Continuing Accountability

Kelly Greene

April 21 - May 17, 2022

Artlab Gallery

The Artlab Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition titled “Continuing Accountability” by current Indigenous Artist-In-Residence Kelly Greene. Presented in partnership with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and the Department of Arts and Humanities, this exhibit brings together work completed by Greene over the course of her nearly thirty year artistic career.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

This exhibit is a continuation of my exhibit “Accountability” that was briefly on display at McIntosh Gallery for a week in March, 2020 before everything shut down. But “Accountability” has another meaning besides referring to the previous exhibit, as this word was and is the premise for both shows, since it encompasses the concepts of the artworks.

Some topics include alternative viewpoints of historic occurrences once viewed as celebratory by most, though now wondering when history books will be changed. And since recent revelations have been made of resulting conditions from enforced ownership, we may question how reparation can be made.

Yet despite it all, somehow Indigenous cultures, traditions, and languages are still alive. Although they’ve struggled to remain alive, the onus to pass knowledge from one generation to the next is imperative so nothing more will be lost.

Moreover, it is the responsibility all humans must now offer to care for our Earth, our Mother, who has endured much devastation especially during the past century after the industrial revolution and the rise of technological advancements. We are now in a position to make drastic changes to ensure that the future may somehow be free from the current conditions we’re experiencing, resulting from us making strides without heed of repercussions.

My hope is we’ll be able to outrun the machine we’ve created.

Kelly Greene is a multi-media artist whose work includes painting, sculpture, installation, and photography. She is of Mohawk-Oneida-Sicilian ancestry, a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, and a descendant of the Turtle Clan.

Greene has lived in London, Ontario since 1989 where she obtained a BFA from the University of Western Ontario. She began her visual art studies at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she moved with her family when she was a child.

She has exhibited in Canada and the United States for over thirty years in solo and group exhibits, primarily at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario but also Banff, Alberta; Vancouver, B.C.; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and London, Ontario; Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Howes Cave, New York. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, and in 2012 and 2015 she was commissioned to complete two permanent outdoor installations at the Woodland Cultural Centre. She has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council and was most recently awarded the first Indigenous Artist in Residence at Western University in 2021.

Her art focuses primarily on environmental and political topics, as well as revealing stereotypes that are still prevalent towards Indigenous cultures, using ironic humour when possible. Recognizing the impact colonization has had on our Earth and the First People who have always lived on the land now known as Canada, Greene specifically refers to the Haldimand Treaty granted to the people of Six Nations, as well as the Mohawk Institute Residential School, or “Mush Hole”, where her beautiful Grandma attended in the 1920’s. Another concern is Colony Collapse Disorder, or the current plight of bees vanishing due to pesticides and monoculture. The ever-alarming condition of our planet has inspired Greene to create works that represent our Mother Earth as human, appealing to our species’ egocentricity, hoping empathy will be instilled and respect given so future generations will continue to be revived and thrive.

Artlab Gallery

JL Visual Arts Centre

Western University

London, Ontario, Canada

© 2022; Department of Visual Arts; Western University

Continuing Accountability

Kelly Greene

April 21 - May 17, 2022

Artlab Gallery

The Artlab Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition titled “Continuing Accountability” by current Indigenous Artist-In-Residence Kelly Greene. Presented in partnership with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and the Department of Arts and Humanities, this exhibit brings together work completed by Greene over the course of her nearly thirty year artistic career.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

This exhibit is a continuation of my exhibit “Accountability” that was briefly on display at McIntosh Gallery for a week in March, 2020 before everything shut down. But “Accountability” has another meaning besides referring to the previous exhibit, as this word was and is the premise for both shows, since it encompasses the concepts of the artworks.

Some topics include alternative viewpoints of historic occurrences once viewed as celebratory by most, though now wondering when history books will be changed. And since recent revelations have been made of resulting conditions from enforced ownership, we may question how reparation can be made.

Yet despite it all, somehow Indigenous cultures, traditions, and languages are still alive. Although they’ve struggled to remain alive, the onus to pass knowledge from one generation to the next is imperative so nothing more will be lost.

Moreover, it is the responsibility all humans must now offer to care for our Earth, our Mother, who has endured much devastation especially during the past century after the industrial revolution and the rise of technological advancements. We are now in a position to make drastic changes to ensure that the future may somehow be free from the current conditions we’re experiencing, resulting from us making strides without heed of repercussions.

My hope is we’ll be able to outrun the machine we’ve created.

Kelly Greene is a multi-media artist whose work includes painting, sculpture, installation, and photography. She is of Mohawk-Oneida-Sicilian ancestry, a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, and a descendant of the Turtle Clan.

Greene has lived in London, Ontario since 1989 where she obtained a BFA from the University of Western Ontario. She began her visual art studies at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she moved with her family when she was a child.

She has exhibited in Canada and the United States for over thirty years in solo and group exhibits, primarily at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario but also Banff, Alberta; Vancouver, B.C.; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and London, Ontario; Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Howes Cave, New York. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, and in 2012 and 2015 she was commissioned to complete two permanent outdoor installations at the Woodland Cultural Centre. She has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council and was most recently awarded the first Indigenous Artist in Residence at Western University in 2021.

Her art focuses primarily on environmental and political topics, as well as revealing stereotypes that are still prevalent towards Indigenous cultures, using ironic humour when possible. Recognizing the impact colonization has had on our Earth and the First People who have always lived on the land now known as Canada, Greene specifically refers to the Haldimand Treaty granted to the people of Six Nations, as well as the Mohawk Institute Residential School, or “Mush Hole”, where her beautiful Grandma attended in the 1920’s. Another concern is Colony Collapse Disorder, or the current plight of bees vanishing due to pesticides and monoculture. The ever-alarming condition of our planet has inspired Greene to create works that represent our Mother Earth as human, appealing to our species’ egocentricity, hoping empathy will be instilled and respect given so future generations will continue to be revived and thrive.

Artlab Gallery

JL Visual Arts Centre

Western University

London, Ontario, Canada

© 2022; Department of Visual Arts; Western University

DISCHARGE OF OIL PROHIBITED -- THE FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT PROHIBITS THE DISCHARGE OF OIL OR OILY WASTE INTO OR UPON THE NAVIGABLE WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES, OR THE WATERS OF THE CONTIGUOUS ZONE, OR WHICH MAY AFFECT NATURAL RESOURCES BELONGING TO, APPERTAINING TO, OR UNDER THE EXCLUSIVE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY OF THE UNITED STATES, IF SUCH DISCHARGE CAUSES A FILM OR DISCOLORATION OF THE SURFACE OF THE WATER OR CAUSES A SLUDGE OR EMULSION BENEATH THE SURFACE OF THE WATER. VIOLATORS ARE SUBJECT TO SUBSTANTIAL CIVIL PENALTIES AND/OR CRIMINAL SANCTIONS INCLUDING FINES AND IMPRISONMENT.

Throughout the month of February, the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force is hosting four community forums across the city to provide residents the opportunity to speak or submit written comments on improving the accountability, oversight and training of Chicago’s police officers.

This is photographs from Tuesday, February 2.

Hosted by Mt. Vernon Baptist Church

JLM Life Center

2622 W. Jackson Blvd.

More info: chicagopatf.org/events/

Throughout the month of February, the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force is hosting four community forums across the city to provide residents the opportunity to speak or submit written comments on improving the accountability, oversight and training of Chicago’s police officers.

This is photographs from Tuesday, February 2.

