pieces of history

Some people who buy used clothing become fascinated by their previous owners. They want to know why the person originally bought the item and when he or she wore it.* I usually have no interest in the “personal history” of used clothing, but earlier this week, I had my moment of historical fascination.

After picking up prescriptions, I decided to browse in this thrift store on 19th street between Market and Chestnut. I don’t even know its name, but it’s one of those “real” “hole-in-the-wall” thrift stores. The stuff is cheap, it smells funny and there was a homeless man, or atleast a man who smelled homeless, sitting in the store, talking to one of the employees.

In any case, I bought three 100% wool skirts.** All three of them had ILGWU International Ladies Garment Workers Union “Union Made” “Made in the USA” tags on them.


Founded in 1900, ILGWU was one of the most progressive and important unions in the United States, reaching its peak of power in 30s and 40s. It began to decline in the 1960s and eventually merged with two other textile unions in 90s. Aside from being a union, ILGWU was also primarily a women’s union and given its start date, it was giving women economic and political representation even before they were allowed to vote.

So I feel like I’ve brought home three little pieces of history. (In fact, I feel reluctant to take out my scissors and do my usual round of alterations). I wonder about the women who produced them. Where did they work? What were their working conditions like? Did their union involvement make them feel like they had some control over their jobs?

It’s difficult these days to find union-made clothing. “Made in China” is a far more common label. Yet buying these three old skirts reminded me that this was once not the case.

Speaking of buying stuff, please refer back to last year’s entry for sources for buying fair-trade or ethically-produced gifts. I also seem to regularly rant about labour issues.

And speaking of the holidays, here's some light and pleasant reading suggestions. I actually haven’t read most of these, but they are all on my never-ending to-read list. The first book is political philosophy about community organizing. The next two are written by journalists about working conditions in America, either based on first-hand undercover experience (Ehrenreich) or interviews and research (Greenhouse). The latter three books are written by academics. Class Acts is, if I’m not mistaken, based on participant observation and research at a luxury hotel and is primarily concerned with the relationships that develop between the rich clientele and the hotel workers. The final two are more theoretical works about the organization and structure of labour.

• Reveille for Radicals (Saul Alinsky)
• The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker (Steven Greenhouse)
• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America (Barbara Ehrenreich)
• Class Acts: Service and Inequality in Luxury Hotels (Rachel Sherman)
• The Ownership of Enterprise (Henry Hansmann)
• Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Monopoly Capitalism (Michael Burawoy)

Note: I actually wrote this entry in late November. I just haven’t had a chance to photograph the skirts and post the entry until now.
* I also hate it when people distinguish between “vintage” and “thrift” clothing. To me, used clothing is used clothing. Some items may be better quality than others and some may be older, but I don’t find clothing called “vintage” inherently more valuable than clothing called thrift. (Then again, it could be more valuable in that I could probably sell an old skirt called “vintage” for much more than thrift store skirt). It’s marketing. Vintage shop geniuses who make money off ugly 70s polyester dresses.
** I initially planned to buy two skirts, for a total of $14, but the cashier decided to give me one of the skirts for free. After buying these skirts, I noticed another skirt and decided to try it on. Unfortunately it had a small stain on the front so I decided it wasn’t worth the $10. The cashier was disappointed that I wasn’t going to buy it so he offered to sell it to me for $2. That wool fabric alone would cost me $20 to buy, so I bought the skirt. Three skirts for $8, the price of a Center City lunch. Nice! This is why I love *real* thrift stores, as opposed to pricey consignment shops.

the life and death of great american corporations

ramblings on the economy

“Around one in ten US companies disappears each year. Between 1989 and 1997, to be precise, an average of 611,000 businesses a year vanished out of a total of 5.73 million firms. Ten per cent is the average extinction rate, it should be noted; in some sectors of the economy, it can rise as high as 20 per cent in a bad year. According to the UK Department of Trade and Industry, 30 per cent of tax-registered businesses disappear after three years. Even if they survive the first few years of existence and go on to enjoy great success, most firms fail eventually. Of the world’s 100 largest companies in 1912, 29 were bankrupt by 1995, 48 had disappeared* and only 19 were still in the top 100.”

~ The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson

In these hard economic times, I doubt it’s any consolation to know that capitalism has been characterized by innovation and failure at the micro-level and cycles of boom and bust at the macro-level.

But we should still remember that it’s not all bad news.* Many of us still have jobs (and are feeling more thankful for them than we ever have before.) It’s also encouraging to see the nation shifting away from consumerism, but the accompanying layoffs are troubling.

That’s the complicated part about fighting against consumerism-- every purchase links back to a job. (And likewise for sweatshops). We stop buying and companies start hurting, which in it of itself doesn’t bother me, but then the layoffs begin. And while this recession has been hard-hitting for well-educated financial professionals, it is still the most hurtful for the least educated and the most vulnerable in our society. (I can’t seem to find the article, but basically decline in employment has affected high school diploma-less men the most).

Bankruptcies and layoffs in a capitalist economy that champions creative destruction technically shouldn’t be something we fear. Nevertheless, when the destruction doesn’t just affect legal entities and the pocket change of the rich, but begins to leave many without jobs, then we do need more consolation than “It’s just the nature of capitalism. Boom and bust. We just have to wait it out.” (“Collateral damage” for a “cyclical adjustment” perhaps? It will just be a matter of mathematical calculations before the supply and demand curves reshift.)

How many days or years or decades of waiting before you can get back on track with your life?

I hope that as we wait out this recession, we will actively care for those who are most vulnerable. I hope that while we may be cautious with our spending, that we can still be generous with our giving. And I hope that as we are trying to fix the economy, we’re building something more sustainable and just, rather than just patching up something that was never that great to begin with.


* Interestingly enough, the longest-existing institutions in our day have been nonprofit organizations such as universities…
** For instance, Amazon is still doing okay and so is Wal-Mart, which obviously makes me happy since you all know how much I love and adore and worship Wal-Mart.

I'm just trying to keep up with the trendy topics

Just like everyone else, I have something to say about what our first lady is wearing.

As a knitter, a sewer (the kind that makes things with fabric as opposed to the kind that harbours strange smells and rats), and someone who is attempting to dress better, I appreciate beautifully-designed and well-made clothing. And I appreciate the privilege of being able to choose what I wear in the morning.

That being said, it frustrates me how the media expects Mrs. Obama to wear a new outfit everytime she attends a public function. I would be delighted to see our first lady repeat a prior outfit for her appearances.* Not everyone can, nor needs to, buy something new for every new party, conference or fundraiser. And perhaps if people wore more of the same outfits to these events, we’d talk less about what people wore and more about what the event was about. (Is it frustrating for Mrs. Obama that people seem to talk more about her clothes than what she's accomplished or what she is going to do as the first lady?)

It is sad when so much public effort is dedicated to anticipating, observing and criticizing appearances. Does it say something about our country that we care more about inaugural ball gowns than economic stimulus packages? But to be honest, it’s more interesting to look at pictures of Michelle Obama’s clothing and comment on whether or not I like it, than it is to read the full text of the economic stimulus bill and try to figure out whether or not it will work. I guess I never said I wasn’t part of the problem. Back to knitting I suppose?


