Sojourner Truth Radio

Today on Sojourner Truth, we continue our ongoing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, focusing on how this crisis has revealed the importance of caregiving to life and survival. We will take a look at how much caregivers are relied on for important services that governments are not providing. The U.S. government is considering distributing checks to people in order to stop the economy from collapsing, but it still refuses to consider providing an income for family caregivers, whose work is generally depended on and has increased as a result of the pandemic. Family unwaged caregivers " most of whom are women, including mothers and grandmothers, and the most impoverished women on welfare " provide care for relatives, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

Amid this crisis, they are expected to pick up the slack without any acknowledgement of the value or resources for their work. The International Labor Office has estimated that women do two-thirds of the worlds work for five percent of the income. And according to a report released by Oxfam in January 2020, women around the world perform 12.5 billion hours of unpaid labor every day. Overall, the work of unwaged caregivers has been estimated to contribute at least $11 trillion to the global economy, according to a Human Development Report.

During todays program, you will hear exclusive audio from a webinar hosted on Friday, March 20, titled, From Coronavirus to Beyond: Valuing Caregiving, the Unwaged Work that Protects People & Environment. The webinar was originally planned as a workshop for the 64th UN Commission on the Status of Women scheduled for March 9-20 in New York on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the 1995 UN World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China. However, the workshop was cancelled because of the coronavirus.

Instead, a worldwide webinar was hosted. The organizers of the webinar had been in Beijing, where they gathered the support of over 1,200 NGOs worldwide, representing millions of women, to win a key decision that governments measure and value unwaged work and include that value in economic statistics and gross domestic product. The organizers of the webinar were also active throughout the UN Womens Decade, participating in conferences in Copenhagen in 1980 and Nairobi Kenya in 1985. The webinar was facilitated by Phoebe Jones from Women in Dialogue in Philadelphia.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

The latest and analysis of the stimulus legislation now being debated in the Senate. Our guest is Dr. Eileen Appelbaum, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.

Increasingly, we are all becoming dependent on deliveries of food and other essential goods to our homes during the coronavirus crisis. What risks are those working in the delivery industry taking to make our lives easier now? How are they being protected? We speak with Omar Moreno, a warehouse worker and driver for the United Parcel Service (UPS), and Bill Gallegos, a longtime Chicano Liberation and environmental justice activist.

Also, under the banner of "The Reclaimers," the occupation of city-owned houses by those who are homeless or housing insecure continue in the El Sereno neighborhood of East Los Angeles. Our guests are Ruby Gordillo, a 33-year-old Angeleno with three children, and Roberto Flores, a lifelong fighter for social justice and co-founder of the Eastside Cafe in Los Angeles.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

The latest and analysis of the stimulus legislation now being debated in the Senate. Our guest is Dr. Eileen Appelbaum, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.

Increasingly, we are all becoming dependent on deliveries of food and other essential goods to our homes during the coronavirus crisis. What risks are those working in the delivery industry taking to make our lives easier now? How are they being protected? We speak with Omar Moreno, a warehouse worker and driver for the United Parcel Service (UPS), and Bill Gallegos, a longtime Chicano Liberation and environmental justice activist.

Also, under the banner of "The Reclaimers," the occupation of city-owned houses by those who are homeless or housing insecure continue in the El Sereno neighborhood of East Los Angeles. Our guests are Ruby Gordillo, a 33-year-old Angeleno with three children, and Roberto Flores, a lifelong fighter for social justice and co-founder of the Eastside Cafe in Los Angeles.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

The latest and analysis of the stimulus legislation now being debated in the Senate. Our guest is Dr. Eileen Appelbaum, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.

Increasingly, we are all becoming dependent on deliveries of food and other essential goods to our homes during the coronavirus crisis. What risks are those working in the delivery industry taking to make our lives easier now? How are they being protected? We speak with Omar Moreno, a warehouse worker and driver for the United Parcel Service (UPS), and Bill Gallegos, a longtime Chicano Liberation and environmental justice activist.

