Saturday, November 22, 2008

My first real rant-fucking sweatshop labour

Definition of sweatshops from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

'A sweatshop is a working environment with very difficult or dangerous conditions, usually where the workers have few rights or ways to address their situation. This can include exposure to harmful materials, hazardous situations, extreme temperatures, or abuse from employers. Sweatshop workers are often forced to work long hours for little or no pay, regardless of any laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labor laws may also be violated.'


i watched this documentary on google video yesterday, after my boyfriend showed it to me
and i think it shows the horrible and difficult situations of people working and living(!) in these kind of environments pretty well.
its a shocking subject and its close to my heart, it goes hand in hand with the exploitation of big coorporations of just fuckin
everything on this planet, let it be people, animals or the environment.
its very sad and i wish more people wud wake up to this and make better and more conscious choices with their purchases, because that is where their power is. maybe stop buying your children those 50 fucking plastic toys made by other children in poorer countries, which break til next christmas anyways, so u can buy new ones and keep trapped in the consumer cycle. and maybe buy them one or two nice ones, made environmentally friendly and handmade by a person, making a living from doing what they love!
as its stated in this documentary, people dont wanna pay the price for socially and environmentally responsibly produced items. now why is that? as i said before wudnt u feel better, by just buying a couple of things, but buying them right?
i made the handmade pledge and im pretty aware of what im buying(and thats not just coz i hate malls!)
im sure most of us cant avoid buying 'sweatshop made' 100%, but just starting and making some thoughtful choices is already a start and very helpful!

its just so wrong! especially around christmas, the time of giving! Yea, right i wonder for whom!? and its not just toys, i mean as everyone SHUD be aware off, most things we consume, let it be clothes, electronics or whatever appliances, is made in china under horrendous circumstances!

im just trying, with this article and by posting this interesting video, to make more people aware of the situation! dont feel helpless or just blame politicians for the state of the world! the world is run like it is, coz most people LET it be run like it is! do something, live ur life more liberated and make some right choices this holiday!

7 comments:

  1. That was a pretty interesting video. It surprised me that they were making Disney toys in the beginning.

    I don't know what to say. This problem just seems so big. I guess the only thing I can do is check where the toys I buy are made from.

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  2. Hi Juanita!
    Thanks for you comment!
    Yea, i think the whole issue is pretty depressing, nobody wants to live like that!
    i think what people can do is be more aware of how things are produced and then make better choices with their money!:)

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  3. I agree 100%. I've trained my own child to reject rubbishy and useless consumer goods, even if they cost next to nothing at the "$2 Shop", and have explained where plastic comes from and who makes the items. I'm proud to say she's taken the message to heart and is a thoughtful consumer, as are my partner and I. My greatest criticism of our supposedly free market, is that I generally don't have easy access to handmade, environmentally sound goods, or fresh and naturally grown LOCAL produce. I fee; that the free market has reduced choice in some very important ways. Hence the importance of etsy, right?

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  4. Nice Blog, and thanks for following mine. My son lives in Colorado and sent me a website to check out. I think you will like it. It's basically about how much we buy and throw away. The little video clip is fantastic!! It's at www.storyofstuff.com. Very eye opening.

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  5. Hi Kathy!

    Thanks for following too! Yea, ive seen the storyofstuff, i try to find more clips or interesting articles about this subject to put on my blog!

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  6. i think that's where we come in now...when we have kids, we teach them about making conscious choices. To live a balanced life, to support handmade things and local artists, to be kinder to the environment in the things we do.

    But yes, hard to make everybody change to our ways of thinking...but as long as we do our part amongst friends and families...it's well worth the deed!

    helena
    www.littlemoandfriends.com/blog

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  7. yeah, so WE can all live like capitalists ... like we're wealthy when we ain't. I hate this, it makes us all suck. It's why I make my own stuff.

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