By Beverly Bell and Lauren Elliott

April 30, 2012

Welcome to Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives. The series features twelve alternative social and economic models which expand the possibilities for justice, equity, and strong community. They are based in the US, Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Some are national-level, some global-level. Some are propelled by people’s movements, some forced or adopted into government policy. In first-hand narratives, women describe their role in having created the models and show us their unique perspectives and challenges in the movements.

Below is the fifth narrative of Birthing Justice.

Our Hope is in Our Struggle – Reclaiming Land and Life in Honduras

“Land, well, it’s our first mother. For us farmers, we don’t have life without land. That’s the reason we’re in this struggle.” - Consuelo Castillo

In Honduras, as in most places, the government and the wealthy treat land as a commodity. In pursuit of the profits it offers, they have taken enormous tracts of land from indigenous peoples and small farmers, often through legally suspect if not outright violent means.

On April 17, several thousand Hondurans set out to take back some of this land. They occupied 30,000 acres of land that day, claiming a legal right to grow crops there. These occupations were part of the International Day of Peasants' Struggle, organized by the several million-member, world-wide, small-farmer organization Via Campesina. From Mozambique to Palestine to Spain, farmers and activists took to the streets, hosted teach-ins, and established land occupations. Over 250 actions took place globally on that one day.

While the April 17 action in Honduras made international headlines, it was just a snapshot of a much larger national movement for land reform that is rarely reported. Documented or not, it’s making waves that can’t be ignored. In 2009, the democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya, who had been making concessions to the grassroots’ demand for agrarian reform, was ousted and replaced with a government whose favorite motto quickly became “Honduras is open for business.” But despite, or perhaps because of the coup d’état - as Consuelo Castillo suggests in the interview below - the resistance is growing.

Four days after these land occupations began, the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) celebrated a long-fought victory: winning a community title to 741 acres of their ancestral land. COPINH and the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (OFRANEH) are two groups demanding the right to communal control over ancestral lands, rivers, forests, and agriculture. Over the years, they and others have reclaimed ancestral lands, and stalled or stopped free trade agreements, hydro-electric dams, mining exploration, and logging. Their victories have come through the strength of their movements and their marches, national mobilizations, and direct actions such as road blockades.

For decades in the fertile Bajo Aguán region, the members of small-farmer cooperatives such as the Aguán Small Farmers’ Movement and the Unified Movement of Aguán Farmers have been peacefully occupying land they claim has been taken from them, mainly by bio-fuel agribusiness. Today, despite constant arrests, assassinations, and threats from the landowners and the government, they have established six settlements where they’re working towards their long-term vision of food sovereignty, liberatory education systems, collectively run media, cooperative businesses, and strong community.

In the fifth part of the Birthing Justice series, we’ll hear from Consuelo Castillo, an organizer with the land movement in Bajo Aguán and a resident of Lempira, one of the six land reform settlements.

Consuelo Castillo | Bajo Aguán, Honduras

• Consuelo Castillo and son. Photo: Jennifer Jewell. •

We want a better Honduras, a different Honduras where there is equality for everyone. A Honduras where everyone can enjoy the wealth generated by this country and the fruits of our land. We’re fighting for the changes that we truly need and, well, I believe that with everyone’s strength and work, we’re going to reach the goal.

The [national] resistance has a lot of capacity. Those participating in the resistance are the people most marginalized, those suffering most because of the coup. There have been families that have lost their jobs, family members, and many other things because of the coup, understand? People are ready to give their lives for their country, and so we are going to continue defending what is ours. All of the small-farmer organizations are in resistance here in the department of Colón.

We think about having a society that’s truly participatory, where there is equality and all our rights are respected. This is our fight and, well, we are trying to change the whole capitalist system. We are trying to reinvent this chain from below because the changes are not going to suddenly happen from above. Those from above don’t think there should be change. But for us, including the humblest and the hardest hit, this is why we are fighting.

There are various small-farmer organizations in the struggle to recover the land. This all started on December 9 [2009, after the coup d’état], when we went to different areas, like Lempira and the western regions, to retake the farmlands. We’ve occupied this land for two years, struggling and continuing the fight amid forced removals, militarization of the lands, and assassinations. We put enough pressure on the government that in 2010 they made an agreement to relocate us to these six settlements.

Even though we’ve signed agreements, there’s conflict. The negotations are through the government, and the government is like a messenger of Mr. Facussé [a major landowner]. Since he has lots of money, he buys the authorities and we, the poor people, receive nothing from the government. There have always been murders and kidnappings and threats of fines and all that. So, these aren’t yet liberated territories. We’re fighting to liberate the land we’ve occupied.

That's where we are right now. We must develop our education, health and housing so that we can live a dignified life as farmers. The situation is very critical. We don't have hope that the government is going to address these issues. They don't care if the poor are hungry. Our hope is in our struggle, in the fact that each citizen is going to make an effort to change our country.

Some of the settlements have been able to develop projects for water, light, and other things that benefit us. With everyone’s efforts we managed to build [a cooperative food store]. When we buy food from other places we generate profits for other people, sometimes for the imperialists themselves. So, we’ve all invested in the food store and it belongs to everyone. For example, this week we won’t get paid because production is low. But we have food, so even if we don’t get a salary at the end of the week our kids won’t go hungry. In short, we have this resource for difficult times.

About 50 percent of what we eat is nutritious food, food we grew ourselves, like corn, beans, some vegetables. And our milk, it’s natural milk taken directly from the cow, something real. Right now there are many health epidemics in the occupied territories. Too many! Our families aren’t accustomed to living where they are so vulnerable, where so many chemicals have been dumped in the ground.[i] We are trying not to eat certain foods that both help our enemy and are very harmful to our health.

We're fighting for our kids. They're the foundation of this movement. They are what's important. We've started this movement for our children so they can have their basic needs met, live in dignity, and have access to education. For example, the political assassinations have left some children without mothers, without brothers. The kids are the ones that are impacted the most.

No matter what happens, we’re going to keep on fighting for our sisters and brothers who gave up their lives, whose blood was spilled for this land God gave to us, the Honduran people, so that we could all enjoy the land’s natural resources and wealth. Our martyred sisters and brothers may be lying in the grave right now, but as far as we’re concerned, they’re still here with us, standing by our side in this fight. We are not going to give up the struggle; we’re going to keep at it to the very end, no matter what happens.

[i] Most of the settlements are on cultivated palm plantations, where large levels of chemicals and pesticides have been used. Birth defects and other health problems have been documented at an alarming level.

To learn more about the resistance in Honduras see, hondurasresists.blogspot.com and www.ofraneh.org. To read more about land struggles globally, see the second article in the Birthing Justice series, “Without Firing an Arm, We Created a Revolution: Land Reform.”

Interview translated by Tim Burke, Monica Dyer, David Schmidt, and Gislaine Williams.

Inspired? Here are a few suggestions for getting involved!
• If you’re Spanish-speaking, apply to be a human rights observer with:
o The small-famer cooperatives in Bajo Aguán through the the Permanent International Human Rights Observatory in Bajo Aguán (email alemanheriberto@yahoo.es or aaronmonte@gmail.com); and
o COPINH and OFRANEH through the Human Rights Observatory of the Indigenous and Black Communities (email odhpinh@yahoo.com; call 504 32668598 or 504 32019179);
• Provide much-needed financial support to the small-farmer cooperatives in Bajo Aguán, COPINH, and OFRANEH. Other Worlds can help get the money directly to them (info.otherworlds@gmail.com);
• Support the Landless Rural Workers Movement of Brazil (MST) through the Friends of the MST (www.mstbrazil.org); and
• Join the US housing rights movement. Land reform takes on a new meaning in the US as banks foreclose on family homes and farms, and the US government shies away from providing public housing. Local groups and national coalitions are fighting back, calling for national a moratorium on foreclosures, occupying empty homes, and demanding tighter restrictions on banks and lending agencies. Visit the Occupy Our Homes website to learn more and get involved (www.occupyourhomes.org).

And check out the following resources and organizations:
• Rights Action (Honduras), www.rightsaction.org
• www.hondurashumanrights.wordpress.com
• www.honduraseyewitness.tumblr.com
• Right to the City (US), www.righttothecity.org/home
• Housing is a Human Right (US), www.housingisahumanrigh.org
• Take Back the Land (US), www.takebacktheland.org
• Land Research Action Network, www.landaction.org
• Peter Rosset, Raj Patel, and Michael Courville, Promised Land: Competing Visions of Agrarian Reform (Food First, 2006)
• Sue Brandford and Jan Rocha, Cutting the Wire: the Story of the Landless Movement in Brazil (Latin American Bureau, 2002)
• Angus Wright and Wendy Wolford, To Inherit the Earth (Food First Books, 2003)
• Max Rameau, Take Back the Land: Land, Gentrification and the Umoja Village Shantytown (Nia Press Progressive Publishing, 2008)
• Jaron Browne et al., Towards Land, Work & Power: Charting a Path of Resistance to U.S.-led Imperialism (United to Fight Press, 2005)

Discover more ideas and download the entire Birthing Justice series here.

