Enough

Hi friends, I wanted to pass along two links.  First, this article that talks about how the gap between Black and white household accumulated wealth quadrupled from 1984 to 2007.  Second, this link to the Democracy Now coverage of the ongoing strike at the  University of Puerto Rico.

One of our readers wrote in with a really interesting question that I’m hoping you will all have feedback about:

“I’m writing because I’m looking for support, feedback, strategies and this seems like a really good place to find it.  the subject is: a cross-class intimate relationship where the two people involved come from different class backgrounds AND, most saliently, have really different levels of access to money/resources right now.  and, maybe, they want to embark on a big land-based project together (with other folks involved, but as the primary movers).  this project will require many resources from both of them, but money can only come from one.  you see how some issues might come up where support and strategies would be very helpful!”

Please share your thoughts by commenting.  Thanks!

I wanted to pass along this statement from La Raza Centro Legal that provides some useful info about current immigration reform proposals.

WE DON’T WANT JUST ANY IMMIGRATION REFORM!

Last week, we witnessed the powerful marches of immigrant communities in Washington D.C., and in other cities, in support of “immigration reform.”  These righteous protests allowed those impacted by unfair immigration laws to remind lawmakers of what they are demanding:  legalization for themselves and their families.

But some of the groups that organized the march in Washington, led by beltway advocates like the National Immigration Forum and the National Council of La Raza, are supporting policies beyond legalization which actually harm immigrant communities. Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry for the lengthy silence. I’ve missed you! I’ve been thinking about so many Enough-related things lately – somehow I live this charmed life in which creative anti-capitalist projects and conversations surround me – and I’ve been wanting and planning to write about them all here, but, well – I haven’t. But I will! I guess I’ve been busy, with many things, some of which I am going to tell you about now. Also, let’s be real – it was winter, and sometimes winter can tend to drag on, and for some of us who are from Texas the lack of warmth and sunshine can have the effect of my life completely falling apart a slight decrease in productivity. But the sun is back and cherry blossoms are blooming all over Philadelphia, and I’ve been wearing shorts and sitting on my roof and planning a garden and I’ve been filled with joy and exuberance and also, of course, anticapitalist fervor. The feelings go hand in hand, really. We should make up a new word for anticapitalism, something positive, don’t you think? Because when I say I’m against capitalism, what I really mean is that I’m for, you know – liberation and people taking care of each other and collectivity and spiritual wholeness and cherry blossoms and such. Anyway, the point is, I really do believe in my heart that springtime = more writing on Enough. And that doesn’t just mean me and Dean, it means you too! Okay?

Hello dear Enough readers, I promise we haven’t abandoned you! I have a new piece to post, by the incomparable Jessica Hoffmann: The Practice of Freedom: A History of the Self Education Foundation.

The story of SEF has inspired me for years – they were a very small, very grassroots funding project run mostly by young women – organizers and activists who had few sources of individual wealth but shared an expansive vision of self-education that was rooted in social justice movements. None of the founders and organizers were traditional philanthropists – they just wanted to direct whatever resources they could to support the movements that inspired and sustained them. I’ve learned so much from being connected to some of the organizers of this project and hearing their reflections and anecdotes, and I’m very excited to be able to share this written history. Their story is especially inspiring in this era of professionalized social change work – SEF is a great example of what capitalism often makes us forget: that change is created by regular folks with vision and creativity, learning as we go, making mistakes, making up new models, taking risks, working together. Check it out.

From Sabrina in the UK:

Class (still) Matters*

This is an informal call-out for contributions for a zine/pamphlet I am putting together on class, it feels overdue, but also in good time, what with the recession and ever widening socio-economic inequality in the UK (and elsewhere); the use of class by political parties recently to try and win support in the forthcoming election; class stereotypes around how particular ‘classes’ feel about immigration; climate change policies that tend to involve raising prices, which in affect means that working class/poor people are asked to contribute and sacrifice more, but arguably benefit least, but also I am interested in less conventional explorations of class – class as a process, feeling etc. Read the rest of this entry »

For more info on responsibly supporting Haiti, this article by Tim Wise breaks down some ideas in a way that might be helpful in talking friends or family out of making their donations through huge and/or U.S.-funded aid organizations: “The problem is that aid goes not to projects or services but first to service providers, the agencies themselves. And aid is power. Those who get more aid end up stronger than those who don’t.”

It’s terrifying how easily grassroots support can be mobilized for “aid” that is actually a militarized imperial project. Media coverage of disasters like this is so empty of social/economic/political history – and so filled with incredibly painful images of suffering – that we get traumatized into sending whatever donation we can to the most publicized agencies in order to relieve the immediate devastation we’re seeing. But as Tim Wise points out, “More than half the budgets of most of the largest US-based aid agencies come from the US government…[and] those agencies naturally tend to be accountable mainly to the US government, not…to the local community they serve.”

