MADE IN BANGLADESH - la storia dei bambini operai nel Fast Fashion🇧🇩 — Transcript

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1. 0:11My dream was to become a doctor, but since I can no longer do that,
2. 0:15I work in clothing factories to pay for my sister's education
3. 0:19so she can become a doctor.
4. 0:27It's unbearably hot. They have to work every day
5. 0:31in these conditions, without being able to go to school,
6. 0:32without being able to envision a future, a different dream than this.
7. 0:39They work without any kind of protection, barefoot.
8. 0:44immersed in this... in this extremely toxic liquid.
9. 0:53I work there until 10 PM. Often, I go to bed at 1 or 2 AM.
10. 1:00Mom gets angry because since I started working at the factory, I can't sleep well anymore.
11. 1:10They don't want us to get close here.
12. 1:12They keep taking us to this side, so
13. 1:15I can already tell you that on the other side
14. 1:17there are children working in this facility, on the clothes that reach our stores
15. 1:21and that we often wear ourselves.
16. 1:26My name is Giuseppe
17. 1:27and I have a mission
18. 1:28to travel the world to meet the most extraordinary people on the planet
19. 1:32and ask them a simple question: What is happiness to you?
20. 1:37Welcome to PROJECT HAPPINESS.
21. 1:57It's exactly from factories
22. 1:59like this one
23. 1:59that the shirt you're wearing right now most likely comes from,
24. 2:02and the less we paid for it, the higher the human price has been.
25. 2:06Because as you can see, the workers around me are mostly children.
26. 2:10The goal of this mission, here in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is to discover
27. 2:14who makes the clothes that often end up in the West, understand
28. 2:18in what conditions they work and find out how I can help these children.
29. 2:22But let's take a step back.
30. 2:24Once upon a time, fashion was synonymous with exclusivity and luxury, but at the end of the 20th century
31. 2:29a combination of technological innovation, cultural changes, and globalization
32. 2:34upended everything.
33. 2:35Clothing production became a frantic race towards speed
34. 2:39and economic efficiency.
35. 2:41Companies literally started flooding the market with new garments,
36. 2:44generating faster and faster trends, followed by more and more people who want
37. 2:49to dress in the latest fashion to express who they are or who they want to be.
38. 2:53Thus, fast fashion was born, and it was precisely at this point that one country in particular
39. 2:58promised to satisfy the Western demand for trendy and cheap clothes:
40. 3:02Bangladesh,
41. 3:03which, to meet a massive global demand for clothes, concentrated
42. 3:07all the productive efforts of a nation almost solely on the textile industry,
43. 3:12but at too high a price paid only by the workers. Women, men, children who have now
44. 3:17become the new slaves of the 21st century and the environment poisoned by chemical waste
45. 3:23released by unscrupulous industries, slowly poisoning the land and the water.
46. 3:46I have never seen anything like this in my entire life
47. 3:49Our journey to the origins of Fast Fashion begins right here, in front of the Buriganga riverbed,
48. 3:54or what remains of it, because today it has become one of the most polluted and toxic rivers in the world,
49. 3:59precisely because of Fast Fashion.
50. 4:01Just think, the Bangladeshi government estimates that every day in its waters are
51. 4:06release about 21,000 cubic meters of untreated industrial wastewater every day.
52. 4:11In fact, the residents of the slums suffer from severe
53. 4:13skin, intestinal, and respiratory diseases.
54. 4:16Precisely because of this devastating pollution.
55. 4:19The city of Dhaka has more than 5,000 slums inhabited by
56. 4:23about 4 million people.
57. 4:25The impact of pollution
58. 4:26generated by the textile industries is devastating on the lives of these people.
59. 4:31Everyone here is very curious to see me
60. 4:34inside this community, we are in Korail Bosti
61. 4:38which is one of the largest slums in the entire country.
62. 4:41In reality, there are many like this because from the 1990s to 2000,
63. 4:45the city of Dhaka especially,
64. 4:46transformed, or rather deformed because slums were born,
65. 4:51shantytowns were built
66. 4:56for the workers, millions of people poured into the city to respond
67. 5:01to the increasing demand for clothes, clothes, clothes.
