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On March 17, the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) Senate, composed of 20 elected students from UC Berkeley, voted on two resolutions that urged divestment from General Electric and United Technologies, both of which are American companies. As one of these 20 student senators, I have received more than 5,000 emails in support and opposition to this bill (Bill text available here).

Authors and supporters of the bill include students from the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, or BDS, movement. The bill does three things: It urges UC divestment from General Electric and United Technologies, it condemns war crimes committed by Israel that were detailed in the UN's Goldstone Report and details how the University of California invested in them, and, most importantly, it creates a task force to examine the University of California and Student Government budgets to determine whether either body invests in any war crimes or human rights abuses worldwide. It was passed in a vote of 16-4, and vetoed by our Student Body President.

During my stay at UC Berkeley, the issue contested most violently on campus between students* has been that of the state of Israel and its relationship with the Palestinian people. My first year at Cal, a graduate student instructor for a course on Peace and Conflict Studies told our class how his mother miscarried his younger brother at a border checkpoint along the "Separation Wall," because they wouldn't call medical services for her. Then in January, I traveled to Israel with the "Birthright" program for young Jews. When an ad promoting Israeli tourism was placed at a UC Berkeley bus stop, it was vandalized. When an ad mocking the Israeli tourism industry and highlighting the eviction of Palestinians from Israel was placed at a neighboring bus stop, it too drew controversy. Two of UC Berkeley's most opposed groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Tikvah Students for Israel, even cross-scheduled their recent weeks of action. "Israeli Peace and Diversity Week," hosted by Tikvah, and "Israeli Apartheid Week," Students for Justice in Palestine, included such actions as a reenactment of an Israeli border-crossing inspection at Berkeley's historic Sather Gate, both the waving and defacing of Israeli flags, folk-dancing, and workshops. Later in the week, a student from Tikvah was accidentally jostled by a shopping cart pushed by a Students for Justice in Palestine member on his way to put away some of the materials for Israeli Apartheid Week. After he was arrested on charges of battery, and his fellow students had to pay his bail.

For most Berkeley students, it's baffling that on the only campus to offer the blatantly neoliberal Peace and Conflict Studies major, such an international conflict could manifest violently between students. Why waste our time on international issues when budget cuts are so much more prescient? For a long while, I was of the mind that I didn't want to touch the issue: despite the fact that I am a Political Economy major, the last time my curriculum included Israeli and Palestinian history was in 7th grade. What right did I have, with no family in either territory, to have an opinion? There are few times where I can step back and say, "There is a right and wrong side of history to this issue." But after both traveling to Israel and interning alongside the defense industry, I'll be sleeping soundly with my vote for this bill, which divests from all war crimes and human rights abuses.

We have received letters of opposition from Berkeley professors, notably, the former head of the Peace And Conflict Studies major, and from academics, conspiracy theorists, rapture-ready Christians, and Jewish fraternity brothers worldwide. My email teems with more than 5,000 messages in support and opposition to this bill. Most are sent out by auto-mailing systems: In fact, UC Berkeley now enjoys its own little Israel lobby. In response to an ad placed at the bus stop in front of the Student Government building last week, someone spent a lot of money placing facebook ads on the facebook pages of Cal Students that redirect to a support website that mass-emails the student government. Letters addressed to the whole senate tend to carry the tone of "You all are ignorant 20-year-olds who have no idea what devastation you will wreak by your feeble votes on this issue which is over your head." Letters directly addressed to me tend to take the tone, "You claim to represent queer students. Israel's a paragon of virtue in the field of queer rights! How dare you oppress LGBT individuals worldwide with your vote?"

But letters of support have been downright inspiring. Israeli and American Jews have written countless letters and statements in support, and in fact, even Naomi Klein wrote us an open letter of solidarity.

Being an LGBT leader on campus who has both traveled to Israel and worked in the national defense industry, I have never felt so uniquely qualified to speak to this issue. And perhaps my required reading of Machiavelli's advice to readers of The Prince in class two weeks ago may have inspired parts of my vote; seeing the parallels between his strategy of building colonies to avoid military over-stretching and violent responses from locals and Israel's similar strategy in their struggle to build a nation is uncanny. I voted for the bill, and will do so again when we vote to override the Presidential veto on April 14, so I can start replying to emails that matter, and so UC Berkeley can move on and focus again on issues of access and affordability of education.

