School of Resistance - Distributing dignity

During the Covid-19 outbreak, our patterns of globalised production and consumption became undeniably visible: the halt of the global economy shows how co-dependent the lives of our global society have become. In the case of textile workers in Pakistan and Bangladesh, these interdependencies have brutal consequences: due to a stop in garment production, workers lost their jobs, without any compensation. Trade unions are distributing relief supplies to thousands of workers' families to fight hunger and provide first aid in case of illness for at least the next month. This situation is one of the symptoms of the current human rights crisis in global capitalism.

In the third episode of School of Resistance, realised with the support of medico international, the Pakistani trade unionists Zehra Khan and Nasir Mansoor will discuss the current living and working situation of textile workers in Pakistan and the global production and supply chains of what we call "global economy”: how is it really functioning? And how can it be changed?

 

The livestream can be found on facebook and on vimeo.

Zehra Khan is a political activist and committed feminist. She is General Secretary of the Home Based Women’s Workers Federation (HBWWF). Her union organises women who work either as homeworkers or in informal employment in textile companies, the packaging industry, weaving mills, carpet and jewellery production and the manufacture of footballs.

Nasir Mansoor is a political activist since his student days at Karachi University, where he participated in the resistance against the long-time military dictator Zial ul-Haq. As the Deputy General Secretary of the National Trade Union Federation, Pakistan (NTUF), he mainly defends the rights of Pakistani textile workers.