100年前のニューヨーク

今年はアメリカにヨーロッパの前衛芸術をもたらしたといわれるArmory Showの100周年だそうです。ニューヨークの兵器倉庫で開かれたからこの名前がついたそうです。ピカソの『アビニヨンの娘たち』（Les demoiselles d’Avignon）は1907年でもう100年以上も前なのですね。ピカソの衝撃はギャッツビーのニューヨークよりも前だったのですね。



今週のTIMEには痛ましい100年前のニューヨークの事件とからめてバングラディッシュの建物崩壊事件を語っていました。

Worked to Death
By David Von Drehle Monday, May 20, 2013

Such callousness was once common in places like New York City, London and Paris. A century ago, it was understood that workers in the West put their lives on the line to sew clothes or make steel. In the rapidly developing U.S. circa 1910, nearly 100 workers died on the job every day on average. They were buried in collapsed mines, scalded by bursting steam engines, decapitated by flying saw blades, drowned aboard sinking ships.

100年ほど前のニューヨークの事件はTriangle Shirtwaist Factory fireと呼ばれるものだそうです。





（ウィキペディア）
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. It was also the second deadliest disaster in New York City – after the burning of the General Slocum on June 15, 1904 – until the destruction of the World Trade Center 90 years later. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women aged sixteen to twenty-three;[1][2][3] of the victims whose ages are known, the oldest victim was Providenza Panno at 43, and the youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and "Sara" Rosaria Maltese.[4]

Because the managers had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits – a common practice at the time to prevent pilferage and unauthorized breaks[5] – many of the workers who could not escape the burning building jumped from the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors to the streets below. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers.

The factory was located in the Asch Building, at 23–29 Washington Place, now known as the Brown Building, which has been designated a National Historic Landmark and a New York City landmark.[6]

定期購読限定記事なので大事なところだけご紹介します。このライターが訴えるのは、契約を打ち切ることは解決ではないということ。現場の環境が改善するよう関わるようにすることを勧めていました。

The emotional reaction on beholding the horror in Bangladesh is naturally to vow never to buy so much as a T-shirt sewn in that country. The Walt Disney Co. decided to stop production of branded merchandise in Bangladesh in the wake of last month's fatal accident. But no one suffers more from a boycott than the impoverished workers themselves. The better idea is to engage, just as disparate reformers did after the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Governments, corporations and individuals in developed countries have their own power, which they can put behind the message that endangering workers is no way to build an economy.

もちろん、そうなるとコストがかかることになるので、バングラディッシュを選ぶインセンティブが低くなってしまうジレンマが発生してしまうのですが。。。