a hand sticking out of the rubble clutching a crumpled note

[cali]

Fuck you Walmart. Fuck you J.C. Penney. Fuck you Benetton. Fuck you Bangladesh government. These were people.

<snip>

Each body pulled out takes an emotional toll. Each more heart-wrenching than the one before.

Over the weekend, rescuers found an outstretched hand sticking out from the rubble. In the man's clenched fist, a crumpled piece of paper.

"Dear father and mother," it read. "Please forgive me that I can't buy your medication anymore. Dear brother, please tend to our parents."

The note then named the village the victim was from. "Please send my body there."

<snip>

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/28/world/asia/bangladesh-building-collapse/?hpt=hp_t1

[Warren DeMontague]

1. This isn't the first time in recent history, either;

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/11/30/175665/commentary-where-our-clothes-are.html

[cali]

2. The Tarzeen fire is the most recent before this, but it wasn't singular either

the scope of the Rana Plaza disaster is mind boggling.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Horrible.

[fasttense]

4. Outcomes like these are all but inevitable under capitalism.

The push for more and more profits, the need to cut wages lower and lower; the drive to reduce cost, cut safety rules, limit expenditures on infrastructure; equating human life to money and objects, capitalism does all that and more.

I pray for those suffering and hope the survivors see the real monster behind the collapse and tragic deaths.

[cali]

5. Look, we're not getting rid of capitalism anytime soon but

perhaps we can do something about the exploitation of garment workers- beyond praying.

[sulphurdunn]

20. We have.

We passed health and safety standards, formed unions and paid living wages. The owners moved to Pakistan, aided and abetted largely by the same politicians they bought and the garment workers voted for.

[fasttense]

25. Well, they thought the same things about kings and royalty

controlling government until it changed. They thought the same thing about the control by the Catholic Church in government until it changed.

The exploitation of workers is required by capitalism. You are never going to get rid of exploitation until capitalism goes away. There are two ways to approach this economic and social problem, like in slavery. There were those who tried to make the slave's life better and more humane. They tried to ensure they were well fed, clothed and sheltered. They tried to allow for slaves to learn to read and write. They tried to convert the slaves to Christianity. All to make their lives better. Then there were those who tried to abolish slavery altogether. They thought that merely making their lives more comfortable was NOT the problem. The problem was the practice of slavery itself. That's what I think of capitalism. Making the workers lives better is not a permanent solution. Capitalism will always lead to exploitation of workers. It's how it works. It's built into the the system.

But it's not going to chang anytime soon. In the meantime, we can at least talk about getting rid of capitalism and putting something else in. In the US, we don't even talk about it. It's as if capitalism is the right and proper economic system for all times. A sacred cow we do not talk of changing. Talk of democracy and liberty came first before there was any democracy or liberty for the masses. Talk of ending slavery happened long before slavery ended in the US.

So a good 1st step is to talk about getting rid of capitalism and replacing it with democracy in the work place.

[cali]

29. try you are never going to get rid of exploitation as long as there are human beings.

and no, those who treated slaves "well" were not part of trying to end slavery. that's absurd. And most of those who treated slaves well were doing it for their own benefit.

As for capitalism, unfettered capitalism sucks. Well regulated mixed capitalism/socialism may be the best economic system. oh, and democracy is not an economic system.

[fasttense]

34. I agree some kind of exploitation will always exist

but institutionalized, authorized and government supported exploitation of workers (the end result of all capitalism) does not have to exist. There are other economic systems that are far less abusive to workers. We have them in America right now. The so-called "self employed" are usually NOT capitalists. There are worker directed businesses very similar to co-ops that are not exploitive. There are major computer software corporations in existence (Valve comes to mind) in the US that are worker owned and directed and are not exploitive.

