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Never a Conquered People by Abandon GawinWaya Shuman

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Never a Conquered People by Abandon GawinWaya Shuman

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The Issue: The Canadian Government has greenlighted Coastal Gas Link to put a pipeline through the unceded traditional lands of the Wet’suwet’en people (link to source). This action not only directly impacts the Wet’suwet’en and other indigenous people in Canada but also brings into the forefront the issue of indigenous sovereignty within a global context. The issue of the Canadian government,  Coastal Gas Link and the Wet’suwet’en people started in December of 2019 (see complete timeline here). But the issue of tribal sovereignty has been a contention for North American Indigenous communities has been for over 175 years (link to source).

Strength-Based Activism:

The Wet’suwet’en people are/have been sharing their interactions with Coastal Gas Link and the Canadian government on social media especially on Instagram. This serves to give authentic voice to this issue and also helps to keep their voice heard on a global scale as their stories and posts are shared over and over again. There have been many instances of peaceful protests including the blocking of railroads in by Indigenous people in Canada (link to article) and sit-ins and marches throughout Canada and even here in Seattle (Sit-ins here) (Seattle March here). All of these actions help to remind the world that Indigenous people have a voice and we may have to move within Capitalist, Imperialist structures (link to source here) but we are and will never be a conquered people.
*Both Songs "Electric Pow-Wow and The Virus are by A Tribe Called Red
*Poem used in Electric Pow-Wow Poem remix is "Gaawiin Awiya" by Abandon Shuman from their book Slowly; Or By Degrees"
*Electric Pow-Wow Poem remix is by Wesley Jones

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Thoughts on the Massage Parlor Raids in Seattle's Chinatown/International District

image from Seattle Times

I know that beneath the story of creating a new Chinatown/International District that is amenable to the increasingly white, non immigrant and affluent cultural sensibility of Seattle, lie also the stories of recent migrant Chinese workers for whom Chinatown/ID is both an abode and a place of work. I know the tall lady who leaned her back on the wall of the massage parlor window where neon lights flashed "OPEN," who told me she could not read my Chinese language flier. "I am not good at reading," she said sheepishly in Mandarin, her head cast down. "My daughter is though! I can bring it home to read." I remember too the harsh scent of garlic on the hands on the massage parlor worker who kneaded my back at the end of a long work day, sappy 90s Chinese pop playing in the background that brought me back to a familiar space. I wanted to ask him to wash his hands, and also, was he doubling as a worker in one of the restaurants in the vicinity coming in to give massage during his break time? How else could the smell of garlic be so strong?? And once, I did ask. It was when the hands of another massage parlor worker emitted that forceful stench of cigarette smoke. "Excuse me," I asked in Mandarin, "Could you wash your hands?" To which the lanky man with the floppy side bangs giggled, and apologized profusely, "I am so sorry! Good that you asked. We are all Chinese, no need to be too polite. It's my fault. I will go wash my hands now, OK?"

I frequent massage parlors in Chinatown/International District in part because of the draw of affordable massages after long work shifts on my feet, and in part, because the massage parlors are also a place of cultural familiarity.

I arrived in the US eighteen years ago as a first generation college student, wide eyed and excited about my fancy university scholarship, curious about this country that we were told to aspire to our whole lives. I am the child of my mother, a masseuse. I had spent many boring afternoons after school sitting in the salon doing my homework silently while my mother worked her magic on the faces of her customers, promising ageless skin-whitening beauty, marketing the traditional chinese medicine herbal cream she and my father concocted in our living room. Before traditional chinese medicine herbs became the new naturopathic medicine, or the new organic, my parents were mixing and grinding herbs for facial creams and powders. Selling dreams of chemical-free light beauty norms was my family's livelihood. She told me when I left home, "Use those skills wherever you are. Everyone loves massages, especially facial massages!" In one of our conversations after my arrival to the US, my mom, always the entrepreneur, suggested that I convert my university dorm room into a massage space. "Put up posters in your school. Charge $30 a person for an hour. I will mail you the massage book again so you can revise. Those white people will love it. You won't have to do those low paying jobs."

The 18 year old me protested. Mom, they will think I am a prostitute, or something, I respond. Asian women giving massage in private rooms is just sketchy!

"Why sketchy? What's the difference between a white lady giving massage and you? You charge less and it's in your family! We mail you the herbs too! No artificial ingredients or chemicals. Why you want to sell coffee instead of massage? You make less money for more time, it's stupid."

My youthful years mistook this pragmatic indignation for an uncouth sensibility. I was a college student scaling up, not yet another Asian female masseuse. In those early years, I felt a perpetual unnamed inferiority, unable to measure up to the cultured, intelligent air my university classmates and their families exuded. My mother and her antics were a constant reminder that I did not belong of that world.

So instead, I took on a work study job, selling coffee to sleepy college students at the cart outside the lecture halls for $6 an hour. After school I worked as the only Asian barista at the coffee shop on Wickenden Street. I learned to make the lattes and mochas and a lot of small talk for $7/hour. I was thankful to be like all my other classmates, just another regular college student making ends meet.

A choice I could afford, with the luxury of age, the English language, and a desire to reinvent myself. A choice inaccessible to many other immigrant women.

****

Chinatown/International District serves many roles - as a place of imagination and nostalgia, a place of livelihood and an abode. White America wants it to be the land of late night bar runs, slanted "asian font", appropriately ethnic and yet accessible to white sensibility: a smooth fusion with a foreign edge. For some Chinese Americans, it is a land of nostalgia and resilience - places their elders and families were raised, at at a time when Chinatown was a redlined district where ambulances and firefighters never arrived, where they now own real estate property in while living in the distant majority white suburbs. Some of these folks who experienced Chinatown before the Chinese became integrated as model minority in the American racial hierarchy, have a lot to say about who is authentically Chinese or not, who has access to Chinatown as cultural home, marking their legacies on the boundaries of Chinatown, Japan Town, Manila Town, Little Saigon as if lives and ethnicities were not more intertwined and intermixed back then and now. Chinatown/International District is also the workplace of many immigrants - those who work the massage parlors, the restaurants and the kitchens; It is also the living quarters of many people, some in homeless encampments before they were displaced in the the mayor's big sweeps, others are Asian elders who find company with one another as they gather weekly outside the ACRS food bank, or stroll along Hing Hay Park. I have been endearingly called "Little Comrade," by one of these elders whom I encountered while working my shift as a nurse in the nearby hospital. Mired in her delirium and dementia, our common tongue brought her back to the cultural references of her homeland. Chinatown/International District is a place where lives unfold - work, shelter, legacies and identities.

Enter the massage parlors.

Image from Seattle Times

Massage parlors are a contentious presence. In recent years, approximately 24 massage parlors sprung up in Chinatown/International District within the eight block radius. The prevailing theory is that in 2008, as a result of the Great Recession, Chinatown/International District, like the rest of the country, saw a loss in renters and began to accept less desirable leases. Massage parlor rentals were exactly that, undesirable but yet necessary in a dismal property market. The US government's biggest bail out of Wall Street with a $700 billion economic package in 2008 coincided with economic measures across the Pacific, albeit one of a different nature. The mainland Chinese government put forth a stimulus package to the tune of 4 billion RMB (approx $600 billion USD) for the Chinese population, aimed at infrastructure projects and public welfare spendings. These financial allocations had the effect of expanding the Chinese consumer market domestically, expanding the middle class and effectively also creating some surplus capital to increase liquidity in the world market.

Perhaps one could say, that Chinese-owned massage parlor rentals and proliferations across American cities at a time when all other businesses were breaking their leases, could well be a local analogy for how China's domestic economic policies in 2008 prevented the further decline of the Great Recession in US - an uneasy but necessary alliance.

Would it be too ludicrous, to say that it is also on the backs of these workers that the 2008 recession-era Chinatown/International District continued to make rent?

China's income inequality follows a story not uncommon to capitalist development - the rise of the middle class in China coincided with the increasing poverty of the rural population and their displacement into the cities, earning China the moniker of "factory of the world." Chinese capital flowed into the US in the form of real estate acquisitions, but also, in the form of easy businesses like massage parlors. To staff these parlors, the owners had no shortage of working class, poor women chasing the American Dream, some being duped to enter the US to work in massage parlors, some choosing (or not) within the constraints of options, to do sex work. Women, in China or elsewhere, charged with the responsibilities of elder and child care, share a common experience of having to do what they gotta do. Would it be too ludicrous, to say that it is also on the backs of these workers that the 2008 recession-era Chinatown/International District continued to make rent?

image from Nikkei Asian Review

Wealthy Chinese migration brings along with it also a trail of working class Chinese people who service them - from wives, to caregivers and other forms of gendered labor, including massages and sex work. Yet, class differences, poverty and possibly desperation are reduced, simply and derogatorily into "promiscuity."

An elder Chinese man I encountered at a Chinatown cafe said of massage parlors, "Those Northeastern girls [in the massage parlors] are the most promiscuous. Those from Hong Kong and Taiwan have more dignity. The Northerners will do anything you tell them to."

By "anything," he meant massages that stretched into happy endings and other forms of sexual interactions.

By "Northerners," he meant women from the Northeast/Dongbei region, otherwise known as the Rustbelt of China. Many massage parlor workers whom I met over the years, came from that region. Coincidentally, the Dongbei region is also the classic case study for the "breaking of the iron rice bowl" - where massive restructuring of the Chinese economy took place in the era of market reforms, privatizing previously state owned enterprises. The consequence is millions of workers losing lifetime employment and benefits, subsequently thrown into a flexible, volatile and low paying labor market. Poverty-driven displacement leading to migration, to try one's luck in the US. None of this is particularly unique to China but it is not the story that arises when we encounter Chinese migrants in our home areas.

