Daily Archives: January 9, 2022

Covid isolation periods and the associated impacts of the pandemic continue to allow abusers to go to new extremes to exert control (Getty)

With such monstrous nonchalance, the man in the short video clip drags the Ethiopian domestic worker by her hair down the street in broad daylight. She is screaming her heart out as her shoes are ripped off by the concrete underneath her. He loosens his grip briefly to savagely beat her. People watch from their balconies, someone is clearly filming.

This disturbing video was shot just a few kilometres east of Beirut. Activists who located the woman this week said she is now safe but due to be sent home on Monday. They told me the attacker, her employer, was taken into custody but reportedly released only a day later. It is a painful reminder of the ongoing shadow pandemic within the pandemic: domestic violence and emotional abuse.

Rights groups across the world warned in 2020 that cases of abuse in the home soared during coronavirus lockdowns, which piled emotional and financial pressure on households. This (although not exclusively) overwhelmingly impacted women (one in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence mostly from intimate partners, according to the UN). Domestic migrant workers in countries like Lebanon, who are trapped in the slave-like kafala sponsorship system and often living with their employers, found themselves on the searing frontline of that.

But the truth is, this shadow pandemic didnt just stop because lockdowns were lifted. Rights workers have told me that instances of violence whether physical, emotional, financial, or sexual abuse continue to rise for many reasons, not least because of Covid isolation periods and ongoing associated economic woes.

In Lebanon, this is depressingly true. The pandemic and an unprecedented explosion in Beirut in August 2020 came alongside and contributed to one of the most spectacular economic collapses in modern history.

This week, the Lebanese lira surpassed a new record low of 30,000 lira to the dollar, even though it is still pegged at 1,500. This has helped contribute to the highest inflation rates in the world, outstripping Venezuela and Zimbabwe. It means one single canister of cooking gas costs more than half the monthly minimum wage, and the cost of four weeks use of a generator, essential as there is no longer any state-proved electricity, is six times a regular monthly salary.

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The poorest and most vulnerable have, of course, been hardest hit. Among them are the estimated 250,000 domestic migrant workers, who work in Lebanon under the kafala system. Used across countries in the Middle East, the kafala system shuts workers out of basic protections like a minimum wage, limits on working hours or the right to change jobs without their employers consent. They cannot even regain control of their passports to leave the country if they want out. Many women over the past two years have messaged me, trapped in their employers houses, where they are forced to work without money or proper food.

According to Human Rights Watch, since the start of the pandemic and the economic collapse, employers in Lebanon took to abandoning hundreds of workers outside consulates or embassies, often without money, passports, their belongings or flight tickets home. One employer even posted a Nigerian domestic worker for sale on a Facebook page used to trade secondhand items.

As this weeks grim video shows, migrant workers trapped in that system are increasingly vulnerable to physical abuse too.

We cannot let the rise in domestic violence, in all its forms, disappear from the agenda. Beyond Lebanon, it is an issue impacting homes in every country, in every town, and likely in every street.

This week, as right groups were warning of abuse of domestic workers in Lebanon, I also coincidentally stumbled upon Maid a searingly triggering miniseries about an impoverished American domestic worker and mother called Alex, who struggles to break free from her abusive partner, not even realising she is a victim of domestic violence.

Since it came out in October, it has sparked a slew of responses from many women who saw their own lockdown experiences played out in the storyline. We need to keep these conversations going.

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There is no coronavirus pandemic in Maid but as I watched it in Covid isolation myself, I couldnt help thinking that during the pandemic, the tiny lifelines that end up saving Alex would have completely vanished, simply because she would have been increasingly isolated.

Domestic violence hotlines have reported that Covid isolation periods and the associated impacts of the pandemic continue to allow abusers to go to new extremes to exert control beyond the obvious, including lying about pandemic risk, making up lockdown rules, and controlling access to money and methods of communication with the outside world.

I have mainly spoken about women in this piece, but it is, of course, not exclusively something women face. It is often more taboo to speak about when men are the victims and survivors of this kind of abuse. Now more than ever, we need to keep speaking out about all forms of violence in the home and the impact the pandemic continues to have from emotionally abused mothers in the US to modern slavery in Lebanon.

