When Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament, I wrote a post about Canadians' political disengagement, and submitted it to The Mark. By the time they got back to me with an edit, the anti-prorogation movement was going strong. I've never been so happy to see a story grow old.
After last Saturday's protests, I wrote an update: Apathetic No More.
Please click and read, and feel free to post comments here or there.
1.26.2010
1.25.2010
must-watch tv: global 16:9 on u.s. war resisters in canada
Last night, Global's "16:9" show included a segment on US war resisters in Canada. It is absolutely brilliant.
Please watch! And please circulate.
Please watch! And please circulate.
1.24.2010
family of killed toronto construction worker faces deportation. can we help them? UPDATED
I heard about this yesterday during the Toronto anti-prorogue protest, and I can't stop thinking about it. There must be something we can do to help this family.
On Christmas Eve, 2009, four construction workers were killed in Toronto, when the scaffolding they were standing on collapsed. A fifth worker survived with very serious injuries. All five were migrant workers and their working conditions were unsafe.
Bad enough, eh? No, it gets much, much worse.
The family of one of the four deceased workers are refugee claimants from Israel. They are Orthodox Christians, and came to Canada so their two daughters would not be forced to serve in the Israeli "Defense" Forces. The girls are 7 and 14 years old.
Now the family may be deported. They have a refugee hearing next month, and they cannot afford a lawyer.
I'd like to help them. Perhaps we can raise money for their representation, through a ChipIn? I've met some refugee lawyers through the war resister campaign. Maybe they can help. Let me know if you have any ideas - or, more importantly, if you have any time and interest in getting involved.
Update. I contacted a refugee lawyer I've met through the War Resisters Support Campaign. I had seen her posting on Facebook about the construction accident, in relation to the poor workplace safety standards that migrant workers are so often subjected to. She's with Parkdale Community Legal Services, and I asked her if there is anything Parkdale can do.
She gave me quite a bit of information about what might be done on the family's behalf, but said that the family would have to contact Parkdale. Parkdale can probably represent them through Legal Aid, but they (the family) would have to foot the bill for the Humanitarian and Compassionate application.
I then contacted the Star reporter who wrote the story, quoted from the lawyer's email, and asked if he would pass on this information to the family. I also suggested that if they are internet savvy, they might try raising money through ChipIn.
The reporter wrote back to say he would pass along the information through an interpreter, and he said several lawyers have volunteered to represent the family pro bono.
There's no guarantee of anything, of course, but at least there is hope.
On Christmas Eve, 2009, four construction workers were killed in Toronto, when the scaffolding they were standing on collapsed. A fifth worker survived with very serious injuries. All five were migrant workers and their working conditions were unsafe.
Bad enough, eh? No, it gets much, much worse.
The family of one of the four deceased workers are refugee claimants from Israel. They are Orthodox Christians, and came to Canada so their two daughters would not be forced to serve in the Israeli "Defense" Forces. The girls are 7 and 14 years old.
Now the family may be deported. They have a refugee hearing next month, and they cannot afford a lawyer.
On New Year's Eve, Cherniakova got a letter from the Immigration and Refugee Board, telling her she has a hearing Feb. 23. Cherniakova, who speaks little English, knows if things don't go well in the Victoria St. hearing room, she and her two girls may very well be uprooted.
This, she said, would mean Korostin's dream of a future in Canada for his girls would be snuffed out.
Korostin always put his girls first, and left Israel in part because he worried about them doing mandatory military service once they completed high school, she said.
He also thought Canada would be a better fit for his family, who are Orthodox Christian and originally from the tiny community of Guzar, Uzbekistan, which is predominantly Muslim.
They decided to move here three years ago from Israel after a visit from friends who had moved to Canada. "They said, 'If you're Muslim, Christian or Jewish, you can find your place in Canada,'" Cherniakova recalled, through a Russian language interpreter. "You will be respected for who you are as a human being.'"
I'd like to help them. Perhaps we can raise money for their representation, through a ChipIn? I've met some refugee lawyers through the war resister campaign. Maybe they can help. Let me know if you have any ideas - or, more importantly, if you have any time and interest in getting involved.
Update. I contacted a refugee lawyer I've met through the War Resisters Support Campaign. I had seen her posting on Facebook about the construction accident, in relation to the poor workplace safety standards that migrant workers are so often subjected to. She's with Parkdale Community Legal Services, and I asked her if there is anything Parkdale can do.
She gave me quite a bit of information about what might be done on the family's behalf, but said that the family would have to contact Parkdale. Parkdale can probably represent them through Legal Aid, but they (the family) would have to foot the bill for the Humanitarian and Compassionate application.
I then contacted the Star reporter who wrote the story, quoted from the lawyer's email, and asked if he would pass on this information to the family. I also suggested that if they are internet savvy, they might try raising money through ChipIn.
The reporter wrote back to say he would pass along the information through an interpreter, and he said several lawyers have volunteered to represent the family pro bono.
There's no guarantee of anything, of course, but at least there is hope.
harper gets smacked in more than 60 cities
If you liked launching shoes at Bush, you'll love smacking Stephen Harper.
Mr Harper got a big smack yesterday, as thousands of Canadians expressed their displeasure with his prorogation of Parliament. Plans are already in the works to keep the movement alive with a second wave of action. You can stay informed through the Facebook group CAPP: A second wave of actions and through No Prorogue.
There's very decent coverage in the Globe and Mail, Star, CTV, Global, CBC.
Of course crowd numbers are under-estimated, but that's always the case. And I do mean always. I think it's best not to get too caught up in crowd counts. People cared enough to take to the streets in January in 60 Canadian towns and cities, and another handful of locations around the world, and everyone watching TV or picking up their newspaper or clicking on news sites can plainly see that crowds were both significant in size and spread throughout Canada. That's what counts.
Everyone in the activist community is saying the same thing: none of us have ever seen anything this big spring up this fast. This is truly a people's movement, bubbling up from the grassroots, both multi-partisan and non-partisan.
Apparently wingnut marching orders of the day are to spam comments on all news stories about the protests, claiming turnout was low and declaring it a failure. Sadly for them, and happily for us, we saw otherwise with our own eyes. As did the media, and, you can be sure, the Conservatives.
Two beautiful photos from the Daily Dose of Imagery, here and here.
Mr Harper got a big smack yesterday, as thousands of Canadians expressed their displeasure with his prorogation of Parliament. Plans are already in the works to keep the movement alive with a second wave of action. You can stay informed through the Facebook group CAPP: A second wave of actions and through No Prorogue.
There's very decent coverage in the Globe and Mail, Star, CTV, Global, CBC.
Of course crowd numbers are under-estimated, but that's always the case. And I do mean always. I think it's best not to get too caught up in crowd counts. People cared enough to take to the streets in January in 60 Canadian towns and cities, and another handful of locations around the world, and everyone watching TV or picking up their newspaper or clicking on news sites can plainly see that crowds were both significant in size and spread throughout Canada. That's what counts.
Everyone in the activist community is saying the same thing: none of us have ever seen anything this big spring up this fast. This is truly a people's movement, bubbling up from the grassroots, both multi-partisan and non-partisan.
