Approaches to Macro Work

I really appreciate that Dr. Boutwell gave us this assignment because it helped me become more aware of the many things that are happening in our world and to be more informed on how to be a better social worker and practice macro work.

Now, I hope that by reading my blogpost you will all learn something new that you did not know about.


Kony 2012 and Aid-Based Approaches

The video profiles Joseph Kony, a Ugandan rebel leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (L.R.A.), as the world's number one criminal, requesting global action to 'stop Kony' at any cost. To do this, primarily US military intervention will be required. The video mentions so many important things that we need to be more aware of. Facebook is part of today's social media and it is an important way to communicate not only national but also internationally with others and discuss issued pertaining to our world and its social injustices. It is not fair that Joseph Kony has chosen for 26 years how people are going to die and who kills those people. Girls are sex slaves and Boys are soldiers trained to use guns and kill others, even their own parents. "Every single person does not choose where, how and when they are born, but if they are born is because they matter." We are all here for a reason, and as social workers we should feel happy that we chose to help those who are in need.



This is why Invisible Children, an aid-based approach was created to make people aware of Kony's criminal acts. The massive campaign included celebrities such as George Clooney and P.Diddy and a wide array of campaign products including 'stop Kony' iPad covers, bracelettes, and posters; however, as the global hysteria against Kony has grown louder, many have begun to criticize Invisible Children's intentions and approach, because they believe that Ugandans should have more leadership and have their voices heard.

According to the article, "You Don't Have My Vote", Invisible Children’s US staff is comprised exclusively of Americans, as is the entire Board. Ugandan's are not represented in this campaign. "Couldn’t the organization find a single Ugandan?"  As social workers, and Macro Practicioners we should understand and agree that if we are going to fight for a group of people for example gays/lesbians, in this case Uganda, you must make it a priority to engage the voices of the affected population in a real and meaningful way. "The problem here is the lack of balance on who speaks for Uganda (and Africa)".

Kony 2012 - Is not a Revolution

I agree with most of the things that this article is mentioning. I agree that us as social workers and activists' shouldn't choose and assume what is best for others. Instead, we should help them use our social media to help them realize they have a voice, and we shouldn't dare assume we know what's best for them.

I absolutely love how a community was started on facebook about this issue and the more people that joined, the better because it shows that people care. "Where you live shouldn't determine whether you live".



Please watch the following video about how people feel about Kony 2012 and how they believe that it is a SCAM!!

Please comment!!


We obviously have different opinions about this issue, but please listen carefully to her words and try to think of how bad it would be if this was really a SCAM and this problem should have been addressed many years ago just like the articles mention. The articles say that Ugandan's have never been invisible because they've always been there and this problem has always been there.





Pray the Devil Back to Hell- a story about a group of Liberian women determined to fight for their freedom, children and country, even if it meant losing their own lives. In this film, one of the older women says, "peace is not an event, it is a process." I believe that. Going back to Kony 2012, if the Kony Movement teaches us nothing else, I hope it at least teaches us that when peace and justice become a facebook fad, we lose touch of the main fact that it is always about humanity. When that happens, it "becomes our responsibility to be resistant and bring humanity back to the forefront." This is why we as social workers have the responsibility to try to make our world a better one and a safer and peaceful one.

We should all treat each other with respect and love each other because God created us all equal!

WORLD PEACE!

Dudley Street Initiative & Holding Ground

The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) is a nonprofit community-based planning and organizing entity rooted in the Roxbury/North Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston. DSNI's approach to neighborhood revitalization is comprehensive including economic, human, physical, and environmental growth. It was formed in 1984 when residents of the Dudley Street area came together out of fear and anger to revive their neighborhood that was devastated by arson, disinvestment, neglect and redlining practices, and protect it from outside speculators. (http://www.roxburyculturalnetwork.org/#/dsni/4533185245)

Holding Ground:

I absolutely love how the film starts with a clip of Martin Luther King declaring, "Boston must conduct the creative experiments and the abolition of ghettos which will point the way to other communities." I love this statement because we should have safe communties free of people that do not contribute and that do not care about us. The video presents a history of this Boston neighborhood and its various ethnic groups, from the Irish and Italians who settled there earlier in the century to the immigrants from the Cape Verdean Islands and American blacks who moved in while post World War II mortgage programs helped white residents move out to the suburbs.



The video also talks about DSNI's early phases, when the initiative grew out of residents' anger at being excluded from a plan to redevelop the community.  Dudley Street residents were interviewed, as well as community development professionals, and Boston city officials. This is important because we should have the residents opinions. The film also highlights the progression of the initiative, from residents' taking ownership of the community planning process and working to clean up the problem of illegal garbage dumping and to DSNI's securing eminent domain power to take over abandoned land for housing development.