I did not mean to say that those who were pushing for better treatment of slaves were also pushing for an end to slavery. That is contradictory. There were, before the civil war, people who tried to make the slaves life better. They were mostly in the South and were probably due to pressure from abolitionists. For example: "Ten Southern codes made it a crime to mistreat a slave. ... Under the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825 (art. 192), if a master was “convicted of cruel treatment,” the judge could order the sale of the mistreated slave, presumably to a better master." But of course who gets to decide what mistreatment was? And the definition of mistreatment got looser and looser and loopholes and exemptions were frequent.

Also many Preachers taught white masters responsibility and the concept of appropriate paternal treatment, using Christianity to improve conditions for slaves, and to treat them "justly and fairly”. This included having self-control, not disciplining under anger, not threatening, and ultimately fostering Christianity among their slaves by example.

So there were those who thought making the slave's life better was a better way to go then to outright ban all slavery.

Regulation of capitalism is temporary and a stop gap measure. Every time you have well regulated capitalism, the rich capitalist fight night and day to turn over those regulations. They push for loopholes and take legal and illegal actions to do away with most controls. FDR had a system of well regulated capitalism but since Raygun, those regulations have for all practical purposes disappeared.

See the rich capitalist gets to exploit the worker and pays the worker a whole lot less than the value of his labor. So the rich capitalist gets richer and richer, while pushing for lower and lower wages for the workers. The rich capitalist then uses those riches to buy up the political and legal system. Workers on the other hand get poorer and poorer as the rich squeeze their wages ever smaller. The worker does not have the money to fight back. So, why leave that wealth in the hands of capitalist who are just going to use it to get more and more exploitive?

Currently most workplaces are ruled by a boss, CEO or manager. The worker does what he is told, when he is told. The worker has no vote on the work he is doing. If you bring democracy to the work place, then that worker would have to have some input or vote in the work and the outcome of the work. Most workplaces are dictatorships, I think they can all become democracies.

[cali]

37. what do you replace it with? Why don't you think strongly regulated capitalism/socialism

isn't more than a stop-gap when it clearly has been in quite a few European countries?



Your solution of democratic workplaces is awfully vague. Could you flesh out what you mean in more detail? Making decisions by committee on everything within a business seems ridiculous to me. You'll always have corruption and people who wield power for their own benefit. That's human nature.

I think your "solution" sounds more Panglossian than anything else.

[fasttense]

47. You replace it with worker controlled businesses

There are many in the US right now. Co-ops, worker owned corporations like Alexandria Union Cab http://www.alexunioncab.com/ Alvarado Street Bakery’s http://www.alvaradostreetbakery.com/ and Apple Eco-Cleaning http://green-coop.com/ to name just a few.

There are some restrictions in Europe on campaign and financing that we don't have in the US. Those restrictions have allowed for more socialism than what is allowed in the US. But if given enough time, capitalism will tear down those restrictions like they have torn down most restrictions on capitalism here in the US. They will tear down even these minimal restrictions because the capitalists, the uber rich, the corporations have most of the money from our labor. With that money, they will continually fight even minimal restrictions. Look at how Great Britain has privatized their transportation and increased austerity on the middle class and poor. Greece immediately jumped on the austerity wagon. That is the result of huge wealth allowed to accumulate in the hands of a few individuals at the expense of a mass of workers through capitalism.

Democracy in the workplace could be done in hundreds of different ways. Mondragon for example, the workers come in 4 days a week and do the work and get a pay check just like normal. On the 5th day they get together and sit on boards and vote on what to do with the profits and how it's distributed. http://www.mondragon-corporation.com/ENG.aspx. If a board of directors and a CEO can make those decisions, why not the workers formed into boards. I think they have specific issues that must (by their own policies) be brought before the general assembly for a vote by all employees. Yes, there is a lot of voting and decisions to be made but better the worker than the elite CEO and board members.

Of course you always have cheats and crooks. This will NOT solve all the worlds problems. There will always be problems and difficulties, crooks and liars. This democracy in the work place would merely put the workers in charge instead of an elite group of rich people.