Also, under the banner of "The Reclaimers," the occupation of city-owned houses by those who are homeless or housing insecure continue in the El Sereno neighborhood of East Los Angeles. Our guests are Ruby Gordillo, a 33-year-old Angeleno with three children, and Roberto Flores, a lifelong fighter for social justice and co-founder of the Eastside Cafe in Los Angeles.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

The latest and analysis of the stimulus legislation now being debated in the Senate. Our guest is Dr. Eileen Appelbaum, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.

Increasingly, we are all becoming dependent on deliveries of food and other essential goods to our homes during the coronavirus crisis. What risks are those working in the delivery industry taking to make our lives easier now? How are they being protected? We speak with Omar Moreno, a warehouse worker and driver for the United Parcel Service (UPS), and Bill Gallegos, a longtime Chicano Liberation and environmental justice activist.

Also, under the banner of "The Reclaimers," the occupation of city-owned houses by those who are homeless or housing insecure continue in the El Sereno neighborhood of East Los Angeles. Our guests are Ruby Gordillo, a 33-year-old Angeleno with three children, and Roberto Flores, a lifelong fighter for social justice and co-founder of the Eastside Cafe in Los Angeles.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

The latest and analysis of the stimulus legislation now being debated in the Senate. Our guest is Dr. Eileen Appelbaum, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.

Increasingly, we are all becoming dependent on deliveries of food and other essential goods to our homes during the coronavirus crisis. What risks are those working in the delivery industry taking to make our lives easier now? How are they being protected? We speak with Omar Moreno, a warehouse worker and driver for the United Parcel Service (UPS), and Bill Gallegos, a longtime Chicano Liberation and environmental justice activist.

Also, under the banner of "The Reclaimers," the occupation of city-owned houses by those who are homeless or housing insecure continue in the El Sereno neighborhood of East Los Angeles. Our guests are Ruby Gordillo, a 33-year-old Angeleno with three children, and Roberto Flores, a lifelong fighter for social justice and co-founder of the Eastside Cafe in Los Angeles.

Conversations in Southern Illinois is a six-part series that highlights conversations with residents, farmers and environmentalists of rural Southern Illinois, home to Shawnee National Forest. It is part of a new occasional Sojourner Truth series bridging the rural-urban divide in the U.S.

The Shawnee National Forest, which consists of about 280,000 acres of federally managed lands, is the single largest publicly owned body of land in the state of Illinois. There are seven officially designated wilderness areas lying within Shawnee National Forest.

In the 1990s, early environmentalists with Earth First! joined local Southern Illinois residents and took direct action to stop logging in the forest. Their actions resulted in a 17 year moratorium on logging in the forest, saving thousands of trees and greatly benefiting the surrounding community. That struggle was an inspiration to the newly growing environmental movement. But now that moratorium has been lifted and logging restarted. In the past few years, grassroots environmental protection groups have formed to protect these lands.

Today, residents are again mobilizing to protect the environment in the region. Groups including: Friends of Bell Smith Springs, SNAG (Shawnee Natural Area Guardians), SAFE (Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing our Environment), and Shawnee Forest Defense! have come together to challenge most recent threats to the Shawnee National Forest and to other parts of Southern Illinois.

In October 2019, the Shawnee Forest Defense! The Global Justice Ecology Project, the Indigenous Environmental Network and others co-sponsored The Resurgence: 2019 North American Forest and Climate Movement Convergence at the forest. The Sojourner Truth team covered the event. After the Convergence, I returned to the area to meet with local residents, including environmentalists.

Conversations in Southern Illinois is a six-part series that highlights conversations with residents, farmers and environmentalists of rural Southern Illinois, home to Shawnee National Forest. It is part of a new occasional Sojourner Truth series bridging the rural-urban divide in the U.S.

The Shawnee National Forest, which consists of about 280,000 acres of federally managed lands, is the single largest publicly owned body of land in the state of Illinois. There are seven officially designated wilderness areas lying within Shawnee National Forest.

