GUEST WORKERS 1NC
1.
CASE TURN – visas
a. Uncapped visas results in more commodification of
workers and sacrifices democratic decision making.
Systemic solutions required
Eskow,
Seni or Advis or for H ealth & Ec onomic J ustic e at Soci al Sec urity Wor ks
, 16
(Richard, “’Open Bor ders’: A Gi mmic k, Not a Sol uti on”, 8/5/16, The H uffington Post, https://www.huffi ngtonpos t.c om/rj-es kow/open-borders-a-gimmic k- no_b_7945140.html, 7/4/18, GDI CK)
The concentration of wealth and political power, is diminishing
workers’ wages and
working conditions.
open borders
resembles NAFTA-style corporate trade: both give corporations the ability to
apply their economic power across national boundaries
is a recipe for the further commodification of human beings
and
designed to promote exploitation
.
Sanders, unli ke his open- bor ders opponents, r ecog nizes that the global wor kforc e fac es a s ystemi c pr oblem
both i n the U S and globally,
making them l ess able to i mpr ove their own
That probl em must be address ed s ys temic all y, with a transfor mation that is both ec onomic and political . T he principal instrument for that chang e is the democr atic nation-state, an entity whic h the open- bor ders c onc ept would seriousl y weaken. In that sense,
in pursuit of maximal profits at mi ni mal cost, either by outs ourcing j obs to wor kers overs eas or payi ng mini mal wages to wor kers at home. As we s aid at the outs et , “open borders” is a s uperfici all y attr acti ve i dea — until i t’s s ubj ected to critic al thi nking, at whic h point its true natur e is r eveal ed. Its proponents attempt to make a “ moral
cas e” in i ts defens e. But there is no moral case t o be made for sacrificing democratic deci sion-maki ng and nati onal s overeignty to oligarc hic and c orpor ate whi ms . “Open borders”
rational nor humane,
. It treats people as economic inputs to be moved about the globe at the whi m of global c apital . It is nei ther
it has yet to r ecei ve the thorough public debunking i t des er ves. We need a s ys temic s oluti on to global wealth inequality, rather than i ntellec tual gi mmic ks
and s ow c onfusion.
b. In the long-term uncapped visas will be reversed and lead
to more violence – Brexit proves
Wilkinson 16
Brexit,
debate has focused on just one specific concern:
immigration.
the alarmism
about immigration has somehow hit new heights.
Critics have compared the imagery to Nazi propaganda.
Politicians from both major parties are now keen to
show they take concerns about immigration seriously
Member of
Parliament Jo Cox, 41, was shot dead
Thomas
Mair, appeared in court charged with her murder. When asked to give his name,
he instead said “death to traitors, freedom for Britain.”
Wilkins on, Abi. “T he Brexi t Vote Is R eall y About J ust One Thi ng.” T he New Republic, 21 J une 2016, newrepublic .com/articl e/134507/brexi t- vote-reall y-jus t-one-thing.
It was a sign of things to c ome.
the nic kname for T hurs day’s r eferendum on whether the U.K. s houl d leave or remain in the European Uni on, c oncer ns a thic ket o f iss ues: Empl oyment rights. Tr ade agreements . T axation autonomy. Di plomatic infl uenc e. But over whel mingl y, the
Of course, right- wi ng news papers have been running s tories for years about the s upposed dangers of i mmigration fr om Eur opean countries . “Sol d out! Flights and buses full as Romanians head for the U K” screamed The D aily M ail, for exampl e, after c ontrols on migrati on fr om those states were li fted i n 2013. Last year, i n response to the c ontinent’s migrant crisis, Kati e H opki ns wr ote a col umn for The Sun calling for g uns hi ps to be deployed in the Mediterranean Sea to s top r efugees fr om entering Europe. H er pi ec e began, “No, I don’t c are. Show me bodies floati ng in water, pl ay vi olins and s ho w me s kinny people looki ng sad. I s till don’ t c are.” As the J une 23 vote has dr awn clos er,
“Mass migration is allowi ng terrorists to pour into Europe” read a D aily M ail headli ne in April, whil e T he Sun cl aimed, “Ti de of T error: Ji hadis AR E expl oiting r efugee crisis to s muggle mi litants acros s Eur ope.” Nigel Far age, the l eader of the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), unveil ed a poster last week featuring a queue of r efugees and migrants with the wor ds “ BREAKING POINT” i n red.
Farage is one of the most pr omi nent figur es i n the anti- E.U. movement, and i n many ways this r efer endum repres ents the cul minati on of his life’s wor k. H e first j oined the U KIP when i t was i n its infanc y, immediatel y foll owing the signi ng of the 1992 Maastric ht Treaty to create an integrated Eur ope. He bec ame the party’s l eader in
2006, and has overseen its ris e fr om obscurity to bec ome a major politic al forc e. U KIP s ec ured nearl y 13 perc ent of votes i n l ast year’s general elec tion. D ue to the U .K.’s non-proportional el ectoral s ystem, this didn’t tr anslate i nto a signi ficant l egislati ve presenc e: T he party hol ds just one s eat i n the Hous e of C ommons . But UKIP’s infl uenc e has been f ar-reachi ng.
— while too few attempt to make a c onvi nci ng case for welc oming migrants . Las t T hurs day,
outside a li brar y i n West Yorkshir e wher e s he was about to hol d a c ons tituenc y surger y. A moderate by most meas ures , s he had been a str ong advoc ate for the rights of r efugees and migrants . She was also a vocal bac ker of the R emai n c ampaign and had tweeted a photo of her husband and chil dren aboard l ast Wednes day’s pro-E.U . T hames flotill a. T his week, 52- year-ol d
Among those who were already critic al of the anti-immigrant tone of the Leave c ampaign, many feel that Cox’s death is a direct c onseq uenc e of s uc h extr eme and di visi ve rhetoric. “If you keep
2.
SLAVERY DA
a. Guest worker programs inherently bolster systemic abuse
of immigrants – this marginalizes workers to modern day
slavery
SPLC, 13
– Souther n Poverty Law C enter , T he Southern Poverty Law C enter is a nonprofit ci vil rights organiz ati on dedicated to fighti ng hate and bigotr y, and to seeki ng justi ce for the most vulner able members of s ociety (“Clos e to Sl aver y: Guestwor ker Pr ograms in the United States”, F eb., 2013, http://www.s plcenter.org/get-infor med/public ati ons /close-to-slaver y-guestwor ker- programs-in- the-united-s tates)
the
guestworker program
is rife with human
rights violations committed by employers who prey on a highly vulnerable
workforce. It harms the interests of U.S. workers, undercutting wages and
working conditions for those who labor at the lowest rungs of the economic
ladder.
guestworkers
are
bound to the employers who “import” them. If guestworkers complain about
abuses, they face deportation, blacklisting or other retaliation.
