Just as the Sanders campaign didn't arise in a vacuum, there's no reason to expect it will leave a vacuum behind it.
By David L. Wilson, Truthout
June 29, 2016
It's been an astonishing year for the US left. Issues that mainstream politicians would have declared "off the table" just 12 months ago -- free public higher education, universal health care, the $15 minimum wage, a national ban on fracking -- are now acceptable topics for public discussion. A US politician who declared himself a socialist won more than 12 million votes, and even dared to advocate equitable treatment for Palestinians.
Bernie Sanders' campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination has accomplished more than most of us could have imagined a year ago. But what happens now that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are almost certain to be our "choices" in the fall?[...]
Read the full article:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/36602-moving-beyond-bernie-sanders-political-revolution
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Mrs. Clinton Can Have Her Factories: a Haitian Sweatshop Worker Speaks
By Beverly Bell, Other Worlds
April 30, 2013
Marjorie Valcelat ran an embroidery machine in a factory from 2005 to 2008. She says the experience made her so sick and weak that she’s not felt able to work since then.
I had three children I had to take care of; their father had left. And since I hadn’t had enough schooling, I didn’t have the skills to do much. So I said to myself, “I’m going to work at a factory.” When I got there, they showed me how to run the machines to embroider slips and nightshirts. I spent a month training, but during that time they didn’t pay me; I had to pay them for the training.
If I had met the quota, every two weeks I would have made 1,250 gourdes [US$30.00]. Yep, that’s it. But I couldn’t meet the quota, because embroidery wasn’t my specialty. I did what I could. Sometimes they paid me 500 gourdes [US$12.50], sometimes 400 gourdes [US $9.50], every two weeks. I needed to support my family and I couldn’t survive. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/mrs-clinton-can-have-her-factories-haitian-sweatshop-worker-speaks
April 30, 2013
Marjorie Valcelat ran an embroidery machine in a factory from 2005 to 2008. She says the experience made her so sick and weak that she’s not felt able to work since then.
I had three children I had to take care of; their father had left. And since I hadn’t had enough schooling, I didn’t have the skills to do much. So I said to myself, “I’m going to work at a factory.” When I got there, they showed me how to run the machines to embroider slips and nightshirts. I spent a month training, but during that time they didn’t pay me; I had to pay them for the training.
If I had met the quota, every two weeks I would have made 1,250 gourdes [US$30.00]. Yep, that’s it. But I couldn’t meet the quota, because embroidery wasn’t my specialty. I did what I could. Sometimes they paid me 500 gourdes [US$12.50], sometimes 400 gourdes [US $9.50], every two weeks. I needed to support my family and I couldn’t survive. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/mrs-clinton-can-have-her-factories-haitian-sweatshop-worker-speaks
Saturday, May 18, 2013
A Hard Day’s Labor for $4.76: The Offshore Assembly Industry in Haiti
By Beverly Bell and Alexis Erkert, Other Worlds
April 25, 2013
As we mourn the deaths of nearly 200 people in yesterday’s garment factory collapse outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh, we publish this article about the very issue of garment labor exploitation on the other side of the world. Economist Paul Collier's 2009 report "Haiti: From Natural Catastrophe to Economic Security" recommends for Haiti the same model that in Bangladesh has resulted in a race towards lower pay, disastrous working conditions, and the deaths of more than 800 garment workers since 2006. This article begins to explore the implications of sweatshop labor as a model for development.
“Haiti offers a marvelous opportunity for American investment. The run-of-the-mill Haitian is handy, easily directed, and gives a hard day’s labor for 20 cents, while in Panama the same day’s work costs $3,” wrote Financial America in 1926.[i] That may be the most honest portrayal of the offshore industry in Haiti to date. Today, the US, the UN, multilateral lending institutions, corporate investors, and others are more creative in their characterizations. They spin Haiti’s high-profit labor as being in the interest of the laborer, and as a major vehicle for what they call “development.”