Beverly Bell has worked for more than three decades as an advocate, organizer, and writer in collaboration with social movements in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the U.S. Her focus areas are just economies, democratic participation, and gender justice. Beverly currently serves as associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and coordinator of Other Worlds. She is author of Walking on Fire: Haitian Women Stories of Survival and Resistance and of the forthcoming Fault Lines: Views Across Haiti’s Divide. You can access all of Other Worlds’ past articles here.

Copyleft Beverly Bell. You may reprint this article in whole or in part. Please credit any text or original research you use to Beverly Bell, Other Worlds.

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“I don’t believe in either the prime minister or the defense minister. I don’t believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic feelings,” said Yuval Diskin, former Israeli intelligence chief in a meeting with residents of the city of Kfar Sava. He was talking about Israel’s policy towards Iran. And he added, “Believe me, I have observed them from up close…They are not people who I, on a personal level, trust to lead Israel to an event on that scale and carry it off.”

Predictably, his strong criticism provoked a strong rebuke from Israel’s leading officials. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, talking to Israel’s Chanel Two television, suggested that Diskin was probably angry at being passed over for the job as head of the Mossad, apparently a last minute decision by Benjamin Netanyahu. Officials in both Netanyahu’s and Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Bark group called Diskin’s comments “irresponsible and motivated from personal frustration.”

Shortly before Diskin’s comments, Israel’s Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz told Haaretz that Israel should leave the door open for international negotiations with Iran and indicated that economic sanctions against that country were beginning to bear fruit. And he dismissed the idea that the Iranian leadership is irrational. “I think the Iranian leadership is composed of very rational people,” he said. And added, “But I agree that such capability, in the hands of the Islamic fundamentalists who at particular moments could make different calculations, is dangerous.”

Both Diskin and Gantz’s comments come shortly after Meir Dagan, a former chief of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, declared that attacking Iran was the stupidest thing he ever heard. In an interview with Lesley Stahl from “60 minutes” in March 2012, he indicated also that a military attack could only halt the Iranian nuclear project, not stop it, particularly considering that Iran has dozens of nuclear facilities dispersed across the country.

Dagan, as well as other Israeli leaders believes that there is still time for negotiation, a position clearly at odds with Netanyahu’s, who insists that Iran represents an “existential threat” to Israel. Netanyahu’s position disregards the obvious US support for Israel in case of conflict with Iran.

Criticism of Netanyahu is not limited to military officials. Speaking last Sunday at a Jerusalem Post conference in New York City, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert urged Netanyahu not to rush into unilateral action against Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program. When he was booed loudly by the audience he boldly stated, “As a concerned Israeli citizen who lives in the state of Israel with his family and all of his children and grandchildren, I love very much the courage of those who live 10,000 miles away from the State of Israel and are ready that we will make every possible mistake that will cost lives of Israelis.”

Last November, at a presentation to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Andrew J. Shapiro, Assistant Secretary at the State Department Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, stated the several ways in which the US will help Israel maintain its Qualitative Military Edge over all other regional states, “while sustaining minimal damages or casualties.”

“Israel is a vital ally and serves as a cornerstone of our regional security commitments. From confronting Iranian aggression, to working together to combat transnational terrorist networks, to stopping nuclear proliferation and supporting democratic change and economic development in the region – it is clear that both our strategic outlook, as well as our national interests are strongly in sync,” he said.

It is evident to many that negotiations with Iran should continue apace. That is Catherine Ashton’s position. As the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, she has considerable input on this issue. She invited Iran to continue previous talks and the first meeting of Iran with the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) which took place in Istanbul on April 14 gave reason for optimism. Ashton called the discussions with the Iranians “constructive and useful.” Both sides agreed to continue the Istanbul meeting with a meeting in Baghdad on 23 May.

Netanyahu has long been critical of any talks between Iran and the international community, a position on which he is becoming increasingly isolated. The stakes are too high to pursue a policy of confrontation. Not only the region but the whole world should be spared the consequences of his intolerance.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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This year’s San Francisco International Film Festival is in full swing! The festival started on April 19 and continues through May 3. I’ve only attended one event – Buster Keaton Shorts with a live musical accompaniment by Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs – and it was so much fun! I love it when current musicians perform original soundtracks while a classic silent film is playing at the historic Castro Theatre.

I plan to attend a number of new films over the next five days. Here are my picks:

Sunday 4/29:
- Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel at 6:45 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- Land of Oblivion at 3:15 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- I saw Marina Abramovic’s 2010 MOMA retrospective and it was incredible. I’m so excited to see the documentary Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present at 5:40 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley
- The Law in These Parts at 6:15 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- One of my favorite documentaries from SXSW is playing at the SFIFF: The Source at 6:15 p.m. at Film Society Cinema

Monday 4/30:
- Back to Stay at 4 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- Leave Me Like You Found Me at 12:30 p.m. at Film Society Cinema
- Off Label at 6:30 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- The Exchange at 9:30 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- The new film from Marjene Satrapi: Chicken with Plums at 6:15 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- Porchlight: True Stories from the Frontiers of International Filmmaking at 9:15 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- Where Do We Go? At 3:15 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas

Tuesday 5/1:
- Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel at 6:45 p.m. at the Film Society Cinema
- Hysteria at 9:30 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- Off Label at 3:30 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- The Law in These Parts at 2:30 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller with a live score by Yo Lo Tengo at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at SFMOMA

Wednesday 5/2:
- Back to Stay at 9:30 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- Off Label at 9 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- Chicken with Plums at 12:30 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas

Thursday 5/3:
- This year’s festival closes with Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey at 7 p.m. at the Castro Theatre
- Hysteria at 9:30 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
- I cannot wait to see Francis Ford Coppola’s new film Twixt at 8:15 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas

Sometimes you want to watch a film that’s also a movie. You want an opportunity to go into the darkened theater with popcorn and escape into a world of fantasy, and maybe even laugh. Film festivals are usually not big on laughs or escape. Award winning films are serious, reflecting societal ills and angst. This is all to the good. We need authentic, gritty films that speak to the unspeakable and a venue to deliver them to audiences. This year’s Tribeca Film Festival selections deliver the punch. I am very glad I am here but after nine rounds, this blogger aches for a giggle.

I approached Tanya Wexler’s film Hysteria (produced by Sarah Curtis, Judy Cairo and Tracey Becker) with gleeful anticipation. Vibrators in Victorian England. Vibrators disguised as medical tools. Orgasms delivered by doctors massaging women’s clitorises as medical treatment. Now this is the stuff of farce.

Hysteria tells a story based on fact. Dr. Mortimer Granville (Hugh Dancy) a young, modern doctor challenges the prevailing views of medicine in 1880 England and is fired from several hospitals. Needing a job, Granville goes to work with Dr. Dalyrymple (Jonathan Pryce), a specialist in “hysteria.” In Victorian England a quarter of the female population were diagnosed with “hysteria” with such symptoms as depression, mood swings, restlessness and other signs of unhappiness. Dr. Dalyrymple treats his female patients with vulvular hand massage until they have an orgasm. Does this sound like soft porn? Au contraire! The doctors and the patients all act as if the treatment has nothing to do with sex. In fact, the doctors complain of exhaustion and suffer from fatigued wrists and hands. (Imagine a nineteenth century version of carpal tunnel syndrome.)

Dr. Granville, with cramped hands, can no longer satisfy his patients and is fired. To overcome his handicap, Granville develops an electrically charged vibrating device that becomes the world’s first electric sex toy. There is also a complicated love story between Granville and Charlotte Dalyrmple (Maggie Gyllenhaal) the boss’s oldest daughter. Charlotte is a suffragette. She longs for emancipation and liberation and challenges the strict cultural codes of her time.

Marshall Mc Luhan wrote, “We shape our tools and our tools shape us.” By 1918, the electric vibrator was sold in the Sears and Roebuck catalogue and advertised as “very useful and satisfactory for home service.”

Go see the movie. It is not hysterical but it is quite charming.

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Interview by Beverly Bell and Alexis Erkert

April 24, 2012

Crossposted from Other Worlds

In honor of Earth Day, we run an interview with Yves-André Wainright, who discusses ways that poor governance and the role of foreign donors have contributed to the country’s environmental catastrophe. He also lays out a blueprint for what could turn the situation around, effectively mobilizing both government and the population to begin restoring the environment.

Yves-André Wainright served twice as Haiti’s Minister of Environment. Trained as an agronomist, Yves-André’s work has focused on environmental management, especially management of natural resources and waste.

My approach towards management of the environment is to have Haitians who face [the same environmental] challenges come together. We might not all share the same economic interests, but if we work together, we can reach a compromise where one’s interest won’t trump another’s.

• "We have to start working collaboratively," says former Minister of the Environment Yves-André Wainright. Photo by Roberto (Bear) Guerra. •

• Education related to ecology and environmental health;


• Reinforcement of the state’s capacity to [manage] the environment, from locally elected officials to the central government;


• Integrated management of watersheds and coastal areas;


• Promotion of alternative energy sources to charcoal and, as possible, imported fossil fuels;


• Regulation and policies related to where and how people can or can’t build houses and decentralization of activities from Port-au-Prince;


• Sanitation, and the management of garbage and pollution;


• Application of the national plan for management of risks and disasters - mainly focusing on floods and water-related epidemics for the short term, with later focus on other sources of pollution that impact human health and the ecosystem;


• Preservation and sustainable management of biodiversity, relating to protection of the habitats of endemic and other endangered species;


• Sustainable management of mineral resources like construction materials, quarries, and mines.