Beneath the story of Chinese wealth and capital, of Chinese tech workers in Amazon and Microsoft, lie also the story of Chinese migrants, many female, from poorer regions of China into the heart of Seattle's Chinatown massage parlors. Wealthy Chinese migration brings along with it also a trail of working class Chinese people who service them - from wives, to caregivers and other forms of gendered labor, including massages and sex work. Yet, class differences, poverty and possibly desperation are reduced, simply and derogatorily into "promiscuity."

****

Being an immigrant Asian sex worker is a state of exception under the rules that make Asians the Model Minority.

Class contempt expresses itself as a constant judgment of poor people's morality. Add patriarchy and racism to the mix and we will always have poor women of color who are judged to be promiscuous and greedy first, before they are seen as people exercising their agencies and making sensible decisions in the spectrum of choices before them.

For a racial category, Asians, who have been designated the success story, granted model minority status in the American racial hierarchy, another mechanism is at work. Its sustenance as a myth depends on mandatory submission to the notion that the American Dream pays off, that hard work and submission to existing rules lead one ultimately to success and assimilation. It is hard then, for dominant discourse to grapple with the reality of immigrant Asian sex workers doing (illegal) sex work in America. Furthermore, dominant white supremacist discourse also has it that sex work is demeaning and undesirable, a form of labor poor and desperate Asian women have to do out of necessity in their backward, poverty-stricken homelands where patriarchal culture and values are abound, but not when they arrive on the white and enlightened land of opportunity. When white America says, "you are in America, act like it," what they are saying to immigrant Asian women is, drop the nasty sex work that you do back home, get clean, and get a goddamn proper job.

Being an immigrant Asian sex worker is a state of exception under the rules that make Asians the Model Minority. For that reason, it can only be explained through coercion and trafficking. Asian women's choices of sex work over other forms of undesirable jobs, can only be explained as them being victims of sex trafficking. It does not matter that Asian women choose sex work, as challenging as it is within our cultural contexts, because it is the least worst option among the other undesirable forms of wage work that non-English speaking immigrant Asian women have access to. The land of opportunity fails in its promise of wealth and upward mobility. The low pay and stress of working in other service sector jobs such as cleaning or restaurant work make sex work a viable alternative.

****

What does a raid do for her, and the many like her?

We are surrounded with snapshots of people, of situations, devoid of their contexts. Massage parlors in particular, strike that chord for many - dingy Chinese living quarters filled with helpless victims of sex trafficking, waiting, pining, for the white savior to rescue them from these squalid conditions, fulfilling our wildest Orientalist fantasies.

Image from Northwest Asian Weekly

These rescue tropes sell. But not only do they sell, they also justify police expenditure and the logic of community policing. A police department that is scrutinized for its police brutality of Black and Brown folks always needs a facial uplift from another thankful, grateful community. What is a more heroic story, than rescuing a bunch of fearful Asian women from squalor and violence? Never mind that we will never know the women's stories. It suffices that we know they offer gratitude to the police force for their momentous rescue.

In the most recent raids in Chinatown/International District, the Seattle Police Department has made sure to remind us that they have spent three years of close collaboration with the FBI to rescue Chinatown from its own vices. The recent raid targeted 11 massage parlors and arrested 26 people.

The officer falls short of calling it "organized crime. " The reports call the massage parlor business owners a "network" that span the west coast from LA to Seattle.

Where does a network of lowly paid workers and business owners who share contacts and travel voluntarily end, and a smuggling ring begin?

Where does wage theft of workers who choose to offer a range of sexual services voluntarily, end and human trafficking by force, fraud or coercion begin?

Undeniably, there may be cases of human trafficking, where massage parlor workers were held against their will, coerced, by force and fraud into the work they do. The reports on the recent massage parlor raids remain vague on the actual statistics. More often however, there are immigrant Asian women who engage in various forms of sex work for low wages and long hours, who feel forced not by their single employer, but by their economic circumstances, language inaccessibility and fierce racism and classism of dominant American society. The unquestionable legitimacy offered to the Seattle Police Department in its rescue narrative, obliterate the fact that the issue is more complex. This blanket acceptance in public belies the fact that for many non-English speaking immigrant women, massage parlor work and a range of sexual services are work they engage in, because opportunities are not abound for them.

I recall a massage parlor worker who told me how she didn't want to work there. Everyone assumes that I am a sex worker and I get harassed all the time, she says. However, working at a grocery store and a restaurant did not allow her to bring back enough for her and her child. It also caused her a lot of stress and anxiety to have to interact in English with the customers. It just wasn't worth it.

What does a raid do for her, and the many like her?

****

Koda condominium's vision of Chinatown/International District. Image from Curbed Seattle https://seattle.curbed.com/2017/7/19/16000708/koda-condo-international-district-japantown

It is hard to talk about neighborhoods and police activity in Seattle without addressing the gentrification the city is undergoing. Hyperbole in describing danger and violence has always been a tool to justify police presence, and to make neighborhoods more appealing to those who trust the police. Massage parlors are not desirable in neighborhoods, not because they are dangerous, but because they are a sore reminder that the inhabitants of the neighborhood are not wealthy and legitimate in the white, proper, middle class kind of way.

The SPD raid of the massage parlors coincide with yet another major event in Chinatown/International District. The groundbreaking ceremony of the new Koda condominiums, marketed above $1million/unit, took place around the same time, alongside the development of the new Marriot hotel, and the sale of the building that the historic Bush Gardens now stands. In order to claim Chinatown/International District as a desirable location for rich Chinese capital, white tourists and properly housed, clean customers, other undesirable elements need expulsion or cleansing by the SPD. Capital isn't committed enough to wade through the scents and sights of the real people who live and work in Chinatown/International district, especially those who reek too much of the Chinese immigrant experience in all its layers, with all its uncouth sensibilities rolled into one.

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White Saviors "Rescuing" Asian Women & Who It Truly Serves:

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Thoughts on the Massage Parlor Raids in Seattle's Chinatown/International District I know that beneath the story of creating a new Chinatown/International District that is amenable to the increasingly white, non immigrant and affluent cultural sensibility of Seattle, lie also the stories of recent migrant Chinese workers for whom Chinatown/ID is both an abode and a place of work.

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Implications of Puerto Rico as a US Colony

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Implications of Puerto Rico as a US Colony

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The issue: Puerto Rico has been under United States rule since 1898 when the US took Puerto Rico from Spain during the Spanish-American War. Since then, Puerto Rico has seen significant changes in their Government – islanders officially became US Citizens in 1917, and in the early 1950s they wrote their own constitution and elected their first Governor. To many, these were signs of Puerto Rico’s autonomy from the United States. It was enough that the United Nations removed Puerto Rico’s status as a non-self-governing territory in 1953. Yet the question still remains: Is Puerto Rico a colony of the United States?

In Puerto Rico’s current status as a commonwealth, they are granted US citizenship but cannot vote in a Presidential election unless they reside in mainland US, nor do they have a representative in Washington that has voting powers. Puerto Ricans are also required to pay US federal taxes (except for federal income tax); essentially, islanders are being taxed without representation. The United States provides Puerto Rico with some Federal Emergency assistance, but they only receive about 1/8th of the funds as mainland states and less than 70% of Medicare reimbursement. The island also faced severe consequences when the US would not fully support island recovery after Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico is two times as poor as the poorest state within the US. Becoming the 51st state in the Union may help with the amount of assistance the island receives, but would it risk assimilation and loss of Puerto Rican culture?

Strength-Based Approach:

Both the United States and Puerto Rico agree, whatever the future holds for Puerto Rico, it needs to come from the people of the island. Since 1967, Puerto Rico has conducted five plebiscites (similar to a referendum) to vote on whether Puerto Rico should become the 51st state in the Union, an independent colony, or maintain their current relationship with the United States as a commonwealth. The plebiscites have all been extremely politicized and none have ever shown a super majority, except the 2017 plebiscite which showed 98% of voters in favor of Statehood. It should be noted, however, that only 23% of Puerto Ricans voted in the 2017 plebiscite.

For the United States and Puerto Rico to officially change their relationship, their compact requires both nations to jointly approve of the change. This has been a serious concern for Puerto Ricans fighting for independence who do not believe the US will allow Puerto Rico to claim independent status.

Individuals have also discussed involvement the United Nations through their Special Committee supporting decolonization efforts. Since Puerto Rico was removed from the UN’s non-self-governing list in 1953, it is not classified as a colony under their jurisdiction and the UN would first need to conduct an investigation to determine if Puerto Rico is “officially” a colony. Even more, for the United Nations to get involved, the UN would have to conduct their own referendum in Puerto Rico, which the United States would need to provide explicit permission to do. This is unlikely as that decision would conflict with the United States’ historical stance about the UN getting involved in internal affairs .

Media: If you are interested in learning more about the history of Puerto Rico and the United States' relationship as well as the current debate about statehood vs. independence, I highly recommend you watch The Last Colony by Juan Agustin Marquez.

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The promise of democracy, reconciliation and reform for Ethiopia

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The promise of democracy, reconciliation and reform for Ethiopia

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Mr Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister since April 2018 is a charismatic leader who is popular with Ethiopians. Ethiopia has more than four decades of oppressive and repressive rule, with continued unrest and conflicts occurring between the 80 different ethnic groups. There is unequal distribution of wealth, lack of freedom, corruption, unemployment and marginalized ethnic minority groups and dissenters from the ruling coalition. Mr Abiy drew up a peace treaty with Eritrea on long disputed land (winning a Nobel Peace prize as a result), released thousands of political prisoners and journalists and appointed 50% of ministerial positions to women. In December 2019, he broke away from the stronghold of the ruling coalition to form the Prosperity Party as a single entity with the hopes of unifying the country. The country has been described as a land of contrasts and contradictions. While there is rapid economic growth through pursuing neoliberal reforms, there remain groups of people who have been left behind, internally displaced, experiencing poverty and have a shortage of food. The state's plans for privatization of state-owned enterprises is done with the hopes that competition would open up more opportunities for the people.