But if workers decided things, would they make such horrible decisions as capitalists? Would they decide to ship their own jobs to another country? Would they decide to use a chemical that spills out into their drinking water and poisons their children? Would they decide to use pesticides that will kill all the bees? I somehow doubt it, because they would have to suffer the consequences of these decisions. Right now a CEO gets the ok from the board to use poisonous fluids to dig a well. He doesn't live where the well will be dug. The board members wont have to drink and use the poisoned tap water. So, to them there are no consequences to poisoning the ground water while digging a well. But if the guy who uses the digging equipment, who lives 10 miles from the site gets a say in the matter, I doubt he would decide on poisonous materials. Yes, he could get bribed to vote for the poison but then he has got to think if his company gets in trouble, would he still have a job.

Panglossian? Me excessively optimistic? Far from it. No one who knows me has ever accused me of that.

But like I said this wont solve all the worlds problems but it is a good start. We have a mild form of democracy in politics now we need to put real democracy in the workplace.

[NJCher]

45. I'm with you

I am so sick of capitalism and the abuses that stem from it.

The other day I heard an interesting show on the radio about alternatives to capitalism, so the conversation is starting. This wasn't a leftie radio show, either. It was on a major station in a major market (NY).

In this show, they talked about worker's co-ops. They visited two in Spain--companies owned and operated by the workers. This would be a way to end exploitation of workers and facilitate cooperation of workers.

Another item--I was talking with a friend of mine and she told me that when she lived in Boston, she patronized the Car Talk guys' garage. At one time, they were a co-op!


Cher

[fasttense]

48. Oh yes the one in Spain I think is called Mondragon

I would love to visit it. It was started by a catholic monk, I think.

On http://www.democracyatwork.info/learn/?pg=8&topic=examples there are hundreds of links to worker own and run businesses. You might like to see all the ones in the US. You can sort them by categories.

I'm thinking of starting a co-op myself. We are a very small farm and there are about 10 or 12 other very small farms that belong to a farmer's market I am a member of. These farms have fewer than 50 acres and have only one or two people working them. We all are either organic farmers or Certified Naturally Grown (CNG). I was thinking of pooling our resources and trying to develop a marketing co-op for our produce. Being so small makes it difficult to bring in consistent and abundant produce to a restaurant or grocery store. But if we got together, I think we could help each other out. Anyway, I'm going to talk it up at our next meeting and see if I get any interest.

So glad to hear other people talking about alternatives to the abusive capitalist economic system we currently have. I never knew the car talk guys had started as a co-op. Talk is the 1st step.

[NJCher]

49. that is so cool!

I might be doing outreach for a community garden setup and farmer's market myself! So we should touch base if that happens. We'd have a lot to talk about!


Cher

[pacalo]

6. One man trapped from the waist down pleaded for 3 days to be pulled out of the rubble.

The concrete was too heavy to be lifted by anyone & he didn't make it. Rescuers don't have the equipment they desperately need.

Greed caused this. The building was erected on marshland, the construction codes & building materials were substandard, & now the building owner, 3 factory owners, & 2 engineers have all been arrested.

Keeping in mind the minimum wage is $38/month, this is deplorable:

The commercial building housed five garment factories, several shops and a bank.

The collapse occurred Wednesday morning, a day after cracks appeared in the structure. It led the bank to order its employees not to report for work, and the shops were closed because of a strike.

But garment workers were told to come in despite their concerns that the building's structure was not sound.

[cali]

7. and let's be clear: "told to come in" meant fired if you don't.

[pacalo]

8. Most certainly. It's sickening, cali.

[cali]

9. sickening, heartbreaking

thanks for posting in this thread.

just a bit more about the culpability and heartlessness of American companies re the Tarzeen fire. I doubt their response will be any more humane about Rana Plaza:

Wal-Mart, Sears Refuse Compensation for Factory Victims


Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) have so far declined to join Li & Fung Ltd. and other companies in voluntarily compensating victims of a fire last year at a Bangladesh garment factory.

