Spaces & Exchanges 5

Displaced in China

Today we read the last document of the sequence. It was about a Mr. Saragoza, an American Apple employee displaced in China to supervise work in a Foxconn plant.

He decided to quit his job because of the long work hours and because he couldn't see his children much.

The text also summed up what a Foxconn plant looks like in China, and the magnitude of the numbers involved: 230.000 employees, guided by 300 foot guides, fed with 3 tons of pork and 13 tons or rice a day, working 12 hour work shifts, and producing 40% of the world's consumer electronics (electronic devices).

This is what globalization is about, and many economists tend to forget that it has a price to pay (...that it has a flipside): to "sacrifice living standard gains made [in] the 20th century [...] that have come to define American middle class."

Vocab
overnight     -> du jour au lendemain
to sump up  -> résumer (to sum it all up, pour résumer)
college         -> université
dozens         -> des douzaines (en français, traduire plutôt par dizaines)
dorms          -> dormitories, ou dortoir

Commentaires

Enregistrer un commentaire

Posts les plus consultés de ce blog

idea of progress 5

Workgroup Intro Ned Ludd comes from Sherwood forest, like Robin Hood. The riots (= émeutes ) started around Nottinghamshire [ Notingemshe ]. In the 19th century, there were economic difficulties because of the Napoleonic Wars. The Luddite movement lasted for 5 years : they not only ( non seulement ) broke into factories ( to break into = entrer par effraction ) and attacked the machines, but also ( mais aussi ) employers and soldiers. The British government tried to find a compromise, but it didn't work out, so they punished Luddites: 17 were executed thousands of troops were deployed Luddites were protected by local communities because they had the public opinion with them. Luddites were very effective, because they kept fighting, and they could regroup many people.  
Lire la suite

Idea of Progress 6

Fighting the Luddites Today we tried to finish what we started last time. We studied two documents that explained how the Luddites worked : they would form a band of about 30 people, go to the house of a machine owner ( Propriétaire ) by night, and break the machines, sometimes hitting the owner. Initial reactions were to try and calm the rioters ( émeutiers ), by appealing ( en faisant appel ) to their patriotism and threatening them ( en les menaçant ), mentioning their families and (underpaid) jobs. Authorities also blamed the Napoleonic Wars for the troubles. Eventually, laws were voted to make machine-breaking punishable by death, and the army was sent against them.
Lire la suite

Idea Of Progress 1

Presentation of the Luddites, an Industrial Rebellion  Today, we started working on the new notion, "Idea of Progress." We studied a few pictures from the 19th century, they looked like drawings. The first document presented people, maybe peasants, with weapons. There was a building on fire in the background, and a huge character on the foreground, called "the Leader of the Luddites."  The second document presented us with a group of angry people with axes. A man tried to stop them from destroying a machine. It was a machine used in the textile industry. The third document was a poster asking for people to denounce Luddites (machine breakers), and rewarded witnesses (témoins) with £1.000. We also noticed that it took place in the early 19th century (in 1812 precisely).  Then the last document compared the Luddites with rats in a cage, like people who reject technology. To sum it all up, we know: - the Luddites were a group of people, - who destroyed m...
Lire la suite