Censored 2012 (22 page)

11
. Elisabeth Bumiller, “Sexual Assault Reports Rise in Military,”
New York Times
, March 16, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/us/17assault.html
.

12
. Anna Mulrine, “Exclusive: 1 in 5 Air Force Women Victim of Sexual Assault, Survey Finds,”
Christian Science Monitor
, March 17, 2011,
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2011/0317/Exclusive-1-in-5-Air-Force-women-victim-of-sexual-assault-survey-finds
.

13
. Bumiller, “Sexual Assault Reports.”

14
. David Fahrenthold, “Statistics Show Drop in US Rape Cases,”
Washington
Post, June 19, 2006,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/18/AR2006061800610.html
.

15
. Ibid.

16
. “American Women Must Not be Fooled: Smeal Calls for National Reform in Rape Reporting and Investigating,”
Ms. Magazine
, September 14, 2010,
http://www.msmagazine.com/news/uswirestory.asp?id=12626
.

17
. Joey L. Mogul, Andrea J. Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock, “Queer Injustice: The Widespread Sexual Abuse LGBT People Face in Prison,” AlterNet, March 11, 2011,
http://www.alternet.org/story/149873/queer_injustice%3A_the_widespread_sexual_abuse_lgbt_people_face_in_prison/
.

18
. Paul Breer, “With Support From Anti-Gay Foundation, West Virginians Can Sexually Discriminate For Another Year,” ThinkProgress, March 14, 2011,
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/03/14/wv-discrimination/
.

19
. Ibid.

20
. “Facts About Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation,” US Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, modified June 27, 2001,
http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-orientation_parent_marital_political.html
.

21
. Wendy McElroy, “UN Complicit in Forced Sterilizations,” Independent Institute, December 23, 2002,
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1417
.

22
. Ángel Páez, “Women Sterilised Against Their Will Seek Justice, Again,” Inter Press Service, October 15, 2010,
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53177
.

23
. Ibid.

24
. Nicholas Kristof, “A Rite of Torture for Girls,”
New York Times
, May 11, 2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/opinion/12kristof.html
.

25
. Erick Ngobilo, “Parents Disown Girls for Evading ‘the Cut,’ ”
Daily Nation
, February 6, 2011,
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Parents%20disown%20girls%20for%20evading%20the%20cut/-/1056/1102708/-/kdcr7jz/-/index.html
.

26
. “Women, Children and Youth in the Iraq Crisis: A Fact Sheet,” Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, January 2008,
http://www.rhrc.org/resources/Iraqi_women_girls_factsheet%20FINAL%20JAn08.pdf
.

27
. Sebastion Swett and Cameron Webster, “Trafficking of Iraqi Women Rampant Despite US Commitment To End It,” AlterNet, August 25, 2010,
www.alternet.org/news/147962/trafficking_of_iraqi_women_rampant_despite_u.s._commitment_to_end_it
.

28
. Ibid.

Sources:

Student Researcher:
Allison Holt (San Francisco State University)

Faculty Evaluator:
Kenn Burrows (San Francisco State University)

Sources:

Student Researcher:
Robert Usher (San Francisco State University)

Faculty Evaluator:
Kenn Burrows (San Francisco State University)

Student Researchers:
Allison Gill (San Francisco State University); Cynthia Solano
and Camille Avis (Sonoma State University); Rachel Lounsbury (Indian River State College)

Faculty and Professional Evaluators:
Kenn Burrows (San Francisco State University); Lourdes Alvarez (WIC Dietician); Jeffery Baldwin (Sonoma State University); Elliot D. Cohen (Indian River State College); Mickey Huff (Diablo Valley College)

T
o address human “collaboration and the common good” is to discuss the power of cooperation and community—the social synergy that shows up as people’s movements when citizens come together to resolve collective issues. This stands in contrast to the dominant commercial culture that markets fear and worships self-interest. In the market-based culture, the economy is the center story, and problems, obligations, law, and individual achievement are key values. Compare this to a community-based culture, where generosity, empathy, trust, safety, fairness, and the experience of belonging are valued.
¹
With community, there is always enough, because sharing is primary. With community, the core question is, “What shall we create together?”
²
This is a different model than the commercial marketplace where competition for scarce resources is primary and the question is, “How will I (we) get what I need?” Both cultures have value and purpose, and they do not have to be separate, as you will see from some of the stories in this cluster.

The bottom line in community and social networking circles is relationship; business is second in priority and is there to serve the common needs of those in the relationship. The essential work is to build a social fabric, both for its own sake, and to gather social power to face common dangers and reach shared goals. The vitality and connectedness of our communities also determines the strength of our democracy. When we as citizens find our capacity to come together, we share in creating a safer, saner world. Building a genuine common life and valuing what we share in common is essential to a healthy future.

Yet, it is clear from looking at the world and our own lives that collaboration is very challenging. Conflict and relational struggle are commonplace. Ways of relating to each other and our world have often been more exploitive and punitive than collaborative.

For centuries, modern industrial societies have been living off the capital of the abundant and underpriced resources of nature and culture. Even with declining resources, increasing populations, and
multiple global crises, businesses and nation-states still resist collaborating with each other effectively, to resolve many critical problems that transcend national borders. Our global economic system is now in grave crisis, threatening the entire planet, and most leaders continue to believe that only central governments and markets are capable of meeting global needs. The great folly of the market-state complex is that it leaves nature and society out of the equation. Such an equation is unsustainable and doomed to fail.

We clearly have a lot to learn about the collective dimensions of our lives. It seems we need new forms of social interaction and institutions that can help us, in this stage of human development, to become more socially and ecologically intelligent with each other and able to integrate individual and collective realities. This cluster explores recent news about the power of people’s movements and cooperation, and why we find in corporate media relatively little recognition of and support for grassroots democracy building.
Chapter 4
, Signs of Health & Emerging Culture, also offers a variety of additional news stories and commentary about the emerging collaborative culture.

We face three main challenges to gaining media coverage of common needs and media support for collaborative actions on behalf of the common good: