TresSugar

War on Drugs Makes Women the Enemy

TresSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:00:45 -0800

If you've been following the story of Cleveland's alleged serial killer Anthony Sowell, you know it's horrific. Eleven female bodies have been found in and around the man's home, leaving the public wondering how could these crimes go on undetected for years. Writing in the Daily Beast, Cleveland journalist Mansfield Frazier says he knows why: Sowell was able to kill drug-addicted women without anyone noticing because the war on drugs targets women. Let's examine the evidence he uses to support this allegation after the jump.

Chicago High School Has 115 Teen Moms

TresSugar — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:15:33 -0700

There's a serious teen pregnancy crisis at Robeson High School in Chicago. Out of 800 female students, 115 are either pregnant or already moms. That's about one out of seven girls. School officials say a number of factors are to blame. When discussing the problem, the principal pointed to issues at home, such as absent fathers or financial trouble. He said: "It can be a lot of things that are happening in the home or not happening in the home."

The school hopes that setting up a day care center will help mothers graduate. Since this is such a widespread problem at Robeson, perhaps it's time the school steps up its prevention efforts by figuring out how it can better address sex education and help these girls think more critically about their futures. Maybe they should try that program in North Carolina that contributes $1 to a girl's college scholarship fund for every day she remains not-pregnant.

Slumdog Makers Start Fund For Child Poverty in Mumbai

TresSugar — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:00:00 -0700

The makers of Slumdog Millionaire have set up a fund of almost $1 million to support child poverty programs in Mumbai, India. Those behind the Oscar-winning film, which made more than $400 million worldwide, have been accused of exploiting the people who live in Mumbai's slums for their own gain.

While the child actors from the movie got to travel to Hollywood for the Oscars, neighbors cheered them on in their hometown slums. Those images revealed overwhelming joy, but also the poverty that would await the adorable stars when the magic was over.

Aware of this heartbreaking reality, the filmmakers set up private trust funds and bought new homes for Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, the two child actors who lived in the slums.

But two happy endings weren't enough for those who considered the film poverty porn, or a film that exploits the misery of millions for the enjoyment of a privileged audience. To see what some Mumbai residents thought about all this, read more.

Residents of the slums were among those who considered the film exploitative. Many poor Indians protested outside actors' homes, calling the movie and the term "slumdog" offensive.

The new fund may silence critics, but it could also be considered unsubstantial compared to the overall profits reaped by the film. Then again, do these filmmakers have any obligation to address the problem of poverty in India?

Source

Drug Tests For Welfare Recipients?

CitizenSugar — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:30:36 -0700

Do you need food stamps, unemployment benefits, or welfare? Well you better be prepared to submit to random drug testing in at least eight states that are considering a new law. Perhaps looking for a way to cut welfare expenditures, these states are prepared to restrict the safety net to drug-free citizens.

A West Virginian state legislator reckons that "If so many jobs require random drug tests these days, why not these benefits?"

Civil liberties and poverty advocates have an answer for him: requiring drug testing would make the poverty situation worse (even more tent cities?) by discouraging people from seeking assistance. But maybe that's the whole point.

Source

Term "Slumdog" Offends Some Mumbai Slum Residents

CitizenSugar — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 03:00:39 -0800

Slumdog Millionaire presents an intimate and inspiring look into life in Mumbai, India and its success could do much to promote diversity in the entertainment industry and increase global awareness among movie goers. Even so, some residents of Mumbai's slums have taken issue with the title, calling it insulting.

Speaking at a protest outside one of the actor's homes, a teenage resident of Mumbai's slums told the AP: "I am poor, but don't call me slumdog. I don't want to be referred to as a dog." Still, actor Anil Kapoor defends the movie, which he thinks will be an inspiration to children, adding that, "Children from the slums are actually called much worse names."

Does using a derogatory name to describe the hero of an award-winning move signal a triumph for slum residents, or is the term still simply offensive?

Photos courtesy of Fox Searchlight

Bush Says Now Is the Time to Give Aid to Poor Nations

LibertySugar — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 03:00:25 -0700

During the White House Summit on International Development, which focuses on increasing good governance, fighting disease, and enhancing economic growth in developing countries, President George W. Bush said prosperous nations must help less fortunate countries now more than ever.

Yesterday, Bush said:

During times of economic crisis, some may be tempted to turn inward - focusing on our problems here at home while ignoring our interests around the world. This would be a serious mistake. America is committed and must stay committed to international development for reasons that remain true regardless of the ebb and flow of the markets.

Bush took the time to take a trip-down his administration's memory lane, touting its aid accomplishments. In part thanks to the Millennium Challenge Account - which helps nations that embrace democracy and free markets build schools, treat those with AIDS, and feed their people - the US has given more foreign aid in the last eight years than during any other president's tenure of the last 50 years.

Do relatively rich countries have a duty to continue their commitments to the poor in other nations during tough times? Perhaps contributing to stability in friendly developing nations means that there's some self-interest in caring for the world's poor.