There are ways to improve governance of the environment around these themes, provided they are integrated into a comprehensive and progressive land-use zoning process. For example, alleviation of the pressure of agriculture production on mountainous lands should be a common objective for all groups working on any of these nine issues. With more than 500,000 families depending on subsistence agriculture on eroded lands, there’s no potential for improving living conditions. Policies must be proactive in providing alternative means to make a living, and we have to invest more in building governance capacity at the municipal level.

We have to start working collaboratively. We can be successful in the nine priorities listed, but only if we admit that whatever our capabilities and our excuses, we’re condemned to fail without cooperation. By we, I mean the government, the ministries, the parliament, the NGOs and their networks, grassroots organizations and social movements, enterprises and trade unions, donors and others.

Read the full, unedited interview with Yves-André Wainright here.

Interview translated by Larousse Charlot and David Schmidt.

Copyleft Other Worlds. You may reprint this article in whole or in part. Please credit any text or original research you use to Alexis Erkert and Beverly Bell, Other Worlds.

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The creation in Brazil of a Truth Commission to investigate crimes committed from 1946 to 1988 opens the possibility of learning what happened to hundreds of forcibly “disappeared” persons during the country’s recent past. The findings of the commission, which are to be released two years from now, will allow their families not only to know the fate of their loved ones but also to bring closure to their lives.

Even though the commission’s mandate is to investigate crimes committed by military regimes during their ruling from 1964 to 1985, it also includes an investigation of the crimes perpetrated before and after the military dictatorship. It is estimated that between 1964 and 1985, 475 people were forcibly disappeared, 50,000 imprisoned and 20,000 were tortured.

A 1979 Amnesty Law passed when the military were in power protected those accused of torture and other criminal acts from facing prosecution for their crimes. According to Jarbas Passarinho, a former army colonel, senator and justice minister during the dictatorship, the amnesty’s intention was to leave the past behind. “When we made the amnesty and I was the leader for President Figueiredo, our idea was to forget – it was not a pardon,” he told the BBC.

Despite Passarinho’s assertion, however, the amnesty law hindered any attempts to bring to justice those accused of human rights abuses. The creation of the Truth Commission doesn’t circumvent that law, something that had provoked concern among the military. The amnesty law authorized the release of political prisoners, the return of exiled opponents, and gave amnesty for all political crimes and “connected crimes,” interpreted as torture.

The enactment of the 1979 Amnesty Law has been severely criticized by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In 2010 that court condemned Brazil, declared that the law was invalid and incompatible with the American Convention on Human Rights -to which Brazil is a signatory- and urged the Brazilian government to provide the victims the right to memory, as well the right to justice and to reparations.

In 2009, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tried to create a truth commission in the country. He desisted of doing so, however, when the heads of the army, navy and air force plus the defense minister threatened to resign.

Following President Dilma Rousseff’s decision to create a Truth Commission, the Clube Militar, the association of retired members of the military, has been sharply critical of the commission. It claims that the commission will not be impartial and that it will try to rewrite history.

The military’s fears were increased when Maria do Rosario Nunes, Minister of Human Rights, declared that in the future the military could be brought to justice to answer for the torture, disappearances and killings that took place in Brazil in the 60s and 70s.

President Rousseff wasn’t swayed by pressure from the military and gave official sanction to the Truth Commission. “Learning the truth will be essential to later generations in ensuring that this stain in our country’s history will never occur again,” she said. Although the commission’s mandate doesn’t allow that its findings be used for prosecution, they could still create the political will necessary for those abuses to later be brought to justice.

“There is a need to prosecute the perpetrators of grave violations of human rights as well as establish a truth commission, because both work in different ways. A Truth Commission is focused on the institutions’ responsibility to explain to the whole country what happened, and how to move forward. The criminal process, on the other hand, focuses on the individual’s responsibility,” said Marlon Weichert, a prominent Brazilian human rights advocate, in an interview with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ).

The trials and imprisonment in Argentina, Chile and Peru (among other countries) of former military and civilian leaders responsible for human rights violations show that it is possible to try those accused in a democratic environment. The decision by President Dilma Rousseff, although an important step towards truth-seeking, should be followed by actions aimed at ending impunity by those guilty of human rights abuses. Only when that happens will Brazil bring truth with justice.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for “Missing or Dead in Argentina: The Desperate Search for Thousands of Abducted Victims.”

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This is my third day watching films at The Tribeca Film Festival, and I know by the week’s end I will have only scratched the surface of the 90 or so films that are showing here.

So far, so good. Almost everything I have seen has been worthwhile. This year there are fewer films on the schedule, and the films appear to be more selectively chosen. Still making film choices is hard because everyone including IndieWIRE has a different top ten, and you can make yourself crazy trying to insure you are viewing everything there is to see. I have tried to focus on films either about women or directed by women and while this has narrowed the field, there are plenty selections meeting these criteria.

On Thursday night I went to the screening for the documentary The World Before Her directed by Canadian filmmaker, Nishua Pahuja. Her film was the opener for the documentary competition and is considered a favorite to win.

The World Before Her takes us backstage to the Miss India Beauty Pageant while also exploring a Hindu fundamentalist training camp for teenagers who are indoctrinated into the violent Durga Vahini movement. We meet Ruhi, competing with 19 others to become Miss India, and Prachi, a hard line Hindu fundamentalist. Ruhi hopes that with the title of Miss India she will “break-out” gaining wealth and freedom. Prachi rejects these new values. On the surface the two women’s ambitions seem far apart, but each one is searching for identity and empowerment in India’s rapidly changing society.

India is a beautiful backdrop for any film. Pahuja spent four years shooting on and off inside India but she spent only thirty days with the pageant. While the publicity shots for the film lead you to believe that the film is about the beauty contest, it is the view inside the training camp that is both riveting and eye opening. The young women are trained to protect themselves with martial arts and to use guns to shoot non-Hindu Indians if they are attacked. They become physically strong and ideologically committed to the cause of Hindu fundamentalism. With this new sense of self they are also taught to continue the traditional roles set for women - they are warriors who know their place. The male dominated fundamentalists will allow women to go so far. Keeping women trained in martial arts submissive can be a tricky business.

At the end of the film, Ruhi does not become Miss India; and she returns home defeated, still not sure what is next for her in the new India. She is a pretty face without too many other skills. Prachi will continue her role as an activist, sure of her commitment to her cause and waiting for the planned marriage that is her future.

The 11th Annual Tribeca Film Festival is happening now in New York City. Barbara Castro, a regular attendee of the festival, writes this year for The WIP.

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While The WIP often carries stories about poor women forced into prostitution by their financial circumstances, the film Elles details a contrasting situation of young college women using prostitution to finance their studies. Elles, directed by Malgoska Szumowska, stars the lovely and talented Juliet Binoche as Anne. As a sophisticated French housewife and mother of two, Anne juggles her journalistic career with her days of picking up after two sons, arranging and cooking a dinner for her husband’s boss, visiting her dad in a hospital and engaging in other self sacrificing duties. We get that Anne is stressed and stretched. Her husband is not too supportive to boot.

• Anne (Juliette Binoche) and Charlotte (Anaïs Demoustier) •

As a film nothing quite works. The photography is often beautiful and so is Binoche. The subject is controversial, but its development is weak and I found it difficult to know where I was as the scenes follow some stream of consciousness in Anne’s mind. The filmmaker wants to shake-up middle class sensibilities but offers us clichés instead of authenticity. Who are these young women? Are they addicted to sex and have found a profitable way to indulge their habit? Do they feel at all degraded by their roles as prostitutes? In one scene Alicja, Jo Anna Kulig’s character, is urinated on but she is so stoned she does not seem to mind. Are these young women really in control? Will they go on to become lawyers, journalists, wives and mothers much like Anne? And if they are so independent and liberated, why do they keep their work so secret?

I think Szumowska wants us to ask who is being exploited. Is it the middle class housewife who is a “slave “ to her family and is asked by her husband not to discuss her feminist views at dinner with the boss or the young women trying to climb the social ladder through education and sex for sale? It is all a bit too facile.

As we deplore the world wide practice of young girls forced into prostitution against their wills, we are not sure we feel much better about young women so in need of comfortable life styles and adventure that they sell their bodies for money.

2012, France/Poland/Germany, 96 minutes

Official Selection:

Toronto International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival

The 11th Annual Tribeca Film Festival is happening now in New York City. Barbara Castro, a regular attendee of the festival, writes this year for The WIP.

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Welcome to Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives. The series features twelve alternative social and economic models which expand the possibilities for justice, equity, and strong community. They are based in the US, Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Some are national-level, some global-level. Some are propelled by people’s movements, some forced or adopted into government policy. In first-hand narratives, women describe their role in having created the models and show us their unique perspectives and challenges in the movements.
Below is the fourth narrative of Birthing Justice.

Coumba Toure | Bamako, Mali

All of Coumba Toure’s work is aimed at keeping African values alive. As part of this, she is deeply involved in a women-led movement to keep the gift economy thriving. West African gifting is based on the interrelated values that all humanity is linked and that one’s well-being is only as strong as that of one’s neighbor. Profit and exchange are trumped by a commitment to care for community.

