The hijab controversy surrounding the death of Masha Amina while in the custody of Iran’s Morality Police has spurred debate and protest, not just in Iran, but all over the world.

I’m certainly not an expert on the ins and outs of Islamic dress, especially when it comes to legalities surrounding veiling or head covering in today’s Iran, but I do have some limited experience in buying and wearing a chador in that country in the 1970’s.

In case you don’t know, a chador is a large piece of fabric that wraps around the body to serve as a combination head covering, veil, and full length shawl, covering the wearer’s entire body from top to toe.

Under the late shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the chador and today’s hijab were optional. Today, though, their wearing is mandated.

In this post, I’d like to share some personal reflections with you.  and then talk about the current situation in Iran as it relates to the ‘morality police’, improper hijab, and the death of Masha Amini.

Personal Reflections

I lived and worked in Iran in the mid 1970s  when women were free to dress as they pleased.  Many were religious and wore chadors or hijab. I almost always stuck to the wardrobe I’d brought from the states, but I did buy a chador to wear when visiting religious sites.

The covering I picked out was of an almost see-through material — not as thin as gauze or as stiff as voile; black with little red and white flowers. I still have it in the trunk in my living room. I thought it was rather fashionable, but I didn’t think it made me look pretty, like it did some of the Iranian women I’ve envied.

When I was shopping for my own garment, I was told that lower class, traditionally  religious women, usually wore all black chadors. The more affluent, but still religious, also wore black, but distinguished themselves by selecting a more costly, higher quality fabric. More upscale fashionable women wore brightly colored garb, and those who were secular wore Western dress. Now, of course, women — regardless of class — are required to cover themselves. But instead of the chador, many now wear hijab, black scarves and long dark raincoats even in 105 degree weather. 

As I said, I’m definitely not an authority on Islamic dress code, but I’ve read that the Koran doesn’t legislate veiling, that this was a practice existing in the Byzantine and Sassanian Empires when veiling and seclusion were customs of the well-to-do urban classes.  In those times, the habit didn’t extend to the majority of women, but later the practice spread to Muslim Arabs and, once it did, two vague Quranic verses were interpreted to sanction its wearing. (Keddie: Roots of Revolution 13-14)

Some say wearing a chador is protective, not restrictive, and I respect those who choose to cover themselves whether out of religious conviction, modesty, or a desire to be culturally authentic. For me, though, wearing a chador was always difficult, sort of like trying out contact lenses. I could never get those to work either. 

Because wearing my chador was always a challenge for me, I only put it on when I wanted to enter the most sacred of places. I struggled to position it correctly, couldn’t keep it in place, and tripped constantly while wearing it. I felt so awkward that I was constantly looking around to see who was snickering at me.

Despite multiple wearings, I never did learn how to get the darn thing to stay in place, and I could never imagine how Iranian women who looked so poised in their chadors managed the bathroom. I was in awe of those who were able to wear their chadors with grace and dignity, but, taking this a step beyond the bathroom, how on earth did they manage to hold their babies or even bags of groceries?

Under the Shahs

In early 1936, the first shah of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi, issued a decree banning all Islamic veils (including headscarf and chador), an edict that was swiftly and forcefully implemented. This move met with opposition from the religious establishment.

The son of Reza Khan, Mohammad Reza Shah, was in power from September 16, 1941, until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on February 11, 1979. During his reign, he decreed that women could choose whether or not to wear a veil. The chador or hijab was widely worn, but many women also chose to don Western-style clothes, including tight-fitting jeans, miniskirts and short-sleeved tops as seen in the photo below of Teheran University 1971.

 

Islamic Dress Code

When the Islamic government came to power in Spring 1979, Iran’s revolutionary leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, began urging women to adhere to an Islamic dress code that required all women to wear the hijab.

According to Hamideh Sedghi, an American  political scientist:

Mandatory veil wearing was borne out of a desire to establish an anti-Western societal order in Iran. Iranian women defying the rule were subsequently branded “Western whores.”

In 1983, Khomeini’s recommended dress code became law when Parliament decided that women who do not cover their hair in public would be punished with 74 lashes. Since 1995, unveiled women can also be imprisoned for up to 60 days.

Chador vs. Hijab

Not all women in Iran opt to wear the black chador, a cloak that covers the body from head to toe and only leaves the face exposed. Many prefer to wear loosely fitted headscarves and coats.

Baroness Haleh Afshar, a professor of women’s studies at the University of York who grew up in Iran in the 1960s says:

The real question is how far back do you push your scarf? Women have their own small acts of resistance and often try as far as possible to push their scarves back.

You can read more here.

Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani, an Iranian Grand Ayatollah, expressed disappointment in women who opt to dress fashionably and revealingly. He referred to the “hip” version of Iranian women’s wear as

covering skin and concealing private parts as it should, but [falling] short of true coverage … and on the verge of being defined as haram or forbidden.