Apparently wingnut marching orders of the day are to spam comments on all news stories about the protests, claiming turnout was low and declaring it a failure. Sadly for them, and happily for us, we saw otherwise with our own eyes. As did the media, and, you can be sure, the Conservatives.
Two beautiful photos from the Daily Dose of Imagery, here and here.
1.23.2010
happy democracy day!
Wherever you are, enjoy the day! Rallies in:
For information about your location, click here, look for the city, click again.
Antigonish, NS
Barrie
Belleville
Bolton
Calgary
Charlottetown
Dallas, TX
Duncan, BC
Edmonton
Fredericton
Grande Prairie, AB
Guelph
Halifax, NS
Hamilton
Huntsville, ON
Inverness, NS
Kamloops, BC
Kelowna
Kingston
Lethbridge, AB
London, ON
London, UK
Maple Ridge, BC
Mississauga
Moncton
Montreal
Nanaimo, BC
New York City
Newmarket
North Bay, ON
Oakville
Orangeville
Orillia, ON
Oshawa-Whitby
Ottawa
Owen Sound
Parry Sound, ON
Penticton
Peterborough
Prince Albert, SK
Prince George, BC
Prince Rupert
Quinte
Regina
Saint John, NB
San Francisco, CA
Saskatoon
Sault Ste. Marie
Smithers, BC
Smithers, BC
St. John’s, NL
Stratford
Sudbury
Sydney, NS
Terrace, BC
Thunder Bay
Toronto
Vancouver
Vernon
Victoria
Waterloo Region
Whitehorse
Windsor
Winnipeg
Wolfville, NS
Yellowknife
For information about your location, click here, look for the city, click again.
1.22.2010
blog for choice 2010
Today is the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
I'm taking a year off from Blog For Choice. Instead of writing, I'll refer you to April Reign, who reminds us that in order to control their lives, women must control their bodies.
And to the National Network of Abortion Funds, which reminds us that in order to control their bodies, many women need assistance. A donation to N-NAF is a meaningful way to celebrate Roe v Wade Day.
Trust Women!
I'm taking a year off from Blog For Choice. Instead of writing, I'll refer you to April Reign, who reminds us that in order to control their lives, women must control their bodies.
And to the National Network of Abortion Funds, which reminds us that in order to control their bodies, many women need assistance. A donation to N-NAF is a meaningful way to celebrate Roe v Wade Day.
Trust Women!
zerbisias: canadians have had it, and we'll show up to prove it
The great Antonia Z:
Click and read!
It was Woody Allen who said that 80 per cent of success is showing up.
Is that why Conservative critics and the corporate media are so focused on numbers?
How many Canadians care about Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cynical and contemptuous prorogation of Parliament last month?
Click and read!
war resisters event in mississauga: report
The war resisters event last night in Mississauga was excellent. After brief talks by war resisters Chuck Wiley and Kimberly Rivera, we watched "War Resisters Speak Out". The one-hour film was created from a past Campaign event, in which CBC radio host Andy Barrie - who came to Canada after deserting from the Vietnam War - interviewed a dozen Iraq War resisters who are seeking refuge in Canada. The movie is an amazing organizing tool - moving, informative, compelling.
After the film, Campaign organizer Michelle Robidoux gave a little update on our political situation, then I chaired a question-and-answer discussion between the audience and the resisters.
It was a great discussion, with many attendees making the undeniable connection between the increasing militarism in Canada and the government's refusal to allow US war resisters to stay here.
Perhaps the most gratifying part of the evening for me came as we were leaving: two people who attended told me they wanted to plan their own event in Waterloo. They are university students who learned about this issue for the first time, and now feel compelled to act.
The only minor disappointment was the turnout was low, only about 20 people. On the other hand, most people were new to this issue, and a lot of education and awareness-raising was taking place. That's more important than numbers.
The Mississauga News was there. Here's their story:
After the film, Campaign organizer Michelle Robidoux gave a little update on our political situation, then I chaired a question-and-answer discussion between the audience and the resisters.
It was a great discussion, with many attendees making the undeniable connection between the increasing militarism in Canada and the government's refusal to allow US war resisters to stay here.
Perhaps the most gratifying part of the evening for me came as we were leaving: two people who attended told me they wanted to plan their own event in Waterloo. They are university students who learned about this issue for the first time, and now feel compelled to act.
The only minor disappointment was the turnout was low, only about 20 people. On the other hand, most people were new to this issue, and a lot of education and awareness-raising was taking place. That's more important than numbers.
The Mississauga News was there. Here's their story:
No going home for them
Chuck Wiley wakes up at 4:30 a.m. every day and still has trouble choosing his own clothing.
Kimberly Rivera’s home is packed up in boxes, knowing her family’s stay in Toronto could soon come to an end.
Both are American war resisters who spoke last night at the Central Library during an intimate film screening and discussion about the uncertain future of military service men and women who went AWOL and fled to Canada.
“Coming to Canada was the first decision my husband and I ever agreed upon,” said Rivera, who grew up in Mesquite, Texas, a suburb east of Dallas. She headed for Canada in 2007 after being deployed in Iraq. She couldn't reconcile herself with the damage the war there was doing to civilian families.
“I realized that I wasn’t protecting anything in Iraq, I was just making it worse.”
Both Wiley, a Chief Petty Officer in the navy, and Army Specialist Rivera changed their positions on the war during their time in Iraq.
Meanwhile, both have been denied refugee status in Canada and fear they will soon be deported back to America, where they will serve jail time and be tarnished with a criminal record for life.
“I had to do it the way I did (coming to Canada), to get the story out,” said Wiley, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “If I had sat quietly in the United States and chosen to take a sentence, then it wouldn’t have changed anything.” [More here.]
gaza freedom march wrap-up from codepink and why it matters
I got an email a while back from CODEPINK, copied below. It's an excellent wrap-up of their involvement in the Gaza Freedom March, but beyond that, it's a beautiful articulation of the many reasons actions like this are important, and how they help to create change.
I have no doubt that the Gaza Freedom March was - and will continue to be - important in ways we will never know, part of the communal chain-reaction that will help a people achieve independence and self-determination.
In 2004, while waiting for our applications to Canada to be approved, I spent the summer working with a get-out-the-vote campaign to elect John Kerry. I didn't do this because I loved John Kerry, and in fact had a very difficult time deciding whether or not to vote for him. (I ultimately did vote Democrat that year, the only time in the decade I would do so.) But at that time, I felt strongly that progressives and liberals and ordinary non-wingnut folks needed to make a huge showing at the polls, to try to override the fraud and theft we knew was coming. I felt certain that the election would be stolen. But I also felt I had to be part of the resistance, and this seemed the likeliest route at the time.
Anyway, I was inviting everyone I knew to join voter registration drives and work phone banks. I invited a work acquaintance who I knew was progressive. He said, "Will I see results? I only like to participate in actions where I see tangible results."
I told him "results" were not always easy to measure, that activism was cumulative, that change is created through many paths, often invisible to the activists themselves. He scoffed at me, and ended the conversation.
In some ways, I've been trying to answer him ever since.
