Tag: Slavery

#justicefriday – Imprisoned journalists share their story

Laura Ling and Euna Lee - from Mashable.com

They “violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base.”

For those who may not be familiar with the story: Laura Ling and Euna Lee, journalists for Current TV were captured, detained, interrogated, and more by the North Korean government near the border between China and North Korea. They were sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp. Luckily for them, intervention from President Bill Clinton helped secure the release of the journalists. However, the women the journalists had come to report on — aren’t so lucky.

Mashable.com shares the recent post from Laura Ling and Euna Lee explaining their capture and why they were in the area in the first place ::
Continue reading #justicefriday – Imprisoned journalists share their story

Chipotle responds

Chipotle logo

UPDATE 9/9/09 :: Chipotle has reached an agreement with the CIW famers.

A couple weeks back we talked with Amanda Kloer on our podcast. She shared a lot about the issue of human trafficking and modern day slavery. And in the process we talked about an article she had posted earlier that day regarding Chipotle and the rights of farmers in Florida.

I’ve shared links to Amanda’s article in several places and after my initial Twitter messages, left a voice mail with their PR department. I followed up again with Chipotle today (via Twitter) to see what they had to say.

This time I had a brief exchange over email so here’s the latest from Chipotle:
Continue reading Chipotle responds

#justicefriday At the End of Slavery

Coming in September:

Watched much of this during a special online screening of this on Tuesday. Can’t wait till its released and you can see it too. It’s a powerful wake up call.

Find out more at attheendofslavery.com

The Killers and MTV unite against Human Trafficking

From MTV:

The Killers have joined forces with MTV to stamp out human trafficking.
Produced in partnership with UNICEF, USAID and MTV Exit – MTV’s campaign to raise awareness and increase prevention of human trafficking and exploitation – the band have made a powerful video for their track Goodnight, Travel Well, highlighting the dangers of trafficking and the sexual exploitation of young women.

“We are deeply shocked and appalled that women and children are forced into such exploitative situations,” said The Killers, announcing the collaboration. “We hope that through MTV’s efforts and this powerful video that millions of people across the world learn about this tragic form of modern-day slavery”.

I applaud The Killers and MTV for putting together this video to raise awareness.

Now if only they’d stop airing and promoting a lifestyle that at the same time promotes this treatment of women as well.

What do you think?

iPhones and dirty Coltan #justicefriday

Line outside Dallas' Apple store | Photo by alexmuse

Today a new iPhone 3Gs is being released to the masses. Folks were lining up around the block to get their hands on Steve Jobs’ latest gadget.

The new 3Gs just adds to the iphone buzz on Twitter about the new iPhone 3.0 OS (released earlier this week).

And I get it. I’m a huge fan of technology and gadgets – including my beat-up BlackBerry Curve 8310.

But what if these things we consume on a daily basis are enslaving folks in more ways than we realize (there’s a reason folks have fondly adopted CrackBerry as an appropriate nickname for their BlackBerry)?
Continue reading iPhones and dirty Coltan #justicefriday