Golpayegani went on to recommend the chador as the best choice of coverage, repeating what many Iranian officials have said over the years. His mindset is revealed in the famous phrase describing the veil:

Chador, the superior hijab.

In Farsi, the word chador means “tent,” and the name implies the head-to-toe coverage the garment provides. A woman who wears a chador is referred to as chadori.

When discussing hijab, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a reformist clergyman and former Iranian vice president voices concern:

. . . since hijab is mandatory in Iran, less coverage is interpreted as resisting the regime. And that’s why all hell breaks loose when it comes to women’s hijab.

Though the regime is all for the chador, most people are not, and even the less restrictive hijab has spurred protests.

Timeline of protests against Hijab in Iran

• 2007: A 27-year-old medical student was arrested on the charges of violating the hijab law. She was later declared dead in police custody.
• 2008: A number of clashes erupted over the hijab at Tehran University’s School of Arts.
• 2018: A number of women were violently beaten in public for allegedly not wearing hijab properly.
• 2019: A teenage girl, without a hijab, was arrested for playing with water at a water park.
• 2021: Several women were arrested by the “morality police” using a snare pole.
• 2022: Reza Moradkhani, a former member of the Iranian National Boxing Team, was shot dead in April. The incident started when his wife, Maria Arefi, was issued a warning and reprimanded by the morality police for wearing a headscarf improperly.
• 2022: A video of Sepideh Rashno, a 28-year-old writer and artist, arguing with another lady who was enforcing the rule on wearing a head scarf on a bus in Tehran went viral on June 15. Rashno was later arrested and beaten by police.
• 2022: 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody after being detained by “morality police” on September 16.

(The information above can be found on republicworld.com.)

The Death of Masha Amini

I’m sure you’ve read about the widespread public anger over the recent death of Masha Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman. She was arrested by Iran’s ‘morality police’ at a Tehran subway station on September 13, 2022. Her offense: wearing “improper” hijab – an Islamic headscarf which Iranian women must wear by law. Three days after her incarceration Masha collapsed and died. While Iranian authorities claim she had a fatal heart attack, her family insists that she was perfectly healthy.

Worldwide protests erupted shortly after the announcement of her death hit the media, but it’s thought that they will have little impact on Iran’s leadership. The regime is now cracking down on the protests, and internet access has been restricted.

In an article in Foreign Affairs titled Iran’s Crisis of Legitimacy, Sanam Vakil  asserts:

The current protests are now believed to be the most serious challenge Iran’s government has confronted since the Green Movement protests in 2009. A series of challenges facing the Iranian regime—widening frustration over social restrictions; outrage over economic collapse and mismanagement; and seething anger at Khamenei and a clerical establishment that has shown little regard for the needs of the people—have now converged into a crisis of legitimacy for the Islamic Republic.

Only time will tell if Vakil is correct.

_______________________________________________

Photos:

Featured photo by Taymaz Valley on Flickr; date of photo is 9/25/2022
Chador photo by Jeanne Merjoulet on Flickr
Hijab photo by David Stanley on Flickr

Selected Sources:

Want to know more about Iran’s government and what the future might hold? Read this article in Foreign Affairs.

Click here for a brief (YouTube) history of the hijab in Iran. It’s out of date, but informative.

Iranian women warned about wearing chador

Why Iranian authorities force women to wear a veil contains quotes from US political scientist Hamideh Sedghi: 2007 report Women and Politics in Iran: Veiling, Unveiling, and Reveiling.

Iranian women – before and after the Islamic Revolution – a wonderful photo essay

As Women In Iran Fight Against Hijab, Know About History Of Headscarf Protests Since 2008

If you really want to be knowledgeable, take a look at The Veiling Issue in 20th Century Iran in Fashion and Society, Religion, and Government. You can download the 31 page pdf here.

Artists Worldwide Demand Freedom for Iranian Women

The Artists Amplifying the Voices of Iran’s Protesters

If you keep up with the news, I’m sure you’re aware of the global movement of displaced people fleeing their home countries.

But did you know that, according to the United Nations, in June of 2022, one in 78 people across the world were considered displaced?

According to the New York Times, Syrians are the largest group of displaced people while Venezuelans are estimated to be the second-largest group.

The historic pace of undocumented immigrants entering the United States has continued even though the number of removals over the past year — more than 1.3 million — was more than any previous year.

However, the demographics of those immigrating has changed. The number of undocumented immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras is down 43 percent from August 2021 while the number of Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans is up 175 percent.

According to Chris Magnus, US Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection:

Failing Communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba are driving a new wave of migration across the Western Hemisphere, including the recent increase in encounters at the southwest U.S. border . . .

Many of the immigrants are seeking asylum. (For more on the asylum issue read this  NYTimes Opinion piece.)

