Category: social justice

The August 2010 Just Posts

Welcome to the latest Just Post roundtable, a collection of posts from the month of July on topics relating to social justice hosted here and at Cold Spaghetti.

The posts of this month’s roundtable were nominated by:

If you have a post in the list above, or would just like to support the Just Posts, we invite you to display a button on your blog with a link back here, or to the Just Posts at Cold Spaghetti. If you would like to have a post included next month, you can find out how to submit posts and all sorts of other stuff about the Just Posts at the information page.

stemming the flood of apathy

A couple of weekends ago I went to New York City for BlogHer, a big conference for bloggers.

That same weekend, in Pakistan, the disastrous flooding that had started a week before was getting steadily worse.

I’m embarrassed to say that over that weekend when I was in New York, the flooding in Pakistan was not even on my radar. While I can’t say for certain that it wasn’t mentioned, I just don’t remember anyone talking about it. Even at the very activism-oriented sessions that I attended. It could be that I was caught up in other things, or it could be that everyone else was, too.

During the 2 days that I was staying in comfortable hotels, and feasting on the elaborate buffets courtesy of corporate sponsors, hundreds of thousands of people in Pakistan were already left homeless, and millions more were affected. Over a thousand had already died.

In the following week, I know that I had seen an email come in from UNICEF about the floods, but I didn’t spend much time looking at it. I confess that it wasn’t until I was glancing at a newspaper left on a table at my in-laws’ house last weekend and read an article about US aid to Pakistan that I really became conscious of the magnitude of the flooding, and reflected on how little I had heard about it. I know that some of this is because I was travelling, and preoccupied with personal business. I was too busy with kids and family to spend more than a few minutes a day online, and I don’t generally watch TV. But somehow in those few minutes a day online I read about other things. I read far more, for example, about the controversy about the proposed Islamic community center in New York City. (You know, the one that’s not actually a mosque, nor actually at Ground Zero.) And I can’t help but feel that the lack of widespread concern over the one story and the furor over the other are related.

Now, more than two weeks after the flooding began, the crisis in Pakistan is still growing, with 8 million people urgently needing humanitarian aid.

I know that I am not alone in my concern, nor am I alone in being disturbed by the unimpressive trickle of response to these catastrophic floods. I think it’s important for those of us who do care to do what we can to express our concern, and show the people of Pakistan, and the world at large, than many of us care at least as much about the survival of their children as the fate of a building that once housed a Burlington Coat Factory.

So, you may be wondering why I’m bringing up a conference I attended. Well, for one thing, things that happened there have been on my mind a disproportionate amount of time compared to world events, and that does not make me proud of myself. For another thing, thanks to the kindness of a couple of generous friends, I didn’t need to get a hotel room of my own for the two nights I was in the city, as they let me use the extra beds in their rooms. Both turned down my offers of contributing to the hotel bills. So, I feel like I had a bit of a windfall. And I have decided to donate the equivalent of what I might have paid for 2 nights of hotel in New York City to organizations who are actively providing humanitarian aid to the survivors of the floods in Pakistan.

I donated to IRC and UNICEF, two organizations I have previously supported, and who are already on the ground in Pakistan. I know that there are other worthy organzations at work in Pakistan, such as Doctors Without Borders. If you would like to recommend any others, or any other ways of either helping the situation in Pakistan or voicing your concern, please share them in the comments.

The July 2010 Just Posts

Welcome to the latest Just Post roundtable, a collection of posts from the month of July on topics relating to social justice hosted here and at Cold Spaghetti.

Just Posts for a Just World, July 2010.

Readers:

If you have a post in the list above, or would just like to support the Just Posts, we invite you to display a button on your blog with a link back here, or to the Just Posts at Cold Spaghetti. If you would like to have a post included next month, you can find out how to submit posts and all sorts of other stuff about the Just Posts at the information page.

The June 2010 Just Posts

Welcome to the Just Posts, a collection of posts on topics of social justice hosted here and at Cold Spaghetti.

