OMG on radio live

so one of the things i was busy with last week, while my internet was down, was driving up to auckland to take part in a panel on radio live.  the programme's premise is a sort of religious interpretation of the news of the week.  it was hosted by jesse mulligan, who turned out to be a really nice guy (not that i ever thought he was anything else - i just had no opinion)

this was the third episode, and each panel consists of two people.  i got there to find that my fellow panel member was someone i know well - steve daniels from the jewish community, who is also a lovely fellow.  well, you can listen to the show here. for some reason part two starts playing first, but i'm sure you'll be able to work your way around that.

typically, for this kind of show, it aired at 5.30am on sunday morning.  i guess religious people who aren't scrapping at each other doesn't make for good listening, or something.  but thanks to the wonders of the internet, you can listen to it whenever you have the time.  the whole thing is about 25 minutes long.

if you enjoy this kind of thing, please do promote it.  you can listen to previous episodes here.  if they get enough people listening in, maybe we get to hear it at a more reasonable hour.

"discrimination against muslims in europe"

thanx to a friend for pointing me to this report (big pdf thing) by amnesty international, detailing the discrimination faced by muslims in europe.  if you don't want to read through the whole thing, here's an article about it from their website:

“Muslim women are being denied jobs and girls prevented from attending regular classes just because they wear traditional forms of dress, such as the headscarf. Men can be dismissed for wearing beards associated with Islam,” said Marco Perolini, Amnesty International’s expert on discrimination.

“Rather than countering these prejudices, political parties and public officials are all too often pandering to them in their quest for votes.”

this is something that muslims know already because they live with it.  the overt signs have been increasing, starting with the banning of headscarves for french schoolgirls, and continuing with the banning of minarets in switzerland and the burqa in various parts of europe.  the worst, of course, was the massacre in norway, but there have been plenty of other crimes of violence and murder.

 just this week, the results of the first round of the french presidential vote sends yet another alarming signal, when a the far right "national front" candidate can garner almost 20% of the vote.


yesterday, many people were commemorating the lives lost in war, and much of the commemoration centred around world war II.  yet it seems the lessons of that war & what preceded it have easily been forgotten in parts of europe.


the first couple of paragraphs of this report are pretty powerful, so i've included them below.  please do take the time to click through to the link above to read further.


Muslims in Europe face discrimination in several areas of life because of their religion, their ethnic origin or their gender, or a combination of these grounds. Discrimination has a negative impact on their lives and affects their exercise of many human rights. It blights their individual prospects, opportunities and self-esteem and can result in isolation, exclusion and stigmatization. For example, legislation and policies restricting the wearing of religious and cultural symbols and dress often have the effect of excluding from employment Muslim women who choose to manifest their religious, cultural or traditional background by wearing specific forms of dress and thus indirectly contribute to their own marginalization. Some women interviewed during this research said they felt discouraged from seeking employment and thus decided either to stay at home or work in sectors where wearing religious and cultural symbols or dress was perceived to be less problematic. Such legislation and policies are detrimental to women’s equality and autonomy.

Muslims should be given the possibility to make independent choices in relation to the expression of their cultural and religious backgrounds. Such choices include the way in which Muslims manifest their cultural and religious background by, for instance, wearing or not wearing specific forms of dress or by worshipping or not worshipping with other members of their community. Muslims should be able to make these choices free from any pressure or coercion from family or community and any form of stereotype and prejudice from other private citizens or state institutions.

actual anzac day post

i wasn't going to do an anzac day post, having said pretty much all that i wanted to say yesterday.  but then other people have been linking to some good stuff, and i felt the urge to put all these links in one place.  so here you go:

you can rely on matt mccarten to tell it like it is:

When our politicians lay claim to the sacrifice and bravery of our soldiers on Anzac Day, let's not forget most of these men didn't have much choice. New Zealand troops were a conscripted army and our then government allowed British firing squads to execute New Zealanders who wouldn't fight. Many members of the first Labour Cabinet in 1935 actively opposed this war and went to jail for it. Several prominent Maori leaders were also imprisoned because they actively campaigned to stop Maori being conscripted. Much of the bravery shown was by people who refused to join this insanity and suffered mightily for it. It's a reflection of the real mood of New Zealanders when, after the war, they elected these war opponents to Government....

