Monthly Archives: May 2020

Coronavirus has come. It has swept across the globe in such stunning fashion that it has laid waste to not only lives and economies, but to our preconceived notions of who we are.

I grew up in the age of globalization. It was drilled into me from high school onward that we were heading towards a borderless world that was only an air flight away. Even with my turn towards traditional Judaism and my move to Israel, I still believed to this to a certain extent.

The problem with globalization is that it is based on an infinite amount of resources and cheap products that essentially just turn traditional cultures and communities into carbon copies of one another.

How was the world meant to be built? China. The authoritarian regime would help produce this new world of anonymity, phone addiction, and infinite consumer products. Of course all of us have played along nicely.

The coronavirus pandemic destroyed all of this. It has blown out the idea that one can build a perfect world on the fulfillment of desires by using cheap slave labor in a far away land. Rather than a perfect word, the pandemic has revealed just how bankrupt these notions have been all along.

We have been trying to fulfill our ambitions for products and money and by doing so we have destroyed forest, ruined top soil, and assigned whole populations to a life of factory and wage slavery.

None of this has been holy work it has been about giving into our base desires.

So much of what we experience and grapple with can be traced back to that initial decision of Adam and Eve to taste from the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. It was simply about fulfilling a want versus focusing on needs.

We are constantly tripping up over the same challenge and it is about time we have learned from our mistakes.

Rebbe Nachman teaches in the 24th lesson of Likutey Moharan that one who lives in excess eventually falls into depression. In a sense, what Rebbe Nachman is saying is that the more each of us in the world lives outside our means and in excess, the more the collective world falls farther away from what it is meant to be.

We are meant to be G-dly beings to repair the broken world that exists around us and within us. We can do this. We can return to our authentic selves, but we first must exit the world of desires and excess.

The coronavirus has taught us that we can in fact live on so much less than we thought we could. Will we continue on this path or return to our lives of excess once the world opens back up?

The choice as always is before us.

Read the original here:

AN END TO EXCESS: We Must Return To Ourselves - israelrising.com

Contributing Author: Katie Howell

While COVID-19 is exposing fundamental flaws in the global food and agriculture system, it is creating the opportunity to reimagine honoring farmers and food workers and producing healthy, nutritious food.The virus is forcing people to press pause on their daily lives, so Food Tank has compiled a list of 34 movies and series to watch from home that remind us of the power of food.

This list may serve as a guide to help you learn about large- and small-scale agriculture, the relationship between diet and health, and the social and cultural implications of the food system. But these movies and series also offer hope. They show how individual choices can foster connections between people, and they may even inspire you to advocate for a more equitable food system during and after the pandemic.

1. 10 Billion Whats on Your Plate? (2015)

By 2050, the global population is expected to hit 10 billion. This documentary from German film director Valentin Thurn looks at how we could feed that world. The film explores food production and distribution, analyzing potential solutions to meet the enormous demand on the global agriculture system. The most-viewed film in German cinemas in 2015, 10 Billion Whats on Your Plate? provides a broad look into the issues in current food production and offers a glimpse of hope through innovation.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, YouTube

2. Always Be My Maybe (2019)

Always Be My Maybe is a romantic comedy that follows a successful chef named Sasha as she reunites with her childhood best friend as an adult. During her stay in San Francisco to open a new restaurant, Sasha, played by Ali Wong, and her old friend rediscover their connection though eating, and she remembers the influence her friends family had on her love of cooking. Always Be My Maybe shows Sashas journey as she falls in love and reconnects to her Asian American culture.

Where to watch it: Netflix

3. A Tale of Two Kitchens (2019)

A Tale of Two Kitchens is about two restaurantsCala in San Francisco and Contramar in Mexico Cityowned and operated by acclaimed Mexican chef Gabriela Cmara. The film tells the stories of the restaurants staff, alternating between personal accounts and shots of employees interacting with customers and preparing meals. A Tale of Two Kitchens offers an inspiring look into how people find personal and professional growth in the restaurant industry and how restaurants can become second homes for those that work in them.

Where to watch it: Netflix

4. Barbecue (2017)

Embarking on a journey across 12 countries, Barbecue tells a story of the culture behind grilling meat and how it brings people together. The film offers a portrait of those who stoke the flames, showing that barbecue is not just about the meat, but about the rituals, stories, and traditions that surround the process. Barbecue won the James Beard Award for Best Documentary in 2018.

Where to watch it: Netflix, Amazon Video, YouTube, Google Play

5. Before the Plate (2018)

Filmmaker Sagi Kahane-Rapport documents John Horne, Canadian chef and owner of the prestigious Toronto restaurant Canoe, as he follows each ingredient from one dish back to the farm they came from. Before the Plate offers a look into what it takes to grow and distribute food and the issues farmers face in todays food system.

Where to watch it: YouTube, Google Play, Amazon Video

6. Caffeinated (2015)

Working with coffee connoisseur Geoff Watts, this film explores the life cycle of a coffee seed, following the process from bean to mug. The film focuses on the social and cultural landscape around coffee and how it shapes the lives of thousands of individuals worldwide. Caffeinated filmmakers interview coffee farmers, roasters, and baristas to provide a comprehensive idea of all that goes into a cup of coffee.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, Google Play

7. Cesar Chavez (2014)

Cesar Chavez is a biographical film that reconstructs the emergence of the United Farm Workers (UFW) in the 1960s. The film focuses on Chavez, co-founder of the UFW, whose commitment to secure a living wage for farm workers ignited social justice movements across America. The film inspired a Follow Your Food series by Participant Media and the Equitable Food Initiative as well as won an ALMA Award for Special Achievement in Film.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, YouTube, Google Play

8. Chef Flynn (2018)

Chef Flynn tells the story of Flynn McGarry, who became famous after running a fully functional kitchen in his bedroom at age 10. The film chronicles McGarry as he outgrows his bedroom kitchen and sets out to join New York Citys innovative culinary scene. With a focus on the relationship McGarry has with his mother, Chef Flynn shows how far McGarry was able to go with the support and dedication of his family.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, Hulu, Google Play, YouTube

9. Chefs Table (2015- )

From David Gelb, the filmmaker that created Jiro Dreams of Sushi, comes Chefs Table, a series that profiles professional chefs around the world. Each episode of Chefs Table spotlights a different chef as they share the personal stories that have inspired their culinary ventures. The series has won a variety of awards, including a James Beard Foundation Award and an International Documentary Association Award.

Where to watch it: Netflix

10. Cooked (2016- )

Cooked is a series based on Michael Pollans book by the same name. In each episode, Pollan focuses on a different natural elementfire, water, air, and earthand its relationship to cooking methods throughout history. Cooked brings together different aspects of cooking to show its ability to connect us all as human beings.

Where to watch it: Netflix

11. Dolores (2017)

Dolores documents the life of Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the first farm workers union, United Farm Workers (UFW). Filmmaker Peter Bratt chronicles Huertas life from her childhood in Stockton, California, to her work with UFW and becoming a leading figure in the feminist movement. Huerta has often not been credited for her equal role in establishing UFW; Dolores argues this is because Huerta is a woman, and the film strives to spotlight her heroic efforts in the fight for social justice.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, Google Play, YouTube

12. Eating Animals (2017)

Based on the 2009 book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, filmmaker Christopher Quinn examines factory farming and its associated negative environmental and public health effects. Eating Animals spotlights farmers, activists, and innovators who are raising awareness about where our meat comes from and standing up to big companies to tell their stories.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, YouTube, Google Play, Hulu

13. Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table (2017)

In the 1940s, New Orleans food and drink business generated less than US$1 million a year; today it is a billion-dollar industry that attracts tourists from around the world to the city. Many credit the transformation to the Brennan family, guided by Ella Brennan. Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table tells the story of Ella Brennan and how she revolutionized creole cuisine and helped push it into American mainstream dining culture.

Where to watch it: Apple TV, Commanderspalace.com

14. El Susto! (2020)

El Susto! tells the story of a sugar tax in Mexico, implemented in an attempt to curb the prevalence of diabetes. The film documents the battle between public health activists and the corporate wealth of the Big Soda industry, offering a look into the reality of challenging powerful industries. The film premiers this May as part of the virtual Vermont International Film Festival.

Where to watch it: VIFF virtual cinema

15. Farmsteaders (2018)

Farmsteaders follows Nick Nolan and his family as they try to resurrect his grandfathers dairy farm in Ohio. Once a thriving agriculture economy, Nolans rural community has given way to the pressures of agribusiness and corporate farmingleft with unused fertile farmland, abandoned buildings, and skyrocketing health issues. Farmsteaders gives a voice to a new generation of family farmers, showing the hardships those who grow our food are having to endure.

Where to watch it: POV link through movie website

16. Fed Up (2014)

Filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig and journalist Katie Couric investigate the role of the American food industry in rising obesity rates and diet-related diseases. Fed Up uncovers the sugar industrys influence on American dietary guidelines and argues that hidden sugar in processed foods is the root of the problem. With the tagline Congress says pizza is a vegetable, the film shows how interactions between industry and government can directly affect the health of the nation.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi, Google Play

17. Food Chains (2014)

Supermarkets buying power and farm contracts often set the substandard wages and conditions farm workers face. To improve their livelihood, The Coalition of Immokalee Workers demanded a penny more per pound of tomatoes picked. But Publix, Floridas largest grocery chain, refused. Food Chains follows farm workers in Immokalee, Florida, as they prepare for and launch the resulting hunger strike at Publix headquarters. The documentary aims to expose the exploitation of farm laborers and the complicity of corporations in the creation of conditions the filmmakers liken to modern-day slavery.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, Tubi, YouTube

