Campus Engagement 2

This morning YAYA hosted a 'friday movie' screening for core YAYA members called The Other Side of Immigration. The first half of this movie was excellent! The movie does a great job at connecting globalization to immigration patterns. It focuses on the mexican population and their need to immigrate to the United States in order to work. The movie opens up with a story of a family who is impacted by globalization daily. The father in this family has to make yearly trip to the United States in order to find work. The man recalls the gruesome journey to the US he has to make so often, were he has to pay over two thousand dollars to coyotes who in turn walk him and smuggle him across the Mexican border. He also talks about the many men and women who have died during the trips and the fact that the families only find out months afterward, through people who traveled along with them. In the movie, several farmers and government representative talk about the negative effects law like NAFTA had had on local economies. Many farmers have had to shut down their production because they could not compete with the big 'maquiladoras' that are now their neighbors. Many business owners have also had to shut down their locales due to big superstores like Walmart, that continue to open all across Latin America. It was heartbreaking to hear all of these stories, especially because this is exactly what my family went through. Because of globalization, many families who were well off and comfortable in their countries have to be displaced in order to survive. There isn't opportunities to work south of the border, and we all benefit from it here in the U.S. Another part of the movie I enjoyed were the many interviews of local folk who were affected by globalization. From farmers, lawmakers, district representatives to mothers, there were so many heartbreaking stories regarding immigration. There was a mother who had not seen her daughter who immigrated to the U.S for eight years. Her daughter was scared to even go outside for fear of deportation, and her mother could not afford to go, partly because it would take a lot of sacrificing to raise the two thousand dollars she would have to pay the coyote, and partly because she had to take care of her other children who were living in Mexico with her. Its truly devastating to hear stories like these. Broken families who are struggling to survive and want nothing more than to be together, and have access to jobs. It makes me sick to hear the countless hateful comments being made about migrant workers here in the U.S, I honestly don't think that people who are in this mindset have half a clue about what families like these have to go through. They risk their lives in order to come into a country were they will be treated as inhuman and work under dangerous conditions in order to survive. The second part of the movie was a little disappointing. A lot of the government officials started to talk about the drug problem in mexico and Nationalism. A lot of them were eluding to the fact that the Mexican community was divided and that was most of the problem. I feel that this shifts back responsibility and blame regarding the immigration system we have here in the U.S, and that its really unfair. I hope that in the future, there could be more films that talk about the U.S participation in globalization and how we are destroying many peoples lives due to it.

Campus Engagement 1

Last night a couple of students from our class got together at Sara's house for a screening of the Whistle Blower. I had no idea what the movie was about and the fact that I did not even know about this 'U.N' scandal, prior to this screening is just a testament of how little attention the media, especially in the U.S pays to sex trafficking crimes. The Whistleblower is a movie that covers the actual events regarding Kathryn Bolkovac's sex trafficking investigation which involved several U.N 'peace keepers' who were on duty in Bosnia. Kathryn was assigned to be the head of a gender department within the U.N and was allowed to interview several women in Bosnia who had placed complaints of sexual and physical violence. She quickly finds out that the women are often ignored and their cases are often shoved to the back of the case line and mostly never solved. Through her various investigations, she uncovers that many of her fellow co-workers are not only buying girls and women but are also receiving payouts from brothel owners in exchange for security against criminal prosecution. I had many angry feelings through this movie. I felt that this movie does play into the victimization of the human trafficked girl. Throughout the film the viewers were constantly reminded that these 'naive' girls were only in this situations because they were tricked with false promises of 'honest' work. All of these girls were young and light skinned. It makes me wonder how the audience would have reacted to cases involving trafficked girls that were in brothels in order to survive. This movie does not go into details about why it is women, not only in Bosnia, are the majority in the sex trafficking industry and why it is they can make money off their bodies. We do not explore notions of gendered labor in the movie either, although a woman does state that when men are killed at war, 'prostitution' numbers go higher, although this shed a small light regarding trafficking problems, the audience is just left with that small sentence of a golden clue in trying to discuss systemic correlations to trafficking. I was also very upset at the fact that non of the U.N official were officially charged with any crimes. I wish the movie would have taken that fact and stated that this 'issue' is a global one, and that if men from the U.N and especially from the U.S were willing to participate in sex trafficking, then this mean that this was trafficking was a problem occurring world wide. Its not often that a movie like this hits the cinema screen, especially because sex trafficking or 'prostitution' is usually in the peripheral vision of most block buster hits, and although this movie has its flaws, I at least hope that its audience will be as enraged as i am and that through critical thinking, we can start to make connections with trafficking and how we participate and are connected with it as members of this world.

