Introduction
Governor Bill Richardson
Immigration -- under any guise -- is one of the defining issues of our age. With Made in L.A., Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar show in vivid detail that, at a fundamental level, this is not simply an issue of competitive intermingling of people, but that it is also an issue of the assault on universal human dignity in the face of enormous global economic pressures.
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Author Robert Ross
"In southern China's export factories, young women live in walled or fenced factory complexes, in single sex dormitories, crowded in rooms with many-tiered bunk beds, and they work even longer hours than the workers in L.A. or Managua ... In the global "rag-trade" there is a "Race to the Bottom" in labor standards, where China and other low-wage Asian countries define the bottom."
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Sweatshop Free Stanford Campaign
For those of us who have never met Lupe, María or Maura, it is simple enough to sympathize with the fight and quietly express horror at sweatshop injustices. But when we forgo action we effectively ignore the most pervasive labor violations that exist in the United States.
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Lupita Castañeda, a factory worker featured in Maquilapolis (POV 2006)
"It was very important to me to see how working at the Center gave every one of them strength and enthusiasm. It gave them joy and happiness. María felt happy as she forgot about her family's problems for a while. Participating in a protest makes Lupe feel important. Maura overcame her shyness to speak in public. It's amazing to see how these women become more and more empowered throughout the movie."
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