Globalisation has brought the modern world many positives, mostly through its impact on time-space convergence (the decline in travel time between geographical locations because of transportation, communication, and related technological and social innovations) which, along with the introduction of online shopping, have revolutionised capitalism.
The internet has made everything extremely available, from information and education to products for consumption. Nowadays, everything you could ever need, you can easily buy online with no more than just a few clicks. While this is a good thing when taking into consideration the liberty it provides the market with, it is quite detrimental under a more social aspect. The capitalistic pursuit of the cheapest cost of production substantially leads to the production of goods under inhumane conditions in countries with so-called ‘sweatshop economies. Moreover, the power to buy absolutely anything so simply, and often very cheaply, leads to overconsumption, and thus, overproduction of goods. Such overproduction often fuels and increases the number of places and companies that use countries with poor labour laws. One example of a country that has been labelled a sweatshop economy is Mali.
Mali is a country with extremely rich natural resource reserves such as gold, iron ore, uranium, manganese, lithium, and limestone. However, it is also one of the poorest countries in the world ranking 186th out of 191. This is primarily due to the exploitation of these natural resources by international companies. For example, the Canadian miner Barrick Gold, or many Chinese investors. The cheap labour production and the poverty of the country itself cause the citizens of Mali to suffer from hunger and often go through used gold mines to find leftover scraps to be able to personally sell and help their families. On the 15th of February one of the gold mines collapsed killing 43 people, including women carrying children on their backs, and injuring many more. The collapse took place near Kéniéba, in Mali’s western, gold-rich Kayes region. This is the second collapse in the span of the past 3 weeks, after at least 10 people were killed when a mining tunnel flooded late in January, raising worldwide attention to the ethics of gold mining in countries with little to no labour laws. Another accident happened just over a year ago, where more than 40 people were killed after a tunnel collapsed in a mine. As can be noticed, accidents are common in Mali as most mining activity is unregulated, with miners using unsafe methods to dig for the gold.
Brutal accidents like such are not native to Mali, however, nor are they uncommon. Since January 2021 there have been over 117 documented accidents, in just the garment industry, which averages to around a tragic 3 per month. If a company’s primary objective is to earn as much money as possible, even if doing that entails sacrificing basic human rights, the consumption of products made under these conditions supports and even funds such treatment of people.
Thus, the question arises, is ethical consumption possible? In the modern day, when most of the market is filled with unethical production of goods, the use of the few brands that pay their workers a living wage, and allow them to work in safe conditions, or buy second-hand, is extremely vital. The treatment of other human beings as if they were lesser than others is simply unacceptable, and change tends to start from a single person’s decision and acknowledgement that something isn’t right.