Introducing the Apple iRack Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Posted by Lars Almquist in Humor.add a comment
Straight ballin’.
Nonviolent Resistance & Eminent Domain Friday, March 23, 2007
Posted by Lars Almquist in Global Interest, Justice.add a comment
I must say I was more than heartened to read the following BBC article this afternoon about one Chinese woman’s valiant and defiant stance towards the Chinese government in defense of her home threatened by eminent domain. It makes me sincerely take note of the threat Ms. Wu Ping has potentially thrust upon herself, and has simultaneously allowed me to rejoice in such a poignant female voice embodying a profound yet peaceful resistance to a contingency of leaders prioritizing profits over people.
Which brings us to some questions for ourselves. It’s easy to lambast the Chinese government for some. Somehow China has come to symbolize another foe to US interests, though significantly less than the Islamic replacement of Communism as the pinnacle threat to ‘peace and freedom’ in the world, whatever that has come to mean these days. However, it’s so difficult for us to see how we engage in placing profits before people. Difficult in the sense that it takes so much effort, energy and ingenuity to insulate ourselves from the marginalized and to wall ourselves off from those who are exploited directly or indirectly for our benefit.
If we value placing people before products or profits, do our lifestyles match our values? Would we go out of our way to purchase Fair Trade Certified products despite the slightly higher costs than non-FT goods? Would we forsake extra tax cuts to ensure that certain domestic and international projects and regulations are in order to protect the weakest of our global society’s citizens? Have we bought into the lie that justice and concern are proximity-based – namely, that we are not required to be concerned for ‘the other’ so long as we have enough space between us and ‘them’ to erect a barrier of ignorance and preoccupation? What does it say about my values when the only way I know how to respond to Wu Ping is to publish this post about her?
Trade: Welcome to America Sunday, March 11, 2007
Posted by Lars Almquist in Global Interest, International Politics, Justice.1 comment so far
Everyone should see this film.
A conservative estimate is that there are 27 million slaves worldwide – that’s not really debated anymore, it’s just taken as the baseline. Higher estimates are up to 200 million, but those are hard to substantiate, so the baseline is taken for legitimacy, though most of my friends in the anti-slavery nonprofit worlds say there are definitely more than 27 million. There were “only” (tho it was a ton, fo sho) slaves traded during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Slavery currently looks different that ‘chattel slavery’ from the past – but it is still the control of a person by coercive, actual force, or the threat of force and violence against their will for economic benefit (for a very brief definition of modern day slavery).
Every country has laws against slavery, but it’s so lucrative and corruption is so rampant that bribery, economic interests, and other interests can easily lead to forced prostitution, bonded labor, debt slavery, etc. Slavery takes many such forms – from forced sexual assaults, to debt slavery of kids and adults, even whole families in rock quarries or cigarette-rolling businesses, rug-making businesses, cocoa harvesting (~80-90% of our chocolate products pass thru slave hands in West Africa and elsewhere), domestic servitude (migrant field/agricultural labor, household servants), textile workers, steel workers (esp in Brazil), brick kiln workers, and most recently those taken captive by US-supported Iraq contractors and their subcontractors – see warslavery.org
Currently the fastest growing regions in regard to modern day slavery and trafficking are southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. India and Pakistan are the largest in terms of sheer size, mostly in the form of bonded labor. Between 1 million and 2 million people are trafficked every year, and without aftercare, the likelihood of freed sex slaves being trafficked after release is about 1 every 2 weeks. It is estimated that at least $12bn a year is profited from human slavery and trafficking, and trafficking recently became the most profitable illicit activity in the ‘black market’ economy this past year (Drugs = #1, Trafficking = #2, Arms Dealing = #3).
Some great resources:
Disposable People, by Kevin Bales
Understanding Global Slavery, by Kevin Bales
The Good News About Injustice, by Gary Haughen
FreetheSlaves – anti-slavery org in DC and San Diego
International Justice Mission
Justice for Children International – aftercare/counseling/life leadership for rescued children.
Amazing Grace (film)
MariaFullofGrace (film)
Born Into Brothels (film)
Trade (film)
Free In Deed (Prism article by my friend Austin)
Human Trafficking (Wikipedia)
Child Soldiers (Wikipedia)
When history remembers our era, will your life have counted?
What about your faith?
US to Expand its Nuclear Arsenal Saturday, March 3, 2007
Posted by Lars Almquist in The Administration.add a comment
The New York Times is reporting this morning that California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has won the most recent weapons contract, further augmenting the Administrations 4th Branch of contractors. Ties between this Administration and defense contractors are not abnormal, any more than ties to big business or oil companies would be. It’s just that these new weapons are nuclear. So, in the midst of saber-rattling against Iran, we’re reinforcing our nuclear stockpile. So much for nonproliferation. I sincerely wonder what our leaders must think claiming that ‘nuclear arms proliferation’ is the greatest global threat (re: 1st Bush-Kerry debate, 2004), and then subsequently collecting new nuclear weapons as if they were stamps or coins.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, put it well:
“This is a solution in search of a problem. There is an urgent need to reduce these weapons, not expand them. This will keep the Chinese, the Russians and others on guard to improve their own stockpiles.”
So my question is – with an Administration that doesn’t like working through Constitution-sanctioned entities – you know, such as Congress – how are we to respond as everyday citizens?