Hosted by Mt. Vernon Baptist Church

JLM Life Center

2622 W. Jackson Blvd.

More info: chicagopatf.org/events/

AW week 3

starting weight: 144

last week: 139

this week: 137ish

I have the shark week bloat, so I am very impressed that the numbers have gone down! Sorry the picture is so sucky, I wanted to take it before I drank my tea but I really was not at all awake and keeping the camera steady was an exercise in futility.

The Inspection Panel is completing 25 years in its role, as an accountability mechanism of the World Bank. As you are aware, the Bank’s failure to comply with its operating policies was seen by the entire world in the Bank’s financing with the Sardar Sarovar Dam project on River Narmada. The tenacity of massive grass-roots uprisings from our communities in the 80’s and the sustained hard work of our social movements along with our resoluteness to link it with international coalitions to question the hegemony of the Bank, subsequently led the Bank, for the first time, to commission an independent review of its project. The Independent Review Committee (Morse Committee) constituted by the Bank in 1991 to review the social and environmental costs and benefits of the dam, after years of consistent struggle by Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement) and its allies led to a demand from the civil society around the globe for the creation of a grievance redressal system for project-affected communities, which ultimately pressurized the Bank to constitute the Inspection Panel in 1993. We expected this might be a crucial backstop and an opportunity for us to raise our issues of livelihoods, economic loss, displacement from our lands, alienation from natural resources, destruction of environment and threat to our biodiversity and cultural hotspots, where Bank invested in large, supposedly ‘development’ projects like mega dams, energy and other infrastructure projects. Yet, the outcome we expected rarely delivered sufficient remedy for the harm and losses people have experienced over the years.

A number of accountability mechanisms over the next couple of decades in several development finance institutions were formed following the model of World Bank, commonly known as ‘Independent Accountability Mechanisms’[IAMs]. Each year the number of complaints rise which is an indication of the increasing number of grievous projects happening around the world. While IAMs of most MDBs are advertised to provide strong and just processes, many of our experiences imply that the banks are accommodating practices which suit their own needs and their clients, which are borrowing countries and agencies, and not the people for whom the IAMs were built to serve.

Many a time, we have been disappointed by these mechanisms, since these are designed by the banks who are lending for disastrous projects in our lands. And as a result, the already existing narrow mandate of IAMs is further restricted.

In our efforts to hold the lending bank accountable, the communities are always presented with the arduous process of learning the complex formalities and detailed procedures to initially approach the IAMs and get our grievances registered. Our many years’ time and energy then is channelised into seeing through the various cycles of these complaint handling mechanisms, that our entire efforts go into this process, and often our complaint gets dropped off in midst of the procedural rules of the IAMs. People are made to wait many months to clear procedural levels and our cases with the IAMs get highly unpredictable. Further, we face intimidation and reprisals from the state and project agencies for having contacted the IAMs who themselves do not possess any authority to address the violations hurled out to us when we seek dignity, fair treatment and justice from them. There are many of us who feel a loss of morale after long years of struggling with lenders when we fail to see concrete benefits or changes in our circumstances, by which time considerable irreplaceable harm is already done to our lives, environment and livelihoods.

In this manner, our immediate and larger goal of holding banks for their failure to consult with and obtain consent from communities before devising action plans for our lands, water and forests is deflected in the pretext of problem-solving and grievance hearing offered to us in the name of IAMs.

With over 50 registered complaints sent to different IAMS from India in the past 25 years, many more left unregistered due to technical reasons and only a few got investigated, assessed and monitored at different levels, we have a baggage of mixed experiences with the IAMs. A few of the prominent cases from India apart from Narmada project are Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project [WB’s IP], Tata Mega Ultra-01/Mundra and Anjar [IFC’s CAO & ADB’s CRP], India Infrastructure Fund-01/Dhenkanal District [IFC’s CAO], Allain Duhangan Hydro Power Limited-01/Himachal Pradesh [IFC’s CAO] and Mumbai Urban Transport Project (2009) [WB’s IP].

As we now know, what is being witnessed recently is an influx of approved and proposed investments majorly in energy, transport, steel, roads, urban projects, bullet trains, industrial zones/corridors, smart cities, water privatization and other mega projects in India. This has been financed from different multilateral and bilateral sources, foreign corporations, private banks as well as Export-Import Banks (ExIm Banks). It has become a brutal challenge for communities, social movements and CSOs, with lenders and governments constantly shutting their eyes and ears to us who demand accountability for their actions. A compelling and timely need has arisen among diverse groups amongst us to gather together and critically analyze the various trajectories of our engagements with accountability mechanisms of MDBs in order to bring together past 25 years’ learning, insights and reflections of various actors of this accountability process. This urging demand is also an attempt to define the collective experiences in India among our social movements, projected-affected communities and CSOs with IAMs and lending banks, especially appropriating the global political opportunity of Inspection Panel celebrating its 25 years this year.

Speakers:

Thomas Franco, Former General Secretary, AlI India Bank Officers’ Confederation

Arun Kumar, Eminent scholar, Former Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University

C.P. Chandrashekar, Economist, Professor Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Sucheta Dalal, Managing Editor, Moneylife

Soumya Dutta, National Convener, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha

Dunu Roy, Hazards Center, New Delhi

Medha Patkar, Senior Activist, Narmada Bachao Andolan

Tani Alex, Centre for Financial Accountability

M J Vijayan, Activist and Political commentator

Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability

Anirudha Nagar, Accountability Counsel

Madhuresh Kumar, National Alliance of People’s Movements

A J Vijayan, Chairperson, Western Ghats and Coastal area Protection Forum

Meera Sanghamitra, National Aliance of People’s Movements

Vimal bhai, Matu Jan Sangathan, Uttarakhand

Daniel Adler, Senior Specialist, Compliance Advisor Ombudsman

Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability

Birgit Kuba, Operations Officer, Inspection Panel

Anuradha Munshi, Centre for Financial Accountability

Bharat Patel, General Secretary, Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan,Gujarat

Awadhesh Kumar, Srijan Lokhit Samiti

Amulya Kumar Nayak, Odisha Chas Parivesh Surekhsa Parishad, Odisha

Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Legal Scholar

Manshi Asher, Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective, Himachal Pradesh

Corporate Accountability International event to kick polluters out, COP22, Marrakech 15 November 2016 © Friends of the Earth International

Weak accountability leads to government failures or tragedies that affect the public – so what can be done to strengthen it?

The Institute for Government Launched it's report Accountability in modern government - recommendations for change, based on a year-long consultation and input from a high-profile advisory group.

To discuss the findings of the report, our panel:

Rt Hon Dame Margaret Hodge MP, Labour MP for Barking, former Chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee

Sir Richard Mottram, Visiting Professor at the LSE, former Permanent Secretary

Jonathan Slater, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education

The report was introduced by Benoit Guerin, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government, and the event was chaired by Emma Norris, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

#IFGAccountability

Photos by Candice McKenzie

A joint African Union-United Nations delegation has concluded a three-day visit to South Sudan, expressing hope for “full cessation of hostilities” and a promise to “hold accountable” those who may derail the peace process.

Speaking to journalists in the capital, Juba, they said the signing of the revitalized peace agreement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 12 September 2018 “is the starting point of the hard work,” and that their visit sought to hear from the Government, civil society, women’s organizations and others about what needed to be done immediately in support of the agreement.

“The implementation of the peace agreement is primarily a responsibility for South Sudanese,” said the Under-Secretary-General for UN Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix. “And I think the partners of South Sudan are keen to see a few things materialize on the ground, particularly the cessation of hostilities which would be, of course, so important – a full cessation of hostilities,” he added.

African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ambassador Smail Chergui, acknowledged there would be challenges ahead, but warned, “let us just take note today that everybody wants to implement that agreement faithfully and we will [hold] accountable anyone going the other route.”

