presented by Prof. Mohan Dutta and Dr. Leon Salter with panelists Ibrahim Omer, Anita Rosentreter and Rebecca Macfie.
Thursday, 24th March 2022 @ 12 PM NZDT via Facebook Live (Link in description)
Abstract
Experiences with COVID-19 Among Gig Workers : Findings from interviews with 25 rideshare and delivery drivers about their navigation of precarious working conditions in a pandemic environment.
Ibrahim Omer became an MP to represent communities who often struggle to have their voices heard. His experience spans fleeing his home country, being in a refugee camp, working as a minimum wage cleaner, graduating from university, and representing low paid workers as a union organiser.
Rebecca Macfie is an award winning New Zealand journalist, with a background in workplace, health and safety, business and climate writing. She is the author of Tragedy at Pike River Mine:How and why 29 men died (2013), and Helen Kelly: Her Life (2021).
Anita Rosentreter is the Strategic Project Coordinator for Transport, Logistics and Manufacturing at FIRST Union. She leads the campaign Real Work Real Jobs, which aims to turn insecure work into secure work. Target groups include gig workers, those in labour hire, and dependent contractors.
presented by Prof. Mohan Dutta and Dr. Leon Salter with panelists Ibrahim Omer, Anita Rosentreter and Rebecca Macfie
CARE EVENT UPDATE: Unfortunately, tonight’s CARE White Paper Launch: Experiences with COVID-19 Among Gig Workers is rescheduled to Monday 14th March 2022.We will be in touch with you soon with an updated time. Apologies for any inconvenience. Thank you.
CARE White Paper Launch: Experiences with COVID-19 Among Gig Workers- presented by Prof. Mohan Dutta and Dr. Leon Salter with panelists Ibrahim Omer, Anita Rosentreter and Rebecca Macfie.Abstract: Experiences with COVID-19 Among Gig Workers : Findings from interviews with 25 rideshare and delivery drivers about their navigation of precarious working conditions in a pandemic environment.Monday, 14th March 2022 @ 12 pm NZDT-TBC Location Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/CAREMassey/videos/984089835577558 and on CARE YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF760E7rBst3U5GmJ5FhDDw
CARE: Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation stands in solidarity with its research team members Richa Sharma, Balamohan Shingade, and others (Indigenous women and women of colour) not mentioned in this report for their courage in documenting extremist #Hindutva nationalism and in building culture-centered preventive interventions rooted in dialogue, peace, and voice.
Massey University researcher Richa Sharma. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Full article:
Richa Sharma was doing research on religious extremism in Aotearoa when she got a call from her mother. Her aunties and uncles, close family friends who have known her since she was born, were convinced she was a terrorist.
For a few months last year, Richa Sharma did not go out after dark, always making sure she had safe ways to get around for work and meetings.
The 18-year-old was interning at Care, a Massey University research centre that was copping online abuse for publishing a white paper about the far-right nationalist ideology known as Hindutva and its creeping presence in Aotearoa.
There were calls for centre director Professor Mohan Dutta to be sacked, even burned alive. Police said the trolls were overseas, but an Auckland-based Indian news site published a piece calling Dutta a “left-leaning bigot under the garb of an academician”, and part of “a gang of some smelly rats”.
The Hindu Council and Hindu Youth New Zealand chimed in with nearly identical statements, condemning the paper for “accusatory and unsubstantiated assertions” that made the Hindu community look bad. Hindu Youth said it was “outright Hindu hatred”.
Most of the vitriol was directed at Dutta but his team, some of them South Asian and female, were not spared. Their profiles were public on the Care website and social media pages.
“We had to watch our steps carefully,” said Sharma, now 19. “I really didn’t feel safe. We had a police file open.”
Shortly after, an auntie and uncle reached out to Sharma’s mother back home in Palmerston North. They were not related by blood but it was custom in the community to address close family friends as auntie and uncle.
Over tea, Sharma’s mother was told her daughter worked for an anti-Hindu outfit and was urged to intervene. Auntie and uncle were convinced Sharma was a “left-wing, radical terrorist”.
Another auntie sent text messages condemning the white paper, including a petition against Massey University to take it down.
CARE White Paper Launch – Experiences of Indian Muslims with Digital Hate: A Preliminary Report
presented by Prof. Mohan Dutta with panelists Anjum Rahman, Sapna Samant, Ashok Swain, Haroon Kasim
Abstract: Release of CARE white paper on anti-Muslim hate in India
Wednesday, 26th January 2022 @ 8 pm NZDT
Location Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/CAREMassey/videos/547809686874118 and on CARE YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF760E7rBst3U5GmJ5FhDDw
In this white paper, we depict solidarity as the organizing concept for addressing racism in Aotearoa, New Zealand. After defining the concept of solidarity, we address the questions: Why do we need solidarity in activist and advocacy interventions seeking to address racism? What does solidarity look like in struggles against racism? We wrap up the white paper with key elements drawn from our dialogue, foregrounding “seeing connections” as a way for bringing together anti-racist, anticapitalist, and decolonial struggles. Seeing Whiteness as the very basis for the production of various forms of marginalization sets up the groundwork for anti-racist struggles.
TALK ABSTRACT: Gig work is growing rapidly in Aotearoa and internationally, and is expected to play a key role in the post-pandemic economy. This panel of experts is an opportunity to take stock and reflect on the successes of the union movement in combatting the kinds of insecure work that characterise the gig economy, as well as discuss the unique challenges it presents for organising. Also, strategies will be shared on how best to organise gig workers in the future.