[Much of the information in the rest of this post is drawn from the work of the Center for Democracy in the Americas. I highly recommend their weekly email on Cuba titled U.S. – Cuba News Brief. Their recent interview with Julio Antonio Fernández Estrada, Visiting Scholar at the Cuba Studies Program at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, and Denisse Delgado Vázquez, Doctoral Candidate in Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, has also been useful. In the interview, they articulate their thoughts on recent trends in Cuban emigration, the possible causes of the record-breaking migration, what makes this current migratory wave distinct, and the role that U.S. policy plays in Cuban migration here. I quote them frequently in the post. Click here to read the interview. It’s available in Spanish here.]

The Numbers

So far in Fiscal Year 2022, over one percent of Cuba’s population has left the island.

More than 177,800 Cubans have arrived in the United States according to information provided by US Customs and Border Protection. This is the largest migration surge in recent decades, surpassing both the 1980 Mariel Exodus (125,000) and the 1994 Balsero Crisis (30,900).

Source: Elaborated by CDA with data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

While the number of Cuban migrants attempting entrance into the US continues to rise, the number of Cuban minors – many of whom are unaccompanied – attempting entrance into the US has also increased significantly.  

There have been 662 encounters with unaccompanied Cuban minors at the US southern border since October 2021, which is a 1969% increase from the previous fiscal year.

The increase in unaccompanied minors is a symptom of the deteriorating living conditions found on the island.

Source: Elaborated by CDA with data from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)

Previous Migratory Waves

1980: Mariel

For background information on Mariel, refer to the Cold War Studies post titled Cold War Cuba: Mariel.

Denisse Delgado notes:

In 1980, with the opening of the maritime bridge between the Cuban port of Mariel and Key West (Florida), Cuban exiles in the United States sailed to Cuba to pick up their relatives. In addition, Cuban officials put other people they considered a problem for Cuban society on these ships, including prisoners and psychiatric patients. This introduced greater diversity to the migratory flow, since in comparison to previous waves of migration, the Mariel Exodus was composed of a more racially and economically diverse population, whose educational level was lower.

Balsero Crisis: 1994

Denisse says:

The Balsero Crisis, unlike the Mariel Exodus, occurred in a context of deep economic crisis, after the fall of the Socialist bloc during which the Cuban people were affected by the paralysis of transportation by experiencing food and medicine shortages. The migration of the rafters (balseros, in Spanish) takes place by sea, like the Mariel, but the route is much more dangerous.

The “balseros” left in rustic boats that they built themselves.

The “balseros” were predominantly urban men who went alone, without their families, were younger than the general Cuban population, and had varying levels of education. They left mainly for economic reasons, although there were also political reasons.

Factors Relating to Cuban Migration Today

Cuba is currently in the midst of its worst economic crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s as it faces record high inflation rates and a severe shortage of foreign currency. Contributory factors include a decline in tourism and exports associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a reduction in remittances related to US policy.

According to Denisse:

Unlike the Mariel Exodus and the Balsero Crisis, the routes of the recent migratory outburst are more diverse, as they include maritime, air, and land routes. Particularly, border crossings between Mexico and the United States have increased, and Cubans have joined the irregular migratory caravans of Latin American migrants. It is a highly risky migration, like the Balsero Crisis, but where there is a greater presence of families migrating together, including more vulnerable members, such as children, the elderly and people with medical conditions.

Regarding family factors, Julio suggests:

Because of more widespread communication via the internet and social media, the structural crisis of the Cuban economy, political system, and society is now perceived with more anguish, desperation, and hopelessness than before.

Previously, parents of the young people did not advise them to leave the country. Now, families now make emigration plans in which they even organize solo departures from Cuba for young people.

The Impact of Emigration on Cuba

Inequality

Denisse argues:

Although irregular migration is racially diverse, Cuban migration is characterized by a greater presence of people who identify as white. Thus, remittances are received predominantly by white families living on the island, thereby reproducing economic inequalities that are intertwined within the island’s racial profile. It is important to mention that vulnerable or marginalized communities in Cuba have a greater presence of black and mestizo people.

Aging

For detailed information on demographics in Cuba, read this Cold War Studies Post. Aging and fertility decline are long-term trends, exacerbated further by the migration of young people and females.

Americans Can Now Expect to Live Three Years Less than Cubans, Rob Minto, Newsweek

Vulnerable and Marginalized Communities

Julio explains:

The marginalized and vulnerable communities are in increasingly worse situations because their families don’t have the necessary resources to pay for plane tickets to Nicaragua, Guyana or other countries, embassy fees, the cost of human traffickers, etc. In these circumstances, when a family manages to get someone to leave the country, they do so at the cost of losing assets accumulated throughout their lives or getting into debt, often with loan sharks.