68. 5:04Clothes that the West demanded, that is, fast fashion.
69. 5:07These workers now live in dilapidated houses like these tin houses
70. 5:12where safety and sanitation are truly a mirage.
71. 5:17It's not difficult to find factories in the slum, they are everywhere
72. 5:22but there is a particular area, namely the tanneries,
73. 5:25which hold the sad record for being among the most toxic places on the planet,
74. 5:29for processing those leathers that will then be exported to various European countries,
75. 5:33especially Italy.
76. 5:34It is estimated that tanneries like this release about 6,000 cubic meters
77. 5:40of toxic substances and ten tons of solid waste into the city's groundwater every day.
78. 5:46These are all workers who work without any kind of protection,
79. 5:49barefoot immersed in this, in this extremely toxic liquid
80. 5:54because it actually comes from these washing machines behind me
81. 5:57which are filled with raw leather
82. 6:01and for 24 hours they are run with lime powder and sodium sulfite inside
83. 6:05to make the leather softer and prepare it for the next step.
84. 6:08The final step before... before selling.
85. 6:11Except this process is extremely toxic.
86. 6:14In fact, we have been here for half an hour and already I feel
87. 6:17I feel like I can't breathe, like I have a headache.
88. 6:21I don't think I'm being influenced, because in reality
89. 6:24these people get sick very easily, very quickly.
90. 6:27This is one of the extreme inhumane working conditions.
91. 6:30I have never seen anything like this and to think that these people have grown up here.
92. 6:36They have always worked here.
93. 6:38The more powder we put in, the more color the leather takes on.
94. 6:42This way a better product comes out to sell.
95. 6:45Exactly! If you put in less, the color is less visible.
96. 6:48Even if I don't want to, I have to do it to survive.
97. 6:53I own nothing, that's why I am
98. 6:56forced to work. I have a family to feed,
99. 6:58we need to live. Where else could I earn money if not here?
100. 7:04These workers and also the children I wasn't allowed to film,
101. 7:08are destined to die before the age of fifty
102. 7:11due to inhaling highly harmful chemical agents.
103. 7:15For what?
104. 7:16To produce a jacket or a pair of shoes that will then be sold
105. 7:20for a few euros to people who don't really need them.
106. 7:27One of the managers is taking us upstairs,
107. 7:29where the leather we just saw is processed to become elegant shoes.
108. 7:43And even here there are...
109. 7:44There are many child workers.
110. 7:46There is one very young right behind me.
111. 7:48I don't know if you can see him.
112. 7:49In the blue shirt, he must be seven or eight years old.
113. 7:52They are preferred over men because they have slimmer hands,
114. 7:55are more precise, and of course, they cost very little.
115. 8:27The gentleman is telling me that the shoe this child is gluing
116. 8:30will become
117. 8:31a loafer that will be sold in Italy as Made in Italy and handmade.
118. 8:36Handmade yes, but made by this child, but made in Bangladesh,
119. 8:40using child labor that violates every human right.
120. 8:43It is precisely the glue that this child is using now that is used
121. 8:47not only to glue shoes, but also outside this factory as a narcotic.
122. 8:51It is used mainly by street children.
123. 8:54The children who work here,
124. 8:55the more naive workers steal it to sell it to other children.
125. 9:00They use it as a drug, which causes irreversible brain damage.
126. 9:05But in these places, reality is often harsher than words.
127. 9:12Just as we left the factory
128. 9:13where that child was gluing shoes,
129. 9:17right in front of us is a child sniffing the same glue
130. 9:21they use in the factory.
131. 9:27What I would do for some rice!
132. 9:32My throat hurts.
133. 9:35I long for some rice. I just want some rice. Rice. Rice.
134. 9:41The glue, with its ephemeral
135. 9:42promise of relief, is only a symptom of a much bigger problem.
