We recently received the cartoons below by someone who calls themselves a “guerilla artist” and goes by the name Thaddeus Bobo. This artist said he has been inspired by the propaganda work done during WWII and more recently the work of David Rees, who created the fabulously satirical book Get Your War On in 2001.
We asked Thaddeus Bobo a few questions about the work that is critical of the DeVos Family and Amway and have included all five of the cartoons below.
GRIID – What inspired you to create these cartoon messages about the DeVos Family?
I actually work at Amway. I see the struggles of the people on the production floor every day. I hear how their kids are struggling to get into decent colleges, how they worry about sick parents whose retirement funds has been ransacked by Wall St, how they constantly worry about where the money for the next unexpected bill is going to come from.
The fact that Rich Devos spent over $200,000USD supporting Citizens United speaks volumes about his respect for the average worker on his production floors. Supporting the anti-union activities of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker actively hurts working men and women and their families who are just trying to make a fair wage for their honest labor. These are people just like the ones working at Amway every single day. Many of them are too busy worrying about paying the mortgage to spend much time learning about the DeVos family’s efforts to erode the quality of life for the average middle class American. I felt that I had to do something to express my frustration, and hopefully in a creative way that got people to laugh, to think, to question things for themselves.
GRIID – Will there be other work from AARDVARK Press about the local 1%?
Yes, for sure. I think tackling a few local politicians would be on the agenda, as well as local business owners like Tommy Brann espousing extremist views in the media.
GRIID – Do you have any plans on distribution at this point?
Nothing formal at this point. I was hoping to participate in a local diy ‘zine fest this spring that a few local activists have been dreaming up. I have no experience getting published, but would absolutely love to explore that as an option.
GRIID – There are plenty of working class people who also support the DeVos family “philanthropy.” Do you think that what you are doing offers a counter-narrative to the corporate media commentary on the DeVos family and other local robber barons?
I absolutely do feel that I am pointing out some of those unspoken truths, and in a way that uses humor to shed some light on some seriously un-funny situations.
In regards to the DeVos family, there is almost a “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” mentality that I think speaks volumes about the collective insecurity about not being a “real city” that seems to be prevalent in this town. I am glad that the DeVos family built a children’s hospital in Grand Rapids, it is undeniably a great thing. Altruism isn’t really a factor in these great contributions to our city. The DeVos family, Meijer family, Steelcase, Wolverine and other benefactors gain an enormous amount of social equity, and influence as a direct result of their actions.
Additionally, that great gesture is also tempered by actions like the $500,000 dollars Doug DeVos donated to fight against gay marriage. Its common knowledge that a certain percentage of the population falls into the LGBT community, so it stands to reason that Amway’s workforce of over 5,000 people has a few hundred people that Mr. DeVos has directly insulted. These types of conflict that the DeVos family “benevolently” inflict upon us should be questioned. People should ask “who really benefits from this action?”
Top 25 Censored Stories of the Year
Every year Project Censored publishes the Top 25 Censored Stories. The top censored stories over the past year cover a variety of topics and demonstrate once again how many of the major issues of the day are either ignored or suppressed by the corporate media.
This year’s Top 25 Censored stories include articles on the growing US police state, the degrading condition of oceans, Trillions in Loans to US banks, NATO War Crimes in Libya, Education Reform as Privatization and Wachovia Bank’s role in laundering money for drug cartels in Latin America.
Between 2004 and 2007, Wachovia Bank handled funds totaling $378.4 billion for Mexican currency-exchange houses acting on behalf of drug cartels. The transactions amount to the largest violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, an anti-money-laundering law, in US history. This case is not exceptional; Wachovia is just one of several US and European banks that drug cartels have used to launder money.
Another censored story deals with how FBI agents are responsible for a majority of terrorist plots in the US.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has embarked on an unusual approach to ensure that the United States is secure from future terrorist attacks. The agency has developed a network of nearly 15,000 spies to infiltrate various communities in an attempt to uncover terrorist plots. However, these moles are actually assisting and encouraging people to commit crimes. Many informants receive cash rewards of up to $100,000 per case.