Possible solutions:
- Reframing of the issue from a strengths-based perspective - Capability Approach. A question that would be asked is “What would this person be able to do or be?”, to see that people and communities have capabilities and resources that can be engaged.
- Healing process based on collective healing from oppression-based trauma, and can be guided by practices within each ethnic group
- Engagement of young people and ethnic groups/communities at the grassroots level to increase transparency and communication.

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Transnational Banking and Narco-Capitalism in North and Central America

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Transnational Banking and Narco-Capitalism in North and Central America

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The Issue:
Over the last two decades the advent of Neoliberal economic policies in the Americas, paired with hemispheric policy failures have created a volatile mix in which poor people, indigenous communities, and peasant farmers have become fodder for the Drug War in North and Central America. This arrangement has a long history in both prohibition and economic hemispheric hegemony (Paley, 2014; Buollosa & Wallace, 2016). In recent years, transnational banking institutions, most prominently HSBC, have played a role in laundering money for Mexican Drug Cartels. This economic incentive has proved disastrous as upticks in violence and Capitalist complicity have led to over 100,000 casualties in Mexico and the mass internal dispersal of Central Americans along illicit trade routes. Furthermore, the proliferation of violence has also led to the normalization of state repression of activist activity in the area of labor organizing, environmental concerns, indigenous rights, under the guise that "order" has to be established, which ironically does not factor transnational banking.
Strengths-Based Approach
Community activists have been instrumental in outlining the deleterious effects of capitalist collusion in drug violence. This includes present mobilizations against femicide in Mexico, holding banking institutions accountable, and redefining community roles in economic struggle in afflicted areas. Likewise, activists and organizers have also made an impact in framing this struggle in relation to international policy around banking, trade, and migration. Our task as Social Workers is to bring these concerns locally and pressure politicians through multi-pronged approaches to hold these banking institutions accountable for the death, destruction, and forced relocation of migrants in this continent.
Media Links:
"Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War Is a Joke"

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/outrageous-hsbc-settlement-proves-the-drug-war-is-a-joke-230696/
"Netflix Series Dirty Money: Cartel Bank"

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Inflated prices, doctored products, deals with narco-terrorists: How far will the corporate world go to chase a profit? Watch trailers & learn more.

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Trasnational Banking, Narcocapitalism, and The Effects in Latin America

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Trasnational Banking, Narcocapitalism, and The Effects in Latin America

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THE ISSUE:
Geopolitics:
The United States pursues an aggressive police in Latin America under different guises and one of the most ravaging policies in North America has been the war on 🤬, often affecting coca farmers, poor Latin Americans, and indigenous folks.

Plan Colombia:
plan colombia is a documentary that shows Bush's aggressive politics in Coca Eradication--one effect is the environmental destruction and poisoning in Colombia, by US planes using pesticide to deforest what they target as coca farms.

Full documentary on netlix

Merida Initiative: Shared action between United States and Mexico to fight "drug war." Often this lead to an influx of weapons that could later be used to terrorize Mexican nationals.

https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/merida-initiative-failings-violence-corruption/

These polices also have a spillover effect, where violence increases in other regions in Latin America after U.S. involvement. Crime in Central America spiked after policies in Mexico and Colombia made drug traffickers use new routes and new hot spots among central america:

https://www.insightcrime.org/uncategorized/central-america-regional-security-initiative/

Possible solutions: Advocating for better policies and to teach these policies and how the president election is ultimately very important for foreign policy. For our work, it is important to case workers and social workers to be informed about these cases to be able to provide better culturally informed care for refugees and immigrants.

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Plan Colombia-Cashing In on the Drug War Failure

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Impact of Neoliberalism in Mexican Farm workers

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Impact of Neoliberalism in Mexican Farm workers

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The issue: The U.S. depends on Mexican migration to be the laborers of specific labor tasks such as agriculture (Lawler, 2019). The issue is not that the U.S depends on Mexican farmworkers, but rather how farmworkers continue to work under poor conditions, experience oppression and exploitation. Mexican migrants contribute to the harvest to provide food to the U.S. As the U.S. enjoys fresh produce, farmworkers receive low farm wages and work under hazardous conditions (Farmworker Justice, 2013). This has been occurring since the Bracero program a Mexican Farm Labor Agreement that lasted from 1942-1964 (Mize & Swords, 2011). The Bracero program was initiated from World War II, a time when America was experiencing a shortage of workers to support its agriculture. In addition, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed in 1992 has also harmed the impoverished citizens of Mexico causing forced migration.

Strength-Based Activism: The solutions I am seeing in the literature are to support migration and acknowledge the influence neoliberal policies have had on agriculture workers. The literature also addressed the importance to recognize the social contributions migrant farmworkers have in the U.S. and advocate for equitable pay and safe work conditions. The U.S. is greatly impacted by farmers to contribute to the economy. The U.S. should be as invested in advocating for justice and empowering farmworkers.

Media:
webpage- United Farm Workers (Si, Se Puede!) *https://ufw.org/
Documentary- The Fruits of Mexico's Cheap Labor

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Labor Exploitation Experienced among Migrant Laborers from Myanmar

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Labor Exploitation Experienced among Migrant Laborers from Myanmar

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The Issue: In Myanmar and many countries around the world, globalization creates favorable conditions for some, but not all. Those without the initial capital in life often get exploited. In the least developed country like Myanmar, labor exploitation ranges from cheap labor, child labor, forced domestic work, sex trafficking, to slavery in fishing. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) report, more than 2 million Myanmar citizens out-migrated, drawing from the Myanmar Population Census in 2014. Out of those who migrated abroad, 70.2% of the migrants went to Thailand for work. For many people in Myanmar, they do not have a choice but to pick up jobs in neighboring Southeast Asian countries like Thailand for any low-skilled work with meager wages. Their economic desperation exposes them to labor exploitation and extortion once abroad through human traffickers. One of the many ways to eliminate these types of labor exploitation is to create education accessible for children and to invest in human capital.
Strength-Based Approach: The good news is that the Myanmar government, international NGOs, local nonprofits, and independent donors are now working hard to provide quality education for children in both rural and urban areas to reduce the risk of chronic poverty and labor exploitation. Labor Protection Network (LPN) in Thailand advocates and provides social services to many migrants who have experienced forced labor through human traffickers. One of the founders, Patima Tungpuchayakul's work rescuing the missing enslaved laborers from an island to island in Indonesia, is well-documented in Ghost Fleet (2019). LPN led by Patima and her husband, Sompong, believes that education is the best way to protect vulnerable communities and inoculate them from the risks of human trafficking.

A Relevant Quote: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead

The Documentary that Gives Hope:

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The Issue: According to Global Witness, “more than three [environmental defenders] were murdered each week in 2018, with countless more criminalized, for defending their land and our environment.” In the lineage of colonialism, state and corporate stakeholders are implicated in the murder of (often indigenous) peoples in order to lay claim to natural resources, often resulting in major environmental and social harm. This happens across the world, with the most cases occurring in the Philippines, Colombia, India, Brazil and Guatemala , more than half of which happened in Latin America.

A Closer Look: I suggest watching Berta Vive, a 30-minute documentary about Berta Cáceres’ work defending the Gualcarque River against a dam funded by transnational capital and her subsequent murder. You can feel the deep grief of her family and community, and it is heartbreaking, but you can also feel their determination that Berta did not die—she multiplied.

Solutions: COPINH is a Honduran indigenous organization that struggles against capitalism, patriarchy, and racism through organizing and environmental defense.  Hear them speak about defending the water and discussing the harms of neoliberalism and transnational companies (the video is in Spanish, but the Auto-translated captions are mostly right). Through diligent organizing they have shifted international pressure to stop funding the dam and to seek justice for Berta’s murder—not just the people physically responsible, but the intellectual authors and the powerful government figures who are also responsible.

Follow them (and others like them) to shift global attention toward justice and systems change. Push the UN to actually enforce its policy to defend environmental defenders. Let Berta's story be a seed that grows within you and helps you move us all toward a different world.

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Una producción de TERCO PRODUCCIONES y OXFAM HONDURAS, en asociación con TERCER PISO, con el apoyo de COPINH y OFRANEH.

SINOPSIS
El asesinato de Berta Cáceres estremeció al mundo en marzo de 2016. El activista mexicano Gustavo Castro, testigo del crimen, sobrevivió al horror de esa noche, pero quedó atrapado en Honduras. La lucha contra la instalación ilegal de una represa en el río Gualcarque es el preámbulo de esta historia. Seguimos a Miriam Miranda, dirigente garífuna, compañera y amiga de Berta. Ellas comparten la lucha por la descolonización en un país entregado al capital trasnacional, donde la impunidad permite arrebatar la vida de muchas maneras.

SYNOPSIS
On March 2016, the assasination of Berta Cáceres shook the world. Gustavo Castro, Mexican environmental activist witnessed the crime and survived the horror of that night but was then trapped in Honduras. The defense against the construction of a dam at the Gualcarque River is the preface to this story. We follow Miriam Miranda, leader of the Garífuna people as well as a friend and comrade of Berta. Both women share the struggle for decolonization in a country that is being sold to transnational capital and where death is delivered in so many different ways.