guestworkers
In
debate over comprehensi ve i mmigrati on refor m, various polic ymakers and busi nes s groups have s uggested that C ongress cr eate a new or expanded
to ens ure a steady suppl y of foreig n workers for i ndus tries that r el y on an abundance of c heap l abor. C ongress s houl d l ook before it l eaps. The current H-2 program, which pr ovides temporar y far mwor kers and non-far m l abor ers for a variety of U.S. i ndus tries,
labor and
as well, by
This program should not be expanded or us ed as a model for i mmigrati on r efor m. U nder the c urrent H- 2 program overseen by the U.S. Department of Labor (D OL), employers brought about 106,000 g ues twor kers i nto this c ountr y in 2 011 — appr oximatel y 55,000 for agricultural wor k and another 51,000 for jobs i n for estr y, s eafood pr oc essing, landscaping, c ons truc tion and other non- agricultural i ndus tries. But far from being tr eated li ke “guests,” these wor kers ar e s ys tematic all y exploited and abus ed. U nli ke U .S. citiz ens,
do not enj oy the most fundamental pr otecti on of a c ompetiti ve l abor mar ket — the ability to change j obs if they are mistreated. Ins tead, they
Bound to a single employer and wi thout acc ess to legal r es ourc es,
are routinely: Cheated out of wages
Held virtually captive by employers or
labor brokers who seize their documents Subjected to human trafficking and debt
servitude Forced to live in squalid conditions Denied medical benefits for on-thejob injuries
This guestworker program’s the closest thing to slavery.”
When their temporary work visas expire, they must leave
the United States. They are, in effect, the disposable workers of the U.S.
economy.
The abuses described here are too common to blame on a few “bad apple”
employers. They are the foreseeable outcomes
It is impossible to create a
guestworker program for low-wage workers that does not involve systemic
abuse. The guestworker program should not be expanded
it should
be completely overhauled.
Forced to mortgag e their futur es to obtain l ow- wag e, tempor ar y j obs
. F or mer H ouse Ways and M eans C ommittee C hair man C harles R angel put it thi s way: “
I’ve ever s een
1 C ongres sman R ang el’s c oncl usi on i s not mer e hyper bol e nor the first ti me
suc h a c omparison has been made. F or mer DOL offici al Lee G. Williams described the old “ brac ero” pr ogram — an earlier versi on of the guestwor ker pr ogram that brought thous ands of Me xi can nationals to wor k in the Uni ted States duri ng and after World War II — as a s ystem of “l egalized sl aver y.2 On paper, the brac ero pr ogram had many signifi cant written l egal protec tions, pr ovidi ng wor kers with what historian Ci ndy Hahamovi tch, an expert on guestwor ker programs, has c alled “the mos t c ompr ehensi ve far m labor c ontr act in the histor y of American agricultur e.3 N e vertheless, the bracer o workers were s ys tematic all y lied to, c heated and “s hamefull y neglec ted. 4 In pr actic e, there is littl e differenc e between the br ac ero program of yesterday and today’s H- 2 gues twor ker pr ogram. Federal l aw and D OL regul ati ons pr ovide a few protecti ons to H- 2 guestwor kers, but they exist mai nl y on paper. Government enforc ement of guestwor ker rights is historicall y ver y weak. Pri vate attorneys typicall y won’t take up their caus e. And non- agricultural wor kers in
the program are not eligible for federall y funded l egal ser vic es. The H- 2 guestwor ker s ystem als o c an be vi ewed as a modern-day s ystem of i ndentured s er vitude. But unli ke European indentur ed ser vants of ol d, today’s gues twor kers have no pros pect of bec oming U.S. citiz ens .
U.S. wor kers suffer as a res ult of these flaws in the guestwor ker s ystem. As l ong as employers i n l ow-wage indus tries can r el y on an endl ess s tream of vul ner able g ues twor kers who lac k basic labor pr otecti ons , they will have little i nc enti ve to hire U.S. wor kers or make jobs more appealing to domes tic workers by i mprovi ng wages and wor ki ng conditions. Not s urprisi ngly, many H-2 empl oyers discrimi nate ag ains t U.S. w or kers, pr eferring to hire g ues twor kers, even though they ar e req uired to c ertify that no domestic wor kers ar e availabl e to fill their j obs. In addi tion, it is well-documented that wag es for U.S. wor kers are depr ess ed in i ndus tries that rel y heavil y on g ues twor kers. This report is bas ed on inter views with thous ands of guestwor kers, a r eview of the res earch on guestwor ker pr ograms, sc ores of leg al c ases and the experienc es of l egal exper ts fr om around the c ountry.
of a s ystem that treats for eign wor kers as c ommodities to be i mported as needed without affor ding them adequate l egal s afeguards , the pr otecti ons of the fr ee mar ket, or the opportuni ty to become full members of s oci ety. When the Souther n Poverty Law C enter publis hed the first version of this report in 2007, we rec ommended r efor m or repeal of the H- 2 program. Unfortunatel y, even after the enac tment of modest r eforms in rec ent years,
guestwor ker pr ograms today are s till inher entl y abusi ve and unfair to both U .S. and foreig n workers. In the pas t s everal years, the DOL has proposed two sets of r egul ations to better protect non-agric ultur al H-2 wor kers – one r elated to wage rate g uar antees and one mor e c omprehensi ve set of r egulations. Thes e reg ulations also woul d better protect the j obs and wages of U.S. wor kers . U nfortunatel y for workers, neither set of r egulations has gone into effect; employers have filed multi ple l aws uits challenging them, and C ongress has effecti vel y bloc ked impl ementati on of the new wag e reg ulati ons. F or wor kers , then, the abuses c ontinue unabated.
virtuall y
H-2
in the name of immigrati on refor m and should not be the model for the futur e fl ow of wor kers to this countr y. If the current H-2 progr am is allowed to c ontinue,
Recommendati ons for doing so appear at the end of this repor t.
3.
GROWTH DA
a. Increasing the cap on W-visas is key to the economy
growth –
Peri 11
– (Giovanni Peri, T he ec onomic cons equences of the pr opos ed i mmigration r eform, Interec onomics ; H amburg, 5-2013, ac ces sed 7-11-2018, https://s earc h-pr oquest-c om.pr oxy.li b.umich.edu/docvi ew/1357561184?pq -origsite=s ummon&acc ountid= 14667)//JS
for the US economy, , in terms of productivity and efficiency are likely to
proceed from the proposed increase in the quotas for workers
. Allowing more immigrants during
periods of higher demand facilitate their positive economic contributions.
by offering better incentives and labor
market perspectives to undocumented and less skilled immigrants, and by
providing more flexibility to quotas
the reform should contribute to growth,
effect on l abor mar ket oppor tunities for nati ves . Incr eas ed number of s killed i mmigrants
.