18. For Grace (2015)

For Grace tells the story of renowned chef Curtis Duffy as he builds his dream restaurant, Grace, at a difficult time in his personal life. Filmmakers Kevin Pang and Mark Helenowski offer a look into each step in opening the luxury dining spot, Duffys troubled past, and how he came to seek refuge in the kitchen. For Grace gives a bittersweet look into the restaurant industry and the sacrifice it requires.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, Google Play, YouTube, Apple TV

19. From Scratch (2020)

From Scratch follows chef, actor, and producer David Moscow as he travels worldwide making meals from scratch. Each episode begins with a chef presenting a dish that Moscow then has to hunt, gather, forage, and grow each ingredient to recreate. From Scratch reveals the overwhelming amount of work that brings each part of a meal into the kitchen.

Where to watch it: FYI

20. In Our Hands (2017)

This one-hour documentary takes viewers on a journey across the fields and farms of Britain. In Our Hands discusses diversity of the land, the importance of generational knowledge, and the need for innovation to create a more sustainable food system. A project by Black Bark Films and the Landworkers Alliance, the film advocates for sustainable methods and the rights of small producers through a feminist lens.

Where to watch it: Vimeo

21. Just Eat It (2014)

Just Eat It explores the enormous amount of food waste that exists in the supply chain from farms and retail to an individuals home. The filmmakers pledge to quit grocery shopping and survive only on discarded food for six months. Featuring interviews with food waste experts and food writers, Just Eat It exposes the systematic obsession with perfect produce and confusing expiry dates that has ultimately cost billions of dollars in wasted food each year. The film has received multiple awards from film festivals across North America.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi, Google Play

22. Maacher Jhol (2017)

A Bengali film directed by Pratim D. Gupta, Maacher Jhol tells the story of a Paris-based chef returning to his home in Kolkata after 13 years. Challenged to cook a bowl of fish curry, a quintessential Bengali dish, the film shows the master-chef return to his roots and reconnect with his family.

Where to watch it: Netflix

23. Polyfaces: A World of Many Choices (2015)

Polyfaces documents the Salatins, a fourth-generation farming family, who moved from Australia to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the United States to practice regenerative farming. The film follows the family for four years as they operate Polyface Farm without chemicals and provide food to 6,000 families within a three-hour radius. Polyfaces shows how working with nature, not against it, is a way to reconnect to the land and to the community.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video

24. Rotten (2018- )

Zero Point Zero and Netflix combined to produce Rotten, a series that highlights the problems in the process of supplying food. With a human-centered narrative approach, each episode focuses on one food product, interviewing manufacturers, distributers, and others involved in the process. Rotten reveals the corruption, waste, and dangers involved with eating certain foods.

Where to watch it: Netflix

25. Salt Fat Acid Heat (2018)

Salt Fat Acid Heat follows chef and food writer Samin Nosrat as she travels the world to explore the core principles of cooking. Based on Nosrats New York Times bestselling book of the same name, Nosrat uses each episode to travel to Italy, Japan, Mexico, and the United States, where she began her culinary career. Salt Fat Acid Heat helps the audience learn about each element of cooking and how to incorporate them into their own recipes.

Where to watch it: Netflix

26. SEED: The Untold Story (2016)

A winner of 18 film festival awards, SEED: The Unknown Story follows the story of farmers, scientists, lawyers, and indigenous seed keepers in their fight to defend seeds from the control of biotech companies. The film highlights the importance of the seed in the future of our food and presents a heartening story about the efforts to reintegrate an appreciation of seeds into ourculture. SEED features Vandana Shiva, Dr. Jane Goodall, Andrew Kimbrell, Winona Laduke, and Raj Patel.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, YouTube, Google Play

27. Soul of a Banquet (2014)

Soul of a Banquet shows the journey of Cecilia Chiang and how she introduced America to authentic Chinese food. Chiang opened The Mandarin, her internationally renowned restaurant in San Francisco, in 1961 and has since greatly influenced the culinary scene in the United States. Through interviews with Chiang as well as Alice Waters and Ruth Reichl, the film documents Chiangs life in Beijing, her move to the United States, and how she became a restaurateur.

Where to watch it: Hulu, Google Play, YouTube, Amazon Video

28. Sustainable (2016)

Sustainable investigates the economic and environmental instability of the current agriculture system and the actors in the food system who are working to change this. The film presents the leadership and knowledge of some prominent sustainable farmers around the United States, like Bill Niman, Klaas Martens and John Kempf, who are challenging the country to build a more ethical agriculture system. The film offers a story of hope, with a promise that our food system can be transformed into one that is sustainable for future generations.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, YouTube

29. That Sugar Film (2014)

That Sugar Film looks at the impact of high-sugar diets on an Aboriginal community in Australia and travels to the United States to interview the worlds sugar experts. When director Damon Gameau decides to test the effects of sugar on his own health, he consumes foods commonly perceived as healthy, revealing the prevalence of sugar in each item. The film documents how sugar has become the most dominant food in the world, infiltrating both our diets and culture.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, Documentary Mania

30. The Biggest Little Farm (2018)

The Biggest Little Farm follows John and Molly Chester for eight years as they transition from city living to a 200-acre farm. Directed by John Chester, the film shows the couple start Apricot Lane Farms and follows the farms expansion to include multiple animals and fruit and vegetable varieties. Through their work, the Chesters find that the importance of biodiversity extends far beyond the farm.