The New York Police are planting drugs on innocent people to meet arrest quotas is yet another censored news story.
A host of stories document how the New York Police Department operates outside the very laws it is charged with enforcing. In October 2011, a former NYPD narcotics detective testified that he regularly saw police plant drugs on innocent people as a way to meet arrest quotas. The NYPD’s controversial “stop and frisk” program has invested seventy-five million dollars to arrest suspects for possessing minimal amounts of marijuana. Each arrest costs approximately $1,000 to $2,000. Although NYPD use of unlawful restraints and disproportionate force to arrest peaceful Occupy protesters has received some news coverage, police brutality directed against people of color continues to go underreported.
One last story is about HR 347, legislation, which would make many forms of non-violent protest illegal.
In March 2012, President Obama signed into law HR 347, the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011. The law specifies as criminal offenses the acts of entering or remaining in areas defined as “restricted.” Although pundits have debated to what extent the new law restricts First Amendment rights or criminalizes Occupy protests, it does make it easier for the Secret Service to overuse or misuse existing laws to arrest lawful protesters
Federal officials interrupt Enbridge’s greenwash of Kalamazoo River tar sands spill
This article by Anthony Swift is re-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Federal officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have pulled the curtain behind Enbridge’s effort to greenwash its tar sands pipeline spill into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River. On the same day that Enbridge told its investors that its tar sands spill and cleanup had made the Kalamazoo River cleaner, EPA ordered the Canadian tar sands pipeline company to resume its cleanup of the Kalamazoo River after finding that submerged oil “exists throughout approximately 38 miles of the Kalamazoo.” EPA’s findings, based on technical analysis from prominent scientists from the international oil spill response and recovery community, stand in stark contrast with the alternate reality that Enbridge is selling to investors and the public. Enbridge’s legacy in Kalamazoo was outlined by federal investigators as a company whose poor safety practices and failures to learn from past mistakes which resulted in the most expensive onshore pipeline disaster in U.S. history. The Canadian tar sands company’s recent attempt to gloss over this reality with a public relations campaign reveals the company has yet to learn this basic truth – simply saying something doesn’t make it so.
EPA issued Enbridge with an enforcement action requiring the pipeline company to resume its two year cleanup in three sections of the Kalamazoo River. In these areas, totaling over five and a half miles of the Kalamazoo River, there is so much submerged oil that the river is spontaneously generating oil sheen and oil globules and in danger of spreading.
Even with EPA’s new order, Enbridge will still be leave oil contamination in over 32 miles of the Kalamazoo River, where officials believe that the dredging necessary to recover the oil would cause more damage than benefit. That means that after Enbridge finishes the cleanup that EPA has ordered, the company will leave tar sands in place throughout over 30 miles of the Kalamazoo River.
Enbridge’s attempt to greenwash its impact on the Kalamazoo River speaks for itself. In a presentation to investors this week, the company provided three quotes from anonymous local residents, fisherman and river enthusiasts, who gush about what Enbridge’s tar sands spill has done for the community.
Focus on Operations, Presented in Enbridge’s 14th annual investment community conference October 3, 2012
Who are these people and where do they come from? As part of our Voices Against Tar Sands, we talked to folks in Marshall, Michigan. The people we talked to have names and stories to tell. It’s worth listening to what folks like Susan Connolly and Debbie Miller have to say about what Enbridge’s tar sands spill has done to their community.
This isn’t the first time that Enbridge has opted to obscure a problem rather than address it. For instance, Enbridge’s plan to ship tar sands in super tankers through British Columbia’s sensitive inner coastal waters – a treacherous maze of tightly packed rocky islands and reefs – has generated a public uproar in the province. Enbridge’s solution? The company broadened the Douglas Channel by erasing 400 square miles of offending islands on a map which it then promoted in a public relations campaign. Even if you look closely at the supertanker on Enbridge’s map, it’s hard to tell whether its run aground on Hawkesbury Island or if it is still in Devastation Channel.
