Human Trafficking Awareness Week

This past week was Human Trafficking Awareness Week (HTAW) here at Josef Korbel School of International Studies and it was quite the roller-coaster ride. All I can say is that I am officially behind on schedule with readings and writing assignments for all of my classes, but it was totally worth it. Personally, I believe that reading the literature on the subject I am interested in and writing papers for classes are certainly two important aspects of the life of every aspiring human rights activist. What it comes down to eventually, though, is the practical application of the knowledge and skills acquired. As such, sometimes I become just a little fed up with all the reading and paper-writing going on and decide to focus on advocacy and action instead. This is how I approached HTAW and completely enjoyed the event as a result.  

On Monday, an NGO Panel consisting of representatives of local organizations discussed issues on the subject of human trafficking and their specific roles in combating the practice. The perspectives offered revealed what actually happens behind all the grand speeches and calls to action; the audience found out that there are many who do the hard work of conducting research, participating in outreach, and defending those in need. A couple of great points made during the panel were voiced by Stephanie Bell of Prax(us). First, she emphasized the importance of a culture shift before the abolition of forced labor and trafficking is accomplished. The problem does not need a Band-Aid; it needs to be extinguished at its root causes. I could not agree more with Stephanie. Unless the environment conducive to forced labor and human trafficking is changed, any effort to eradicate the practice will be at best temporary and inefficient. Second, for the aforementioned goal to be achieved, the human trafficking movement should have as leaders those who are most affected by the issue or who are survivors of the practice. 

On Tuesday evening, a talk by historian and writer Ron Soodalter, a co-author of the Slave Next Door, provided an audience of both students and community members the basic information on the issue of human trafficking and slave labor in the United States specifically. The information he offered was not new to me, but I hope it awakened budding activists in the rest of the audience. One central point he made that I need to highlight here is the importance of educating law enforcement to recognize the intricacies of the issue and thus avoid becoming part of the problem. 

Wednesday was movie night and we had the opportunity to see Grandma’s Tattoos in which the director set out on a journey to uncover the buried underneath societal and cultural taboos and norms the abuse of women during the Armenian genocide. I can say I am somewhat disappointed by the ending filmmaker Khardalian chose, but I do hope that the subject of the horrendous treatment toward Armenian women during World War I continues to be of interest to those most affected.  

Music was the focus of Thursday night and a local band performed to the entertainment of students while the Human Trafficking Clinic Associates spread information on the target problem.

Friday was by far our biggest event and the most exciting as it included multitudes of people, lots of pieces of great art, a vibrant atmosphere, and 288 Subway cookies! The event was a Silent Art Auction and it was scheduled and executed as part of the Santa Fe Art Walk which takes place on the first Friday of each month. Clinic Associates, fellow students, and community members donated art to support the cause and the auction turned out to be a huge success. Not all art pieces were sold, but all the cookies were demolished:). 

 

-          Krasi

Landmine Awareness Day

This past Wednesday, April 4^th, I attended a seminar in observance of Landmine Awareness Day. I bet some of you didn’t even know there is such a day! And neither did I until this past week. What truly shocked me is not that a day is dedicated to the awareness of landmines but the information I obtained at that seminar. I had no idea how endemic mines are and how many civilian deaths they cause each year. I, of course, have heard of landmines, but I always thought that these are weapons used in military actions and not something I need to worry about unless I end up in a zone with a military conflict. The lives of many innocent children, women, and men are affected, however, each day by antipersonnel landmines long after a military conflict is over and stronger pressure must be applied to urge those in charge to take action.

I have included below some of the disturbing information I am now privy to and I just feel it is my responsibility to share it with as many people as possible.

1. Landmines were first invented in the 1920s soon after the World War I in response to the tank. The purpose of the anti-tank landmines was to control adversaries without having to expose oneself to them. A problem with the anti-tank mines was that they could be removed easily and as a result, the anti-personnel landmines came into existence.

2. While it costs $3-10 to buy a mine, it could cost up to $1000 to remove one mine. 

3. About 800 deaths a month are caused by landmines and of these, most are civilians.  

4. About 75% of landmine victims are civilians. 

5. The country with the highest estimated number of landmines is Egypt and that is 23,000,000 landmines! 

6. The country with the highest estimated number of landmines per square mile is Bosnia & Herzegovina – 152 per square mile! One of the speakers at the seminar, Prof. van Arsdale, who has spent a significant amount of time in Bosnia, provided a grim account of how a landmine changed the life of a family. He emphasized the biggest problem with anti-personnel mines as the fact that they do not distinguish between a soldier and a young woman who is working in her garden. Another horrific characteristic of this military invention is that its purpose is not to kill but to maim. 

