Posts tagged with "Human Rights"

Taking names and remembering history: Poor little Mormons and the big gay menace

By Ari | Nov 15, 08 09:20 AM

The TIME article What Happens If You're on the Gay "Enemies List" reports that some queer folks have responded to people of color and Mormons who voted down marriage equality in California with some bigotry of their own. I don't know how wide-spread or real these acts of racism and religious intolerance are. I wish we queer folk could all commit to taking the higher ground and using only peaceful, respectful means to get equal rights. But it's not a perfect world, our country obviously has issues around identity politics, and some queer people are bigots, too. I'm not excusing these folks' behavior whatsoever, just pointing out that they're the exception, not the rule, when it comes to activism for queer equality.

This article also calls out queer folks for organizing efforts like Anti-Gay Blacklist, wherein the details of individual donors to the Yes on 8 campaign are posted on the internet so those who support marriage equality can boycott them and send mail to the companies they work for. Let's think about a few other times in which such lists of people have been used, which might point to whether this practice is acceptable. Right Wing Christians have posted lists of their own, which have made it easier for, say, Right Wing anti-choice activists to hunt down and murder doctors who give women abortions. The McCarthy-era blacklists destroyed people's lives. Some militant animal rights groups have used lists to target those who imprison and torture animals in labs for sidewalk demonstrations and harassment in front of these people's homes. None of these seem like good ideas to me. None of these strategies are respectful of people's space, privacy, and families. Some of these strategies are outright violent. Are the lists in California any better? Well, yes. They don't include home addresses and phone numbers, so far as I've seen. It seems their primary purpose is to facilitate boycotts, and to help people know where they can send letters. This is public accountability. This is putting faces on the oppressors. This isn't a call for violence, and this will not destroy people's lives. It might, however, mean they get less business and more mail from people they're oppressing. If that's uncomfortable for them that's too bad - they, after all, pulled together millions of dollars to oppress queer families, which I think is a little more egregious than encouraging letter-writing and economic boycotts. If they really had courage in their convictions, they'd welcome these lists put on the internet by gay people - after all, if they're on the moral high ground, why do they want to hide their faces?

Another article in the New York Times quotes Alan C. Ashton, the grandson of a former president of the Mormon Church, who donated one million dollars in support of the oppression of families like mine. He calls our protests (including, presumably, the vast majority of our protests, which are peaceful and not marred by bigotry) "off-putting." He says, “I think that shows colors... by their fruit, ye shall know them.” Mormons and other religious groups have been showing their colors for generations. What is the fruit of homophobia? Queer teens are committing suicide. Transgender people are being raped and murdered. People born intersexed are being surgically altered and given drugs that change who they are without consent, in their infancy and childhood. Queer folks are shouted at and hurt in the streets. So many queer people are so crippled by internalized homophobia, or so wounded by the homophobia of their families and communities, that they can never self-actualize and be honest about who they are. Ashton and his millionaire friends might try to paint themselves as the victims now that we queer folks are finally lifting ourselves out of the ashes of history, but I'm guessing they're more afraid of us gaining full personhood than they are of our "enemies lists" and boycotts.

Keith Oberman's Book of Love

By Shira | Nov 11, 08 04:51 PM

Keith asks us to spread happiness and protect the ember of love by defending the gay right to marriage...

Same-sex marriage and caged chickens: Human freedom, animal rights

By Ari | Nov 11, 08 04:30 PM

I just read a piece on the Huffington Post, Shaun Jacob Halper's Why Some Americans Don't Have Reason to Celebrate, and found it interesting from an animal rights perspective. It reads in part:

This past Election Tuesday, Californians turned out in droves to recognize the rights of caged-chickens while denying the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. Passing Prop 2 and Prop 8, Californians secured a chicken's right to "extend its wings, lie down, stand up, and turn around" in confinement, while revoking basic democratic rights from gays; rights like equal protection under the law, the ability to pursue happiness, and the freedom to worship religion without state interference (that's right, there are Judeo-Christian confessions that view same-sex marriage as sacred). In short, Californians sympathize with chickens but not with gays.