FICHA TÉCNICA 

Título original:		BERTA VIVE
País:			Honduras 
Género:			documental
Año:				2016
Duración:			30 minutos
Formato final:		Video HD - DCP

Guión y Dirección: Katia Lara
Empresa productora: Terco Producciones
Producción: Katia Lara
Producción Ejecutiva: Katia Lara, Rodolfo Arévalo
Dirección de Producción: Esther Anino		
Investigación y Asistencia Dirección: Milton Benítez
Cámara:	Katia Lara, Isaac Gutiérrez, Gerardo Aguilar, Luis Fernando López, Ramón Hernández, Gabriel Alvarenga, Nincy Perdomo
Cámara aérea: Alejandro Tróchez, Luis Agüero
Sonido directo: Enrique Fuentes, Gerardo Aguilar (hijo), Karla Díaz, Joselinne Escoto, 
Henry Flores, Ricardo Menjivar
Montaje: Esther Anino
Animación: Krizia Vásquez
Corrección de color: Esther Anino
Post producción de sonido: Gerardo Kalmar
Documentación Internet: Aliane Castillo
Archivo: Terco Producciones
Música original: Gerardo “Lalo” Rojas

Contacto: Katia Lara / info@tercoproducciones.com / + 504 99078005

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Caring for Children in the Age of Globalization

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Caring for Children in the Age of Globalization

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The Issue: Women who migrate to provide domestic care “are the single largest female occupational group migrating globally” (Romero, 2014), and are responsible for significant amounts of care work in North America, Europe, East Asia, and other regions (Misra, Woodring, & Merz, 2006). This has created an immigration flow of poor women of color immigrating to wealthier nations to work for families. The women who migrate often are mothers themselves, and often struggle with the tension between their role as mother and financial provider (Quart, 2014). Positions in the informal economy are often unrecognized and with no oversight there is a greater risk for exploitation. This puts women at a higher risk of abuse as women are also burdened by traditional gender roles that reinforce biases and result in negative outcomes. Host countries, especially the US, are now dependent on this cheap labor in order to provide care and create inhospitable environments for workers to resettle with their families.

Strength-based approach/solution:
The Live-In Caregiver program offers a pathway to citizenship for immigrant domestic workers, including child care providers through Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program. This pathway provides a Canadians an opportunity to employ foreign nationals to provide care for children, seniors, or people with disabilities. An individual would only need to be in the program for two years in order to apply for citizenship. An ability to apply for citizenship gives workers and their families an opportunity for stability and employment mobility, while still providing a much needed service for citizens.
Media:

The clip below gives a glimpse into the life of an immigrant domestic worker and the impact of these choices on the individual and their family.

You can also listen a spotify playlist I created that provides some levity to todays mood. The theme being "Mothers in Musicals" because A. I love musicals, and B. The stories of these mothers, both child care providers and employers have been on mind.

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UN Women Stories | The real-life tale of a migrant domestic worker

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The issue: Human trafficking is a form of labor exploitation referred to as “modern-day slavery”. It’s often hidden in plain sight in many service and domestic industries that we come into contact with everyday. Though the root causes of trafficking are hard to identify, the demand for cheap labor as a result of globalization makes it a lucrative and thriving industry. Populations most impacted by trafficking are undocumented immigrants, minor and documented guest workers. Washington state is considered a high-risk state for human trafficking due to it’s geographical location and demand for domestic, agricultural and sex industry workers. While there has been some progress in Human Trafficking services since the implementation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, current literature suggests that with the rates of trafficking increasing every year, services need to be custom tailored to meet specific needs.
Strengths-based approach/solution
Current literature shows that there is a lack of culturally appropriate, trauma-informed and strengths based approaches to serve victims of Human Trafficking and that more of these approaches need to be implemented when working with Human Trafficking survivors. This is due to lack of knowledge of appropriate services specific to victims of Human Trafficking and lack of multidisciplinary teams working with victims to provide ongoing care and support.

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Trafficking-map of victims-profits - region[1]

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Fossil Fuel Divestment and Climate Justice

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Fossil Fuel Divestment and Climate Justice

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The Issue: Despite widespread scientific consensus that the burning of fossil fuels is the leading cause of rising global temperatures, fossil fuel companies are continuing to profit off of climate chaos with no sign of slowing down. Although the burning of fossil fuels has historically come mostly from industrialized nations in the Global North, the impacts of climate change are global, with the most severe impacts falling on developing nations in the Global South, indigenous communities, and people of color around the world. The fossil fuel industry is comprised of an incestuous network of global and multinational corporations, funded and insured with over $1 trillion. U.S. banks are the worst supporters of fossil fuels; JPMorgan Chase is the world’s #1 funder of fossil fuels by a dramatic margin—they have financed $196 billion since the Paris Agreements (2016-2018)—with Wells Fargo, Citi, and Bank of America in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, place, respectively. Modern society has been built with a reliance on fossil fuels; many nations’ economies, and certainly the global economy, function on the extraction, production, and consumption of coal, oil, and gas. But all hope is not lost, for resistance to the dominant paradigm is rising.

Strengths-based approach/solution:  Since gradual policy change isn't working, grassroots movements across the world are standing up to the fossil fuel industry and the institutions that fund, insure, and invest in them. Divestment from fossil fuels is one piece of climate justice, in which the transition to a clean energy economy centers the needs of those most impacted by climate change. I have had the honor of participating in a number of nonviolent direct actions on behalf of climate action. Most recently, a series of actions took place in mid-February in Seattle as part of the Stop the Money Pipeline coalition targeting JPMorgan Chase, the biggest funder of fossil fuels in the world (Day 1, Day 2). What can you do? First, if you bank with JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, or Bank of America, move your money ASAP (credit unions, baby)! Here's a helpful guide. Next, you can join the movement:  350Seattle is a great local org that's fighting hard for climate justice on many front. Finally, join a Climate Action Strike Action for Earth Day 2020!

Media:
Video of The People's Echo (a song collective bringing music to movements for environmental and social justice) singing an original song at an action in Seattle a few weeks ago :)

Check out The People's Echo on Soundcloud for lots more music! If you're interested in attending a song teach in, let me know!

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"Stop the Money Pipeline" from the streets of Seattle

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Sustainable Livelihoods for Coffee Farmers in Myanmar

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Sustainable Livelihoods for Coffee Farmers in Myanmar

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The Issue: Coffee is one of the world’s largest commodities, and as such, it has an international trading price which is set in the New York futures market. This trading price fluctuates by the minute depending on countless factors and creates a high level of uncertainty for coffee farmers, often forcing them to operate at a loss. The issue of sustainable livelihoods for coffee farmers in Myanmar is one that has only started to come to light since the lifting of economic sanctions by the West in 2012 and Myanmar’s subsequent entry into the global coffee market. The coffee crop was introduced to the country by British colonizers in the 1880s. The British upended the existing economic system and replaced it with an export-oriented one that violently exploited the people and the land. This was the economic system Myanmar was left with when they became a sovereign republic in 1948. One of Myanmar’s most lucrative exports is opium poppy, and this is what many farmers cultivate because it provides them the best chance for a sustainable livelihood. While many farmers have switched to coffee cultivation as the result of international efforts to create alternative routes to economic stability, the economic shocks that come with free market price fluctuations remain a major issue. Because Myanmar’s economy is dependent upon exports, all citizens are significantly impacted by low commodity trading prices.
Solution: Transitioning from commercial-grade coffee production to high-value specialty coffee production has shown promise in supporting sustainable livelihoods for farmers in Myanmar’s politico-economic context. The transition to specialty coffee has generated a multitude of benefits that support community resilience. Coffee production has become a more appealing alternative livelihood to high-risk opium poppy production; it has agro-ecological benefits; it maximizes employment and the use of technology suited to the environment; and it promotes price transparency and equity in the global value chain.

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Myanmar's emerging coffee sector: Opportunities and constraints - IGC

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Myanmar is home to ideal conditions for coffee cultivation, but the sector is still in its infancy. Growing demand in the region and increasing interest in high-quality coffee in developed markets presents a significant opportunity for expanding cultivation. Exports of coffee from Myanmar have increased in recent years.

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Agroecology in African Farming Communities

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Agroecology in African Farming Communities

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The Issue:

Africans have relied on traditional farming methods until agribusiness corporations began imposing neoliberal market-based solutions onto peasant farmers.  Some of these practices include genetically engineered seeds from large seed companies and chemical fertilizers intended to “improve productivity” of the crops.  These farming methods are not sustainable as they hurt the well-being of community and the land on which their food grows.  The genetically modified seeds are not as adaptable to changing climate conditions as the natural seeds traditionally used by peasant farmers.  These practices are destructive to the ecosystem and enable dependency on external sources, decreasing the agency of farming communities.  Even further, governments are giving in to corporate and donor pressure to adopt laws and policies that prohibit farmers from saving, using, exchanging, and selling their own seeds.

Strength-based approach/solution:

An alternative method to the agribusiness monoculture approach is Agroecology.  This concept addresses and assesses the complexity of agroecosystems and is ecological, biodiverse, local, sustainable, and socially-just.  It is essential that these communities recover the ancestral knowledge of agricultural practices and be involved in policy decisions that affect their livelihood.  Grassroots organizations and advocacy are essential to supporting these communities and foster individual autonomy.

