The Common Ills

Saturday, October 27, 2018

Worthless Promises In Silicon Valley

WORTHLESS PROMISES IN SILICON VALLEY
By David Bacon
International Union Rights, V. 25, N. 3, 2018
https://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2018/10/worthless-promises-in-silicon-valley.html
http://www.ictur.org/IUR.html

Children of Versatronex workers on the picket line.

In the valley’s remaining factories, labor contractors have become the formal employers, relieving the big brands of any responsibility for the workers who make the products bearing their labels.

Today Silicon Valley remains the fortress of the country's most anti-union industry. High tech industry dominates every aspect of life. Its voice is largely unchallenged on public policy, because the workers who have created the valley's fabulous wealth have no voice of their own. Corporations like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and National Semiconductor told their workers and communities for years that healthy bottom lines would guarantee rising living standards and secure jobs. Economists still paint a picture of the industry as a massive industrial engine fueling economic growth, benefiting workers and communities alike.

The promises are worthless. Today many giants of industry own no factories at all, having sold them to contract manufacturers who build computers and make chips in locations from China to Hungary. In the factories that remain in the valley, labor contractors like Manpower have become the formal employers, relieving the big brands of any responsibility for the workers who make the products bearing their labels. While living standards rise for a privileged elite at the top of the workforce, they’ve dropped for thousands of workers on the production line. Tens of thousands of workers have been dropped off the lines entirely, as production was moved out of the valley to other states and countries.

Apple Corp. has cash reserves in excess of $1 billion, while San Jose voters are told that there is no money to pay for the pensions of workers who’ve spent their lives in public service. The productivity of industry in the valley went up in the first decade of the current century by 42 percent. But at the same time, average annual employment went down 16 percent. The upper income stratum of the valley benefited from this productivity growth, but there was no corresponding growth in jobs. Fewer people produced wealth for fewer people. The rich got richer and the poor get poorer. Between 2000 and 2010 the number of households with incomes under $10,000 more than doubled, from 11,556 to 26,310.

To make the economy serve the needs of working families, they must be organized. It’s not enough to have a voice or a “place at the table.” Silicon Valley’s 99% need the organized ability to effectively advocate for their needs, in the face of corporate resistance. But despite obstacles, for its entire history Silicon Valley has been as much a cauldron of resistance and new strategies for labor and community organizing as it has been for the production of fabulous wealth. Workers have opposed inhuman conditions. Community organizations have fought for social justice and equality. They will keep on doing that.

[. . .]

DAVID BACON is a journalist and photographer in San Francisco. He is a member of the Editorial Board of International Union Rights. He was chairperson of the UE Electronics Organizing Committee in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and an organizer for the UE at Versatronex.

Versatronex workers on strike.

Mexican and Korean workers march together in downtown San Jose to demand their labor rights.

Lino Pedres, an organizer for the janitors' union, came to the picket line to support the workers. His bullhorn was confiscated by the police, who arrested him.

Maria Pantoja, UE organizer, helps workers set up their strike committee on the picket line.

SUPPORT THE MARRIOTT STRIKERS!

You can see more images of the Marriott hotel strikers in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/albums/with/72157670824833767

Exhibition Schedule
Exhibitions of photographs are scheduled for the following venues and dates:

In the Fields of the North / En los campos del norte
August 8, 2018 - October 14, 2018
Artist talk, Saturday, August 25, 5pm
Museum on Main,

603 Main Street

Pleasanton, CA 94566

In the Fields of the North - Scheduled exhibitions:

January 13, 2019 - March 10, 2019
Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, Vallejo
September 1, 2019 - December 22, 2019
Hi-Desert Nature Museum, Yucca Valley
January 5, 2020 - March 1, 2020
Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County, Yuba City
March 15, 2020 - May 10, 2020
Monterey Country Agricultural and Rural Life Museum, King City
March 21, 2021 - May 23, 2021
Carnegie Arts Center, Turlock

In Washington’s Fields - Scheduled exhibition:

February 5, 2020 - July 15, 2020
Washington State Historical Museum, Tacoma, WA

In the Fields of the North / En los Campos del Norte
Photographs and text by David Bacon
University of California Press / Colegio de la Frontera Norte
302 photographs, 450pp, 9”x9”
paperback, $34.95 (in the U.S.)

order the book on the UC Press website:
ucpress.edu/9780520296077
use source code 16M4197 at checkout, receive a 30% discount

En Mexico se puede pedir el libro en el sitio de COLEF:
https://www.colef.mx

Los Angeles Times reviews In the Fields of the North / En los Campos del Norte - clickhere

