US Government Shutdown Hurts Communities of Color

While we at Sisters of Resistance have been contemplating the US government shutdown as indicative of the imminent collapse of an empire, the incisive Imara Jones over at the excellent news site Colorlines.com has written this important and practical piece about how the shutdown will disproportionately affect communities of color, poor communities, and women and children who rely on the government for employment and services.

He writes:

What’s particularly distressing about the shuttering of the government is that it comes at a time when unemployment remains in the double digits for blacks and Latinos. As the Center for American Progress points out, federal, state and local governments since 2008 have eliminated 750,000 public sector jobs. Given unionization and strong anti-discriminatory hiring practices, people of color are more likely to have jobs in the public sector. This is particularly true for African-Americans, and it’s why joblessness remains so stubborn in communities of color.

The truth is that people of color represent a larger proportion of the federal workforce than the workforce overall. According to the Washington Post, 35 percent of federal workers are non-White versus 30 percent of all workers.  This means that a shutdown will only add to the economic woes and employment worries in communities of color.

Read the whole thing here.

We leave you with a brief but critical message to those in government who created this mess:

Sisters of Resistance say NO to War on Syria

From the petition on Credo:

President Obama has sent a draft resolution authorizing the use of American military force in Syria to Congress. We need to speak out today and tell our senators and members of Congress to say no to military intervention by the U.S.

The brutal and bloody Syrian civil war has already left 100,000 people dead and created millions of refugees. And now chemical weapons have been used, killing hundreds of civilians.

The use of chemical weapons is morally reprehensible, and it should be punished. The International Criminal Court should immediately start war crime tribunals and proceedings against those responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria. And the U.S. can take evidence that Assad’s regime used chemical weapons to the UN Security Council and seek a resolution against Syria. Both acts would make it far more difficult for Russia to continue defending the regime and open the door for international action to broker a ceasefire — the only way we will stop the massacre of civilians.

We say NO to War on Syria!

What you can do:

Sign the Credo Petition | Sign the White House Petition

Contact Your Congresspeople:
House of Representatives | Senate

Forward this information to your networks and share it on social media

Participate in protests against the war on Syria

Let your voice be heard! No more imperialist wars!

International Women’s Day 2013 – Feminist Activist Vandana Shiva on Democracy Now!

Vandana Shiva on International Women’s Day: “Capitalist Patriarchy Has Aggravated Violence Against Women” [Democracy Now!]

“The liberation of the earth, the liberation of women, the liberation of all humanity is the next step of freedom we need to work for, and it’s the next step of peace that we need to create.” – Vandana Shiva

El Dia – Pilipina Poems

El Dia of the Sisters of Resistance today published a collection of her poetry, entitled PilipinaPoems. Written during or after extended stays in her family home in Manila, Philippines, the poems are socio-economic and political commentaries on the neo-colonial situation of the Philippines and Filipino/as worldwide.  The collection is both record and reflection of her evolution as a Filipina-Amerikan writer and cultural activist, and a map of her path to decolonization. She presents it in solidarity with the Global South and diasporic peoples across the globe fighting for social, economic, and spiritual liberation.

Click to download

Kingdom Rise and Kingdom Fall

by The Wailing Souls (1980)