From CODEPINK:
There's a reason I keep these quotes on the sidebar of this blog. The words inspire me every day.
I have no doubt that the Gaza Freedom March was - and will continue to be - important in ways we will never know, part of the communal chain-reaction that will help a people achieve independence and self-determination.
In 2004, while waiting for our applications to Canada to be approved, I spent the summer working with a get-out-the-vote campaign to elect John Kerry. I didn't do this because I loved John Kerry, and in fact had a very difficult time deciding whether or not to vote for him. (I ultimately did vote Democrat that year, the only time in the decade I would do so.) But at that time, I felt strongly that progressives and liberals and ordinary non-wingnut folks needed to make a huge showing at the polls, to try to override the fraud and theft we knew was coming. I felt certain that the election would be stolen. But I also felt I had to be part of the resistance, and this seemed the likeliest route at the time.
Anyway, I was inviting everyone I knew to join voter registration drives and work phone banks. I invited a work acquaintance who I knew was progressive. He said, "Will I see results? I only like to participate in actions where I see tangible results."
I told him "results" were not always easy to measure, that activism was cumulative, that change is created through many paths, often invisible to the activists themselves. He scoffed at me, and ended the conversation.
In some ways, I've been trying to answer him ever since.
From CODEPINK:
The 1,362 people from the Gaza Freedom March are just returning home, full of stories about a wild week in Cairo, in the Egyptian border towns of Al Arish and Rafah, in Gaza for those who got inside, and in the West Bank and Erez crossing for those who went to Israel. And people like you, all around the world, people, held solidarity actions that focused world attention on the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza.
It was a rough week for many--battling Egyptian police on the streets, getting rebuffed by our own embassies, joining the hunger strike, debating the Egyptian offer of allowing only 100 people into Gaza. Through it all, however, we can be proud of our many accomplishments:
By focusing worldwide attention on the siege, we lifted the spirits of the isolated people of Gaza. "For us, a population of 1.6 million being imprisoned and starved, the gratitude we express to you, the Gaza freedom marchers, is immense. Thank you all from the depth of our hearts!" - Mohammed Omer, Gaza
We put the spotlight on the negative role Egypt is playing in maintaining the siege and we put pressure on the highest levels of the Egyptian government. "Your presence in Egypt was like an earthquake," said Suzanne, an Egyptian student. "You did more good politically by protesting in Egypt than you could have ever done in Gaza." Check out the hundreds of press hits on the march from dailies around the world!
We forced the Egyptian government to make a concession by letting 100 delegates into Gaza. That delegation took in tens of thousands of dollars in humanitarian aid, allowed Palestinians to see long-lost family members, recorded stories they will disseminate broadly, and put up a stunning mosaic memorial, created by muralist Kathleen Crocetti, in a central location in Gaza City in the name of the international community.
View the photos of the Women's Contingent in action and the whole Gaza Freedom March and solidarity actions from photographers around the world!
We signed on to a lawsuit against the Egyptian government for building a wall to block off the tunnels that have become the commercial lifeline for the people in Gaza.
We reinvigorated our own determination to keep struggling to lift the siege! A new international network formed that can coordinate future work and, initiated by the South African delegation, the Gaza Freedom March committee and various members drafted the Cairo Declaration that outlines a program for moving forward. View and sign on to the Declaration here.
There's a reason I keep these quotes on the sidebar of this blog. The words inspire me every day.
You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing, there will be no result.
Mohandas Gandhi
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
1.21.2010
quick personal note of the usual variety
Between schoolwork and the event I've been planning, plus my usual campaign duties, blogging has had to take a back seat. I have a long list of topics to write about, and it really irks me when I can't get to any of them!
I think I've been posting something like this every few days. How boring.
Plus, guess what, we have to find a new weekend dogwalker. No crazy drama or disappearances this time, she's just moving on. The wonderful Dharma Seeker will be filling in until we find someone new. But responding to emails and interviewing takes time, and time is in short supply.
I think I've been posting something like this every few days. How boring.
Plus, guess what, we have to find a new weekend dogwalker. No crazy drama or disappearances this time, she's just moving on. The wonderful Dharma Seeker will be filling in until we find someone new. But responding to emails and interviewing takes time, and time is in short supply.
war resister event in mississauga tonight; mp kennedy calls for debate on bill
If you are in Mississauga or Oakville or thereabouts, please join us for a special event. It's very special to me, because it's the first activism I've planned in Mississauga. I've been co-organizing it with a great activist from the Mississauga Coalition for Peace and Justice, who I met through IS.
We'll be screening "War Resisters Speak Out," a movie featuring a dozen US war resisters inteviewed by CBC radio host Andy Barrie, followed by a discussion with two people who are in the film. See below for details.
Similar events are being planned all over Canada in support of Bill C-440, the private member's bill that would allow US war resisters to stay in Canada. Opposition bills survive prorogation, and this one has the support of all three opposition parties. Obviously the bill has been stalled because of Harper's political machinations, but if passed, C-440 would give the weight of law to the two motions the House of Commons already passed in support of US war resisters - which the Harper Government ignored.
Yesterday, MP Gerard Kennedy, sponsor of Bill C-440, renewed his call for a full Parliamentary debate.
"WAR RESISTERS SPEAK OUT": Film Screening and Discussion
WHEN: Tonight, Thursday, January 21, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Mississauga Central Library, 301 Burnhamthorpe Road West (next to Square One), Room CL-3
Co-sponsored by the War Resisters Support Campaign and the Mississauga Coalition for Peace and Justice
For more information, email me or resistersmississauga-at-gmail-dot-com (which is also me).
We'll be screening "War Resisters Speak Out," a movie featuring a dozen US war resisters inteviewed by CBC radio host Andy Barrie, followed by a discussion with two people who are in the film. See below for details.
Similar events are being planned all over Canada in support of Bill C-440, the private member's bill that would allow US war resisters to stay in Canada. Opposition bills survive prorogation, and this one has the support of all three opposition parties. Obviously the bill has been stalled because of Harper's political machinations, but if passed, C-440 would give the weight of law to the two motions the House of Commons already passed in support of US war resisters - which the Harper Government ignored.
Yesterday, MP Gerard Kennedy, sponsor of Bill C-440, renewed his call for a full Parliamentary debate.
A campaign to halt the deportation of war resisters from Canada has grown from the jailing of an American army deserter who spent three years on Gabriola Island.
Toronto Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy wants Canadians to tell their MPs to stop deporting all American Iraq war resisters, until his private member's bill is debated in the House of Commons.
The bill is to allow immigrants to stay if they come here because they disagree with their government's reasons for going to war.
Bill C-440 was slated to be debated early in the next session of Parliament, but all work in the House has been pushed back by Prime Minister Harper's proroguing of Parliament.
Cliff Cornell walked away from his post with the U.S. Army and ultimately spent three years as a grocery clerk on Gabriola before his residency application was blocked and the Conservative government ordered him deported.
That deportation order came despite a vote to allow war resisters to stay in Canada, which got the support of a majority of Parliament through all three Opposition parties.
Nanaimo-Alberni MP James Lunney, a Conservative, could not be reached for comment.
