By Paul MulhollandBy Siddharth Kara’s conservative estimate, there are 31.2 million slaves in the world today. In his third and most comprehensive book on slavery, Modern Slavery, Kara describes how and where commerce in human beings is able to survive, and thrive. Kara has interviewed over 5,000 slaves, and many of the slaveholders and middle-men that make the slave trade possible. The book is filled with stories of angry and suspicious managers and recruiters and a number of risky situations the author found himself in. But it also contains the words of the slaves themselves that describe the appalling conditions of enslavement. The most vulnerable of the world are the ones that are targeted for enslavement: the poor, refugees, foreign migrants, racial and caste minorities. The ease of modern transport and social apathy make slaves a relatively low-risk option in some areas, and can bring stupefying profit margins. Bonded labor is the most common form of slavery. Poor people are offered transit to wealthier countries to work for higher wages, often illegally. The cost of transit is borrowed by the worker and is theoretically to be paid off with his labor. They are then paid far less than promised, and work in worse conditions. They have no choice but to work off the debt because it is often enforced with violence against them and their families back home: cartels and mafias kill them, or local shamans curse them and they become outcasts. They have no access to modern capital markets to secure a reasonable loan, or to legal retribution, being outside the law themselves. The United States still has slaves in its agricultural sector. Many illegal immigrants work off debts in perpetuity, and exist outside of the law. Those who come legally are also enslaved, surprisingly. The H-2A visa used by many migrant workers in agriculture only allows them to stay for one year, making them illegal when a debt forces them to stay past that time; and only allows them to work for one employer, meaning they cannot switch when they are being underpaid without risking deportation. The suffering that Kara describes is astonishing. From Thai fishermen being shot and thrown overboard for being injured and unable to work, to girls that are lied to and sold into sex slavery until they die young of STDs, there is no limit to the cruelty that profit-motives will drive humans to, especially towards the vulnerable. Many will find Kara’s work useful, and anyone will find it enlightening and shocking. His work is filled with history, economics, cultural studies and interesting journalistic methods. There are few supply-lines in global commerce that are not tainted by the dehumanizing and unpaid toil of those who have no other option.
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By Vivian Louie H&M’s green hoodie has added fuel to the fire, the worldwide discussion on the issue of modern racism, regarding how the fashion industry and its consumers have become tone-deaf to cultural and social nuances. This green hoodie, modeled by a black child, bearing the words “coolest monkey in the jungle,” and debuted on H&M’s European website on January 7th, has faced an overwhelmingly negative response from the public. H&M is a global brand that has a huge following. Its products can quickly become the centerpoint of debates and discussions regarding societal issues.
Many celebrities have spoken out against H&M for the green hoodie, with some of them going as far as cutting ties with H&M. Popular musical act The Weeknd (AKA Romelu Lukaku) disavowed H&M in a Twitter post made on January 8th, stating that he was “deeply offended” by the hoodie. The singer had collaborated with H&M early in 2017 on its Spring Icons campaign, followed by a fall collection in September. Another musician, rapper G-Eazy, spoke out in a statement on Instagram, sharing that he had decided to end his partnership with H&M. G-Eazy and H&M had collaborated on a menswear collection that would have hit stores on March 1st. More seriously, numerous H&M stores in South Africa were ransacked on January 13th by followers of the Economic Freedom Fighters, a revolutionary socialist political party also known as the EFF, who were angered by the racist insinuation of the garment. Videos of the angry protesters trashing the outlets in the capital cities of Capetown and Johannesburg were quickly circulated on major European news networks. H&M stores in the city of Durban were temporarily closed down following the incident. After the initial backlash, but still four days before the protests in South African stores, H&M issued an apology on its website, stating. “Our position is simple and unequivocal - we have got this wrong and we are deeply sorry.” But while spokespeople for the apparel company have conceded the criticisms, H&M officials have not yet lived up to the corporate social responsibility of promoting discussion and awareness of insensitivities related to culture and race. To this point, H&M’s only actions have been to take down the product on its European site and note that it will have the removed garments recycled. So how severe will the fallout ultimately be for the Swedish brand, and how long could it last? Time will tell, but with a massive oversight on a topic that is being discussed around the world, H&M’s negligence of racist content has only hurt its brand image. An ongoing list of celebrities and top customers have already condemned H&M; and it is only a matter of time without the company taking more constructive steps that its general consumer base will start backing away. In terms of recent profits, H&M had a rough past year with reported third quarter earnings in 2017 having fallen 20%. Now with this blunder, it might be harder for H&M to expect high earnings for the first quarter of 2018 as well. By Jared Kofsky Wawas planning new locations across the state, a North Jersey town is banning Airbnb, and a smoothie shop chain is expanding to Essex County. As the new year begins, two companies are hoping to attract more customers across New Jersey, and new developments are continuing to be proposed that could increase the population of some of the state’s cities and suburbs. Meanwhile, one community is planning to halt the sudden increase of new visitors within its borders. Here are some of the Garden State’s recent business headlines, as initially featured on JerseyDigs.com.