I like to reflect on a quote from a campus publication at UC Berkeley called Hardboiled, an Asian/Pacific Islander issues magazine:

"Pick fights. Those are my two words of advice to future generations of hardboiled. (1) Pick (2) Fights. Gather hate mail. Frame it and show it off to your friends. Save it: If in the future you wonder why you are doing what you are doing, a painfully ignorant letter addressed to you is a great reminder. If someone doesn't disagree, what's the point of writing it? If it doesn't create some sort of result, what's the point of publishing it?"

So yes, issues of Palestine have a right to be heard in Student Government spaces, just as do issues of queer marriage, choice, undocumented students, and affirmative action.

*The issue contested most violently overall at UC Berkeley has been budget cuts, in the many instances of police brutality against supporters of higher education. I'm referring to student-vs.-student interactions.

Having witnessed my first ever tea party protest on the steps of the Capitol Sunday evening, and enjoyed a real-life Michele Bachmann sighting, I am mostly delighted that any form of healthcare passed.

College students will gain incredible new rights to healthcare and education after Sunday night's vote on healthcare reform, and after Thursday's signing of the budget reconciliation bill. The two biggest accomplishments are the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), as part of budget reconciliation, and the extension of parents' or guardians' insurance coverage until one turns 26.

1. Students Over Banks (SAFRA)

SAFRA is landmark legislation. It will increase the Federal Pell Grant, offered to students from low-income families, from $5,350 to $5,530 from 2010 to 2011, and by 2017, to $5,975. It pledges $750 million to boost recruitment and retention of (underrepresented) students, and supports Historically Black Colleges. The denial of education to millions, via recent nationwide tuition increases at both public and private institutions, makes federal investment in students critical.

SAFRA also follows through on President Obama's pledge to eliminate the most predatory and 2nd-most-popular education loan program in the nation: Federal Family Education Loans, established in 1966. Essentially, the government pays private institutions (read: banks who have been recently bailed out) to lend to students. When students default, the government must cover it, and loses money. The better loan program, which President Obama (and students) favor, are Direct Loans, created in 1993 under Clinton. Direct loans require no costly private middleperson.

SAFRA passed in the House in September in a vote of 253-171, but for fear of a Republican filibuster, was put into the budget reconciliation bill, which qualified it for a simple majority vote in the Senate. It has now passed both.

2. Healthcare Reform

-I can be insured under my parents' plan until I turn 26.

If I don't have a job that offers healthcare benefits when I graduate from Berkeley, I can remain on my parents' plan. The ages of 19-22 are the most common for mandated cessation of coverage under parent plans. This directly impacts me: my plan was scheduled to cease on my 22nd birthday, but I will likely need eye surgery when I am 25. In an age where unpaid internships drive down pay and benefits for what should be considered entry-level positions, and are considered a requirement for jobs in many fields, the ability of a student to have health insurance until her first paying job is significant.

-Many institutions of higher education already require that students have health insurance.

The new bill requires Americans to have health insurance, which can be scary for those who cannot immediately afford it. Yet, the University of North Carolina system just implemented a plan to require health coverage for its students, and the University of California already has such a system in place. Thousands of other colleges have similar programs. If students do not have private plans, their school likely offers some type of "SHIP," or Student Health Insurance Plan. The largest group of uninsured nationwide are 19-29-year-olds. Nearly 1/3 of all uninsured Americans are between 18 and 24. This is roughly 13 million young Americans. As more higher education institutions require coverage, students will be less affected by the new requirement of the bill.

Still, it will affect some- will plans to drive down private healthcare costs benefit undocumented students? It is possible that as national healthcare becomes (ideally) less costly, student health insurance will not follow suit. This limits options for undocumented students who are required to purchase either private or university-sponsored plans. Additionally, some college students fake their proof of health insurance coverage to waive out of the university's student health insurance, to save $700-1000 per year on registration fees, which often include student health insurance fees. Faking insurance coverage will be more difficult.