Isn't he minimizing the plight of chickens, and saying one oppression is worse (more worthy of concern) than another? I agree it's tragically sad that so many Californian voters have made such an unjust and oppressive choice. But why compare it to their vote to treat innocent chickens with just a little more compassion, as if that decision is somehow silly or less important?

I too am queer, and I too want my partnership, my family, to be legally recognized and not discriminated against. But though I'm oppressed as a queer woman, I've got all kinds of privilege that make my life about a million times better and more free than that of almost any animal of almost any other species. The way that we treat domesticated animals like chickens is absolutely unconscionable - we literally bring them into the world in huge numbers, expressly to suffer and die for our benefit. That voters have made a tiny step toward treating living, feeling animals with just a little more kindness is a beautiful thing. I don't begrudge my feathered sisters their political win. Maybe the folks who care so much about chickens will one day open their hearts a little wider and extend some kindness to queer folks as well. Denigrating their love of animals will not help them to open their hearts.

Maybe Halper is on his way to this realization already, though he's yet to see the connection between the oppression of non-human animals and the oppression of human animals. He writes,

It is the gay community who has failed to build coalitions with other groups. Wake-up call to gay leadership: We must form institutional alliances with other minority communities and start supporting each others interests. We are not going to see these groups support our right to marry if we do not make an active effort to support them as well.

We need to start seeing allies everywhere, and treating everyone as our brothers and sisters in a universal struggle for peace and justice. Maybe some of those we treat with respect and love don't have the power or capability to give us anything in return - but it's not about reciprocity, it's about doing the right thing by our neighbors. A win for the chickens is a win for us all.

Art for feminist, socialist healthcare

By Ari | Nov 11, 08 04:07 PM

Thanks to Liz Henry of Composite: Poetics and Tech for using an illustration I did for her excellent post, Argentinian feminists in the early 1900s.

You can also see and comment on the art here: "socialist heath care" on Flickr. This art was originally an illustration for an article in Socialist Women, about a woman's struggle in the U.S. healthcare system. If anyone out there is still afraid of socialists, read about Socialist Party USA's wonderful healthcare campaign.

Lioness in the New York Times

By Ari | Nov 6, 08 10:17 AM

The documentary Lioness has been featured in the New York Times. We did the website, branding, posters, and other outreach materials for the film, and are happy to see it getting out to a wider and wider audience. It offers a rarely-seen glimpse into the lives of female combat veterans, and the challenges they face when they come back home. Read the article, and visit the film site to get involved and take action on the issues.

A great animated film about Critical Mass

By Ari | Nov 6, 08 08:44 AM

Shira and I saw a simple, beautifully-done animated short a while back, about Critical Mass. I just found it online and wanted to share it. It's by filmmaker and Brooklyn bike commuter Nick Golebiewski, and you can see it in Quicktime format here. It's 2.5 minutes long - give it a looksee.

If you want it on DVD, you can get the short as part of a larger collection of media about Critical Mass, Still We Ride, from Microcosm Publishing.

Countering the badness with peace and love: No on Prop. 8, yes to equality

By Ari | Nov 6, 08 08:06 AM

My good friend Josh has written a beautiful, positive call to action for equality in California. Read it, and get excited!

Hey folks,

Damn I'm jazzed!

5 Great Things YOU can do about Prop 8!

1) Start feeling good!

The vote on 8 won't be certified until next month. Start visualizing and Secret'ing it to lose! The trick is to visualize it to the point where you feel REALLY good, like it's REALLY happening!

Also, remind yourself that while if Prop 8 does pass, it will be but a momentary setback in the civil rights movement... while at the same time, we are celebrating the groundbreaking civil rights victory of having for the first time a black President! Civil rights moves forward inexorably. We will prevail!

(If you don't understand how people of color and queers have more in common than less, talk to me.)

2) Feel REALLY good!

Novel lawsuits are already being filed, on the grounds that Prop 8 misused the amendment process to undermine the constitution itself. Other lawsuits are also being filed. It might be even MORE FUN if Prop 8 wins and then gets struck down in the courts! Hah! So if that feels even better to you, Secret that!