Enbridge’s version of the Douglas channel compared to a scientists version, provided by SumOfUS
During the Kalamazoo River tar sands spill, Enbridge initially denied that tar sands was spilled. As Congressional and federal investigations began to uncover additional details on the spill, Enbridge CEO Patrick Daniel backtracked, saying:
“No, I haven’t said it’s not tar sand oil. What I indicated is that it was not what we have traditionally referred to as tar sands oil. … If it is part of the same geological formation, then I bow to that expert opinion. I’m not saying, ‘No, it’s not oil sands crude.’ It’s just not traditionally defined as that and viewed as that.” Patrick Daniels, August 12, 2010
It was tar sands diluted with volatile natural gas liquid condensate, technically referred to as diluted bitumen.
And recently, a Canadian newspaper broke another Enbridge flip flop. During hearings before Canadian officials in May, Enbridge pitched the reversal of its line 9 pipeline as a means to provide conventional crude to Eastern Canada. In June, Enbridge officials responded to opposition to plans to build establish the Trailbreaker pipeline system to ship tar sands through New England, saying ‘we have been absolutely clear that the company is not pursuing the Trailbreaker Project… I’m not sure what more we can say or how clearly we can say this.” Belying Enbridge’s denials, this week a U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Natural Resources Council of Maine uncovered that the Canadian Consulate has made presentations to the governor of Maine to promote the arrival of tar sands in New England. Is it possible that Enbridge doesn’t traditionally view the Trailbreaker project the way the rest of the world does?
It’s no wonder communities in the Midwest, New England, and British Columbia are balking at Enbridge’s plans to build and expand its tar sands pipeline network through their groundwater and rivers.
What’s the value of $5,169,462?
We all know that this election cycle is the most expensive in US history. Candidates, political parties and PACs are spending money like there was no tomorrow, with nearly $1.5 billion as the estimated amount that will be spent on the Presidential Election alone, according to the Center for Responsible Politics.
It’s hard to envision $1.5 billion, so lets bring the election money frenzy down to the state level and look at the amounts of money being spent on elections here.
In the race for the Michigan Senate seat, with incumbent Debbie Stabenow running against Republican challenger Pete Hoekstra, about $15.5 million has been raised so far. Hoekstra has raised $3,549,806, while Senator Stabenow has raised $12,061,883 in her bid to be re-elected.
Most of the money raised in larger races like these is spent on TV ads, where candidates sling mud and engage in either half-truths or out right lies in order to sway public opinion.
According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network Senator Stabenow has already spent $5,169,462 on TV ads across the state, which includes ad buys between now and Election Day. Challenger Pete Hoekstra has spent a big fat zero on paid TV ads.
Now lets stop and think for a moment what the value of $5,169,462 might be in a city like Grand Rapids. $5,169,462 is certainly not enough to end the City of Grand Rapids financial woes, but it would be enough to re-hired dozens of workers who have lost jobs in recent years because of cut backs.
Think about the budgets of local non-profit organizations and how many could double their budgets if $5,169,462 was shared between them. How much more work could be done by groups like the Friends of Grand Rapids Parks, Bethany Refugee Services, Heartside Ministries, Baxter Community Center or the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan?
However, we could shift the conversation to re-direct the $5,169,462 directly to people who were in serious financial need for a variety of reasons. How many people could have health insurance with that money? How many people could put a down payment on a home? How many students could pay off loans with $5,169,462? The possibilities seem endless, yet when it comes to election no amount of money matters if the candidate we support gets elected. Apparently there will be a huge payoff in the end. But I ask you, when have we ever seen a huge payoff, especially for those most marginalized?
Women, Oil and Climate Change Campaign
According to American Nobel Peace laureate Jody Williams global energy policies negatively impact the lives of women and children in ways that most of us don’t even think about. Such a belief is behind the Women, Oil & Climate Change Campaign, which began yesterday, where a delegation of women will talk with other women along one of the major routes of the proposed Tar Sands Pipeline through Canada.