-The bill creates demand for more doctors, and thus, more med students.

More students will need to pour into medical school, which is a costly process. Luckily, they have SAFRA to make it more affordable!

OK, this might be a stretch. But the important message from Sunday's vote and Thursday's signing is that the Federal Government just made it easier for high school students to get to college, stay there, graduate, stay healthy, and find a more permanent paying job. I'm certainly breathing easier.

It's that time of year again--Spring Break time.

Spring academic recesses will break out across the nation. Some will stay home with family, or remain at school and study. Some will choose a public service alternative, or spend time with a domestic or international aid organization. Despite these attractive spring break options, countless people will still choose to go absolutely hog-wild writing articles on just how dangerous it is to party.

Many college publications have weighed in on Spring Break plans, and even J-WOWW offered sage advice. I may as well throw my hat in the ring-- here are my "do's" and "don'ts" of spring break advice lists:

DO recognize that as fees and tuition skyrocket nationwide, many students will remain on campuses to work extra hours to pay for school.

Not to worry, journalists-- chances are, if you are a concerned parent, 54% of your offspring's male peers and 51% of your offspring's female peers will be working through spring break. 64% of female students and 57% of male students will even visit their parents over break.

And if you are a young college journalist writing advice articles on travel to Mexico, and therefore underemployed, you will likely also join those peers in working over spring break. Furthermore, although MTV's seasonal "Spring Break" programming may suggest otherwise, costly trips are not a recession-proof market, and now that Jersey Shore and The Real World: DC have ended, many college students probably aren't watching.

DON'T make glaring generalizations about Mexico, and by extension, about Mexicans.

After the State Department released a travel advisory about Mexican border towns, many colleges, including some of the Universities of California, sent out campus-wide notices "strongly [advising] against travel to Mexico during Spring Break." Campuses cite violence in Ciudad Juarez and other border towns, as a result of drug trafficking, in their defense of the recommendation. Outside articles continue to warn against traveling to Mexico.

The most recent data on Ciudad Juarez's murder rate confirms that it is the deadliest city in the world. But the characterization of the entirety of Mexico as a threat to all college-age students criminalizes the country, its citizens, and immigrants to the United States. As the U.S. continues with the construction of a wall with Mexico whose technology was purchased from the Israeli separation wall, and staunch anti-immigration activists will spend spring break on a porch with their guns pointed south, cultivating fear of Chican@/Latin@ people is a dangerous move.

In the same study, New Orleans was ranked the third most deadly city in the world, based on homicides. Where is the travel advisory for students who perform aid work in NOLA during Spring Break?

DON'T blame survivors of rape by offering tips to women to avoid "getting raped."

Six rapes occurred in one week in Daytona Beach, FL, most of which involved alcohol and/or drugs. Logically, Police Chief Mike Chitwood advised:

"Women shouldn't put themselves in the position to be victims. They should try stay in the company of friends and never leave with someone they just met."

RAINN has a good list of spring break tips on sexual assault. But I think that Chitwood would do more good circulating Colleen Jameson's great list of Sexual Assault Prevention Tips:

Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work!

1. Don't put drugs in people's drinks in order to control their behavior.

2. When you see someone walking by themselves, leave them alone!

3. If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them!

4. NEVER open an unlocked door or window uninvited.

5. If you are in an elevator and someone else gets in, DON'T ASSAULT THEM!

6. Remember, people go to laundry to do their laundry, do not attempt to molest someone who is alone in a laundry room.

7. USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM! If you are not able to stop yourself from assaulting people, ask a friend to stay with you while you are in public.

8. Always be honest with people! Don't pretend to be a caring friend in order to gain the trust of someone you want to assault. Consider telling them you plan to assault them. If you don't communicate your intentions, the other person may take that as a sign that you do not plan to rape them.

9. Don't forget: you can't have sex with someone unless they are awake!

10. Carry a whistle! If you are worried you might assault someone "on accident" you can hand it to the person you are with, so they can blow it if you do.

