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Students sat at sewing machines working under a strict boss to finish a quilt outside the Univerity of Maine Bookstore before their deadline of 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27. The students worked vigorously to finish while being threatened and harassed. Slow music was playing, the atmosphere was intense and powerful.
It was supposed to feel like a sweatshop.
The members of the Maine Peace Action Committee and the Campus Greens didn’t mind though. That’s exactly the atmosphere they were trying to achieve.
The students stayed there from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. making the quilt for the Anti-Sweatshop Fashion Show that was being put on by MPAC at 4 p.m. Each student had a sign hanging from their back stating a name, country and the salary that sweatshop laborers around the world might receive.
Student Brian Geier walked around with the words “the boss” hanging off his back. He had a ruler in one hand and a sign on his back told what he might do if someone wasn’t working hard enough.
Following this, all of the people involved in the sewing gathered in the Coe Room, along with many others, to put on a fashion show with various articles of clothing from the University of Maine Bookstore. The quilt, which had just been finished by the laborers, was hanging in the front of the room with the words “Stitches for Solidarity” proclaiming the message of the show.
The show began with a brief speech by April Thibodeau. She gave an overview of what the group hoped to accomplish through the fashion show. She also gave some statistics regarding sweatshops throughout the world and even in the United States.
“Sixty percent of all garment shops in New York and L.A. are classifiable as sweatshops,” she said. “So this is an American issue.”
Three other speakers from local labor groups and from campus spoke praising the students who put the show together and reiterating its importance.
“You guys have managed to realize that the norm is not always normal,” Leslie King, one of the speakers, said. “You know that the status quo is not always acceptable.”
The anti-fashion show began with the presentation of sweatshirts, T-shirts, hats and apparel from the Bookstore worn by various “models.” Anand Taparia described each piece of clothing, telling listeners about its origin and the inhumane conditions endured by its maker.
Those who attended the anti-fashion show reacted positively, and MPAC members were pleased by their success.
“We were able to spread our word,” Taparia said. “To me that’s a very exciting success.”
Others described the event as eye-opening.
“I was surprised by the low wages,” Patrick Corbett, a UMaine student, said. “It’s all new to me, but I was just so surprised.”
This is one of many projects that MPAC has organized to protest sweatshop labor. “There will be more things like this,” Thibodeau said. “Until we see a change, we won’t stop.”
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