Europe’s Shameful Refugee Policy by Graham Peebles

Image by Rasande Tyskar via Flickr

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
July 21, 2017

This time of year Mediterranean beaches are the destinations of choice for many European holidaymakers; it’s also the beginning of the busiest time of year for the people smugglers based in Libya and elsewhere along the North African coast. July to October is their peak season — during this time in 2016 around 103,000 refugees were crammed into unsafe boats, often in the dead of night, and cast off into the Mediterranean Sea.

Abby Martin: The Roots of the Philippines Trafficking Epidemic, Part 2

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Warning

This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

teleSUR English on Jun 20, 2017

In this sequel to The Empire Files’ report on trafficked Filipina domestic workers, Damayan’s Linda Oalican provides a deeper context to the epidemic of human trafficking by guiding us through the history of colonialism, resistance and US domination of the islands.

The Tragedy of Forced Displacement by Graham Peebles

Image by Fotomovimiento via Flickr

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
May 19, 2017

It constitutes the greatest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War affecting huge numbers of people and demanding all that is best in us. Yet instead of compassion, understanding and unity, all too often intolerance, ignorance and suspicion characterise the response to the needs of refugees and migrants.

Abby Martin: Buying a Slave – The Hidden World of US-Philippines Trafficking, Part 1

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

teleSUR English on May 16, 2017

Human trafficking is a hidden industry that brings in $150 billion in illegal profits every year. In the United States, tens of thousands are trafficked annually—the biggest clients being major hotel chains and foreign diplomats.

Chris Hedges: The Reality of Prostitution

Image by DualD FlipFlop via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Nov 20, 2016

On this week’s episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges has a raw conversation about the reality of selling sex with Rachel Moran, author of “Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution”. RT correspondent Anya Parampil looks at the prostitution law implemented in Sweden, and other countries, that criminalizes the purchase of sex, but allows the sale to continue.

Chris Hedges: Refugee Trafficking is Big Business for ISIS

Image by Fotomovimiento via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Sep 18, 2016

On this week’s episode of On Contact Chris Hedges tracks the evolution of the kidnapping industry in the Middle East post-9/11 with Loretta Napoleoni, author of Merchants of Men: How Jihadists and ISIS Turned Kidnapping and Refugee Trafficking into a Multibillion-dollar Business. RT Correspondent Anya Parampil looks at the Islamic State’s involvement in the lucrative business of trafficking migrants fleeing from war torn lands.

Chris Hedges: Human Trafficking: Exploitation of Women Still Rampant Worldwide

Image by Imagens Evangélicas via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Jul 2, 2016

In this week’s episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges sits down with two anti-trafficking campaigners discuss how to combat the sexual exploitation of women and girls. Suzanne Jay, co-founder of Asian Women Coalition Ending Prostitution, and Taina Bien-Aime, Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, delve into the controversial topic of decriminalizing prostitution. RT Correspondent Anya Parampil reports on the global scale of sex trafficking.

Chris Hedges: The New Mexican Revolution

Image by iVoryTowerz via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

teleSUR English on Mar 8, 2016

In this episode of Days of Revolt, Chris Hedges sits down with two activists from Mexico, Pauline Luna and Jessica Alcazar. The two explain the effects of US-imposed neoliberalism on Mexico, particularly since the signing of 1994 trade agreement NAFTA. They highlight the abuse and “disappearance” of Mexican human rights advocates, activists, journalists, and laborers. Luna and Alcazar also lay out their project, “Concertación Ciudadana”, which demands a new constitution and uninhibited direct participation on a grassroots level.

The Intimately Oppressed by Howard Zinn (repost)

Image by Kaleb via Edmonton Public Schools via Flickr

by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
crossposted at www.greanvillepost.com, July 20, 2011
Originally posted August 14, 2011
February 3, 2016

Chapter 6 from A People’s History of the United States.

It is possible, reading standard histories, to forget half the population of the country. The explorers were men, the landholders and merchants men, the political leaders men, the military figures men. The very invisibility of women, the overlooking of women, is a sign of their submerged status.

Abject Poverty or Domestic Servitude by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
December 23, 2013

They work as maids, housekeepers, cleaners; they take care of children, the elderly and infirmed for wealthy and middle class families in rich and upwardly mobile nations. They are found throughout the world: in the G20 countries and the Gulf States, Latin America (where they account for 60% of internal and international migrants), and developing countries in Africa and Asia where vast numbers of poor and vulnerable live alongside the privileged few.

The Reality for Many is One of Modern Day Slavery, Imprisonment and Violence by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
Repost from October 5, 2013
December 19, 2013

Given the choice few people would leave their families and friends and migrate from their homeland. The tens of thousands that pay unscrupulous ‘agents’ and criminal gangs to transport them hundreds or thousands of miles (often across borders), are compelled to do so to find work and to earn money to support themselves and their loved ones at home. The Middle East and North African (MENA) countries are some of the destinations of choice for both men and women seeking work, women look for domestic work and child-care, whist employment in the construction industry, is the goal of the tens thousands of men from South East Asia living in stifling poverty.

Killed Beaten Raped: Migrant Workers are Slaves by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
December 6, 2013

With few opportunities at home, millions of poor, desperate men and women from South East Asia and the horn of Africa migrate annually to Saudi Arabia. Vulnerable at home and vulnerable abroad where many are enslaved and badly abused, some killed. Slavery is woven into the fabric of the psyche of the kingdom; according to Saudi scholar Ali al-Ahmed, a “culture of slavery pervades the country”[The Guardian[i]], and although banned in 1964 (when it is thought there were 30,000 slaves in the country) the barbaric practice of owning a fellow human being still exists in the form of the internationally condemned kafala sponsorship system. By tying the residency status of migrant workers to their employers, the system grants the latter total control, amounting to ownership.

Trading Women for Profit by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
November 9, 2013

Image by Imagens Evangélicas via Flickr

The act of buying and selling sits at the very heart of the global economy. A commercially motivated system, that P. Sainath rightly describes as “Market Fundamentalism”, in which competition and conservative uniformity are central elements. Creative independent thinking and originality are anathema to this relentless homogenous machine, which breeds conformity, crushes individuality and “Borg-like”, assimilates all into ‘The Collective’.

Abuse of Migrant Workers in MENA Countries by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
October 5, 2013

Image by nathangibbs via Flickr

Given the choice few people would leave their families and friends and migrate from their homeland. The tens of thousands that pay unscrupulous ‘agents’ and criminal gangs to transport them hundreds or thousands of miles (often across borders), are compelled to do so to find work and to earn money to support themselves and their loved ones at home. The Middle East and North African (MENA) countries are some of the destinations of choice for both men and women seeking work, women look for domestic work and child-care, whist employment in the construction industry, is the goal of the tens thousands of men from South East Asia living in stifling poverty.

Children and Women for Sale In India by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
September 4, 2013

Image by Rita Willaert via Flickr

To be born poor in our world, is to be born vulnerable and in danger of exploitation of one kind or another; to be incarnated female and poor is to greatly intensify the risks. If you are born a girl to parents of tea-pickers in Assam in North Eastern India (earning as little as US $1.50 a day) there is a good chance you will be sold to a local recruitment ‘agent’ by your loved ones for around $50, he will sell you on to a city ‘employer’ for up to $800 and into a life of abuse and suffering.