Millions of people around the world work in jobs that aren’t formally recognized or afforded legal protections typical of wage earning jobs. They’re often not even thought of as legitimate work.
On this edition of Making Contact, we’re going to meet people making work where there is no work for them. From recyclers, to border couriers, to waste pickers, we’re exploring the informal labor sector and what some are doing to gain greater recognition, protections, and rights.
Featuring:
- Landon Goodwin, recycler and pastor and also featured in documentary Dogtown Redemption
- Aicha al Azzouzi border courier
- Salma al Azzouzi, Aicha’s oldest daughter
- Charles Gachanga Gichonge, creator of the Mustard Seed Courtyard clean-up campaign
- Antony Makau, Dandora resident
- Richard Munene, Dandora restaurant owner
- Sally Roever, Urban Policy Director for Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO)
- Malati Gadgil, KKPKP
Show Segments
An Unusual But Legal Trade: The “Mule Women” of Morocco
We head to the Spanish enclave Ceuta bordering Morocco. The border is a gateway for a brisk trade. Moroccan markets sell goods imported from Spain at a discount for buyers. But that discount comes at a price — for the Moroccan women who bring those goods across the border…on their backs. Co-reported with Maggy Donaldson, Thalia Beaty brings us this story.
From Dump Site to Mustard Seed Courtyards
There’s a neighborhood in Nairobi, Kenya that doubles as the city’s main garbage dump. More than 900 tons of trash are piled into Dandora every day. It was declared full more than a decade ago, but the trucks kept coming — dropping everything from household scraps to medical waste. The waste has polluted the water, soil, and air according to the report, Trash and Tragedy by Concern Worldwide. And it has compromised the health of more than 200,000 people.
Often the trucks also dump garbage into the surrounding courtyards of residents. While an estimated 10,000 people earn money by mining the trash for recyclables, even those who work at the dump don’t want to live in a dump. Reporter Beenish Ahmed has the story of a community-driven clean-up effort in Dandora.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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