And as we all know, the U.S. government is not about helping Haiti. The U.S. government is about dominating Haiti through coups, occupations, embargos, and privatization. U.S. imperialism and capitalism are the reason that this earthquake was so devastating – the reason that so many buildings were poorly constructed and collapsed into rubble, that hospitals and clinics were understocked and understaffed, that basic infrastructure and emergency services were so inadequate – the reason that Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

And imperialism and capitalism are the reason that the U.S. is responding to this crisis with massive militarization, and calling it aid. Over and over again, the U.S. has exploited crises like this to push through devastating economic policies that rebuild poor nations into privatized, dependent wastelands filled with resorts for rich Westerners. Aid from the U.S. government can’t be disentangled from the violent disaster capitalism that Naomi Klein talks about here and in The Shock Doctrine.

Already, U.S. response to this earthquake looks sickeningly like what went down all too recently in New Orleans after Katrina, when (poor, Black) survivors were criminalized for attempting to help themselves and their communities, the city was militarized, and billions of dollars of money pledged in aid was tied up in huge organizations like the Red Cross and kept out of the hands of local, grassroots groups.

The compassionate response to the Haitian earthquake from so much of the U.S. and global population is amazingly powerful and heartfelt. It could be an opportunity to send major support to independent Haitian organizations that are helping their own communities, but those organizations are left struggling while millions of well-meaning people in the U.S. text $10 donations to the Red Cross on their cell phones. In the aftermath of a crisis, of course we want to do whatever we can to help, but it’s so unfortunate that the organizations that are able to take the most advantage of that are the ones that are so dubious in terms of their accountability to long-term local struggles.

Six human rights groups issued a statement calling for aid that is grounded in human rights, sustainability, and self-determination for all Haitians:

“There is no doubt that Haiti’s hungry, thirsty, injured, and sick urgently need all the assistance the international community can provide, but it is critical that the underlying goal of improving human rights drives the distribution of every dollar of aid given to Haiti,” said Loune Viaud, Director of Strategic Planning and Operations at Zanmi Lasante. “The only way to avoid escalation of this crisis is for international aid to take a long-term view and strive to rebuild a stronger Haiti-one that includes a government that can ensure the basic human rights of all Haitians and a nation that is empowered to demand those rights.”

I walked into the gym this morning at 7am to find people gathered around a TV screen, weeping over the coverage of the most recent earthquake in Haiti early today. I can’t imagine what survivors must be going through.

Several people sent me these resources, and I wanted to share them here:

Statement from INCITE! and the Women’s Health and Justice Initiative in New Orleans: Haiti: Responding to the Situation

“As these important efforts are underway, we recommend that we also pause and ask the question: How can we intentionally support the long term sustainability and self determination of the Haitian people?”

ONE Petition to cancel Haiti’s debt

“Dear Finance Ministers, IMF, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and bilateral creditors,As Haiti rebuilds from this disaster, please work to secure the immediate cancellation of Haiti’s $1 billion debt and ensure that any emergency earthquake assistance is provided in the form of grants, not debt-incurring loans.”

As I’m sure is true for all of you, my heart is breaking over this new devastating human catastrophe made infinitely more desperate by poverty and imperialism – over all of the immediate suffering, as well as the all-too-likely possibility that this tragedy will be used by the U.S. and corporate interests to push forward even more brutal forms of capitalism in Haiti. I’m sure we’ve all been inundated with various links already, but I thought I’d consolidate a few that I’ve found helpful anyway.

We all know not to give through the Red Cross, right? Here’s why, and here’s why. Grantmakers Without Borders has this list of helpful criteria for disaster response:

1. First and foremost, provide unrestricted general funding to allow resources to go where they are most urgently needed.
2. Give only to those organizations with an existing presence in the region and a broad familiarity with local conditions, customs and politics. Avoid well-meaning but inexperienced organizations.
3. Give only to organizations that engage local community members in all aspects of disaster response and recovery. Avoid top-down responders.
4. Prioritize organizations with a strong focus on gender and the ways in which women are differently impacted during and after an emergency.
5. Prioritize organizations that link emergency response with recovery and long-term rehabilitation and that build local capacities.

Michelle O’Brien has compiled this very useful list of aid organizations, articles, and analysis on the earthquake. It’s public on Facebook, but for those who don’t have a Facebook account, I’ll cut and past it after the jump. I really recommend reading some of the articles she links to, and whatever other analysis you can find – as well as sending money, aid, and prayers, it’s so important to put this tragedy in a broader context and also respond by strengthening movements against the violent, powerful systems that make all natural disasters so catastrophic for poor people. Read the rest of this entry »