“The apparel of this god is in keeping with his people, he likes to dress himself in an old black overcoat, torn old black hat with a high crown and worn-out black pants.” Pg. 220.
“Baron Samedi delights in dress his “horse” in shabby and fantastic cloths like papa Guede. Pg. 224
Feel My Horse. Zora Neale Hurston
The economic calculus, as applied by present-day economics, forces the industrialist to eliminate the human factor because machines do not make mistakes, which people do. Hence the enormous effort at automation and the drive for ever-larger units. This means that those who have nothing to sell but their labour remain in the weakest possible bargaining position. The conventional wisdom of what is now taught as economics by-masses the poor, the very people for whom development is really needed. The economics of giantism and automation is a left-over of minetheenth-century conditions and ninetheenth-century thinking and it is totally incapable of solving any of the real problems of today. An entirely new system of thought is needed, a system based on attention to people, and not primarily attention to goods – (the goods will look after themselves!) It could be summed up in the phrase, “production by the masses, rather than mass production.”
Small is Beautiful: Economics as if people mattered.
EF Schumacher
Haiti, with its poor economy, has the potential for being the next victim for the exploitation of labor by Multinational apparel manufacturers. In response to this I will attempt to instigate an alternative in Haiti to the multinational corporation, which for centuries has moved to locate cheep labor.
Working collectively with Haitian textile workers to design a system of garment production by the people and for the people, capturing the aesthetics of the fantastically, shabby Haitian people.
Up to date news will be released through this blog.
Made In Haiti 