3) Fight FOR your equality, not AGAINST Prop 8, conservatives, or anything else... not even in your mind.

What you resist, persists. Fight FOR your equality, your right to be treated equal under the law, and your acceptance in our culture for who you are.

4) Shift to not fighting at all.

Resist the urge to see this as a war, an us versus them dynamic with winners and losers.

This is what many conservatives actually want. If your head is making war, then you are actually participating in the global war machine they support.

If you want peace on this planet, do not expect it until you can figure out how to assert your equality in peace.

Take action, certainly... but do it in a way that does not divide you from others. Stay connected to your friends and family members that are so wrapped up in their own fears that they could vote Yes on 8. Be an agent of change in their lives.

Create this change through love and unity, not war and separation.

5) Know what Prop 8 is really about and respond to that.

Realize that this is not really about marriage at all, but about keeping queers invisible, discriminated against, oppressed. So, be visible... be yourself, fearlessly, powerfully, and encourage others to do the same.

Examine your experiences to see if there are any ways, even little ways, that you still hide who you really are AND/OR allow others to express their homophobia without letting them know how their actions affect you.

Do you refrain from talking about your relationships at work even though straight coworkers do? When was the last time you let a homophobic joke go without saying something? Are you still hiding from any of your family members to some degree? Can you meet new people, spend any significant amount of time with them, and make it so they leave without really knowing you're gay/queer/trans/etc?

Even if you're "fully out", do you modulate it down sometimes? Under what circumstances? Are you living as queer as you actually are? If you're heterosexual, are YOU living as queer as you actually are?

Remember, if someone has to be uncomfortable or unhappy, it doesn't have to be you. :-)

BONUS! 6) Forward this message on!

Please feel free to mail, email, or repost this text. All I ask is that you include the original link: http://bunnykitteh.livejournal.com/155593.html

}{ugs,
Josh

Ps. In my rush to excite and empower you, I forgot one little thing... you may not be ready yet! (Thanks Ben, for reminding me!)

If you are feeling angry, sad, hurt... going through the stages of grief... or whatever process you're in, stick with it! Those feelings are sooo important. They are messages that your needs are not getting met.

It was through my own process of getting deeply in touch with the pain of being seen as less-than-a-person by people I grew up with, really getting what that means, that I was able to take back my power and choose my response.

Know that you are loved and surrounded by good wishes for your well being as you go through whatever you are going through right now.

Transgender Day of Remembrance and TransAction!

By Ari | Nov 5, 08 03:36 PM

My being born genderqueer has come with a dose of oppression, from psychologically-damaging pressures to conform to the binary gender system as a child, to having people shout at me in the streets. Throw in being a woman and being queer and I'm never sure what part of me people are shouting at. I don't know that I can complain, though - many people have experienced far, far worse, and even lost their lives.

Coming up on November 20, 2008 is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day for us to remember and honor those folks who have been killed due to anti-transgender bias, hatred, and prejudice. See participating groups or organize a commemoration of your own. GLSEN and TDOR offer the following ideas:

Candlelight vigils / marches
Visual representation of the number of deaths with:
- Cardboard tomb stones of remembered people
- Paper cutouts of remembered people
- Body outline chalkings of remembered people
- Art / photography displays

Also, save the date: on February, 27, 2009, GLSEN is holding a student-driven event in support and celebration of trans and gender non-conforming people, TransAction! Visit their site for info on workshops and speakers - and to set up your own event.

If you want to know more about us folks with interesting genders, check out Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, the Transgender Law and Policy Institute, Gender.org, and good ol' Wikipedia.

Ellen's PSA against California's homophobic Proposition 8

By Ari | Oct 15, 08 02:25 PM

Ellen Degeneres has made a PSA against Proposition 8, the initiative coming up in California to rob queer folks of the right to marriage. Bravo, Ellen!

Also, I hear her mom has joined Bradd Pitt and Steven Spielberg in giving money to the campaign against Proposition 8. Way to go, Ellen's mom!

