Big businesshas backed aLabor Party push for new laws toforce major Australian companies to report on modern slavery in their supply chains.

Federal Laborwill on Monday announce the newpolicy and call for the introduction of a Modern Slavery Act toimpose newrequirements onbig businessto report onslavery and human trafficking in their supply chains. The policy includesthe introduction of a publicly available list of companies that wouldbe required to develop policies on and monitor any signs of the problem.

Labor also wants an independent anti-slavery commissioner like in Britain toaddress alack of enforcement of laws against slavery and to help businessesprotect supply chains.

The Business Council of Australia, which represents the chiefs of Australia's top companies, said it welcomed Labor's commitment to the introduction of a Modern Slavery Act.

"Greater global trade has boosted Australians' living standards, but it has also increased the risk that products and services are tainted by the use of forced labour," a Business Council spokesman said.

"Increased transparency will help customers, investors and business partners more easily distinguish whether companies are acting morally and working to maintain clean supply chains. Transparency also makes competition between businesses fairer.

"Large businesses are rightly taking a leadership role in promoting and supporting clean supply chains, and we look forward to consulting with Labor on the detail of its proposal."

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest late last year challenged Australian business leaders to wipe slavery out of their supply chains and has backed calls for tougher rules in this country.

Hewas shocked to find evidence of slavery within the supply chain of his Fortescue Metals Group in 2012.

Federal Labor's spokeswoman for Justice, ClareO'Neiland Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will on Monday announce itsnew policymodelled on Britain's Modern Slavery Act.

"For the first time, we are making it crystal clear that big businesses need to know what's happening in their supply chains," Ms O'Neil said.

"Every day, we probably pick up a product, wear a piece of clothing, use a resource or consume something which has been touched by a slave.

"We have a clear moral responsibility to tackle this problem.

"This policy represents a major shift in thinking about our responsibility as businesses and consumers for modern slavery."

Labor's callfor a Modern Slavery Act goes further than theexisting British law by mandatingand not simply suggesting that companiesreport on their supply chains and any areas of risk involvingslavery and human trafficking. Companies would also face penalties for non-compliance.

Ms O'Neil said two-thirds of people trapped in slavery worldwideare reported to be in the Asia-Pacific region and itwas estimated4300weretrapped in slavery in Australia.

In February, federal Attorney-GeneralGeorge Brandislaunchedaninquiry into whether amodern slavery act should be introduced in Australia.

The inquiry has been asked to look into the extent of modern day slavery includingforced labour and wage exploitation, involuntary servitude, debt bondage, human trafficking, forced marriage and other slavery-like exploitationin Australia and globally withreference to Britain's 2015 Modern Slavery Act.

The Senate committee has been asked to identifyinternational best practice used by governments, companies, businesses and organisations to prevent modern slavery in domestic and global supply chains, with a view to strengthening Australian legislation.

Excerpt from:

Big business backs Labor call for new anti-slavery legislation - The Sydney Morning Herald

The strangest part about the continued personality cult of Robert E. Lee is how few of the qualities his admirers profess to see in him he actually possessed.

Memorial Day has the tendency to conjure up old arguments about the Civil War. Thats understandable; it was created to mourn the dead of a war in which the Union was nearly destroyed, when half the country rose up in rebellion in defense of slavery. This year, the removal of Lees statue in New Orleans has inspired a new round of commentary about Lee, not to mention protests on his behalf by white supremacists.

The myth of Lee goes something like this: He was a brilliant strategist and devoted Christian man who abhorred slavery and labored tirelessly after the war to bring the country back together.

There is little truth in this. Lee was a devout Christian, and historians regard him as an accomplished tactician. But despite his ability to win individual battles, his decision to fight a conventional war against the more densely populated and industrialized North is considered by many historians to have been a fatal strategic error.

But even if one conceded Lees military prowess, he would still be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans in defense of the Souths authority to own millions of human beings as property because they are black. Lees elevation is a key part of a 150-year-old propaganda campaign designed to erase slavery as the cause of the war and whitewash the Confederate cause as a noble one. That ideology is known as the Lost Cause, and as historian David Blight writes, it provided a foundation on which Southerners built the Jim Crow system.

There are unwitting victims of this campaignthose who lack the knowledge to separate history from sentiment. Then there are those whose reverence for Lee relies on replacing the actual Lee with a mythical figure who never truly existed.

In the Richmond Times Dispatch, R. David Cox wrote that For white supremacist protesters to invoke his name violates Lees most fundamental convictions. In the conservative publication Townhall, Jack Kerwick concluded that Lee was among the finest human beings that has ever walked the Earth. John Daniel Davidson, in an essay for The Federalist, opposed the removal of the Lee statute in part on the grounds that Lee arguably did more than anyone to unite the country after the war and bind up its wounds. Praise for Lee of this sort has flowed forth from past historians and presidents alike.

This is too divorced from Lees actual life to even be classed as fan fiction; it is simply historical illiteracy.

White supremacy does not violate Lees most fundamental convictions. White supremacy was one of Lees most fundamental convictions.

Lee was a slaveownerhis own views on slavery were explicated in an 1856 letter that it often misquoted to give the impression that Lee was some kind of an abolitionist. In the letter, he describes slavery as a moral & political evil, but goes on to explain that:

I think it however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race, & while my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more strong for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better things. How long their subjugation may be necessary is known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence. Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild & melting influence of Christianity, than the storms & tempests of fiery Controversy.

The argument here is that slavery is bad for white people, good for black people, and most importantly, it is better than abolitionism; emancipation must wait for divine intervention. That black people might not want to be slaves does not enter into the equation; their opinion on the subject of their own bondage is not even an afterthought to Lee.

Lees cruelty as a slavemaster was not confined to physical punishment. In Reading the Man, the historian Elizabeth Brown Pryors portrait of Lee through his writings, Pryor writes that Lee ruptured the Washington and Custis tradition of respecting slave families, by hiring them off to other plantations, and that by 1860 he had broken up every family but one on the estate, some of whom had been together since Mount Vernon days. The separation of slave families was one of the most unfathomably devastating aspects of slavery, and Pryor wrote that Lees slaves regarded him as the worst man I ever see.

The trauma of rupturing families lasted lifetimes for the enslavedit was, as my colleague Ta-Nehisi Coates described it, a kind of murder. After the war, thousands of the emancipated searched desperately for kin lost to the market for human flesh, fruitlessly for most. In Reconstruction, the historian Eric Foner quotes a Freedmens Bureau agent who notes of the emancipated, in their eyes, the work of emancipation was incomplete until the families which had been dispersed by slavery were reunited.

Lees heavy hand on the Arlington plantation, Pryor writes, nearly led to a slave revolt, in part because the enslaved had been expected to be freed upon their previous masters death, and Lee had engaged in a dubious legal interpretation of his will in order to keep them as his property, one that lasted until a Virginia court forced him to free them.

When two of his slaves escaped and were recaptured, Lee either beat them himself or ordered the overseer to "lay it on well." Wesley Norris, one of the slaves who was whipped, recalled that not satisfied with simply lacerating our naked flesh, Gen. Lee then ordered the overseer to thoroughly wash our backs with brine, which was done.

Every state that seceded mentioned slavery as the cause in their declarations of secession. Lees beloved Virginia was no different, accusing the federal government of perverting its powers not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern Slaveholding States. Lees decision to fight for the South can only be described as a choice to fight for the continued existence of human bondage in Americaeven though for the Union, it was not at first a war for emancipation.

During his invasion of Pennsylvania, Lees Army of Northern Virginia enslaved free blacks and brought them back to the South as property. Pryor writes that evidence links virtually every infantry and cavalry unit in Lees army with the abduction of free black Americans, with the activity under the supervision of senior officers.

Soldiers under Lees command at the Battle of the Crater in 1864 massacred black Union soldiers who tried to surrender. Then, in a spectacle hatched by Lees senior corps commander A.P. Hill, the Confederates paraded the Union survivors through the streets of Petersburg to the slurs and jeers of the southern crowd. Lee never discouraged such behavior. As the historian Richard Slotkin wrote in No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, his silence was permissive.

The presence of black soldiers on the field of battle shattered every myth the Souths slave empire was built on: the happy docility of slaves, their intellectual inferiority, their cowardice, their inability to compete with whites. As Pryor writes, fighting against brave and competent African Americans challenged every underlying tenet of southern society. The Confederate response to this challenge was to visit every possible atrocity and cruelty upon black soldiers whenever possible, from enslavement to execution.

As the historian James McPherson recounts in Battle Cry of Freedom, in October of that same year, Lee proposed an exchange of prisoners with the Union general Ulysses S. Grant. Grant agreed, on condition that blacks be exchanged the same as white soldiers. Lees response was that negroes belonging to our citizens are not considered subjects of exchange and were not included in my proposition. Because slavery was the cause for which Lee fought, he could hardly be expected to easily concede, even at the cost of the freedom of his own men, that blacks could be treated as soldiers and not things. Grant refused the offer, telling Lee that Government is bound to secure to all persons received into her armies the rights due to soldiers. Despite its desperate need for soldiers, the Confederacy did not relent from this position until a few months before Lees surrender.

After the war, Lee did counsel defeated southerners against rising up against the North. Lee might have become a rebel once more, and urged the South to resume fightingas many of his former comrades wanted him to. But even in this task Grant, in 1866, regarded his former rival as falling short, saying that Lee was setting an example of forced acquiescence so grudging and pernicious in its effects as to be hardly realized.

Nor did Lees defeat lead to an embrace of racial egalitarianism. The war was not about slavery, Lee insisted later, but if it was about slavery, it was only out of Christian devotion that white southerners fought to keep blacks enslaved. Lee told a New York Herald reporter, in the midst of arguing in favor of somehow removing blacks from the South (disposed of, in his words), that unless some humane course is adopted, based on wisdom and Christian principles you do a gross wrong and injustice to the whole negro race in setting them free. And it is only this consideration that has led the wisdom, intelligence and Christianity of the South to support and defend the institution up to this time.

Lee had beaten or ordered his own slaves to be beaten for the crime of wanting to be free, he fought for the preservation of slavery, his army kidnapped free blacks at gunpoint and made them unfreebut all of this, he insisted, had occurred only because of the great Christian love the South held for blacks. Here we truly understand Frederick Douglasss admonition that "between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference."

Privately, according to the correspondence collected by his own family, Lee counseled others to hire white labor instead of the freedmen, observing that wherever you find the negro, everything is going down around him, and wherever you find a white man, you see everything around him improving.

In another letter, Lee wrote You will never prosper with blacks, and it is abhorrent to a reflecting mind to be supporting and cherishing those who are plotting and working for your injury, and all of whose sympathies and associations are antagonistic to yours. I wish them no evil in the worldon the contrary, will do them every good in my power, and know that they are misled by those to whom they have given their confidence; but our material, social, and political interests are naturally with the whites.

Publicly, Lee argued against the enfranchisement of blacks, and raged against Republican efforts to enforce racial equality on the South. Lee told Congress that blacks lacked the intellectual capacity of whites and could not vote intelligently, and that granting them suffrage would excite unfriendly feelings between the two races. Lee explained that the negroes have neither the intelligence nor the other qualifications which are necessary to make them safe depositories of political power. To the extent that Lee believed in reconciliation, it was between white people, and only on the precondition that black people would be denied political power and therefore the ability to shape their own fate.

Lee is not remembered as an educator, but his life as president of Washington College (later Washington and Lee) is tainted as well. According to Pryor, students at Washington formed their own chapter of the KKK, and were known by the local Freedmens Bureau to attempt to abduct and rape black schoolgirls from the nearby black schools.

There were at least two attempted lynchings by Washington students during Lees tenure, and Pryor writes that the number of accusations against Washington College boys indicates that he either punished the racial harassment more laxly than other misdemeanors, or turned a blind eye to it, adding that he did not exercise the near imperial control he had at the school, as he did for more trivial matters, such as when the boys threatened to take unofficial Christmas holidays. In short, Lee was as indifferent to crimes of violence toward blacks carried out by his students as he was when they were carried out by his soldiers.

Lee died in 1870, as Democrats and ex-Confederates were commencing a wave of terrorist violence that would ultimately reimpose their domination over the Southern states. The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866; there is no evidence Lee ever spoke up against it. On the contrary, he darkly intimated in his interview with the Herald that the South might be moved to violence again if peace did not proceed on its terms. That was prescient.

Lee is a pivotal figure in American history worthy of study. Neither the man who really existed, nor the fictionalized tragic hero of the Lost Cause, are heroes worthy of a statue in a place of honor. As one Union veteran angrily put it in 1903 when Pennsylvania was considering placing a statute to Lee at Gettysburg, If you want historical accuracy as your excuse, then place upon this field a statue of Lee holding in his hand the banner under which he fought, bearing the legend: We wage this war against a government conceived in liberty and dedicated to humanity. The most fitting monument to Lee is the national military cemetery the federal government placed on the grounds of his former home in Arlington.

To describe this man as an American hero requires ignoring the immense suffering for which he was personally responsible, both on and off the battlefield. It requires ignoring his participation in the industry of human bondage, his betrayal of his country in defense of that institution, the battlefields scattered with the lifeless bodies of men who followed his orders and those they killed, his hostility toward the rights of the freedmen and his indifference to his own students waging a campaign of terror against the newly emancipated. It requires reducing the sum of human virtue to a sense of decorum and the ability to convey gravitas in a gray uniform.

There are former Confederates who sought to redeem themselvesone thinks of James Longstreet, wrongly blamed by Lost Causers for Lees disastrous defeat at Gettysburg, who went from fighting the Union army to leading New Orleanss integrated police force in battle against white supremacist paramilitaries. But there are no statues of Longstreet in New Orleans.* Lee was devoted to defending the principle of white supremacy; Longstreet was not. This, perhaps, is why Lee was placed atop the largest Confederate monument at Gettysburg in 1917, but the 6-foot-2-inch Longstreet had to wait until 1998 to receive a smaller-scale statue hidden in the woods that makes him look like a hobbit riding a donkey. Its why Lee is remembered as a hero, and Longstreet is remembered as a disgrace.

The white supremacists who have protested on Lees behalf are not betraying his legacy. In fact, they have every reason to admire him. Lee, whose devotion to white supremacy outshone his loyalty to his country, is the embodiment of everything they stand for. Tribe and race over country is the core of white nationalism, and racists can embrace Lee in good conscience.

The question is why anyone else would.

* This article originally stated that there are no statues of Longstreet in the American South; in fact, there is one in his hometown of Gainesville, Georgia. We regret the error.

View post:

The Myth of the Kindly General Lee - The Atlantic

By Ralph Northam and Tom Perriello By Ralph Northam and Tom Perriello June 4

Editors note: On Friday, The Post conducted an email debate between Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam and former congressman Tom Perriello, Democratic candidates in Virginias 2017 gubernatorial election. The questions were asked by Post editorial board member Lee Hockstader. The transcript has been edited for style and clarity.

[Meet the candidates running to become Virginias next governor]

Lee Hockstader: Polls suggest many primary voters are struggling to decide between the two of you, which might reflect the civility of your race or how narrow the policy differences are.

Dr. Northam, youve suggested youd work better with the Republican-controlled legislature than your opponent, by dint of your experience and relationships in Richmond, but it seems a stretch to think GOP leaders in the General Assembly will allow any Democratic governor to claim a major victory. Mr. Perriello, youve made a case for yourself as a younger, very liberal candidate with what you call bold ideas, but a lot of those ideas like soaking the rich with a tax hike to provide two years of debt-free community college for any Virginian are simply non-starters for Republicans, no matter how much you campaign in conservative parts of Virginia.

What can each of you say to sharpen the distinctions between you so voters can understand how you would govern differently? Why are you a better bet than your opponent?

(Dalton Bennett/The Washington Post)

[GOP hopefuls for Va. governor debate Metro, the opioid epidemic, Confederate statues]

Ralph Northam: With over a decade of experience working in Richmond, Ive developed relationships with leaders of both parties. In fact, one of my first experiences in the legislature [was] to lead the fight to pass a smoking ban in restaurants. While it failed the first time, I learned some lessons after taking a licking, brought Republicans to the table to talk about the benefits for Virginia. The very next year, we passed the ban and then-Gov. [Timothy M.] Kaine signed it into law. The way we got it done was to explain how much it was hurting our economy and costing our health care. We were able to succeed despite Big Tobaccos efforts.