En los campos del Norte documenta la vida de trabajadores agrícolas en Estados Unidos -
Entrevista con el Instituto Nacional de la Antropologia y Historia
http://www.inah.gob.mx/es/boletines/6863-en-los-campos-del-norte-documenta-la-vida-de-trabajadores-agricolas-en-estados-unidos

Entrevista en la television de UNAM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdSaBKZ_k0o

David Bacon comparte su mirada del trabajo agrícola de migrantes mexicanos en el Museo Archivo de la Fotografia
http://www.cultura.cdmx.gob.mx/comunicacion/nota/0038-18

Trabajo agrícola, migración y resistencia cultural: el mosaico de los “Campos del Norte”
Entrevista de David Bacon por Iván Gutiérrez / A los 4 Vientos
http://www.4vientos.net/2017/10/04/trabajo-agricola-migracion-y-resistencia-cultural-el-mosaico-de-los-campos-del-norte/

"Los fotógrafos tomamos partido"
Entrevista por Melina Balcázar Moreno - Milenio.com Laberinto
http://www.milenio.com/cultura/laberinto/david_baconm-fotografia-melina_balcazar-laberinto-milenio_0_959904035.html

Die Kunst der Grenze
http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=24304Notruf für "eine andere Welt"
http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=24087

Die Apfel-Pflücker aus dem Yakima-Tal
http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=23990

"Documenting the Farm Worker Rebellion"
"The Radical Resistance to Immigration Enforcement"
Havens Center lectures, University of Wisconsin, click here

San Francisco Commonweallth Club presentation by David Bacon and Jose Padilla, clickhere

EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE: Farm worker photographs on the U.S./Mexico border wall
http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=fc67a76dbb9c31aaee896aff7&id=0644c65ae5&e=dde0321ee7
Entrevista sobre la exhibicion con Alfonso Caraveo (Español)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJeE1NO4c_M&feature=youtu.beTHE REALITY CHECK - David Bacon blog
http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com

Cat Brooks interview on KPFA about In the Fields of the North
https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=263826 - Advance the time to 33:15

Book TV: A presentation of the ideas in The Right to Stay Home at the CUNY Graduate Center
http://booktv.org/Watch/14961/The+Right+to+Stay+Home+How+US+Policy+Drives+Mexican+Migration.aspx

Other Books by David Bacon

The Right to Stay Home: How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration (Beacon Press, 2013)
http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2328

Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press, 2008)
Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008
http://www.beacon.org/Illegal-People-P780.aspx

Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006)
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100558350

The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004)
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520244726

En Español:

EL DERECHO A QUEDARSE EN CASA (Critica - Planeta de Libros)
http://www.planetadelibros.com.mx/el-derecho-a-quedarse-en-casa-libro-205607.html

HIJOS DE LIBRE COMERCIA (El Viejo Topo)
http://www.tienda.elviejotopo.com/prestashop/capitalismo/1080-hijos-del-libre-comercio-deslocalizaciones-y-precariedad-9788496356368.html?search_query=david+bacon&results=1

For more articles and images, see http://dbacon.igc.org and http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com
and https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/albums

Why I Can’t Read the Washington Post

Why I Can’t Read the Washington Post
By David Swanson
http://davidswanson.org/why-i-cant-read-the-washington-post/

Someone recklessly left a copy of a Washington Post lying around in this coffee shop, and I succumbed to morbid curiosity long enough to notice an article that begins:

“Major U.S. defense manufacturers say they will stand by the Trump administration regarding whether American-made weapons systems should be sold to the Saudi government, despite a global political backlash over the killing of a Saudi journalist and an ongoing humanitarian crisis at the hands of a Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.”

How does one manufacture defense? What does selling weapons to Saudi Arabia have to do with defense or “U.S. defense” other than its role in generating hatred of the United States and causing people to believe they are in need of defense?

Who gives a flying fornication whether the people getting rich off the killing of tens of thousands of innocent kids and adults “stand by” their profiteering? I imagine that the manufacturers of guns for sale within the United States “stand by” every policy that allows their sale, too, but how is that news? Do pipe bomb builders “stand by” somebody mailing them around the country? Shoud I care? Have they been elected to anything? Do they have any legal right to allow or disallow their own barbarity?

Which major weapons manufacturer manufactured the bone saw or whatever was used to muder He-Whose-Murder-We-Should-Uniquely-Care-About? I’m guessing none of them. Rather, the contention is, as always, that one should have certain minor qualms about giving or selling someone the tools with which to blow up villages if and only if that someone also kills someone who matters and does so without using any bombs. I don’t buy it. Why aren’t we hearing whether the major bone saw manufacturers “stand by Trump” or not?