7. Roughly about 100,000 mines are removed each year. 

8. The United States has yet to become a “state party” to the Mine Ban Treaty of 1997. To push for the United States to sign and adhere to the Mine Ban Treaty of 1997, please go to the following page: http://www.avaaz.org/en/obama_ban_mines/96.php 

9. For a country to become a “state party,” it must adhere to the following requirements: 1. Agree to never use, develop, produce, stockpile or transfer antipersonnel mines; 2 Agree to destroy all stockpiled antipersonnel landmines within 4 years; 3. Agree to destroy all laid antipersonnel landmines within 10 years; 4. Provide assistance for mine clearance, awareness, stockpile destruction, and victim assistance activities;

At the end of the seminar, all present had the opportunity to watch Surviving the Peace, a film that provides an account of the impact of a landmine on one Laos family and the efforts made by the Mine Advisory Group (MAG) to train people to remove mines. The sad truth the film reveals is not simply that a family became a victim of landmines, but that it became so as a result of a conflict that had nothing to do with that family.

-       Krasi

Amnesty International Annual General Meeting, Denver 2012

After a serious consideration of my limited graduate student budget, I eventually decided to attend the Amnesty International Annual General Meeting here in Denver over this past weekend. The event included conversations and discussions on some of the signature issues AI focuses on: immigrants’rights, abolition of the death penalty, and maternal health, but what grabbed my attention were the variety of new issues considered and the level of professionalism and strong activism each of the presenters on these brought with them. I, of course, could not physically attend all sessions and hence have provided comments only on the events I actually was present to. 

The first day of the conference for me started with the opening ceremony and the various awards given to deserving current and future activists. One such award was granted to the winners of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation High School Essay Competition. What I would have really enjoyed and appreciated is to hear the high school students read brief excerpts from their winning essays and possibly elaborate on what prompted them to write on the subject. I believe the above would have allowed the attendees to develop a better idea of the level of understanding of human rights and the importance of targeting violations among these young activists. It is certainly important to hear the speeches of established in the field dignitaries, but it is also just as important to learn about the views of the future generation. 

A great highlight of the first day of the conference was the Forever Young social that took place in the evening once the opening ceremonies had concluded. A poet, Big Poppa E, and a musician, Michelle Shocked, successfully grabbed the attendees’ attention with works that rang relevant, important, and most of all personal. By expressing strong feelings, both were able to inspire the audience members and to acknowledge their humanity, all in the matter of a couple of hours. I strongly recommend both artists to anyone interested in literary works and music that serve a purpose beyond that to entertain. 

I began the second day of the conference with the opening remarks provided by Suzanne Nossel, the new Executive Director of AIUSA, and a keynote address by the American Hikers imprisoned in Iran in 2009, Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd. In her speech, Suzanne made several statements that made an impression on me and prompted me to investigate further the issues highlighted. One such statement was that currently, bananas are apparently more heavily regulated than conventional weapons. Sitting in the Colorado Ballroom II, I wondered how many people would actually agree that bananas are more dangerous than weapons. In addition, she briefly mentioned a topic about which I shall write a post in the future, and that was the role of technology in the fight against human rights violations. Without dismissing its strong impact, she emphasized that no social media would ever be a substitute for foot soldiers, but it could certainly assist in multiplying and uniting activists across borders, cultures, and circumstances. 

The focus of the three speeches delivered by Sarah, Shane, and Josh was the fact that their ordeal was nothing more than a strategic move in a complicated game of politics. The personal stories of interactions with their interrogators reveal that it was clear they were not considered spies, or a threat; they simply happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and came to be considered an important factor in the game of politics. Moreover, as Shane stressed, their greatest fear during the imprisonment was that Israel or the US would attack Iran and that would lead to dire consequences for him and his friends. It was a surprise for me to hear all three of them point out the role of US foreign policy in the spreading hate around the world and warn that a military attack on Iran is not a solution; rather, it would create more and severe problems. Ultimately, instead of contributing to the increasing hate toward the region and people from that region, the hikers remain supportive of them and strongly encourage international cooperation.  

