plain logic that if you leave anybody behind, that you're not going to get the most out of your citizen when you're going to hold your country back, and yet we are witnessing negative impacts toward these populations during this COVID-19 moment. Kristen, can you speak to this, explain what's going on here and why it matters? KS: Sure, absolutely. I mean obviously this crisis isn't occurring in a vacuum. It's occurring in a context where across the world, across all countries, there are already this array of existing intersecting inequalities where some people were coming into this crisis already in a disadvantaged place. And then the pandemic itself has differentiated impacts that affect women and other marginalized groups disproportionately. I'll just give a few examples. I mean lockdown for women who are living in relationships of power imbalance and of abuse perhaps, lockdown for them means locked in, with an abusive partner. And for instance our survey of country offices that I was referring to previously, in 66% of our countries, there seems to be an increase in sexual and gender based violence since the pandemic. In 15% of those countries, it's a significant increase. Of course these women might be locked in in vulnerable situations and then at the same time have less access to government resources, government support. So that's one example. Others, people with disabilities for instance, who have always struggled to access health services, transportation in an equitable fashion, you can imagine that that lack of access and the differentiated impact of the pandemic on them is life threatening in some cases. There are digital divide concerns, people in rural areas or women, other marginalized groups who may have less access to information, to resources. There are real concerns also and cases around the world where this pandemic is being exploited by anti migrant hate groups for instance, who try to link movement and migration to the origin of the virus. Or in some cases, for instance in Africa and some of the countries where we work, media outlets are perpetuating stereotypes against people with albinism for instance, and placing the blame for the virus on them. So there are so many challenges around making sure that people have access to resources, people are safe and that we are able to convey and support a message of social cohesion and solidarity instead of the divisions that we're seeing pop up around the world. I think that in our case, for instance in Indiana, what we're trying to do is reinforce the need for inclusive decision-making, making sure for instance, that women are involved in decision making and other marginalized groups are involved in decision making and representation and in these deliberation bodies, making sure that the policymaking is taking into account these vulnerabilities and these different differentiated needs. And also the government messaging is inclusive, getting to everybody and it's supporting the social cohesion messaging and solidarity messages. DM: And again, this is critical for the crisis response, pandemic response. I mean COVID-19 doesn't discriminate. Whoever has it, whoever is vulnerable or subject will get it and it will spread to the society writ large. So if you're not inclusive, if you're excluding folks, if politicians then see that there is an opportunity here as some politicians will to divide and conquer, to play on fear. Or spoilers from the outside may see that there are opportunities if they're divided societies, to create tensions that then require or enable them to negotiate the deal that you want to make or promote corruption within the society. There are all kinds of ways this makes societies less stable, less secure, and affects the development and certainly the response to crises. So this is not just a nice thing, it's not just a human rights thing. This is fundamentally important to national security, international security and to everything that we're seeking to achieve through democracy. KS: Absolutely. And I think along the things I'd really like to hear from you too, Derek, in terms of how you see along the lines of this being an international crisis that includes the whole world, that joins us all although we are in very different places. How you see role NDI's role in supporting that cross border cooperation and solidarity and having the international community come together? DM: Given that authoritarians are claiming their model is unique for this moment, we have to be out there making our case. But in terms of our specific adaptations that we are doing, we are working in places like Ethiopia to ensure that the public opinion surveys are necessary invents of their postponed elections or continue forward, but can be done virtually. That we can adapt legislative rules of procedure in places that need it to allow for remote voting and continue the legislative process to ensure that election integrity is maintained. As I mentioned earlier, there are certain principles and established accepted international principles for when and how to postpone elections, how to hold them during moments of crisis. And we put together crisis response kits that can be used. It's called the practical toolkit for politicians during a pandemic that can help political parties figure out how to do crisis management or help the government put together crisis communication. So a lot of things that can be done internally and done across different countries that ensure the solidarity is still there, the momentum for democracy is still there. The expectation that democratic norms are sustained in this moment so that the headlines are not simply roll back authoritarian opportunism, that massive surveillance, all the things that people may succumb to because of fear during crisis, that there is an alternative voice and it says it doesn't have to be like that. Or if it does have to be like that now, it doesn't have to continue to be like that indefinitely and that there are some standards by which these things are being imposed. So that international norm setting at this moment, it's probably more important than ever to do and we are trying to do at national level. We're trying to do it across different countries to ensure that there is not a vacuum to which the authoritarian voice moves and has free open season for its own values. It goes across, I think, a lot of different countries. And Kristen, I'd be interested in your thoughts from your perspective of governance, how that's working. KS: I think that there's a real role for the international community to play. And I wanted to highlight that too in what you're saying because these challenges are so vast that clearly we have to work together on people to people exchanges and supporting lesson sharing. And so I do think that there's an absolute role for the international community playing in terms of getting out the messages of that democracy is not a luxury, it's not something that could be put into a coma or put on hold while we're all sheltering, that it's something that has to be reaffirmed on a daily basis. And so I do think that countries also have to, in addition to standing firm, standing on their own ground on democratic principles, they also have to be willing to promote and expand those democratic principles across borders, especially to counter those liberal influences that you were referring to earlier, that in some cases are, really transmitted and increased through disinformation campaigns or phony PR campaigns that need to be called out of course by all actors. DM: Thanks again, Kristen for joining me in conversation about how democracies can best meet the challenges of COVID and how NDI with its global partners are meeting the moment. KS: Thank you, Derek. DM: I'd also like to say thank you to our listeners. To learn more about NDI or to listen to other DemWorks podcasts, please visit our website at www.ndi.org. Thanks very much.
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19. Governance is Key During COVID-19? (w/ Kristen Sample) Posted 6 days ago
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