It's Ally Week

By Ari | Oct 15, 08 12:50 PM

It's Ally Week this week, a nationwide chance for straight allies to speak up for their queer friends and family at school and in their communities. I know that as a queer person, having straight allies has always been a very warm and fuzzy feeling. Thank you for all that you do, straight but not narrow folks!

I helped design GLSEN's Student Organizing site as well as MySpace and other materials for Ally Week. The Ally Week materials themselves were designed by someone else - not sure who but they look great!
Ally Week Website
Sign up to participate - GLSEN Student Organizing site

Africans on U.S. Africom

By Ari | Oct 1, 08 05:15 PM

The U.S. has a big new military operation to "improve security and promote development" in Africa. Let's hear what folks in Africa have to say about it: "Africom will not benefit ordinary Africans. I cannot trust America." I agree it won't benefit ordinary Africans, or Americans for that matter. As for trusting America - me neither!

"Wherever American forces go, they become a terrorist magnet." So true. Maybe it has something to do with our being capitalist imperialists with no respect for other cultures and their governments.

"I think it would be better for the US to support the African Union." Right on. America is falling apart at home already - why should we send yet more of ourselves out all over the world, where we're not even wanted?

Now if only our government listened to its people - or to the people we oppress the world over. Our lives would be a lot easier, and everyone else would be able to solve their own problems in peace. I'm all for helping out when it's needed and wanted - but we have no business putting out armed forces all over the world. Remember Rome? That didn't turn out too well, did it?

America at the border

By Ari | Sep 29, 08 11:32 AM

I believe in the power of the positive. Instead of griping about the problems around me I prefer to find or create positive alternatives. So, instead of posting photos of slaughterhouses and detailing the horrors of animal industry, and saying I'm "fighting against cruelty", or that I'm "anti-speciesist", I try to show good vegan alternatives and successful pro-animal activism, and to use terms like "cruelty-free" and "peace and love vegan".

I also believe that instead of spending all of our time trying to fix what's broken, a more positive and productive alternative is to create a beautiful new system that folks are excited by, that inspires hope, and which they'll then want to be a part of. So, instead of trying to reform the government, it might be more useful to create mutual aid networks, free community clinics, free public kitchens, and other things that people really need, and which they can become part of, reducing their dependence on the profit-driven messes that currently drive America.

But now I'm afraid that perhaps the U.S. is too far along its path to destruction and oppression to allow time for a new world to be built in the cracks of the old. I just read Republican and Democratic Congress Members Sound the Alarm: Tyranny is Here, a blog post with some links in it that point to some very scary possibilities: Flu pandemic followed by martial law, the suspension of the Constitution, the government being shot down in favor of a bona-fide dictatorship. Capitalists' and warlords' time is nearly at an end; the people are waking up. But they're still powerful, and if their past record is any indication, they won't go out without a fight.

Reading this post, I remembered an experience Shira and I had at U.S. border control, back in July. We're both U.S. citizens, born and bred. We'd just come from an idyllic, incredible retreat (click for photos) at Wasan Island with our friends at freeDimensional, and were traveling with a dear new friend from Germany. Our bus moved through Canada toward the U.S. border and I began to feel fear. I always feel fear around authority figures with guns, call me crazy. So we neared the border, which was the most brilliantly-lit thing for miles around, a huge industrial-looking series of buildings and equipment and fences with many large threatening-looking signs that said things about how the border patrol would treat us with respect, all very 1984. Even seeing the words "Homeland Security" felt creepy; those words have never made me feel secure.

They made us all get off the bus and put our luggage out for an inspection, and herded us into a big building where we all stood around quietly, shuffling and occasionally whispering to each other. It was not a safe-feeling place. The men who guarded it all had guns, and other weapons, and looked us over appraisingly; their faces were not friendly and their words were not comforting. They gave curt orders and barely communicated with us otherwise. The whole atmosphere was very tense.