Wal-Mart and Sears also didn’t respond to an invitation to attend a meeting today in Geneva, where companies whose clothing was manufactured at the Tazreen Design Ltd. factory are expected to discuss compensation payments, said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a Washington-based international labor-monitoring group.

The Nov. 24 blaze killed 112 workers and increased pressure on Wal-Mart and other Western retailers to help improve factory conditions and take more direct responsibility for their suppliers. Clothing bound for Wal-Mart and Sears was found in the charred ruins. Both companies have said suppliers used the Tazreen factory without their permission and were fired. Sears and Wal-Mart, which don’t directly employ workers in Bangladesh and are not legally obligated to compensate them, have instituted worker-safety programs there.

“It’s so important for Western retailers to be at this meeting,” said Kalpona Akter, executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, who was in the U.S. last week to ask Wal-Mart to do more to help make Bangladesh factories safe. “If they’re not there, they’re totally giving the message that they are supporting these death traps and they really don’t care how many lives go to make these clothes.”

<snip>

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-14/wal-mart-sears-refuse-compensation-for-factory-victims.html

[pacalo]

15. In light of the building collapse & the problems that caused it, Sears' response is breathtaking...

“As part of our ongoing efforts, we are continuing to actively train our suppliers on factory and fire safety as part of our Global Compliance Program.”

Companies who take advantage of third-world countries' cheap labor have the moral obligation, at the very least, to see that the factories & work conditions are safe & the workers' well-being is a top priority. Plus, $38/month wages is downright insulting, especially because the workers have no choice. Their families depend on them for support & they're desperate.




Thanks for the article. Your posts are always interesting.

[dotymed]

12. yes, and

the majority of Americans slave away in deplorable conditions too. We still have buildings from when we were a !st world nation and our elite can purchase more modern sweat shops...

[cali]

14. could you give examples?

[dotymed]

28. Yes Cali.

Honestly I made that "broad-brush" Post before my first cup of coffee. I have seen many atrocities committed against poor people trying to exist, it is still happening, We had a "life-celebration" for one of us yesterday. It was very cheap (we all brought something IF we could afford to) but it was a true celebration for a young woman who HAD to leave her body to science, she could not afford a funeral....or health insurance.
As a retired Union carpenter, I remember the construction related fatalities most.
About 10 years ago in Indianapolis, about 15 (non-Union) immigrants were transported to their job site daily in the back of a small moving van. It was littered with paint rags and combustible solvents.
One of them lit his morning cigarette. The van exploded, killing all and inconveniencing motorists for a day...
In my pre-Union life, I was helping (I was highly paid at $12 an hour those days...25 years ago) "black-paper" a steep roof for a junior college we had just framed. It was a heavy morning dew and it was very slippery up there.
We worked in teams, one rolling out the paper, the other nailing it down (foam head nails). I was rolling that morning, trying to keep it straight, while talking to "Red", who was nailing. I was concentrating on the paper, talking, and Red was tacking it down before we both would come back and nail it down securely. I noticed that Red hadn't responded to my last comment and then he failed to tack-down the latest section of paper that I had just straightened...I looked up and Red was gone. I scrambled to peer over the edge where Red should have been and I could not see him, I yelled for him, no response. I barely made it to our hatch that we used to access this 3 story roof.
I climbed down frantically searching. On the 1st floor I saw Reds body. When he fell he had pushed himself toward the building and landed in a window opening his back on a 2x4 framed opening. I freaked. He was bloody but not dead. We called an ambulance. Red pissed blood and was pretty messed up for a month. He survived. He failed the marijuana blood test administered at the hospital and was liable for all costs associated with the fall.
Years later, on a non-Union bridge job, a young immigrant did not use one of the frazzled safety harnesses provided by the contractor. He fell. impaled on Rebar at the end of his fall, he was dead by the time we reached him. At least his friend put a harness on his dead body before the ambulance came. His family didn't have to pay the costs of his medical bills (he was dead but the bill was still presented). His funeral costs, up to $5000 ware paid by the insurance company.
These were not mass deaths caused by unsafe sweat-shops, but these are a few of my memories of my pre-Union carpentry days.
Post-Union, I also witnessed some injuries and one death. The outcomes were better, but still the contractors never suffered..