Change Agents

CHANGE AGENTS



David Oaks



Since 1976, David W. Oaks, Executive Director of Mindfreedom International, has been an activist for human rights. Other than being an activist, Oaks is also a psychiatric survivor. Oaks was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1955 with his working class parents, who were immigrants from Lithuania. After graduating high school, Oaks, despite undergoing some mental health care, continued his education to Harvard University on a scholarship in the 1970’s. At this point in his life during the mental health care, Oaks experienced what it means to be in the psychiatric system by being placed in psychiatric institutions five times throughout his sophomore, junior, and senior years at Harvard University. This is significant to the work he contributes to in mental health care later on in his life because he experiences what he is helping others deal with. Personal experience is an important trait to have because of the understanding and knowledge one will have with others that is in need of the same help. Oaks was diagnosed with both “schizophrenic” and “bipolar” disorders. What more, Oaks underwent forced psychiatric drugging and solitary confinement (http://www.mindfreedom.org/about-us/david-w-oaks ).  Due to such sever treatment and experience, there’s no wonder why Oaks would become an activist to  that  others can avoid such treatments and gain proper mental health care. Many times, the greatest activists are those that have also experienced what they are trying to prevent or help others with. Despite the difficulties Oaks faced with mental treatment, Oaks has been off psychiatric drugs since 1977 with the help and support of his friends and family, and also with the use of exercise, nutrition, counseling, wilderness trips and employment. With such tools, Oaks was able to restore his mental and emotional well-being, which is exactly what he works at achieving for others struggling with their mental health. 

            Furthermore, apart from his difficult past, the Mental Patients Liberation Front (MPLF) was one of David’s first activisms later on in his life. MPLF is a psychiatric survivor human rights organization where Oaks volunteered.  Later in life, Oaks helped form one of the first user-run psychiatric survivor activist drop-in centers with the Mental Patients Liberation Front (MPLF).  As well as his activist work in the field of human rights in the mental health system, Oaks has also worked in the environmental, peace and social justice movements (http://www.mindfreedom.org/about-us/david-w-oaks). To add to his involvments, Oaks has worked and researched on many issues concerning mental health, such as “community organizes for independent systems change in the mental health system” with a diverse range of participants, including Chile, Norway, Ireland and throughout the United States of America. In 1986, Oaks helped found what has become MindFreedom International; this is an independent activist coalition united to win human rights and alternatives in mental health. MindFreedom International is now one of the main organizations winning campaigns for the vision of a peaceful revolution in the mental health system (http://www.mindfreedom.org/about-us/david-w-oaks). 

            Too add, one of the community problems/social issues confronted in life by David Oaks is the “Mad Pride” movement (MindFreedom), which is a campaign that rejects the biomedical model that defines contemporary psychiatry.  According to “Mad Pride”, mental illness is caused by severe emotional distress, often combined with lack of socialization. However, “Mad Pride” does not agree with the use and sale of prescription drugs, which have doubled since 1998 (Davis, 2003). Oaks believes that there is no evidence to dispute the medical-scientific model of mental illness. Oaks also stresses that he does have self-reflect evidence about his recovery from mental illness, often accomplished by not taking medication. “Boycott Normal” is one the latest campaign by MindFreedom International to show there is hope for those given psychiatric labels that often use when those found to have mental health issues are prescribed medications. There is life after labels, and life after psychiatric drugging, which Oaks works to help others find as he did. (http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/boycott-normal). Campaigns, like “Mad Pride” give young people hope, because it also helps them understand that who they are is not determined by their mental disorder, our mentality should not define who they are. Such campaigns, like “Mad Pride” bring awareness to the psychiatric drug usage in the United States. What Oaks and campaigns like “Mad Pride” try to convey is that medication is not always the answer for one’s problems. What Oaks represent through his personal mental health struggles and life work is that there is help out there and this is why social workers work for, to help others become more aware of social issues happening in our world.

Nawal Nour

            Aside from David Oaks, another important activist and founder of the African Women’s Health Center, physician, and an advocate for the elimination of female circumcision is Nawal Nour. Nour is originally from Sudan and has been aware of this cultural practice since her childhood.  Female genital cutting is certainly a community problem because of the dangers to women’s health and well-being in its physical and mental damage it poses, and Dr. Nour sees it as both a health and human rights issue.

Nour stated that about 170,000 girls and women in the United States are "at risk" or have undergone female genital cutting, even though it was outlawed by Congress in 1997 (Mehren,2004). According to the World Health Organization, about 140 million girls and women worldwide has either already undergone some form of female genital excision or will have before reaching adulthood. Nour launched the African Women's Health Practice at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1999, and won a MacArthur "genius" fellowship to help her continue the work of helping women who have undergone female genital cutting and spread awareness of the health risks of such practices in the past year (Mehren, 2004). Nour found herself increasingly involved in the lives of refugees while educating and spreading awareness of the health risks of this tradition, from Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and other countries where female circumcision was common. She heard stories about African women in the United States who refused to seek medical treatment because doctors here either were horrified or turned the women into teaching objects. Much like Oaks spreading awareness of other possibilities to mental health other than through medications, Dr. Nour is fighting to raise awareness for African women on getting health care after having the genital cutting done, and also to bring awareness of the health factors and dangers of such a tradition. With awareness, this tradition can be reconsidered by others in the communities that follow such a tradition, thus preventing any more health risks to other women.