They searched our bags first, making us put them up on a table and going through them all. I noticed one guard talking to a couple of young dudes of Asian descent, giving them a really hard time because their bags were so small. "Where did you go? You were there that long and this is all you had? Where are your other clothes? Why didn't you pack more? Who did you talk to while you were there?" They didn't seem to believe anything the guys said. They treated them with outright disrespect. The two young guys had stayed with friends and gone swimming; they seemed very nice - and very quiet, and very compliant, and a little afraid. I was afraid, too, for them. I remember feeling it wasn't right that they were being treated like that, but I was afraid to say anything to anyone about it, or even to watch.

We all had to go up to little counters one at a time to speak with the border control officers; they looked at our passports and waved Shira and I by very quickly and easily with just a couple of questions. Our German friend took longer to get through. Others took even longer. I don't even know if everyone made it back on the bus.

As we drove away from the border, I felt a sense of relief. I also felt deeply embarrassed that this was my country, that my friends on the bus had to deal with such disrespect, that all of us had had to pass through such a creepy and ugly place. I felt ashamed that I had felt so powerless, so afraid, and that my own country had created this experience. Out of what? Fear of terrorists? Those kids coming back from their swimming trip weren't dangerous, they were kids. They should have been greeted warmly, not questioned like they were criminals. It made me feel like my country was a police state, a dictatorship, a place where citizen and visitor alike have no assurance of safety and freedom.

I recount all of this because, well, I hadn't ever expressed it before, and I want it out there on the interwebs. I want to say that I disagree. I want to say I want no borders. I want my country to be a welcoming and beautiful place that makes people feel safe and happy. I want others to be able to work and study and settle here free of harassment. I want to be able to come and go freely and safely. And I don't believe terrorists are going to be stopped by this bullshit at the border. It punishes us all every day, this loss of freedom - and we all know that if terrorists want in, they'll find a way, and no amount of bullying busriders is going to stop them from it. I'm more afraid of my own government than I am of the "terrorist threat" that they're using to take away my rights and freedom.

Is the future ours? Can we create a new world if those who are running this one have all the power - and are willing to use it to keep us from creating our peaceful alternatives by force? How can we break free? Will Obama be enough to begin to change the system, or is he too little too late? Will the socialists and other progressives ever stop in-fighting and reacting long enough to make positive, peaceful change in the here and now? Someone make me feel more hopeful!

Flickr: "popularity" and social change

By Ari | Sep 28, 08 11:31 PM

Ah, Flickr. I spend waaaay too much time on there. But you know, I consider it a form of activism - and there are some amazing activists on there spreading some beautiful ideas, so I'm not the only one with an agenda. I can be very shy in person, but on Flickr, I can have meaningful dialogues with people from all over the world, many who help me to learn and change, and many who I hope I've helped along a bit as well.

I think that Flickr's measures of "popularity" are very compelling measures of what works and what doesn't in doing advocacy on Flickr. Here are the four measures of popularity (according to Flickr), and some notes on how each measure is useful from an activist perspective.

Most interesting
Mostly my art, at this point - which is encouraging! But then, the whole "interestingness" thing on Flickr is a bit of a mystery so I'm not sure what this says about my art. Some of my more political stuff is right up top in this list, and by keeping track of what Flickr calls interesting, I can adjust my ongoing work to see if I can tweak the results. Yes, I literally make art that I think might get into this queue. If I can get Flickr to call activist art interesting, that means more people see it when browsing Flickr.

Most views
If a photo has anything remotely sexy in it, tag it with "sex" and "sexy" and you too will soon be posting photos in the "5,000 views" and "10,000 views" groups. Some results break this mold though - like this snap of a sidewalk installation by De La Vega. The upside of the ridiculousness of sexy tags' popularity is that you can use this to create dialogue. Yay stealth feminism!

Most faved
Also a lot of my art, and my more arty photos. Yaay! This is why I love Flickr - honestly I never made so much art before I started posting stuff on here and getting feedback. By keeping track of what folks like about my work, I can adjust what I post and get more challenging ideas out there more effectively.

