While studying Swadeshi, the idea of having self sufficient, small economic communities, I looked for a way to translate that into the world around me. There are a few really fantastic small companies in my hometown that exemplify what Swadeshi is, but I couldn’t find anything that I wanted to protest on a local level. So instead, I decided to take the fight to a bigger audience, namely, Apple. I wrote a letter to Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple to ask him for more transparency in the manufacturing of Apple products so we could stop the horrendous treatment of employees at Apple companies. Below is my letter:

Tim Cook
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014

March 1, 2012

Dear Mr. Cook,

Please accept this letter as a formal protest of the inhumane working conditions at Foxconn. The working conditions at the Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, China have become beyond unbearable. Workers are paid and being forced into twenty to twenty-four hour shifts. The plant had to put in suicide nets to prevent the mass amounts of people from jumping off the roofs of Foxconn. This is an inexcusable violation of human rights.

I understand that without the low wages Apple pays their workers, I couldn’t get my computer, the one I am typing on to write this letter, or my iPhone or iPod for as cheap as I have. But I am more than willing to sacrifice a little of my money for better working conditions for all.

I think the first step in remedying this situation is to have complete transparency regarding where, who and what our money is going to when we buy an Apple product. A fantastic example of how this transparency works is on the website www.honestby.com. Every part of the process for making the clothing they produce is documented and given out to the public. I think this is how every company should be treating their products. To hide the truth of where your products come from is to say the your customers do not deserve to know the truth, and a company shouldn’t disrespect the people that are giving it its money. This would help give a clearer view of where to make changes to everyone involved.

Once there is transparency in the information being released by Apple, a more humane and better decision can be reached for us all.

Respectfully,

Z. F.