Saturday, January 19th, 2008
I’ve got a job interview with a human rights organization. It’s a data entry job, but it is pointed in the right direction.
Got the call today and jumped at the “202″ area code. I thought the person had asked for “Irene” and let the person go with what may have been slight annoyance at it not being a call in response to my resume. Luckily he called back and I’m REALLY happy that rather than cut the call short with another “wrong number” I asked him if the person he was looking for lives in nassau or suffolk, as maybe he had the wrong area code! It came out that it was for a job interview. JOB interview?
Tuesday interview. This has motivated me to try to submit my resume to more places tomorrow.
Went to an Ani DiFranco concert Thursday. More tomorrow.
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Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
As some of you who read this blog already know, I’ve been pulling my hair out and worrying to bits about finding a new job now that I’ve graduated. It probably doesn’t help that I feel like I need to get out of my current job as bookselling plebe ASAP or I’ll be stuck there forever.
Today is designated “job hunting” day, since I did absolutely nothing productive with my weekend. Well, ok, I read 35 pages of Andrea Smith’s incredible book Conquest (by now I should be done with it already) and read some really incredible blog posts resulting from the current “Yes Means Yes” controversy in the feminist blogosphere. Post on that forthcoming.
So… what I don’t want, I am aware of.
This would be anything related to things like web design and development and outreach (Otherwise known as the dreadful fundraising and schmoozing department). Unfortunately, the strengths in my resume largely point to WEB DESIGN and technology related pursuits. I don’t doubt that it’s what got me my Human Rights Watch internship. (But hey, how can I complain, right?)
I’ve been reading a lot of ideas by people who seem to be saying that the reason nothing is changing is because we’re looking to gain power in the same system that is disenfranchising so many, as opposed to changing the system altogether.
I’ve felt that international development in the form of the World Bank, IMF and WTO is nothing more than neocolonialism, a scheme that speaks of “liberating” the poor while taking resources that are rightfully theirs for the purpose of providing amenities to a privileged few. This is what really gets me passionate.
So I’ll admit that in looking through the job listings at idealist.org, I can’t help but gag at the numerous listings that speak of “using markets for change,” encouraging “entrepreneurial spirit”, and garnering “investment portfolios for development.”
At the same time, that’s some incredibly fucked up shit. I’m sitting in a nice, warm house with enough food to eat and a supportive family. So where does my resistance of the status quo fit in when people are still living in poverty and dying around the world for a countless number of reasons that may be alleviated by these programs? I can refuse to take jobs based on the fact that I think they’ll be furthering capitalism, which I feel is an inherently oppressive system. But that doesn’t exactly help anyone either. And let me be clear that I don’t know the intentions or rates of success of these organizations in the way that I feel that the development schemes of the World Bank/IMF/WTO are largely detrimental and do much more harm than good.
As well, I’ll admit that as I continue to look at practical matters, I don’t want to have to watch every dime I spend the way I do now. I would like to be somewhat comfortable. (In which a little voice chimes in, if others aren’t comfortable then where is your right to be?) And again, stemming from the “Yes Means Yes” controversy, I came across a comment by Theriomorph that really struck a chord with me in light of what I’ve been thinking about:
I make choices to be sure the work I do for social justice is not *dictated* by my basic financial needs, because history shows me this is an ethical dead end. If my personal success and survival is contingent on appeasing and collaborating with the existing power structure, I will have to appease and collaborate. I make active choices, as we all do, about how I engage, what tools I choose to use, and how I use them. (Full comment here)
Perhaps I am making this much more complicated than it really is. I simply want to work against the neocolonialist policies of institutions like the World Bank and the IMF. I KNOW what I want to do, so you’d think half the battle is over. Now the “simple” task of finding the job that allows me to do that kind of thing.
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