Transcript Document 7132016

Key Issues
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Nationalistic Tendencies
Social Context of the Global Revolution
Plight of the Exploited Worker
The Common Paradox
Standards of Accountability
Social Transformation
Rural and Urban Worlds Clash
Altering Capitalism in the New “One World”
Nationalistic Tendencies
“People no longer have a free choice in
this matter of identity. Ready or not
they are already of the world, bound
to distant others through the complex
strands of commerce and finance
reorganizing the globe as a unified
marketplace.” p 333
Nationalistic Tendencies
“The nation-state faces a crisis of
relevance. What remains of its
purpose and power if authority over
domestic social standards is yielded
to disinterested market forces.” p 334
The Social Imperative
• Idea is to think anew rather than
retreat inward p334
• The challenge is not to abandon old
identities and deeply held values but
enlarge them p 334
The Two Realms
• The poor nation
• Repeating the past
• America and Europe
• The wealthy nation
• Social structure under assault
Response to Social
Concerns
• “The new wealth of industrialization
will lead naturally to middle class
democracy in the poorer countries
and the barbarisms will eventually be
eradicated” p 336
Kader Industrial Toy
Company
p 337
• Located in Thailand
• Employed three thousand employees
• Manufactured stuffed toys, plastic
dolls designed for American children
Kader Industrial Toy
Company
• May 10, 1993
• Worst industrial fire in the history of
capitalism
• 188 dead, 469 injured p 337
Kader Industrial Toy
Company
• Kader fire surpasses what was
previously the worst industrial fire in
history
• Triangle Shirtwaist company fire of 1911
• Lower east side of Manhattan
• 146 immigrant women died in similar
circumstances p 337
Kader Industrial Toy
Company
• American Reactions:
• Neither citizens nor government took any
interest in the brutal and dangerous
conditions imposed on the people who
manufactured the toys p 338
• “The responsibility for those factories is in
the hands of those who are there and
managing the factory” David Miller,
President of Toy Manufactures of America
338
p
Kader Industrial Toy
Company
p 338
• American TV exposed similar working
conditions
• ABC’s 20/20 reported account of Kader fire
• CNN ran disturbing footage
• CBS’s 60 Minutes exposed prison labor in
China
• NBC’s Dateline did a piece on Wal-Mart’s
production in Bangla
The Common Paradox
“The process of industrialization was profoundly
liberating for millions, freeing them from material
scarcity and limited life choices, while it also
ensnared other millions in brutal new forms of
domination.” p. 342
• Income Disparity at Kader
• Dreadful conditions at Kader
Income Disparity at Kader
• Workers paid $2 or $3 a day, the minimum
wage was $4 (100 baht)
• 100 of the 3000 workers: legally
designated employees
• 2900 of the 3000 workers were contract
workers
• The chairman of Kader Holding Company,
Ltd.-Dhanin Chearavanont
• Quoted by Fortune magazine to be the seventyfifth richest man in the world
• Has personal assets of $2.6 billion
Dreadful Conditions at the Kader
Plant
“Lint, fabric, dust and animal hair filled the air on
the production floor,” stated the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions based in
Brussels observed in its investigative report. p.
342
This created:
• Respiratory problems
• Contact caused skin disease
Accountability Standards
“A common response to such facts, even from many
sensitive people, was: yes, that was terrible, but
wouldn’t those workers be even worse off if civil
standards were imposed on their employers since they
might lose their jobs as a result?” p. 342
“It was not a coincidence that industry always assigned the
harshest conditions and lowest pay to the weakest
members of a society– women, children, uprooted
migrants…people who were already quite powerless
were less likely to resist, less able to demand decency
from their employers.” p. 341
Accountability Standards
Kader Holding Company Ltd. was considered the
“powerhouse of the global toy industry” and was “neither
small nor struggling.”
– Worker demonstration
• $12,000 compensation for each death in the Kader fire
• Once compensation was paid, activists forced to stop
– “There was no boycott of Kader toys in America. The professor
slumped in his chair and was silent, a twisted expression on his
face.” p. 344
Accountability Standards
“Thailand competes with China to attract
investment capital for local toy production. With
this development, Thailand has become sadly
lax in enforcing its own legislation,” ICFTU
report. p. 345
• Company turns a blind eye to health violations and safety
standards
• Accidents in Thailand have nearly tripled
Accountability Standards
• The Kader fire reflected the amorality of the
marketplace when it was free of social
obligations.
• Also mocked claims of three popular religions
• Buddhism
• Confucius teachings
• Christianity
Notation of the new replacing the old—social transformation
Social Transformation in Thailand
• Definition:
– A reordering of social class structures that
evolves along with industrialization
– Greider refers to these transformations as
very violent
• Vast rural peasantry replaced by
– a new middle class, but
– mostly a poor working class
Social Transformation
The Poor Working Class
• Largest part of the transformation:
Peasants
Cheap Labor
• Modernization caused a displacement of millions of small
workers
• Families migrated to Bangkok
“All of these inequities and rapacious practices have
unfolded before, in the histories of the wealthiest
nations” p. 348
History Repeats Itself
Developing nations were resembling the
past of the wealthy nations
• England and the Enclosure Movement
– Peasants were being thrown off their land
– Much like in Bangkok in the 1990’s
• Revolutions began to break out, as did in
many of today’s wealthiest nations
History Repeats Itself
• The Questions:
– Why would the people of Thailand do this to each other? And
why did capitalism encourage this anarchy?
