Ashok Kumar is a senior lecturer in international political economy at Birkbeck, University of London and the author of Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age. He tweets @broseph_stalin.
A month after Israel began its brutal war on Gaza, Yemen’s Houthis launched a blockade of shipping routes in the Red Sea. The US-led attempt to restore safe navigation was a disaster that has exposed deep fragilities in the global maritime trading system.
India is a major military partner for Israel, which is why port workers across India are refusing to handle weapons destined for Israel, insisting they want no part in the massacre in Gaza.
Kylie Jenner’s clothing line is stiffing garment workers in Bangladesh, who have long lacked the bargaining power to improve their conditions. But the industry is changing — and consumer action linked to workplace militancy could actually win gains for these workers.
Brands like Gap and H&M have long been able to shop around for outsourced suppliers, driving sweatshop conditions in newly industrializing countries. But their rising dependence on large, centralized suppliers is undermining the bases of the sweatshop model — and increasing workers’ power to fight for improvements.