Hopefully, these three simple tips will save thousands from making disastrous decisions in their yearly doling-out of spring break advice.

Thursday, March 4, a group of UC Davis students marching through campus began to approach a freeway on-ramp for the purposes of occupation, and Yolo County Sheriff's Department officers blocked the route. They shot pepper balls at students' feet as the marchers continued to approach the on-ramp. Abruptly, the police pulled Laura Mitchell, a student and queer leader at UC Davis, from the front of the crowd, dragging her along the ground, ripping her shirt off, and holding her hostage until protesters agreed to dissipate. Police alleged no injuries were sustained by any in the crowd. The video clearly demonstrates otherwise.

Below is a video account of the afternoon ordeal. **Trigger Warning: Police violence at 6:43**

Additionally, more than 100 Bay Area protesters shut down the 880 and 980 freeways for hours on Thursday afternoon, creating gridlock. All were eventually arrested, including the student journalists among them. Many were beaten (video).

Mainstream portrayals of student activism tend toward stereotyping movements based on their place of origin. Berkeley, still widely known as "Berserkeley," or "The People's Republic Of Berkeley," lacks some agency on the national stage because of assumptions that all students are politically active. Along with Berkeley's legacy of activism around the Free Speech Movement is the legacy of administrative overreactions to protests. In fact, the administrative building on campus which hosts the offices of Vice Chancellors, California Hall, has "protest-proof" doors with two essential anti-protest features: first, they lack door handles so as to prevent any protester from chaining anything to the doors. Second, a backup pair of doors automatically swing shut and lock in case of protest or political activity outside.

The harder a campus works to shed its stereotype of activism, by repressing protest movements and student voices, the more radically students push back to gain press and attention from an administration. This builds a longer legacy of activism. The campus of UC Davis lacks that legacy of activism-- their mascot is the Aggies, short for the "Agriculturalists." But just as a generation of UC Berkeley students first witnessed police brutality on November 20, 2009, a generation of UC Davis students witnessed police brutality Thursday.

Hate Update:

UC San Diego Student Satire Publication goes too far

The Koala, which will receive more press for this hate than it deserves, published a joke issue entirely themed around mocking the Black Student Union and opponents of the Compton Cookout.

The Koala's newest issue satirizes the demands issued by the BSU in the recent weeks, by introducing a mock program-the Coalition of Outreach and Opportunity for Negro Students, or C.O.O.N.S for short. The "program" proposes such things as "Special All Black Housing" and "Special Classes Just 4 U!" including "SOC20N: Blame it on Whitey" and "Swimming 101: It's not actually that deep!"

Story and full issue available here.

On the morning of California's largest statewide strike and Day of Action for Public Education to date, University of California campuses continue to be plagued by a slew of racist, homophobic, Anti-semitic and transphobic actions.

****Trigger Warning****

Hate Round-up:

LGBT Resource Center Vandalized at UC Davis

This was discovered Saturday morning. There are responses from the LGBT Resource Center and from the Co-Chair of the State UCLGBTQIA Association.

Swastika Carved into Jewish Student's Door at UC Davis

The incident is being investigated as a hate crime.

Compton Cookout at UC San Diego

Several weeks ago, UC San Diego students threw a "ghetto-themed" party with a long, racist description of costume requirements:

"For girls: For those of you who are unfamiliar with ghetto chicks-Ghetto chicks usually have gold teeth, start fights and drama, and wear cheap clothes [...] They also have short, nappy hair, and usually wear cheap weave, usually in bad colors, such as purple or bright red. They look and act similar to Shenaynay, and speak very loudly, while rolling their neck, and waving their finger in your face. Ghetto chicks have a very limited vocabulary, and attempt to make up for it, by forming new words, such as "constipulated", or simply cursing persistently, or using other types of vulgarities, and making noises, such as "hmmg!", or smacking their lips, and making other angry noises, grunts, and faces. The objective is for all you lovely ladies to look, act, and essentially take on these "respectable" qualities throughout the day."

