| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| 2004 May 12 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 8 Number 2 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| From Community Creativity to Non-Profit Numbness |
|
In my early days I (Leroy Moore) tagged along with my father
at house meetings on issues concerning the black community.
Many youth at that time witnessed our elders doing
everything under the sun in the community: children's
programs, home schooling, store openings, in-home support
services to elders, a community doctor's office. This all
took place when people came together at friends' houses over
soul food to lay out what needed to be done and how to raise
funds for the work.
Very slowly my father and others took up the idea of receiving money from outside the community -- the government and white foundations -- to do work in it. In my view this was the downfall of the extraordinary work youth like me used to see. The first element that was scrapped was the environment my elders met in. Slowly the structure of house meetings became rigid. Now there was a hierarchy with president, vice president, treasury and secretary. People had to fit into this strange uniform that restricted our progress and conversation. All of a sudden people had their hands out for a piece of the money that flowed in from outside. The work we youth saw every day by many was cut back drastically. The house meetings were no longer popular. What I saw in my community, I see in many new groups today. These groups did much incredible work in their early days. It was a family affair until outside pressure came to bear. These days, a loose collective functions for only a short time before squeezing itself into the suffocating structure of non-profit status. The non-profit straitjacket tends to suck the creativity, friendships, vision and dedication out of a group who started out thinking and working from their hearts. But few of us can or will work for free. We've been building an organization, Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization, for five years. In the last two years we've felt the cramming of a collective with strong family-like ties into a cold, informal and culturally insensitive non-profit structure. In disgust I've had to take time off and ask: Is non-profit status the way for activists and revolutionaries like me? Every group that turns into a non-profit has to go through the same tunnel, and when we come out on the other end, do we retain our vision, our individuality, our commitment to our community, or are we too wrapped up in the bureaucratic culture of the non-profit machine? Is this diversity? There's got to be another way! [Life-Net News & Radio does not have or want non-profit status. We prefer independence and agility.--rz] Source: Poor Magazine |
| Prison Abuse Typically American |
|
President Bush said the Iraq prison mistreatments were not
the American way. But they were and are. Americans have
been mistreating and torturing their fellow Americans in
their own lock-ups for decades at least.
In "liberal" California, horror stories have emerged for years from hellholes such as Pelican Bay, where they house "the worst of the worst" and inflict the worst brutalities. A prisoner dumped in scalding water so his skin peeled off like old varnish; prisoners left naked outside in rainy and bitter weather for days; multiple beatings and rapes; several unexplained deaths. At Corcoran, California, guards held their own Roman gladiator games with prisoners pitted against each other in fights to the near-death. A disliked and defenseless prisoner was placed in a cell with the biggest, baddest sex criminal so he could be duly raped to the amusement of the prisoner's supposed guardians. Pelican Bay is such a fearful place that a psychiatrist told a court that many were going insane. A federal judge finally ordered reforms, as did another over Corcoran, but there is little evidence that either have become proper places to house even the worst. Similar reports surface across America. Texas is especially bad. Private, for-profit prisons have some of the worst records. They often have such poor medical facilities that prisoners die from curable conditions, as Harper's magazine revealed in an exhaustive inquiry last year. California holds more prisoners than Britain, France, Germany, and Canada combined, yet jails are still grossly overcrowded. Conditions in many southern US prisons resemble some of the worst of the developing world, with prisoners sleeping on filthy floors overrun by rats. Americans have mostly ignored the disgrace of their penal system. They became so fearful of crime, they lost consideration for the lives of criminals. Any idea of rehabilitation has been abandoned. Even when scandals over mistreatment do emerge, many say the inmates deserve it. Prisoner abuse in Iraq was inevitable. Source: Counterpunch |
| Revitalization or Gentrification? in Cramer Hill |
|
According to a redevelopment study, the Cramer Hill
neighborhood, Camden, which contains a state Urban
Enterprise Zone, has too many abandoned commercial
properties, and too many blighted and underused. Some
residents and businesses have been opposing a $1.5 billion
plan involving developer Cherokee Camden LLC. According to
a reply drafted by South Jersey Legal Services, only a
minority of properties fit those criteria, and an Urban
Enterprise Zone only justifies the use of tax abatements in
a redevelopment area -- not a redevelopment designation.
Instead, SJLS suggested targeting sections of the
neighborhood, but not all of it.
