Captive Lives

Domestic abuse of the staff in the households of the 1% is often overlooked or ignored. But foreign missions in the US that abuse their domestic staff are finally being held accountable.

WhyLoiter is a growing movement that encourages women in India to spend time out in the street to challenge societal restrictions on women in public.

The Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence in Quebec has expanded rapidly, becoming a model for programs around the world. What sets it apart from projects in Europe and the United States is that it confronts extremism of all stripes — not just Islamist — and focuses on behavior that signals the risk of violence, not just radical ideas, only involving law enforcement as a last resort.

By bringing mental health professionals and religious leaders together, faith communities can “flip the fear” of mental illness. Using grants from the American Psychiatric Association, organizations like Support Embrace Empower Mental Health Advocacy (SEEMA), the Muslim Mental Health Conference, and the Stanford Muslims and Mental Health lab, are all working to remove barriers to mental health treatment. Their initiatives focus on education to overcome stigma and cultural misunderstandings.

The first Human Library emerged in 2000 in Copenhagen, and has since exploded in popularity to the point of operating chapters in more than 70 different countries. The concept is that readers should not judge a book by its cover, so in this library, actual people are the books available to read with titles like "Polyamorous", "Soldier (PTSD)", and "Refugee". The 30-minute "reading sessions" (face-to-face conversations) allow people to learn in a judgement-free zone and put a real person behind the story they are hearing.

Medical professionals throughout the United States are starting to implement mental health screenings during routine care in order to better assess those at risk of suicide. Using a combination of health records and questionnaires to flag which patients should have continued follow-ups, clinics and primary care specialists prioritization of suicide intervention is already showing significant results.

AllGo, a Portland-based organization is an app that aims to combat fat bias in the media by creating a collection of stock photos of exclusively plus-sized models. The app is a completely free resource that aims to offer another perspective in stock photography, which tends to err cis-gendered, able-bodied, and thin. Their photos now have more than 76,000 downloads and over 24 million views, and the creators and models look forward to shooting many more scenes as "an act of resistance."

Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association Canada and Humanity First Canada teamed up to transform a bus into a mobile shelter for the homeless, complete with 20 beds, a kitchenette, a bathroom, internet, and more. The program is called Shelter Bus and, since launching in December 2019, has served over 1,000 people and reaches up to 50 people a day. The bus has been described as "heaven" by some guests, and they are now planning to have 3 buses by the next year.

Okupas Motorizadas en Pamplona, España, busca proteger espacios de estacionamiento para personas con discapacidades. Sus voluntarios toman fotos o dejan mensajes con carros estacionados en zonas designadas así. Trabajando con policía, oficiales y compañías de reparto locales, Okupas muestra a motoristas la importancia de proteger esos espacios. Después de tener éxito en cambiar reglas locales, Okupas busca uniformizar las reglas por toda España.

La “memoria histórica” o “memoria liberadora” es una herramienta que está ayudando a sobrevivientes de violencia infligida por el Estado a recuperarse del trauma. Tanto en Colombia —donde han creado un concepto para el uso de la memoria como un instrumento de sanación a nivel nacional— como en Chicago, Estados Unidos —donde la “memoria liberadora” rompe el ciclo de la violencia para prevenir la recurrencia de injusticias—, esta herramienta está ofreciendo una especie de justicia de transición, para sanar y salir adelante.