If we really take the Anzac message seriously we should be campaigning to get Western troops, including ours, out of the Middle East now. Ninety years ago we supported an invasion of the Middle East for oil. We still are.

there's this piece in the guardian, not strictly anzac-related, about the denial of the casualties caused by colonisation - a huge trigger warning though if you click through as the piece graphically describes torture:

Last week's revelations, that the British government systematically destroyed the documents detailing mistreatment of its colonial subjects, and that the Foreign Office then lied about a secret cache of files containing lesser revelations, is by any standards a big story. But it was either ignored or consigned to a footnote by most of the British press....

The myths of empire are so well-established that we appear to blot out countervailing stories even as they are told. As evidence from the manufactured Indian famines of the 1870s and from the treatment of other colonies accumulates, British imperialism emerges as no better and in some cases even worse than the imperialism practised by other nations. Yet the myth of the civilising mission remains untroubled by the evidence.

there's this article about an australian veteran's group that opposes the way anzac day is celebrated:

“ANZAC Day has become a nationalist circus with little real reflection on why governments sent soldiers, sailors and airmen to their deaths. All we get is glib cliches and a perverse ‘cult of sacrifice’ where we’re told that it doesn’t matter why you are sent to war, whether your government lied to you or not, the greatest thing an ordinary Australian can do is die in a war....

“Which war gained women the right to vote? Which war gained the 8-hour work day? Which war gave people the right to hold public demonstrations? There isn’t one, our freedom has always been fought and won by the people, civilians, standing up to their own government!"

a clip from one of my favourite australians (how could i resist) with some truly edgy comedy:

julie does a great job of listing all those we forget to comemmorate on anzac day, including the turks whose land was invaded.  and more wonderful writing from annanonymous - please do go and read the whole thing:

Injecting the feel good factor into World War One - taking out the gloomy bits so we can feel comfortably nostalgic a century later - puts war on the same footing as good-natured arguments between kiwis and Aussies about who invented the pavlova.  It asks us to suspend our intellect and morality once again.  It mocks the suffering of the soldiers, civilians and conscientious objectors who were killed, maimed, raped or psychologically destroyed by war.  Being glib about militarism is self-evidently dangerous.  It's also self-centred: the luxury of people who experience war only through their TVs.

all of these pieces reiterate for me why i no longer feel comfortable taking part in anzac day ceremonies.  this is not a day that unites us as nz'ers - how can it be, when it misses out so many important issues. when our events on anzac day start dealing with the truth behind wars, which of course includes the large numbers of lives lost, then maybe i'll feel that i can be a part of them again.

 

finally, one link that has nothing at all to do with anzac day. it has 5 essays related to the "war on women" in the middle east.  while i don't agree with everything they say, it's still a very useful read.

some pre-anzac day reflections

there's a holiday tomorrow, so you should have a little bit of time on your hands.  here's how you can spend about half an hour of it:

this is an excellent discussion with CTU head helen kelly and MUNZ head gary parsloe, on the ports of auckland dispute, the affco/talleys dispute and workplace safety (or the lack thereof) in nz. another plea from me as well to support affco workers by refusing to buy talleys products and by donating to the NZCTU disputes fund (38-9007 0894028 08).




a few links of interest:

• i had a friend, aliya danzeisen, attend the Women Leaders of New Asia Summit - the only woman from nz to do so.  this report (pdf) related to the status of women in our region was released at the summit.  here's an article summarising the findings:

The 2 billion women living in Asia are still paid less than men for similar work and are extremely underrepresented in top leadership positions, even in wealthy countries such as Japan, according to a report issued Thursday....


While the status of women varies widely from country to country from one category to the next, overall, "to continue in this direction would put in peril Asia's many achievements," said the report ...

