I’m reading a book called “No Logo” by Naomi Klein. It’s an excellent book and I’ll just mention a little about it, but I’d like to urge everyone to read it. It’s written 10 years ago about destructive multinational big brand corporations taking over our culture, lives, jobs, minds…
What was already happening then is now becoming very prominent and awareness is growing among individuals who are taking a stand.
One of the big issues in the book is sweatshops in Asian countries. Basically most branded items are produced extremely cheaply by a workforce who earn between 13 and 50 US cents per hour and usually consists of girls between 16 and 25. Let me just translate that salary into Rands: That is between 90c and R3.50 per hour, from just over R7 up to a staggering R16 per 8 hour day. Lucky for these girls, they get to work much longer than 8 hours. They report at 7am and work until 2am during high production times. During low production however, the workforce is halved and those who don’t work don’t get paid. So even though they might earn up to R66/18 h during high production times, they earn ziltch during quiet times. I’m not going to linger much longer on their working conditions but I’ll just mention that they get 2 x 10 min toilet breaks, during which they have to clock out – no pay for pee time. Pneumonia is rife due to poor circulation and extreme heat in daytime and freezing cold at night. There have been deaths and their living conditions are very poor. So basically, the people who make your R500 jeans wake up in a crappy little room shared with 5 others, work for fuck-all in the nastiest conditions and have no life between working and sleeping. That is not making a living because there is no living in this equation
This suffering is caused by multinational corporations who used to have their own production factories in the West where they had a workforce who earned a good living with which one could provide for a family.
Interestingly, the prices of the products haven’t dropped as one would expect. In fact, it might have actually increased because the company now has more of a budget to spend on marketing and branding, convincing you that you really need this item.
So, with this evil shit in mind, I met someone recently who imports plastic plants in bulk and who proudly told me how unbelievably cheap it is and how much of a killing he is making… interesting way of putting it, I thought.
Needless to say, I explained to him that it is not unbelievable at all when you consider that it is basically made by slaves. When I started mentioning a few things going on in sweatshops, he told me that he knew about it, but it is not him giving the orders and he is therefore not contributing to exploitation. I was flabbergasted to see someone’s head so far up his own ass. Is it possible that a reasonable and fairly bright person could explain away responsibility as easily as that and believe his own ramblings? Then I realized that it is that easy, people tell themselves these “vital” little lies all the time. Sometimes the lies will be some stupid explanation for the lipstick on your husband’s collar. He probably walked in on a giant cosmetic sale at Clicks, where a frantic girl was waving her hands around to let her nails dry, while at the same time doing a skin test with an opened lipstick. This is very possible, especially since you noticed he must’ve been to Clicks recently because he – very considerately – took it upon himself to take a turn in buying the condoms
With this intrapersonal bullshitting in mind, I’m beginning to entertain the thought that those who see should take it upon themselves to show the rest. There are loads of fun ways to make people aware of very important things. “Editing” the nasty giant McDonalds billboard at the end of Long st, Cape Town, is one. It was one of the biggest monstrosities I’ve laid eyes on and it consisted of the “golden arches” and the slogan “I’m loving it”. Some very clever AA (Anti-corporate Activist) added in the exact same font “…not” Apparently it was up for 2 days before McD’s noticed it and removed the R350 000/month billboard.
After that incident, I scoured the internet for other such “editing” and found that it is rife in the States and Europe. There are vigilante censors like Rodriguez de Gerada, Carly Stasko and Jubal Brown to name a few. If you are interested, Google these guys, their pages will lead you to more. This led me to believe that you can change the world with wheat paste and vinyl.
Anti-corporate sentiment is one thing, but what if one employs this possible vessel for change and use it to help the masses with another, far more significant delusion – climate change. If our population growth carries on the way it does it is an absolute fact that the earth will not be able to support life as we know it in 50 years. Ultimately, if we keep refusing to acknowledge and protect the earth’s fundamental right to be treated well, we will become extinct. Unfortunately there are entire nations who refuse to acknowledge this fact, and as I heard the author of “Wild Law” put it: Those are delusions and with time they will come to realise the truth. Just as people believed long ago that the earth was flat and laughed at the sphere-ists, they realized over time that the earth is, in fact, round. Just as, while people believed the sun rotated around the earth for thousands of years, the earth happily went on rotating around the sun, regardless. Climate change and the effect that it and our current capitalist system have on the earth will not halt and disappear just because the West is refusing to believe it.
So herewith my proposed answer. To try and convince masses of delusional people to do away with their beloved system of trying 
(without ever succeeding) to live a better life instead of just living a good life, is impossible in the time frame we have. There simply is no time to break down and rebuild. The only option is to just go ahead and do right. To change the world, don’t try to change the minds of leaders and wait for them to change the system. Change your world, actively work towards creating an environment with which you interact, rather than live off. Think about your usage of energy, food, soil, water, whatever: make it sustainable so that you can at least keep using the bit you are using. This is probably not going to be enough, but it is doable for now. And for God’s sake, don’t buy shit all the time, it won’t make you happy!
