The heading means something like "My poverty really sucks" or "my poverty makes me sick". A friend of mine says that when we meet every now and then for a coffee somewhere, a cake or a small breakfast. And the situation's usually like this: we exchange news, then complain about our lifes because what we want and what we can actually get are two completely different pair of shoes and as students of social science or fine arts we are totally aware this will stay like this for the rest of our lives unless we marry rich (her boyfriend is a teacher and i don't even have one) or we found a company (lacking capital, ideas mh maybe) or unless we are just incredibly lucky one day (not worth waiting, too many people do that). And yet i am totally aware that we ARE already lucky.
Karōshi (過労死), which can be translated literally from Japanese as "death from overwork", is occupational sudden death. Although this category has a significant count, Japan is one of the few countries[which?] that reports it in the statistics as a separate category. [...] nowadays it it generally seen that woking six to seven days per week with more than 12 hours per day over the course of several years causes physical and psychological problems.
Today, several German media reported that before being edited, the government has "pimped" the so called poverty report on Germany which is to be released in the upcoming days. Statements like "private property in Germany is very unequally distributed" have been crossed out or re-written in order to sound less - well, tragic? Poor? Because in fact, disparities have worsened and while the rich sollect more money so easily, the 52-year old single mother can't find a job anymore. Or she has to work for 3,75 Euros per hour.
Quicksilver, Roxy, Abercombie & Fitch, Tommy Hilfiger - this is not a collection of fancy fashion brands (well, it is, in some kind) these companies demonstrably work with suppliers in Bangladesh, Senegal, India, China or wherever, that let children work in their fabrics, more than 14,15 or 16 hours per day, so social security, a few minutes break, minimal wages. The so called Sumangali scheme of child labor where young women and men are hired and legally binded to e certain company over several years. They have to work there under the lowest conditions and only get paid at the end of their contract after several years. This happens because cool kids here, in Hamburg and x (substitute by a European or American city of your choice) wanna wear that stuff.
Last month, i was searching for a job after finishing my Master's degree at university, i have several internships in Germany and abroad, party studied in a transition country and have really good certificates - now i am working in a company which calles itself a Start-Up - suggesting a lot of things but not that i will be barely able to live with my monthly salary without my parents' financial support.
So, i ask myself, and i ask you: what does it mean to be poor? And who is poor?
Some links for you:
Avoid - this is a plug in which you can install. while online shopping, it will not show you products which are produced by children's hands. And believe me, some of your favorite stores will be pretty empty suddenly.
Article on the German poverty report
Why poverty? - The German-French TV channel Arte has a whole week's programme dedicated to this questions, with a lot of interesting about African countries, living in China, Bob Geldorf and Bono, how globalisation works and more. Watch it online!
Brad Pitt's newest movie "Killing Them Softly" is a parable on American society today: "America is not a nation, America is a business". I will watch it next week.
HOPE, your money will be enough for you.
gkk
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