T he bigger gai ns
however
highly educated
(H1B temporar y vi sa and per manent per mits). The q uota for the H 1B temporar y vis as woul d be incr eased fr om 65,000 to 110,000, and this number woul d be all owed to rise to 200,000 when the ec onomy is growing and the l abor
mar ket for hig hl y s killed wor kers is “tight”. T he pr opos al also introduc es 120,000 new “merit-bas ed” permanent per mits. This number c ould be increased to 250,000 if demand for these per mits is hig h. Importantl y, foreign ers wi th a doctoral degree in one of the sci enc e, tec hnolog y, engineeri ng and mathematics ( STEM) fi elds from an accredited US uni versity and with a job offer c oul d have immediate acc ess to a per manent wor king per mit (i.e. a green car d). T he incr eas ed number of foreign- bor n STEM wor kers woul d c ontribute to i nnovati on, entrepreneurshi p and s cientifi c pr ogress and hence woul d be a powerful engine of economic growth. As shown by recent res earc h,1 for eign STEM wor kers ha ve helped impr ove US innovati on, producti vity and wage growth. Studyi ng the i nfl ow of H1B STEM wor kers i nto US citi es betwee n 1990 and 2010, Shi h, Spar ber and I found that they c ontributed between a si xth and a fourth of the total factor pr oduc ti vity growth in the U S duri ng that period.2 T his and si milar studies als o s how no evi denc e that for eign
STEM wor kers lower ed nati ve wages and employment i n si milar oc cupations: their c ontributi on to pr oduc ti vity and growth mor e than compensated for their competiti on effects. The r eform pr opos al also intr oduc es a mar ket-bas ed adjustment mec hanis m to deter mine the quota for tempor ar y and per manent i mmigrants. The number of per mits woul d increase in periods of high demand and decline in periods of low demand through an automatic adjus tment. Economis ts have shown that i mmigrati on in periods of expansi on is partic ul arly benefi cial to pr oducti vity and wages
would
New temporar y vi sa for uns killed i mmigrants. Finall y the propos al i ntroduc es tempor ar y vis as for
less educ ated wor kers (c alled W vis as), vali d for thr ee years and r enewabl e. The quota for thes e vis as would be 20,000 ini tiall y, and it c ould i ncr eas e to 70,000 if demand is high and unempl oyment low. T hese vi sas woul d enabl e the mobility of wor kers acr oss occ upati ons that are classifi ed as “low s killed” (i.e. ones that do not req uire a c olleg e degree). T hey woul d also all ow wor kers in this status to appl y for per manent resi denc e. The g oal of thes e permits is to all ow an adeq uate infl ow of (mai nl y manual) wor kers in sectors s uch as c ons truc tion, l ands capi ng, and personal and hos pitality s er vic es. The decreasing s uppl y of nati ve wor kers ( who are bec oming older and more educated) in thes e sec tors and the high demand for thes e s er vices have c ontributed in rec ent dec ades to generate pre ssur e to hire undoc umented wor ker s. T his pr ogram s houl d s uppl y a l egal channel for s uc h wor kers. Compani es woul d be abl e to fi nd wor kers in manual occ upati ons and s hift nati ves i nto more interacti ve and c ogniti ve tas ks, while mai ntaini ng low cos ts and being
abl e to expand. M oreover, the c ompeti tion effect of these wor kers with nati ves woul d be limited, as nati ves are quic kl y movi ng out of thes e j obs. A further effect of thes e vis as would be to keep the pric es of such ser vic es l ow s o that ther e will be more demand for them. T he proposed c ap for the W visas, however, is rel ati vel y s mall, and the questi on is whether it will be l arge enough to avoid recr eating the incenti ves for undoc umented i mmigration i n the future. Over all, by increasing the number of highl y s kill ed immigrants ,
and more mobility to tempor ar y wor kers ,
innovation and l abor mar ket
effici enc y and flexi bility i n the US. T his woul d provi de a very i mportant and s ubstantial ec onomic s timul us f or the c oming decades.
b. Economic growth is the sole reason why the bee
population is declining
Andrew
Porterfield, 15
20
. Andrew Porterfiel d is a writer, editor and c ommunications c ons ultant for ac ademic i nstituti ons , c ompanies and non-pr ofits in the life s cienc es. H e is bas ed in C amarillo, C alifornia. Genetic Literac y Pr ojec t. 12/3/15. “Trade and economic gr owth, not pestici des , major dri ver of beehi ve decli nes?” https ://g eneticliterac ypr ojec t.org/2015/12/03/trade- ec onomic-growth-not- pes ticides- maj or-dri ver- beehi ve- decli nes /
Honey imports and exports and dramatic economic changes have been more
responsible for honeybee colony decreases
about 60
possible environmental causes of bee health threats have been investigated.
The closest match, the German researchers wrote, were associated
with severe political and economic changes,
The
researchers pointed to the growth of commercial beekeeping as a possible link to
colony declines, especially in the US
in certai n nations
(and s ome incr eases) than GM Os, pestici des, mi tes or dis eas es , accor ding to a new s tudy by German researchers. Mor eover, the data clouded the picture often seen in media and NGO r eports, pointing to a consistent, global decrease in bee col onies. Whil e s ome countries , li ke the US and in Wes ter n Eur ope, have s een a c onsistent decline in col o nies , other c ountries have s een dramatic i ncreas es i n c oloni es and honey producti on. Souther n Eur ope, for example, saw a
doubling of c oloni es over the past 50 years, while South American c olonies grew by 5.2 percent annually, African c ol oni es gre w by 3.3 percent annuall y, and Asi an c olonies grew by 4.4 perc ent annuall y (all over the past 50 years) . Over all, des pite the decr eases in Wes ter n Europe and the Uni ted States, the F AO data s howed an increase in the number of all c olonies globall y. Perhaps signifi cantl y, the data also s howed an i ncreas e i n demand for pollination whic h was higher than the number of existing honeybee col oni es. In fact,
“countries with a positive c orrel ati on between honey producti on and c olony number ar e the main honey exporters , whil e c ountries with a negati ve c orrel ation are those i mporting honey,”
M oritz and d Erler wr ote. “N one of the col ony number dynamic s of the past 50 years, neither incr eas e nor decr ease, s how any r elation to the arri val of novel pes ts or the use of novel pes ticides.” All i n all,
But nobody, until the Ger man s tudy, has tried to
systematic all y matc h ec onomic iss ues, i ndi vidual countr y dynamics , and the behavior of pr ofessional beekeepers with c hanges in col ony numbers
.
such as a 66 perc ent decli ne in col oni es i n M adagascar after a political coup in 1977, and a 73 percent decline i n Bur undi during that c ountr y’s ci vil war , and signi ficant declines i n eastern Eur ope after the coll aps e of the Soviet U nion. But in the U.S. and Western Europe, the decli nes have been s teady and sig nificant. Las t year in the U S, the number of disappearing hi ves reac hed 42 perc ent.
, soci al
and Western Europe.
Accor ding to M oritz and Erl er:
Zapatistas K
4.
a. Assimilating workers in order to boost the economy is part
of the machine of imperialist capitalism, impact is an
endless cycle of exploitation
One Struggle 18
– (One Str uggle is an anti-c apitalist organization., 2- 8-2018, "Imperi alism Dri ves Immigration So Capitalis m C an Devour All of Us," http://ones truggle.net/2018/02/08/i mperialis m-i mmigration/ /DOA: 6/27/2018)//JDi
Under the guise of economic development,
imperialist
governments
destroy local economies and subsistence cultures
This drives ruined peasants and farmers to cities – where , they
export goods
to the US
and people are driven to the US
NAFTA,
flooded the Mexican market, leaving farmers and other low-skilled workers
without jobs.” (Liberation News) By destroying the self-sufficiency of people and societies,
capitalists force us to migrate. US imperialism dominates
through
economic means
for the capitalist class. . Keeping in limbo and
terrorizing a section of workers so they will work for even less than minimum wage, cuts
production cost .