In the export assembly sector, the minimum wage is 200 gourdes, or US$4.76, a day. According to the Associated Press, the minimum wage in February 2010 was “approximately the same as the minimum wage in 1984 and worth less than half its previous purchasing power.” Three years later, the wage has only been raised by 75 gourdes (US$1.79). [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/hard-day-s-labor-476-offshore-assembly-industry-haiti
April 25, 2013
As we mourn the deaths of nearly 200 people in yesterday’s garment factory collapse outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh, we publish this article about the very issue of garment labor exploitation on the other side of the world. Economist Paul Collier's 2009 report "Haiti: From Natural Catastrophe to Economic Security" recommends for Haiti the same model that in Bangladesh has resulted in a race towards lower pay, disastrous working conditions, and the deaths of more than 800 garment workers since 2006. This article begins to explore the implications of sweatshop labor as a model for development.
“Haiti offers a marvelous opportunity for American investment. The run-of-the-mill Haitian is handy, easily directed, and gives a hard day’s labor for 20 cents, while in Panama the same day’s work costs $3,” wrote Financial America in 1926.[i] That may be the most honest portrayal of the offshore industry in Haiti to date. Today, the US, the UN, multilateral lending institutions, corporate investors, and others are more creative in their characterizations. They spin Haiti’s high-profit labor as being in the interest of the laborer, and as a major vehicle for what they call “development.”
In the export assembly sector, the minimum wage is 200 gourdes, or US$4.76, a day. According to the Associated Press, the minimum wage in February 2010 was “approximately the same as the minimum wage in 1984 and worth less than half its previous purchasing power.” Three years later, the wage has only been raised by 75 gourdes (US$1.79). [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/hard-day-s-labor-476-offshore-assembly-industry-haiti
Friday, January 4, 2013
Some Key Players in Haiti’s Assembly Sector
SONAPI (Société Nationale des Parcs Industriels): An autonomous agency created in 1981 by then-president Jean-Claude Duvalier to oversee the country’s industrial parks. It maintains the 122-acre Parc Industriel Métropolitain in Port-au-Prince and the new 617-acre Parc Industriel de Caracol in the north. SONAPI’s president, appointed in August 2012, is Georges Sassine, former president of the country’s industrial business association (Association Des Industries d’Haïti, ADIH). Emails: info@sonapi.ht, parcindustriel@yahoo.com.
CODEVI (Compagnie de Développement Industriel SA): A free trade zone in Ouanaminthe, where the Dominican company Grupo M produces various types of apparel for VF, Levi's, Hanesbrands, and Nautica. This is the only apparel assembly facility with a union contract. The manager is Joseph Blumberg. Number of employees: 4,650. Email: jblumberg@grupom.com.do
Genesis S.A: An apparel assembly plant located near the SONAPI park in Port-au-Prince. It supplies T-shirts to Gildan Activewear and Hanesbrands. The president is Gerald Apaid, from a wealthy Haitian family whose best-known member is Haitian American industrialist André Apaid, owner of the Alpha plant. Number of employees: 1,275. Email: gapaid33166@yahoo.com
Multiwear Assembly: An apparel assembly plant occupying three buildings inside the SONAPI park. It supplies various types of apparel to Hanesbrands. The president is U.S. entrepreneur Richard Coles. Number of employees: 1,980. Email: rcoles@multitex.com, fcaoudal@multitex.com
One World Apparel: An apparel assembly plant located near the SONAPI park. It supplies wovens, scrubs, and uniforms to Superior Uniforms, G&K Uniforms, and Calhoun Clothing. Its president is Charles-Henri Baker, a perennial presidential candidate and brother-in-law of André and Gerald Apaid. Number of employees: 800. Email: chbaker@pbapparel.com
Palm Apparel: An apparel assembly plant located in Carrefour, a few miles southwest of Port-au-Prince. The plant collapsed during the 2010 earthquake, killing at least 500 workers. Palm Apparel supplies knits and T-shirts to Gildan. Its president is Alain Villard. Number of employees: 900. Email: alain.villard@palmapparel.com
Premium Apparel: An apparel assembly plant located near the SONAPI park. It supplies knits and T-shirts to Gildan. The president is Jean-Robert Godefroy. Number of employees: 1,250. Email: bob@agacorp.com
Sae-A Trading: A giant South Korean apparel firm that is the lead tenant in the new Parc Industriel de Caracol. On Oct. 15, a week before the park officially opened, Sae-A shipped 76,000 T-shirts to the US retailing giant Walmart. The company claims it will employ 20,000 workers.