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Voices: In the shadow of the pandemic, domestic violence and slavery are still flourishing - Yahoo News

The U.S. Department of Labor announced this week that 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in November. Job openings, however, have decreased from 10.6 million to 11.1 million.

That number is still a record high.

However, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, this could be looked at from a positive perspective.

Large numbers of hires and separations occur every month throughout the business cycle. Net employment change results from the relationship between hires and separations, read the bureaus report. When the number of hires exceeds the number of separations, employment rises, even if the hires level is steady or declining. Conversely, when the number of hires is less than the number of separations, employment declines, even if the hires level is steady or rising.

In December, One Fair Wage (a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of tipped restaurant workers), warned of severe disruptions when dining out during the holidays with workers not willing to risk their lives due to the easily transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The organization said workers arent willing to risk their lives for tips.

Hundreds of thousands of service workers across the state of New York are fed up with the low wages and poor working conditions in the restaurant industry, including the subminimum wage for tipped workers that persists in New York, which is a direct legacy of slavery, stated Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage. The industry is in crisis. Unless wages go up immediately statewide, thousands of workers will continue to organize and many more will continue to leave.

A lot of this ire could be directed to Albany. New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul has touted her experience as a former tipped worker and called for the elimination of subminimum wage for those kinds of employees.

According to Jayaraman, the ball is in her court. She has the power to do so right now, before the end of the year, through a simple executive action, Jayaraman said.

Michael Fuquay, owner of the Queensboro and leader in RAISE High Road Restaurant, said,

Long before I owned a restaurant, I worked in a restaurant as a busboy, dishwasher, bartender, server. I think its important for us to have a kind of industry that good people want to stay in.

With low wages, people dont feel there is a future. We as an industry have to change to be the best we can be. Were trying to make that a reality as much as we can here at The Queensboro.

One Fair Wages own report, titled Closed Due to Low Wages: The Ongoing Exodus of Workers From the NY Restaurant Industry & The Looming Impact on Consumers, showed that since December 2019, New York State made up 12% of all restaurant workers who left the industry with a 18% overall decline in the overall workforce of any U.S. state or territory. The report stated as of May 2021, 53% of all restaurant workers still in the industry planned on leaving.

And job shortages arent only found in the restaurant industry. According to Pew Charitable Trusts, Missouris social services are in dire straits.

Communications Workers of America Local 6355 officials told Pew that the states child welfare workers are being assigned as many as 50 cases, which is double the normal amount. Citizens with questions regarding public assistance are on hold for hours before speaking with a worker.

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Millions of workers quit their jobs, particularly low-wage ones - Amsterdam News

Americas two-fold original sin began when the white plague, our European ancestors, first set foot on the North American continent. Beginning with the settlements of Jamestown in Virginia, and the Bay Colony in Massachusetts, it was open season on the tribes inhabiting this land for more than 10,000 years.

Current archaeological evidence suggests that up to 70 million original people perished between 1604 and the late 1800s. Thats quite a record for a civilized, Christian society. But thats only half of our national original sin. The other half, of course, was slavery.

In less than one generation (1604-1619), our European Christian ancestors systematically murdered, poisoned (smallpox) and starved one native culture, and enslaved another.

The same brutal forces of greed and exploitation that shaped early American policies are still present in American government today. Although America never had a king or a royal blood-line, we have always had a ruling aristocracy of land owners, bankers and entrepreneurs.

American government today reflects those early colonial traits with the aristocracy of corporate titans and scheming banksters enslaving the entire working class of America.

Todays workers are no more than indentured slaves to the wealthy bankers and corporations that refuse to pay a living wage. It is far easier to steal from the working masses when our government is owned by the aristocracy (fascism defined).

Our Black brothers and sisters knew more than 400 years ago that the laziest people in nascent America were wealthy white men. The more things change, the more things remain the same.

Peter Mazurkiewicz, Beaver Springs, Pa.