[cali]

30. thank you. I know that pre-coffee fugue.

I certainly agree that it's still happening.

hey, just as an aside, I found your post really interesting but I had a hell of a time getting through it due to the lack of paragraph breaks.

[dotymed]

32. Sorry....see coffee...lol

[tblue37]

46. You should also doublespace between paragraphs, especially in long posts. nt

[smirkymonkey]

23. This is just so absolutely heartbreaking.

There is no excuse. It is sickening.

[pacalo]

33. And I believe these are the conditions the Republicans are salivating to bring to this country.

It's all about profit & greed. If not for those workers there would be no business. The ones pocketing the money couldn't care less.

[Newest Reality]

10. I tend to get this

uncomfortable sense of being a collaborator with the disaster capitalists and corporate vultures.

When I buy the products they sell, it feels like I'm supporting them in some sort of covert collusion.

Feeding their apathetic obsessions makes me wonder about my own incapacity to clearly see the relationship and how I'm encouraging them in my own small way and it is difficult to ignore even though the goods they sell are prevalent and I know, for certain, that much of the American lifestyle -- rich or poor -- is fueled by cruel exploitation and vampire relationships.

[cali]

11. I know just how you feel.

I know it doesn't do much and may be seen as just silly posturing but I'm committed to being vigilant about what I buy- which is limited to underwear, socks and the occasional pair of shoes or boots.

[Newest Reality]

18. Same here!

Good to hear that you are emerging from the "consumer" cocoon.

I focus more on basic needs and separate them clearly from the wants in order to rediscover necessity and understand the powerful, prevailing influence of being immersed in a manufactured state of perpetual consumerism.

Maybe if more of us, (by choice or necessity) find more value in reassessing our wants and needs, we will change things in small ways that add up -- one at a time.

You may have notice that some things can become rather luxurious and more enjoyable when they are more rare and infrequent. I think people tend to miss that when they are immersed in a cloud of commercial influences and not noticing the jaded feeling of overkill.

[cali]

19. well, I'm actually not just emerging from a consumer cocoon

I haven't been in one for literally decades- first by choice and now by necessity. I moved to the backwoods of Vermont 35 years ago, in large part to live a less consumer oriented urban/suburban life. I lived on a commune in a little house with no running water (had a pump), learned to grow my own food and loved living away from the mainstream.

Things have changed over the years, but I never got back into the consumer driven lifestyle and now I'm too poor to, even if I wanted to. It does indeed make for appreciation for many simple things.

[Newest Reality]

21. Oh, then

you have been a butterfly for a while then

I did some deep rural living, food growing, simple lifestyle, etc., for a good while. Lived in an old, camper trailer and, though there are a few luxuries, it was very simple, basic and austere.

I am now more economically divested as well. I'm on the same map and it is a sparse, but only by contrast.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Good fortune.

[malaise]

13. That note explains why they go into unsafe buildings on the orders of

the scumbags

[Shankapotomus]

16. I hope there was a post script

along the lines of "I quit."

People don't have to take this shit.

[cali]

17. yes they do. and the note makes clear why they do

they are desperate.

[sabrina 1]

22. That is heart-breaking! There has to be a global movement to boycott these Corporations

because not enough is being done to expose the sheer criminality of the lengths they will go to to make a profit.

We know Congress will never take the necessary steps to punish US Corps who engage in the use of desperate people overseas to make obscene profits for themselves.

