The challenge of articulating human rights at an LGBT ‘mega-event’: a personal reflection on Sao Paulo Pride 2017

Abstract

This paper brings together Critical Event Studies (CES) and a reflexive/narrative autoethnographic approach in order to stimulate a debate around the commodification of public space, and the management of mega-events of dissent. This is achieved using the example of the researcher’s participation in the 2017 Sao Paulo Pride. Sao Paulo Pride is one of the largest LGBT demonstrations in the world. However, corporate interests in the event have commodified dissent in order to commercialise ‘otherness’, and the city has absorbed the demonstration into its cultural offer as a global brand. The confluence of these factors produces a pattern of place dressing and erasure that depoliticise the event and undermines its capacity to effectively articulate human rights. Currently Brazil has some of the most liberal LGBT laws of any South American state, yet recently Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)/Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) human rights have been threatened by a rapid rise in hate crime and the emergence of an evangelical Christian right in state and regional assemblies. Within such a context the need to revive the roots of Pride as an articulation of otherness that demands recognition, and as a robust defence of human rights for the LGBT/SOGI community, is more pressing than ever.     

The impact of seasonality on tourism and hospitality operations in the alpine region of New South Wales,Australia

Despite the recognized importance of seasonality for tourism businesses, there has been a distinct lack of studies undertaken in the past that discuss the impact of seasonality on alpine accommodation resorts, and more specifically that focus on an Australian location. The main purpose of this study was to examine whether or not the Australian alpine accommodation providers and ski operations have been significantly impacted by the issue of seasonality and to determine more specifically, had there been industry pressure placed on them to become all season operations? For this study, a total of 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers of hospitality businesses located in the sub-alpine region of Jindabyne, and nearby alpine areas of Perisher and Thredbo in New South Wales, Australia. Study results indicated that the majority of managers acknowledged the fact that there has been an increase in the number of summer visitors each year which has pressured them to make changes to their operations. They conceded that such activity has served to reinforce a ‘stand alone’ mindset which was still prevalent amongst the majority of the managers in the region.     

Environmental protection and management: A water pollution case study within the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area,Australia

The Grose River is contained almost entirely within a World Heritage Area. While sewage pollution in the area has been addressed, pollution at damaging levels continues from a disused coal mine, closed in 1997. Despite some surface rehabilitation, no action has occurred to remediate zinc polluted waters emanating from the mine. We examine the historical regulation and management of the Australian Commonwealth and New South Wales governments and highlight gaps in both regulatory systems. We conclude that there is an urgent need to improve regulation of water pollution, mining and management of the environment in highly valued world heritage areas.     

Expected revenue of all-pay auctions and first-price sealed-bid auctions with budget constraints

We show that all-pay auctions dominate first-price sealed-bid auctions when bidders face budget constraints. This ranking is explained by the fact that budget constraints bind less frequently in the all-pay auctions, which leads to more aggressive bidding in that format.     

Budgetary control within the hotel industry

This paper is divided into two distinct parts and within these parts it follows the following lines of progression. The major division in the paper is between a look at the accepted theory that underpins any research in this area with comments on its likely effects on the organizations under scrutiny, and a look at the case studies that were constructed as a result of undertaking research into several hotel and leisure companies with the aim of gaining a representative cross-section of the industry and its budgetary control techniques.     

Awareness as a foundation for developing effective spatial data infrastructures

The development of an effective spatial data infrastructure (SDI) often occurs in a fragmented organizational environment requiring a high level of inter-organizational collaboration. Different organizations from various jurisdictions need to work together closely when agreeing on how they will jointly register, store, use and share data and how they will make their data available to the wider society. However, this collaboration is generally regarded as very difficult. For example people often resist data sharing across organizational boundaries due to loss of control, power and independency. Organizational issues are thus considered one of the fundamental constraints to inter-organizational sharing of spatial data.     

Supply and demand of policy indicators

The aim of this article is to question the idea that all professional service organizations are undergoing a process of inter-archetype transformation. This idea, originating in organizational archetype theory, is now being used to interpret contemporary processes of change in British and other public sector services. Drawing on an example of management UK restructuring in social services during the 1990s – that of local authority social services in the UK – two main problems with this thesis are identified. First, this service demonstrates that ‘radical’ change has not occurred and that older professional values and working practices persist. Second, it reveals how, in at least one part of the public sector in the UK, management reforms have been partly undermined by a specific constellation of institutions and practices. These observations call for questioning the proposition that inter-archetype change is what has occurred and that current reforms will inevitably have this sort of transformational effect.