A word that we use a lot in Bamana is maaya. When you say that somebody has maaya, you mean they are human, they hold humanity. To be human for us is to be able to give, to be able to recognize each other as human beings. That concept also incorporates the idea that our humanity is one. I am human because we are all human. There’s a song that says that what makes us human is a thread that we all pull on. Each of us has to make sure that it doesn’t break in our name.

Here we judge people by how much they give. Even if the person doesn’t have much, someone will say, “That’s a good person, an extraordinary person.” In other countries, the measure is that the person has a lot, not that they give a lot. But for us, if you have a lot and you don’t give it, what is it good for?

We call the gift economy dama. Dama is about giving, passing the gift on, moving it forward. In all the places I’ve been in West Africa, I’ve seen this gift economy at work. I have seen it most with people and places that are less in touch with the global model. I have seen people considered poor give much more than people who have much more, and they do it with ease.

Who you are is very much defined by how much you give to others. And when you say give, that means everything. We give objects but they are only symbols. They’re just to materialize the links. The highest gift is recognizing people, giving consideration for who they are, and accepting to be linked to them.

The gift economy is a way of life. And it’s real; it’s not something that we dream about. If you go into any family here in Mali, you’ll find that most of the time, one person works and feeds twenty people. It’s not like we have governmental systems to take care of people. It’s not like we have a high rate of employment or like everyone has some money. There is nothing. If you interviewed any number of persons and asked them how they live, what they eat, where they get what they wear, you would easily notice that most of it has been given by someone. If there wasn’t a working gift economy, we would have a lot of people dead on the streets from hunger.

Our belief is that what we do always comes back to us. My mother, for example... Anyone who comes by, she will solve their problems as if they were hers. Her belief in doing so is that someone will do the same for her own children as they travel around. It is a real thing; someone really will take care of your children while you are caring for someone else’s. When you are in a community where everyone believes that, it really does work.

You don’t give based on what you have. And you would never give something that you don’t want yourself. The idea of giving old clothes that you wouldn’t wear anymore, what kind of giving is that? You have to be able to give things that you want, things that you need, or things that you would want someone to give you.

It could be just to maintain relations. Like when I travel, I get small gifts, and when I come back, I give them to people. Or I could be thinking of someone and I could cook some food and send it to them.

The gift is always shown to others. The person witnessing will also thank the giver. The gift is for other members of the community as well. The other members will say, “This is beautiful. Thank you for what you have done.”

When you don’t give is when people really start worrying about you, when people start wondering about what kind of person you have become. Being rich here means that there is something wrong with you, that you aren’t giving enough to the needs around. The only way you get to be rich is by disassociating yourself from other people. Because you can’t live in community, have family in the way that we understand family, and still be rich. There are so many children that you have to pay for schooling for, there are so many people that you have to pay for medicines for.

I am always struck by the mentality of giving in the US. Most of the time when I travel to the US, I don’t have money but when I do, I try to give gifts for people. People have told me, “You can’t give to me.” I say, “Of course, I can.” It is a pleasure. It is happiness. It is hard for me to see how people, even close friends, have problems receiving. They are worried about the expectation that they will have to give back. But if there is an expectation, it is not a gift.

Our values are being pushed back by the Western model. Slavery and colonization as they were are no longer here. But what we have is globalization which is breaking fundamental beliefs and values and links that people have developed over thousands of years. They become losers because the way they act doesn’t make them succeed in a model that they don’t believe in or that they don’t even know.

We are living in big cities, and people are looking to be safe, to make sure that they don’t lack things. Sometimes, trying to be safe becomes almost madness: when people are so afraid of losing things, of not being taken care of, then they’re not able to give anymore. Then, what they have seems like it’s not enough. We’re moving towards a trend where people accumulate more and have more difficulty in sharing, in giving, because they want to fit a global model that says that there’s not enough in this world for all of us, that says that only some of us will survive, that says that the most intelligent people are the ones who are able to exploit others and gather more.

I believe that most negative ways of acting and interacting with others comes from insecurity. It’s very hard to maintain positive values and ways of interacting with other people when your own security and the security of people close to you are at stake. To me, globalization is the development of insecurity.

Especially in the villages, the norms are changing to where people are starting to become important and valued by what they have, not what they give. When the main incentive of life is to collect and have more, of course you have to give less. The person’s worth is less if they give away. The farther we go into a market economy, the less attractive it is to be a giver. Increasingly, it’s through accumulation that people are getting power.

The gift economy questions an order that is already established, that everyone thinks is the only model, which is not true. That paradigm has been failing people, at least failing people like us, for the longest time.

We have to confront and fight so we don’t give more value to actions and institutions that go against what people know is real and positive inside them. Our struggle as individuals is to stay rooted in those values and to make sure that we can practice them. As organizations, our challenge is to model those values, to label what we’re doing and make sure that people are conscious of them. And to develop links with people all over the world who have similar values.

We have to find ways of maintaining the thinking that you take care of other people and trust that you will be taken care of. We have to develop a way of thinking that who you are is important and is recognized by others, and that other people will look out for your needs. That makes you very free to take care of other people and their needs. You don’t spend as much time protecting yourself and taking care of yourself. It’s a dangerous way of living. But it’s a beautiful way of living.

Inspired? Here are a few suggestions for getting involved!

• Think outside the profit-driven box and practice gifting to friends, neighbors and strangers. Refuse to have money influence your relationships with people you care about.
• Support cooperatively owned stores, banks, housing, and other businesses. The Data Commons Project offers a directory of cooperatives throughout North America.
• Join your town’s Freecycle, a web-based gift network where individuals can post or request free items from others in their community.
• Join or start a time bank, a structured system where people offer services they can provide in exchange for services they need. An individual performs a service – replacing a toilet, babysitting, or preparing tax returns, say – and earns hours which he or she can use in the same network. No cash is involved and all hours are valued equally, expanding the realm of what people can access, changing the nature of the human interaction, and creating community. Look into Timebanks USA (www.timebanks.org).
• Visit Neighbor Goods’ website to share goods and skills (www.neighborgoods.net).
• If your city or town doesn’t have any of the organized exchanges above, start your own.

And check out the following resources and organizations:

• U.S. Solidarity Economy Network, www.ussen.org
• Cycle Yatra, www.youtu.be/t_YQsaFLOvM
• Gift Economy, www.gift-economy.com
• Manish Jain and Shilpa Jain, eds., Reclaiming the Gift Culture (Shikshantar, 2009), available online at: www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/giftculture.pdf
• Genevieve Vaughan, ed., Women and the Gift Economy: a Radically Different Worldview Is Possible (Inanna Publications, 2007)
• Lewis Hyde, The Gift (Vintage Books, 2007)

Discover more ideas and download the entire Birthing Justice series here.

Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance and is working on the forthcoming book, Fault Lines: Views across Haiti’s New Divide. She coordinates Other Worlds, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. You can access all of Other Worlds’ past articles here.
Copyleft Beverly Bell. You may reprint this article in whole or in part. Please credit any text or original research you use to Beverly Bell, Other Worlds.

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At the Summit of the Americas, Latin American governments’ have roundly condemned the U.S. embargo on Cuba. This happens only days after Pope Benedict added his voice criticizing the embargo. Speaking at his departure from Havana airport Benedict said that Cuba could build “a society of broad vision, renewed and reconciled,” but indicated also that it was more difficult “when restrictive economic measures, imposed from outside the country, unfairly burden its people.”

Despite universal criticism, however, the U.S. government has persisted in a policy that has brought it only derision, not only in Latin America but throughout the world. The lack of benefits of such a policy has been of no concern to several U.S. administrations.

Except for the U.S., Israel and the Marshal Islands –who normally are in agreement on this issue- the whole world condemns U.S. policies on Cuba, perceives that they have remained unchanged in more than 50 years and that the embargo has brought enormous hardships to the Cuban people. It has allowed the Castro brothers to exert tighter control on the population.

Much can certainly be blamed on the Cuban government, such as repression and imprisonment of political dissenters and failed economic policies. Those policies have only exacerbated the Cubans' difficult situation, many of whom are living from remittances of relatives overseas.

Despite its shortcomings, the Cuban government has already participated in more than 200 joint ventures with foreign corporations. In Havana, there are also offices and representatives of over 500 companies from around the world. U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba, which reached a peak of $710 million in 2008, declined six percent in 2011 on top of a 31 percent decline in 2010, according to the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.

Although this is a manifestation of the island financial difficulties, diminished trade with Cuba affects also the U.S. which losses the possibility of placing its exports on the island. The younger Cuban Americans don't share the older generation’s opinion of the conflict with Havana. Should the administration take steps to end the embargo it could earn the President some significant support from those young Cuban Americans, once the advantages of such a measure become clear.

Cubans would not be the only ones to benefit. At a time of scarce and expensive energy resources, Cubapetróleo (CUPET) estimates oil off its shores in 20 billion barrels of oil in Cuba's northern coast. Even a smaller amount could contribute to alleviate U.S. energy needs. Several oil companies from Spain, Norway, Russia, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Canada, Angola, Venezuela and China are lining up to hire a $750m Chinese-built oil rig to search what they believe are important oil deposits.