"We are not opposed to redevelopment if it meant that our community would be revitalized, but it seems our community is being demolished," said resident Carmen Rivera. "I will not give up 19 years of sweat and equity just because you just realized this is a great place to live," said resident Michael Hagan. Local business owner Bernie Kofoet said he thinks the Camden Redevelopment Agency has done well to answer community concerns. He noted initially he was opposed to the plan. Now he looks at new housing as new customers for business. He looks at plans for a light industrial park as new jobs. He's worried that if the plan is defeated, Camden would build a reputation as unfriendly to developers. Millie Walter, a 40-year resident, said she thinks the neighborhood needs change and the houses need fixing up. "I think we need Cherokee to come and do it," she said. "The people can't do it." She even likes the idea of a golf course on the former Harrison Avenue landfill site, a part of the plan that has angered many residents. "It's a dump," she said. "What else are you going to do with it?" Byron Woodson, the executive director of the Cramer Hill Development Corp., said his board supports the plan conditionally. He notes concerns over relocation, the life of the plan, and the process of considering it. "We are not saying no to progress," insisted Mary Cortes, a resident and secretary of Bona Fide Residents of Cramer Hill. "We know that there are other developers out there waiting for Cherokee to fall so they can go in their place." "I wish you'd look at the Cramer Hill Tomorrow Plan," she said, referring to a plan drafted after five years of community input by the Cramer Hill Community Development Corp. A less intense plan, the CHTP calls for new housing on vacant lots, fewer relocations, and no golf course or $200,000 homes. Source: Courier-Post (1) (Camden) Source: Courier-Post (2) (Camden) Source: Courier-Post (3) (Camden) |
| 'Free Trade' and the Common Good |
|
"International trade and investment activities should
advance the common good and be evaluated in the light of
their impact on those who are most vulnerable," says one of
the principles of the Interfaith Statement on International
Trade and Investment, adopted by the American Friends
Service Committee in 2001.
The final CAFTA agreement is closely modeled after NAFTA and will have similar impacts on the poor and vulnerable. Although the agreement led to job creation and improved standards of living for some, NAFTA has not measured up to the principle of advancing the common good. Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz has described NAFTA’s impact on Mexico since the agreement passed ten years ago: Poor Mexican farmers have faced an uphill battle in their effort to compete with highly subsidized American corn. Local small enterprises have lost access to credit from foreign-owned banks. Growth has slowed. Income disparities between the US and Mexico have grown. Real wages have fallen. An analysis of the CAFTA text by Oxfam International found that many Central American producers of basic grains, such as corn, rice, beans and sorghum, as well as poultry, pigs, cows and dairy products, will be forced out of business by the flood of cheap subsidized goods coming from the US. The only products that will remain protected under CAFTA are white corn in Central America, fresh onions and potatoes in Costa Rica, and sugar in the US. Because of the importation of highly subsidized US yellow corn, prices in the region will likely suffer a dramatic drop, seriously affecting producers. The region will also be vulnerable to a replacement of consumer-preferred white corn by yellow corn when the price drops. As happened in Mexico, subsistence and small farmers will migrate off their lands to the already overcrowded cities. Source: American Friends Service Committee |
| Street Pets |
|
Sheila is a young red dog who nibbles on a sandwich while
her homeless companion Brent talks about her. "She is a
purebred -- loyal and smart," he says. "We feed her before
we feed ourselves."
Web has lived on the street for 10 years. He leans against the side of a building while his two dogs play with a ball. "It’s hard out here with dogs. It’s a lot of responsibility. You can’t take the max or the bus. You can’t do a lot of things. But they are worth it." "There is no safe place to keep your pet," a young man nicknamed Groundscore said. "You’d rather sleep under a bridge than give up your dog to go inside." Many in the housed population think it cruel when street people have animals. Animal cruelty can be determined, according to PAWS, by observing characteristics of their environment, including access to food, water and shelter. To many a young person without housing, an animal gives unconditional love and constant companionship. After 10,000 years of domestication, dogs now depend on humans to comprise their pack. Getting enough contact with the human pack means getting enough security and order. This devotion becomes a two-way street. Even during the coldest days and most adverse conditions of outside living, outreach workers have found it difficult to bring people off the street who will not abandon their animal companions. When a person does give up an animal, if it is not taken by somebody else it goes to the animal shelter. The animal then faces a high risk of being euthanized as "unadoptable." Despite the limitations placed on individuals living on the street with companion animals, there are many positives for these young people in having an animal that provides love, protection and security. Matt Roselle of In Defense of Animals believes that companion animals are truly part of the family. "If someone’s life situation changes and they end up without a place to live, the companion animal should be part of the equation." Source: Poor Magazine |
| Upward Mobility for Migrant Workers Imperiled |
|
A program that has given New Jersey migrant farm workers a
chance at moving up in the world is in jeopardy of being
cut out of the federal budget next year. Patricia
Constantino, co-director of Rural Opportunities Inc. (ROI),
said the current administration has, for three years,
attempted to zero out the program's funding.