I led similar efforts to establish firm guidelines for dealing with concussions in Virginias student athletes. As a pediatric neurologist, I could leverage my expertise, and my colleagues respected that experience because of the relationships I established.

Having been a member of Kaines climate change commission, I led the charge to gather bipartisan support for resiliency to combat sea-level rise. Ive continued that leadership under Gov. [Terry] McAuliffes administration.

Finally, I educated people on both sides of aisle on the transvaginal ultrasound bill, and because of my conversations, we were able to remove the transvaginal portion of the mandate.

So, Ive got a proven record of bringing together bipartisan support and doing whats in the best interest of Virginia, and I can do the same as governor.

Tom Perriello: The track record of solving problems within the confines of Richmond hasnt worked. What Ive done both here and abroad is bring people together, from the grass roots, to solve problems that pundits and observers said were impossible. I think thats a useful skill set. The Virginia Way stopped working for average Virginians a long time ago; what we need is a new way that builds solutions directly among the people, across region and race.

(Dalton Bennett/The Washington Post)

Thats why in this campaign, I am the only candidate to offer a fully paid-for plan that guarantees universal pre-K and two years of truly free community college. I designed this plan not inside my own head; these are ideas Ive heard at more than 350 public events across Virginia, including many in Trump country. Im the only candidate from either party whos rejected Dominions campaign contributions. Im the only candidate clearly opposed to two fracked-gas pipelines that would cut across Virginia. I was the first candidate to call for a living wage of $15 an hour, to put fixing our criminal-justice system and ending the racial wealth gap on the table, to say Virginia should join an interstate climate alliance to confront climate change, and to call for enshrining the right to choose in our state constitution. This is about being bold and leading on the major issues affecting Virginia. I think leadership is about identifying the problem and solutions and building a political coalition to make them happen. I find voters across the political spectrum responding to our willingness to put policy details and real tough decisions on the table.

Hockstader: Dr. Northam, doesnt Mr. Perriello also have a proven record as a leader?

Northam: I believe its a matter of experience in Richmond, a health-care provider and veteran versus experience in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. The politics of getting things done in Richmond can be very complicated, and it takes someone who has spent the time to know the issues and develop the relationships with key members of both parties to make progress.

Perriello: I bring executive experience from outside of Richmond and outside of politics to the table, like Govs. McAuliffe and [Mark R.] Warner did, and people have seen that leadership in this race where weve set both the tone and policy agenda.

Northam: While its easy to say that from someone who has not been in Richmond, I believe there are Democratic leaders across Virginia, including Sens. Kaine and Warner, and Gov. McAuliffe, who would say that weve made tremendous progress, and understand there is more to be done.

Hockstader: Mr. Perriello, hasnt Dr. Northam, to use your words, also identified problems and solutions?

Perriello: We appreciate that Dr. Northam has agreed with many of the policy positions that weve led on and introduced into this campaign. I believe that our campaign, talking about both needing to be a firewall against the hate and bigotry of the Trump administration and enacting a bold agenda of turning a cycle of debt to a cycle of opportunity in Virginia, has been unique in this primary. I also am the only candidate whos identified exactly how I will pay for my full agenda, and we find that voters across the political spectrum appreciate that a great deal.

Northam: Since he has not been in Richmond, he may not be aware that I have been fighting for things like gun safety reform, preventing offshore drilling, reproductive rights and pre-K for years.

My proposals, like my G3 program, will improve the economy, train the workforce, and are fiscally responsible. This can get done in Richmond. My total proposals equal $67 million and can be funded through comprehensive tax reform and economic growth, and are not reliant on a billion-dollar tax increase that will not pass the General Assembly.

Perriello: There is no scenario in which proposals like truly universal pre-K, raising teacher pay and paid leave cost only $67 million. A billion-dollar revenue plan did pass under a Republican governor with your support. So what is the distinction when this is for a progressive working-families agenda? To be clear: We dont raise taxes by a billion dollars; the plan includes spending cuts, tax reform and closing loopholes for big corporations as well.

Hockstader: Dr. Northam, would you care to respond to your opponents skepticism regarding the cost of your program proposals?

Northam: Im proud to have used all the tools available to Virginia, including securing a federal grant to fund the program. While there is more work to be done, we were able to open up 13,000 more new pre-K slots in Virginia last year. Thats a good start.

The only way to address these solutions is to have the relationships and bipartisan coalition necessary to get the job done. I took a key role in the transportation plan that was passed, and as governor I plan to be part of the solution to creating a floor in the gas tax with bipartisan support. We must make sure we adequately fund Virginias transportation system.

You have laid out policy proposals for well over a billion, and a tax increase of over a billion dollars; whats left for transportation?

Perriello: My proposal is not a billion-dollar tax increase, and suggesting it is sounds more like something that would come out of Ed Gillespies mouth than a Democrats! It includes major spending cuts and closing loopholes that benefit corporations to level the playing field for small businesses and invest in education.

Northam: I think we can both agree that Ed Gillespies tax plan is a farce and nothing more than a giveaway to the rich.

According to your campaign, your plan increases revenue by more than $1.1 billion.

Hockstader: Would either of you support removing and relocating the statue of Robert E. Lee in the Old Hall of the Virginia House of Delegates? How about the statue of Stonewall Jackson on the grounds of the state Capitol? If so, why? If not, why not?

Northam: I believe these statues belong in a museum but that the decision belongs to local communities. In this instance, the power rests in the General Assembly, and its a worthy conversation for us to have.

In order to be a more inclusive society, we need to elevate the parts of our complicated history that have all too often been ignored.

This means memorializing people like Barbara Johns and Oliver Hill, but also men like Samuel Wilbert Tucker, who was the leading attorney for the NAACP in the state of Virginia in the 50s and 60s and coordinated the sit-in at the Alexandria library in 1939. Or Mozella Jordan Price , who became supervisor of African American schools in Appomattox County in 1919 and served until 1963.

We need to remember the painful aspects of history and not omit them simply because they are difficult to discuss.

It is why the 400th anniversary of the arrival of African slaves at Fort Monroe is so important to commemorate, and we must do so in a way that helps spur a conversation about the more painful parts of our history.

Perriello: I strongly support the valuable conversation we are having about how we memorialize, and frankly understand, our past. In my home town of Charlottesville and Albemarle County, a majority of human beings during the Civil War were black. And it is important that we not discount their lived experience by three-fifths. I have worked on truth and reconciliation commissions in other countries, and often it is the process of these decisions the conversation that is as important as the outcome. I have called for a commission on racial healing and transformation, building on tremendously valuable local initiatives to look systematically at these questions.

Growing up in Virginia, our textbooks gave Reconstruction less than a page, but it is one of the most profound moments of our history. We cannot understand todays racial wealth gap where the median net worth of an African American family is one-eleventh that of the median white family but jumping from slavery to today with a brief stop at Jim Crow. We must understand that most of these memorials were put up not after the Civil War but during moments of racial progress for African Americans. This does not need to be seen as a zero-sum game but as a great puzzle that we ask all Virginians to solve about our past to form a fuller picture for our future.

Hockstader: Mr. Perriello: remove Stonewall and Lee from the Capitol or not?

Perriello: I personally believe the right outcome will be to move them, but I have learned as someone who has done transitional justice professionally that designing a truly inclusive process and addressing all these issues together, rather than one-off, is more effective for the ultimate goal of healing, transformation and a truly accurate history.

Hockstader: Youve both proposed a minimum wage of $15 an hour, more than double the states current rate. Some economists would say thats at odds with each of your stated goals to juice Virginias growth rate, which currently stands at 48th among the states. Your responses?

Perriello: Actually, economic data clearly shows that raising the minimum wage is a growth strategy. One of the greatest barriers to real growth over the past two decades has been the myth of trickle-down economics. In dozens of past experiences of federal and state minimum-wage increases, job creation has risen and small business has benefited, including the restaurant and hospitality sectors that claim concern. This is because no successful business looks at only one side of their ledger sheet costs they look at the net between costs and revenue. When the working and middle class have more disposable income, it is our greatest indicator of real growth.

This is also about something our conservative allies can appreciate, which is that raising the minimum wage reduces welfare rolls. It moves more people off of public assistance and into taxpaying jobs. Over recent decades, welfare benefits have not gotten effectively better but the benefits of working have gotten far worse. Just keeping with inflation would have us at a $10-an-hour minimum wage, and if wages had kept with productivity, it would be at $22 an hour. What studies have shown repeatedly is that a mother going to work for less than $15 an hour will typically lose money by going to work, largely due to child-care costs, transportation costs and lost benefits. We need to make work pay to grow the economy, and that is something liberals and conservatives should agree on.

This is why a more conservative state like West Virginia has raised the minimum wage but a gerrymandered legislature here in Virginia has not.

Northam: Virginias minimum wage is pegged to the federal minimum wage, which right now is $7.25 an hour and hasnt risen in nearly 10 years. That means that right now Virginias minimum wage provides less than 40 percent of a living wage for an adult, and one-fifth of a living wage for an adult Virginian with two children.

The facts are clear: Our economy can afford a $15 minimum wage if its phased in responsibly over time. Today, our low-wage workers earn less per hour than someone working at their level did 50 years ago. Thats just unacceptable, especially considering our economy has grown dramatically over the past 50 years.

Oftentimes, I hear critics tell me that a $15 minimum wage is not needed in rural Virginia. Yet they leave out the lack of transportation options available to them and the higher expense of driving in those areas. We should be mindful that folks across Virginia are consumers, and more money in their pockets means more money they can spend at our businesses.

Hockstader: Another question for both of you: As you know, theres no legal definition of a sanctuary jurisdiction, but Arlington County seems to qualify: Its sheriff wont honor ICE detainers to hold undocumented immigrants in jail past their release date unless ICE secures a warrant issued by a court.

Do you regard Arlingtons stance as admirable, and would you encourage other localities in Virginia to emulate it?

Northam: I believe Arlingtons stance has been defended by Attorney General [Mark R.] Herring in 2015. His opinion stated that detainer request are optional. This mirrored the decisions by other states and local governments, and President [Barack] Obamas Department of Homeland Security. Arlington is well within their legal bounds to take this action. I should add that I was proud to break a tie when Republicans tried to scapegoat immigrants for political gain. They knew full well there are no sanctuary cities in Virginia, but they put up a bill to scare immigrant communities. Thats not right. I was glad to put a stop to it.

Perriello: We support Arlington and others using all options for non-cooperation with the unconstitutional and unconscionable directives of the Trump administration. Within the bounds of the law, I will ensure that Virginia uses all powers possible to remain an inclusive state that ensures the dignity and security of all who live here. This includes discouraging the 287(g) partnerships that blur the distinction between deportation agents and local law enforcement in ways that undermine public safety. The day President Trump threatened to cut off funding, I called this out as an empty threat at odds with the anti-commandeering jurisprudence of our Constitution. Circuit courts have now reached that same conclusion. We must ensure safe, dignified spaces particularly our schools, houses of worship and clinics and make sure families do not go to bed at night terrified they may be separated at any moment from their children.

Hockstader: Arguably, there are at least two sanctuary counties: Arlington and Chesterfield. Do you admire their policies and would you like to see them proliferate in the commonwealth?

Northam: There simply are no sanctuary cities in Virginia. Cities and counties have the authority to release prisoners who are eligible for release, and Arlington and Chesterfield are exercising that authority. The attorney general has ruled that federal detainer requests are optional, and I support his opinion.

Hockstader: In response to the opioid epidemic, from which three Virginians die daily, would you support Virginia bringing a lawsuit against drug manufacturers like the one Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced this week?

Perriello: Yes. I have repeatedly called out Big Pharma for their role in this crisis, including during multiple visits to clinics in Southwest Virginia. I showed my willingness to stand up to the drug lobby during the fight for Obamacare, including my vote for an early, stronger version that allowed Medicare to negotiate cheaper prescription drug rates. This is also why we support the use of medical marijuana as a more effective element of care that does not come from Big Pharma.

Northam: This is a multifaceted challenge. As a provider, Ive been traveling around educating other providers, as well as those in training, to ensure proper management of both acute and chronic pain. As lieutenant governor, Ive led Virginias effort to combat this crisis. This includes increasing funding for community service boards so that we now have same-day access, giving the public through the commissioner of health a blanket prescription for naloxone to reverse the deadly side effects, and working with Attorney General Herring to stop the influx of opioids, as those are now being laced with fentanyl and carfentanil.

Attorney General Herring has made some moves forward on this. I appreciate the spirit of Attorney General DeWines lawsuit, and if Attorney General Herring believes there is a case to be made, I would support his decision.

Hockstader: Turning to a local issue central to the concerns of many Northern Virginians, how would you fix Metro and help meet its anticipated need for at least $15 billion in additional capital funds over the coming decade? Specifically, would you support a regional sales tax in which Northern Virginia would be assessed in coordination with suburban Maryland and the District of Columbia?

Northam: I dont think there is any question among leaders in Virginia, D.C. and Maryland that we need to fix Metro and find a dedicated revenue source for the system. It is an economic driver for the entire region, and one of the biggest economic drivers in Virginia.

However, as you well know, the complex political landscape across differing local and state governments makes this reality hard to achieve. So the first thing we need to do is create an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability for the governance and operation of the system. Restoring trust for riders, residents and policymakers is the only way we can change the current dynamic.

Second, as with tax reform, the legislature is going to reject any dedicated funding plan they feel is forced upon them. To prevent that, I will use the LaHood commission report to guide negotiations with Republicans in Richmond and Northern Virginia stakeholders to find a fair agreement on funding Metro, and to work with our neighbors in D.C. and Maryland.

Ive long worked with Republicans and Democrats to ensure we have the necessary funding for transportation, even campaigning in 2007 that new revenue was needed to fix a transportation system that hadnt seen investment since 1986. I wanted to break the gridlock in Richmond and on our roads. I think Ive done a little of both by supporting bipartisan transportation packages.

I know this cant be done without working together. Theres no one in the race better equipped than me to do that, because I have the record of delivering results for Virginia.

Perriello: WMATA has both governance and revenue problems that are being greatly exacerbated by the current safety problems and service disruptions that have substantially reduced ridership. I would support this or other initiatives that would produce the necessary investments in our regional public transportation options. I have lived for the past six years in Alexandria and understand these problems both as a consumer and as a manager. When I worked at the State Department, members of my team wouldnt know on any given day if they were going to make it into work by 7 or 9 a.m., or make it home by 7 or 8:30 p.m. from work. When I oversaw the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review for President Obama, we looked at the transportation challenges in Northern Virginia as a national security threat, both because of the vulnerabilities it introduced and because it is getting harder to recruit and retain top national security personnel as costs rise and quality of life is eroded based on traffic. We have to ensure the region can tackle this problem.

Hockstader: So you would support a regional sales tax, Mr. Perriello? In your view, is any other means of raising substantial sums of new revenue preferable to a regional sales tax? And would you support scrapping binding arbitration do you see that as part of the governance problem to which you refer?

Northam: Fair compensation and benefits for workers must be respected. Ultimately, we need to build a system of transparency and accountability within Metro. However, without out a dedicated revenue source, any other reforms will not be enough.

Perriello: Here, we disagree. I think the solutions coming out of Richmond on transportation have not come close to getting the job done. It has produced gridlock in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads and disastrous toll deals for tunnels. The Virginia Way approach stopped working with the radical gerrymandering years ago, and Virginians are paying a big price for it. Political change comes from building consensus and support across Virginia that we then take to Richmond.

To your question, Lee: As I said above, yes, I would support the regional sales tax. Our preference is for whatever revenue source and governance reforms can garner sufficient support to solve the problem.

Hockstader: Would you support a dedicated regional sales tax, Dr. Northam?

Northam: I agree with my friend [state] Sen. [George L.] Barker, who said, and I paraphrase, that we need a shared approach with states and localities, and localities having a big stake. The panel that recommended the regional sales tax made a mistake by not involving local political leaders. We need substantive discussion and debate in order to achieve consensus. In Virginia, the entire commonwealth needs to be on board, and they wont be if they are dictated to. We cant hamstring ourselves before we start the discussion in Richmond. It should be an option, but the discussion in Richmond and across Virginia needs to happen first.

Hockstader: Gov. McAuliffe released the outlines of a climate plan last month that calls for pricing carbon dioxide emissions and joining with other states to trade pollution credits. Do you support this idea, and is it appropriate to act on it without the legislatures consent? How would you flesh out the plan?

