AF3IRM Rejects Corporate Greed and Launches List for Women’s Lives/Livelihoods

For Immediate Release
November 29, 2013
Contact: Katrina Socco, National Programme Coordinator

 

On Black Friday and everyday, AF3IRM rejects the corporate greed that fuels imperialist control which militarism enforces. Women produce the labor, which makes all labor possible, and yet we are the most vulnerable in the workplace. We know that women are exploited as the means of production and in the mode of production–from women in Maquiladoras (sweatshops) to women retail workers fighting for just wages and treatment.

On the national level, we stand in solidarity with the many striking Walmart workers who are fighting to be treated with dignity and a living wage in the 1,500 rallies across the country today. The average worker makes makes $8.81 an hour (or $17,000 a year). Compare that to Walmart CEO Michael Duke’s annual $35 million salary, which gives him more in an hour than a full-time employee makes in a year!

On the local level, today the SF Bay Area Chapter supports the Annual Shellmound protest in Emeryville, where a mall was built on top of sacred Ohlone burial grounds. It is no surprise that the day after the nation celebrates the lie of Thanksgiving and does not acknowledge Native American genocide, we are pulled into the frenzy of corporate consumerism in which women worldwide literally die to produce.

So today, we stand up against corporate greed and launch our list of women-owned and cooperatively-owned local businesses to serve as alternatives to giving our hard won dollars to corporations who do not care about women’s lives and livelihoods. This will be a rolling list and we invite women-owned businesses that are in alignment with our values to submit so we can continue to support one another. We are here for the long haul – to not only fight the mechanisms of imperialism, colonization, militarism and artificially created borders, but to create the world we want today.

 

AF3IRM’S LIST FOR WOMEN’S LIVES/LIVELIHOODS

San Francisco Bay Area (CA)
1)     LadyParts Automotive
Owner: Mae Castro
3033 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA
2)     Malayá Skin Studio
Owner: Mary June Hernandez
1630 Francisco Blvd., Pacifica, 94044
3)     Rain Decastro, Hair Ninja
Zip Zap Hair
Phone: 415.621.1671
245 Fillmore @ Haight Street
Website: mindbody.com
4)     Eastwind Books of Berkeley
2066 University Ave. Berkeley 94704
5)     31 RAX Clothing
Owner: Stephanie Madrinan
3309 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Website: www.31rax.com
6)     Urban Bazaar
1371 9th Avenue
San Francisco, CA
7)     Retrofit Republic
Owners: Jenny Ton & Julie Rhee
8)     Ericalisa Rosales
Artist
9)     Eve Skylar / Eve Skylar Designs
Artist/Designer
10)  GO! Cakes & Cupcakes
Owner: Glen Obedencio
11)  Soul Desire Bakery
Owner: Leilanie Cakemaker
12)  CrossFit Kindred
Owners: Cindy Lau and Jeff Muya
1460 Tully Road, St 608
San Jose, CA 95122
Phone: 408-293-2051
San Diego (CA)
13)  Ollin Cali
A transnational womyns collective – former maquiladora workers came together and created this business to sell local Mexico/San Diego goods
14)  Fair Trade San Diego
15)  Bertha Gutierrez
independent jewelry vendor
16)  Filipino Food and Bakery
Owner: Lily Prioles
2852 Main Street
San Diego, CA 92113
Phone: 619-546-5665
17)  Rising International
Handcrafts made by human trafficking survivors and women living in extreme poverty or war-torn countries. The crafts are then sold by women living in the United States who are unemployed or under-employed who are trained to run their own home party businesses to help earn an income for their “global sisters.”
New York/ New Jersey (NY/NJ)
20)  Colors Restaurant
417 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10003
Phone: 212-777-8443
21)  Hip Dhamma Yoga  
22)  La Casa AzúBookstore
143 E. 103rd Street
New York, NY 10029
Phone: 212-426-2626
Irvine (CA)
23)  Steppie
For all of your cute panda and ninja needs!
Website: thesteppie.com
24)  Sama Wareh / Wareh Art
Artist / Art, art lessons and workshops
Website: warehart.com
Los Angeles (CA)
25)  Paper Bird Creations
Designer/Owner: Michelle Villarroel
Michelle makes custom handmade double-finger rock rings .
Websites:
Phone: 714.395.4922
26)  Ladysoulfly
Designer/Owner: Tanya Melendez
27)  IMIX Books @ Espacio 1839
Owner: Elisa Garcia
1839 1st Street
Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, CA
28)  iIaments Jewelry
Owner: Lisa Rocha
29)  Cha Cha Covers
Owner: Ana Guajardo
30)  Fine Art Conservation:Tatyana Thompson and Associates
1453 13th Street, Suite B Santa Monica CA 90403
31)  Loralei Rose Bingamon
Artist & Expressive Arts Practioner – HeART Workshops
32)  alfie numeric
Designer/Illustrator/Artist
Websites:
33)  Made by DWC (Downtown Women’s Center)
Social enterprise created by DWC to break the cycles of chronic unemployment and homelessness by empowering women to discover talents and develop skills through vocational opportunities and generates economic and social capital to support programs at DWC.
Café & Gift Boutique
438 S. San Pedro Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Phone: 212-213-2881
Resale Boutique
325 South Los Angeles Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Phone: 213-225-8020
Websites:
South Bay Unit, Los Angeles (CA)
34)  Ms. Yellow
Freelance jewelry/artist based in Long Beach, CA
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ms.YellowOfficial
35)  Michelle Mojica
Free lance jewelry maker based in Wilmington, CA
Email: [email protected]
36)  Native Sol
Eco-friendly clothing/jewelry boutique based in Long Beach, CA
433 E. Broadway
Long Beach, CA 90802
Phone: 562-277-0224