At The Evening Standard web site, there’s a heart-wrenching excerpt from The Real Toy Story, Eric Clark’s book about the toy industry. It’s an argument for buying toys–albeit more expensive ones–from local artists instead of supporting sweatshops run by major toy companies–especially in light of recent recalls of toys coming out of those factories. Here’s a brief passage from the book:
She is still there at midnight, when everyone in the village has long been asleep, but the workers are only just off shift, too tired even to grumble as they wait in line. Sometimes, the girl beside her says, ‘there is no water even to brush your teeth, and the toilet is horrible.’ The water (which, like lavatory paper, Li Mei is charged for) is cold. By 2am she is finally in her lower bunk bed, separated from the hard surface by a straw mat even thinner than the one she uses at home. Next morning she has no breakfast, for it is a meal she has to buy and prepare herself. At 7.30am, in factory uniform of blue blouse with a white collar over trousers with her ID card displayed (she would be fined two days’ wages if it was lost), she follows her guide through passages lined with cardboard boxes. The air in the spraying and colouring department is filled with paint dust and smells sourly of chemicals -acetone, ethylene, trichloride, benzene.
Want to buy the book? Get it at independent bookseller Powell’s Books.