ROI, a non-profit advocacy group, is the New Jersey grantee for the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP), which gives money to 50 programs in the US. ROI has an annual budget of roughly $3 million. The grant, which offers training and employment to migrant farm workers, is $675,000. It's a tiny item compared to the rest of the federal budget, says Constantino, but "there really is no one to fill the gap if this program goes." Farm workers in Gloucester County have benefited from cross-training and position upgrades through the program. For instance, if a farmer needs a worker who can drive a truck, the program can train a worker toward a license. "Then that person may be able to work year-round instead of just seasonally," she explained. The program also offers employment and training resources for industries outside of agriculture, for those workers who want to try something different altogether. Richard Mood, owner of Mood's Family Farm in Mullica Hill, said workers often benefit from programs like ROI. "I think health care is what should be focused on the most for them, though," he added. "The workers appreciate stuff like that." Most of the migrant farm workers in this area of New Jersey are Puerto Rican and Mexican men, ages 18 to 30. Most make less than $5.65 an hour. Constantino said there is also a growing population of Haitians and Asians, mostly in neighboring counties. Workers' families can get help, too. A few wives of farm workers have enrolled in programs to become nurse assistants. In conjunction with the NFJP, ROI also runs the grant for the Migrant Head Start Program. Thanks to the MHSP, children of migrant workers spend time in classes playing and learning, not out in the fields working. Source: Gloucester County Times |
| Church Council Helps Keep War Out of Mozambique |
|
Too young to join his country Mozambique's independence day
parade 30 years ago, Dinis Matsolo watched his cousin carry
a torch in a relay from the Rovuma River to Maputo, the
capital. But today, as general secretary of the Council of
Churches of Mozambique, he is no longer on the sidelines.
Neither is the Council, which helped mediate Mozambique's
peace accord in 1992 and oversee municipal elections last
year. Now one of Africa's most troubled countries is
experiencing long-lasting peace -- and spreading it, taking
the lead in peace efforts in Angola.
Church World Service support has been crucial to the work of the Council, Rev. Matsolo says. "CWS has been instrumental from the beginning, when no one wanted to support us." An offshoot of the Council's trauma healing program is the creation of sculpture from weapons of war. A strutting iron bird, plumed with the magazines of automatic weapons. An angular drummer, shaped from other weapons. The sculpting grew out of a program to collect and destroy the weapons left in the hands of former fighters. In exchange for weapons handed over by demobilized soldiers, families, and communities, the Council provides sewing machines, bicycles, and other means of peacetime livelihood. It engaged an artists association to reshape the weapons into symbols of peace. Source: Church World Service |
| Life-Net News Extras |
| Resistance to Wal-Mart in Vineland |
|
From a speech by Congressional candidate and LNN subscriber Tino Rozzo:
I come with a double-edged sword. First, Wal-Mart has a miserable human rights record. They have been known to suck communities dry. They practice intimidation and scare employees away from forming unions. According to the constitution of the state of New Jersey, Article 18, we have the right to collective bargaining. They show anti-union films. Most of this is documented by Barabara Ehrenreich in her book Nickle and Dimed. Wal-Mart seems to pilfer welfare agencies for slave labor. And now for the other side of the sword, Vineland is a pinnacle city here in South Jersey. We have seen, in the last four years, the quality of life diminish. Our administration has seen fit to have corporate welfare programs in pay-to-play, feasibility reports, and more. The next administration should declare Vineland a sustainable community, with self-help credit unions, help from the Enterprise Foundation, the United Way, and revitalization for downtown. We could create a community where everyone prospers. And by declaring Vineland a sustainable city, we could get even more money from the government, be part of the sustainable community movement, and prosper even further. I would have made this my issue if I ran for city council, but it is harder to get on the ballot for council than for Congress or even President. Vineland is a pinnacle city. With Wal-Mart, the city and surrounding counties would turn into an economic black hole. I am a man of the people, and I am asking the city council to reject Wal-Mart. Source: Vote Rozzo |
| US Shrimpers Dragged Down By Cheap Imports |
|
Shrimp from Asia and Latin America, which largely comes from
low-cost shrimp farms, now feeds 88% of the American shrimp market. As imports have increased, the
dockside prices paid to US shrimpers have been cut in half
over the past two years, shrimpers say. Across many American
industries, cheap imports are deep-sixing US producers who have
to contend with higher operating costs and more stringent
business rules than their counterparts in less developed
corners of the world.
In grocery stores, imported shrimp undercuts the local product by far. Publix last week was selling Key West pink shrimp for $18.99 a pound and farm-raised large white shrimp for $7.99. The low import prices have boosted shrimp's popularity to record levels. In 2001, shrimp surpassed canned tuna as America's favorite seafood. Domestic shrimpers say they are reaping little from that burgeoning popularity. A decade ago, nearly 5,000 shrimpers trawled the Gulf of Mexico. Today, that number stands at about 1,900. The fleet may shrink even more as the soaring price of diesel fuel tightens the net around fishermen. "We've seen some bad times, but nothing like this," said Quentin Creamer, a 64-year-old shrimper who runs two boats. Last year, Creamer reaped a profit of just $3,700. He had to drop the insurance on one boat after failing to come up with the $20,000 premium and looked into selling the trawler. The boat that cost him $650,000 in 1996 is now worth $275,000. "This next trip out we'll see whether we tie up [permanently] or not," said Creamer. "We're just trading shrimp for fuel." With dilemmas such as Creamer's occurring more and more, US shrimpers are waging a trade war in Washington to avoid being priced out of the market altogether. The Southern Shrimp Alliance -- a group of fishermen in eight states -- accuses six nations in Asia and Latin America of violating fair-trade rules by selling their shrimp in the US below the price in their home countries, a practice known as dumping. The Alliance wants the government to slap tariffs, ranging from 30% to more than 200%, on imported shrimp to help shore up domestic prices. Source: Miami Herald |
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