During their visit, the delegation said they had a chance to see first-hand and talk to some of those who had suffered years of conflict.

“The population has suffered tremendously,” said the UN Peacekeeping chief, Lacroix, adding, “We are looking forward to further improvement in the security situation and other such positive signals that will certainly generate confidence and mobilization from the international community.”

Listing various expectations from the women she met, UN Women’s top official said women wanted to be included in the security sector reforms which would include greater participation and contribution by women in securing the country.

“They also wanted to encourage the Government to interact with them directly so that they, too, can have an opportunity to exchange directly with Government about their expectations and get additional assurance about the future which they are very excited about,” said the Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“They also want to make sure they take advantage of the 35% participation provision and they would put it on themselves to find the best candidates to fill in those positions,” she told journalists, adding that the women “want to go back to being economically productive citizens.”

The delegation had earlier met with various government officials, reiterating their support for the revitalized peace agreement.

“[It] was good to hear from both the UN [and AU] representatives about the commitment of the UN to support the peace process and they are waiting to see us giving important signals, milestones that prove our commitment and seriousness in implementing this agreement,” said Cabinet Affairs Minister, Martin Elia Lomuro after his closed-door meeting with the delegation, adding, “We have also heard from the African Union about their desire to participate with us in the security sector reform.”

He said the government was committed to implementing what it had signed, including the 35 per cent quota for women.

“That agreement was an agreement by all of us. They didn’t have to fight for it. They should remain calm and trust those in charge – particularly the members of the national review committee who will be ensuring that the objectives of the agreement are followed,” he said, voicing the government’s reassurance on an issue that was at the centre of the delegation’s visit.

Photo: UNMISS / Eric Kanalstein

Continuing Accountability

Kelly Greene

April 21 - May 17, 2022

Artlab Gallery

The Artlab Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition titled “Continuing Accountability” by current Indigenous Artist-In-Residence Kelly Greene. Presented in partnership with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and the Department of Arts and Humanities, this exhibit brings together work completed by Greene over the course of her nearly thirty year artistic career.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

This exhibit is a continuation of my exhibit “Accountability” that was briefly on display at McIntosh Gallery for a week in March, 2020 before everything shut down. But “Accountability” has another meaning besides referring to the previous exhibit, as this word was and is the premise for both shows, since it encompasses the concepts of the artworks.

Some topics include alternative viewpoints of historic occurrences once viewed as celebratory by most, though now wondering when history books will be changed. And since recent revelations have been made of resulting conditions from enforced ownership, we may question how reparation can be made.

Yet despite it all, somehow Indigenous cultures, traditions, and languages are still alive. Although they’ve struggled to remain alive, the onus to pass knowledge from one generation to the next is imperative so nothing more will be lost.

Moreover, it is the responsibility all humans must now offer to care for our Earth, our Mother, who has endured much devastation especially during the past century after the industrial revolution and the rise of technological advancements. We are now in a position to make drastic changes to ensure that the future may somehow be free from the current conditions we’re experiencing, resulting from us making strides without heed of repercussions.

My hope is we’ll be able to outrun the machine we’ve created.

Kelly Greene is a multi-media artist whose work includes painting, sculpture, installation, and photography. She is of Mohawk-Oneida-Sicilian ancestry, a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, and a descendant of the Turtle Clan.

Greene has lived in London, Ontario since 1989 where she obtained a BFA from the University of Western Ontario. She began her visual art studies at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she moved with her family when she was a child.

She has exhibited in Canada and the United States for over thirty years in solo and group exhibits, primarily at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario but also Banff, Alberta; Vancouver, B.C.; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and London, Ontario; Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Howes Cave, New York. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, and in 2012 and 2015 she was commissioned to complete two permanent outdoor installations at the Woodland Cultural Centre. She has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council and was most recently awarded the first Indigenous Artist in Residence at Western University in 2021.

Her art focuses primarily on environmental and political topics, as well as revealing stereotypes that are still prevalent towards Indigenous cultures, using ironic humour when possible. Recognizing the impact colonization has had on our Earth and the First People who have always lived on the land now known as Canada, Greene specifically refers to the Haldimand Treaty granted to the people of Six Nations, as well as the Mohawk Institute Residential School, or “Mush Hole”, where her beautiful Grandma attended in the 1920’s. Another concern is Colony Collapse Disorder, or the current plight of bees vanishing due to pesticides and monoculture. The ever-alarming condition of our planet has inspired Greene to create works that represent our Mother Earth as human, appealing to our species’ egocentricity, hoping empathy will be instilled and respect given so future generations will continue to be revived and thrive.

Artlab Gallery

JL Visual Arts Centre

Western University

London, Ontario, Canada

© 2022; Department of Visual Arts; Western University

Vice Admiral Lee Gunn (retired) presents his argument for the establishment of a non-partisan commission to examine U.S. counterterrorism efforts since September 11, 2001.

Prince George's County People's Coalition for Police Accountability arriving at the National Action Network JUSTICE FOR TRAYVON MARTIN 100 CITY VIGIL Rally in front of US District Court / E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse at 333 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington DC on Saturday afternoon, 20 July 2013 by Elvert Barnes PROTEST PHOTOGRAPHY

Follow PG County ENOUGH IS ENOUGH / TRAYVON MARTIN MARCHERS from WMATA Addison Road Station on facebook at www.facebook.com/events/380212962101079/

Elvert Barnes PROTEST PHOTOGRAPHY at elvertbarnes.com/protestphotography

Weak accountability leads to government failures or tragedies that affect the public – so what can be done to strengthen it?

The Institute for Government Launched it's report Accountability in modern government - recommendations for change, based on a year-long consultation and input from a high-profile advisory group.

To discuss the findings of the report, our panel:

Rt Hon Dame Margaret Hodge MP, Labour MP for Barking, former Chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee

Sir Richard Mottram, Visiting Professor at the LSE, former Permanent Secretary

Jonathan Slater, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education

The report was introduced by Benoit Guerin, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government, and the event was chaired by Emma Norris, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

#IFGAccountability

Photos by Candice McKenzie

Throughout the month of February, the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force is hosting four community forums across the city to provide residents the opportunity to speak or submit written comments on improving the accountability, oversight and training of Chicago’s police officers.

This is photographs from Tuesday, February 2.

Hosted by Mt. Vernon Baptist Church

JLM Life Center

2622 W. Jackson Blvd.

More info: chicagopatf.org/events/

"“Having ready access to a doctor is vital to high quality healthcare. Yet the busy schedules of consumers and physicians alike often prevent timely attention to routine and urgent healthcare problems in the traditional 9 to 5 physician office visit options. Digital technologies can help overcome the barriers to accessing medical care, yet our survey shows that these tools are not available to most Americans,” said Robert Pearl, M.D., Chairman of the Council of Accountable Physician Practices and CEO of The Permanente Medical Group and the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group. “Healthcare providers must step up our adoption of these common-sense and available solutions if we are truly going to reform healthcare delivery.” - See www.bettertogetherhealth.org for event webcast - Hosted at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health on November 4, 2015

The new development agenda post 2015 should use human rights standards as yardsticks, to guarantee accountability: people and institutions in authority will be obliged to take responsibility for and justify their actions (Responsibility); they will be subjected to sanctions or corrective action if their conduct breaches human rights obligations (Answerability); people living in poverty will be able to access justice to enforce their claims, and to obtain redress if their rights have been violated (Enforceability).

© UN Photo/ Eskinder Debebe

sure, these aren't the most flattering but i love the color.

also, i just want to point out that i couldn't wear these last summer because they were too small.

Starting weight: 138.8

This week's weight: 138.6

Change: -0.2

In a week where I ate nothing that wasn't fried, washed down with booze or dipped in frosting? Weight loss? WTF, body?

