I was approached by an NGO to help build queer solidarity with workers and support a workers strike (which we did). At first glance they seem legit but on looking into them a bit more some things seem a bit odd, or am I being overly paranoid about being manipulated into serving imperial interests?
1.) They are funded by The Ford Foundation. I don’t know if they have other funders as they don’t disclose funding on their website at all - I found it through searching.
2.) They tried to register a union but the court rejected it because they had no structure for accountability (a legal requirement for a union). I feel like a legal workers’ advice office should know better?
3.) They seem to directly oppose anything done by the main workers’ union in my country and are extremely critical of our communist party (in all fairness some critisism is well deserved because they are a bit useless).
4.) They say they are opposed to labour brokers but also offer free advice to them and advertise it on their website
5.) They are campaigning to scrap a new labour bill - I get some of their critisisms but I find it weird the campaign is to scrap it completely rather than amend it or encourage public participation when there are actually also some really good wins for workers in it. Scrapping it completely would be a net loss IMO
Do any of you have NGOs doing this kind of thing in your country? Have there been any investigations on these advice office type NGOs or any info you could share? I am going to ask the NGO about all of this - any other good questions I should consider? Thanks!
If they are funded by the Ford foundation they are absolutely an op.
Yes,
severalall items in this post set off increasingly urgent alarms.I know, right? It increasingly feels off to me
I mean, in not saying you can’t get good information by remaining cordial, if you’re not particularly susceptible to prolonged influence exerted on you. But almost no one is, alone.
That was the trigger for me to look into things a bit more - it’s 100% been used as a vehicle to mess with countries historically and
probablymaybe? still is :(
The Ford Foundation specifically is interesting. Long story short - it used to be the reputation laundering front for the car company originally, then it became like the largest non-profit in the world, ended up being a tool for pacifying people during regime change in a bunch of Latin American countries, then even still activists (often religious figures) managed to use it to bring light globally to some of the state terror without putting themselves at risk for directly calling out the state, and afaik by now the foundation has mostly removed itself from that stuff and is effectively a generic huge charity org.
Thanks, yeah I’m not sure if they even use it as a political tool anymore so that’s why I was wondering if anyone in any other countries the US is currently messing with had seen something similar
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Fair enough, good advice, I’m definitely going to look into their actual achievements more thoroughly (not just what they say they’ve done). I do think the people I engaged with are genuine in their intent, but that’s often the case historically with this kind of thing. Thanks!
What is an advice office? That sounds like some strange dystopian stuff.
There are over 300 Community Advice Offices that offer free basic legal, human rights and social justice information and services to people (particularly for marginalised communities) - a really good idea in principle. It’s nothing new, they have existed since the 1930s and I know for sure that many do good work that has a real impact. There’s a national coordinating body for them and they are part of the wider justice network to give grassroots access to the legal system.
This particular advice office is specifically for casual workers but there are others like general legal advice offices, women’s legal advice centres or community-specific ones.
