The “Worker” issue celebrates the people who toil, as our lead essay suggests, “Behind The Seams.” Our staff writers profiled a seamstress, a pattern maker, a milliner, a cobbler, a textile designer, and a design educator, describing each person’s background and their craft. Foreign Policy Digest writer Mahanth Joishy discusses the darker side of the fashion industry in “Sweat Equity,” a piece on child sweatshop labor in South Asia that is beautifully illustrated by artist Christopher Cunetto. Peruse our program summary to see how FFP is working with Kiva around the world to provide micro-loans and opportunities to artisans in Uganda, Praguay and Peru.

If this is your thing, free digital copies on signing up to their list.

It’s not your thing, no snark. pls. Be advised that I’ve been a garment workers union rep, have RSI from necessity based garment sewing and low tolerance for the trend of snark against fashion bloggers by ‘class conscious’ aspirational working class identified [but never labourers] critics - who overly project/deflect their defensiveness about upward mobility at those still underclass people who appreciate cultural criticism.

Oh look, I’m on a tangent post! Anyone on tumblr who habitually participates in ‘call culture’ accusations of elitism, basing their judgements largely on who’s in their own personal clique, rather than engaging with people and the posted content, will inevitably be that jerk accusing the ‘oppressed’ of being ‘elitist’ while claiming to defend them sometimes. Because those ‘oppressed’ like blogging, politics and pretty pictures to. Because those ‘oppressed’ are actually the global majority, a substantial minority in western nations and overrepresented in political activism. Because it’s hard to accurately gauge personal social locations via intentionally shallow photo tumblrs.

This probably sounds defensive. But hey tumblr, the deluded feedback i got on prior fashion labour posts from people with far better education and inclusion in ALP ‘regular aussie’ middle class income, but ‘working families’ pack mentality than me.

I’m not talking about those people debating politics or defending themselves from the ample prejudice in fashion [constant cultural appropriation, body shaming etc.]. I’m talking about the level of really obnoxious, half informed, smarmy spectatorship masquerading as political commitment, from those with no real interest in fashion as labour rights, creative industries or cultural criticism.

what can i say, it feels like political blogging is in a weird dogmatic/petty stage atm.

vizionheiry:

Ntozake Shange & Michaela angela Davis on Feminism, Tyler Perry & More. 2010

Noted urban culture critic Michaela angela Davis and legendary poet and author Ntozake Shange recently sat down for a discussion of Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuff, it’s adaptation into the film For Colored Girls, black feminism and plenty more recently at The Brooklyn Museum in New York.  It’s humorous, frank, refreshing and real. See what I mean and peep the conversation plus an inspiring audience q&a over at my other home, ParlourMagazine.com

Michaela angela Davis: Many people think you are the priestess of feminism…that you gave us the manifesto. And it’s interesting; I used to call For Colored Girls, our manifesto for a very long time.  Do you consider yourself a feminist? Also do you think what feminists are today is radically different than in the 70s. Do you think there needs to be a redefinition or a new pr campaign for feminism?

Ntozake Shange: Am I feminist? Yes I am. Do I think there needs to be a new pr campaign for feminism?  I think the Black people need one. White people just take the word feminism and walk away with it. We call ourselves womanist or all kinds of other weaker sounding words and let them take the big word that has to do with power and walk away with it and tell us it doesn’t have anything to do with us. Or we tell ourselves that. They never told me that, so I never became not a feminist.

 So since nobody told me personally that it had nothing to do with me, I assumed that because I was a woman and I was seeking a better life for women and children, that I was therefore a feminist. I wanted human rights for women and children, so I am a feminist.  I want political power for women and children and I am a feminist. I want to bring out from hiding working with roots and folk medicine. I want to bring midwives back into our lives. There are all kinds of things that I want to do as a feminist that I can do as a womanist.  But why get all these different words going? Why not just have one word that covers all we want to do for ourselves? It’s very difficult how we can separate over something when we’re all working towards the same thing. Or are we? Sometimes I don’t’ know what we want to happen. If we tell the white women they own feminism , then they can have the political power to do this that and the other, then what are we supposed to use to take our own freedom with? I don’t understand. 

When I was a little girl, I was influenced by two very important biographies as a child: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Toussaint L’ Overture and Susan B. Anthony.  It wasn’t until I was an adult that I discovered Susan B. Anthony abhorred black people.  And so did Europeans and she wanted to do everything she could to get them away from white Anglo-Saxon Protestants. The same was true of Jane Hull. That was obvious, racism. We don’t have so much obvious racism right now (but from stories people tell me it’s coming around quite quickly). We need to be able to look at our own heroes and heroines who we do have for examples of how to help women and girl children and little boys be safe in the country where they live.  And that’s what I try to do with my work and that’s what I try to support when I do charity work. And that’s what I try to do when I speak out with people like you.