Journal articles: 'Postes – France – 1945-' – Grafiati (2024)

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I qualified in Belfast (Queen's University) in 1942. I did not have any interest in psychiatry, having the ambition to become a clinical physiologist. I had worked with Henry Barcroft, who was professor of physiology. I joined the Army and later the Airborne Forces. Fortunately, the casualties expected amongst the medical personnel of the 6th Airborne Division during the Normandy incursion did not occur, leaving myself and other medical colleagues, who had just completed our parachute training, redundant. I was posted to France and in the late summer of 1944 found myself regimental medical officer to the 1st Battalion The Herefordshire Regiment. I must confess that it never occurred to me during the winter and spring of 1944–1945 that the emotional reactions and the physical expressions of anxiety encountered, particularly amongst the young conscripts, had anything to do with the subject of psychiatry.

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Cette correspondance a pour sujet les émissions protestantes assurées par l’œuvre de La Cause d’octobre 1940 à juillet 1943 sur le poste de la Radiodiffusion nationale contrôlée par le gouvernement du Maréchal Pétain installé à Vichy. Elle relate les échanges entre le pasteur Marc Boegner, président de la Fédération Protestante de France, et le jeune pasteur Valdo Durrleman, qui est, pendant cette période, secrétaire général de La Cause à Montpellier, chargé d’assurer l’organisation des émissions de La Cause. Cette correspondance a pour arrière-plan un litige né avant la guerre entre La Cause et la Fédération Protestante de France sur la responsabilité des émissions protestantes hebdomadaires à la radio, à l’origine desquelles était La Cause depuis 1928, mais dont la responsabilité avait été transférée en 1937 à la Fédération Protestante de France, La Cause ne conservant depuis lors qu’une émission par mois. Elle montre un désaccord sur le style des émissions de La Cause que Marc Boegner juge n’être pas des émissions religieuses en rappelant à plusieurs reprises l’obligation de respecter un cadre liturgique. Elle met aussi en évidence l’omniprésence des services du régime de Vichy et montre un Marc Boegner cherchant à tempérer leurs réactions tout en assurant la transmission de leurs injonctions, acceptant même d’exercer à leur place une censure préalable sur le contenu des émissions et qui ne peut s’opposer à l’interdiction d’antenne faite à Valdo Durrleman pour avoir lu en décembre 1942 un texte d’Ésaïe dans lequel le directeur de la Radiodiffusion nationale voit une allusion à la situation faite aux Juifs.

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Résumé Au début des années 1940, William H. Coverdale, président de Canada Steamship Lines, amène cette compagnie à investir dans la reconstruction du poste de traite de Pierre Chauvin, premier poste de traite de la Nouvelle-France, érigé à Tadoussac en 1599. Ce petit édifice sera utilisé comme lieu d’exposition d’une collection d’objets associés au début de la colonie et témoignant des contacts entre Français et Amérindiens. Pour comprendre cette collection, qui fait maintenant partie de la collection du Musée de la civilisation à Québec, il importe d’étudier les objectifs et les motivations du collectionneur qui en est à l’origine, et d’analyser les critères de ses choix en fonction du contexte socio-culturel dans lequel il évolue. Car la signification qu’on attribue à un objet ne peut être isolée des contextes qui en font évoluer le sens, ni des circonstances dans lesquelles sa sélection comme objet signifiant a été effectuée.

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This article illustrates the continuing salience of Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation (1944) by employing two of its central concepts, fictitious commodities and the double movement to interpret the globalisation countermovement and one of its most important figures, José Bové. I explain the transformation of José Bové from rural sheep farmer to French folk hero and global activist and analyse the extent to which his rhetoric and political actions are congruent with Polanyi's key insights. Arguing against the media characterisation of Bové as protectionist, I show that this misrepresentation conceals the larger ideological threat his movement poses to institutionalised politics and neoliberal hegemony. The political vision underlying Bové's symbolic media tactics and articulated in his book, Le Monde n'est pas une Marchandise, reveals significant manifestations of Polanyi's chief intellectual legacy – an unparalleled critique of economism and market society. An often neglected question in Polanyian scholarship is whether or not it is possible to have a market economy without becoming a market society. A more careful analysis of Polanyi's thought sheds light on this key issue while the empirical analysis of Bové's movement reveals its implications for French society and the broader globalisation countermovement.

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RÉSUMÉ Cet article retrace les principales étapes de la carrière d’Augustin Frigon qui a consacré la plus grande partie de sa vie au développement de la radio nationale au Canada. Les études qu’il a entreprises aux États-Unis et en France de même que les fonctions qu’il a occupées à l’École Polytechnique de Montréal servent de catalyseur à sa future carrière d’administrateur dans le domaine radiophonique. Sa nomination comme membre de la Commission royale sur la radiodiffusion en 1928 (Commission Aird) constitue le véritable point de départ de sa carrière. Quelques années plus tard, Frigon accède au poste de directeur adjoint, puis de directeur général de la Société Radio-Canada. Ces deux fonctions-clés lui permettront de réaliser le plan initial proposé dans le rapport de la Commission Aird, d’introduire de nouveaux services de radiodiffusion (réseau MF, service international, ondes courtes, etc.) et de jouer un rôle majeur lors des rencontres internationales sur la radio. Forcément, de telles fonctions conduiront Augustin Frigon à l’avant-plan de la scène radiophonique nationale et, dès lors, nous le retrouverons au centre d’une controverse reposant sur le plébiscite de 1942. L’article met également en relief le rôle de Frigon dans le développement du réseau français de Radio-Canada.

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Train travel is one of the most frequently used motives in I. A. Bunins’ works. In the center of the plot of the “Zapisnaya knizhka” (“Notebook”) (“Novaya Russkaya Zhizn” (Gelsingfors), 1921, April 2), subsequently reworked into the story “Tretiy klass” (“Third Class”) is the voyage on the train on Ceylon. Train ride in France becomes the basis of the plot of the story “Notre-dame de la garde”, published in the newspaper “Vozrozhdenie” (“Renaissance”) (Paris) on October 17, 1925. These works are united not only by the same fiction method (we see another country and its inhabitants through the eyes of a Russian passenger on the train), but also by direct textual parallels in newspaper publications. In both cases, the train becomes a ‘mirror’ of the country: the first is the train of the East and the second is the train of the West. The contrast between East and West is most clearly pointed in the “Zapisnaya knizhka”, where it is associated with the ideological struggle of 1921. In the newspaper Bunin wrote about the West no less than about the East. The main characters of his work were the British. But in the story “Tretiy klass”, published in 1926 in “Illyustrirovannaya Rossiya” (“Illustrated Russia”), the actual publicistic pathos becomes unnecessary. A similar tendency towards a decrease in the concrete historical publicistic pathos we can find in the history of the text of the story “Notre-dame de la garde”. Here, the changes are also associated with the reduction of the universal-social that played an important role in the newspaper and its replacement with the simply universal. The plot allows Bunin to show France from different sides, as well as declare his attitude towards the country. The system of oppositions in the newspaper version of the story “Notre-dame de la garde” is more complicated than in the one in the collected works – later Bunin renounces the class characteristic. The poster-ideal West turns out to be a deception, but the destruction of external, advertising harmony does not mean the absence of beauty and internal harmony. The types created by Bunin in the story have both a national and universal character.

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L’alimentation des ruminants : un problème d’actualitéDans la conduite et la réussite d’un système de production de Ruminants, l’alimentation du troupeau reste un domaine très important qui continue de poser de nombreuses questions à la fois pratiques et théoriques. Pour l’éleveur, les postes récolte des fourrages et des céréales, achats d’aliments et entretien des surfaces fourragères représentent plus de 50 % des charges opérationnelles de son exploitation. Nourrir quotidiennement son troupeau lui impose de faire des choix de types de rations et en amont des choix stratégiques de long terme, sur la conduite de son système fourrager en considérant ses contraintes de milieu naturel, de bâtiments ou de stockage. La gestion de l’alimentation est directement liée à tous les autres choix stratégiques de l’activité d’élevage, le niveau de croissance des jeunes animaux, la reproduction, l’allotement la quantité et la qualité de la production. Pour le chercheur en nutrition animale, les enjeux sont devenus multiples et son positionnement a évolué : la recherche de la production maximale soutenue par l’alimentation a fait place à la volonté d’atteindre un optimum à la fois biologique, technique et économique selon les milieux dans lequel l’élevage est conduit. Il doit faire en sorte que la ration calculée par ses modèles satisfasse les besoins de l’animal selon les objectifs de production de l’éleveur, mais qu’elle participe également au bon état sanitaire et de bien-être du troupeau, qu’elle garantisse la qualité des produits et minimise l’impact défavorable des rejets sur l’environnement. La recherche en nutrition et alimentation des ruminants porte à la fois sur les fourrages, la physiologie digestive et métabolique de l’animal et son comportement alimentaire. En tenant compte de la complexité des mécanismes biologiques, les modèles nutritionnels doivent pouvoir simuler avec le maximum de précisions les flux de matières à travers le tube digestif et les organes sur des pas de temps variables, à la fois de court et de long terme. Cela reste un sujet perpétuellement en évolution qui exige aussi de synthétiser les connaissances sous forme d’outils d’aide à la décision et qui soit capable de présenter la qualité de ces outils et leurs limites d’usage. Une recherche qui se développe avec l’INRALes recherches pour aider à déterminer les choix d’alimentation des animaux en condition de production se sont concrétisées au cours du 20ème siècle. Les systèmes d’alimentation en énergie, azote et minéraux ont été développés en France après 1945. A l’INRA, le département Elevage des Ruminants sous l’impulsion de R. Jarrige avait initié une révision majeure des principes et des unités pratiques de terrain en 1978 en proposant un système énergétique construit sur la base de deux unités fourragères, lait et viande (UFL, UFV), un système des Protéines Digestibles dans l’Intestin (PDI) et des Tables complètes à la fois des besoins des animaux et de la valeur alimentaire des aliments. C’est notamment dans le domaine de la valeur nutritionnelle des fourrages que ces travaux étaient particulièrement riches. Ces «systèmes INRA» avaient alors été complétés par la première ébauche d’un modèle complètement nouveau de prévision de l’ingestion (système des Unités d’Encombrements UE) qui sera fortement remanié et amélioré dix ans plus tard lors de la révision de 1988. Ce nouvel ensemble, prévision de l’ingestion, estimation des besoins nutritionnels, a également permis d’accroître l’offre d’outils pratiques de terrain. En complèment des Tables imprimées, un outil informatique d’accompagnement et de rationnement «INRAtion» a été proposé dès 1992. Celui-ci s’est ensuite enrichi de l’outil de calcul de la prévision de la valeur des aliments «Prevalim;» et tous deux sont devenus des réceptacles appliqués des nouveautés scientifiques concernant les systèmes INRA. Mais, près de vingt ans après le dernier «Livre Rouge de l’Alimentation des bovins, ovins et caprins», une mise à niveau des ouvrages écrits s’imposait également et il est apparu nécessaire de proposer une actualisation des connaissances des principes du rationnement des ruminants. Les travaux des équipes de recherches ont permis de progresser aussi bien sur la caractérisation de la valeur des fourrages et des matières premières, que sur l’estimation des besoins des animaux et des apports nutritionnels recommandés dans des situations très diverses. Au delà des recommandations statiques, focalisées sur l’objectif de satisfaire les besoins, les lois de réponses dynamiques des pratiques alimentaires sont mieux connues et quantifiées. Elles permettent de mieux simuler les conséquences de la diversité des situations. L’objectif de l’ouvrage «Alimentation des bovins, ovins et caprins - Tables INRA 2007», sorti en février aux éditions Quæ, est ainsi de remettre sous la forme connue et largement adoptée par tous les acteurs des filières de l’élevage ruminant ces nouveaux résultats. Des documents complémentairesCependant le niveau scientifique choisi de l’ouvrage récemment paru et sa taille volontairement réduite pour en faire un ouvrage facilement accessible ont contraint les auteurs à aller à l’essentiel, les frustrant sans aucun doute d’une description et d’une discussion de fond de leurs résultats.En reprenant l’exemple de 1987 où le «livre rouge» publié par INRA Editions était complété par un numéro détaillé du Bulletin CRZVde Theix, nous avons donc décidé de publier un dossier dans la Revue INRA Productions Animales qui complète l’ouvrage de février. Ce dossier regroupe majoritairement des présentations et les explications des choix qui ont prévalu au développement des nouveaux modèles sous-tendus dans les recommandations. Il comporte 5 articles qui éclairent des points clés des innovations introduites en 2007, et qui correspondent soit à des nouveaux modèles mécanistes des fonctions de l’animal, soit à des méthodes de prévision de la valeur des fourrages, soit à des remises en cause plus profondes de l’ensemble apports, besoins comme c’est le cas pour la nutrition minérale.Toutefois, ce dossier n’est pas exhaustif des «nouveautés» du livre 2007. Certaines avaient été déjà publiées, soit dans des revues scientifiques, soit dans des sessions des «Rencontres Recherches Ruminants». Sans aucun doute d’autres viendront encore les compléter par la suite.Ainsi sont étudiés successivement des apports scientifiques sur la valeur des aliments et sur les besoins des animaux :1 - La dégradabilité des protéines dans le rumen (DT) et la digestibilité réelle des protéines alimentaires dans l’intestin grêle (dr). La valeur azotée des fourrages repose sur la bonne estimation de ces deux paramètres, qui sont la clé du calcul du système des protéines digestibles dans l’intestin PDI (article de M.-O. Nozières et al).2 - Les nouvelles valeurs minérales et vitaminiques des aliments. La possibilité de raisonner en éléments phosphore et calcium absorbables apporte de nouvelles précisions et modifie considérablement les quantités recommandées. L’article précise et actualise les Apports Journaliers Recommandés (AJR) d’éléments minéraux majeurs. Les autres minéraux, oligo-éléments et vitamines sont également revus de façon systématique et approfondie (article de F. Meschy et al).3 - De nouvelles équations statistiques de prévision de la digestibilité de la Matière Organique (dMO) des fourrages par la méthode pepsine-cellulase établies sur une banque de données couvrant une gamme plus importante de fourrages et de modes de conservation. La valeur énergétique des fourrages dépend en effet étroitement de la digestibilité de leur matière organique. Son estimation sur le terrain peut se faire à partir de méthodes de laboratoire comme la digestibilité pepsine-cellulase, utilisée en France depuis plus de vingt ans. Cette méthode est proposée pour sa bonne précision (article de J. Aufrère et al).4 - La composition du gain de poids chez des femelles adultes en période de finition qui permet de calculer ensuite directement le besoin en énergie et en protéines de l’animal. Ce modèle est suffisamment souple pour proposer un besoin face à un objectif de croissance donné, mais il propose aussi un niveau de croissance pour une ration d’un niveau énergétique donné. Ce nouveau modèle a été spécifiquement développé pour tenir compte de la très grande variabilité des situations pratiques rencontrées : la race, l’âge, le format, l’état d’engraissem*nt initial et la vitesse du gain attendu (article de F. Garcia et J. Agabriel).5 - La capacité d’ingestion d’aliments par les vaches laitières au cours de leur lactation complète. Ce tout nouveau modèle s’adapte à tous types de vaches primipares, multipares et propose le nouveau concept de «lait potentiel» pour mieux décrire cette capacité d’ingestion. Ce concept est nécessaire pour répondre aux diverses stratégies des éleveurs dans la conduite de leurs animaux et qui ne souhaitent pas nécessairement les mener à leur maximum de production. Le modèle tient en effet compte de l’état initial de la vache au vêlage et des modifications d’état corporel qui accompagnent obligatoirement la conduite de la lactation (article de P. Faverdin et al).La Rédaction de la Revue a estimé judicieux de publier dans ce même numéro d’INRA Productions Animales, un travail très récent sur la teneur en matière grasse du lait de vache et sa prévision, qui pourra dans les années à venir se traduire concrètement dans les outils d’accompagnement de nos recommandations (article de Rulquin et al).A l’occasion de la publication de ce dossier, nous voulons plus particulièrement remercier tous les participants des Unités et Installations Expérimentales de l’INRA sans qui ces résultats ne seraient pas, ainsi que tout le personnel des Unités de Recherches qui ont participé dans les laboratoires ou derrière leurs écrans : l’Unité de Recherches sur les Herbivores (URH) de Clermont-Ferrand-Theix, l’Unité Mixte de Recherches sur la Production Laitière (UMR PL) de Rennes, l’Unité Mixte de Recherches Physiologie et Nutrition Animale (UMR PNA) de Paris, l’Unité Mixte de Recherches sur les Ruminants en Région Chaude (UMR ERRC) de Montpellier.

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[full article and abstract in French; abstract in English and Lithuanian] Oscar Milosz, poète et écrivain français d’origine lituanienne, de 1920 à 1925 occupait le poste de Chargé d’Affaires de Lituanie en France et en tant que diplomate se rendit plusieurs fois en Lituanie. L’objet de cet article est le récit d’un voyage de Milosz en Lituanie, au cours du mois d‘août de 1922, en compagnie de Maurice Prozor, comme lui d’origine lituanienne, et de sa fille. Ce voyage est raconté par Greta Prozor, témoin oculaire. Le but de l’article est d’analyser le récit en faisant attention à quelques points : 1. l’image de Lituanie, telle qu’elle surgit au cours de la narration,2. la figure de Milosz comme son protagoniste. Summary The article analyzes the story of Oskaras Milašius’s journey to Lithuania which took place in August 1922. Accompanied by her father Maurice Prozor, the author of the story Greta Prozor is also the one who traveled alongside the poet and witnessed his journey first hand. As the analysis draws on the theoretical grounding for travel writing, the article seeks to define and interpret both the image of Lithuania and the figure of the protagonist of the story Milašius. The analysis comes to the conclusion that the author of the story reflectively foregrounds the geographical, historical, social, and cultural history of the country unknown to her before. It also comes to the realization that the “otherness” of Lithuania and its inherent “exotics” lie within the union between the past and the present. It is the union between the past full of life and the present times that determines the distinctive singularity of Lithuania in Europe, which the travelers seem to know well. During the cause of the story, the figure of Milašius is defined through the literary character of Don Quixote, the poet’s alter ego. His nostalgia-driven attempt at the reunion with the family’s past is, in fact, impossible; it cannot be accomplished in present reality. The real reunion with the past most yearned for is possible only throughout the oral and written story.

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The 18th International Conference on Physical Organic Chemistry (ICPOC-18) took place at the Gromada Hotel in Warsaw, Poland on 20-25 August 2006 under the local auspices of Warsaw University and the Polish Chemical Society. It was organized by a local Organizing Committee from the Department of Chemistry of Warsaw University led by Prof. Tadeusz M. Krygowski.Although physical organic chemistry began in the 1930s and at the beginning was concerned mostly with the mechanisms and kinetics of organic reactions and their dependence on structural and medium effects, a great extension of the field toward bioorganic, organic, organometallic, theoretical, catalytic, supramolecular, and photochemistry has been observed for decades now. Representative topics for modern physical organic chemistry include: reaction mechanisms; reactive intermediates; bioprocesses; novel structures; reactivity relationships; solvent, substituent, isotope, and solid-state effects; long-lived charges; sextet or open-shell species; magnetic, nonlinear optical, and conducting molecules; and molecular recognition. Contributions from all of these fields were presented.About 220 researchers, representing 31 countries, participated in the conference. The following eight plenary lectures were presented:R. Huber (Nobel laureate, Germany): "Molecular machines in biology"A. Yonath (Israel): "The spectacular ribosomal architecture: Nascent proteins voyage towards folding via antibiotics binding-pockets"P. Coppens (USA): "Time-resolved diffraction studies of molecular excited states and beyond"K. S. Kim (South Korea): "De novo design based on nano-recognition: Functional molecules/materials and nanosensors/nanodevices"I. P. Beletskaya (Russia): "Mechanistic aspects and synthetic application of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds formation in substitution and addition reactions catalyzed by transition-metal complexes"S. f*ckuzumi (Japan): "New development of electron-transfer catalytic systems"D. Braga (Italy): "Making crystals from crystals: A green route to crystal engineering and polymorphism"L. Latos-Grażyński (Poland): "Carbaporphyrinoids: Exploring metal ion-arene interaction in a macrocyclic environment"Additionally, 17 invited talks and, during two parallel sessions, 51 oral communications were presented. There were more than 100 poster presentations.I am pleased to introduce a representative selection of outstanding papers based on plenary and invited lectures delivered at ICPOC-18. In addition to the contributions mentioned above, this volume contains: a discussion of modern understanding of aromaticity (P. Fowler, UK); fascinating studies of new mechanisms focused on reactive intermediates (R. Moss, USA); interpretation of acidity, basicity, and hydride affinity by the trichotomy paradigm (Z. Maksić, Croatia); a quantum approach to proton transfer across hydrogen bond (F. Fillaux, France); a discussion of self-assembly of nickel(II) pseudorotaxene nanostructures on Au surface (R. Bilewicz, Poland); a discussion of synthesis and properties of macrocyclic receptors for anions (J. Jurczak, Poland); a description of novel organic-inorganic frameworks (J. Klinowski, UK); an application of microemulsions as microreactors (J. R. Leis, Spain); a discussion of silicon rehybridization and molecular rearrangements in hypercoordinate silicon dichelates (D. Kost, Israel); and a description of solvation in pure and mixed solvents (O. El Seoud, Brazil). All of these papers exemplify the broad range and diversity of interests of the participants and characterize the present and future challenges in physical organic chemistry.The social program of the conference included: a welcome reception; a Chopin music concert organized in cooperation with the Frederic Chopin Society; conference excursions, including Warsaw Old Town and Żelazowa Wola, the house where Chopin was born; the Warsaw Uprising (1944) Museum and the Heroes of Ghetto Memorial; and folk music dances during the conference dinner.Because ICPOC-18 was attended by quite a number of young chemists from all over the world, it can be expected that the next conference in this series, ICPOC-19, which will be held in July 2008 and is being organized by Profs. J. Ramon Leis from the University of Santiago de Compostela and A. Santaballa from the University of A Coruna (Spain), will not only reflect recent developments and the rich potential of physical organic chemistry, but will also demonstrate the aspirations of younger generations of scientists in this field.Krzysztof WoźniakConference Editor

