April 5, 2007 [ CURRENT ]   [ ARCHIVE ] [houston institute] Growing Season, China Blue Reviewed, Margaret Mead Film Festival April 5, 2007 IN THIS ISSUE -Documenting the Life of a Migrant Community -Upcoming Houston Institute for Culture Events -China Blue Review by Richard D. Vogel -The Margaret Mead Film Festival at Rice -Mining Impact in Central America -About This Email Newsletter ____________________________________________________ Documenting the Life of a Migrant Community Houston Institute for Culture presents "Growing Season - The Life of a Migrant Community" featuring documentary photography by Gary Harwood, with text by David Hassler. ("Growing Season - The Life of a Migrant Community" is published by Kent State University Press). "Until we moved here to Hartville [Ohio], I'd never met a migrant worker. I didn't know what they were. Never heard of them. I never dreamed that I would have the opportunity to meet people of a different culture like this and learn to know them and get to be close with them. But they moved right across the street from me, and pretty soon I learned they were nice people. It's really something. I was always told when you quit learning you quit living. I'd take any one of them, keep them forever, long as I live, if they wanted to stay here with me and Bob. They're special people-just unexplainable, special people." -May Nichols (Hartville, Ohio) Growing Season - The Life of a Migrant Community On Exhibit through April 22 Wed. & Fri. 6-8pm; Sat. & Sun. 12-5pm This timely and humanistic look at events in the lives of migrant farm workers is on display through April 22. Hours are Wednesday and Friday, 6 - 8pm, and Saturday and Sunday, noon - 5pm. The exhibit is free and open to the public at the Havens Center, 1827 W. Alabama Street near Woodhead. Directions: Havens Center is located about 1/4 mile east of Shepherd on W. Alabama Street, on the south side of the street at 1827. Parking is available at St Stephens Episcopal Church (on the south side of the street near Woodhead and Alabama) or in the parking lot directly across the street from Havens Center (on the north side of Alabama). For more information, please see: http://www.houstonculture.org ____________________________________________________ Upcoming Houston Institute for Culture Events Saturday, April 14, 7:00pm "Thirst" and "Global Banquet" Free Topical film and discussion event - Is water part of a shared "commons", a human right for all people? Or is it a commodity to be sold and traded in a global marketplace? Thirst tells the stories of communities in Bolivia, India, and the United States that are asking these fundamental questions, as water becomes the most valuable global resource of the 21st Century. Global Banquet examines the drive to control global food supplies. Havens Center, 1827 W. Alabama Street, Houston, Texas 77098 http://www.houstonculture.org/film =========================================== Sunday, April 15, 4:00 - 9:00pm The Emiliano Zapata Rock and Film Festival Donation: $5 Artists and filmmakers will support the Houston Solidarity with Chiapas caravan of medical and school supplies for the indigenous people of Chiapas and provide scholarships for Houston children to attend Houston Institute for Culture's Camp Dos Cabezas, where they discover positive opportunities for life. Bohemeo's, 708 Telephone Road (at Lockwood, in the Tlaquepaque Market), Houston, Texas 77023 http://www.bohemeos.com =========================================== Thursday, April 19, 5:00pm Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston: Parent's and Children's Stories Free Houston Institute for Culture, with support of Houston Arts Alliance and Humanities Texas will present a public program of the Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston project, featuring survivors' narratives, as well as a performance by Mardi Gras Indians who carry on their New Orleans traditions in Houston. University of Houston Law Center http://www.houstonculture.org =========================================== Saturday, April 21, 7:00pm "The Power of Community - How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" and "Radically Simple" Free Topical film and discussion event - Cuba experienced the loss of over half of its oil imports after the fall of the Soviet Union, forcing the resilient island nation to find local solutions to its energy crisis, which are documented in The Power of Community by American travelers. Radically Simple explores solutions for sustainable living. Havens Center, 1827 W. Alabama Street, Houston, Texas 77098 http://www.houstonculture.org/film =========================================== Thursday, May 3, 7:30pm Classical Indian Dance featuring Namita Bodaji and Guests A master of the ancient Indian art of Bharata natyam, Namita Bodaji will demonstrate the language of Indian dance and interpret epic dramas. Two of Namita's exceptionally talented students from Mumbai will also perform the dance tradition, which utilizes complex body movements, hand signs, facial and eye expressions. University of St Thomas Jones Hall http://www.houstonculture.org ____________________________________________________ "China Blue" Review by Richard D. Vogel Guest Columnist Richard D. Vogel gives us this review of "China