Northam: Yes, I support it, and applauded him when it was announced. I think Gov.McAuliffe was well within his authority to make that decision. In light of Donald Trumps idiotic and disastrous decision to leave the Paris agreement, its even more important for states to lead. This is why I announced today that I would bring Virginia into the United States Climate Alliance, and I would continue Gov. McAuliffes carbon reduction executive directive.

Perriello: We strongly support Gov. McAuliffes decision as vital for protecting our climate and for ensuring Virginia stops falling behind on the clean-energy jobs and businesses of today. Virginia has the second-most-vulnerable coastline in America, and the ecological treasure and economic driver of the Chesapeake Bay stands at risk. We must pursue strong measures under this new rule to make Virginia a leader on climate and clean energy. Thats why I was the first candidate to commit to the new interstate climate alliance and the only candidate to refuse donations from Dominion Power and oppose two fracked-gas pipelines in Virginia. These positions, interestingly enough, are widely popular among third-party and Republican voters we meet across the state, who see a monopoly approach to energy production as long out of date.

The private sector can help drive solutions, if we create a modern framework of incentives. I have spent much of my life advancing these common-sense reforms, including through the cap-and-trade bill in Congress and new energy business investments in Southside Virginia. We have fallen behind North Carolina on solar energy and risk losing the wind industry to Maryland because our utilities have too much power in Richmond. Dominion is full of good, smart people stuck in a very bad monopoly business model. We should be creating the space for farmers and small-business owners to take over the energy production of the future. It creates more jobs, more efficiency and more local business.

President Trumps disastrous move to pull out of the Paris agreement only reinforces the importance of strong state leadership on fighting climate change. I will ensure that Virginia becomes a leader on climate sustainability, distributed energy production and smart-grid technology.

Hockstader: Final question: High-quality charter schools have proved to be a successful alternative for many students, particularly children at high risk. It is one reason that they were promoted by the Obama administration. So explain why you want to continue to keep them out of Virginia when there are schools in many communities that have so consistently failed their students many of them in predominantly black and low-income areas and when there is no hope of change or improvement.

Perriello: The only problem with this question as posed is, well, evidence. The performance of charter schools has simply not exceeded performance within the system, despite years of investments. There have also been many legitimate concerns raised in how these have proceeded. Vouchers are also a plan that often make policymakers feel good about the few cases they appear to help, instead of focusing us on how to fix the system as a whole. We need to recruit and retain good teachers, which is why Im the only candidate who has put revenues on the table to improve teacher pay, increase counselors in schools and add universal pre-K. Early-childhood development is a far more effective investment in quality outcomes. We are also expanding options to restore career and technical training programs in high schools, and Im the only candidate to provide two years of apprenticeship programs, trade school or community college education.

The evidence does, however, show one clear trend, which is that schools in areas of concentrated poverty are far more likely to be underperforming. Instead of blaming the teachers and principals, we should ask why we have not done more to reduce poverty. In Virginia, we pay poverty wages of $14,000 a year to countless struggling parents. I meet parents every week who work two full-time jobs for less than $30,000 and add another 10 hours of commute time to get to a community with quality schools where they can afford to live. Every one of them would rather be at home helping with homework and cooking a healthy meal. These are not bad parents. They are exceptional parents who are finding ways to keep the lights on for their kids in an economy that is crushing the poor and working class. Some of the solutions to our education performance must be found outside the classroom, in restoring the broken promise of social mobility and economic security for all Virginians.

Northam: I grew up on a small farm on the Eastern Shore. My opportunities began with my public school education. Knowing that, its one of the reasons I have been a big supporter of public education in Virginia. My wife, Pam, was a K-5 science teacher, so she has been a major influence on me as well.

Its one of the reasons I was proud to support raising teacher pay in the state Senate and as lieutenant governor. But teacher pay in Virginia ranks 30th in the nation, while we rank 10th in per capita personal income. If were going to recruit and retain talented, good teachers, we have to step up to the plate and put our money where our mouth is and say were going to make K-12 education a priority. Ive also been proud to work on reforming Standards of Learning so that we teach our children how to think creatively rather than multiple-choice tests. This will go a long way toward helping children and educators.

I have also been involved as part of the Childrens Cabinet modifying our high school curriculum to emphasize vocational and technical training, preparing our students for higher-paying, high-tech STEM-related 21st-century jobs.

With regards to charter schools or vouchers, we need to make sure that we fund K-12 first before we move on to other things like charter schools.

The fundamental reason charter schools have not moved forward on a wider scale in Virginia is because every proposal to come through the General Assembly would limit the local school boards authority to grant the charter. Making sure these decisions are left to our local leaders and those closest to the communities is vital. Second, the charter proposals seen in Virginia would ultimately divert much-needed funding from school divisions, often those that are in the most need.

Wed be better off revising Standards of Quality formulas to better eliminate disparities among different regions across the commonwealth and so that every child in Virginia has the same opportunity to quality education regardless of where they live.

Finally, I am proud that we secured federal dollars to fund 13,000 pre-K slots for low-income children. With the goal of universal access to pre-K, tax dollars can be better spent expanding access to all Virginia children.

Hockstader: Thank you to you both. We appreciate you joining this forum today.

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Two Democratic hopefuls for Va. governor on schools, Metro and the minimum wage - Washington Post

The struggle for reparations in the Caribbean should become a site of the class struggle and organizing the people for socialism or communism.

Why is the reparations movement in the Anglophone Caribbean not putting capitalism on trial in its campaign to force British imperialism to provide financial compensation for its industrial and agricultural capitalists enslavement of Africans?

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To what extent is capitalism such a sacred spirit or god whose name should not be publicly called in order to avoid attracting its vindictive and punishing rebuke?

Are the advocates of reparations truly convinced that British imperialisms payment of financial compensation for the enslavement of Africans would end the economic marginalization of the labouring classes who are toiling under capitalist regimes throughout the region?

Why are we willing to place racism or white supremacy in the dock but not its creator capitalism?

OnDec. 17 2007, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution that made March 25 the annual commemorative International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

This day should be used as a rallying point by people of good conscience to press the former major slaving states such as Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden to pay reparations for their participation in the economic exploitation and racist dehumanization of enslaved Africans. The General Assemblys initiative is an acknowledgement of the over fifteen million Africans who landed in the Americas and the over thirty million captives who died during the process of catching and delivering them into the Holocaust of Enslavement.

Capitalism and Slavery in the Caribbean

A key goal of all yearly progressive remembrance activities in the Caribbean and elsewhere should be to educate or remind people of the fact that capitalism was the primary force behind the extraction of the labour power of enslaved Africans. Of equal importance is the need to etch into the consciousness of the public that white supremacy or racism was simply an ideological tool used by the capitalist enslavers and various European states to morally justify the enslavement of Africans. Racism was deployed by these early capitalists and their respective national states to mask the purely economic motivation behind the development of an enslaved labour force.

In the seminal and classic book Capitalism and Slavery that was written by the late historian and statesman Dr. Eric Williams, he states that the brutal, exploitative and exacting labour condition of white indentured workers served as the template for the institution of African enslavement or slavery:

"Here then is the origin of [African] slavery. The reason was economic, not racial; it had not to do with the color of the laborer but the cheapness of the laborer. The features of the man, his hair, color and dentifrice, his 'subhuman'characteristics so widely pleaded, were only later rationalizations to justify a simple economic fact: that the colonies needed and resorted to [African] labour because it was the cheapest and the best. This was not a theory, it was a practical conclusion deduced from the personal experience of the planter."

Williams asserts that slavery, as basically an economic institution, gave birth to racism. He further states that Unfree labor in the New World was brown, white, black and yellow; Catholic, Protestant and pagan. Racism or white supremacy is now an autonomous system of oppression that intersects with patriarchy and capitalism to create differing degrees of labour exploitation within the ranks of the working-class.

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The point that should be centred in the minds of revolutionaries and radicals in the Caribbean is that capitalism, the architect of racism, is still negatively impacting the lives of the working-class descendants of enslaved Africans as well as the societies that were built by their exploited labour. The late revolutionary, organic intellectual and historian Dr. Walter Rodney convincingly argues and documents in his ground-breaking text How Europe Underdeveloped Africa that capitalism was the main contributor to the stagnation of Africas economic development (see Chapter 4 Europe and the Roots of Africas Underdevelopment To 1885).

Rodneys indictment of capitalism and its retardation of the potentiality of the greater portion of humanity (the labouring classes) should be duly noted by the reparations activists or advocates who are playing footsie with capitalism:

"the peasants and workers of Europe (and eventually the inhabitants of the whole world) paid a huge price so that the capitalists could make their profits from the human labour that always lies behind the machine. That contradicts other facets of development, especially viewed from the standpoint of those who suffered and still suffer to make capitalist achievements possible. This latter group are the majority of [humanity]. To advance, they must overthrow capitalism; and that is why at the moment capitalism stands in the path of further human development. To put it another way, the social (class) relations of capitalism are now outmoded, just as slave and feudal relations became outmoded in their time."

Dr. Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, has written an excellent and easily comprehended book, Britains Black Debt: Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Native Genocide. It is a must read for people who would like to understand the basis of the claim for reparations from Britain for its role in the enslavement of Africans and genocide against Indigenous peoples in the Caribbean.

Unfortunately, Britains Black Debt has placed the misbegotten child of capitalism racism- on trial, but not the inherently exploitative and soul destroying parent capitalism. If we are going to throw the book at capitalism for chattel slavery, we are morally and politically obligated to do the same for the wage slavery of capitalism under which the Caribbean working-class is currently being exploited.

Caribbean States and Reparations

Today, we are witnessing the unconscionable, but politically understandable behaviour of the neocolonial states in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in divorcing their call for reparations from measures aimed at throwing capitalism into the cesspool of history. These members states of CARICOM are all committed to the implementation of social, economic and political policies that have enshrined capitalism in the region.

They are interested in reparations as a way to deal with their balance of payment, budgetary and development challenges as seen in the call for debt cancellation, technology transfer and a formal apology and not statements of regrets in this regional bodys Ten Point Action Plan for Reparatory Justice.

While these governments are acting like capitalism was not the real culprit behind the economic exploitation of enslaved Africans, progressive civil society groups and individuals who are advocating for reparations should not be silent or conveniently forgetful of this historical fact. We should expect the liberal petite bourgeois or middle-class reparations advocates to not indict capitalism.

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Their class interests and aspirations are totally immersed and dependent on the continued existence of capitalism. The petite bourgeois elements, unlike the labouring classes, display high levels of class consciousness and the former group tends to allow its class interests to guide its thoughts and actions.

However, radical and revolutionary reparations activists and supporters have no business not putting capitalism on the stand in their activism and general public education initiatives. As political activists who are committed to ending inequity and exploitation that are rooted in the social, economic, political and cultural structures of societys principal institutions, they should know that capitalist economic relations and practices are a major source of oppression.

As such, they ought to educate the public on the reality that the capitalism that exploited the labour of enslaved Africans is the same capitalism that exploited them as wage slaves after the end of slavery. Capitalism is still exploiting Caribbean workers and taking the lions share of the profit that comes from the labour power of the working-class.

CARICOMs ten-point reparations proposal is implicitly using the societies in the global North as the model of social and economic development. The mature capitalist societies in North America and Europe are characterized by widespread income inequality and concentration of wealth as well as the political marginalization of the working-class. How can such societies in good conscience serve as the standard of social, political and economic development for the Caribbean?

Reparatory Justice for Social Transformation and Dual Power

In the Caribbean, the revolutionaries and radicals must advance a reparations agenda that demands Britain/Europes financial compensation for the economic exploitation and racist dehumanization of enslaved Africans. It has been estimated that Britains reparations payment to Africans in the Caribbean would be in the region of 7.5 trillion. The 20 million paid to the enslavers of Africans after the 1838 abolition of slavery in the British Empire would be worth about 200 billion in todays currency.

The proposals below ought to be a part of the Caribbean reparations movements programme and be seen as a part of the general class struggle. The neocolonial Caribbean states do not need the immediate payment of reparations to undertake some of these demands. The social movements in the region must organize around these demands as a part of a dual power strategy or infrastructure of dissent or anarchist transfer cultures:

Promote labour self-management and economic democracy:The governments in the Caribbean must capitalize national and regional Worker Self-management and Entrepreneurship Funds from allotments out of the respective annual national budgets. These funds would be controlled by progressive civil society forces. These financial resources would be used to finance and support worker cooperatives and other labour self-managed companies as well as the work of the support organizations and structures that are necessary to ensure the viability of the workers ownership, control and management of their workplace.

It would be the duty of the revolutionary and radical organizers to ensure that a critical mass of the worker-cooperators embrace labour self-management as a part of the class struggle and the fight for socialism. The workers democratic control of the workplace combined popular assemblies would the laboratory or training ground for the self-management of the future stateless, classless and self-organized (communist) society.

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Include labour self-management in school curriculum: The governments in the Caribbean should restructure the curriculum and place at its centre knowledge of the oppressive nature of chattel slavery and wage slavery as system of labour extraction and exploitation. Of equal importance is the strategic need to adequately educate the students in primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions about workers control, ownership and management of the workplace.

Further, the students would be equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitude to collectively self-manage worker cooperatives and other worker self-managed companies. We must challenge the public education curriculum that prepares learners, at public expense, to work in capitalist enterprises. The worker self-management ideas and practices should be integrated throughout the curriculum.

Develop comprehensive land reform programme: According to Tony Weis in the paper Restructuring and Redundancy: The Impacts and Illogic of Neoliberal Agricultural Reforms in Jamaica: Jamaicas landscape still bears the scars of the most ferocious form of agricultural production ever devised, as plantations kept their vice-like grip on the best land after Emancipation in 1838, with all subsequent distribution programmes only ever acting on the margins of these inhumanly constructed yet sacrosanct institutions. The preceding state of affairs is essentially the situation in the rest of the Anglophone Caribbean. The governments in the Caribbean must undertake a comprehensive land reform programme that puts flat, arable land in the hands of the labouring classes. Enslaved Africans and indentured South Asians and the Indigenous peoples worked the land and their descendants must now exercise stewardship and control over it.

In order for them to take land out of the capitalist speculative market and to end the idea of the ownership of land by individuals, these governments must create the legislative framework for the establishment of community land trust (CLT). CLT are structures that are used to protect land from the rise or fall in the value of land based on speculation or the whims and fancies of capitalist demand and supply of land and housing. The access to land should be based on the right of collective use or usufructuary rights and not the right of private ownership. Each generation should be the steward of land and not its owners as under capitalism.

Create a cooperative housing programme: The condition of a large proportion of the housing stock in the Caribbean is an assault on human decency, especially for those who live in urban squatter settlements or overcrowded, ill-repaired housing in urban and rural communities. The state must create national funding programmes to support the development and maintenance of cooperative housing by the people through their organizations.

Cooperative housing is a way to engender popular, democratic and collective control and management over the housing by the people who live in these units and to undermine the idea of housing as a tradeable commodity. The members of cooperative housing would have security of tenure but would not be able to pass on the property to their heirs.

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Establish working-class friendly labour laws: The system of chattel slavery in the Caribbean and the rest of the Americas was a very vile form of labour exploitation. The slave masters did not simply exercise power over the labour power and the fruit of the labour (profit) of the enslaved African workforce. These capitalists also owned the enslaved Africans.

The brutal legacy of exploitation of African workers continued after Emancipation in 1838. In the Anglophone Caribbean of today, progressive organizations ought to develop broad national and regional campaigns to force these neocolonial governments to create worker-friendly labour laws that make it easier for workers to join or form trade unions. Severe or prohibitive fines must be levied against employers who violate the rights of workers to form or join trade unions. It is hypocritical of governmental to demand reparations from British imperialism for slavery, while facilitating the exploitation of workers through laws that titled against the power of workers in the workforce.

The rate of unionization is very low in the Caribbean and it must become a priority of progressive social movement organizations, socialist organizations, the revolutionary petite bourgeoisie and trade unions to push for legislation that will give workers a greater level of bargaining power in the workplace-based class struggle.

Establish popular, democratic and horizontal assemblies of the oppressed: The revolutionary and radical forces in the Caribbeans reparations movement must work with other progressive forces throughout society to establish a federated system of popular, democratic and horizontal assemblies of the oppressed. These assemblies would function as the direct democratic structures of political self-management that seeks to approximate the communist self-organizing concept of the administration of things and not the governance of people.

