Ian Cook – Page 10 – followthethings.com

Posted on August 28, 2024January 26, 2025 by Ian Cook

The Messenger Band

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Fashion

“The Messenger Band“
A protest girl band / labour rights NGO including Em [aka Saem] Vun, Leng Leakhana, Chrek Sopha, Nam Sophors, Kao Sochevika, Sothary Kun, Van Huon & others based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Band profile and selected music videos on YouTube embedded in playlist above. The Messenger Band YouTube channel here & facebook page here.

One of the most fascinating, inspiring examples of creative trade justice activism we have found. Made by garment workers, for garment (and other) workers. In 2005, a labour rights NGO based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia hold a talent concert for women working in the city’s garment factories. They want to form a girl band. Inspired by Bob Marley, it’s called ‘The Messenger Band’ because its songs and performances will carry a message to garment and other workers about their rights. They will write and perform in the style of contemporary Cambodian pop music. Sweet and beautiful songs with choreographed dance routines. But the lyrics will come from their community research with garment and other workers about their lives and struggles, and their knowledge of global trade and labour rights. They will record CDs and music videos to post online, and will perform at local concerts and during labour rights protests. Their audiences will learn the lyrics and sing along. The ‘MB’ wants to empower its audiences to claim their rights and to hold their employers to account. They sing in Khmer for Khmer-speaking audiences. They are not talking to overseas consumers, asking them to do anything to help their situation. They take advantage of the fact that women and performance are not taken seriously by the Cambodian authorities. But they are taken seriously by the working class audiences who love and learn from their music. What they do has a huge impact. Much more impact than a labour rights workshop! Labour rights organisations and NGOs outside Cambodia admire their work. They are an inspiration.

Page reference: Lily Bissell, Grace Hodges, Fran Ravel, Julia Sammut & Ellie Reynolds (2020) The Messenger Band. followthethings.com/the-messenger-band.shtml (last accessed <insert date here>)

Estimated reading time: 62 minutes.

Posted on August 28, 2024January 8, 2025 by Ian Cook

T-Shirt Travels

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Fashion | Recycle my waste

TEACH ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

START SOMEWHERE DIFFERENT

FOLLOW THE THING

“T-Shirt Travels“
A documentary film produced & directed by Shantha Bloemen for Grassroots Pictures.
Watch on Alexander Street here (with institutional login). Search for other streaming options here.

Filmmaker Shantha Bloemen is working as an aid worker in a village in Zambia. She is surprised to see Western band t-shirts being worn by people who could never have heard their music. She wonders how they got there, why people are wearing them. It turns out that they were donated to thrift stores in the USA, were shipped overseas in bundles and bought by garment traders in Zambia to sell in street market stalls. By following the afterlives of thrown-away clothing, she connects good post-consumer behaviours in the West – like charity donation and recycling – with the disruption of economies in the underdeveloped world where they are cheaper to buy than locally-made clothes. She finds that an AC/DC or Chanel t-shirt can connect the life of the Zambian child who is wearing it to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s shaping of global trade’s ‘economic colonialism’. Bloemen’s film also makes a point that’s important to our collection – that ‘follow the thing’ work is not only about where things come from, but also where they go.

Page reference: Hannah-Rose Mann & Rebecca McGoldrick (2011) T-Shirt Travels. followthethings.com/t-shirt-travels.shtml (last accessed <insert date here>)

Estimated reading time: 28 minutes.

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Posted on August 28, 2024January 5, 2025 by Ian Cook

Simpson’s couch gag (series 22, episode 3)

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Fashion | Gifts & Seasonal

SHOW CAPITALIST EVILS

INVOLVE A CELEBRITY

REACH NEW AUDIENCES

MAKE THE HIDDEN VISIBLE?

“Simpson’s couch gag (series 22, episode 3)“
An animated ‘couch gag’ intro to an episode of The Simpson’s directed by Banksy & produced by Matt Groening for 20th Century Fox.