Panel 3: The First Amendment Rights of Associations and Individuals

(From left to right): Moderated by Mark Ladov, with panelists Frances Hill, Tobias Wolff, Daniel Ortiz, Glenn Magpantay, Dale Ho.

The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law held a day-long symposium on Accountability After Citizens United at the Greene Space at WNYC in New York City.

The Inspection Panel is completing 25 years in its role, as an accountability mechanism of the World Bank. As you are aware, the Bank’s failure to comply with its operating policies was seen by the entire world in the Bank’s financing with the Sardar Sarovar Dam project on River Narmada. The tenacity of massive grass-roots uprisings from our communities in the 80’s and the sustained hard work of our social movements along with our resoluteness to link it with international coalitions to question the hegemony of the Bank, subsequently led the Bank, for the first time, to commission an independent review of its project. The Independent Review Committee (Morse Committee) constituted by the Bank in 1991 to review the social and environmental costs and benefits of the dam, after years of consistent struggle by Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement) and its allies led to a demand from the civil society around the globe for the creation of a grievance redressal system for project-affected communities, which ultimately pressurized the Bank to constitute the Inspection Panel in 1993. We expected this might be a crucial backstop and an opportunity for us to raise our issues of livelihoods, economic loss, displacement from our lands, alienation from natural resources, destruction of environment and threat to our biodiversity and cultural hotspots, where Bank invested in large, supposedly ‘development’ projects like mega dams, energy and other infrastructure projects. Yet, the outcome we expected rarely delivered sufficient remedy for the harm and losses people have experienced over the years.

A number of accountability mechanisms over the next couple of decades in several development finance institutions were formed following the model of World Bank, commonly known as ‘Independent Accountability Mechanisms’[IAMs]. Each year the number of complaints rise which is an indication of the increasing number of grievous projects happening around the world. While IAMs of most MDBs are advertised to provide strong and just processes, many of our experiences imply that the banks are accommodating practices which suit their own needs and their clients, which are borrowing countries and agencies, and not the people for whom the IAMs were built to serve.

Many a time, we have been disappointed by these mechanisms, since these are designed by the banks who are lending for disastrous projects in our lands. And as a result, the already existing narrow mandate of IAMs is further restricted.

In our efforts to hold the lending bank accountable, the communities are always presented with the arduous process of learning the complex formalities and detailed procedures to initially approach the IAMs and get our grievances registered. Our many years’ time and energy then is channelised into seeing through the various cycles of these complaint handling mechanisms, that our entire efforts go into this process, and often our complaint gets dropped off in midst of the procedural rules of the IAMs. People are made to wait many months to clear procedural levels and our cases with the IAMs get highly unpredictable. Further, we face intimidation and reprisals from the state and project agencies for having contacted the IAMs who themselves do not possess any authority to address the violations hurled out to us when we seek dignity, fair treatment and justice from them. There are many of us who feel a loss of morale after long years of struggling with lenders when we fail to see concrete benefits or changes in our circumstances, by which time considerable irreplaceable harm is already done to our lives, environment and livelihoods.

In this manner, our immediate and larger goal of holding banks for their failure to consult with and obtain consent from communities before devising action plans for our lands, water and forests is deflected in the pretext of problem-solving and grievance hearing offered to us in the name of IAMs.

With over 50 registered complaints sent to different IAMS from India in the past 25 years, many more left unregistered due to technical reasons and only a few got investigated, assessed and monitored at different levels, we have a baggage of mixed experiences with the IAMs. A few of the prominent cases from India apart from Narmada project are Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project [WB’s IP], Tata Mega Ultra-01/Mundra and Anjar [IFC’s CAO & ADB’s CRP], India Infrastructure Fund-01/Dhenkanal District [IFC’s CAO], Allain Duhangan Hydro Power Limited-01/Himachal Pradesh [IFC’s CAO] and Mumbai Urban Transport Project (2009) [WB’s IP].

As we now know, what is being witnessed recently is an influx of approved and proposed investments majorly in energy, transport, steel, roads, urban projects, bullet trains, industrial zones/corridors, smart cities, water privatization and other mega projects in India. This has been financed from different multilateral and bilateral sources, foreign corporations, private banks as well as Export-Import Banks (ExIm Banks). It has become a brutal challenge for communities, social movements and CSOs, with lenders and governments constantly shutting their eyes and ears to us who demand accountability for their actions. A compelling and timely need has arisen among diverse groups amongst us to gather together and critically analyze the various trajectories of our engagements with accountability mechanisms of MDBs in order to bring together past 25 years’ learning, insights and reflections of various actors of this accountability process. This urging demand is also an attempt to define the collective experiences in India among our social movements, projected-affected communities and CSOs with IAMs and lending banks, especially appropriating the global political opportunity of Inspection Panel celebrating its 25 years this year.

Speakers:

Thomas Franco, Former General Secretary, AlI India Bank Officers’ Confederation

Arun Kumar, Eminent scholar, Former Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University

C.P. Chandrashekar, Economist, Professor Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Sucheta Dalal, Managing Editor, Moneylife

Soumya Dutta, National Convener, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha

Dunu Roy, Hazards Center, New Delhi

Medha Patkar, Senior Activist, Narmada Bachao Andolan

Tani Alex, Centre for Financial Accountability

M J Vijayan, Activist and Political commentator

Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability

Anirudha Nagar, Accountability Counsel

Madhuresh Kumar, National Alliance of People’s Movements

A J Vijayan, Chairperson, Western Ghats and Coastal area Protection Forum

Meera Sanghamitra, National Aliance of People’s Movements

Vimal bhai, Matu Jan Sangathan, Uttarakhand

Daniel Adler, Senior Specialist, Compliance Advisor Ombudsman

Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability

Birgit Kuba, Operations Officer, Inspection Panel

Anuradha Munshi, Centre for Financial Accountability

Bharat Patel, General Secretary, Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan,Gujarat

Awadhesh Kumar, Srijan Lokhit Samiti

Amulya Kumar Nayak, Odisha Chas Parivesh Surekhsa Parishad, Odisha

Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Legal Scholar

Manshi Asher, Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective, Himachal Pradesh

To have a reliable, accountable system of defense innovation that turns ideas into solutions with speed and urgency, DOD needs to establish an innovation pipeline, Blank says. What it has now are single activities, with most innovation going into R&D elsewhere—hence the exponential growth in private-sector innovation over the past 20 years.

The pipeline begins with innovation sourcing, that is, developing a list of problems and challenges, ideas and technologies that might be worth investing in.

During problem curation, innovators talk to colleagues and potential customers, looking for other places in DOD where a problem or challenge might exist in a slightly different form, related internal projects already in existence and commercially available solutions to problems. This phase also seeks to identify legal, security and support issues and helps identify who the customers and internal stakeholders for possible solutions would be. Here the building of initial minimum viable products (MVPs) begins. Some ideas drop out when the team recognizes that they may be technically, financially or legally unfeasible or discovers that other groups have already built a similar product.

Prioritization entails categorizing the list of innovation ideas using the three horizons model of McKinsey & Co. Horizon 1 ideas provide continuous innovation to a company’s existing mission model and core capabilities. Horizon 2 ideas extend a company’s existing mission model and core capabilities to new stakeholders, customers or targets. Horizon 3 marks the creation of new capabilities to take advantage of or respond to disruptive technologies and opportunities or to counter disruption. Once projects have been classified, the team prioritizes them, starting by asking: Is this project worth pursing for another few months full time? The innovation teams themselves set the priorities—not a committee of executives.

