IBARW: Ecominded POC

Because until last year, the only environmentalists I'd ever seen featured in magazines and in newspapers were white and middle class. (No, I didn't come into contact with the issue of mountaintop removal til last year.) And focused on either saving Africans from themselves, or stopping Native Americans from carrying out their traditions to pay for effects rapacious white greed:endangered animals. Because issues that affect POC, especially if they are poor, are not what usually comes to mind when one is discussing the mainstream environmental movement. Because saving the forest/national parks/seashores are important, and so is saving the cities in which the vast majority of the Americans live, including POC. In fact, a whole new discipline of environmentalism, environmental justice, had to be created to address these issues. Because race and class are integral parts of my environmentalism. Because poor POC's are being, and will continue to be, the ones who will disproportionately affected by environmental catastrophe. Because although I knew they were out there, I found it astonishingly hard to locate them, because I didn't know how to find them. After all, their issues did not come under teh traditional rubric of the mainstream environmental issues. Because I felt so terribly alone and weird.

So here is a list of Inspiring, Eco-Minded POC. Because no. We are not alone. And yes, our issues matter. Even though finding the tag "environmental justice" on Grist Magazine, for example, requires specific and targeted search.

IBARW 2009 Links:

Simply put: Nyota Uhura is not a white girl.

While women of color are not necessarily embroiled in an entirely different feminist struggle than white women, they sure as fuck are not in the same place. (emphasis mine)

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Uhura being single in TOS was not empowering.

She was single because the male leads were all white and as a black woman she was less of a person than them, she was less of a person than a white woman, and the fact that this serendipitously ended up meaning that she didn't have to spend all of her time mooning pathetically after dismissive men does not make that any more acceptable.

She got to sit in the back and rarely do anything and have her sexuality ignored not because they respected her so much as a colleague and a person, but because she was not a full, real human being and when you're not a full, real human being the idea that actual people would ever desire you or romance you or love you is ridiculous. You are invisible.MORE

[IBARW] Announcement and Ecumenical responses to the Northern Territory (Austrailia) Intervention Basically the Australian gov't is fucking with the Aborigines "for their own good".

Prior to the 2007 Election, the Howard Government began an "intervention" into Indigenous Communities in the Northern Territory. It was supposedly in response to levels of child abuse found in some communities, but used a "one size fits all" approach, and implemented draconian measures such as income "quarantining", getting rid of the permit system in NE Arnhemland, and other bizarre actions that would not be accepted by any other segment of the Australian community without utter uproar and outrage.

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Anyway: a joint NATSIEC/NATSICA (Indigenous ecumenical bodies originating in the mainstream and evangelical churches respectively) forum earlier this year released this statement. An excerpt:

We believe that Aboriginal Peoples have not been listened to and our stories have
not been heard. The Intervention was implemented without consultation with
Aboriginal Peoples and Government continues to fail to listen with respect and in a
manner which is culturally appropriate.

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For the White Person who wants to be my friend

Pat Parker

The first thing you do is to forget that i'm Black.
Second, you must never forget that i'm Black. MORE


Cages, Vick and Cherry

I remember, as do most people, a couple of years ago when Michael Vick was sentenced to prison. I also remember that a lot of the talk about him revolved around him being a brute (beast/monster/animal/Black) who gained pleasure from torturing dogs. The nail in the coffin for Vick was of course his abuse (murder/torture) of animals that Good people cuddled with, instead of the numerous animals that most of americans are cool with killing for pleasure (meat tasting so good and all). It was, of course, many of my fellow herbivores who went nuts with the racialized and brutal imagery. MORE

International Blog Against Racism Week - Indigenous Small Presses

the Australian Productivity Commission has just released a report on the parallel importation of books. Basically this is a proposal to cut import costs on books, which will probably lower the price of books and almost certainly knock some small presses out of business in Australia. Which would include the small Indigenous presses. I have written to the Government asking that they take the likely impact on small presses into account. Closing small Indigenous presses would mean fewer great books like Sally Morgan’s *My Place* (Fremantle Arts Press, 1987). It would mean losing great books to educate kids about Australia’s indigenous culture like *Aussie Toddlers Can* (Magabala, 2006).* It would mean losing a record of Australian experience, like Yami Lester’s autobiography (IAD Press, 1993). If not for books like *Yami* how would people know about the experiences of Western Desert people exposed to nuclear testing at Maralinga?MORE