Blue", a film that debuted in Houston at Houston Institute for Culture in February. The film can be seen this weekend at Rice University during The Margaret Mead Film Festival. China Blue: The Girls at the Other End of the Supply Chain Good documentary films help us understand the world by allowing us to see things outside of, but relevant to, our immediate experience. Occasionally, we discover one that expands and alters our worldview. "China Blue", a film directed by Micha X. Peled, is one of those rare finds. In this film, the viewer meets the girls at the other end of a supply chain that extends from the sweatshops of China to clothing retail outlets in the U.S. and Europe. The film focuses on Jasmine Lee, a teenager who migrates from the countryside to the city of Shaxi in Guangdong province in search of work to aid her family. She finds employment as a thread cutter in a blue jeans factory where she works seven days a week and lives in a company dormitory room with 12 other teenage girls and young women. Working and living conditions are abominable. The girls routinely work 18 hours a day without overtime under vigilant supervisors who punish them with pay cuts for not meeting production quotas, falling asleep on the job, leaving the premises without a pass, and even getting sick. The girls pay out-of-pocket for hot water that they have to carry to their rooms, and the cost of the bland meals provided by the company is deducted from their pay. When they have to work all night the girls get a free snack. The sweatshop economics that dictate the girls' lives are harsh: for jeans that retail for $60 in the West, the Chinese factory owner receives a dollar, of which Jasmine, at the bottom of the pay scale, receives six cents an hour. Salaries for the girls at the factory range from $30 to $60 a month, and even these paltry wages are frequently withheld by their employer. Most of the girls send money home, but they can seldom afford to visit. Mr. Lam, the owner of the factory, appears in the film as the antagonist, but a broader view of sweatshop industries implicates a much bigger culprit. Poor workers, largely women and girls, laboring and living under similar conditions around the world, produce many of the commodities that enter the supply chains and ultimately put food on our plates, shoes on our feet, electronic devices at our fingertips, and furniture in our homes and offices. As consumers, we are asked to believe that it is our demand for these goods that is ultimately responsible for the problems down the line, but careful examination of the supply chains points the finger at the people who own the means of production and the various middlemen who live off the labor of others. The tired argument that factories like the one documented in "China Blue" are aberrations of the system does not ring true. The sweatshop conditions of the garment industry have been a historical constant. The wretched treatment of clothing workers lead to massive strikes in the U.S. in the early 20th century (and the establishment of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union); to widespread organizing activity among women in garment factories on both sides of the southern U.S. border during late 20th century; and to the current militant labor action of the women who toil in Mexico's garment industry. In "China Blue", we get to witness a mini-uprising by Jasmine and her peers. It is clear that exporting the problems of exploitation to other countries clearly has not solved the basic contradiction between wages and profits in the garment industry. Viewing "China Blue" is not simply looking on an abuse of the system, but confronting the essence of capitalist production. Witnessing the ruthless exploitation of the girls at the other end of the supply chain beseeches us to consider an alternate mode of production that balances the needs of people against the profits for a few. It is not an immutable law that the producers of the goods we use in our lives have to be slaves to those who have expropriated and monopolized the means of production. [Note: "China Blue", and a free, downloadable study guide by Eli D. Friedman, Department of Sociology, UC Berkley, are available from: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com] ____________________________________________________ The Margaret Mead Film Festival at Rice The Rice University Ethnographic Film Society presents The Margaret Mead Film Festival, a production of the American Museum of Natural History dedicated to promoting novel documentary and ethnographic films on contemporary issues. The films' themes range from issues of globalization for female factory workers in China ("China Blue") to an intimate look at people on both sides of the evolution debate. We feel the issues portrayed in these documentaries will offer a wide variety of perspectives and topics that will suit the diverse nature of Rice University and the Houston community as a whole. By hosting The Margaret Mead Film Festival at Rice, Rice University Ethnographic Film Society wishes to stimulate public debate and a forum for thinking about diversity, tolerance and representation. Rice Cinema located on the Rice University Campus is hosting the event April 6, 7, and 8 with show times at 7:00pm and 