In solution exploration and hypothesis testing, the ideas that pass through the prioritization filter enter an incubation process like Hacking for Defense or I-Corps, the system adopted by all U.S. government federal research agencies to turn ideas into products. This six- to 10-week process delivers evidence for defensible, data-based decisions.

Once hypothesis testing is complete, many projects will still need a period of incubation as the teams championing the projects gather additional data, refine the MVP and get used to working together.

At the culminating point of integration, if the innovation is Horizon 1 or 2, it’s time to integrate it into the existing organization. Horizon 3 innovations are more likely to be set up as their own entities or at least divisions. Trying to integrate these new, unbudgeted and unscheduled innovation projects into an engineering organization that has line-item budgets for people and resources results in chaos and frustration. (Graphic courtesy of Steve Blank)

The Inspection Panel is completing 25 years in its role, as an accountability mechanism of the World Bank. As you are aware, the Bank’s failure to comply with its operating policies was seen by the entire world in the Bank’s financing with the Sardar Sarovar Dam project on River Narmada. The tenacity of massive grass-roots uprisings from our communities in the 80’s and the sustained hard work of our social movements along with our resoluteness to link it with international coalitions to question the hegemony of the Bank, subsequently led the Bank, for the first time, to commission an independent review of its project. The Independent Review Committee (Morse Committee) constituted by the Bank in 1991 to review the social and environmental costs and benefits of the dam, after years of consistent struggle by Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement) and its allies led to a demand from the civil society around the globe for the creation of a grievance redressal system for project-affected communities, which ultimately pressurized the Bank to constitute the Inspection Panel in 1993. We expected this might be a crucial backstop and an opportunity for us to raise our issues of livelihoods, economic loss, displacement from our lands, alienation from natural resources, destruction of environment and threat to our biodiversity and cultural hotspots, where Bank invested in large, supposedly ‘development’ projects like mega dams, energy and other infrastructure projects. Yet, the outcome we expected rarely delivered sufficient remedy for the harm and losses people have experienced over the years.

A number of accountability mechanisms over the next couple of decades in several development finance institutions were formed following the model of World Bank, commonly known as ‘Independent Accountability Mechanisms’[IAMs]. Each year the number of complaints rise which is an indication of the increasing number of grievous projects happening around the world. While IAMs of most MDBs are advertised to provide strong and just processes, many of our experiences imply that the banks are accommodating practices which suit their own needs and their clients, which are borrowing countries and agencies, and not the people for whom the IAMs were built to serve.

Many a time, we have been disappointed by these mechanisms, since these are designed by the banks who are lending for disastrous projects in our lands. And as a result, the already existing narrow mandate of IAMs is further restricted.

In our efforts to hold the lending bank accountable, the communities are always presented with the arduous process of learning the complex formalities and detailed procedures to initially approach the IAMs and get our grievances registered. Our many years’ time and energy then is channelised into seeing through the various cycles of these complaint handling mechanisms, that our entire efforts go into this process, and often our complaint gets dropped off in midst of the procedural rules of the IAMs. People are made to wait many months to clear procedural levels and our cases with the IAMs get highly unpredictable. Further, we face intimidation and reprisals from the state and project agencies for having contacted the IAMs who themselves do not possess any authority to address the violations hurled out to us when we seek dignity, fair treatment and justice from them. There are many of us who feel a loss of morale after long years of struggling with lenders when we fail to see concrete benefits or changes in our circumstances, by which time considerable irreplaceable harm is already done to our lives, environment and livelihoods.

In this manner, our immediate and larger goal of holding banks for their failure to consult with and obtain consent from communities before devising action plans for our lands, water and forests is deflected in the pretext of problem-solving and grievance hearing offered to us in the name of IAMs.

With over 50 registered complaints sent to different IAMS from India in the past 25 years, many more left unregistered due to technical reasons and only a few got investigated, assessed and monitored at different levels, we have a baggage of mixed experiences with the IAMs. A few of the prominent cases from India apart from Narmada project are Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project [WB’s IP], Tata Mega Ultra-01/Mundra and Anjar [IFC’s CAO & ADB’s CRP], India Infrastructure Fund-01/Dhenkanal District [IFC’s CAO], Allain Duhangan Hydro Power Limited-01/Himachal Pradesh [IFC’s CAO] and Mumbai Urban Transport Project (2009) [WB’s IP].

As we now know, what is being witnessed recently is an influx of approved and proposed investments majorly in energy, transport, steel, roads, urban projects, bullet trains, industrial zones/corridors, smart cities, water privatization and other mega projects in India. This has been financed from different multilateral and bilateral sources, foreign corporations, private banks as well as Export-Import Banks (ExIm Banks). It has become a brutal challenge for communities, social movements and CSOs, with lenders and governments constantly shutting their eyes and ears to us who demand accountability for their actions. A compelling and timely need has arisen among diverse groups amongst us to gather together and critically analyze the various trajectories of our engagements with accountability mechanisms of MDBs in order to bring together past 25 years’ learning, insights and reflections of various actors of this accountability process. This urging demand is also an attempt to define the collective experiences in India among our social movements, projected-affected communities and CSOs with IAMs and lending banks, especially appropriating the global political opportunity of Inspection Panel celebrating its 25 years this year.

Speakers:

Thomas Franco, Former General Secretary, AlI India Bank Officers’ Confederation

Arun Kumar, Eminent scholar, Former Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University

C.P. Chandrashekar, Economist, Professor Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Sucheta Dalal, Managing Editor, Moneylife

Soumya Dutta, National Convener, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha

Dunu Roy, Hazards Center, New Delhi

Medha Patkar, Senior Activist, Narmada Bachao Andolan

Tani Alex, Centre for Financial Accountability

M J Vijayan, Activist and Political commentator

Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability

Anirudha Nagar, Accountability Counsel

Madhuresh Kumar, National Alliance of People’s Movements

A J Vijayan, Chairperson, Western Ghats and Coastal area Protection Forum

Meera Sanghamitra, National Aliance of People’s Movements

Vimal bhai, Matu Jan Sangathan, Uttarakhand

Daniel Adler, Senior Specialist, Compliance Advisor Ombudsman

Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability

Birgit Kuba, Operations Officer, Inspection Panel

Anuradha Munshi, Centre for Financial Accountability

Bharat Patel, General Secretary, Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan,Gujarat

Awadhesh Kumar, Srijan Lokhit Samiti

Amulya Kumar Nayak, Odisha Chas Parivesh Surekhsa Parishad, Odisha

Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Legal Scholar

Manshi Asher, Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective, Himachal Pradesh

Continuing Accountability

Kelly Greene

April 21 - May 17, 2022

Artlab Gallery

The Artlab Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition titled “Continuing Accountability” by current Indigenous Artist-In-Residence Kelly Greene. Presented in partnership with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and the Department of Arts and Humanities, this exhibit brings together work completed by Greene over the course of her nearly thirty year artistic career.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

This exhibit is a continuation of my exhibit “Accountability” that was briefly on display at McIntosh Gallery for a week in March, 2020 before everything shut down. But “Accountability” has another meaning besides referring to the previous exhibit, as this word was and is the premise for both shows, since it encompasses the concepts of the artworks.

Some topics include alternative viewpoints of historic occurrences once viewed as celebratory by most, though now wondering when history books will be changed. And since recent revelations have been made of resulting conditions from enforced ownership, we may question how reparation can be made.

Yet despite it all, somehow Indigenous cultures, traditions, and languages are still alive. Although they’ve struggled to remain alive, the onus to pass knowledge from one generation to the next is imperative so nothing more will be lost.

Moreover, it is the responsibility all humans must now offer to care for our Earth, our Mother, who has endured much devastation especially during the past century after the industrial revolution and the rise of technological advancements. We are now in a position to make drastic changes to ensure that the future may somehow be free from the current conditions we’re experiencing, resulting from us making strides without heed of repercussions.