UC San Diego Student Radio Station hurls racist slurs

Students from the station called protesters of the Compton Cookout "ungrateful n*****s" on air. A note with the words "Compton Lynching" was found on the ground.

Noose hung at UC San Diego library

The student who confessed to hanging the noose maintains she had no racial motivation, and that she simply found a piece of rope while with friends, her friend tied it, brought it with her to the library, and left it there by accident. A note was found saying, "More Nooses to Come."

KKK Hood Placed on Statue at UC San Diego

Tuesday, Dr. Seuss's birthday, his statue was adorned with a KKK hood and a rose was placed in his fingers.

Noose Drawn at UC Santa Cruz

Administrators found this in a UC Santa Cruz restroom. The word "Visionary" is written below it.

The "Irvine 11" at UC Irvine

Eleven students at UC Irvine protested the visit of Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, and were arrested because their choice to exercise free speech happened to concern Israel. Faculty have battled over whether their protest or their arrest was the "true" act of prejudice. The students were removed from the event one by one, by police officers, and now as a collective group, are being threatened with expulsion. Their punishment is inordinate because of the subject matter they were protesting.

Two LGBTQ-identified UC Riverside students attacked

This hate crime occurred on February 10. Two UCR students, holding hands, were attacked by 3 assailants, who beat them while shouting anti-gay epithets in an area directly located off of the campus.

Noose Drawn on Black figure at UC Berkeley residence

This month, a UC Berkeley cooperative student housing facility had a mural defaced with a noose drawn around a black figure. It was cleaned up.
--

I grew up blocks from UC Davis. I spent last Christmas with my partner in Riverside, where we couldn't hold hands because we felt it was an unsafe environment. We were right. My childhood friends attend Santa Cruz, I attend UC Berkeley, and I was at UC San Diego with hundreds of other students for the Students of Color Conference last November. The University of California system is hurting, and emergency townhalls are being called across the state, especially in the LGBT and black communities. It's a scary time to be queer, a person of color, or both in California today. Luckily, some students respond intelligently.

Tuesday, UC Davis held a queer townhall and UC Santa Barbara planned a townhall for next week. Wednesday, UC Berkeley held a queer townhall, as well as a teach-in in preparation for tomorrow's statewide Day of Action for Public Education. But as we Berkeley organizers gathered Tuesday night to plan the queer townhall, debating for hours whether to create a space for healing or a space for action, we realized that we ourselves had not yet processed the blows dealt to our communities. Presented with dozens of images of hate on the Berkeley campus and systemwide, students embraced a new slogan: "Real pain, real action."

The UC Berkeley Black Recruitment and Retention Center held a "Black-out" Monday, where around 200 members dressed entirely in black and silently blocked the entrance to Sather Gate, the most prominent walkway on campus, to represent the invisibility of black students on UC campuses.

At Monday night's Emergency Black Townhall at Berkeley, a student leader explained the reason for limiting this action to black students only: after the Compton Cook-out and the noose found at UC San Diego, it was necessary to unify the scattered and wounded black community and "Get from -1 to zero." Then, with the help of allies, Berkeley can move "From zero to 1."

March 4 will be a statewide success, with marches, protests, picket lines and strikes, rallies, sit-ins, occupations, legislative lobbying, and impressive action on the magnitude of K-12, community college, state university, and University of California involvement. We might wake up and see fire on the news. But just as the budget cuts, fee hikes, police brutality, and violent response to student occupations deteriorate the UC system, so do the racist, transphobic, and homophobic actions across the state. Chancellors will send out emails praising police actions, and these hateful incidents will be ignored for a day as administrative buildings are locked or shut down statewide.

But it's no coincidence that the students targeted by these hateful incidents, black students, LGBTQ students, and all underrepresented or minority students, are among those driven away from higher education by tuition increases. Tomorrow, the students on the front lines will be fighting not only for the right to step foot on a college campus, but to feel safe when we arrive. California students, staff, parents, and faculty will unite today for higher education, but we all have some healing to do first.

Keep track of March 4 events at the UC Student Regent's blog, or twitter.