By far, one of the more interesting sessions at the conference happened to be the panel discussion on the topic of the closing of Guantanamo. Participants in the debate were Ken Gude (the Chief of Staff and Vice President at the Center of American Progress), Colonel Morris Davis (an attorney and retired Air Force colonel), and Joseph Margulies (an attorney with the Roderick MacArthur Justice Center and a Clinical Professor at Northwestern University Law School in Chicago). Gude stressed that the reason for not closing Guantanamo lies in existing bipartisan political opposition and Colonel Davis highlighted the role the opinion of the general public plays in the debate. As he argued, a large percentage of Americans approve of the institution and believe it is a great way to target those threatening peaceful existence. The only solution is then education. And as far as I am concerned, education is what Margulies provided. He warned about focusing on a global idea, such as closing Guantanamo, without taking into consideration the consequences and stressed that activists should instead target more specific issues such as the transfer of the 89 prisoners who have already been cleared for transfer but are still held in detention.  

A new subject presented at this year’s conference is the one dealing with forced evictions taking place in a variety of nations around the world. I could not express the magnitude of the issue any better than this statement uttered by a Nigerian victim of forced eviction: “Do we want to be refugees in our own land?”

Another quite interesting session I had the opportunity to attend presented a dialogue on the advancement of women’s human rights with a specific focus on Indigenous women.  Participants included Sarah Deer (an Assistant Professor at the William Mitchell College of Law and a citizen of the Muscogee Nation) and Halima Kazem (a research and journalist working in Afghanistan). It once again became clear that while a multitude of social, economic and political changes have increased the vulnerability of millions of men, women and children in the developing world, of these, women hold a special place and regularly, without effort, find themselves in a position of extreme defenselessness and the victims of physical and sexual abuse. 

Before I end this post, there is one more comment that I just have to make. It is in reference to one particular statement mentioned by activists throughout the conference. While Jenni Williams was accepting her award, at the end of her speech she mentioned that she hopes her organization is successful in reaching its 50th anniversary, similar to Amnesty International, and that AI reaches another 50 years of accomplishments. I, of course, know exactly what she meant by that. However, doesn’t the statement also mean that we are wishing for severe human rights violations to continue for at least another fifty years? Personally, I prefer to wish that the wide-spread disregard for human rights subsides and the services of so many activists are no longer needed. That could mean that I would no longer be able to function as a human rights activists, but I would most certainly enjoy living in a world in which I don’t need to be a human rights activist than a world in which I must be one.

-       Krasi

An Old Song in a New Voice

“Most people don't believe something can happen until it already has. That's not stupidity or weakness, that's just human nature.”
― Max Brooks, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

As humanity moves along with the inevitable passage of time, many argue that humans have come a long way from being barbarians who eat to live and fight to die. Particularly with the creation of the first modern societies, ingrained believes about the deterministic nature of the human condition began to find more and more critics. It was no longer sufficient to explain events by citing the will of God or natural law. Modern beliefs and science inevitably control people’s lives and make them rational creatures that no longer rely on supernatural explanations of how the world operates. Certainly, as people in the modern world, we would like to believe that in many ways, we are superior to our ancestors. A closer and more in-depth look, however, at significant historical events can often alert us to the truth in the folkloric saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same”.

The first practice to shed light on the particular way in which people have behaved and still do is the most important aspect of a liberal democratic society – the ability to vote. Most voters are not able to or simply do not find it important to look at the potential candidates as a whole with many different aspects. Rather, they prefer to vote based on one specific issue that they find really important in their personal lives. People make the choice often with no idea of what the consequences could be. As shown in the case of Germans during the reign of the Third Reich, for example, the outcomes of rational voting with one’s personal interests in mind were actually quiet dire. The truth, however, is that there is no way a person can determine what the outcome of casting a vote could really be. As Brustein simply puts it, if Germans knew in 1932 what they knew in 1945, the Nazis would never have had a huge following. What Brustein and other authors really highlight then is the idea that voting for someone like Hitler had nothing to do with being German. Rather, all people, regardless of nation and culture, vote with no way to foresee whom or what they have put in power.