There are an estimated 250 war resisters in Canada. Kennedy wants voters to send MPs the message to stop the deportation orders against them.
Cornell, who left Canada before his deportation took effect last year, returned to Fort Stewart, Ga., to face the music. He was sentenced to a year in prison for desertion.
He got an early prison release on Saturday. His sentence was reduced by a month, thanks to a letter-writing campaign spearheaded by Gabriolans who knew him from the Village Market grocery store.
Canada has a tradition of supporting war resisters who left the U.S. to avoid the draft during the Vietnam war, and Kennedy said today's situation is similar, with the U.S. employing what some consider a "poverty draft," by promising poor people with few job prospects work in the military.
Cornell, who is travelling this week to his adopted family in Mountain Home, Ark., said he was lured by a $5,000 signing bonus and a job, and the promise he would not have to go to war. Two years later news came that his 39th Artillery Regiment was about to ship out for Iraq.
A majority of Canadians opposed the Iraq war and Kennedy hopes that opposition translates into support for the fight to change the immigration law to protect people like Cornell.
"We'd like Canadians to say: 'Is this fair?' Should someone with a crisis of conscience, who turns to Canada when they're compelled to do something against their conscience, shouldn't we stop deporting these people until my bill is debated?"
"WAR RESISTERS SPEAK OUT": Film Screening and Discussion
WHEN: Tonight, Thursday, January 21, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Mississauga Central Library, 301 Burnhamthorpe Road West (next to Square One), Room CL-3
Co-sponsored by the War Resisters Support Campaign and the Mississauga Coalition for Peace and Justice
For more information, email me or resistersmississauga-at-gmail-dot-com (which is also me).
1.20.2010
stephen harper gets a taste of things to come
Stephen Harper's visit to Toronto today was overshadowed by a little cloud.... a cloud that will soon develop into a mighty storm. From the Globe and Mail (that's my friend NCF in the photo!):
That "25-year-old university student" is organizing the rally in my very own Mississauga, and he's doing an amazing job.
See you all Saturday!
Canada's convalescing economy may have topped Prime Minister Stephen Harper's agenda Wednesday, but anti-prorogation anger ended up hijacking his Toronto road show.
About 35 protesters from students to seniors picketed Mr. Harper's afternoon visit to the C.D. Howe Institute, chanting “Stop the prorogation, listen to the nation!”
It's just a taste of what's to come on Saturday, when thousands are expected to gather at rallies across Canada to protest the shutdown of Parliament, said Walied Khogali, who helped organize the demonstration.
“We just want to send a clear message that we are watching and we do care, and our MPs are accountable to us, not to any specific political party or to any elite,” said the 25-year-old university student.
That "25-year-old university student" is organizing the rally in my very own Mississauga, and he's doing an amazing job.
See you all Saturday!
1.19.2010
harpers: the human cost of a $2 sweatshirt
In this previous post, I posted two quotes found in Ken Silverstein's brilliant article in last month's Harper's: "Shopping for Sweat: the human cost of the two-dollar t-shirt". That's not hyperbole, by the way. T-shirts that retail at $40 are produced for $2 or less, and that includes door-to-door shipping from the other side of the globe.
The story is only available online by subscription, but if you want to read it, email me for the text. It's a must-read for anyone interested in labour issues. And anyone interested in poverty, and building a just world. And anyone who wears clothes.
Writing from Cambodia, Silverstein posed as a clothing company rep to gain access to garment factories not usually granted to media. Perhaps the most disturbing revelation is how, in response to pressure from the largely student-driven anti-sweatshop movement, oversight, inspection and international standards have given rise to an oversight industry, but workers' wages remain well below poverty level. Another candidate for most disturbing revelation: the persistent wealthy Western response, typified by Nicholas Kristof, that these deplorable conditions are good enough - for those people.
Silverstein did an interview about the story on NPR; go here and follow links.
But first, read these excerpts from Shopping for Sweat: the human cost of the two-dollar t-shirt, by Ken Silverstein.
The story is only available online by subscription, but if you want to read it, email me for the text. It's a must-read for anyone interested in labour issues. And anyone interested in poverty, and building a just world. And anyone who wears clothes.
Writing from Cambodia, Silverstein posed as a clothing company rep to gain access to garment factories not usually granted to media. Perhaps the most disturbing revelation is how, in response to pressure from the largely student-driven anti-sweatshop movement, oversight, inspection and international standards have given rise to an oversight industry, but workers' wages remain well below poverty level. Another candidate for most disturbing revelation: the persistent wealthy Western response, typified by Nicholas Kristof, that these deplorable conditions are good enough - for those people.
Silverstein did an interview about the story on NPR; go here and follow links.
But first, read these excerpts from Shopping for Sweat: the human cost of the two-dollar t-shirt, by Ken Silverstein.
In 1999, Cambodia signed a bilateral trade agreement that allowed it to export a quota of textile products to the United States under highly favorable terms. In exchange, Cambodia agreed to improve labor conditions and submit to factory inspections by the International Labor Organization (ILO); if better conditions were documented, the country’s quota would be raised. American unions lobbied heavily for the deal. For the first time, the United States would predicate trade on labor rights, not merely as a talking point but as part of an enforceable agreement. It set the stage for Cambodia to become a major garment exporter and allowed it to build a reputation as a “sweat-free” country.
Even after 2005, when global textile quotas were phased out and the U.S.–Cambodian trade agreement lapsed as a result, the garment industry continued to grow. It is currently the country’s largest sector, employing 350,000 workers, most of them young women. Apparel accounts for three quarters of export earnings, with about 60 percent of that output going to the United States. Many of the biggest apparel brands and buyers source from Cambodia, among them Walmart, Nike, Adidas, Target, Gap, Sears, Eddie Bauer, and Puma. Although there is no longer an enforcement mechanism in place, the ILO continues to monitor factories, and Cambodia has maintained its status as a model apparel producer.... And yet despite Cambodia’s friendly reputation, its workers have not seriously benefited from the trade deal, in terms of either wages or labor standards.
. . . .
...pay for apparel workers in Cambodia has stagnated, according to a 2008 survey, at 33 cents an hour, lower than anywhere but Bangladesh. Directly above Cambodia were Pakistan (37 cents an hour), Vietnam (38 cents), and Sri Lanka (43 cents). China, with wages between 55 and 80 cents per hour in inland areas, was the ninth cheapest. Labor unions are abundant, but most are funded and controlled by employers or by the government, and independent activists have been fired, suspended, sued, and otherwise targeted for repression. In 2004, even before the trade deal with the United States expired, a well-known apparel union leader and founder of the main opposition party was shot and killed in central Phnom Penh. Two other independent unionists were murdered after that, in 2004 and 2007. . . . .
The monthly minimum wage at apparel plants (which, like many Cambodian businesses, typically pay workers in U.S. dollars) was $45 in 2000, and nine years later it was $56; during that same period, inflation has cut the buying power of a dollar by 37 percent.
. . . .
In October 2008, a Phnom Penh newspaper reported that foraging for food was “an increasingly popular weekend pursuit for garment workers feeling the pinch due to the spiraling cost of goods.” To survive, workers scavenged the fields near their factories for wild vegetables, snails, and crabs.