While the U.S. persists in its policy of animosity towards the Cuban government, last July China signed 13 agreements of cooperation with Cuba and strengthened its economic ties with the island. Thos e agreements expanded China’s traditional investments in Cuba like energy resources to new areas such as tourism, infrastructure and finance.

Over the past decade, bilateral trade between Cuba and China increased from $440 million in 2001 to over $1.8 billion in 2010. At the same time, Cuba is China’s more important trade partner in the Caribbean region, while China is Cuba’s second-largest partner after Venezuela.

To persist on a policy that hasn't produced any positive results in 50 years is following a sophomoric, destructive course of action. It is a policy that has caused unnecessary suffering to the Cuban people and hurt American exporters. To continue the embargo which is roundly rejected by all Latin American nations is to do a disservice to the U.S. long term interests in the region.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award, writes extensively on foreign policy issues.

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By Beverly Bell and Tory Field

Welcome to Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives. The series features twelve alternative social and economic models which expand the possibilities for justice, equity, and strong community. They are based in the US, Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Some are national-level, some global-level. Some are propelled by people’s movements, some forced or adopted into government policy. In first-hand narratives, women describe their role in having created the models and show us their unique perspectives and challenges in the movements.

Below is the third narrative of Birthing Justice.

Rewriting the Rules of the Global Economy -- Creating Economics That Improve People’s Lives

“Rather than having these people inside the Beltway be the experts on the issue… we ask: How can we empower the people who are actually affected by the issues to be the spokespeople?” – Deborah James

The current popular US dissent over the extreme concentration of wealth and the marginalization of the voices of the majority has long precursors in US social movements. The farmers’ movements of the 1870s, the populist movement of the 1890s, the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies) and other militant labor unions from the dawn of the 20th Century through the 1950s, the civil rights and Black, Chicano, and Native nationalist movements from the 1960s on, and many other social movements… all have been rooted in calls for a more equitable division of power and economic resources. Parallel struggles, in many different forms, have occurred throughout the world.

The global justice movement, also known as the anti-globalization movement, exploded around the global South in the 1980s, when new draconian reforms demanded by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), as conditions for loans, destroyed national economies and the lives of those within them. The World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999 and the World Bank and IMF meetings in Washington in 2000, when hundreds of thousands of residents of the US and Europe turned out into the streets to protest the trade and financial regimes, marked something new: active alliance from the global North. Since then, organized populations everywhere have worked in their own countries and transnationally to subvert the rules of the global economy, where the wealthiest citizens, corporations, and counties make the decisions for all of us. The people’s movements have reminded us that economic globalization, which we are told is the only possible economic order, only commenced at the end of World War II, and that we do not have to accept it as it currently exists.

Those who are flooding streets today in Spain, Portugal, and Greece, and the millions who have preceded them around the world, all posit an alternative vision for economies: that they be just, that they provide for all without exploitation, that they place the well-being of human beings and the environment over profit, and that everyone gets to be part of shaping them. They believe that economic relationships should be driven by our desire to nurture each other and our communities, not by the competition and greed often underlying the corporate market. And they have won dramatic victories.

Deborah James has been a leader in the global movement for economic justice for decades. Today she serves as Director of International Programs at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, where she campaigns against the expansion of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and for improved US policy in Latin America. Below she speaks about how international financial institutions hinder countries’ efforts at poverty alleviation, instead prioritizing corporate interests. She also describes citizens’ efforts to oppose the power of these institutions, and tells of the countries that have made strides toward freeing themselves from the economic chains, providing inspiration to us all.

Deborah James | Washington, DC, USA

To start understanding what’s wrong with the international financial institutions [IFIs], we need to look at why we actually need economies to function.[1] The most important economic issues to most people are whether they are able to get decent jobs and whether they are able to lift themselves out of poverty.

In writing the rules for economies, the International Monetary Fund [IMF] and WTO [World Trade Organization] are major proponents of neoliberal ideology. That ideology is based on the theory that slashing government spending, reducing tariffs, privatizing public resources, and promoting corporate investment will result in higher economic growth, and that this will eventually result in a reduction in poverty because a rising tide lifts all boats. This contrasts with more progressive viewpoints that focus on reducing inequality by investing in health care, education, and opportunities for the poor.

The mandate of the IMF is to help countries overcome short-term financial difficulties by giving out loans.[2] However, these loans are only provided if countries restructure their economies. That is, they have to adhere to these neoliberal economic policies, like cutting government spending in areas such as education and health care, to regain what is called “fiscal discipline,” which means not spending more money than you are taking in. The problem is that the result in many countries has actually been a reduction of growth and development – stagnant wages, more unemployment. Thus, while the creditors are bailed out by the IMF, often the borrowing country is unable to repay the loan, resulting in an endless cycle of impoverishment and indebtedness.

So the evidence shows that the extreme neoliberal model has actually failed to produce economic growth and has exacerbated inequality. It’s causing the biggest distribution of wealth – away from the majority of people and into the pockets of big corporations – in the history of the modern world. However, no matter what evidence neoliberals are shown to the contrary, they still promote this model because it’s in the interest of the corporations that are driving their agendas.

Fortunately, there’s a lot of questioning of neoliberalism now. Latin America and Asia are two regions that have largely paid off their loans and liberated themselves from the IMF in the last decade or two, and that has had a huge impact. Asia experienced a severe economic crisis in 1997; countries like Malaysia that broke with the IMF and took care of their domestic economy before paying off foreign investors actually did better than the ones that followed the IMF’s economic advice. Since then, much of Asia has decided that they’re never going to be subject to this foreign economic intervention again, and they’ve built up tremendous economic reserves so they don’t ever have to go ask for a bailout. It’s been a very good thing. They’ve had fairly decent economic growth over the last 15 years or so, and lifted millions and millions of people out of poverty.

We’ve seen big victories within our hemisphere as well. One was the defeat of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas in the early 2000s. Another example was in 2001 when Argentina broke with the IMF and told them it wasn’t going to pay foreign investors before investing in its own domestic economy. In the last 10 years, Argentina has been one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America and has lifted 10 million people out of poverty because of that faster growth. Similarly, in spite of the fact that Venezuela has been quite hard hit by the global recession, they’ve lowered their poverty rate by more than half and extreme poverty by even more than that in the last decade. In fact, during the 80’s and 90’s, most of the region experienced economic stagnation under IMF agreements. But now, most of Latin America has paid off its debts to the IMF, and is no longer under its constraints. The people have elected leftist governments that focus on building relationships among countries in the region, rather than being too dependent on the United States. Now growth is rebounding, unemployment has been reduced, and countries have made great strides in reducing poverty.

Unfortunately, many African countries are still subjected to IMF policies and are being left behind. And now, the IMF was put in charge of managing the bailouts of many European countries, and they are being subjected to austerity programs, which are wreaking havoc on developed and developing countries alike.

Globally we have a very important movement to get outstanding debt to the IMF cancelled, called the Jubilee movement. They’ve achieved important victories for many poor countries by freeing poor nations to be able to use their own resources for their real economic needs instead of paying the IMF. Unfortunately, we don’t actually have a movement focused on challenging the IMF’s fundamental power, and I think we need to create that. It’s not just about debt cancellation, but taking the IMF out of the business of running economies around the world.

Economists know this; when politicians argue in favor of tax cuts to spur growth, they are just arguing in the interests of corporate profit, not reflected in any economic reality. Unfortunately, because many people in progressive movements don’t understand how important growth is to poverty reduction, we often spend more time fighting over specific cuts or programs rather than working together to demand government investments that would benefit the entire economy.

Another key global justice campaign is to stop the expansion of the WTO agreement through what’s called the “Doha Round” of negotiations, and to roll back existing WTO rules that limit governments’ abilities to manage crises. Fortunately there’s a movement focused on this, the Our World Is Not for Sale global network. It’s comprised of organizations from 50 different countries. After nearly a decade of struggle, it looks like we have a chance of stopping the expansion of the WTO again this year – permanently this time. The solution is not to have no global trade rules; we need to have rules disciplining corporate behavior. But we need a new institution run with the purpose of using trade to promote growth, jobs, and sustainable development, not just increasing trade.

To bring it home to the United States, we have a national coalition called the Citizens’ Trade Campaign that’s composed of grassroots movements from across the country that would be affected by trade agreements in a negative way, including farmers’ unions, environmental groups, labor unions, student movements, progressive people of faith, consumer advocacy groups.

As movements for justice, we need to work to bridge the efforts among those challenging the overarching institutions that design the architecture of the global economy, and those working for economic empowerment on the local scale who are grounded in the lived experiences of those affected by the institutions. How can we empower the people who are actually affected by the issues to be the advocates and spokespeople? How can we ensure that those working on economic justice on the local level have access to information so that they can advocate for their interests in the bigger scheme of things? We need to ensure that we don’t just convey the right information, which is key, but also that we connect the bigger picture economic struggles to the problems people experience in their communities, in a way that people can understand and really feel motivated to come together and work to improve people’s lives.

To learn more about Deborah James’ organization, Center for Economic and Policy Research, please see www.cepr.net. Photos courtesy of Deborah James.

