demagogue on 30/7/2019 at 03:58
Interesting aside, the rubber industry was known for some of the worst labor rights violations in history, cf. Congo Free State.
But even today both the natural and synthetic rubber industries in developing countries have inherited a version of that, definitely when it reaches the consumer good stage, and you still see major labor rights problems.
But for that matter, basically every extractive and small consumer good industry in developing countries has labor rights problems.
Well, I can speak for South & Southeast Asia, but I could presume Latin America & Africa have similar issues.
You sometimes see reports or docs on problems in this or that industry, sweatshops for Nike shoes or H&M shirts, but they don't really give you a sense that it's not just that sector or those factories when it's rampant and happening in all these other sectors invisibly.
As a follow-up aside, I've been thinking about making my own series on global politics that would be on things like that, but more from a lawyer's & activist's perspective, but not only on ground-level issues like that, also on high-level political issues like Iran nuclear diplomacy or whether the EU is breaking up or galvanizing or what.
The working title is "World Order Review". What do you think?
henke on 30/7/2019 at 05:15
I might listen to that, if it's a podcast. Or are you thinking youtube, website? I like the title.
demagogue on 30/7/2019 at 11:20
I was thinking Youtube like those PBS channel shorts, so then I can have green screen graphics and little animations mini-Yahtzee style.
They might also be listenable. I'll look into how parallel podcast releases might work anyway.
Another option I was thinking about was a world news quickie, which I'd call "News from Earth" and spin it like it was a summary of earth news for humans living elsewhere.
But news shows of course date themselves super quickly, whereas the WOR would be more timeless mini-classes on different aspects of world politics--which is to say, a viewer is more likely to click "next video" in the queue and keep going for stretches at a time, and could do that at any time--so if I did NFE it'd be in parallel at best.
It's an interesting project just trying to figure out the voice & character of a show, down to what font and color scheme and jingles I want to use, the pacing, how technical it should be, how it should be written, what counts as an episode ... way before I even get to how the production pipeline would work. I feel like just nailing the right concept is 3/4 of a good show.
scumble on 30/7/2019 at 12:17
Quote Posted by Pyrian
Roughly two-thirds of world rubber is synthetic already. The U.S. relied on synthetics extensively in WWII as the Axis controlled the natural sources.
In this case it was said that for some applications synthetic rubber isn't a viable alternative - for example aircraft tyres - the argument was that it's significant enough to break civilisation.
@demagogue - there was another element of the rubber trade being tied up in futures markets so the price is so low it's not worth farming rubber trees for some producers - despite the demand for rubber being there. They're just told to keep farming because the price will allegedly get better.
rachel on 30/7/2019 at 14:38
dema neat idea, I'd totally subscribe.
I don't do animation but let me know if you need help re: selecting fonts and stuff.
Starker on 30/7/2019 at 16:12
Quote Posted by demagogue
As a follow-up aside, I've been thinking about making my own series on global politics that would be on things like that, but more from a lawyer's & activist's perspective, but not only on ground-level issues like that, also on high-level political issues like Iran nuclear diplomacy or whether the EU is breaking up or galvanizing or what.
The working title is "World Order Review". What do you think?
Something like... foreignpolicy.com in form of video essays? I'd watch that.
Twist on 31/7/2019 at 16:55
Hey dema... just popping in to say I think it's a great idea and I'd subscribe/listen/watch.
SubJeff on 31/7/2019 at 22:35
Do it dema!
Have a rap episode!
Gray on 1/8/2019 at 01:54
Quote Posted by mxleader
Time Team
I watch it every chance I get. I'm quite interested in both archaeology and history, but with my sleep disorder, it's also a great show to fall asleep to. And it's quite fun to see Baldrick pretend to know about anglo-saxons.
hopper on 2/8/2019 at 07:04
I like the idea, dema, and would watch it if you make it. "World Order Review" sounds a mite pretentious, though.