. . . .
In 1999, Reebok, Nike, and three other brands founded the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which describes itself as “a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending sweatshop conditions in factories worldwide” and claims to have “helped improve the lives of thousands of workers around the globe.” FLA “affiliates” are required to establish rigorous codes of conduct, to submit their plants to inspection by “third-party monitors,” and to correct any abuses or shortcomings uncovered. Since then, an entire monitoring industry has emerged: a profusion of auditing firms, consulting companies, NGOs, and multilateral organizations that apparel makers pay handsomely to develop monitoring tools, offer expert advice, and write up countless glossy reports. For workers at apparel plants, though, the benefits have proved elusive. A recent academic study — whose lead author, Richard M. Locke, is the deputy dean of MIT’s business school — reviewed Nike’s own data and found that conditions had “stagnated or deteriorated” at 78 percent of the company’s supplier factories between 1998 and 2005.
Which is not to say that monitoring is inherently useless. When factory inspections are genuinely independent, unannounced, and thorough, they can uncover serious abuses. But one gets what one pays for, as the old saying goes; and since the apparel companies’ dues pay for the monitoring firms that inspect their plants, they tend to get the lax policing that they want.
Very quickly it became clear that the FLA’s main role was to offer image enhancement for its member firms, and so several labor unions and civil-society groups dropped out. Although a number of universities and NGOs do still sit on the board, the association’s main goal is clearly P.R. rather than social justice.
. . . .
I interviewed several dozen apparel workers — none were comfortable having their names published — from three factories, in their neighborhoods or at their homes. All were young women who had come to Phnom Penh from the provinces in order to support their families, and all worked at plants producing for major Western brands, including Levi’s, Adidas, and Puma. None had ever received a pay increase, notwithstanding hikes in the national minimum wage. They all worked overtime, if they could get it, often an extra twenty hours a week, because otherwise they didn’t make enough money to live on. There had been some small improvements in working conditions. Factories tended to be better cooled or ventilated. It was no longer common for pregnancy to lead to firing. At one plant, bathroom passes had recently been abolished. But there were still problems, especially in the aftermath of the global crisis. Besides the widespread layoffs, employees were being told they needed to work faster to keep output up.
Among those I spoke with were ten workers from Chu Hsing, a Taiwanese plant that makes Levi’s jeans. They all lived in a neighboring shanty, which clings to the banks of the Mekong River. We sat in a courtyard, surrounded by a jumble of shacks with corrugated tin roofs and walls of either palm fronds and wood or rough concrete. Large clay pots of water sat outside each home, and charcoal burned in a large metal grill that served as a communal kitchen.
One woman, twenty-three, showed me the tiny shack she shared with two other employees. The mats they slept on were rolled up in the corner of the white-tiled room, which was otherwise furnished with an electric griddle, a TV on a wood desk, and a metal rack on which they hung their clothing. The woman, who worked in the plant’s measurement section, had never been to the heart of Phnom Penh in the four years since she’d moved to the city, even though it was just thirty minutes away by bus. “My rent is $20 a month, I pay $3 a month for utilities, and $1 a day for food,” she said. “If I spent a day in the city all my money would be gone.” She’d seen labor monitors come to Chu Hsing—she wasn’t sure if they were from the ILO or a private company hired by the plant—but to her knowledge they’d never spoken with workers in their homes. Management had prepped employees on talking to monitors. “My boss told me if I wanted a higher salary I should convince the buyers that it was a good factory and they should buy more products,” she said.
At a second shantytown in the Dangkor neighborhood, I spoke with a group of women who worked for Grand Twins International, another Taiwanese-owned firm, which produces clothing for H&M. One worker said that management had instituted a production-quota system a year earlier. “If you don’t meet the quota you get warned, and if you get several warnings you can be fired,” she said. Two employees she knew had been dismissed for failing to meet production goals. She’d come to Phnom Penh nine years earlier; returning to her province was not an option, she said, as “only rich people can afford to tell their daughters to stay at home.” But her living conditions were worse, and she was sending less money home, than when she first moved to the city.
On the way back to town, I stopped on Norodom Boulevard at the Adidas Summer Sales store, where signs in the windows announced steep discounts. It looked like a store in an American strip mall and had prices to match. A pair of sneakers cost $40; a girl’s T-shirt was $32, and a pair of shorts was going for $30. The combined cost came to about two months’ pay on an apparel worker’s salary.
. . . .
...Like Kim at Kie & Kie, Chang needed additional information, but he said that GW could offer a rate of about $2 per piece, which would include shipping. Not bad for a T-shirt that would probably retail at trendy stores for around $30 or $40.
Before I left, Chang took me to a separate room and proudly showed me racks of plaid jumpers and white tops made for Parker, the Texas-based company that provides uniforms for private-school kids. since 1931, said the label. But it turns out that Parker shifted production to Cambodia more than a year ago.66. Parker’s website doesn’t mention that it makes its uniforms in Cambodia. “We design and manufacture in-house,” it says.
. . . .
The current crisis has caused even a few mainstream analysts to question the conventional wisdom about global trade. “What we call ‘free trade’ should be called ‘debt-financed trade,’” says Richard Duncan, chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Management in Singapore. “The whole world expanded industrial capacity in order to satisfy American demand for their products, which the United States bought on credit. We ended up with huge American trade deficits and the accumulation, during the past four years, of more dollars held overseas than had been built up in all prior history. That the bubble had to pop was obvious.” Duncan said that only the ability of the United States to run a $10 trillion deficit over the next five years will prevent a global depression. But in the long term, trade imbalances have to be corrected by increasing consumption in the Third World.
Duncan’s suggestion is simple: a “trickle-up” strategy, whereby wages rise — in Asia, beginning at a $5-per-day minimum, slightly above starting pay in southern China and more than twice the current rate in Bangladesh. Then, Duncan says, the wage could be raised by $1 each year for ten years. Imposing such a scheme would be quite simple to implement, he points out. The United States and the European Union could slap steep tariffs on imports manufactured by workers earning less than the minimum.
“If you sell a pair of tennis shoes for $101 instead of $100, no consumer in Chicago will notice the difference, but it will totally transform villages in Vietnam,” he said. “This is not a moral argument. We are currently on government life-support, but that’s not sustainable. We are going to have an international depression if we don’t figure out a way to create new sources of global demand—in which case, all those apparel companies are going to go out of business anyway.”
1.18.2010
sweatshops are good enough for them
Two quotes.
Both observations are quoted by Ken Silverstein in last month's Harper's, in "Shopping for Sweat: the human cost of a two-dollar t-shirt".
Silverstein writes: "Kristof’s speakers’ bureau, American Program Bureau, says his typical fee is approximately $30,000 for an hour, during which he offers 'a compassionate glimpse' into global poverty and gives a 'voice to the voiceless.'"
Excerpts from this stellar article coming soon.