The Washington Post continues:

“U.S. defense contractors have shied away from publicly discussing the disappearance and killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist who sharply criticized the Saudi state for limiting free expression. But when pressed by investment analysts this week on how the political situation might affect their business, executives from Massachusetts-based Raytheon and Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin said they would keep selling advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia as long as the U.S.-Saudi military partnership continues.”

Sorry. Actually they will continue their shameless selling of weaponry to anyone they can until they are forbidden by law to do so — a question that is not up to them.

“‘We continue to be aligned with the administration’s policies, and we intend to honor our commitments,’ Toby O’Brien, Raytheon’s chief financial officer, told investors Thursday. Both companies emphasized that their international arms deals are ultimately coordinated by the government in concert with foreign allies. For U.S. defense contractors to sell weapons systems abroad, they have to first go through a complicated government process that involves the Defense Department, State Department and Congress, which vet each deal’s geopolitical, security and human rights implications.”

Nope. Sorry. The U.S. government has a demonstrated, longstanding, and virtually complete inability to judge the geopolitical results of arming countries and groups. Any actual vetting for “security” that related in any way to, you know, making the U.S. public secure, would inevitably find that pouring weapons into the Middle East has done the exact opposite consistently for decades. And there is no possible way to use bombs that respects human rights. The majority of the victims are always civilians, and the entirety always human. The bombs and other weapons are also being used to enforce starvation and disease epidemics, means of killing that are not typically counted as humanitarian when not facilitated by bombings.

“‘Most of these agreements that we have are government-to-government purchases, so anything that we do has to follow strictly the regulations of the U.S. government,’ Lockheed Martin chief executive Marillyn Hewson said Tuesday. ‘Beyond that, we’ll just work with the U.S. government as they’re continuing their relationship with Saudi.'”

Has anyone suggested that the U.S. government was not up to its eyeballs in this? Why do we have to be repeatedly told that the U.S. government is in on weapons sales? It is the world’s largest weapons sales marketing firm. How does that excuse anything? Doesn’t it, rather, indicate what is needed?

“The Aerospace Industries Association, a trade group, said it will continue to ‘support U.S. national security and foreign policy goals, and our companies will continue to look to the government for direction on how best to support those goals.'”

Again. So what?

“Saudi Arabia is a favored business partner of U.S. defense contractors because it is among the world’s largest military spenders. The kingdom spends billions of dollars every year on American-made weapons systems, and it has few of the bureaucratic checks and balances that delay big military purchases in the United States. Raytheon executives said Thursday that about 5 percent of the company’s annual sales come from the kingdom, though they emphasized it is not dependent on any one foreign buyer. They expect those sales to remain roughly flat into next year, as the company receives at least two large contracts for ‘offensive and defensive weapons systems’ and military training.”

No. Sorry. They don’t get to decide whether they keep on selling weapons. The government does. But we certainly should start calling them a Major Offense Manufacturer after that last remark.

“Lockheed executives said Tuesday that they have ‘about less than $500 million’ in Saudi sales planned for 2019 and about $900 into 2020. The company expects to receive an additional $450 million contract for combat ships and is awaiting an additional deal on its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system, which is expected to be operational in Saudi Arabia by 2023.”

Again, no. They don’t get to announce future mass murder operations when the question at hand is whether to allow them.

“Lockheed has made selling to foreign governments a key target for growth. Earlier this year, Hewson said her company’s international sales had jumped from 17 percent of total sales in 2013 to 30 percent in 2017. Saudi Arabia played a key role in that growth, she said, and made it clear that the relationship would continue. ‘Saudia Arabia has expressed its intent to procure integrated air and missile defense systems, combat ships, helicopters, surveillance systems and tactical aircraft in coming years,’ she said.”

Oh, well, as long as it’s growth.

“That relationship is now complicated by a global political backlash over Saudi Arabia’s human rights record in the weeks since Khashoggi’s killing, an issue that has also brought renewed visibility to a long-running humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The United Nations has counted thousands of civilian deaths, including ‘possible war crimes,’ in a Saudi-led war in Yemen that is bolstered by U.S. arms and training. ”

In fact, the war is a crime, which makes every part of it a “war crime,” and the war involves the U.S. military picking targets, refuelling bombers mid-air, and “boots on the ground.”

“The Associated Press reported Thursday that 21 people, including some children, were killed by a Saudi airstrike at a fruit and vegetable market near Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeida. ‘Civilians are paying a shocking price because of this conflict,’ U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen Lise Grande told the AP. There has so far been little decisive action to curb arms sales, however. On Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the country would suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia, telling reporters that, ‘arms exports can’t take place in the current circumstances.’ And the European Union passed a resolution Thursday urging a ban on weapons sales in response to Khashoggi’s killing.”