136. 9:46It is the symbol of a system that treats children as expendable pawns
137. 9:50in the game of profit.
138. 10:01I managed to enter
139. 10:02one of the thousands and thousands of factories in "Old Dhaka,"
140. 10:06the old part of the capital.
141. 10:09The conditions are always the same,
142. 10:11extreme.
143. 10:12There are dozens of children employed in reproduction work,
144. 10:16mainly shirts.
145. 10:19In this factory, there are usually ten-year-old children on the ground
146. 10:23working.
147. 10:27This is another room.
148. 10:31Even here
149. 10:32most of the workers are just children.
150. 10:35What surprises me, however, is that they are boys and not girls, because usually
151. 10:39in the production of textile clothing, more girls are employed
152. 10:43because they are more precise, more patient.
153. 10:46In this factory, there are only boys because I was told that later the girls finish
154. 10:52removing all the excess threads.
155. 10:56I will also take you to the bathrooms, which are probably
156. 11:00As-salamu alaykum. The boys are washing up so
157. 11:03I will leave them alone.
158. 11:04But I was explaining to them that after a work shift
159. 11:07the best moment is taking a shower because it must be 40 degrees.
160. 11:11Maybe you can also see the sweat on my face, but this is
161. 11:15half an hour inside the factory, while they work every day in these conditions...
162. 11:20I believe...
163. 11:21Even you would never have imagined
164. 11:23that the clothes we wear are produced in these conditions,
165. 11:27but what we have seen so far
166. 11:29is just a small fragment of the fast fashion business in this country.
167. 11:33Because to meet our compulsive purchases
168. 11:35and produce garments designed and made to be cheap and short-lasting.
169. 11:39Bangladesh has built nearly 5,000 mega-industries like this,
170. 11:44where millions of people, mostly women and children, work in unison,
171. 11:48becoming almost a part of these sewing machines.
172. 11:51Usually, these factories are off-limits to cameras,
173. 11:55especially after the Rana Plaza tragedy on April 24, 2013,
174. 11:59when a complex similar to this one collapsed, killing more than 1,100 textile workers.
175. 12:05And that was the first time the Western world truly realized
176. 12:09the cost of their clothes.
177. 12:11After a long interview, however, the managers of this factory
178. 12:14decided to let us visit one floor of their building.
179. 12:18It was almost a miracle to get into this structure
180. 12:19because all the producers, all the textile factory owners,
181. 12:25no longer want to let journalists or cameras into their facilities.
182. 12:29Because the story of Rana Plaza,
183. 12:31the world, all the world's attention was focused here in Bangladesh.
184. 12:35Not enough, because in reality
185. 12:37on the other side of the room
186. 12:38we noticed that there are still children, especially girls, working.
187. 12:42But they don't want us to get close, they keep taking us to this side
188. 12:47so this is the only wing of the building that we will be able to document.
189. 12:51But I can already tell you that on the other side there are
190. 12:54children working in this structure on clothes that reach our stores
191. 12:58and that we often wear ourselves.
192. 13:16Most of the workers here are young women
193. 13:18from rural areas, which are the poorest parts of the country.
194. 13:22In fact, they move, leaving their families at a very young age
195. 13:26for the lowest wage in the world, €0.20 an hour.
196. 13:31But I did not come all the way here to do another report on fast fashion.
197. 13:35The real goal of this mission is, in some ways, more challenging:
198. 13:38to find the girls and boys who work in these factories
199. 13:42and listen to their stories.
200. 13:43After days of searching, thanks to the help of a woman who works for the community,
201. 13:48we manage to meet Jui, a wonderful twelve-year-old girl who has been working
202. 13:53in the factories for a long time to help her family.
203. 13:57Hello
204. 13:59Hello
205. 14:00My name is Giuseppe.
206. 14:02My name is Jui.
207. 14:05We have arrived at Jui's house
208. 14:07where this girl will have the pleasure of speaking with us.
209. 14:11She has invited us to her home because she wants to tell us her story.
210. 14:14This is actually a typical house in the slums of Dhaka.