Before Barack Obama and his team act on their talk about ‘labor standards,’ I’d like to offer them a tour of the vast garbage dump here in Phnom Penh. The miasma of toxic stink leaves you gasping, breezes batter you with filth, and even the rats look forlorn. . . . Many families actually live in shacks on this smoking garbage. [For families living in the dump,] a job in a sweatshop is a cherished dream, an escalator out of poverty. . . . The central challenge in the poorest countries, is not that sweatshops exploit too many people, but that they don’t exploit enough.
Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist, 2009
If the children employed in these mills would, otherwise, be living in decent homes, going to school, eating sufficient and wholesome food, getting some sort of moral, mental and manual training, then, without question, mill-work for children deserves to be decried as a flagrant social evil. As a matter of fact, however, the alternative presented to these particular children is to live in dilapidated houses, wear wretched clothing and eat food which is inadequate in quantity and abominable in quality.
Julia Magruder, novelist, 1907
Both observations are quoted by Ken Silverstein in last month's Harper's, in "Shopping for Sweat: the human cost of a two-dollar t-shirt".
Silverstein writes: "Kristof’s speakers’ bureau, American Program Bureau, says his typical fee is approximately $30,000 for an hour, during which he offers 'a compassionate glimpse' into global poverty and gives a 'voice to the voiceless.'"
Excerpts from this stellar article coming soon.
gabriolans want cliff back, and so do we
Take a quick moment to vote: Should war resister Cliff Cornell be allowed to return to Canada?
Nanaimo Daily News:
Nanaimo Daily News:
Gabriola Island peace activist Jean McLaren can't wait to get the party started.
McLaren and others on the island started a letter-writing campaign to convince U.S. authorities to release army deserter Cliff Cornell from prison last year after the 28-year-old man, a former grocery clerk at the Village Food Market, was jailed in the U.S.
Cornell was released from an American prison Saturday, one month before the end of his year-long jail sentence.
He said that it was the support and letters from the people of Gabriola that helped persuade American officials to release him early. He said that he wants to return to Gabriola Island.
"We all wrote to him and to the American authorities," said Gabriola's Ann Buttrick, who found out Cornell was going to be released when she received a letter from him recently. "I very much want to try to come back to Canada. The support I got has been really overwhelming," Cornell said. McLaren and others on Gabriola plan to welcome him back with open arms.
In 2008, Cornell said that he joined the U.S. Army in 2002 because he needed a job and because "slick" recruiters" promised him he wouldn't have to fight in the Iraq war.
He spent about two years at an Army complex in Georgia before finding out his regiment was about to ship out for Iraq.
Cornell deserted and headed to Canada, ending up on Gabriola, where he spent three years working at the market, forging strong bonds with residents there.
"Everybody on Gabriola knew him and liked him," said Buttrick. "I thought he was a nice, quiet, pleasant kid." More.
toronto democracy rally: schedule for final week: volunteers needed
From Canadians against Proroguing Parliament (Toronto):
Less than one week remains before Canadians against Proroguing Parliament (Toronto) hosts its city-wide rally and march on Saturday, January 23 at 1:00pm at Yonge-Dundas Square in downtown Toronto. Check out the final outreach calendar. We could use your help every day this week, or whenever you have time to volunteer.
MONDAY, JANUARY 18
4pm to 6pm
Leafleting and donation collection
Yonge-Dundas Square
* Help us distribute leaflets about the rally to passers-by, and to collect donations.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 19
4pm to 6pm
Leafleting and donation collection
Yonge-Dundas Square
* Help us distribute leaflets about the rally to passers-by, and to collect donations.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20
4pm to 6pm
Leafleting and donation collection
Yonge-Dundas Square
* Help us distribute leaflets about the rally to passers-by, and to collect donations.
6pm to 7pm
Poster run
Meet at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor Street West, Suite 207
* Help us put up posters around Toronto. All materials provided. Just bring yourself.
7pm to 9pm
Banner-painting and placard-assembly party
Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor Street West, Room TBA
* Free food and refreshments will be provided. Help us paint the lead banner and assemble 500 placards to be distributed at the rally and march. All painting materials provided. Media will likely be present.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 21
4pm to 6pm
Leafleting and donation collection
Yonge-Dundas Square
* Help us distribute leaflets about the rally to passers-by, and to collect donations.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22
4pm to 6pm
Leafleting and donation collection
Yonge-Dundas Square
* Help us distribute leaflets about the rally to passers-by, and to collect donations.
6pm to 8pm
Last organizing meeting before rally
Sidney Smith Building, Room TBA, 100 St. George Street, University of Toronto
* Help us make all final preparations for the rally and march.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 23
11am
Volunteers transport materials to rally site
Meet at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor Street West, Suite 207
* Volunteers will load all rally materials - including banners, placards, megaphones, etc. - into a truck to be transported to the rally site. The same volunteers should help load all rally materials into the truck at the end of the rally.
12pm
Marshals' meeting at rally site
Yonge-Dundas Square
At the stage
* We still need marshals. If you can volunteer, please e-mail cpa@web.ca.
1pm
Rally and march
Yonge-Dundas Square
* NO to Prorogation! YES to Democracy!
* * * *
If you can't join us this week, there are still lots of other ways to help!
Download promotional materials.
Everything is available online - posters, leaflets, stickers, petitions, Facebook profile pics, etc.: http://groups.google.com/group/capp-outreach/files. Let us know where you can distribute them.
Provide free photocopying or printing.
Do you have access to a photocopier or heavy-duty printer? Can you do any free photocopying or printing (no amount is too small or too large)? Also let us know if your workplace, community group, local library, trade union or student union, place of worship, etc. can be a pick-up location for printed materials. If yes, e-mail noproroguetoronto@gmail.com to let us know your address and dates/times when materials may be picked up.
Put up posters/distribute leaflets on your own time.
All printed materials are available at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor Street West, Suite 207, 2nd floor, seven days a week from 8:00am to 10:00pm. Distribute materials on busy street corners, at TTC entrances/exits, and in large apartment buildings. Just let us know where you've distributed materials so we know what parts of Toronto have been covered. E-mail noproroguetoronto@gmail.com.
Donate funds.
Canadians against Proroguing Parliament (Toronto) is a grassroots, non-partisan movement of ordinary Canadians. We urgently need your financial support to build and organize an effective rally that engages the public and gets its message across to MPs.
Donate online at http://noprorogue.ca/toronto/. Look for the "Donate Now" box. Cheques and/or money orders should be made payable to "Shilo Davis" or "Justin Arjoon" (CAPP in memo area) and mailed to CAPP Toronto, 67 Griffiths Drive, Ajax ON L1T 3J8.
Promote the event online.
Feel free to forward this e-mail to family, friends, co-workers and/or anyone who cares about democracy in Canada. You can also join our Facebook group, where this movement got started: http://bit.ly/findusonfacebook. Or follow us on Twitter to get regular updates on your cell phone or online: http://twitter.com/NoProrogueTO.
Thank you in advance for whatever support you can offer. We look forward to seeing you on January 23, if not sooner!
For more information, e-mail noproroguetoronto@gmail.com.
