Throughout time the idea of justice has been reshaped and redefined as the quest to know more has washed away our ignorance. A hundred years ago the idea of children being trafficked in our own country was far from the headlines; 50 years ago no one cared if his or her car refrigerator and pencil sharpener were “going green”; 10 years ago no one imagined 100000 people would rally together on behalf of child soldiers half a world away in Uganda. There is something unmistakably provoking that comes with knowledge. It is my hope and warning that the words to follow will strip you from bliss and leave you uncomfortably torn and ready to affect change concerning an important issue— conscious consumerism. In light of America’s recent rat race to help the Haitian earthquake victims this concern is more prevalent than ever.
Conscious consumerism is an issue of social justice that has yet to be painted in the traditional shades of black and white. Current culture continues to teach us that certain injustices are inevitable and thus need no response on our part. Of course this scheme is well-received since the idea of doing nothing is strangely appealing and conveniently effortless. Our ignorance as consumers stems from an apathetic interest in where our products originate. We are numbed by lectures of how history shows that countries mature in levels; and in the earlier levels industries such as sweatshops are necessary evils— a stage of pubescent acne which some experience more than others.
Haiti as the recent earthquake has brought to our attention was (and certainly remains) the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere; it also seems perpetually caught in this adolescent phase. Thus there is much to be gained from understanding why it took a disaster for the world to notice Haiti. Haiti has long been an abused country marred by a corrupt government. Recent attempts to raise minimum wage (to 60 cents USD an hour) were delayed by the sole opposition of the president himself. Because of mass poverty among the people and little to no regulation of worker treatment Haiti has become a new favorite location for fabric manufacturers. Sadly almost all the companies that operate under horrible conditions in Haiti are still completely legal in terms of global law. They are simply exploiting the terrible conditions that preexisted in Haiti and counting on the fact that consumers will continue to be oblivious to their abuses and purchase their T-shirts.
In the world of trendy American social justice the T-shirt is the bread and butter of successful fundraising and awareness campaigns. Unfortunately in an attempt to spend less to give more we run into the dilemma of backward justice. Backward justice is the idea of using unjust means to bring about justice. In a sincere attempt to be a part of relief efforts in Haiti we may have overlooked some of the reverse or backward effects of our efforts.
The Pepperdine bookstore currently carries T-shirts proudly displaying the Pepperdine name that were made in Haiti. Actually almost all of the products the bookstore carries are made in countries where sweatshops are the dominant mode of production in the fabric industry. It’s true that we probably don’t care if our jackets are made in El Salvador but when we are moved to help a country such as Haiti it seems the simplest thing we could do is stop hurting them by perpetuating sweatshop labor in the making of our T-shirts.What if ironically we used shirts made in Haiti to raise money for Haiti? Could we overlook such a large red flag of apparent backward justice? In fact we have. The same hands we are raising funds to help worked in abusive conditions to make the shirts we are using to come “Together for Haiti.” If there existed a justice meter I’m not sure how the levels would shift.
Social justice is not an easily defined ideal. Last fall a campaign for workers’ rights in Haiti began. Modeled after a similar Better Work program in Cambodia there is real hope for improved conditions. The Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) Act passed in January allows duty-free imports of Haitian apparel products into the United States; all part of the recent stimulus plan to rebuild Haiti. The common theory is that just efforts to rebuild Haiti— giving more people jobs allowing more families to grow providing a means of food for the starving— is based on growing sweat shops. Paul Collier a specialist in the political economical and developmental predicaments of poor countries has called for a Marshall Plan for Haiti aimed at stimulating the garment sector. Leaders of the movement have openly noted that even so-called “sweatshop” jobs are better than nothing. In a holistic movement of stimulating economy while improving working conditions it could offer the solution to Haiti’s poverty.
Have we been saved from our previous dilemma? Are our T-shirts benefitting Haiti in more ways than we had hoped? In any case they have already been paid for and already supported the sweatshops— the least we can do is to still purchase the shirts to send money to help the earthquake victims. The point is we should be awakened to the complexity of our situation as consumers. What we buy has influence on the world in which we live.
