Unsure about SAS

I was on the Mall today when Students Against Sweatshops had their rally about full disclosure and a bunch of other things. I can agree that this is a good way to "change things" because it is a non-violent, non-governmental way to convince other members of society that we need not to patronize those who violate our consciences.

Unfortunately, the Students Against Sweatshops spokesman said several things that violate my conscience and so I cannot support them.

The most glaring one was a casual remark to the effect of "evil money chasers" (this is not an exact quote but I remember the words evil and money in the phrase).

Calling someone a money chaser or its equivalent is not a condemnation. Money chasing is not bad because money is just the highly portable, convenient, frozen form of the labor of a human being. A person who has a lot of it or goes after more of it is just merely trying to work so hard that he can have lots of labor left over to save and use later. Money chasing is not evil, and the speaker's statement implied it. To me, calling money or money chasing evil is to condemn human labor and especially labor that exists in excess and can be saved for future use.

Students Against Sweatshops may want to convince company executives to treat their fellow human beings better, but calling money evil is not the way to do it.

Other problems were catch phrases. For example, "women's rights" is a silly phrase - there are human rights, period. Women don't have rights separate and different from men - are we a different species? Another was a "living wage." Determined by whom? What is a living wage? I would say a living wage is enough to keep me with food and a computer, but others would argue it's a yacht and a mansion. Which is a "living wage"?

And my final problem was the rally group entering the Administration building en masse. What was this supposed to accomplish? Other students having difficulty getting to the drop/add line or financial aid line? Slowed business service? Unproductivity? All of the above? I hope tomorrow I don't find out that they are having a sit-in.

Students Against Sweatshops may have a noble goal in mind - getting businesses not to demand 15-hour workdays or to offer sick leave - but their methods leave a lot to be desired. Yesterday, I was undecided as to whether I could support Students Against Sweatshops, but today, they've lost me.

Rachael Ludwick
Mathematics and computer science sophomore