Saturday 4th April. No Sweat protest against sweatshop labour outside Primark, Oxford Street, London.
Travelling on the bus through London, trying to cover the fancy-dress chains around some of our wrists, we probably looked a bit strange, but this wasn't some student prank; we were going to protest about an issue that a lot of people would rather ignore - sweatshop labour.
The people that I was with, the activist organisation No Sweat, are on a mission to speak out against the appalling reality that is sweatshop labour, targeting the companies that use it to make massive profits. They fight for: a living wage, safe working conditions and independent trade unions. All things that everybody deserves to have.
Unfortunately sweatshop workers in Bangladesh don't. They earn around 7pence an hour, working in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, forced to work long hours, sometimes without even toilet breaks or any pay for overtime. Anybody protesting about these conditions or trying to unionise will be fired and very possibly arrested. Even more horrifyingly is the fact that it isn't just adults that have to work like this; children are often employed as cheap labour.
As we decamped to Oxford Street and set up a mock cat walk outside Primark (guilty culprits of sweatshop labour), with the models striding down the red carpet in garments portraying the situations the clothes were made in, we attracted a curious crowd and the glares from the Primark security team.
No Sweat explained to the busy Oxford Street shoppers that they weren't asking for a boycott, which would hurt not only those employed in the sweatshops but those working in England as well. What they were asking for was the bosses of these corporations to cut their huge profits and pay a decent wage (bearing in mind Primark had a profit of £233 million in 2007/2008). As the cameras from the press and tourists flashed, we gave out leaflets and chatted to members of the public who wanted to know more.
After the protest was over, a group of us decided we would give out the remaining leaflets inside the store. After about 20 minutes of a very bizarre game of hide and seek with security, we were politely asked to leave the store and were escorted out (having rather luckily just managed to give away nearly all of our leaflets).
Despite the fact this was one of the smaller protests I've been to, the energy and passion with which it was carried out almost guaranteed it's success. We left Oxford Street with the feeling of a job well done - sure that some of the people we had spoken to and given leaflets to would start to ask themselves what price others were paying for their wonderful cheap clothes.