awake & listening: kanye west & mars hill michiganHere's a taste from the "Diamonds Are Forever" remix featuring Jay-Z:
"Good Morning, this ain't Vietnam stillIn another one of the messages in the series from Mars Hill, Rob and Don encourage the congregation to look at the "Made in" labels on their shirts and to call out the countries. "Cambodia!" "Honduras!" "China!" They go on to say that because they own these shirts, they are undeniably connected to that country, and to its workers. "What are the working conditions like? Do they get breaks? Insurance? How many hours a day do they work?" Their point is that we have a responsibility to avoid being a part of an oppressive empire, if indeed our economy is buttressed by the oppression of another people (as the Jews were by Egypt, the Canaanites by Solomon and the Jews again by the Babylonians).
People lose hands, legs, arms for real
Little was known of Sierra Leone
And how it's connected to the diamonds we own."
"Though it's thousands of miles awayMy shirt tag says, "Made in Honduras." Yours?
Sierra Leone's connected to what we go through today.
Over here, its a drug trade, we die from drugs.
Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs.
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charmses;
I thought my Jesus Piece was so harmless,
'til I seen a picture of a shorty armless."
7 comments:
Vietnam!
Question.. If we stopped buying products from these countries would the people who make these products have a job at all...? Or are they being taken from their villages and forced to work in order to satisfy the 'needs' of americans and other people of the world who buy these products? Would we possibly be hurting the economy of these countries if we completely boycotted their products?
I read an article not too long ago that talked about a family in China that made clothes. He owned a factory but literally worked 14 or more hours a day and lived like a peasant, but he made ends meet. It was a very interesting article. I wish I could remember more of it. But it talked about some of these people who made clothes and shoes etc in the 'poor' countries. What really struck me was that right across the city that he lived was a bustling, trendy, rich community..the conditions were very odd, but typical. The U.S. has places just like the place he lived, just not as extreme. Just look at Detroit, it has an incredible poverty rate, but also people make millions of dollars there and you have people working in the factories that make garbage and don't have any insurance etc. 'IT' happens everywhere.
Anyways, maybe I'm missing the point, I'll take a look at that series when I get a chance.
Sometimes, I just wonder if some of our actions aren't hurting in some instances, despite the fact that we think we are helping. What are the right actions...How about we don't not put so much stock in the allmighty dollar. How about we start teaching ethics in our schools at an early age. How about we stop making it seem that if you don't wear certain clothes or have a cell phone that you are not cool. Let's blow the heads off of teen idles that only care about money, fame and sex. and on and on and on..
josiah,
excellent question. would we be doing more harm than good? i don't know, but when we're asking these questions and questioning empire, that's nothing but a good thing.
exploitation and oppression definitely existed long before the sweat shop or the overseas factories that our t-shirts, dolls and quarter machine trinkets come from. but what may be new is a sizeable percentage of a sizeable market saying, "no thanks. not unless the people and the land this came from are taken care of."
i'm not really sure how this could realistically be expected to happen. i don't understand international trade to the depth that i would like to.
but organizations like oxfam and one seem to me like a good place to begin.
shaun, richard and i have been having a several week long discussion about the nature of sin, and unfortunately we haven't quite yet figured out how to get rid of it completely. :) but, there is a phrase that will not leave my mind concerning sin, poverty, exploitation and our fight against it, "at the least...less."
Joe,
I hear you, and your point that we kids don't take a class called "Ethics" is a good one. And I agree, we don't teach Latin :) But, do they learn something about ethics? At our school they do. That's the extent to which I can speak for public education. Now, should a class explicitly about ethics be required? It wouldn't hurt. But would the fact that wars continue to rage on and weapons technology progress (or shouldn't we say, digress) cease to be as a result? Who knows, but it's worth a shot, right?
The fact is that kids are put in an environment where they're expected to be agreeable, cooperative and responsible everyday when they come to school. The degree to which they buy in to that (I believe) has more to do with what they hear and see outside of the school building than whether or not Ethics appears on their schedule. We can bust our asses to get it through to a kid that being a humble, considerate participant in a pluralist society is the way to go; but if that's not supported at home and in mass media, we have to get used to the idea that only a small percentage of the kids are going to agree.
I can see where you're coming from in terms of our role in an oppressive system. But, I think that to say that things will change (I assume you mean for the better) as we as a society and global community change is giving a little too much credit to the machine that we need to be raging against. Those of us who are aware that systems are capable of oppressing are the last ones who need to be trusting that things will just sort of work themselves out. Unless we demand that they work themselves out in such a way that the rich are not advantaged over the poor...well, then they will simply work themselves out in a way that the rich construct themselves an advantage.
Also, I've got to give it up for the Amish. I don't know if stagnant is the word I would use. Sustainable may be more in order. And as far as something worse is concerned, how about a nation where more people vote for their American Idol than their President?
Maybe I'm being too cynical, or too hard on my country, but I simply don't see "where we are" as being something worth admiring. It's nothing to scoff at, sure. But whose backs have we broken (and continue to break) to get "here". If we have to abuse something or someone in order to "progress", is it progress? Is it possible that true social and economic progress that is sustainable and useful might not depend on any new technology whatsoever.
Isn't it curious that the environmental sustainability that some of us are researching like hell to acheive will probably be less effective than the sustainability that the Amish have already acheived?
oh yeah.
China.
My tag says "Made in Malaysia".
did some laundry today:
guatemala, bangladesh, cambodia.
i am not connected to any of those countries in any way, except for my hope for their good living conditions, community with family & friends, and awakened lifestyles. i regret I've done nothing but discourage these things ... at least for all I know.
change is coming.
I'm doing more laundry.
I wonder what will happen when I soak my soul, dry it off, and look at the tag...
There is hope yet.
Check out this L.A.-based company that is doing some encouraging things.
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