The posts of this months roundtable were nominated by:

If you have a post in the list above, or would just like to support the Just Posts, we invite you to display a button on your blog with a link back here, or to the Just Posts at Cold Spaghetti. If you would like to have a post included next month, you can find out how to submit posts and all sorts of other stuff about the Just Posts at the information page.

petroleum junkie

Like so many, I am angry at BP. They have done unfathomable amounts of harm to our ocean, to the wildlife that calls that ocean home, and to the economies that rely on that life. They have done damage that will take enormous amounts of time and expense to address, and much damage that may take years to recover from. Some damage may be permanent. The ongoing catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is utterly devastating.

It’s appalling to realize how much profit BP has made–over 5 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2010–at the apparent expense of comprehensive safety measures.¹

Many people are calling to boycott BP. I’m not about to go out of my way to patronize them, but I’d never actually bought gas directly from them before.

So, what can I do to send a message?

Clearly, I need to buy my gas from a company that is more socially and environmentally responsible.

Would you believe that in a fairly recent (pre-“spill”) ranking of gas companies by social responsibility, BP came in second. Second from the top!

As gas companies go, BP has had a relatively clean and green record, boasting the following positive actions:

$600m to update pollution ctrl/workplace, working with Amnesty, working with WWF, low-sulfur gas, largest solar company, solar powered gas stations, member of CFCP, 1998 Enviro Steward Award, best overall effort in industry, abstains from political contributions, Malaysian GW education program, Non-Discrimination Policy, 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers, Greenhouse Friendly Autogas in Australia, 2004 model human rights efforts, self-imposed emissions caps

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not supporting BP, and I think they should pay heavily.⁴ I am disgusted by their irresponsible behavior, both in allowing the Gulf disaster to happen, and their actions since. (Such as using highly toxic dispersants, preventing journalists from accessing affected areas, etc.) The trouble is, their actions appear to be based on more-or-less standard practice in the oil industry.

I was horrified to learn about comparably large scale spills that have been going on in Nigeria–for decades. According to the Guardian :

…more oil is spilled from the delta’s network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico…

As you might imagine, the effects of this ongoing situation in Nigeria are devastating to local wildlife, local economies and the health and well-being of the people who live there.

Who is to blame for this? As far as I can tell (from that Guardian article and this source), several oil companies are involved: Shell, Chevron-Texaco, and Exxon-Mobil.

But you know who else is to blame?

I am.

Me, and all of the other hundreds millions of people who use the oil. Like the oil that BP has been pumping out from the ocean floors, the oil being drilled in Nigeria is headed for the shores of wealthy countries: “the Niger delta supplies 40% of all the crude the United States imports.”

We use it not just for our cars, but for a whole bunch of other things. We rely on it for our way of life. We lament when gas prices go up, but we still keep consuming. And we are so dependent that we let the oil companies trash our environment and ruin the health and livelihood of thousands of people. All in the name of profit and convenience.

I know I’m not the worst offender. I don’t make billions in profits from oil. But…

We drive. We fly. Our house is heated by oil. We use plastics. We purchase goods that are transported by trucks. Driven on roads paved with petroleum products. We buy goods that come from across the globe.

I use petroleum products every day, in just about every aspect of my life. I am a junkie.

I can’t quit cold turkey.

I’m not ready to give up everything yet, but I’m planning to cut down.

If you’ll bear with me, I’ll share some of my plans (both short- and long-term) to reduce my personal dependence on petroleum.

———
¹ I love this commentary about the grand scale hubris. It’s bitingly funny. With dinosaurs.²

² For that matter, I’m pretty amused by the FB page called “Plugging the Gulf Oil Leak with the works of Ayn Rand.”³

³ In case you haven’t guessed, I am not a Libertarian. I’d like to see heftier regulations going on in the oil industry. But that’s a whole ‘nother topic.

⁴ BP has had other “black marks,” too, mind you. In addition to those listed on the ranking site mentioned above, there appear to have been many more recent safety violations.

h/t to laloca for the links on Nigeria and gas station rankings.

The March Just Posts

Welcome to the March 2010 Just Posts, the latest (and in this case quite late¹) monthly round-up of blog posts on topics of social justice.

The March Just Posts:

The posts of this month’s roundtable were nominated by:

If you have a post in the list above, or would just like to support the Just Posts, we invite you to display a button on your blog with a link back here, or to the Just Posts at Cold Spaghetti. If you would like to have a post included next month, you can find out how to submit posts and all sorts of other stuff about the Just Posts at the information page.