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Abstract. 1. The conference The third conference on "Nonlinear VAriability in Geophysics: scaling and multifractal processes" (NVAG 3) was held in Cargese, Corsica, Sept. 10-17, 1993. NVAG3 was joint American Geophysical Union Chapman and European Geophysical Society Richardson Memorial conference, the first specialist conference jointly sponsored by the two organizations. It followed NVAG1 (Montreal, Aug. 1986), NVAG2 (Paris, June 1988; Schertzer and Lovejoy, 1991), five consecutive annual sessions at EGS general assemblies and two consecutive spring AGU meeting sessions. As with the other conferences and workshops mentioned above, the aim was to develop confrontation between theories and experiments on scaling/multifractal behaviour of geophysical fields. Subjects covered included climate, clouds, earthquakes, atmospheric and ocean dynamics, tectonics, precipitation, hydrology, the solar cycle and volcanoes. Areas of focus included new methods of data analysis (especially those used for the reliable estimation of multifractal and scaling exponents), as well as their application to rapidly growing data bases from in situ networks and remote sensing. The corresponding modelling, prediction and estimation techniques were also emphasized as were the current debates about stochastic and deterministic dynamics, fractal geometry and multifractals, self-organized criticality and multifractal fields, each of which was the subject of a specific general discussion. The conference started with a one day short course of multifractals featuring four lectures on a) Fundamentals of multifractals: dimension, codimensions, codimension formalism, b) Multifractal estimation techniques: (PDMS, DTM), c) Numerical simulations, Generalized Scale Invariance analysis, d) Advanced multifractals, singular statistics, phase transitions, self-organized criticality and Lie cascades (given by D. Schertzer and S. Lovejoy, detailed course notes were sent to participants shortly after the conference). This was followed by five days with 8 oral sessions and one poster session. Overall, there were 65 papers involving 74 authors. In general, the main topics covered are reflected in this special issue: geophysical turbulence, clouds and climate, hydrology and solid earth geophysics. In addition to AGU and EGS, the conference was supported by the International Science Foundation, the Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique, Meteo-France, the Department of Energy (US), the Commission of European Communities (DG XII), the Comite National Francais pour le Programme Hydrologique International, the Ministere de l'Enseignement Superieur et de la Recherche (France). We thank P. Hubert, Y. Kagan, Ph. Ladoy, A. Lazarev, S.S. Moiseev, R. Pierrehumbert, F. Schmitt and Y. Tessier, for help with the organization of the conference. However special thanks goes to A. Richter and the EGS office, B. Weaver and the AGU without whom this would have been impossible. We also thank the Institut d' Etudes Scientifiques de Cargese whose beautiful site was much appreciated, as well as the Bar des Amis whose ambiance stimulated so many discussions. 2. Tribute to L.F. Richardson With NVAG3, the European geophysical community paid tribute to Lewis Fry Richardson (1881-1953) on the 40th anniversary of his death. Richardson was one of the founding fathers of the idea of scaling and fractality, and his life reflects the European geophysical community and its history in many ways. Although many of Richardson's numerous, outstanding scientific contributions to geophysics have been recognized, perhaps his main contribution concerning the importance of scaling and cascades has still not received the attention it deserves. Richardson was the first not only to suggest numerical integration of the equations of motion of the atmosphere, but also to attempt to do so by hand, during the First World War. This work, as well as a presentation of a broad vision of future developments in the field, appeared in his famous, pioneering book "Weather prediction by numerical processes" (1922). As a consequence of his atmospheric studies, the nondimensional number associated with fluid convective stability has been called the "Richardson number". In addition, his book presents a study of the limitations of numerical integration of these equations, it was in this book that - through a celebrated poem - that the suggestion that turbulent cascades were the fundamental driving mechanism of the atmosphere was first made. In these cascades, large eddies break up into smaller eddies in a manner which involves no characteristic scales, all the way from the planetary scale down to the viscous scale. This led to the Richardson law of turbulent diffusion (1926) and tot he suggestion that particles trajectories might not be describable by smooth curves, but that such trajectories might instead require highly convoluted curves such as the Peano or Weierstrass (fractal) curves for their description. As a founder of the cascade and scaling theories of atmospheric dynamics, he more or less anticipated the Kolmogorov law (1941). He also used scaling ideas to invent the "Richardson dividers method" of successively increasing the resolution of fractal curves and tested out the method on geographical boundaries (as part of his wartime studies). In the latter work he anticipated recent efforts to study scale invariance in rivers and topography. His complex life typifies some of the hardships that the European scientific community has had to face. His educational career is unusual: he received a B.A. degree in physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology and zoology at Cambridge University, and he finally obtained his Ph.D. in mathematical psychology at the age of 47 from the University of London. As a conscientious objector he was compelled to quit the United Kingdom Meteorological Office in 1920 when the latter was militarized by integration into the Air Ministry. He subsequently became the head of a physics department and the principal of a college. In 1940, he retired to do research on war, which was published posthumously in book form (Richardson, 1963). This latter work is testimony to the trauma caused by the two World Wars and which led some scientists including Richardson to use their skills in rational attempts to eradicate the source of conflict. Unfortunately, this remains an open field of research. 3. The contributions in this special issue Perhaps the area of geophysics where scaling ideas have the longest history, and where they have made the largest impact in the last few years, is turbulence. The paper by Tsinober is an example where geometric fractal ideas are used to deduce corrections to standard dimensional analysis results for turbulence. Based on local spontaneous breaking of isotropy of turbulent flows, the fractal notion is used in order to deduce diffusion laws (anomalous with respect to the Richardson law). It is argued that his law is ubiquitous from the atmospheric boundary layer to the stratosphere. The asymptotic intermittency exponent i hypothesized to be not only finite but to be determined by the angular momentum flux. Schmitt et al., Chigirinskaya et al. and Lazarev et al. apply statistical multifractal notions to atmospheric turbulence. In the former, the formal analogy between multifractals and thermodynamics is exploited, in particular to confirm theoretical predictions that sample-size dependent multifractal phase transitions occur. While this quantitatively explains the behavior of the most extreme turbulent events, it suggests that - contrary to the type of multifractals most commonly discussed in the literature which are bounded - more violent (unbounded) multifractals are indeed present in the atmospheric wind field. Chigirinskaya et al. use a tropical rather than mid-latitude set to study the extreme fluctuations form yet another angle: That of coherent structures, which, in the multifractal framework, are identified with singularities of various orders. The existence of a critical order of singularity which distinguishes violent "self-organized critical structures" was theoretically predicted ten years ago; here it is directly estimated. The second of this two part series (Lazarev et al.) investigates yet another aspect of tropical atmospheric dynamics: the strong multiscaling anisotropy. Beyond the determination of universal multifractal indices and critical singularities in the vertical, this enables a comparison to be made with Chigirinskaya et al.'s horizontal results, requiring an extension of the unified scaling model of atmospheric dynamics. Other approaches to the problem of geophysical turbulence are followed in the papers by Pavlos et al., Vassiliadis et al., Voros et al. All of them share a common assumption that a very small number of degrees of freedom (deterministic chaos) might be sufficient for characterizing/modelling the systems under consideration. Pavlos et al. consider the magnetospheric response to solar wind, showing that scaling occurs both in real space (using spectra), and also in phase space; the latter being characterized by a correlation dimension. The paper by Vassiliadis et al. follows on directly by investigating the phase space properties of power-law filtered and rectified gaussian noise; the results further quantify how low phase space correlation dimensions can occur even with very large number of degrees of freedom (stochastic) processes. Voros et al. analyze time series of geomagnetic storms and magnetosphere pulsations, also estimating their correlation dimensions and Lyapounov exponents taking special care of the stability of the estimates. They discriminate low dimensional events from others, which are for instance attributed to incoherent waves. While clouds and climate were the subject of several talks at the conference (including several contributions on multifractal clouds), Cahalan's contribution is the only one in this special issue. Addressing the fundamental problem of the relationship of horizontal cloud heterogeneity and the related radiation fields, he first summarizes some recent numerical results showing that even for comparatively thin clouds that fractal heterogeneity will significantly reduce the albedo. The model used for the distribution of cloud liquid water is the monofractal "bounded cascade" model, whose properties are also outlined. The paper by Falkovich addresses another problem concerning the general circulation: the nonlinear interaction of waves. By assuming the existence of a peak (i.e. scale break) at the inertial oscillation frequency, it is argued that due to remarkable cancellations, the interactions between long inertio-gravity waves and Rossby waves are anomalously weak, producing a "wave condensate" of large amplitude so that wave breaking with front creation can occur. Kagan et al., Eneva and Hooge et al. consider fractal and multifractal behaviour in seismic events. Eneva estimates multifractal exponents of the density of micro-earthquakes induced by mining activity. The effects of sample limitations are discussed, especially in order to distinguish between genuine from spurious multifractal behaviour. With the help of an analysis of the CALNET catalogue, Hooge et al. points out, that the origin of the celebrated Gutenberg-Richter law could be related to a non-classical Self-Organized Criticality generated by a first order phase transition in a multifractal earthquake process. They also analyze multifractal seismic fields which are obtained by raising earthquake amplitudes to various powers and summing them on a grid. In contrast, Kagan, analyzing several earthquake catalogues discussed the various laws associated with earthquakes. Giving theoretical and empirical arguments, he proposes an additive (monofractal) model of earthquake stress, emphasizing the relevance of (asymmetric) stable Cauchy probability distributions to describe earthquake stress distributions. This would yield a linear model for self-organized critical earthquakes. References: Kolmogorov, A.N.: Local structure of turbulence in an incompressible liquid for very large Reynolds number, Proc. Acad. Sci. URSS Geochem. Sect., 30, 299-303, 1941. Perrin, J.: Les Atomes, NRF-Gallimard, Paris, 1913. Richardson, L.F.: Weather prediction by numerical process. Cambridge Univ. Press 1922 (republished by Dover, 1965). Richardson, L.F.: Atmospheric diffusion on a distance neighbour graph. Proc. Roy. of London A110, 709-737, 1923. Richardson, L.F.: The problem of contiguity: an appendix of deadly quarrels. General Systems Yearbook, 6, 139-187, 1963. Schertzer, D., Lovejoy, S.: Nonlinear Variability in Geophysics, Kluwer, 252 pp, 1991.

Abstract:

Consulta. O Prefeito Municipal de Valinhos, expõe-nos o que segue, anexando documentos ilustrativos e formula-nos, empós consulta sobre a matéria. In verbis: a) este Município, desde longo tempo, vinha tentando adquirir a Adutora de Rocinha, imóvel de propriedade da Municipalidade de Campinas e situado no vizinho território de Vinhedo; b) depois de ingentes esforços junto à Prefeitura Municipal de Campinas, logrou êxito esta Municipalidade, terminando por adquirir o referido imóvel em 18.02.1974; c) com essa aquisição, a população de Valinhos viu tornar-se palpável a realidade seu antigo sonho, já que a Administração vinha se afligindo com o problema da falta d’água, resolvido com a citada aquisição; d) ocorre que o Munícipio de Vinhedo, inconformado com a transação em pauta, declarou de utilidade pública, para ser desapropriada, em caráter de urgência, a área da antiga Adutora Municipal João Antunes dos Santos; e) entretanto, o ato expropriatório, Lei 682, de 1974, conforme cópia inclusa, sequer mencionou a finalidade de declaração, uma vez que a Adutora, imprescindível para o nosso Munícipio, pelo que representa em termos de abastecimento d’água à população, não o é em relação a Vinhedo, que se abastece das águas do Rio Capivari, ligando suas bombas uma vez por semana. Em face do exposto, formulamos a V. Exa. a seguinte consulta: “É lícito a Vinhedo desapropriar a Adutora Municipal João Antunes dos Santos, bem essencial à população de Valinhos, de cujos serviços de ordem pública não pode prescindir?” Parecer: O total deslinde do problema supõe o correto equacionamento de três questões que se interligam, no caso em foco, a saber: 1. Fundamentos do poder expropriatório; 2. Os bens públicos e sua função; 3. Relacionamento das pessoas jurídicas de Direito Público. Um breve exame destas diversas questões propiciará, em abordagem final, focar o problema proposto com auxílio do instrumento arrecadado por ocasião da análise de cada um dos tópicos mencionados. É o que faremos em um título derradeiro. I – Fundamentos do poder expropriatório. Desapropriação é o procedimento administrativo pelo qual o Poder Público, fundado em utilidade pública, despoja, compulsória e unilateralmente, alguém de uma propriedade, adquirindo-a, em caráter originário, mediante prévia e justa indenização. Fundamenta a desapropriação, do ponto de vista teórico. A supremacia geral que o Poder Público exerce sobre os bens sitos no âmbito de validade espacial de sua ordem jurídica. No Direito Positivo brasileiro, o instituto se calça, como é notório, no art. 153, § 22, da Carta Constitucional (Emenda 1, de 1969), o qual reza: “É assegurado o direito de propriedade, salvo o caso de desapropriação por necessidade ou utilidade pública ou interesse social, mediante prévia e justa indenização em dinheiro, ressalvado o disposto no art. 16...” E o art. 8º da Lei Magna estatui em seu inciso XVII, f, competir à União: legislar sobre desapropriação. O Decreto-lei n. 3.365, de 21.06.1941, e a Lei n. 4.132, de 10.09.1962, enunciam as hipóteses de utilidade pública e interesse social que abrem ensanchas ao desencadear do poder expropriatório. É perceptível a todas as luzes que a justificação do instituto reside na prevalência do interesse público, o qual, bem por isso – uma vez consubstanciadas as hipóteses de necessidade, utilidade pública ou interesse social –, se afirma sobranceiramente sobre interesses menores, via de regra, privados, que devem, então, ceder passo à primazia do primeiro. É por tal razão – e só por ela – que o instituto se marca precisamente pela compulsoriedade, tão marcante que nulifica a propriedade privada, à revelia do titular, convertendo seu conteúdo na equivalente expressão patrimonial que possua. Com efeito: a prerrogativa expropriatória, como quaisquer outras que assistam ao Poder Público, não lhe são deferidas pela ordem jurídica como homenagem a uma condição soberana, mas como instrumento, como meio ou veículo de satisfação de interesses, estes, sim, qualificados na ordenação normativa como merecedores de especial proteção. De resto, todos os privilégios que adotam o Poder Público não são por ele adquiridos quia nominor leo; muito pelo contrário: assistem-lhe como condição para eficaz realização de interesses que, transcendendo o restrito âmbito da esfera particular, afetam relevantemente a coletividade. É o fato de o Estado personificar o interesse público o que lhe agrega tratamento jurídico diferenciado. Em suma: no Estado de Direito, os Poderes Públicos se justificam e se explicam na medida em que se encontram a serviço de uma função, predispostos à realização de interesses erigidos pelo sistema em valores prevalentes. Eis, pois, como conclusão do indicado, que somente a supremacia de um interesse sobre outro, isto é, o desequilíbrio entre duas ordens de interesses pode autorizar a deflagração da desapropriação, posto que esta se inspira, justamente, na necessidade de fazer preponderar um interesse maior sobre um interesse menor. Não é condição jurídica do sujeito, em si mesmo considerando, mas no nível de interesses a seu cargo que se buscará o aval legitimador do exercício expropriatório. Por mais razoáveis, sensatas, lógicas ou afinadas com os lineamentos do Estado de Direito que sejam as ponderações ora expendidas, não se pretende que a validade das assertivas feitas repouse apenas nesta ordem de razões. Em verdade, propõe-se que elas se encontram nitidamente transfundidas no sistema jurídico-positivo brasileiro e desde o nível constitucional até o plano legal, posto que o art. 153, § 22, retromencionado, expressamente indica como pressuposto inafastável do instituto a necessidade utilidade pública e o interesse social. De igual modo, os já invocados Decreto-lei 3.365 e Lei 4.132 enunciam hipóteses de necessidade, utilidade pública e interesse social, os quais representam as condições para desapropriar. É bem evidente, dispensando maiores digressões, que o artigo constitucional e os textos legais contemplam interesses públicos e utilidades públicas prevalecentes sobre interesses de menor realce, uma vez que se trata de fixar os termos de solução no caso de entrechoques de interesses e de decidir quais deles cederão passo, quais deles serão preteridos, assim, convertidos em expressão patrimonial 0 para que a utilidade preponderante extraia do bem almejado o proveito público maior que nele se encarna. O que pretende realçar é que a própria noção de supremacia geral, deferida pelo sistema normativo às pessoas de Direito Público de capacidade política (União, Estados e Municípios), é autoridade derivada da ordenação jurídica e se esforça na qualificação dos interesses que a eles incumbe prover, de tal sorte que os poderes, os privilégios e as prerrogativas que desfrutam se constituem em um arsenal autoritário fruível, na medida em que instrumenta a finalidade protegida pelo Direito, isto é, a legitimação de seu uso depende do ajustamento aos interesses prestigiados no sistema. É o afinamento da atividade da pessoa aos valores infrassistemáticos do quando normativo que garante a legitimidade de sua expressão e não o reverso, ou seja: a legitimidade do exercício do poder – no Estado de Direito – não resulta meramente de quem o exerce, donde não ser a autoridade do sujeito que qualifica o interesse; pelo contrário: é a idoneidade jurídica do interesse que escora e valida o comportamento da autoridade a que o ordenamento atribuiu o dever-poder de curá-lo. Sendo assim, ao se examinar o instituto da expropriação, cumpre ter presente que os poderes da alçada do expropriante emergem na medida em que estejam a serviço do interesse em vista do qual tais poderes lhe foram irrogados. Neste passo, calham à fiveleta as ponderações de Arturo Lentini: “...la causa di pubblica utilità è la vera energia che mete in moto il fato dell’espropriazione per mezzo del soggetto espropriante. Questa è la raggione per cui la causa de pubblica utilità deve considerarsi come inesistente, qualora per determinarla si sai guardato sotanto ala qualità del soggeto espropriante.” (Le Espropriazioni per Causa di Pubblica Utilità. Milão: Società Editrice Libraria, 1936. p. 54.) Ora, como o instituto expropriatório é figura jurídica destinada a assegurar a compulsória superação de interesses menores por interesses mais amplos, mais relevantes (e que, bem por isso, devem prevalecer), a ablação do direito de propriedade de alguém em proveito do expropriante depende fundamentalmente da supremacia do interesse, isto é, da supremacia da necessidade e da utilidade proclamados sobre interesse que a ordem jurídica haja categorizado em grau subalterno, por escaloná-lo em nível secundário em relação ao outro que pode se impor. Estas considerações óbvias e que parecem por isso mesmo despiciendas quando se tem em mira as hipóteses comuns de desapropriação, nas quais a necessidade ou a utilidade pública se contrapõe ao interesse particular, revelam-se, contudo, fundamentais em matéria de desapropriação de bens públicos. A limpidez cristalina deles e o amparo teórico que as abona em nada se minimizam, mas a excepcionalidade da hipótese pode surtir o risco de lhes embaçar a clareza e lhes enevoar a percepção se não forem, liminarmente, postas em evidência, ao se rememorar os fundamentos do instituto. Pode-se afirmar, pois, como conclusão deste tópico que: “A desapropriação supõe a invocação de interesses e uma pessoa pública (necessidade, utilidade pública ou interesse social) superior ao de outra pessoa, cujos interesses sejam qualificados pela ordem jurídica como de menor relevância ou abrangência e, por isso mesmo, sobrepujáveis pelo expropriante.” II – Bens públicos e sua função. Nem todos os bens pertencentes ao Poder Público acham-se direta e imediatamente afetados à realização de um interesse público, isto é, determinados bens encontram-se prepostos à realização de uma necessidade ou utilidade pública, servindo-a por si mesmos; outros estão afetados a ela de modo instrumental, de maneira que a Administração serve-se deles como um meio ambiente físico, no qual desenvolve atividade pública, ou seja: correspondem a um local onde o serviço desenvolvido não tem correlação indissociável com a natureza do bem, posto que este nada mais representa senão a base especial em que se instala a Administração. Finalmente, outros bens, ainda, embora sejam de propriedade pública, não estão afetados ao desempenho de um serviço ou atividade administrativa. Em virtude da diversa função dos bens em relação à utilidade pública, há variadas classificações deles, inexistindo uniformidade na doutrina e no Direito Positivo dos vários países, quer quanto à categorização das espécies tipológicas que comportam quer no que respeita à inclusão de determinados bens em uma ou outra das diferentes espécies previstas nos esquemas de classificação. O Direito Positivo brasileiro dividiu-os em três tipos, catalogados no art. 66 do CC (LGL\2002\400), a saber: “I – os de uso comum do povo, tais como mares, rios, estradas, ruas e praças; II – os de uso especial, tais como os edifícios ou terrenos aplicados a serviço ou estabelecimento federal, estadual ou municipal; III – os dominicais, isto é, os que constituem o patrimônio da União, dos Estados ou dos Municípios como objeto de direito pessoal ou real de casa uma dessas entidades.” A quaisquer deles, foi outorgada a especial proteção da impenhorabilidade prevista no art. 117 da Carta Constitucional, a inalienabilidade (ou alienabilidade, nos termos que a lei dispuser) contemplada no art. 67 do CC (LGL\2002\400) e a imprescritibilidade, que resulta de serem havidos como res extra commercium, por força do art. 69 do mesmo diploma, além de outros textos especiais que dissiparam dúvidas sobre a imprescritibilidade dos bens dominicais. Certamente existe – partindo-se dos bens dominicais para os de uso comum, tomados como pontos extremos – uma progressiva, crescente, identificação com o interesse público. Os dominicais apenas muito indiretamente beneficiam ou podem beneficiar a utilidade pública; os de uso especial já se apresentam como instrumento para sua efetivação; e os de uso comum se identificam com a própria utilidade por meio deles expressada. Demais disso, como já observaram doutores da maior suposição, se já bens acomodáveis com inquestionável propriedade em uma ou outra categoria, outros existem que parecem tangenciar a fronteira de mais de uma espécie, não se podendo afirmar, de plano, em qual dos lados da fronteira se encontra. Isto se deve ao fato de que sua adscrição ao interesse público é especialmente vinculada, no que parecerem se encontrar no limiar de transposição da categoria dos bens de uso especial para a classe dos de uso comum, tendendo a se agregar a esta, em que é mais sensível o comprometimento do bem com o interesse público. Daí a ponderação do insigne Cirne Lima: “Entre essas duas classes de bens – o autor refere-se aos de uso comum e de uso especial – existem, no entanto, tipos intermediários; forma o conjunto uma gradação quase insensível de tons e matizes. Assim, entre as estradas e as construções ocupadas pelas repartições públicas, figuram as fortalezas que, a rigor, pode dizer-se, participam dos caracteres de umas e outras: são o serviço de defesa nacional, porque são concretização desta em seu setor de ação, e, ao mesmo tempo, estão meramente aplicadas a esse serviço, porque o público não se utiliza deles diretamente.” (Princípios de Direito Administrativo. 4. ed. Porto Alegre: Sulina, 1964. p. 78.) A profunda identificação de certos bens com a satisfação de necessidades públicas levou o eminente Otto Mayer a incluir certas edificações e construções na categoria de bens do domínio público, submetidos, na Alemanha, ao regime de Direito Público em oposição aos demais bens estatais regidos pelo Direito Privado. Por isso, incluiu nesta classe outros bens não arroláveis entre os exemplos mais típicos de coisas públicas. Então, depois de observar que as “estradas, praças, pontes, rios, canais de navegação, portos e a beira-mar constituem os exemplos principais de coisas subordinadas ao Direito Público”, aditou-lhes outras, algumas das quais até mesmo excludentes do uso comum. São suas as seguintes considerações: “Mais il y a des choses publiques donc la particularité consiste dans une exclusion rigoureuse du public. Ce sont les fortifications. Elles représentent donc un troisième groupe. Elles ont le caractère distinctif de représenter directement par elles-mêmes l’ utilité publique. Cette utilité consiste ici dans la défense du territoire nationale.” (Le Droit Administratif Allemand. Paris: V Giard et E. Brière, 1905. t. 3, p. 124.) Finalmente, o autor citado arrola, ainda, entre as coisas de domínio público: “...les grandes digues destinés a contenir les eaux des fleuves ou de la mer; elles participent, en quelque manière, à la nature des fortifications. Nous citerons encore les égouts publics; quad ils font corps avec les rues, ils sont compris dans la dominialitè de ces dernières; mais ils devront être considérés comme choses publiques em eux-mêmes quand ils se separent des rues et suivent leur cours distinctement.” (Op. cit., p. 125-126.) Em suma, o que o autor pretendia demonstrar é que nem sempre o uso comum de todos, ocorrente sobretudo no caso das coisas naturalmente predispostas a tal destinação, revela-se traço bastante discriminar o conjunto de bens mais intimamente vinculado às necessidades públicas e, por isso mesmo, merecedor de um tratamento jurídico peculiar, em nome do resguardo dos interesses coletivos. Compreende-se, então, sua crítica a Wappaus e Ihering, expressada em nota de rodapé, onde afirma: “comme la qualité de chose publique ne peut pas être conteste aux fortifications, ceux de nos auteurs qui maintiennent l’usage de tous comme condition indispensable de l’existence d’ une chose publique se voient obligés de faire des èfforts pour sauver, em ce qui concerne les fortifications toutes au moins, quelques apparences d’un usage de tous. Ainsi Ihering, dans ‘Verm. Schriften’, p. 152, fait allusion à une destination de ce genre em les appelants ‘établissem*nts protecteurs qui profitent non pas à l’État, mais aux individus’. Cela tout d’abord, n’est pas exact; et même si c’était vrai, cela ne donnera pas encore un usage de tous” (Op. cit., p. 125, nota 31.). Efetivamente, também no Direito brasileiro, há certos bens que, tendo em vista a sistematização do Código Civil (LGL\2002\400), se alojariam muito imprópria e desacomodadamente entre os bens de uso especial porque, em rigor, não são apenas edifícios ou terrenos aplicados a um serviço ou estabelecimento em que se desenvolvem atividades públicas. Deveras, há uma profunda e perceptível diferença entre um prédio onde funciona uma repartição burocrática qualquer, ou ainda uma escola, um hospital, uma delegacia de polícia e o complexo de coisas que constituem uma usina geradora de energia elétrica, ou uma estação transformadora de energia elétrica, ou uma estação transformadora de energia, ou de tratamento de água, ou uma rede de esgotos, ou o conjunto de captação de água e adutoras. Estes últimos não são apenas sedes, locais de prestação de serviço, porém, muito mais que isto, são bens funcionalmente integrados no próprio serviço, o qual consiste precisamente naquele complexo que o identifica e que proporciona a utilidade pública. Os agentes públicos atuam como operadores ou manipuladores de tais bens. O serviço proporcionado a todos é menos um produto do desempenho pessoal dos funcionários do que uma resultante da utilização inerente ao próprio bem, isto é, os bens em questão fornecem, em razão de seu próprio modo de ser, uma utilidade pública possuída em si mesma, uma vez realizada a obra em que se consubstanciam. Via de regra, são justamente bens que satisfazem não apenas uma utilidade, mas uma autêntica necessidade coletiva. Em nosso Direito, contudo, quer se classifiquem como de uso especial quer se categorizem como de uso comum de todos – na medida em que sua destinação é a utilidade coletiva, fruída por todos –, estão de qualquer modo protegidos pela inalienabilidade, impenhorabilidade e imprescritibilidade. O que se deseja ressaltar, entretanto, é que agora estes efeitos protetores dos bens públicos em geral – inclusive dominicais – outros poderão eventualmente ter suscitados e, em tal caso, dever-se-á atentar para o grau de interligação que o bem possua com a necessidade e a utilidade pública. Com efeito: o só fato do Código Civil (LGL\2002\400) ter procedido a uma classificação dos bens públicos, categorizados em uma escala descrente de interligação com a utilidade pública, obriga a reconhecer que existe em nosso sistema uma ponderação do valor com a utilidade pública, obriga a reconhecer que existe em nosso sistema uma ponderação do valor público deles e, consequentemente, que o grau de proteção que lhes deve assistir juridicamente está na relação direta do comprometimento de tais bens com a satisfação de necessidades públicas, isto é: se há um regime próprio para os bens públicos, a razão de tal fato procede de neles se encarnar um interesse agraciado com um tratamento peculiar. A defesa de tais bens assume maior relevância em função do grau em que coparticipam do interesse em questão, donde assistir-lhes uma proteção jurídica correspondente; portanto, tanto mais acentuada quanto maior for a adscrição deles à satisfação de necessidades públicas. Isto posto, cabe indicar como conclusão deste tópico: “Nas relações controvertidas incidentes sobre bens públicos, se as partes conflitantes perseguem interesses jurídicos do mesmo nível, prepondera a proteção incidente sobre o bem público, quando o grau de adscrição dele à satisfação de um interesse coletivo atual se sedia nas escalas em que é mais elevado seu comprometimento com a realização imediata de uma necessidade pública.” III – Relacionamento das pessoas públicas de capacidade política. Ao prever tríplice ordem de pessoas jurídicas de capacidade política – União, Estados e Municípios –, o sistema constitucional brasileiro previu, como é natural, uma discriminação de competências, expressada fundamentalmente nos arts. 8º, 13 e 15. Cada qual deve, em convívio harmônico – condição de sua coexistência e, portanto, de atendimento ao modelo constitucionalmente previsto –, prosseguir os objetivos de sua alçada sem penetração, interferência ou sacrifício dos interesses atinentes a outra pessoa de capacidade política. Com efeito: a realização dos objetivos globais resulta da satisfação e do entrosamento dos objetivos parciais de cada qual, circunstância esta que decorre diretamente da própria distribuição de competências. É bem de ver que correspondendo-lhes interesses de diversa amplitude, posto que os dos Municípios são de menor abrangência e os da União os de abrangência maior situando-se os estaduais em escala intermediária, podem ocorrer não apenas zonas tangenciais, mas, inclusive, de fricção e até mesmo de eventual confrontação de interesses. Em casos que tais, a regra a ser extraída do conjunto do sistema, por força, haverá de ser o da prevalência dos interesses de abrangência mais compreensiva, efetivada, contudo, na estrita medida em que a preponderância afirmada seja condição insuprimível da realização das competências prevalentes, previstas no sistema, isto é, sua preponderância só pode ser admitida quando se trate de implementar função que haja sido deferida constitucionalmente. Em rigor, nas hipóteses deste gênero, não há contração da esfera de competência da pessoa responsável por interesses públicos de menor amplitude. O que ocorre é que a própria esfera de competência desta, a priori, tem seu âmbito definido até os limites da compatibilização com os interesses de abrangência maior. O entrechoque ocorrido não é um conflito de interesses juridicamente equivalentes confrontados com igual ponderação no sistema. Um dos interesses – aquele que cede – verga-se precisamente por não mais se poder considerá-lo confinado ao âmbito de expressão própria e impetrável que lhe é pertinente. No entanto, cumpre atentar para o fato de que dita preponderância só é legítima enquanto adstrita aos limites do indispensável, isto é, de maneira a causar o menor ônus possível ao interesse que é subjugado. Toda demasia corresponde a um ultrapassar de fronteiras e, por isso mesmo, a um extravasamento da própria competência em detrimento de competência alheia. Em face do exposto, pretende-se que, do ponto de vista da lógica da ordenação jurídica, inexistem conflitos reais de direitos. Este são logicamente impossíveis. Podem ocorrer, isto sim, conflitos de interesses resolvidos sempre pelo declínio daquele que não estiver esforçado em proteção jurídica vigorante na hipótese conflitiva. Assim como o Direito é um todo harmônico, a harmonia das pessoas jurídicas de capacidade política é um princípio cardeal de nosso sistema constitucional. Tendo-se em conta que todas elas são, por força da Lei Maior, titulares de interesses públicos, seu equilibrado entrosamento e pacífico convívio é valor preservável por todos os títulos e condição insuprimível da realização do interesse público globalmente considerado. Os legisladores da Carta Magna brasileira, tal como vem sucedendo ao longo de nossa tradição jurídica, estiveram atentos para a reiteração deste princípio. Assim, o art. 9º do texto constitucional expressamente consagra um princípio de recíproco respeito e coexistência harmônica ao dispor: “À União, Estados e Municípios é verdade: I – criar distinções entre brasileiros ou preferências em favor de uma dessas pessoas de Direito Público interno contra outra;...” O art. 19 veda à União, aos Estados e aos Municípios, no inciso II, a: “instituir imposto sobre o patrimônio, a renda ou os serviços uns dos outros.” O art. 20 estabelece: “É vedado: I – à União instituir tributo que não seja uniforme em todo o território nacional ou implique distinção ou preferência em relação a qualquer Estado ou Município em prejuízo de outro; [...]; III – aos Estados, ao Distrito Federal e aos Municípios estabelecer diferença tributária entre bens de qualquer natureza, em razão de sua procedência ou destino.” Os dispositivos indicados ressaltam o propósito constitucional de prevenir conflito entre as pessoas de capacidade política e assegurar em suas recíprocas relações um convívio harmonioso e equilibrado. Mesmo à falta dos artigos em questão, é óbvio que o princípio da harmonia entre elas teria por força que ser considerado uma inerência do ordenamento constitucional, na medida em que todas são partes de um sistema e previstas na Lei Maior como segmentos de um conjunto total. O pacífico convívio recíproco é uma exigência racional para compatibilização de suas funções e conjugação de suas atividades parciais na unidade do Estado federal brasileiro. Contudo, os dispositivos invocados realçam e explicitam a consagração deste equilíbrio nas matérias versadas, sem prejuízo da aplicabilidade ampla e irrestrita do princípio em causa. Importa assinalar que, nos respectivos níveis, isto é, Estados perante Estados e Municípios reciprocamente considerados, estão juridicamente colocados em equilíbrio perfeito, em igualdade completa. Há, por força de todo o considerado, um integral nivelamento jurídico entre eles. De conseguinte, as prerrogativas públicas que lhes assistem em relação aos administrados não podem, em princípio, ser reciprocamente opostas, dado o absoluto em que o Direito os coloca. Para que proceda tal invocação, cumpre que o interesse afetado pela pretensão não se relacione diretamente com a atividade pública da pessoa contra a qual é invocada. Se assim não fora, ter-se-ia que admitir, ilogicamente, que um interesse público – como tal consagrado no sistema normativo – poderia ser perturbado ou sacrificado desde que o autor do dano ao valor prestigiado fosse outra pessoa pública de capacidade política. Tal conclusão sobre ser transparentemente sem sentido e desapoiada por qualquer regra de Direito implicaria, ainda, a implícita proclamação de efeitos ablatórios de dois princípios já encarecidos: o da convivência harmônica dos interesses públicos das diversas pessoas políticas, resultante da discriminação constitucional de competências, e a do equilíbrio dos interesses das pessoas públicas do mesmo nível (Estados perante Estado e Municípios perante Municípios). Em face dos enunciados anteriores, resulta como conclusão deste tópico: “Por inexistir desequilíbrio jurídico entre as pessoas políticas do mesmo nível constitucional uma não pode opor à outra suas prerrogativas de autoridade se tal proceder acarretar interferência em interesse público a cargo daquela contra a qual se pretenda invocar um poder de supremacia.” IV – Ao lume das considerações e conclusões dos tópicos anteriores, versemos, agora, o caso concreto sub consulta, conjugando os pontos já afirmados em exame teórico mais amplo com os dispositivos proximamente ligados ao tema, isto é, os previstos no Decreto-lei 3.365, de 21.06.3941, que mais diretamente estejam relacionados com o problema em causa. O art. 2º do referido diploma estatui: “Mediante declaração de utilidade pública, todos os bens poderão ser desapropriados, pela União, pelos Estado, Municípios, Distrito Federal e Territórios.” Já o § 2º do mesmo artigo cogita especificamente da desapropriação de bens públicos, ao estabelecer: “Os bens do domínio dos Estados, Municípios, Distrito Federal e Territórios poderão ser desapropriados pela União, e os dos Municípios pelos Estados, mas, em qualquer caso, ao ato deverá preceder autorização legislativa.” Como se vê, foi estabelecida uma gradação no exercício do poder expropriatório, donde se haverá de deduzir que, implicitamente, é vedado o exercício de poder expropriatório em sentido inverso ao previsto. Para solver a dúvida, hipoteticamente, são concebíveis, desde logo, duas soluções extremas e opostas, isto é, uma que admitisse irrestritamente o exercício de desapropriação, em casos que tais, e outra que o rejeitasse radicalmente. Em abono da primeira, poder-se-ia carrear a seguinte argumentação: Dispondo o art. 2º da lei expropriatória, em seu caput, que todos os bens são suscetíveis de desapropriação, ressalvado o óbice decorrente do § 2º do artigo – o qual obsta desapropriação em sentido contrário ao escalonamento previsto –, estaria genericamente franqueado às entidades públicas ali relacionadas o exercício do poder expropriatório. Em face disto, Estados poderiam desapropriar bens estaduais e Municípios bens municipais, sendo conatural a eles o exercício de todos os poderes dentro de seus territórios. A segunda interpretação, oposta à anterior, estribar-se-ia- em que o art. 2º, caput, enunciou a regra relativa aos bens em geral, havendo, contudo, regra específica no concernente aos bens públicos: exatamente a do § 2º do mesmo dispositivo. Donde, fora das hipóteses neste previstas, nenhuma desapropriação de bem público seria tolerável, isto é, havendo o citado § 2º do art. 2º indicado quem poderia desapropriar o que em matéria de bens públicos, não existiria arrimo jurídico para exercê-la além dos casos contemplados, donde constituir-se em infringência a ela o exercício da desapropriação à margem de sua enunciação. E, ainda mais: a primeira interpretação levaria a admitir posições definitivamente inconciliáveis com a própria racionalidade do sistema jurídico. Isto porque presumiria a existência de uma supremacia entre pessoas do mesmo nível constitucional quando, em rigor, faltaria qualquer calço para o exercício de poderes de autoridade de umas sobre outras, dado o nivelamento jurídico de ambos. Sobre mais – o que é especialmente grave –, dita interpretação desconheceria o princípio do entrosamento harmônico das pessoas em causa, estabelecendo conflitos entre elas, o que, justamente, é indesejado pelo próprio sistema constitucional, atento em prevenir desentendimentos e preordenado a fixar nivelamento e harmonia entre elas. Finalmente, incidiria no equívoco de desconhecer que conflitos desta ordem, só por si, deslocam o âmbito de interesses contrapostos; isto é, estes deixariam de ser problemas estritamente municipais ou estaduais para se converterem em problemas intermunicipais ou interestaduais, donde serem solúveis, apenas, em nível supra municipal e supra estadual, ou seja: por se haver transcendido o âmbito restrito de interesses de cada pessoa, na medida em que é gerado contraste de interesse de duas pessoas públicas diversas, coloca-se ipso facto em jogo problema que desborda os interesses puramente interiores de cada área. Diante disto, só Estados, onde se compõem e integram os interesses intermunicipais, e União, onde se integram interesses interestaduais, poderiam promover-lhes a integração, solvendo o contraste de interesses. Em suma, a primeira linha interpretativa incorreria nos seguintes equívocos: a) atribuir ao caput do art. 2º uma abrangência e significação totalmente estranha a seus propósitos, dado que sem objetivo manifesto teria sido o de indicar a possibilidade de expropriar bens móveis, imóveis, fungíveis, infungíveis e direitos, isto é, teria se preordenado a fixar a amplitude dos objetos expropriáveis pelas pessoas referidas. A distinção entre bens públicos e bens particulares não estaria em causa, por se tratar de discrímen estabelecido em função de seus proprietários e não do próprio objeto – este sim cogitado na cabeça do dispositivo; b) ignorar que o tratamento da expropriabilidade dos bens públicos foi objeto de regra específica (a do § 2º), donde ser inassimilável sua situação à dos demais bens cogitados no caput do artigo. Daí a impossibilidade de ser exercida fora da enunciação ali prevista; c) presumir a existência da possibilidade do exercício de poderes de supremacia por uma pessoa pública sobre outra do mesmo nível constitucional, para o que inexistiria qualquer base jurídica, havendo, pelo contrário, princípio constitucional em sentido oposto; d) adotar critério interpretativo afrontoso ao princípio constitucional da harmonia das pessoas políticas, por propugnar solução que levaria à confrontação jurídica direta destas pessoas; e) desconhecer que o contraste de interesses entre Municípios é problema intermunicipal – e, por conseguinte, a ser solúvel em nível estadual – e que a oposição de interesses entre Estados é problema supra estadual e, por isso, resolúvel em nível federal, ou seja: só Estados e União, respectivamente, poderiam declarar a utilidade pública de tais bens quando conflitantes os interesses de pessoas que lhes sejam inferiores. Certamente, a primeira solução proposta defronta obstáculos jurídicos insuperáveis, pois os argumentos que lhe são opostos evidenciam a inadmissibilidade de um irrestrito poder expropriatório de Estados sobre bens de outro Estado e de Municípios sobre bens de outros Municípios, sitos nos territórios dos eventuais expropriantes. Com efeito, incorre em críticas irrespondíveis que infirmam sua frágil sustentação. Trata-se de solução simplista, baseada em interpretação literal até certo ponto ingênua e que, sem dúvida, afronta princípios constitucionais por ignorá-los, fazendo tabula rasa de sua existência e irrefragável supremacia, esquecida de que todo labor interpretativo deve ser comandado pela acomodação a normas superiores. A segunda solução, conquanto bem mais e com esteios fincados no Direito Constitucional – matriz do instituto da desapropriação – peca pelo radicalismo, indo mais além do que o necessário para preservar os valores que encontra insculpidos na ordenação constitucional, ao negar radicalmente qualquer possibilidade expropriatória nas hipóteses sub examine. A procedência de seus argumentos descansa em um pressuposto subjacente, dado como implícito em todos os casos, a saber: que os interesses suscetíveis de serem afetados pela eventual atividade expropriatória sejam sempre ligados diretamente à satisfação de uma necessidade pública da pessoa contra a qual se levantasse a espada da desapropriação, isto é, supõe que, em qualquer hipótese, a ameaça se propõe contra um interesse público pertinente ao eventual sujeito passivo. Entendemos que a correta resolução do problema só pode ser alcançada a partir das conclusões enunciadas ao cabo do exame dos tópicos anteriores. Ditas conclusões são, a nosso ver, as premissas, para o adequado equacionamento da questão. A partir delas, poder-se-á existir a conclusão final, o deslinde do problema em foco. Recordemo-las: “A desapropriação supõe a invocação de interesse uma pessoa pública (necessidade, utilidade pública ou interesse social) superior ao de outra pessoa, cujos interesses sejam qualificados pela ordem jurídica como de menor relevância ou abrangência e por isso mesmo sobrepujáveis pelo expropriante.” “Nas relações contravertidas, incidentes sobre bens públicos, quando as partes conflitantes perseguem interesses jurídicos do mesmo nível, prepondera a proteção incidente sobre o bem público sempre que o grau de adscrição dele à satisfação de um interesse coletivo atual se sedia nas escalas em que é mais elevado seu comprometimento com a realização imediata de uma necessidade pública.” “Por inexistir desequilíbrio jurídico entre as pessoas políticas do mesmo nível constitucional, uma não pode opor a outra suas prerrogativas de autoridade se tal proceder acarretar interferência em interesse público a cargo daquela contra a qual se pretenda invocar um poder de supremacia.” As conclusões em apreço foram devidamente justificadas nos tópicos anteriores. Façamos, pois, sua aplicação ao problema da desapropriação recíproca de bens, entre Estados e entre Municípios. Efetivamente, é intolerável o exercício da desapropriação de bem estadual por outro Estado ou bem Municipal por outro Município quando os interesses postos em entrechoque são ambos interesses públicos. Em razão do equilíbrio jurídico deles, o pretendido expropriante não tem em seu favor a maior abrangência ou relevância de interesse que o torne sobrepujante, para servir-lhe de causa do ato expropriatório. Como o instituto da desapropriação se calça precisamente na desigualdade dos interesses confrontados, à falta dela, falece o próprio suporte do instituto. Ora, se a satisfação de necessidades públicas de um Município (ou de um Estado) é juridicamente tão valiosa quanto a satisfação de necessidades públicas de outro Município (ou de outro Estado), nenhum pode invocar em seu favor utilidade ou necessidade com força preponderante, suscetível de sobrepujar coativamente, por via expropriatória, o interesse de outro. Reversamente, se o bem atingido não estiver preposto à satisfação de uma necessidade pública, por força não se põe em causa o nivelamento de interesses, pois, em tal hipótese, ocorrerá a confrontação de um interesse público primário com interesse meramente patrimonial de outra pessoa. Neste caso, não comparecerá o óbice mencionado, franqueando-se o exercício do poder expropriatório. Outrossim, se o bem público a ser atingido está adscrito à satisfação de uma necessidade pública atual, isto é, comprometido com a realização de um interesse relevante da coletividade, tal como sucede com os bens públicos prepostos aos níveis de mais intensa vinculação ao implemento de fins públicos – dentro do que sugere a classificação do Código Civil (LGL\2002\400) –, evidentemente a proteção que o resguardo haverá de prevalecer contra a pretensão expropriatória de pessoa que persegue interesses dos mesmo nível. Isto porque a proteção a tais bens significa, em última análise, conforme aliás se depreende da própria sistematização deles, proteção aos fins a que se destinam. O que a ordem jurídica consagra, por via do regime especial a que se submetem, é a rigorosa defesa dos interesses que por meio deles se viabilizam. Donde descaber elisão da disciplina que os ampara sempre que esta signifique comprometimento de mencionados interesses ou interferência neles. Prepondera o regime protetor se a contraposição de interesses se sedia no mesmo escalão jurídico. Diversamente, se a pretensão incide sobre bem público não afetado à satisfação direta de uma necessidade ou utilidade pública – como ocorre no caso extremo dos bens dominicais, possuídos à moda de qualquer prioritário, como simples patrimônio de uma pessoa pública –, não mais comparece razão para se obstar uma satisfação pública do eventual expropriante. Esta não teria por que paralisar-se em face de um interesse secundário (conforme terminologia de Carnelutti) de outra pessoa pública. Em tal caso, deixaria de existir o nivelamento jurídico de interesses, por causa do caráter meramente patrimonial ou puramente incidental da propriedade, por isso mesmo, conversível em outra sem dano ou prejuízo algum para os interesses específicos da pessoa pública atingida. Finalmente, é inadmissível, em face do equilíbrio e da harmonia das pessoas sediadas no mesmo nível constitucional, que uma invoque prerrogativa de autoridade, supremacia sobre outra, para afetar interesse da mesma qualidade, da mesma gradação de igual qualificação jurídica. Só há supremacia quando a esfera jurídica de alguém incorpore valores a que o Direito atribuiu qualificação prioritária. Em face disto, não há como irrogar-se o exercício de poder expropriatório em hipóteses deste jaez. Pelo contrário, se as pessoas se apresentam em plano desnivelado, isto é, uma, enquanto responsável pela condução de suas específicas finalidades públicas, e outra alheia à posição de realizadora de seus interesses próprios ou como titular de bem cujo sacrifício não envolve interferência naqueles interesses prioritários, desaparece o equilíbrio jurídico de ambas, liberando a força expropriatória de quem, então sim, contrapõe interesses prevalentes e, por isso mesmo, justificadores de uma supremacia. Efetivamente, o princípio da harmonia entre as pessoas do mesmo nível constitucional, o entrosamento pacífico delas, o equilíbrio de interesses recíprocos, estão ligados indissoluvelmente à posição destas pessoas no sistema. Existe, por certo. É inquestionavelmente correta sua afirmação. Cumpre, todavia, entendê-los em sua significação precisa. Justamente por estarem ligados à qualidade dos sujeitos, têm presença quando tais sujeitos se encontram se manifestando como tal, isto é, como titulares dos interesses públicos, portanto, na qualidade que lhes é própria. Daí que não se põe o problema de conflito indesejado, de desarmonia, de desnível, sempre que estas pessoas comparecem desligadas de sua missão natural. Em tais situações, por faltar o substrato dignificador de sua posição jurídica, desvanece a proteção jurídica peculiar que lhes é própria. Inversamente, sempre que estejam postos em causa interesses correspondentes à sua função, assiste-lhes o integral resguardo que o sistema constitucional e legal lhes defere. Por isso, só há, em rigor, problema interestadual ou intermunicipal conflitivo, quando interesses públicos de ambos se entrechoquem. Como indubitavelmente interesses desta natureza podem muitas vezes se projetar além do território de cada qual, ocorre que as soluções dos eventuais conflitos dependem da interferência das pessoas políticas em cujo âmbito se compõem os interesses respectivos das partes em oposição Firmados todos os pontos que nos parecem relevantes para a solução do caso sub consulta, seu deslinde apresenta-se simples e natural, como fruto espontâneo da aplicação dos princípios assinalados e critérios deles deduzidos. A Prefeitura Municipal de Vinhedo propõe-se a desapropriar um bem público municipal de Valinhos, antigamente denominado Adutora de Rocinha e atualmente nomeado Adutora João Antunes dos Santos, parcialmente situado no Município de Vinhedo. Trata-se de um complexo abrangente das instalações, dutos, edificações auxiliares e área circunjacente, compreensiva das matas protetoras dos mananciais contra contaminação, poluição e redução da vazão. Insere-se, pois, no sistema de captação e derivação de água para o Município de Valinhos, sistema este que, em seu conjunto, está parcialmente em outro, conforme a exposição que precede a consulta e os documentos a ela anexados. Pondo de parte outros vícios de que padece o ato em questão — e mais além referidos — a pretensão expropriatória ressente-se de defeito insanável. O Município de Vinhedo não pode desapropriar o bem em questão, visto se tratar de coisa pública imediatamente adscrita à satisfação de uma utilidade e até, mais que isso, de uma necessidade pública de Valinhos: o abastecimento de água. Corresponde a uma investida contra interesse público – e fundamental – de outro Município. A lei expropriatória não dá ao pretendido expropriante assistência para o exercício dos poderes que deseja deflagrar, visto que seu ato põe em xeque interesse público de outra entidade política do mesmo nível, sobre a qual, em consequência, não dispõe de supremacia, dado o equilíbrio jurídico dos interesses confrontados, circunstância que, de um lado, gera conflito intermunicipal, solúvel apenas no âmbito no âmbito estadual, e, de outro, conduz à violação do convívio harmônico e pacífico das pessoas políticas, requerido pelo sistema constitucional. Os óbices à desapropriação resultam tanto da ofensa aos princípios constitucionais preservadores da harmonia e da posição nivelada das pessoas políticas responsáveis por interesses da mesma gradação quanto da ausência de assentamento legal para o ato, vez que o Decreto-lei 3.365 faculta aos Municípios desapropriar bens sobre os quais possam manifestar supremacia. O silêncio do Decreto-lei 3.365 sobre desapropriação de bens municipais por outro Município (e bens estaduais por outro Estado) não pode ser interpretado como implícita autorização irrestrita, pretensamente deduzível do caput do art. 2º. Antes, deste só poderá decorrer a permissibilidade expropriatória — conatural ao exercício de supremacia no próprio território — nas situações parificáveis ou análogas àquelas em que tal poder se desencadeia contra os particulares; ou seja: quando se confrontam interesses de natureza diversa, de qualidade distinta. Nunca quando se opõem interesses juridicamente qualificados em posição isonômica no sistema normativo. Finalmente, o ato em questão tem visíveis ressaibos de uma guerra entre Municípios, de uma batalha inglória, desapoiada no interesse público, único que pode legitimamente desencadear ação governamental. Vicia-se, pois, ainda, por esta segunda invalidade, já que nos termos da exposição que precede a consulta o Município de Vinhedo se abastece de água em outra fonte, as águas do Rio Capivari, bombeadas apenas uma vez por semana, o que demonstra a desnecessidade de interferir com as vias de abastecimento de Valinhos, indispensáveis à população deste último Município. Eis, pois, que o ato em apreço, sobre não ter causa jurídica válida, ainda afronta, pela guerra que se propõe a fazer a um Município vizinho, o princípio constitucional que reclama imperativamente a convivência harmoniosa das pessoas políticas. Além dos mais, a ausência de menção, na declaração de utilidade pública, da finalidade da expropriação, sobre invalidá-la pela inexistência de um requisito essencial, reforça os indícios de que se trata de procedimento inquinado de desvio de poder, cujo propósito, mais do que dissimulado, foi inclusive omitido. Com efeito, já em outra oportunidade deixamos escrito: “Da declaração de utilidade pública devem constar: a) manifestação pública da vontade de submeter o bem à força expropriatória; b) fundamento legal em que se embasa o poder expropriante; c) destinação específica a ser dada ao bem; d) identificação do bem ser expropriado.” (Apontamentos sobre a desapropriação no Direito brasileiro. In: RDA 111/517-518) As exigências mencionadas, ausentes no ato da Municipalidade de Vinhedo, são indispensáveis, pois a desapropriação funda-se em hipóteses legais definidas pela legislação federal como configuradoras dos casos de utilidade pública ou interesse social. Fora delas, descabe o exercício do poder expropriatório. Logo, para que se saiba se há, ou não, arrimo jurídico para desencadeá-lo, é mister indicar o assento normativo do ato. Oliveira Franco Sobrinho, o ilustre catedrático de Direito Administrativo da Universidade Federal do Paraná, expende ao propósito considerações corretíssimas: “...a lei silencia sobre os termos da declaração de utilidade. Mas nada era preciso dizer, pois está subentendido que a qualificação do objeto se deve enquadrar nas espécies – casos apontados no art. 5º “...A própria lei que autoriza cada operação expropriatória deve não só obedecer aos padrões constitucionais, como à legislação pertinente à matéria. Assim, a lei que autorize o exercício da desapropriação deve obedecer à lei nacional reguladora do instituto “...Efetivamente, pelo seu fundamento político, jurídico, teórico e normativo, na declaração se devem conter os requisitos e as condições que a autorizam.” (Desapropriação. São Paulo: Saraiva, 1973. p. 231) Também Hely Lopes Meirelles registra que: “O ato expropriatório não contém qual norma; contém unicamente a individualização do bem a ser transferido para o domínio do expropriante e a indicação do motivo da desapropriação” (Direito Administrativo Brasileiro. 2. ed. São Paulo: RT, 1966. p. 499). Com efeito, como a desapropriação só se legitima quando arrimada nas hipóteses legais, a declaração, que é seu ato inicial indispensável, sequer adquire consistência jurídica se não enuncia em que hipótese se estriba. Esta é condição óbvia para se verificar quer a existência de um amparo normativo em tese quer um grau mínimo (isto é, de subsistência lógica, de admissibilidade racional) de legítimo interesse sobre o bem, que sirva de motivo idôneo para pretendê-lo. Caso se desprezassem tais requisitos, a lei federal não precisaria indicar quando seria cabível a desapropriação. Outrossim, se não se der aos casos enunciados na lei uma significação mínima, isto é, um conteúdo qualquer correlacionável com as realidades concretas em que se aplicam, a enunciação legal também não significaria coisa alguma, podendo servir como mero pretexto para o expropriante. Seria, rigorosamente falando, um cheque em branco utilizável ao sabor do expropriante liberado de qualquer compromisso com o interesse público. Por derradeiro, seja dito que a circunstância do ato da Municipalidade de Vinhedo provir de seu Legislativo não lhe confere qualificação peculiar que purgue seus vícios ou a exima de contraste judicial, pois, como anota o preclaro Seabra fa*gundes, a propósito da matéria: “Observe-se que, não obstante a intervenção do Poder Legislativo, a declaração é sempre um ato de natureza administrativa, por isso que se limita a definir uma situação individual. A intervenção do Legislativo não lhe dá o caráter de lei. Ele intervém aí no desempenho atribuição de conteúdo puramente administrativo” (Da Desapropriação no Direito Brasileiro. Rio de Janeiro: Freitas Bastos, 1942. p. 66.). No mesmo sentido, Hely Lopes Meirelles: “A lei que declara a utilidade pública de um bem não é normativa é essencialmente dispositiva e de caráter individual. É lei de efeito concreto equiparável ao ato administrativo, razão pela qual pode ser atacada e invalidada pelo Judiciário, desde a sua promulgação e independentemente de qualquer atividade de execução, porque ela já traz em si as consequências administrativas do decreto expropriatório.” ([sic] Op. cit., p. 499) Isto tudo posto e considerado – e ainda que prescindidos os vícios postremeiramente enumerados –, à consulta não hesitamos em responder: O Município de Vinhedo não pode desapropriar a Adutora Municipal João Rodrigues dos Santos, pena de ofensa às normas legais que regem o instituto e aos princípios constitucionais que informam a possibilidade do exercício de poder expropriatório. É o nosso parecer.

