Today I spent the day researching and documenting the involvement of multinational mining corporations with horrendous paramilitary groups in Colombia. I noted that, while the facts are known, each incident in which a company is involved in death threats and murder is written off as a ‘mistake’. And yet it keeps happening.
On the street I bumped into an acquaintance who works for a refugee organisation on a contract with the UKBA. She described how processes have recently been overhauled to make them more efficient, meaning that people who have been, for example, trafficked into sex work, now no longer see the same caseworker each time, causing them to have to re-explain their position and get to know a new person every time they have a meeting.
At home I chatted online with a teacher friend currently working in Poland who just couldn’t hold back her frustrations as she ranted about the array of mickey-mouse ‘transferable skills’ they have to teach while not having time to discuss, reflect, or go into any depth on topics.
Tomorrow I will meet with someone who is trying to defend the trees around her house against her insurance company, who have decided that they present too great a risk to the house to be allowed to live.
I suspect these things are all connected.
I also think it is time for bed.
Of course, like Dirk Gently, I believe in the fundamental interconnectedness of all things.