Efforts have been made in the past when a few people introduced bills to try to regulate standards for US Corps who use overseas factories. Cynthia McKinney, eg, introduced a bill which would have forced US Corporations to at least abide by the labor standards of this country or suffer the same consequences there they would here if they didn't. Fines, removal of subsidies and any tax breaks they get. It got nowhere of course.

The fix really is simple, US Corps should have to abide by US standards at least. And no Corp. that takes its business overseas should get any tax breaks or other benefits at all. We all know what the standards are in third world countries. Anyone who deliberately takes advantage of them, should go move there and not expect this country to be complicit in this crime against humanity.

How many more people will have to die before something is done I wonder?

Thanks for the thread, cali. I think if more people fully understood the conditions under which the products they buy are made, fewer would buy them. But most people don't have a clue, thanks to our wonderful media.

[whathehell]

24. +100 n/t

[cali]

31. +1.

great post.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

26. Heartbreaking and sickening...

and still people will shop till they drop, whether WalMart or Benetton....

[Sedona]

27. Where are the arrests in West, Texas?

Meanwhile, authorities have arrested six people: three factory owners, two government engineers, and the owner of the building, Sohel Rana -- a local-level leader of the ruling Awamil League party. He had gone into hiding soon after the collapse, and police said he was trying to flee the country.

Disaster Management Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali said Sunday the building was not built up to code.
It was erected on a wetland, and engineers used substandard materials for construction. Furthermore, he said, the government never approved the plan.

[bvar22]

42. ^^^Most Important Post of this Thread^^^^

We can decry the horrible conditions in Bangladesh, BUT...

" authorities have arrested six people: three factory owners, two government engineers, and the owner of the building, Sohel Rana -- a local-level leader of the ruling Awamil League party. He had gone into hiding soon after the collapse, and police said he was trying to flee the country. "

[font size=5]Where are the arrests in West Texas?[/font]

WE have LESS accountability in our own country
than there is in Bangladesh .

[cali]

43. No we don't. and it's obscene and ignorant to suggest that

do you have a clue about the history of disasters over just the last few years in Bangladesh, due to the exploitative garment industry- and that's just the garment industry.

Yes, someone needs to be held responsible for West, but to say that there is less accountability in the U.S. than in Bangladesh is beyond idiotic and ignorant as shit. but I guess those folks just aren't important to YOU.

[bvar22]

44. Then WHERE are the arrests in West Texas.

Your adolescent Ad Hominems and Knee Jerk emotional response aside,
where ARE the arrests in West Texas.
Do you think any of the owners are trying to flee the country?

[raouldukelives]

35. Fuck Wall St.

This is what investors want and this is what they get. This is what every dollar in the markets pushes and prays for. No regs, no environmental protections, no barriers to human suffering to turn a buck.
Boycotting products is easy, boycotting our own involvement is where we stumble. We won't shop there but we sure as hell aren't going to miss out on the profit sharing with the corporate overlords.
Only thing worse than shopping with those corporations is being a partial owner of them. In order to solve a problem it helps to stop being the problem.

[alphafemale]

36. And the saddest thing is...Is that this will change nothing.

They have died in vain.

No one cares.

At least not beyond the point of, "How soon can you put some slaves in a building and start pumping out those $9.99 pants again?"

[cali]

38. I hope not. You're probably right but

I'm hoping that at least in the garment industry in Bangladesh, something positive will come out of this horrendous event.

[Triana]

39. Never letting go....another photo allegedly from this hideous tragedy

(I say allegedly because it was tweeted - I haven't seen it in any mainstream media yet).

[cali]

40. that's... hideously beautiful

heartbreaking.

I've seen what I think is that couple referred to in news stories. thank you for posting it.

[cali]

41. I'd like to blow that up and paste it all over the windows of a prominent

Benetton store and a Gap store and J.C. Penney's.