So, after all that blather from the dealers of death, we discover that governments matter and that one has already acted.

“The resolution was nonbinding, however, and it was unclear what if any effect it would have. Britain, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest source for military hardware behind the United States, has yet to take a firm stance on the issue. And President Trump said on CBS’s ’60 Minutes’ last Sunday that he wants U.S. arms sales to continue to protect jobs at Lockheed, Boeing and Raytheon. ‘I don’t want to lose an order like that,’ he said.”

The facts that military spending reduces jobs, and that a society converted to peace could have many more jobs, and that Saudi Arabia’s weapons contracts are not actually big enough to constitute a threat to the U.S. economy are not the sort of facts the Washington Post will decide we need to be informed about.

“Numerous U.S. politicians have pledged to place limits on Saudi arms sales in light of Khashoggi’s killing even though it will be hard for them to overcome a White House veto. On Wednesday a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would stop most U.S. arms sales to the kingdom, specifically referencing ‘the murder of journalist and United States permanent resident Jamal Khashoggi.'”

So, now we discover that Congress could act if it saw fit.

“Raytheon faces political headwinds over a proposed sale of precision-guided bomb kits, complex navigation systems that steer bombs to their targets, presumably making them more effective against military targets and less dangerous for civilians. Raytheon wants to sell bomb kits to the United Arab Emirates as well as Saudi Arabia, but the Saudi portion of that deal is being held up by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) over human rights concerns.”

And now we learn that a senator has done something.

“Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, recently told reporters that he wouldn’t support any new weapons deals to the kingdom. ‘The mood of the Congress is this outrageous act can’t be followed by a business as usual arms deal,’ he said, according to published reports. Still, defense analysts believe U.S. defense contractors are unlikely to take much of a financial hit over the Saudi situation, even if arms sales are curbed significantly. With the U.S. defense budget growing again under a Republican-controlled Congress and White House, companies like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are more optimistic about future sales in the United States. ‘We are a global company providing technology and security solutions for over 80 countries and we have numerous global franchises,’ Raytheon chief executive Thomas Kennedy said. ‘So I’m pretty confident that we will weather this complexity.'”

Now we discover that the dealers would do fine without the Saudi deals, but we don’t go back and question Trump’s motivations. Nor is the “human rights” problem mentionable in the context of the massive weapons purchases by the U.S. government, despite the U.S. government’s record of bombings that have killed millions and destroyed whole societies.

“Lockheed took in more than $50 billion from U.S. government contracts last year, dwarfing its expected $500 million in Saudi sales for 2019. ‘So not a huge amount of dependency on the [Saudi] activity, even though the opportunities we’ve described are much larger than that obviously,’ Lockheed chief financial officer Bruce Tanner said Tuesday. Defense analysts see it as unlikely that any campaign to limit arms sales will succeed unless President Trump leaves the White House in 2020. Even then, U.S. defense contractors would have the support of a sophisticated and well-funded lobbying operation in Washington: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon spent more than $50 million combined in 2017, according to opensecrets.org. Boeing, which has a substantial commercial airline business, led the way with $16.7 million, with Lockheed and Northrop at $14.5 million each. ‘We have supported the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in securing defense for more than 50 years,’ Kennedy said. ‘And through that course of time, we have seen issues that have occurred at different periods of uncertainty. And we’ve always resolved it through the end and by doing this one thing: It’s actually following the direction and position of the U.S. administration, which we were right behind in making sure that we understand where they are going and that we’re locked in step behind them.'”

Yes, again, we are enlightened by the report that the weapons dealers will deal any weapons they are allowed to. But we’re never informed of the Washington Post’s owner’s CIA and military contracts.

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson's books include War Is A Lie. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio.He is a 2015, 2016, 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee.

Follow him on Twitter: @davidcnswanson and FaceBook.

Help support DavidSwanson.org, WarIsACrime.org, and TalkNationRadio.org by clicking here: http://davidswanson.org/donate.

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14 Reasons to Feel Inspired After Bioneers 2018

Bioneers Pulse – updates from the Bioneers Community

Greetings fellow Bioneers!

On Sunday, the 29th annual Bioneers Conference came to a close. We left full of hope for our future and feeling more committed than ever to our work.

We spent three inspiring days hearing from the youth leaders, activists, journalists, entrepreneurs, and more, who are working hard to leave a positive mark on their peers, communities, and the planet. It’s times like these when it feels like so many of our fundamental shared beliefs about the importance of stewarding our planet are being reversed or undermined by our government, that we need to see the important work Bioneers around the world are doing.

