arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Dear Sheep,

Did you know that for many years you have been lied to? You are the submissive victims of the conditioning applied by certain multinational companies. You are proud of your professional, dressing, musical choices, among others. Yet they often are the reflection of the aggressive advertising campaigns which aim to your consecrating some –suddenly vital! – products. You prefer Coca-Cola because the stature of the repetitive ads has hypnotized your taste buds. You'd rather turn a deaf ear than know that your food is full of GMO. I forgot that we all have to die some day but well, some of us do not want to die ignorant. I do not even dare to remind you that some people are tortured because they claim their liberty, while you have already spilt your pity over today's news. Know that globalization is a very good thing; it will permit to some people to be the masters of the world. It's not fiction any more: we are getting out of your "personally secure world". The governments you trust so much hide the options behind your social problems and the multinationals' marketable illusions. Demand the reduction of economical and social disparities, as well as the reduction of pollution so that they get confronted to our sad feeling of humanity.
Like the majority of you, I was seduced by a-flying-in-the-air-thanks-to-his-Nike Michael Jordan, by the tenderness of Disney's movies and maybe by one of these prefabricated stars with no talent who come up every month on MTV. If the pictures stayed in the television set, it would be up to me not to look at them; but when people associated with a bloody logo invade our public spaces, our streets and soon, even the moon so that we can stay permanently in touch with their kit form world, then there is a reason to choke.
After that, it is easier to understand why these big enterprises do not pay any attention to the labor force. They prefer to invest their money on new symbols, to advertise the trademark before the product itself. There is enough for everyone, they say. Do you really think that the millions of people who work in relocated factories have the chance to be "everyone"? When there is relocation in a constantly developing country, there's no need to build factories but only to make a government which is bonded to liberalization give away a "free zone" with no import/export taxes. Fictitious enterprises hiding the giants of consumption can then build up groups of metallic, non-secured barracks. There, rats wander among children and young women who work secretly for a starvation wage, with no insurance or breaks, but with extra compulsory non-paid hours, and always the risk to be raped or brutalized. These zones, where Nike, Reebok, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap and many others are gathered, are in reality locked camps supervised by the army. It seems natural that some of them get killed for trying to create a trade union. Such modern slaves have no other choice but to work; otherwise it is the street and the shantytown that will get them. You may say that it is the government's role to react but what can it do against those who, via the International Monetary Fund, finance its development and its kingdom in exchange of its silence and who, through your acts of consumption, import your so reassuring trademarks of absolutely useful shoes and bags?
What can we do if Pepsi finances the dictatorship in Burma, if Shell sponsors the Ogonis genocide in Nigeria, if Total is responsible for most of this decade's oil slicks? What can we do if 84 countries still administer death penalty? What can we do if the superpowers that prepare the war in Iraq are advised and financed by the leaders of great multinational companies who re-create together the world's arena in order to make profit and protect energy sources? "They are right", you'll say, since the media – the channels of these multinationals - tell you so all day long. If they spoke about peace, let us face it, it would only be to prepare a more efficient war.
It is easy to go from a simple branded mark to the financing of a war. It also accuses you, as you have probably bought this kind of product. Know that the worst part of it is watching you remain silent and viewing your passivity. There is no need for you to rush to Zaire or Afghanistan's refugee camps; personal action is possible everyday. You just have to be conscious.
The power you have democratically given to your government slowly fades away due to the privatization of public sectors in the hands of the private market's giants. The arrival of MacDonald in Europe does not only imply the arrival of junk food but also that of temporary jobs with no trade union or social security, where you are just a number with no future in perspective. The security at work is disappearing but as long as it only affects our neighbors… Be it in your food, your clothes, your means of communication or the petrol you put in your car, you can decide to break off with the economical policy of the multinationals. It is a pity, but you have to bend your pride so that, from this herd, wolves can emerge, wolves that will refuse to share one common opinion where humans themselves become products.
This sad fact, which often makes you sigh, announces an inactive fate. However, there are alternatives: a wide field known as «social and united economy" groups together many NGO. They represent 10% of the employment in Europe and demand to break off with the liberal dogmas. The first social International Forum of Porto Alegre, where a participative management runs the town, works on creating international economical and social alternatives. You can also join demonstrations and boycott unethical products.
To say that nothing will change is no excuse to those who act so that cultures may survive, nature may breathe or injustice disappears. You can still view these projects as a utopia or an endless battle. Mornings must be difficult when you just let the unthinkable happen. The world can communicate from the North Pole to the South Pole; it is now time for mankind to unify.