The assemblies would be the local, regional and national organs through which the labouring classes discuss, plan and determine their economic and social priorities. The masses would implement their main concerns through their alternative and oppositional institution as well as organize and impose them on existing and domination economic, social, cultural and political institution. In this contestation for power, the peoples organizations would use all available and ethical means to advance their liberation.

Perry Mars documents in his book Ideology and Change: The Transformation of the Caribbean Left that a section of the The Left in the Caribbean has a tradition of using or advocating the deployment of assemblies to connect with the people: What these parties have in common is their strong advocacy of what are called variously peoples parliament or peoples assembly representing mass democratic participation in grass roots self organizations.

Further, The Left sees assemblies as political instruments that compensate for the fact that the liberal capitalist democracies in the region are not responsive or represent the needs of the people. Assemblies should not be used as consultative or information-sharing bodies by nationalist and socialist revolutionaries or radicals.

These political assemblies are supposed to be proactive and positive structures that familiarise the people with the idea and practice of shaping all decisions that impact their lives. Mars notes that in the Caribbean The problem with the peoples assembly is that the implementation does not necessarily eliminate the tendencies towards political centralization and elitism as far as leadership of the movement is concerned.

From the period of chattel slavery to the current period of neocolonial flag independence, the Caribbean labouring classes have yet to exercise substantive power over the political institutions that govern their lives. A system of popular assemblies with the capacity to challenge the authoritarian liberal capitalist democracies for power would be the one of the best expressions of reparatory justice in the Caribbean.

Conclusion

The struggle for reparations in the Caribbean should become a site of the class struggle and organizing the people for socialism or communism. Capitalism must be put on trial for aiding and abetting the enslavement of Africans and genocide against the Indigenous peoples.

The proposals that are outlined above for adoption by the Caribbean reparations will not become a reality in the absence of national campaigns that organize the people into their self-organized class-based and other popular organizations. We are seeking to build a counterhegemonic force or alternative power bloc to contest the existing forces of domination and to advance the long-term struggle of putting them out of business.

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The neocolonial governments have jumped in front of the reparations bandwagon and are trying to set the agenda. It is incumbent on the popular forces to organize the people in order to wrest the agenda setting initiative from the state and impose their programme of action the state through the organizing of the labouring classes and other oppressed groups within its ranks.

It is critically necessary for the organizers who are organizing the people from below to do everything possible to utilize all available opportunity to build the capacity of the oppressed to challenge and undermine the existing white supremacist, patriarchal and capitalist political order. It is for this reason that a dual power strategy must build the embryonic economic, social and political structures of the future socialist society, while engaging and contesting the existing institutions of power.

It is in this light that the development of worker self-management over their workplaces and the establishment of a system of popular assemblies as the seat of working-class political power becomes necessary. The reparations movement can play an important catalytic role in helping to ideologically prepare the people for the completion of the Second Emancipation in the Caribbean and the rest of the Americas.

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Caribbean Reparations Movement Must Put Capitalism on Trial - teleSUR English

Henry Precht

By Henry Precht

BN Columnist

A historian friend of mine has listed the men he deems the ten worse American presidents. He didnt leave a vacant slot for the incumbent, but I wonder whether Mr. Trump might not soon fit in based on this countrys experience of the past two and a half months of his 48-month term of office.

Categorizing roughly, I would say that five of the historians ten baddies were listed because of their wrong-headed positions on slavery; two because of their toleration of corruption; two because of lying or criminal policy; and one because of ineptitude in dealing with a national crisis. Lets see how Mr. Trump makes it through this sieve. Chattel slavery is no longer on the agenda but we might easily substitute how the incumbent treats the middle and lower classes sometimes called wage slaves.

On that score, I would say Mr. Trump shows every sign of becoming a modern day Buchanan. After his campaign appeal for better treatment of educationally poorly prepared and economically threatened whites, he turned on them in proposing health care legislation which would leave them worse off than with Obamacare. Programs that benefit them Meals on Wheels, regional development funds, etc. are slated to be cut back. Its early to say, but I doubt that Trump tax proposals will treat them as generously as they will the traditional big money folks in the Republican ranks the kind that have been named to fill Cabinet slots. So much for favoring the little guy against the elites.

There is one bit of business where Mr. Trump gives equal treatment to wage slaves and elites: both will suffer from his destruction of Obamas measures to limit the pace of global warming. They and their descendants will suffer equally.

The next failing among past leaders for which two are held culpable is corruption: Grant and Harding are listed as the major malefactors. Neither, however, dipped his own hands into the till; they simply turned a blind eye when cronies ripped off the public purse. Something like that may be starting under the present regime: the assets of our billionaire president have been turned over to his kin to manage. We may see court cases challenging these and other arrangements on conflict of interest grounds. Another source of foul aroma may be found when a billionaire investor profits from his closeness to the bunch in Washington and successfully advises the elimination of regulations that harm his business interests.

Two scorned ex-presidents (Nixon and the second Bush) have been reasonably accused of lying and putting or keeping us in disastrous wars. The latter was also been accused of wrecking the economy. Its too soon to accuse our president of pushing us into deeper conflicts, but there are signs in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen that a drift in that direction is building momentum. The economy is doing well during his brief tenure thanks in good part to inherited momentum and high hopes among investors, which may prove to be ill-founded. When it comes to lack of respect for truth, however, Mr. Trump may establish a new national record. Roll over, Mr. Nixon.

Finally, how might Mr. Trump rank compared to Herbert Hoover and his bungled efforts to deal with the Great Depression? Happily, he hasnt had to face that kind of severe test. But can anyone vouch for his interest in the mechanisms of government, his knowledge of foreign relations, his skill in persuading recalcitrant members of Congress, or talents for generating sound ideas and reassuring the panicky public? Mr. Trump has faced severe difficulties in the past. Unfortunately there is no bankruptcy court to rescue him if the national economy tanks.

Roosevelt came to the nations rescue in the Depression in large part because he picked a staff rich in creative talents. Trumps staff is just plain rich.

To wrap up this evaluation, I would say that Mr. Trump is headed down the trail to low or lowest ranking. In all fairness we should allow him some more months to manifest his true fitness and qualities for the job if, in fact, he can scrape up a few.

Henry Precht is a retired Foreign Service Officer.

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Small World: Ranking the rank - The Bridgton News

Its time to face facts: Passover is broken. Busted. Split in two. Half of us are celebrating one part of the holiday while the other half celebrates the other part. Most of us dont even realize were celebrating only half the holiday.

This shouldnt surprise us. The Jewish community worldwide is broken into pieces. Theres no reason to expect our favorite Jewish holiday will be exempt. The festival mirrors the community that observes it. Right now were a community thats marching in two opposite directions at once.

One side of the community observes Passover to recount the suffering and persistence of Jews in a hostile world, from ancient Egypt up to modern times and, we assume, into the future. For the other side, Passover is about expressing solidarity with victims of modern-day oppression by linking our peoples historic suffering with injustices done to others today.

The first type of Passover, the Jews-in-a-hostile-world version, looks pretty much like the Passover that Jews have celebrated throughout our two millennia of wandering. Theyre not identical, of course. Through most of our history Jews saw the Egyptian bondage as a foreshadowing of their own suffering. Passover expressed our yearning to be liberated as our forebears were. Most of us today havent experienced anything similar. The holiday now serves to remind us of our humble roots. It also reaffirms our sense that were still historys victims, even if we dont look like it lately.

Then again, the Passover of the European exile wasnt the original model either. The original Passover, the one commanded in the Bible, centered on sacrificing livestock at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. It was only after the Babylonians and then the Romans demolished the Temple that the family dinner took center stage.

One unifying element in all traditional Passovers, ancient and modern, is the recitation of the traditional lessons of Passover: In each generation, each of us is obliged to see ourselves as if we personally had come out of Egypt. Liberation happens by divine miracle. In each generation they rise up against us to destroy us. And, as we tell the skeptical son: This happened to me, not to you.

The other Passover, the solidarity-with-the-downtrodden version, is a more recent phenomenon. Its key feature is a revising of the Haggadah text to spotlight modern-day struggles for liberation from bondage. These can range from the agony of the Holocaust and redemptive birth of Israel to civil rights, gender equity and, more recently, Palestinian rights. Sometimes these new narratives are woven into the text of the traditional Haggadah. Sometimes they replace it altogether.

Alternative Haggadahs began appearing about 100 years ago, initially in the labor movement. Diasporist socialists sang of liberating workers from the wage-slavery of Boss Pharaoh. Labor Zionists sang of liberating the Jews from the bondage of diaspora by returning to the redeeming soil of the Land of Israel.

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Among Jews, the upheavals of late 1960s were a watershed, the beginning of our division into two factions. One of the earliest signs of the split was the appearance of two Haggadahs that embodied the two opposing worldviews. One was the Freedom Seder, published in 1970 by left-wing guru Arthur Waskow. It updated the Passover message by putting black Americas freedom struggle at the center of the holiday narrative, drawing parallels between the Exodus from Egypt and the civil rights movement. For the first time, Passovers main message was not the suffering of Jews but of others. It was the message of the Seders skeptical son turned on its head: These things happened to him, not to me.

Two years later, as if in reply to Waskow, came the Soviet Jewry-themed Haggadah Let My People Go. A traditional text with some new commentaries, its most memorable feature was the illustrations by physician Mark Podwal. Like Waskows Freedom Seder, it put modern events front and center. Unlike the Freedom Seder, it kept the holidays focus on Jews.

In the decades since, countless new Haggadahs have appeared, with and without the traditional text, focusing variously on gender equality, hunger, the environment and more. Each one tries explicitly to frame its contemporary cause as a modern version of the Exodus story.

The latest innovation, though, risks turning the Passover tradition on its head by connecting the Jews suffering in Egypt with the suffering of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation.

Some might see the analogy as a tad overdone. Certainly the Palestinians suffer under Israeli military rule. But its not the agony of Syria or Congo, and its not the suffering of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt.

In a way, though, the strength of the historical comparison is beside the point. Every analogy is imperfect. If juxtaposing our ancestors with modern-day victims helps draw our attention to injustices around us, thats for good.

Whats off-kilter about Palestinian-themed Passover texts is that they put the Jews back in the center of the story but as the oppressor, not the victim. If the Palestinians are todays Hebrew slaves, then the Jewish state is the modern Pharaoh. Where the Freedom Seder and its heirs asked us to see our neighbors as comrades in suffering, Palestinian-themed Passover texts ask us to go a step further and see ourselves and our family as the wicked enemy.

Its important to learn to see through Palestinian eyes. Learning to identify with the Palestinians helps us understand why they view Israel the way they do, and how Israel got into its current plight. It can help us to love Israel more, not less. Jews who love Israel should be trying to help Israel disentangle from its neighbors, not just for their sake but for Israels and ours.

If, however, we carry our solidarity to the point of viewing Israel as Pharaoh, as the enemy, then we undo whatever good we hope to achieve. When we make Israel our enemy, we make ourselves Israels enemy. When that happens, we lose any ability to contribute to peace. And we lose our family. Were left broken holidays, traditions and all.

J.J. Goldberg is the Forwards editor-at-large.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward.

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Is Passover Broken Beyond Repair? - Forward

Robert Atwater Leavenworth

To the editor:

I am always fascinated how individuals can get our history wrong, how an individual can distort the facts through the fiction he or she creates. The Civil War from 1861-1865 was not a fight between political parties but over the issue of states rights and national authority. The issue of states rights and national authority had its inception in 1878 during the Constitutional Convention. The Articles of Confederation advocated the states authority over the national government while the constitution would establish a strong national government through a federation with supreme power resting in the national government.

In order to gain the support of most of the states for the new constitution, a number of compromises were made, including the Great Compromise on representation creating a Congress with two houses the Senate based upon equal representation and the House of Representatives based on the count of the population with an insertion of the Three-fifths Compromise, counting three out five slaves as a part of the population. At the time, many of the northern states favored states rights while many of the southern states were nationalistic.

When President George Washington issued his farewell address, he urged our nation to avoid the establishment of political parties because he believed they would divide the nation. At the time he left office in 1797, two political parties were already in existence. The Federalists supported a strong central government led by Alexander Hamilton that favored business interests, while the Republican-Democrats led by Thomas Jefferson favored states rights and the common man.

The Federalist Party evolved into the Whig Party and Republican-Democrat Party became the Democratic Party. As the nation grew so did the industrial and agricultural divisions. One of the economic issues involved slavery versus wage slaves. To maintain a balance between the slave and free states, the nation admitted new states to the union by admitting a slave state and a free state at the same time. The Compromise of 1820 (Missouri) and Compromise of 1850 changed the balance of slave vs. free states. Because of the Compromise of 1850, the Free State Party replaced the Whig Party.

The Free State Party platform promoted the abolition of slavery throughout the nation. In 1856, the Republican Party replaced the Free State Party but maintained the views on slavery. Hence, the southern states feared they were under attack. When Abraham Lincoln was elected as president in November 1860, the southern states believed their way of life was under attack. As a result, South Carolina seceded from the union in December 1860 because states rights allowed them to secede. This was prior to Lincoln being sworn in as president in March 1861. The Civil War was fought over the concept of states rights and national authority and not Republican versus Democrat. The result of the war was that states did not have the right to secede, and yet, some Republican states have talked about nullifying national laws or seceding from the union in the early years of the 21st century based on states rights.

It is interesting to note that the party of Lincoln has moved away from protecting the rights of the minority to accommodate corporations, banks and the wealthy in our society. The culmination of that movement has led to the election of Donald Trump as our president. It was evident that candidates for president in the election of 2016 were not acceptable and people had to hold their noses as they entered the polling booth. It is distressing that we have a president who has no concept of leading a nation and is an individual who is unwilling to accept fact rather than fiction. He has promoted fear of others rather than inclusion. However, he is our president and we will have to live with him for the next four years.

It is my hope that both political parties will be able to find more acceptable candidates in the 2020 election than we did in 2016 election.

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LETTER: Getting our history wrong - Leavenworth Times

The answer: They were trying to stay out of the way of Cannes. Thats right, the oldest and longest-running film festival in the Western Hemisphere evidently got so many complaints about close headways between S.F.s fest and the Festival de Cannes opening on May 17 this year, by the way that SFFILM decided to move its start date all the way up to April 5, running through April 19. So, all you Bay Area fans of foreign and esoteric movies can now comfortably fit both fests into your to-do lists with nothing lost. Thats a relief. Have fun on the Croisette.

As to the name change for the org: Dont worry, its only a routine re-branding. All businesses, including nonprofits in the highly competitive cultural-entertainment field, feel the need to put a new spin on things every few years. They want a change of image, so it doesnt look like theyre just sitting around booking obscure Third World rural-electrification sagas all the time, instead of hosting important events like the after-parties for Beauty and the Beast. So, now, the orgs name is officially SFFILM. (Anyone caught using the words San Francisco Film Society will be forcibly ejected from the theater and made to read the screenplay of Swiss Army Man.)

But seriously, folks, SFFILM is really coming out of the box with guns blazing, at eleven venues in San Francisco and the East Bay. One noticeable new wrinkle is the increase in Live & Onstage programs, such as the closing-night presentation of The Green Fog, by co-directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson all of whom collaborated on Maddins The Forbidden Room. The Green Fog is a specially commissioned visual collage that re-imagines Alfred Hitchcocks Vertigo as a pastiche of moments from the original film, combined with snippets from a wide variety of other sources. And it takes place one time only: Sunday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the Castro Theatre (429 Castro St, San Francisco, CastroTheatre.com). As a special added attraction, the Kronos Quartet accompanies the film with a score by composer-musician Jacob Garchik (son of San Francisco Chronicle columnist Leah Garchik). Maddin, both Johnsons, and Garchik also appear in person.

Why this heightened interest in film-and-live-music shows? Not unlike other previously film-only fests, the SFFILM Festival is trying to broaden its appeal, i.e., put younger butts in the seats. The hard-to-reach tech worker is in particular a marketing target, according to SFFILM Executive Director Noah Cowan. He told the Express during a phone interview that the age demographic for last years festival actually dropped a little, with the festivals much-touted venue move from the Kabuki in Japantown to the Alamo Drafthouses location in the rapidly gentrifying Mission District. Cowan also noted the appeal of being close to BART 20 percent of the festivals audience comes from the East Bay, with 10 percent from the Peninsula.

Let me tell you the demographic truth about [the SFFILM Festival], Cowan began. The two main groups who go to it are young professionals under thirty, and females over fifty. Adding live music is presumably one way to attract nightlife consumers who might not know, or care, much about Dziga Vertov. So, are millennials willing to watch obscure art films on a large screen in an auditorium full of strangers? We shall see.

Black Films Matter An impressive slate of socially aware films awaits audiences, led by Sabaah Folayans documentary Whose Streets?, which takes us to the embattled city of Ferguson, Missouri, in the summer of 2014. At that time, the killing of unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown by law enforcement ignited pent-up rage in the community against militarized police accustomed to gunning down people of color with impunity. The protests blossomed into the Black Lives Matter movement, and Folayans video crew was there to witness it, with input from parent-turned-activist Brittany Ferrell and rapper Tef Poe. The slogans are still with us today: Hands up! Dont shoot! and This is what democracy looks like! Whose Streets? plays in a special free outdoor screening on Friday, April 14, at Proxy (432 Octavia St, San Francisco, ProxySF.net). Women And Labor Another timely documentary, Peter Bratts Dolorestells the astounding story of labor organizer and feminist Dolores Huerta. She was co-founder of the United Farm Workers, was sometimes-rival to Cesar Chavez, and struggled to overcome everyday sexism, in addition to the exploitation of immigrant laborers in Californias San Joaquin Valley. Huerta, still feisty at age 86, has spent virtually her whole life fighting injustice, from what one colleague called the feudal wage slavery of agribusiness, to ingrained racism and police violence (she was severely beaten by San Francisco cops in 1988 while protesting President George H.W. Bush). And while she was at it, she played a key role in opening up labor movements to women. Huertas life story and mission are long overdue for celebrating, and this bracing doc by San Francisco filmmaker Bratt (La Mission) does the job movingly. Dolores screens Sunday, April 9, at the Castro, with Huerta in attendance.

Not Supposed To Happen In Oakland Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza has been an SFFILM favorite for several years, with his ultra-realistic melodramas of life among the Philippines poorest. MaRosa fits the profile, with the tale scripted, but it looks exactly like a documentary of a woman named Rosa Reyes (veteran actress Jaclyn Jose), proprietor of a Metro Manila sari-sari neighborhood store. Rosa and her children may or may not be selling ice (meth) across the counter, but the cops think so. They haul Rosa and her husband down to the back room of the local police station, where they are pressured to come up with a payoff in lieu of being booked on narcotics charges. In other words: Pay a bribe or go to jail. Another significant conclusion: This is not supposed to happen in Oakland, either. MaRosa was released in 2016, a bit before the era of the Duterte death squads; otherwise, it might have had an even more tragic ending. Strong stuff. It shows Saturday, April 8, at BAMPFA.

Lions, Tigers, Missing Talismans Oh, My Tairo Caroli, the amiable main character/subject of Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmels Mister Universo, stars in yet another festival entry that blurs the distinction between narrative and documentary. Caroli, a lion tamer in a cheap Italian circus, has his lucky talisman stolen, and suddenly hes worried about facing the lions and tigers in his act, spiritually unprotected. The talisman is an iron bar bent into a U by strong man Arthur Robin (playing himself), aka The Black Hercules, a real-life former Mister Universe now retired. The film follows Tairo on his search, and introduces us to two of the most likable people in Italy. It plays BAMPFA on Friday, April 14.

Weddings and Romance Actress Sena Kerslake turns in a remarkable performance as pugnacious ex-con Mary McArdle, the title character of A Date for Mad Mary. Mary returns from jail to her home town of Drogheda, Ireland with a massive chip on her shoulder, and now the opportunity to be maid of honor at her best friends wedding offers the chance of romance, among other benefits. But first she has to figure herself out no easy task. Directed with affection for its actors by newcomer Darren Thornton. See it at BAMPFA on Sunday, April 9.

New Wave Meets Family Xmas Tale Writer-director Cristi Puiu may be the most talented member of the recent Romanian New Wave. Hes certainly the most strongly attracted to difficult characters, as in Sieranevada, the improv-style chronicle of an exceptionally awkward family gathering to honor a grandfather. The camera pinwheels in a tight space, waiting for the priest, while the mourners pace like animals in a zoo. We grow claustrophobic as the family bickers. Oh yes, and its Christmas. But at about the two-hour mark (of a 173-minute running time), it actually becomes humorous. Lets hope Puiu never gets hired away to direct romantic comedies in Hollywood. By the way, the misspelled title does not to refer to either a geographical location or a brand of beer its apparently just a randomly appropriated name. Tuesday, April 11, at BAMPFA.

Meditating On China Director Zhang Hanyis tale of a man and his son trying to connect with the spirits of their dead ancestors in an uprooted village, Life After Life is a slow, purposeful, meditative portrait of one corner of Chinas deserted countryside. Its a place where dead ancestors can seemingly be reincarnated as dogs or birds but now tradition is being casually brushed aside to make way for industry. Somehow, it seems magical, with its wonderful high-def cinematography. Showing at BAMPFA on Friday, April 14.

The Obligatory Vampire Flick What film festival would be complete without a few midnight movies for stoner audiences? The festival calls this category Dark Wave, and Michael OSheas The Transfiguration certainly fits the profile. It concerns a Black teenager who fervently believes hes a vampire and the way he tears open peoples throats in his night-time jaunts, whos to argue with him, even though we suspect hes not a real vampire, just a convincingly disturbed serial killer. Sunday, April 9, BAMPFA. Spain And Surrealism The genuinely surrealistic survivalist story The Ornithologist is about a birdwatchers strange experiences just off the Camino de Santiago, near the Spain-Portugal border. Directed by Joo Pedro Rodrigues. Saturday, April 15, BAMPFA.

No Redemption The champion disturber has to be Travis Matthews Discreet, in which a lonely drifter returns to his Texas hometown to sort out his painful memories, involving pederasty, rape, and kidnapping. It is not a redemptive homecoming. America sure is a weird place. Saturday, April 8, Castro.

The rest is here:

It's Alive! It's Alive!: Our Film Critic Previews The 60th San Francisco International Film Festival - East Bay Express

Nicoleta Bolos and her baby daughter in Ragusa province. Photograph: Francesca Commissari for the Observer

Every night for almost three years, Nicoleta Bolos lay awake at night on a dirty mattress in an outhouse in Sicilys Ragusa province, waiting for the sound of footsteps outside the door. As the hours passed, she braced herself for the door to creak open, for the metallic clunk of a gun being placed on the table by her head and the weight of her employer thudding down on the dirty grey mattress beside her.

The only thing that she feared more than the sound of the farmers step outside her door was the threat of losing her job. So she endured night after night of rape and beatings while her husband drank himself into a stupor outside.

The first time, it was my husband who said I had to do this. That the owner of the greenhouse where we had been given work wanted to sleep with me and if we refused he wouldnt pay us and would send us off his land, she says.

I thought he was crazy, but when I refused, he beat me. He said I had to do everything our boss told us to do it was the only way we could keep our work. When my employer came, he threatened me with a gun. He told me that if I moved he would blow my head off. When he finished he just walked away.

The next morning Bolos was back at work, crouching beside her husband in a sweltering greenhouse, tending and harvesting the produce that has helped make Italy the biggest grower and exporter of fruit and vegetables in Europe. The province of Ragusa is the third-largest producer of vegetables in Europe.

During her time on the farm, Bolos says, workers were given scarcely habitable accommodation, fed cat food for their evening meal and were refused medical treatment. At night, Bolos and the other female Romanian workers became entertainment for the farmer and his friends, repeatedly raped and abused over many years.

When I came here I thought I was coming to a hard but decent job in another European country, but we ended up as slaves, she says.

Hidden among fields of flapping white plastic tents across Ragusa province, 5,000 Romanian women like Bolos are working as seasonal agricultural workers. Their treatment is a growing human rights scandal, being perpetrated with almost complete impunity.

An Italian migrant rights organisation, the Proxyma Association, estimates that more than half of all Romanian women working in the greenhouses are forced into sexual relations with their employers. Almost all of them work in conditions of forced labour and severe exploitation.

Police say they believe that up to 7,500 women, the majority of whom are Romanian, are living in slavery on farms across the region. Guido Volpe, a commander in the carabinieri military police in Sicily, told the Observer that Ragusa was the centre of exploitation on the island.

These women are working as slaves in the fields and we know they are blackmailed to have sex with the owners of the farms or greenhouses because of their psychological subjugation, he says. It is not easy to investigate or stop this from happening, as the women are mostly too afraid to speak out.

Many of the Romanian women leave children and dependent families at home and feel forced into making the desperate choices that have carved deep lines of grief into Boloss face.

Where I come from in Romanian Moldavia, nobody has a job, says Bolos, as she nurses her five-month-old daughter in a dark warehouse that is now her home on another farm in Ragusa province. The average salary there is 200 a month. Here you can make much more, even if you need to suffer.

The Observer spoke to 10 Romanian women working on farms in Ragusa. All detailed routine sexual assault and exploitation, including working 12-hour days in extreme heat with no water, non-payment of wages and being forced to live in degrading and unsanitary conditions in isolated outbuildings. Their working days often include physical violence, being threatened with weapons and being blackmailed with threats to their children and family.

Professor Alessandra Sciurba from the University of Palermo co-wrote a report in 2015 that documented the abuse that Romanian women in Sicily were facing. She says conditions are worse now.

The women are telling us they need to migrate to try to ensure their children are not living in complete poverty in Romania, but that they themselves are being forced to endure terrible conditions and abuse as a result, she says. There is no other work, the women told us, so in order to provice for their families they felt they had to accept this deal. It is a conscious choice they are having to make. What we witnessed is nothing less than forced labour and trafficking as defined by the United Nations International Labour Organisation.

Prosecutor Valentina Botti is pursuing multiple charges of sexual assault and labour exploitation against farmers. She says that the abuse of Romanian women is a huge phenomenon.

Kidnapping, sexual assault and keeping people in slavery are three major crimes we have detailed in our investigations to date, she says.

We are talking about potentially thousands of Romanian women as victims of serious abuse. Very few women are coming forward with their stories. Most accept the abuse as the personal sacrifice they must make if they want to keep their jobs. The implication of losing work for many of them is devastating.

Eliza, a 45-year-old Romanian women, told the Observer that she felt she had no choice when her new employer pulled her into a shed on her first day at work.

I tried to run away but he told me clearly that if I did not do this I would have to leave, she says. It had been months that I had been out of work. I realised that if I wanted to stay in Italy I had to accept this.

The huge rise in the number of Romanian women seeking abortions in Sicily is also alarming medical professionals and human rights groups. According to Proxyma, while Romanian women make up only 4% of the female population of Ragusa province, they account for 20% of registered abortions.

The numbers of abortions among Romanian women is very alarming, says Ausilia Cosentini, coordinator of the Fari project, which provides assistance for Romanian women at a clinic. She says that many of the women coming to seek abortions were accompanied by their employers or other Italian men. While you clearly cant conclude that all these pregnancies are the result of sexual violence or fear of losing their work, the high number of abortions in relation to the few thousand Romanian women in the province has to be taken very seriously.

Working conditions are in some cases highly dangerous. One young Romanian woman told us that she became sick when she was forced to handle and work with agricultural chemicals without protective clothing. I had to handle foods covered in pesticides and it made me really sick. I was coughing and I couldnt breathe, she says.

I was pregnant and I started to feel sick and then I gave birth to my baby when I was only five months pregnant. The doctors said she was premature because of the work and that she is probably going to have brain damage because of the chemicals.

Those who did report their abuse to the authorities said they then often found themselves unable to find work elsewhere.

I worked with my husband in the greenhouses and the owner wanted to sleep with me, says Gloria, 48. I refused and he fired me. I reported him to the police but since then I cant find a job. The other farm owners know I went to the police and they dont want me to work for them.

Eventually, Nicoleta Boloss nightly ordeals proved too much. She fled the farm and her husband but was left without work and unable to send money home to her two young children in Romania. By the time her friends had raised enough money for her bus ticket home, she had lost legal custody of both children. They are now living with her ex-husbands uncle and she has not been allowed any contact since. Yet despite the abuse, she returned to work in Ragusa, taking the 50-hour bus journey from Botosani, in Romania, back to Sicily and the greenhouses.

Opportunities for casual farm work in Ragusa are abundant. In recent years, Italian exports of fresh fruit and vegetables have grown and are now worth some 366m a year. Much of this produce is grown in the 5,000 farms across Ragusa province.

Italian agriculture has for many years been heavily reliant on migrant labour. One farming group, Coldiretti, estimates that about 120,000 migrants are working in the sector in southern Italy.

After years of damaging allegations of exploitation and a resulting clampdown by the Italian government, Sicilian farmers who once filled their greenhouses with undocumented migrants and refugees arriving by boat have turned to migrant workers from within the EU.

The number of Romanian women travelling to work in Sicily has increased hugely over the past decade. According to official figures, only 36 Romanian women were working in Ragusa province in 2006, rising to more than 5,000 this year. Romanians overtook Tunisians this year as the largest group working in Ragusas fields.

Greenhouse owners are now afraid of being prosecuted for facilitating illegal migration by hiring undocumented migrants, says Giuseppe Scifo, a union leader for CGIL, Italys largest union. So the new targets for exploitation are EU citizens, who are willing to accept low wages because of the desperate situation in their home countries.

Gianfranco Cunsolo, president of Coldiretti in Ragusa, says he has no choice but to pay low wages.

The exploitation of workers in Ragusa is also the consequence of EU policies, he says. I dont want to justify the actions of farmers and greenhouse owners who pay low wages to migrant workers, but these people often dont feel they have any alternative if they are to compete with other European markets.

When it comes to sexual abuse of women workers, there is obviously no excuse for that. The people doing this need to be arrested and jailed. Women are welcome to work here in Ragusa and must be treated equally. We completely condemn this.

Under Italian law, farm owners must provide seasonal workers with official contracts and a daily wage of 56 for an eight-hour day. Yet Romanian women arriving in Sicily often find a more brutal reality.

Romanian women are paid three times less than the wage required by law, and most of them dont have legal contracts, says Scifo. Many of the women interviewed by the Observer say they are rarely paid more than 20 a day.

Yet there is little political or economic incentive for the authorities to take action and end the abuse. Although the police say they have dozens of open cases and ongoing prosecutions, only one farmer has so far been charged and convicted of abusing Romanian women.

The problem is the farmers are not rich men, says Scifo. If the owners paid their workers legal wages, they would lose too much money and the entire agricultural economy of the province would implode. This is why the authorities look the other way and why it is so hard to get anyone to take action to stop this.

Attempts to raise the issue in the Italian parliament have floundered. In 2015, MP Marisa Nicchi launched a parliamentary inquiry into slavery among Romanian workers in Ragusa and asked the prime minister to launch an investigation.

Two years on and the Italian government has yet to take any action, she says from her parliamentary office in Rome. But we will not give up. These crimes must stop.

In Ragusa, local politicians say that they are trying to provide services to Romanian workers facing abuse. Giovanni Moscato, who last June became mayor of Vittoria, a town in the west of Ragusa province, said the exploitation was persisting because too many economic interests were being served at present, but that the city was opening a hostel to shelter Romanian women fleeing violent employers.

Since returning to Italy, Nicoleta Bolos has met a Romanian man and had two other children. She reported her previous employer to the police, and the man was charged with labour exploitation but his case has yet to come to trial.

Now, she says, she is sick of the abuse. She has decided to go public with her story in an attempt to get justice for herself and other Romanian women caught in a web of exploitation and impunity. Holding her baby and sitting on a cracked plastic chair, she gestures at their home. The walls are wet with damp and there is no heating or running water.

Look at how we live. But this is our life here. I am not going to lose my children again. They are the reason that I have lived through this, why Ive become a slave, she says. It was for them that I had to let that man into my bed every night. Now I want people to know that this is happening and that it must stop.

Some names have been changed to protect identities

See the article here:

Raped, beaten, exploited: the 21st-century slavery propping up Sicilian farming - The Guardian

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Saturday, March 11, 2017, 3:00 AM

Manhattan: Its tempting to be snarky about the ludicrous statement made by Ben Carson when he equated immigration in search of a better life to the forced removal from their homelands and transport under horrifying conditions of millions of human beings who then would be sold into slavery and held captive the rest of their lives (They came in chains, Ben, March 7).

Instead, I am going to be earnest and suggest that Carson might have been onto something if he had compared immigration to migration , in this case, of the millions of African Americans who, in the last century, came north to escape the horrifying prejudice of the Jim Crow South.