Related:
University of California Walkout Today
Police Brutality against CA Protesters for Higher Education

Australia has declared 2010 to be the "Year of Women in Local Government," launching an empowering new website to promote the initiative. The most common statistic cited in the speeches surrounding the program shows that in 2009, women accounted for less than 30 per cent of councilors, 20 per cent of senior managers and only five percent of CEOs.

The Government's commitment includes:
- $250,000 for a three-year 50:50 Vision: Councils for Gender Equity program which will audit councils and shires to determine the status and role of women in leadership roles as well as their participation in the workplace.
- $100,000 in scholarship funding to enable senior women in local government to participate in the new Executive Leadership Program being developed by the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government;
- $100,000 to improve the collection of data and reporting on the status of women in the local government sector; and
- $40,000 to the Local Government Managers Australia for their 2010 Management Challenge, which will involve around 130 councils identifying strategies to promote gender equity in their councils.

Hand in hand with the new initiative is a $20,000 six-month study of the causes of low rates of women's entry into the workforce.

"Just 55.2 per cent of women were in the workforce and, of those, fewer than half were in full-time jobs."

A couple of concerns remain. The site's "ambassadors" of the movement are almost all white, with one Aboriginal woman. Second, the government has invested in the idea that the best way to recruit and retain women in local government is to conduct studies.

By default, an investment in diagnostics is an investment in male leaders. When women are underrepresented in government, and men comprise 70 percent of councilors, 80 percent of senior managers, and 95 percent of CEOs, handing money to local government asks leaders who are predominantly male to solve the problem of underrepresentation of women. Increased representation in government certainly must involve the cooperation and work of male leaders to facilitate a work environment more friendly to women, but what if Australia chose to invest directly in the women leaders they hope to find and cultivate?

Such an investment could potentially be modeled on the work done in the U.S. by, for example, Emerge America, Running Start, the Women's Campaign Forum (WCF) and its sister organization, the WCF Foundation. All of these organizations identify, recruit, train, and support rising women leaders in America. The WCF Foundation also performs diagnostics and research on barriers to representation similar to those the Rudd administration hopes to investigate.

It would probably behoove Australia to use a two-pronged approach like this to boost representation of women. At least they've taken the first step.

In Seoul, the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs has now explored a new tactic to boost South Korea's population growth: turning out the lights. At 7 PM today, and once a month subsequently, the lights in the government building will be turned out.

Generous gift vouchers are on offer for officials who have more than one child, and the department organises social gatherings in the hope of fostering love amongst its bureaucrats.

But critics say what is really needed is widescale reform to tackle the burdensome cost of childcare and education that puts many young people off starting a family.

The complaint of the burdensome cost of childcare and education is highly relevant when examining who comprises the South Korean workforce. Overall, in 2005, Korean women represented 42% of the workforce. But a glance at 2001 numbers reveals that in 2001, 90% of South Korean college-educated men entered the workforce, compared to just 54% of college-educated women. This suggests that, unsurprisingly, jobs that are lesser-paid or so-called "unskilled" remain roles filled by women.

Ordering citizens to "make babies" is already heteronormative, but a troublesome aspect of the policy is that it is inevitably targeted toward men. When a workforce is more male, asking employees to procreate reinforces the role of men in Korean homes as decisionmakers about both finances and reproductive health.

At The Grand Narrative, graphs representing Korean women's employment by age bracket indicate Korean women's tumultuous entry and exit from the labor pool. Or, as the author phrases it, "For every birth, a Korean career dies."

Does the new "lights out" policy reinforce the inevitability of higher birth rates driving more women out of the workforce? Perhaps it just indicates that it was not women, but Korean male authorities with working privilege, careers less affected by the struggles of childcare, who brainstormed the experiment.

Ad via The Grand Narrative, from the Italian women's magazine Grazia.

Spoiler alert.

Saturday night, I watched James Cameron's Avatar in 3-D. James Cameron spent thirteen years of production time to produce special effects and animation realistic enough to fulfill his lifelong dream of making this movie. But to add insult to injury, Cameron's long wait time before production is because Avatar is the most "realistic" human resemblance. If "technology has never looked so human in film", then caricatures of indigenous people have never before been so blatant.

