....I've become aware about how serious and overly used sweatshops are, in the last few days.. I mean everywhere I go ---nike ---gap, old navy... its unbelievable..

Do anyof you feel my pain? I mean can't you see its wrong? ...I feel like I'm the only one that cares about these people..

I hope you all know what sweatshops are.. I mean these people being paid like 4cents for like 12 hours (or mroe) of work. I mean they are people too... suffering people.. And you all are exploiting them just so you personally can save a few bucks..

I mean I have a whole lot of old navy cloths so I'm guilty too.. but now that I know they are sweatshops I'm definately not shoping there anymore...

Please... Help me take a stand on this.. just by you yourself not shoping at those places anymore ....and making more people aware of this terrible acts of exploitation.

..what do you all think? Will you become aware? ..or just pretend like you're not reading this...

Perhapse such appeals would be more effective if they were accompanied by some evidence? I think we can all agree that the idea of a 2-year old working 14 hour shifts while chained to a machine making $120 shoes is barbaric, I also think that I'll need some evidence of such activities before I'm ready to burn all my clothing. Also the figure of 4 cents a day or so sounds really bad until you realize that you're thinking in US dollars. If you convert that 4 cents from USD into whatever currency their third world nation uses you'd probably see that it is on the order of the median income there (just guessing, I've not done the calculation). And sure, they probably don't live in a subdivision with manicured lawns and 2.5 cars in each driveway: guess what, most people in the world don't have that, we are spoiled! Generally, if people are willing to work for a given wage, then a company is going to pay them that much. Wages are determined by market forces much as is the price of gas. No one would say "I know that they are selling gas for $2.34 a gallon, but you should pay $5 a gallon. Otherwise you're unfairly taking advantage of the oil companies."

So in synopsis: bring me evidence.

yes i agree with caedes. the money value is diff. Even though it is barbaric like caedes said. these people have no other options as far as jobs go. so if nothing elese at least they are granted a job. caedes is right.

Yeah, exactly, that is there only job oportunity.. so the four cents is better than nothing.. but its pretty close to nothing.. ..annnndd.. I lost my train of thought... anyway ..I've been beaten to death by this issue.. I'll find some evidence tomorrow.. but I mean if you're really interested you can look up some stuff on the Internet..

I think that the whole point is that western culture has taken such an overwhelming advantage of third world countries that it has become a cliché. We receive great benefits by this labor, but yet have become more and more desensitized by the over all devastation of that child who looses a hand or an adult who is crippled for life do to the heavy loads expected of them. We are a nation of consumers and want what we want. I was involved in the civil rights movements during the seventies for the farm workers.
When you think of children being born with out spines to mothers who worked in the fields and exposed to insecticides you realize that there is more to it then those pour workers. It cost pennies to make something in other countries while the companies make a 5000 % mark up but yet pay very little to the worker who in some cases dies for our comforts. So is it fare that we pay some pennies to make something while we pay exuberant prices for it. No it’s not fare. But who said the world is fare.
Until we become a whole world economy and a set world wage is the prevailing system, nothing will change. We can pretend that the few dollars that we send to feed the children really works and that the world will become a better place for our efforts. But the reality is that man is a territorial animal and abusing another person’s humanity for a profit exists.

I think that there is a definite issue here. I've never been particularly swayed by the 'give me more facts argument' (though obviously I'm not advocating that people should completely ignore facts and rely on sentiment). What I'm saying is that in my experience people will sometimes use this (perhaps unconsciously for some of us) as an excuse to bury their heads in the sand. 'Give me indisputable proof', they say and when you provide it, they ask for more detail. Anyway, I'm digressing a little...

