[Newspoetry] Re: [Fwd: [MilCom] Heads up Washington State]

[mcovingt at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu]

Hiya.

[Mike Lehman said:]

>Near the end they mention the old saw about the 3rd World countries
>opposing labor and enviromental standards because they see them as
>protectionist ploys by the developed world.

>I think the 3rd World has a right to be suspicious. When have the
>developed countries ever given a tinker's damn about the 3rd World? Now
>all of the sudden, the Corporate Economies of the 1st World are falling
>all over themselves to address these particular issues out of great
>concern for the views of the 3rd World?

>Come on. Can't everyone see through this smokescreen?????

	There are two other things that really bug me about this old saw.

	First, when they talk about the 3rd World delegates opposing 
labor standards, they NEVER mention that the world the 3rd World
delegates live in is usually QUITE different than the world that their
"constituents" live in, and there is no guarantee that these guys are
representing the views of garden variety citizens. The upper crust of
country A has far more in common with the upper crust of country B halfway
around the continent than it does with the regular folks of country A.
A friend of mine who worked in Pakistan for a long time on telecom stuff
always talks endlessly about this - you leave the center of the capital,
and wham, you're in another world.  But listening to the news,
you'd think that these poor put-upon guys are selflessly representing the 
people in these countries who are just begging to work in sweatshops.

	Second, the media likes to portray those asking for labor standards
as some kinda unrealistic do-gooders who want to force the US minimum wage
on the world, putting thousands out of the business, harming those they
want to help, and being hated by the people they are trying to help with
their silly pampered views. Hah. The living wage in China, estimated by
both the government and some NGOs there, is approximately 87 cents an
hour. What many people are saying is that it would be NICE if those people
were paid THAT - 87 cents an hour. They're not asking for $5.15, that'd
have to come later, and more slowly. However, Disney currently pays
33 cents an hour (they also violate Chinese labor law left and right
by making people work mandatory overtime far in excess of the mandated
maximum, and by denying people their vacation time). Workin' for the Rat,
indeed.

	Seems to me the Corporate Economies of the First World are realizing
that they're pissing people off (in the US in particular, the Dems have
to worry about labor concerns to at least some small extent), and so are 
asking for these labor standards, while fully REALIZING that they have next
to no chance of getting them considered, and not even planning to push
very hard. It's a classic "look, see, we're taking your concerns seriously,
yeah *guffaw*"

	Maiko "No, I don't WANT to 'run along now'" Covington