Denisse says (as noted before):

Cuban migration is characterized by a greater presence of people who identify as white. Thus, remittances are received predominantly by white families living on the island, thereby reproducing economic inequalities that are intertwined within the island’s racial profile. It is important to mention that vulnerable or marginalized communities in Cuba have a greater presence of black and mestizo people.

Conclusion

To conclude, seaborne migration from Cuba for Fiscal Year 2022 now totals more than for the past five years combined.

Eleven months into FY2022, Cuban migration to the US has eclipsed the Mariel Boatlift of 1980 and the Balsero Crisis of 1994 combined.

Cubans are less likely than other nationalities to make repeated attempts to enter the US because, at least so far, they are not subject to immediate expulsion.

So long as living conditions on the island remain untenable, migratory waves will continue.

_____________________________________

If you’d like more information on Cuban migration today, take a look at the following:

After arriving in the United States, thousands of Cuban migrants face new legal hurdles, Norma Gámez Torres and Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald

Cubans flee island’s economic woes by air, land and sea, Gisela Salomon, AP News

Video: Why Cubans are facing the worst power outages in decades, Patrick Oppman, CN

Now that Labor Day is over, the “fall fashion” season is in full swing. And in today’s world, most of that buying will center on “Fast Fashion” — trendy, inexpensive garments produced in large amounts and manufactured speedily in subcontracted factories across the globe.

At first glance, this is good news. Despite inflation, you can buy more clothes while spending less money than at the height of the early Cold War in 1960.

Here’s an interesting factoid:

In 1960, an average American household spent over 10 percent of its income on clothing and shoes – equivalent to roughly $4,000 today. The average person bought fewer than 25 garments each year. And about 95 percent of those clothes were made in the United States.

Today, the average American household spends less than 3.5 percent of its budget on clothing and shoes – under $1,800. Yet, we buy more clothing than ever before: nearly 20 billion garments a year, close to 70 pieces of clothing per person, or more than one clothing purchase per week . . .

But there is a downside. Only about 2 percent of this clothing is made in the United States, thanks to the offshoring and globalization that took hold in the 1980s. Industrial centers up and down America’s Eastern Seaboard and across the South have become ghost towns as factories have emptied and employees have filed for unemployment.

We talk about ‘going global’ now like it’s something new. But it isn’t. The globalization of trade started more than 2,000 years ago with merchant traders and the ‘old’ Silk Road. From its earliest beginnings, fashion has been integral.

Going Global: A Brief History

According to a piece by the World Economic Forum, we’re now in the midst of Globalization 4.0. There’s a wonderful visual timeline on their site (although a little bit blurry) that’s worth taking a look at. You can access it here.  The snippets below are taken from the above article to provide a brief history.

The Silk Road in the 1st Century B.C.

As of the 1st century BC, luxury products from China started to appear on the other edge of the Eurasian continent – in Rome. They got there after being hauled for thousands of miles along the Silk Road. Global trade links were established for luxury goods – silk and spices.  These goods comprised a very tiny segment of the economy.

Muslim Traders in the 7th-9th Centuries

As the new religion of Islam spread in all directions from its Arabian heartland in the 7th century, so did trade. By the early 9th century, Muslim traders dominated Mediterranean and Indian Ocean trade; afterwards, they could be found as far east as Indonesia. Spices were the main focus of the expansion and, like before, they made up only a small volume of the economy. While we’re not talking about ‘globalization’ as we know it today, the original Belt (sea route) and Road (Silk Road) of trade between East and West did now exist.

The Age of Discovery: The 15th Century On

In the Age of Discovery, from the end of the 15th century on, European explorers connected East and West – and accidentally discovered the Americas. Yet economists today still don’t regard this era as one of true globalization. The global economy was still very much siloed and lopsided. The European empires set up global supply chains, but mostly with those colonies they owned. Their colonial model was chiefly one of exploitation, including the shameful legacy of the slave trade. The empires thus created both a mercantilist and a colonial economy, but not a truly globalized one.

The Modern Era:

The First Wave (19th century-1914)

The first wave of globalization, which roughly occurred over the century ending in 1914, was the era of the First Industrial Revolution.

Exports worldwide rose from a share of 6 percent of global GDP in the early 19th century, to 14 percent on the eve of World War I.

In 1914, the outbreak of World War I brought an end to this period of globalization.

By the end of World War II, trade as a percentage of world GDP had fallen to 5 percent – a level not seen in more than a hundred years.

Second and third wave of globalization

The end of the World War II marked a new beginning for the global economy. Under the leadership of a new hegemon, the United States of America, and aided by the technologies of the Second Industrial Revolution, like the car and the plane, global trade started to rise once again.

In the early decades after World War II, institutions like the European Union, and other free trade vehicles championed by the US were responsible for much of the increase in international trade.

