Concerning Labour

No No, this isn’t another MJ alimony post – luckily those have been scarce as of late (cross fingers) but rather about how the migrant workers in the gulf region are being screwed over. The Gulf region,or as I prefer to call it – the ‘Yaa Ayoohal Arab region’ (woe to the Arab region) is currently seeing an exponential growth in investment. Because of the oil, there is tons of money being pumped in, so now we have ski resorts in Dubai, Waterworlds in Sharjah, brothels in Syria (a guy can dream cant he) I’ve got no problem with the stupid Arabs building all this shit – I mean, its their land and money after all (Ive got a problem with the development in the hijaaz though, but that’s a post on its own – would the prophet (pbuh) stay at Zam Zam Towers?)

Marx spoke at length about the extraction of labour in modern society, and while he was sloshed most of the time, he still remains a really influential chap (Gandhi done right). What he meant by ‘extraction of labour’ was that when you buy a commodity like a jersey or a vibrator or whatever, we admire the product but fail to see the work that’s been put into it. Now imagine all that work … times a thousand! Over ten million Asian (read Indians) migrants are in the gulf region right now, working in the most squalid conditions, and all for what? Five U.S Dollars a day. As I said before, build your skyscrapers in the desert and all that, ship a bunch of coolies in to build them for you if you like, but give them a decent wage at least. Many of the workers aren't even paid for months on end, and there's nothing they can do as their passports are taken from them, and they have no money to return home. We're supposed to be the best example for mankind - someone give me something to be optimistic about.

Pay the worker his wage before his sweat dries - Narrated in Ibn Majah, #2443

MJ

Concerning Suits 2

You can't help buying the album, for the song. Only to realise that your expectations have been crushed as you attempt to salvage something that you'd only put on your mp3 player if its a bloody 80 gig ipod and you ran out of things to fill it with. It happened to me this weekend, when MJ purchased a 'Best of The Proclaimers' CD. I love 'I'm gonna be (500 miles) and I expected the rest of their stuff to sound remotely familiar, I mean - the evanescence and Zain Bhikha stuff i bought all sound the same.

MJ bought a suit last week, Ive always wanted one, and i figured sooner or later I'd need it, as i venture into some corporate whorehouse, or i actually attend a wedding where i'm the best man (missed two of those so far). Ended up mixing and matching from a bunch of shops. This shit is expensive as hell - i suppose its like the difference between a watch and a time-piece - serves the same function, but one costs a lot more.

Suits are rather impractical though - There are hardly any benefits for them, you cant play soccer while wearing them, forget about wearing a suit to a braai - all they are really good for is to make you feel more suave and upper class than you really are.