the clothes on your back

Several months ago, The Toronto Star published  a series of articles and videos on the global supply-production-consumption chain of clothing, The Clothes on Your Back. The series examines such interrelated topics as slave labor in Uzbekistan cotton fields, clothing production in Asian sweatshops--particularly involving child labor, and the current retail boom in Canada.

media spin on Foxconn and Apple

ABC's Nightline tonight aired, iFactory, its investigation of Foxconn, the primary assembler of Apple electronic products. Mike Daisey, who brought working conditions at Foxconn to light last year, is critical of ABC's effort as he believes it amounted to little more than a guided tour of the facility by company management (see his blog post). Daisey's own observations at the Chinese plant have generated subsequent reportage by the New York Times, as well as that by ABC, among other news services. He is currently starring in his off-Broadway show, "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs".