All Power to the Soviets: a resource on the Russian Revolution
Nov. 7 is the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia, which marked the beginning of the era of socialist revolutions and national liberation.
The website “All Power to the Soviets,” assembled throughout the revolution’s centenary in 2017, is a great resource on this world historic event that continues to inspire revolutionary workers and oppressed peoples around the world. https://allpowertothesoviets.wordpress.com
TL;DR for y’all, she has a spinal injury that requires special support. After her chair was damaged beyond repair in the cargo hold, she was left stranded in the airport for five hours without proper support for her injury. She was given a loaner chair by the airlines, who refused to buy her a new chair, claiming hers was repairable. Over the next FOUR MONTHS without an adequate replacement, she developed exacerbation of her spinal injury requiring multiple hospitalizations, and skin ulcers from the chair she was given. The skin ulcers became gangrenous and spread to her pelvis and hip, which had to be surgically removed. Yes. part of her pelvis. had to be removed. However, the infection had already spread and become systemic, leading to her death on Oct 31st, less than four months after her chair was damaged.
also from the article: it is estimated that 29 mobility devices are destroyed or damaged EVERY DAY. and I’m going to assume those are only the ones that are REPORTED.
My mom has worked in the airline industry for three decades; I had no idea it was anywhere near this bad. Please be an advocate for your disabled friends and family, and support their concerns when they say no, actually. this isn’t okay.
The screenshot above says:
“Following the July incident, a United spokesperson said that the company apologized to Figueroa and was working to reach a resolution with the repair company. The Department of Transportation estimates that airlines damage or destroy 29 mobility devices a day.”
Since the site (News Week) the article is hosted on has a limit to views without pay, here is some more of the pertinent information shown in it and the related links inside of it, for the sake of convenience.
This is a featured tweet in the article, from the president and CEO of the American Association for People with Disabilities (AAPD), Maria Town.
Image Description:
Tweets by Maria Town, with a link to a different article from Domestic Employers organization, with the preview image being a photo of Engracia Figueroa - a smiling black woman with dark brown skin and coily black and grey hair.
The tweets say the following, “ “Engracia Figueroa, a fierce advocate for people with disabilities, passed away on Sunday due to complications from injuries she sustained when United Airlines destroyed her custom wheelchair last July.” #FlyingWhileDisabled #Disability
United broke Engracia’s wheelchair and refused to replace it. The loaner chair the airlines provided to Engracia did not support her properly. Her skin broke down, became infected, and she died. 2/3
How many hospitalizations and deaths have resulted from airlines inaction and indifference to this issue? Thank you@HiHemployers for your advocacy and for sharing this tribute. Rest In Peace and Power, Engracia. You deserved so much more. 3/3”
End of Image Description
Image Description:
Screenshots from the News Week article by Toria Branhart and the Domestic Employers Org article by Blithe Riley, about the passing of Engracia Figueroa.
A photo of Engracia Figueroa, a black woman in a custom motorized wheelchair, and an accompanying member of the “Hand in Hand” activist group and home care worker organization, Christine Laing, a black woman wearing a mask. Engracia is shown speaking in the “Care Can’t Wait” rally in Washington D.C. from July 2021, at the podium.
A quote. “"Mobility devices are an extension of our bodies. When they are damaged or destroyed, we become re-disabled. Until the airlines learn how to treat our devices with the care and respect they deserve, flying remains inaccessible,” the activist said in an interview after the incident.“
“All of us at Hand in Hand are heartbroken, shocked and enraged by Engracia’s needless death. This loss should never have happened. While we are reeling from the layers of injustice this tragedy makes visible, we are holding Engracia’s tenacity and resolve as our guidepost. Lives are at stake in the work that we do, and our current ableist and racist system continues to fail our communities time and time again. We cannot and will not stand by and let these systems of oppression prevail.
We demand that United Airlines end the damage of wheelchairs and assistive devices on its flights and create an accessible process for people with disabilities to travel safely, with dignity. Sign and share our petition here.Â
Please note: this statement was updated 11/5 after Hand in Hand received more details from Engracia’s lawyer about the extent of her injuries.”