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The Issue:
African migrants have been entering Europe through multiple migration flows since the 1960’s. However, the influx of migrants that are entering Europe without documents have tremendously increased since the 2000s. Individuals are leaving their home countries due to multiple factors such as climate change, limited economic abilities, oppression, and civil unrest (Guillaumont 1999) . Unfortunately, they are experiencing multiple forms of oppressive systems and harm through exploitation . The impact of civil unrest and economic disruption continues to force Sub-Saharan Africans to migrate into Europe through multiple channels for better opportunities and livelihood. With migration comes instability and risky/unsafe migration that continues to be an  issue that impacts individuals on a global scale. Sub-Saharan African migrants are going through both North Africa and other African countries to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Populations who actively migrate through these channels tend to be young men. Although there are increasing reports of mothers and young children who are attempting to cross into Europe. These individuals are harmed through exploitation and are placed in situations that incredibly increase their chances of suffering and even death.

Solutions: Solutions that were mentioned in the articles include policy responses that are focused on migration. For example, boat migration from West Africa to the Canary Islands have included information campaigns that continue to warn prospective migrants about the dangers of the journey. These forms of campaigns have become a popular element in migration management policy (Hernandez-Carretero 20112). With regards to programs, there are programs that support migrants who relocate to European countries. A German nonprofit organization Sea-Eye works towards saving migrants from the dangers of relocating to Europe through the Medetteranena sea.  Solutions on a more broader scale would be cultivating change and increased financial stability within certain African countries.

More information on Sea-Eye below!

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Sea-Eye e. V. is a non-profit- and civil sea rescue organization that was founded in Germany in 2015. The founders could no longer bear to watch people dying in the southern Mediterranean sea without taking action. With our rescue vessel ALAN KURDI we search for people in distress at see along the deadliest exodus route in the world. Every day we fight against the loss of human lives at sea.

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Sea-Eye e. V. is a non-profit- and civil sea rescue organization that was founded in Germany in 2015. The founders could no longer bear to watch people dying in the southern Mediterranean sea without taking action. With our rescue vessel ALAN KURDI we search for people in distress at see along the deadliest exodus route in the world.

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Felon Disenfranchisement and Conditional Citizenship 

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Felon Disenfranchisement and Conditional Citizenship 

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The Issue: Over six million Americans have been stripped of the right to participate in elections due to felony disenfranchisement, with Black Americans disproportionately impacted. Sentencing Project Report. This system serves to create conditional citizenship, challenging the American presumption of democratic equality, in which each citizen has an equal voice in electoral politics. When certain voices are legally barred from participating in democracy, the needs of those communities will not be met or responded to, creating a feedback loop of alienation from the democratic system. Studies suggest that Republican politicians like Mitch McConnell, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump owe their electoral victory to widespread systemic, racialized disenfranchisement. These politicians uphold neoliberal policies that favor austerity measures and target welfare programs.

Strengths-Based Approach:
- Grassroots organizing and advocacy to restore the vote through referendums is led by those with lived experience, aka returning citizens. Activists like Desmond Meade and Demetrius Jifunza have garnered bipartisan support by engaging people on shared humanity and principles around forgiveness and second chances.

Media: This podcast episode just came out on Tuesday: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/10/814071784/blocked-from-the-ballot-individuals-with-felony-convictions

Media: How the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition helped pass Amendment 4 in 2018.

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Green New Deal: Neoliberalism under the guise of green growth or new paradigm?

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Green New Deal: Neoliberalism under the guise of green growth or new paradigm?

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The Issue: A Green New Deal (GND) may refer to an abstract idea or a specific policy agenda centered on reconfiguring and stimulating the economy (at local, national, or global scales) around “green” industry and jobs, while mitigating carbon emissions. While the GND gained notoriety in the U.S. following a 2019 House Resolution, as a concept it's more than a decade old. The United Nations Environment Programme commissioned a Global Green New Deal study in 2009 (their dated promotional video is a fun watch), which attempted to leverage financial stimulus packages deployed in response to the 2008 financial crisis to seed a greener, climate adapted global economy. While at its core the GND is an economic strategy, it is one closely linked to environmental, and sometimes explicitly social objectives. The invocation of FDR’s New Deal was purposeful in that government has a major role to play (stimulating green industry and jobs) in any GND.
Solutions: The GND is itself a proposed “solution” to crises both economic and environmental (and often social, too). But who is conceiving of a Green New Deal as what? Given that a major role for government is a key feature of most GNDs, perhaps it's not surprising that such agendas are originating from government actors at all levels (from the UN, to the U.S., to Mayor Durkan). Yet the resurgence and visibility of the GND agenda has a lot to do with progressive, grassroots movements (e.g. Sunrise Movement nationally, 350 Seattle locally) who stand to play an important role in the who and what of a GND. Check out the video below on a Sate-level GND in California.

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The Green New Deal? It's Already Happening In California | TIME

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Voter Disenfranchisement and Conditional Citizenship 

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Voter Disenfranchisement and Conditional Citizenship 

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The Issue:

The issue of this topic is the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The tension began when former President Viktor Yanukovych rejected the EU deal, and many Ukrainian started to protest. The east and south parts of Ukraine were supporting Yanukovych; Ukrainians started to protest, which led to the suspension of Yanukovych (Bebler, 2015). A group of Ukrainians, especially in Crimea, began to call Russians to protect them and asked to be part of the Russian Federation (Bebler, 2015). In 2004 the Russian government annexed Crimea (Bebler, 2015). The conflict remains until today and the Russian attacks in Donbas and Donetsk regions ("Upcoming Period Will Be Crucial," n.d.). Historically, Russia always wanted to have access to the Mediterranean Sea, and since the Russian Empire, the Crimea played a strategic and economic role (Bebler, 2015).

Strength-based approach/solution:

The Normandy Four with the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) with Russia to facilitate a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine ("Upcoming Period Will Be Crucial," n.d.). Normandy Four represents Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and France, and they meet on D-Day Celebration in Normandy. The TCG is a group of the representative from Ukraine, Russian Federation, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Their goal is to reduce the attacks and help the Ukrainians who need humanitarian aid. The plan for 2020 is to provide humanitarian aid to 2 million people("Upcoming Period Will Be Crucial," n.d.). There have been positive changes, such as stopping the attacks in Stanytsia, Luhanska, Zolote, and Petrivske, which are the pilot areas ("Upcoming Period Will Be Crucial," n.d.).

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Fear of war in Ukraine - Power struggle for the Sea of Asov | DW Documentary - VidoEmo - Emotional Video Unity

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Fear of war in Ukraine - Power struggle for the Sea of Asov | DW Documentary Upload, share, download and embed your videos. Watch premium and official videos free online. Download Millions Of Videos Online. The latest music videos, short movies, tv shows, funny and extreme videos. Discover our featured content.

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Jarra: Human trafficking/Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Jarra: Human trafficking/Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa

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The Issue:
Nearly 25 to 35,000 West Africans arrive to Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands and other European countries illegally (De Haas, Introduction in Irregular Migration from West Africa to the Maghreb and the European Union. 2008). However, the logistics found on the thousands of illegal migrants does not take into the account of the thousands of men who die along the way due to the trafficking that occurs during the brutal journey. Human Trafficking some now call modern slavery is a trend that is now widely acknowledged in the Global North and in some parts of the Global South as well. Every year, millions of men, women and children are trafficked into countries around the world for solely profit. The culture of trafficking generates over billions of dollars per year globally (Africa: Migration and Economic Crisis). Men, women and children are forced into labor, or commercial sexual acts with the use of force, fraud and coercion and sometimes death.
Solution
The implication of this research will be of interest to researchers, social workers, humanitarian workers, and other fields as well in conjunctions to examine the decisive factors in migration aspirations and inabilities for social roles to be filled within its own countries and to be to be aware of such an issue creates an opportunity where there will be a continuous support of mental health and social services provided to the victims of traffickers and their families.

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'Slave markets' in Libya trap migrants heading for Europe

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Neoliberalism in Higher Education & Challenges for First Gen Students

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Neoliberalism in Higher Education & Challenges for First Gen Students

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The issue is the lack of support in education, and how neoliberalism does not help it either. Neoliberalism is described as how “social good is maximized by unregulated market behaviors” (Lightfoot). However, as neoliberalism increases it’s affects, there is less funding for enrichment and faculty, but still more pressure on faculty to provide outcomes and get students their degrees (Lightfoot). Funding cuts to public universities have caused them to raise their tuition, seek private donations, form research partnerships, subsidize tech startups, outsource room and board, and even building new buildings with the promise of revenue. However, departments such as English and social sciences are lacking the support (Newfield, 2017) while departments that make money, business and engineering are better supported because they “make the most money” (Lightfoot). So unless the department or degree makes the most revenue, it is often overlooked.

Solutions:
One of the biggest strengths based solutions, is seen through culturally appropriate academic support services for students who are facing these types of barriers. I am focusing specifically with first gen and low income students in helping them navigate policies, but also teaching them skills to be self sustainable.

While some these solutions are band-aids, and don't directly change structures, they are still solutions that help and support students in need. A solution mentioned in the literature, is a program called College Unbound, which is essentially a student driven program that awards students with a BA degree once completed. There are supports and resources available, while also being a really accommodating program, which really helps their students succeed. College Unbound really pushes the notion and idea that colleges should be student ready, not the other way around (Field, 2020).  Another one of the solutions that I found, and have personal experience with, is Upward Bound programs. Trio Upward Bound is a program that helps and supports first generation and low-income students in preparing for college, and also supporting them once they are there. In the high school stages, they support students with applications, financial aid, SAT prep, and also provide college level classes for high school credit. Once in university or college, there are Trio specific advisers available to help them specifically (Ruffin, 2018). Both of these solutions are showing that colleges are student ready, and students are also college ready. These solutions are coming from the bottom. Some public universities have funds available to fund students through their education, but there are also conditions and barriers to that funding, which is still rooted in outcomes, capitalism, and neoliberalism.