“Women around the world have been at the forefront of movements to reduce the impacts of climate change and build healthy, sustainable environments,” said Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate (1997). “We have been aware of the growing concerns of women living in oil sands communities and we are eager to see the realities for ourselves, first-hand.”
The group started their eight-day tour of Alberta and British Columbia on October 9 and will meet with women community and First Nation leaders, as well as women government and industry officials. Delegation members—which also include Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer, award-winning Kenyan environmentalist Ikal Angelei, corporate executive Chris Page and climate scientist Marianne Douglas from University of Alberta—will listen to how energy projects are changing the lives and livelihoods of women, children and communities in western Canada, and also the actions that women and communities opposing the energy projects are taking in response.
Some Facts About Women & Climate Change
- Climate change is deepening the food crisis for women and their families. Women are the majority of the world’s small-scale farmers and produce most of the world’s food. More frequent crop failures mean women work harder and families eat less (OXFAM Canada).
- Women comprise 20 million of the 26 million people estimated to have been displaced by climate change. These discrepancies are especially strong in countries that lack gender equality (Women’s Environment Network UK).
- Climate change leads to increased illness and disease and women are the primary caregivers for the sick (OXFAM Canada).
- Women and female children spend more than 10 million ‘person-years’ carrying water from remote sources each year. In Africa alone, the World Health Organization estimates there are more than 40 billion work hours lost each year to the need to fetch drinking water (CARE Ethiopia).
Tar Sands resistance continues in Texas
This article by William Boardman is re-posted from Ecowatch.
In a remote corner of northeast Texas, there are people living in trees because, they say, they’re trying to protect the planet from increased carbon emissions over the next century to help slow climate change. Challenging this treehouse blockade (see video below) is the advancing Keystone XL pipeline whose owners, the Canadian power company TransCanada, say they’re trying to save the oil industry from worsening economic conditions over the next decade.
TransCanada started building the Texas section of the XL pipeline in early August. Since then, efforts to slow construction by a coalition of landowners, environmentalists and others, calling themselves the Tar Sands Blockade, have gone from protest demonstrations and lawsuits to non-violent civil disobedience actions including an elaborate blockade of treehouses on Sept. 24 in the path of pipeline construction in Winnsboro, Texas.
Because the pipeline is intended to bring toxic tar sands crude oil, heated and under pressure, from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada to the Texas refineries of the Gulf Coast for export to foreign markets, resistance along the route through the American heartland has grown more intense over the years. And the company and the state have responded with violence, jailing, extreme bail amounts and over-charging on arrest.
“Game Over for the Climate?”
“If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate,” wrote James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, last May in the New York Times. Hansen has been calling for measures to ward off or at least mitigate the effects of climate change since he first testified about the dangers before Congress in 1988.
He concluded his piece in the Times saying: “The science of the situation is clear—it’s time for the politics to follow. This is a plan that can unify conservatives and liberals, environmentalists and business. Every major national science academy in the world has reported that global warming is real, caused mostly by humans, and requires urgent action. The cost of acting goes far higher the longer we wait—we can’t wait any longer to avoid the worst and be judged immoral by coming generations.”
Tar sands oil is toxic from the moment it leaves the ground, leaving a devastated environment behind, wasting water in processing, destroying forests, threatening vast water tables with pipeline failures, spreading carcinogens, and finally doing far more damage than regular oil to the atmosphere and the global climate.
The oil industry, having announced plans to invest $379 billion in tar sands development, argues that it’s all benign.
Does It Take a Movie Star to Get Attention?
As the Tar Sands Blockade tree village enters its third week, mainstream media have ignored it almost entirely outside the region. Even on the internet there is limited coverage, with such exceptions as firedoglake.com and several environmental websites.
CBS News, USA Today and People showed some interest in the story when Darryl Hannah was arrested on Oct. 4, but CBS did no original coverage, only running an Associated Press story. All three reports ran Hannah’s unattractive mugshot, but none of them mentioned the treehouse blockade or the protestors’ underlying motivation, the dangers of tar sands oil.