If you are a fan of one of the region’s most popular convenience store chains, you soon may not have to travel far to shop or eat at one of its locations. It was revealed recently that Delaware County, Pennsylvania-based Wawa is planning six new stores across Northern and Central New Jersey, all of which will include gas stations. The company is seeking to expand its presence in Morris, Union, Sussex, Middlesex, and Monmouth counties. One of the proposed locations is at the site of the former Pathmark supermarket in the Lake Hopatcong section of Jefferson Township while another is just 14 miles north along Route 15 at the site of the Chatterbox Drive-In in Frankford Township. Further south, new Wawas are planned for the site of several buildings along Morris Turnpike in Springfield and at the corner of Routes 1/9 and Park Avenue in Linden. Red Bank is also slated to gain a second Wawa since the company is seeking to open a location at the former Auto Exotica site at the corner of Route 35 and Newman Springs Road. Finally, just a few blocks away from Rutgers University's Livingston Campus, a Wawa is planned for the corner of Brunswick and Plainfield Avenues in Edison Township. There are no hotels in West New York, but in recent years, plenty of visitors to the region have found a way to stay overnight in this densely populated Hudson County community just across the Hudson River from the Upper West Side of Manhattan. However, those days are about to end. The West New York Board of Commissioners voted on January 17th to adopt an ordinance that will ban vacation rentals on platforms such as Airbnb and Homeaway of any dwelling unit or piece of furniture for 30 consecutive days or less. The ordinance states that these rentals "may jeopardize the community’s welfare and degrade the quality of life within the town" and that “the presence of such visitors within the town’s residential neighborhoods can sometimes disrupt the residential character of the neighborhoods and adversely impact the community.” Those who violate the ordinance can face at least $500 in fines and would have to reimburse the tenant for the cost of renting the space and the Town for investigating the infraction. At least 100 people will soon be living across the street from one of New Jersey’s oldest and largest correctional facilities. Pennrose Properties of Philadelphia will construct the Cedar Meadows Supportive Housing Apartments at 1426-1468 Rahway Avenue in Woodbridge Township's Avenel section. The 16-acre property is just across the street from the East Jersey State Prison and previously contained the New Jersey State Reformatory Staff Housing Complex for prison employees such as the warden. The new development is expected to include 100 rentals, community rooms, a library, a courtyard, and supportive services. The project is receiving $4.2 million in financing from the Superstorm Sandy Special Needs Housing Fund, and 25 of the units will be reserved for residents who are elderly or have a disability. Finally, while residents of Mercer County may regularly visit Tropical Smoothie Cafe since it operates locations in Hamilton and West Windsor, there are currently no locations in northern New Jersey. Now, a franchise will open at the corner of Route 10 and Eisenhower Parkway in Livingston in mid-March. The new store will be within a recently completed plaza called The Corner at Livingston Circle that also contains locations of Shake Shack and The Container Store. Tropical Smoothie Cafe is based in Atlanta and serves 33 flavors of smoothies, in addition to making lunch bowls and sandwiches. |