Media:
As a first gen student, I was supported by them, but now also work with them for my practicum.
https://www.washington.edu/omad/

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Global Migration Crisis+ Migration Discourse (Marleisha)

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Global Migration Crisis+ Migration Discourse (Marleisha)

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The Issue:
Many people across the world are migrating in search for security through employment and safety. Global migration has increased over the last forty years due to the preceding impacts of a global neoliberal focus Neoliberalism functions through market logic where countries prioritize economic advancement through exploitation of migrant people and systematic oppression that limits their social mobility (Godin, 2019). Between 1950 to 2005 international migration has increased to 200 million emigrants (Basso, 2015). Basso also states, “Over the same period from 1980-2012 immigration accounted for over 40% of the total population growth” (Basso, 2015 p.87). These emigrants consisted of people who moved due to religious persecution, climate change, lack of employment in their home country, and overall displacement within their home country (as cited in Basso, 2015). Furthermore, the international migration trajectory has shifted; the mass migration of people are now moving from the global south to the global north (Basso, 2015).

Strength Based Approach/Solution:
International Migration has great potential as it increases national diversity and social transformation of societies (Basso, 2015). Castles (2010) argues that re-shaping theoretical studies of migration into knowledge of contemporary society will positively contribute to social change movements. Videler (2017) explains that changing the discourse of how migration is referenced within the public view (research & media) can change societal perspective on migration.

Media:  This video illustrates how negative discourse about migrant families perpetuates racist ideologies and dehumanization.

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Watch FRONTLINE's documentary on how El Paso, Texas became Trump's immigration testing ground and then the target of a white supremacist.

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An estimated 152 million children are experiencing some form of exploitation. Child labor is a globalization issue, in addition to it happening
in all parts of the world, it is also present in the world’s largest global
commodities. This includes jewels, golds, chocolate, coffee, tobacco, bananas, diamonds, sugarcane, cotton, rubber, etc.

One of the reasons child labor exists is because of capitalism. Companies exploit vulnerable populations, such as children, because they are easier to coerce, force, or fraud into taking low wages while working long hours in harsh conditions. Ultimately, the companies sell the products at exponentially
higher rates and receive all the profit. There is a demand for this because of consumerism, the excessive desire for the new, best, cheap product. The consumerism mindset has resulted in the rapid demand for the supply of products to increase, consequently, it means there is a demand for more cheap labor continuing to perpetuate child exploitation.

Solutions:
As consumers, we are all contributing to child exploitation by buying products. However, that also means we all have the choice to be conscious consumers and to turn our emotions about unethical practices into action. If we all spend money and buy fair trade products, companies that use labor exploitation practices will notice because they will be losing money. Thanks to capitalism, this will ultimately force them to confront their unethical practices and shift to quality products and human rights. A successful example of this is Theo’s chocolate which is based right here in Seattle!

The key takeaway is not perfectionism and throwing away all your goods and only ever buying fair trade products, instead, it's about being aware, doing research, which will
move us towards being more conscious consumers.

Here are some helpful resources:

https://donegood.co/?ambid=ecowatch10_30

https://www.washingtonfairtrade.org

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Good On You - Sustainable Fashion and Beauty Brand Ratings

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Thousands of brand ratings, articles and expertise on more sustainable fashion and beauty. Know the impact of brands on people and planet, and discover better options.

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Impacts of Neoliberalism on Biodiversity and Nutrition 

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Impacts of Neoliberalism on Biodiversity and Nutrition 

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The issue:
The lack of biodiversity in agriculture is creating deadly impacts for populations, culture, and the environment. Governments subsidize farmers to grow high yielding crops that they can commercialize and make larger profits off of. In doing so, a global standard diet that focuses on energy-dense foods like potatoes, corn, rice, wheat has dramatically changed what and how we eat (Sethi, 2019). This has caused an increase in malnutrition in smaller, poorer nations. This shift of what is grown has made food less diverse globally and made foods and recipes endangered. One day some of the recipes for these foods could be forgotten forever, which would erase a large aspect of that culture.
Solution:
One solution that is being used at the state and community level is gastrodiplomacy. Gastrodiplomacy at a state level, are countries investing in entrepreneurs that immigrated to open restaurants. By doing that it makes populations from other countries more familiar with their food and are more open to that country’s culture (Quartz, 2019). At a community level, programs like one in Minnesota, have families eat at newly immigrated family’s homes, with a traditional meal from their culture to build relationships across foods is another form of gastrodiplomacy. By making people more familiar with other foods they are willing to eat outside their standard diet. What we eat is an influence of what is grown by famers (Sethi, 2019). It also helps preserve recipes that are on the brink of disappearing because of limited access to foods and standardization of diets. Another change that needs to happen at a larger scale, is acknowledging traditional farmers as the key to solving this issue (Shand, n.d.) Experts from the  Food and Agriculture Organization at the United Nations have stated that 80% of local adaptations and infusions of plants are superior to modern common breeds (Shand, n.d.). We need to start valuing traditional agriculture and make investments that allow people to manage their own land again.

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An excerpt from Simran Sethi's book on vanishing foods helps make sense of the United Nations' new, sobering report on biodiversity loss.

Embedded in every conversation about feeding people, conserving natural resources and ensuring a healthy diet, both now and in the future, is the threat of the loss of agricultural biodiversity-the reduction of the diversity in everything that makes food and agriculture possible, from the microorganisms, plants, and animals we consume to the inputs and broad range of environmental, socioeconomic and cultural issues that inform what and how we eat. This shift is the direct result of our relationship with the world around us.

Agricultural biodiversity-also called "agrobiodiversity"-is the foundation of agriculture and food. It's what emerges out of the connection between:

1. the microorganisms, plants and animals we eat and drink;

2. the inputs that support their creation and development, including bees and other pollinators, as well as the quality of nutrients in the soil;

3. nonliving (or abiotic) influences on our ability to grow and gather food, such as temperature and the structures of farms; and

4. a range of socioeconomic and cultural issues that inform what and how we eat.

"It comes in three levels: ecosystem, species and genetic," explains Luigi Guarino, senior scientist at the Global Crop Diversity Trust. (The Trust provides funding for important crop collections and oversees the Svalbard Global Seed Vault -what's popularly known as the "Doomsday Seed Vault" or "Noah's Ark" for seeds.) The first time I met Luigi, I was researching the loss of diversity in seeds. He was smart, funny and tough, reminding me, as he picked his teeth with my business card, that seeds are essential. "Seeds," he said almost dismissively, "are sex." Indeed. I blushed, not because it was salacious but because it was obvious. Luigi has dedicated his professional life to biodiversity and has, over the last few years, helped me understand the stories of seeds and the intricacies of conservation.

Simran Sethi Author Simran Sethi cupping diverse coffees at the Ethiopian Coffee Exchange in Bonga, Ethiopia

The broadest level of biodiversity is that of ecosystems: the communities of plants, animals and all living creatures that interact with one another and their physical environment, such as a desert or a rainforest. The second level is species, defined as the largest group of individual organisms that can have sex and produce fertile offspring. Species exist within these ecosystems. The third level, genetic diversity, is measured in multiple ways and is tougher to discern. Genes are part of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)-the chains of molecules that are the instruction manuals for every cell in our body. "Counting differences in the sequences of our DNA is the best way to identify genetic diversity," Luigi explains. "But you can also count varieties, or measure variations in size, shape and structure ... what are known as morphological differences."

I was still unclear, so he elaborated: "It's not a great comparison, and probably politically incorrect, but think of how you would measure genetic diversity in 100 humans you picked off the street. DNA fingerprints, sure. But also, how many races and ethnicities are represented in the sample? That would be the very rough equivalent of varietal diversity. Finally, how many eye colors are there? And what is the range of heights? That's morphological diversity."

These influences are dynamic; they operate in response to one another and are constantly evolving. Agrobiodiversity shapes-and is shaped by-every meal we eat. And when I say "we," I mean "we" in the global sense. No country is self-sustaining when it comes to the range of diversity needed to develop improved varieties of crops. We feed each other.

Simran Sethi Outside Iowa City, Iowa, the author holds a handful of milkweed-the only plant in which monarch butterflies lay their eggs

The loss of agrobiodiversity-the reduction of the diversity that's woven into every single strand of the complex web that makes food and agriculture possible-has resulted in a food pyramid with a point as fine as Seattle's Space Needle, making it harder and less pleasurable for us to feed ourselves.

It feels counterintuitive to contemplate this loss, particular against the backdrop of floor-to-ceiling aisles in supersized supermarkets. In a Walmart (the number one grocery chain in America) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, I counted 153 different flavors of ice cream and eight different brands of yogurt. But then I looked further. The choices are superficial-primarily in flavor and secondarily in brand, most of which are owned by the same company. In addition, more than 90 percent of every container of yogurt, milk and ice cream is made with milk from one breed of cow, the Holstein-Friesian, known as the highest-producing dairy animal in the world.

I counted 21 kinds of potato chips, but in the produce aisle, I found only five types of potatoes. Most of the bagged potatoes didn't include names, only colors-red, white, yellow-plus "Idaho." The orange sweet potatoes were loose and stacked high. Now I understand why most of those chips I saw just listed "potatoes" as their primary ingredient. Despite being the top vegetable consumed in America, potatoes have been relegated to the background, the carrier for vinegar and salt, sour cream and chives.

Bananas-America's most popular fruit-carried only a single descriptor: "banana." Although no variety was listed, I know it was the threatened Cavendish. There are over 1,000 varieties of bananas grown in the world; however, the one that ends up on supermarket shelves isn't the one that has the best texture or taste but one that transports easily and has, so far, managed to beat back disease.