Hannah was arrested for criminal trespass and resisting arrest for standing passively in front of TransCanada construction equipment, holding up her hands for it to stop. Hannah said a TransCanada private security guard hurt her wrist. Arrested with her was 78 year old great-grandmother Eleanor Fairchild. Fairchild, who also stood passively with her hands up, was charged with criminal trespass even though she was on her own land.
TransCanada had taken an easement across her land by eminent domain, so in the eyes of Texas law, that part of her land was no longer hers.
TansCanada’s use of eminent domain is under court challenge, but construction continues. The challenge is based in part on the facts that the law intends for eminent domain takings to be for the public good, whereas TransCanada is a multi-billion dollar, private, foreign corporation.
TransCanada also a faces a court challenge to its permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for this leg of the pipeline. A Sierra Club suit argues at length that TransCanada did not comply with the terms of federal environmental law, in part by failing to file a proper environmental impact statement. A federal judge denied the Sierra Club’s request for an injunction, and the construction continues.
In Winnboro, TransCanada has now encircled the treehouse blockade and shines floodlights at the protestors all night. Police and private security have been taking cameras away from people on the ground. When an important story is happening out of sight of the media, it’s hard for it to make an impression.
Resident concerns over fracking are downplayed in Fox 17 story
Yesterday, WXMI Fox 17 posted a story about exploratory drilling in Ionia at a site where a Texas-based company might engage in hydraulic fracturing.
The local Fox affiliate talked to neighbors who live across the street from where the test drilling and potential fracking could take place. One response from the neighbor was:
“It’s not in our backyard, but it’s right across the stinkin’ street. So yea, close enough to really make us think about it. Ya know, start asking questions that we really didn’t ask before,” he explained.
This kind of sentiment has been shared across the country as more and more people find out about the environmental and health effects of hydraulic fracking.
The Fox 17 story then states, “Many environmentalists are against hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, because it involves injecting wells with chemically treated water.” The WXMI story provides no evidence of this claim, nor do they seek out one of the many anti-fracking groups that exist in Michigan, some even in Grand Rapids.
Instead of seeking out details on fracking from an environmentalist, Fox 17 then sites a spokesperson from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) who states, “So you’d have at least three strengths of casing that would be cemented and sealed. So that would prevent any migration of any kind of fluid up and down the well and prevent anything from getting into the groundwater.”
Ending with such a statement from a government official leaves one with the impression that fracking is safe and without health or environmental consequences. This flies in the face of research on the issue, such as recent studies done by the US Geological Survey, which confirm that fracking for natural gas does contaminate groundwater. Many known toxic chemicals are being used in fracking, chemical that are harmful to both humans and animals.
This information is widely available and is one of the reasons there are citizen movements all across the country that opposing hydraulic fracturing.
WXMI 17 could have easily found another voice, such as groups like Ban Fracking Michigan or Mutual Aid GR, which organized an anti-fracking protest two weeks ago in Grand Rapids, which Fox 17 reported on. There is also a big demonstration being organized for October 24 in Lansing, since the Michigan DNR will be hosting another land auction, which will allow oil & gas companies to buy mineral rights to drill on public land. There was a previous DNR land auction in May that also saw over 100 people come out to protest.
The fact that Fox 17 did not seek out other voices in this story or provide any larger contextual information about the growing statewide opposition demonstrates lazy reporting.
The Fracking of Rachel Carson, by Sandra Steingraber
This video is re-posted from Orion Magazine.
Author Sandra Steingraber, who is at the forefront of efforts to halt fracking across the Marcellus Shale deposits, reads excerpts from her essay about the fiftieth anniversary of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, accompanied by a full portfolio of fracking photos by Nina Berman.
Making lots money and feeling good about it: Reflections from the Corporate Social Responsibility Conference at Amway
For about 5 hours today, I sat through a conference held at the Amway headquarters in Ada on Corporate Social Responsibility.