The true nature of voting can certainly be observed in the present political climate in many countries, specifically the United States. Personal issues, such as gay marriage and abortion, permeate political discussions because these are what concern people and what impact their decision to vote for a candidate or not. The majority of people who vote have limited knowledge on politics or any other important issues. They choose a candidate based often on that candidate’s stance on a particular issue they are fond of and choose to ignore the rest of that candidate’s platform. Voters should realize the responsibility of their choices and that it is not simply another chore they have to check off their list by selecting the candidate with the same views on one particular issue. Responsibility should also be relevant when people realize that a wrong choice has been made. Avoiding claiming responsibility for a gruesome act committed on a large scale and pointing fingers left and right at different people and organizations is a sure sign that this will happen again.

Another particularity of human behavior that seems to transcend the boundaries of time and culture is the overwhelming support of professionals for mass killers such as Hitler. Authors, such as Lifton, bust the myth that evil has to always be in the form of a psychologically unstable, deranged, and senseless individual and instead, they stress that evil is often represented by intellectuals who are leaders in their fields and expected to have moral authority over the domain of helping others. The modern world we live in wants us to believe that for some reason, criminals are low-life, poor, uncivilized, and uneducated men. It is certainly comforting to assume that those who torture, kill, or simply hurt their fellow human beings belong to a group that unfortunately did not have a good life and as a result, turned into criminals. That might be true for some crimes on a small scale, but those who succeed in mass endeavors usually hold high education degrees and not from some random college, but from a well-respected, top-notch university. There are the killing professionals that Lifton refers to. What society considers intelligent people, usually those possessing an unassuming piece of paper that solidifies their achieved smartness, can often fall prey to their own intelligence and not only rationalize behaviors that would be deemed unacceptable, but also convince themselves that what they do is in the name of some higher ultimate goal. In terms of responsibility, it is clear that the subject of killer doctors poses concerns about the impact people in authority could have in the legitimation of a murderous regime. Professionals have the ethical responsibility to stand up for what is right and cannot be exonerated from what they did under the cover of their professional standing.  

A third theme that examines a specific event of the past and could be seen to have representations in the modern world is witchcraft. Despite the recent fascination with witches and vampires, courtesy to the Harry Potter series and the ever multiplying vampire shows and series, the attitude toward creatures believed to have subhuman powers have not always been a positive one. Historian Lyndal Roper, for example, focuses on the representation of the old hag that taunts Europe and analyzes the idea that there is just something about old, ugly, childless women that terrifies Europeans and turns them into brainless robots who run around screaming and chasing demons. A perfect example of the irrational fear of the old hag could be observed in the Brothers Grimm classic Hansel and Gretel. An important lesson the witch craze teaches us is that no matter what the demon of the day is, someone is responsible for misfortunes and that someone must be punished so that humanity is saved. Even though the witch craze years are long gone, the aspects of the event can clearly be seen through the lenses of societal hysterias. The time period might differ and the expression of evil is definitely different, but the overall theme repeats itself. Mass fear envelopes a society and suddenly, the witnesses are many and they all have proof that some evil deed has been committed. An excellent example would be the wave of child abuse cases that took over the United States in the 80s. What such stories of social hysterias teach is the great importance that must be placed on assuming responsibility to determine facts and investigate the evidence before jumping to conclusions that snowball into mass accusations of innocent people. It is the duty of society to protect its members, but part of that protection includes avoiding impetuously accusing and charging to quench the thirst for retribution before the facts have been established.

A fourth practice that perfectly demonstrates how the more things change, the more they stay the same is a topic of specific interest to me: slavery. An examination of the history of human rights reveals that even while claiming equality for all, all great societies have in one way or another rationalized unequal treatment. Consequently, even those who strongly support the establishment and preservation of certain rights that all humans are entitled to will somehow find a sound reasoning that some populations are sub-human and as such, do not deserve to enjoy the luxury of those basic human rights. This rationalization has fostered the maintenance of slavery not only in the past but also in the contemporary modern world of supposed conveniences and freedom for all.