Imperialis m is the natur al expansion of capitalis m. T he c ons tant need for growth and i ncreas ed pr ofits sends c apitalis ts beyond nati onal boundaries in searc h of new mar kets and lower production cos ts.
USAID, trade agreements, Inter-American D evelopment Bank, IMF, and the World Bank wor k in conjuncti on with
(US, Canada, Europe, etc) and multinati onal cor por ations to dominate countries into the global economy. The y
with tac tics li ke l and grabs, pri vatiz ati on and grain dumpi ng. Militar y force and politic al mani pul ati on ar e also us ed.
, conveni entl y
and other i mperi alist c ountri es. And, bec ause these j obs are too few
pay s ub-s ur vi val wag es, many
des per ate to make a li ving
can get j obs in s weats hops that
, to acc omplis h “T he American Dr eam.” “One of the things that prompted millions of l ow- wag e wor kers to abandon M exic o over the l ast two decades was the signing of the N orth Americ an Free Tr ade Agreement i n 1994. With
try their luc k in
cheap imports, partic ularl y agricultural
produc ts,
violentl y
(includi ng war , the extreme for m of politics), all for the fundamental g oal of extrac ting and acc umul ati ng sur plus value (pr ofit)
as muc h of the planet as it can g et its hooks i nto. It does s o
ideol ogical, politic al, and
Capitalists require this
They use the des per ation of this s uper-exploi ted group to dri ve down wages for the entire wor ki ng class. T his means hig her profits.
b. ¡Ya Basta! — Enough is enough. Our alternative is
solidarity with and participation in the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation.
c. At this junction, we note that the neoliberal economic
politics discipline all of our engagement towards Mexico.
Thus, we take this opportunity to affirm solidarity with the
Zapatistas, in favor of a different form of engagement, a
different pedagogy, beyond neoliberalism.
d. In fact, we are a part of Zapatismo—it’s a universal
movement —it’s time to embrace a new politics.
Nail 12
(Thomas, postdoc tor al lecturer i n the Philosophy D epartment at the U ni versity of D enver, “Returni ng to R evoluti on” , ed. Clair e Col ebrook et al., p 139)-jn
As a body politic, Z apatis mo invents a new c onditi on for social order and i nclusi on. Li ke the phenomena of the r evol uti on of 1789, the Paris C ommune and the r evol uti on of 1917, Z apatis mo is a sing ular event in the sens e that it is irreducibl e to historicall y necessar y caus al c hai ns. In 1994, i n M exico, Z apatis mo held no resemblanc e to any recognis able legal or l egitimate politi cal thi ng within the pres ent ‘s tate of affairs’, that is , no political repres entation ( party) , mar ket repres entation, linguis tic repres entation ( their languages ar e not s poken or rec ognis ed by political repres entati ves) or r epr es entati on by the local i ndigenous l eaders (caciq ues). Ther e was no caus al nec essi ty that Z apatis mo should have exi sted, no way i t c oul d have been deduc ed from the domai ns of ‘rights’, ‘c ommoditi es’ or ‘class s truggle’ fr om which it emerged.
.
arrang ement anyway The singul ar event of Z apatis mo is thus not conditioned on req ues ts for r epr es entati on li ke ‘rights’, the overthr ow of the state, a new mar ket ec onomy or a new ethnic nationalis m, but i nstead takes on its own self-r efer ence or autonomy from withi n the situation. But the c onditi on of the Zapatistas’ body politic is als o uni vers al in the sens e that i t is both incl usi ve and i nfini te in i ts c onseq uenc es.
From the repres entati onal poi nt of view of Mexi can politi cs, the marginalis ed and unr epr es ented Z apatis tas of C hiapas have no ‘legiti mate’ exis tenc e and yet they c oexi st i mmanentl y and heterogeneousl y withi n the politic al
‘To be Zapatista’ does not mean that you must be
represented by the EZLN or that you must be indigenous, or even from Mexico. But
Zapatismo cannot mean anything one wants. Zapatismo means participating in a struggle against
neoliberalism and for direct self-management wherever one is and to whatever
degree one is capable of. Without a prior or immutable condition for exclusion, the Zapatistas have made it clear that anyone can
become a Zapatista to the degree that they share their struggle. 26 Many around the
world have subsequently taken up this universal event where they are (Europe, Asia, North America and so on).
So rather than simply affirming their difference and unrepresentability, the
Zapatistas have created a singular- absolute event/intervention and given it a
specific consistency of its own
, heter ogeneous to the r egimes of politic al repres entation. This sing ular-uni versality is practi call y c onstituted through the creation of Enc uentr os (inter national gatherings)27 that ai m to i ncl ude others that will change the natur e of Zapatis mo as a s ocial body eac h ti me they meet (s ee Chatterton 2007) .
e. We should recreate debate as a pedagogical space beyond
the ideological parameters of neoliberalism. This is the only
way to change the world—each and every instance is key
Rodriguez 9
(Arturo, pr ofess or in the C olleg e of Educ ati on at Bois e State Uni versity, “Anti-c apitalist Anal ytical Fusion: Scienc e, Pedagog y and Revol ution”, Journal for Acti vist Science & Technol og y Educ ation, volume 1, number 2, pp. 48- 58)-jn-gender+ disability modi fied
If the above res embles a rant c onsider why a s tring of words that includes politic al and ec onomic critique and the ac tual mar ket func tions of our global society affect the r eader’s vi ew of this paper. T he academy tur ns its nos e at wor k marginall y revi ewed or c onstruc ted as outcr y, pedagog y of indignation (Freir e, 2004) at how peopl e c ontinue to enslave other peopl e while destroyi ng the last us eable res ources on the planet. Organic and ac ademy trained i ntellectuals have gi ven the world their li ves, their blood s weat and fears c hasing the ether, the unifying princi ple, in some fi elds read as tr uth in an effort to s ol ve the worl ds m ys teri es. And how are they r epai d? They are indicted by the F BI, distr acted fr om their wor k by coll eagues who s cream bl oody mur der as they find ways to take s olac e from the ever yday right wing never endi ng barrage. Is it the argument they ar e after when they cry foul ? Or is it the sign, the s ymbol of freedom r epr esented by a life’s wor k in the ac ademy s haring the li vi ng experience with students , c olleagues, all wor kers ali ke
managing the li ving, the breathing and the dyi ng. And what is capitalist s chooli ng at its best mar ked by the ali enati ng pri ncipal: fuc k
[forget] the [one
] guy that hel ped you graduate that ens ured you made it to the next step, the next posi tion on the res earc h/c ar eer l adder. Was it tr uth we were after as we began our doctoral s tudy i n the hopes of sheddi ng light on s ome obsc ure fac t? The mati ng pri ncipl es of the mud-was p or s exuality in the human male, ar e thes e blac k holes in the minds eye as rebellion takes the plac e of cultur al logic and cultural truth? So pr ogressi ve educ ators a refl ecti on of the reality that is human des troy the earth and its atmos pher e when their pedag ogy ens ures chil dren l ear n the sci ence nec ess ary to produce i ndus trial c oatings , fertilizer and c yani de without als o ens uring they acquir e the depth of c onsciousness nec ess ar y to make c onnecti ons between wearing a gol d and diamond ring and the use of c yanide and s trip mi ning for their pr oduc tion. Pushi ng further, why is Mar xis m such a wor d of abus e (Mc Lar en &
Radical pedagogy is a critical revolutionary praxis marked by the
blood of Zapatistas,
we humans police ourselves and each other and we free
ourselves and each other.