• a couple of good pieces on racism in sport - one from the ever wonderful ruth desouza:

This illusion that sport can be a connecting force is challenged in Sara Ahmed‘s critique of the “happy” multicultural film Bend it Like Beckham. Directed by Kenyan-born, Punjabi British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha, Ahmed suggests that the central message of the film is that ”the would-be- citizen who embraces the national game is rewarded with happiness”. The feel good vibe of this film ignores the negative affects surrounding racism and unproblematically represents visibly different migrants as patriarchal, closed, traditional, fixed and unchanging. White people can be inspired and warmed by Jess’ migrant success, as she bends the ball (a metaphor for disrupting cultural barriers) without needing to feel guilty about racism. The film plays into the notion that success is the reward for integration and is also proof that racism can be overcome.

and another in the herald by rawiri taonui, which also very much worth reading.




and finally, i know it's anzac day tomorrow.  but i won't be participating in any ceremonies or commemorating the day in any way.  perhaps it's because i'm too jaded, or just too tired of the jingoism.  perhaps it's because it think we should be focusing more on the problems we have here and now, especially those raised in the video above, and wider issues related to poverty and safety.  we should be putting our energies towards the actual values those soldiers believed they were fighting for: freedom, dignity and a fair society where everyone could earn a living wage.

disconnected

it was brought home to me again last week just how important the internet is to my life.  simply because i was without it for a few days.  and so that feeling i had of finally catching up with things slid away as i was unable to keep up with the various activities and organisations i'm involved with.

an internet connection is a human right.  it's now an essential part of being connected and getting work done.  it's an essential part of decision-making, an efficient way of having discussions with multiple people at one time.

i know there are people who are managing well enough without the internet, some by choice and others who don't have much choice in the matter.  i watch one organisation in particular, where one person chooses not to use the internet at all.  while he gets important documents by email, it's inevitable that he is missing out on the various discussions and numerous small decisions that get made via email.  his involvement in the organisation is clearly not the same as those of us who are connected, and there is no practical way around that.

so i struggled without internet at home, and then without a computer at all for a day after that.  and also struggled with the difficulty i have in dealing with things technological.  technical people seem to think that everything is so simple - connect this to that, put this cable into here and that one into there.  unfortunately, when directions are being given on the phone, and i don't know the names of the various cables or the words to describe the various endings on them, and i can't understand how to fit things into other things, it all leads to a bit of a mess.

but i'm glad to be back on line now, and slowly working my way through the various bits and pieces that need my attention.  and since last week was pretty stressful and energy-draining for me (not just because of internet issues), i've decided to link to a story that i thought was quite nice:

Cheering up their Muslim teammate, a Floridian high school football team decided to don hijab before their season finale game to show solidarity with their Muslim captain who has been taunted repeatedly over her religious outfit.

"Everybody looked at us weird," West Broward senior Marilyn Solorzano told Sun Sentinel website on Friday, April 20.

"I understand now everything she went through and how hard it must have been.

i can't think of a better way to fight discrimination than by showing solidarity in this way.  and in a world that tends to show women, and especially young women, constantly competing and in conflict with each other, it's great to see such an example of young women being supportive and sticking together.

on things productive and non-productive

i can't remember how i found my way to this piece about the closure of the sepia mutiny blog, which was a pretty big american blog run by people of colour. but it's hardly surprising. i'm feeling pretty demoralised just now, after a pretty meaningless discussion on my latest post at the hand mirror, and i think this sums it up pretty nicely:

“Just writing and covering and talking about racism daily is exhausting and really emotionally taxing,” Peterson adds. “I think people don’t realize that we aren’t desensitized—reading about these horrific things happening or reading yet another mind-numbing report on how systemic racism screws us all does get to us.”

trying to explain that the way we phrase things, the things we miss out, the things we minimise, all have an impact - well i guess some people just don't want to hear it. and they certainly don't care about what impact their words have:

These intellectual, clever, engaged men want to endlessly probe my argument for weaknesses, want to wrestle over details, want to argue just for fun—and they wonder, these intellectual, clever, engaged men, why my voice keeps raising and why my face is flushed and why, Why do you have to take this stuff so personally? ask the intellectual, clever, and engaged men, who have never considered that the content of the abstract exercise that's so much fun for them is the stuff of my life.

except i wouldn't even call them intellectual or clever in this case, just bloodyminded. just trying to prove a point that has no meaning while conveniently ignoring the things that matter. or twisting them into simplistic statements that mean something else altogether to what i said. maybe it's just a fun game for them. but i don't have the energy to play along. i don't even see why i should have to.


in happier news, i've had a really productive weekend. maybe that post about procrastination last week jogged something subliminal in my brain. i did manage to put in the application i was thinking about, got done two sets of accounts, one GST return and one tax return for various charitable organisations.

