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Vietnam|Taiwan|U.S.A

Misria
In response to

Local organizers harmed by global corporations can find solidarity and resources among other impacted localities. Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), a transnational petrochemical conglomerate from Taiwan, has caused environmental disasters and subsequent opposition movements in Vietnam, the U.S., and in their home country. Crossing physical and cultural borders, activists from these communities are using their shared knowledge and power to demand retribution. The International Monitor Formosa Alliance, or IMFA, represents the coordination of global anti-FPG activists to address localized issues. On October 31st, for example, activists converged in front of a FPG facility in Point Comfort, Texas to lead a Global Hunger Strike against the company's actions in Vietnam. Bringing together various networks and knowledges, the strike calls for justice years after the Ha Tinh Steel Plant in Vietnam released toxic pollutants, causing mass fish death in 2016. Diane Wilson, strike leader and Goldman Environmental Prize winner, has coordinated with Nancy Bui, leader of Justice for Formosa’s Victims, and other global activists to demand compensation for Vietnamese victims and release of imprisoned protestors. Their collaboration can serve as a model for other communities opposing global industry. 

Image source: Zoe Friese. 

Pictured: Activists (left to right) Nancy Bui, DIane Wilson and Sharon Lavigne with enviromental lawyer (far right) Marco Simons speaking at a confressional briefing about the 2016 Ha Tihn Steel Plant incident hosted by the IMFA.

Friese, Zoe. 2023. "The International Monitor Formosa Alliance: Addressing Local Issues with Global Alliances." In 4S Paraconference X EiJ: Building a Global Record, curated by Misria Shaik Ali, Kim Fortun, Phillip Baum and Prerna Srigyan. Annual Meeting of the Society of Social Studies of Science. Honolulu, Hawai'i, Nov 8-11. 

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Andreas_Rebmann
Annotation of
In response to

To deliver medicinial aid wherever aid is needed throughout the world, especially where human suffering is greatest.

To quote their website:

"We are Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). We help people worldwide where the need is greatest, delivering emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from health care."

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Andreas_Rebmann
Annotation of
In response to

The organization is so large and diverse in its portfolio of accomplishments that it is hard to pinpoint through their research precisely how they approach disasters. However, their overall message is that they help where help is needed most and supply quality medical care for the people there. They seem to have a wholistic approach wherein they supply all care post-disaster instead of focusing on the immediate effects of the disaster. 

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Andreas_Rebmann
Annotation of
In response to

It was a new way of addressing disaster in 1971 when it was founded. 

“It’s simple really: go where the patients are. It seems obvious, but at the time it was a revolutionary concept because borders got in the way. It’s no coincidence that we called it ‘Médecins Sans Frontières.’”

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Andreas_Rebmann
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They have incrediable amounts of research over the course of their history. Within the last year, they published a paper on the care for victims of sexual violence. This article address how they have been handling sexual violence over the past decade as well as the pressure it puts on the orgnaization and its need to continue its aid.

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Andreas_Rebmann
Annotation of
In response to

Doctors without Borders has facilities in many countries already established for humanitarian aid. For instance, they had been in Haiti since 1991, so their assistance in 2010 was aided by their already established position there. In that case they upped their projects within the country in response to the disaster.