Their is little doubt that workers in poor countries are exploited for the good of rich nations. However, I doubt that consumers worry too much about this. I also think that the market forces argument is a game of 'pass the buck'. Consumers say 'well we only buy the goods because they are there to be bought'. Retailers say 'we are only catering to the demands of the market'. The same is true of the argument for the workers - the fact they are 'willing' to work for a low wage doesn't make it right. I suppose what I am saying is that you can't abdicate moral responsibility because of 'market forces'. To me that ranks alongside 'just doing my job' or, worse, 'just following orders' in the list of 'bad reasons to do something'.

Anyway, I seem to have wandered off at a tangent. As Caedes says above, we are spoiled. The world is a screwed-up place and human beings are pretty mercenary at the end of the day. Most of us here are lucky enough to live in relative wealth (even though we all doubtlessly want that new car or bigger house). I think in general terms people are usually pretty ignorant of the wider world.

LiquidguitarJP

well we can all rant and rave about how unfair it is or isn't but that is not going to change anything. If you feel like talking about the subject on a message board is your way of making the situtation better, it's not. Sure you can stop shopping at old navy or where ever, but millions of others are not. Again if you feel like by you and maybe 20 other ppl that read this stop shopping at old navy will make any difference at all you have some serious reality issues. I understand your compassion to want to help but that isn't going to phase anyone. You have to go up the political food chain. perhaps if you join some kind of organization about the issue at hand you can have a better chance of putting a dent into the issue, but sadly it doesn't look like sweatshops will ever stop. it has been going for way way too long and too much profits have been gained to stop.
if you do decide to actually do something about it, good luck.

This is doing something about it.. I mean I'm 13 years old.. this is about as much as I can do.. and even if I get 20 people to stop shopping at these places I'll be satisfied.. I mean you can't say that this isn't doing anything.. It's doing more than doing nothing at all.. And I mean it's a start..

And I'm not saying that just talking about it on a message board is going to stop it. As nice as that would be, I know that it's not. That's not what I was trying to do.. I was trying to make more people aware, and hope that they will stop doing this and maybe presaude other people to do so also.. But maybe I should just stop trying..

Sean - I am so impressed that someone so young is aware of such important issues. There is a whole heap of people who do think like you. Many "consumer magazines" (here in Australia ours is called "Choice") have described groups of consumers like yourself as "ethical consumers", "ethical investors" and so on. These are people for whom the impact of their choices is important. It can get hard though. Big brands are easy to find out about, but what about smaller brands? Also, some third world countries might need foreign investment for infrastructure, etc. There are an impossible quantity of factors for an individual like you or me to weigh up. What to do then? Well, asking people to acknowledge that their choices can make a difference over time is one way - and you have started that. Another is to lead by example. (Thats asking a lot of a 13 yr old, I know!) But there are things you can do. I live by the phrase "Think Locally, Act Globally". That means asking yourself everyday "Are my choices helping the world or making things worse?" To reuse or recycle something today means you won't purchase something new tomorrow. Many aspects of western dependence on third world labour is based on constant "consumption" of stuff we don't always need. Here are some really good ways to "think locally and act globally" ...
1) Reduce your own personal consumption. Ask yourself "do I really need it".
2) Seek out products that you know are reliably produced in ethical ways.
3) Raise funds, or donate a small percentage of your pocket money to a cause that you feel is going to create opportunities for others. (My husband gave me, at my request, a receipt for a donation to 'World Vision' for some Seed Kits for some families re-establishing farms after drought. That was my Christmas present, because I really didn't NEED anything else.)
4) Be good to those around you. If you are a living example of selflessness, it is amazing how influential your words and actions then are to others. Think ahead to when you are 23. You will be able to say that for ten years "I have made many small differences, which added together have made so many people better off elsewhere and, importantly, at home. I am what I would like others to be.
5) Finally, be kind to yourself. You are 13. You did not make the world as it is, and you want what is right. You have already made a difference.

Good on you!

You should immediately boycott all products and businesses that use sweatshop labor and donate to charity all same brand items you already own. That should help you take a stand.