I saw six kinds of apples, including Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji and the mealiest, most inappropriately named apple: Red Delicious, one bred for beauty, not taste. Apples were among the first fruits to be cultivated. The original was likely small and tart, closer to what we think of as a crab apple. But, through breeding, we slowly transformed its texture, taste, color, size and level of sweetness. There are now 7,500 varieties of apples grown all over the world, less than 100 of which are grown commercially in the United States. In fact, nearly every historic fruit and vegetable variety once found in the United States has disappeared.

For millennia, we've made decisions about what to grow or not grow-and what to eat or not eat. That's what agriculture is: a series of decisions we, and our ancestors, have made about what we want our food and food system to look and taste like. But our ability to make these decisions-and indulge in our pleasures-is being compromised in ways that are unprecedented.

When I first learned of this, I was incredulous. ... I had spent my life obsessed with food-and it was disappearing? Why hadn't I heard about this? How was this possible? The answer lies in the fact that many of these changes have happened slowly, over time. These losses in food are buried in the soil, tucked in beehives and hidden in cattle feedlots. They start with microorganisms invisible to the naked eye and echo through every link in our food chain-from soil to seed to pollinator, from plant to fish to animal-compromising the very ecosystems that make much of our food possible.

While some places in the world are experiencing an increase of diversity in certain parts of their diet, the general trend is the same one we see in phones and fashion: standardization. Every place looks and tastes more similar-and the country that sets this trend is America. The refined carbohydrates, animal proteins and added fats and sugars that make up the majority of our diets have also become the template diet for the world.

This increase in sameness is what conservationist Colin Khoury and co-authors of the most comprehensive study to date on the diversity (and lack thereof) of our food supply call our "global standard diet." The researchers analyzed 50 years of data on major crops eaten by 98 percent of the population. They found diets around the world have expanded in terms of amount, calories, fat and protein, and that a greater number of our calories now come from energy-dense foods, such as wheat and potatoes. In areas facing food insecurity, this is a very good thing.

Simran Sethi Urban seed keeping in Havana, Cuba

The researchers also learned that agrobiodiversity within our dietary staples has increased. Another good thing. In Vietnam, 80 percent of calories from plants used to come from rice; now corn, sugar and wheat have risen in importance, and calories from rice have dropped to 65 percent. In Colombia, palm oil used to be nonexistent. Now nearly half of Colombians' plant-based fat comes from palm, and the country is the third largest producer of palm oil in the world.

But this availability obscures the more challenging truth that Colin and his colleagues discovered: Globally, foods have become more alike and less diverse. As the amount of food around the world has shrunk to just a handful of crops, regional and local crops have become scarce or disappeared altogether. Wheat, rice and corn, plus palm oil and soybeans, are what we all eat now-the same type and the same amount.

Yes, this increase in carbs, fats and proteins has helped feed hungry people, but on a global scale it's also increased our chances of becoming what author Raj Patel calls "stuffed and starved." The world overconsumes energy-dense foods but eats fewer foods rich in micronutrients (the small but essential amounts of vitamins and minerals we need for healthy metabolism, growth and physical development). While 795 million people go hungry, over 2 billion people are overweight or obese. Both groups suffer from micronutrient malnutrition.

The global standard diet is changing the biodiversity of nearly every ecosystem, including the 100 trillion bacteria that live in our gut, part of what's known as our microbiome. The foods and drinks we consume contribute to or, increasingly, detract from the diversity of our intestinal flora and have implications for how healthy or unhealthy we are over the long term.

The factors that contribute to this change are complex and interconnected, but the main reason for this shift is that we've replaced the diversity of foods we used to eat with monodiets of megacrops, funneling our resources and energy into the cultivation of megafields of cereals, soy and palm oil. As farmers from all over the world move toward growing genetically uniform, high-yielding crops, local varieties have dwindled or disappeared altogether. This is why we are now facing one of the most radical shifts we have ever seen in what and how we eat-and in what we'll have the ability to eat in the future.

The loss of agrobiodiversity has and will transform not only what and how we eat, but who will have the resources to eat at all. Because behind every one of these foods and drinks are the people who rely on them for their livelihoods-from field hands and factory workers to grocery clerks and chefs.

How do we feed one another? And how will we feed one another? It's impossible to escape the headlines and news reports expressing concern about food security for our growing population. But, for the past 20 years, the rate of global food production has increased faster than the rate of global population growth. The world produces more than one and a half times enough food to feed everyone on the planet, which is also enough to feed the population of 9.6 billion we anticipate by 2050.

This matters, because a lot of the changes we see in food and agriculture have been made in the name of feeding hungry people. The challenge isn't simply an issue of availability; it's one of access. Food and the resources required to buy food aren't efficiently or equally distributed. That's why the hungriest people in the world are what are known as smallholder farmers-the over 500 million people responsible for feeding the majority of the world's population.

The people who grow food are too poor to buy it.

The majority of these farmers are women, most of whom live in extreme poverty, which is why they are moving to cities and entering the formal workforce in higher numbers. (Women have always worked, but they aren't always recognized or paid for it.) Add to this fewer home gardens, less time to grow food, the exponential growth of supermarkets and fast food joints and a bit more money with which to buy cheap, processed food. You've now got a recipe for the global standard diet.

Simran Sethi Wheat stored in the John Innes Centre Germplasm Resources Unit in Norwich, England

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 95 percent of the world's calories now come from 30 species. Of 30,000 edible plant species, we cultivate about 150. And of the more than 30 birds and mammals we've domesticated for food, only 14 animals provide 90 percent of the food we get from livestock. The loss is staggering: Three-fourths of the world's food comes from just 12 plants and five animal species.

While these numbers are rough estimates, they speak to a startling trend: We rely on fewer species and varieties for food and drink-a treacherous way to sustain what we need to survive. It's dangerous for the same reason investment experts tell us to diversify our financial holdings: Putting all our eggs in one basket (either figuratively or literally) increases risk.

A reduction in agrobiodiversity places us in an increasingly vulnerable position, where warming temperatures or a single pest or disease could severely compromise what we grow, raise and eat. This was, in part, the cause of the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, when one-third of the population was dependent on potatoes for food and one-eighth of the population (about 1 million people) died when a disease, known as potato blight, ravaged the crop. It has also contributed to Southern corn leaf blight, which wiped out one-fourth of American corn in 1970. And now it exacerbates the proliferation of wheat rust, known as the "polio of agriculture," which is threatening 90 percent of African wheat.

It's also why plant geneticists are working around the clock to develop a new type of banana to replace the Cavendish, a variety that was introduced when the soil fungus Fusarium oxysporum, in the 1950s, wiped out the Gros Michel-the banana that used to be the one on store shelves. Those Cavendishes are now succumbing to Tropical race 4, a strain of the same fungus that decimated the Gros Michel.

No matter where you live, you have the memory of something you used to eat that is no longer a part of your diet-something your grandmother used to make, something a small shop used to carry. Something you have lost. This extinction is a process; it happens one meal at a time.

Fortunately, a lot of these changes have occurred in the last few decades, which means they can change again. That is, of course, as long as we sustain the diversity found in the wild, on farms and in stored collections that contain the traits we might need now or in the future: immunity to a disease, greater adaptation to a changing climate, the possibility of higher yields or greater nutritional value-and delicious taste.

But in order to support this diversity and facilitate this change, we have to start to think differently about the food in our fields and on our plates, and be more discriminating about its sources. "How do we buck the system just a little bit?" Colin asks. "Think of oil. We're definitely eating more of it: soybean oil, then palm oil-much more than other oils around the world. Although it isn't immediately obvious that eating olive oil would be radical, in the big picture that's exactly what it is. Eating olive oil is now a radical act. Eating anything that's not rice, wheat, corn, soy or palm oil is radical."

The revolution starts here, on our plates, by looking at the pillars of our own diets and by making simple changes. The way to take back this power for ourselves is to understand why we eat what we eat. And to understand what we're losing-so we know what to reclaim.

The piece above is excerpted from Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love. Copyright © 2015 by Preeti S. Sethi. Reprinted with permission by HarperOne, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers.

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How reduced biodiversity leads to the slow loss of foods we love

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An excerpt from Simran Sethi's book on vanishing foods helps make sense of the United Nations' new, sobering report on biodiversity loss.

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How do we respond to U.S. Environmental Racism & Classism?

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How do we respond to U.S. Environmental Racism & Classism?

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Illness and environmental degradation that results from localized toxic or hazardous industry is an issue that has been present globally since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Some of the work of the first social workers, such as Jane Addams, centered on addressing waste disposal and improving environmental conditions of workplaces and neighborhoods. In the United States, it is no secret that these facilities disproportionately effects low income people of color, who are statistically more likely to live and work near ‘locally undesirable land uses’ (LULUs) such as garbage incinerators, nuclear power plants, or major interstate highways, and are therefore more likely to experience adverse health impacts from the resulting pollution (Texeira and Krings, 2015). Not only is their physical and mental health impacted by living in areas where the air and water is not safe to consume, but the burden is often placed upon these communities to organize and advocate to legislators for change, despite lacking the civic and financial resources to do so.
Solutions:

Involvement of Indigenous people in grassroots organization and, more importantly, scientific research in order to fully appreciate the direct link between colonization and modern issues of environmental injustice. A great example? The Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition!

On a policy level, legally binding documents, like Community Benefits Agreements, that financially obligate developers to take care of their targeted communities should be mandatory in all cases of new development, along with Health Impact Assessments [again using the Duwamish example] that consider the value human life.

Ensuring that CBAs come to fruition would also require campaign finance reform that disentangles lobbyists from interfering with development.

