Quotes by War on Want

The use of PMSCs also enables governments to cover their tracks and evade accountability... When campaign group Corporate Watch asked a US government official why the United States had awarded a contract to DynCorp to support the rebel Sudanese People s Liberation Movement in their negotiations, he replied: The answer is simple. We are not allowed to fund a political party or agenda under United States law, so by using private contractors, we can get around those provisions. Think of this as somewhere between a covert program run by the CIA and an overt program run by the United States Agency for International Development. It is a way to avoid oversight by Congress.

Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) have grown exponentially in recent years due to the occupation of Iraq. Iraqi contracts boosted the annual revenue of British PMSCs alone from £320 million in 2003 to more than £1.8 billion in 2004. One recent reports estimates that there are 48,000 mercenaries in Iraq. Income for the industry reached $100 billion in 2004.

Most experts on Bangladeshi working conditions, and even Tesco, agree that the figure for Bangladesh should be at least £22 per month (Tk 3000).Yet the starting wages in the six factories ... ranged from just £7.54 to £8.33 per month...
Nazera, working in a factory supplying Asda and Tesco, earns just £8.33 per month. ... Runa, whose factory supplies Asda, earns £7.95 per month, which she supplements with an extra £3.03 for overtime work.

According to the United Nations, around 4,500 Palestinian homes have been destroyed by the Israeli army since September 2000. The Israeli committee Against House Demolitions calculates that Israel has demolished some 12,000 Palestinian homes since 1967, whether in punitive or military actions or simply because the Israeli authorities decide they do not have the correct permits. Over 70,000 people have seen their homes destroyed in these operations, while many more have seen their farms, fruit trees and olive trees razed to the ground.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967, at the same time as it occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Today the Golan Heights remain illegally occupied territory, with 33 Israeli settlements housing over 20,000 settlers. Golan wine accounts for over a third of all Israel’s wine exports, with Tesco, Waitrose and Selfridges openly selling Yarden wine from the Golan Heights Winery, marketed as ‘Wine of Israel’.

The UN Security Council has called Israel's settlements a 'flagrant violation' of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids population transfer into territory occupied in war. Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, such population transfer is also a war crime. Over the past 40 years the UN has repeatedly called on Israel to comply with international law and dismantle the settlements, but Israel has instead expanded them at an increasing rate.

Wal-Mart's sales amounted to $288 billion in 2004, with over $10 billion in profit. Of the 10 richest people in the world, four are members of the Walton family, heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune...
The US National Labor Committee found workers for Wal-Mart suppliers in China's Guangdong Province working 130 hours per week for an average 16.5 cents an hour.

One internal audit of 25,000 employees in 128 Wal-Mart stores in the USA found 1,371 violations of child labour laws, including minors working too late, too many hours a day and during school hours. It also found 60,000 instances where workers were forced to work through breaks, and 16,000 where they worked through meal times. A 2002 lawsuit in Texas estimated that Wal-Mart short-changed its employees $150 million over four years in missed breaks.

Factories scramble to complete Wal-Mart orders on time, something that can only be achieved through excessive overtime.The result is that workers can be forced to work 18 to 20.5-hour all-night shifts stretching from 8am to 2am, 3am or even 4.30am the following day. As one Chinese labour official explains: 'Wal-Mart pressures the factory to cut its price, and the factory responds with longer hours or lower pay... and the workers have no options.'

Even where wages are rock-bottom,Wal-Mart insists that its suppliers drive prices ever lower. Qin, a factory worker in China, explains: “In four years they haven’t increased the salary.” Isabel Reyes, a garment worker in Honduras, tells the same story:“There is always an acceleration... the goals are always increasing, but the pay stays the same.”