Annalee Newitz, of i09.com, asked "When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like Avatar?"

"It's a fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people. Avatar and scifi films like it give us the opportunity to answer the question: What do white people fantasize about when they fantasize about racial identity?

Avatar imaginatively revisits the crime scene of white America's foundational act of genocide, in which entire native tribes and civilizations were wiped out by European immigrants to the American continent. In the film, a group of soldiers and scientists have set up shop on the verdant moon Pandora, whose landscapes look like a cross between Northern California's redwood cathedrals and Brazil's tropical rainforest. The moon's inhabitants, the Na'vi, are blue, catlike versions of native people: They wear feathers in their hair, worship nature gods, paint their faces for war, use bows and arrows, and live in tribes. Watching the movie, there is really no mistake that these are alien versions of stereotypical native peoples that we've seen in Hollywood movies for decades."

It also became apparent that the invading scientists and military personnel were not just similar to the implied historic white colonial rule, but were, in fact, almost entirely white actors. A true analogy that reflects the human race as a colonizing power would include more actors of color. Lastly, as Lila Watson said, "If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you recognize that your liberation and mine are bound up together, we can [work] together." But the problem with Avatar's white guilt fantasy is the same that manifests itself on an individual's path to white allyship: in Pandora, it is inherently the humans, the free, who come to help the oppressed, the Na'vi.

Furthermore, while Newitz argues that Avatar's racism is "a matter for debate," its sexist undertones and ableist plot are also worth questioning.

At FWD (Feminists With Disabilities), Esté Yarmosh posted a thorough roundup of the ableism in Avatar.

When I saw that Jake (the protagonist) uses a wheelchair, I wondered, "Will this be the first time I've seen a movie where a main character with a disability hasn't been magically 'cured' by the end?" Jake endures harassment by fellow Marines for his wheelchair use, and we learn that his disability can be "cured" with a costly surgery--when offered the surgery free, he refuses, to continue traveling into the Na'vi world against the wishes of his military superior. Just like the hundreds of teen movies of the "Ugly Duckling" genre, the Sci-Fi plot phenomenon of characters who miraculously regain their able-bodied privilege is pervasive. On i09.com, Charlie Jane Anders chronicled "20 Science Fiction Characters Who Got Their Legs Back," a brief modern timeline of Sci Fi's denials and avoidances of living with a disability through the eventual "salvations" of main characters. In Avatar, Jake abandons his wheelchair to be permanently installed in a Na'vi body. The underlying theme is that his human body is inadequate; instead, he achieves some type of salvation by entering his new body.

Na'vi bodies themselves sent an interesting message: standing nine feet tall, lean, with long legs, no hips, and small breasts among the women, they reflect components of the impossible body type projected on women in America. Though dark-skinned, the Na'vi had light-colored eyes, another touch of the "exotic" and desirable. The underlying theme of this sexualization accompanied the main female Na'vi character, Neytiri, the daughter of the Chief, who spoke with an accent and wore beads in her hair, and donned few clothes. Of course, Jake ends up having sex with Neytiri, and when his duplicity is revealed, their mating is treated as an ultimate insult-- the human obsession with virtue and virginity seems to manifest here, as not only Neytiri, but also other Na'vi, become angry at Jake for mating with her. Sex-shaming ensues.

And later, even the human bodies in the movie seemed unnecessarily sexualized. After being shot, head scientist Sigourney Weaver was stripped, carried to the base of a tree, draped in leaves, and positioned to display her curves and her milky-white skin while dying. Perhaps the one empowering woman character, Trudy Chacon, played by Michelle Rodriguez of Fast and the Furious fame, martyred herself for the Na'vi. And even while she flew into battle on behalf of the Na'vi, she had abandoned her military uniform for war paint on her face and aircraft, and a feathered headband. What makes this different from doing modern-day racial justice work in blackface? The attempt to imitate the Na'vi culture is insulting at best.