i managed to get on top of my technophobia for a short period. i was given a printer/scanner/copier machine last year by a very nice person, and had help in getting it set up - which ended up being no easy business. but there were a couple of bits left to do, and i sat there yesterday actually feeling physically afraid of dealing with it, even though i knew the machine couldn't hurt me. it's such a strange feeling to have the logical part of your brain being over-ridden by an irrational emotion in that way. but i managed to ignore it, sort out the problem and get something printed, which left me on a high for the rest of the day. yeah, wierd, but i guess it was just the feeling of overcoming my own internal fears.

so i'm finally starting to feel that i'm getting on top of things, which is good. i hope it lasts.

vilification as a political tool

so mitt romney has all but won the republican nomination. hardly a surprising result, not really a heartening one. while on current polling, he's behind mr obama, that's after months of republican candidates hating on each other and spending millions to do it (or having other people spend it & do it via those PAC things). once the party rallies behind their candidate, and they will - as will the big money, i don't think it's going to be such an easy win.

and on the other side, the democrats will start their own campaign in earnest, part of which will involve having their own PACs and their own attacks on romney. they will have to do that, simply because that's the way the system is now set up and because the other side will be doing the same.

the thing that worries me though, is that the attacks on mr romney will involve a whole sale attack on the mormon religion and everything mormon. i expect that mormons will presented to us as the wierdest thing ever, and we will be encouraged to dislike them. i find that really problematic.

it's not that i agree with mormonism or most of the aspects of the faith. it's not that i think religions are above scrutiny and critique. but i am against vilification of a whole group of people as a political tool and a political attack. because you know what it reminds me of? the whole political attack on mr obama, which is actively continuing even now, for being a secret muslim. and the only way that attack could possibly work is if everyone believes that being muslim is a terrible thing, and that all muslims are evil people. that attack involves a whole heap of distortion, misdirection, and misinformation that is unrelenting and has a widespread impact on the lives of ordinary people in a way that is incredibly harmful.

mormons aren't likely to get that level of an attack, for several reasons. one is that in america they are mostly white and they sort of come under the category of christian, so they have the privilege that comes with that. also, the republicans won't be doing the attacking, and they have shown themselves to be particulary vitriolic and not overly concerned with the truth.

but on the other hand, looking at the deeply misogynist and nasty attacks on hilary clinton that came from the left, when she was running against mr obama for the democratic nomination, i'm not particularly hopeful. in fact, i'm rather dreading it.

there are plenty of reasons to attack mr romney that are related solely to his own personal characteristics and abilities (or the lack thereof). from the things he says, he is clearly out of touch with most americans and the difficulties they face in their day to day lives. he doesn't seem to have much of a clue about women or the issues that are important to them. he has a lot of money, but he hasn't given out any signals that he will be an erstwhile and competent manager of the economy. i could go on and on.

i accept that some of his opinions and even his personal characteristics are as a result of his religious upbringing. they have surely had an influence on his thinking - it's impossible that it would be otherwise. to that extent, it would be acceptable to probe how much of his religious background is going to affect policy development and direction. but again, that's not the major concernt here. the main issue i have is with outright vilification of all mormons, so that people will come to the conclusion that being mormon is a terrible thing, therefore mr romney is a terrible person simply for being one.

that kind of thinking is lazy and bigoted. but it somehow has a lot of widespread appeal. and while it probably won't be said openly, a lot of this campaign is going to have the subtext of mormon vs muslim, no matter how much mr obama tries to assert his christian credentials. political campaigns are never pretty, but somehow i think this is going to be a partucularly ugly one.

relief

i'll link to a few posts i've put up on the hand mirror: one on research showing that being too clean isn't always healthy, another on the decision by the broadcasting standards authority that went against former EMA head alisdair thompson, and finally one tonight on why it's really not a good idea to say that we are all just a nation of migrants.

in another news, i'm profoundly relieved that the various earthquakes around the world have not caused too much devastation, and that a tsumani has failed to occur. like a lot of people, i was pretty glued to twitter last night, anxiously waiting for news and worrying about all the countries that could potentially be affected. the sight on the news today of people in extreme fear and crying brought home just how triggering this incident must have been for so many.

i guess in a way this links back to my post of yesterday, and how technology is a useful thing. the negative is that there is an added level of stress knowing about events that i otherwise wouldn't have heard about the next day. on the other hand, i appreciated being able to watch events unfold and pray for the safety of all these people.