1. International Financial Institutions (IFIs) refers to institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, World Bank, and regional development banks.
2. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established, along with its sister organization the World Bank, as part of the Bretton Woods institutions intended to rebuild the global economy in the aftermath of WWII.
3. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international body, established in 1995, that develops and enforces rules for trade and investment. The WTO includes agreements not only on tariffs and subsidies on goods and agriculture, but also services, government procurement, trade facilitation, intellectual property, investment, domestic regulation, and many more non-trade issues.

Inspired? Here are a few suggestions for getting involved!
• Challenge yourself to make conversations about the workings of international financial institutions interesting and useful. Global Exchange’s Global Econ 101 webpage (www.globalexchange.org/resources/econ101) and the International Forum on Globalization (www.ifg.org) can help.
• Get involved with campaigns such as those to halt the expansion of the World Trade Organization (WTO), stop new trade agreements and renegotiate existing ones, end Fast Track, and cancel global debt:
o Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, www.citizen.org/trade
o Our World is Not for Sale global campaign, www.ourworldisnotforsale.org
o Citizens’ Trade Campaign, www.citizenstrade.org/ctc
o Democracy Is for People campaign of Public Citizen, www.democracyisforpeople.org
o Jubilee USA, www.jubileeusa.org
• Help build economic justice and power for workers. Learn about and engage in campaigns and organizing efforts through these organizations:
o Jobs with Justice, www.jwj.org
o US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, www.usworker.coop
o United Students against Sweatshops, www.usas.org
• Work for US policy that supports women around the world and their families. Learn how through Women Thrive Worldwide (www.womenthrive.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1117&Itemid=196).

Discover more ideas and download the entire Birthing Justice series here.

Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance and is working on the forthcoming book, Fault Lines: Views across Haiti’s New Divide. She coordinates Other Worlds, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. You can access all of Other Worlds’ past articles here.

Copyleft Beverly Bell. You may reprint this article in whole or in part. Please credit any text or original research you use to Beverly Bell, Other Worlds.

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Tonight Lena Dunham’s new show Girls premiers on HBO. I was lucky enough to see the first three episodes at SXSW, and I think that Girls just might be my favorite new TV show of 2012.

The show follows four twentysomething friends as the navigate life in the big city. There have been a number of comparisons to Sex and the City, which seems obvious given that both shows have four women living in New York City. But Girls is much less flashy and more realistic than Sex and the City (not to say that I don’t love Sex and the City). For instance, in Girls the ladies live in Brooklyn, dress in clothing they could actually afford, and have experiences that are way more reminiscent of “real life.” During the first few episodes there were definitely times when I felt uncomfortable because Girls hit a bit close to home in its realism. Judd Apatow is producing the show, so there are also some great comic moments.

In the Fall of 2010, I interviewed Dunham when her feature film Tiny Furniture opened. I loved that film, and am so happy she has a new project that I’ll get to watch every Sunday for the next few months!

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Busboys and Poets presents an open discussion about foreign policy & humanitarian aid efforts in Uganda and the Congo in response to the international media attention garnered by Invisible Children's KONY 2012 media campaign.

Panelists include:

Maurice Carney - Co-Founder & Executive Director of Friends of the Congo.

Nicole C. Lee, ESQ. - President of TransAfrica

Milton Allimadi - Ugandan Journalist, Founder and Publisher of The Black Star News.

Moderated by:

Clarence Lusane, Associate Professor at American University.

Program:

Introduction: The moderator will give the audience an overview of the program including the KONY 2012 media campaign and subsequent world wide attention and the goal of our discussion which is basically to better understand the current situation (economics, politics and humanitarian aid efforts) in Uganda & the Congo and what we as observers can do to help the people of those nations.

Screening: KONY 2012 Sequel

Panel Discussion

Q&A

When: Friday, April 13, 2012

Where: Bus Boys and Poets

2021 14th st NW

Washington DC 20009

Time: 6:00 PM

Free and open to all!

China’s economy has developed significantly in the last decades, lifting millions of people out of poverty and improving their health. One of the consequences of the nation’s economic progress has been the increase in life expectancy, to 72.5 in 2010. Despite this progress, however, many health issues remain unresolved. While the wealthier portion of the Chinese population has benefited from advanced health technologies, many among the poor do not have adequate access to even the most essential services.

It is estimated that approximately 80 percent of health and medical services are concentrated in cities, which means that timely medical care is not available to more than 100 million people in rural areas. In addition, although almost half of the population lives in rural areas, government expenditures in health tend to heavily favor those living in urban areas.

Although some progress has been made in underdeveloped rural areas, there is still a lack of safe water and sanitation, and widespread under-nutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiencies and indoor air pollution, all of which affect children’s health in particular. It is estimated that 80 percent of rural households have no access to a sanitary lavatory and 20 percent of rural households lack safe drinking water.

The government has to address several challenges in healthcare provision, such as the need to improve quality of services, making the healthcare system more equitable, reducing costs by improving efficiency, and improving the health insurance system and making it comprehensive.

It is estimated that China has a highly mobile population of approximately 252 million rural-to-urban migrants, a number that will probably increase in the coming decades. They tend to work in high-risk jobs, such as construction and industries where health and safety are not properly regulated.

These migrant workers have special health needs that have to be adequately addressed, particularly since they usually do not qualify for public medical insurance, which usually depend on locally based household schemes. Rural migrants working in the cities constitute a population whose health status and needs are usually not monitored by either the rural or the urban health systems.

Migrants tend to suffer from different diseases than the non-migrant urban population. Migrants tend to have more communicable diseases, such as sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis. In addition, migration is a source of stress and stress-related diseases such as depression, as a result of isolation and the lack of family support. Stress can exacerbate physical health problems and have a negative effect on people’s quality of life.

Doctors and health personnel need to be better prepared to respond to people’s needs. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, almost half of the nation’s doctors have no better qualifications than a high school degree. Many rural doctors have less experience and education than their urban counterparts. The education of rural healthcare workers needs to be upgraded. They should also receive economic incentives so that their salaries are on an equal basis with urban doctors.

There are still large disparities in access to services and the quality of care available to urban and rural populations as well as between the poor and the more affluent. Many among the poor limit their use of medical services for purely financial reasons, since the cost of treating serious illness can wipe out a family’s life savings.

New measures proposed by the State Council, which will increase insurance payments to cover a significant part of medical costs will contribute to lower the impact of high out-of-pocket payments. But, in this regard, it is also important to simplify the diversity of schemes paying for health services.

A great proportion of medical costs are due to unnecessary tests and prescriptions. Chinese hospitals’ reliance on profits from the sale of drugs has led to the over-prescribing of unnecessary medication in order to increase profitability and some pharmaceutical companies offer under-the-table inducements for prescribing drugs. The resulting high costs of treatment cause many patients to avoid going to hospitals, even for treatment that might be critical.

By some estimates, by 2035, about 25 percent of China’s population will be aged 60 or older. Medical costs can increase dramatically with age while at the same time the share of individuals who contribute to government revenues will decline. There has to be a commitment to increase prevention efforts for this sector of the population to improve their health and limit the costs of healthcare.

Although the government has stated that building a “safe, effective, convenient and affordable” health service will not be easy, these are commendable goals. To achieve them, the government should prioritize the promotion of healthy lifestyles and the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases. Health education should be given priority among government-funded interventions.

The government has taken actions to improve the health of the population, but although millions of people have benefited, millions are still lagging behind. The great challenge for China is how to strengthen its healthcare system to reduce disparities and improve the quality of health care for the majority of the population.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant.

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Originally published at IPPF/WHR

In light of Dharun Ravi's hate crime conviction, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States is a timely and insightful book. Documenting the LGBT community's continuing struggle against the justice system, the authors explore how queer expression is subjected to social stigmatization and expose the ways violence and injustice are embedded within the law. 

While popular media pays a lot of attention to new and existing laws that aim to protect people who are LGBT, it overlooks the pervasive ways these people are also perceived as subjects of suspicion. This is particularly the case for queers of color, sex workers, immigrants, poor people, and youth.

Clearly a book for activists, Queer (In)Justice is an intelligent and accessible read. While the graphic tales of violence are sobering and overwhelming, illuminating this hidden history effectively illustrates the moral imperative for achieving sexual rights. The authors provide a proactive perspective, offering concrete actions that the book's readers can take to advocate for meaningful change. They suggest we “turn a queer eye” to the justice system and engage in innovative forms of activism.

As long as the judicial and law enforcement sectors view 'queer' as 'deviant', full equality for LGBT people will be impossible. The information in Queer (In)Justice can be used to tell lawmakers that being LGBT is not a crime. It also serves as reminder that we are all responsible for each other's well being, regardless of our sexual identity.

Originally published at IPPF/WHR

“Do you have a problem with blood?”

“No,” I lied.

“Great, I have a woman coming tomorrow at 10 am.”

That simple exchange left me a changed woman.

I was 22 years old and traveling alone in Mexico. I came to stay with a French-Canadian documentary filmmaker and his Mexican doctor wife, whom I'd met at a speaking event they held several months earlier at my university. We’ll call the doctor 'Cepoori'.

Cepoori provides safe abortions out of her living room. She risks not only the loss of her medical license, but also incarceration. She traveled to the U.S. to learn the technique because it was not taught in her Mexican medical school.