*And obviously, given the amount of media attention around her outfits, I would love to see Mrs. Obama buy and wear ethically-produced clothing. She already seems intent on supporting smaller, local designers and I would love to see the same enthusiasm for fair-trade, union-made or cooperative-made clothing.... My opinions are so predictable, aren’t they?
** And related to my previous entry, I am thrilled that Obama called the $20 billion worth of Wall Street bonuses shameful. We need to return towards an ethic of integrity and responsibility towards one another, rather than lowering ourselves to the least common denominator of legality.

two roads diverged in a wood

I know you must all be annoyed with my endless sweatshop rants,* but I was surprised to find out yesterday that Judy Wicks, the founder of White Dog Café, co-founded Free People (which later became Urban Outfitters/Anthropologie clothing chain) with her then husband Richard Hayne.

It’s amazing how far apart these two business people’s paths have diverged since then:

Richard Hayne is currently the president of Urban Outfitters, the company that now operates the stores, Free People, Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie. He has a net worth of $1.8 billion, ranking the 262 richest person in the United States, atleast at the time in which this article was written.

His stores have stirred up quite a bit of controversy, both for politically incorrect t-shirts and allegedly ripping-off of independent designers. While people who shop at these stores tend to be liberal leaning, Richard Hayne is actually a die-hard Republican (not that that is necessarily a bad thing). Urban Outfitters evokes an aura of rebellion and independence while Anthropologie gives off a sense of vintage old world sophistication, but both are extremely corporate brands. Commodify your dissent all the way. Coolness and authenticity can now be purchased.

Furthermore, Hayne’s stance on sweatshops reflects the easy reasoning that sweatshops offer a better alternative to abject poverty (The Onion actually did an interesting video parody on sweatshops yesterday). I’ll let you be the judge:

"Years ago I visited one of the factories we work with in India, and there was 500 people standing in a line three people deep stretching around the building," he recalls. "I said to the foreman, 'What's going on?' He told me they were all applicants for the four positions they had open. I toured that facility and it was reasonably clean--for India. And it was reasonably well-lit--again, for India. And yes, it was mostly young women working there. But it is my understanding that the only other option those women had to feed their families was selling their bodies. So I don't want to hear people from the suburbs with their fat American stomachs telling people in other countries how to run their societies."

Meanwhile, Judy Wicks is not quite as wealthy as her former husband, but is by no means poor. (Let’s be honest- what would you really do with more than a billion dollars?) She is the founder of the restaurant White Dog Café, located near Penn campus. White Dog Café has become a renowned model for Triple Bottom Line business practices, with regard for profit, people and the environment. In addition to paying its restaurant workers living wages, White Dog Café also became one of the first restaurants to source local organic food long before Michael Pollan became trendy reading. She’s a vocal advocate for local sustainable economies and has written some interesting and inspiring articles on the subject.

Two very different versions of how to run a business in today's society. Richard Hayne was ingenious in creating the compelling pull of his brands**, managing to convince alot of us silly consumers into buying into image without substance, but Judy Wicks gives real hope. Her dissent has not been commodified.


* Though, is it not sad that nobody really cares passionately about anything anymore? And isn't it sad that we tend to think that those who care passionately about anything are a little loopy and crazy. Everything in moderation n’est ce pas?
** I have to guiltily admit that I love anthropologie clothing, but atleast in the last three years, I have been able to resist buying anything from the store despite the fact that it is located very close to my office. (It helps that it is really expensive) It's interesting though to read the customer target of anthropologie as described on Urban Outfitters corporate website:
... Over the past decade, we have traveled the globe, broken new ground with our catalog and web design, and most significantly of all, found customers who are our soulmates on this journey. Our core customer is 30 to 45, educated, fashionable, creative, and youthful. She values family and friends and loves shopping in the vibrant environments we create for her. Our unique and eclectic product assortment is carefully designed and selected with an eye for craftsmanship and detail...
Here's the Urban Outfitters description:
Our goal at Urban Outfitters is to be the brand of choice for well-educated, urban-minded young adults. We accomplish our objective by creating a differential shopping experience, which creates an emotional bond with the 18 to 30 year old target customer we serve. Currently, we operate more than 129 stores in the US, Canada, and Europe. Our stores offer a unique and eclectic mix of fashion merchandise in a lifestyle sensitive store environment. Products range from women's & men's apparel, accessories and footwear to items for the apartment, as well as gifts and novelties.

shopping season

Now that election season is over, it’s holiday (a.k.a shopping) season.

Our political voting may be over for the year, but we still vote with our money. As I mentioned in my last post, we implicitly support the way that businesses are run when we buy from them and give them revenue.

While it’s near impossible to ensure that everything you buy is produced justly and sustainably, please consider making atleast a few purchases (if not all) from businesses that pursue ethical labour and good environmental practices this holiday season. As you will see in the list below, there are lots of options.

I thought I’d list a few stores and brands that I like. They usually have some combination of local, ethical labour or sustainable environmental practices, though few of them are 100% perfect in any of those categories. Below my list, I’ve also included a list compiled by Co-Op America in this brochure. It’s an even more comprehensive list of different businesses. I haven’t browsed most of these stores but some of them sound like great places to find gifts for others or for yourself. It's also possible to look up retailers on Responsible Shopper. I've also blogged extensively about labour practices in the past (1, 2, 3, 4)

If you know of other brands or stores that you particularly like, please feel free to leave them in the comment section. Or if you find out that any of these stores or brands are not quite what they're made out to be, please let me know as well. I’ll update this page as I hear about more stores and brands.

Please feel free to forward this link or this list to others. Spread the word! If you’re going to consume, you might as well support good business practices while you’re at it.

Food
Equal Exchange - Fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate. Yummy!
Your Local Farmer’s Market – To find one near you and if you’re in PA, try Buy Local PA or Local Food Philly


Clothing and accessories (Online ordering available for all of the below)
Fair Indigo – Fair trade clothing online retailer that sells Ann Taylor Loft-like clothing. They are sleek and corporate-looking, which immediately arouses some suspicion, but for the most part, I believe that they are genuine. Proceed with caution.
Wiksten – Handmade clothing sewn by a woman who resides in Kansas City; A bit on the pricey end and a small collection but I appreciate people who start their own craft business working out of their houses.
Passenger Pigeon Clothing – Eco-friendly clothing and bags made in Canada. Also pricey so I’ve never bought anything from them, but they have some really gorgeous designs
Anti-Factory - Hand-made "urban" clothing made from recycled materials. Really nice, colourful casual styles.
ReLoad – Handmade custom messenger bags, backpacks and other accessories. Orders can take up to a month to process as they are all hand-made and based on customized colours. They also do custom graphics and machine appliqué on their bags. They are headquartered in Philadelphia.
VicPickle – Purchase your own customized handbag (i.e. you get to pick out the fabrics, style etc…) which will then be made by hand in Philadelphia. They’re headquartered in Philadelphia as well.
Mooshoes – Vegan and cruelty-free shoes and bags. Store is in NY.
WarmLegWear – A family business operating out of Maine (I think?). It sells lots of tights and socks, most of which are made in Canada.
Sockdreams – Similar to the above, but with a wider selection, including organics. Not sure where most of their socks/tights are manufactured though.
Adbusters BlackSpot Shoes - Union made canvas sneakers ($79) and boots ($120)
Planet Bike - Bike lights and other accessories
Camper – is a Spanish shoe company with long history of environmental and labor responsibility. They’re also pricey but the shoes are very stylish—they’re famous for the “Twin” shoes where two shoes have different but coordinating designs.
The Green Guide also has a good list for ethically-made and environmentally-friendly shoes (including Timberland and Birkenstocks)

Miscellaneous
Etsy – Online retailer of vintage and handmade items. It’s Ebay meets an arts and crafts fair.
Ten Thousand Villages – A fair trade nonprofit organization. It sells jewelry, home décor (including beautiful wicker baskets), cards, notebooks, china and other gift items.
LUSH – Organic bath and body products made in Canada with minimal packaging. They’re pricey but the store smells good.
Paperbackswap – Not really a source for gifts but a good website to post and swap books with other members.

