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16
Sep

around the world #3

By vegankid 0 Comments
Categories: africa, around the world, asia, class, globalization, latin america and war

Cross-posted at Taking Place

This is a long one cuz i thought that i published #3 about a month ago, but turns out it was sitting in my draft box. So here is a month-long trip around the world. Let’s get our hands dirty and take the reality tour that Global Exchange refuses to by starting at the Battle of Oaxaca, where rumors of a class uprising and an overthrowing of the government are abound.

Don’t throw away that police sheild you just stole quite yet. Cuz next we are going down to Chile where the locals teach those of us in the US how you really commemorate September 11th. Just to be safe, you may want to bring that shield along for some frequent flier miles as we hop on over to South Africa where the Cleaning Workers’ Strike started and is now being supported worldwide.

Heading north, the US has been accused of illegal mercenary operations in Somalia. The operations broke UN rulings and may also involve British “security firms”. Now over to Sudan, where the government has been indiscriminately bombing civilians. Ok, people, its time we start taking the genocide in Sudan seriously.

Pack your bags for a long bus ride over to the Ivory Coast, where the government of the country’s largest city, Abidjan, has resigned after massive protests. The protests were in response to 400 tons of toxic oil-refining waste that spilled from a ship, the Probo Koala. As of September 12th, six people had died because of the waste and more than 9,000 had gone in for medical attention.

Once again, we’re going to stop off in Lebanon. After landing in the recently re-opened airport, we see that weeks of bombing have not broken the spirit of the Lebanese people, as bloggers like Jamal Ghosn continue to share their experience with us.

Protestors in Palestine are being used as test subjects as Isreali forces have turned the weekly nonviolent protests against the construction of the Aparthied wall into a testing ground for experimental weapons. And as if the people of Palestine didn’t have enough to worry about with the persistant attacks from Isreal, civil workers are now on strike due to lost wages.

I tell ya, Palestinians just can’t get a break. Refugees in Iraq find themselves under attack with nowhere to go. But Palestians are far from the only ones without a break in Iraq. With a government of talking heads and your country’s money-maker being stolen, what can you expect? Many find themselves in the scope of some confused soldier”who are the real terrorists?”

Afghanistan isn’t doing any better as it descends into chaos. The Taliban forces are being funded by increased Opium sales. Maybe the Bush Administration should try the tactic it used back in early 2001 - pay the Taliban to fight in the War on Drugs. Not to worry. We know that the US military isn’t very good at the whole “stability” thing, so once again we send in the private contractors. At least I assume that’s why Coca-Cola moved into Kabul. Or maybe that’s just as far as they could run when they were chased out of India.

Speaking of India, lets go join the, um, celebrations? The government gave in to environmentalists demands after the start of a nationwide strike, but it wasn’t quite as simple as that. As 30,000 protestors tried to storm into the offices of London-based Asia Energy, paramilitary forces shot into the crowd killing six and injuring hundreds. The shootings sparked days of rioting ending in the government agreeing to a moratorium on open pit mining, build a monument at Phulbari in memory of the deceased and grant amnesty to all the demonstrators who broke the law during the protests.

On to more mining troubles, we find ourselves in the Phillipines, where Lafayette’s gold mine is set to poison the oceans (and the local people) with tons of natrium cyanide. Lafayette was already ordered to halt its operations last year after two mine spills, and now activists are working to preemptively stop the devastation.

We find another campaign to protect the water and the local people as we travel to Canada. Native groups are teaming up to protect the water supply against the booming oil and gas development. About 200 First Nations representatives from Alberta, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories gathered for a three-day strategic conference to talk about how to protect their local lands and water supplies from this encroaching threat.

Back down in the US, all kinds of crazy things are going on. The Bush Administration decided it would be a good idea to start up those old rusty factories that used to pump out landmines. Since all the PR funds were spent killing people, the best makeover idea that the Pentagon could come up with is to rename the landmines “networked munitions systems.” Everybody likes networks rights?

I’m hoping they’ll place those “networks” along the Indiana border to protect us from all those terrorists that are apparently trying to kill us sweet, innocent, corn-eating Hoosiers. I’m not so much afraid of the Taliban, tho, i’m more scared of the terrorists in Georgia (the state, not the country). I don’t even know how to tie the rest of this trip together, so let’s just fast-forward through our vacation slides, shall we?

