Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory

This American Life: Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory left me spellbound; it's a This American Life podcast dealing with the working conditions of Shenzhen's factory workers (and, in particular, those working for Foxconn on the Apple production lines). Daisey not only does an excellent job reaching real workers to interview, but recounts his experience with sumptuously beautiful descriptions and the sort of lyricism one would expect of a novel rather than reportage. It's one of my favourite pieces of journalism, and indeed one of my favourite pieces of spoken word/radio broadcasts ever.

What's really powerful about the piece is the reminder that for all that globalisation is often said to make things more equal, there is a fundamental divide between the people who produce and those who consume. It is extremely easy to forget that much of the wealth that I have is produced by the labour of those that very little of that wealth is shared with, and it is of course a story that the companies that produce those goods are very reticent to share. In 2010, one had to earn US$34,000 to be in the global richest one percent. I am the 1%; frankly a great deal of the West is, and even those who are not are the Eloi. It's worth taking at least a glimpse into the lives of those who make that possible.

Act one is where most of the action is contained, but it's really worth making time to listen to the whole hour.

[TAL episode link] [Direct MP3 link] [Local MP3 mirror]