Stories by Michelle Chen

Michelle Chen is a contributing editor to In These Times and a regular contributor to the labor rights blog Working In These Times, Colorlines.com and Pacifica’s WBAI. Follow her on Twitter at @meeshellchen or reach her at michellechen @ inthesetimes.com.

Struggle for Immigrants’ Rights Highlights Split Within Organized Labor

Posted on: Jan 15, 2012, Source: In These Times

ICE officers' union resists reform measures to controversial Secure Communities program, while AFl-CIO wants to end it

Child Labor, Torture and Rape: Attempts to Regulate the Brutal Diamond Industry Failing

Posted on: Dec 11, 2011, Source: In These Times

The holiday season is a time of material pleasures, but it's also a time to take stock of how our social values tend to be at odds with the objects we most prize.

Around the World, Medical Workers Join Protests on the Side of the 99%

Posted on: Nov 28, 2011, Source: In These Times

Movements are discovering the connection between health and activism through medical workers joining the front lines to deploy their skills and their conviction.

Sex Workers Speak Out on Village Voice Ad Controversy

Posted on: Nov 14, 2011, Source: In These Times

Maybe the ethical clarity that moral crusaders desire requires less talking and more listening to what sex workers know, need and want.

It’s NAFTA x3 as Free Trade Deals Sweep Through Congress

Posted on: Oct 17, 2011, Source: Colorlines.com

Congress last week approved three long-pending trade deals with Panama, South Korea and Colombia that will likely lead to massive job loss, not job creation.

It’s NAFTA x3 as Free Trade Deals Sweep Through Congress

Posted on: Oct 17, 2011, Source: ColorLines

Labor Movement Rolls Into Wall Street Occupation

Posted on: Sep 30, 2011, Source: In These Times

Occupy Wall Street seems to be following the trajectory of grassroots organizing: a spark of protest led by younger activists, followed by the support of labor organizations.

What Do Students Learn When Cities Refuse to Fairly Treat Their Teachers?

Posted on: Sep 26, 2011, Source: In These Times

Teachers standing up for their rights on the job are providing a good example for their students, not "politicizing" education as the so-called reformers do.

Labor Day Showdown: Can Advocates Stop ‘NAFTA of the Pacific’?

Posted on: Sep 5, 2011, Source: ColorLines

Labor Day Showdown: Can Activists Stop "NAFTA of the Pacific"?

Posted on: Sep 2, 2011, Source: Colorlines.com

On Monday, activists hope to get ahead of political deal-making by demanding that any new trade deal give greater priority to environmental, labor, and health concerns.

Why Should Rioting Young People Listen to the Elites and Mind a Social Order that Disempowers Them?

Posted on: Aug 10, 2011, Source: In These Times

There's no simple explanation for the uprising in London and several other UK cities this week. But the riots mirror the state of working-class Britain.

How Murdoch’s Empire Suffocates the Craft of Journalism

Posted on: Jul 21, 2011, Source: In These Times

The Murdoch empire is based on a vulgar corporate culture in which honesty and critical thought are dismissed as an impediment to commercial success.

Violence Against Migrant Women Won’t End After DSK Case

Posted on: Jul 12, 2011, Source: Colorlines.com

Rape is a weapon used by the powerful against the powerless--and migrant women across the world are its victims.

Scott Walker's All-Out War on Wisconsin Women

Posted on: Jul 7, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Scott Walker's budget is the latest to slash health funding for women--showing that the war on workers and the war on women are intertwined.

The Globe’s Not Only Getting Hotter. It’s More Unjust and Unstable, Too

Posted on: Jul 6, 2011, Source: Colorlines.com

The future of a warming planet holds more than just melting ice--it will see a lot more conflict over resources, food, and living space as well.

The World's 5 Worst Places For Women -- And How U.S. Policy Helped Make Them That Way

Posted on: Jun 30, 2011, Source: AlterNet

The plight of women in Afghanistan, Congo and other difficult places owes much to the machinations of Washington politicians.

Palestinian Youth Channel an Old Struggle Through New Media

Posted on: Jun 17, 2011, Source: Colorlines.com

Student activists in the West Bank are educating themselves in grassroots organizing strategies--on the ground and on the Web.

States' Shameful Trade-Off: Putting Prisons Over Public Schools

Posted on: Apr 21, 2011, Source: In These Times

At the center of state lawmakers' money-laundering shell game is the starving of public education for investments in prisons -- an incentive for incarcerating the disadvantaged.

Breasts at 7 Years Old: How Chemical Hazards May Wreak Havoc on Children's Bodies

Posted on: Mar 30, 2011, Source: On The Issues Magazine

Little girls are growing breasts a year after losing their first baby teeth. Are the chemicals in everyday household products to blame?