;
Critical educators in and out of the classroom stand as [ are] a measure
of change as the onslaught of neoliberalism continues.
Pedagogists
leave a lasting imprint, a seed for
enlightenment, which contribute to the production of knowledge.
Jaramillo, 2009) even the right can s ee the fl uidity of acc epting the c hanging c onditi on of the s ys tem what Lac an refers to as s ynthome of s oci eti es (Lac an, 2006).
aint for the ti mid, it
Che Guevara and progres si ve intellectuals organic and ac ademic ali ke that understand a need for c hange from grippi ng tight to the c os mic orgone (R eich, 1973) that does not per mit any c ompeting princi pal or i deolog y to s eep i n. T he s earc h for truth is not about fi ndi ng the source of all energy or a c atal yzi ng principal. It is the understandi ng that hu mans and obj ects share rel ati ons hips, princi ples that adhere to organization al value and metaphysic al c oncepti on and oscillati ons. T he gangrene of racis m, s exis m, fascis m and homophobia ar e human made (McLaren & J aramillo, 2009) they ar e the leg ac y of the l eft and of the right. What c an be done about them is mar ked by the wa ys intell ectuals enact and participate i n their pr axis. A critical r eflexi vity that dr aws the kite-string of pri ncipal
between the mar ket need to pr oduc e c hemic als for cons umption li ke Z ykl on B and the nec ess ar y day to day Socr atic disc ursi ve pr actic es doing more than s houti ng out to father capital in the classr oom. H uman and environmental devas tation are the end res ult of our s ocial relati ons
(R odriguez, 2009) whic h includes the needs and whims of mar kets and of the hyper-complex s ystems that ar e s ocieties as they tr ade i n material and human s urpl us value. The l egac y of M ar x and critic al anal ys es are not the mere Utopic visions of a f ew stal wart yet antiquated i ntellectuals (Mc Lar en, 2009) they ar e an entr eaty c ultural critique positioni ng trade c ons ciousness and s ocial amnesia as the cul prits on the mar ket stage of gl obal c api talist dominati on. Critic al s ocial theor y does not dis-clude what is or what the ag ent knows or has known, li ke the conglomer ate it pr omulgates all byproduct of human r elations bad and good as ac tors that c ontribute to the ensl avement of the indi vidual and the devastati on of the natur al envir onment. Dis semi nation, the s ymbol, the
di vision of units and of labor, the str ucture of the phenomenon all bear as a derivati ve of the human and environmental c ondi tion of existence mar ki ngs of each other. All s ymbols of experienc e retur n to the s ource; that is
Closing Remar ks T he global mar ket occ upies virtuall y ever y c orner of the str uggle for humani ty (Mc Lar en & Jar amillo, 2007) c hildr en in classr ooms ar e the direct inheritors, as they grow to adul thood of the sor t of s ocial and natur al envir onment adults ac cept.
War is cl ass war as thos e who reap the benefi ts, profit margins, on a global sc ale are never those with most at ris k
the s ol diers doing the killing i n the fi elds benefi t onl y so far as their us e value is jus tified i n c ontrolling the world vi a the whol es ale slaughter of, “enemy combatants.” T hese ar e c hildr en and adults i n the s o c alled terrorist states who happen to be in the way of c ementi ng c apitalist soci al r elati ons— whether c opper, oil, ti mber or
human inter ests . F urther mor e the human life s pan is far too short for any one human bei ng to have an effect that signific antl y i mpacts the world mar ket. We are far beyond the moment where the Mol otov c oc ktail, the baton or a r oc k thr own by its self c an caus e the adoption among the human c hain of a worl dwide position for r evol uti on. Even when riots oc cur, the 1960s , 1 980s or 1990s globall y, the mar ket fig hts i ndi vidual citizens to a stands till. Har d to thr ow a r oc k when you are star ving, or when you have to excavate r ubbl e to r ecover and then bur y your c hildren. And yet the U S has been suc ces sfully foug ht to a standsti ll, in the mar ket by C uba and Venez uel a and at war by Afghanistan and Iraq. Why does a militar y that poss ess es the s ole sur vi vi ng global Air F orce, Navy and Ar my c ontinue to make war on people that retur n fire fr om hors ebac k usi ng mus kets and single shot World War I era muni tions ? T he war begun in 2003 was conc ei ved over ten years prior ; in 2009 the U S is still at war with acc ordi ng to Gi bs on, a militar y with no l ong histor y of
defens e no internal defens e i ndustr y of note, no definable suppl y lines, no cl ear chai n of c ommand or c entral l eadershi p (2009).
C an it be ther e is mor e to life and war than pr oducti on or enslavement? The classr ooms as Mc Lar en and J aramillo relate and as Bencz e and Als op elabor ate, were the las t tr ul y public domains wher e students and teachers c ould engage in a r es pite from the dominant i deolog y ( 2009, 2009). T hey c ould take it upon themsel ves to consi der the s oci al rel ati ons that exist and their effec t on the environment. Accor ding to Davi d Hursch, “Neo-liberals’ desire not to inter vene i n mar kets and to focus on ec onomic growth, primarily terms of c onsumpti on, has both sig nificantl y contri buted to the environmental problems that we fac e and to gl obal warmi ng.” (2009: p5) T he c opper canyons in Utah wer e not put their by meteors but by mi ning operations. The depl etion of sal mon and steelhead i n the ri vers and s treams of C alifornia, Oregon and Was hington di d not ha ppen as a product of the ravages of ti me. H uman constr ucted,
petroc hemic als, positi ons on the treatment of the envir onment as thi ngs existi ng sol el y for the pur pose of pr ovidi ng the c orporatocr ac y with sur plus val ue created all of it.
Peopl e c aus e the ravages of ti me to negati vel y affec t the pl anet, s urpl us acc umul ati on whether it is PC B’s in the H uds on, ammoni um nitrates at the mouths of the world’s maj or ri vers or the debris from s urfac e and s ubsurfac e detonations of nucl ear mat erial. Yet ther e is another mor e i nsidi ous for m of s urpl us acc umul ati on—it is the toll on
students in clas srooms acros s the globe of c urricula and pedag ogies ensuri ng students l eave clas srooms functi onall y illiter at e. C apable onl y of readi ng and acti ng out the prescribed lives global c apitalis ts have set. H uman agenc y and ensl avement r es ult as people li ve their li ves car eless to the e ffect their acti ons have on the natural environment and eac h other .
in the natur al and s oci al sci enc es do more than s har e i nformati on with their students. They
may
5.
