Today was a streaming marathon of talks featuring some 94 speakers! Though the number of organizations represented jumped from yesterday’s 46 to 59, there was a significant drop in the number of big corporations present and a welcomed increase in good causes to champion, such as Neeraj Mistry’s Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Sarah Ingersoll’s text4baby, Andre Banks’s All Out, Grace Akallo’s United Africans for Women and Children’s Right (UAWCR), Aldi Haryopratomo’s Ruma, Let Girls Lead, The Climate Reality Project, Help a Child Reach 5, Lenddo, Maria A. Ressa’s Rappler.com and Esther Agbarakwe’s Nigerian Youth Climate Coalition, just to name a few.
Today’s events also showcased the achievements of four teenagers (a 400% increase from yesterday), two of whom, including the now Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience, Malala Yousafzai, and Honduran Girl Advocate, Elba Velasquez Hernandez, were recognized for their fight for girls’ right to education. By contrast, the other two teens, two boys, two white boys, two economically comfortable boys, explored the North Pole (Parker Liautaud) and invented an early detector for pancreatic cancer (Jack Andraka), respectively.
Adding to yesterday’s teen presenter, a sharp contrast appears between the work of the girls and that of the boys presented, namely, girls fight to be able to gain education or have equal opportunities in the work place while boys invent things that can save lives and set out on expeditions to explore the world. Although this is likely an inadvertent message on the event organizers’ part, one can’t help but notice the wide gap dividing the world of the boys and that of the girls. Yet, this doesn’t have be the case, because there are girl inventors and girl explorers out there in the world, and I think it’s equally important to highlight them in women’s fight for equal rights as it is to feature women’s rights activists, because while activists show grit and determination to strike outside of women’s sphere, women whose work are not gendered-defined show their ability to hold their own in the wider world.
The issue of diversity continued today, which manifested in 31 (33% or 1 in 3) non-white speakers out of a total of 94 (please see table at bottom for a detailed breakdown). The global north taking care of the global south is still a running theme in the talks, with an emphasis on Africa being the north’s preferred beneficiary. There were so many mentions of “Africa” as if it were one country, even by a few African speakers, that it felt like the mere fact of stepping onto the continent (with 54 countries, as I mentioned in yesterday’s summary) would be enough to give credibility to would-be social do-gooders. I don’t know why those speakers feel like they must say Africa, instead of specifying a country, or even a region, within the second largest continent. What I do know is mentioning a continent as if it were a country make those who say it sound ignorant and condescending.
During the segment with members of rock band Linoln Park, the short video about a social-advocacy game they developed featured what looked like yet another stock footage of some poor little African child in need of our heroes, who just happen to be portrayed as light-skinned avatars. I’d like to see future social advocacy conferences put a stop to casting a race onto the face of poverty or disease, as well as that of the savior. We need to be more aware of the subconscious perpetuation of racial and ethnic stereotypes in these power dynamics and combat the problem with more diversity in these industry conferences, especially in those who appear to hold the “power” roles.
Yesterday, Magatte Wade suggested that aid can be a crutch for those who receive it, who might never learn to walk on their own because of the comfort it brings. I wonder if it’s not a crutch for those of us who need to help as well. I’ve read abut the psychological benefit of altruism: One feels good to be able to affect someone else’s life in a positive way. While there are certainly an increased number of people who desperately need help as a fallout from the global economic crisis, from political unrest, historical injustices and environmental degradation, is our perpetual portrayal of them as victims, as those who can’t help themselves healthy for either them or ourselves?
Coupled with that, if we continue to lump those who need aid into homogenous groups from this or that particular world region, are we not inadvertently, yet consistently, dismissing their humanity and individuality? In turn, are we not advertising the message that one can only play the role of savior if one fits a particular racial, ethnic, social or economic characteristic? This message is further delineated when social-good conferences disproportionally feature nonprofits from the global north, or executives who are white and rich. Aside from pulverizing the seeming link between economic status and skin color/ethnicity, for the world to truly become a better place, we have to break away from the obsolete concept that charity is a luxury best left to the well-to-do. There is not enough wealth in the world if all we intend to do is to give people fish instead of encouraging them to develop the self belief to learn how to fish.
Chronicles of a Non-profit: 