My hope is we’ll be able to outrun the machine we’ve created.

Kelly Greene is a multi-media artist whose work includes painting, sculpture, installation, and photography. She is of Mohawk-Oneida-Sicilian ancestry, a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, and a descendant of the Turtle Clan.

Greene has lived in London, Ontario since 1989 where she obtained a BFA from the University of Western Ontario. She began her visual art studies at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she moved with her family when she was a child.

She has exhibited in Canada and the United States for over thirty years in solo and group exhibits, primarily at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario but also Banff, Alberta; Vancouver, B.C.; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and London, Ontario; Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Howes Cave, New York. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, and in 2012 and 2015 she was commissioned to complete two permanent outdoor installations at the Woodland Cultural Centre. She has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council and was most recently awarded the first Indigenous Artist in Residence at Western University in 2021.

Her art focuses primarily on environmental and political topics, as well as revealing stereotypes that are still prevalent towards Indigenous cultures, using ironic humour when possible. Recognizing the impact colonization has had on our Earth and the First People who have always lived on the land now known as Canada, Greene specifically refers to the Haldimand Treaty granted to the people of Six Nations, as well as the Mohawk Institute Residential School, or “Mush Hole”, where her beautiful Grandma attended in the 1920’s. Another concern is Colony Collapse Disorder, or the current plight of bees vanishing due to pesticides and monoculture. The ever-alarming condition of our planet has inspired Greene to create works that represent our Mother Earth as human, appealing to our species’ egocentricity, hoping empathy will be instilled and respect given so future generations will continue to be revived and thrive.

Artlab Gallery

JL Visual Arts Centre

Western University

London, Ontario, Canada

© 2022; Department of Visual Arts; Western University

Miatta Mulbah, middle, is currently an accountapreneur with the Accountability Lab. In Liberia, many young girls engage in commercial sex in order to survive or to pay for school. Miatta’s vision is “a Liberia where teenage girls are not exposed or forced into harmful practices that endanger their health or their future.” Through her organization Leemah, Miatta is using music and street theater to advocate for and raise awareness among girls in Montserrado and Margibi counties, ages 11-25, who face challenges of sexual violence, abuse, poverty. Leemah strives to change the mindsets vulnerable Liberian girls, and the broader community, to understand their rights and responsibilities as citizens and to rethink their future.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a vigil outside the London Muslim Mosque organized after four members of a Canadian Muslim family were killed in what police describe as a hate-motivated attack in London, Ontario, Canada, June 8, 2021. Nathan Denette/Pool via REUTERS

Mark Horvit, executive director of Investigative Reporters & Editors, teaches at the Reynolds Center workshop: Accountability in Indian Country -- Be a Better Business Watchdog. The training was held July 18, 2013, at Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix. Videos and handouts are at bit.ly/accountability2013

Holt Webb

photo courtesy of Drew Landry (post production by Holt Webb)

Throughout the month of February, the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force is hosting four community forums across the city to provide residents the opportunity to speak or submit written comments on improving the accountability, oversight and training of Chicago’s police officers.

This is photographs from Tuesday, February 2.

Hosted by Mt. Vernon Baptist Church

JLM Life Center

2622 W. Jackson Blvd.

More info: chicagopatf.org/events/

Continuing Accountability

Kelly Greene

April 21 - May 17, 2022

Artlab Gallery

The Artlab Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition titled “Continuing Accountability” by current Indigenous Artist-In-Residence Kelly Greene. Presented in partnership with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and the Department of Arts and Humanities, this exhibit brings together work completed by Greene over the course of her nearly thirty year artistic career.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

This exhibit is a continuation of my exhibit “Accountability” that was briefly on display at McIntosh Gallery for a week in March, 2020 before everything shut down. But “Accountability” has another meaning besides referring to the previous exhibit, as this word was and is the premise for both shows, since it encompasses the concepts of the artworks.

Some topics include alternative viewpoints of historic occurrences once viewed as celebratory by most, though now wondering when history books will be changed. And since recent revelations have been made of resulting conditions from enforced ownership, we may question how reparation can be made.

Yet despite it all, somehow Indigenous cultures, traditions, and languages are still alive. Although they’ve struggled to remain alive, the onus to pass knowledge from one generation to the next is imperative so nothing more will be lost.

Moreover, it is the responsibility all humans must now offer to care for our Earth, our Mother, who has endured much devastation especially during the past century after the industrial revolution and the rise of technological advancements. We are now in a position to make drastic changes to ensure that the future may somehow be free from the current conditions we’re experiencing, resulting from us making strides without heed of repercussions.

My hope is we’ll be able to outrun the machine we’ve created.

Kelly Greene is a multi-media artist whose work includes painting, sculpture, installation, and photography. She is of Mohawk-Oneida-Sicilian ancestry, a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, and a descendant of the Turtle Clan.

Greene has lived in London, Ontario since 1989 where she obtained a BFA from the University of Western Ontario. She began her visual art studies at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she moved with her family when she was a child.

She has exhibited in Canada and the United States for over thirty years in solo and group exhibits, primarily at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario but also Banff, Alberta; Vancouver, B.C.; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and London, Ontario; Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Howes Cave, New York. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, and in 2012 and 2015 she was commissioned to complete two permanent outdoor installations at the Woodland Cultural Centre. She has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council and was most recently awarded the first Indigenous Artist in Residence at Western University in 2021.

Her art focuses primarily on environmental and political topics, as well as revealing stereotypes that are still prevalent towards Indigenous cultures, using ironic humour when possible. Recognizing the impact colonization has had on our Earth and the First People who have always lived on the land now known as Canada, Greene specifically refers to the Haldimand Treaty granted to the people of Six Nations, as well as the Mohawk Institute Residential School, or “Mush Hole”, where her beautiful Grandma attended in the 1920’s. Another concern is Colony Collapse Disorder, or the current plight of bees vanishing due to pesticides and monoculture. The ever-alarming condition of our planet has inspired Greene to create works that represent our Mother Earth as human, appealing to our species’ egocentricity, hoping empathy will be instilled and respect given so future generations will continue to be revived and thrive.

Artlab Gallery

JL Visual Arts Centre

Western University

London, Ontario, Canada

© 2022; Department of Visual Arts; Western University

So before you think that todays 365 means that I'm leaving my family and running away from it all =), it's actually just about me. I really feel like I have a lot of things "together" in my life. I'm not comfortable talking about myself, but I'll say that as far as career goes, I've always done pretty well. I was in advertising, kitchen design and a few other paths along the way. With each step I made sure that I was on top of my game before I left and then wen't on to the next challenge. I actually left Kitchen Design because D was sick when he was born and that opened the road to photography. Everyone always says that they wish they could do for a living whatever their passion is. I do and I feel so fortunate.

The one place I'm lacking in my life is my weight. It is a constant struggle. I'm not obese, but have a good 50+ pounds to lose. I'm thankfully proportionately heavy so that helps balance it out a bit, but it's still there. I don't know why I can set my mind to most things and do well with it ,but this is constantly a battle.

So I'm making myself accountable (scary). I am making the effort starting today to do something about myself. I'm going to take the time to plan meals, I wen't for a walk and I'm trying my hardest to get my head going in the right direction. I'm uncomfortable in my own skin and know that this isn't the skinny minny that my husband married. He deserves better, our son deserves a more energetic mom and one who's a better role model, I owe it to God to be the best me that I can be and quite frankly I deserve better.