Local Stores specific to Philadelphia
I’ve tried my best to list the intersections but if you do plan to visit any of these stores, please google the addresses to be sure.
Thrift stores and consignment stores – There are plenty in the Philadelphia area. To list a few: The Second Mile at 45th and Locust, Goodwill at 22nd and Market (across from Trader Joe’s), a place at 50th and Baltimore, Buffalo Exchange at 17th and Chestnut, Sophisticated Seconds at 21st and Sansom, Immortal Uncommon Resale at 18th and Sansom, Greene Street (or something like that) on South Street etc…
Smak Parlour – A boutique located on Market Street between 2nd and 3rd Street in Philadelphia. It has great (somewhat flashy) clothing mainly for parties and nightclubs. Most of the clothing is designed by the owners and sewn in Chinatown. I almost got the bridesmaid dresses for my wedding from this store, but they unfortunately would not be ready on time.
Vix Emporium – VIX Emporium is a handcraft store located at 50th and Baltimore. They have quite a bit of fun jewelry, t-shirts, cards, soaps, bags and other
Black Cat – Another gift shop located 3424 Sansom Street Philadelphia. Straight from the website: “We strive to be a socially responsible business by focusing on merchandise that contributes to the good of the planet as a whole. These "Whole World Products" include pieces made from recycled materials, the work of local artists and craftspeople, fairly traded international handicrafts, and products sold in support of disabled or disadvantaged people.” It’s the counterpart to the famous White Dog Café.
Firehouse Bikes - Worker-owned used bike store and repair shop; Bikes range from about $100-$600; Great service (though sometimes slow), good prices, really friendly owners! I purchased my own bike there June of 2007.
Used/local book stores – The city also has plenty of used or locally-owned bookstores Book Trader (2nd and Market), A House of Our Own (39th and Spruce), The Last Word (40th and Locust), Big Jar Books (2nd and Arch)
Some of the above stores in the other lists are also headquartered in Philadelphia or have stores in Philly, including Ten Thousand Villages (13th and Locust), LUSH (15th and Walnut), VicPickle and ReLoad.
Fabric stores – Fabric Row has a whole bunch of fabric and notions stores located near 4th and Bainbridge; Spool Sewing at 19th and South; Cloth & Bobbin in Narberth
Yarn Stores – Rosie’s Yarn Cellar at 20th and Locust, Loop at 19th and South, Ewe and I in Narberth; Look specifically for Manos del Uruguay and Shokay yarn purchased from cooperatives in China and Uruguay.

Co-Op America List

A Greater Gift
www.agreatergift.org
Fairly traded home decor, jewelry, and more from artisans and farmers around the world.

Autonomie Project, Inc.
www.autonomieproject.com
Fair Trade, sweatshop-free footwear and clothing made by worker-owned cooperatives in the developing world.

Bamboosa
www.bamboosa.com
Makes bamboo fiber clothing and baby products that are sweatshop-free and American-made.

BaaBaa Zuzu
www.baabaazuzu.com
Jackets, mittens, hats, scarves and bags: one-of-a-kind and made in the USA from reclaimed woolens.

BTC Elements
www.btcelements.com
Offers earth-friendly and socially conscious apparel, accessories, beauty, and baby clothes.

Chapter One Organics
www.chapteroneorganics.com
Uses organic fabrics sewn in the US to make stylish, fun, and practical baby and toddler clothing.

Certified Jean Co.
www.certifiedjean.com
Jeans for men and women, made from organic cotton: grown, milled, and made in the USA.

Cottonfield
www.cottonfieldusa.com
Organic cotton and hemp clothing including sweaters and underwear for men and women.

Decent Exposures
www.decentexposures.com
Shirts, leggings, skirts, bathing suits, and over 200 sizes of organic cotton bras made in the USA.

Dreams on Looms
www.dreamsonlooms.com
Collection of apparel and accessories handwoven by tribal women from northeast India.

Earth Creations
www.earthcreations.net
Clothing in organic cotton, hemp, tencel, and bamboo blends; dyed with natural clay dyes.

Ecolution
www.ecolution.com
Direct Romanian sweat-free manufacturer of hemp products: hats, bags, apparel, fabric, and more.

Ecoganik
www.ecoganik.com
Private label sweat-free organic fashion for men, women, and kids: career and casual wear and more.

Esperanza Threads
www.esperanzathreads.com
Organic fiber clothing made under fair conditions in Cleveland, Ohio.

Equita
www.shopequita.com
Fair Trade, organic and green essentials including: apparel, jewelry, handbags, and baby
clothing.

Fair Industry
www.fairindustry.com
Fairly traded women’s clothing and jewelry; modern design combined with traditional skills.

Fair Trade Sports
www.fairtradesports.com
Fairly traded eco-certifi ed sports balls for soccer, football, basketball, rugby, and more.

Far East Handicrafts
www.fareasthandicrafts.com
Direct importer from indigenous craftspeople, specializing in handmade paper, singing bowls, chimes, bells, silver and wood carving, and more.

Global Exchange
www.store.gxonlinestore.org
Not-for-profit, non-exploitative online store supporting artisan cooperatives in 40 countries.

Global Mamas
www.globalmamas.org
Clothing and jewelry handmade by women’s cooperatives in Africa.

Greater Goods
www.greatergoodsonline.com
Fair Trade hats, natural fiber clothing, jewelry, gifts and more.

Justice Clothing
www.justiceclothing.com
Men’s and women’s union-made-in-the-USA clothing, coats, underwear, socks, ties, and more.

Kusikuy
www.kusikuy.com
Fair Trade llama and alpaca blend knits. Ponchos, sweaters, hats, mittens, and scarves.

Maggie’s Organics
www.organicclothes.com
Sweat-free clothing including T-shirts, camisoles, tops, socks, and tights made with organic cotton.

Marigold Fair Trade
www.marigoldfairtradeclothing.com
Fair Trade clothing and household items from a women’s cooperative in India.

Natural Beginnings
www.naturalbeginnings.biz
Organic and natural sweat-free products for babies and their moms.

No Sweat Apparel
www.nosweatapparel.com
Union-made, sweatshop-free sneakers and clothing for men, women, and children.

North Star Toys
www.northstartoys.com
Creative, nontoxic, nonviolent wooden toys made by a family business.