In this week’s email, we highlight just a sample of what we saw and experienced at Bioneers 2018. Over the next few weeks, we can't wait to share with you the talks and ideas that inspired us at Bioneers 2018, including full keynote videos, transcripts, photos and more. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, so you don’t miss a thing.

Now is the time to mobilize to work toward a future that is socially just and environmentally responsible—together.

Wise Words From Bioneers 2018

“If you want to know the health of a place, look at the health of its Indigenous people.” —Lyla June, poet, musician, anthropologist, and community organizer of Diné, Cheyenne and European lineages

"The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago. The second best time is today." —Alex Eaton, co-founder of Sistema.bio, a social business addressing climate change, food security, and poverty through technology

"Our way of life, our way of seeing and thinking, has protected the rainforest into the 21st century. We mustn’t trade in thousands of years of knowledge in order to become cattle ranchers. The Amazon depends on it." —Alicia Salazar, Ceibo Alliance General Coordinator, who is currently working to bring attention to a petition to protect Waorani land from oil drilling

“The only thing stronger than a determined woman is a group of women with each other’s backs.” —Nina Simons, co-founder and Chief Relationship Strategist of Bioneers and co-founder of Women Bridging Worlds and Connecting Women Leading Change

“Help people build new things, not just resist. If we want to keep the masses engaged and inspired, we need to build small replicable models. Seeing something work differently, even at the smallest level, gives people hope.” —Cat Brooks, “artivist,” community leader, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, and Executive Director of the Justice Teams Network

Videos to Watch

Kevin Powell

Transitioning from Toxic Manhood

Edna Chavez

Youth Creating a Less Violent World

Patrisse Cullors

Envisioning a Future In Which We All Thrive

Help Bioneers Continue This Important Work

We are thrilled to share that on Sunday, Azita Ardakani and Honeycomb Portfolio announced they would be matching donations to Bioneers, dollar for dollar, up to $50,000! Honeycomb Portfolio is a female-founded fund led by Bioneer Azita Ardakani, which invests in early-stage, nature-inspired, for-profit social enterprises. Support Bioneers now with Venmo or Paypal by giving to donate@bioneers.org or click the button below.

SUPPORT BIONEERS>>

What Bioneers Co-Founders & Executive Director Had to Say at Bioneers 2018

At this year's conference, attendees had the opportunity to hear directly from conference co-founders Nina Simons and Kenny Ausubel, as well as Bioneers’ executive director Joshua Fouts, about the troubling times we’re currently living in and the way forward. Read transcripts from each of their keynote addresses here:

Dung Beetle Medicine - Kenny Ausubel
Roots and Branches – Stabilizing, Centering and Receiving Guidance From Past Toward Future, and From Below and Above - Nina Simons
Birds Will Shit On You - Joshua Fouts

Take Action: A Message From Julia Butterfly Hill on Encouraging Our Youth

Eighteen years ago, the courageous activist Julia Butterfly Hill, who had spent more than two years living 180 feet high in a 1,500-year-old redwood tree to protest the clear cutting of old growth forests, spoke at Bioneers. She both inspired and challenged us to include more youth at the Bioneers Conference. This year we will provide over 400 scholarships to young people. You can help by supporting our Youth Leadership Scholarship (YLS) Campaign. Watch a message from Julia above, and find out more about how you can contribute to the YLS Campaign here.

News From the Amazon: Progress for Indigenous & Environmental Rights in Ecuador

Bioneers awardees from Ceibo Alliance brought a powerful message of hope from the Amazon this past weekend. From their keynote speech on Saturday to their panels and at the Awards Dinner, they told stories of indigenous resistance on the frontlines of extractive industries’ assault on the rainforest, shared about their organizing model that puts youth, women’s leadership and ancestral culture at the center of building solutions to rainforest destruction, and helped us understand that indigenous peoples must be empowered as leaders in the global fight against climate change. Perhaps the most powerful lesson from their struggle can be summed up in one line from Nemote Nenquimo, “We are all connected.”

Upon returning back to the Amazon they were greeted with incredible news: after two years of on-the-ground organizing, evidence gathering, and legal accompaniment, a provincial court in Ecuador ruled in favor of Ceibo partners in the Kofán community of Sinangoe, nullifying 52 gold mining concessions granted without the Kofan’s permission and protecting 79,000 acres in a mega-biodiverse headwaters region of their ancestral territory. Check out a video from Amazon Frontlines and Ceibo Alliance about the victory here. Then sign the pledge to Stand With Sinangoe to show your solidarity with the indigenous-led movement that is standing up for the Amazon rainforest and our climate future.