Although the Iron Curtain divided the world into two spheres of influence, the Soviet Union saw a similar increase in trade, albeit through centralized planning rather than the free market.

The End of the Cold War

When the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, globalization became a truly global phenomenon. Worldwide, trade once again rose to 1914 levels: in 1989, export once again counted for 14  percent of global GDP. It was paired with a steep rise in middle-class incomes in the West.

The newly created World Trade Organization (WTO) encouraged nations all over the world to enter into free-trade agreements, and most of them did, including many newly independent ones. In 2001, even China, which for the better part of the 20th century had been a secluded, agrarian economy, became a member of the WTO, and started to manufacture for the world. In this “new” world, the US set the tone and led the way, but many others benefited.

At the same time, a new technology from the Third Industrial Revolution, the internet, connected people all over the world in an even more direct way.

Since the end of the Cold War, fashion has grown from a $500 billion trade, primarily domestically produced, to a $2.4 trillion a year global industry.

As one would expect, given the growth of the industry and its global reach, the impact has been dramatic.

The Impact of Globalized Fashion: The United States

Up until the late 1970s, the US produced at least 70 percent of the apparel that Americans purchased.

By 1980, even though about 70 percent of the clothing Americans bought was still made domestically, a new segment of the apparel business was popping up, soon to experience rapid growth.

Labeled Fast Fashion, the focus was on trendy, inexpensive garments produced in large amounts and manufactured speedily in subcontracted factories across the globe.

A handful of big retail chains like Gap Inc. and J.C. Penney began transitioning away from actually making their own clothes.  Instead, they increasingly just designed and marketed them. To keep prices down, they slashed manufacturing costs by offshoring to some of the world’s poorest countries where labor costs were low.

Offshoring caught on across the industry just as globalization took hold.

Early adopters began to develop vast global supply chains that allowed them to divide up each step of the production process, sending the work to whichever location offered the cheapest, most efficient services. According to Elizabeth Cline, author of Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Fast Fashion, by 2003, Gap was ordering its clothes from more than 1,200 different factories in 42 countries.

Labor in Developed Countries

In 1991, as the Cold War ended, 56.2 percent of all clothes purchased in the United States were American made. By 2012, that percentage had declined to 2.5 percent.

Between 1990 and 2012, the US textile and garment industry lost 1.2 million jobs, more than three-fourths of the sector’s labor force. Not surprisingly, the work went to Latin America and Asia. Large textile mills and factories had been emerging in these areas since the mid-1970s. Their operations offered incredibly cheap labor and raw materials, as well as the capacity to quickly manufacture huge orders.

American textile manufacturers just couldn’t compete. The average US garment worker makes about 38 times the wage of his or her counterpart in Bangladesh.

At the same time that US workers were losing their jobs, the number of apparel and textile workers globally nearly doubled, from 34.2 million to 57.8 million.

Trade Deficits

Offshoring created massive trade deficits in the West, and the fashion industry is a good example of globalization’s impact.

In 2017, Britain imported 92.4 per cent of its clothing. In the European Union, only Italy managed to hold on to its domestic clothing industry. It did so largely because of its reputation in the luxury fashion market.

By 2017, US apparel exports totaled roughly $5.7 billion, while imports were about $82.6 billion.

Americans say they’re concerned about the trade deficit. Yet, according to a 2016 poll, when given the choice of a $50 pair of pants made offshore vs. an $85 pair manufactured in the US, 67 percent of respondents said they would opt for the cheaper ones – even if their household income was more than $100,000.

Human Rights in Developing Countries

Fashion is the most labor-intensive industry worldwide, employing 1 in 6 people around the globe. Fewer than 2 percent of these workers earn a living wage.

Most apparel workers are women; some are children.

The Planet

The World Bank estimates that the clothing sector is responsible for nearly 20 percent of all industrial water pollution annually.  It releases 10 percent of the carbon emissions in our air.

The fashion industry consumes one-fourth of all chemicals produced worldwide.

In the last 20 years, the volume of clothes Americans throw away yearly has doubled from 7 million to 14 million tons, equaling 80 pounds per person per year.

Of the more than 100 billion items of clothing produced each year, 20 percent go unsold. Leftovers are usually buried, shredded, or incinerated.

Worldwide we toss away 2.1 billion tons of fashion with much of it ending up in African landfills. This waste is not recycled since most clothes are synthetics, and most synthetics aren’t biodegradable. The fabrics that do break down often contain chemicals that contaminate the soil and the water table.

The Predominance of Fast Fashion

ZARA

Zara is the world’s largest fashion brand, producing more than 450 million items in 2018.

The parent company of Zara, Inditex, reported $28.63 billion in sales for 2017, of which Zara made up two-thirds or about $18.8 billion.

In 2016, Amancio Ortega of Inditex was the second richest person in the world (after Bill Gates) with a net worth of $67 million.