Shortlink for this post: http://wp.me/p2jCr-1bK

¹ The lateness is in part be due to our having overdone things a bit in getting the Best of the 2009 JP project done. But done it was, if overdue. In sum, we’re overdue ’cause we overdo.

The Best of the Best of the 2009 Just Posts

Strike up the band! Break out the champagne! Holly and I are ready to announce the results of the “Best of the Best of the 2009 Just Posts” voting. Can you believe we’ve finally gotten here? The imperfect process has taken us almost 3 months, and it’s been a remarkable experience. We’ve learned lots, and read and re-read lots, and been gratified by your comments and support. And we got lots of help, for which we are hugely grateful. Thank you, again, to all of you who read, reviewed, promoted, voted, and were otherwise there for this project. I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you. (For now. [cue ominous laughter])

And now [cue drumroll] the voting results, by category:

SOCIAL JUSTICE as political/legal :

SOCIAL JUSTICE as health/wellness:

SOCIAL JUSTICE as socio-economic inequalities :

SOCIAL JUSTICE as advocacy/service :

SOCIAL JUSTICE…

We have a prize for each of the post authors above in the form of a hand-made piece of New Orleans art (from Holly) and a bit of fair trade Theo chocolate (from Alejna). To collect your prizes, please send your snail mail addressess to Holly at (coldspaghetti at gmail dot com) or Alejna (alejna99 at gmail dot com).

And, for the post that received the largest number of votes in any category:
When is zero not really zero? When it describes your food. by Kimberly at The Gav Menagerie

Congratulations, Kimberly! We’ve got an extra special prize for you (and we promise it won’t have trans fats!)

Editors’ Picks:
And just because we’ve gone absolutely mad with power, we also wanted to recognize a couple more posts that, in addition to all those voices that have been recognized above, have really spoken to us. So we’ve got loot for two more, too! (Mind you, I wish we could send prizes to every single participant in the project: finalists, semi-finalists, and everyone who read, commented, posted and contributed in various ways. But that much fair trade chocolate and postage would definitely break the bank…)

I had a hard time choosing just one, as so many of the posts from the year really moved me. There are, for example, quite a few posts by authors in this lists above that have moved and inspired me. For example, Stacie, Emily, Erika and Jen have all written powerfully on so many different topics, and they each have written posts that, for me, really capture the spirit of the Just Posts: posts that bring in personal experiences to the larger social issue, posts that move me emotionally as well as make me want to act. But they each already have posts on the list above. I also really appreciate it when writers bring in humor to address serious subjects, and I confess that I am quite fond of submom’s All Things on Cable TV Considered, I wish my Hotel had Porn…. (Come on, is that a great post title, or what?)

In the end, though, I decided that I want to highlight a post that has really kept me thinking, for months after I read it: When Allies Fail, Part One by Tami at What Tami Said, as well as its companion post,Part Two.

I love that these posts gives practical advice on furthering activist movements, and in particular “maintaining alliances in the face of failure.” They speak to my periodic frustrations with some members of activist communities, where the discourse between those working towards the same ends is often more bitter and caustic than that directed against those who more actively demean marginalized groups, or who actively oppose the agenda of the activist movement. But I suppose the reason that these posts stuck with me most is that they speak to me as an activist, and to my ongoing internal struggles with my imperfect self. They lay out what it means to be a member of marginalized group vs. what it means to be an ally who comes from a more privileged group. They have helped me to process thoughts and actions in my own past that have shamed me, as I have bumbled along as a well-intentioned yet often insecure and under-informed individual.

Please also see which post Holly has chosen for her editor’s pick.

If you have a post in the lists above, we invite you to display a button:


On the left is a png (transparent background) and on the right is a jpg (white background).

For more information on the Just Posts, please visit the Just Posts information page.

Voting ends tonight!

[pssst…3/23 um…”update”…the polls are still up for a bit even though it’s technically past midnight in known timezones. But when was I ever one to be strict about a deadline? As long as you can see the polls, you are welcome to vote. They’ll probably be coming down later this evening…]

Don’t forget to vote for the Best of the 2009 Just Posts. Voting ends tonight: Monday, March 22nd. (We will be flexible about which time zone you choose to vote in–we want your votes, even if you want to pretend you’re in Hawaii!¹)

Please vote in as many categories as you can, but even if you only have time to read posts in one category, we still value your input.