End of Image Description
So in full: Engracia Figueroa was a black disabled working class woman, as well as a worker and disability activist. She died 4 months after her custom motorized wheelchair was destroyed by United Airlines directly after she came back from Washington D.C., where she attended an activist rally where she demanded better conditions for Home Care workers and disabled people.
The broken $30,000 custom motorized wheelchair was a fire hazard and basically unusable. The wheelchair was necessary for her survival, well-being, independence, and ability to work.
Forced to use it while broken in the 5 hours waiting at the airport, resulted in her hospitalization. “Hand in Hand”, “Caring Across Generations”, “Care Can’t Wait Coalition”, their petition, their media campaign, and (later on) Senator Tammy Duckworth’s office demanded United Airlines take further responsibility. The campaign further highlighted the pervasive issues with airlines destroying mobility aids and other necessary devices.
However, by the time United Airlines agreed to replace the $30,000 wheelchair, Engracia succumbed to her worsened condition due to using an inadequate loaner chair they had previously provided in the time they refused to take full responsibility.
“Hand in Hand” organization points towards the unjustness of systemic both ableism and racism having a hand in her untimely death, and encourage people to sign their petition against United Airline’s damaging of assistive devices.
In my personal view (especially as a black disabled person myself), the intersections of ableism, racism, and classism must be acknowledged when discussing this situation.
Again, the full link for the petition of “United Airlines: End the damage of wheelchairs and assistive devices”, made by Home Care Worker’s organization “Hand in Hand”, is here: https://secure.everyaction.com/tUhs-DW8J0qqU2jbZQMrrA2
^^ My previous addition isn’t visible in the reblogs becuase it has links. But basically this was a result of ableism and racism, and I provided more information and a link to a petition that the home worker’s organization she was active in, made and encourage people to sign, to demand an end from United Airlines’ destroying people’s assistive devices.
“the average american throws away 81 pounds of clothes a year” WHO and WHERE are these people bc i dont think i know anybody that unhinged oh my god
factoid actually just statistical error. Becky Influencer who throws away over 10,000 lbs of clothes each day is an outlier adn should not have been counted
Ok so. This threw me into a spiral and wanted to do my own research. Sorry OP if this is too much of a diversion.
If you look into it the quote is accurate for 2018
More than a few publications have picked up on the statistic like this one
The implication here is that people are *personally* throwing away 81 lbs of clothes throughout the course of the year in their own homes. However if you click through to their source right there in the EPA estimates you get a study that was published in 2016 drawing from data collected in 2014 that analyses specifically solid waste in municipal landfills.
It’s a huge 30 year long study to get data on the different kinds of materials and how much has been thrown away in municipal landfills, how much has been recycled, greenhouse emissions etc. but I’m going to focus on this table which has the data for the material breakdown from 2014
Here we have the breakdown of millions of tons per category in that year in municipal waste. And here…
…is where they are getting that number.
11.95 millions of tons of non-durable good textile solid waste. Which if you do the numbers on it comes out to 75.16 lbs per person (using 2014 population statistics). That does indeed seem like a lot and if you follow the trend line established elsewhere in the paper you can easily conclude that means 81 lbs per person in 2018. However let’s tug at that thread a little
Other forms of textiles fall into this category, not just clothes. So rugs and mats and curtains may be included (which are a heavier weight of fabric in general) but also…
Commercial and institutional sources are included. The Old Navy down the block only sold half of last years inventory? That’s in the count. The hospital replacing bedsheets and scrubs? That’s in the count. All of the waste throughout the municipal area is being counted so it’s less of a measure of what clothing is being bought by individual consumers and much more a count of the collective production of clothing.
Yes, fast fashion is in fact the driver of a whole industry of waste but this number isn’t a calculation of that. In fact the deeper you try to dig in it’s very clear that fashion brands produce a lot of pollution and are very good at obscuring numerically how much. Is the figure closer to 60 lbs a person, 13 lbs a person? Literally it’s anyone’s guess.
When it comes to the personal impact of fashion consumption do your best to move away from buying several outfits a season and you’re far less of a problem than the statistics make you out to be. Mend what you want to keep, donate what you don’t, any repurpose into dust towels anything that’s falling apart.
And when it does finally fall apart on you I PROMISE you are doing your best to make that garment more than worth it’s weight in waste. That is what garments are designed to do for centuries. Work, and then wear out.