Every episode of The Simpsons opens with a ‘couch gag’. The one in episode 3 of series 22 is guest-directed by the British graffiti artist Banksy. Starting as usual with a tour of Springfield which ends with the Simpson family sitting on their couch in front of the TV, it then takes viewers into the unbelievably exploitative South Korean sweatshops where the show’s animators work and Simpsons merchandise – including t-shirts, toys and DVDs – is produced. This gag clearly doesn’t show exploitation that’s happening along 20th Century Fox’s real world supply chains. Ranks of animators don’t work in grim and grimy sweatshop conditions with child labourers, rats and toxic chemicals. Unicorns don’t punch the holes in their DVDs. And the tongues of severed dolphin heads don’t lick the tape that seals warehouse boxes. The animators pointed this out afterwards. So what was Banksy trying to say? Lots of people speculated online.

Page reference: Will Davies, Thomas Edwards, Joseph Englert, Chris Henshall, James Osbaldeston, Jack Parkin, Michael Swann & Aidan Waller, (2018) Simpson’s couch gag (series 22, episode 3). followthethings.com/simpsons-couch-gag.shtml (last accessed <insert date here>)

Estimated reading time: 32 minutes.

Posted on August 28, 2024January 10, 2025 by Ian Cook

No Pride In Primark

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Fashion | Gifts & Seasonal

REDUCE DISCRIMINATION

WASH IT WITH WOKENESS

“No Pride In Primark“
Popular activist campaign against Primark’s ‘Pride’ clothing & accessories made in anti-LGBTQ+ countries.
To see what sparked this, watch Primark’s promotional video above.

UK LGBTQ+ rights charity Stonewall collaborates with high street fashion retailer Primark on its 2018 ‘Pride’ range of clothing and accessories. They will be sold throughout Europe and North America and 20% of their profits will go to Stonewall. But none of the proceeds will go to the organisers of Pride celebrations, some of whom are struggling for money. And many of the countries in which this ‘Pride’ merch is being made – like Turkey, Myanmar & China – ban LGBTQ+ events and NGOs and imprison people for homosexuality. So what should Primark & Stonewall do? Where should people shopping for Pride merch go? And what’s it like to be an LGBTQ+ worker in Turkey, Myanmar or China making t-shirts and other merch that ‘celebrates what you are not allowed to be’? These are the questions asked by social media critics and the journalists who pick up their criticisms. It’s not a huge orchestrated campaign. No NGO or other organisation orchestrates it. Nevertheless, it becomes a notorious case of a high street brand ‘pink-washing’ (a form of ‘woke-washing’) their supply chain operations. In the wake of these criticisms, Primark continues to support LGBTQ+ organisations in many countries, but has it addressed the crackdowns on LGBTQ people in those countries where its rainbow merch is made? Should it withdraw its orders from these countries? Or keep working there, supporting – via Stonewall and other organisations – the LGBTQ+ organisations and workers who need it? Does it do so? And how can it convince the media, activists and consumers that it’s doing so? LGBTQ+ people represent a big market for clothing sales.

Page reference: Ian Cook et al (2024) No Pride In Primark (taster). followthethings.com/no-pride-in-primark.shtml (last accessed <insert date here>)

Estimated reading time: 15 minutes.

Posted on August 28, 2024January 10, 2025 by Ian Cook

62p An Hour

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Fashion

SHOW WHAT’S IMPOSSIBLE

START WITH A PARADOX

HOLD ‘EM ACCOUNTABLE

BLAME, SHAME & GUILT

“62p An Hour“
A front page newspaper exposé by Ben Ellery published in the Mail on Sunday.
A video summary of the article by AJ+ is embedded above. Read the original article here.

The British high street fashion retailer Whistles collaborates with fashion magazine Elle and gender equality charity The Fawcett Society to sell a slogan t-shirt saying ‘This is what a feminist looks like.’ Their publicity campaign includes high profile British politicians (e.g. Harriet Harman & Ed Milliband) and celebrities (e.g. Emma Watson & Benedict Cumberbach) wearing them. The Mail on Sunday newspaper sends a reporter to the factory in Mauritius where the women who make them are paid 62p an hour. They are also women are photographed wearing them, and talk both about their work and what feminism means to them. The newspaper makes this front page news. The credibility of the Fawcett Society’s campaign and the celebrities supporting it are questioned. How can you declare your support for feminism by wearing a t-shirt that relies of the exploitation of women? Fair point perhaps. But what are the motives of the newspaper? Is their critique pro- or anti-feminist? Do they care that much for the workers? And is the situation as bad as they make out? Either way, Whistles immediately removes the shirts from sale. It’s a huge embarrassment.

