Henwood wrote:
Michael Perelman wrote, quoting a comprador Third World trade
minister writing under the name Rakesh Bhandari:
________
And thereby revealed that he still refuses to recognize that it's not just
third world trade ministers, neo liberal economists and the big bourgeoisie
which are dead set opposed to afl cio's and unite's attempt to link trade and
labor rights. When will henwood realize that every single major trade Indian
trade union centre has repudiated the attempt to make a link? he can point to
some hand picked third world unionists who can afford to show up to nyc to
attend unite anti sweatshop rallies, but unite and the afl cio are for the most
part fighting other trade unionists.
i then wrote:
>We have articles about the student anti-sweatshop movement with
>titles like
>kids vs. economists, though they would be more appropriately
>titled ivy league
>brats vs. all major trade union centres in India.
So I've got to endure this demented crap here too? You have a very
selective policy about personal attacks, Michael.
___________
is this demented? in your coverage of globalization, have you reported the fact
to which i again called attention?
henwood then writes:
Here's what the actual article says, rather than this sick caricature of it:
>The founding of the WRC, which focuses on investigating worker
>complaints rather than certifying specific companies or factories as
>"sweat-free," reflects the student movement's increasing emphasis on
>direct contact with garment workers. Students have visited factories
>and established relationships with workers throughout Central
>America and Asia. Critics ranging from the Bangladeshi-born feminist
>sociologist Naila Kabeer to mainstream pundits like Thomas Friedman
>have derided First World anti-sweatshop crusades as protectionist,
yes but you did not interview kabeer, and by lumping her in with friedman, you
hope to delegitimize her arguments. She is not a free trade ideologue but a
labor-friendly social scientist. Are you being fair in not reporting how her
criticism is different than Friedman's? what does she say about the harkin
bill? why would she be worried--if asked--that the present anti sweatshop
movement will be more of the same?
>and it's true that a few (though by no means all) of the unions that
>back the student anti-sweatshop movement can be exactly that.
not all? which unions have repudiated the quota denial to cambodia, the
protectionist measures in the trade act with africa? which unions have said
that under the pressure of third world trade unionists they are not going to
fight for trade/labor rights link?
But
>USAS, which receives funding from the AFL-CIO, has been careful to
>emphasize that it does not favor banning imports, nor does it call
>for boycotts.
it does not favor as a first option, sure. but when will USAS accede to state
restriction on trade? Never? Only if there is clear evidence that trade unions
and democratic forces what the restriction? Have they put this to a vote?
Why no clarity on tactics?
Most apparel workers, USAS activists realize, need
>their jobs. The goal of the movement is to improve workers' pay and
>working conditions at offshore factories, not to force universities
>to take their business elsewhere.
again what happens when student pressure fails to upgrade standards according
to the afl cio which will presumably make that determination?
[...]
>Peter Dreier, director of Occidental College's Urban & Environmental
>Policy Program, advises student activists and has taught a seminar
>on the sweatshop issue. With Occidental activists, Dreier pressed
>administrators to commission an Occidental T-shirt made by UNITE
>members in Pennsylvania. Though some activists have criticized this
>strategy as protectionist, Dreier believes that the union label
>provides the best available insurance that apparel is "sweat-free."
So this shows that the students have not fought off a buy american campaign?
why won't this be the direction of the student movement after its pressure
fails? We must agreed that students won't always get what they ask for..even if
they are from Duke and important people and all that.
Rakesh
