One Too Many – World Refugee Day

This morning I went to the World Refugee Day breakfast hosted by the UNHCR. The theme of World Refugee Day is:

“One family torn apart by war is one family too many”.

It’s a clean sentence. Simplistic, consisting of 11 words and it rolls off the tongue easily.

But think about its implication. What if that hypothetical ‘one family’ were my family or yours? It certainly would be one family too many. If my brother was killed by a suicide bomber, or my mum went missing, a suspected kidnapping because of her political affiliation, the reality of the theme would be anything but a compilation of marketing words.

There is an important question we should be asking the decision makers of Australia so vehemently dehumanise asylum seekers for political advantage:

“If you had to flee your country, how would you like the rest of the world to treat you?”

Instead of harping on about the threat to our borders, or the deaths at sea, it’s time, as a nation, we step back and adopt a new perspective. Asylum seekers are human beings just like us. The only difference is, they were unlucky enough to be born into a precarious situation. Forces outside of their control – famine, war and global climate change – push people out of their homes and into a world where empathy is quickly overwhelmed by power.

Today, Australia sent troops back to Iraq. They also plan to send rejected asylum seekers back there.

There are three things wrong with this.

One – if we want to stop the global movement of desperate people seeking asylum, we need to stop war. Before sending armed troops, we must consider peaceful diplomacy, a concept conspicuously missing from the current international Iraqi media coverage.

Two – if we are going to so rapidly deploy troops to Iraq to mitigate the threat of a terrorist war, then where are the troops in DRC, Central Africa, South Sudan and Syria? Aren’t all of these places facing the same fearful reality? What does Iraq have that these countries do not? (Yes that is dripping in hypothetical sarcasm).

And finally – if Iraq is dangerous enough to permit the deployment of military, risking the lives of men and women, whilst expat workers are rapidly being evacuated, how is it safe enough to return ‘failed’ asylum seekers? Non-refoulement (a principle of international law) forbids the return of a person to a place where they are at risk of persecution.

I was brought up believing in justice and that the means should never justify the end. As Australians isn’t it time we wake up to ourselves and decide that our moral compass must be realigned?

No one is asking for a better life for themselves. They are asking for a better life for their children. Wouldn’t you do the same?

Dedicated to Leo Seemanpillai, the young Sri Lankan asylum seeker who died after setting himself on fire, and to his family, who were denied visas to attend their sons funeral.

Who Made The Clothes You’re Wearing Today?

Published in Junkee 23/4/14

If you have taken an interest in the ethics of the fashion industry in the past, you’ll be well aware of some of the impacts of Fast Fashion on the planet and its people. As Maddy Newman wrote in the wake of H&M’s Melbourne launch a few weeks back, “Fast fashion’s seductively low prices encourage us to buy things we don’t need (and sometimes don’t really want), with little regard for the enormous environmental and human costs of this rapid-fire supply chain that squeezes margin from those who are most vulnerable.”

What’s less clear is what can be done about it.

Changing the way we buy clothes isn’t as easy as choosing free range eggs at the supermarket. Especially when we have such a huge smorgasbord of cheap and easy wares to choose from. Spending money on fashion shouldn’t be like buying a burger: cheap, spontaneous, and consumed within minutes.

But the fashion game is changing, fast. With rapid advances in technology and global communications, trends move quickly. From catwalk to store within weeks, the notion of two seasons per year is virtually obsolete — and with fast fashion retailers like Top Shop releasing 300 new styles each week, competition is fierce. The game is now who can get the latest style out faster and cheaper than any other retailer.

On April 24 2013, the world watched in horror as the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing 1,133 people and injuring over 2,500. Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of that tragedy, and Fashion Revolution’s #InsideOut campaign is asking you to ask the question: Who Made Your Clothes? The focus is on increasing transparency in the supply chain, and encouraging retailers and designers to consider the story of the clothes they are producing.

As consumers, where we choose to shop and what we choose to purchase can make a big difference in the supply chain story.

Buy Organic, Fair Trade, Or Second-Hand 

I’m not talking about tea and chocolate here; organic cotton and fair trade clothing are viable, ethical alternatives to fast fashion.

The environmental footprint and social injustice that the production of our clothes leaves behind incriminates us all. Cotton is a lucrative crop that has a devastating effect on those involved in its harvest; using more insecticides and pesticides than any other crop, the production of cotton severely impacts the environment, affects food supply and results in illness, disease and birth defects. Shockingly there are 250 million children around the world estimated to be involved in the growing and harvesting of cotton. In Uzbekistan, children are taken from school each year to harvest cotton. Many die or suffer injuries working in tough conditions, and are poorly compensated for their labour, leaving them without an education or an income for their families.

Meanwhile, factories like Rana Plaza — which continue to be employed by most major Australian brands – exploit men, women and children to produce faster. These people work long hours, with little to no compensation.  After the collapse, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh was established, with the aim of ensuring all garment factories in the country were safe workplaces. While they have no plans to stop sourcing from Bangladesh, Target, Big-W, K-Mart and Cotton On were among the companies that signed on to the accord. (Best and Less and Just Group refused). For those who signed, it’s a good first step, but it doesn’t solve everything: these companies, and many other retailers, are not transparent in their supply chains, and without transparency it is impossible to know who has made our clothes and under what conditions.

The benefits of Fair Trade clothing means that there is a focus on what’s known as the triple bottom line, or the ‘3-Ps’: pro-people, pro-planet and pro-profit. Programs that work with vulnerable communities to teach them how to sew or create garments helps protect these people from being exploited or embedded in a cycle of poverty. When we shop organic and Fair Trade, we are placing our consumer dollar behind companies that add value to the farmers and artisans who make our clothes. We are ensuring that no child was involved in the manufacturing of our products, and we are working in partnership with producers, enabling communities to invest in environmental initiatives and establish community development programs.

Organic cotton is another solution, reducing water supply and taking 1.5 tonnes of CO2 per acre out of the atmosphere each year. When we pay a higher price for an organic t-shirt, farmers can invest it into organic farming, helping them to become financially and environmentally sustainable.

The Ethical Fashion Guide provides an insight into some of the brands we most commonly shop, helping us make more informed choices about where we spend our money. The more we shop ethically, the more likely companies will begin to make changes to their own supply chains.

Ethical fashion in Australia has become much more common place than a few years ago, meaning we no longer need to compromise too much on style or budget.

Here are a few of the best of Australia and New Zealand’s sustainable fashion labels, resources and market places:

Indigo Bazaar: a selection of organic and ethical labels

Alas The Label: sustainable sleepwear

Kowtow Clothing: Fair Trade and organic clothing

Lalesso: wonderful Fair Trade designs made in Kenya

Gorman Organics: beautifully designed and made organic items

Ethical Clothing Australia: a guide to ethical shopping in Australia

Red Threads: Red Cross op-shops around Australia with a boutique/vintage feel

Do you have your own recommendations? Take them to the comments section!

In the meantime, ask your favourite retailer who made your clothes, and get your friends thinking about who their consumer choices might be affecting. Our clothes tell a story. What do yours say about you.

Thursday April 24 is Fashion Revolution Day. Take a photo of yourself wearing your clothes inside out, and share it on social media with the hashtag #InsideOut. To find out more, head here.