Não Somos Escravos da Moda, an event organized by the MPT, featured lectures, exhibitions and an interactive installation to raise awareness about workers in situations analogous to slavery.
Entre os dias 20 e 23 de outubro, o Ministério Público do Trabalho (MPT) promoveu uma ação como parte do projeto de erradicação do trabalho escravo no Brasil. Em parceria com o Somos Livres, o “Não Somos Escravos da Moda” tomou o Casarão Paulista 1811 com palestras, exposição fotográfica e instalação interativa simulando uma fábrica têxtil como forma de conscientizar a população quanto a temática. Imigrantes e refugiados foram lembrados pela vulnerabilidade ao trabalho escravo.
The project took place at the same time as Fashion Week in São Paulo, contrasting the faces of this consumer industry.
At the event, clothes and accessories made by migrants were on display at the Creative Displacement stand.
Slave labor violates basic human rights. In situations analogous to slavery, people are subjected to exhausting, degrading working hours, without the slightest respect for standards of health, hygiene, safety, food and other conditions.
According to a survey carried out by The Global Slavery Index, which provides a ranking of the number of people in modern slavery by country, the textile industry is one of the fastest growing areas of modern slavery in Brazil. All to feed the consumption of designer labels and retailers, while mistreating part of the population fleeing hunger or seeking better living conditions.
The indicator also points out that, in São Paulo, there are cases of migrants being exploited, as well as those who have been brought in with false documents.
Gustavo Tenório Accioly, a public prosecutor from the Labour Prosecutor's Office and the person responsible for organizing the event, said that some of the workers in sewing workshops are migrants, whether national or international, and that “given their situation of vulnerability and invisibility, they are unable to report it to public bodies”. For this reason, a series of activities were developed with the aim of empowering these people, both Brazilians and immigrants and refugees.
The space reserved for displaying items was occupied by products made by immigrants: fashion designers, leather bags, handmade dolls and accessories such as necklaces and headdresses. The clothes on sale were made from African fabrics - a way of generating income opportunities and strengthening their self-esteem in the sense of realizing that this is a market they too can work and live in.
Another attraction at the event was the exhibition “Sewing Dignity” by photographer Chico Max. It featured portraits of women who have been exploited in sewing workshops, most of them Bolivians. Linked to the humanist cause, Chico Max has already held an exhibition with photographs of immigrants in 2016.
Concerned with immersing the public in the reality experienced by these people, an interactive installation was set up simulating the workers trapped in precarious conditions.
“What's behind the clothes you wear?” is the provocation directed at the public as they pass through the installation.
Taking advantage of the Sunday day (the 21st), many people entered Casarão da Paulista curious about the façade: #NãoSomosEscravosdaModa. There were no moments of tranquillity in the corridors.
Pharmacy student Samantha Pires dos Santos, 21, was hooked by the theme and was surprised by the project, saying it was a timeless and emergency issue.
“We consume everything in such an unbridled way, and we don't know about the lives involved behind a piece of clothing or a cell phone.”.
“Global displacement, local commitments”: thinking about solutions
Throughout the days of the event, talks and panel discussions were organized to open up dialogue on the various topics within the theme, always with a focus on immigrants and refugees. On Sunday the 21st, the topic discussed by those present was “Global displacement, local commitments”, addressing the commitment to welcoming “outsiders” in the countries of destination.
It was with a view to how immigrants can obtain space to market their products in the place where they choose to go, when they can choose, that a lecture was proposed on the challenges and responsibilities of including these people in the fashion market. There are migrants working in the area who are little known due to a lack of appreciation, or even because they don't know how to publicize their work.
Maria Nilda Santos, coordinator of Creative Displacement, says that those who work in this area want to reveal what they can contribute, as well as drawing the attention of larger companies to create ways of supporting migrants.
“To do this, we need to value small producers, those who don't have a large structure, but who produce excellent pieces with intercultural characteristics. We believe in the contribution of diversity, in valuing more artisanal labor as a sustainable way of being and existing.”.
“The tendency of all modern states is to push away the different, to push away otherness, to expel the other. Through hate speech, violence and everything else.” The speech was given by philosopher and writer Brunno Almeida Maia, in a provocation to those present on how to think about the dynamics in which universalism is proposed at the same time as there are exclusionary policies and discourses.
He is adamant that there is no point in just “dreaming” in conversation circles, proposing answers, when at any moment there could be a provisional measure or a law banning foreigners from entering the country.
“The challenge of thinking globally, thinking locally, is not just a challenge for a conversation circle or for the collective, it's also an individual challenge. Commitment has to be affirmed at both ends. There's this moment of welcoming those who come from outside, but there's also pressure to change these structures, and this pressure has to come in all possible forms; from industry to politics in terms of the state,” he emphasizes.
On the other hand, some groups, such as TexPrima, run by Bruno Henrique Medeiros Souza, are trying to provide an accessible space for small producers. Not just in terms of fabrics and sewing environments, but also in marketing.
“We need to value people who are starting out, the new, the small. With the creative shift, with support, our intention is really, in addition to the raw material, to be present at other stages for you, the designers. For example, how can we create means of marketing for those who are starting out and don't have a means of marketing? How can we bring you together with people who know how to sew and other means of production?”. He concludes: “When we're talking about welcoming immigrants, welcoming the little ones, it sounds as if we're just talking about welfare. It's not.
Living in Brazil for five years, Syrian refugee Nour Koeder is a stylist and costume designer. Like many refugees and immigrants, he came to Brazil in search of opportunity. He left the country because of the war that has ravaged Syria since 2011. He comments that arriving is difficult, as he has to start again in a country with another language and another culture. “Making contacts, working and finding opportunities. Nilda's project helps to give people the opportunity to start again, without opportunity they can't begin,” he explains when talking about Creative Displacement. In addition to the difficulty in finding specific fabrics and importing products from Syria, apart from the high prices, she mentions the adaptation she has to make to the Brazilian climate, bringing characteristics of Middle Eastern cuts. “Some refugees who arrive in Brazil sometimes don't need financial help, they need the opportunity to be part of the creative economy.”.
Opportunity is the word. So that people are no longer victims of an industry that enslaves. As the philosopher Brunno Maia mentioned: “human dignity has to come first”.
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