Activism Log

I am very happy with how this project is going. Our global class was able to raise $400 and 30 plus gardening tools. Not to mention that our attendance was a lot higher than what we originally expected. At one point, I counted 62 people from our class, the FWAF and members of the Fellsmere community. I feel that this was one of the most rewarding and challenging projects I have ever been a part of. Our class had a lot of bumps in the road and I feel like as a whole we have grown and our leadership has strengthened. I also feel that coupled with the readings, the interactions we have had with the Fellsmere community, especially Yolanda, Daniel and Christina has really helped us grow as human beings. Towards the beginning of the project we kept theorizing and making assumption left and right, but I oddly feel that this was part of the point in our activism, to learn and grow from our mistakes; to participate in productive conversations. It was amazing to hear my classmates introduce themselves in Spanish and make the effort to communicate with the people in Fellsmere. It was awesome to play soccer with the kids and sit down to have a meal with Yolanda. I always get taken aback with how kind and amazing the people in Fellsmere are, I had an awesome realization when I was there, I realized that part of the reason my heart was with this community was because I feel I am at home when I’m there. My mom and dad, and most of my brothers and sisters are 4 states away, and being around people who speak my language and eat my ‘kind’ of food makes me feel less homesick. I always learn something when I go to the garden, this time Daniel taught me how to know when a carrot was ready to be picked. It makes me think back to Mohanty’s notion of home and family, and I honestly feel that Fellsmere is one of the many homes I know.

I fell that this project relates most to Minh-ha. I keep coming back to this text because I feel that these readings have been the ones that have impacted me the most. I feel that not only was it important to value and hear Yolanda’s story, but for me, I learned the importance of hearing my classmate’s story. They too have something to say and experiences to share. This was something that Yolanda and Daniel state at the beginning of each gardening day. They always stress the importance of learning from one another. This is the only way we can grow and build relationships that encourage and fuel our passion for social change. It is until we have this reciprocal relationship that we finally see each other as human beings, worth fighting for and worth listening to. I feel that this project was successful at allowing this class to learn from a community that they would have had no contact to, other than this project and I truly hope that they do not take the bonds they have made for granted. I hope to see them at future garden events, and actions that the Fellsmere community invites us to, and I hope we all think of communities like these, especially women like Yolanda every time we sit down at the table and eat.

Minh-ha, Trinh T. “Women Native Other.” Indiana: Indianapolis, 1989. Print

Girls Like Us and the Global Discourse on Trafficking

“It allows us to overlook the fact that most of the men doing the buying are what we would consider “normal.” Many of these men wouldn’t dream of sexually abusing the girl next door but when it comes to a ‘prostitute,’ event a ‘teen prostitute,’ they figure it doesn’t really matter. She’s already out there. She kinda wants it anyway… there is an underlying belief that men have needs, and that sometimes those needs may be legitimately, if not legally, fulfilled by purchasing someone.” (Lloyd 66-67)

After reading this I felt saddened at this societies view regarding human beings who are in ‘the life’ and at our participation in the system that continue this cycle of oppression. In this society we equate someone with something once it is ‘bought,’ therefore the dehumanizing of a person who is a ‘prostitute’ brings forth the general belief that they (now it) can be treated in any way the buyer see’s fit. This is also reflected by Lloyds quote when she states that sexually abusing ‘the girl next door’ is an unthinkable act, its because the girl next door has a ‘family’, she is someone, she is ‘innocent’ and ‘frail’ and needs to be guarded, but this sentiment is non applicable to the girl who is walking the streets, its perplexing to me how a girl the same age as another is considered non human, or ‘trash’ not only by society, but by legal agencies that are said to protect us, like law enforcement. They are now a sexual object to men who can afford to purchase it and a nuisance to society, a thing who is only there to fulfill a need or a troubled kid to be corrected in a detention facility. This also speaks about constructs of masculinity and relations of power dynamics within sex. Once someone dehumanizes someone who is bought, they feel entitled to degrade, assault and abuse these humans for their personal pleasure. In the Newsweek article “The John Next Door” sex buyers assert that:

“You’re the boss, the total boss,” said another john. “Even us normal guys want to say something and have it done no questions asked. No ‘I don’t feel like it.’ No ‘I’m tired.’ Unquestionable obedience. I mean that’s powerful. Power is like a drug” (Bennetts.)

Power and control is often seen as important contributors to a strong and admirable masculinity, it is this flawed construction of what it means to be a man in all areas of ones life (especially sexually) that perpetuates this cycle of oppression where buying someone is a license which justifies abusing human beings in such a way that we would find ‘unthinkable’ when regarding ‘the girl next door.’

This view is very much classed and raced because it is those women who do not fit the mold of ‘the girl next door’ who has a loving family and the means to be a human being who is exploited. We must examine how we as a whole, view people who are in this ‘line of work’ not as humans but in contrast to how we view ‘the girl next door’, how WE construct ourselves by what we are not, the others. It is not until we examine our role in perpetuating this system that we can dismantle some of the very problematic aspects of the sex industry we all seem to want to talk about.

WORD COUNT: 475

Bennetts, L.. The john next door. N.p., 2011. Web. 10 Apr 2012. http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/07/17/the-growing-demand-for-prostitution.html.