The Republican Attack on Women’s Health Goes Global

Posted on: Mar 7, 2011, Source: ColorLines

White House Says Child Soldiers Are Ok, If They Fight Terrorists

Posted on: Nov 16, 2010, Source: Colorlines.com

The Obama administration just decided to leave countless kids stranded on some of the world’s bloodiest battlegrounds.

Why Girls Around the World Don't Get to Go to School

Posted on: Sep 23, 2010, Source: Ms. Blog

Knowledge is power. So it's no wonder that, all around the world, a girl has less of both.

Sneaky Anti-Abortion Crusade Has Doubly Harsh Impact on Minorities and the Poor

Posted on: Sep 8, 2010, Source: Colorlines.com

We may be past the era of cruel reproductive social engineering, but something more sinister is now emerging in its place.

Conservatives Exploiting Health Care to Deprive Poor Women of Access to Abortion

Posted on: Jul 21, 2010, Source: Colorlines.com

2010 has been a big year for health care reform, but the families on whose backs those legislative victories were won have little to celebrate.

U.S. Immigration Policies: Still Racist After All These Years

Posted on: Nov 17, 2009, Source: ColorLines RaceWire

We can argue about the nuances of immigration reform all we want. But the real conversation begins when -- and only when -- we acknowledge elements of structural racism.

Foreclosure Crisis Hits Poor Renters Hard: Evicted Families Have to Fight to Live Together

Posted on: May 25, 2009, Source: Colorlines.com

With foreclosures and job losses dragging down the whole economy, low-income families of color are falling into an even deeper hole.

Immigrant Survivors of Abuse Struggle Within a Changing System

Posted on: Aug 6, 2008, Source: The Women's International Perspective

Legal protections for immigrant survivors of domestic violence are growing more complex and in some ways, more precarious.

The Trials Minority Women Face Serving in the Military

Posted on: Aug 5, 2008, Source: Colorlines.com

A third of female veterans are women of color. Three of them share their stories of systematic racial discrimination.

New Legislation Threatens American-Indian Women's Reproductive Health

Posted on: Jul 21, 2008, Source: In These Times

An amendment to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act tethers crucial health programs to an anti-abortion agenda.

Abuse Survivors Face Systemic Struggles as Resources for Help Dwindle

Posted on: Apr 21, 2008, Source: The Wip

Congress has slashed funding to domestic violence programs, and the White House is pushing for even deeper cuts. But the human cost is enormous.

Kenya's Emerging Indy Media

Posted on: Mar 27, 2008, Source: In These Times

Amidst the ongoing chaos in Kenya, an alternative media system driven by ordinary Kenyans is rising.

Creating Sustainable Cities: San Francisco and New York Are Leading the Way

Posted on: Jan 15, 2008, Source: The Wip

Far from besieged forests and melting icebergs, American cities are a new front in the environmental movement.

Lobby to Hide Cancer Dangers Has Government's Helping Hand

Posted on: Nov 18, 2007, Source: In These Times

Industry special interests are burying information on cancer-causing chemicals and, according to watchdog groups, the government is helping them do it.

The Promise of Low Power FM

Posted on: Aug 29, 2007, Source: In These Times

The chances that Congress will allow the expansion of low power FM broadcast radio stations to exist in big radio markets offers a huge opportunity for citizens to communicate outside of the corporate airwaves.

Questioning the Economics of Logging Our Largest National Forest

Posted on: Apr 2, 2007, Source: The NewStandard

As the U.S. Forest Service pursues a logging plan for the Tongass, conservationists are pushing for different economic priorities in Alaska.

Drugmakers Hurry Sales, Delay Safety Studies

Posted on: Feb 8, 2007, Source: The NewStandard

Fast-tracked pharmaceuticals are on the market for an average of almost two years without beginning required safety tests, and the FDA is letting it happen.

FDA Plays Politics with Pot

Posted on: Apr 25, 2006, Source: The NewStandard

Last week's ludicrous governmental report, which denied the efficacy of medical marijuana, is the Bush administration's latest attempt to divorce science from policy.

Taxing the Poor

Posted on: Mar 2, 2006, Source: The NewStandard

Although the poor pay a heavy tax burden at the federal level, when it comes to state and local taxes, they as much as the richest brackets.

Behind the White House's Billion-Dollar Propaganda Push

Posted on: Feb 17, 2006, Source: The NewStandard

In two years, the Bush administration spent $1.6 billion to paint a prettier picture of its failing policies, even as it cut away the social safety net.

Hiding Behind Pollution and Paperwork

Posted on: Dec 12, 2005, Source: The NewStandard

While claiming to relieve polluting companies of paperwork, a new EPA plan will let polluters off the hook in reporting their toxic emissions.

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