We want what we want when we want it.  We also want it cheap.  We want pineapple in the middle of winter, chocolate every day, sex with whomever we choose and a new pair of running shoes every few months. We are the nation of instant gratification.  That's become the darker reality of the "American Way".  This blog isn't as fashion focused as my other blogs, but  I hope you will bear with me as I share some thoughts about how even something as seemingly unrelated as fashion  has a connection to the tragedy in Haiti.

When I was in college, my sister and her husband were living in Singapore so I spent 2 summers in Asia.  One summer, my sister got a telephone call from a woman who had established a camp for people coming to Singapore on makeshift boats from Vietnam, fleeing the post war regime that had brought with it a cloud of oppression.  Many died along the journey and some were robbed and/or raped by pirates.  They called them the "boat people" and only selective ports would allow them to land.  This woman needed English teachers for the hundreds of refugees arriving and asked if we'd be willing to help.  Of course, I wore a MIA bracelet for a missing soldier in the 70s (Yes, it was a social statement, but I'll admit, a fashion trend as well)  and I'd seen the Deer Hunter, so I thought I was well prepared for an adventure like this.  We agreed to go to the camp and help her with the daunting task of teaching Vietnamese speaking children and adults English so that they could be relocated to English speaking countries.  

                                                                  

No movie or news report could have prepared me for the reality of that over-crowded refugee camp baking in the hot Singapore sun.   Spending time with those children taught me more about my own ignorance and self absorption than anything I'd ever experienced.  The Vietnam war was no longer an abstract concept, it was a reality and I fell in love with the little dark haired students with the bright smiles who, though traumatized from atrocities beyond belief, sat with their little notebooks and carefully hung on my every word.  I'm sure many of you can remember the first defining experience that changed the way you saw the world and this was mine. When I returned home that summer, I found everything the same, and everyone just as I had left them, blissfully unaware of a world outside of their own.  But I was different and I wanted everyone to know it..needless to say, they found the new me a little too much to handle.  My friends  missed the old Lisa that wanted to go shopping and help them put together the perfect outfit for their next date.  That Lisa lived an easier life, and it was tempting to buy into the "well, you can't let that stuff worry you" or "there's nothing you can do about it" philosophies they wanted me to accept.  But I liked the new Lisa and found that with her eyes, I could finally see what it really meant to be human.


So, there was a 7.0 earthquake in Haiti this week.  It was catastrophic for the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and Americans were shocked when they viewed the images on CNN.  Not only were they surprised at the devastation left behind by the earthquake, many were seeing for the first time, the extreme poverty that plagues this country every day of the year.  People all around the world are rallying in support and I'm always surprised when the raw beauty of humanity surfaces in response to the cruel misfortunes of others.
 
                                                            

But, (and yes there is a but), there is something else to consider.  Is it really poverty that plagues Haiti, Africa, and other regions of the world suffering economically?  I have come to believe that it has less to do with poverty and more to do with greed.  Our greed and the greed we've so generously taught to others. 

Thousands of Haitian children are smuggled into the Dominican Republic each year, according to a UN report.  Human traffickers on either side of the shared border smuggle about 2500 minors  into the Dominican Republic illegally.  The report found that Dominican border officials were letting human traffickers cross from Haiti in exchange for payments of between 20 and 50 Dominican pesos (US$1 to US$2.50) per child.  These children work as farm laborers, domestic servants, beggars and are forced into prostitution.  The money they earn is not their own and their lives are considered disposable.  On an International level, it is estimated that 27 million people today live in modern day slavery and the illegal trade of human beings is second in dollar amounts only to the drug trade. 

                                                                 

So what does that have to do with the good old US of A?  And more importantly, how could we possibly be responsible for poverty or human trafficking in Haiti? Did you know that the largest group of tourists traveling to South America and Island countries to solicit sex with children are from North America?  Did you know that many of the farms at which these children work supply the flowers, produce, chocolate and textiles that are in our favorite stores?  We have comfortable responses to these concerns of course, like; "We're helping their economy", "Well, it's just a family farm" "They get paid more than they could doing anything else".  My favorite response to the specific sex issue:  "It's different there, it's cultural".  (Cultural..hmm.. I wonder why " it's cultural" is only an excuse we use to justify bad behavior towards women and children). Google image search "female halloween costumes" and then do the same for males.  It will tell you a lot about what we think about the gender values in our society.  It's as if we believe that only American children have an inherent right to be safe from predators and educated and the quaint countries "over there" are culturally exempt. We have Western world standards and standards for "them" and the two are always at odds.


                                                                                    


It's not just about Haiti - our obsession with stuff has created strong after shocks everyday in about every corner of the planet. Take a look in your closet, your  kitchen, your bathroom, or your garage and you will find examples of ways we've unknowingly supported the sweatshops and labor practices that have kept entire nations in bondage to poverty. I could list a page full, but here are just a few examples of products that are vulnerable to sweatshops, forced labor and child labor.   

• FABRIC - That shirt you are wearing, you proudly bought it because it was labeled  organic cotton and  "Made in the USA".  BUT..Do you know where the company purchased the cotton to make that shirt?  In Uzbekistan, children are forced to leave school to work on farms to supply the majority of the world's cotton. 

                                            

• SOCCER-In Pakistan, children spend all day hand sewing and filling  soccer balls and beading garments with little or no pay instead of attending school.  

                                                                   

• FISH- The shrimping industry in the Phillipines is known for abuse of labor laws and in  Ghana, children risk their lives to dive in lakes to untangle fishing nets, all because their tiny fingers are best for that type of work. 

                                                     

• RUGS- In India, children as in the fishing industry, weave rugs all day because their tiny fingers more easily work the looms.

                                                      

• CLOTHING -Most of us are familiar with sweatshops and those that practice unfair labor policies, but have you considered the ad campaigns that many of the companies promote? American Apparel's images are degrading to women and the models look younger than their poses suggest.
  
  
                
  
• CHOCOLATE - Children in Cote D'Ivoire are sold for $20 to Cocoa Farmers (who themselves only make a few hundres dollars a year) to work in dangerous, sometimes life threatening conditions, with little or no pay, to supply cocoa to meet the demand for chocolate.  Every time I see the happy little M&M people I think about the thousands of workers on those farms whose children will never even know what chocolate tastes like. 

                                                                                     

• COSMETICS- The shimmer in our make up is created from Mica, a mineral mined by children who can lose limbs doing the dangerous job of obtaining it. 

                                                                                       

• ELECTRONICS- The coltan in our computers and cell phones is mined without safety gear for pennies a day at the cost of an education or even a life. 
• JEWELRY - We've all seen blood diamond but very few of us demand ethical diamonds or buy estate jewelry. Virtually all precious metals and gemstones in other countries are mined by children and/or  adults with very little safety gear or precautions, resulting in disfigurement and sometimes even death.

                                                                                       

• SHOES -It's not just people we are exploiting to meet our appetites for more stuff, it's also the countries natural resources.  In the Amazon, it was discovered that rain forests were being torn down and replaced with cattle by desperate ranchers  who wanted to supply enough leather to Nike and Adidas for shoes.  But, before we can blame Nike and Adidas for the behavior of their suppliers, we have to ask ourselves who is putting the demand on those companies for more and more shoes.
• RECYCLING - Yes, we all feel good about doing it, but sometimes it's small children who dismantle recycled cell phones for their valuable parts. 

                                                                             

• STUFF - It doesn't have to be just children, thousands of workers all over the world are held in bonded slavery in unacceptable conditions to bring us our Big Box store "stuff" that we can't live without.  SOMEONE, somewhere is making money.. but it's not the people in Haiti, or Cote D'Ivoire, or any of the countries who have the resources and labor we use to meet our need for more and more to fill our cabinets, closets and empty lives.  Why are the countries in the world richest in natural resources the poorest?
  
                                                                         
  
  We are caught up in a rabid frenzy that makes us buy 20 cheap dresses at Forever 21 so that we can have more and be "in Style" instead of one or two that were created sustainably and ethically or vintage/previously worn. No is not in our modern vocabulary and limits are considered taboo. We have become gluttonous - celebrity obsessed, no holds barred, indulgent self promoters.  It's somehow become trendy do whatever we want because there are no rules for the ultra hip.  It's just too stifling to our artistic expression to consider reprocussions.  If we support dollar stores, strip clubs, consider prostitution a "choice", encourage 12 year olds to dress like 20 something starlets, fill our lives with disposable stuff or buy whatever we want without any consideration to the message we are sending, we are responsible for every one of those trafficked children, in Haiti and around the globe.   It's a supply and demand world and as long as there are stockholders demanding more and more profit from their portfolios without demanding corporate responsibility, and consumers insisting on  instant, cheap gratification, there will be traffickers who will stop at nothing to meet that demand.  
  

                      

         

                                                                                                                                 

I am asking you to join me in taking responsibility for the Haitis of the world.  Not just with disaster relief, but with a consciousness that will one day change the world.  Start asking questions about where your "stuff" was made.  Don't be overwhelmed, or disheartened, there is hope and the light that shined after the earthquake can shine through our awareness of our impact on others and give us the power to make a difference.  Use your shopping power and support those companies trying to do the right thing.  Open your eyes to the crazy culture we live in and start thinking about what the media and internet are doing to promote women as sex objects and why that twisted sexuality that victimizes young children continues to grow as an industry.  I personally have made a commitment to only buy vintage and/or used clothing unless the company can demonstrate a transparent supply chain that traces  the cotton plant or silkworm to the store.  Extreme? Yes. Easy? No, It's not easy, but once you take the blinders off, your humanity will make however you choose to respond, feel like the only ethical option.  It's so wonderful that so many of us are responding to the crisis in Haiti, it is horrifying to consider what would happen without the selfless dedication of so many volunteers and the generosity of so many compassionate people.  I hope that we can look beyond the rubble to the global responsibility we  share for the children who belong to us all.  The effect will be more powerful than any earthquake and you'll see the world through  a beautiful new pair of eyes. 

                                                                         

Just a few of my favorite Links to learn more about smart activisim related to fighting human trafficking, modern day slavery, and becoming a conscientious consumer.

• Free2Work    www.free2work.org    - Streamlined information about products, companies, supply chain transparency and social responsibility
• Not for Sale Campaign   www.notforsalecampaign.org  A campaign to mobilize activists to reabolish slavery in our lifetime. One of my favorites! Not for Sale has practical ways you can get involved to make a difference. Contact the state director in your state for more information.
• International Labor Rights Forum http://www.laborrights.org  Building a just world for workers
• As You Sow  http://www.asyousow.org  Innovative strategies to transform corporate behavior and create a more socially and environmentally just society.
• Misssey http://www.misssey.org Motivating, inspiring and serving sexually exploited youth
• CASTLA  http://www.castla.org  A coalition to abolish slavery and trafficking
• The Story of Stuff http://www.storyofstuff.com A fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns.
• Global Exchange http://www.globalexchange.org/ International human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world.
• Divine Chocolate http://www.divinechocolate.com/siteselect.aspx  Fair trade chocolate that TRULY is divine!
• International Justice Mission http://www.ijm.org/  a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.
• MEND Invisible Children  Empowering, ethical bag line - http://www.invisiblechildren.com/mend
• http://fashionableearth.org/blog/ Great blog about real world fashion that redefines recycling and re use with style!

Recommended Books:

• Slaves to Fashion: Poverty and Abuse in the New Sweatshops  Robert J.S. Ross
• Not for Sale:  The Return of the Global Slave Trade and How We can Fight It  David B Batstone
• A Crime So Monsterous  Benjamin Skinner
• Just Courage Gary Haugen
• The Johns: Sex for Sale and the Men who Buy It  Victor Malarek  
• Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet   Carol Off
• Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide Nicholas Kirstof and Sheryl WuDunn

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