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Cedar Lounge
For Lefties too Stubborn to Quit

offsite link RIA Lunchtime Lecture Series 14:43 Sun Feb 12, 2012 | WorldbyStorm

offsite link Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week 11:42 Sun Feb 12, 2012 | Garibaldy

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Dublin Opinion
It's a group blog. What more do you need to know?

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Irish Left Review
Joined up thinking for the Irish Left

offsite link A MASTERCLASS IN IRISH COMPRADOR/MIDDLEMAN CAPITALISM, COURTESY OF TONY O?REILLY... Fri Feb 10, 2012 10:11 | Conor McCabe

offsite link The Finance Bill: To Those that Have . . . Thu Feb 09, 2012 16:00 | Michael Taft

offsite link Catastrophic Event Thu Feb 09, 2012 13:19 | Aiden Lloyd

offsite link Europe?s largest economic failure is not in Greece - but in the UK, Italy and Sp... Wed Feb 08, 2012 14:08 | John Ross

offsite link The IFSC Doesn?t Even Buy Ireland a Pint Mon Feb 06, 2012 17:47 | Conor McCabe

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MediaBite
A shot at bias in the media

offsite link The web's political rainbow Wed Dec 07, 2011 09:47

offsite link The Forgotten Constituency: The Majority and The Irish Economic Crisis Fri Mar 11, 2011 11:49

offsite link A curse on the zombie establishment Tue Sep 21, 2010 15:11

offsite link 'Officials say', 'officials say', 'according to an official' Tue Jul 27, 2010 17:05

offsite link 'The false reality of news journalism' Fri Jul 02, 2010 13:15

MediaBite >>

Making Cents: Life Below the Bottom Rung

category international | workers issues | other press author Saturday November 28, 2009 23:09author by Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin - http://gaelart.net/author email caoimhghin at yahoo dot com Report this post to the editors

NAIROBI, Kenya

Kibera Slum

KIBERA SLUM
KIBERA SLUM

'Making Cents: Life Below the Bottom Rung' (2009)

A new series of oil paintings examining the daily existence of people making a living in the worst working conditions in the global economy.

Nations are not communities and never have been. The history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of interest (sometimes exploding, most often repressed) between conquerors and conquered, masters and slaves, capitalists and workers, dominators and dominated in race and sex. And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners.
Howard Zinn A People's History of the United States

While reading the International Herald Tribune I came across an article entitled 'Deal near for global pact on ship recycling' (15 May 2009). The article notes that '[t]he dismantling of ships, so that their steel and other materials can be sold as scrap, is often done on or near beaches in poor countries, notably India and Bangladesh. Both nations have pledged to improve working conditions and environmental practices. But labor advocates contend that the process still kills and maims many workers each year and results in the contamination of shorelines with asbestos, oily waste, toxic paint and other dangerous materials.' It struck me that it is rare to see images of people in such working conditions depicted in paintings.

Following Sartre's dictum that 'to reveal is to change' I decided to make a painting that would in a sense 'reveal' this type of work to those like myself who had never come across it before. Like many bad situations they continue without change for a long time because of a lack of awareness of their existence by many who often benefit directly or indirectly from them. I looked at other situations where people worked in very bad and sometimes even horrific working conditions (such as recycling in dumps where children have been buried in the process). I talked about this to friends who told me of other situations (such as sulphur workers in Indonesia who carry 70 - 100Kg's on their backs for 2-3hrs to make $1 causing at the same time burnt skin and lungs).

The globalisation of the world economy has allowed for extremes of exploitation of workers in poor countries. This exploitation is 'hidden' behind advertising and aesthetically designed products. Looking at the people behind the products reminds us that our lifestyle has its negative side too.

A excellent book on this subject is Planet of Slums by Mike Davis published by Verso (2006).

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