Shutdown DA
a. Compromise coming now – Trump can’t last much longer –
it’s most likely
Swaminathan 19
– (Aarthi Swaminathan, 1/11/19, " Shutdown deal depends on 'how much pain the Trump adminis trati on is willing to tol erate'," N o Public ation, https://financ e.yahoo.c om/news /s hutdown- deal-depends-muc h-pain-tr ump- admi nistr ation- willing-tol erate- 155253476.html)CWS
The timing of a deal between Trump and Democrats
border will “depend on how much pain the Trump administration is willing to
tolerate,”
There are various pain points that will be felt shortly in coming days
and weeks “All could lead to a compromise the “most likely outcome will be to
return to the bipartisan deal that was struck by Congressional leaders before the
new year,
As we roll i nto day 21 of the shutdown — tying the r ecor d for the l ongest-runni ng s hutdown in his tor y — al mos t 800,000 federal wor kers ar e s et to miss their first payc hec k on Friday, while wor kers and unions are filing l awsui ts against the Tr ump adminis trati on.
the Hous e
who oppos e the proposed $5.7 billion s teel wall to fenc e the nearly 2,000-mil e s outhern
according to anal ys ts at Bank of Americ a Merill Lynch (BAML). “
,” anal ys ts wr ote.
.” BAM L thinks that
whic h included some money for border s ecurity in return for funding the r est of the government through the fisc al year.” On T hurs day, feder al wor ker s gather ed in Was hington D.C. demanding that government be r eopened. “ When they s ay, ‘one paychec k away from homel ess,’ I’m not ther e, but I’m real cl ose,” a Philadel phia-bas ed IR S veteran tol d U SA T oday. “T he longer the c urrent s hutdown l asts , the greater the cash-fl ow constr aints for affected wor kers,” BAML anal ysts noted. “Fur ther mor e, C ongr ess has not yet agreed to pay bac k- wages to furloug hed wor kers.”
b. The path to resolving the shutdown is narrow – additional
immigration demands will poison the well
Perry
Bacon 18,
12/21/
senior writer for FiveThirtyEight , “Why Fights Over Immigration Kee p Shutting Dow n The G overnment”, FiveThirtyEight, De c 21 20 18, https :// fivethirtyeight.com/ fea tures/why-fights -over-i mmigration-ke ep-shutting-down -the-g overnment/, mm
We’re facing the third government shutdown in less than a year
Back in January, a disagreement over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
program caused a partial government shutdown.
this Friday thanks, in part, to a fight over i mmigrati on polic y. Pr esident Tr ump wants $5 billion for a border wall — an amount that is unli kel y to make it thr oug h the
Senate.
1 So it’s wor th taki ng a step bac k and as ki ng: Why is i mmigrati on such a stumbli ng bl oc k? After all, it was n’t al ways li ke this. C onser vati ves onc e bac ked more li ber al i mmigration policies, and liberals have at ti mes bac ked more r estricti oni st ones . In 1986, for exampl e, R onal d R eag an signed a law that granted amnesty to nearl y 3 million undocumented immigrants . R eag an and George H.W. Bus h both us ed their exec uti ve
powers to declar e that c hildr en of undocumented immigrants affected by the Reagan-er a law c oul d not be deported. In 2006, Barac k Obama and Hillar y Clinton, who were both then senators, voted for 700 miles of additi onal fencing on the U.S.-Mexi co border as part of a provisi on to s atisfy c ons er vati ves c oncer ned about a ris e i n illegal immigration.2 But over the past c oupl e of decades — as the number of unauthorized i mmigrants i n the U.S. ros e s teepl y and then began to decline —
i mmigration polic y has come to s ymboliz e the two parti es’ broader values and el ectoral coalitions. T he battl e over i mmigratio n polic y is about way more than j ust i mmigrati on, i n other words, i n the s ame way that the tensions between the two par ties on health polic y refl ect deeper fault lines . T he politics of immigration today ar e notabl y mor e di vided and partis an than they wer e 10 or 20 years ago, and there ar e a few r eas ons why. First, there ar e the party c oaliti ons. C ompared to the mi d-2000s , the D emocr atic Party of today i ncludes fewer non-Hispanic whi te
voters: 67 perc ent people who are or l ean toward being D emocrats wer e non-His panic whites i n 2007, but that number had dropped to 59 perc ent in 2017, accor ding to the Pew R esearc h C enter. Forty perc ent of s elf-identifi ed Democrats are now nonwhite. R epublicans too have grown more raci all y di vers e, but onl y bar el y, and they ar e still overwhel mingl y white: 88 percent in 2007, c ompared to 83 perc ent i n 2017. About 12 perc ent of D emocr ats ar e His panic, roughl y double the percentage of Republic ans who ar e of His panic desc ent. So the Democr ats have a huge bl oc of peopl e in their par ty who have racial, ethnic and cultural ties to Americ a’s most r ec ent i mmigrants, who ar e l argel y Asian- and Latino-American. And whil e “ minorities” and “peopl e of c olor” are fraught ter ms that often ignore differ ences both between and within r aci al and ethnic groups, the D emocrats are ess entiall y now the home party for Americ ans who mig ht feel that U.S. society tr eats them as “other.” Secondl y, while both parti es have undergone ideological shi fts, Democrats
have shifted more dr amati call y. Pollsters as k a variety of q ues tions to meas ure public opini on on i mmigrati on, but they all show the s ame thing: Democrats have bec ome far mor e pr o-immigration i n rec ent years. Acc ordi ng to Pew, in 2006, 37 percent of Democr ats 3 s aid that leg al i mmigration to the U .S. s hould be decreas ed , c ompared to 20 perc ent who s aid i t s hould incr ease.4 Pew found a hug e revers al i n those numbers earlier this year : 40 percent of Democr ats bac k higher i mmigration l evels, c ompar ed to 16 percent who want them lowered. Ac cor ding to Gall up, 85 percent of D emocr ats now feel i mmigration is a “good thi ng” for America, compared to 69 perc ent who sai d the s ame in 2006. Republic ans haven’t actually bec ome mor e anti-immigrati on, acc ording to Pew and Gallup. But, per Pew, there ar e more R epublicans 5 who want i mmigrati on decr eased ( 33 percent) than who want i t increased ( 22 perc ent) . As a res ult, the gap between the parti es on questi ons about i mm And i mmigration is indic ati ve of a broader s hift: D emocr atic voters have
Elites in each party have moved toward the ideological poles on
immigration policy.
we’re already at
two shutdowns involving immigration policy in the Trump era — and I would not
rule out a few more.
grown more li ber al on is sues of rac e, g ender and identity gener all y. T hat i ncludes w hite Democr ats. The voters are not al one.