– Why was capitalism reverting to such violent patterns as seen in
the past?
“Did the capitalist system learn nothing from the class
warfare of the last two hundred years? Could the raw
creative energies ever be schooled to follow a more
humane path, one based on greater respect for human
differences and dignity?” p. 349
• The Answer:
“What these people want is what the West already has.
And why shouldn’t they? It is a very nice life, isn’t it?” p. 349
~Merrill Wynn Davies
The Result
• Many of the citizens of Thailand worship Buddhism,
believing in a life of suffering:
“Hatred, anger, envy, desire of material things – the body
is cremated in order to escape from that, but you can
never be free from the good and bad of your past life” p.
350
• Capitalism was tearing at Buddhism just as it had
Christianity five or six centuries earlier
The Result
“Everybody wants to get to heaven, but
nobody wants to die.”
~Albert King, American Blues Singer
The Thai Middle Class
• Democratic Uprising in 1992
– Shifted political powers from being entirely
controlled by the fascist military government
to being split between them and the business
elites
– Both political formations were corrupt
• Neither of them represented the popular
masses of the citizens
The Thai Middle Class
• Businesses felt that keeping this lower class where they
were in society helped their business expansion
• They were more sensitive than the military when it came
to the lower working class:
“They understand you have to feed a cow in order to
milk it…” p. 351
• Under the military regime:
“…the cow was regarded as a dumb animal and
beaten with a stick” p. 351
A Revolution from Above
• The changes in Thai society were imposed by
the new ruling class on the disorganized
citizenry pg 352
– “Industrial development may proceed under such
Auspices, but the outcome after a brief and unstable
period of democracy has been fascism” -Barrington
Moore Jr. referring to Germany and Japan
– How should the rulers address the social
consequences of industrialization?
• England’s problems in the 1800’s - 150 years!!
• Labor party conflict to this day
Addressing the Industrial
Revolution
• World Bank and the Thai Government pg 352
– Eviction and relocation of farmers
– Rise in agricultural taxes and consolidation of small
farms
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Khor Chor Forest Program and 1.5 M people
Those who resisted were beaten and killed
No compensation for losses
“Those who were deprived of their rights. displaced from their
lands, were moved somewhere else and told they would be the
first to benefit. Yet, five years later, they still have no electricity
even though the power lines pass right over their house on the
way to Bankok” -Professor Lae
– Manipulation and Dehumanization
– World Bank - Thumbs up!!
Societal Transformation: Fallout
• Small farmers driven into debt (8000 baht/year to 1500)
• Children in Bangkok pg 353
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Prostitution (1500 baht) or sweatshops
“No one wants to leave but we have to”
Starts a cycle among children because of the increased income
“Pushed by poverty (to Bankok) rather than pulled by opportunity
• Rise in GDP/capita but a greater inequality pg 353
– Flow of Capital prevents change in labor interests
– Thailand is merely a layover for corporations
• Discontent among the people
– What are the options that they have?
• Compare to Korea and Taiwan
– Benevolent brutality?
Thailand: A Mirror Image of the West
• “No advanced society has reached that lofty
stage without enduring barbaric consequences
and despoliation along the way” -Greider pg 354
• American example
– Slave labor and exploitation of immigrants
– Environmental destruction
– Modern day income inequality
• Coming to terms with one’s identity pg 355
– Historically and ethically
– Must make judgements about the present regardless
– “Can capitalism itself be altered and reformed? Or is
the world doomed to keep reliving these inhumanities
in the name of economic progress?
Altering the System
• Human dignity is indivisible, but not all are
necessarily destined to be alike or content
– Princes and paupers
• We consciously make decisions everyday
– What to buy, who to talk to, what ethics to practice,
what standards we have, etc.
– If something is distasteful, we can change it
• International standards and accountability pg 357
– Terms of trade among countries
– US and the WTO/GATT
– Alignment of incentives (Corporations and governing
elites of poor countries)
– Boycotting companies like and associated with Kader
Altering the System
• India- “No child labor” label on rugs pg 358
– Contemplating total eradication of child labor
• Role of Government pg 358
– Must be proactive in enforcing the standards
– “Until a floor is built beneath the market’s social behavior,
there is no way that a small developing country like
Thailand can overcome the downward pull of competition
from other, poorer nations
– To prevent poor nations from going what we went through
– Must all countries go through the bad to get the good?
• Terms of trade represent implicit moral values and
are not just commercial agreements pg 359
– Property vs. Human life: which is more important?
– When a free market has no conscience, it is our duty as
compassionate humans to give it one
Food for Thought
Will market forces really correct all of the
world’s problems or should something else
be done?
What role should governments play in
regulating trade and domestic markets?
Must history continually repeat itself in
developing countries or is there something
that we can do?
Pics
Pics
Pics
Pics
Notes
Amazon.com
Wall Street Journal
New York Times
The Boston Globe
The Nation
The ICFTU
The Peoples Daily, January 18, 1994
The Wall Street Journal, December 1,
1994
Asian Labour Update, July 1993
Bangkok Post, June 15, 1993
Bangkok Post, May 17, 1993
Bangkok Post, May, 29, 1993
The Nation, February 23, 1994
Freedom Review
Asian Wall Street Journal
The Nation - Thailand
Bangkok Sunday Post
Lae Dilokvidhyarat
Albert Bressand
Far Eastern Economic Review
Barrington Moore Jr.
Mortgaging the Earth
Behind the Smile
Thailand Growth
New Delhi and Child Labor