9 years ago the Rana Plaza disaster killed over a thousand manufacturing workers for Benetton, Primark, Walmart

It's been nine years now, and that tragedy has served (at least) to open our eyes and give us awareness of the inhumanity hidden behind the clothes we are wearing.

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What's behind a t-shirt that sells for a few euros, behind its bright colors and its bargain price, behind the ease with which it is sold and the lightness with which we buy it, and then discard it after a few months? We often ask ourselves this, but not enough yet - given that fast fashion is still a current problem, which claims victims among those who are exploited and those who are poisoned by polluting products and illegal spills.





They are gone now nine years since the collapse of the Rana Plaza, and not much seems to have changed since that distant April 24th. That morning, a morning like any other, the Rana Plaza - an eight-story commercial building in the heart of poor Bangladesh - hosted as usual thousands of people working on our clothes.

Men but above all women, even very young ones, whose hands bled from grueling shifts at the sewing machine or along the assembly line. They were struggling with clothing that they would never wear, but that would end up in our wardrobes: Mango, H&M, Benetton, Primark - brands so loved by young people, and not only by them.

Although structural cracks were noted in the building, and the shops on the ground floor were declared unsafe and evacuated, the workers were not sent home, as it should have been, but were forced to work as they do every day. The entire Rana Plaza collapsed, crumpling in on itself, killing nearly 1.200 people and injuring 2.500 others.

Survivors of the collapse reported repeated alarms about the dilapidated condition of the building - promptly ignored by the owners of the three textile factories based there, who forced employees to work despite everything, despite the danger of death looming over their heads.

The accident of 2013 is still considered today the most serious accident ever in a textile factory. Unfortunately, however, it was not enough to curb the chain of exploitation that exists in Bangladesh as in other poor regions of the planet, made up of poor wages, working conditions bordering on exploitation, repression of any trade union protest, absence of insurance and health care.

(Read also: This is the dark side of your clothes, that nobody wants to tell you: chemicals, exploitation of workers and dumps of burnt fabrics)



The legacy of the Rana Plaza

9 years ago the Rana Plaza disaster killed over a thousand manufacturing workers for Benetton, Primark, Walmart

©r19/123rf

The only positive thing about a tragedy is that it serves to stir consciences, to open our eyes, to raise a problem. Even the collapse of the Rana Plaza and the death of all those slave laborers gave birth to a flower, a small gentle revolution against the inhuman rhythms of fast fashion: the Fashion Revolution.

It is a global movement that brings together activists and environmentalists from all over the world, eager to give a voice to a fashion industry that is different, capable of respecting the environment and workers' rights. It all starts with a simple question, which each of us can ask in front of our clothing items in the wardrobe or before buying a new one: Who made my clothes?

Understanding how a fabric, a print, a t-shirt is born, understanding what lies behind the attractive price, giving the right value to the materials and the dignity of those who worked them for us, all this can lead us in the direction of a sustainable future from environmental and ethical point of view.

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