About 125 people, mostly from the corporate world, participated in a conference entitled, Creating Impact: West Michigan Corporate Social Responsibility. The day-long conference featured two keynote speakers and several breakout sessions, all dedicated to the idea of corporate social responsibility or what some referred to as corporate sustainability.
This is a theme we have been writing about for the past two years and posting on our blog under Dissecting Green Capitalism.
The day began with an executive from Amway welcoming people and taking the opportunity to tell the audience about their practice of corporate social responsibility. The company founded by DeVos and Van Andel promotes volunteerism and financial giving amongst its employees as well as major charitable donations to numerous causes, according to the Amway spokesperson. The company spokesperson also said they were, “leveraging our Nutrilite products to children around the globe, in places like Mexico and Africa. These vitamins can be added to their native food to reduce anemia.”
One could argue that this is a nice charitable act, but what it also states about Amway and the whole corporate social responsibility trend is an unwillingness amongst global capitalists to address the root causes of problems, like malnutrition. Indeed, the comments from the Amway spokesperson set the tone for much of the rest of the day that this writer was present.
Before the first keynote speaker came to the podium, Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell addressed crowd. Heartwell talked about his personal and the City’s own journey in sustainability, or what Heartwell referred to as the Total Quality Management Movement.
The first keynote speaker was Jim Musial with Wolverine Worldwide. Musial gave a brief company overview and stated that the company, with recent acquisitions, is the largest non-athletic shoe company in the world.
Musial then talked about what he referred to as the rise of the Citizen Consumer, which he defined as people who wanted to make purchases that were good for the environment or supported some cause. The Wolverine executive said this is what should drive our companies, what he called a socially conscious market.
However, when Musial talked about the company’s facilities abroad and the work they do with independent suppliers he was a little more vague about how they operate. Musial said they want good corporate practices on how workers were treated, but they don’t have a great deal of pull to make suppliers adopt standards that many consumers want. He also said that it was hard to find monitoring agencies that were reliable, but he did refer to a new resource called the EcoIndex, which apparently was started by industry people and significant involvement from Nike.
Musial ended his presentation by talking about the giving practices of Wolverine Worldwide, both locally and around the globe. He showed pictures of Wolverine employees giving clean water systems and free shoes to poor people in the Dominican Republic. The pictures of smiling Dominicans feed into this notion of social responsibility as charity, without addressing the reasons for structural poverty in countries like the Dominican Republic.
Musial was then joined by a few additional presenters, but little new information was provided, except by an ethics professor from MSU. Kyle Whyte talked about global capitalism and how it creates what he called, “wicked problems.” His comments left an impression on the crowd who kept referring to this phrae, “wicked problems,” throughout the day.
This mini-panel discussion was followed by the first breakout sessions and I attended the one on “Corporate Citizenship.” The panel included Eric Foster (Seeds of Change), Jeff Padnos (Padnos) and Pat Longeran (Fifth Third Bank). This session was moderated by Norman Christopher (GVSU), who kept gushing over local corporate practices, particularly ones that the panelists were involved in.
Longeran used good doublespeak in his comments by say that Fifth Third wasn’t just involved in finances, they changed people’s lives. He also talked about how Fifth third has banks in poor neighborhoods and how the company has hundreds of people who serve on local non-profit boards. Getting company members to sit on boards of non-profits is a growing trend in the corporate world.
Jeff Padnos spoke next and said that doing business right is like “applied religion.” He equated giving people a job with the idea of teaching them to fish, which was an interesting Orwellian twist of to the statement from Bishop Dom Helder Camara who said, “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”
The third speaker on this panel was Eric Foster, with Seeds of Promise. Foster talked about getting people to be masters of their own destiny and local groups to partner with to make the necessary changes. Foster’s task is to get 40 people involved in place-based, resident led leadership that will benefit a particular neighborhood, to solve their own problems and create their own capital. Again, this is a nice sentiment, but it does not address any root causes, particularly structural injustices, which created poverty in the communities in Grand Rapids his organization is working with.
After lunch, participants then heard from Neil Hawkins, the sustainability person from Dow Chemical. Hawkins said that Dow has been involved with environmental sustainability for a long time and proves this by showing the audience a picture of a patent from 1906 for waste cogeneration.