But heres the rub: Its unlikely that anyone in the Trump administration would utter out loud those last three words. The white South was influential in electing Trump, and a good slice of that cohort has, for more than 150 years, continued to think of itself, and not African Americans, as the true victims of history. One piece of evidence: many whites in the South still call the Civil War the War of Northern Aggression. Judy L. Richheimer

Salt Lake City: Im sure by now Leonard Greene has learned that President Obama said basically the same thing, making this article quite lame (Ben Carsons a disgrace for calling slaves immigrants, column, March 7). If you just want to attack Dr. Carson, why don't you accuse him of plagiarism? Harley Griffith

Bronx: To Voicer Rosemary E. Kennedy: Surely you cannot be defining action to mean not the action of the persons concerned? Isnt the use of language colored by custom? Calling a slave an immigrant is a stretch. Robert G. Gallimore

Nyack, N.Y.: In his takedown of Ben Carson, Leonard Greene got a lot of things right, but got one thing wrong: We are not, the sons and daughters of slaves. We are sons and daughters of the enslaved. A slave is a kind of being. Enslavement is a state of being. R.K. Byers

Valley Stream, L.I.: The article about the CIA's eavesdropping doesnt surprise me in the least (They hee-ear!! March 8). Years ago when we were first introduced to cable TV programming, I watched the little green light on the cable box go on and off; with that I thought to myself, If we all have account numbers assigned to us, and the cable companies transmit video and sound to the box, Im sure they can in some way extract the same video and sound from the same place just by entering an account number. Well, it seems like they did it! John Esposito

Manhattan: Obviously, Republican politicians havent got a clue about health insurance: Thats because they have excellent insurance that were paying for. We should demand that they share the same insurance that the rest of us have, and repeal and replace the politicians who refuse. Carol Robinson

Brooklyn: I think they must make it mandatory that you have to disclose your taxes when running for President or you cant run at all. This will tell, in addition to ones income, what business interests they have, as in President Trumps case that he was doing business in Russia. Perhaps if they had this law prior to the past election, it would have saved us from having this unhinged individual in the White House! Dave Silverblatt

Brooklyn: Much thanks to the Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark for putting her time, effort and love behind the beaten and left-for-dead dog, Peanut Butter (formerly known as Hennessy). Its law enforcers and politicians like her that put the scum of the earth in jail (hopefully in general population ) for their horrific deeds. This human piece of garbage beat this puppy and left her for dead in a snowbank. Thanks for making our laws work and for making Raul Cruz, Peanut Butters abuser, pay for it! Kelly Starr

Perth Amboy, N.J.: Raising the minimum wage is a good idea but it would only apply to a portion of wage earners. There is another solution that would apply to most people: raise the standard income tax deduction to $40,000 or more. This would benefit more people than an increased minimum wage alone. While the federal budget isn't balanced now, limiting capital gains deductions could adjust for lower revenues. Everyone who buys a domestic product or service pays for someones income tax, which is built into the price or cost. Imported goods and services should pay a tariff of 35% to adjust for their non-payment of income taxes, Social Security and Medicare. While the laws cant and shouldn't prevent sending jobs offshore, they can adjust for these losses. Ronald A. Sobieraj

Forest Hills: To pay for his wall, Trump plans to cut funding for the Coast Guard and the TSA by 14% and 11%, respectively, thus making life easier for drug smugglers and terrorists. But to look at the bright side, the wall will thwart any attacks by Gen. Santa Anas army. Alan Hirschberg

Brooklyn: As a New York State resident and a volunteer for the American Heart Association, I am extremely excited at the prospect of the Empire State Trail, a 750-mile hiking and biking trail that would run north from New York City to the Canadian border, and west from Albany to Buffalo. The trail which Gov. Cuomo proposed in this years budget would provide a new opportunity for millions of New Yorkers to engage in physical activity in a safe, community space. Exercise is a great way to prevent heart disease and stroke, the nation's No. 1 and No. 5 killers. New York State currently spends more than $11.8 billion dollars annually on obesity-related health care costs. Every $1 spent on biking trails and walking paths could save approximately $3 in medical expenses. I strongly urge the state Legislature to approve the Empire State Trail. Yuki Courtland

Manhattan: Following International Womens Day, the cover choice of Jennifer Lopez and A-Rod was incredibly poor. The Daily News decrees that who J-Lo. is dating is more important than the scores of women around the world making a statement on their second-class treatment, more important than the travesty to our democracy thats going on in Washington. Step it up; your readers deserve better from you. Laurie Jakobsen

Lawrence, L.I.: The question here is not whether women are capable of coaching men (Hey Mike Francesa, stop spewing sexist garbage that women cannot coach men and just shut up, March 6). The question is whether the players can bring themselves to respect a woman coach; the players are the ones who need rise above generations of convention. Most of us have a weak ego that prevents us from rising above our basic nature and ideally one would hope that we are capable of doing this. Being successful as a coach is a two-way street that requires every player and staff member to be on board. Its not just sexism; its male biology and psychology at play. So maybe a select few with exceptional character can rise above, but expecting every team member to rise above is not a reasonable expectation. Michael Weiss

Hawthorne, N.Y.: I understand that WFANs Mike Francesa is retiring at years end. He has really been phoning it in for a long while. It is obvious to any knowledgeable sports fan that Mike does no homework and is poorly prepared for his show and his interviews. He is always the last to know what is going on in the sports world, relying on tired cliches and picking heavy favorites to mask his incompetence. And now he feels women cannot coach? Lazy men like him should not be on the radio. Mitch Green

Island Park, L.I.: To Voicer Sonia Valentin: Sonia, Sonia, Sonia no, actually I dont care. You dont get it. The only reason I actually know who won and why I chose to write in about it is because of the news created last year by the crybabies who that did not win. Otherwise, any award show is a non-event for me. My point is, in case you missed it, that I am against people receiving awards, promotions, trophies, etc. because they think they deserve them for some unjust action perpetrated years before this generation was born just to even a score. It is not who won the Oscar. As far as watching the PBS show, its not necessary. I've heard that story before; its time to move on. Rose Johnson

Read more:

Readers sound off on slavery, the CIA and Mike Francesa - New York Daily News

Reese vs. Nicole vs. Bette vs. Joan? It's Not Too Early to Get Psyched for Best Actress at the Emmys Decider For season 3, the focus turns to modern-day immigrant farmers, wage slavery, sex slavery, all loosely situated around a family-run agricultural business in North Carolina. As with the first two seasons, Felicity Huffman takes a lead role as a member of ... and more »

Read the original post:

Reese vs. Nicole vs. Bette vs. Joan? It's Not Too Early to Get Psyched for Best Actress at the Emmys - Decider

The advert which caused outrage when it was circulated on social media was described as racist and slave labour.

Youre expected to be diligent willing hardworking smart and quick (sic) the advert posted by a resident living in Cape Towns southern suburbs.

Youre required to follow instructions and clean thoroughly & maticulously (sic). (the way I want).

You should have no illness. Youre expected to be clean and smell good and bath and change everyday (and twice a day if necessary.

Work is sleep in Monday to Sunday. 2 Sundays off every month (sic) it added.

Estelle Nagel speaking on behalf of Gumtree told TMG Digital on Friday that the advert was clearly exploitative.

We are very aware of the advert we were very concerned about it. It is clearly exploitative".

Nagel said as an investigation was launched into the advert the person who uploaded it had removed it. Gumtree she said would monitor the account.

"We are busy setting up a hub on our blog just to make advertisers aware of what the laws are with links to the South African labour website sample contracts and also for job seekers just to know their rights when they are applying for a job like that she said.

TMG Digital tried to contact the woman responsible for the advert via phone and Whatsapp but received no reply.

Domestic workers minimum wages effective as of December 1 2016 in major metropolitan areas is R12.42 per hour or R2422 per month provided the person works more than 27 hours per week.

However the advertisement stipulated a seven day working week.

The job was advertised at a starting salary of R2000 including food and accommodation.

I will increase your salary even after the 1st month if you are capable of doing all my work THE WAY I WANT) up to R2500 said the advert.

You must have a valid passport which I keep while you work for me it added and no criminal records the advertisement said.

Department of Home Affairs spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete says when an employer wants to keep a persons passport it is some form of exploitation in one way or another.

People should be cautious when applying for a job where the employer wants to keep their passport as this could be a slave-wage type setup".

You can keep a copy of someone passport so you know who is working for you thats fine but there is no valid reason why anyone should keep your passport for you. No one is allowed to keep your passport.

Social media users who circulated the advert reacted with shock.

I think youll find its standard practice in the industry. The human trafficking & modern slavery industry that is said Matt du Plessis on twitter.

Gumtree does not check every advert placed on the website but Nagel said those which were reported or violated human rights would be taken down.

Link:

Gumtree pulls 'slave labour' domestic worker advert - Times LIVE

MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

(Photo: eirigipics )

Although it might be conventional wisdom that Western colonialism no longer exists, this is a dangerous myth. Colonialism persists in the form of the continued oppression of Indigenous peoples worldwide. Moreover, when it comes to the relationship of Europe and the US to the Global South, the old system of direct colonial rule has actually been replaced with financial control over many of the same countries that were colonized. The onerous financial conditions placed on many developing nations through the World Bank and International Monetary Fund -- including austerity measures and spending requirements for goods from developing nations -- represent the colonialist notion of knowing what's in the best interest of other countries. Like colonialism, it also happens to financially benefit the former ruling powers.

The globalization of exploitative labor further reinforces the relationship of capitalism to erstwhile colonialism. The squalid working conditions and meager wages of many workers in the Global South is the focus of a revealing book by John Smith, Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalisms Final Crisis, which is this week's Truthout Progressive Pick. Capitalism provides the vehicle for much contemporary imperialism, but is often not perceived as such because it is not as directly visible as, say, an occupying army (although, of course, the US and Europe still occupy countries militarily as well). Colonialism used to be dependent upon direct rule of areas and countries by agents, bureaucracies and militaries representing the colonial power. Now, colonialism largely consists of financial dependencies and labor markets characterized by poverty.

In an excerpt featured on Truthout, Smith reflects on the 2014 collapse of a substandard garment factory building in Bangladesh that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,300 workers:

The collapse of Rana Plaza not only shone a light on the pitiless and extreme exploitation of Bangladeshi workers. It also unleashed a powerful pulse of x-rays that lit up the hidden structure of the global capitalist economy, revealing the extent to which the capital/labor relation has become a relation between northern capital and southern labor -- in no other sector has production shifted so completely to low-wage workers in oppressed nations while control and profits remain firmly in the grip of firms in imperialist countries.

Smith notes that "just 2 percent of the clothing worn in the United States is actually made there." Ultimately, however, this unsustainable economic imbalance of the global manufacturing labor force will implode, Smith argues.

Smith presciently asserts,

Outsourcing has boosted profits of firms across the imperialist world and helped to sustain the living standards of its inhabitants, but this has led to deindustrialization, has intensified capitalism's imperialist and parasitic tendencies, and has piled up global imbalances that threaten to plunge the world into destructive trade wars.

This leads Smith to conclude:

Neither...is the future pre-determined, but that does not mean that there are infinite number of possible futures. In fact, there are just two: socialism or barbarism.

If capitalist production continues to grow more dependent upon the "super-exploitation" of workers in many nations in the Global South, it will lead to a grave international financial crisis that Smith refers to as "a crisis of imperialism." The manner in which profitable corporations such as Apple use competitive sub-contracting to suppress wages and boost profits -- while often giving nothing more than lip service to ensure safe and humane working conditions overseas -- creates a race to the bottom in labor force manufacturing. (Countries in the Global South are hardly getting a "boost" up the capitalist ladder.) After all, as Smith observes, if globalization represented a free market, then why aren't third-world workers paid a livable wage for their generally high productivity? That is because corporations are investing in labor pools that ensure an enormous profit. They are not building up economies in need or paying outsourced overseas workers a livable wage.

Smith describes how a Sword of Damocles hangs over poor nations:

The social power of capital is enforced through the so-called rule of law, which exalts the sanctity of private property and negates the sanctity of human life. Any people that dares to defy laws protecting capitalist property, e.g. by defaulting on debts or by expropriating assets, is subject to the most severe economic penalties, and, if that is not sufficient, is threatened with subversion, terrorism and invasion. The transition from colonialism of yesteryear to the neocolonialism of today is analogous to the transition from slavery to wage-slavery, and merely signifies that capitalism has largely dispensed with archaic, pre-capitalist forms of domination and exploitation, while taking great care to preserve its monopoly of military force for use in cases of revolutionary challenge to its rule.

Colonialism hasn't ended; it has just morphed into a less visible form.

See the article here:

Capitalist Globalization of Labor is Modern Colonialism - Truth-Out

Ten years ago, I walked into my boss's office at the large corporate company where I worked and announced that I was quitting my job. What are your plans? my boss asked casually after he had time to absorb the unexpected news. I took a deep breath and began to explain that I had been reading a book by William Bridges called Managing Transitions,and I wanted to take some time away from the rat race. He looked amazed. Is this a midlife crisis thing? he asked bluffly.

Actually, I had decided to take a mini-retirement. The term originates fromTimothy Ferris'The 4-Hour Workweek,in which he argues the case for taking a series of meaningful respites from our structured 9-to-5 careers rather than an end-of-the-line grand exit. I had always planned to retire early and follow a FIRE -- financially independent and retired early --lifestyle. I had read about it, joined forums, and I started to save and invest my money in real estate to reach this goal. I did well, and by the time I stood in front of my boss, I was 40, financially independent and 50 percent on my way to joining the FIRE set.

There was one problem; I didn't want to retire. What I really wanted was not so much freedom from wage slavery(as Noam Chomsky and others call it), but a meaningful life. I wanted to climb Abraham Maslows pyramid to the self-actualization apex. The work that I had been doing on developing leaders still interested me, I just wanted to have a deeper understanding and to work more independently rather than being bounded to a single organization. So I opted for mini-retirement.

Related: 5 Lessons From People Who Retire at 40

Mini-retirement is different from a sabbatical or career break, which connotes taking time out and resuming where you left off. I needed a complete severance, atransitionfrom my entrenched thinking and task and targeted career path. The idea of personal transition came to me when reading the aforementioned Managing Transitions.This brilliant book tells the story of Bridges, who left his career in teaching and found himself facilitating a weekly support group for people going through major changes in their lives. Based on his experience and observations, Bridges theorized that successful personal transitions go through three stages -- ending (letting go), neutral zone (a moratorium from the conventional activity of your everyday existence) and new beginning (embracing the new opportunity).

The idea of leaving my comfortable life and voluntarily entering a phase of structurelessness and uncertainty (what Bridges terms the wilderness) in order to experience growth, potential and new opportunities appealed to me. For the next five years, I lived in 10 different cities across the world for six month periods studying, researching, writing conspiracy thrillers and having the time of my life.

Today I am back on the hamster wheel and loving every minute of it. I started my own leadership consulting company and feel that my mini-retirement experience enriched my life and allowed me time toassess my life values and preferences andgain a deeper appreciation and passion for developing leaders. The mini-retirement bug is still in my blood. I work for part of the year before heading out into the wilderness with my backpack and laptop.

Here are five insights that I picked up with respect to leaving behind the structured life of work.

Despite a progressive move toward flexible, mindful and holacratic working environments, the majority of organizations still move around in narrow functional hierarchies as John Kotter termed it in his book Leading Change--presentism, fixed hierarchies and transactional management are still depressing realities in our workplaces. With the average retirement age remaining at 64 for men and 62 for women, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College,and presidential candidates telling us that we need to work longer hours, we may need to take matters into our own hands to bring about the white space needed in our lives.

This is where reality kicks in. You can't contemplate time away from work unless you have the means to support yourself. Most experts focus on the saving habit, but I think the real secret lies in managing the spending habit. I stayed in affordable locations and rented budget apartments where I lived as a local, shopping in the local markets and cooking at home. It is easy to fall into the Diderot effect, the kind of spiralling consumption that the French philosopher Denis Diderot wrote about in his quirky essay Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown.Simplifying your life and reducing your spending habit will make your mini-retirement plans more than just a pipe dream.

Related:11 Ways To Be Frugal Now So You're Rich Later

Isn't it curious that whenever we do something that is a little offbeat and goes against received wisdom, we suddenly find a bunch of previously disinterested parties becoming passionate about how we should run our lives? I received my fair share of negative comments.

You're bonkers to leave a responsible position just when you're hitting your maximum earning potential.

Aren't you scared that people will think you're a drop out?

Have you considered therapy?

It is best to ignore the naysayers and create an inner circle with people who really believe in you.