Source

Politician's Idea: Paying Poor Women $1,000 to Get Tubes Tied

CitizenSugar — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:51:16 -0700

One Louisiana politician's brainstorm for stopping generational welfare - welfare recipients having children who also end up on assistance - is giving birth to huge controversy. The idea? Offering $1,000 to poor women to get their tubes tied. State Rep. John LaBruzzo has a host of other controversial plans including paying poor men to get vasectomies and giving tax incentives to college-educated, wealthy couples for having children - and the plan is causing some medical professionals to point to its similarities to eugenics programs.

LaBruzzo says he's since modified his plan to include temporary forms of birth control, not just sterilization and argues criticism like this, "I don't know how it's eugenics if it's voluntary, and how can it be racist if the majority of people on welfare are white?"

Of the genesis of the idea, the crushing cycle of poverty, LaBruzzo says:

After this recent storm, we had some issues where these people were going into shelters and taking their cigarettes and welfare but didn't have diapers or insulin for diabetic kids, and they felt they were entitled to say, 'Give me, give me.' None of them didn't want to set up cots or do anything.

To see how incentive programs have worked, read more.

Local policy makers say that the number of welfare recipients in Louisiana have actually dropped since 1991, disputing the need for an incentive program - but Planned Parenthood has actually tried it. In 1989 the group ran a program in Denver paying teen mothers a dollar a day not to get pregnant again. The program seemed to work then, though a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood says now:

Such bribes don't work. It doesn't solve the underlying issues - access to health care and paying jobs. If he'd like to ensure that men and women aren't having too many children, then he should propose legislation to make sure that health care and education to prevent unwanted pregnancy is available to everyone.

Following on the heels of Liberty's post yesterday about the judge who ordered a woman to stop having kids, does the idea of providing an incentive not to have kids seem like a creative response to a big problem - or is it a little bit like a Modest Proposal for the modern age? Good idea or dreadful concept?

Source

Vogue India Has Poor Model Luxury: Tasteless or Beautiful?

LibertySugar — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:00:46 -0700

Vogue India decorated poor women dressed in worn clothing with luxury status items. In one editorial photo spread a baby dons a Fendi bib, and in another a toothless woman holds a Burberry umbrella. Considering that 456 million live on $1.25 a day in India, there aren't too many families that can dress their babies in $100 bibs.

Critics say the spread makes light of nightmarish poverty in India- for example, thousands of Indian farmers have killed themselves over the last decade because of debt. But the editor of Vogue India told the New York Times that critics need to "lighten up," and that the editorial expressed the fact that:

[F]ashion is no longer a rich man's privilege. Anyone can carry it off and make it look beautiful. You have to remember with fashion, you can’t take it that seriously. We weren’t trying to make a political statement or save the world.

While some may say the photo shoot brings fashion to the people, I can see how others could argue that it glamorizes serious human suffering.

Ben Affleck Says Successes in Africa Inspire Him to Do More

LibertySugar — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:00:00 -0700

I checked out a panel on combating global poverty this week, filled with a diverse set of people ready to talk about their experiences surrounding the issue. I was super excited to see panel members like ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and the bearded and articulate Ben Affleck.

A humble Ben noted that he felt a bit out of place, but then shared what he's learned from his time in Africa. Ben thinks poverty activists need to re-package their message so it's not so doom and gloom. He argued that it's "more effective to talk about what people are doing successfully. [The successes] gave me added urgency to get involved."

Ben also highlighted how he and other Western folk are received in Africa. He said:

The countries that hold us in the highest esteem are in Africa. We don't carry colonial baggage. . . . [But] Western folks come in with a sense that "this is how it works." Imposing paradigm is much less effective than imposing solutions into social grooves. You hear people say, "If you teach a man to fish . . ." These people know how to fish, they need a pond to fish in.

Does Ben's insight impress you as much as it impressed me?

Laptops & Role Playing: Is Technology the Answer to Poverty?

CitizenSugar — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:00:39 -0700

Though Dungeons and Dragons has weirdly wormed its way into the campaign, technology is popping up worldwide as not an escape from the drudgery of every day, but as an escape from poverty. Laptops and role-playing games are a double click of cure.

One Laptop Per Child, a program designed to bring technology and opportunity to kids in developing nations has completely fulfilled that mission in the tiny South Pacific island of Niue. Every single kid, 100 percent of them, now has access to the Internet on the inexpensive, rugged, waterproof (and pretty cute!) laptops. Though Niue is a developing nation, they've been ahead of the technology curve - in 2003 they were the first territory to offer free wireless to all residents.

Once you've mastered the web, can gaming be a golden ticket? Oh yes. To find out how, read more.

Almost half a million people in developing nations make their living playing online games like World of Warcraft, earning virtual goods, and the selling them to other players for decidedly unvirtual money. It's called gold-farming and its growing despite the industry's efforts to crack down. Based in China for the most part, the business garners $500 million, though the true size is hard to estimate.

Gamers gold-farm by offering services like "power-leveling" where one can pay a gamer to take one's character to a higher level faster, outsourcing one's hobbies, as it were. The game's service size is comparable to India's outsourcing industry, though relatively few know the former exists. Why do people pay to have someone else play a game for them? Says one researcher, "When you get people with more money than time and time than money the two will find a way to meet." Paying someone to play World of Warcraft for you!? Whatever next.

That said, has technology become the new Esperanto, a language the whole world speaks? Is access to it the antidote to poverty and crucial to survival?

Source