Abstract:

ObjectivesIn 2017, to reduce the proportion of men who have sex with men (MSM) in the undiagnosed HIV population in France (38%), HIV screening is advised each 3 months and STI screening is advised each year in multipartner MSM. Despite the range of testing solutions, over 40% of MSM were not tested for HIV and over 50% for STIs in the past year. Based on international experiments that offer screening solutions via online advertising, the French National Health Agency launched a programme (MemoDepistages) to provide a free self-sampling kit (SSK) for HIV and STIs. This article analyses the sociodemographic and behavioural characteristics of MSM in terms of kit acceptance and sample return.MethodsParticipants were registered for the programme online after ordering an SSK. The study included men aged over 18 years, living in one of the four selected French regions, and willing to disclose their postal and email address; they had health insurance, acknowledged more than one male partner in the past year, indicated a seronegative or unknown HIV status and were not taking medically prescribed pre-exposure prophylaxis drugs. Samples were collected by users and posted directly to the laboratory. Characteristics associated with kit acceptance and sample return were analysed using logistic regression.ResultsOverall, 7158 eligible MSM were offered to participate in the programme, with 3428 ordering the kit (47.9%) and 1948 returning their sample, leading to a return rate of 56.8% and an overall participation rate of 27.2%. Acceptance and return rates were strongly associated with sociodemographic characteristics, mainly education level but not with behavioural characteristics. Non-college graduates had lower acceptance (44.2%) and return rates (47.7%).ConclusionThe programme rapidly recruited a large number of MSM. It removed geographical inequalities related to screening access.

Abstract:

Sim, é verdade o Hospital CUF fez 75 anos no passado dia 10 de junho. Nesse dia, no ano de 1945, o Presidente da República General Carmona deslocou-se ao Hospital pelas 12 horas acompanhado pelo ministro da Marinha, o Almirante Américo Tomás, e outras altas individualidades para visitar aquilo que era um hospital inovador construído para os funcionários e trabalhadores da CUF, para os acidentes de trabalho e igualmente para os particulares. Presente estava o Senhor D. Manuel de Mello, Administrador Geral do grupo CUF, pois o Senhor Alfredo da Silva já havia falecido. O hospital dispunha de 20 médicos, 60 especialistas, 100 camas, 12 enfermarias e 24 quartos particulares. O seu corpo clínico era excelente e por lá passaram os melhores clínicos e professores da faculdade de medicina da época. Em 1948 nasce a Gazeta Médica Portuguesa, revista da qual fazem parte um Conselho Científico de excelência com nomes como Celestino da Costa, Almeida Lima, Carlos Larroudé, Carneiro de Moura, Diogo Furtado, Fernando da Fonseca, Jorge Horta, Pulido Valente, entre muitos outros e que constituíam a elite médica da altura. Esta revista, pela sua qualidade e periodicidade, esteve indexada, interrompendo a sua publicação em 1956. É esta revista que ressurgiu e renasceu, sendo hoje a revista da CUF e da José de Mello Saúde. Setenta e cinco anos depois, já no fim de uma longa carreira sempre a crescer e nos dias de hoje fazendo parte de uma rede de hospitais e clínicas – CUF sobre a égide da José de Mello Saúde, tivemos de enfrentar a COVID-19. Neste período conturbado que vivemos com a pandemia, a CUF disse “presente” e os Hospitais CUF Infante Santo e CUF Porto estiveram destinados a receber doentes COVID-19 ajudando o país no esforço de combater esta pandemia. Ambos os hospitais tiveram de se adaptar e sob o comando dos Programas de Prevenção e Controlo de Infeções e de Resistência a Antimicrobianos (PPCIRA) criar circuitos, dividir espaços, dividir elevadores, adaptar blocos operatórios, aconselhando equipamentos de proteção individual (EPIs) tudo fazendo para receber e tratar o melhor possível todos os doentes. Os hospitais ficaram diferentes, cheios de fitas adesivas vermelhas, amarelas e verdes indicando os percursos e caminhos seguros. Os Serviços de Observação (SOs), os Atendimentos Permanentes e o Internamento da Infante Santo tiveram um reforço no caso dos médicos das CUF Almada, Sintra e Cascais de forma a poderem ajudar as equipas submetidas a intenso trabalho, pressão e stress emocional. As Unidades de Cuidados Intensivos Polivalentes (UCIPs) receberam muitos doentes tratando-os e curando-os na sua grande maioria. Uniformizaram-se terapêuticas e métodos de atuação e são os resultados e as experiências únicas vividas ao longo destes 3 meses que estão relatadas neste número especial da Gazeta Médica dedicada à experiência COVID-19. Uma palavra especial para todos os médicos, enfermeiros, auxiliares, técnicos, pessoal da limpeza, administrativos que durante este período, todos os dias compareceram nos seus postos de trabalho dando o seu melhor e honrando a instituição. Eles são os nossos heróis e para eles vai um abraço e agradecimento muito especial.Não só para a CUF Infante Santo e CUF Porto, mas também para todas as CUFs, nos vários pontos do País que tiveram de reorganizar-se, tratar e orientar este tipo de doentes, bem como para todos os profissionais do Hospital de Vila Franca de Xira. Nada disto aconteceu por acaso, desde o primeiro dia foi criado um gabinete de crise ao mais alto nível e que reunindo diariamente, fins-de-semana incluídos, analisava, orientava e decidia as ações a tomar a todo o nível sempre com apoio da Direção Qualidade e Segurança (DQS) e das PPCIRAs. A organização esteve sempre presente e foi a única forma e foi a maneira de responder a este desafio. Por último, uma vez ultrapassada esta fase, entramos no período da retoma da atividade, voltarmos a fazer tudo aquilo para o qual estamos preparados e que tão bem fazemos... tratar doentes desde 1945 até aos dias de hoje com esperança de um futuro melhor, com novas equipas e 2 hospitais novos a surgirem, CUF Sintra e o tão desejado CUF Tejo. Esperando que este número da Gazeta honre e seja representativo do esforço que foi desenvolvido por todos os profissionais, um muito obrigada e bem hajam.

Abstract:

New Guinea impatiens (NGI), Impatiens hawkeri, has a $54-million wholesale market value in the United States (National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2019) and is highly resistant to Impatiens downy mildew (Plasmopara obducens) according to growers’ experience (Warfield, 2011). In March 2019, NGI cv. Petticoat White in a New York greenhouse showed wilting, black stem streaks and vascular discoloration, with a 20% disease incidence. Symptomatic tissue pieces were added to sterile water in a test tube and streaks made on potato dextrose agar (PDA). After incubation at 26oC for two days, the most abundant colony type (mucoid, pale yellow) was transferred to PDA. One representative colony was selected and labeled as isolate 67-19. A single colony of isolate 67-19 was transferred to lysogeny broth (LB) (Bertani, 1951) and cultured at 28oC. Genomic DNA was extracted and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) performed using the 16S rRNA gene universal primers fD2 and rP1 resulting in a partial 16S rRNA amplicon (Weisburg et al., 1991). Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLASTn) analysis (Altschul et al., 1990) showed 99% identity with sequences of species belonging to Dickeya. Different primer sets have been developed to detect and identify the genus Dickeya and its various species (Pritchard et al., 2013). The primer sets used for genus identification, dnaX (Sławiak et al., 2009), Df/Dr (Laurila et al., 2010) and ADE1/ADE2 (Nassar et al., 1996), resulted in 500-bp, 133-bp, and 420-bp amplicons, respectively. Results suggested the bacterium was a Dickeya sp. To determine whether the species could be D. dianthicola, the specific primer set DIA-A was used (Pritchard et al., 2013) and the expected product of 150-bp was obtained. BLASTn results showed that the partial dnaX sequence (GenBank accession MT895847) of isolate 67-19 had 99% identity with the sequence of D. dianthicola strain RNS04.9 isolated in 2004 from potato (Solanum tuberosum) in France (GenBank accession CP017638.1). Therefore, this isolate 67-19 was designated as D. dianthicola. The complete genome of D. dianthicola strain 67-19 was generated using Nanopore and Illumina sequencing (GenBank accession CP051429) (Liu et al., 2020). Average nucleotide identity (ANI) determined by FastANI (v1.1) (Jain et al., 2018) showed 97.43% identity between the genome of D. dianthicola strain 67-19 and that of D. dianthicola strain NCPPB 453 (GenBank accession GCA_000365305.1), isolated in 1957 from carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) in the UK. The pathogenicity of D. dianthicola strain 67-19 was shown on NGI cultivars Petticoat White and Tamarinda White. In July 2020, sterile toothpicks were used to make wounds and to transfer bacteria from a 48-hr PDA culture of D. dianthicola strain 67-19 to the stems of four plants of each cultivar. Four plants of each cultivar were mock inoculated similarly and all wound sites were wrapped with Parafilm before placing plants on a greenhouse bench. Ten days later, stems inoculated with D. dianthicola strain 67-19 showed necrotic lesions similar to the original symptoms, while control plants did not show symptoms. One month after inoculation, bacteria were re-isolated from all symptomatic stems. PCR was performed on the re-isolated bacteria as described. The dnaX sequence (GenBank accession MT895847) was confirmed to match that of D. dianthicola strain 67-19 (GenBank accession CP051429) 100% and fragments of the expected size were amplified (Liu et al., 2020). Stab inoculations of strain 67-19 into potato stems and tubers also resulted in blackleg and soft rot symptoms at the sites of inoculation, while mock-inoculated stem and tuber showed no symptoms. The sequence of the dnaX gene of the re-isolated bacterium from inoculated potatoes was confirmed to match that of D. dianthicola strain 67-19. To our knowledge, this is the first report of blackleg of New Guinea impatiens caused by D. dianthicola in the United States and worldwide. Since the disease caused by D. dianthicola poses a significant threat to the ornamentals and potato industries (Charkowski et al., 2020), further research on genome biology, epidemiology and management options is needed. LITERATURE CITED Altschul, S.F., Gish, W., Miller, W., Myers, E.W., and Lipman, D.J. 1990. Basic local alignment search tool. Journal of Molecular Biology 215:403-410. Bertani, G. 1951. Studies on lysogenesis. I. The mode of phage liberation by lysogenic Escherichia coli. Journal of Bacteriology 62:293-300. Charkowski, A., Sharma, K., Parker, M.L., Secor, G.A., and Elphinstone, J. 2020. Bacterial diseases of potato. Pages 351-388 in: The Potato Crop: Its Agricultural, Nutritional and Social Contribution to Humankind, H. Campos and O. Ortiz, eds. Springer International Publishing, Cham. Jain, C., Rodriguez-R, L.M., Phillippy, A.M., Konstantinidis, K.T., and Aluru, S. 2018. High throughput ANI analysis of 90K prokaryotic genomes reveals clear species boundaries. Nature Communications 9:5114. Laurila, J., Hannukkala, A., Nykyri, J., Pasanen, M., Hélias, V., Garlant, L., and Pirhonen, M. 2010. Symptoms and yield reduction caused by Dickeya spp. strains isolated from potato and river water in Finland. European Journal of Plant Pathology 126:249-262. Liu, Y., Helmann, T., Stodghill, P., and Filiatrault, M. 2020. Complete genome sequence resource for the necrotrophic plant-pathogenic bacterium Dickeya dianthicola 67-19 isolated from New Guinea Impatiens. Plant Disease. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-09-20-1968-A. Nassar, A., Darrasse, A., Lemattre, M., Kotoujansky, A., Dervin, C., Vedel, R., and Bertheau, Y. 1996. Characterization of Erwinia chrysanthemi by pectinolytic isozyme polymorphism and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of PCR-amplified fragments of pel genes. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 62:2228-2235. National Agricultural Statistics Service. 2019. Floriculture crops 2018 summary. ISSN: 1949-0917. https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/0p0966899/rr1728124/76537c134/floran19.pdf Pritchard, L., Humphris, S., Saddler, G.S., Parkinson, N.M., Bertrand, V., Elphinstone, J.G., and Toth, I.K. 2013. Detection of phytopathogens of the genus Dickeya using a PCR primer prediction pipeline for draft bacterial genome sequences. Plant Pathology 62:587-596. Sławiak, M., van Beckhoven, J.R.C.M., Speksnijder, A.G.C.L., Czajkowski, R., Grabe, G., and van der Wolf, J.M. 2009. Biochemical and genetical analysis reveal a new clade of biovar 3 Dickeya spp. strains isolated from potato in Europe. European Journal of Plant Pathology 125:245-261. Warfield, C.Y. (2011). Downy Mildew of Impatiens. In GrowerTalks. https://www.growertalks.com/Article/?articleid=18921 Weisburg, W.G., Barns, S.M., Pelletier, D.A., and Lane, D.J. 1991. 16S ribosomal DNA amplification for phylogenetic study. Journal of Bacteriology 173:697-703.