The US is threatening Argentina, Venezuela, and Brazil with sanctions. The US doesn’t like losing and that’s just what we are doing with the WTO and the FTAA. So now the government is puffing up its chest and saying “stop it you big meanies.” I tell ya, don’t come knocking on the White House this Halloween. Cuz apparrently all they know to give out is ass-whoopins and sanctions.

While we’re on the topic of how much the US hates people, the immigration tinderbox may be the one thing that can end this East Coast-West Coast rivalry (cuz nothing will be left if this fire isn’t extinguished). And just then you thought the flame that Columbus lite has died down, some young buck gives it a little puff. Some White folks aren’t able to read a newspaper or walk outside to see how pervasie racism is. Instead, they need to adopt a child of color to see their own racism.

Walmart says fuck the working class, we’re goin’ yuppy. Since we can no longer put the working class in Walmart, we gotta put em somewhere. Some are building prisons to do the job, but some ain’t convinced its gonna work. Many of those arguing for more prisons are also pushing for this whole War on Drugs thing to get them there - .

Having just celebrated the anniversaries of Hurricane Katrina and September 11th, we get to see all the wonderful things we’ve learned from both experiences. For example, we learned that neither the government nor its private contractors care about actual people. We learned that governments lie and then when they are forced to face their lie, they run. And we learned that the GOP needs a new PR firm. Ok, i admit, we haven’t really learned much. But we did learn that energy companies can engauge in some sketchy pratices. Alright, also not news. What about how we learned that some companies bribe their way to political favors? Geez, don’t you forget anything. Fine, so you already knew that. Whoop-di-doo.

In animal-related news, scientists, once again, reaffirm that eating meat is a global warming issue. And speaking of meat, the horse industry lost the smackdown. Whoo!

Oh, one last thing. The fight for internet freedom has officially started.

07
Jun

letter writing sunday #7

By vegankid 1 Comment
Categories: globalization, latin america, letters, politics and war

Yes, i’m well aware that it is Wednesday. But Sunday was a very busy day for me and i am just now getting around to writing a letter (an email, actually, but who cares). This week’s letter comes to us via Father Roy Bourgeois and the School of the Americas (SOA) Watch. If you only write one letter this year, make it this one. Why? Because the SOA has been used as a training tool for terrorist governments and paramilitaries for far too long. For years, people throughout Latin America have been tortured and murdered by graduates of the US Military’s School of the Americas. But now there is a real possibility of actually putting an end to it. How many times do we get burnt out getting involved in so many campaigns that seem to have no end? Well, this one has an end… if you are willing to take a very simple action. Imagine. We wouldn’t have to send 19- and 79-year-olds to prison for three months every year just for speaking out. We could put that energy into creating something far more beautiful and powerful.

Shutting down the SOA would probably be the greatest act of solidarity that those fighting for justice in Latin America have ever seen from folks in the US. Or at least the greatest show of solidarity in the last 25 years. And what does it cost you? Five minutes of your life? Slightly lower taxes? A clearer conscience? Not much at all.

Congress is set to vote this week, so read the statement from Fr. Roy and then take action!

Dear Friends in the Struggle,

This week marks a major milestone in the campaign to close the School of the Americas and a major victory for all of you who have contributed so much to this work. This is the time when we really need to keep the pressure on Congress.

Please take a few minutes today to call your Member of Congress and to ask them to support the McGovern Amendment to cut funding to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, the place the world knows as the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC). You can reach Congress at 202-224-3121 or toll free at 888-355-3588.

You can also email and fax your Representative right from the SOA Watch website: http://www.soaw.org/legislative

Right now and all day today, many SOA Watch activists and our partner organizations are on Capitol Hill, talking with Legislative Aides and Members of Congress and distributing information about the McGovern Amendment that will be introduced this week with the Foreign Operations Bill. Some of the groups that are walking the halls of Congress today are my order, Maryknoll, the Torture Abolition Survivors and Support Coalition (TASSC), the staff of the Methodist Church, the SHARE Foundation, Voices on the Border, Sister Parish, Voices on the Border, Pax Christi USA, Sisters of the Precious Blood, the RFK Center for Human Rights and others.

