“Maquiladoras”: Environmental Health Injustice in the U.S-Mexico Border in the Last Decade Social injustice refers to a social unequal distribution of the environmental risks. In our U.S-Mexico region we can find many of them; poor communities, environmental hazards, high rates of chronic diseases and lack of affordable care. All of them coexist and make our border region a big environmental health injustice. Our region is also suffering from a big problem of structural violence which is a term use to describe a form of violence where some social structure may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs. In this case, such structural violence is reflected in the poverty, marginalization and unhealthy situation of factory …show more content…
This is due to the industrial parks that predominate in the borderland (Carruthers, 2008, p. 557). Due to the many environmental injustices the emerging of environmental justice appeared in the 80’s as a fueling popular resistance against the industrial and toxic hazards concentrated in the … communities (p. 556). Environmental justice emerged as an important movement, discourse, and frameworks for analysis in many corners of the world, including Mexico [region] (p. 565). As we all know, every action has its counterpart or consequence in this case the appearance of the environmental justice emerged in all its splendor. Environmental Justice refer to the equal treatment of people, no matter their color, culture, income, origin, or educational degree, in regard of the development, implementation, and enforcement of protective environmental laws, regulations, and policies (Environmental Justice, 2014, …show more content…
it is know that not all contamination and environmental hazards are result of the maquiladoras nonetheless, the industrial chemicals use by these factories are great health threats for public health and noticeably for their workers. Several studies has been done in regards of this situation. Such problems seems to be due to the lack of resource that Mexico has for enforcement and not to the lack of policies or laws being that Mexicans environmental laws are much the same than those we have here at the US (Williams & Homedes, 2001, p.
air and the water of the Rio Grande River”(4) causing a massive amount of pollution. Nash recapitulates that “Texas counties experienced pollution increases of more than a quarter, and some by almost 50 percent” (4) due to the pollution caused by the Maquiladoras. He also states that Texas” makes it cheaper to pollute than to not pollute”(5) and follows that up by rendering how “companies are literally paid to create environmental problems”(5) rather than helping the Texas
According to Hernandez, “ Mexicans in the borderlands, regardless of immigration of citizenship status, were subject to high levels of suspicion, surveillance, and state violence as border patrol officers aggressively policed not only the U.S and Mexico border but also Mexican communities and work sites” (Hernandez Pg. 2). In her book, Hernandez tells the story of how Mexican immigrant workers became
The documentary “Invisible Indians” argues that the Mixtec indigenous people of Oaxaca are both misunderstood and mistreated, when they are fighting to be seen and heard. Throughout the film, examples are given of how the Mixtecs are exploited for cheap labor forces, getting little to no benefits all for the hope of not only achieving a better life for themselves, but also to provided for those who they left behind in Oaxaca, as they travel north. The documentary starts off by describing some of the push factors that have driven the Mixtecs out of Oaxaca, so that the viewer can have a more indebt understanding to why the Mixtecs are here and what they are working towards. As stated in the beginning of the film, the Mixtecs have for years been
In fact, one particularly significant aspect of Bravo’s Hilados del Norte II is its direct and subtle references to prominent murals painted by well-known Mexican artists. To be specific, the bare chested man who is the focal point of the montage is positioned in a pose very similar to the bare chested woman depicted in David Siqueiros’s mural New Democracy. The body of literature that discusses Siqueiros’s mural proposes that the woman symbolizes Mexico’s victory over oppression and exploitation as she is bursting the chains that once bound her hands together (Cole, 1506). By making this connection to Siqueiros’s work, Bravo implies that industrialization has become Mexico’s new democracy as it empowers the common working class people and allows them to overcome many of nature’s previous limitations. The idealized body of the man in Bravo’s montage is supplemented by his orientation that seems to add a three-dimensional perspective to represent mankind’s dignified emergence into this new and powerful industrial
In 2001 in Texas a Mexican guy name called Slain Eusebio de haro and his friend Javier Sanchez stopped by a guy name called Sam Blackwood house for a glass of water. However, he refuses to give them and they left. He followed them and shot de haro from the back. unfortunately he was fined $4000,put on probation and set free for shooting this Mexican immigrant who asked him for a glass of water. Overall the article talks about the dehumanization of Mexicans in United States of America and on the border.
Environmental justice is understood as the fair treatment of all people based on the enforcement of environmental laws and policies. However, environmental injustice is
In recent years more poor, minority communities have been contending that their rights are being violated in disputes over where a plant or waste treatment facility will be built. Such environmental racism lawsuits rarely succeed. But now a federal appeals court in Philadelphia has upheld a group of citizens ' right to go as high as the federal bench to raise the issue. Other solution to this cause is to pass an act regarding its interest in environmental equity and by having EPA officials markedly it clear to oil refinery companies and command greater attention to their surroundings. Having greater regard for the environment will decrease the health concerns for the minority colored
American Eagle Outfitters Working Conditions Many companies try to sell their products cheap so they are more appealing to buy. One side effect of selling products for cheap is making the products. This results in poor working conditions, long hours, and small wages. In this essay, conditions in American Eagle Outfitters factories will be portrayed.
Environmental racism is something that affects all communities in horrible ways. Some people around the world have problems with racism everyday such as rich and poor communities. Other people around the world have racism problems such as black and white people. Environmental racism is something that all people around the world deal with everyday. To begin with, Environmental racism starts with the people in all communites.
Last but not the least, law and order in Nogales, Sonora is also in a bad condition. The crime rate is high, and residents there always worry about theft, or expropriation (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012). Under the same geography and climate conditions, why two halves of the one city has such huge differences becomes a considerable question.
We have the Bridge of the Americas, known as the Cordoba Bridge or Free Bridge in borderland parlance, carries more than just commercial trucks and routine travelers between the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas. Over the years the border crossing over the Rio Grande has also served as a bridge between social movements and political ideas with transcendence in Mexico, the United States and across the globe. Those of us that have work in the countryside confront a grave economic crisis. The prices for electricity, diesel, gasoline and fertilizers what we use for producing food for the whole population are very expensive. This situation affects all of us who plant and produce food, the transporters, and those of us who
There is a common phenomenon in the China that many people treated with inequality and injustice in health care. As as Martin Luther King, Jr.’s saying goes “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane”. From my point of view, i firmly agree with this point in that each individual has equal right to enjoy the suitable health care. It is intolerable for the whole society to make the health care injustice as a seriously public health problem. In this essay, some facts about the injustice will be given.
This essay will give a clear overview of the concept and theories of structural violence and how the idea can be used to encourage more attention on the fundamental cause of poverty and disease. It will as well look at how structural violence has an impact on illness and health. Furthermore, how clinician can lessen the effect of structural violence. The term violence conveys an image of physical or emotional assault on a person.
Previous attempts at limiting the definition of the ‘environment’ and ‘justice’ have proved to be rather problematic and some writers agree that there can be no single embracing definition as to what constitutes both terms. Despite the challenges of settling on one definition, an attempt will be made in this chapter to provide parameters for subsequent discussion in this thesis. As a starting point in defining ‘environmental justice,’ it will be important to understand the meanings ascribed to the terms, ‘environment’ and
Social Problems in Societies Social problems are issues which are considered to affect majority if not all members of a society either directly or indirectly. Whenever people come to live together in a social setting, conflict arises from their differences in opinions regarding political issues, religion, ethnic issues, cultural practices and other health and hygiene issues. In such a situation, we can say a society inevitably develops social problems. The various social issues present today vary from society to society, and as such, we cannot say that all societies face similar social issues.