Lisa Parks (2007) in the book, Residual Media, argued that the structured obsolescence as an economic strategy not only created a fetishism of the new, but also generated millions of e-waste to China, India and Nigeria where there are little/no environmental regulations. Indeed, globalization gives multinational corporations a great opportunity to maximize their profits with minimum costs, and in the process spread the capitalistic mind of empire to developing countries. As Noam Chomsky claimed nicely in his lectures, "Whenever I say Globalization I mean a specific modality of international integration. There are several kinds of international integration (not bad by its nature), but globalization is the official one, which transforms the domestic labor in developed countries into rational peasants for capitalists.” I think the problems that E-waste brings about are symptoms of globalization: the empire of capitalistic minds. However, will the “rational peasants” fit in well with the framework of the new world order?
In GuiYu, known as the “e-waste capital of China”, the electronics recycling industry has destroyed the ground water and poisoned young children. Although Chinese government has issued regulations in 2005 to forbid this industry, many people still could not resist the lucrative temptations and did it secretly howsoever.
When the world is embracing the wonderful products provided by Apple Cor., who cares about the tragedies happened in the suppliers of Apple Cor.? A string of suicide among young workers of Foxconn Technology in China due to the high workload, which is one of the largest contract electronics manufacturers of Apple; 137 workers “suffered adverse health effects” at Wintek’s Suzhou factory in China, which supplies parts to Apple and Nokia, because of exposure to n-hexane, a toxic chemical in cleaning agents. Chinese suppliers admitted that they use the toxic chemical to enhance the appearance of the products to pursue the high profits of Apple’s products.
I finally understand the sarcasm in Chomsky’s remarks about the word “rational”. Under the logic of globalization, rational simply means money-seeking. People voluntarily become rational peasants for the capitalists. Thus, I know how irresistible the network of power is, as is argued by Hard & Negri in their book Empire.
However, this is not the whole picture.
One thing I find very sarcastic is that the processed and refurbished E-waste could finally go back to the US, existing in their “gold” jewelry, as a case of reaping what they have sown. The toxic chemicals on the Apple products would also flood into the developed markets if it were not stopped in time. This certainly demonstrates the idea that there is no outside of the Empire, including the developed countries themselves. But, I wonder, can it be seen as a kind of resistance by itself?
I think you bring up some very good points Stella. Ultimately the entire system the produces electronics is flawed. The amount of waste, what happens to that waste and the planned obsolescence are all part of a broken system. I don't know what will happen if we keep polluting various countries through e-waste, but I'm sure it will have terrible consequences to the entire globe. That is the most unfortunate part, that people will not notice nor do anything until it is a problem that directly effects them. Hopefully we can find some ways of resisting the system, as this is a very depressing thought.
ReplyDeleteI think that its interesting that e-waste is still being disposed of secretly. Considering that these countries have the technology to create smart-phones and such intelligent technology, yet they cannot find a way or a system to dispose of their materials once they are obsolete. It's quite apparent that companies want to reap the benefits of their products, but are unwilling to sink money into disposal systems that wil not make them a profit
ReplyDeleteI guess I've been naive in my understandings of the effects of E-Waste. As Amanda says, it goes unnoticed until it effects them and I suppose this is true for me as well. I would have never have even thought about what happens to discarded technology until I read this post, but now that I have I feel emphatic for those facing the consequences. I am not certain, at this point, of what we can do to stop it seeing as the damage seems to have long term effects but hopefully we can find a system which is more effective.
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