Where to watch it: YouTube, Google Play

31. The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution (2018)

Director Maya Gallus profiles seven female chefs as they face obstacles in a profession dominated by men. The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution shows how the culture of restaurant kitchens has bred toxic working conditions and how women are working to change it. Through the womens stories, the film documents the greater challenges female chefs face as they attempt to rise to the top of the restaurant industry.

Where to watch it: Tubi, YouTube, Google Play, Amazon Video

32. The Lunchbox (2013)

The Lunchbox tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a lonely housewife and a widower. The housewife, played by Nimrat Kaur, decides to prepare her husband creative, elaborate lunches, sending them along with a note through the famously complicated Mumbai lunch delivery system. The lunchbox ends up with the wrong man, played by the late Irrfan Khan. The housewife recognizes her mistake and sends Khan another note to apologize, starting a conversation between the two and sparking a relationship as they discuss lifes joys and sorrows over the exchange of delicious meals.

Where to watch it: Amazon Video, YouTube, Google Play

33. Ugly Delicious (2018- )

Originally posted here:

34 Movies, Docs, and Series to Educate and Inspire During COVID-19 - Food Tank

NewsOpinionColumnistsKansas has strong radical traditions but, neglected by the Democrats, it is now a Republican stronghold and the SNP must learn the lessons of how this happened, writes Kenny MacAskill

Thursday, 7th May 2020, 7:30 am

My friend Henry McLeish, whos very knowledgeable about American politics, recommended a book called Whats the Matter with Kansas?, a fascinating account by the author Thomas Franks, explaining the political sea change thats swept across America.

Now seen as red-neck country and a Trump heartland, Id forgotten that Kansas had radical roots. It was formed, after all, by northern abolitionists, eager to block the westward march of slavery. Inspiring the likes of John Brown, they were prepared to fight for their cause long before the Civil War erupted.

In later generations, as poverty became the issue, the mantle passed to political radicals in the Farmer Labor cause before and during the dustbowl and the depression. A county in Kansas even voted for Eugene Debs, the great American socialist, in the presidential election of 1912. The only other three that he won were also in the Mid-West, whichs hard to imagine now in an area thats deepest red American political colours being the inverse of our own, red for Republican and blue for Democrat.

Despite the obvious failings of the Trump administration, the state is a banker to vote for him in the election later this year. Its never been a wealthy state, and it certainly isnt now. Firstly, small farmers and then industrial workers have been put to the sword, replaced by a low-wage economy and welfare. Corporate tax cuts have been matched by cuts to public services, the rich are getting richer and the poor are being left behind.

Yet, its lapped up by many and most especially in former blue-collar areas where generations ago the cause of Labor was supported. As Franks so vividly writes its like a French Revolution in reverse one in which the sans-culottes pour down the streets demanding more power for the aristocracy.

Christians voting for Caesar

So how did it come to pass? Well theres not one simple answer but its as much down to Democrat failures as Republican actions. The supposed glory days of Bill Clinton accelerated many of the underlying economic problems. Rather than seeking to support the workers, the Democrats sought to triangulate as was the buzzword stealing the centre-ground but also marginalising their former core support.

A failure to give political hope saw many seek solace elsewhere. As orthodox class politics disappeared, it was replaced in many poorer areas by cultural issues of abortion, gun control and same-sex marriage. As again Franks poignantly details, the followers of Christ have ended up voting for Caesar, as representatives of the self-proclaimed moral majority, in order to deliver a corporate rather than a Christian dream.

It wasnt simply whipped up by Christian zealots or Fox News but was added to by the Democrats behaviour. Not only did they appear alien in their views, but they were condescending in manner, or so it appeared to those by now dispossessed. Joe Biden isnt going to turn them, and itll be a long way back for the radical cause in the Mid-West.

Neither American society nor American politics are directly transferable across the Atlantic but there are some similarities. The New Labour years werent golden for many who were forgotten. Class politics was abandoned and replaced by a British equivalent, albeit more nihilistic than moral. The Brexit vote in Sunderland, with the self-inflicted harm of Nissans likely departure, was a cri de coeur from the left-behinds.

Then the collapse of the Red Wall in the December general election, by people and in areas whove suffered most through inequality. Places where once Tories feared to tread instead viewed Labour as the alien beast failing to speak for them and condescending in their attitude towards them. It wasnt just Brexit but on a swathe of issues where Labour seemed out of kilter, almost a metropolitan elite out of touch with former working people.

