On The DL

Solidarity Knows No Borders

by Dana Henry

Wed., Jan. 16, 7:30 p.m., free, A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Ave., 215-727-0882, defenestrator.org

Local activist Justin Vitiello describes a nightmarish scene in the manufacturing towns of northern Mexico: At a distance, children play in lakes outside their homes, but a closer look reveals that the house is built over a garbage dump and the "lake" is made of carcinogenic runoff.

The Industrial Workers of the World recently sent Vitiello, a retired Temple professor and 25-year member, to investigate the effects the North American Free Trade Agreement on the Mexican side of the border, where many of the world's automotives and optics are currently produced. There, Vitiello says, he found farmlands destroyed by factories and men and women working for low wages in unthinkable conditions. He will share these experiences during Solidarity Knows No Borders: Worker Organizing in Northern Mexico, a public lecture that includes accounts from the laborers and a discussion on how to improve the situation.

The way Vitiello sees it, the global economy puts a whole new spin on civic duty: "Most Americans enjoy the products and should know the conditions of the people who make them."