In the 1990s, early environmentalists with Earth First! joined local Southern Illinois residents and took direct action to stop logging in the forest. Their actions resulted in a 17 year moratorium on logging in the forest, saving thousands of trees and greatly benefiting the surrounding community. That struggle was an inspiration to the newly growing environmental movement. But now that moratorium has been lifted and logging restarted. In the past few years, grassroots environmental protection groups have formed to protect these lands.

Today, residents are again mobilizing to protect the environment in the region. Groups including: Friends of Bell Smith Springs, SNAG (Shawnee Natural Area Guardians), SAFE (Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing our Environment), and Shawnee Forest Defense! have come together to challenge most recent threats to the Shawnee National Forest and to other parts of Southern Illinois.

In October 2019, the Shawnee Forest Defense! The Global Justice Ecology Project, the Indigenous Environmental Network and others co-sponsored The Resurgence: 2019 North American Forest and Climate Movement Convergence at the forest. The Sojourner Truth team covered the event. After the Convergence, I returned to the area to meet with local residents, including environmentalists.

Conversations in Southern Illinois is a six-part series that highlights conversations with residents, farmers and environmentalists of rural Southern Illinois, home to Shawnee National Forest. It is part of a new occasional Sojourner Truth series bridging the rural-urban divide in the U.S.

The Shawnee National Forest, which consists of about 280,000 acres of federally managed lands, is the single largest publicly owned body of land in the state of Illinois. There are seven officially designated wilderness areas lying within Shawnee National Forest.

In the 1990s, early environmentalists with Earth First! joined local Southern Illinois residents and took direct action to stop logging in the forest. Their actions resulted in a 17 year moratorium on logging in the forest, saving thousands of trees and greatly benefiting the surrounding community. That struggle was an inspiration to the newly growing environmental movement. But now that moratorium has been lifted and logging restarted. In the past few years, grassroots environmental protection groups have formed to protect these lands.

Today, residents are again mobilizing to protect the environment in the region. Groups including: Friends of Bell Smith Springs, SNAG (Shawnee Natural Area Guardians), SAFE (Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing our Environment), and Shawnee Forest Defense! have come together to challenge most recent threats to the Shawnee National Forest and to other parts of Southern Illinois.

In October 2019, the Shawnee Forest Defense! The Global Justice Ecology Project, the Indigenous Environmental Network and others co-sponsored The Resurgence: 2019 North American Forest and Climate Movement Convergence at the forest. The Sojourner Truth team covered the event. After the Convergence, I returned to the area to meet with local residents, including environmentalists.

Conversations in Southern Illinois is a six-part series that highlights conversations with residents, farmers and environmentalists of rural Southern Illinois, home to Shawnee National Forest. It is part of a new occasional Sojourner Truth series bridging the rural-urban divide in the U.S.

The Shawnee National Forest, which consists of about 280,000 acres of federally managed lands, is the single largest publicly owned body of land in the state of Illinois. There are seven officially designated wilderness areas lying within Shawnee National Forest.

In the 1990s, early environmentalists with Earth First! joined local Southern Illinois residents and took direct action to stop logging in the forest. Their actions resulted in a 17 year moratorium on logging in the forest, saving thousands of trees and greatly benefiting the surrounding community. That struggle was an inspiration to the newly growing environmental movement. But now that moratorium has been lifted and logging restarted. In the past few years, grassroots environmental protection groups have formed to protect these lands.

Today, residents are again mobilizing to protect the environment in the region. Groups including: Friends of Bell Smith Springs, SNAG (Shawnee Natural Area Guardians), SAFE (Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing our Environment), and Shawnee Forest Defense! have come together to challenge most recent threats to the Shawnee National Forest and to other parts of Southern Illinois.

In October 2019, the Shawnee Forest Defense! The Global Justice Ecology Project, the Indigenous Environmental Network and others co-sponsored The Resurgence: 2019 North American Forest and Climate Movement Convergence at the forest. The Sojourner Truth team covered the event. After the Convergence, I returned to the area to meet with local residents, including environmentalists.