211. 14:20As you can see, it's very small. The lady was already explaining to me that here
212. 14:24Jui lives with her parents and her siblings in that bed.
213. 14:30The bed is tiny, but they all live and sleep here.
214. 14:34Another curious thing is that they have a refrigerator,
215. 14:38they have food in the house, but it is shared with all the neighbors.
216. 14:42And this, this is the kitchen.
217. 14:44Here they cook, here they store food.
218. 14:47As you can see, there are also grates to prevent rats from entering.
219. 14:51There's another very interesting detail
220. 14:52that helps me understand the lives of these children better.
221. 14:56The bed is elevated with these bricks to first
222. 14:59create a sort of storage space.
223. 15:01But also in case there are floods,
224. 15:05so they are not soaked, or rather flooded by the water that would enter the house.
225. 15:09Clearly, the conditions are precarious.
226. 15:13But especially the factory workers around here live in these conditions
227. 15:18and we are privileged to enter one of these houses and listen to
228. 15:22Jui's story because I am sure it will be similar to many other stories of many girls
229. 15:26and boys working in these factories.
230. 15:29This is me, this is my younger sister, and that is my brother.
231. 15:33Is this you? Jui?
232. 15:35This is me.
233. 15:37Ok, ok.
234. 15:38Who lives here with you?
235. 15:41My sister and I stay here, and my parents sleep on the floor.
236. 15:46And where are your parents now?
237. 15:47My mother is at a clothing factory, while my father... I don't know where he is.
238. 15:51Why aren't you at school now?
239. 15:53I had to leave school because my mother was in debt.
240. 15:56When I was in fifth grade, I was so happy.
241. 16:01I had many friends, we laughed and played together.
242. 16:05But now that doesn't happen anymore. I miss it a lot.
243. 16:08Only because of money problems,
244. 16:12I had to start working. My aunt advised me to work
245. 16:16to bring home some money. And so, they took me to the factory.
246. 16:21I earn almost €4 a day. At first, I even liked it,
247. 16:29but now I always feel tired because I work all day.
248. 16:39For the first 5 months, I held on, I kept working, but now I feel lonely.
249. 16:45and I don't like it.
250. 16:47I work there until 10 PM. Often, I go to bed at 1 or 2 AM.
251. 16:54Jui, what is your biggest dream?
252. 16:56If I had been able to continue studying,
253. 17:01I could have helped my parents with a good job and been independent.
254. 17:07I could have saved my family. It would have been nice if it had gone that way.
255. 17:15My dream was to become a doctor, but since I can no longer do that, My dream was to become a doctor, but since I can no longer do that,
256. 17:20I work in clothing factories to pay for my sister's education
257. 17:24so she can become a doctor.
258. 17:27How can a twelve-year-old girl
259. 17:29be so resigned and aware that her dreams will never come true?
260. 17:34It's not fair.
261. 17:35Jui is part of that million children whose future is stolen
262. 17:38to exploit them in factories.
263. 17:40A number so large that it almost makes you lose hope that anything here
264. 17:44can ever change.
265. 17:46Yet there is someone who, with unwavering commitment,
266. 17:50has always believed that by uniting the generosity of people around the world,
267. 17:54we could give them back the right to be children.
268. 17:57In Dhaka, I met with the leaders of the humanitarian organization Action Aid,
269. 18:02who, through their sponsorship programs,
270. 18:04can ensure that
271. 18:05children like her receive the assistance they desperately need.
272. 18:08And I am not just talking about education and medical care,
273. 18:11but also crucial emotional support to overcome the scars
274. 18:15of exploitation, as happens in this center called Happy Home,
275. 18:19a shelter for street children where they can feel safe and finally transform
276. 18:23their stories of suffering into tales of hope and rebirth.
277. 18:28If I hadn't come here,
278. 18:31I would certainly be working in a factory now, or I would be
279. 18:37working in other people's houses like my mother.
280. 18:41I see many poor children begging for food,
281. 18:46and this makes me very angry, but I can't do anything about it.