Moderated by Professor Mohan Dutta & Dr. Leon Salter
CARE is looking forward to this activist-in-residence conversation with Byron Clark. Byron has played an instrumental role in exposing the networks of white supremacy in Aotearoa. We will explore together the collaborations between white supremacy and Hindutva, and strategies for resisting the fascist forces.
Online Event Dates:
Tuesday, 19 October @ 1 pm CARE in Conversation with Byron Clark and Prof. Mohan Dutta
CARE in Conversation with Byron Clark and Prof. Mohan Dutta
Byron Clark is an activist from Christchurch. For the past two years his work has focused on the reemergence of the far-right and the spread of misinformation online. Much of this activism has taken the form of video essays on YouTube mixing humour with educational content. Clark also has a background in oral history, having recorded an oral history of the ‘Occupy’ protest in Christchurch that took place in 2011 and has written for Fightback, Overland and David Farrier’s Webworm.
Wednesday, 20 October @ 12 pm CARE Public Talk – Digital Hate in Aotearoa with Byron Clark
Digital Hate in Aotearoa
Over the past decade the world has watched as movements like the alt-right and Qanon have emerged online, and have in turn affected offline politics. Aotearoa has not been immune to this phenomenon. This talk examines the origins of hate on the internet, and how social media fueled its growth, with a particular focus on the new far-right in Aotearoa.
Thursday, 21 October @ 11 am CARE Workshop – Countering Online Hate and Misinformation with Byron Clark
Countering online hate and misinformation
Everyone has a role to play in countering the spread of hate and misinformation. This workshop demonstrated how to report content to social media platforms as well as utilising institutions like Netsafe and the Broadcasting Standards Authority. It also featured discussion about preventing radicalisation and possibilities for de-radicalisation. White Paper – Anti-Social Networks: Hate and misinformation online and strategies for responding.
Friday, 22 October @ 10 am CARE White Paper Launch and Strategies for Responding with Byron Clark and Prof.Mohan Dutta
White Paper – Anti-Social Networks: Hate and misinformation online and strategies for responding.
This paper examines the networks spreading hate and misinformation that have emerged online in Aotearoa in the past few years, and how they have been able to influence mainstream politics despite their small numbers. Ideologies and conspiracy theories from overseas – in particular the United States – have mixed with false narratives that are locally specific. The authors look at strategies for countering these narratives.
This important talk by CARE: Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation Director Professor Mohan J Dutta as he addresses the attacks on CARE.\
ICA 2021 conference theme of Engaging the Essential Work of Care: Communication, Connectedness, and Social Justice
CARE: Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation is looking forward to the opportunity to share our work at the 71st International Communication Association Conference #ICA21. This year’s virtual ICA conference is to be held on 27-31 May 2021 and has the theme “Engaging the Essential Work of Care: Communication, Connectedness, and Social Justice”.
The following manuscripts have been accepted for presentation
Negotiations of health among Rohingya Refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh: A culture-centered approach to health and care by Mahbubur Rahman; Mohan Jyoti Dutta
Receiving healthcare while locked down: Voices from the margins in Aotearoa New Zealand by Phoebe Elers,Steven Elers & Prof. Mohan Jyoti Dutta
Extreme neoliberalism, migrant labour and COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore: A culture-centered interrogation by Prof. Mohan Jyoti Dutta
Migrant worker health as a human right: A culture-centered approach by Prof. Mohan Jyoti Dutta
Nobody Cares About Us: COVID-19 and Voices of Refugees from Aotearoa New Zealand by Pooja Jayan
If they cared, they’d listen:’ Culturally centering listening to disrupt the logics of community engagement by Christine Elers
Innocence lost: Community building as praxis by Prof. Mohan Jyoti Dutta, Prof. Shiv Ganesh & Christine Elers
In addition to: ‘Prejudice toward the “Other” during the Covid-19 Pandemic’ by Stephen Croucher, Thao Nguyen, Mohan Dutta & Doug Ashwell, along with fellow academics Tatiana Permyakova & Oscar Gomez
The ICA 2021 conference theme of Engaging the Essential Work of Care: Communication, Connectedness, and Social Justice calls for our examination of how care forms the fabric of our social and interconnected lives. From the moment that we enter this world we are completely dependent on the care of others, and as we move through our lives, the care of our teachers, doctors, leaders, and artists shape us into the adults that we are today. Even as we leave this earth, on our last days, we are comforted by the care of loved ones.
“Care” can be understood from a variety of perspectives relevant to communication. Namely, care can refer to:
Providing Assistance for Others (She takes care of my aunt.)
Being Interested in a Topic/Issue/Idea (They care about the notion of compassion.)
Concern about Others’ Well-Being (He cares what will happen to his children.)
The Provision of Needed Attention or Resources (Do they provide care at the hospital?)
The concept of care can also be understood from at least two vantage points that intersect with those meanings: self-directed and community-centered. The relative priority of self and community care within a given community reflects deeply embedded cultural values, experiences of oppressions, access to resources, and histories of trust.
The concept of “care” requires our thoughtful examination and reflection. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis of climate change, and militarized police brutality that continues to target, harass, and kill people of color, the urgency of care to address entrenched inequalities, an overarching climate of neglect, and a global political economy of individualized self-help has been rendered visible. Communication emerges in this backdrop as a transformative site for re-working care, anchoring it in relationships, communities, organizing processes, media systems, and social formations. Care is both constituted by and constitutive of communication, as a register for creating spaces of compassion and connectedness.