Parnassus Investments
www.parnassus.com
Offers seven socially responsible mutual funds, all of which consider both financial and social factors when making investment decisions.

Rugmark
www.rugmark.org
Working to end child labor in the rug industry, and offer education to former child weavers.

Splaff
www.splaff.com
Sandals, bags, and belts handcrafted from used tires, hemp, and recycled materials.

Traditions Fair Trade
www.traditionsfairtrade.com
Promotes Fair Trade relationships with artisans around the world; offers sweat-free sneakers.

T.S. Designs
www.tsdesigns.com
Full-service apparel domestic manufacturing and screenprinting company based in North Carolina.

Under the Nile
www.underthenile.com
Children’s apparel, diapers, bedding, blankets, and more, made fairly in Egypt.

World of Good
www.worldogood.com
Fair Trade apparel, scarves, jewelry, housewares, and gifts from around the world.

imagining china

If cities have gods, then so must nations. With the 24 hour NBC coverage of the Olympic Games, I can’t help but think what mythical being presides over the vast land of China? What is the spirit that guides this imagined community?*

Let me caveat all this by saying that I make this sketch of China from my very biased and limited viewpoint, amalgamated from my own impressions of the country, conversations with upper middle-class Chinese family and friends and perhaps a few taxi drivers and shop owners, and my reading of American media, which seems quick to pounce on China's weaknesses. Nevertheless, this is my opinion of China, a country for which I still feel a strange affinity for, perhaps indicated by my slightly inability to fully cheer for the American nearly all blond women’s gymnastics team.** The faces of the Chinese women’s gymnastics teams strike me both as familiar and foreign, reminding me of my elusive birthplace that I have only visited as a tourist.

On the surface, China’s deity stands proud. It has come a long way since the devastating mass famines of the 1950s or the social upheavals (the closing down of schools, the relocation to the countryside) of the Cultural Revolution. My parents left China in the mid-eighties. At that time, few families possessed any common household appliances that marked America’s successful 50s: microwave, refrigerator, television set, washing machine etc… However, when my parents returned in 1993 and 1994, they were amazed to find that nearly all their relatives owned them. They remarked that there was little they had that the Chinese did not (aside from having two children!). In little more than a decade or so, many, my extended family included, have risen out of poverty and have decent middle class lives, no longer living cramped six people to a room with no running water.

And visually, China’s cities reflect this economic success-- the impressive glowing skylines, the rapidly expanding network of highways, the sleek shopping centers and lively nightlife. As a result of both this and the continued nationalistic propaganda (if I’m not mistaken, elementary school textbooks still include numerous flattering portraits of Mao ZeDong and other key revolutionary heroes), many feel proud of what China has been able to accomplish from so little.

But China’s pride may also prove to be its downfall. Pursuing some unrealistic vision of modernization, China has been demolishing historic slum-like inner city neighborhoods and replacing them with sleek high rises and shopping malls. While America tries to lower automobile usage, China promotes it, restricting bicycle usage on certain streets. Its rapid industrialization has also filled the skies up with smog. Some may have profited from the economic development, but many remain left behind, supplying the labor for the sweatshop factories and filling in the informal economy.

Its nationalistic pride also suggests hidden insecurity. Though China lavishly demonstrates to the world its success and power, it also seems to yearn for praise and acceptance. Its previous attempts at manufacturing and coordinating a utopian society have failed. Communism in China was a disaster that killed millions. Previous state-down attempts at controlling the population with the one-child policy have created a new set of problems, with the increased pressure on only children to support their parents, and the outnumbering of males to females.

Perhaps China is so quick to curb criticism and repress free speech because it needs to continue to sustain its own myth. Exiled Chinese author Ma Jian, as cited in this article, comments that in China, there is "inflated pride; the fusion of years of nationalistic propaganda, with the economic powerhouse China has become, has created a feeling that it's now the centre of the world, and that foreigners come to them with begging hands." However, "the root of this desire to put on a great show stems from the authorities' own loss of faith in themselves. And they also realize that, despite the great rise in nationalism, the people don't believe in this empty ideology either."

And so China’s shiny, proud exterior façade (like the recently erected walls designed to hide Beijing slums) conceals an interior disillusionment and insecurity. While Chinese Olympic athletes who win gold take home glory and wealth, what happens to the 249,550 (with injured bodies and insufficient education) who do not?*** What other bodies are lost in the spectacle of those chiseled, carved and engineered Olympic bodies?

The state already disappointed the people with the collapse of the communist dream. Along with that, many promises, including health care, state pensions, welfare, jobs, justice, and equality, have been broken. Individual well-being is always curtailed for some purported collective good and elusive nationalistic glory. (Service and sacrifice for the nation is always enforced, rarely voluntary). While China celebrates hosting the Olympic games, factory owners are forced to close up shop, slum-dwellers suddenly find walls surrounding their neighborhoods, and students are told to stay away from Beijing during this time. When China was awarded the privilege (not the right) of hosting the Olympic games, it was partly for the hope of improving the human rights situation in the country. But many have commented that the situation has only worsened.

The Chinese people may rhetorically display plenty of nationalist pride in their imagined community, but their actions suggest otherwise. A spirit of practicality dominates the real China. From my aunt who questioned me on why I did not take a job with a higher salary, to a Chinese Chinatown bus companion who kept insisting that I must do business with China because I spoke both Chinese and English and could become very wealthy, it all comes down to money and security for oneself, and one’s family.

Students spend their childhoods and adolescence confined to classrooms and study halls, preparing for their college entrance exams. Other families make huge personal sacrifices in order to send their children abroad. Factory workers choose to work long, grueling hours in order to provide better for their families. Individuals rarely make true financial sacrifices for the sake of their nation. Over one billion people scramble to try to make ends meet, and improve their standard of living, perhaps without any thought as to whether or not they are serving or bettering their country.

And so perhaps China really is just an imagined community—a story , a fable, a myth, a distant deity to whom one pays homage, but certainly not a god who will come to one’s rescue, no matter how desperate the prayer.****



* The term “imagined communities” comes from Benedict Anderson’s definition of nations. He describes nations as imagined "is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion".
** Okay, I wrote that before the gymnastics all-around. I’ll admit it-- by the end, I was cheering for Nastia Liukins. After all I am a newly minted U.S. citizen! And if I don’t cheer for the US, what country can I cheer for? I can’t quite cheer for China, and Canada’s performance at this Olympics has been rather disappointing. “You have to be ambitious to win the Olympics,” says my mother, “The Canadians! They’re too laid-back!”. I also asked my mother which country she was cheering for more—US or China? She said it was tough, but the US more.
*** I’m averse to China’s state training of athletes where children as young as 3 can be taken from their families. But then I wonder about how sports often work in America—Children aren’t forced to train by the state, and yet only those who can afford the classes, the practice and the coaching make it to the top. I could spin it and say that atleast China gives children and families who have never had an opportunity a chance for Olympic Success. But once again, I must wonder about all those athletes who didn’t quite make it to the top but still had to subject themselves to the years of grueling training, injuries and separation from family. The New York Times article also suggests that even former medalists don’t always fare too well after the Olympics and the glory has faded.
**** I am cognizant of China’s demonstration (both government and individual) of care and compassion after the SiChuan earthquake, so I’m not saying that the government will not assist people at all. Once again, I am speaking of in general terms, so naturally exceptions exist.

blablabla

I have been bogged down by unfinished blog entries. So to unload and start off on a fresh slate, I offer you some thought-provoking links and excerpts, and unfinished thoughts that have inspired me enough to write a few words, but perhaps not enough to write a full entry. This is long (four full screen lengths), so please browse….

