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VideoMoving On Up and Hitting a Wall: Social Mobility in the U.S. and Europe
by Michelle Chen on February 10 2010, 8:28PM
America: land of opportunity… if you’re lucky enough to be born into one. The crumbling of the American Dream is in plain view across the country, especially in the urban centers and desolate ghost towns that have long been…
Topics: Economy, Global Affairs, Schools & Youth
Faultlines in Haiti: Who is Listening on the Ground?
by Michelle Chen on February 8 2010, 8:10PM
Haiti’s devastation is metastasized into a roiling homelessness crisis, and aid groups warn of another potential mass displacement as the government considers shifting people to supposedly more organized encampments outside the capital. What do Haitian survivors think of the…
Topics: Global Affairs
Veiled Discrimination: France Moves to Ban the Burqa
by Michelle Chen on January 30 2010, 6:07AM
To some Americans unfamiliar with Muslim cultures, the sight of a woman walking down the street wearing a full-length veil may come across as strange, perhaps offensive, or as an image of oppression. In France, the veil may soon be…
Topics: Global Affairs
Rebuilding Haiti Without Borders: Remittances and Migration
by Michelle Chen on January 29 2010, 8:03PM
Activists have tried to keep the immigration issue on the national agenda by highlighting the potential economic benefits of immigration reform. The massive humanitarian crisis right next door may present an opportunity to recast immigration in the context of addressing…
Topics: Global Affairs
Somali ‘Pirates’ Plan to Send Treasures Taken from Rich Countries to Haiti
by Jorge Rivas on January 29 2010, 11:07AM
We haven’t heard about the Somali pirates in months, but they’re back in the news cycle. This time around, it’s a more positive, Robin Hood-esque story. In the article, translated on Metamute.org, leaders of the pirate groups say they’re willing…
Topics: Global Affairs
Children of the Earthquake: Rescuing Haiti’s Orphans?
by Michelle Chen on January 26 2010, 8:15PM
The Haitian diaspora has always been fractured by definition, with tough kinship ties stretched across oceans in a network of interwoven communities. Now that the earthquake has shaken up borders and geopolitical barriers, no one is quite sure how…
Topics: Global Affairs
More Tent Cities: Haiti Refugee Crisis on the Horizon
by Michelle Chen on January 23 2010, 5:28AM
The Haitian government’s new plan to deal with earthquake refugees seems to follow an old trajectory. Survivors will be pushed into emergency shelter sites scattered outside Port-au-Prince, which will offer a supposedly cleaner, more orderly alternative to the hundreds…
Topics: Global Affairs
Temporary Protected Status for Haitians Begins Today, but Doesn’t Apply to Everyone
by Jorge Rivas on January 21 2010, 9:54AM
According to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano the U.S. may be home to as many as 200,000 undocumented Haitian immigrants. Starting today the Obama administration is allowing Haitians who have been in the U.S. without legal status before January 12…
Topics: Global Affairs, Immigration
Legal Barrier Eased for Temporary Protected Status
by Michelle Chen on January 21 2010, 6:10AM
It took a massive earthquake in Haiti to finally push the government to reopen Temporary Protected Status for the tens of thousands of Haitian immigrants who would otherwise be slated for deportation. Just in time, the TPS designation, which…
Topics: Global Affairs
Dying in Haiti: Humanitarian Crisis Enters Second Week
by Michelle Chen on January 19 2010, 11:18PM
As the unprecedented humanitarian relief effort in Haiti struggles through logistical chaos, triaging shipments of food, medicine, and personnel, making sure help is distributed efficiently, one entity seems to consistently dominate the hierarchy of needs: the military. And so…
Topics: Global Affairs
‘There’s No War Here’: Haiti’s Crisis, From Disaster Site To Military Zone?
by Michelle Chen on January 18 2010, 8:17AM
As humanitarian relief trickles into Haiti in fits and starts, reports of despair and frustration are trickling out. The situation grows increasingly desperate as hundreds of thousands of disaster-stricken people await emergency help, nearly a week after the emergency…
Topics: Global Affairs, News Items
Please Don’t Superdome Haiti (update)
by Michelle Chen on January 16 2010, 8:58AM
For those who know how race and media intersect in times of crisis, the earthquake in Haiti has probably sent a bump through your pop-cultural seismograph. Now it’s becoming a flashpoint. Following an initial wave of sympathy, the corporate…
Topics: Global Affairs, Katrina, Media
Haiti Smashed, Diaspora Shaken, Deportations Frozen
by Michelle Chen on January 13 2010, 11:39PM
The devastation in Haiti is unrelenting, an avalanche of natural catastrophe exacerbated by man-made injustice. Perhaps 100,000 feared dead, homes shattered, people digging neighbors out of rubble without safe food, water or electricity. It’s hard to fathom just how…
Topics: Global Affairs, Immigration, News Items
Haiti Shaken By Quake: What the U.S. Can Do
by Michelle Chen on January 13 2010, 12:48AM
Yet another calamity has besieged Haiti. The poorest country in the Western hemisphere has been pummeled by a massive earthquake. The initial quake had a magnitude of 7.0, but New York Times reports that the disaster continues to reverberate:…
Topics: Global Affairs, Immigration, News Items
EPA Moves to Shield Neighborhoods from Smog
by Michelle Chen on January 8 2010, 10:07PM
The EPA proposed stronger regulations on smog pollution this week, paving the way for stronger controls on the poisonous fumes that hover over poor and racially segregated communities. The agency is starting to undo the damage of Bush-era guidelines…
Topics: Environment, Global Affairs
Uganda’s Anti-LGBT Bill: Facing Hate and Hegemony
by Michelle Chen on January 7 2010, 7:19PM
The now-infamous anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda has kicked up a media storm halfway around the world. The bill, which could pave the way for the death penalty, life imprisonment or other severe penalties for homosexuality-related behavior—might otherwise be dismissed…
Topics: Global Affairs
African Literature for Dummies
by Michelle Chen on January 7 2010, 6:59AM
The publishing industry may be in disarray, but the market in liberal-guilt exorcism is booming. Now, you too can write your own acclaimed African novel. Just follow these simple steps, courtesy Binyavanga Wainaina.* * Hair accessories sold separately. (h/t Sociological…
Topics: Global Affairs, Video & Multimedia
by Rinku Sen on December 16 2009, 1:24PM
Originally published on The Huffington Post Negotiations have resumed in Copenhagen after a walkout by the African delegation on Monday. African governments were concerned with the lack of commitment by rich country governments to reducing their own emissions. This follows…
Topics: Economy, Environment, Global Affairs, News Items, Race and Recession
Shifting Climate, Moving People: Immigration and Climate Justice
by Michelle Chen on December 15 2009, 9:36AM
The impasse in Copenhagen underscores just how interconnected, and perhaps collectively doomed, we all are in the face of global climate change. And like the rapid currents of trade coursing around the globe, environmental destruction is reshaping the flow…
Topics: Environment, Global Affairs, Immigration
System Change Not Climate Change
by Debayani Kar on December 14 2009, 1:18PM
Climate justice activists from around the U.S. led by communities of color were part of the 100,000-strong protest march in Copenhagen this past Saturday. Not surprisingly, such a vibrant display of civil society’s power was responded to with more than…
Topics: Global Affairs
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