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Re: US folks dragging the Mnemonic KS for underpaying its collaborators in the Philippines:
This is why I've always felt that we need to talk more about geography when we talk about social justice.
Who you are is important, yes.
*Where you are* is as important.
1/?
This is why I've always felt that we need to talk more about geography when we talk about social justice.
Who you are is important, yes.
*Where you are* is as important.
1/?
"Where you are" being:
- What is your local socio-political context like?
- How does your context compare to other contexts?
- What's the economic differential? Exchange rate / difference in buying power / etc
- Physical distance
- Language access
- etc etc etc
2/?
- What is your local socio-political context like?
- How does your context compare to other contexts?
- What's the economic differential? Exchange rate / difference in buying power / etc
- Physical distance
- Language access
- etc etc etc
2/?
So many fucking things.
People from the West acting on their standards of justice without caring to consult the local context they speak for?
This is one of the many modes of violence metropoles have enacted on the rest of the world.
See: white man's burden.
3/?
People from the West acting on their standards of justice without caring to consult the local context they speak for?
This is one of the many modes of violence metropoles have enacted on the rest of the world.
See: white man's burden.
3/?
(Am speaking about it in "Western metropole vs rest of the world" terms, but really non-white people are perfectly capable of fucking each other over in this way.
See: Anglophone city folk in Asia pontificating on "what village folk need")
4/?
See: Anglophone city folk in Asia pontificating on "what village folk need")
4/?
US commentators: do you know how much USD1 goes in the Filipino context?
That's some *baseline* information, to start, and knowing that detail will already give you some idea of the complexities involved, vis a vis PH-US economics.
5/?
That's some *baseline* information, to start, and knowing that detail will already give you some idea of the complexities involved, vis a vis PH-US economics.
5/?
For example:
Where I am, because of the exchange rates and the general level of income in my local Malaysian community:
USD3 (about RM12) buys me a bigass lunch that satisfies me for the rest of the day.
6/?
Where I am, because of the exchange rates and the general level of income in my local Malaysian community:
USD3 (about RM12) buys me a bigass lunch that satisfies me for the rest of the day.
6/?
Imagine what my monthly income is like, if USD3 means that much to me.
Imagine how much a USD25 book *actually* costs me.
(Not to mention the postage, which doubles the cost of anything from the US. *Another* very real example of How Geography Matters.)
7/?
Imagine how much a USD25 book *actually* costs me.
(Not to mention the postage, which doubles the cost of anything from the US. *Another* very real example of How Geography Matters.)
7/?
Consider how that this difference in buying power essentially means that, for eg:
I will never be able to afford hiring an artist at fair-for-Western-standards rates, without either:
(a) being personally wealthy;
(b) lots of financial assistance
8/?
I will never be able to afford hiring an artist at fair-for-Western-standards rates, without either:
(a) being personally wealthy;
(b) lots of financial assistance
8/?
Now:
To US folks, all that may seem to firther the argument that creators from the Philippines and elsewhere should be paid better than USD55 per illo, right?
10/?
To US folks, all that may seem to firther the argument that creators from the Philippines and elsewhere should be paid better than USD55 per illo, right?
10/?
But:
When I ask for a writing fee lower than the USian norm, I'm not thinking about the US.
I'm thinking: "I'm asking for a writing fee higher than the Malaysian norm." I'm thinking about my own context.
11/?
When I ask for a writing fee lower than the USian norm, I'm not thinking about the US.
I'm thinking: "I'm asking for a writing fee higher than the Malaysian norm." I'm thinking about my own context.
11/?
And one of the ways I'm thinking about this is: if I keep my personal rates consistent, and it rises steeply out of the local norms-
This essentially means I lock out folk from my own context hiring me.
I'm Malaysian, but Malaysians can't afford me. Only white people can.
12/?
This essentially means I lock out folk from my own context hiring me.
I'm Malaysian, but Malaysians can't afford me. Only white people can.
12/?
Now: I *definitely* feel like creators throughout SEA are underpaid as fuck.
And it is the local context / norms that keep us struggling. (This is why so many of our brightest leave. Google "brain drain".)
13/?
And it is the local context / norms that keep us struggling. (This is why so many of our brightest leave. Google "brain drain".)
13/?
But: for a local publisher to pay me a rate equivalent what a US publisher would pay me-
That would mean my whole local context will need to change. And the current systems of global capital, where metropoles prey on low-wage contexts like mine, make that hard.
14/?
That would mean my whole local context will need to change. And the current systems of global capital, where metropoles prey on low-wage contexts like mine, make that hard.
14/?
And the only way for me to influence things one way or another, is to *remain* in my context, nudging the needle ever so slightly each time, paying myself a livable wage + making sure I'm accessible to my peers + building context-specific networks, etc
15/?
15/?
And I can tell you:
Your summary judgments on what a fair price should be, on what justice is, made with incomplete knowledge, from afar?
You make it just that much harder.
16/16
Your summary judgments on what a fair price should be, on what justice is, made with incomplete knowledge, from afar?
You make it just that much harder.
16/16
PS: one of the ways I've dealt with this is to go: "Fuck it. The world isn't fair. To counterbalance that I'm charging different rates based on where folks are." https://twitter.com/zedecksiew/status/1134003955774574592
Sorry, was having my RM9 (USD2.50) lunch break.
This began as a reaction to bullshit @TheDovetailor @diwataMANILA @Chaotic_Neural were calling out -back their kickstarter, but also just follow them generally, they are good folks! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mnemonicrpg/mnemonic-a-weavers-almanac/
This began as a reaction to bullshit @TheDovetailor @diwataMANILA @Chaotic_Neural were calling out -back their kickstarter, but also just follow them generally, they are good folks! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mnemonicrpg/mnemonic-a-weavers-almanac/
