Dirty jungle business

[airiefairie.livejournal.com]

Some of us may have occasionally wondered where the clothes in our wardrobe are coming from. Or in what conditions the shrimp and tuna fish that we eat had been packed. For example those coming from countries like Thailand. We may have occasionally asked ourselves for how many hours the people who assembled our tablet had been working until the end product was ready.

The export of such products has been at the basis of the economic ascent of Southeast Asia for the last couple of decades. Thanks to the cheap and bountiful production, that region has turned into an important player on the world markets. But behind the lustre of Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and other countries, there are dirty secrets lurking. The workers in the industries that require cheap labour of low qualifications, are often poorly paid immigrants fleeing from bloody armed conflicts. Coming to the many factories in Thailand, in most cases they find themselves in terrible working and living conditions, with no social, health, or any other protection or aid.

In Thailand, millions of these people work for endless hours in apalling conditions, and get meagre compensations. If anyone protests, they get instantly disposed of, because there are hundreds and thousands queueing for the same job for the same meagre money. And this will remain so, while the local governments and the international companies who have stepped into the region, remain unwilling to change the situation.

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