So far, this has passed Scotland by as the constitution remains the central issue. But remembering your core vote remains essential. Opinion polls are staggering for the SNP now but once the same applied both to the Clinton Democratic machine and New Labour hegemony. But as the economy falters post-Covid-19, the areas that were the bedrock of the Yes vote will be worst affected.

Supporting them must be a priority. Its difficult within current powers which is why downplaying a second referendums foolish. It was about hope in 2014 and itll remain so now, a belief that a better world can come must be fundamental. Which is why indyref2 matters.

But its also about respect and understanding. An agenda that seems dominated by gender and sexual identity is an anathema to many, socially conservative with a small c but nationalist with a capital N. Ramming that down their throats is as damaging as ignoring their financial plight. The crude lesson from Kansas is dont crap on your own support.

Kenny MacAskill is SNP MP for East Lothian

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit http://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Continue reading here:

SNP should beware 'French Revolution in reverse' that swept Democrats out of Kansas Kenny MacAskill - The Scotsman

Cameron Spencer / Getty Images

Zara's first store opening in Australia, in Sydney in 2011.

We may all be at home, but that hasnt stopped our reporters from breaking exclusive stories like this one. To help keep this news free, become a member and sign up for our newsletter, Outbreak Today.

NEW DELHI A woman immaculately dressed for quarantine reads on a plush sofa in her black crop top and anti-fit denim pants. Another, dressed in a flouncy floor-length peach dress, dances in her kitchen with joyous abandon. A third socially distances on a boat, her white poplin shirt dress a contrast to the lush green surroundings.

Meanwhile, in crowded factories located in chaotic, crime-filled industrial hubs, the workers making these clothes find themselves abandoned by Zara, the global retail brand thats making quarantine look so glamorous.

When more than one-third of the planet went under coronavirus-related lockdowns, fashion changed. The globe-trotting, stylish woman from Zaras campaigns moved indoors or at least, thats where youll see her in the slickly produced videos that the global fashion brand uploads to Twitter. Its possible that no one will don a Versace cape anytime soon, but consumers are ordering clothes online to reflect their new lives: clothes to wear on work Zoom calls, athleisure for exercising at home, sweats and pajamas for lounging around, and clothes that simply make us feel good. The world might be full of uncertainty, but being able to choose the fit, color, and fabric of the shirt we pair with those comfy pajamas still offers the possibility of feeling in control.

The cost of this retail therapy, the longing for comfort and normalcy under lockdown, is being borne by workers thousands of miles away, faces youd never see in a summer fashion campaign, even when the videos include token models of color. These workers cannot work from home and, in some cases, they are being forced to labor in factories in close proximity to each other without concern for protecting them from the coronavirus. While brands like Zara, which has stores in 96 countries, ramp up work at logistics centers, workers assembling clothes, swimwear, accessories, and shoes are being sacrificed to meet the demand.

Issues with fast fashion far precede the emergence of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, but its rapid spread has deepened the incredible inequity between garment workers who work at one end of the supply chain and wealthy individuals like Zaras Spanish billionaire owner Amancio Ortega, the worlds sixth-richest man, who are rebranding themselves as benevolent saviors.

At the height of the pandemic in Spain this year, Zaras parent company, Inditex, closed more than 3,000 stores. Ortega pivoted his fashion empire to making hospital gowns and masks, and according to Forbes, flew in medical supplies worth millions from China. Ortega also made sure that Zaras Spanish employees received their full salaries during the crisis all of which won him plenty of great press and support in Spain. On March 28, ambulance crews gathered outside his home to wish him a happy birthday. But Ortegas generosity and concern for Zaras workers stopped at the borders of Spain.

Although Inditex does not publicly disclose the list of factories it sources clothing from, BuzzFeed News has spoken to employees from two factories that form part of Zaras supply chain in Myanmar, where workers put in 11-hour shifts, six days a week, for as little as $3.50$4.74 per day.

While people sang Happy Birthday to Ortega from their balconies in Spain, more than 500 workers at the two factories were laid off when they asked to be supplied with durable masks and for social distancing to be introduced to protect them from the coronavirus. One of the factories, Myan Mode, fired every single member of a workers union, along with a woman who had complained of being sexually harassed at the factory last year.

Inside a Zara factory in Yangon, Myanmar.

Inditex told BuzzFeed News it was working with suppliers to ensure they were following official guidance to protect workers during the pandemic. A spokesperson said that the dispute at Myan Mode had been at least partially resolved, with 29 sacked workers reinstated.