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Wealthy white men are still the power brokers in America | PennLive letters - pennlive.com

Last month, British MPs rejected plans for a 1p per garment fashion tax albeit our climate crisis. At the same time, a Missguided 1 bikini appeared on the marketsomething that should be beyond concerning for everyone. The U.K. has the highest consumption of fast fashion in the whole of Europe, with over a million tonnes of clothing ending up in landfills each year. So how much power do we as consumers really have when it comes to sustainability and why is this discussion still going on?

The swimsuit sold out promptly, with 1,000 bikinis dropping everyday on the brands website, which further raises the question of how it is possible to produce and retail an entire set for just 1, free delivery included. Missguided presented an official statement claiming the production cost was of a higher value to the retail cost, and that the bikini was a gift to their customers, in the name of empowering women to look and feel good without breaking the bank. Interestingly enough, 78 percent of the brands employees are female, yet, they are a 46 percent median wage gap between men and women. The brand excuses itself on its website by claiming that this is due to having more women than men in lower paid positions, and fewer in higher ones. The lower paid positions include the factory ones, where workers often make as little as 3.50 an hourcontrasting with the U.K.s minimum wage of 7.83 for over 25s.

Despite being one of the U.K.s leading retail brands, according to the statistics conducted by the House of Commons, Missguided is also the least environmentally friendly, rejecting the use of recycled or organic materials in their products, clearly avoiding the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) programme as well as the sustainable clothing action plan. The government has the most power when it comes to regulating fast fashion, and yet, British MPs have rejected numerous regulations on the industry.

Many of these dismissals include the 1p per item tax to raise 35 million for clothing collection and sorting, the ban on incinerating or landfilling unsold stock, and even making a law requiring brands to publically release a modern slavery statement. In addition to this, the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has also urged to put lessons on designing, creating and repairing clothing into the school curriculum, as a means to end the era of disposable clothing as well as for the MPs to explore a sharing economy in which hiring and swapping would replace purchasing. The failure to implement these rules and regulations results in the continuation of unsustainable, disposable mass production, which ultimately affects the environmental crisis even further.

Marketing alone has so much power in influencing what the consumer chooses to buy, and fast fashion brands know this. The infamous swimsuit was advertised by last years Love Island contestant Ellie Brown, and being the official fashion sponsor of Love Island 2018, Missguided saw a 40 percent increase in sales. This year, another fast fashion brand, I Saw It First, secured a spot as the shows official fashion partner, spending around 2 million on the partnership. With over 4.2 million viewers of Love Islands first episode alone (57 percent appear to be 16-34 years old) the show has the ability to reach a huge number of potential consumers, and yet, it still decides to go for unethical brands.

Similarly, Emily Ratajkowski has recently launched a collection with Boohoo owned Nasty Gal, a brand known to be criticised for their mistreatment of workers while Kylie Jenner advertises for knock-off brand Fashion Nova via her Instagram with over 139.5 million followers. Celebrities and influencers make a conscious choice to promote these brands and in an age where Instagram seems to dictate all new trends, the choices they make allow us to feel a sense of relatability that we, too, can afford to dress like one of the Jenners. Although there is nothing wrong with that idea, influencers should also make a deliberate choice to promote more sustainable alternatives to their followers.

While it is the consumer who creates a demand for fast fashion, its unfair to entirely blame the consumer for the harmful environmental impacts or unethical working conditions of the industry. Of course, its true that spending 1 on a bikini could seem immensely appealing, but it is important to consider not only the impact this product will have on our planet, but also how the people who made it are affected by such low prices.

Affordable clothing is not only appealing but is essential too, and we consumers can help so much by simply buying less, shopping vintage or seeking other sustainable alternatives. Until the government or the brands alone begin regulating their carbon footprint, perhaps those with a platform should consider twice before encouraging impulse buying. Just putting it out there. In addition, Missguided has now changed the price of the bikini from 1 to 5a feeble attempt at clearing their conscience or is selling a swimsuit for a literal pound not making enough profit? Either way, nice try.

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Why Molly-Mae Hague needs to learn about the disabled and chronically ill's notion of crip time - Screen Shot