Fix things Friday

[luzula]

Well hey, skygiants had this idea that every week you could write down the activism/volunteer stuff that you are doing, be it small or large. I'm not sure I'll be making a post on it every week, but I thought I'd try it once, anyway--it is a bit satisfying to see it written down like this.

So, this week I have:
- Attended a members' meeting of my union.
- Attended a lecture on syndicalism, not mainly to listen to it, but to help recruit interested people to the union. Recruited three people.
- Donated to the strike fund of the CSAAWU union in South Africa (their winery workers' strike has gotten attention in Sweden due to solidarity actions from unions in the Swedish state-monopoly alcohol stores).
- Donated to a local organization helping women who are forced into selling sex.
- Submitted critical comments about the environmental aspects of a government report on forestry stuff (this was a 12-page document which I drafted together with two other people; it took weeks).
- Finished the draft of a debate article on the same, which was published on a news site.
- Gave beta feedback on a debate article someone else wrote (a reply to some forest industry propaganda).
- Submitted a grant proposal to get funding for doing inventories of threatened Swedish old-growth forests (I did not write the project description/budget, but I did the various administrative stuff around it).

BTW, what is the English word for when a newspaper publishes your text which argues for a certain position? We call that "debattartikel" which is why I translated it into "debate article" above, but what's it actually called?

Comments

[the_rck]

Editorial.

[luzula]

Isn't that written by the editor (or other person at the newspaper) to reflect the paper's position, though? Or can it be written by anyone, and reflect any opinion (well, anything within accepted public discourse)?

[the_rck]

An editorial is written by some member of the newspaper staff or by an invited guest writer, basically someone being paid for the writing. Some editorial pages feature articles from people who disagree, either substantially or in details.

Anything not paid is a 'letter to the editor.'

[akamine_chan]

Op-ed?

[luzula]

Ah, okay. Maybe Swedish newspaper traditions are slightly different, then. We definitely have editorials as well, and we also have short pieces that anyone can send in, which are probably like what you call "letters to the editor". But all newspapers also contain longer, argumentative pieces often written by NGOs, politicians, industry leaders, etc. You just send them in and the newspaper can publish or reject them, but you don't get paid.

Other suggestions I've gotten is "opinion piece" and "op-ed".

[luzula]

Yeah, that seems very similar! Thanks.

[antisoppist]

Oh good, I've been trying to think of a good translation debattartikel for years! Sometimes I just use "piece", e.g. "XX's piece in Dagens Nyheter on X". I would assume editorial is written by the editor.

[calvinahobbes]

A letter to the editor is also argumentative, but based on your description here, op-ed is probably the best description. I never liked that word; it seems so specific and yet non-descriptive.

[blnchflr]

Many English scientific journals I come across at work use "Opinion" - but what a newspaper would use, don't know; op-ed seems correct?

[luzula]

"Op-ed" or "opinion piece" seems to come closest.

Wow, I'm so sick of writing the same damn arguments in "debattartiklar" about climate over and over again. It's like pouring water on a goose, it just runs straight off and the people I debate with often do not even bother to refute my criticism of their arguments, they just repeat their own instead. *sigh*

[luzula]

Yeah, that seems to be the closest one.

[kabal42]

Go you for your accomplishments! I do think the idea of sharing can be very inspiring. (And I do wish I had more to share myself, but activism has fallen victim to a very busy semester. I hope for next year!)

[luzula]

Well, you're a busy new grad student and also in a new town where you don't know what organizations are around yet, so don't feel bad about it. And thanks for the encouragement!

[desireearmfeldt]

What is the English word for when a newspaper publishes your text which argues for a certain position?

..."opinion piece" maybe?

[luzula]

Thanks! Someone over on DW suggested "editorial", but I would have guessed that to mean something written by the editor (or other person at the newspaper) to reflect the paper's position. What do you think?

[desireearmfeldt]

Yeah, I was considering "editorial," but as you say, I would default assume that was written by the staff of the newspaper, rather than by a freelance contributor.

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

What is the English word for when a newspaper publishes your text which argues for a certain position?
They are generally called 'Letters to the Editor', in the United States.

Editorials are opinion pieces written by one of the editors of the newspaper.

[hurry-sundown.livejournal.com]

You might call it an op-ed piece (it means "opposite the editorial page, which is where such pieces usually run).

Editorials are, as the name implies, written by the paper's editor or a member of the editorial staff, while an op-ed piece can be written by anyone - a member of the paper's general staff, a well-known person, or a member of the general public.

Also? Hi, Luz! *hug*

[luzula]

I got "op-ed" as a suggestion over on DW, I think that comes closest to what I meant.

[luzula]

Yeah, I got that suggestion over on DW as well; it seems to come closest to what I meant.

Hi! *hugs back* How are you doing?

[hurry-sundown.livejournal.com]

Do you want the polite response or the truth? *g* Still sick over the election, super busy at work, and nursing a miserable cold. Two of those things will be better by next week, but the other one? I refuse to actually move to Canada, because this is my country and I'm not about to let the Cheeto chase me out of it.

How's by you, darling?

[luzula]

That is the truthful response, right? : )

I feel for you. *hugs* And Sweden has its share of reactionaries and fascists; I only hope we're not going the same way as you guys.

Otherwise, I am busy but mostly not too busy, and I am blessed with good friends.