Anxiety about being laid off or having your salary slashed because of the coronavirus crisis has led to thinkpieces, graffiti, and eat the rich memes. Britney Spears might be a communist now, and teenagers on TikTok are calling Karl Marx daddy. Jeff Bezos memed mercilessly for losing a minuscule portion of his money has in fact now added $25 billion, more than the GDP of Honduras, to his total wealth since the coronavirus crisis began. Billionaires in the US have seen their net worth increase by tens of millions of dollars in the last three months.

Many want the ultra-rich to do more, which might be why Rihanna, who has donated millions of dollars to coronavirus relief efforts, has been described as a one-woman COVID-19 foe. But the pandemic and its economic repercussions have laid bare the hypocrisy of the super-wealthy who do just enough to make sure they get good press, while treating workers who labor for their brands as disposable.

We could all die, and for what? Making already rich brands super rich, one worker said on the phone from Myanmars capital, Yangon, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The working class is being sacrificed so they can wear good clothes.

A man wearing a face mask walks on an empty road, amid restrictions put in place to halt the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Yangon on April 10.

The coronavirus has so far not spread extensively in Myanmar, despite the country sharing a nearly 1,400-mile border with China, and the fact that an estimated 10,000 migrant workers were crossing the border on a daily basis until late January. As of May 7, the country has officially recorded only 176 cases and six deaths.

The countrys first positive case of the coronavirus was recorded on March 23 a Myanmar citizen living in the United States who had recently returned for a wedding. Until then, Myanmars government was still patting itself on the back because there were no cases of coronavirus in the country something the health minister said the people owed to their diet and lifestyle. There was still no mention of social distancing. But like several parts of Southeast Asia, it is difficult to give a true picture because there is insufficient testing as of May 1, the government had administered 8,300 tests. Experts fear that if the number of coronavirus cases increased dramatically, the countrys public healthcare system would collapse. The World Bank has estimated that Myanmar has only 249 ventilators for a population of almost 55 million.

Not a whole lot had changed in the working practices at Myan Mode, the Zara factory which lies in the heart of the industrial district of Hlaing Tharyar, in Myanmars capital, Yangon. Since the factory, whose owners are based in South Korea, opened in 2016, half of all orders have been from Zara.

Hlaing Tharyar is a crowded hub of garment factories and light manufacturers, home to gang violence, police violence, and union clashes. Most of Myan Modes workers are young women from rural villages Myanmars garment workforce is over 90% women. At the insistence of the workers union, factory bosses had added a basin for workers to wash their hands, while temperature checks took place as workers entered the factory. Employees had been provided with cloth masks in February but they were not durable, and the factory did not supply any other masks.

Then suddenly, in the last week of March, everything changed. The husbands of two women who worked at the factory returned from Thailand and were showing symptoms of COVID-19, Ohmar Myint, a 34-year-old sewing machine operator at Myan Mode, told BuzzFeed News. The women and their husbands lived in the dormitory, so everyone found out.

On March 28, the union decided to speak to the factorys owners again. We wanted masks to be made mandatory, an end to mandatory overtime while the crisis was on, and we wanted them to send home the two women whose husbands had COVID-like symptoms, a veteran union leader named Mau Maung, who was part of the negotiating committee, said. It was a half-day, Saturday, so the management told us it would come back with a decision soon. A few hours later, an official came to the room where the workers were gathered and read out a list of 571 names. Everyone on the list, including Myint, Maung, and 520 union members, was fired on the spot, representing about half of Myan Modes workforce.

We were given no notice at all, Maung said.

Nearly half a million people in Myanmar work in garment factories, living cheek by jowl in dormitories that factories rent to them for half of their salaries. The countrys minimum wage is one of the lowest in Asia, and following a wave of strikes last year, approximately 50,000 garment workers have joined or formed unions. These unions are a lifeline for people who are treated by big brands as convenient, but ultimately disposable, cheap labor. Myan Modes union was able to negotiate small victories for the workers, like permission to be up to 15 minutes late for work, and more reasonable working hours than other factories demanded 44 hours a week, with up to 14 hours of overtime.

Dig into Zaras history, and you will find its owner Ortegas origin story recounted in breathless detail. It always begins with poverty, the seed for his philanthropic nature was planted when as a 12-year-old boy he saw his mother being denied food on credit at a local shop in La Corua.

That kind of poverty is familiar for Myint, who was one of the 571 employees laid off at Myan Mode.

When she spoke to BuzzFeed News on the phone from Yangon, she sounded defiant and sad in turns the factory had fired every single union member, and a woman who had complained that a senior colleague at the factory had made sexual advances toward her.

Myint said sexual harassment was rampant at garment worker factories in Myanmar, and she admired the way the union stood by the complainant, their solidarity ultimately leading to the mans resignation from Myan Mode. This, she said, was why she joined the union. BuzzFeed News has been unable to contact the complainant, who union members say has left Yangon and returned to her native village.

Workers cannot oppress workers, but thats what happens at the factories, Myint said. The factory owners have absolute power we cannot talk back to them no matter how much they exploit us, or demand better pay, or even ask for leave. If we take even one day off, we lose money. On days we finish our work early, we cannot sign out of the factory, were simply given another task, and then another, and another...the work never stops.