it also brought home just how internationally connected we come through sites like twitter. i was sitting there desperately wishing i could read and make sense of the tweets in the thai script, or that i knew enough of the indonesian version of the malay language to understand how people were feeling there. i can only see that connectivity as a good thing - it helps us to care more about others.

on being resistant to change

ok, so now i have this whole new blogger set-up, and i'm trying to figure it all out.  when it comes to technology, i know i tend to be resistant to change.  it's not that i hate technology.  i think the internet is a wonderful thing - email, social networking etc has been such a blessing in organising so many things such as meetings, decisions outside of meetings, protests, or even a night out.  i still wonder how i managed life without a mobile phone.  i haven't bought one yet, but i really can't wait to get a e-reader and start buying e-books.

the problem i have is with learning all the new technology, and once i've passed the learning curve and feel that i'm on top of something, they go and change it.  whether it's facebook, gmail or blogger, or software updates for all kinds of programmes, we get these changes forced on us and we have to go through another process of learning how to deal with the changes.

these changes are supposed to bring us a new and improved version of what it is we are using.  but for people like me who don't want to invest a whole lot of time in doing lots of fancy and complicated things, a new and improved version is not helpful.  i want a phone that calls and txts.  i don't take photographs on my phone, even though i can.  i don't use the internet on my phone, even though i can.  i use the calendar/diary thingy and the phone book for my contacts, and that's it.  i'm not interested in doing more, and unlikely to buy a smartphone in the near future.

i'm still trying to figure out how to do the typeover thing in the new MS word - the function you used to get by pressing the "insert" button on the keyboard.  my new keyboard doesn't even have an insert button, and it's annoying to have to delete and then type.  i hate that facebook suddenly decided it would choose the updates i should read and the order i should read them in.  it's taken me ages to sort that mess out so that i can get my newsfeed to let me be the to choose what i want to read.  but given all the privacy issues with facebook, i've gone a little off it anyway.

i know i've written plenty of times that i don't look at the past with rose-coloured glasses.  i don't think the past was some golden and glorious age where things were oh-so-much-better than the terrible times we have now.  some things are worse and many things are better.  that's the way the world works.  in order for things to get better, there has to be change.  i totally understant that.  i just struggle with adapting, i guess.

another thing i'm struggling with is procrastination.  well i'm not actually struggling with it, i'm doing it.  a nice long holiday, an opportunity to catch up on the 101 things i desperately need to get done, but i didn't do any of them.  apart from the strategic planning day on friday, i spent much of the weekend lazing around.  however, i also know that this is one of the 101 things i have to do - ie take time out from rushing around, slow down, and just chill out.

another of the things i need to do very soon is put in an application to be on the board of another charitable organisation - one that needs setting up from scratch.  i guess i've been procrastinating on that because i already feel so stretched, and while i really want to be part of this new thing, i don't know if i've got the energy and motivation to put in the work required.  i'm hoping that i will get a moment of clarity when i least expect it.  or maybe it's that part of me which resists change that is getting in the way.

arrears

i've done a couple of posts at the hand mirror - one yesterday about the marigold hotel movie and another today on the free advertising given to lotto by all our major media.

i'm looking forward to the long weekend - i'm feeling like i need a break. i won't be getting one on friday as i'll be in a strategic planning meeting all day. but the rest of the break should be spent relaxing and catching up on a few things.

march & early april tends not to be a fun month at work either. this is the time when we do the accounts of all the stragglers, the people who don't bother to keep proper records and who need to be constantly reminded to bring in their papers. they tend to have lots of arrears of tax, building up with interest and penalties. the saddest thing is that some of them are earning a good amount of money. they just don't have the discipline to put aside a reasonable chunk of it to pay their GST, income tax and often their student loan.

i often wonder how people can put aside their legal obligations, or just not worry about them. i can understand those living in poverty having little choice, as they struggle just to get food on the table or to keep up with monthly rent payments. but those people aren't the ones that generally have heaps of tax arrears.

it's more likely to be the self-employed professional that has the big arrears. often it's because they didn't start saving for taxes in their first year of operations. then in the second year they get hit up with 2 years of taxes in one year as they pay for the year that's gone, then have to pay in advance for the year ahead. or it's because they've had a surge in business income, but didn't connect that to the fact that they are also going to have a surge in income tax.

