Author: Bree Baccaglini
/This fall we are hosting weekly meetings on Tuesdays in Laforce 121 at 7:30! Today, we will be discussing forced labor in the Persian Gulf, with a particular focus on the 2022 Qatar World Cup and NYU Abu Dhabi Campus. We will use videos and excerpts from articles and reports to illustrate the magnitude of labor trafficking in the Gulf from South East Asia. Should be an interesting discussion! Hope to see you there.
/Check out what we have coming up over the next week by clicking on this link: April Events!
/Come to LaForce Seminar Room every Thursday at 7:oopm to catch our weekly meeting! See you starting 2/20–no experience required & all folks welcome!
/comes a time for reflection. Check out this article about modern day slavery with that end. We hope 2013 will be a year for folks at Middlebury and worldwide to embrace this issue in order to not only sustain but also augment the fight for universal human freedom. Thanks to all who made our first semester a success–and looking forward to the second one!
//What an amazing afternoon! Our speakers Shamere McKenzie and Laura Murphy presented an incredible talk in Axinn–each using their distinct expertise to shed light on human trafficking in our world today. Shamere shared her own moving narrative of being enslaved in sex trafficking right here in the U.S., but also expanded upon the work she has done since her trauma to turn her own life around and the lives of survivors and at risk girls. She now works on policy for Shared Hope International and is a key member of the D.C. Human Trafficking Task Force – an incredible transformation. We thank her for her courage in telling her own story and her efforts to help other girls tell their own.
Laura, a contributor to the acclaimed organization Free the Slaves, tackled the question “now what”? So many of us, when confronted with the horror of slavery alive and well (and better, even), feel outraged but also powerless…“I am one person, and there are 27 million people enslaved–how could my little actions make any difference?” Laura helped us rethink our agency by getting us to focus on what we do have access to: our skills and the people around us. She suggested that as students, activism in abolition (and other fields) is about leveraging these two things to create a small but significant action. For example: if you are a student who plays the piano and knows of an anti-human trafficking organization in your community (us, for example!)–offer to host a recital and donate the proceeds to organizations fighting modern day slavery. If you are a good writer and know someone who knows someone who runs a paper (even a school paper!), submit an op-ed article or cover trafficking in the news. The options are limitless–it’s about levering the skills you have and the people you know to create the world you want.
Thanks to everyone who made it out–we were thrilled to see so many people and so many new faces! Check out some pictures from the event, below!
AND: Get ready for our last speaker of the symposium–Rolando Bonachea, a high school senior from Philips Academy who will be presenting his research on human trafficking in Turkey. Join us for discussion and Sabai Sabai in RAJ Conference room at 6pm.
/Here are the details–tell your friends all about it!
Monday 12/3
Half the Sky Film Screening
7:00 in BiHall 220
This PBS production brings to life Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDonn’s acclaimed book Half the Sky, which brilliantly explores the struggles women face world wide–from sex trafficking to gender based violence to maternal mortality–and the steps these women are taking to turn their situation around.
Tuesday 12/4
Laura Murphy & Shamere McKenzie: “Sex Trafficking: Insights from a Survivor and an Expert”
Axinn 229, 4:30 PM
Ms. McKenzie is a survivor of sex trafficking in the U.S. and will be joining us to share her personal story and her perspective on trafficking in the United States. Ms. Murphy is an abolitionist expert and activist and serves as the National College Chapter Coordinator for Free the Slaves and the director of the Survivors of Slavery speakers network. She will contribute her academic expertise and conduct a workshop on youth activism. Snacks will be provided!
Wednesday 12/5
Rolando Bonachea: “Dinner Conversation with a Youth Activist”
RAJ Conference Room; 6pm
Rolando Bonachea is a high school senior from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. After obtaining a grant from his school to do research on human trafficking in Turkey, he did on the ground work with UN officials and other experts and joins us here at Middlebury to offer a student perspective on modern day slavery and youth activism in general. Food from Sabai Sabai!
See you at some of these events!
/From November 26-December 10, we will be honoring the efforts of those globally to end gender violence. Now is a great time to learn more about this global issue and the efforts being taken to address it. Check out this link to read about what the UN is doing for the 16 Days Campaign.
Stay tuned at Middlebury for a Stop Traffick Symposium coming up next week, December 3-5, which will commemorate this push for peace. We will have a screening and speakers and learning to be had by all–so be on the lookout for posters around campus!
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“Nefarious, Merchant of Souls, is a hard-hitting documentary that exposes the disturbing trends in modern sex slavery. From the very first scene, Nefarious ushers you into the nightmare of sex slavery that hundreds of thousands experience daily. You’ll see where slaves are sold (often in developed, affluent countries), where they work, and where they are confined. You’ll hear first-hand interviews with real victims and traffickers, along with expert analysis from international humanitarian leaders.
From initial recruitment to victim liberation—and everything in between—the previously veiled underworld of sex slavery is uncovered in the groundbreaking, tell-all Nefarious, Merchant of Souls.”
/As the atrium exhibit is coming to a close, we wanted to to provide you all with an idea what to do next. Considering that the average Middlebury student’s lifestyle requires FORTY TWO slaves, there are clearly lots of ways to improve!
1) Get more educated! Look around our site, come to a meeting, or keep your eyes and ears open for human trafficking and gender bias in the media. You can never know enough, the ability to introduce this topic to someone else and get them fired up is in itself a big change maker!
2) Write to your reps in government! With enough pressure, Washington is forced to care about what the people care about. If we can demonstrate that enough people want the US to assume a bigger role fighting trafficking, then they have to pay attention!
3) Buy responsibly! This is perhaps the most important way to avoid patronizing the use of slaves. Check out this site to find socially responsible brands and see what grade your favorites get!
Those are just a few of our ideas–if you have others–please share them!