At 10 a.m. sharp the next morning, a young woman arrived. Nineteen-year-old Elsa was smiling, but clearly nervous. I was introduced as a friend and assistant to the doctor, there to help and make Elsa more comfortable.

Cepoori’s name is known through the grapevine, but due to the illegal nature of what she does, she does not give any information over the phone. She explained to me that she has to make sure the woman is pregnant before she divulges any information because the woman may be an informant for the government or an anti-choice group.

“I will need to give you an examination,” Cepoori informs Elsa. She was wearing a flowing Mexican blouse and jeans, a far cry from a sterile doctor’s uniform.

Cepoori confirms that Elsa is indeed pregnant. The young woman and I were both surprised when Cepoori said the termination could begin almost immediately. But first, Cepoori wanted to have a conversation with the pregnant teen.

A complete departure from the businesslike abortions my friends and I have experienced in the United States, Cepoori sought to truly get to know Elsa. She wanted to understand who she was, what she liked, the details of her relationship with her family, and what her relationship with her partner was like. It came to light that her boyfriend was into drugs and talked down to her. Elsa lived with her controlling parents and gave them all of the money she earned by working hard sewing clothes.

Cepoori and I listened and explained to Elsa that she had options. We asked if her current situation was one into which she wanted to bring a baby. Ultimately, she decided it was not. It was only after Elsa made her choice that Cepoori excused herself to change into scrubs.

Controlled first by her parents and then her boyfriend, Elsa made her first autonomous decision that day.

Alone together for the first time, I could sense Elsa wondered who the heck I was and why I was there. I told her that not long before I found myself sitting on an exam table just like her. I assured her that the decision I'd made truly was the best one for me.

Two months later, before I left Mexico, I returned to Cepoori’s house for several days to help her husband with research for a documentary. I was fortunate to have the chance to cross paths with Elsa again when she came to Cepoori’s home for a follow up visit. As a result of her experience, she had became an avid promoter of the female condom in her community.

Every day, I am inspired by the bravery of Cepoori and Elsa. It is every woman’s right to have autonomy over her own body and fertility. Thankfully, for the hundreds of Mexican women who no longer have to put their lives at risk with dangerous abortion procedures, there is one courageous woman who is willing to put their needs first.

Originally published at IPPF/WHR

"I came to tell the truth. All I want is for justice to be done," Gabriela Chacón said just moments before Luis Enrique Sossa Maltés was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. A few months prior to that victorious day, Luis sexually abused the 25-year-old woman on the street of San Jose, Chile. Unlike most men who harass women in public, Maltés was held accountable for his actions.

Respect for women’s bodily autonomy should be a guaranteed human right, and women throughout Latin America and the Caribbean are fighting to ensure they have the right to be safe when they walk down the street. In Bogota, Colombia, the Latin American Women and Habitat Network (LAWHN) launched a poster campaign on city buses that reads: "We don't need that kind of support."

“During rush hour, when the buses are packed, the male passengers take the opportunity to stand close to women and feel them up,” said Marisol Dalmazzo. “It’s offensive and restrictive to women.”

The WomenSpeak Project in Trinidad and Tobago provides an online platform for street harassment victims to share stories of discrimination and receive peer support. The project leader, Simone Leid, also uses the media to increase public awareness about street harassment being a socially accepted form of violence against women and a global women's rights issue.

"[Sexism] is still present and it affects us every day of our lives," explains Simone. "If you take the time to examine street harassment, you see that it has a great deal to do with discrimination."

Based in Argentina and coordinated by Redmujer, the Cities Without Violence Against Women, Safe Cities For All project is being carried out in several urban areas throughout Latin America -- such as Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru. "The project is based on an assessment that shows that public safety policies in Latin America do not take into account violence against women in both the public and private spheres," said Liliana Rainero.

After the assessment is complete, Redmujer will present city officials with concrete strategies on how to design safer cities. In the meantime, they are also engaged in public awareness campaigns and provide safety training for women, young people, and the police. Some local organizations involved in the project have also started neighborhood revitalization and public art projects to bring the community together to fight violence against women.

From today until March 24th groups around the world will participate in International Anti-Street Harassment Week to collectively demand respect for women’s safety and an end to street harassment. It's women like Marisol, Simone, and Liliana that provide me with the inspiration to continue the lifelong struggle for women's equality and human rights. Join us and become the inspiration for other women to become a part of this growing movement.

Welcome to Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives. The series features twelve alternative social and economic models which expand the possibilities for justice, equity, and strong community. They are based in the US, Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Some are national-level, some global-level. Some are propelled by people’s movements, some forced or adopted into government policy. In first-hand narratives, women describe their role in having created the models and show us their unique perspectives and challenges in the movements.

Below is the second narrative of Birthing Justice.


Without Firing an Arm, We Created a Revolution

“We take the land from one hand and put it in the hands of a thousand...landowners would only use this land for cattle, and now we produce beans, milk, food, for the entire population.” – Ilda Martines de Souza

Long before the Crusades, through centuries of colonization, to the oil-motivated wars of the present day, land has been the currency of religious, imperial, and national power. Farmers have been made landless by economic and political forces within their own countries, as well as those from far reaches of the globe. Spikes in food prices over recent years have triggered the latest wave of international land grabs, with investment firms snapping up agricultural land, hoping to turn a profit for their investors in the next food crisis. An estimated 50 to 80 million hectares of land have been a part of international investment deals in recent years—approximately two-thirds of them in Africa.

Land and development experts Shalmali Guttal, Maria Luisa Mendonça, and Peter Rosset write, “Fair and equitable access to land and other resources like water, forests, and biodiversity is perhaps the most fundamental prerequisite for… a decent standard of living and… ecologically sustainable management of natural resources.” Today, land access remains largely unfair and inequitable. Never has such a high percentage of the world’s population been displaced from their indigenous or ancestral lands, left without land, a secure home, or the ability to feed themselves.

As the consolidation of land as a private resource for profit-making is global, so is the movement to relate to land in an alternative way, one which meets everyone’s needs. Landless, peasant, family, and indigenous farmers worldwide have long been engaged in land reclamation and land reform movements—either seizing unfairly owned or consolidated land or winning laws mandating redistribution. (The same concepts often underlie the struggle for fair housing.) Examples range from Americans fighting foreclosures as a part of "Occupy Our Homes" to Indians lying down in rows to block corporate tractors encroaching on their villages, Haitians still living in tents since the earthquake two years ago marching for their right to housing, and indigenous Hondurans reclaiming their territories in the face of violent repression.

Newer movements have much to learn from groups that have been mobilizing for decades, such as the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST by its Portuguese acronym) in Brazil, a country with one of the highest levels of land and income inequality in the world. The MST’s response to poverty, hunger, and landlessness is to put fallow land back into production in the hands of small farmers. It does this by organizing landless, unemployed, and slum-dwelling people to gain legal title to the nation’s vast unused land. Roughly one and a half to two million MST members have created about 2,000 cooperatively-run, democratic communities on tens of thousands of reclaimed acres. On them, they have established their own models of self-government, restorative justice, self-produced media, ecologically sound agriculture, collective production, law, social relations, cultural expression, and education.

In the second part of the Birthing Justice series, we'll hear from Ilda Martines de Souza, a leader in the MST. A 64-year-old Tupi-Guaraní farmer, Ilda has been involved in the movement for social and economic justice since she was 18.


Ilda Martines de Souza | São Paulo State, Brazil

• Ilda Martines de Souza. Photo by Andy Lin, Other Worlds •

• Ilda with some of her grandchildren. Photo by Marcio Jose Ramos •

• Land reform takes on a new meaning in the US as banks foreclose on family homes and farms, and the US government shies away from providing public housing. US Human Rights Network’s Take Back the Land Campaign organizes in eight cities to house people displaced by the destruction of public housing, foreclosures, and other means of forced eviction. For more information visit their website or contact housingrights@ushrnetwork.org.

• Join a national call in the US for a moratorium on all foreclosures and home evictions. Join or start a local campaign to protest evictions in your community. Learn more from the National Fair Housing Alliance (www.nationalfairhousing.org).

And check out the following resources and organizations:

• Land Research Action Network, www.landaction.org
• Peter Rosset, Raj Patel, and Michael Courville, Promised Land: Competing Visions of Agrarian Reform (Food First, 2006)
• Sue Brandford and Jan Rocha, Cutting the Wire: the Story of the Landless Movement in Brazil (Latin American Bureau, 2002)
• Angus Wright and Wendy Wolford, To Inherit the Earth (Food First Books, 2003)
• Max Rameau, Take Back the Land: Land, Gentrification and the Umoja Village Shantytown (Nia Press Progressive Publishing, 2008)
• Jaron Browne et al., Towards Land, Work & Power: Charting a Path of Resistance to U.S.-led Imperialism (United to Fight Press, 2005)

Discover more ideas and download the entire Birthing Justice series here.

Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance and is working on the forthcoming book, Fault Lines: Views across Haiti’s New Divide. She coordinates Other Worlds, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. You can access all of Other Worlds’ past articles here.

Copyleft Beverly Bell. You may reprint this article in whole or in part. Please credit any text or original research you use to Beverly Bell, Other Worlds.

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After a Land Day (March 30) statement in which Marwan Barghouti called on Palestinians to launch a popular resistance campaign against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, the popular Palestinian leader (who was already in prison) was placed in solitary confinement. To ignore his warning is the wrong decision, one that can prove costly for the cause of peace in the region.