A popular theme in the physical sciences relates to the conservation law of energy and matter; according to that law, matter or energy never really disappear and instead, they simply shift from one form to another. The same idea could certainly be applied to the social sphere of human existence. Examining past events, it is hard not to point out the similarities with some of the serious issues we deal with in the present time. A look to the past, however, should not be done with the hope that we can learn from past mistakes and be better at predicting the future in order to finish with a different outcome. An examination of the past should actually be about learning the importance of responsibility and that every choice we make and every action we engage in has an impact on a personal, local, national, or global level. Hitler did not run on the platform of promising to kill millions of people; instead, he promised to clean up the nation, strengthen it, and return it to its proper moral condition. After all, the four themes discussed above clearly identify that people are not good at predicting future events and often, they refuse to believe that there is even a remote possibility that a certain event will happen. By the time they are proven wrong and learn their lesson, it is often too late. We can see the Holocaust as the Holocaust only after it had happened, not during the time it was happening. The burden is then to bear responsibility and acknowledge that sometimes what we choose or act on does not have a significant impact and sometimes, just sometimes, what we choose or act on can drastically change the lives of others in a very negative way.  

-       Krasi

Charter for Compassion

- A

Happiness? I Deserve It!

To piggyback on Krasi's previous post: Everything is amazing and no  one is happy, I wanted to speak to what I think is one of the reasons why we're not happy: entitlement.

The hilarious video that Krasi posted of Louis C.K. has him saying at the end, "...how quickly the world owes him something he knew existed only 10 seconds ago..."

I see this sentiment everyday in marketing, with my friends, even in myself! How many of you have seen those silly AT&T commercials where everyone who doesn't have AT&T is made to look stupid because they don't have super fast service and so they're not updated to the nanosecond on happenings. I mean lets get real: if you really are like any of those people in the commercials, glued to your electronics to the point that knowing something seconds before others do is super important, I would say ya gots issues folks.

We have so many great things now but we take them for granted. I think America needs a reality check. If you agree with me, please go check this out: Global Rich List.

The minute we become entitled,  we stop working for it: whether it be cool duds, building relationships or happiness. We expect that those things will happen because, duh, why wouldn't they?

Life is work. Relationships are work. Happiness is work. This sense of entitlement we've come to have is, in my opinion, the reason we're unhappy.

So what's the solution? I'm certainly not endorsing going technology free. All I'm saying is lets be conscious: why do I need to buy this gadget? Why do I have to stand in line for this other one? Do I really need five different electronics to live my life?

I also think a hefty dose of humility is important and that comes from advocating to make people's lives better: whether overseas or in the United States.

What do you all think? Are we crazy entitled in the U.S. (or the West)? What do you do to stay grounded?

Torture

As if the classes on genocide and human trafficking were not enough of a depressing topic to me, I decided to enroll in a class on torture this upcoming quarter. And no, the purpose of the class is not to educate us on how best to convince a roommate to not leave dirty dishes in the sink for days or how efficiently to respond to a malevolent act from someone we have established as an enemy to our peaceful existence. Rather, the class presents a platform on which to discuss the use of torture as an interrogation technique and provide an answer to the question: Is torture ever a viable method to extract information? 

I could argue that torture, physical or psychological, is a subjective experience and what constitutes suffering for one person might not be the same for another person. This, however, is not the purpose of this post. Rather, I choose to focus on certain actions that for anyone, under any circumstances, will constitute torture and will incur painful experiences. Most of us go through our daily lives referring to everyday experiences as torturous and unbearable and often, we do not even stop to consider what the true meaning of torture is. Even though dealing with an employee at the Department of Motor Vehicles office might seem as an intolerable experience that if survived, increases our pain tolerance threshold, no one would hopefully truly argue that this constitutes torture. Yet, these are the kinds of experiences we refer to as torture on a regular basis. 

The repeated use of and application of the word torture to a variety of ordinary experiences and events seem to have made many inured to the concept and consequently, they have lost their ability to critically judge a certain practice and to file it under the characterization of torture. An example would be the infamous practice of waterboarding suspected criminals to pull out information pertaining to national security. Personally, the moment I hear a description of what this notorious torture method entails, I have no intention of trying it out to confirm that it is indeed torture. Some, however, are not that smart or are simply very stubborn because they continue to insist that waterboarding does not sound too bad and that people should stop protesting against it. Some of you might then ask why don’t they just try it and prove their point. Well, lucky for you, and me, there are such individuals and personally, I file them under the category of people who serve as a warning to us all. For further illumination on the above point, please watch the video below.

And while we are on the subject of torture, why not include a video that clearly identifies that common people like you and me are the ones who can hurt other human beings, no hardened and conscience-lacking criminals needed. 

 - Krasi