Are YOU an African country ravaged by Aids and parched by drought? Fear not! Simply call Madonna! This fabulously wealthy white women from the West will solve all of your problems with a few fleeting visits, some looks of pained concern for the paparazzi, and a couple of million quid in donations…

There is something creepily colonialist in Madonna’s attitude to Africa. First we had the White Man’s Burden -– now we have the White Madonna’s Burden. More and more celebrities are treating Africa as a wide-eyed child that needs a Hollywood hug -– or as a wicked devil that needs a Hollywood hammering.

~ from the White Madonna's Burden

Sometimes, I wish people would stop whining about so-called “sexual oppression” in the United States. We have it pretty good in this country. Why do we keep complaining? Because apparently part of the answer to women’s sexual oppression, is to watch more porn:

Women bear the brunt of sexual oppression. While women have gained upward mobility in economic, political, and social realms, sexual liberation is the necessary key to open the door to full emancipation. Many women are not even aware of this insidious form of oppression. It is essential that women embrace their sexual identities. Women are entitled to enjoy sex and engage in any sexually activity that brings them pleasure without fear of punishment. This includes anything from thinking about sex to consuming pornography to engaging in sex acts that society still deems aberrant. If we find pornography, at large, to be degrading to women, then women must take charge of producing pornographic images that no longer cater to male desires through degrading depictions of women. Women, as consumers, have the power to transform the porn industry by creating a demand for porn that speaks to women’s interests.

~ from Canon Magazine

I hate the language of rights. It seems to imply that we have no responsibilities, only entitlements. It leads us to be complainers and whiners of our own situation, rather than people who are working to improve those of others. (A notable reflection on this can be found in White Courtesy Telephone.)

Who said “women are entitled to enjoy sex and engage in any sexual activity that brings them pleasure without fear of punishment?” Unless we get our tubes tied, we’re always going to have to worry about pregnancy. Our bodies are not entirely our own.

Yale student, Aliza Shvarts, created a scandal this year by creating artwork by collecting the blood from supposedly nine herbally-induced abortions—which in effect, is insulting to pro-choice and pro-life supporters alike for the manner in which she took so lightly human life. And this is the rhetoric she spews:

Among her "conceptual goals," she wrote in the Yale Daily News, was "to assert that often, normative understandings of biological function are a mythology imposed on form. It is this mythology that creates the sexist, racist, ableist, nationalist and homophobic perspective, distinguishing what body parts are 'meant' to do from their physical capability." Shvarts wanted to show that "it is a myth that ovaries and a uterus are 'meant' to birth a child."

Luckily, atleast some do not buy into the jargon:

Yale, of all colleges, never should have been blind-sided by such a stunt. One of the most astute critics of the humanities is on its faculty. Last year, Anthony T. Kronman, the former dean of Yale's law school, published "Education's End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life." This superb book traces the historical rise and fall of the humanities, which, Kronman writes, "are not merely in a crisis. They are in danger of becoming a laughingstock, both within the academy and outside it."

~ both quotes from the Washington Post

And so while rich college-educated women rail on about abortion rights and pornography rights, there are lots of more significant ways that oppression is going on in the world:

We All Own Stolen Goods — and How Defending Property Rights Can Help the World’s Most Oppresed People by Leif Wenar
Confessions of a Sweatshop Inspector by T. A. Frank

But of course, we don’t really have to worry about this because we’re adults in America. We only need to care about ourselves. Today, the signifiers of adulthood, the emergence from the so-called university “campus bubbles”, are framed wall art, dry-clean only clothing, studio apartments, even more casual sex, Coach bags and happy hour martinis. Welcome Sex and the City, our beloved four role models of young professional life. Even in later years, the true keynote of adulthood is not so much marriage, as the purchase of dream suburban home, or if you’re really high up on the achievement ladder, the urban luxury flat.

Barber argues that the new ethic of capitalism is one of ‘infantilisation’: money today is to be made in maintaining adults as needy children, who stuff down dumbed-down films, saccharine food and video games. While in the early stages of capitalism it benefited the capitalist system for everybody to save their pennies, now it benefits the system for us to splurge every penny and borrow more. While in the time of Franklin people were encouraged to restrain themselves and reinvest, now, says Barber, we are encouraged to act on every immediate whim, to be the grasping child in a sweet shop unable to say no...

If consumerism is emphasized more in our culture than production, play more than work, this is not only because consumption is what Western capitalism needs now – it is also because the production side of life is so lacking in ideological justification.

It is not so much that we have an ethic of consumption, but that – by default – it remains as one of the few meaningful experiences in our lives. There is a tangibility and satisfaction to buying – to picking out a new shirt or a new album and taking it home – that means that shopping remains for individuals a confirmation of their power to make things happen in the world.

The power of consumption has been usefully theorised by the Marxist sociologist Georg Simmel. In The Philosophy of Money, he looks at how buying an object is an act of individual subjectivity, the person stamping himself on a thing and claiming his right to its exclusive enjoyment. Shopping remains a way in which our choices have a tangible effect, in which we can make something in our lives new and different.

~ from a review in Spiked Online on the book Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults and Swallow Citizens Whole, by Benjamin Barber

I am quite saddened if shopping ends up being one of the few meaningful experiences that I can have in my life, and that it's one of the few ways that I can make an impact in the world and express myself. Is it not bad enough that I am what I do, that now I also have to be what I buy?

Today's American children, by contrast, get an average of 70 new toys a year, yet child development experts agree that the best toys are simple playthings such as blocks, balls and figurines that a child can play with over and over, in new ways. When I was growing up, a sticker was something precious that a stationery store owner would carefully cut off a roll and sell for 25 cents. Today, a made-in-China jumbo book of 600 stickers can be bought at CVS for $6.99. Something has been lost in this ostensibly positive development...

Far from inducing feelings of inadequacy, saying no to the parenting consumer culture should make parents feel all the wiser...

As for my husband and me, we hardly have unlimited resources, but we're still planning to go forth and multiply in the big city. The way we figure it, one day our children will be grateful for what we didn't give them -- and what we did for them instead.

~ by Pamela Paul, author of "Parenting Inc.: How We Are Sold on $800 Strollers, Fetal Education, Baby Sign Language, Sleeping Coaches, Toddler Couture, and Diaper Wipe Warmers -- and What It Means for Our Children."

how to change the system

“The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson. Often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act.”

~ Stanley Milgram

"Zimbardo concludes that situational features, far more than underlying dispositional features of people’s characters, explain why people behave cruelly and abusively to others. He then connects these insights to a detailed account of the abuses by United States soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison, where, he argues, the humiliations and torments suffered by the prisoners were produced not by evil character traits but by an evil system that, like the prison system established in the Stanford Prison Experiment, virtually ensures that people will behave badly. Situations are held in place by systems, he argues, and it is ultimately the system that we must challenge, not the frequently average actors."

~ Martha Nussbaum on The Lucifer Effect, a recent book by Philip Zimbardo, who led the infamous Stanford Prison Project

If what Milgram and Zimbardo say is indeed true-- that our propensity for evil behavior is more situational than dispositional, then those of us who hope to change the system from the inside should be very wary. Let’s extrapolate from torture to some “milder” forms of evil—the sweatshop conditions of garment factories, the intentional advertising of cigarette products to children, and the use of workers who are paid less than a living wage. Those of us who think that we are above the questionable morality of profit-oriented corporations should not let pride be our downfall.

We may have noble impulses, but we’re probably not as strong as we think we are. The pharmaceutical officials who conceal information about the harmful side effects of their drugs after conducting clinical studies, probably reasoned to themselves that the benefits of the drugs outweighed the potential risks, and that there’s no cause to raise alarm. The sub-prime mortgage lenders justify their actions by saying that they’re offering the poor a chance at home ownership. The tax accountant writes a check to below-the-poverty-line customer for $500 for their federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), while pocketing one month later, the additional $2,000 from the government, reaping a usurious profit, all the while telling himself that he provided much-needed cash for his customer. The Wal-Mart store owners who cheated employees out of overtime pay were under pressure from upper management to cut costs.

They are not who we’d like to imagine them as--- wicked, evil and sinister bad seeds-- they’re you and me in difficult situations

A friend of mine who is now pursuing a career in nonprofit management and international development once found himself participating in a consulting proposal to try to get a company to sell predatory mortgage insurance to the poor, without the courage to say no. (I myself don’t know if I would have the moral fiber to say no either. Perhaps that’s yet another reason why I had to leave that field).

David Brooks, a New York Times columnists, lamented that all us prestigious college graduates have become organization kids, seeking the security and materials comforts of the status quo by taking jobs in big corporations or lucrative hedge funds, instead of seeking societal transformation.* A recent article was published in response to his opinion, praising our generation for entering the ranks of “the organization” (the corporate industrial complex), and hopefully transforming the system from inside out, instead of calling for all the disruption and chaos of revolution.

My question is… whether or not our generation will really change things from inside out, or whether we’ll succumb to the situation, and conform to the dismal patterns already in place?**


* To summarize his viewpoint in his words: "The young men and women of America's future elite work their laptops to the bone, rarely question authority, and happily accept their positions at the top of the heap as part of the natural order of life."
** Oftentimes, it seems like the costs of changing the system are high. Dr. Patrick Campbell lost his job and his family as a result of his efforts to expose the malpractice and fraud committed by several heart specialists at Redding Medical Center. Biblical characters, Daniel and Esther, who both made their way to the king’s court, put their own lives on line in order to preserve their own integrity and to save lives. Daniel and his friends said: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." Esther declared, “If I perish, I perish.”

I'm sorry

I’m sorry about all my mad ranting against sweatshops. I'm sorry if you felt judged. Please forgive me.

I was angry and upset, so I used big words and vulgar images and whatever other tricks I could conjure out of my little bag. I only did it because it hurt me so much to hear and read what was going on. I desperately wanted things to change.

I did not mean to judge those who may work for or buy from these various companies-- I'm sure if you looked at my list of monthly purchases, you will still find companies who engage in unethical and unjust practices. I have to admit I don't really know whether it's objectively right or wrong to buy from Wal-Mart or to work for Halliburton*, but I do hope for a world where we don't have to ask these questions because Wal-Mart treats its employees and suppliers well and Halliburton actively promotes and pursues renewable energy sources.

So I do not mean to condemn you, because I am in the same position as you. Rather, I want to exhort you to yearn (and to strive for) a society where injustices are not so deeply embedded in the way that we live, so much so that we often do not even know that they are there.

Try shopping only thrift stores for a few months, or learn how to make your own soap. You can talk to the homeless man on the streets or volunteer to plant trees or start your own herb potted plant garden in your apartment. Why not take the riskier, lower-paying job that you really love? Or maybe you just want to start praying.

When we go against the pattern of the world, in the opposite direction of the pull and the tug of what everyone else is doing, we often find ourselves surprisingly blessed by a joy much greater than the comfort and convenience of what we left behind.


*Though if you do feel slightly uneasy about it, perhaps it's worth questioning it.

outsourcing morality

In today's world of RED campaigns*, carbon offset purchases, and fair trade products, it seems easy to feel good about what we're doing.** But can any real good could come of these seemingly selfish, easy and convenient ways of raising money for the poor and "saving the world"?

Special events and galas don't raise that much money after factoring in all expenses, but they do have other effects in terms of raising awareness and recognizing important donors. But does it not seem odd that people come to galas wearing $10,000 gowns when they've only donated $5,000 to the organization or the cause? The RED campaign does not alleviate the injustices of the clothing sweatshop industry, but money is going to help AIDS in Africa right?

Are all these methods still effective and able to do some good because they redirect funds and resources to those who need it? Or do they perpetuate injustice (and perhaps cause more damage) even as they carry the illusion of helping the greater good?***

I stumbled upon an interesting article in Spiked, Is carbon offsetting just eco enslavement?, that criticizes the recent trend of buying carbon offsets. Carbon offsets are a marketing genuis-- they're so wonderfully abstract-- what exactly are they? I don't know. But who cares? They're good for the environment and they'll slow down global warming, right?

Some excerpts from the article:

The details of this carbon-offsetting scheme are disturbing. Cameron offsets his flights by donating to Climate Care. The latest wheeze of this carbon-offsetting company is to provide 'treadle pumps' to poor rural families in India so that they can get water on to their land without having to use polluting diesel power. Made from bamboo, plastic and steel, the treadle pumps work like 'step machines in a gym', according to some reports, where poor family members step on the pedals for hours in order to draw up groundwater which is used to irrigate farmland. These pumps were abolished in British prisons a century ago. It seems that what was considered an unacceptable form of punishment for British criminals in the past is looked upon as a positive eco-alternative to machinery for Indian peasants today.

...

Carbon offsetting is not some cowboy activity, or an aberration, or a distraction from 'true environmentalist goals' - rather it expresses the very essence of environmentalism. In its project of transforming vast swathes of the developing world into guilt-massaging zones for comfortable Westerners, where trees are planted or farmers' work is made tougher and more time-consuming in order to offset the activities of Americans and Europeans, carbon offsetting perfectly captures both the narcissistic and anti-development underpinnings of the politics of environmentalism. Where traditional imperialism conquered poor nations in order to exploit their labour and resources, today's global environmentalist consensus is increasingly using the Third World as a place in which to work out the West's moral hang-ups.

The rise of the carbon-offsetting industry shows that a key driving force behind environmentalism is self-indulgent Western guilt. It is Western consumers' own discomfort with their sometimes lavish lifestyles - with all those holidays, big homes, fast cars and cheap nutritious foods - that nurtures today's green outlook, in which consumption has come to be seen as destructive and a new morality of eco-ethics and offsetting (formerly known as penance) has emerged to deal with it (6). It is no accident that the wealthiest people are frequently the most eco-conscious. British environmental campaign groups and publications are peppered with the sons and daughters of the aristocracy, while in America ridiculously super-rich celebrities (Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt) lead the charge for more eco-aware forms of consumption and play. The very nature of carbon offsetting - where the emphasis is on paying money to offset one's own lifestyle, in much the same way that wealthy people in the Middle Ages would pay for 'Indulgences' that forgave them their sins - highlights the individuated and self-regarding streak in the Politics of Being Green.