Moreover, Dr. Nour educates women who have been circumcised and their partners and lets them know that reconstruction is available and the procedures that they would go through.  It is important to make these women feel comfortable by building a relationship with them, because women could then share anything pertaining to this issue and also because of her familiarity with the cultural traditions.  Dr. Nour is changing the thoughts of pregnant African women circumcising their daughters at such an early age, which is not only widely supported, but also demonstrates how Nour is an activist for human rights. It is important that this serious human rights issue that has been going on for so many years stops, because this is degrading women.

To add, domestic violence is a social issue that actually hits close to home for me because of the verbal domestic violence at home for the past 6 years.  Domestic violence can be defined as a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner. (http://www.thehotline.org/get-educated/what-is-domestic-violence/) My father had verbally abused me and my family since we immigrated to the United States in 2002. He was incarcerated and deported for this. This was a very difficult and life affecting time in my life. Much like Nour and very much like Oaks, being personal exposed and involved in an issue others face makes me drive to helping others, especially having experienced it myself.

Besides my personal concern for domestic violence, according to domestic violence statistics in 2010, domestic violence is the leading cause of injury in women more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. In the United States alone every 9 seconds a women is assaulted or beaten.   It is important to support these women in all aspects, psychologically, mentally and physically; because women could then feel safe and confident to share their experiences and move on with their lives. I strongly feel that my personal experience can help me with guiding others in the right direction because of the understanding I have in relations to similar struggles.

Much like the activists previously mentioned, some of my personal strengths that lead me to have strong leadership skills are that I am motivated, sympathetic, sensitive and non-judgmental. I strongly believe that I am an advocate for social justice. Like Oaks and Nour,  I am always willing to fight for the client’s rights because we are all created equal. Also, being an immigrant, having a disabled brother, and having a mother who was a victim of domestic violence, had a huge impact on my decision to become a social worker.

Overall, this change agents assignment has helped me explore and obtain a better understanding of the great work that these two activists have done for our society. It is also important to be committed, compassionate, considerate and dedicated in order to be able to make a change in our world.  Without people like Dr. Nour and David Oaks, this world would never change for the better.  It gives hope to the ones who are struggling because there is hope for a better way.  Every type of abuse should be addressed and work towards in ending, including domestic violence, which should not happen to anybody. Unfortunately, issues like domestic violence do occur, and when it does, there is help, which I hope to be a part of. (http://www.domesticviolence.org/)

Worked Cited

Davis, David. (2003). Losing the Mind: David Oaks and Others in the ‘Mad Pride’ Movement Believe Drugs Are Being Overused in Treating Mental Illness, and They Want the Abuse to Stop.  Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, Retrieved from http:// www.latimes.com

Mehren, Elizabeth. (2004). Patients Embrace Culturally Sensitive Care. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jun/02/nation/na-doc2

Mindfreedom International. About David W. Oaks, Mindfreedom International Executive Director.  Retrieved from http://www.mindfreedom.org/about-us/david-w-oaks

Mindfreedom International. Mindfreedom Launches Campaign to “Boycott Normal”. Retrieved from http:// http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/boycott-normal

Mindfreedom International. About David W. Oaks, Mindfreedom International Executive Director. 

                Retrieved from http://www.recoveryxchange.org/DavidOaks.html

SCWK432- You as an Activist Video # 1

Blog # 5 - "The Democratic Process"

Saul D. Alinsky

(July 14, 1939 - June 12, 1972)

 

Saul D. Alinsky was a community activist who was interested in social justice for Americans. Alinsky attended the University of Chicago and obtained a Ph.D. in Criminology. This documentary highlights the importance of his contribution to society, how his theories and principles influenced others, and to learn how important it is to believe that we can change anything that is not being done correctly for the better of our communities. Alinsky championed new ways of organizing the poor and believed that social justice could be achieved through American democracy. He was always criticized but also admired by others.



During the Great Depression Alinsky believed that real education was the one from the streets. Al Capone's gang was a way for him to study criminal behavior. Alinsky concluded that poverty caused criminal activity because there wasnt any jobs available for people to survive.

Alinsky influenced the struggle for Civil rights movement (equal rights) and the farmworkers movements (labor). The Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council showed the way to organize communities. He also stated that the first rule of change is controversy, because change means movement, and movement means friction, friction means heat and this leads to controversy, which led to growing civil rights movement in the South.



In 1959, Alinsky met with ministers to start the T.W.O. (The Woodlawn Organization). This organization empowered residents and their communities.

Unfortunately, Saul D. Alinsky died June 12, 1972 of a heart attack. He did not get a chance to organize the middle class community like he wanted to.

This video was such an interesting video. I never heard of Saul Alinsky before and thanks to this assignment I was able to learn how important it is to fight for what you want and to make your voice be heard. Alinsky was a great activist and showed us social workers the importance of helping others and to never surrender, to always keep going and find a solution to everything.

This video emphasized and showed important ways of intervention at the macro level of practice and important ways of implementing strategies of community organization. As mentioned before, the farmworkers movement (labor) and the struggles with civil rights movements were some of the issues dealt with.

Sources:

Hercules, B., & Orestein, B. (Producer). (1999). The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and his legacy [Online video]. Retrieved March 1, 2012.