Sweatshops and The Heart of Darkness By Kristin Bresnahan, Sydney Sarachan and Molly Rhodes
What are some stats? Hundreds of millions of workers around the world, including millions of children, work in sweatshops. Workers are sometimes paid as low as $. 06 an hour. 90% of sweatshop workers are women and are often taken advantage of by supervisors when they “misbehave. ” 50% of U. S. garment factories are sweatshops, and 75% of the garment shops in the U. S. violate both safety and health laws. Some of the worst sweatshop runners include Disney, Guess, Gap, J. C. Penney, K-Mart, Nike,
Why are there Sweatshops? (according to Co-op America) Ü 1. Corporate Greed Corporations no longer need to operate their own factories. In a world virtually free of borders, they can search the globe for subcontractors and suppliers where regulations are weak, workers are exploited, and operating costs are low. This permits companies to deny responsibility for abuse in these factories.
More reasons… Ü 2. International Politics The World Trade Org. (WTO) and the World Bank have elevated the rights and liberties of corporations above those of individual nations No provisions have been created to Ü 3. Competition for Lowest Prices Retail giants put pressure on their suppliers to keep costs down, while encouraging consumers to buy more. Where and how these products are made, and why they are so cheap, is often a secret kept from consumers. Example: It was discovered that Nike lied to its consumers about the way its goods were produced,
And even more… Ü 4. The Muddle in the Middle The number of “middle merchants” has increased greatly with the shift of factories overseas. The global supply chain has become more and more complex, allowing everyone involved the ability to deny responsibility for the continuation and exploitation of sweatshops and their Ü 5. Squeezed at the Bottom Profit pressure in the global economy moves downward-from CEO to factory supervisor. This squeeze ends at the bottom of the chain with the workers who are forced to produce goods as quickly and as cheaply as possible. This causes forced overtime, low wages, punishments, fines, and child labor.
…and the End Result? ? ?
So the real question is… What is the price we pay to achieve our ideals? or rather What does the pursuit of ideals lead to? The mistreatment of sweatshop workers is our modern day objectification of human beings, we have not really escaped this kind of injustice. Ü Kurtz’s “Intended” and others naively like her, serve as the incentive to commit these cruel acts against humanity like the Galleria and other sources of commercialism are today. Ü It is the economic world in both instances which supports the Ü
Support in the Text Analogous assertions in the Heart of Darkness Modern Day “her engagement with Kurtz had been disapproved by her people. He wasn’t rich enough or something…it was his impatience of comparative poverty that drove him out there, ” (74). Ü International Politics: Ü “Brought from all the recesses of the coast in all the legality of time contracts, lost in uncongenial surroundings, fed on unfamiliar food, they sickened, became inefficient, and were then allowed to crawl away and rest, ” (20). Ü Competition for Ü “ ‘the labourer is worthy of his hire, ’ she said brightly. Lowest Prices: It’s queer how out of touch with truth women are! They live in a world of their own and there had never been anything like it and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether…” (16). Ü Corporate Greed: Ü
Support (con’t) Analogous assertions in the Heart of Darkness Modern Day Ü The Muddle in the Middle: Ü Squeezed at the Bottom: Ü Protest Groups The brick layer who doesn’t lay bricks. Marlow’s belief that he is a better man for not condoning the activities when he still supports them. He drops the responsibility. Ü “I saw a high, starched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, a clean necktie and varnished boots…I could not help asking him how he managed to sport such linen. He had just the faintest blush and said modestly, ‘I’ve been teaching one of the native women…It was very difficult, ” (21). “one of these creatures rose to his hands and knees and went off on all-fours towards the river to drink. He lapped out of his hand, then sat up, ” (21). Ü “The horror!” (68). Ü
Conclusion “What redeems it is an idea alone. ”
Sources Ü http: //www. sweatshops. org/educate/why. html Ü http: //www. newyouth. com/archives/editorials/ astro/sweat_shops_in_the_modern_world. ht ml Ü http: //adbusters. org/breaking_news/2003_01_ 23. html Ü Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. , 1963.
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