Abstract:

I called your producer on the way here in the car because I was very excited. I found out … I did one of those genetic testing things and I found out that I'm 63 percent Irish … I had no idea. I had no idea! I thought I was Scottish and Welsh. It turns out my parents are just full of sh*t, I guess. But now I’m Irish and it just makes so much sense! I'm a really good drinker. I love St. Patrick's Day. Potatoes are delicious. I'm looking forward to meeting all my cousins … [to Conan O’Brien] You and I are probably related! … Now I get to say things like, “It’s in me genes! I love that Conan O’Brien; he’s such a nice fella.” You’re kinda like a giant leprechaun. (Reese Witherspoon, Tuesday 21 March 2017)IntroductionAs an Irishman and a football fan, I watched the unfolding 2016 UEFA European Championship in France (hereafter ‘Euro 2016’) with a mixture of trepidation and delight. Although the Republic of Ireland team was eventually knocked out of the competition in defeat to the host nation, the players performed extremely well – most notably in defeating Italy 1:0. It is not the on-field performance of the Irish team that interests me in this short article, however, but rather how Irish fans travelling to the competition were depicted in the surrounding international news coverage. In particular, I focus on the centrality of fan footage – shot on smart phones and uploaded to YouTube (in most cases by fans themselves) – in this news coverage. In doing so, I reflect on how sports fans contribute to wider understandings of nationness in the global imagination and how their behaviour is often interpreted (as in the case here) through long-established tropes about people and places. The Media ManifoldTo “depict” something is to represent it in words and pictures. As the contemporary world is largely shaped by and dependent on mass media – and different forms of media have merged (or “converged”) through digital media platforms – mediated forms of depiction have become increasingly important in our lives. On one hand, the constant connectivity made possible in the digital age has made the representation of people and places less controllable, insofar as the information and knowledge about our world circulating through media devices are partly created by ordinary people. On the other hand, traditional broadcast media arguably remain the dominant narrators of people and places worldwide, and their stories, Gerbner reminds us, are largely formula-driven and dramatically charged, and work to “retribalize” modern society. However, a more important point, I suggest, is that so-called new and old media can no longer be thought of as separate and discrete; rather, our attention should focus on the complex interrelations made possible by deep mediatisation (Couldry and Hepp).As an example, consider that the Youtube video of Reese Witherspoon’s recent appearance on the Conan O’Brien chat show – from which the passage at the start of this article is taken – had already been viewed 54,669 times when I first viewed it, a mere 16 hours after it was originally posted. At that point, the televised interview had already been reported on in a variety of international digital news outlets, including rte.ie, independent.ie., nydailynews.com, msn.com, huffingtonpost.com, cote-ivoire.com – and myriad entertainment news sites. In other words, this short interview was consumed synchronously and asynchronously, over a number of different media platforms; it was viewed and reviewed, and critiqued and commented upon, and in turn found itself the subject of news commentary, which fed the ongoing cycle. And yet, it is important to also note that a multiplicity of media interactions does not automatically give rise to oppositional discourse and ideological contestation, as is sometimes assumed. In fact, how ostensibly ‘different’ kinds of media can work to produce a broadly shared construction of a people and place is particularly relevant here. Just as Reese Witherspoon’s interview on the Conan O’Brien show perpetuates a highly stereotypical version of Irishness across a number of platforms, news coverage of Irish fans at Euro 2016 largely conformed to established tropes about Irish people, but this was also fed – to some extent – by Irish fans themselves.Irish Identity, Sport, and the Global ImaginationThere is insufficient space here to describe in any detail the evolving representation of Irish identity, about which a vast literature has developed (nationally and internationally) over the past several decades. As with other varieties of nationness, Irishness has been constructed across a variety of cultural forms, including advertising, art, film, novels, travel brochures, plays and documentaries. Importantly, Irishness has also to a great extent been constructed outside of Ireland (Arrowsmith; Negra).As is well known, the Irish were historically constructed by their colonial masters as a small uncivilised race – as primitive wayward children, prone to “sentimentality, ineffectuality, nervous excitability and unworldliness” (Fanning 33). When pondering the “Celtic nature,” the renowned English poet and cultural critic Mathew Arnold concluded that “sentimental” was the best single term to use (100). This perception pervaded internationally, with early depictions of Irish-Americans in US cinema centring on varieties of negative excess, such as lawlessness, drunkenness and violence (Rains). Against this prevailing image of negative excess, the intellectuals and artists associated with what became known as the Celtic Revival began a conscious effort to “rebrand” Ireland from the nineteenth century onwards, reversing the negatives of the colonial project and celebrating Irish tradition, language and culture (Fanning).At first, only distinctly Irish sports associated with the amateur Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) were co-opted in this very particular nation-building project. Since then, however, sport more generally has acted as a site for the negotiation of a variety of overlapping Irish identities. Cronin, for example, describes how the GAA successfully repackaged itself in the 1990s to reflect the confidence of Celtic Tiger Irishness while also remaining rooted in the counties and parishes across Ireland. Studies of Irish football and rugby have similarly examined how these sports have functioned as representatives of changed or evolving Irish identities (Arrowsmith; Free). And yet, throughout Ireland’s changing economic fortunes – from boom to bust, to the gradual renewal of late – a touristic image of Irishness has remained hegemonic in the global imagination. In popular culture, and especially American popular culture, Ireland is often depicted as a kind of pre-industrial theme park – a place where the effects of modernity are felt less, or are erased altogether (Negra). The Irish are known for their charm and sociability; in Clancy’s words, they are seen internationally as “simple, clever and friendly folk” (98). We can identify a number of representational tropes within this dominant image, but two in particular are apposite here: ‘smallness’ and ‘happy-go-luckiness’.Sporting NewsBefore we consider Euro 2016, it is worth briefly considering how the news industry approaches such events. “News”, Dahlgren reminds us, is not so much “information” as it is a specific kind of cultural discourse. News, in other words, is a particular kind of discursive composition that constructs and narrates stories in particular ways. Approaching sports coverage from this vantage point, Poulton and Roderick (xviii) suggest that “sport offers everything a good story should have: heroes and villains, triumph and disaster, achievement and despair, tension and drama.” Similarly, Jason Tuck observes that the media have long had a tendency to employ the “vocabulary of war” to “hype up sporting events,” a discursive tactic which, he argues, links “the two areas of life where the nation is a primary signifier” (190-191).In short, sport is abundant in news values, and media professionals strive to produce coverage that is attractive, interesting and exciting for audiences. Stead (340) suggests that there are three key characteristics governing the production of “media sports packages”: spectacularisation, dramatisation, and personalisation. These production characteristics ensure that sports coverage is exciting and interesting for viewers, but that it also in some respects conforms to their expectations. “This ‘emergent’ quality of sport in the media helps meet the perpetual audience need for something new and different alongside what is familiar and known” (Rowe 32). The disproportionate attention to Irish fans at Euro 2016 was perhaps new, but the overall depiction of the Irish was rather old, I would argue. The news discourse surrounding Euro 2016 worked to suggest, in the Irish case at least, that the nation was embodied not only in its on-field athletic representatives but more so, perhaps, in its travelling fans.Euro 2016In June 2016 the Euros kicked off in France, with the home team beating Romania 2-1. Despite widespread fears of potential terrorist attacks and disruption, the event passed successfully, with Portugal eventually lifting the Henri Delaunay Trophy. As the competition progressed, the behaviour of Irish fans quickly became a central news story, fuelled in large part by smart phone footage uploaded to the internet by Irish fans themselves. Amongst the many videos uploaded to the internet, several became the focus of news reports, especially those in which the goodwill and childlike playfulness of the Irish were on show. In one such video, Irish fans are seen singing lullabies to a baby on a Bordeaux train. In another video, Irish fans appear to help a French couple change a flat tire. In yet another video, Irish fans sing cheerfully as they clean up beer cans and bottles. (It is noteworthy that as of July 2017, some of these videos have been viewed several million times.)News providers quickly turned their attention to Irish fans, sometimes using these to draw stark contrasts with the behaviour of other fans, notably English and Russian fans. Buzzfeed, followed by ESPN, followed by Sky News, Le Monde, Fox News, the Washington Post and numerous other providers celebrated the exploits of Irish fans, with some such as Sky News and Aljazeera going so far as to produce video montages of the most “memorable moments” involving “the boys in green.” In an article titled ‘Irish fans win admirers at Euro 2016,’ Fox News reported that “social media is full of examples of Irish kindness” and that “that Irish wit has been a fixture at the tournament.” Aljazeera’s AJ+ news channel produced a video montage titled ‘Are Irish fans the champions of Euro 2016?’ which included spliced footage from some of the aforementioned videos. The Daily Mirror (UK edition) praised their “fun loving approach to watching football.” Similarly, a headline for NPR declared, “And as if they could not be adorable enough, in a quiet moment, Irish fans sang on a French train to help lull a baby to sleep.” It is important to note that viewer comments under many of these articles and videos were also generally effusive in their praise. For example, under the video ‘Irish Fans help French couple change flat tire,’ one viewer (Amsterdam 410) commented, ‘Irish people nicest people in world by far. they always happy just amazing people.’ Another (Juan Ardilla) commented, ‘Irish fans restored my faith in humanity.’As the final stages of the tournament approached, the Mayor of Paris announced that she was awarding the Medal of the City of Paris to Irish fans for their sporting goodwill. Back home in Ireland, the behaviour of Irish fans in France was also celebrated, with President Michael D. Higgins commenting that “Ireland could not wish for better ambassadors abroad.” In all of this news coverage, the humble kindness, helpfulness and friendliness of the Irish are depicted as native qualities and crystallise as a kind of ideal national character. Though laudatory, the tropes of smallness and happy-go-luckiness are again evident here, as is the recurrent depiction of Irishness as an ‘innocent identity’ (Negra). The “boys” in green are spirited in a non-threatening way, as children generally are. Notably, Stephan Reich, journalist with German sports magazine 11Freunde wrote: “the qualification of the Irish is a godsend. The Boys in Green can celebrate like no other nation, always peaceful, always sympathetic and emphatic, with an infectious, childlike joy.” Irishness as Antidote? The centrality of the Irish fan footage in the international news coverage of Euro 2016 is significant, I suggest, but interpreting its meaning is not a simple or straightforward task. Fans (like everyone) make choices about how to present themselves, and these choices are partly conscious and partly unconscious, partly spontaneous and partly conditioned. Pope (2008), for example, draws on Emile Durkheim to explain the behaviour of sports fans sociologically. “Sporting events,” Pope tells us, “exemplify the conditions of religious ritual: high rates of group interaction, focus on sacred symbols, and collective ritual behaviour symbolising group membership and strengthening shared beliefs, values, aspirations and emotions” (Pope 85). Pope reminds us, in other words, that what fans do and say, and wear and sing – in short, how they perform – is partly spontaneous and situated, and partly governed by a long-established fandom pedagogy that implies familiarity with a whole range of international football fan styles and embodied performances (Rowe). To this, we must add that fans of a national sports team generally uphold shared understandings of what constitutes desirable and appropriate patriotic behaviour. Finally, in the case reported here, we must also consider that the behaviour of Irish fans was also partly shaped by their awareness of participating in the developing media sport spectacle and, indeed, of their own position as ‘suppliers’ of news content. In effect, Irish fans at Euro 2016 occupied an interesting hybrid position between passive consumption and active production – ‘produser’ fans, as it were.On one hand, therefore, we can consider fan footage as evidence of spontaneous displays of affective unity, captured by fellow participants. The realism or ‘authenticity’ of these supposedly natural and unscripted performances is conveyed by the grainy images, and amateur, shaky camerawork, which ironically work to create an impression of unmediated reality (see Goldman and Papson). On the other hand, Mike Cronin considers them contrived, staged, and knowingly performative, and suggestive of “hyper-aware” Irish fans playing up to the camera.However, regardless of how we might explain or interpret these fan performances, it is the fact that they play a role in making Irishness public that most interests me here. For my purposes, the most important consideration is how the patriotic performances of Irish fans both fed and harmonized with the developing news coverage; the resulting depiction of the Irish was partly an outcome of journalistic conventions and partly a consequence of the self-essentialising performances of Irish fans. In a sense, these fan-centred videos were ready-made or ‘packaged’ for an international news audience: they are short, dramatic and entertaining, and their ideological content is in keeping with established tropes about Irishness. As a consequence, the media-sport discourse surrounding Euro 2016 – itself a mixture of international news values and home-grown essentialism – valorised a largely touristic understanding of Irishness, albeit one that many Irish people wilfully celebrate.Why such a construction of Irishness is internationally appealing is unclear, but it is certainly not new. John Fanning (26) cites a number of writers in highlighting that Ireland has long nurtured a romantic self-image that presents the country as a kind of balm for the complexities of the modern world. For example, he cites New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who observed in 2001 that “people all over the world are looking to Ireland for its reservoir of spirituality hoping to siphon off what they can feed to their souls which have become hungry for something other than consumption and computers.” Similarly, Diane Negra writes that “virtually every form of popular culture has in one way or another, presented Irishness as a moral antidote to contemporary ills ranging from globalisation to post-modern alienation, from crises over the meaning and practice of family values to environmental destruction” (3). Earlier, I described the Arnoldian image of the Irish as a race governed by ‘negative excess’. Arguably, in a time of profound ideological division and resurgent cultural nationalism – a time of polarisation and populism, of Trumpism and Euroscepticism – this ‘excess’ has once again been positively recoded, and now it is the ‘sentimental excess’ of the Irish that is imagined as a salve for the cultural schisms of our time.ConclusionMuch has been made of new media powers to contest official discourses. Sports fans, too, are now considered much less ‘controllable’ on account of their ability to disrupt official messages online (as well as offline). The case of Irish fans at Euro 2016, however, offers a reminder that we must avoid routine assumptions that the “uses” made of “new” and “old” media are necessarily divergent (Rowe, Ruddock and Hutchins). My interest here was less in what any single news item or fan-produced video tells us, but rather in the aggregate construction of Irishness that emerges in the media-sport discourse surrounding this event. Relatedly, in writing about the London Olympics, Wardle observed that most of what appeared on social media concerning the Games did not depart significantly from the celebratory tone of mainstream news media organisations. “In fact the absence of any story that threatened the hegemonic vision of the Games as nation-builder, shows that while social media provided an additional and new form of newsgathering, it had to fit within the traditional news structures, routines and agenda” (Wardle 12).Obviously, it is important to acknowledge the contestability of all media texts, including the news items and fan footage mentioned here, and to recognise that such texts are open to multiple interpretations based on diverse reading positions. And yet, here I have suggested that there is something of a ‘preferred’ reading in the depiction of Irish fans at Euro 2016. The news coverage, and the footage on which it draws, are important because of what they collectively suggest about Irish national identity: here we witness a shift from identity performance to identity writ large, and one means of analysing their international (and intertextual significance), I have suggested, is to view them through the prism of established tropes about Irishness.Travelling sports fans – for better or worse – are ‘carriers’ of places and cultures, and they remind us that “there is also a cultural economy of sport, where information, images, ideas and rhetorics are exchanged, where symbolic value is added, where metaphorical (and sometimes literal, in the case of publicly listed sports clubs) stocks rise and fall” (Rowe 24). There is no question, to borrow Rowe’s term, that Ireland’s ‘stocks’ rose considerably on account of Euro 2016. In news terms, Irish fans provided entertainment value; they were the ‘human interest’ story of the tournament; they were the ‘feel-good’ factor of the event – and importantly, they were the suppliers of much of this content (albeit unofficially). Ultimately, I suggest that we think of the overall depiction of the Irish at Euro 2016 as a co-construction of international news media practices and the self-presentational practices of Irish fans themselves. The result was not simply a depiction of idealised fandom, but more importantly, an idealisation of a people and a place, in which the plucky little people on tour became the global standard bearers of Irish identity.ReferencesArnold, Mathew. Celtic Literature. Carolina: Lulu Press, 2013.Arrowsmith, Aidan. “Plastic Paddies vs. Master Racers: ‘Soccer’ and Irish Identity.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 7.4 (2004). 25 Mar. 2017 <http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1367877904047864>.Boards and Networked Digital Media Sport Communities.” Convergence 16.3 (2010). 25 Mar. 2017 <http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1354856510367622>.Clancy, Michael. Brand New Ireland: Tourism, Development and National Identity in the Irish Republic. Surrey and Vermont: Ashgate, 2009.Couldry, Nick, and Andreas Hepp. The Mediated Construction of Reality. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016.Cronin, Michael. “Is It for the Glamour? Masculinity, Nationhood and Amateurism in Contemporary Projections of the Gaelic Athletic Association.” Irish Postmodernisms and Popular Culture. Eds. Wanda Balzano, Anne Mulhall, and Moynagh Sullivan. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 39–51.Cronin, Mike. “Serenading Nuns: Irish Soccer Fandom as Performance.” Post-Celtic Tiger Irishness Symposium, Trinity College Dublin, 25 Nov. 2016.Dahlgren, Peter. “Beyond Information: TV News as a Cultural Discourse.” The European Journal of Communication Research 12.2 (1986): 125–36.Fanning, John. “Branding and Begorrah: The Importance of Ireland’s Nation Brand Image.” Irish Marketing Review 21.1-2 (2011). 25 Mar. 2017 <https://www.dit.ie/media/newsdocuments/2011/3%20Fanning.pdf>.Free, Marcus. “Diaspora and Rootedness, Amateurism and Professionalism in Media Discourses of Irish Soccer and Rugby in the 1990s and 2000s.” Éire-Ireland 48.1–2 (2013). 25 Mar. 2017 <https://muse.jhu.edu/article/510693/pdf>.Friedman, Thomas. “Foreign Affairs: The Lexus and the Shamrock.” The Opinion Pages. New York Times 3 Aug. 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/03/opinion/foreign-affairs-the-lexus-and-the-shamrock.html>.Gerbner, George. “The Stories We Tell and the Stories We Sell.” Journal of International Communication 18.2 (2012). 25 Mar. 2017 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13216597.2012.709928>.Goldman, Robert, and Stephen Papson. Sign Wars: The Cluttered Landscape of Advertising. New York: Guilford Press, 1996.Negra, Diane. The Irish in Us. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006.Pope, Whitney. “Emile Durkheim.” Key Sociological Thinkers. 2nd ed. Ed. Rob Stones. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. 76-89.Poulton, Emma, and Martin Roderick. Sport in Films. London: Routledge, 2008.Rains, Stephanie. The Irish-American in Popular Culture 1945-2000. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2007.Rowe, David, Andy Ruddock, and Brett Hutchins. “Cultures of Complaint: Online Fan Message Boards and Networked Digital Media Sport Communities.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technology 16.3 (2010). 25 Mar. 2017 <http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1354856510367622>.Rowe, David. Sport, Culture and the Media: The Unruly Trinity. 2nd ed. Berkshire: Open University Press, 2004.Stead, David. “Sport and the Media.” Sport and Society: A Student Introduction. 2nd ed. Ed. Barrie Houlihan. London: Sage, 2008. 328-347.Wardle, Claire. “Social Media, Newsgathering and the Olympics.” Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies 2 (2012). 25 Mar. 2017 <https://publications.cardiffuniversitypress.org/index.php/JOMEC/article/view/304>.

