Reading stories like this one make you appreciate just how good we have it in the west. How people can treat other people this way and think it appropriate or justified is just beyond me. And how long China will remain Communist given the semi-free market they have embraced remains to be seen.
I think this century we're all going to live in Interesting Times. Which isn't good.
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Christ. Not good at all.
ReplyDeleteI guess some people will never see themselves in other human beings and so feel justified in treating them like scum. I can't understand it, and unlike most things, I really don't want to 'cause I don't see how there is any justification for that kind of behaviour.
They're not communist. Not even a little bit communist.
ReplyDeletealthough we're not above using slaves either to construct our palaces in baghdad and bases in iraq.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they're "slaves" in the sense of the article in Baghdad. For the most part they're 3rd worlders bought in by multinationals on cheap rates. They're willing to be there - but sure as hell exploited to the max.
ReplyDeletethey are slaves. they get picked up by multinationals, get told their going to work elsewhere and then wind up in iraq where their passports are seized and are pretty much forced to work till their employer decides to offload them. they star off work in debt to their 'employers' and live in unprotected shipping containers.
ReplyDeletehow is that not slavery?
Well if that's true I'd say it's not the case for the majority of workers on reconstruction projects in Iraq. It doesn't make it right. Lots of 2nd worlders like Fijians ex Nepalese Gurkas, Phillipenes etc are serving in the security outfits like Blackwood (or whatever they are called) and I think likewise getting less pay than the anglos. I could be wrong on that.
ReplyDeleteThe bizarre thing is that local Iraqis - who are under something like 50% unemployment in some areas - and local companies aren't part of the reconstruction. That weirds me out completely. It's also completely fucked.
The whole thing has been badly handled. I'm reading now in VICE about the bullshit Halliburton got up to with sole source cost plus tenders and so forth.