The Toronto rally is organized by Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament (Toronto), a grassroots, non-partisan movement of ordinary Canadians that emerged in response to Harper's decision to prorogue Parliament. All are welcome to join us.
http://noprorogue.ca/ | noproroguetoronto@gmail.com | http://twitter.comrorogueTO/
Less than one week remains before Canadians against Proroguing Parliament (Toronto) hosts its city-wide rally and march on Saturday, January 23 at 1:00pm at Yonge-Dundas Square in downtown Toronto. Check out the final outreach calendar. We could use your help every day this week, or whenever you have time to volunteer.
MONDAY, JANUARY 18
4pm to 6pm
Leafleting and donation collection
Yonge-Dundas Square
* Help us distribute leaflets about the rally to passers-by, and to collect donations.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 19
4pm to 6pm
Leafleting and donation collection
Yonge-Dundas Square
* Help us distribute leaflets about the rally to passers-by, and to collect donations.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20
4pm to 6pm
Leafleting and donation collection
Yonge-Dundas Square
* Help us distribute leaflets about the rally to passers-by, and to collect donations.
6pm to 7pm
Poster run
Meet at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor Street West, Suite 207
* Help us put up posters around Toronto. All materials provided. Just bring yourself.
7pm to 9pm
Banner-painting and placard-assembly party
Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor Street West, Room TBA
* Free food and refreshments will be provided. Help us paint the lead banner and assemble 500 placards to be distributed at the rally and march. All painting materials provided. Media will likely be present.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 21
4pm to 6pm
Leafleting and donation collection
Yonge-Dundas Square
* Help us distribute leaflets about the rally to passers-by, and to collect donations.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22
4pm to 6pm
Leafleting and donation collection
Yonge-Dundas Square
* Help us distribute leaflets about the rally to passers-by, and to collect donations.
6pm to 8pm
Last organizing meeting before rally
Sidney Smith Building, Room TBA, 100 St. George Street, University of Toronto
* Help us make all final preparations for the rally and march.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 23
11am
Volunteers transport materials to rally site
Meet at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor Street West, Suite 207
* Volunteers will load all rally materials - including banners, placards, megaphones, etc. - into a truck to be transported to the rally site. The same volunteers should help load all rally materials into the truck at the end of the rally.
12pm
Marshals' meeting at rally site
Yonge-Dundas Square
At the stage
* We still need marshals. If you can volunteer, please e-mail cpa@web.ca.
1pm
Rally and march
Yonge-Dundas Square
* NO to Prorogation! YES to Democracy!
* * * *
If you can't join us this week, there are still lots of other ways to help!
Download promotional materials.
Everything is available online - posters, leaflets, stickers, petitions, Facebook profile pics, etc.: http://groups.google.com/group/capp-outreach/files. Let us know where you can distribute them.
Provide free photocopying or printing.
Do you have access to a photocopier or heavy-duty printer? Can you do any free photocopying or printing (no amount is too small or too large)? Also let us know if your workplace, community group, local library, trade union or student union, place of worship, etc. can be a pick-up location for printed materials. If yes, e-mail noproroguetoronto@gmail.com to let us know your address and dates/times when materials may be picked up.
Put up posters/distribute leaflets on your own time.
All printed materials are available at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor Street West, Suite 207, 2nd floor, seven days a week from 8:00am to 10:00pm. Distribute materials on busy street corners, at TTC entrances/exits, and in large apartment buildings. Just let us know where you've distributed materials so we know what parts of Toronto have been covered. E-mail noproroguetoronto@gmail.com.
Donate funds.
Canadians against Proroguing Parliament (Toronto) is a grassroots, non-partisan movement of ordinary Canadians. We urgently need your financial support to build and organize an effective rally that engages the public and gets its message across to MPs.
Donate online at http://noprorogue.ca/toronto/. Look for the "Donate Now" box. Cheques and/or money orders should be made payable to "Shilo Davis" or "Justin Arjoon" (CAPP in memo area) and mailed to CAPP Toronto, 67 Griffiths Drive, Ajax ON L1T 3J8.
Promote the event online.
Feel free to forward this e-mail to family, friends, co-workers and/or anyone who cares about democracy in Canada. You can also join our Facebook group, where this movement got started: http://bit.ly/findusonfacebook. Or follow us on Twitter to get regular updates on your cell phone or online: http://twitter.com/NoProrogueTO.
Thank you in advance for whatever support you can offer. We look forward to seeing you on January 23, if not sooner!
For more information, e-mail noproroguetoronto@gmail.com.
The Toronto rally is organized by Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament (Toronto), a grassroots, non-partisan movement of ordinary Canadians that emerged in response to Harper's decision to prorogue Parliament. All are welcome to join us.
http://noprorogue.ca/ | noproroguetoronto@gmail.com | http://twitter.comrorogueTO/
1.17.2010
capp = 200,000 and rising
ding ding ding ding ding (That's a bell ringing, donchaknow.)
The Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook group has now passed 200,000 members. I am confident that all those and more will be in the streets on January 23.
I hope many other towns and cities will do what Toronto is doing: no politicians will speak. Let one elected official speak, and there'll be a whole line waiting to respond, and guess who the media will focus on. Toronto will be a people's rally.
But every organizing committee in every one of the dozens of towns will discuss and debate and talk and wrangle, and they'll come to a consensus, and decide for themselves what shape and form their action will take. What's that called again? Wait, wait, don't tell me...
If you know someone who's unimpressed or undecided, NoProrogue.ca has a wonderfully concise explanation of Why You Should Care About Prorogation.
If they're still unsure, tell them the illustrious Prime Minister himself must agree with us.
The Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook group has now passed 200,000 members. I am confident that all those and more will be in the streets on January 23.
I hope many other towns and cities will do what Toronto is doing: no politicians will speak. Let one elected official speak, and there'll be a whole line waiting to respond, and guess who the media will focus on. Toronto will be a people's rally.
But every organizing committee in every one of the dozens of towns will discuss and debate and talk and wrangle, and they'll come to a consensus, and decide for themselves what shape and form their action will take. What's that called again? Wait, wait, don't tell me...
If you know someone who's unimpressed or undecided, NoProrogue.ca has a wonderfully concise explanation of Why You Should Care About Prorogation.
On December 30th Stephen Harper announced that he will be Proroguing Parliament and suspending democracy until March 3. This is the second time he has done this in under two years.
Proroguing means:
1. All 37 bills being debated in Parliament are thrown in the trash. Discussion on bills starts from scratch in March, wasting months of hard work by all parties. These bills included new crime legislation, limits on credit card insurance rates, etc.
2. Committees investigating accusations of torture of Afghan detainees stop working
3. Discussions and decisions about the pension crisis affecting Canada’s seniors stops
4. Questions about Canada’s inaction at the Copenhagen climate-change summit are silenced. Opportunities to move forward with Canada’s plan for sustainable development are stalled for over a month.
5. Your MPs cannot raise your concerns in Ottawa
If they're still unsure, tell them the illustrious Prime Minister himself must agree with us.
When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid dissent is frankly when it's rapidly losing its moral authority to govern.
Stephen Harper, April 18, 2005
now for what's really important: how many canadians were killed in haiti?
We've seen this all our lives, and as far as I can tell, it's a practice followed by media all over the globe. But every time I see it, my skin crawls. This morning on CBC: "Canadian death toll in Haiti rises to 8".
