$37 a month

$37 a month to risk your life to provide CHEAP CLOTHES for upscale retailers and downscale retailers like Wal-Mart making gargantuation profits.....conveniently distancing themselves from culpability......How do we look the other way?  

Bangladesh: Death Toll Nears 400 In Building Collapse
By Sarath Kumara

http://www.countercurrents.org/kumara290413.htm

The number of deaths in the Bangladesh building collapse had risen to 381 by Sunday evening, with many more bodies, and possibly survivors, still trapped in the debris. According to the police, as many as 900 people remain missing. While the final death toll may never be known, it is one of the world’s worst industrial disasters......


Forced To Die: The Garment Workers At Rana Plaza
By Farida Akhter

http://www.countercurrents.org/akhter290413.htm

It was not an accident, it was simply an organised killing. It can be termed a “Rana- made” killing of the readymade garment workers. As the factory is located in Savar, the suburb of Dhaka, the incident is called Savar Tragedy.....

Last words.......

It is difficult to end the story of Savar tragedy. The garment workers are now scared of the buildings. Earlier, they were scared of the gates being locked as they could not get out in time of fire accidents. But they have to work. They have to earn their living by working and look after their families. Can’t the workplaces be made safe for them? How much does it cost? How much do the owners have to reduce their margin of profit to ensure safety of the workplaces? On the other hand, the international buyers talk about compliances but do not want to pay for ensuring the safety standards. It is not enough to campaign as “blood stained” Bangladeshi garments. We have to hold corporations responsible both at national and international level to ensure safety. Consumers in the western world can come forward to demand that safety standards be met, but please do not campaign to “stop buying” Bangladeshi clothes. The garment workers need the industry to earn their livelihood. This is the fundamental premise that should not be weakened or shattered. Such campaigns actually encourage the multinational corporations to move from Bangladesh to other countries to repeat the same exploitation of the workers. Earlier campaigns of activists to promote products from least developed countries such as Bangladesh were not wrong, and we should continue the campaign despite this situation. However, we must now move away from the role of creating ‘consumers’ in the west to more politically engaged campaigns such as forcing the corporate world to be responsible for what happened in Bangladesh. The hands of everyone are stained with the blood of the workers. So every stakeholder must take responsibility.

The information used in this article is from daily NewAGE, The Financial Express and few Bengali dailies. The interpretations are of the author.

Farida Akhter is a founder and Director of the NGO UBINIG (Policy Research for Development Alternatives) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and a longtime spokeswoman for global justice and solidarity.

 

From CNN with a collage of photos:

Bangladesh factory collapse: Who really pays for our cheap clothes?

By Anna McMullen, special for CNN

updated 11:24 AM EDT, Fri April 26, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

From the Guardian:

The Bangladesh factory tragedy and the moralists of sweatshop economics

Choosing higher-paid jobs, Dhaka workers accept risks, we're told. That argument confuses cost of living with the cost of a life

 

 

• 
• • Maha Rafi Atal
  • guardian.co.uk, Monday 29 April 2013