Being in the union gave Myint more bargaining power, she was part of a collective of over 500 people, most of whom were women. But at the end of each day, Myint said, she still felt as though she was a machine whose batteries had died. Her entire body ached from hunching over the zippers and lining she sewed into skirts, jackets, shirts, and hoodies for Zara and its rival Spanish brand, Mango. Once her shift ended, there was still housework to be done, groceries to be carried home, food to be cooked for her family. She had five hours to herself in the entire day, and those were meant for sleep.

Myint said she first learned about the novel coronavirus in January, while browsing Facebook.

[I was reading about] how contagious it is, and thats scary for me, because we work so close to each other all day, if one of us fell sick, everyone would fall sick, she said.

By February, Myint and the other union members had heard that the supply of raw materials from China, things like zippers, fabric, buttons, rivets, and velcro, had stopped coming to Myan Mode. Thats when Myint and the union decided to talk to their employers at the factory.

We told them, If you have plans to close the factory or fire workers because of coronavirus, let the union know first so we can help people look for other work, she said. The owners agreed, but said there was no plan to close the factory yet. Myan Mode confirmed the details of this conversation.

Amancio Ortega, founding shareholder of Inditex fashion group, in July 2013.

The reputation that Ortega, Inditexs billionaire founder, enjoys as a small-town hero in Spain is bolstered by stories about his legendary humility. Stories like how his first fashion distribution network began in 1963 at the port city of La Corua to help women earn money, while their husbands went out to sea to fish. At Inditexs headquarters in Arteixo, northwestern Spain, he sits at a desk in a corner of a Zara Woman workspace. Ortega, now 84, is so reclusive that until 1999 no photograph of him had even been published. Until lockdowns in Spain forced everyone to stay indoors, Ortega still drank his coffee at his favorite local caf.

But Ortegas true gift is speed. Inditex owns several other brands, including Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Stradivarius, Zara Home, and Uterqe. But the companys crown jewel is undoubtedly Zara. Last month Spanish media gleefully noted that even Pablo Iglesias, Spains second deputy prime minister and one of Ortegas most vocal critics, was spotted wearing a black, fitted Zara Man jacket.

Over the years, as Zara evolved both its name from Zorba to Zara and its fashion ethos, the brand built its reputation by trend-spotting and delivering those trends to customers at warp speed: in fashion terms, weeks, instead of months.

Ortegas quick thinking served him well even when the coronavirus hit Spain. He directed 11 of his factories in Galicia, northwest Spain, to immediately switch to making personal protective equipment (PPE). Zara also delivered washable, splash-proof, even arguably stylish turquoise hospital gowns to medical workers in the city of La Corua. Soon after that, Ortega flew in another 3 million units of PPE from China, along with 1,450 ventilators for Spain.

In a pre-coronavirus world, Ortegas way of doing business courted plenty of controversy. In 2015, Zara was accused of discriminating against black employees at its corporate offices (Zara denied the reports), while conditions in factories in Brazil were likened to slavery (Zara Brazil responded to the charges saying the alleged criminal offences pointed out by the inspection report refer to third-party conduct that is not to be confused with Zaras). In 2016, Inditex was accused of tax evasion worth over 550 million euros, about $596 million (Inditex published a lengthy response denying the allegations). In 2017, workers making clothes for Zara in Turkey began sewing pleas for help into their lining.

When confronted by these allegations from Brazil and Turkey, Zara turned to the argument often used by big brands that rely on cheap labor for supply chains they had a contract with the factory, and the factory alone. The way those factories treat their employees is not the brands business.

Thats completely false, of course, Andrew Tillett-Saks, a labor rights activist who lives and works in Myanmar, told BuzzFeed News. If these brands were to indicate any interest in keeping workers safe, the factories would immediately follow suit. The fact is the brands have all the power to change things. They just dont because they prioritize their financial profits over the people who make their clothes.

To some extent, fashions exploitative practices looked like they were about to change following a massive factory accident in Bangladeshs Rana Plaza in 2013, when an eight-story commercial building collapsed, killing over 1,000 garment factory workers. Inditex was among 200 fast fashion labels to sign a worker safety accord for Bangladeshi workers following the accident but increasingly, that accord has ceased to matter. This month, for instance, thousands of workers including those who sew clothes for Zara are returning to garment factories in Bangladesh, even during the pandemic.

Workers protest unsafe conditions at garment factories in Yangon, Myanmar.

As Thingyan, Myanmar's annual new year water festival, began in April, hundreds of workers returned to their hometowns, uncertain of when they would return to work. Some had accepted a small severance from the factory; others had not. Myint said she and the other union members were growing increasingly certain that they were being punished. Another factory, Rui Ning, located in the same industrial complex as Myan Mode, had laid off 30% of its workers, most of whom were union members too. By this time, the coronavirus crisis was also growing: Yangon imposed a lockdown during the holiday season from April 10 to April 19, as well as a night curfew when it was discovered that 80% of the countrys positive COVID-19 cases were in the capital.

In the past, labor unions and NGOs have been wary of publicly calling out brands because they were afraid of precisely what happened at Myan Mode and Rui Ning troublemakers would be fired, or the brand would shut that particular factory down and sign a contract with another. Owners briefly shut down the factory only to quickly reopen with new, nonunion workers, Tillet-Saks, the labor rights activist, said. Often, they will change technical details such as the factorys name or registrant to circumvent labor laws, while maintaining the same core operation.

A union leader in Rui Ning explains what happened at the factory.

But the prospect of being unemployed during a pandemic might change that. For the past month, around 30 members of the Myan Mode union who were sacked appeared daily outside the factorys gates in protest, where they ate, slept, sang union songs. The union has also approached the South Korean consulate and Yangons Arbitration Council. If that does not work, we might even sue, one leader told BuzzFeed News on the condition of anonymity. BuzzFeed News also learned that union members from the Myan Mode and Rui Ning unions have reached out to union workers in Spain, who have assured them that they will add pressure to negotiations with Inditex and Mango.

If the Spanish unions do help, this is a great step in the international labor rights movement. It will mean a lot to the union in Myanmar, said Tillett-Saks, who was aware of emails exchanged between the unions in Myanmar and Spain. With the employers and brands being so multinational, workers need to be united internationally as well if they are going to have any power to improve the garment industry. All they want is that workers who were fired should be reinstated and that they do not use the pandemic as an excuse to attack the union.

Inditexs own code of conduct states that the company supports unions and wants factories to treat workers in the supply chain with care for their health and safety. Days after BuzzFeed News reached out to the companys ethics committee for a response on the sacking of workers at Myan Mode, a representative from Inditex said the dispute at Myan Mode with 29 workers had been resolved through dialogue, and that the factory had agreed to reinstate the protesting workers. The more than 500 workers who had accepted severance pay could possibly be able to return to the factory once it resumed work at full capacity although it was unclear when that might happen.

We have communicated with suppliers to follow local government recommendations and instructions and/or to implement measures to ensure they are following the health protection guidelines for workplaces detailed by the WHO regarding Covid 19, the Inditex representative wrote.

We are working closely with our suppliers at this difficult time and we expect continued compliance with our Code of Conduct, which clearly requires fair treatment of workers and no discrimination against workers representatives.

But union workers said the olive branch from Zara, which arrived on May 6, more than a month after 571 workers were fired, was a belated attempt at damage control. This union-busting case using COVID-19 as cover has not yet been resolved, a union worker told BuzzFeed News, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The union worker said that the offer to reinstate 29 people fell short of the unions demands.

For instance, more than 500 workers who were laid off still had no jobs, and the fact that they had accepted a paltry severance was being used against them. Myan Mode had failed to honor an agreement that it would not target the union and lay off workers during the pandemic, the union member said. Myan Mode is still refusing to recognize the union officially, while it has hired hundreds of daily migrant workers who are not members of any union.

Mango did not respond to a BuzzFeed News request for comment.

Firefighters wearing protective clothing spray disinfectant along a street as a preventive measure against the spread of COVID-19 in Yangon, April 23.

Across Asia, countries have had two kinds of responses to the pandemic: complete shutdowns like India and Sri Lanka, or partial lockdowns with restrictions, like Cambodia, Indonesia, and Myanmar, where governments have banned gatherings but kept factories running. While these decisions have largely depended on the health of each countrys domestic economy, countries suddenly closing down their borders have caused panic particularly among the poorest and most invisible populations of migrant workers, who cross domestic and international borders searching for work. This exodus of worried workers, desperate to return home as the worst economic and health crisis grows around them, is occurring in tandem with spikes in COVID-19 cases.

Everything is terrible but the pandemic is particularly worrying for the people making our clothes, because readymade garment workers work on short-term contracts or are sometimes paid per piece of apparel, existing precariously close to poverty. Already, several brands have canceled orders of clothes that have already been made in factories, and many have reneged on payments promised to workers in Asia. The relentless consumer hunger for branded clothes and fast fashion means that when the worst of the crisis is over, and our appetite for shopping returns, all that a big brand has to do is find the next bunch of cheap laborers.

For too long, weve pretended that fast fashion and eco-consciousness can coexist, that the worst excesses of sweatshop exploitation are a thing of the past. Brands like Zara and Mango advertise sustainability all over their stores; other brands assure customers that they recycle all their packaging. But in the middle of a pandemic, it is no longer enough to wear faux concern.

Go here to read the rest:

Zaras Billionaire Owner Was Praised For Helping In The Coronavirus Crisis. Workers In Myanmar Paid The Price. - BuzzFeed News