So, there you have it. Any weight loss advice would be most appreciated. Thanks for listening to me babble today ;) Oh yeah, and ignore the roots - will be taking care of that later in the week - ha! Although I may act blonde, I'm not actually this blonde =)

Holt Webb on Horn Island, MS

photo courtesy of Drew Landry (post production by Holt Webb)

Continuing Accountability

Kelly Greene

April 21 - May 17, 2022

Artlab Gallery

The Artlab Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition titled “Continuing Accountability” by current Indigenous Artist-In-Residence Kelly Greene. Presented in partnership with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and the Department of Arts and Humanities, this exhibit brings together work completed by Greene over the course of her nearly thirty year artistic career.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

This exhibit is a continuation of my exhibit “Accountability” that was briefly on display at McIntosh Gallery for a week in March, 2020 before everything shut down. But “Accountability” has another meaning besides referring to the previous exhibit, as this word was and is the premise for both shows, since it encompasses the concepts of the artworks.

Some topics include alternative viewpoints of historic occurrences once viewed as celebratory by most, though now wondering when history books will be changed. And since recent revelations have been made of resulting conditions from enforced ownership, we may question how reparation can be made.

Yet despite it all, somehow Indigenous cultures, traditions, and languages are still alive. Although they’ve struggled to remain alive, the onus to pass knowledge from one generation to the next is imperative so nothing more will be lost.

Moreover, it is the responsibility all humans must now offer to care for our Earth, our Mother, who has endured much devastation especially during the past century after the industrial revolution and the rise of technological advancements. We are now in a position to make drastic changes to ensure that the future may somehow be free from the current conditions we’re experiencing, resulting from us making strides without heed of repercussions.

My hope is we’ll be able to outrun the machine we’ve created.

Kelly Greene is a multi-media artist whose work includes painting, sculpture, installation, and photography. She is of Mohawk-Oneida-Sicilian ancestry, a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, and a descendant of the Turtle Clan.

Greene has lived in London, Ontario since 1989 where she obtained a BFA from the University of Western Ontario. She began her visual art studies at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she moved with her family when she was a child.

She has exhibited in Canada and the United States for over thirty years in solo and group exhibits, primarily at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario but also Banff, Alberta; Vancouver, B.C.; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and London, Ontario; Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Howes Cave, New York. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, and in 2012 and 2015 she was commissioned to complete two permanent outdoor installations at the Woodland Cultural Centre. She has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council and was most recently awarded the first Indigenous Artist in Residence at Western University in 2021.

Her art focuses primarily on environmental and political topics, as well as revealing stereotypes that are still prevalent towards Indigenous cultures, using ironic humour when possible. Recognizing the impact colonization has had on our Earth and the First People who have always lived on the land now known as Canada, Greene specifically refers to the Haldimand Treaty granted to the people of Six Nations, as well as the Mohawk Institute Residential School, or “Mush Hole”, where her beautiful Grandma attended in the 1920’s. Another concern is Colony Collapse Disorder, or the current plight of bees vanishing due to pesticides and monoculture. The ever-alarming condition of our planet has inspired Greene to create works that represent our Mother Earth as human, appealing to our species’ egocentricity, hoping empathy will be instilled and respect given so future generations will continue to be revived and thrive.

Artlab Gallery

JL Visual Arts Centre

Western University

London, Ontario, Canada

© 2022; Department of Visual Arts; Western University

Continuing Accountability

Kelly Greene

April 21 - May 17, 2022

Artlab Gallery

The Artlab Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition titled “Continuing Accountability” by current Indigenous Artist-In-Residence Kelly Greene. Presented in partnership with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and the Department of Arts and Humanities, this exhibit brings together work completed by Greene over the course of her nearly thirty year artistic career.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

This exhibit is a continuation of my exhibit “Accountability” that was briefly on display at McIntosh Gallery for a week in March, 2020 before everything shut down. But “Accountability” has another meaning besides referring to the previous exhibit, as this word was and is the premise for both shows, since it encompasses the concepts of the artworks.

Some topics include alternative viewpoints of historic occurrences once viewed as celebratory by most, though now wondering when history books will be changed. And since recent revelations have been made of resulting conditions from enforced ownership, we may question how reparation can be made.

Yet despite it all, somehow Indigenous cultures, traditions, and languages are still alive. Although they’ve struggled to remain alive, the onus to pass knowledge from one generation to the next is imperative so nothing more will be lost.

Moreover, it is the responsibility all humans must now offer to care for our Earth, our Mother, who has endured much devastation especially during the past century after the industrial revolution and the rise of technological advancements. We are now in a position to make drastic changes to ensure that the future may somehow be free from the current conditions we’re experiencing, resulting from us making strides without heed of repercussions.

My hope is we’ll be able to outrun the machine we’ve created.

Kelly Greene is a multi-media artist whose work includes painting, sculpture, installation, and photography. She is of Mohawk-Oneida-Sicilian ancestry, a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, and a descendant of the Turtle Clan.

Greene has lived in London, Ontario since 1989 where she obtained a BFA from the University of Western Ontario. She began her visual art studies at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she moved with her family when she was a child.

She has exhibited in Canada and the United States for over thirty years in solo and group exhibits, primarily at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario but also Banff, Alberta; Vancouver, B.C.; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and London, Ontario; Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Howes Cave, New York. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, and in 2012 and 2015 she was commissioned to complete two permanent outdoor installations at the Woodland Cultural Centre. She has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council and was most recently awarded the first Indigenous Artist in Residence at Western University in 2021.

Her art focuses primarily on environmental and political topics, as well as revealing stereotypes that are still prevalent towards Indigenous cultures, using ironic humour when possible. Recognizing the impact colonization has had on our Earth and the First People who have always lived on the land now known as Canada, Greene specifically refers to the Haldimand Treaty granted to the people of Six Nations, as well as the Mohawk Institute Residential School, or “Mush Hole”, where her beautiful Grandma attended in the 1920’s. Another concern is Colony Collapse Disorder, or the current plight of bees vanishing due to pesticides and monoculture. The ever-alarming condition of our planet has inspired Greene to create works that represent our Mother Earth as human, appealing to our species’ egocentricity, hoping empathy will be instilled and respect given so future generations will continue to be revived and thrive.

Artlab Gallery

JL Visual Arts Centre

Western University

London, Ontario, Canada

© 2022; Department of Visual Arts; Western University

U.S. Senator and former Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill today shone a spotlight on the functions of a federal agency performing duplicative services and escaping accountability—an agency McCaskill is working to abolish.

Throughout the month of February, the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force is hosting four community forums across the city to provide residents the opportunity to speak or submit written comments on improving the accountability, oversight and training of Chicago’s police officers.

This is photographs from Tuesday, February 2.

Hosted by Mt. Vernon Baptist Church

JLM Life Center

2622 W. Jackson Blvd.

More info: chicagopatf.org/events/

Continuing Accountability

Kelly Greene

April 21 - May 17, 2022

Artlab Gallery

The Artlab Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition titled “Continuing Accountability” by current Indigenous Artist-In-Residence Kelly Greene. Presented in partnership with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and the Department of Arts and Humanities, this exhibit brings together work completed by Greene over the course of her nearly thirty year artistic career.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

This exhibit is a continuation of my exhibit “Accountability” that was briefly on display at McIntosh Gallery for a week in March, 2020 before everything shut down. But “Accountability” has another meaning besides referring to the previous exhibit, as this word was and is the premise for both shows, since it encompasses the concepts of the artworks.

Some topics include alternative viewpoints of historic occurrences once viewed as celebratory by most, though now wondering when history books will be changed. And since recent revelations have been made of resulting conditions from enforced ownership, we may question how reparation can be made.

Yet despite it all, somehow Indigenous cultures, traditions, and languages are still alive. Although they’ve struggled to remain alive, the onus to pass knowledge from one generation to the next is imperative so nothing more will be lost.