In the pre-internet era, I might have thought local-death-toll reportage was a USian thing. "Earthquake in India, 50,000 dead, including 3 Americans! Five New Yorkers trapped in Mumbai airport!" But now that we can easily see media from everywhere, I know that everywhere does it.
I've watched less than five minutes of TV news in the last few months, but I did catch a few seconds of Canadians who were recently evacuated from Haiti being interviewed from Montreal. They were describing waiting at the Canadian embassy in Port-au-Prince, listening to the screams and cries of Haitian survivors outside the gates. These Canadians knew how lucky they were, and I don't begrudge them their rescue. But that gate - separating the rescued from the trapped - is a symbol of so much that's wrong with the world. And "8 Canadians killed in Haitian earthquake" is another symbol of it.
At bottom, it comes down to this. The deaths of "our" people are more noteworthy than the deaths of "their" people, because we are more important than them. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands - those are mere statistics. But one Canadian that can be interviewed at an airport is a human-interest story.
In the pre-internet era, I might have thought local-death-toll reportage was a USian thing. "Earthquake in India, 50,000 dead, including 3 Americans! Five New Yorkers trapped in Mumbai airport!" But now that we can easily see media from everywhere, I know that everywhere does it.
I've watched less than five minutes of TV news in the last few months, but I did catch a few seconds of Canadians who were recently evacuated from Haiti being interviewed from Montreal. They were describing waiting at the Canadian embassy in Port-au-Prince, listening to the screams and cries of Haitian survivors outside the gates. These Canadians knew how lucky they were, and I don't begrudge them their rescue. But that gate - separating the rescued from the trapped - is a symbol of so much that's wrong with the world. And "8 Canadians killed in Haitian earthquake" is another symbol of it.
At bottom, it comes down to this. The deaths of "our" people are more noteworthy than the deaths of "their" people, because we are more important than them. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands - those are mere statistics. But one Canadian that can be interviewed at an airport is a human-interest story.
haiti needs grants, not loans: stop them before they shock again
If you've read Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, while you were reading about frantic earthquake recovery efforts in Haiti, or watching images of fortunate Canadians being evacuated, like me, you may have wondered if Haiti is in for another disaster, of the capitalist kind.
Here's Naomi Klein in an interview with Amy Goodman.
Richard Kim, writing in The Nation, spells it out further.
A lot of good articles and info are being posted on the Facebook group No Shock Doctrine for Haiti.
I also refer you again to an article I posted earlier, putting Haiti's oft-mentioned chronic poverty in historical perspective: "Our Role In Haiti's Plight," by Peter Hallward, from The Guardian.
Here's Naomi Klein in an interview with Amy Goodman.
...crises are often used now as the pretext for pushing through policies that you cannot push through under times of stability. Countries in periods of extreme crisis are desperate for any kind of aid, any kind of money, and are not in a position to negotiate fairly the terms of that exchange.
And I just want to pause for a second and read you something, which is pretty extraordinary. ... This went up a few hours ago, three hours ago, I believe, on the Heritage Foundation website.
"Amidst the Suffering, Crisis in Haiti Offers Opportunities to the U.S. In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti's long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the image of the United States in the region." And then goes on.
Now, I don't know whether things are improving or not, because it took the Heritage Foundation thirteen days before they issued thirty-two free market solutions for Hurricane Katrina. We put that document up on our website, as well. It was close down the housing projects, turn the Gulf Coast into a tax-free free enterprise zone, get rid of the labor laws that forces contractors to pay a living wage. Yeah, so it took them thirteen days before they did that in the case of Katrina. In the case of Haiti, they didn't even wait twenty-four hours.
Now, why I say I don't know whether it's improving or not is that two hours ago they took this down. So somebody told them that it wasn't couth. And then they put up something that was much more delicate. Fortunately, the investigative reporters at Democracy Now! managed to find that earlier document in a Google cache. But what you'll find now is a much gentler "Things to Remember While Helping Haiti." And buried down there, it says, "Long-term reforms for Haitian democracy and its economy are also badly overdue."
But the point is, we need to make sure that the aid that goes to Haiti is, one, grants, not loans. This is absolutely crucial. This is an already heavily indebted country. This is a disaster that, as Amy said, on the one hand is nature, is, you know, an earthquake; on the other hand is ... is worsened by the poverty that our governments have been so complicit in deepening. Crises, natural disasters are so much worse in countries like Haiti, because you have soil erosion because the poverty means people are building in very, very precarious ways, so houses just slide down because they are built in places where they shouldn't be built. All of this is interconnected.
But we have to be absolutely clear that this tragedy, which is part natural, part unnatural, must, under no circumstances, be used to, one, further indebt Haiti, and, two, to push through unpopular corporatist policies in the interests of our corporations. And this is not a conspiracy theory. They have done it again and again.
Richard Kim, writing in The Nation, spells it out further.
So what can activists do in addition to donating to a charity? One long-term objective is to get the IMF to forgive all $265 million of Haiti's debt (that's the $165 million outstanding, plus the $100 million issued this week). In the short term, Haiti's IMF loans could be restructured to come from the IMF's rapid credit facility, which doesn't impose conditions like keeping wages and inflation down.
Indeed, debt relief is essential to Haiti's future. It recently had about $1.2 billion in debt canceled, but it still owes about $891 million, all of which was lent to the country from 2004 onward. $429 million of that debt is held by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to whom Haiti is scheduled to make $10 million in payments next year.
Obviously, that's money better spent on saving Haitian lives and rebuilding the country in the months ahead; the cancellation of the entire sum would free up precious capital. The US controls about 30 percent of the bank's shares; Latin American and Caribbean countries hold just over 50 percent. Notably, the IDB's loans come from its fund for special operations (i.e. the IDB's donor nations and funds from loans that have been paid back), not from IDB's bonds. Hence, the total amount could be forgiven without impacting the IDB's triple-A credit rating.
Finally, although the Obama administration temporarily halted deportations to Haiti, it hasn't granted Haitians temporary protected status (TPS), which would save them from being deported back to the scene of a disaster for as long as 18 months, allow them to work in the US and, crucially, send money back to relatives in Haiti. In the past, TPS has been given to countries like Honduras and Nicaragua in 1998 after Hurrican Mitch, but it has never been extended to Haitians, even after the 2008 storms, presumably because immigrations officials fear a mass exodus from Haiti.
But decency, as well as fairness, should trump those fears now. As Sunita Patel, an attorney with CCR, told me, "We have granted TPS to El Salavador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia and Sudan following natural disasters. To apply different rules here would fly in the face of the administration's efforts to build good will abroad."
(UPDATE: It has just been announced that the Obama administration has granted Temporary Protected Status to Haiti. This is a great relief to Haitians in the US and a victory for those who pressured the administration to do so.)
A lot of good articles and info are being posted on the Facebook group No Shock Doctrine for Haiti.
I also refer you again to an article I posted earlier, putting Haiti's oft-mentioned chronic poverty in historical perspective: "Our Role In Haiti's Plight," by Peter Hallward, from The Guardian.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)