If you have managed to vote in more than one category, please take a moment to consider which of all the posts you read stood out for you as the best of the best.

Thank you!²

—-
¹ Aloha!
² And mahalo to those of you voting in the Hawaiian time zone.

Vote for the Best Just Posts of 2009

Holly and I pleased to announce the unveiling of the final finalist list for the best Just Posts of 2009. In this post, you can find both the list of finalists by category, and the polls to vote for your favorite posts within those categories. [March 23, 2010: voting is now closed! Thank you for your votes! You can still scroll down to see the list of finalists. ]

Please vote! And spread the word. Spread the word to others to vote, contribute, nominate, write, and read!

Thank you thank you thank you for your interest, support, and involvement in the Just Posts!

Voting and prizes:

To get right to the voting, scroll or jump down.

  • Vote within as many categories as you like, but please vote only once in each category.
  • There’s no need to vote in all categories at once–come back as often as you like before voting ends.
  • We’ll have the polls up and open for one week.

At the end of the process, if you have voted in more than one category, we’d love to hear from you about which post you felt was the strongest of all you read. To vote on the “best of the best,” and to give additional feedback, you can go to this page.

At the end of Monday night, March 22nd, we will close the poll and start to tally the results. The top votes in each category will receive a hand-made tile from a New Orleans artisan with a few trinkets thrown in for good measure. Using your votes and any additional written input, we will recognize a post (or two, we’re not ruling out ties) as the Best of the Best Just Posts. We’ll do something extra special for this, we’re just not sure exactly what yet.

The process:
For those of you who are interested in the process, here’s a bit about our (imperfect) process of post and category selection.

Category selection:
Looking through our massive list of semifinalists, we (mostly Holly) created categories that reflected all of those 130+ posts. Then we went back to our readers’ comments and ratings and narrowed down the categories. We tried to represent a variety of voices, writers and experiences.

Here are the categories for the Best of the 2009 Just Posts. To see the posts for each category, and the polls for voting, scroll down, or click on a category name to jump right there:

In no way is this list or these categories representative of the broad theme of “Social Justice.” It represents what we’ve been able to gather, write and have nominated. If you there are topics and categories you’d like to see better represented in the Just Posts moving forward, we welcome your input. You can let us know in the comments, or using the form on this page. We also encourage you to write and nominate posts on topics that have been under-represented!

Post selection:
As you might imagine, choosing the finalists was tough. There were many excellent posts that we had to leave out, especially in categories with many posts. We also limited the number of posts that could be included by any one author to 2. Our goal was to narrow down the number of posts in a category to 3, a manageable number to read. (As you can see, we ended up with 4 posts in several categories…)

The Polls:

Please vote for your favorite post in as many categories as you can!

SOCIAL JUSTICE as political/legal : Posts Related to GENDER EQUITY

SOCIAL JUSTICE as political/legal : Posts related to RACE

SOCIAL JUSTICE as political/legal : Posts related to SEXUALITY

SOCIAL JUSTICE as health/wellness: Posts related to FOOD AND NUTRITION

SOCIAL JUSTICE as health/wellness : Posts related to DISEASE AND ILLNESS

SOCIAL JUSTICE as health/wellness : Posts related to CHILD WELFARE

SOCIAL JUSTICE as socio-economic inequalities : Posts related to VULNERABLE POPULATIONS

SOCIAL JUSTICE as socio-economic inequalities : Posts related to EDUCATION

SOCIAL JUSTICE as socio-economic inequalities : Posts related to SOCIAL/SOCIETAL VALUES

SOCIAL JUSTICE as advocacy/service : Posts related to SERVICE AND ACTION

SOCIAL JUSTICE as advocacy/service : Posts related to INFORMATION AND ADVOCACY

SOCIAL JUSTICE… serious topics approached with HUMOR (because a laugh is important, too!)

If you have a post in the lists above, we invite you to display a button:

For more information on the Just Posts, please visit the Just Posts information page.