Uneven Development: Listening to the 'South', Listening to Vancouver

This video is an attempt to give voice to the hundreds, some believe thousands (the total number is still unknown) of women who have gone missing or been found raped and killed in Juarez, Mexico. Juarez is right on the border between Mexico and the U.S, most importantly in this case, on the Mexican side. It is a city that has been transformed by U.S. corporate factories, Maquiladoras, which employ mostly young Mexican women from all over the country. The woman talking in the video is American.

At first glance this video may not seem associated with development. However, as seen in class and readings, development covers much more than the stock market and how to be successful. The neo-liberal/capitalistic sense of development has created dramatic changes all over the world, from divisions of labour, to how we see the world and our place in it. This video touches on both this aspects in an emotional and powerful way, hoping to raise awareness and therefore change.

Maquiladoras: These factories are U.S. corporate owned and have been placed strategically on the Mexican border in order to provide an efficient and expedient way of producing materials while taking advantage of cheap/green labour. They have changed the division of labour in Mexico, with thousands of women traveling across the country in order to provide for their families. While some would argue that their employment provides a chance for autonomy and the ability to break away from a patriarchic division of labour in Mexico, others would mention the absurd hours and below minimum wage. As well most of their income is sent back home to parents who have been left in their care, or to their families because they can no longer afford the typical “male bread winner” due to IMF structural adjustment programs. In most cases these women are not only working the factory lines and being paid measly amounts, but are also required to work at home, doing household chores and caring for children, important and difficult work that is not recognize by the government or by most people in general. It has become a “society where young women are expendable” not just in terms of labour, but their lives as well. The maquiladoras have caused a great concentration of a certain type of woman (young, alone, working late hours), consequently creating the perfect arena for a “slow genocide” without reaction.

“The line that divides us from them”: The killings in Juarez have gone on for many years with very little attention. A major binary is at play here resulting in a lack of action or hearing; “us and them”. A line has been drawn that divides the developed, civilized side with the unimportant, misguided savages. There are many reasons for this division that are embedded in the history of colonialism and imperialism, but mostly the other has been created in order to rationalize subjugation, accumulation by dispossession and the mistreatment of people. In this case using young woman for cheap labour and then ignoring and turning a blind eye when they disappear or die. The woman in the video is speaking out for these women even though she is unlikely to be a victim for she is “less Mexican, less poor, and more American”. Yet in the end the women that are disappearing on a daily basis, being raped and killed look just liker her, in fact I might argue they look just like me: young, female, dark hair, eyes, skin… But because they are on the other side of the line, a line that could’ve fallen anywhere, the issue has been swept aside in order to “protect our American dreams”. While some in Mexico may be speaking out, it is as an American that this woman is reaching people and gaining attention by using youtube and videos. It would appear that the general public outside of Mexico is gaining awareness and this might lead to change, however the question remains if this would have occurred without her voice. Are these “others” not speaking or are we simply not listening?…

The systematic disappearance of women has occurred all over the world at many different levels, including here in Vancouver and the downtown east side. Rape and killings have been a general occurrence of most notably prostitutes, the homeless and Native American women in Vancouver, a North American city where seemingly more attention would be drawn to these barbaric activities. However for many years this situation was ignored and pushed aside just as it is now it now in Juarez, Mexico. It would seem that while the woman in the video believes that swift action would be taken had these killings been set in North America this is not necessarily true. Despite this it is important to note that those that disappeared were mostly Native American, not white middle class women, and so the question still remains as to the imaginary geographies people have placed on different races and their importance in the world.