By 2018, 5 of the world’s 55 richest individuals were fashion company owners.

SHEIN

The fast fashion brand Shein was recently profiled by The New York Times. You can read the article here.  As The Times notes:

Shein — officially pronounced “she-in,” though often pronounced “sheen” — recently surpassed Amazon as the most downloaded shopping app in the United States, according to analysis by Sensor Tower. Shein is privately held and declined to share financial figures but was estimated by Coresight Research to bring in $10 billion in revenue in 2020.

As Shein has grown, so have the controversies surrounding the company. It has been criticized for selling a swastika necklace, copying the work of major designers, working with suppliers that violate labor laws, and failing to make necessary disclosures about factory conditions. Last year elevated levels of lead were found in some of its products – a toddler’s jacket, for instance.

What Do You Think?

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink thinks the war in Ukraine is accelerating the end of globalization that has shaped the new world order for the last 30 years.

Selected Sources:

From KAED.org – Why America Stopped Making Its Own Clothes – Stephanie Vatz (May 24, 2013)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics

A Brief History of Globalization – World Economic Forum

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Fast Fashion – Elizabeth Cline

Conscious Closet – Elizabeth Cline

Fashionopolis: The Rise of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes – Dana Thomas

The People’s Republic of Shein – New York Times (September 1, 2022)

Photographs:

Featured Photo by RamitaGirl67 (Flickr)

Silk by fdecomite (Flickr)

Coca Cola by Jerry Clack (Flickr)

Zara by Mike Mozart (Flickr)

When history buffs think of 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis is often the first thing that comes to mind. Alternatively, some look back on Vietnam and the expansion of the Vietcong (VC) insurgency into South Vietnam. Fifty-three American soldiers were killed in South Vietnam during the year while the South Vietnamese armed forces suffered 4,457 killed in action, 10 percent more than the total killed in 1961.

If you’re talking to a pop culture aficionado about the year, you may learn more than you ever wanted to know about the death of Marilyn Monroe on August 4, 1962.

But finally, if you come across a movie critic, you’ll probably hear all about what a stellar year it was for film. In fact, many argue that 1962 was the best year ever for Hollywood movie makers and their viewing audiences. So in these last lazy days of summer, why not kick back with a big bowl of popcorn and your favorite streaming device?

Want to watch outdoors? Here are 15  Backyard Movie Night Ideas from The Spruce.

The 35th Academy Awards were held on April 8, 1963.  Below are the five nominees for 1962’s best films. You can judge whether they live up to the hype:

Academy Award Nominees for Best Film of 1962

Lawrence of Arabia, one of the most celebrated epics in the history of cinema, is based on the life of T. E. Lawrence and his 1926 book Seven Pillars of Wisdom. The story centers on Lawrence’s experiences in the Ottoman Empire’s provinces of Hejaz and Greater Syria during World War I, including his involvement in the Arab National Council. Nominated for 10 awards and winner of 7, the film is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. In 1991, it was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

To Kill a Mockingbird tells the story of Atticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, who defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge, and his children against prejudice. The screenplay is based on Harper Lee’s 1960 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same name. A box-office success, it earned more than six times its budget. Also a critical success, the film won 3 Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Gregory Peck, and was nominated for eight, including Best Picture.

Mutiny on the Bounty tells a fictionalized story of the real-life mutiny led by Fletcher Christian against William Bligh, captain of HMAV Bounty, in 1789. Partly shot on location in the South Pacific, the film was panned by critics, and was a box office flop.

The Music Man is a musical film based on Meredith Wilson’s 1957 Broadway musical of the same name. It tells the story of traveling con artist Harold Hill who targets the naïve residents of a small town in 1910s Iowa by posing as a boys’ band leader to raise money before he can skip town. The film was one of the biggest hits of 1962. Widely acclaimed by critics, it was nominated for six Academy Awards. In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

The Longest Day is an epic American  war movie, filmed in black and white. Shot in docudrama style, it portrays the events of D-Day from both the Allied and German points of view. Civil-rights groups objected to the film because, as Time Magazine reported in 1963, “not one Negro was seen in the movie.” The film does accurately show how the Allied invasion caught the Germans off-guard. Nominated for five Academy Awards and winning two, it’s best seen on the big screen.

Other noteworthy films from 1962

The Manchurian Candidate, starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, and Angela Lansbury, is a political suspense classic. Per Wikipedia, the plot centers on Korean War veteran Raymond Shaw, a member of a prominent political family. Shaw is brainwashed by communists after his Army platoon is captured and returns to civilian life in the United States, where he becomes an unwitting assassin in an international communist conspiracy. Like many other 1962 movies, it was It was selected  for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Bird Man of Alcatraz is a largely fictionalized version of the life of Robert Stroud, who was sentenced to solitary confinement after having killed a prison guard. A federal prison inmate, he became known as the “Birdman of Alcatraz” because of his growing interest and love for birds after he finds an orphaned sparrow in the prison yard.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence tells the story of a  senator who rose to fame for killing a notorious outlaw. He returns for the funeral of his old friend and reveals the truth about his deed. The film stars John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. In 2007, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Days of Wine and Roses is ( according to Amazon Prime) a searing, bittersweet study of an alcoholic couple on the rocks. Their marriage deteriorates, and their lives spiral into disaster, as a result. The film stars Jack Lemon and Lee Remick.

Lolita, based on the 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov, follows Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged literature lecturer who becomes sexually infatuated with Dolores Haze (nicknamed “Lolita”), a young adolescent girl. Owing to restrictions imposed by the Motion Picture Production Code, the film toned down the most provocative aspects of the novel, sometimes leaving much to the audience’s imagination

Jules and Jim: Rotten Tomatoes says that, along with Godard’s Breathless, François Truffaut’s Jules et Jim is probably the essential French New Wave film. Set before and after World War I, it describes a tragic love triangle involving French Bohemian Jim, his shy Austrian friend Jules, and Jules’s girlfriend and later wife Catherine.

The Miracle Worker tells the story of Anne Sullivan’s struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate. Academy Awards went to Best Actress Anne Bancroft as Anne Sullivan and Best Supporting Actress Patty Duke as Helen Keller.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane follows an aging former child star tormenting her paraplegic sister, a former movie star, in an old Hollywood mansion. The film met with critical acclaim and was a box office success. The intensely bitter Hollywood rivalry between the film’s two stars, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, was pivotal to the film’s initial success.

The Beginning of a Genre

Finally, it would be negligent of me to ignore the appearance of Ian Fleming’s magnetic charmer, James Bond, in his first film, Dr. No.  Although it was the first of the Bond books to be made into a film, Dr. No was the sixth novel in Fleming’s series. In the film, James Bond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a fellow British agent. The trail leads him to the underground base of Dr. Julius No, who is plotting to disrupt an early American space launch from Cape Canaveral with a radio beam weapon.

While the film received a mixed critical reaction upon its release, it has gained a reputation over time as one of the series’ best installments.

Dr. No also launched a variety of secret agent films that flourished in the 1960s – The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, The Ipcress File, and The Venetian Affair are just a few. The film also initiated a comic book adaptation and soundtrack album as part of its promotion and marketing.

___________________________________________________________

Featured photo by Loren Javier (Flickr): Peter O’Toole/Lawrence of Arabia – Madame Tussaud’s Hollywood.

Thanks to Wikipedia, Amazon Prime, and Rotten Tomatoes for their critiques of the films.

On August 19th, 1989, near the city of Sopron, Hungary, thousands of people called for an end to the cold war at an event dubbed the Pan-European “Freedom” Picnic. However, if you think the picnic is remembered because it was a highly organized event analogous to the highly publicized Dîners en Blanc ¹ so popular today, you would be wrong.

The gathering was intended as an informal meeting of Austrians and Hungarians at a border meadow.  It was arranged by members of the Hungarian Democratic Forum, one of the country’s emerging parties, with the backing of reform-minded communist minister Imre Pozsgay and the last crown prince of the Austrian empire and a member of the European Parliament Otto von Habsburg.  Miklós Németh, then Hungarian Prime Minister,  also promoted the idea.

The official emblem of the picnic was a pigeon breaking through the barbed wire, symbolizing permission to open the border station for three hours. The opening was granted so that pedestrians from both countries could experience Europe without borders.  Music and speeches were in the offing as was wine, beer, grilled food, and goulash.²

However, things didn’t go as organizers had planned. Gorbachev’s perestroika was in full swing, serving as a backdrop to the so-called ‘Sinatra Doctrine’ which allowed eastern bloc states to do things “their way” without fear of Red Army intervention. The Soviet government used the name jokingly to describe its policy of allowing neighboring Warsaw Pact states to determine their own internal affairs.

Interestingly, Paul Anka — not Sinatra — sang the song at Gorbachev’s 80th birthday celebration. You can watch his version below.

According to The Irish Times:

tens of thousands of East Germans had gathered [in parks and campsites] in Hungary – where “goulash communism” was softer than their own brutal police state – in the hope of finding a chink in the Iron Curtain through which they could escape to the West.

A border guard on the Hungarian-Austrian border is reported as saying:

Naturally we saw the picnic as potentially problematic. There were so many East Germans in Hungary looking for a way out, and the organizers of the picnic planned to open a border crossing for a few hours so the Hungarian and Austrian delegations could meet. I wondered how we would deal with it, if a situation arose.