once they're behind on the income tax, they quickly fall behind on GST, and then i don't know. it's like they mentally give up, and think they will never manage to get it paid so don't even try. it's sad to watch it happening and frustrating as well, because they tend to reject budgeting advice and don't want to change the way they're living.

banks often tend to be complicit - they will keep lending out extra money to the maximum limit. the banks only care that the person is keeping up with interest payments, they don't care what's happening with the taxes. and of course banks are much more ruthless than the IRD, and much better at getting what's owed to them.

so it's all a little depressing. but towards the end of april, the clued-up business people start bringing their papers in and it gets more positive. having tax to pay is actually a good thing - it means you're earning money. people tend to forget that.

my weekend

i haven't managed to post much in the last week because i've been busy with a few things. i was expecting things to quieten down towards the end of march, but hasn't happened yet. here are the things i've been doing this weekend:

friday night i rushed to auckland after work, and wrote an accountability report with another member of the islamic women's council (iwcnz). we also prepared a verbal report for the meeting on saturday.

saturday i was in a meeting from 9am to 6pm, as one of the iwcnz reps at the federation of islamic associations council meeting. always an interesting affair, being vastly outnumbered by the men in the room. however, they were quite supportive, and we pretty much got all the things we requested, so it felt like a positive day.

saturday night was the night glow event staged by balloons over waikato. it was a rush back to hamilton, and i thought i'd missed it but managed to get there in the nick of time. if you've not been, it's a lovely sight watching the balloons light up in the dark, in time to music. there's a video clip here, at pretty much the angle we were watching from. it was followed by a pretty spectacular fireworks display - well, by hamilton standards anyway.

saturday was the ethnica conference, put on by the office of ethnic affairs. i didn't turn up til the afternoon because i thought i'd earned a morning to myself. however, it was well worth it to listen to tarun mohanbhai and roseanne liang discussing issues around arts and culture for ethnic communities. they've both contributed so much, and have wonderful senses of humour. i found them quite inspiring, especially in the way they tell stories through their art, stories that are a product of their own heritage and background but told in a way that everyone can relate to. or maybe i especially relate to them because i have that similar background of being a child of immigrant parents who has basically grown up in nz.

in any case, they have both shown an incredible amount of determination and courage to be able to succeed in a very difficult industry. and tarun managed to do it without receiving any grants or government funding. they've currently been busy putting on plays, and roseanne's play about chinese goldminers in otago sounds really great.

the other person on the panel was margi moore, head of the arts department at wintec. she spoke about a student exchange programme with a city in china. she talked about how the students came to nz to learn "western methods" as well as wintec staff visiting china. the way she told it, it sounded like a very one-way exchange with nz doing the giving and china the taking (in terms of knowledge and expertise). however, querying margi about it, the whole programme was as a result of a service requested by the chinese, and she was hopeful that it would eventually become a two-way process, whereby nz'ers would also learn from the chinese.

we also heard from hamilton mayor julie hardaker, who again encouraged ethnic minority communities to get involved in council affairs, including giving input into the councils draft 10-year plan. having just had an incredibly busy weekend, i was thinking that there is no way i'm going to find time to even read the thing, let alone give an opinion. and i know that many, many people are in the same boat. i suggested that hamilton needs an ethnic advisory panel similar to the one auckland has, as it's the only way solid and regular input from these communties is to be achieved.

sunday night i was busy writing up and circulating reports as a result of saturday's meeting. and tonight i've been to a fundraiser for affco workers. talleys have to be one of the most destructive business owners and operators in the country. they have little respect for their workers or for the environment, they have been embroiled in and lost a number of court cases. and they have a considerable amount of wealth, but it still doesn't seem to be enough. they want to squeeze even more money out of their business by worsening the livelihoods of their workers.

they have been engaging in significant anti-union practices aside from this latest lock-out. just like the POAL board, they are doing everything they can to ensure that workers aren't able to bargain collectively, so that workers are kept in a week position. it's appalling that this kind of behaviour, which is actually detrimental to all nz'ers, is allowed to continue.

if you'd like to give some financial support to these workers, please call 0900 LOCK OUT (0900 562568) to make a $5 donation. or you can contribute to this kiwibank account: 38-9007-0894028-08. it looks like it's going to be a long and ugly fight by talleys, so the workers need all the support they can get.