Looking for my particular brand of Unicorn

There are talented actors of Persian or Middle Eastern descent in America. They would really like to play roles that do not involve terrorism. Us Middle Eastern people would like to see them play roles that do not involve terrorism. Why? Because media representation of our people fucking matters. It matters to our own perception of ourselves, and it matters to the world's perception of us. The news is bad enough with portraying all Middle Eastern people as some bloc of terrorists, potential terrorists, and oppressed people what need saving by white people. For once, we'd like to see Middle Eastern people living the same stories on the big screen that the white people get to live. And failing that, we would fucking like to see Middle Eastern people playing the roles actually based on our cultures and peoples.MORE

IBARW...Coco Cola: Drinking death and destruction of POC

INDIA

Always Coca-Cola - India (VIDEO)

June 2006
As a principal sponsor of FIFA, Coca-Cola is keen to trade in on the World Cup's image of fair play and good sportsmanship. But many believe its business practices make a mockery of this reputation.

For thirsty fans at the World Cup, there's only one choice of soft drink available. Whether it's Coke, Sprite or Bonaqua, all the brands on sale belong to coca-cola. Many of theses drinks are produced in India, where Coca-Cola's business practices have elicited widespread condemnation. "The coca cola factory ruined my life," despairs one farmer. Producing 0.33L of coke requires 1L of water. In some villages near cola factories, water levels have dropped by 60m. Harvests have fallen by more than 40% because there is not enough water to irrigate fields. But Coca-Cola denies all responsibility. "We are not the problem", states spokesman Rajiv Singh. "There are simply too many people living here who are wasteful with water." Coca-cola also stands accused of pollution and union busting. Many workers in their factories receive around 50 cents for a 12 hour shift. They have no unions and sometimes receive no compensation for injuries sustained. As Bhagwab Das Yadav states: "All we want is for coca cola to respect India's labour laws

From India resource.org

Campaign to Hold Coca-Cola Accountable

Coca-Cola Crisis in India

Communities across India are under assault from Coca-Cola practices in the country. A pattern has emerged as a result of Coca-Cola's bottling operations in India.

• Communities across India living around Coca-Cola's bottling plants are experiencing severe water shortages, directly as a result of Coca-Cola's massive extraction of water from the common groundwater resource. The wells have run dry and the hand water pumps do not work any more. Studies, including one by the Central Ground Water Board in India, have confirmed the significant depletion of the water table.
• When the water is extracted from the common groundwater resource by digging deeper, the water smells and tastes strange. Coca-Cola has been indiscriminately discharging its waste water into the fields around its plant and sometimes into rivers, including the Ganges, in the area. The result has been that the groundwater has been polluted as well as the soil. Public health authorities have posted signs around wells and hand pumps advising the community that the water is unfit for human consumption.
• In two communities, Plachimada and Mehdiganj, Coca-Cola was distributing its solid waste to farmers in the area as "fertilizer". Tests conducted by the BBC found cadmium and lead in the waste, effectively making the waste toxic waste. Coca-Cola stopped the practice of distributing its toxic waste only when ordered to do so by the state government.
• Tests conducted by a variety of agencies, including the government of India, confirmed that Coca-Cola products contained high levels of pesticides, and as a result, the Parliament of India has banned the sale of Coca-Cola in its cafeteria. However, Coca-Cola not only continues to sell drinks laced with poisons in India (that could never be sold in the US and EU), it is also introducing new products in the Indian market. And as if selling drinks with DDT and other pesticides to Indians was not enough, one of Coca-Cola's latest bottling facilities to open in India, in Ballia, is located in an area with a severe contamination of arsenic in its groundwater.

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