Jim Craven:
>
>Just spend some time at the Health Clinic at the Blackfeet
>Reservation at Browning. There you will see 12 and 13 and 14 year old
>boys and girls with AIDS and other diseases just waiting to die.
Now we are getting down to brass tacks. The world of Suzie Bright and Nina
Hartley is about as far removed from the Blackfeet Reservation as a
computer programmer's is from that of a Malaysian assembly line worker at a
NEC plant making 31 cents an hour while breathing toxic fumes. The first
group is in the "sex industry" while the second group is in the
"information industry."
Bright, Hartley et al are not the enemy. I don't think it is very useful to
stigmatize them as Jews collaborating with the Nazis. They are a product of
the sexual revolution of the 1960s and represent an extension of the sort
of leftish entrepreneurism that you will find in the UTNE Reader and Mother
Jones. Suzie Bright sells sex as a commodity in the same way that Working
Assets or Peter Camejo sell stocks and bonds to leftists with trust funds.
These are just sleazy ways to make a living that they rationalize with
radical verbiage.
Jim Craven's frustration is with other people's inability to understand the
reality he has seen with his own eyes. I can understand this myself. Much
of the discussion that pervades PEN-L and the Spoons lists seems detached
from the day-to-day brutality of the Third World, or of America's internal
colonies. Everybody who makes a living as a professor and who continues to
identify in some way with social and economic transformation owes it to
themselves to travel to places like South Africa, Nicaragua, the
Philippines, etc. It would seem to me that it is almost necessary to do
one's "Progressive Economics" in a professional manner, since it rounds out
one's perception of the world.
One organization that is devoted to this mission, and which I send money in
to on a fairly regular basis, is Global Exchange (www.globalexchange.org).
They sponsor "Reality Tours" which are closely related to the sorts of
tours that my own group Tecnica organized in Nicaragua during the 1980s.
The goal was to open the eyes of middle-class professionals to the reality
of third-world life and a revolution that was trying to change this reality.
WHAT IS A REALITY TOUR? (from Global Exchange Web Page)
Reality Tours are an increasingly popular way to learn about the history
and current situation of a country from the people themselves. Reality
Tours offer an alternative way to travel and go past what we read in the
media and travel beyond hotels and beaches. Meet with community leaders in
Haiti, Senegal, or Ireland. Learn Spanish in Cuba, or visit environmentally
sustainable farming projects. Meet with artisans at crafts cooperatives in
the fair trade movement. Or learn about the arts and religions of Haiti,
Thailand, Palestine, and Israel.
We also offer an exciting program called Exploring California which
examines issues and communities close to home.
WHY GO ON A REALITY TOUR WITH GLOBAL EXCHANGE?
We set up meetings with people you'd never get to meet on your own, from
government figures to grassroots organizers and families in isolated
villages. It's an opportunity to learn not only from the country you are
visiting but also the people you are with. Trip participants represent a
diverse cross-section of the U.S. population in terms of geography, race,
occupation and age.
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?
Our tours are open to anyone with a genuine interest in learning about the
regions visited. We also appreciate participants who are flexible and
sensitive to Third World realities. Past tours have students, retirees,
industrial workers, teachers, lawyers, social workers, doctors, nurses,
church workers, journalists, community organizers, and city officials.
HOW TO APPLY:
Simply call us at 1.800.497.1994 with your $200 deposit to reserve a space
on any delegation. Then complete the application and return it by fax or
regular mail.
CUSTOM REALITY TOURS
If your organization is interested in a specific issue or would like to
travel to a particular or different destination, we can tailor a trip for
you. Please e-mail Susan Kench with your needs.
Louis Proyect
