Call for Photos: A Day Without Dignity Campaign

A Day Without Dignity is a counter-campaign to TOMS Shoes A Day Without Shoes “awareness raising campaign” i.e. commercial. Today Saundra Schimmelpfennig at Good Intentions Are Not Enough is asking people from areas that receive shoe drops and other forms of charity, the diaspora, and aid workers to speak up in blogs, on Twitter, or at school. People are also encouraged to contribute photos or videos from around the world of people wearing shoes, shoes in the market place, shoes lined up in front of houses, or people talking about what their real needs and wants are. You can click here to view the contributions so far.

As part of the counter-campaign, she is also calling for specific photographs to help make a video that will imitate the TOMS video (see it here). But instead of including barefoot white folks holding signs, it would show shoed multi-ethnic folk holding the following signs, each held by a different person:

“A Day”

“With Handouts”

“Is a Day”

“Without Dignity”

“Dignity”

“Dignity”

“Dignity”

“Dignity”

“Dignity”

Then the other signs might say:

“There are shoes for sale in every country, including [INSERT YOUR COUNTRY].”

“Handing out free goods undermines local markets.”

“Used-clothing imports to Africa caused 50% of the decline in employment from 1981–2000.”

“Between 1992 and 2006, 543,000 textile workers in Nigeria lost their jobs due to importing of donated clothing.”

“Handing out free shoes, endangers the livelihoods of these people…”

“We don’t want gifts. We want respectable jobs.”

The finished video can be viewed below. If you’d like to share a photo of yourself with one of these phrases to be included in any future videos, email them tosaundra@goodintents.org.

From the depth of need and despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their own problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength. ~Cesar Chavez

Shoes for sale in Malawi. Photo by Duncan McNicholl at http://untappedmarkets.ca/

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3 Comments

  1. Kari Sides Suva

    I am so glad you are doing this. Yesterday my 16 year old participated in “A Day without Shoes” at school. (She rolled her eyes at my comments of “you could have stepped on broken glass” or sillier still, “there’s still snow on the ground.”) At any rate, it was really just another “Pajama Day” for the kids and a fun opportunity to break the rules. I’m not sure it really did even any awareness building.

    I plan to discuss the idea of “A Day without Dignity” versus “A Day without Shoes” with her school, who I expect will be receptive. The school and the kids are very engaged in volunteer projects in the community and in raising money for some small INGOs. It’s a good opportunity to get a discussion going about aid effectiveness and the concept of “Do no harm.”

  2. Pingback: BJP terms freebies as affront to voters dignity | Interfreebies

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