300 Years & Counting 1H KILLS - On The Issues Magazine

DISPOSABLEPEOPLEA news dispatch in NYNewsday: Police in Bogotasaid they had found the remainsof 30 bodies at a Colombianuniversity, thoughtto be victims of a gang thatmurdered down-and-outsand sold the bodies to a medicalschool.The macabre discovery wasmade after a badly woundedgarbage collector escaped andtold police he and severalother garbage collectors hadbeen attacked by securityguards who lured them tothe campus of the Free Universityin the Caribbeanport city of Barranquilla.The police searched theuniversity and found the bodiesof seven men and threewomen in the school as wellas 20 skulls, 15 lungs, 20brains and 15 limbs, a policestatement said.Hundreds of down-andouts,known as "disposables,"are killed or disappear mysteriouslyeach year in Colombia.Many are shot dead by"social cleansing" squads targetingstreet children, beggars,drug addicts and sexpeddlers.In our civilized country wejust cut off financial andmedical aid and let naturetake its course.TRIANGLE SHIRT-WAIST REVISITEDBy Brian Murphy, NY DailyNews: Decades after labor reformswiped out so-calledsweatshop factories, somegarment shops are throwbacksto another time, expertsand officials say.In New York, the hub of theU.S. "needle trade," state inspectorsreport an apparentrise in the number of illegalshops — dingy and dangerousplaces where elderlyworkers may toil alongsideschool children for wages wellbelow the $4.30-an-hourminimum wage.Some of the problems aretraced to low-paid foreigncompetition, which has reducedNew York's garmentwork force to about 100,000from more than 150,000 inthe late 70s. But the stumblingU.S. economy also haspushed clothing retailers anddesigners to cut costs, andgarment-making shops havefollowed suit by droppingwages and increasing hours,KIDS FOR SALEAn AP dispatch: The fear ofAIDS is increasing demandfor much younger prostitutes,contributing to a worldwideincrease in the sale of children,said the author of aUnited Nations human rightsreport. Vitit Muntarhorn is alaw professor in Thailand.Vitit said that children nineor 10 years old were frequentlyforced into prostitutionand the numbers are increasingdaily.In some areas, he said, customersare opting "more andmore foryounger prostitutes,particularly virgins, in thebelief that they will protectthemselves from the threatofAIDS."But Vitit noted thatmany child prostitutes in India,Thailand and the Philippineshad tested positive forthe HIV virus.Boys are being increasinglyused for prostitution, but girlsare exploited first, becausefamilies in many societiesprefer to keep boys, Vitit said.In past centuries the samething was believed about preventingsyphilis. Suffer thechildren!LICENSE TO KILLAn AP dispatch: Ajudge gaveback a chronic speeder hisdriver's license on the conditionthat he drive only American-builtcars.Alexander Zelikov, a 25-year-old professional testdriver, lost his license to suspensionin July after gettingtoo many speeding tickets inhis own car.When he appeared theend of January in OaklandCounty Circuit Court inPontiac, Michigan, JudgeHilda Gage called Zelikova "menace to the county."But she restored his licenseon condition that he driveto and from work on asingle route, carry increasedliability insuranceand test only Americanbuiltcars for his employer,the Dalkin Clutch Corporation,which suppliesmanual-transmissionclutches to the Big Threeand foreign automobilemakers.The order was prompted "bya sense of patriotism and aconcern for the economy,"said Gage, who drives anOldsmobile."What can I say," saidZelikov, "except that I haveto drive and I'm not going tocontest it. I have to go towork."So in an American car he'snot "a menace?" We thinkwe've missed somethinghere.6 ON THE ISSUES SUMMER 1992