Dear Editor,
So we in the West are indignant that the World Cup stadium in Quatar is "being built by slaves in a non-democracy"? (report by Marina Hyde, 4th October) Well, yes, I agree with all she says and, yes, we should be indignant. But what about the clothes, the household wares and the various super-cheap, throw-away nick-nacks that are available in our stores and are produced by exploitative labour in distant countries? Just a couple of months ago a factory collapsed in Bangladesh but that highlighting of manufacturing exploitation doesn't seem to have changed our shopping habits or the range of goods that is on offer, does it?
It's probably because we live in "democracies" so we can democratically chose to exploit "worker-drones" in various manufacturing industries on the other side of the planet. The more I think about it, the more it makes me feel like I am living on the comfortable (exploitative!) side of a distopian horror novel.
Regards
