Behind the Swoosh

Today in Human Geography we had a substitute, and we watched this short film called "Behind the Swoosh". It was a story told by a student at St. John's university named Jim Keady. He started doing research on Nike and where the factories of Nike were located, and what condition the workers there lived in; because he was told by his University that he had to wear Nike or he would have to resign. He believed how they lived was unfair and wanted to go see for himself the truth "behind the swoosh". He went to one of the Nike sweatshops for a month during the summer with a girl who felt the same way about this issue named Leslie Kretzu. When they got there they were welcomed and soon given respect by the factory workers after they saw that the two were on their side. All of the workers there lived in small cement 8x8 blocks. There was no furniture, and their bed was a single mat with maybe some type of cloth over it. They dealt with many rats and cockroaches, dirty water, and immense heat and humidity. They had to share all of the living areas, laundry corners, kitchen space, and wells with 5-10 other families. And after living in these conditions, working for 10 hours a day or more, they only were paid $1.25 a day. Their children were suffering too. They barely saw their parents, could not go to school, and all the nike scraps were put in piles in the children's playing area, where they were burned and released toxic fumes which damaged the children's lungs and caused them to get very sick. Jim lost 20 pounds during the month he was there, and Leslie got very sick and could only afford to get medicine and a drink, no food. The two then went to the factory office/headquarters where they were refused to see what they wanted to see, even though Nike claims they have nothing to hide, and they were continuously followed by security and factory management. All the workers were told not to speak to the two, and if so, would be terribly punished. Many workers suffered from the cruelty of the factory bosses, such as one named Julianto who was held at gunpoint, ransacked, and completely made scared, just because he did one thing that disobeyed the headquarters orders. Jim tried to talk to the Nike CEO and others, but they all refused to talk to him. Nike is in Indonesia because of cheap labor. I think that this is just heartbreaking, you're seeing families who work so hard every day, barely getting by, getting paid much much less by this huge company than someone like Tiger Woods, who gets millions of dollars by just endorsing Nike. And all the company management refuses to actually admit that what is happening is wrong, and it is so hypocritical. They obviously do have something to hide if they refuse to even speak with someone about what goes on behind the shoe. Just like Jim had said, America is not capitalism. Capitalism is not an excuse for this. America is a democracy where every human being should be treated as human beings.