Sources:
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Haiti-Dominican Republic Trade: Exports or Exploits?
By Ayiti Kale Je/Haiti Grassroots Watch
December 21, 2012
Port-au-Prince, HAITI, 21 December 2012 – “I get everything at the Haiti-Dominican Republic: carrots, squash, eggplant, cabbage, peppers, eggs, salami… everything. The border is what feeds us,” explained a merchant as she stood by her groaning stand.
The food seller – who refused to give her name because because she feared reprisals from Haitian tax collectors – sells vegetables and other food products at the Croix des Bossales marketplace, the biggest open market in the capital. Every day, hundreds of buyers and sellers clog the noisy, grimy patch of land near the country’s main port.[...]
Read the full article:
http://www.ayitikaleje.org/journal/2012/12/21/exportation-ou-exploitation-export-or-exploit.html
December 21, 2012
Port-au-Prince, HAITI, 21 December 2012 – “I get everything at the Haiti-Dominican Republic: carrots, squash, eggplant, cabbage, peppers, eggs, salami… everything. The border is what feeds us,” explained a merchant as she stood by her groaning stand.
The food seller – who refused to give her name because because she feared reprisals from Haitian tax collectors – sells vegetables and other food products at the Croix des Bossales marketplace, the biggest open market in the capital. Every day, hundreds of buyers and sellers clog the noisy, grimy patch of land near the country’s main port.[...]
Read the full article:
http://www.ayitikaleje.org/journal/2012/12/21/exportation-ou-exploitation-export-or-exploit.html
Friday, December 2, 2011
"Haiti--Open for Business" and Interview With Batay Ouvriye's Yannick Etienne
Haiti--Open for Business
Haiti Grassroots Watch/Ayiti Kale Je
November 29, 2011
“Haiti is open for business.”
That’s what President Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly said on November 28 at a ceremony inaugurating a giant industrial zone being built in the north of Haiti.
Across Haiti and abroad, Martelly, his government, and “advisors” like former President Bill Clinton have been pushing Haiti as a foreign investor’s dream come true.
“We are ready for new ideas and new businesses, and are creating the conditions necessary for Haiti to become a natural and attractive destination for foreign investment,” the new president said last fall in New York City. [...]
See the full report:
http://haitigrassrootswatch.squarespace.com/haiti-grassroots-watch-engli/2011/11/29/haiti-open-for-business.html
Controversy over Haiti’s development
The Stream, Al Jazeera
November 30, 2011
A new industrial park in Haiti will create jobs, but is it leading the country in a “race to the bottom”? [...]
[Includes discussion with Yannick Etienne, a spokesperson for Batay Ouvriye, which is involved in organizing the SOTA union for assembly plant workers.]
See the full report:
http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/controversy-over-haiti%E2%80%99s-development-0021890
See also:
Investigation Finds Evidence of Violations of Union Rights in Garment Industry
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/investigation-finds-evidence-of-violations-of-union-rights-in-garment-industry
"Rebuilding Haiti" -- the Sweatshop Hoax
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/wilson040310.html
Haiti Grassroots Watch/Ayiti Kale Je
November 29, 2011
 |
| From Haiti Grassroots Watch |
That’s what President Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly said on November 28 at a ceremony inaugurating a giant industrial zone being built in the north of Haiti.
Across Haiti and abroad, Martelly, his government, and “advisors” like former President Bill Clinton have been pushing Haiti as a foreign investor’s dream come true.
“We are ready for new ideas and new businesses, and are creating the conditions necessary for Haiti to become a natural and attractive destination for foreign investment,” the new president said last fall in New York City. [...]
See the full report:
http://haitigrassrootswatch.squarespace.com/haiti-grassroots-watch-engli/2011/11/29/haiti-open-for-business.html
Controversy over Haiti’s development
The Stream, Al Jazeera
November 30, 2011
A new industrial park in Haiti will create jobs, but is it leading the country in a “race to the bottom”? [...]
[Includes discussion with Yannick Etienne, a spokesperson for Batay Ouvriye, which is involved in organizing the SOTA union for assembly plant workers.]
