Today's
Kristof column repeats the tired old canard that child labor is a good thing, and makes the usual Kristof dig at anyone who actually cares about people in poor countries. At least this time we're spared his fatuous praise for the Bush administration.
This is the text of a letter I sent him:
'Issues such as child labor receive only a fraction of the attention they deserve in American media. Your articles on this and related issues are some of the most prominent in the nation, and you deserve credit for bringing them into better light.
However, in many of your columns you seem almost compelled to make digs about progressive activists who have done the most to draw attention to these issues. You seem to have a pet peeve against activists and are convinced they do more harm than good. You feel like Scrooge because you are talking like him; he, too, believed that low wages and harsh conditions on the poor were social necessities. He was wrong and so are you.
Today's column crosses the line from snide remarks into factual inaccuracy. Child labor does not promote economic development. At best, it is a symptom of underdevelopment; at worst, it actively undermines development by taking children out of schools and into the labor force.
It is not even always true that child laborers work to feed their families; many of them are kidnapped into the practice and trafficked as slaves. Many more do not earn wages as such; they are given by their parents as collateral for a loan, which they then must earn their way out of through indentured servitude. Often this becomes a lifetime of debt bondage.
This does not help poor families. It makes them poorer. It is how millions of poor families remain in the thrall of wealthy landowners and moneylenders.
You make a snide remark about "Westerners should channel their indignation into getting all children into school". With all due respect, have you even bothered to examine closely the campaigns of child labor activists? Transferring children from work to school is at the heart of their campaigns. They ARE sponsoring school meals in places like Toukoultoukouli. A visit to the web sites of groups like Free the Children or the Child Labor Coalition could have confirmed this.
The Pakistani children who used to make soccer balls are now able to - and do - attend school, thanks to programs put into place with the help of the sports companies, human rights organizations, and the International Labor Organization.
It is true that mistakes were made in the 1992 garment workers' bill. But that was 12 years ago and activists have changed their strategies since then. It has been years since anyone called for boycotts or bans of goods made by child labor. The call has been instead to provide safe, clean working conditions for children, better wages, and an opportunity to attend school at least part-time.
Yet instead of applauding the work of activists, you accuse them of "self-righteous indignation". I think you should take a look in the mirror to see who is guilty of that.'