British Prime Minister, David Cameron’s totally gratuitous decision to convene a referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union, “Brexit,” is a perfectly amazing example of the effects of frivolous stupidity.
The rest of us are to be helpless witnesses and perhaps direct victims of his decision for years to come.
The rise of citizen concern about armed conflict in regions like Syria and Crimea makes the 2016 global spotlight shine a little less brightly on Iraq.
In the face of pressing global challenges, like the massive refugee crisis spurred by the protracted Syrian conflict, it is all too easy to overlook the estimated 4,497 deaths and 32,021 injuries of U.S. soldiers in the Iraq War. This loss is compounded by the estimated 500,000 Iraqi fatalities attributed to the U.S. invasion, further imploring a moment of nationwide introspection about the consequences of armed conflict.
When studying lessons learned from the Iraq War, and how these lessons can help mitigate future conflict, it is important to begin by understanding that reading about massive war stats continually fails to capture the magnitude of lives lost. How can anyone possibly measure the cumulative hopes and dreams of approximately 505,000 souls?
While we cannot answer this unanswerable question, we can tell that April 4, 2016 marked the twelfth anniversary of Casey Sheehan’s passing, one of the 4,497 U.S. soldiers that lost their life in Iraq. Casey would be 36 if he were alive today. His chance to raise a family, volunteer with the Boy Scouts and church that he loved, and celebrate Mother’s Day with his family was cut tragically short.
Turning my clothes inside out and travelling from one side of London to the other — Fashion Revolution Day has arrived. Selfies on instagram and tweets of our clothing (#Insideout) have taken over all across the world. Bangladesh, China, Swaziland and Brazil are just a few of the countries partaking in the day of activism tabbed under a day for Revolution. Generations of consumers are asking ‘Who made our clothes?’ — re-connecting the thread all of our clothes travel, by re-engaging us with are garments and the labels that sit on their backs.
I remember two years ago today when news emerged of the deadly collapse of Rana Plaza, a collapse which drew the world’s attention reminding us that there are real people behind our clothing, real people with real families, who all felt their loss.
The grounds upon which the eight story commercial building collapsed were swampy and the cracks on its walls were large. Garment workers were forced to go back to work knowing that this building was unsafe. But this is the world of garment workers, the result of greed, corruption, injustice and rampant consumerism and to those working in the industry, the collapse wasn’t a surprise.
