Social movement mainstreaming: Anti-trafficking by DJs, by country musicians and at film festival

It’s official: I can’t keep up with all the anti-trafficking actions going on or make all the commentary that could be made. I hope someone else is doing a serious study (would be a great phd subject) of how a social movement develops; I would need a salary to do it. Anyone want to pay it?

Anyway, in case it was thought that only bigger celebrities, like Kutcher, Sorvino and Emma Thompson were campaigning against trafficking and sex work, note how local initiatives are playing out. Here are djs in Michigan, a country musician in Ottawa  and a film-festival entrepreneur in Florida. Note Brandt’s comment:

It’s a slow process, it’s not for the faint of heart or the people who want a quick fix. Every little victory is a huge thing on the way to stopping this. It’s like the abolition of slavery -it takes very brave people to jump in and take a stand.

Ty Beat leads the back for concert to help prevent human trafficking

Get down for a cause with the high-energy music of DJs from around Michigan: Ty Beat, K@Dog, DuKtap, Drchandt, and DJ Muchos Gracias, each creating different sub-genres of electronic music—live drumming, synths, and vinyl DJs. All the proceeds go to the Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force. “I want to raise awareness of trafficking in our community,” Beat said. “I hope that when people realize this is happening here, we can organize to find solutions to reduce the incidents, hold criminals responsible, and help rehabilitate victims.”

Country singer calls for action on human trafficking

After country star Paul Brandt met a six-year-old victim of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, he felt compelled to do something. “There are times I wish I hadn’t seen these things because life is a lot easier when you don’t,” said Brandt, a keynote speaker at a human trafficking conference in Ottawa Tuesday. “With knowledge comes responsibility and once you’re confronted with these things, you have to choose. Are you going to do something about it or not?” Brandt travelled to Cambodia in 2004 with Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief organization, to help distribute Christmas presents to children.

Women’s International Film Festival tackles human trafficking at annual event

When Yvonne McCormack-Lyons began screening films to accept into the annual film fest she founded, she noticed a recurring theme in the works submitted: human trafficking. The films, by and about women, dealt with the lives of trafficking victims and the difficult path to freedom. But McCormack-Lyons decided that viewing the films during the Women’s International Film Festival this week wasn’t enough. She wanted the art to lead to social change.

–Laura Agustín, the Naked Anthropologist

3 thoughts on “Social movement mainstreaming: Anti-trafficking by DJs, by country musicians and at film festival

  1. Maggie McNeill

    “it takes very brave people to jump in and take a stand.”

    Yeah, because it’s really brave to join a moral panic and take the same “stand” everyone else is taking.

    Reply
  2. Laura Agustín

    that is my feeling, too, obviously, but if you read many of abolitionism’s texts or listen to speeches, they feel they are beleaguered, and not believed, and fighting a crusade against all odds. their enemies are the criminals and governments that Don’t Do Enough to stop them. ‘we’ are mere annoying gnats to swat aside.

    Reply
  3. LH

    It increasingly reminds of the satanism psychosis from a few years back, and I keep being amazed at the filthy imagination these people seem to have themselves.

    Reply

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