Li ber al-leani ng ac ti vi sts and D emocratic politicians argue that policies like the wall aren’t j ust bad or i neffecti ve, they ar e i mmor al and racist. Trump and other cons er vati ves have s uggested that mor e i mmigrati on could both hurt the U.S. ec onomy and lead to more crime. Let me avoid maki ng this a both-sides s tor y: F or the mos t part, D emocr ats ar e mor e aligned wi th overall public opini on on i mmigrati on. T he maj ority of voters want undoc umented young peopl e who wer e brought to the U.S. as chil dren to be pr otected fr om depor tati on, and D emocrats’ demand for that pr ovis ion that led to l ast winter’s s hutdown. Li kewise, most voters don’ t s upport a bor der wall, but Tr ump is drivi ng towar d a s hutdown i n purs uit of a wall, an i dea that many c ongressional Republic ans are fairl y l ukewar m about. That
said, America di d elect a presi dent (in 2016) and a Senate maj ority (i n 2016 and 2018) who bel ong to the party that is generall y l ess supporti ve of i mmigrati on, s o either there is s ome appetite for a middle ground or immigrati on is not a deal-br eaker iss ue for many Americans. Either way, it would be logic al for t he two si des to fi nd a c ompr omise. But
the s hifts the parties have undergone i n the l ast 10 or so years make s uc h a c ompr omise hard to execute. Democr atic l eaders c an’t easil y sign on to any funding for a wall that their bas e thi nks is a physical monument to racism, partic ul arly since the top D emocratic leaders are whi te but muc h of the party base is not. Tr ump can’t easil y gi ve up on the wall, sinc e he basic all y c ampaigned on the idea that America needs a wall to remain a great nati on. So
c. Extending shutdown Leads to tons of backlog in the courts
– means cases don’t get processed and turns the case
Smith 19
“These St ates' Immigration Courts Ar e Mo st Imp acted by the Government Shutdown.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 17 Jan. 2019, www.cbsnew s.com/new s/gove rnment -shutdown-immigration-court-backlog-million-cases-pennsylvania -kentucky-minnesota- 2019-01- 17/.
immigration court backlog could grow to more than one million cases if the
government shutdown drags into February
,
nearly 43,000 hearings had been cancelled since the
shutdown began,
through all of January, 108,112 immigrants will have had
their appearances cancelled.
people's lives are unfairly held in the balance
the court's backlog will grow by at least 27 percent.
The
and M arch, acc ordi ng to data compiled by C BS News . Some s tates , including Mi nnes ota, Penns yl vani a and Kentuc ky, are partic ularl y vul ner abl e, and coul d s ee their s tate's i mmigrati on courts' bac klog i ncreas e by more than a third. Si nc e the parti al government s hutdown began l ast month, i mmigrati on c ourt h earings have ground to halt
effec ti vel y canc elling a vast maj ority of s chedul ed appearanc es. T hos e pos tponed hearings will be added to the immigrati on c ourt s ys tem's already
recor d-high bac kl og, whic h stood at more than 800,000 cases as of N ovember 30, 2018, acc ording to Syr ac use Uni versity's Transactional Recor ds Acc ess Cl eari nghous e (TR AC). Becaus e of the gover nment shutdown, mor e recent data is not available, s aid Susan Long, a direc tor at TR AC, in an email to CBS N ews. As of las t Frid ay,
accordi ng to TR AC. If the s hutdown c ontinues
That number grows to 185,071 if the s hutdown c ontinues through Marc h 1, acc ordi ng to TR AC. If the government remains s hutdown through Februar y 1, the bac klog will rise at l east 12.5 perc ent in canc elled c as es alone, not i ncluding any new i mmigration hearings. If the government s hutdown goes on until Marc h 1, the bac klog will r eac h at least one million heari ngs, a nearl y 25 perc ent jump si nc e the end of N ovember. " This l evel of dysfuncti on and c haos is si mpl y unacc epta bl e," s aid Kate Voigt, the associate direc tor of government rel ati ons at the Americ an Immigration Lawyers As soci ati on, in an email to CBS N ews. "Ever y day the s hutdown c ontinues, the i mmigrati on
cour t bac kl og gets worse and
." Some s tates will feel the i mpac t of the i mmigrati on court clos ure muc h more than others , accor ding to data c ompiled by CBS N ews . In Bloomington, Minnes ota, the s tate's l one i mmigrati on court had a 8,547-c ase bac kl og as of N ovember 30, but that c oul d i ncreas e by more than 43 percent if the gover nment shutdown persists thr oug h M arch 1, accor ding to data c ompil ed by CBS N ews. Minnesota has s een a surge of Guatemal an immigration
cas es s tarti ng in rec ent years . T hat c our t had j ust under 800 Guatemal an pendi ng c as es in 2016, but the number surged to 2,326 this year, accor ding to data fr om TR AC. If the s hutdown c ontinues through Februar y 1,
6.
Anthro K
a. To discuss oppression as “dehumanizing” only reasserts
dominate forms of hierarchy in hidden ways and furthers
anthropocentric thought.
Adams 94
oppression cannot dehumanize animals.
.
Resistance
against oppression for humans involves recognizing and preserving their
“humanity.”
white Americans knew they were free by the presence of
enslaved blacks, so oppressed humans affirm their humanity by proclaiming their
distance from the animals whom they are compared to, but never truly are.
this response is not surprising.
species definition
advantages elite white males by positioning others as almost beasts.
oppositional movements insure that these
adjectives always apply only to animals, and inscribe the hierarchy that
positions animals as lower
(Carol, femi nist schol ar and ani mal rights theorist. M .Di v. from Yale Di vi nity Sc hool, B.A. from Roc hester U ni versity. N either Beas t nor M an, P. 77 http://books.g oogle.com/books ?id=CinU 6Vy_sYMC)
It is c onventi onall y sai d that oppr ession dehumaniz es, that it r educ es humans to animal s tatus. But
Animals exist c ateg oricall y as that whic h is not human; they ar e not ac knowl edg ed as havi ng human q ualiti es that can be denied
T he pr es umption of an ontol ogical abs enc e of s uc h human qualities has a priori defined ani mals as nonhuman.
But, it is a humani ty established through a for m of negati ng: just as
treated li ke,
procl amations that ass ert “ we are not beas ts, we ar e humans, not ani mals!” Gi ven the anthr opoc entric natur e of Western cul tur e’s primar y c onceptualiz ati ons,
A litany of pr otests er upt fr om those str uggling agai nst oppr essi on,
As I i ndic ated in the preface, this has been an ass erti on upon whic h feminis ts earl y staked their appeal for our rights and freedom. Racist and sexis t atti tudes expos e an el astic , mobil e
that al ways
Will antiracis t and anti-sexis t theor y so concl usi vel y accept the inesc apabl e anthropoc entricity of the human/animal di vide that the r es ult will be
a fi xed s peci es defi nition that clearly demarcates onc e and for all, all humans as human beings , thus tacitl y but firml y positi oni ng all other ani mals as “ani mal s”? C onsider the s ynonyms for beast offer ed by The American H eritage Dicti onar y of the Englis h Language (T hird Edition): “brute, ani mal, brutis h, br utal, beastl y, beas tial. Thes e adj ecti ves appl y to what is more charac teristi c of l ower animals than of human bei ngs.” Will
thus
as well
?
b. The Aff’s foregrounding of human suffering ignores the
tools that have been produced to suppress groups and
ignores the humanized context of the event.
