If you have ever experienced an LJS event, then you know the transformative and healing power of listening. Story Corp's
National Day of Listening is an innovative way to bring that experience into your family gathering this holiday season.
This week,
you are asked to interview and record the story of a family member,
friend, or community member. The website provides a downloadable
Do-it-Yourself guide that helps you generate interview questions and
provides other tips to make your
Day of Listening
experience easy and meaningful. The site also includes tool-kits for
educators and those looking to use this as an opportunity for
community service. We invite you to be inspired as you listen deeply to
the stories of your family, friends, teachers, and other loved ones.
Share your stories and insights on our blog. We can't wait to hear what you discover!
Women or girls who earn
income will invest 90% of that income into their family. Yet women are
under-employed, paid less than men when they are employed, and receive
less than 2 cents for every development dollar spent.
The Girl Effect is a global
movement based on research which asserts that the 600 million girls
growing up in countries in the economic south hold the answers to
making the world a better place for everyone.
Girls Count: A Global Investment and Action Agenda
identifies three key areas: 1) count girls--doing so will make girls
more visible to policymakers and reveal where girls are excluded; 2)
invest in girls--commensurate with their importance as contributors to
the achievement of economic and social goals; and 3) give girls a fair
share--explicit and deliberate efforts to overcome household and social
barriers will be required for equity in employment, social programs,
and protection of human rights.
Please visit this website or become a
fan on Facebook where you'll learn more and directly support girls in their important public education campaign.
Download this Newsletter (PDF)
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Privilege, Power, and Difference
By Allan Johnson
Allan Johnson's
Privilege, Power, and Difference addresses the taboo topic of diversity--power. The first eight
chapters are devoted to defining and identifying privilege in all its
forms--including its roots in capitalism (see second book review this
month for a deeper analysis). Using a mix of theory and real world
examples, Johnson successfully endeavors to illustrate for his readers
the effects of power and privilege on all of us--and that all of us have
a role in making change happen. "The simple truth is that the trouble
we're in can't be solved unless people who are heterosexual or male or
Anglo or white or economically comfortable feel obligated to make the
problem of privilege
their problem and to do something about it."
Johnson's conversational
writing style works to diffuse defensiveness while inviting readers to
think critically about issues such as "white privilege," "dominance,"
"patriarchy," "heterosexism," and "racism." Normally diversity
conversations are more coded and less direct because simply using these
words can "turn off" privileged groups from even addressing the issues.
Johnson argues, "we have to reclaim some difficult ..., language that has
been so misused and maligned that it generates more heat than light.
We can't just stop using words like
racism, sexism and
privilege,
however, because these are tools that focus our awareness on the
problem and all the forms it takes. Once we can see and talk about
what's going on, we can analyze how it works as a system. We can
identify points of leverage where change can begin."
Johnson educates his
readers about the difference between individuals who may or may not
"feel" privileged and how people in social categories are awarded
privilege and power by the very nature of one's participation in the
system--regardless of if they can "feel" it. He challenges us to
interrupt this system of dominance by breaking our silence around
privilege. He writes about our ability to choose a "path of greater
resistance" that questions the assumptions that keep power and
privilege in place.
For those of you working to
implement organizational change, pay close attention to pages 67-70.
Johnson addresses some of the pitfalls of implementing organizational
diversity initiatives built upon the "tin cup approach" and the
"business case." He writes, "Perhaps more than any other factor, this
reluctance to come to terms with more serious and entrenched forms of
[power and the unequal distribution of resources and rewards] is why
most diversity programs produce limited and short-lived results."
The final chapter outlines some clear actions we can take to transform our relationship to privilege. As Johnson states, "We
are not prisoners to some natural order that pits us hopelessly and
endlessly against one another." This book offers us a framework for
engaging in authentic and healing conversations about privilege and its
contribution to systems of inequality. Join us on the
LJS blog to add your thoughts to this discussion!
Beyond Poverty and Affluence: Towards an Economy of Care
By Bob Goudzwaard, Harry de Lange
Originally published in
Dutch in 1986, this  groundbreaking book is more relevant than ever
given our current economic climate and a perfect companion to Johnson's
Privilege, Power, and Difference. Distinguished economists, Goudzwaard
and de Lange discuss how traditional economic policies create and
exacerbate poverty, environmental degradation, the ever widening divide
between communities with privilege and access to resource and those
without. They argue that our unquestioning faith in the ability of
increasing industrial production to alleviate social and economic
problems is unfounded and even destructive.
The authors urge that it is
time to create a system that values the contribution of human labor in
a radically different way. They propose a 12 step program for recovery
based on an economy of care and abundance. They outline six paradoxes
(time, care, poverty, health, labor, and scarcity) that highlight how
current economic practices leave many people behind. Despite a
rising need for labor, unemployment continues to skyrocket. Given the
preponderance of wealth, many people remain deep in poverty without the
time for activities related to the care of children, the elderly and other
members of our communities.
This book is a radical
departure from commonly accepted economic policy. The authors argue, "A
renewed economic paradigm must proceed from the assumption that people
need to advance the interests of
others.
People must be willing to think inclusively. They must choose to be
led by considerations other than self-interest, a principle that
belongs inextricably to the thought patterns of our society's current
economic paradigm." Given the economic climate in the US and
globally, it is a timely call to rethink how we view production and how
we assign value. Please post your comments on our
blog. We look forward to hearing from you!
Upcoming Events:
Take part in our powerful public workshops! Follow
the links below for
more information on how to register:
Join LJS in San Jose, California for a special bi-lingual offering! January 23-24, 2010
"Transformational Communication: Tools for Cross-Cultural Understanding and Inclusion"
Facilitated by Nanci Luna
Jiménez, CPF©,
Barbara J. MacKay, CPF©
2-day bi-lingual community workshop hosted by Escuela Popular
Early
Bird Registration Deadline December 20th, 2009
To view details or register online Click Here
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