Labor unions and members are mobilizing this week to continue to build support for the McGovern Amendment. The United Auto Workers and the Steelworkers are both faxing Members of Congress to let them know how important a vote to cut funding to the SOA/WHINSEC is to union members.

Yesterday, veterans from around the country were flooding the phone lines of Members of Congress asking for them to take a real stand for human rights and military accountability by voting to cut funding to the School of the Americas/WHINSEC.

Please join us this week and add your voice to the growing wave of people speaking up for a more just world. Thank you for giving me hope.

For a victory,

Fr. Roy Bourgeois
School of the Americas Watch

11
May

bound by justice

By vegankid 0 Comments
Categories: ability, animals, class, environment, gender & sex, globalization, praxis, prisoners, race, sexuality, size and youth

ok, a month after i said i’d post it, here it is - the outline for the Bound by Justice/Web of Justice exercise. I tweak this exercise each time i facilitate it, so feel free to do what works best for you. The times listed beside each section are suggested minimum time constraints.

Bound By Justice/ Web of Justice
Total time: 90-120 minutes
Level: Intermediate
(need basic understanding of movements for justice)

Introduction (15 min)
Context the exercise with something like, “When a spider wants to catch a fly, what does it do?” (build a web) “Why not just build a single strand?” (a web is stronger, covers more area) “That’s right! So that’s exactly what we are going to do. We are going to build a web – of justice.”

Have everyone brainstorm different social movements. Try to think of one for each person in the group, but at least come up with seven or eight. Write the movements on a large piece of paper for everyone to see.
Examples: environmental, labor/union, anti-racism, anti-sexism, Queer liberation, anti-ageism, anti-ablism, counter-globalization, anti-classism, anti-capitalism, taxpayer justice/fiscal responsibility, peace, anti-imperialism, education, prison reform, anti-sweatshop, immigrant rights….

If your group is larger than 10 or 11, split it up into smaller groups of 6-8. Have each person in the subgroup identify as a different movement. Let them know that they will represent that movement for the rest of the exercise. You can also keep the large group together, but you must account for more time.

Building the web (50 min)
Have everyone in the group stand up in a circle facing each other. The facilitator should stand in the middle of the group holding a ball of yarn. If there are more subgroups than facilitators, then the facilitator will bounce from group to group and hop in the middle later in the exercise. Have each participant choose a movement that they will represent throughout the exercise. Make sure that no two movements are repeated in the same group.

Hand one person one end of the yarn and have them wrap it once around their wrist or hand. Explain to the group that we are going to work together to show how different movements link together. Have the persyn holding the yarn to think of one concrete example of how the movement they represent is connected to another movement across the circle. If they can’t think of a connection, have them ask for help from the rest of the group. Once a connection has been made, the ball of yarn should be thrown to the respective person. The persyn now holding the yarn then shows how that movement is connected to yet another movement. And so on until all the movements are connected to every other movement (so if there are seven people in the group, each person should be connected to six others, ideally). The result will be a complex web that connects all of the movements together. It is ok for movements to connect more than once, but no example can be used more than once. Every movement must have at least two connections.

Destroying the Web (10 min)
The facilitator in the middle then explains that they represent everything that those movements are fighting against. If there are more groups than facilitators, the facilitator will take turns stepping into the middle of the web to complete this portion of the exercise. Talk about a strong web being able to control the opposition, surround it, and eventually eat it:)

The facilitator then takes out a part of scissors or a knife and picks up one piece of the yarn. They then ask the two participants holding that piece how they are connected. The facilitator then says something like “Well, you aren’t making that connection, so I’m going to cut it.” An alternative is to ask the participants for an example of how those two movements are kept separated. Once they figure out how the two are disconnected in real life, then you cut the yarn.

The facilitator should cut through one side of the web until they are completely free of the web. Then ask the participants, “So what happens when we don’t work together?” (What we are fighting against remains elusive and free to do as it pleases. Not as strong. Etc.)

Discussion/Debrief (15 min)
Ask the participants – Why do you think we don’t always recognize or make use of these connections? How does it hurt us not to make these connections? How can we use these links to further the goals of justice in our own communities? How can we work to make sure that these links are connected within our own communities?

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