Heydt 10,
BA Communic ati ons New Sc hool and Uni versitat van Amsterdam, (s amantha, American Abattoirs, http://s amheydt.wor dpr ess .com/2010/12/20/224/)//ED
Nazi Concentration camps, where sectors of humanity relegated into
the realm of ‘subhuman’ were slaughtered.
The justification for this brutality is hinged on the ‘biological inferiority’
Technologies such as branding irons, chains and cages that were developed
to dominate animals paved way for the domination over humans too.
tools developed for domestication were used by the Europeans during
colonization to shackle slaves. “
Linguistically these acts of violence and exploitation are tied
to animals- branded, skinned, slaughtered, sold. Be that as it may, “as long as
men massacre animals, they will kill each other”
The American abattoir paved the r oad to Ausc hwitz. T he industrializ ation of death developed at the turn of the centur y i n the U S stoc kyar ds was adopted by the
History r epeats i tsel f with the algorithms of domi nation s hifti ng not in constr uct but i n c ontext. The ass embl y-line technolog y and eugenic i deolog y that buttress es the mec haniz ed mass mur der of ani mals s har e the rationaliz ed cruelty tha t has his toric all y been us ed i n the Western c ontext agai nst humans in the ‘s tate of excepti on’. Branded i nferior, cr ammed i nto railc ars, forc ed into labor and killed when no longer of use, the victi ms of the Hol oc aus t exp erienc ed the same fate as the chattel of
of the vic tims who ar e dehumanized and denigrated as animals. The “ anthr opologic al machi ne”
slaug hterhous es do today.
disting uishi ng humans fr om ani mals c ollapses when man is stri pped down to ‘ bare life’ ( Ag amb en). T hus, as long as the expl oitation and vi olent slaughter of ani mals oc curs unrefuted, the potenti al for genocide r emai ns. As hi stor y has shown us ti me and time agai n: the r eal m of nonhuman is not s ol el y occupi ed by ani mals . Historical Context: Patri archy, sl avery and the s ocial matri x of s peci esis m emerged in tandem to one another from the same r egion that father ed agricul tur e in the Middle East during the C halc olithi c Ag e. Sumer, now moder n Ir aq, was the first ci vilization to engage i n c ore agricul tur al pr actic es suc h as organiz ed irrigati on and s pecializ ed labor wi th slaves and ani mals . T hey r aised c attle, s heep and pigs, used ox for draught their beast of burden and equids for tr ans port (Sayc e 99). T he knowl edg e to s tor e food as standi ng res er ve meant migrati on was no l onger nec ess ar y to sur vi ve. The population density br ed social hier archi es supported at its bas e by sl aves (Kr amer 47). In Sumer, there were onl y two social s trata’s to belong
to: lu the free man and ar ad the slave ( Kramer 47).
The “human r ule over the l ower cr eatur es provi ded the mental analog ue i n whic h many politic al an d s ocial arrangements are bas ed” ( Patterson 280). Caged and
castr ated, sl aves were treated no different from chattel. Thousands of years l ater, the
in the Middle East
When the European s ettl ers arrived in Tas mania i n 1772, the i ndig enous peopl e s eem not to have notic ed them…By 1830 their num bers had been r educ ed from ar ound fi ve hundred to seventy-two. In their i nter vening years they had been us ed for slave l abour and s exual pl eas ure, tortured and mutil ated. T hey had been hunted like ver min and their s kins had been s old for a g over nment bounty. When the males were kill ed, femal e s ur vi vors wer e turned loos e with the heads of their husbands tied around their nec ks. M al es who wer e not killed were us uall y c astr ated. Chil dren were clubbed to death.” (Gray 91). T his horrific account illustrates how the
indigenous peopl e of T as mani a were enslaved,s ki nned and slaughtered by the Europeans. M eanwhile acr oss the globe, the tr ans-Atl antic sl ave tr ade was at its peak in the 18th c entur y. Africans wer e taken from their nati ve land, branded, bred, and s old as pr operty.
(Pythagoras in Patters on 210) . Racis m, c olonialis m, anti- Semitis m and s exis m all stem fr om the s ame s ystems of dominati on that i nitiall y subjug ated ani mals . U ntil we c eas e to expl oit li ving bei ngs as resources, the threat of man being s tripped of his humanity looms. Althoug h we cring e at the i nhumane acti ons of our ancestors, the sc al e and effici enc y of murder and oppr ession has
Reject the affirmative’s anthropocentrism and embrace a cosmocentric ethic
which values the universe as a priority.
Daly ’08
[Erin, grad student @ Arizona state in department of life scienc es, and Robert Fr odeman, c hair of department of phil os ophy @ U ni versity of N orth T exas, 2008, “ Separated at Birth, Signs of R approc hement Environmental Ethics and Spac e Explor ation”, Ethics & T he Envir onment Vol. 13 N o. 1, Pr ojec t MUSE] CM
This anthropocentric and geocentric environmental perspective shows cracks
when we try to extend it to the cosmic environment.
a cosmocentric ethic, "one which (1) places the universe
at the center, or establishes the universe as the priority in a value system, (2)
appeals to something characteristic of the universe which might then (3) provide
a justification of value, presumably intrinsic value, and (4) allow for reasonably
objective measurement of value"
. A shift in
consciousness, regarding the Earth as
being the home of participants in a
cosmic story, is necessary
The few nati onal or inter national policies c urrentl y i n place that menti on the envir onment of outer s pace (e.g. NASA's pl anet ar y protecti on polic y, U nited Nati ons C ommittee on the Peaceful U ses of Outer Space) consider the pres er vation of planetar y bodies for sci enc e, human expl orati on, and possi ble futur e habitati on, but there is not yet any polic y that consi ders whether thes e
anthr opoc entric prioriti es shoul d supersede the pr es ervati on of pos sibl e i ndigenous extr aterrestri al life, or t he environmental or geological integrity of the extraterr estrial envir onment. Anticipati ng the need for polic y decisions reg arding s pac e expl orati on, Mar k Lupisell a and J ohn Logsdon sugges t the possi bility of
(physic al and/or metaphysic al)
(Lupisell a
from
&
Logsdon
1997,
1).
The
authors
discuss
the
need
to
es tablis h
the center
i n order to achi eve the proper environmental pers pecti ve as we ventur e beyond our home planet.
policies
of the
for
pr e-detecti on
uni vers e to one of it
and
post- detec tion
of
life
on
M ars,
and
s ugges t
that
a
cos moc entric
ethic
would
provi de
a
jus tification
for
a
c ons er vati ve
approach
to
spac e
expl oration
and
sci ence —cons er vati ve
in
the
s ens e
of
considering
possibl e
i mpacts
before
we
act
C oper nican