So I got these New Balance running shoes last spring not because they were particularly attractive but because the label on the tongue said, “Made in/Hecho en USA,” and that was the only brand I could find that was made in a nation with labor laws. They’re all worn out now, so I went to the store to look for another pair, but now the New Balance tongues and boxes read “Made in China/Fabrique en Chine.” WT—hina, where, for example, garment workers make 10% of the slave wages paid to their counterparts in the Philippines’ Cavite Export Processing Zone. I don’t want to support this, not at all. And I don’t believe that neo-liberal rational that earning slave wages is better than staying on the farm and starving. Not because it isn’t tru—o paraphrase Noam Chomsky in “Seattle Syndrome” (a video at the SciLi), lots of things are preferable to starving to deat—hich is a perfect rationale for things like slavery. The point is that governments and MNC’s can do better, a whole lot better, pour le peuple du monde, en particulier dans le Sud.
So what I’m trying to say is, 1. Does anyone know of any shoe companies that have operations in countries with basic protections for workers, wages, and the environment? 2. If not, here’s the deal: Booze for Shoes. I’m sure someone in this reading circulation has a pair of athletic shoes (“trainers” as we call them in Britain) that they don’t use anymore, that aren’t worn out or in too bad of a shape. If you do, email me at booze4shoes@hotmail.com, and I’ll buy you a six pack or two of Sam Adams or Guinness or WHATEVER in exchange for the shoes. I’m a size 11.5.
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