There is inhumanity in every place and corner of this planet. If you take the time to look at almost every thing you touch, you soon realize that at one time or another that item or product was handled by a person in a low cost labor situation. Sean take the issue of the diamond ring! A diamond is the most common stone in the world and lest lustrous precious stone on the market. There are so many diamond stacked to the ceilings in Russian warehouses that you could carpet 10 acres of land four inches thick in them. But yet Davier’s as convinced almost every woman in the world that it is a one of a kind stone and that they need to have a diamond that cost at least 3 months salary minimum in order to be the envy of the next woman.
But yet' know one stops to think of the blood mines anymore, that still exist in South Africa. Hundreds of men, women and children die every year for the precious gem industries, in Chili, Brazil, tideland, Russia, Tanzania, South Africa, and Columbia. But yet we are the largest buyers of the diamond.

I am a firm believer in if you want to help the world you need to start at home. Next time you pass a homeless person on a cold night or see a family living in the streets stop to give. I get so tired of the people who fight for animal rights as they step over a starving person to save a cat or to stop duck from being destroyed in a lake because they have been found to be caring a flue various. And yet they will kick a homeless person to get them out of there way for that duck. We as a country are not innocent; we have many sweat shops in this country as in any other. We charge outrages prices for much needed medication that know one can afford. And then ban people from going any where else to get them.
So I’m sorry to say it, but know one is innocent in this world when it come to profit.
So take a look around and see what you can do here. And then maybe you can convince other to help and then and only then can we take on the world.

Well in South Africa the mines aren't "blood mines". There's actually quite a good and well paying industry as far as the mines go and the safety of the workers are a big concern for the companies.

I think the blood mines are actually more prominent in African countries where the diamonds are used to finance wars etc.

I think a lot of this is all quite relative, as others have pointed out. Economies that some may have described in the past as third world, cheap labour or sweatshops have developed at an exponential rate over the past few years, surpassing western economies by far. For example, Indian call centres - they are annoying as all hell calling you at all hours pretending to be just around the corner and trying to aggressively sell you something you done need or want. They have however greatly improved the standard of living for their employees and their families. A monthly take home pay of $185 sounds like exploitation until you realise it's four times the whole families previous income.

Economic change when it comes has to be as gradual as possible to avoid creating an even greater rift between the rich and the poor. As personal wealth grows so does personal expectation and overtime these things balance themselves out so the margin between what you would personally deem as acceptable and what is the norm in these developing countries narrows significantly.

Corporate globalisation and the free market is an inevitability. The biggest villains in this scenario are western governments imposing tariffs and import restrictions on developing countries such as Africa restricting their abilities to trade freely and profitably with the western markers. Clayton is absolutely correct - charity should begin at home - the developing third world economies need the ability to help themselves to grow and be profitable rather than charitable handouts and crippling interest payments on World Bank loans.

It’s good that your aware and concerned about world issues but you need to avail yourself of broader and more pertinent facts. Then once you are, stand up and make yourself heard and maybe your government might actually listen to you as opposed to their current stance of not listening to many people at all.

Oh, I don't know, they seem to listen to the neo-conservatives ok... ;-)

I agree with you Phil. One of the biggest problems in the U.S.A is that we have become such deposable country. Know one fixes any thing any more. We just want the cheapest and the newest and greatest thing out there, with out a care how or where it's made.
A large % of people here have been convinced that there vote will make no difference at all. Which in hand leads too very little voting on the behalf of the majority. Otherwise the rich vote controls and greases the pockets of the legislative powers and the outcome is large companies gain the control of congress and the senate. Witch in turn causes companies to become more powerful to not only abuse the trade sanctions, but also dictate the out come of employment and the cost of wages in other countries.
We in the USA are not innocent. We would rather over work a cheap labor source then be part of that labor force. Let’s face it laborers and employees do not become wealthy for a reason.
We have been abusing the cheap labor sources for years and yet we complain about them being here illegally taking jobs away from us that we don’t want to work ourselves.
No one country is innocent and no one country is free of guilt.