9:00pm nightly. Tickets are $6 per screening ($5 for Rice students), $8 for two screenings, and $20 for an all access pass to all 6 films. A wine and cheese reception with keynote speaker Tarek Elhaik will launch the festival April 6 at 6:00pm. For details go to the Rice Cinema website at: http://www.ricecinema.rice.edu ____________________________________________________ Mining Impact in Central America People of Earth Radio Presents "Gold and Greed" on Friday, April 6, 7:30pm, at Havens Center GOLD AND GREED OF NORTH AMERICAN MINING COMPANIES AND INVESTORS THE DEVELOPMENT, HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL NEEDS OF CENTRAL AMERICAN PEOPLES With Special Guests Carlos Amador Aleman and Sandra Cuffe Carlos is an organizer and educator and leader of the Siria Valley Environmental Committee in Francisco Morazon, Honduras. His work includes working to expose the multiple violations and harms being caused by cyanide-leaching, open pit gold mining practiced in the region by the Vancouver-based Goldcorp (formerly Glamis Gold) mining company, and to promote and work for community controlled alternative development projects. Sandra works with Rights Action and has lived and worked in Honduras for over three years, working on a wide range of development, environment and human rights issues with community organizations in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador; Sandra has investigated and written extensively about the violations and harms caused by North American mining companies - including Goldcorp (formerly Glamis Gold). GUATEMALA & HONDURAS: A GLOBAL INVESTOR'S "OASIS" It has been said that "the problems of the South are the demands of the North," and Central America is rife with poverty and exploitation and environmental destruction due in (large) part to "development" economic policies imposed by and beneficial to the global north. On-going militarism in Central America - including the physical presence of American soldiers - facilitates mainly North American efforts to secure access to resources for North American investors and business interests, in particular minerals, petroleum, land, water, coffee and cheap labour. "Free" trade agreements, including DR-CAFTA (Dominican Republic - Central American "Free" Trade Agreement), with the US and the CA4TA (Central America Four "Free" Trade Agreement) with Canada, are further "liberalizing" the region in the same way that NAFTA "liberalized" Mexico. MINING - "DEVELOPMENT" FOR WHOM? Mining mega-projects offer clear examples of the top-down, environmentally and socially destructive model of "development" promoted by U.S. and Canadian governments, global companies and International Financial Institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The scale of damage and destruction experienced by people who live in communities affected by multinational mining interests have caused some to label these activities as "Terrorismo Minero" ("Mining Terrorism"). The World Bank, which invests directly in mining companies and insures their investments, along with help from Northern governments, have pressured mineral rich states around the world to do away with their existing mining legislation, and funded them to come up with new legislation that creates a suitable environment for multinational mining companies, regardless of the needs of local people. Guatemala and Honduras are both examples of countries where mining legislation was changed to favour (primarily Canadian) multinational mining companies. Today, in both countries, the royalty tax rate for mining is calculated as 1% of the value of total production. COME AND HEAR THE VOICES that Goldcorp and the mainstream media want to keep silent, and learn why gold is not always "all that glitters." Tune in People of Earth at 11:00am Friday on KPFT, 90.1 FM. Friday, April 6, 7:30 Havens Center 1827 W. Alabama Street Houston, Texas 77098 Parking info: http://www.houstonculture.org/film ____________________________________________________ Next week we will provide a supplemental April Issue with updates on Camp Dos Cabezas, The Emiliano Zapata Rock and Film Festival, Recovery in New Orleans, and listings of many great Houston events for April and May. ____________________________________________________ About this Email Newsletter The Houston Institute newsletter is provided about nine times per year to community members who have requested it, as well as Houston Institute for Culture volunteers and collaborators on beneficial programs. The newsletter features Houston Institute for Culture events and activities, as well as community and cultural activities throughout the region. We attempt to highlight events and organizations that resemble the educational mission of Houston Institute for Culture, as well as promote diverse interests. If you would like to be added to the list. please send an email to info@houstonculture.org. To be removed from the list, please reply or send a message saying "remove" or "unsubscribe". Thank you for supporting educational events. ____________________________________________________ M  a  r  k @houstonculture.org Houston Institute for Culture Havens Center 1827 W. Alabama Street Houston, Texas 77098 HOUSTON INSTITUTE FOR CULTURE    SEARCH    info@houstonculture.org