See the full report:
http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/controversy-over-haiti%E2%80%99s-development-0021890
See also:
Investigation Finds Evidence of Violations of Union Rights in Garment Industry
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/investigation-finds-evidence-of-violations-of-union-rights-in-garment-industry
"Rebuilding Haiti" -- the Sweatshop Hoax
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/wilson040310.html
Friday, July 1, 2011
Haiti 1994: The Forgotten Intervention
Lessons for Libya?
One thing that was striking about the run-up to the invasion is how rarely we heard from the many Haitians who struggled for Aristide's return but opposed any US military action.
by David L. Wilson, World War 4 Report
July 1, 2011
On the night of September 29, 1991, Haitian army officers launched a coup d'état against the country's elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. By the next afternoon, soldiers had arrested Aristide and had started gunning down coup opponents in the street. The toll would reach more than 3,000 over the next three years.
US liberals didn't take long to see that the Haitian crisis could provide a good test case for the newly fashionable doctrine of "humanitarian intervention." [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.ww4report.com/node/10053
One thing that was striking about the run-up to the invasion is how rarely we heard from the many Haitians who struggled for Aristide's return but opposed any US military action.
by David L. Wilson, World War 4 Report
July 1, 2011
On the night of September 29, 1991, Haitian army officers launched a coup d'état against the country's elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. By the next afternoon, soldiers had arrested Aristide and had started gunning down coup opponents in the street. The toll would reach more than 3,000 over the next three years.
US liberals didn't take long to see that the Haitian crisis could provide a good test case for the newly fashionable doctrine of "humanitarian intervention." [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.ww4report.com/node/10053
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Cash for… What?
Do cash-for-work programs help “the recovery”? Is it a good thing that the sidewalks are jammed with people selling mostly imported goods and cast-off clothing and shoes from overseas? And what lurks behind the comments of Clinton and Ban?
by Ayiti Kale Je/Haiti Grassroots Watch/Haïti Veedor
November 8, 2010
Since the January 12 earthquake, multilateral agencies and humanitarian organizations have deployed across Haiti with “cash-for-work” programs, employing tens of thousands.
Taken together, these agencies and “non-governmental organizations” or NGOs – the term is a misnomer, since many are direct subcontractors of the US and other governments – are likely Haiti’s largest employer. [...]
Read the report and watch the video:
http://haitigrassrootswatch.squarespace.com/haiti-grassroots-watch-engli/2010/11/8/cash-for-what.html
by Ayiti Kale Je/Haiti Grassroots Watch/Haïti Veedor
November 8, 2010
Since the January 12 earthquake, multilateral agencies and humanitarian organizations have deployed across Haiti with “cash-for-work” programs, employing tens of thousands.
Taken together, these agencies and “non-governmental organizations” or NGOs – the term is a misnomer, since many are direct subcontractors of the US and other governments – are likely Haiti’s largest employer. [...]
Read the report and watch the video:
http://haitigrassrootswatch.squarespace.com/haiti-grassroots-watch-engli/2010/11/8/cash-for-what.html
Monday, October 25, 2010
Beyond Wyclef: What Haitians Want From Elections
“I see the elections of November 28 as an injustice to the population who are victims of the earthquake of January 12. This money [from the campaign] could be used to help people who are in difficulty."
Beverly Bell, Toward Freedom
October 18, 2010
We asked dozens of Haitians from different social sectors how they felt about the November 28 elections, and what they want or expect from a new government. Here are some of their responses. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.towardfreedom.com/home/americas/2147-beyond-wyclef-what-haitians-want-from-electio
Beverly Bell, Toward Freedom
October 18, 2010
We asked dozens of Haitians from different social sectors how they felt about the November 28 elections, and what they want or expect from a new government. Here are some of their responses. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.towardfreedom.com/home/americas/2147-beyond-wyclef-what-haitians-want-from-electio
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Haiti: Images
During the coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the mainstream media further perpetuated Haiti's image as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. This 8-min documentary explores this representation and uncovers what mainstream journalists have neglected to tell us about Haiti's history.
http://vimeo.com/12206642
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm8DU2pO9ls
http://vimeo.com/12206642
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm8DU2pO9ls
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)