Hawkins also talked about the company’s involvement with the 2012 Olympics and said that their involved was “not a form of greenwashing, but a chance to show case sustainable products. Numerous human rights groups disagreed and called out companies like Dow at the 2012 Olympics in London for engaging in greenwashing.
Howkins also talked about his company’s partnership with the Nature Conservancy to further brand their identity as having a commitment to environmental protection. We addressed this partnership in a previous posting, but would say that big beltway conservation groups like The Nature Conservancy are more committed to lobbying in DC than actually doing environmental justice work around the country.
During the Q&A someone did ask the Dow representative about the companies track record and that they have a history of making “bad decision” on environmental policy. Hawkins did say these were “old, old problems” and that “I am not going to “apologize or flog myself for past problems.” So, the people of India who have never really received justice over the Union Carbide (a subsidiary of Dow) catastrophe are just the victims of an old, old problem? What about Vietnam veterans who were exposed to the Dow created Agent Orange and the millions of Vietnamese who are still suffering from exposure? Just a problem of the past?
I left at this point, since it seemed pretty clear what was meant by “Corporate Social responsibility.” To be clear, I was not expecting the content to be much different than what I heard, but I went because I think it is always important to not only monitor what sectors of power are up to, but to hear directly from those in power about how they see the world.
This morning, MLive once again demonstrated their inability to report on the DeVos Family in a critical manner.
The article, posted online today, is headlined, ArtPrize founder Rick DeVos shares qualities with his grandfather, Amway co-founder Rich DeVos. The article does as is suggested in the headline, makes the argument that Rick DeVos is following in the footsteps of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos Sr.
The glowing review of the third generation DeVos states in part:
The entrepreneurial spirit of Rich DeVos, which has had a stamp on West Michigan for decades, seems to be renewed with his grandson Rick DeVos, who launched the international art competition and the innovative seed fund.
While his grandfather revitalized downtown Grand Rapids by investing in buildings, Rick is doing it with people.
To provide further evidence of Rick DeVos’ leadership and entrepreneurial spirit, the MLive reporter uses Doug and Dick DeVos as sourced. And what do you think that Rick’s uncle and father had to say about what the ArtPrize guru is doing for Grand Rapids? Of course it was glowing and affirming.
In addition, the MLive reporter addressed Rick DeVos’ other project, Start Garden. Not surprising, this project that Rick DeVos kicked off earlier this year was also presented as nothing but a major benefit to the community.
How is it that the most widely read daily news source in West Michigan acts as a stenographer to power? What kinds of conversations do reporters have with editors about how to present such a story? Now, I don’t think for a second that MLive editors had to say to the reporter of this article that they need to paint Rick DeVos as a local hero. It is our observation over the years of monitoring media in this market that local news agencies have internalized the same values as the corporate world, not just because they are thinking about ad sales, but because MLive is a corporation.
This internalizing of the values of the system means that the reporting on powerful families like the DeVos family is positive, but there are no balancing or dissident voices. The fact that there were no critical voices about either ArtPrize or Start Garden is a clear indicator that MLive is either unwilling to be critical of local power or is blind to the negative and even destructive aspects of what the DeVos family has done.
The recent GQ article on ArtPrize was able to both look at the cultural aspect of Artprize, but provide some contextual critique of the annual event. The author of that article was also able to find critical voices of the art extravaganza, even though that author is not from this community.
There is no mention of the fact that Rick’s uncle Doug DeVos recently gave $500,000 to the National Organization of Marriage (NOM), which is the largest anti-Gay marriage group in the US. The MLive article also does not mention the kind of negative impacts that other DeVos family funding has caused all around the world. Lastly, there is nothing in the MLive story that looks at the political economy of ArtPrize, which would expose the real financial winners of ArtPrize.
MLive should not call these kinds of articles news reporting. Stories that coddle power are nothing more than stenography and free publicity for companies like Amway and families like the DeVoses.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 