WORD CORNER
Rubber
Rubber is made from the milky sap of various tropical plants including the Hevea caoutchouc. Charles-Marie de La Condamine (1701-1774), a French soldier and explorer, went to South America in the 1730s and noted local rubber production techniques, calling the substance caoutchouc after the local term for ‘weeping wood’. Caoutchouc was named ‘rubber’ in the 1770s after English scientist Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) noticed that the substance could be used to erase pencil marks from paper. American inventor Charles Goodyear (1800-1860) discovered vulcanization (a method of treating rubber to make it strong and elastic) in 1839 when he accidentally dropped a mixture of rubber and sulphur on a hot stove.
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
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