The other night I went to an assembly of the sindicate of textile workers and cartoneros (essentially recycling collectors) run by my internship. There were fun parts to the night, listening to folklore and drinking with the Bolivian women, but there were also impassioned speeches about the state of slavery and workers rights in Argentina and where the fight to overcome it is going. What fascinated me about the speeches I think will fascinate you as well:
They were all centered around the strikes in Chicago. Have you not learned much about this? Because I hadn't.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905_Chicago_Teamsters'_strike
The reason that the "Dia del Trabajador" is on May 1st is to commemorate these strikes and what they stood for. ARGENTINES are commemorating the 8 hour day gained from these strikes but AMERICANS aren't? I must admit I felt silly being taught my own countries history by argentines- even if it did make me feel proud to live in the country that hosts their model of humane industry.
And yet it got me thinking- yes for the most part we can boast fair working standards and safe working conditions- but slavery still exists in the US as well. I'm not only horrified by this fact, but embarrassed. Other countries look to us as the model of opportunity and fair circumstance but that just isn't the case.
One of my friends at La Alameda cooked and cared for children in Bolivia before she was enslaved in Buenos Aires. She cared for discapacitated kids, mute kids and deaf kids (she taught me a little Bolivian sign language.) She really would like to go to america one day and was asking me about job opportunities there for her to work in child care. I told her the truth that it exists and that there are opportunities especially for someone as qualified as she is. But then I got to thinking about all of the problems she could run into- worst case scenario she ends up in a slave situation in the US too! Domestic help is one of the top 5 sectors of slavery in the US. The thought that this could happen to her AGAIN and in my country made me sick to my stomach quite frankly. And then other scenarios- what if she moved to Arizona and was subject to discrimination there because of the color of her skin. What if she was discriminated against for having a spanish accent on her english! These things still happen!
US- we have so much work to do.
For those of you who speak spanish and would like to learn more about my internship here's the website:
http://laalameda.wordpress.com/?ref=spelling
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