282. 18:48I would have ended up like them if it weren't for this place.
283. 18:52Here I can eat all my meals, but before it wasn't like that.
284. 18:57Here I have my sisters and friends who give me food and make sure I am well and eat.
285. 19:00Before, no one took care of me.
286. 19:03This home makes me feel good.
287. 19:06I had a terrible past, and I hope so much that other children do not have to suffer the same.
288. 19:09I hope they all come to live here to feel as good as I do
289. 19:13and that they can study. I couldn't before,
290. 19:16and neither can the children who are still outside.
291. 19:18I have received so much support here
292. 19:21that I wish it could reach them too.
293. 19:26Before leaving...
294. 19:27Sanjida, one of the leaders of ActionAid in Bangladesh, wants to give me a unique moment
295. 19:32with the children sponsored from afar to realize what it means for them
296. 19:36to have a distant friend who loves them unconditionally.
297. 19:40What are you drawing, Meem? What is this?
298. 19:43It's a house.
299. 19:44And this?
300. 19:45This is my friend who helps me from afar.
301. 19:48And who is this?
302. 19:49This is me.
303. 19:50And this one?
304. 19:50My younger sister.
305. 19:51What are you doing?
306. 19:52We are drawing.
307. 19:53Drawing? Okay.
308. 19:56You know, this is not just a drawing.
309. 19:57This is trust.
310. 19:58This is a bond
311. 19:59between her and her friend
312. 20:01who lives far away
313. 20:02and who supports her through sponsorship.
314. 20:05These children have
315. 20:06many opportunities,
316. 20:07and they are getting the chance
317. 20:09to draw, to study, and to go to school.
318. 20:12But you know, there are,
319. 20:13...you have seen it...
320. 20:14there are so many children
321. 20:15who do not have that opportunity.
322. 20:18We try to provide a safe space for all children here.
323. 20:21Our mission with ActionAid,
324. 20:23and also my personal mission, is to leave no child behind.
325. 20:27You know, we go door to door every day to see
326. 20:30if there are children who need our support, who need us.
327. 20:34It's unacceptable that children work in those places
328. 20:38you have seen.
329. 20:40They work in factories like machines just for food.
330. 20:43It is our responsibility to give them
331. 20:46a life, a good and happy life.
332. 20:49I don't know how many people are watching this video, but they must believe
333. 20:53that with sponsorship, they can change the lives of these children.
334. 20:59Sanjida is right, sponsorship
335. 21:01can really change a life, because not only do they receive material support,
336. 21:05but also an invaluable treasure, the certainty of being loved and valued.
337. 21:11And at this point, the most important question of this mission
338. 21:15is for them: what is happiness?
339. 21:18Singing!
340. 21:20Drawing!
341. 21:21Traveling!
342. 21:23Playing football!
343. 21:24Chatting with my mother!
344. 21:26Putting on makeup.
345. 21:27Playing with balloons!
346. 21:29Driving in a car!
347. 21:30Playing with dolls!
348. 21:32Playing cricket!
349. 21:33Toys!
350. 21:34Planting trees!
351. 21:35Singing songs!
352. 21:36Pizza.
353. 21:37Coloring!
354. 21:38This is how happiness should be for a child.
355. 21:41Simple, carefree.
356. 21:43Unfortunately...
357. 21:44On this journey, we have seen that it is not like this for everyone
358. 21:46and in the end,
359. 21:47we cannot delude ourselves into thinking we can change the system these children are victims of.
360. 21:51But all of us, even if far away, can do so much for them
361. 21:56and for many other children who are victims of the same injustices in India,
362. 21:59in Cambodia, in Vietnam.
363. 22:01We can sponsor them from afar
364. 22:03and protect their right to healthcare, education, food, and play.
365. 22:08But most importantly, we can give them back their childhood,
366. 22:11because no child should be denied it,
367. 22:14and none of them should be forbidden from dreaming.
368. 22:18Change their life forever and yours too. CLICK ON THE LINK IN THE FIRST COMMENT