Radiohead Takes on Sweatshops

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

For the video for "All I Need," a song off Radiohead's newest album In Rainbows, the band teamed up with MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) to focus on the problem of labor rights abuses.  The video shows two parallel stories: one of a boy in an industrialized country who goes to school and buys new sneakers and the other a boy in a developing country working in a sweatshop to produce the first boy's sneakers.  At the end of the video, the words, "Some things cost more than you realise" comes on the screen.

Check it out here:

Keep reading for more thoughts and another video with Thom Yorke.

I think the video does a good job of showing some of the abuses that occur in the production of goods consumed around the world.  It reminds me of the documentary about Wal-Mart: "The High Cost of Low Prices."  A lot of the work that ILRF does along with the other organizations behind this blog seeks to show U.S. consumers and policymakers how our purchasing practices and lack of labor law enforcement impacts workers around the world. 

Radiohead often takes progressive positions on important issues.  They have been active in supporting environmental campaigns and working to reduce their environmental impact.  Their latest album was initially launched online and fans could download it for whatever amount of money they wanted to pay.  It is good to see that Radiohead is also speaking out about labor rights and I hope that they will continue to support workers globally.

The MTV EXIT campaign is a collaboration with USAID to fight trafficking globally.  I'm glad to see that the campaign and the Radiohead video look at labor abuses in the formal economy which is connected to the supply chains of U.S. companies.  Often, people get squeamish about dealing with the corporate aspect of trafficking and labor exploitation.  According to Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, even the allusions to a completely anonymous shoe company were controversial,

"All power to MTV for taking this on because its obviously going to be difficult for them in terms of the advertisers," he said. "With the ('All I Need') video, their lawyers had to beg to make sure there wasn't a single white trainer with a logo on it because the implication would be a little too close. But the implication is still there."

So what do you think?  Does the video do a good job of increasing awareness about labor exploitation?  What should Radiohead's responsibility be in terms of this issue?  Are there other musical artists out there doing good work to promote labor rights globally?

By the way, you can check out the 2008 Shop with a Conscience Consumer Guide here for ethical alternatives to sweatshop apparel.

Click here to read another article about the "All I Need" video.  Check out a video clip below for more on Thom Yorke's thoughts on the video.

Comments

[Chutchai kongmont]

We all know that MTV makes most of its money from companies that use sweatshops and exploit labor in Asian export processing zones where workers get below minimum wage, no job security and very bad conditions. USAID and MTV's campaign are against trafficking is mainly a thinly disguised part of USAIDS Bush funded moral agenda to stop all prostitution and to stop sex workers organising as workers.
This can be seen in the partners that MTV exit has in countries in Asia- Right wing Christian fundamentalist organisations who forcibly detain sex workers; and in Cambodia the Ministry of Interior which overseas the illegal detention centres where sex workers and homeless people are detained with inadequate food and water, where rape and beatings are common and where sick people, including those with HIV get no medical care.

But for MTV it's all about image- and the one thing that is worse in most people's mind that labor abuses and sweatshops in sex trafficking- so this serves to cover up MTV's continued support of those organisations who profit off millions of laborers around the world. It's spin, and it's a sham.
And we will be holding protests at MTV Exit's upcoming South East Asia Tour- organised by sex workers and women working in the garment factories together.
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