Moreover, it is the responsibility all humans must now offer to care for our Earth, our Mother, who has endured much devastation especially during the past century after the industrial revolution and the rise of technological advancements. We are now in a position to make drastic changes to ensure that the future may somehow be free from the current conditions we’re experiencing, resulting from us making strides without heed of repercussions.

My hope is we’ll be able to outrun the machine we’ve created.

Kelly Greene is a multi-media artist whose work includes painting, sculpture, installation, and photography. She is of Mohawk-Oneida-Sicilian ancestry, a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, and a descendant of the Turtle Clan.

Greene has lived in London, Ontario since 1989 where she obtained a BFA from the University of Western Ontario. She began her visual art studies at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she moved with her family when she was a child.

She has exhibited in Canada and the United States for over thirty years in solo and group exhibits, primarily at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario but also Banff, Alberta; Vancouver, B.C.; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and London, Ontario; Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Howes Cave, New York. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, and in 2012 and 2015 she was commissioned to complete two permanent outdoor installations at the Woodland Cultural Centre. She has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council and was most recently awarded the first Indigenous Artist in Residence at Western University in 2021.

Her art focuses primarily on environmental and political topics, as well as revealing stereotypes that are still prevalent towards Indigenous cultures, using ironic humour when possible. Recognizing the impact colonization has had on our Earth and the First People who have always lived on the land now known as Canada, Greene specifically refers to the Haldimand Treaty granted to the people of Six Nations, as well as the Mohawk Institute Residential School, or “Mush Hole”, where her beautiful Grandma attended in the 1920’s. Another concern is Colony Collapse Disorder, or the current plight of bees vanishing due to pesticides and monoculture. The ever-alarming condition of our planet has inspired Greene to create works that represent our Mother Earth as human, appealing to our species’ egocentricity, hoping empathy will be instilled and respect given so future generations will continue to be revived and thrive.

Artlab Gallery

JL Visual Arts Centre

Western University

London, Ontario, Canada

© 2022; Department of Visual Arts; Western University

So I've been watching those of you participating in 'Accountability Wednesday' and I've been inspired. At first I kept thinking 'What's the big deal? It's just a number.'

And then I got on the scale.

Ouch.

It's obviously been quite some time since I've been on a scale myself and while I still do believe that it's just a number and is really not a good indicator of health, I'm not happy with this number.

I actually eat pretty well. I'm hypoglycemic. I was diagnosed about 4 years ago and I've changed my diet quite a bit since then. There is no high fructose corn syrup in my house. All grains are whole ones. I could go on. To make a long story short, I've come to the realization in the last couple of weeks that what I eat isn't the problem, it's how much. Portion control? We don't haz it.

So that's what I'm working on. In addition to my usual checking of labels and reading ingredients on a regular basis I'm also paying more attention to serving sizes and trying to stick with them.

I'm also working on incorporating exercise into my life again too. I've finally found a yoga studio that works with my schedule and budget and I've been going once a week but hope to up it to twice sooner than later. Considering I have a desk job, that's an essential change in more ways than one.

Those two things should help, right?

P.S. It was really hard to upload this without obscuring that number. Does telling you I'm 5'11" make it better? I guess it just makes me feel better...

P.P.S. My chiropractor commented on my socks today. Yes I did make them that way. :)

Weak accountability leads to government failures or tragedies that affect the public – so what can be done to strengthen it?

The Institute for Government Launched it's report Accountability in modern government - recommendations for change, based on a year-long consultation and input from a high-profile advisory group.

To discuss the findings of the report, our panel:

Rt Hon Dame Margaret Hodge MP, Labour MP for Barking, former Chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee

Sir Richard Mottram, Visiting Professor at the LSE, former Permanent Secretary

Jonathan Slater, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education

The report was introduced by Benoit Guerin, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government, and the event was chaired by Emma Norris, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

#IFGAccountability

Photos by Candice McKenzie

Continuing Accountability

Kelly Greene

April 21 - May 17, 2022

Artlab Gallery

The Artlab Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition titled “Continuing Accountability” by current Indigenous Artist-In-Residence Kelly Greene. Presented in partnership with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and the Department of Arts and Humanities, this exhibit brings together work completed by Greene over the course of her nearly thirty year artistic career.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

This exhibit is a continuation of my exhibit “Accountability” that was briefly on display at McIntosh Gallery for a week in March, 2020 before everything shut down. But “Accountability” has another meaning besides referring to the previous exhibit, as this word was and is the premise for both shows, since it encompasses the concepts of the artworks.

Some topics include alternative viewpoints of historic occurrences once viewed as celebratory by most, though now wondering when history books will be changed. And since recent revelations have been made of resulting conditions from enforced ownership, we may question how reparation can be made.

Yet despite it all, somehow Indigenous cultures, traditions, and languages are still alive. Although they’ve struggled to remain alive, the onus to pass knowledge from one generation to the next is imperative so nothing more will be lost.

Moreover, it is the responsibility all humans must now offer to care for our Earth, our Mother, who has endured much devastation especially during the past century after the industrial revolution and the rise of technological advancements. We are now in a position to make drastic changes to ensure that the future may somehow be free from the current conditions we’re experiencing, resulting from us making strides without heed of repercussions.

My hope is we’ll be able to outrun the machine we’ve created.

Kelly Greene is a multi-media artist whose work includes painting, sculpture, installation, and photography. She is of Mohawk-Oneida-Sicilian ancestry, a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, and a descendant of the Turtle Clan.

Greene has lived in London, Ontario since 1989 where she obtained a BFA from the University of Western Ontario. She began her visual art studies at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she moved with her family when she was a child.

She has exhibited in Canada and the United States for over thirty years in solo and group exhibits, primarily at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario but also Banff, Alberta; Vancouver, B.C.; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and London, Ontario; Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Howes Cave, New York. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, and in 2012 and 2015 she was commissioned to complete two permanent outdoor installations at the Woodland Cultural Centre. She has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council and was most recently awarded the first Indigenous Artist in Residence at Western University in 2021.

Her art focuses primarily on environmental and political topics, as well as revealing stereotypes that are still prevalent towards Indigenous cultures, using ironic humour when possible. Recognizing the impact colonization has had on our Earth and the First People who have always lived on the land now known as Canada, Greene specifically refers to the Haldimand Treaty granted to the people of Six Nations, as well as the Mohawk Institute Residential School, or “Mush Hole”, where her beautiful Grandma attended in the 1920’s. Another concern is Colony Collapse Disorder, or the current plight of bees vanishing due to pesticides and monoculture. The ever-alarming condition of our planet has inspired Greene to create works that represent our Mother Earth as human, appealing to our species’ egocentricity, hoping empathy will be instilled and respect given so future generations will continue to be revived and thrive.

Artlab Gallery

JL Visual Arts Centre

Western University

London, Ontario, Canada

© 2022; Department of Visual Arts; Western University

On Friday, September 22nd, our high school was visited by a group of athletes who are part of a leadership council at Syracuse University. Mr. Mark Trumbo, Syracuse University's Student-Athlete Engagement Coordinator, was accompanied by Alana O’Neill and Maddie Pack from the women’s soccer team; Hannah Dossett, Alexa Romero, and Samantha Fernandez from the women’s softball team; and Marcus Cunningham, David Lipka, and Stephen Rehfuss from the men’s lacrosse team. Mr. Trumbo and the athletes spent a few hours engaging groups of students in an interactive dialogue regarding the topics of leadership, accountability, responsibility, and various aspects of college life. Their message to our student body was inspiring, and the experience was a great way for our students to begin the new school year!

#SASCS #SASAtoms