In Henry IV Part 1, Shakespeare wrote: If allthe yearwere playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work. Sitting in hammocks watching sunsets willsoon feel every bit a routine as a 10:00 amteam meeting. Have some fun, but also set some goals. It will feel more rewarding and your re-entry into the workplace will be easier if future bosses and clients see personal growth and a transitional journey.

One of the myths about mini-retirements is that it shuts doors and leaves awkward employment gaps. Employers are becoming more tolerant to breaks in resumes especially if you can demonstrate that the time was used in a meaningful way. Keeping a blog is a good way of charting your experience. Trust your network and a little serendipity. Ironically, the first person who offered me a job when I came out of mini-retirement was my old cynical boss, but I already had other plans.

Related:Ignore the Cynics, Hope Is Your Greatest Asset

I guess reading about mini-retirement in a publication dedicated to entrepreneurship may seem a little discordant, but I think reflection, personal transition and a generous sprinkling of nonconformity is key to being an effective entrepreneur. The ancient Sanskrit text, Mundaka Upanishad, uses the metaphor of a bow and arrow to describe how reflection and concentration can help us hit the target: Draw the string with full absorption and shoot at the target. I concede this is not going to be for everyone, particularly thosepeople who find purpose and importance in the workplace, preferringstructure, a built-in social group and hierarchical status. But taking time out can help us determine whats important to usandgive us the ideas, vision and confidence to become who we truly want to be.

Dr. Ric Kelly has spent 25 years developing leaders for multinational companies. He is currently launching a leadership consulting company in Europe and South America and finishing a book on leadership and enablement. Ric editsleaders...

Read more:

How a Mini-Retirement Brought Meaning to My Life - Entrepreneur

Commentary Politics

Mar 10, 2017, 10:13am Cynthia Greenlee

Theres a cautionary tale in this we should heed if we dont want to validate revisionist history that makes slavery seem like an undesirable minimum wage job.

In a country where politicians routinely usurp doctors roles and pretend to know whats best for womens bodies, some policymakers and legislators are now masquerading as historians.

Two recentexamples: Weve heard the new secretary of Housing and Urban Developmentsconfusion about the difference between immigrants and enslaved people(to wit, immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less). Spouting the garbled nonsense thats his unfortunate calling card, Dr. Ben Carson lumped in millions of kidnapped Africans with those huddled masses who, yearning to breathe free, packed their own bags and came to the New Worldunder their own steam.Also, asRewires Teddy Wilsonrecently reported, a Missouri legislator proposed a bill that would place an exhibit about abortion in the state museumand require it to be in close proximity to displays about slavery. The logic, you say? Because under the original U.S. Constitution, enslaved people counted as three-fifths of a person and many people say a fetus is not a person until he or she takes her first breath, according to state Rep. Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove).

Welcome to the latest iteration of the Culture Wars. And the 2017 edition is promising to be a doozy.

The signs are popping up with alarming frequency. An Arkansas legislator wants toblock schools from teaching the works of the late social historian Howard Zinn, author of the 1980 classicA Peoples History of the United States.In Chicago, a February seminar that taught high school students lessons from the civil rights movementfaced pushback from parents and punditswho claimed the optional workshop was racial indoctrination.

These incidents may appear random or unconnected. Maybe you think they are lapses of knowledge that can be corrected with a good reading list, better public education where teaching history is not sidelined (no, that high-school civics course was not enough), and common sense. Fair enough. They certainly are symptoms of widespread historical ignorance in the United States, but they are also symptoms of a vocal minority who reject U.S. multiculturalism, narratives that shift our national stories from Big Men History, and social and political change.

Andwhen ignorance could become enshrined in federal or statepolicy, thats dangerous.

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Lets considerSecretary Carson and his much-discussed slavery comments. Hishistory-challenged remarks may be the ramblings of a man who thinks he knows more than he does, a trait common among President Trump and his administrations officials. Also, to be fair, hes not the first to refer to enslaved people as laborers without the context that U.S. slavery was a special kind of hereditary, stigmatized work based on white supremacy. It was not unusual for slaveholders to call the enslaved servants, and in more contemporary times, aTexas textbookcalled them workers here to toil on the agricultural plantations of the South. Sowho can blame an elementary schoolreaderwho believes that enslaved people got some wages and werent chained to a job simply due to stigmatized African ancestry?

We CAN blame educated, accomplished adults like Carson, who should know better (though he has defended his statement, saying that he refers to anyone from a foreign place an immigrant), but book learning and credentials dont necessarily cure ignorance, especially when someone is politically invested in the not-knowing. We can blame conservatives many culture wars for promoting Western civilization classes and not acknowledging that slavery fueled United States and global development, while questioning the need for Black studies. We can also blame historic preservationists and museum curators who romanticize the Old South for making slaveryalong with evolution, LGBTQ rights, and sex edone of the most contested topicsin school curricula and in our museums.

Depicting the horrors of slavery accurately is no small task. It requires stitching together stories of people whose literacy was outlawedand who therefore couldnot document their own lives for posterity, in most cases.Representing the enslaved well requires sifting through the racist claptrap of what their oppressors said about them. And it demands a belief in Black humanity, which plenty of cultural sites around the country still get wrong. They cant stomach the new history told from below, are stuck in the pasts moldy scholarship, and prefer Scarlett OHara tales to stories like those of Celia, a young enslaved woman in Missouri (who killed her owner after years of sexual abuse and who is the subject of new and exciting research). Imagine if Rep. Moon was pushing for a display about Celia in the Missouri state museum rather than angling for one that would compare Black people to fertilized eggs.

The problem with Carsons comment, and others like it, isthat ignorant officials have higher-than-average odds of making or supporting ignorant and often devastating policy.If you need evidence, just take a look at the vast arrayof reproductive rights restrictions. And while Im surprised that Carson even mentioned slavery as a labor issuehe has repeatedly compared abortion to enslavementthe question is whether this idea of enslavement as immigration affects his assumptions and decisions, or those of the government workers paid to do his bidding.

Because if you extend his comments to the next possible rhetorical step, then it may seem natural to wonder why theseAfrican-American immigrants have not fared as well as those virtuous and striving (meaning white) immigrants who not only pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, but probably made those very bootstraps in a textile factory.

We dont needthe nations top housing official or his team to think such thoughts, when Black Americans make up a disproportionate number of public-housing residents. Racism has already played historically harmful roles in creating the extreme segregation in the nations projects. In major cities such as New York and St. Louis, public housing was designed as separate majority-white communities and majority-Black communities, with some places evicting whites to blacken the complexes and many more restricting Black residents from buying or living in mostly white zones. But few seem to remember that public housing was once largely for white folks.

Carsons commentsand the proposed bills that seek to mandate what students learn, like the Howard Zinn one in Arkansas,are not surprising when we understand that politicians have always dabbled in rewriting history. And theres a cautionary tale in this we should heed if we dont want to validate revisionist history that makes slavery seem like an undesirable minimum wage job.

The Souths early segregationists were arguably the preeminent and most powerful shapers of historical narratives. By the end of the 19th century and the beginnings of the 20th, they were equipping state historical societies with staff and improving buildings to preserve documents from the early years. They paid special attention to documenting the halcyon days before the War Between the States, when Black servants (read: enslaved people) were kept in line by benevolent white benefactors. These historians-in-training paid homage to a plantation society that, in reality, primarily benefited white elites but gifted all whites with a sense of racial superiority. Before the Civil War had even ended, South Carolinas statearchivewas pouringresources intocompiling lists of Confederate soldiers.They built towering monuments to Robert E. Lee and the boys in Greyto memorialize their narrow, selective version of history not just in paper, but stone, brick, and memory.They were literally making history.

I dont need to tell you that there was little mention of those Black people who brought the war to fruition by their existence and their acts of sabotage, fugitivity, and easily recognizable resistance. This was alternative facts at its best. But even in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, historians such as Elsa Barkley Brown have shown how Black communities in places such as Richmond, Virginia, populated public space with their own buildings, parades, and media that celebrated Black achievement. Historians of the Black American experience are still refuting alternative facts that say, for example, that the Civil War wasnt about slavery but about states rights (not that it has to be about one or the other).

Our museums, our schools, and their textbooks are fronts in a war over what history we tell and what we believejust as are the halls of Congress, the streets on whichwe march, or the clinics in whichwe receive health care. And this is not news to those of us who are actually trained historians.History is not just a set of dates and facts that schoolchildren cram to remember and recite; its a set of accepted ideas curated and promoted by a small group of people, and history museums and textbooks are symbols and sites for re-creating and playing out social relationships, even and especially the unequal ones.

People dont leave their identities at the door when they enter a museum or read a book. Or when they make laws.

The rest is here:

America the Ahistorical: Ben Carson and the Dangers of Willful Ignorance - Rewire

A roundup of stories we're reading at BillMoyers.com HQ...

Daily Reads: Trump Fills Government [...]

President Donald Trump enters the Oval Office on March 5, 2017. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser-Pool/Getty Images)

We produce this news digest every weekday. You can sign up to receive these updates as an email newsletter each morning.

Whos who > Although there are still tons of government jobs to fill, Donald Trump has been at workinstalling loyalistswithin federal agencies to serve as his eyes and ears. Hundreds are now on the job, and someone leaked a partial list to ProPublica.The list is striking for how many former lobbyists it contains, Justin Elliott, Derek Kravitz and Al Shaw note. We found at least 36, spanning industries from health insurance and pharmaceuticals to construction, energy and finance. Many of them lobbied in the same areas that are regulated by the agencies they have now joined.

Blame climate change > Weve got another two weeks until spring officially starts, but the weather doesnt seem to know that. It once was risky to tie unseasonable temperatures to climate change; climate change research had not progressed enough that scientists definitively could make a clear link. But Brian Kahn writes for Climate Central that the freakishly warm February in the US was at least three times more likely than it was around 120 years ago, according to the analysis by scientists working on the World Weather Attribution team. While it was a month to remember, by mid-century that type of heat could occur every three years unless carbon pollution is curtailed.

Those who should know oppose GOP health care> It only took two days: hospitals (and the American Medical Association) already have come out against the Republican Obamacare replacement. In a letter to Congress, Richard Pollack, head of the American Hospital Association, writes, We look forward to continuing to work with the Congress and the Administration on ACA reform, but we cannot support The American Health Care Act in its current form. The group is particularly concerned about the part of the bill that scales back the Medicaid expansion, effectively blocking access to health care for millions of the poor.

The AARP also quickly cut an ad coming out against the bill for effectively hiking prices for older Americans which the talking squirrel in their ad calls an age tax. Patrick Caldwall writes for Mother Jones that Obamacare said that health insurers could not charge their older clients more than three times as much as the youngest consumers. The GOPs plan would bump that ratio up to 5-to-1.

Better late than never? > It turns out that from August until November 2016, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was paid half a million dollars to lobby the US government on behalf of the Turkish government. That could explain why he published an op-ed on Election Day calling for the US government to kick Fethullah Glen, the cleric who Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers an enemy, out of the country (Glen lives in Pennsylvania). Flynn just filed forms with the Justice Department, declaring himself a foreign agent.

What a coincidence > Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are renting a house in a fancy DC neighborhood from a Chilean billionaire. Interesting. More interesting: The Chilean billionaire owns a mine in Minnesota, and is suing the US government over Obama-era policies that he thinks will cut into his mines profits. Hes currently lobbying Donald Trump to reverse those policies.

Lucky break? > Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may have still owned millions of dollars of ExxonMobil stock at the time President Trump made praising the oil giant a matter of White House policy, Claudia Koerner reports for Buzzfeed. Before becoming secretary of state, Tillerson owned 600,000 shares of Exxon stock. He pledged to divest them by May 2.

Its good to be king > According to the AP, China has granted preliminary approval for 38 new Trump trademarks, paving the way for President Donald Trump and his family to develop a host of branded businesses from hotels to insurance to bodyguard and escort services.

Pay to stay > In jail with money to burn? Some California jails will let you upgrade to a nicer cell, or stay in a nicer jail, The Marshall Project reports.

Artists and writers interrogated > In addition to stories of deportation under the Trump administration, PEN America notes that more and more reports are emerging of travelers including US citizens returning home being subjected to aggressive interrogations at the border that leave them humiliated, angry, and bewildered. Several prominent writers have spoken out in recent weeks about such experiences, which have altered their views of the United States and what it stands for.

Working-class roots > In more than 50 countries, women protested and went on strike in observance of International Womens Day. At In These Times, Kate Aronoff digs into the history of working-class women fomenting change in America. And at Jacobin, Cintia Frencia & Daniel Gaido write about the holidays socialist origins:

Simply put, International Womens Day was, from the very beginning, a Working Womens Day. While its immediate objective was to win universal female suffrage, its aspirations were much grander: the overthrow of capitalism and the triumph of socialism, abolishing both the wage slavery of workers and the domestic slavery of women through the socialization of education and care work.

Morning Reads was compiled by John Light and edited by Michael Winship.

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Daily Reads: Trump Fills Government with Lobbyists; It's Been a Hot Winter, Blame Climate Change - BillMoyers.com

The crime in American Crimes third season transcends the averagecourtroom-drama plotline, delving into the murky and dangerous world of 21st century slavery, includingimmigrants held prisoner and forced to work for less than minimum wage and a teen trapped inlife on the streets by bureaucracy.

In the first example, Luis Salazar (Benito Martinez) discovers the deplorable conditions under which the Hesby tomato farms migrant workers are forced to live and toil when he goes to work there. When a bunk full of workers burns down, Jeanette Hesby (Felicity Huffman) wants to help and is surprised her husband (Tim DeKay) covers it up.

In season 3s other tale, Shae Reese (Ana Mulvoy-Ten) has been working for a pimp since she ran away from home. A social worker (Regina King) tries to get her off the streets, but the legal system works against her.

Rotten Tomatoes spoke to American Crime creator John Ridley(12 Years a Slave) and cast member Lili Taylor(The Conjuring), who appears in the season starting in episode four, and also caught a panel discussion with more of the cast at the Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles.

Here are 10 ways American Crime exposes the modern slavery happening in America.

If a farm can get inexpensive labor by hiring undocumented workers, what makes them go the extra mile to treat them badly? Couldnt a farm owner mitigate the low pay by offering pleasant conditions? Ridley says theyre motivated to break the workers spirit.

The essence of human nature is to move towards freedom, liberty, and self-determination, Ridley told Rotten Tomatoes. When people come here, how do you keep them? You keep them through financial subjugation, through physical subjugation, through intimidation. Thats the only way to keep the human spirit down. They do it because they can do it. They do it because they have to do it. It is not our nature to be oppressed.

Richard Cabral plays a manager on the tomato farm. His character was a migrant worker himself, so why would he help perpetuate slave conditions?

He feels no remorse for what hes inflicting because he, too, went through this as a child, Cabral said during thePaley Center panel. Everything that hes asking from everybody, hes done himself. This is all he knows so thats his driving force that keeps on moving forward. The job needs to get done. Those are his survival instincts.

When Jeanette realizes something is wrong on the farm, her husband makes sure she cant change the system his family has in place.

She finds herself in a circumstance where she doesnt have a voice, where she doesnt have stature, where she needs to find out what shes about, Ridley told Rotten Tomatoes.

Playing someone with little agency or power was new for Huffman, and she embraced the challenge.

When she sees whats happening with the immigrant workers, she goes, Oh, Id like to help them, and Im sure you want to help them too. Huffman said on the panel. Its heartbreaking when she [realizes] oh, you dont want to help them?

Taylor and Timothy Hutton play parents Clair and Nicholas who hire Gabrielle Durand (Mickalle X. Bizet) as an au pair from Haiti.

Its not so usual that its a Caucasian woman whos hiring in a domestic like that, and it starts to get into problematic stuff, Taylor told Rotten Tomatoes. I hire this nanny to try and solve some of the problems in our marriage hoping that maybe it can give us some time alone, hoping it can take away the burden that he feels from the child. It doesnt answer our problems at all. In fact, I think it makes things worse.

On the tomato farm, slave labor conditions are part of their business model. Hutton and TaylorsNicholas and Clair Coates did not set out to be slave drivers. They just project their personal frustrations ontotheir au pair.

Part of what happens is Nicholas is very mean to Clair, and then I end up being very mean to the nanny, Taylor said. When we dont deal with our own stuff, it becomes an ethical situation where it gets put onto other things and other people when we dont deal with our unconscious.