Finally, social workers must be intricately involved in generating awareness around the health implications of industrial development and increasing civic capacity (i.e. voter turnout) in order to better serve communities who do not have the economic resources or political will to mobilize.

Here is a video that highlight how bad things are out there, one more brief one found here:

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What It's Like to Live Cancer Alley | NowThis

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Resistance Movements in Puerto Rico: Responding to Colonialism, Corruption, and Climate Change

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Resistance Movements in Puerto Rico: Responding to Colonialism, Corruption, and Climate Change

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The Issue: The federal assistance that Puerto Ricans received to survive the aftermath of hurricane Maria was the bare minimum. As a modern colony of the U.S., Puerto Rico faced particular social, financial, and political challenges in its fight to recover from Maria. The federal government’s lackluster response encouraged Puerto Ricans to take matters into their own, self-mobilizing and creating resources for themselves and their communities.

Strength-based model: All-from-below.
Auto-gestión (autonomous-organizing) worked as a bridge to political, social, and other divides through collective actions on unifying issues, giving people an opportunity to develop new senses of their own capacities. (1)Self organized relief efforts right after the hurricane Maria. (2)The massive protest that took place on July 2019 to oust the now ex-governor Ricardo Rosselló. (3)The people's assemblies –taking place throughout the island– are meant to provide continuity to self-mobilizing (after the resignation of Rosselló) and entering deep conversations about governance. We can see this self-mobilization movement as a response to years of colonization, corruption, oppressive leadership, and a shifting planet; led by the new generation of people who want a better life in their island.

Media:

Artivism in Puerto Rico

Autonomous Relief Organizing (post-earthquake, Jan 2020)

Unused (hidden) Hurricane Maria Aid found after 2 years

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Puerto Rico's Governor Finally Listened to the Island and Resigned

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Ten percent of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty—herein defined as surviving on less than US $1.90—which impacts their nutrition, health, education, housing, and general well-being.  Poverty is something that the whole world grapples with, but absolute extreme poverty is most commonly occurring in developing countries. Recently, trends have shown a decrease in extreme poverty in countries that are active participants in the global economy, such as China and other East Asian countries, while those still recovering from the turmoil of colonization and conflict, namely countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, have seen a growth in extreme poverty.

Many of the problems the international development sector attempts to alleviate were caused by the colonization and the forced extraction of resources by Europe and its white dominant colonies where the indigenous populations were devastated –US, Canada, Australia. Developed high income countries and the global elite have benefitted from these systems of oppression and are now attempting to improve, through official development assistance programs, multinational organizations, and NGOs, economic conditions of extreme poverty through aid programs. The western neoliberal methods of governments and NGOs providing aid assistance have not been working in many places and has been detrimental to some. Much research is pointing to the benefits of promoting community agency and social justice in poverty alleviation, as well as debunking the paternalistic myths of how the poor balance their budgets and plan for the future. Providing effective banking tools that fit communities specific needs is one strengths-based solution.

Our World in Data is a wonderful resource for examining all types of trends. In this article a lot of the data used is collected by the World Bank.

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Reuse this work freely

All visualizations, data, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

The data produced by third parties and made available by Our World in Data is subject to the license terms from the original third-party authors. We will always indicate the original source of the data in our documentation, so you should always check the license of any such third-party data before use and redistribution.

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All our data, research and writing on poverty is now collected together on our Poverty topic page.

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The Issue: Every night, thousands of our neighbors sleep outside without shelter, in some of the most inhumane and dangerous conditions you can imagine. Homelessness has a deeply rooted history in Seattle. While homelessness and its effects have heavily impacted Seattle over the years, the city is but a fractional representation of the issue, with the crisis reaches far beyond the United States. The causes of homelessness and the reasons it continues to climb have been discussed and debated time and time again. The most common and likely causes include racial inequity, economic disparity, and rising housing costs.
Strength-based approach/solution: Potential solutions to the homelessness crisis include budget and funding improvements, transitional housing programs, rent caps. Proposals for greater regulation to ensure fairness for groups who often face multiple points of exclusion and discrimination, such as minorities, have been voiced all over the world. A change in perspective is what will ultimately be required to see true change, and none will likely occur until housing ceases to be viewed as a financial instrument or investment vehicle as opposed to a basic human right.

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Global Housing Injustice: Eviction and Lack of Tenant Protections

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Global Housing Injustice: Eviction and Lack of Tenant Protections

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The Issue: Under capitalism housing is viewed and sold as a commodity, not as a basic need of shelter and a human right. Since the 2008 financial crisis there has been an increase in housing stability, decrease in public housing,and a global rise of evictions.
+ For a snapshot of the causes and impacts of the evictions in Seattle, see this report from the Housing Justice Project and the Seattle Women's Commission.
+ Housing injustices disproportionately impact populations of color, immigrants, refugees, and people with disabilities
Strengths-based model:
+ On the community level, grassroots resistance movements in Spain are a source of inspiration. There they're using strategies like collective advising assemblies, obstructing evictions, occupying banks, and squatting in empty bank-owned housing to resist the power of the government.
+ On the local level, as refugees and immigrants are a large portion of tenants, these populations need to be able to access their leases and understand their rights in their languages.
+ Landlord Tenant Law Reform at the legislative level to increase protections for tenants. Check out this recent win in WA State which will allow tenants to pay move-in fees in monthly installments!

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The Issue: Despite knowledge and treatment options, lack of HIV testing has led to many undiagnosed carriers. Pharmaceutical industry and political lobbyists have also contributed to the gate keeping of HIV treatment through high prices and sanctions on countries that ignore patents on life saving medication. Many of the communities that are most affected by HIV struggle with political, climate, and economic problems. These push factors often lead people to migrate and face higher risk of exposure, lower access to healthcare, and increase the economic and social stressors that accompany moving across national borders.
Strength-based model: UNAIDS and the WHO have implemented global target goals to increase detection, treatment, and suppression of HIV in order to control the future spread of the virus. Researchers have called for the use of more community based programs to help reach the target goals and contain the spread of the virus. One of the policy changes that has been implemented to increase the consistency of medication management in transnational migrants is through the use of their community support networks. Family and friends of those who take HIV medication have been allowed to pick up prescriptions to aid in the distribution of the medication. Large scale and united advocacy efforts have previously helped lower costs of medication and increased access for low-income communities.
Media: This video provides some insight into how community based interventions can be beneficial in improving health outcomes in rural areas.

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Effect of home based HIV counselling and testing intervention in rural South Africa

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Transnational migration + Chinese massage parlor workers

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Transnational migration + Chinese massage parlor workers

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The issue: China’s sharp transition from socialism to neoliberal cosmopolitanism creates new demand for the sex market, often concealed under services such as spas and massage parlors. Within China, transregional rural migrant workers feel the draw of urban opportunities but are barred from urban resources. Criminalization and victimization are the dominant responses to controlling sex work industry, ignoring the fact that many migrant workers willingly choose sex work. Chinese massage parlor workers in the US face risks of deportation, stigmatization, as well as raids, arrests and fines from police.

Strengths-based model:

Grassroots organizations such as Butterfly: Asian Migrant and Sex Workers Network in Toronto and API Chaya’s Massage Parlor Outreach Program in Seattle are working within communities to connect migrant workers to resources, combat stigma, advocate for decriminalization, educate on the differences between sex work and human trafficking and conduct needs assessments of workers to inform policy change.

Media: This Medium article - White Saviors “Rescuing” Asian Women & Who They Truly Serve: Thoughts on the Massage Parlor Raids in Seattle’s Chinatown/International District

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One manifestation of labor exploitation is the prison-industrial complex. There are numerous examples showcasing the connection between forced and exploitative labor and incarceration. First, the debt-criminal justice complex further criminalizes low-income and racialized populations across the United States. A second example of labor exploitation within the prison-industrial complex is the often forced and nearly-unpaid labor done by incarcerated people in prisons.

Strength-based solutions include outlawing private prisons, jails, and detention centers, providing free college and trade courses inside prisons, and paying the federal and state minimum wages, respectively, inside all prisons, jails, and detention centers.

Media: If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend Ava DuVernay's documentary 13th. You can watch the trailer here.

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Homeboy Industries, Los Angeles, California, USA

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Homeboy Industries, Los Angeles, California, USA

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The Issue: Mass Incarceration & Prison Recidivism
-For a data "snapshot" of the state of mass incarceration in the US, visit the Prison Policy Initiative 2018-19 report.
-For recent data on recidivism, see this 2018US Bureau of Justice report.
Strength-based model:
Homeboy Industries and it's national network of related organizations work to help the formerly incarcerated build new lives via providing professional training and job opportunities in their  social enterprises, various forms of therapy for their clients and their families and building "an irresistible culture of relational tenderness."

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What We Stand For

We stand with the demonized so the demonizing will stop. We believe that through connection and advocacy the demonizing will stop. Standing with the demonized means allowing the world to see not faceless gang members but individuals who are sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. It means forgiving and letting go of past transgressions and looking forward without judgment.

Heal With Us

We foster foundational healing so no one re-offends. We believe that healing happens in an irresistible culture of relational tenderness. In order to create this culture, we provide a safe haven for people to discover and inhabit their authentic selves and become whole. We believe in our trainees until they begin to believe in themselves.

Invest in Transformation

We invest in every homeboy and homegirl's future by providing opportunities for personal, professional and financial growth through programs, services and support that reduce barriers to employment.

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We stand with the demonized so the demonizing will stop. We believe that through connection and advocacy the demonizing will stop. Standing with the demonized means allowing the world to see not faceless gang members but individuals who are sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters.