Rana Plaza: Two years after the tragedy, why has so little changed?
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Version 0 of 1. The scale of the disaster at the Rana Plaza garment factory two years ago in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka created an expectation that there would be industry-wide change, but this has not materialised. In reality, little has changed since the tragedy occurred in April 2013. Brands and factory owners are making huge profits, the Bangladesh government is ensuring employment, albeit of poor quality, is provided to its most marginalised people, and consumers can buy extremely cheap clothes. It also means that in Europe the brands can keep prices low at a time of wage deflation and austerity. Related: How long must Rana Plaza workers wait for justice? | Sam Maher The only group that suffers is the workforce, made up largely of young women whose voices are barely heard. They are patronised and stereotyped as hapless and weak, and are expected to be thankful for work that is characterised by some NGOs as empowering, rather than exploitative. So the real question is, why do so many expect change? Why are we asked to emphasise “the good” when “the bad” is the overwhelming experience of the workers we meet? There is an unquestioned belief in Europe that the process of industrialisation is inherently good and that, over time, change will happen organically. This is based on a false reading of history that excludes the context in which change really took place in the industrialised west. Industrialised societies didn’t simply evolve into social democracies where citizens had the right to expect things from their government and their employers. Safe working conditions, the elimination of child labour, the five-day week, the provision of education, healthcare and social security did not simply evolve as a result of industrialisation. They were fought for bravely over generations by workers. The assumptions underlying the belief that Bangladesh is just at an earlier stage of development (leaving aside the strongly colonial and racist undertones of the suggestion that Bangladesh is not as civilised as Europe) are wrong. Bangladesh is not a reminder of our past but a vision of our future. When our governments promote neoliberal, free market capitalism as the only game in town, they are aiming for a reorganisation of society exactly like that being delivered in Bangladesh. This envisages an almost non-existent state whose role is largely limited to providing the security forces required to subdue a dissatisfied population. It also anticipates a total lack of any “barriers” to the rapid accumulation of profit – no taxes, no trade unions, no “red tape” of regulation. For the rich in Bangladesh – and the garment industry has created a host of rich families – it is possible to buy top quality services, including education and healthcare, and if you can’t find it at home you can join the rest of the global elite and simply shop abroad. Workers are faced with the myth of free choice: if you don’t like your job you can always starve. Or try your luck as an informal worker, migrate as a domestic worker (often working in slave-like conditions), or beg on the streets. If you are no longer healthy enough to cope with the long hours, malnutrition and stress resulting from your working conditions, or if you get injured, pregnant or want to have a family life, you are on your own. We need to demand more than minor adjustments to a global system that is driving us all towards greater precarity Any safety net that does exist is provided by a “big society” of NGOs whose reach and influence is huge. But they are only accountable to their funders, never to the people they serve. And they provide a strong ideological framework where the poor have to prove they are genuinely worthy. So, when asked to see what has changed since Rana Plaza, we need to demand more than minor adjustments to a global system that is driving us all towards greater precarity and an increasingly reduced voice in society. We need to recognise that change isn’t just about one sector in one country. If we want to see real change, we need to start demanding it – not just in Bangladesh but at home, by organising and fighting for a different vision of society where all the citizens of every country have the right to live in dignity. |