Abstract:

Drawing upon popular magazines, newspapers, blogs, Web sites, and videos, this essay compares the media framing of six, “fat” political figures from around the world. Framing refers to the suggested interpretations that are imbedded in media reports (Entman; McCombs and Ghanem; Seo, Dillard and Shen). As Robert Entman explains, framing is the process of culling a few elements of perceived reality and assembling a narrative that highlights connections among them to promote a particular interpretation. Frames introduce or raise the salience of certain ideas. Fully developed frames typically perform several functions, such as problem definition and moral judgment. Framing is connected to the [covert] wielding of power as, for example, when a particular frame is intentionally applied to obscure other frames. This comparative international study is an inquiry into “what people and societies make of the reality of [human weight]” (Marilyn Wann as quoted in Rothblum 3), especially in the political arena. The cultural and historical dimensions of human weight are illustrated by the practice of force-feeding girls and young women in Mauritania, because “fat” women have higher status and are more sought after as brides (Frenkiel). The current study, however, focuses on “fat” politics. The research questions that guide the study are: [RQ1] which terms do commentators utilize to describe political figures as “fat”? [RQ2] Why is the term “fat” utilized in the political arena? [RQ3] To what extent can one detect gender, national, or other differences in the manner in which the term “fat” is used in the political arena? After a brief introduction to the current media obsession with fat, the analysis begins in 1908 with William Howard Taft, the 330 pound, twenty-seventh President of the United States. The other political figures are: Chris Christie (Governor of New Jersey), Bill Clinton (forty-second President of the United States), Michelle Obama (current First Lady of the United States), Carla Bruni (former First Lady of France), and Julia Gillard (former Prime Minister of Australia). The final section presents some conclusions that may help readers and viewers to take a more critical perspective on “fat politics.” All of the individuals selected for this study are powerful, rich, and privileged. What may be notable is that their experiences of fat shaming by the media are different. This study explores those differences, while suggesting that, in some cases, their weight and appearance are being attacked to undercut their legitimate and referent power (Gaski). Media Obsession with Fat “Fat,” or “obesity,” the more scientific term that reflects the medicalisation of “fat” (Sobal) and which seems to hold sway today, is a topic with which the media currently is obsessed, both in Asia and in the United States. A quick Google search using the word “obesity” reports over 73 million hits. Ambady Ramachandran and Chamukuttan Snehalatha report on “The Rising Burden of Obesity in Asia” in a journal article that emphasizes the term “burden.” The word “epidemic” is featured prominently in a 2013 medical news report. According to the latter, obesity among men was at 13.8 per cent in Mongolia and 19.3 per cent in Australia, while the overall obesity rate has increased 46 per cent in Japan and has quadrupled in China (“Rising Epidemic”). Both articles use the word “rising” in their titles, a fear-laden term that suggests a worsening condition. In the United States, obesity also is portrayed as an “epidemic.” While some progress is being made, the obesity rate nonetheless increased in sixteen states in 2013, with Louisiana at 34.7 per cent as the highest. “Extreme obesity” in the United States has grown dramatically over thirty years to 6.3 per cent. The framing of obesity as a health/medical issue has made obesity more likely to reinforce social stereotypes (Saguy and Riley). In addition, the “thematic framing” (Shugart) of obesity as a moral failure means that “obesity” is a useful tool for undermining political figures who are fat. While the media pay considerable attention to the psychological impact of obesity, such as in “fat shaming,” the media, ironically, participate in fat shaming. Shame is defined as an emotional “consequence of the evaluation of failure” and often is induced by critics who attack the person and not the behavior (Boudewyns, Turner and Paquin). However, in a backlash against fat shaming, “Who you callin' fat?” is now a popular byline in articles and in YouTube videos (Reagan). Nevertheless, the dynamics of fat are even more complicated than an attack-and-response model can capture. For example, in an odd instance of how women cannot win, Rachel Frederickson, the recent winner of the TV competition The Biggest Loser, was attacked for being “too thin” (Ceja and Valine). Framing fat, therefore, is a complex process. Fat shaming is only one way that the media frame fat. However, fat shaming does not appear to be a major factor in media coverage of William Howard Taft, the first person in this study. William Howard Taft William Howard Taft was elected the 27th President of the United States in 1908 and served 1909-1913. Whitehouse.com describes Taft as “Large, jovial, conscientious…” Indeed, comments on the happy way that he carried his “large” size (330 pounds) are the main focus here. This ‹happy fat› framing is much different than the media framing associated with ‹fat shaming›. His happy personality was often mentioned, as can be seen in his 1930 obituary in The New York Times: “Mr. Taft was often called the most human President who ever sat in the White House. The mantle of office did not hide his winning personality in any way” (“Taft Gained Peaks”). Notice how “large” and “jovial” are combined in the framing of Taft. Despite his size, Taft was known to be a good dancer (Bromley 129). Two other words associated with Taft are “rotund” (round, plump, chubby) and “pudgy.” These terms seem a bit old-fashioned in 2015. “Rotund” comes from the Latin for “round,” “circular,” “spherical.” “Pudgy,” a somewhat newer term, comes from the colloquial for “short and thick” (Etymology Online). Taft was comfortable with being called “pudgy.” A story about Taft’s portrait in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. illustrates the point: Artist William Schevill was a longtime acquaintance of Taft and painted him several times between 1905 and 1910. Friendship did not keep Taft from criticizing the artist, and on one occasion he asked Schevill to rework a portrait. On one point, however, the rotund Taft never interfered. When someone said that he should not tolerate Schevill's making him look so pudgy in his likenesses, he simply answered, "But I am pudgy." (Kain) Taft’s self-acceptance, as seen in the portrait by Schevill (circa 1910), stands in contrast to the discomfort caused by media framing of other fat political figures in the era of more intense media scrutiny. Chris Christie Governor Christie has tried to be comfortable with his size (300+ pounds), but may have succumbed to the medicalisation of fat and the less than positive framing of his appearance. As Christie took the national stage in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy (2012), and subsequently explored running for President, he may have felt pressure to look more “healthy” and “attractive.” Even while scoring political points for his leadership in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, Christie’s large size was apparent. Filmed in his blue Governor jacket during an ABC TV News report that can be accessed as a YouTube video, Christie obviously was much larger than the four other persons on the speakers’ platform (“Jersey Shore Devastated”). In the current media climate, being known for your weight may be a political liability. A 2015 Rutgers’ Eagleton Poll found that 53 percent of respondents said that Governor Christie did not have “the right look” to be President (Capehart). While fat traditionally has been associated with laziness, it now is associated with health issues, too. The media framing of fat as ‹morbidly obese› may have been one factor that led Christie to undergo weight loss surgery in 2013. After the surgery, he reportedly lost a significant amount of weight. Yet his new look was partially tarnished by media reports on the specifics of lap-band-surgery. One report in The New York Daily News stressed that the surgery is not for everyone, and that it still requires much work on the part of the patient before any long-term weight loss can be achieved (Engel). Bill Clinton Never as heavy as Governor Christie, Bill Clinton nonetheless received considerable media fat-attention of two sorts. First, he could be portrayed as a kind of ‹happy fat “Bubba”› who enjoyed eating high cholesterol fast food. Because of his charm and rhetorical ability (linked to the political necessity of appearing to understand the “average person”), Clinton could make political headway by emphasizing his Arkansas roots and eating a hamburger. This vision of Bill Clinton as a redneck, fast-food devouring “Bubba” was spoofed in a popular 1992 Saturday Night Live skit (“President-Elect Bill Clinton Stops by a McDonald's”). In 2004, after his quadruple bypass surgery, the media adopted another way to frame Bill Clinton. Clinton became the poster-child for coronary heart disease. Soon he would be framed as the ‹transformed Bubba›, who now consumed a healthier diet. ‹Bill Clinton-as-vegan› framing fit nicely with the national emphasis on nutrition, including the widespread advocacy for a largely plant-based diet (see film Forks over Knives). Michelle Obama Another political figure in the United States, whom the media has connected both to fast food and healthy nutrition, is Michelle Obama. Now in her second term as First Lady, Michelle Obama is associated with the national campaign for healthier school lunches. At the same time, critics call her “fat” and a “hypocrite.” A harsh diatribe against Obama was revealed by Media Matters for America in the personal attacks on Michelle Obama as “too fat” to be a credible source on nutrition. Dr. Keith Ablow, a FOX News medical adviser said, Michelle Obama needs to “drop a few” [pounds]. “Who is she to be giving nutrition advice?” Another biting attack on Obama can be seen in a mocking 2011 Breitbart cartoon that portrayed Michelle Obama devouring hamburgers while saying, “Please pass the bacon” (Hahn). Even though these attacks come from conservative media utterly opposed to the presidency of Barack Obama, they nonetheless reflect a more widespread political use of media framing. In the case of Michelle Obama, the media sometimes cannot decide if she is “statuesque” or “fat.” She is reported to be 5’11 tall, but her overall appearance has been described as “toned” (in her trademark sleeveless dresses) yet never as “thin.” The media’s ambivalence toward tall/large women is evident in the recent online arguments over whether Robyn Lawley, named one of the “rookies of the year” by the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, has a “normal” body or a “plus-size” body (Blair). Therefore, we have two forms of media framing in the case of Michelle Obama. First, there is the ‹fat hypocrite› frame, an ad hominem framing that she should not be a spokesperson for nutrition. This first form of framing, perhaps, is linked to the traditional tendency to tear down political figures, to take them off their pedestals. The second form of media framing is a ‹large woman ambiguity› frame. If you are big and tall, are you “fat”? Carla Bruni Carla Bruni, a model and singer/songwriter, was married in 2008 to French President Nicolas Sarkozy (who served 2007 to 2012). In 2011, Bruni gave birth to a daughter, Giulia. After 2011, Bruni reports many attacks on her as being too “fat” (Kim; Strang). Her case is quite interesting, because it goes beyond ‹fat shaming› to illustrate two themes not previously discussed. First, the attacks on Bruni seem to connect age and fat. Specifically, Bruni’s narrative introduces the frame: ‹weight loss is difficult after giving birth›. Motherhood is taxing enough, but it becomes even more difficulty when the media are watching your waist line. It is implied that older mothers should receive more sympathy. The second frame represents an odd form of reverse fat shaming: ‹I am so sick and tired of skinny people saying they are fat›. As Bruni explains: “I’m kind of tall, with good-size shoulders, and when I am 40 pounds overweight, I don’t even look fat—I just look ugly” (Orth). Critics charge that celebs like Bruni not only do not look fat, they are not fat. Moreover, celebs are misguided in trying to cultivate sympathy that is needed by people who actually are fat. Several blogs echo this sentiment. The site Whisper displays a poster that states: “I am so sick and tired of skinny people saying they are fat.” According to Anarie in another blog, the comment, “I’m fat, too,” is misplaced but may be offered as a form of “sisterhood.” One of the best examples of the strong reaction to celebs’ fat claims is the case of actress Jennifer Lawrence. According The Gloss, Lawrence isn’t chubby. She isn’t ugly. She fits the very narrow parameters for what we consider beautiful, and has been rewarded significantly for it. There’s something a bit tone deaf in pretending not to have thin or attractive privilege when you’re one of the most successful actresses in Hollywood, consistently lauded for your looks. (Sonenshein) In sum, the attempt to make political gain out of “I’m fat” comments, may backfire and lead to a loss in political capital. Julia Gillard The final political figure in this study is Julia Eileen Gillard. She is described on Wikipedia as“…a former Australian politician who served as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia, and the Australian Labor Party leader from 2010 to 2013. She was the first woman to hold either position” (“Julia Gillard”). Gillard’s case provides a useful example of how the media can frame feminism and fat in almost opposite manners. The first version of framing, ‹woman inappropriately attacks fat men›, is set forth in a flashback video on YouTube. Political enemies of Gillard posted the video of Gillard attacking fat male politicians. The video clip includes the technique of having Gillard mouth and repeat over and over again the phrase, “fat men”…”fat men”…”fat men” (“Gillard Attacks”). The effect is to make Gillard look arrogant, insensitive, and shrill. The not-so-subtle message is that a woman should not call men fat, because a woman would not want men to call her fat. The second version of framing in the Gillard case, ironically, has a feminist leader calling Gillard “fat” on a popular Australian TV show. Australian-born Germaine Greer, iconic feminist activist and author of The Female Eunuch (1970 international best seller), commented that Gillard wore ill-fitting jackets and that “You’ve got a big arse, Julia” (“You’ve Got”). Greer’s remarks surprised and disappointed many commentators. The Melbourne Herald Sun offered the opinion that Greer has “big mouth” (“Germaine Greer’s”). The Gillard case seems to support the theory that female politicians may have a more difficult time navigating weight and appearance than male politicians. An experimental study by Beth Miller and Jennifer Lundgren suggests “weight bias exists for obese female political candidates, but that large body size may be an asset for male candidates” (p. 712). Conclusion This study has at least partially answered the original research questions. [RQ1] Which terms do commentators utilize to describe political figures as “fat”? The terms include: fat, fat arse, fat f***, large, heavy, obese, plus size, pudgy, and rotund. The media frames include: ‹happy fat›, ‹fat shaming›, ‹morbidly obese›, ‹happy fat “Bubba›, ‹transformed “Bubba›, ‹fat hypocrite›, ‹large woman ambiguity›, ‹weight gain women may experience after giving birth›, ‹I am so sick and tired of skinny people saying they are fat›, ‹woman inappropriately attacks fat men›, and ‹feminist inappropriately attacks fat woman›. [RQ2] Why is the term “fat” utilized in the political arena? Opponents in attack mode, to discredit a political figure, often use the term “fat”. It can imply that the person is “unhealthy” or has a character flaw. In the attack mode, critics can use “fat” as a tool to minimize a political figure’s legitimate and referent power. [RQ3] To what extent can one detect gender, national, or other differences in the manner in which the term “fat” is used in the political arena? In the United States, “obesity” is the dominant term, and is associated with the medicalisation of fat. Obesity is linked to health concerns, such as coronary heart disease. Weight bias and fat shaming seem to have a disproportionate impact on women. This study also has left many unanswered questions. 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McCombs, Max, and S.I. Ghanem. “The Convergence of Agenda Setting and Framing.” In Stephen D. Reese, Oscar. H. Gandy, Jr., and August Grant (eds.), Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and Our Understanding of the Social World. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2001. 67-83. Miller, Beth, and Jennifer Lundgren. “An Experimental Study on the Role of Weight Bias in Candidate Evaluation.” Obesity 18 (Apr. 2010): 712-718. Orth, Maureen. “Carla on a Hot Tin Roof.” Vanity Fair June 2013. 22 Apr. 2015 ‹http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2013/06/carla-bruni-musical-career-album›. “President-Elect Bill Clinton Stops by a McDonalds.” n.d. 22 Apr. 2015 ‹https://screen.yahoo.com/clinton-mcdonalds-000000491.html›. Ramachandran, Ambady, and Chamukuttan Snehalatha. “The Rising Burden of Obesity in Asia.” Journal of Obesity (2010). doi: 10.1155/2010868573. 22 Apr. 2015 ‹http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2939400/›.Reagan, Gillian. “Ex-Chubettes Unite! Former Fat Kids Let It All Out.” New York Observer 22 Apr. 2008. 22 Apr. 2015 ‹http://observer.com/2008/04/exchubettes-unite-former-fat-kids-let-it-all-out/›. “Rising Epidemic of Obesity in Asia.” News Medical 21 Feb. 2013. 23 Apr. 2015 ‹http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2939400/›. Rothblum, Esther. “Why a Journal on Fat Studies?” Fat Studies 1 (2012): 3-5. Saguy, Abigail C., and Kevin W. Riley. “Weighing Both Sides: Morality, Mortality, and Framing Contests over Obesity.” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 30.5 (2005): 869-921. Seo, Kiwon, James P. Dillard, and Fuyuan Shen. “The Effects of Message Framing and Visual Image on Persuasion. Communication Quarterly 61 (2013): 564-583. Shugart, Helene A. “Heavy Viewing: Emergent Frames in Contemporary News Coverage of Obesity.” Health Communication 26 (Oct./Nov. 2011): 635-648. Sobal, Jeffery. “The Medicalization and Demedicalization of Obesity.” Eating Agendas: Food and Nutrition as Social Problems. Ed. Jeffery Sobal and Donna Maurer. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1995. 67-90. Sonenshein, Julia. “Jennifer Lawrence Does More Harm than Good with Her ‘I’m Chubby’ Comments.” 3 Jan. 2014. 16 May 2015 ‹http://www.thegloss.com/2014/01/03/culture/jennifer-lawrence-fat-comments-body-image/#ixzz3aWTEg35U›. Strang, Fay. ”Carla Bruni Admits Used Therapy.” 3 May 2013. 22 Apr. 2015 ‹http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2318719/Carla-Bruni-admits-used-therapy-deal-comments-fat-giving-birth-forties.html›. “Taft Gained Peaks in Unusual Career.” The New York Times 9 March 1930. 22 Apr. 2015 ‹http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0915.html›. Vedantam, Shankar. “Clinton's Heart Bypass Surgery Called a Success.” Washington Post 7 Sep. 2004: A01. “William Howard Taft.” Whitehouse.com. n.d. 12 May 2015. Whisper. n.d. 16 May 2015 ‹https://sh.whisper/o5o8bf3810d45295605bce53f8082Db6ddb29/I-am-so-sick-and-tired-of-skinny-people-saying-that-they-are-fat›. “You’ve Got a Big Arse, Julia. Germaine Greer Advice for Julia Gillard.” Politics and p*rn in a Post-Feminist World. 24 Aug. 2012. 22 Apr. 2015 ‹https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lFtww!D3ss›. See also: ‹http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/greer-defends-fat-arse-pm-comment-20120827-24x5i.html›.

Abstract:

“...children’s play seems to become more and more a product of the educational and cultural orientation of parents...” — Stephen Kline, The Making of Children’s Culture We live in a world saturated by design and through design artefacts, one can glean unique insights into a culture's values and norms. In fact, some academics, such as British media and film theorist Ben Highmore, see the two areas so inextricably intertwined as to suggest a wholesale “re-branding of the cultural sciences as design studies” (14). Too often, however, everyday objects are marginalised or overlooked as objects of scholarly attention. The field of material culture studies seeks to change that by focussing on the quotidian object and its ability to reveal much about the time, place, and culture in which it was designed and used. This article takes on one such object, a mid-century children's toy tea set, whose humble journey from 1968 Sears catalogue to 2014 thrift shop—and subsequently this author’s basem*nt—reveals complex rhetorical messages communicated both visually and verbally. As material culture studies theorist Jules Prown notes, the field’s foundation is laid upon the understanding “that objects made ... by man reflect, consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly, the beliefs of individuals who made, commissioned, purchased or used them, and by extension the beliefs of the larger society to which they belonged” (1-2). In this case, the objects’ material and aesthetic characteristics can be shown to reflect some of the pervasive stereotypes and gender roles of the mid-century and trace some of the prevailing tastes of the American middle class of that era, or perhaps more accurately the type of design that came to represent good taste and a modern aesthetic for that audience. A wealth of research exists on the function of toys and play in learning about the world and even the role of toy selection in early sex-typing, socialisation, and personal identity of children (Teglasi). This particular research area isn’t the focus of this article; however, one aspect that is directly relevant and will be addressed is the notion of adult role-playing among children and the role of toys in communicating certain adult practices or values to the child—what sociologist David Oswell calls “the dedifferentiation of childhood and adulthood” (200). Neither is the focus of this article the practice nor indeed the ethicality of marketing to children. Relevant to this particular example I suggest, is as a product utilising messaging aimed not at children but at adults, appealing to certain parents’ interest in nurturing within their child a perceived era and class-appropriate sense of taste. This was fuelled in large part by the curatorial pursuits of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, coupled with an interest and investment in raising their children in a design-forward household and a desire for toys that reflected that priority; in essence, parents wishing to raise modern children. Following Prown’s model of material culture analysis, the tea set is examined in three stages, through description, deduction and speculation with each stage building on the previous one. Figure 1: Porcelain Toy Tea Set. Description The tea set consists of twenty-six pieces that allows service for six. Six cups, saucers, and plates; a tall carafe with spout, handle and lid; a smaller vessel with a spout and handle; a small round bowl with a lid; a larger oval bowl with a lid, and a coordinated oval platter. The cups are just under two inches tall and two inches in diameter. The largest piece, the platter is roughly six inches by four inches. The pieces are made of a ceramic material white in colour and glossy in texture and are very lightweight. The rim or edge of each piece is decorated with a motif of three straight lines in two different shades of blue and in different thicknesses, interspersed with a set of three black wiggly lines. Figure 2: Porcelain Toy Tea Set Box. The set is packaged for retail purposes and the original box appears to be fully intact. The packaging of an object carries artefactual evidence just as important as what it contains that falls into the category of a “‘para-artefact’ … paraphernalia that accompanies the product (labels, packaging, instructions etc.), all of which contribute to a product’s discourse” (Folkmann and Jensen 83). The graphics on the box are colourful, featuring similar shades of teal blue as found on the objects, with the addition of orange and a silver sticker featuring the logo of the American retailer Sears. The cover features an illustration of the objects on an orange tabletop. The most prominent text that confirms that the toy is a “Porcelain Toy Tea Set” is in an organic, almost psychedelic style that mimics both popular graphics of this era—especially album art and concert posters—as well as the organic curves of steam that emanate from the illustrated teapot’s spout. Additional messages appear on the box, in particular “Contemporary DESIGN” and “handsome, clean-line styling for modern little hostesses”. Along the edges of the box lid, a detail of the decorative motif is reproduced somewhat abstracted from what actually appears on the ceramic objects. Figure 3: Sears’s Christmas Wishbook Catalogue, page 574 (1968). Sears, Roebuck and Co. (Sears) is well-known for its over one-hundred-year history of producing printed merchandise catalogues. The catalogue is another important para-artefact to consider in analysing the objects. The tea set first appeared in the 1968 Sears Christmas Wishbook. There is no date or copyright on the box, so only its inclusion in the catalogue allows the set to be accurately dated. It also allows us to understand how the set was originally marketed. Deduction In the deduction phase, we focus on the sensory aesthetic and functional interactive qualities of the various components of the set. In terms of its function, it is critical that we situate the objects in their original use context, play. The light weight of the objects and thinness of the ceramic material lends the objects a delicate, if not fragile, feeling which indicates that this set is not for rough use. Toy historian Lorraine May Punchard differentiates between toy tea sets “meant to be used by little girls, having parties for their friends and practising the social graces of the times” and smaller sets or doll dishes “made for little girls to have parties with their dolls, or for their dolls to have parties among themselves” (7). Similar sets sold by Sears feature images of girls using the sets with both human playmates and dolls. The quantity allowing service for six invites multiple users to join the party. The packaging makes clear that these toy tea sets were intended for imaginary play only, rendering them non-functional through an all-capitals caution declaiming “IMPORTANT: Do not use near heat”. The walls and handles of the cups are so thin one can imagine that they would quickly become dangerous if filled with a hot liquid. Nevertheless, the lid of the oval bowl has a tan stain or watermark which suggests actual use. The box is broken up by pink cardboard partitions dividing it into segments sized for each item in the set. Interestingly even the small squares of unfinished corrugated cardboard used as cushioning between each stacked plate have survived. The evidence of careful re-packing indicates that great care was taken in keeping the objects safe. It may suggest that even though the set was used, the children or perhaps the parents, considered the set as something to care for and conserve for the future. Flaws in the glaze and applique of the design motif can be found on several pieces in the set and offer some insight as to the technique used in producing these items. Errors such as the design being perfectly evenly spaced but crooked in its alignment to the rim, or pieces of the design becoming detached or accidentally folded over and overlapping itself could only be the result of a print transfer technique popularised with decorative china of the Victorian era, a technique which lends itself to mass production and lower cost when compared to hand decoration. Speculation In the speculation stage, we can consider the external evidence and begin a more rigorous investigation of the messaging, iconography, and possible meanings of the material artefact. Aspects of the set allow a number of useful observations about the role of such an object in its own time and context. Sociologists observe the role of toys as embodiments of particular types of parental messages and values (Cross 292) and note how particularly in the twentieth century “children’s play seems to become more and more a product of the educational and cultural orientation of parents” (Kline 96). Throughout history children’s toys often reflected a miniaturised version of the adult world allowing children to role-play as imagined adult-selves. Kristina Ranalli explored parallels between the practice of drinking tea and the play-acting of the child’s tea party, particularly in the nineteenth century, as a gendered ritual of gentility; a method of socialisation and education, and an opportunity for exploratory and even transgressive play by “spontaneously creating mini-societies with rules of their own” (20). Such toys and objects were available through the Sears mail-order catalogue from the very beginning at the end of the nineteenth century (McGuire). Propelled by the post-war boom of suburban development and homeownership—that generation’s manifestation of the American Dream—concern with home décor and design was elevated among the American mainstream to a degree never before seen. There was a hunger for new, streamlined, efficient, modernist living. In his essay titled “Domesticating Modernity”, historian Jeffrey L. Meikle notes that many early modernist designers found that perhaps the most potent way to “‘domesticate’ modernism and make it more familiar was to miniaturise it; for example, to shrink the skyscraper and put it into the home as furniture or tableware” (143). Dr Timothy Blade, curator of the 1985 exhibition of girls’ toys at the University of Minnesota’s Goldstein Gallery—now the Goldstein Museum of Design—described in his introduction “a miniaturised world with little props which duplicate, however rudely, the larger world of adults” (5). Noting the power of such toys to reflect adult values of their time, Blade continues: “the microcosm of the child’s world, remarkably furnished by the miniaturised props of their parents’ world, holds many direct and implied messages about the society which brought it into being” (9). In large part, the mid-century Sears catalogues capture the spirit of an era when, as collector Thomas Holland observes, “little girls were still primarily being offered only the options of glamour, beauty and parenthood as the stuff of their fantasies” (175). Holland notes that “the Wishbooks of the fifties [and, I would add, the sixties] assumed most girls would follow in their mother’s footsteps to become full-time housewives and mommies” (1). Blade grouped toys into three categories: cooking, cleaning, and sewing. A tea set could arguably be considered part of the cooking category, but closer examination of the language used in marketing this object—“little hostesses”, et cetera—suggests an emphasis not on cooking but on serving or entertaining. This particular category was not prevalent in the era examined by Blade, but the cultural shifts of the mid-twentieth century, particularly the rapid popularisation of a suburban lifestyle, may have led to the use of entertaining as an additional distinct category of role play in the process of learning to become a “proper” homemaker. Sears and other retailers offered a wide variety of styles of toy tea sets during this era. Blade and numerous other sources observe that children’s toy furniture and appliances tended to reflect the style and aesthetic qualities of their contemporary parallels in the adult world, the better to associate the child’s objects to its adult equivalent. The toy tea set’s packaging trumpets messages intended to appeal to modernist values and identity including “Contemporary Design” and “handsome, clean-line styling for modern little hostesses”. The use of this coded marketing language, aimed particularly at parents, can be traced back several decades. In 1928 a group of American industrial and textile designers established the American Designers' Gallery in New York, in part to encourage American designers to innovate and adopt new styles such as those seen in the L’ Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes (1925) in Paris, the exposition that sparked international interest in the Art Deco or Art Moderne aesthetic. One of the gallery founders, Ilonka Karasz, a Hungarian-American industrial and textile designer who had studied in Austria and was influenced by the Wiener Werkstätte in Vienna, publicised her new style of nursery furnishings as “designed for the very modern American child” (Brown 80). Sears itself was no stranger to the appeal of such language. The term “contemporary design” was ubiquitous in catalogue copy of the nineteen-fifties and sixties, used to describe everything from draperies (1959) and bedspreads (1961) to spice racks (1964) and the Lady Kenmore portable dishwasher (1961). An emphasis on the role of design in one’s life and surroundings can be traced back to efforts by MoMA. The museum’s interest in modern design hearkens back almost to the institution’s inception, particularly in relation to industrial design and the aestheticisation of everyday objects (Marshall). Through exhibitions and in partnership with mass-market magazines, department stores and manufacturer showrooms, MoMA curators evangelised the importance of “good design” a term that can be found in use as early as 1942. What Is Good Design? followed the pattern of prior exhibitions such as What Is Modern Painting? and situated modern design at the centre of exhibitions that toured the United States in the first half of the nineteen-fifties. To MoMA and its partners, “good design” signified the narrow identification of proper taste in furniture, home decor and accessories; effectively, the establishment of a design canon. The viewpoints enshrined in these exhibitions and partnerships were highly influential on the nation’s perception of taste for decades to come, as the trickle-down effect reached a much broader segment of consumers than those that directly experienced the museum or its exhibitions (Lawrence.) This was evident not only at high-end shops such as Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s. Even mass-market retailers sought out well-known figures of modernist design to contribute to their offerings. Sears, for example, commissioned noted modernist designer and ceramicist Russel Wright to produce a variety of serving ware and decor items exclusively for the company. Notably for this study, he was also commissioned to create a toy tea set for children. The 1957 Wishbook touts the set as “especially created to delight modern little misses”. Within its Good Design series, MoMA exhibitions celebrated numerous prominent Nordic designers who were exploring simplified forms and new material technologies. In the 1968 Wishbook, the retailer describes the Porcelain Toy Tea Set as “Danish-inspired china for young moderns”. The reference to Danish design is certainly compatible with the modernist appeal; after the explosion in popularity of Danish furniture design, the term “Danish Modern” was commonly used in the nineteen-fifties and sixties as shorthand for pan-Scandinavian or Nordic design, or more broadly for any modern furniture design regardless of origin that exhibited similar characteristics. In subsequent decades the notion of a monolithic Scandinavian-Nordic design aesthetic or movement has been debunked as primarily an economically motivated marketing ploy (Olivarez et al.; Fallan). In the United States, the term “Danish Modern” became so commonly misused that the Danish Society for Arts and Crafts called upon the American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to legally restrict the use of the labels “Danish” and “Danish Modern” to companies genuinely originating in Denmark. Coincidentally the FTC ruled on this in 1968, noting “that ‘Danish Modern’ carries certain meanings, and... that consumers might prefer goods that are identified with a foreign culture” (Hansen 451). In the case of the Porcelain Toy Tea Set examined here, Sears was not claiming that the design was “Danish” but rather “Danish-inspired”. One must wonder, was this another coded marketing ploy to communicate a sense of “Good Design” to potential customers? An examination of the formal qualities of the set’s components, particularly the simplified geometric forms and the handle style of the cups, confirms that it is unlike a traditional—say, Victorian-style—tea set. Punchard observes that during this era some American tea sets were actually being modelled on coffee services rather than traditional tea services (148). A visual comparison of other sets sold by Sears in the same year reveals a variety of cup and pot shapes—with some similar to the set in question—while others exhibit more traditional teapot and cup shapes. Coffee culture was historically prominent in Nordic cultures so there is at least a passing reference to that aspect of Nordic—if not specifically Danish—influence in the design. But what of the decorative motif? Simple curved lines were certainly prominent in Danish furniture and architecture of this era, and occasionally found in combination with straight lines, but no connection back to any specific Danish motif could be found even after consultation with experts in the field from the Museum of Danish America and the Vesterheim National Norwegian-American Museum (personal correspondence). However, knowing that the average American consumer of this era—even the design-savvy among them—consumed Scandinavian design without distinguishing between the various nations, a possible explanation could be contained in the promotion of Finnish textiles at the time. In the decade prior to the manufacture of the tea set a major design tendency began to emerge in the United States, triggered by the geometric design motifs of the Finnish textile and apparel company Marimekko. Marimekko products were introduced to the American market in 1959 via the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based retailer Design Research (DR) and quickly exploded in popularity particularly after would-be First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy appeared in national media wearing Marimekko dresses during the 1960 presidential campaign and on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine. (Thompson and Lange). The company’s styling soon came to epitomise a new youth aesthetic of the early nineteen sixties in the United States, a softer and more casual predecessor to the London “mod” influence. During this time multiple patterns were released that brought a sense of whimsy and a more human touch to classic mechanical patterns and stripes. The patterns Piccolo (1953), Helmipitsi (1959), and Varvunraita (1959), all designed by Vuokko Eskolin-Nurmesniemi offered varying motifs of parallel straight lines. Maija Isola's Silkkikuikka (1961) pattern—said to be inspired by the plumage of the Great Crested Grebe—combined parallel serpentine lines with straight and angled lines, available in a variety of colours. These and other geometrically inspired patterns quickly inundated apparel and decor markets. DR built a vastly expanded Cambridge flagship store and opened new locations in New York in 1961 and 1964, and in San Francisco in 1965 fuelled in no small part by the fact that they remained the exclusive outlet for Marimekko in the United States. It is clear that Marimekko’s approach to pattern influenced designers and manufacturers across industries. Design historian Lesley Jackson demonstrates that Marimekko designs influenced or were emulated by numerous other companies across Scandinavia and beyond (72-78). The company’s influence grew to such an extent that some described it as a “conquest of the international market” (Hedqvist and Tarschys 150). Subsequent design-forward retailers such as IKEA and Crate and Barrel continue to look to Marimekko even today for modern design inspiration. In 2016 the mass-market retailer Target formed a design partnership with Marimekko to offer an expansive limited-edition line in their stores, numbering over two hundred items. So, despite the “Danish” misnomer, it is quite conceivable that designers working for or commissioned by Sears in 1968 may have taken their aesthetic cues from Marimekko’s booming work, demonstrating a clear understanding of the contemporary high design aesthetic of the time and coding the marketing rhetoric accordingly even if incorrectly. Conclusion The Sears catalogue plays a unique role in capturing cross-sections of American culture not only as a sales tool but also in Holland’s words as “a beautifully illustrated diary of America, it’s [sic] people and the way we thought about things” (1). Applying a rhetorical and material culture analysis to the catalogue and the objects within it provides a unique glimpse into the roles these objects played in mediating relationships, transmitting values and embodying social practices, tastes and beliefs of mid-century American consumers. Adult consumers familiar with the characteristics of the culture of “Good Design” potentially could have made a connection between the simplified geometric forms of the components of the toy tea set and say the work of modernist tableware designers such as Kaj Franck, or between the set’s graphic pattern and the modernist motifs of Marimekko and its imitators. But for a much broader segment of the population with a less direct understanding of modernist aesthetics, those connections may not have been immediately apparent. The rhetorical messaging behind the objects’ packaging and marketing used class and taste signifiers such as modern, contemporary and “Danish” to reinforce this connection to effect an emotional and aspirational appeal. These messages were coded to position the set as an effective transmitter of modernist values and to target parents with the ambition to create “appropriately modern” environments for their children. References Ancestry.com. “Historic Catalogs of Sears, Roebuck and Co., 1896–1993.” <http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1670>. Baker Furniture Inc. “Design Legacy: Our Story.” n.d. <http://www.bakerfurniture.com/design-story/ legacy-of-quality/design-legacy/>. Blade, Timothy Trent. “Introduction.” Child’s Play, Woman’s Work: An Exhibition of Miniature Toy Appliances: June 12, 1985–September 29, 1985. St. Paul: Goldstein Gallery, U Minnesota, 1985. Brown, Ashley. “Ilonka Karasz: Rediscovering a Modernist Pioneer.” Studies in the Decorative Arts 8.1 (2000-1): 69–91. Cross, Gary. “Gendered Futures/Gendered Fantasies: Toys as Representatives of Changing Childhood.” American Journal of Semiotics 12.1 (1995): 289–310. Dolansky, Fanny. “Playing with Gender: Girls, Dolls, and Adult Ideals in the Roman World.” Classical Antiquity 31.2 (2012): 256–92. Fallan, Kjetil. Scandinavian Design: Alternative Histories. Berg, 2012. Folkmann, Mads Nygaard, and Hans-Christian Jensen. “Subjectivity in Self-Historicization: Design and Mediation of a ‘New Danish Modern’ Living Room Set.” Design and Culture 7.1 (2015): 65–84. Hansen, Per H. “Networks, Narratives, and New Markets: The Rise and Decline of Danish Modern Furniture Design, 1930–1970.” The Business History Review 80.3 (2006): 449–83. Hedqvist, Hedvig, and Rebecka Tarschys. “Thoughts on the International Reception of Marimekko.” Marimekko: Fabrics, Fashions, Architecture. Ed. Marianne Aav. Bard. 2003. 149–71. Highmore, Ben. The Design Culture Reader. Routledge, 2008. Holland, Thomas W. Girls’ Toys of the Fifties and Sixties: Memorable Catalog Pages from the Legendary Sears Christmas Wishbooks, 1950-1969. Windmill, 1997. Hucal, Sarah. "Scandi Crush Saga: How Scandinavian Design Took over the World." Curbed, 23 Mar. 2016. <http://www.curbed.com/2016/3/23/11286010/scandinavian-design-arne-jacobsen-alvar-aalto-muuto-artek>. 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Huston. “Development of Sex-Typed Play Behavior in Toddlers.” Developmental Psychology, 21.5 (1985): 866–71. Olivarez, Jennifer Komar, Jukka Savolainen, and Juulia Kauste. Finland: Designed Environments. Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Nordic Heritage Museum, 2014. Oswell, David. The Agency of Children: From Family to Global Human Rights. Cambridge UP, 2013. Prown, Jules David. “Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method.” Winterthur Portfolio 17.1 (1982): 1–19. Punchard, Lorraine May. Child’s Play: Play Dishes, Kitchen Items, Furniture, Accessories. Punchard, 1982. Ranalli, Kristina. An Act Apart: Tea-Drinking, Play and Ritual. Master's thesis. U Delaware, 2013. Sears Corporate Archives. “What Is a Sears Modern Home?” n.d. <http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/index.htm>. "Target Announces New Design Partnership with Marimekko: It’s Finnish, Target Style." Target, 2 Mar. 2016. <http://corporate.target.com/article/2016/03/marimekko-for-target>. 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Abstract:

Introduction In November 2020, upon learning that the company’s Covid-19 vaccine trial had been successful, the head of Pfizer’s Vaccine Research and Development, Kathrin Jansen, celebrated with champagne – “some really good stuff” (Cohen). Bubbles seem to go naturally with celebration, and champagne is fundamentally associated with bubbles. Yet, until the late-seventeenth century, champagne was a still wine, and it only reached the familiar levels of bubbliness in the late-nineteenth century (Harding). During this period and on into the early twentieth century, “champagne” was in many ways created, defined, and defended. A “champagne bubble” was created, within which the “nature” of champagne was contested and constructed. Champagne today is the result of hundreds of years of labour by many sorts of bubble-makers: those who make the bubbly drink, and those who construct, maintain, and defend the champagne bubble. In this article, I explore some elements of the champagne bubble, in order to understand both its fragility and rigidity over the years and today. Creating the Champagne Bubble – the Labour of Centuries It is difficult to separate the physical from the mythical as regards champagne. Therefore the categorisations below are always overlapping, and embedded in legal, political, economic, and socio-cultural factors. Just as assemblage – the mixing of wine from different grapes – is an essential element of champagne wine, the champagne bubble may be called heterogeneous assemblage. Indeed, the champagne bubble, as we will see below, is a myriad of different sorts of bubbles, such as terroir, appellation, myth and brand. And just as any assemblage, its heterogeneous elements exist and operate in relation to each other. Therefore the “champagne bubble” discussed here is both one and many, all of its elements fundamentally interconnected, constituting that “one” known as “champagne”. It is not my intention to be comprehensive of all the elements, historical and contemporary. Indeed, that would not be possible within such a short article. Instead, I seek to demonstrate some of the complexity of the champagne bubble, noting the elaborate labour that has gone into its creation. The Physical Champagne and Champagne – from Soil to Bubbles Champagne means both a legally protected geographical area (Champagne), and the wine (here: champagne) produced in this area from grapes defined as acceptable: most importantly pinot noir, pinot meunier (“black” grapes), and chardonnay (“white” grape). The method of production, too, is regulated and legally protected: méthode champenoise. Although the same method is used in numerous locations, these must be called something different: metodo classico (Italy), método tradicional (Spain), Methode Cap Classique (South Africa). The geographical area of Champagne was first legally defined in 1908, when it only included the areas of Marne and Aisne, leaving out, most importantly, the area of Aube. This decision led to severe unrest and riots, as the Aube vignerons revolted in 1911, forcing the inclusion of “zone 2”: Aube, Haute-Marne, and Seine-et-Marne (Guy). Behind these regulations was a surge in fraudulent production in the early twentieth century, as well as falling wine prices resulting from increasing supply of cheap wines (Colman 18). These first appellations d’origine had many consequences – they proved financially beneficial for the “zone 1”, but less so for the “zone 2”. When both these areas were brought under the same appellation in 1927, the financial benefits were more limited – but this may have been due to the Great Depression triggered in 1929 (Haeck et al.). It is a long-standing belief that the soil and climate of Champagne are key contributors to the quality of champagne wines, said to be due to “conditions … most suitable for making this type of wine” (Simon 11). Already in the end of the nineteenth century, the editor of Vigneron champenois attributed champagne’s quality to “a fortunate combination of … chalky soil … [and] unrivalled exposure [to the sun]” (Guy 119) among other things. Factors such as soil and climate, commonly included in and expressed through the idea of terroir, undoubtedly influence grapes and wines made thereof, but the extent remains unproven. Indeed, terroir itself is a very contested concept (Teil; Inglis and Almila). It is also the case that climate change has had, and will continue to have, devastating effects on wine production in many areas, while benefiting others. The highly successful English sparkling wine production, drawing upon know-how from the Champagne area, has been enabled by the warming climate (Inglis), while Champagne itself is at risk of becoming too hot (Robinson). Champagne is made through a process more complicated than most wines. I present here the bare bones of it, to illustrate the many challenges that had to be overcome to enable its production in the scale we see today. Freshly picked grapes are first pressed and the juice is fermented. Grape juice contains natural yeasts and therefore will ferment spontaneously, but fermentation can also be started with artificial yeasts. In fermentation, alcohol and carbon dioxide (CO2) are formed, but the latter usually escapes the liquid. The secret of champagne is its second fermentation, which happens in bottles, after wines from different grapes and/or vineyards have been blended for desired characteristics (assemblage). For the second fermentation, yeast and sugar are added. As the fermentation happens inside a bottle, the CO2 that is created does not escape, but dissolves into the wine. The average pressure inside a champagne bottle in serving temperature is around 5 bar – 5 times the pressure outside the bottle (Liger-Belair et al.). The obvious challenge this method poses has to do with managing the pressure. Exploding bottles used to be a common problem, and the manner of sealing bottles was not very developed, either. Seventeenth-century developments in bottle-making, and using corks to seal bottles, enabled sparkling wines to be produced in the first place (Leszczyńska; Phillips 137). Still today, champagne comes in heavy-bottomed bottles, sealed with characteristically shaped cork, which is secured with a wire cage known as muselet. Scientific innovations, such as calculating the ideal amount of sugar for the second fermentation in 1836, also helped to control the amount of gas formed during the second fermentation, thus making the behaviour of the wine more predictable (Leszczyńska 265). Champagne is characteristically a “manufactured” wine, as it involves several steps of interference, from assemblage to dosage – sugar added for flavour to most champagnes after the second fermentation (although there are also zero dosage champagnes). This lends champagne particularly suitable for branding, as it is possible to make the wine taste the same year after year, harvest after harvest, and thus create a distinctive and recognisable house style. It is also possible to make champagnes for different tastes. During the nineteenth century, champagnes of different dosage were made for different markets – the driest for the British, the sweetest for the Russians (Harding). Bubbles are probably the most striking characteristic of champagne, and they are enabled by the complicated factors described above. But they are also formed when the champagne is poured in a glass. Natural impurities on the surface of the glass provide channels through which the gas pockets trapped in the wine can release themselves, forming strains of rising bubbles (Liger-Belair et al.). Champagne glasses have for centuries differed from other wine glasses, often for aesthetic reasons (Harding). The bubbles seem to do more than give people aesthetic pleasure and sensory experiences. It is often claimed that champagne makes you drunk faster than other drinks would, and there is, indeed, some (limited) research showing that this may well be the case (Roberts and Robinson; Ridout et al.). The Mythical Champagne – from Dom Pérignon to Modern Wonders Just as the bubbles in a champagne glass are influenced by numerous forces, so the metaphorical champagne bubble is subject to complex influences. Myth-creation is one of the most significant of these. The origin of champagne as sparkling wine is embedded in the myth of Dom Pérignon of Hautvillers monastery (1638–1715), who according to the legend would have accidentally developed the bubbles, and then enthusiastically exclaimed “I am drinking the stars!” (Phillips 138). In reality, bubbles are a natural phenomenon provoked by winter temperatures deactivating the fermenting yeasts, and spring again reactivating them. The myth of Dom Pérignon was first established in the nineteenth century and quickly embraced by the champagne industry. In 1937, Moët et Chandon launched a premium champagne called Dom Pérignon, which enjoys high reputation until this day (Phillips). The champagne industry has been active in managing associations connected with champagne since the nineteenth century. Sparkling champagnes had already enjoyed fashionability in the later seventeenth and early eighteenth century, both in the French Court, and amongst the British higher classes. In the second half of the nineteenth century, champagne found ever increasing markets abroad, and the clientele was not aristocratic anymore. Before the 1860s, champagne’s association was with high status celebration, as well as sexual activity and seduction (Harding; Rokka). As the century went on, and champagne sales radically increased, associations with “modernity” were added: “hot-air balloons, towering steamships, transcontinental trains, cars, sports, and other ‘modern’ wonders were often featured in quickly proliferating champagne advertising” (Rokka 280). During this time, champagne grew both drier and more sparkling, following consumer tastes (Harding). Champagne’s most important markets in later nineteenth century included the UK, where the growing middle classes consumed champagne for both celebration and hospitality (Harding), the US, where (upper) middle-class women were served champagne in new kinds of consumer environments (Smith; Remus), and Russia, where the upper classes enjoyed sweeter champagne – until the Revolution (Phillips 296). The champagne industry quickly embraced the new middle classes in possession of increasing wealth, as well as new methods of advertising and marketing. What is remarkable is that they managed to integrate enormously varied cultural thematics and still retain associations with aristocracy and luxury, while producing and selling wine in industrial scale (Harding; Rokka). This is still true today: champagne retains a reputation of prestige, despite large-scale branding, production, and marketing. Maintaining and Defending the Bubble: Formulas, Rappers, and the Absolutely Fabulous Tipplers The falling wine prices and increasing counterfeit wines coincided with Europe’s phylloxera crisis – the pest accidentally brought over from North America that almost wiped out all Europe’s vineyards. The pest moved through Champagne in the 1890s, killing vines and devastating vignerons (Campbell). The Syndicat du Commerce des vins de Champagne had already been formed in 1882 (Rokka 280). Now unions were formed to fight phylloxera, such as the Association Viticole Champenoise in 1898. The 1904 Fédération Syndicale des Vignerons was formed to lobby the government to protect the name of Champagne (Leszczyńska 266) – successfully, as we have seen above. The financial benefits from appellations were certainly welcome, but short-lived. World War I treated Champagne harshly, with battle lines stuck through the area for years (Guy 187). The battle went on also in the lobbying front. In 1935, a new appellation regime was brought into law, which came to be the basis for all European systems, and the Comité National des appellations d'origine (CNAO) was founded (Colman 1922). Champagne’s protection became increasingly international, and continues to be so today under EU law and trade deals (European Commission). The post-war recovery of champagne relied on strategies used already in the “golden years” – marketing and lobbying. Advertising continued to embrace “luxury, celebration, transport (extending from air travel to the increasingly popular automobile), modernity, sports” (Guy 188). Such advertisem*nt must have responded accurately to the mood of post-war, pre-depression Europe. Even in the prohibition US it was known that the “frivolous” French women might go as far as bathe in champagne, like the popular actress Mistinguett (Young 63). Curiously, in the 1930s Soviet Russia, “champagne” (not produced in Champagne) was declared a sign of good living, symbolising the standard of living that any Soviet worker had access to (at least in theory) (Gronow). Today, the reputation of champagne is fiercely defended in legal terms. This is not only in terms of protection against other sparkling wine making areas, but also in terms of exploitation of champagne’s reputation by actors in other commercial fields, and even against mass market products containing genuine champagne (Mahy and d’Ath; Schneider and Nam). At the same time, champagne has been widely “democratised” by mass production, enabled partly by increasing mechanisation and scientification of champagne production from the 1950s onwards (Leszczyńska 266). Yet champagne retains its association with prestige, luxury, and even royalty. This has required some serious adaptation and flexibility. In what follows, I look into three cultural phenomena that illuminate processes of such adaptation: Formula One (F1) champagne spraying, the 1990s sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, and the Cristal racism scandal in 2006. The first champagne bottle is said to have been presented to F1 grand prix winner in Champagne in 1950 (Wheels24). Such a gesture would have been fully in line with champagne’s association with cars, sport, and modernity. But what about the spraying? Surely that is not in line with the prestige of the wine? The first spraying is attributed to Jo Siffert in 1966 and Dan Gurney in 1967, the former described as accidental, the latter as a spontaneous gesture of celebration (Wheels24; Dobie). Moët had become the official supplier of F1 champagnes in 1966, and there are no signs that the new custom would have been problematic for them, as their sponsorship continued until 1999, after which Mumm sponsored the sport for 15 years. Today, the champagne to be popped and sprayed is Chanson, in special bottles “coated in the same carbon fibre that F1 cars are made of” (Wheels24). Such an iconic status has the spraying gained that it features in practically all TV broadcasts concerning F1, although non-alcoholic substitute is used in countries where sale of alcohol is banned (Barker et al., “Quantifying”; Barker et al., “Alcohol”). As disturbing as the champagne spraying might look for a wine snob, it is perfectly in line with champagne’s marketing history and entrepreneurial spirit shown since the nineteenth century. Nor is it unheard of to let champagne spray. The “art” of sabrage, opening champagne bottle with a sable, associated with glamour, spectacle, and myth – its origin is attributed to Napoleon and his officers – is perfectly acceptable even for the snob. Sparkling champagne was always bound up with joy and celebration, not a solemn drink, and the champagne bubble was able to accommodate middle classes as well as aristocrats. This brings us to our second example, the British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. The show, first released in 1992, featured two women, “Eddy” (Jennifer Saunders) and “Patsy” (Joanna Lumley), who spent their time happily smoking, taking drugs, and drinking large quantities of “Bolly” (among other things). Bollinger champagne may have initially experienced “a bit of a shock” for being thus addressed, but soon came to see the benefits of fame (French). In 2005, they hired PR support to make better use of the brand’s “Ab Fab” recognisability, and to improve its prestige reputation in order to justify their higher price range (Cann). Saunders and Lumley were warmly welcomed by the Bollinger house when filming for their champagne tour Absolutely Champers (2017). It is befitting indeed that such controversial fame came from the UK, the first country to discover sparkling champagne outside France (Simon 48), and where the aspirational middle classes were keen to consume it already in the nineteenth century (Harding). More controversial still is the case of Cristal (made by Louis Roederer) and the US rap world. Enthusiastically embraced by the “bling-bling” world of (black) rappers, champagne seems to fit their ethos well. Cristal was long favoured as both a drink and a word in rap lyrics. But in 2006, the newly appointed managing director at the family owned Roederer, Frédéric Rouzaud, made comments considered racist by many (Woodland). Rouzard told in an interview with The Economist that the house observed the Cristal-rap association “with curiosity and serenity”. He reportedly continued: “but what can we do? We can’t forbid people from buying it. I’m sure Dom Pérignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business”. It was indeed those two brands that the rapper Jay-Z replaced Cristal with, when calling for a boycott on Cristal. It would be easy to dismiss Rouzard’s comments as snobbery, or indeed as racism, but they merit some more reflection. Cristal is the premium wine of a house that otherwise does not enjoy high recognisability. While champagne’s history involves embracing new sorts of clientele, and marketing flexibly to as many consumer groups as possible (Rokka), this was the first spectacular crossing of racial boundaries. It was always the case that different houses and their different champagnes were targeted at different clienteles, and it is apparent that Cristal was not targeted at black rap artists. Whereas Bollinger was able to turn into a victory the questionable fame brought by the white middle-class association of Absolutely Fabulous, the more prestigious Cristal considered the attention of the black rapper world more threatening and acted accordingly. They sought to defend their own brand bubble, not the larger champagne bubble. Cristal’s reputation seems to have suffered little – its 2008 vintage, launched in 2018, was the most traded wine of that year (Schultz). Jay-Z’s purchase of his own champagne brand (Armand de Brignac, nicknamed Ace of Spades) has been less successful reputation-wise (Greenburg). It is difficult to break the champagne bubble, and it may be equally difficult to break into it. Conclusion In this article, I have looked into the various dilemmas the “bubble-makers” of Champagne encountered when fabricating what is today known as “champagne”. There have been moments of threat to the bubble they formed, such as in the turn of nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and eras of incomparable success, such as from the 1860s to 1880s. The discussion has demonstrated the remarkable flexibility with which the makers and defenders of champagne have responded to challenges, and dealt with material, socio-cultural, economic, and other problems. It feels appropriate to end with a note on the current challenge the champagne industry faces: Covid-19. The pandemic hit champagne sales exceptionally hard, leaving around 100 million bottles unsold (Micallef). This was not very surprising, given the closure of champagne-selling venues, banning of public and private celebrations, and a general mood not particularly prone to (or even likely to frown upon) such light-hearted matters as glamour and champagne. Champagne has survived many dramatic drops in sales during the twentieth century, such as the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the post-financial crisis collapse in 2009. Yet they seem to be able to make astonishing recoveries. Already, there are indicators that many people consumed more champagne during the festive end-of-year season than in previous years (Smithers). For the moment, it looks like the champagne bubble, despite its seeming fragility, is practically indestructible, no matter how much its elements may suffer under various pressures and challenges. References Barker, Alexander, Magdalena Opazo-Breton, Emily Thomson, John Britton, Bruce Granti-Braham, and Rachael L. Murray. “Quantifying Alcohol Audio-Visual Content in UK Broadcasts of the 2018 Formula 1 Championship: A Content Analysis and Population Exposure.” BMJ Open 10 (2020): e037035. <https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/8/e037035>. Barker, Alexander B., John Britton, Bruce Grant-Braham, and Rachael L. Murray. “Alcohol Audio-Visual Content in Formula 1 Television Broadcasting.” BMC Public Health 18 (2018): 1155. <https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-018-6068-3>. Campbell, Christy. 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Abstract:

Wearing clothing from the past is all the rage now. Different styles and aesthetics of vintage and historical clothing, original or appropriated, are popular with fashion wearers and home sewers. Social media is rich with images of anachronistic clothing and the major pattern companies have a large range of historical sewing patterns available. Butterick McCall, for example, have a Making History range of patterns for sewers of clothing from a range of historical periods up to the 1950s. The 1950s styled fashion is particularly popular with pattern producers. Yet little research exists that explains why anachronistic clothing is all the rage. Drawing on 28 interviews conducted by the author with women who wear/make 1950s styles clothing and a survey of 229 people who wear/make historical clothing, this article outlines four key reasons that help explain the popularity of wearing/making anachronistic clothing: It argues that there exists rage against four ‘fast fashion’ practices: environmental disregard, labour breaches, poor quality, and poor fit. Ethical consumption practices such as home sewing quality clothes that fit, seeks to ameliorate this rage. That much of what is being made is anachronistic speaks to past sewing techniques that were ethical and produced quality fitting garments rather than fashion today that doesn’t fit, is of poor quality, and it unethical in its production. Fig. 1: Craftivist Collective Rage: Protesting Fast FashionRage against Fast Fashion Rage against fast fashion is not new. Controversies over Disney and Nike’s use of child labour in the 1990s, the anti-fur campaigns of the 1980s, the widespread condemnation of factory conditions in Bangladesh in the wake of the 2016 Rana Plaza collapse and Tess Holiday’s Eff Your Beauty Standards campaign, are evidence of this. Fast fashion is “cheap, trendy clothing, that samples ideas from the catwalk or celebrity culture and turns them into garments … at breakneck speed” (Rauturier). It is produced cheaply in short turnarounds, manufactured offshore by slave labour, with the industry hiding these exploitative practices behind, and in, complex supply chains. The clothing is made from poor quality material, meaning it doesn’t last, and the material is not environmentally sustainable. Because of this fast fashion is generally not recycled and ends up as waste in landfills. This for Rauturier is what fast fashion is: “cheap, low quality materials, where clothes degrade after just a few wears and get thrown away”. The fast fashion industry engages in two discrete forms of obsolescence; planned and perceived. Planned obsolescence is where clothes are designed to have a short life-span, thus coercing the consumer into buying a replacement item sooner than intended. Claims that clothes now last only a few washes before falling apart are common in the media (Dunbar). This is due to conscious manufacturing techniques that reduce the lifespan of the clothes including using mixed fibres, poor-quality interfacing, and using polyester threads, to name a few. Perceived obsolescence is where the consumer believes an otherwise functioning item of clothing to no longer to be valued. This is borne out in the idea that an item is deemed to be “in vogue” or “in fashion” and its value to the consumer is thus embedded in that quality. Once it falls out of fashion is deemed worthless. Laver’s “fashion cycle” elucidated this idea over eighty years ago. Since the 1980s the fashion industry has sped up, moving from the traditional twice annual fashion seasons to the fast fashion system of constantly manufacturing new styles, sometimes weekly. The technologies that have allowed the rapid manufacturing of fast fashion mean that the clothes are cheaper and more readily available. The average price of clothing has dropped accordingly. An item that cost US$100 in 1993 only cost US$59.10 in 2013, a drop of 41 per cent (Perry, Chart). The average person in 2014 bought 60 per cent more clothing that they did in 2000. Fast fashion is generally unsaleable in the second-hand market, due to its volume and poor design and manufacture. Green notes that many charity clothing stores bin a large percentage of the fast fashion items they receive. Environmental Rage Consumers are increasingly expressing rage about the environmental impact of fast fashion. The production of different textiles places different stresses on the environment. Cotton, for example, accounts for one third of the fibres found in all textiles, yet it requires high levels of water. A single cotton shirt needs 2,700 litres of water alone, the equivalent to “what one person drinks in two-and-a-half years” (Drew & Yehounme). Synthetics don’t represent an environmentally friendly alternative. While they may need less water, they are more carbon-intensive and polyester has twice the carbon footprint of cotton (Drew & Yehounme). Criticisms of fast fashion also include “water pollution, the use of toxic chemicals and increasing levels of textile waste”. Textile dyeing is the “second largest polluter of clean water globally.” The inclusion of chemical in the manufacturing of textiles is “disruptive to hormones and carcinogenic” (Perry, Cost). Naomi Klein’s exposure of the past problems of fast fashion, and revelations such as these, inform why consumers are enraged by the fast fashion system. The State of Fashion 2019 Report found many of the issues Klein interrogated remain of concern to consumers. Consumers continue to feel enraged at the industry’s disregard for the environment (Shaw et al.) any many are seeking alternative sources of sustainable fashion. For some consumers, the ethical dilemmas are overcome by purchasing second-hand or recycled clothing, or participate in Clothing Exchanges. Another alternative to ameliorating the rage is to stop buying new clothes and to make and wear their own clothes. A recent article in The Guardian, “’Don’t Feed the Monster!’ The People Who Have Stopped Buying New Clothes” highlights the “growing movement” of people seeking to make a “personal change” in response to the ethical dilemmas fast fashion poses to the environment. While political groups like Fashion of Tomorrow argue for collective legislative changes to ensure environmental sustainability in the industry, consumers are also finding their own individual ways of ameliorating their rage against fast fashion. Over recent decades Australians have consistently shown concern over environmental issues. A 2016 national survey found that 63 per cent of Australians considered themselves to be environmentalists and this is echoed in the ABC’s War on Waste programme which examined attitudes to and effects of clothing waste in Australia. In my interviews with women wearing 1950s style clothing, almost 65 per cent indicated a distinct dissatisfaction with mainstream fashion and frustration particularly with pernicious ‘fast fashion’. One participant offered, “seeing the War on Waste and all the fast fashion … I really like if I can get it second hand … you know I feel like I am helping a little bit” [Gabrielle]. Traid, a network of UK charity clothes shops diverts 3 000 tonnes of clothes from landfill to the second-hand market annually, reported for 2017-18 a 30 per cent increase in its second-hand clothes sales (Coccoza). The Internet has helped expand the second-hand clothing market. Two participants offered these insights: “I am completely addicted to the Review Buy Swap and Sell Page” [Anna] and “Instagram is huge for girls like us to communicate and get ideas” [Ashleigh]. Slave Rage The history of fashion is replete with examples of exploitation of workers. From the seamstresses of France in the eighteenth century who had to turn to prostitution to supplement their meagre wages (Jones 16) to the twenty-first century sweatshop workers earning less than a living wage in developing nations, poor work conditions have plagued the industry. For Karl Marx fashion represented a contradiction within capitalism where labour was exploited to create a mass-produced item. He lambasted the fashion industry and its “murderous caprices”, and despite his dream that the invention of the sewing machine would alleviate the stress placed on garment workers, technology has only served to intensify its demands on its poor workers (Sullivan 36-37). The 2013 Rena Plaza factory disaster shows just how far some sections of the industry are willing to go in their race to the bottom.In the absence of enforceable, global fair-trade initiatives, it is hard for consumers to purchase goods that reflect their ethos (Shaw et al. 428). While there is much more focus on better labour practices in the fashion industry, as the Baptist World Aid Australia’s annual Ethical Fashion Report shows, consumers are still critical of the industry and its labour practices.A significant number of participants in my research indicated that they actively sought to purchase products that were produced free from worker exploitation. For some participants, the purchasing of second-hand clothing allowed them to circumnavigate the fast fashion system. For others, mid-century reproduction fashion was sourced from markets with strong labour laws and “ethically made” without the use of sweat shop labour” [Emma]. Alternatively, another participant rejected buying new vintage fashion and instead purchased originally made fashion, in this case clothing made 50 to 60 years ago. This was one was of ensuring “some poor … person has [not] had to work really hard for very little money … [while the] shop is gaining all the profits” [Melissa]. Quality Rage Planned obsolescence in fashion has existed at least since the 1940s when Dupont ensured their nylon stockings were thin enough to ladder to ensure repeat custom (Meynen). Since then manufacturers have deliberately used poor techniques and poor material – blended fabrics, unfinished seams, unfixed dyes, for example – to ensure that clothes fail quickly. A 2015 UK Barnardo’s survey found clothes were worn an average of just seven times, which is not surprising given that clothes can last as little as two washes before being worn out (Dunbar). Extreme planned obsolescence in concert with perceived obsolescence can lead to clothes being discarded before their short lifespan had expired. The War on Waste interviewed young women who wore clothes sometimes only once before discarding them.Not all women are concerned with keeping up to date with fashion, instead wanting to create their own identify though clothes and are therefore looking for durability in their clothes. Many of the women interviewed for this research were aware of the declining quality of clothes, often referring to those made before the fast fashion era as evidence of quality clothing. For many in this study, manufacturing of classically styled clothing was of higher concern than mimicking the latest fashion trend. Some indicated their “disgust” at the poor quality of fast fashion [Gabrielle]. Others has specific outrage at the cost of poorly made fast fashion: “I don’t like spending a lot of money on clothing that I know may not necessarily be well made” [Skye] and “I got sick of dresses just being see through … you know, seeing my bras under things” [Becky]. For another: “I don’t like the whole mass-produced thing. I don’t think that they are particularly well made … Sometimes they are made with a tiny waist but big boobs, there’s no seams on them, they’re just overlocked together …” [Vicky]. For other participants in this research fast fashion produced items were considered inferior to original items. One put it is this way: “[On using vintage wares] If something broke, you fixed it. You didn’t throw it away and go down to [the shop] and buy a new one ... You look at stuff from these days … you could buy a handbag today and you are like “is this going to be here in two years? Or is it going to fall apart in my hands?” … there’s that strength and durability that I do like” [Ashleigh]. For another, “vintage reproduction stuff is so well made, it’s not like fast fashion, like Vivien of Holloway and Pin Up Girl Clothing, their pieces last forever, they don’t fall apart after five washes like fast fashion” [Emma]. The following encapsulates the rage felt in response to fast fashion. I think a lot of people are wearing true vintage clothing more often as a kind of backlash to the whole fast fashion scene … you could walk into any shop and you could see a lot of clothing that is very, very cheap, but it’s also very cheaply made. You are going to wear it and it’s going to fall apart in six months and that is not something that I want to invest in. [Melissa]Fit RageFit is a multi-faceted issue that affects consumers in several ways: body size; body shape; and height. Body size refers to the actual physical size of the body, whether one is underweight, slim, average, muscular or fat. Fast fashion body size labelling reflects what the industry considers to be of ‘normal sizes’, ranging from a size 8 through to a size 16 (Hackett & Rall). Body shape is a separate, if not entirely discrete issue. Women differ widely in the ratios between their hips, bust and waist. Body shape distribution varies widely within populations, for example, the ‘Size USA’ study identified 11 different female body shapes with wide variations between populations (Lee et al.). Even this doesn’t consider bodies with physical disabilities. Clothing is designed to fit women of ‘average’ height, thus bodies that are taller or shorter are often excluded from fast fashion (Valtonen). Even though Australian sizing practices are based on erroneous historical data (Hackett and Rall; Kennedy), the fast fashion system continues to manufacture for average body shapes and average body heights, to the exclusion of others. Discrimination through clothing sizes represents one way in which social norms are reinforced. Garments for larger women are generally regarded as less fashionable (Peters 48). Enraged consumers label some of the offerings ‘fat sacks’, ‘tents’ and ‘camouflage wear’ (Colls 591-592). Further, plus size is often more expensive and having been ‘sized up’ from smaller sizes, the result is poor fit. Larger body’s therefore have less autonomy in fashioning their identity (Peters 45). Size restrictions can lead to consumers having to choose between going without a desired item or wearing a size too small for them as no larger alternative is available (Laitala et al. 33-34).The ideology behind the thin aesthetic is that it is framed as aspirational (Barry) and thus consumers are motivated to purchase clothes based upon a desire to fit in with this beauty ideal. This is a false dichotomy (Halliwell and Dittmar 105; Bian and Wang). For participants in this research rage at fashion fashions persistance in producing for ‘average’ sized women was clearly evident. For a plus-size participant: “I don’t suit modern stuff. I’m a bigger girl and that’s not what style is these days. And so, I find it just doesn’t work for me” [Ashleigh]. For non-plus participants, sizing rage was also evident: I’m just like a praying mantis, a long string bean. I’m slim, tall … I do have the body shape … that fast fashion catered for, and I can still dress in fast fashion, but I think the idea that so many women feel excluded by that kind of fashion, I just want to distance myself from it. So, so many women have struggles in the change rooms in shopping centres because things don’t fit them nicely. [Emma] For this participant reproduction fashion wasn’t vanity sized. That is, a dress from the 1950s had the body measurements on the label rather than a number reflecting an arbitrary and erroneous sizing system. Some noted their disregard for standardised sizing systems used exclusively for fast fashion: “I have very non-standard measurements … I don’t buy dresses for that reason … My bust and my waist and my hips don’t fit a standard. You know I can’t go “ooh that’s a 12, that’s an 18”. You know, I don’t believe in standard sizing basically” [Skye]. Variations of sizing by brands adds to the frustration of fashion consumers: “if someone says 'I’m a size 16' that means absolutely nothing. If you go between brands … [shop A] XXL to a [shop B] to a [shop C] XXL to a [shop D] XXL, you know … they’re not the same. They won’t fit the same, they don’t have the same fit” [Skye]. These women recognise that their body shape, size and/or height is not catered for by fast fashion. This frees them to look for alternatives beyond the product offerings of the mainstream fashion industry. Although the rage against aspects of fast fashion discussed here – environmental, labour, quality and fit – is not seeing people in the streets protesting, people are actively choosing to find alternatives to the problem of sourcing clothes that fit their ethos. ReferencesABC Television. "Coffee Cups and Fast Fashion." War on Waste. 30 May 2017. Barnardo's. 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