Barghouti’s imprisonment has been sharply criticized by Haaretz, one of the leading Israeli newspapers. A recent Haaretz editorial states, “We can understand him. If Israel had wanted an agreement with the Palestinians it would have released him from prison by now. Barghouti is the most authentic leader Fatah has produced and he is one of the few who can lead his people to an agreement.”

Barghouti, a stocky 53 year-old man, has an influence on Palestinians which is inversely proportional to his short stature. Born in the West Bank, since he was a young man he has been a fighter for Palestinian rights and for an end to the occupation of Palestinian land. He joined Fatah when he was 15 years-old and when he was 18 he was arrested by Israeli authorities for his involvement with Palestinian militant groups. He is fluent in Hebrew, which he learned while he was in prison.

In 1987, Barghouti was one of the leaders of the First Intifada, a Palestinian popular uprising against Israel in the West Bank and Gaza. It was a bloody uprising that resulted in the deaths of 1,100 Palestinians and 164 Israelis. In 1998, Barghouti earned an M.A. in International Relations from Birzeit University (BZU), and is married to Fadwa Ibrahim, a lawyer and a passionate advocate for Palestinian’s rights.

Barghouti had also a leading role in the Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which started after Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount, an area highly sacred to both Jews and Muslims. It began in late September of 2000 and ended roughly in 2005. The death toll was brutal: 5,500 Palestinians, 1,100 Israelis and 64 foreigners lost their lives. Barghouti was arrested during the uprising and deported to Jordan, where he stayed for seven years until he was allowed to return under the terms of the Oslo accords of 1994.

Disenchanted with the lack of progress of the Oslo accords, he advocated for a more militant approach in the conflict with Israel. In November of 2000 he declared, “We tried seven years of intifada without negotiations, then seven years of negotiations without intifada. Perhaps it is time to try both simultaneously.” In 2002 he wrote in The Washington Post, “The lack of Israeli security is born of the lack of Palestinian freedom. Israel will have security only after the end of occupation, not before.”

Barghouti has an unrivaled reputation for personal honesty. Because of that, he was in serious conflict with Yasser Arafat. He accused Arafat and the Fatah party of corruption and his security forces of human rights violations. Although Arafat remained silent about his conflict with Barghouti, Barghouti was highly regarded among Palestinians of all factions.

Barghouti has never hidden his opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. To the accusation that he was a terrorist he answered, “I am not a terrorist, but neither I am a pacifist. I am simply a regular guy from the Palestinian street advocating only what every other oppressed person has advocated – the right to help myself in the absence of help from anywhere else…I don’t seek to destroy Israel but only to end its occupation of my country.”

After Barghouti was put on trial, Uri Avnery, one of the leading Israeli peace activists who calls Barghouti ‘The New Mandela,’ wrote, “His trial was a mockery, resembling a Roman gladiatorial arena more than a judicial process.” Despite Israel’s misgivings, Barghouti may still represent the best chance for peace in the region. As the Haaretz editorial stated, “We should listen to him before it’s too late. If a third uprising breaks out, Israel will not be able to feign surprise. Barghouti warned us.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala, a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award, writes extensively on foreign affairs and human rights issues.

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Welcome to Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives. The series features twelve alternative social and economic models which expand the possibilities for justice, equity, and strong community. They are based in the US, Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Some are national-level, some global-level. Some are propelled by people’s movements, some forced or adopted into government policy. In first-hand narratives, women describe their role in having created the models and show us their unique perspectives and challenges in the movements.

Below is the first narrative of Birthing Justice.

Women in Peace-Building: Peace amidst War for Resource Control

Accelerating commodification of water, oil, land, and nature over the past few decades has resulted in a global power play, wresting precious resources away from communities that have lived sustainably with them for centuries. Oil is one example where the domination of multinational companies has led to mass displacement, seeded social conflict, and fundamentally disrupted the relationship between indigenous communities and their environment.

Emem Okon is part of one such endeavor in the Niger Delta, where oil companies and government have created a climate of violence and fear. We’re excited to kick off the Birthing Justice series with Emem’s story, and we hope it will inspire you to be a part of the movement to honor, share, and celebrate the earth’s resources.


Emem Okon | Niger Delta, Nigeria

I am a community mobilizer with a passion for mobilizing women for action, for peace, and for their rights. I work with Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre in oil-impacted towns and villages – that is, areas where the oil companies are drilling – in the Niger Delta.

Here, we have Shell, we have Chevron, we have Exxon-Mobil, among others. Two problems are the neglect of the region in terms of development, and also the degradation of the environment by the oil companies. There are serious cases of oil spills and gas flaring – horribly toxic for the environment and the people.

• Photo by Jonathan McIntosh/ Rainforest Action Network •

Women suffer most when violence and conflict erupt as it has in the Niger Delta. A lot of women have died, a lot of women have been raped, and a lot of girl children have had to stop going to school because of the violence. Women are also exposed to strong violence by the culture and traditions which subject them to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Because the society is patriarchal in nature, women haven’t been involved in decision-making or governance. But now, women have had to sit up and talk about the human rights abuses and also the violence they’re experiencing.

• Emem Okon is at center, clapping. Photo by Jonathan McIntosh/ Rainforest Action Network •

After the peace marches, when we saw the women’s interests and their desire to act, we started training them in conflict management and peace-building. Then the women went back and did trainings with others in their communities. A whole lot of women got involved. And now, they’re going into secondary schools and community youth groups to carry out peace management. Then the youth will set down the training for others.

The women have also been on radio, talking about peace and calling on policy-makers to enjoin the violence in the Niger Delta. We’ve called on the boys and men in the gangs to drop their weapons of violence, and on the government to do something to reduce violence in the region.

We believe that women, as mothers and wives and lovers, are in a better position to talk to the men who are perpetuating the acts of violence. And we’re causing the violence to go down. Since 2007, we’ve gotten more than 1,600 boys and young men to surrender their weapons to the police and to make the decision not to be involved in violence. A lot of them have withdrawn from gangs and are no longer part of them. We’re trying to negotiate with the police so they don’t arrest those who turn in their weapons. We’re calling for a general amnesty for the gang members, for the government to rehabilitate the youth and reintegrate them back into the society.

• Emem Okon second from right, holding sign. Photo by Jonathan McIntosh/ Rainforest Action Network •

We’re confronting domestic violence, too. We’ve been trying to outlaw it, like has already happened in some other states. With other gender-sensitive laws, like those prohibiting female genital mutilation and widowhood practices, we’ve made copies of the laws and given them to traditional rulers from communities.

The future depends on whether women can change the story of the Niger Delta and bring about peace. We believe it has to happen. We women will not relent until this happens.

To learn more about Emem Okon’s organization, Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, please see www.kebetkachewomen.org.

Inspired? Here are a few suggestions for getting involved!

• Educate yourself on how US dollars support war-making. For example, out of each dollar tax payers paid in federal income taxes in 2010, 31.9¢ went to fund current and past wars, while only 1.3¢ went to diplomacy and foreign affairs. Pay attention to the decisions your elected leaders make about military and defense spending through the National Priorities Project (www.nationalpriorities.org).

• Organize a community action that draws attention to what could be accomplished if the military budget (now over $1.2 trillion for Iraq and Afghanistan) was spent on peaceful exchanges, environmental health, community learning, health care, etc.

• Lobby your local and national representatives to change spending priorities. Visit the Friends Committee on National Legislation website to learn about lobbying for peace (www.fcnl.org/blog/2c/what_difference_does_lobbying_make).

• Become a war tax resister by refusing to pay government taxes that fund wars around the world. Learn how from the National War Tax Resister Coordinating Committee (www.nwtrcc.org).

• Join a national group organizing for peace, such as: Code Pink, www.codepink4peace.org, Veterans For Peace, www.veteransforpeace.org, United for Peace and Justice, www.unitedforpeace.org, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, www.wilpfinternational.org, Military Families Speak Out, www.mfso.org, American Friends Service Committee, www.afsc.org, Pax Christi USA, www.paxchrisitiusa.org, Peace Action, www.peace-action.org, Student Peace Action Network, www.studentpeaceaction.org.

• Join a group challenging corporate control of natural resources, such as: Friends of the Earth International, www.foei.org, Rights Action, www.rightsaction.org, True Cost of Chevron Network, www.truecostofchevron.com, Remember Saro-Wiwa, www.platformlondon.org/remembersarowiwa/index.htm, Stakeholder Democracy Network, www.stakeholderdemocracy.org, Justice in Nigeria Now, www.justiceinnigerianow.org/about-chevron, Rainforest Action Network, www.ran.org, Amazon Watch, www.amazonwatch.org, Rainforest Alliance, www.rainforest-alliance.org, Forest Ethics, www.forestethics.org, Forest Stewardship Council, www.fsc.org.

Discover more ideas and download the entire Birthing Justice series here.

Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance and is working on the forthcoming book, Fault Lines: Views across Haiti’s New Divide. She coordinates Other Worlds, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. You can access all of Other Worlds’ past articles here.

Copyleft Beverly Bell. You may reprint this article in whole or in part. Please credit any text or original research you use to Beverly Bell, Other Worlds.

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