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Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Freeing the University: Education Occupation on May Day
Cross-posted from In These Times Pop quiz: what’s the value of an American education? To some, it’s a booming industry that preys on debt-crippled students. But to the educators, youth and workers who keep the system running, school increasingly seems like it’s just not worth the struggle. This May Day, masses of working people–and students who [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: L.A. Riots Redux, In Stereo
Cross-posted from CultureStrike The impact of the Los Angeles riots still resonates twenty years on. Here’s an audio take on the experience of the chaos–all the pain, the fear, the search for healing amid relentless destruction, and the hope for redemption rising from the ashes. The community has changed since then–socially, culturally and economically. But the divides across [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Depression Symptoms: What’s Behind Europe’s Spike in Suicides
Cross-posted from In These Times. The metaphor of suicide has been used to depict the downward spiral surrounding countries bludgeoned by the economic crisis—particularly U.S. and Eurozone communities plagued by epidemic joblessness and a rash of budget cuts. Now the term literally describes the psychological dimension of the crisis, according to studies on suicide rates. Some [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Labor Action and Inaction in Colombia Free Trade Deal
Cross-posted from In these Times As the media swarmed over the scandal surrounding the Secret Service’s alleged carousing with prostitutes in Colombia, another questionable financial transaction slipped quietly through the backdoor of hemispheric diplomacy. While officials convened at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena earlier this month, the White House put the finishing touches on another [...] -
Michelle Chen commented on the diary post Sunday Food: Quinoa by Ruth Calvo.
Well, it may be delicious and relatively eco-friendly, but some call into question its hippy-superfood image: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2110890,00.html.
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Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Romney-Rosen Firestorm Is Reminder: We Need to Redefine Gender Justice
Cross-posted from In These Times It’s almost poetic that this year’s Equal Pay Day —the one day of the year when Americans are supposed to reflect on the value (and undervaluing) of women’s work—coincided with the media firestorm surrounding the American stay-at-home-mom. The “controversy” over Ann Romney’s decision to stay home rather than work a “regular” job should highlight [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Apple’s Two Faces: Power Gaps Between Brazil and China Foxconn Workers
Cross-posted from In These Times. Apple presides over a global technology empire, but the economic landscapes it shapes around the world are strangely uneven. With its hundreds of thousands of employees worldwide, Apple’s manufacturing partner Foxconn works very differently in two hemispheres of the Global South. The think tank Economic Policy Institute recently hosted a forum to [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: The Boss Man Cometh: Through State Tax Breaks, Employers Pilfer Workers’ Earnings
Cross-posted from In These Times. As you file your taxes this week, before complaining about how much you’re forking over to Uncle Sam, bear in mind that the tax man might not be the only one you’re writing a check to: Your boss might be getting a big cut, too. Thanks to arcane state tax subsidies, [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Participatory Budgeting Lets New Yorkers Experiment With Economic Democracy
Cross-posted from In These Times For many American cities, the budget process is basically fiscal hell, and the politics of plugging potholes and funding schools akin to legislative purgatory. But a tiny miracle just arrived in New York City. Communities are experimenting with Participatory Budgeting, a system for giving local people a say in planning [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Free Agents: Will Micro-Labor Shrink Workplace Rights?
Cross-posted from In These Times. The universe of the Web-based marketplace allows you to sell just about anything online today—so why not your labor? The “help wanted” page has now upgraded itself for an Information Age economic crisis, with a new crop of services that link odd jobs to people looking to make a buck. Some [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Unrest in Indonesia’s Mines: Local Chaos and Global Injustice
Cross-posted from In These Times Buried in Indonesia’s rich soil is a minefield of brutality, literally. Last year, the Grasberg mine of the Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold, one of the largest such operations in the world, shut down after thousands of workers launched a strike to demand higher wages. Work recently resumed, but the [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Citing ‘Tradition,’ Big Ag Fights Reforms for Child Farmworkers
Cross-posted from In These Times. ” they gave me my first knife. Week after week I was cutting myself. Every week I had a new scar. My hands have a lot of stories.” –17-year-old boy who started working at age 11 in Michigan ( Human Rights Watch ) America’s farm workers have always had it tough, toiling for endless hours [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Isolated Incidents: A Hijab, a Hoodie, and an Iraqi American’s Death
Cross-posted from CultureStrike. As reporters clamored for breaking news about the vicious attack on Shaima Alawadi, an Iraqi American mother of five in El Cajon, California, her teenage daughter Fatima turned to the interviewer with a question of her own:
“‘Why did you take my mother away from me? You took my best friend away from me,’ she [...]
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Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: As Helping Hands for Elders, Home Care Workers Push for Respect
Cross-posted from In These Times. Somewhere in your community today, an elder person is wondering when she’ll be able to take her medicine today, or have a chance to see the sun. And her mind will be put at ease once her aide arrives to help her get dressed, eat breakfast or take a walk in [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Even With Daisey’s Lies Peeled Away, Apple’s Rotten Core Exposed
Cross-posted from In These Times. Apple’s brand glared in the media spotlight this past week, after the public learned that performance artist Mike Daisey’s theatrical rendering of the struggles of Apple factory workers contained false claims—painfully exposed on an episode of the radio program This American Life . But if one fundamental truth has emerged from the scandal surrounding [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Makers, Takers and $2-a-dayers
Cross-posted from In These Times One official measure of poverty around the world is surviving on $2 per day or less. It’s a condition many Americans could barely imagine living in. And yet the official data suggests that while politicians insist the U.S. is insulated from such deprivation, a large share of the country is feeling [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Labor Campaign Calls on Olympic Brand Companies to Play Fair
Cross-posted at In These Times
The world’s greatest games are about to begin in London. But outside the sporting spectacle this summer, few will notice where the real cheating is going on: in Asian factories that churn out plush mascots and other Olympiad gear, corporations have freely exploited lax labor regulations. As the Olympics approach, activists [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Blacklisted as ‘Troublemakers,’ U.K. Construction Workers Struggle for Justice
Cross-posted from These These Times. For years, they wondered why they kept getting turned down for jobs, even when they seemed well qualified. The workers might have all just chalked it up to bad luck if they hadn’t eventually discovered they were at the center of an extraordinary conspiracy. An investigation by the U.K. government’s Information Commissioners [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: Student Labor Scandal Illuminates the Gray Market for Guestworkers
Cross-posted from In These Times. The students came for a summer learning experience with a job at a classic American company. Instead, they got a crash course in the realities of the global economy. Following months of campaigning, young foreign students who have waged a bitter labor battle against a U.S. candy giant, the Department of [...] -
Michelle Chen wrote a new diary post: In All-India General Strike, Workers Go All Out Against Neoliberalism
Cross-posted from In These Times India’s economic ascent seems like it should be the envy of the world’s richest nations; with rocketing growth rates and gargantuan consumer and labor markets, India’s destiny as Asia’s next superstar looks beyond a doubt. Except Indian workers just gave the boosters of global capitalism a few million second thoughts. The all-India [...] - Load More
