Briarpatch articles from March 2001

Briarpatch archives from March 2001

Off the top: (women and globalization).
March 1, 2001... Women around the world are organizing, mobilizing and resisting global capitalism, international "free" trade and neo-liberal market-driven agendas that are eroding economic security, social programs and environmental health. This issue of...

Resistance through photography: using visual images to tell women's stories in a universally understandable way.
March 1, 2001... According to Us is a diverse group of low income women who use photography to explore issues such as poverty and violence against women, to tell the stories of their communities and as a tool for social change. The group began two years ago...

Clothing industry on trial: homeworkers in Canada are exposing the dirty laundry of the manufacturers by challenging their schemes to avoid accountability.
March 1, 2001... Fan Jin Lian worked for Eliz World, a clothing factory, for over a year when it suddenly closed its doors. Like many other immigrants to Canada, she sewed garments for the company out of her home on her own equipment. She received very low...

Voices of our future: young women speak out on what is engaging and mobilizing them.
March 1, 2001... When I first began to write this article I realized that what has engaged me as a young woman would be different than other young women. So I decided to interview young women activists across the country to get a broader glimpse into this...

Employment with dignity campaign: how the Maria Elena Cuadra won major improvements for women working in Nicaragua's Free Trade Zone factories (maquiladoras).
March 1, 2001... Four years of hard work and frustration eventually paid off for the Maria Elena Cuadra (MEC) Movement of Working and Unemployed Women of Nicaragua. In February 1998, 25 companies from the maquiladora industry operating at Las Mercedes Zona...

Via campesina: building alternatives to the globalization of agriculture.
March 1, 2001... During recent years the rural landscape has been fundamentally altered as a result of further industrialization and economic liberalization of the agriculture sector. Due to implementation of regional trade agreements and the World Trade...

Feminism and foes: an examination of the challenges of building a strong women's movement.
March 1, 2001... Canadian women are constantly told that we live in the best place in the world. This smug assertion is used, both implicitly and explicitly, to dampen women's demands for changes to unequal and unfair social and economic conditions. There is no...

Strike to win! How solidarity helped CUPE 3903 push back the corporate giants trying to step on their campus.
March 1, 2001... On January 11 the longest strike by post-secondary education workers in Canadian history came to an end. The outcome of the 78 day strike of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3903 at Canada's third largest university differed from...

When things seem squirrelly: an employer hires a security firm who goes looking for squirrels in all the wrong places.
March 1, 2001... It's one of the strangest events in the Grain Services Union's (GSU) history. In late November, GSU discovered that Agricore was spying on Union social events and meetings in Manitoba. GSU Local 2900 held one of its annual meetings in a hotel...

Swing set: Ani DiFranco.
March 1, 2001... Swing Set Ani DiFranco Righteous Babe Records, 2000. Box 95, Ellicott Station Buffalo, N.Y. 14205 Ani DiFranco is well-known for relentlessly making music. Whether writing new songs, remixing or doing covers she demonstrates that music is...

Fourteen days: Laura Love.
March 1, 2001... Fourteen Days Laura Love Zoe Record, 2000 One Camp Street Cambridge, M.A. 02140 Laura Love is one of the most innovative female artists on the folk scene today. Her unique blend of African-American, Celtic, Bluegrass and other influences,...

You were here: Sarah Harmer.
March 1, 2001... You Were Here Sarah Harmer Cold Snap Music, 2000. Sarah Harmer's star is quickly rising. The past lead singer for Weeping Tile, she is another example of Canada's incredible female musicians. Harmer has a polished folksy sound, combining...

Tune-up: Kinnie Starr.
March 1, 2001... Tune-Up Kinnie Starr Violet Inch Records, 2000. www.kinniestarr.com The music of Kinnie Starr, in her own words, is "sweet like vine-ripened tomatoes smashed against an old brick wall. It is called `Chunk-hop' -- a collision of lurching...

Whose national security?: Canadian state surveillance and the creation of enemies.
March 1, 2001... Whose National Security?: Canadian State Surveillance and the Creation of Enemies. edited by Gary Kinsman, Dieter K. Buse and Mercedes Steedman Between the Lines, 2000. 720 Bathurst Street, Suite #404 Toronto ON M5S 2R4 $29.95. By the...

Say what: (quotes from the news headlines).
March 1, 2001... AND THE GUYS SAID "SO PROVE IT!" "Nothing proves adultery for a woman more than pregnancy." -- Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, referring to the Islamic legal code, or sharia, of the northern state of Zamfara that brought the...

Greatest threat against women yet.
March 1, 2001... You hear it all the time -- you've come a long way, baby. We've got it all now, right? The vote, human rights legislation against discrimination and harassment, jobs outside the home, movements towards pay equity -- it all sounds good, right?...