Most commented upon
Somehow, I've been fortunate enough to get some really great dialogues going around speciesism, sexism, sustainability, and other issues - many of which go on for some time. I've learned a lot over the years and have gotten pretty good at keeping dialogue going. If I get worked up or push radical ideas on people too quickly or too forcefully I find that I come off as pedantic or holier-than-thou and the dialogue sputters out quickly. I find that asking questions is more useful - if folks reach conclusions on their own they'll be more engaged and will want to keep talking with me. It's fun to see other activists join in to help me out - and I've even purposefully posted my photo in relevant groups to get activist help on occasion! But it's even more fulfilling and enjoyable to see folks coming around to compassion, just by having the space to ask questions and challenge my ideas.

Does anyone else do this kind of thing? How do you get conversation going on difficult subjects?

Previously: 6 best practices: Engaging in social networking for social change

Wall Street bailout: Making the rich richer and the poor poorer

By Ari | Sep 28, 08 12:36 PM

Bad News For The Bailout (via Bob Torres):

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

Um. What?

Here's how I feel about the bailout: The dudes who have been draining the American people's blood on Wall Street and in these so-called "Investment Banks" are rich. They do not need help. Their "financial instruments" which they sell to us are a big ol' rip-off. We pay twice as much for our houses when we get mortgages (did you know "mortgage" means "death-pledge"?), and we have to pay for insurance just in case we get sick because health care is completely unaffordable otherwise. You should not need to get a loan to provide for yourself. Things should not cost as much as they do. We should be able to support our families ourselves, without committing to giving half or more of our money to rich guys.

If I could work, unpaid, but be sure that my neighbors were there for me in turn, I would jump at that opportunity. The doctor gives health care, the builder makes houses, I make websites and do outreach, the farmer grows healthful food, the teacher teaches. We all enjoy each other's services and goods freely. Yes, I'm talking about anarchism, about socialism, about collectivism. These ideas are not scary, they're beautiful, they're freeing. You know why? The rich guy who's profiting off of other folks' work isn't part of the picture - or rather, he's down on the same level with all the rest of us. Exploitation is exploitation no matter how you try to hide it. This bailout business is a big scary joke. I don't buy it.

UPDATE: Click here to contact your elected officials about this issue.

UPDATE, 10.1.08: Straight from the House's mouth: Why the bailout bill failed. Also, note this figure, which an activist sent out to an Ithaca mailing list I'm on: "$700 billion divided by 301 million Americans equals, $2 million 325 thousand for every man woman and child." So, um, that would solve a lot of problems, wouldn't it? I'd like to be a millionaire. Then I wouldn't need a mortage to own my own home, and I could pay off my school loans. Hell, maybe I wouldn't even need health insurance anymore, either.

Nebraska and safe haven - for all or just for some?

By Ari | Sep 28, 08 12:00 PM

Has anyone else out there been following this safe haven thing in Nebraska? They created a safe haven law that allows kids up to age 18 to be dropped off at hospitals and such, with no penalty to the parent. Then a ton of kids all got dropped off, and the media and politicians said "Whoa, too many kids are being abandoned! Better limit the safe haven law to only allow kids up to 5 year old or something."

So I read these stories, and was shocked that this was the response. I mean, if so many kids are being dropped off who weren't before, isn't that, dare I say, a good thing? Ostensibly the parents really don't want them or can't handle taking care of them. Why on earth would it be preferable to keep them in their homes if this is the reality of the situation? Why should it ever be considered wrong or illegal - or an offense worthy of punishment - to put your kids in a safer, healthier situation? If we don't allow folks to safely turn over their kids to others who can care for them (and here I know I'm glossing over the painful problems with the foster care and adoption industries), then won't we end up with more horror stories of kids locked up in closets for years, or killed, or abandoned on roadsides?

Anyway, today I finally came across a story that I think helps put the whole thing in context and which is very sympathetic to these parents and their horrible situation - and to the kids who could really benefit if we extended this broad safe haven law to the whole country: Nebraska Must Not Change Child Safe Haven Law by Vigilant Watch. When I saw this I breathed a sigh of relief that I'm not the only one who thinks this safe haven law is not "backwards" but a very, very good idea. Now if only we could extend it to all kids everywhere. They say it takes a village to raise a child, right? Let's act like it and take responsibility for the kids who need help - and work to erase the problems that lead to families falling into this situation in the first place.

Shirari Industries