Page reference: Jennifer Hart (2024) 62p An Hour (taster). followthethings.com/62p-an-hour.shtml (last accessed <insert date here>)

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes.

Posted on August 28, 2024January 27, 2025 by Ian Cook

The Accord On Fire & Building Safety In Bangladesh

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Fashion

IMPROVE PAY & CONDITIONS

HAVE A THEORY OF CHANGE

FIND THE UNIONS

JOIN WITH OTHERS

HOLD ‘EM ACCOUNTABLE

“The Accord On Fire & Building Safety In Bangladesh“
An independent legally binding global framework agreement between fashion brands, retailers & trade unions.
Click the screengrabs to read the agreement on IndustriALL Global Union’s website.

What if brands, retailers and labour unions could agree on a ways to ensure the safety of millions of people working in garment factories to prevent the factory fires and collapses that have killed and injured so many? They did, in the wake of the Rana Plaza factory complex collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh in April 2013 where more than 1,100 garment workers making clothes for Western high street brands were crushed to death. Under this agreement, health and safety committees would be democratically elected in all factories and would identify and take action relating to concerns they identified. Factories would have independent safety inspections. The results and corrective actions outlined in these reports would be made public. The brands signing the agreement would continue to have their clothes made in the unsafe factories and would fund the corrective actions to make them safer. And factory workers would be trained in health and safety, could make complaints without fear of reprisal and could refuse to work in unsafe conditions. Wow! Could this work? Would brands sign up? Would workers see the benefits? What would happen 5 years later, when the agreement ran out? Could workers in other countries benefit from the same kind of agreement?

Page reference: Chris Crane, Alex Danvers, Robbie Foley, Will Kelleher, Mike Stanton & Adam Williams (2013) The Accord On Fire & Building Safety In Bangladesh (taster). followthethings.com/the-accord-on-fire-building-safety-in-bangladesh.shtml (last accessed <insert date here>)

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes.

Posted on August 28, 2024January 27, 2025 by Ian Cook

The 2 Euro T-Shirt – A Social Experiment

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Fashion

ACTIVIST VENDING MACHINE

CHANGE CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

“The 2 Euro T-Shirt – A Social Experiment“
A repurposed vending machine & film made for Fashion Revolution Germany by BBDO & Unit9.
Uploaded to YouTube & embedded in full above.

To mark the second anniversary of the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Fashion Revolution activists in Germany placed a t-shirt vending machine in a public square in Berlin. Shoppers were invited to insert ‘only 2€’ to buy a t-shirt. Before it was dispensed, however, the machine showed them a short film about ‘Manisha’, one of millions of people working in the sweatshops where it could have been made. Shoppers were then presented two options: to get the t-shirt or to donate the 2€ they inserted to the Fashion Revolution movement. Would ‘people care when they know’? Especially at the ‘point of sale’. That was the experiment. The vending machine filmed shoppers as they decided. What were their reactions? What did they choose to do? The YouTube video went viral. What would you do? Buy or donate?

Page reference: Olivia Boertje, Jo Ryley, Alec James, Tori Carter, Becky Watts and Rachel Osborne (2016) The 2 Euro T-Shirt – A Social Experiment. followthethings.com/the-two-euro-t-shirt-experiment.shtml (last accessed <add date here>)

Estimated reading time: 80 minutes.

Posted on August 28, 2024January 5, 2025 by Ian Cook

Made In Cambodia

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Fashion

BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER

ENCOURAGE EMPATHY

“Made in Cambodia“
A dissertation by Helen Clare, submitted as part of their BA Geography degree at the University of Birmingham, UK.
Click the preview pages above to read the dissertation.

