Off and on, I’ve been reading wonderful, radical, and humbling writings put together by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, entitled The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex.  I found some resources on their site which help simplify their argument: non-profit/non-governmental organizations often enable the systems they claim to disable.

WHAT IS THE “NON-PROFIT INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX?”

The non-profit industrial complex (or the NPIC) is a system of relationships between:

• the State (or local and federal governments)

• the owning classes

• foundations

• and non-profit/NGO social service & social justice organizations

that results in the surveillance, control, derailment, and everyday management of political movements. The state uses non-profits to:

• Monitor and control social justice movements;

• Divert public monies into private hands through foundations;

• Manage and control dissent in order to make the world safe for capitalism;

• Redirect activist energies into career-based modes of organizing instead of mass-based organizing capable of actually transforming society;

• Allow corporations to mask their exploitative and colonial work practices through “philanthropic” work;

• Encourage social movements to model themselves after capitalist structures rather than to challenge them

Read further.

Keep in mind, non-profit job growth often outpaces private sector growth.  This is a growing industry.

Anyone involved in this type of work will consider the system’s good intentions, but may find an alienation from executive/donor-level management which can really muck up an organization’s on-the-ground staff.  If you understand systems, often this conflict with management reflects the state of a system and the roles assigned within.

Working directly with folks an organization may label “clients”, it can be aggravating when important directives are passed from the top down.  This frustration personally led me on a journey of understanding what executive non-profit staff are concerned with.  Most often, they are concerned with the proper functioning and budgeting of their organization.  As the size of the organization grows, the gap between the community and the executive-level staff increases.  This is not due to a lack of care, it tends to be the price one pays when they enroll themselves in high-stakes fundraising, board meetings, budgets, and other operational concerns.

After working in both small and large non-profits with varying budgets, I can report this effect is par for the course.  There is very little accountability for community engagement, and I have sadly encountered an “us” vs. “them” mentality that is pervasive in corporately-organized NGO’s.  To me, these organizations represent the anti-grassroots, and will never achieve the type of community investment a sustainable movement for human rights requires.

Shout Magic is wrapping up our 20-track full length album and playing our last show this Friday in West Philly.

Check out this amazing cover art from Alina Josan!

When moving a great distance, it helps to not have excess stuff.  When you’re paying for every pound, lots of things start looking like excess.  Cd’s, furniture, DVD’s, cables, books, appliances - get it out of here!

I have really enjoyed purging my materials, and digitizing allows us to hold onto lots of things in a small space.  We are capable of photographing our art projects, scanning our journals and ripping our media.  Now, I can store my data on a central server, so even if my hard drive kicks the bucket, I can still access my stuff!

This act of simplicity is a journey, I am surprised with how much this process has affected my mood.  I feel less weight, less worry.

There is a story about a man who approached Gandhi and said that he’d been thinking about living a simpler life, but he didn’t feel like he could give up his collection of books. Gandhi is said to have replied, “As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, you should keep it. If you were to give it up in a mood of self-sacrifice or out of a stern sense of duty, you would continue to want it back, and that unsatisfied want would make trouble for you. Only give up a thing when you want some other condition so much that the thing no longer has any attraction for you.”

My take on this, and on your question, is that simplicity is not an endstate that is achieved but a path that one is walking. I find all kinds of ways in my life that I’m not living quite like I wish, and then I try to see if there is a way to change my life. So, to me, a simple lifestyle is always in the middle ground.

- Tim Kasser, associate professor of psychology at Knox College and author of The High Price of Materialism (via U.S. News interview)

The more I consider how great it feels to not have things, I still find myself attached to certain items.  Most important is my music gear and my transportable technology: laptop, hard drives and interfaces.  They are enablers of creativity, communication and innovation.  I generally ignore how these materials simultaneously inhibit what they exhibit.  Perhaps I will find the best tools in a space void of the materials I find most important.

Don’t ask, don’t tell?  Looks like it’s more than just abhorrent, hateful policy for our military.

John Leslie forwarded this piece from CNN:

‘My jaw dropped when the doctors told me that 41 percent of the female veterans seen there say they were victims of sexual assault while serving in the military,’ said Harman, who has long sought better
protection of women in the military.

‘Twenty-nine percent say they were raped during their military service. They spoke of their continued terror, feelings of helplessness and downward spirals many of their lives have taken since.

‘We have an epidemic here,’ she said. ‘Women serving in the U.S. military today are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.’

As of July 24, 100 women had died in Iraq, according to the Pentagon.

In 2007, Harman said, only 181 out of 2,212 reports of military sexual assaults, or 8 percent, were referred to courts martial. By comparison, she said, 40 percent of those arrested in the civilian world on such charges are prosecuted.

Sexual assault in military ‘jaw-dropping,’ lawmaker says

I can only imagine how difficult it must be for a soldier to report a rape.  The culture of the military (PDF) resents weakness, and to report oneself as a victim presents an enormous challenge.

Speaking of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network was in Philly this summer to help push the movement to end this policy.  Philly’s LGBQT community has been working for decades to help bring issues like this to light, which show us the inequities homosexuals face that are beyond marriage.

They still face an uphill battle.

Read more:

• The Rape of Latinas in the US Military - La Voz de Aztlan
• ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Turns 15 - TIME
• Stop Military Rape
• The Private War of Women Soldiers - Democracy Now!

Whether embedded in Iraq, or traveling on a New York City subway, photographers are increasingly under pressure to put the camera away and shut up.  Our world has become less democratic, our Constitutional rights to free speech and a free press have dwindled.  I recall the outrage over Al-Jazeera’s airing of graphic images of deceased U.S. soldiers, and the persuant discussion about ethics.

How ethical is it to not allow the world to see the true devastation, the true impact of our invasion and occupation of Iraq?  If you saw the face of a small child screaming because her parents were just executed in front of her, would that have an impact on your complicity in this war?  What if you saw a fresh photo like this everyday?

I want to celebrate the journalists and publications who risk banishment for distributing and publishing photos that the world must see.  We cannot make informed decisions when the media does not tell the whole story.

Read more:

• Picturing Casulaties (NY Times Slideshow of War Wounded)
• 4,000 U.S. Deaths and a Handful of Images (NY Times)
• Zoriah Miller - disembedded freelance photojournalist