Eroding Our Civil and Human Rights Institutions from the Inside Out

In recent years we have witnessed the most aggressive dismissal and corrosion of some of our nations’ (and the world’s) most treasured institutions by the U.S. government. The brazen and impertinent appointment of John R. Bolton to the United Nations sent a clear message to the U.N. and to the world that the United States was not interested in bilateral discussions. Such an affront to a reputable and honored establishment did not go over quietly, with Bolton fanning the fire with ostentatious statements such as: “if the UN secretary building in New York lost ten stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference,” and publicly expressing his view that the United States is not bound, like other countries, by international laws and treaties. Not exactly a stellar candidate to represent the United States.

Fear, Loathing and Globalization: The Vilification of Brown Bodies

There are two ways to define globalization; one being from a free market perspective in which globalization would begin in roughly the 1940’s with the spread of multi-national business, or by a more socio-historical definition in which globalization is viewed as the Western expansion beginning in 1500 and defined by expansionist or colonialist ambitions. By defining globalization as a period marked by an ethnocentric urgency to “civilize” other nations and peoples, then we are able to view the Spanish and Portuguese crusades, the British colonialism, and American Imperialism as all being variant forms of the same sort of outward expansion.

Systematic Violence: Neglect and Morbidity in Post-Katrina New Orleans

The American Medical Association recently published a groundbreaking study by Dr. Kevin Stevens about pre-Katrina and post-Katrina death rates in New Orleans. The study entitled, “Excess Mortality in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: A Preliminary Report,” explores the failures and shortcomings of post-Katrina medical care in New Orleans. The study found that there has been a nearly 50 percent increase from the baseline mortality in Post-Katrina New Orleans. The report states that “the causes for this dramatic increase in mortality rates can be linked back to how Katrina “severely compromised the public health infrastructure … [and] … it is suggested that a destroyed or poorly recovered public health infrastructure, which normally would be able to identify health problems and protect the health of a population, has in fact contributed to excess mortality.”

America And Brazil: A Cultural Comparison in Three Parts

Part One:
Third World Country: How America Fits the Bill

When one enters São Paulo, Brazil from the international airport, they are first struck by how technologically advanced the country is—the nice cars, flashy billboards, and innovative energy technologies are all impressive. Then, in one jarring moment, the airport bus turns into the middle of a slum. Houses made of cardboard, children playing barefoot at the edge of the highway, and an open sewer running through the haphazard jumble of make-shift houses all serve to remind you that, yes, Brazil is still a Third World country. The bizarre juxtaposition of extreme wealth and extreme poverty is something that is sadly characteristic of Brazil.

In countries like Brazil, corruption and racial inequality run so deep that doing social work can feel a bit like jumping into quicksand. Each problem solved brings up a whole new set of problems, and it can be overwhelming.

During the years I did social work in South America I asked myself again and again why is it that a country like Uruguay, with shared borders and a similar ethnic population to Brazil, somehow managed to get by without the horrific violence and desperation that plague many Brazilian cities.

The best explanation I can come up with is that it all boils down to social inclusion: a sense of shared identity, social responsibility, and a sense that the government is working for the people, and not against them. A society with a strong sense of collective identity and social inclusion tends to be more stable and peaceful than one that lacks these characteristics. Of the countries I know that have experienced social unrest, there is a divide in the population—racial, ethnic, economic, or political. If someone is seen as being “poor” before being Brazilian, or “Black” before being American, it creates a fractured and volatile society.