As the world grows increasingly complicated, and the effects of my actions have the potential to lead to unanticipated negative consequences, I wonder: how do I go about living a life that is in shalom (in peace, in harmony, corresponding to the way God intended it to be) with the created world and with other created beings?

*The U2 Bon Jovi campaign that designates certain products as RED-- if you purchase them, a certain (oftentimes meager) amount of the profits will go towards helping out with the AIDS crisis in Africa. For more information and commentary, please see my entry on Campaign Red.
** Take a look at Selfish Giving.
*** A large megachurch in the United States donated millions of dollars to development and aid in Rwanda (I believe....). Though the immediate impact was helpful, its long-term effects were devastating. It completely destroyed the micro-finance industry and many businesses, because of all the "free money" available. If you dump a lot of fish somewhere, people might forget how to fish.
**** Other links to pursue: Wikipedia's entry on carbon offsets, Nonprofit Eye's commentary on fundraising events (be sure to read the comments). Feel free to add more links in the comments.

making money matter more

(RED)

Because of some reading I was doing today on the (RED) campaign, I stumbled across Gap Inc.'s social responsibility page, which is full of fancy smooth language about their efforts in improving factory conditions. I'm wondering what to make of it, since most of the language is so vague I'm suspecting it's full of crap. (Check out what's written about the Gap at Responsible Shopper: http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/profile.cfm?id=229)

There's a website/non-profit called Buy Less Crap that criticizes the (RED) campaign, which if I'm not mistaken, designates certain consumer items with RED, indicating that proceeds from the purchase of that item will be donated towards combating AIDS in Africa and other causes. Various news sources have highlighted the fact that more money was spent on these advertising campaigns than actually donated. However, other bloggers have indicated that there are residual effects from this campaign that are positive-- raising awareness of AIDS in Africa and increasing the connection between sales and corporate social responsibility.

So who knows whether Gap Inc. is honestly pursuing social responsibility or whether it's a slick cover-up of a really despairing truth or whether it's just another corporate strategy to sell more stuff? I don't think Dov Charney of American Apparel actually cares very much about social responsibility. I think he just found a good way to distinguish his line of clothing and make money. And philanthropy is an industry that sells moral feel-good and social status, but in the end, it funnels money to a variety of good causes. Perhaps in this broken world, we can't avoid broken ways altogether.*

If being socially responsible really means greater profits, then corporations will pursue that route and perhaps there will be some benefits to our society. So to some degree, I appreciate the fact that Gap Inc. is atleast trying to be vaguely "socially responsible" (let's be honest though-- minimum wage in Thailand isn't much), even if it may be more publicity than truth. It's a step in the right direction. *

But for us as consumers, we have to be careful that we don't just believe what the marketers say. We have to investigate deeper than some company's social responsibility website. And for us as individuals with agency, to remember Buy (Less) Crap's open invitation "Join us in rejecting the ti(RED) notion that shopping is a reasonable response to human suffering". Believe it or not, it's more effective to give money to a good cause directly than it is to give it indirectly via (RED).

*Though how do we go forward acknowledging the good that broken ways achieve, while still striving for better ways to do more good?


** All that being said, even if Gap Inc. were producing their clothing ethically, I don't particularly feel the urge to rush back into those store doors and start shopping. It's relieving to have an easy reason to say no to a store. My sweatshop-free year (it's almost been a year) may not have freed many indentured servants laboring in garment factories, but it's certainly helped free me a bit from the constant desire of wanting more, and is teaching me how to be content with what I have.
*** In the meantime, I've recently found a few garments in Zara produced in Cambodia, so their entire "stream-lined in Spain" doesn't seem to hold true. I'm disappointed.

real choices: stop before you shop

20 hour workdays. regular beatings. child labour. indentured servitude. rape.

Details
The children are forced to work 12-14 hours a day, with some shifts going 20-hours. In all of September, these child laborers got just one day off. For the grueling long shifts, they are allowed only about four hours of sleep on the factory floor before being awakened and put back on the machines, sometimes collapsing from exhaustion. Their wages are as low as six cents an hour. They are routinely slapped or beaten if they don't meet their production goals, make mistakes, or even take too long in the bathroom. - "At the Western garment factory, which made fleece jackets for Walmart, there were 14 or 15-year-old kids working 18 or 20 hour shifts," he said. "They worked from 8:00 in the morning until midnight or until 4:00 a.m. And they did this seven days a week. They did not get paid for first four months of 2006, they did not receive one cent in wages. They were working as slave labor. When they passed out they were struck by rulers to wake them up. There were four girls who were raped by management." - "You're supposed to say that this factory is closed on Fridays and that no one works here at night. If anyone tells the buyer otherwise, then the company will fire them.” - He admits factory workers sometimes do have to put in extra long hours, for instance when deadlines are looming and fabric deliveries are late. They have little choice, he says, meet the deadline or American companies could take their business elsewhere. - "We used to start at 8 in the morning, and we'd work until midnight, 1 or 2 a.m., seven days a week. When we were in Bangladesh they promised us we would receive $120 a month, but in the five months I was there I only got one month's salary and that was just $50." - Hazrat Ali, 25, who worked from September 2004 to March 2005 at the Al Shahaed factory, said he sometimes worked 48 hours in a row and received no pay for the six months. - "If we asked for money, they hit us," he said.

Culprits
Sears. Walmart. Kohl's. Fila. Victoria's Secret. Express. Ralph Lauren. DKNY. Calvin Klein. Banana Republic. The list goes on.

Hope?
This is the garment industry and how most of your clothing is made. I'm not one for sensational accounts, but the injustices involved in making our clothing has angered me a great deal.

When we buy without questioning from stores that outsource to sweatshops, we are participating in these injustices. The ignorance and complacency of the elite (because by the fact that we have computers and are literate, are the elite), is causing the suffering of the masses.

Plenty argue that sweatshops are a necessary step towards development in third world countries. Or that without these factories, these workers would be worst off. But how much worse can you get than this? These workers' lives could be substantially different with a hardly perceptible impact on cost. I am seriously angry! It's times like these when I can begin to understand why God's anger burns against the violence on the earth. There is no excuse for these abominations. Workers can be paid more without actually cutting into profits. There are better ways to "globalize". American retailers (especially the large ones) need to put more pressure and oversight to ensure good working conditions in sweatshops. And as the end customers to these products, we're in a unique position of power to pressure retailers to action.

A few thoughts:
"If the American retailers paid only 25 cents more per garment, the total in Bangladesh would be $898 million- more than eight times current US aid."
Or as Dov Charney, head of American Apparel, a garment company that pays its workers double minimum wage + benefits, once mentioned: "My labour cost in LA is about 60 cents a T-shirt. In a prison in China it's zero cents. But when you're selling T-shirts for £18, what is 60 cents? It's nothing."