When someone comes to America and doesnt speak English, they rely on people who speak their language to translate for them. As people on the farm, or the au pair in a suburban house find out, they can be misrepresented by English speakers. The season captures that experience by presenting some dialogue without subtitles.

We have a character who, by and large, through the first two episodes, his language is Spanish, Ridley said. You have to give credit to the network. When we present them with scripts and we tell them that large portions of that script are going to be in Spanish or in French or in Haitian or French Creole, they dont shy away from that. In fact, they support it.

Some scenes do have subtitles for the English-speaking viewers. Ridley decided when the information being discussed was too integral to leave ambiguous.

If the show can thrive on its emotionality, those are spaces where we will not have subtitles, he said.

Bizet herself speaks French and English, but she understands how vulnerable she could be if she were not bilingual.

Shes this woman who comes to a country and literally has no voice because she doesnt speak English, and she doesnt know anybody who speaks her language, Bizet said on the panel. She realizes that the American dream comes at a really high price that she wasnt expecting at all.

Clair enjoys France and speaking French. She got excited about bringing a Haitian into her home, but starts treating her like a new toy, not as a person.

I think some of its that Claire is a francophile, Taylor told Rotten Tomatoes. She spent time in France, just loves things French. Clair thought thatd be a great way for me to work on my French, a way to teach [her son] French. Thats a setup for things going wrong.

Taylor herself did take a crash course in French.

I knew in July and we were going to start filming in September, she said. So I started on my own, just 30 minutes a day every day. Then I found a great French helper who translated and coached me on sound. I realized what I needed to do was to not learn the lines with the meaning at all, which I dont do anyway. I try to just learn lines by rote and then start translating after Id gotten it down perfectly.

Shae turned to the streets to escape her abusive family. For her, prostitution was an improvement.

Her family is definitely more dangerous to her than the environment shes in, Mulvoy-Ten told Rotten Tomatoes on the red carpet before the panel. She actually thinks that where shes at now, living in a bedroom with six other people run by her pimp, that is better than what her family situation was. You can imagine what that was like. She thinks shes upgraded.

Shae needs an abortion because she was impregnated on the job. The law in North Carolina requires a teen under 18 to get her parents consent. Now Shae is caught between her abusive mother and going back to her pimp.

It just seemed completely unfair that her parents abused her and the whole reason she was on the streets doing the job she was doing was because of her parents, and then she cant even get an abortion, Mulvoy-Ten told Rotten Tomatoes on the red carpet. She has no money, she has no means to make money. The only way she makes money is through prostitution, and she doesnt even get most of it. Her pimp gets most of it. The whole thing is brutal.

Jeanette fights for justice but it may be too little too late. She realizes that this is not the first incident of the Hesbys mistreating workers

Shes been asleep for 30 or 40 years, Huffman told Rotten Tomatoes on the red carpet. Shes been married a good 30 years into that family, but she does wake up and wants to take action and wants to be a part of the solution and finds that she doesnt count. I think there have been things that have happened in that family. I think there were incidents that they kept from her and she chose not to investigate.

American Crime returns March 12 at 10/9 Con ABC

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10 Ways American Crime Season 3 Exposes Modern Slavery - Rotten Tomatoes

Photo: U.S. District Court

Federal prosecutors claim "C."was basically a slave, put to work by relatives -- includingMiguel Arcef-Flores, left, and Marbella Sandoval Mondragon --who had promised her a better life in America. They collected the wages she was paid by temp agencies that provided workers to factories, while leaving her hungry and trapped at a Federal Way apartment.

Federal prosecutors claim "C."was basically a slave, put to work by relatives -- includingMiguel Arcef-Flores, left, and Marbella Sandoval Mondragon --who had promised her a better life in America. They

Investigators contend "C.," 14-year-old Mexican girl, was forced to work at this Kent commercial bakery as well as several other factories around the Seattle area.

Investigators contend "C.," 14-year-old Mexican girl, was forced to work at this Kent commercial bakery as well as several other factories around the Seattle area.

Federal prosecutors in Seattle say a teen girl was forced to work at King County factories to pay immigration "debts." They say she was kept at this Federal Way apartment building.

Federal prosecutors in Seattle say a teen girl was forced to work at King County factories to pay immigration "debts." They say she was kept at this Federal Way apartment building.

Child labor in Seattle: Mexican girl kept in near slavery

Sometimes C. forgets her birthday.

She used to know it. Growing up outside Mexico City, it was not hard to remember her birthday. That changed when her uncle brought her, at age 14, to the United States.

Once in the U.S., C. was presented with forged green cards, Social Security papers and a string of bogus birth dates. Theyre hard to keep straight.

Who gave you many birth dates? Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Crisham asked C. during a Tuesday hearing at U.S. District Court in Seattle.

The accused, said C., facing her uncle, Angel Sandoval Mondragon, and three others who admitted to harboring her as she worked illegally at industrial bakeries south of Seattle.

Federal prosecutors claim C. was basically a slave, put to work by Sandoval, his sister, Marbella Sandoval Mondragon, and her husband, Miguel Arcef-Flores. They collected the wages she was paid by temp agencies that provided workers to South King County factories, while leaving her hungry and trapped at a Federal Way apartment.

The Sandovals and Arcef were sentenced Wednesday following a contentious three-day hearing. Prosecutors claimed their crimes extended far beyond the charge each pleaded to, conspiring to bring in and harbor an alien. Attorneys for the three defendants argued that C. greatly exaggerated their conduct to impress police.

Arcef, 42, was sentenced to more than three years in prison, while Angel Sandoval, 37, and Marbella Sandoval, 38, received slightly shorter prison terms. Each is expected to be deported.

The defendants promised the world, and then stole the childhood of a 14-year-old girl, U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes said in a statement. They preyed on a vulnerable relative for their own selfish and depraved reasons.

C. now has legal status in the United States through a program that provides visas to human trafficking victims. The visa allows her to stay in the United States for up to four years.

The allegations against Arcef and Marbella Sandoval include claims of sexual abuse. Seattlepi.com does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault absent a request from the alleged victim.

Like the Sandovals and Arcef, C. never had legal status in the United States. The Sandovals and Arcef entered the country illegally in the early 2000s, settling on the Washington coast.

They were living in Aberdeen in December 2004 when Angel Sandoval was caught by the U.S. Forest Service working in the woods near Vancouver. He was deported to Mexico four days later.

Angel Sandoval soon set about returning, this time with C. She was to join him, his wife and a cousin in Aberdeen.

Angel put (her) on the phone with Marbella and Miguel, both of whom promised her that she would have a wonderful life with them in the United States, that she could go to school, and that they would treat her like their own child, Crisham said in court papers.

Excited by the prospect of a better life, C. pressured her family to let her follow Angel Sandoval back to the United States. She and her mother paid Angel Sandoval to cover the costs of the trip, which saw them hire a coyote to smuggle them across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Arriving in Aberdeen in the spring of 2005, C. was told she owed her hosts thousands of dollars. Rather than enroll in school, she was put to work.

C. worked as a maid and nanny, then at temporary staffing agencies that provided workers to factories. She worked at industrial kitchens for eight months, making pies and chocolates sold in the Seattle area. Her workplaces included Plush Pippin and Seattle Gourmet Food, where she was paid through a temp agency.

Attorneys for the defendants dispute the claim, but prosecutors say the Sandovals and Arcef pocketed C.s earnings. They kept her fake IDs, preventing her from cashing the checks herself.

According to prosecutors, C. and another girl living with the Sandovals and Arcef were sick and starving.

They refused to provide them with sufficient food and other basic needs, including medical and dental care, wrote Crisham, who prosecuted the case alongside Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Miyake.

C. slept on the floor while everyone else in the apartment had a bed. She and her 12-year-old cousin were forced to shower together in cold water and derided as lesbians by the Sandovals and Arcef for doing so.

One man, worried the girls were being abused, took his concerns to the pastor of a church where Arcef also preached. His complaint went unheeded.

Prosecutors claim Arcef sexually abused C.s cousin; as part of a plea agreement with Arcef, federal prosecutors agreed to urge King County prosecutors not to pursue additional criminal charges against him.

According to prosecutors statements, Marbella Sandoval touched the girls inappropriately and forced them to eat printed pornography belonging to her husband. She and the other defendants, Crisham said, taunted and laughed at the girls while they ate and gagged on the pages.

The girls were sent back to Mexico in the spring of 2006. C. had been fainting at work, and the temp agencies stopped hiring her.

C. returned to the United States the following year, coming back to Washington. The Sandovals, Arcef and others demanded she pay them $10,000 a sum well beyond her means as a minimum-wage worker and spread personal medical information about her to members of their church.

That time, though, a pastor at the church recognized the abuse and, in May 2008, went to the police. Investigators with the Federal Way and Kent police departments took up the matter, as did the Department of Social and Health Services. The investigation was dropped, though, after investigators could not find C. or her cousin.

Five years later, a Federal Way Police Department detective investigating other sexual abuse allegations against Arcef interviewed C., by then a young woman living in the Seattle area. In that case, Arcef, now 42, had sexually assaulted a 5-year-old girl.

Troubled by the unrelated allegations C. made against the Sandovals and Arcef, the Federal Way detective contacted members of a Homeland Security Investigations human trafficking task force. An extensive investigation followed, culminating in a human trafficking indictment delivered Dec. 5, 2015.

The Sandovals and Arcef pleaded guilty to reduced charges late last year. Monica Arcef-Flores Angel Sandovals wife, and Miguel Arcefs sister had previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor immigration charge.

The Sandovals and Miguel Arcef tendered guilty pleas to felony offenses, but they and prosecutors did not agree on the extent of their crimes.

Little evidence was presented showing where C.s earnings had been deposited. She had made statements to investigators that proved false, and the seven-year gap between the alleged forced labor and the prosecution made records difficult to come by.

U.S. District Judge James Robart presided over a three-day evidentiary hearing meant to challenge both sides claims. The adversarial hearing meant C. had to endure an indignity usually reserved for crime victims whose assailants have risked additional prison time by taking their claims to a jury.

Defense attorneys picked apart C.s statements to police to weaken her claims of abuse. They pressed Seattle Police Department Detective Megan Bruneau, one of the lead investigators on the case, about C.s honesty as well.

A particularly hostile exchange between Bruneau and Marbella Sandovals defense attorney, Michael Martin, soured as Martin patronizingly asked Bruneau a veteran vice and human-trafficking detective assigned to a Homeland Security Investigations task force how long she had been a police officer.

From the witness stand, though, Bruneau described C. as a young woman who had survived tremendous abuse.

What has been very clear to me since the day I met her has been her fear of the defendants, Bruneau said from the stand, addressing a skeptical Martin.

Did you ever count up the number of people (she) said she was abused by? Martin asked the detective as they continued to spar.

No."

Would you say it is a large number?

Id say it is an unfortunate number.

If the exchange had any impact on the Sandovals or Arcef, they didnt show it. Dressed in brown jail uniforms and wearing translation headsets, each sat impassively, flanked by their attorneys, as C. and Bruneau made their claims.

The defendants each requested sentences that would have seen them released for deportation nearly immediately. Robart opted to impose sentences that will likely see them transferred to federal prison before they are returned to Mexico.

Brad Bench, special agent in charge from Homeland Security Investigations in Seattle, said he hopes the prison term will deter others who traffic in human beings.

No one should be forced to live in a world of isolation, servitude and terror as this young victim was, particularly in a country that prides itself on its freedoms, Bench said in a statement. Its a sad reflection on human greed and heartlessness, that people believe they can engage in this kind of egregious exploitation with impunity.

The Sandovals remain jailed, as does Arcef.

Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter attwitter.com/levipulk.

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Child labor in Seattle: Mexican girl kept in near slavery - seattlepi.com - seattlepi.com

Dr. Ben Carson stated during a speech this week that many immigrants came to the US in the bottom of slave ships and worked longer hours for less pay, but they did it because they had a dream of a better life for themselves and their children. No, Ben, those were slaves. They were brought here against their will to work for literally nothing.Ring of Fires Farron Cousins discusses this.

Transcript of the above video:

Cousins: Dr. Ben Carson may have a PhD. He may have gone to medical school, but what this man really needs right now is a history lesson. Take a look at what he said during a speech earlier this week.

Carson: A man of dreams and opportunity. There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less, but they too had a dream that one day their sons, daughter, grandsons, granddaughters, great grandson, great granddaughters might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land.

Cousins: Thats right, folks. Those people that the United States went overseas and rounded up, stole from their homes, stole from their homelands, those were just immigrants. They wanted to come over here stuffed in the bottom of those ships and work for lower wages than the white man because they all had a dream. They all thought they were going to come over here and make a better life for themselves and their kids. I am not a history buff. I dont know everything about US history, but I do know enough that thats not even close to what happened, Dr. Carson. At this point, its almost insulting to other doctors to even refer to you as Dr., so Im not going to call you that anymore. Youre just Ben because you are so ignorant that you do not deserve the title of Dr. at this point.

Those people that the United States ripped from their homelands were not immigrants. They were slaves. They were brought over here to work under hellish conditions for absolutely no pay what so ever and thats what they were. They werent immigrants. They didnt want to come here. They were kidnapped. They were stolen. Families were torn apart. They had no idea what happened. Thats what happened in United States history, Ben Carson. Your disgusting revisionist version of this isnt a front to every single American citizen, not just African Americans. Youre re-writing one of the ugliest parts of American history and ugly or not, it is part of our history. If we pretend that it didnt happen, thats even more insulting, but that is exactly what you are doing, Ben.

You know, at this point I have to wonder if any of the stories about you, that movie with Cuba Gooding Jr., did any of that shit actually happen? You are by far one of the dumbest people in American politics today. Im sorry, I find that hard to believe that you could have ever been successful at cutting open peoples heads and tinkering with their brains when you dont even know that slaves were slaves and not immigrants. Thats very concerning to me, Ben, because this is basic US history. My children are in elementary school and they know more about US slavery than you do. That shouldnt be the case.

Im at a loss at this point for the rampant stupidity in revisionist history coming out of not just the Republican Party, but mainly the Trump Administration itself. These people are so disconnected from reality that theyre actually causing harm to the American public and to American discourse at this point. You cant have an intelligent conversation with these people. You cant have a rational conversation with these people. All you can do is sit back and watch as the flurry of stupid flies from their mouths and hope that nobody in that crowd, nobody listening to this garbage actually believes it. Unfortunately, theyre Republicans so they probably do.

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Ben Carson Says Slaves In America Were Just Low Wage Immigrants - The Ring of Fire Network

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The two men were residents of the Big Ghetto, a shanty town near San Severo in southern Italy inhabited mostly by migrant agricultural workers.

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The town, which has been in place for nearly two decades, was made up mostly of makeshift huts constructed from wood, cardboard, and plastic. It was engulfed in flames within minutes after a fire broke out on Thursday night, according to local reports. The two men killed are thought to have been from Mali.

Commenting on the incident on Facebook, Lega Nords Matteo Salvani didnt hold back in his condemnation of the left, who he blamed for encouraging migrants to flock to Italy only to work for a pittance in precarious circumstances.

Two immigrants from Africa, exploited as slaves in the countryside [] are dead tonight because of a fire (the seventh!) in the slums where they lived, in the province of Foggia, Salvini wrote.

More blood on the hands of the bleeding heart left, who encourage thousands of wretches to come to Italy, promising them everything and leaving them to die.

His solution: Stop the departures, block the boats, deport the illegals, fight the traffickers, implement a minimum wage to prevent slavery and exploitation, and to defend Italian agriculture.

It can be done, and, in fact, it should be.

Salvinis broadside comes just weeks after the European Unions own border service, Frontex, admitted that search and rescue (SAR) operations in the Mediterranean Sea are perversely increasing the number of migrant drownings, as reliance on rescue ships is prompting smugglers to use ever less sturdy vessels to transport their human cargo.

TheFrontex Risk Analysisfor 2017 admits: SAR missions close to, or within, the 12-mile territorial waters of Libya have unintended consequences.

Dangerous crossings on unseaworthy and overloaded vessels were organised with the main purpose of being detected by EUNAVFOR Med/Frontex and NGO vessels.

Migrants and refugees encouraged by the stories of those who had successfully made it in the past attempt the dangerous crossing since they are aware of and rely on humanitarian assistance to reach the EU.

According to UNHCR figures, 487 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean Sea attempting to cross to Europe between 1 January and 5 March this year.

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Italian Nationalists Vent Fury Following Migrant Camp Fire - Breitbart News