Cameron's movie does appear to be a white guilt fantasy, and as self-proclaimed "King of the World," (referring to Pandora, the Na'vi homeland), he is responsible for at least some of the problematic undertones. And precisely because it was a lifetime dream of his to write and produce Avatar, the superiority of humans to the indigenous characters, exotic indigenous bodies, and "salvation" from disability within the movie are unsurprising given that he first dreamed of Pandora five decades ago.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which opposes the current health care reform bill and the public option, is trying to entice people to join their anti-reform mailing list by offering the chance to win a $150 gift card to Hooters (screenshot here). As Rachel Maddow reported Tuesday night, this type of grassroots astroturf organizing gives Congress a false impression of how widespread opposition to health reform really is.

Surprisingly, the PR firm that sent out the email on behalf of the Chamber contracts says it was not responsible for this particular snafu. Still, TPM reports,

The Hooters card is the draw. Blinking pop-up ads and web pages offer readers the card in return for entering their names and personal information, and filling out a survey asking if they want to sign up for various offers. In this case, those offers range from agreeing to receive information about getting your college degree online, to signing up for the Chamber's emails. (You can also click 'no' not to sign up for each offer, and still get the Hooters card. But chances are you'll sign up for a few.)

The Chamber has a history of disagreement with the Obama White House, and has opposed everything from the pro-union Employee Free Choice Act to stricter EPA emissions standards. It has been a major player in opposing health-care reform.

The irony? Hooters is among the 54 percent of American restaurants that did offer health insurance coverage to their hourly employees last year. The restaurant chain also offers dental, vision, and tuition assistance.

(In other news, someone at Talking Points Memo spent a lot of time filling out surveys to win a Hooters gift card...)

h/t to Katie!

Annise Parker, center, with her partner, far right second from right, and their two adopted daughters with supporters. From the Dallas Voice.

Running on issues of public safety, auditing city departments to cut waste and fraud, and not raising taxes, Annise Parker became Houston's mayor on Saturday night, winning a runoff election against fellow Democrat Gene Locke. As Houston's first "out" mayor, Parker has been lauded by progressive organizations nationwide.

Some, though, noticed the absence of LGBT issues from her platform. There is an argument to be made that Parker's acceptance of campaign donations and endorsements from groups like the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and Human Rights Campaign necessitate a louder, stronger endorsement of equality and The Gay Agenda.

Still, the overall lack of LGBT issues or discussion from Parker's campaign is understandable. Just as congressional electability in a conservative district forces Democrats to remain silent about party affliation, mayoral electability in a state known for its active evangelical population requires talking about non-LGBT issues. Locke and Parker had to court the GOP vote, even expecting an endorsement from Republican groups before the runoff.

But how should queer critics both celebrate diversity in leadership and allow Parker media attention as Houston's mayor, not just as Houston's card-carrying lesbian mayor? Is it unreasonable for a candidate to want to be identified by her qualifications and record on safety first, and her sexual orientation second? The problem with ignoring Parker's lesbian identity is that it would require ignoring the virulent anti-gay campaign waged against her.

Despite the absence of any LGBT-related issues on Parker's platform, conservative anti-gay groups distributed mailers condemning Parker for her LGBT endorsements and praising Locke (pictured here). Additional campaign literature was mailed that warned against someone "trapped in homosexual behavior" controlling the city (pictured here). Moreover, Locke actively sought the endorsement and contributions of the conservative, Republican, anti-gay Political Action Committee that produced the mailer.

Parker's campaign even withstood Locke's active courtship of a group of discriminatory conservatives who are known for forming a "Straight Slate":

"With the emergence of the anti-gay push against Parker, Locke has seized the chance to portray himself as the candidate of choice, putting in an appearance at a Pastor Council's event and meeting with local conservative leader Dr. Steven Hotze, the local power broker behind the so-called "Straight Slate," a group of city politicians who sought to unseat incumbents behind anti-discrimination policies in 1985. (The gay-friendly provisions were overturned by voter referendum; the incumbents, however, kept their seats.)"

Parker's victory speech on Sunday night clarifies her stance:

"This election has changed the world for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. Just as it is about transforming the lives of all Houstonians for the better, and that's what my administration will be about."

I'm still celebrating.