On the bright side, there has been some news of progress, though abuses continue. If anything, this shouldn't excuse us from forgetting about it, but should rather give us more hope that there are huge improvements in this generation that can be made, and that our actions are all the more important. It may not happen overnight, and it may require a long, patient effort, but changes can be made.

Action (please consider it!)
Any or all of these will be of help (You may not do any of it perfectly but it's better to have 10,000 people who are imperfectly committed and vocal than none at all):
1. Don't shop at places that use sweatshop labour. There are a list of reputable retailers at the bottom of this entry that I will eventually add to my sidebar. (On a personal note, Mariya and I have been commiting and trying our best to not buy sweatshop made clothing. If you'd like to join us, in encouraging one another and giving each other ideas about cool places to shop, please post a comment or email me :) ).
2. Spread the word. Raise awareness. Post this on your blog. Write more blog entries.
3. Write letters. Call customer service lines...especially to the larger retailers that have more bargaining power. Get involved with activism groups.
4. Buy Fair Trade or union made clothing. That way you can actually support third world development.
5. If you're a college student or lacking in funds, and can't always afford the slightly higher prices that these stores offer, try Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Great prices, always good finds. And even better: they employ people who were formerly in prison, or are disabled, giving them an opportunity to work and earn money.

Places to shop
American Apparel
Zara (Here's a cnn article on their business model)
Moo Shoes (Vegan and sweatshop free!)
Goodwill
Salvation Army

More articles on the topic
Dateline NBC: Human cost behind bargain shopping
JORDAN: An Ugly Side of Free Trade - Sweatshops
Children Found Sewing Clothing For Wal-Mart, Hanes & Other U.S. & European Companies
A quick overview of different companies and their ethical practices
More articles found here at the National Labor Committee:
http://www.nlcnet.org/news_room.php


*Note: This is not to say that I'm some super ethical shopper. I have my ignorant and complacent moments too. I walk into the store and see something that looks pretty and feels good and I forget about the lives, or the loss of lives that went into the making of that garment. Or, I find myself desperately in need of underwear, and feel like I can't bite the budget to pay more. My attempt to not buy anything made in sweatshops has been recent (the past year), and it's been and still is a process. Though one thing that I have found encouraging, is the longer I do it, the easier it seems to become, and I am looking to get involved with more letter writing/activism.
**Something else to consider, though please don't use it as an excuse for buying from places that use sweatshop labour. (If enough of us do it, then they will have to change. The question is -- will enough of us care enough to change our habits?): "One misconception is that the sweatshop problem can be avoided by not buying from a few major brands. As Hearson notes: 'It's not about the big bad guys any more. Now it's more about moving the entire industry. The difficulties are structural.' Instead of trying to achieve a level of purity in their personal purchases, he argues that consumers need to pressure companies they patronize and large buyers like universities to make more concerted efforts to raise standards--for example by participating in initiatives such as the Ethical Trading Initiative in the UK and the Workers' Rights Consortium in the US. As one important aspect of this, corporations must make a commitment to help employees improve substandard factories, rather than 'cutting and running' when abuses are reported. 'We have to recognize that a company that is doing well on the issue is not necessarily sweatshop-free,' Hearson says. 'It is one that is acknowledging the problem and engaging with worker groups and other stakeholders. If we want improvements across the industry, it's not going to happen overnight.'" from http://www.democracyuprising.com/articles/2006/fair_trade_sweatshops.php

shoppers in praise of sweatshops

"Well-meaning American university students regularly campaign against sweatshops. But instead, anyone who cares about fighting poverty should campaign in favor of sweatshops . . . . If Africa could establish a clothing export industry, that would fight poverty far more effectively than any foreign aid program. . . . [A] useful step would be for American students to stop trying to ban sweatshops, and instead campaign to bring them to the most desperately poor countries."

~ excerpt from an op-ed article by Nicolas D. Kristof "In Praise of the Maligned Sweatshop" in the New York Times*

So I don't know enough about development to know whether sweatshops are good for development or not. In fact, professors at universities probably have varying opinions about this. Yet even if sweatshops are able to combat poverty, are they necessary the best way to combat poverty? (it is true that there are so many qualifiers for best: effective, efficient, humane, just-- perhaps what is best is a combination of all of them?)

But let's put campaigning and such theoretical questions aside and instead put the question this way, personally:

Would you rather spend 30 bucks buying tshirts from Adidas who probably uses various South Asian sweatshops to lower costs on production and then spends millions of dollars on celebrity endorsements? (and whose eventual profits go to line the pockets of already-rich stockholders and executive managers with yachts and mercedes)

Or would you prefer to spend that money buying a tshirt (or even two) from Nueva Vida, a worker owned cooperative in Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in Central America? (whose eventual profits go directly to the pockets of the workers to help pay for food, health and education for their families?)

Would you spend 20 bucks on a tshirt from JCrew that manufactures their clothing in various locales in Southeast Asia with workers at the machine 12-16 hours a day, while JCrew earns a ridiculous profit off each shirt and spends its extra money on huge marketing campaigns with chiseled ab models (that also happen to create unreasonable expectations for what the human body should look like, setting a standard of beauty based on superficial qualities instead of the content of one's character and breeding discontent amongst various relationships because outward appearances do not match up to these absurd ideals)?

Or, would you rather spend 20 bucks buying a tshirt from a store like American Apparel who manufactures all its clothing in LA, paying its workers twice the minimum wage while also providing health care benefits?

In today's consumer culture, you send a message with what you buy-- where will you spend your money?

Companies definitely create jobs in developing countries with their involvement there-- but there may be better ways to be involved than others. And spending so little to pay sweatshop workers and paying so much to use celebrity endorsements and models for their advertisements or for building their brand name is not a business model that I feel comfortable supporting.** If consumers are unwilling to buy from companies who follow such a business model, eventually they will have to change it and find better ways to produce. Or on the flip side, if consumers buy from fair trade and worker-friendly clothing labels, then these labels will thrive, allowing them to expand and hire more workers that they can benefit with their high wages.

(It's like recycling-- sometimes you don't want to do it because you feel like it doesn't really make a difference especially if noone else does it. But if everyone does it, it will make a difference.)

I would rather not campaign for sweatshops in third world countries, but rather campaign for and buy from companies who are willing to forgo corporate profits as their only motive for existence in order to run socially responsible businesses in third world countries.***

Why support something questionably good when you can support something undoubtedly better?



*The article is found here but it's only for Times select members. There's a commentary on the article called Something to Cheer at the New York Times written by Gregory Reisman-- the commentary is in support of the Times' article (kind of obvious once you read it).
**On a more personal note, I don't want to hold myself up as some sort of free-trade saint that doesn't buy anything manufactured in a sweatshop. I actually probably own plenty of stuff that have been manufactured in sweatshops. This is a new and recent question that I have been dealing with and struggling with-- and these are some of my thoughts pertaining to it. Still very much in the process of thinking things through.
***If I'm not mistaken, the book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid offers some sweatshop-alternatives to third world development that still allow for corporate profits. It is possible to help the poor and earn a profit without making them work 14 hour days without health care benefits on a wage that barely allows them to survive.