Undergraduate student Helen Clare looks through her clothes and finds an H&M t-shirt ‘Made in Cambodia’. She’s traveling to Cambodia to do some charity work in her summer vacation. She wants to find and meet one of the garment factory workers who helped to make that T-shirt for her. But, despite her best efforts, she cannot gain access to the factories where she’s convinced it may have been made. So, she does the next best thing. She takes a course that will give her the qualification to work there. What does she learn along the way? Who does she get to meet? And what can she learn from them about the lives her t-shirt connects?

Dissertation reference: Helen Clare (2006) Made in Cambodia. BA Geography Dissertation: University of Birmingham, UK (followthethings.com/madeincambodia.shtml last accessed <insert date here>)

Page reference: Helen Clare (2024) Made in Cambodia. followthethings.com/made-in-cambodia.shtml (last accessed <insert date here>)

Estimated reading time: 92 minutes.

Posted on August 28, 2024January 26, 2025 by Ian Cook

The Song Of The Shirt

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Fashion

1843

UNBRANDED

SHIRT

MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN

WORN IN GREAT BRITAIN

POEM

POP THE BUBBLE

SHOW CAPITALIST EVILS

“The Song Of The Shirt“
A poem written by Thomas Hood, published in Punch magazine.
Original publication in Punch included above.

Curiosity and concern about the poverty of the people who make everyday commodities is as old as capitalism itself. One of the most iconic and influential examples in this genre is a poem called ‘The Song Of The Shirt’ which was published in the satirical British magazine Punch in 1843. This was 24 years before Karl Marx published the first volume of Capital, with its famous opening chapter on the commodity. The subject of the poem is a woman working in East London making linen shirts for the city’s well-to-do men. It contains lines that wouldn’t be out of place in Twenty-First Century trade justice activism: ‘Oh Men, with Sisters dear! O! Men! With mothers and wives! It’s not linen you’re wearing out. But other creatures’ lives’. ‘The Song Of The Shirt’ went viral through the media of its time, being reprinted and discussed in countless newspapers, pamphlets and books across Great Britain and overseas, often with accompanying illustrations of its subject at work. It also crossed over into ‘Song Of The Shirt’ paintings, songs and plays. But how did the poverty of seamstresses come to the surface, here, at this time? How did this poem become so popular and influential? What can we learn from it today?

Page reference: Rachael Midlen & Charlotte Brunton (2014) The Song Of The Shirt (taster). followthethings.com/the-song-of-the-shirt.shtml (last accessed <add date here>)

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes.

Posted on August 28, 2024January 5, 2025 by Ian Cook

Confessions Of An Eco-Sinner

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Fashion | Grocery

“Confessions Of An Eco-Sinner”
A non-fiction book by journalist Fred Pearce.
Available to preview on Google Books (embedded above).

British journalist Fred Pearce travels 180,000 miles, to over 20 countries, to meet the people who produce (and sometimes recycle) the prawns in his curry, the cotton in his shirt, the computer on his desk, the gold in his wedding ring, and many other things. He wants to explore his own personal ecological footprint, and to work out whether he should be ashamed and/or proud of the impact that his shopping has on the world. This is classic ‘follow the thing’ research. A quest narrative. Starting in the Global North. With a person asking ‘who made my stuff?’ They travel the world to meet the people who they rely upon and then reflect on what this means for them (and maybe you) as a ‘consumer’. This is an approach that critics within the ‘follow the thing’ genre would like to ‘de-centre’. This work could start somewhere else! But what can readers learn from Fred’s travels nonetheless? Is everyone, unknowingly, an eco-sinner like he is? And what can be done to prevent the damage that consumption causes, out of sight and out of mind?

Page reference: Robert Black, Naomi Davies, Tom Mead, Pete Statham, Lucy Taylor and Laura Wilkinson (2011) Confessions Of An Eco-Sinner. followthethings.com/confessions-of-an-ecosinner.shtml (last accessed <insert date here>)

Estimated reading time: 17 minutes.