The plan:

. . .to open an old border gate that hadn’t been opened since 1948, and the slogan we put on leaflets for the picnic was ‘Break it and take it’ – we wanted people to cut bits of the border fence and take it away, recalled Laszlo Magas, one of the chief organisers . . . We thought a lot of Hungarians and Austrians would come because everyone hated the Iron Curtain, but we didn’t expect anything to happen with the East Germans.

It was soon evident that the plan wasn’t going to hold. As hundreds of East Germans neared the border posts, the guard in command decided that “in order to avoid a catastrophe” he would let them through. The Hungarian border guards were ordered to only deal with arrivals from Austria, not with those leaving. Consequently, more than 600 East Germans crossed peacefully into Austria that day.

As a follow-up:

• On August 31, 1989:, Hungary’s foreign minister informed East Germany’s leadership that, unless they would allow travel and immigration freedom, Hungary would open its borders.
• On September 11, 1989, Hungary opened its borders to those fleeing East Germany without obtaining Moscow’s approval.

(If you’d like a comprehensive overview of events leading up to the end of the cold war click here: The End of the Cold War: A Timeline.)

It’s interesting to note that there is now a fence marking Hungary’s southern boundary. Organizers of the picnic approve of today’s fence, rejecting suggestions that current policies betray the spirit of 1989 and its fight for democracy.

The difference lies in who built the fence, and why, says Ferenc Ivanics, a member of Orban’s Fidesz party since 1988 and a former deputy. . . . In 1989, that fence was a prison and an iron curtain. The fence we have now gives us the protection of our own territory.

What do you think? Post your thoughts in the comments.

__________________________________________________________
¹Per Wikipedia, Dîner en Blanc (“Dinner in White” in French) is a worldwide event spanning six continents in which people have a meal dressed in white in a temporary dining setup in a public space. Diners are required to provide their own food, tables, chairs and tablecloths. Only a select number of participants who have previously signed up are made privy to the location the day of the dinner, and generally converge in an iconic urban location.

² Hungry?

Click here for a recipe for Traditional Hungarian Goulash.

The wine was called Bull’s Blood. You can read all about it here.

Sources:

The Irish Times

Wikipedia

Staying home this summer? Not ready for a Cold War Road Trip and not interested in the Berlin Wall Trail Virtual Challenge? Well, no worries, you can still have a lot of fun. Think about a Retro/Throwback Summer, specifically a look back at roller disco from the 1970s.

Why the 70s?

It’s been argued that the 1970s marked a period of trauma and healing. Well, we could certainly use a bit of fun and healing now!!

In the 70s,  Watergate and the Vietnam War undermined the nation’s sense of purpose in the world and inspired a search for moral renewal. In this summer of 2022, we’re undermined by a lingering pandemic and deep partisan division.

Why Roller Disco?

Here’s what flashbak.com has to say about the 1970s:

there is nothing more quintessentially Seventies than the roller skating/roller disco phenomenon that swept the US in the latter half of the decade.  It had it all: gaudy styles, godawful music, and an air of uninhibited sexuality that made the whole mad affair seem a bit seedy.

Roller skating was a major phenomenon in the 1970s, with disco nights at roller rinks, movies about the sport, and even a song by Cher becoming part of popular culture.

But while gliding around on classic skates might bring to mind images of vintage fashion — think bellbottoms, paisley prints, and high-waisted jeans — this retro sport is now making a very modern comeback.

The roller disco craze of the 1970s is sweeping the world now. From Berlin to  Los Angeles, the UK to New York City, the trend is more than a passing phase. It started in the summer of 2020 as a trendy lockdown hobby and it’s still gathering steam. If you look at it in the context of the pandemic, it’s not hard to understand why. Here are a few reasons:

• it’s a pleasant distraction
• it’s a way to work off quarantine weight gain
• it’s safe – you’re social distancing
• it’s mood elevating
• you can do it anywhere
• it’s nostalgic – an escape to simpler times
• you can take roller skating lessons or join a roller skating club  online.

The Return of Disco Roller Skating

I live in NYC and disco skating is taking the town by storm. Flipper’s Roller Boogie Palace, a famous family owned and operated roller skating rink, is now at  Rockefeller Center, bringing the magic of the 1970s with it. And just a short distance away, DiscoOasis rules the night at the Wollman Ice Skating Rink in Central Park. It’s promoted as an

immersive, funky, roller-disco experience . . .  [where you can] “roller skate to the sounds of 70s era disco curated by Groovemaster Nile Rodgers, tear up the rink-side dance floor under dazzling lights, explore interactive art installations and more!

Roller Skating and Social Justice

Clearly, roller skating wasn’t new in the 1970s and it’s certainly nothing new now.

Flashbak’s great article about roller skating notes:

Grown-ups had their discos, bars and pool halls, but the children of the 70s had the roller skating rink. They were around long before the 70s — in the 50s and 60s they were often enormous and featured live organ music. In the 70s, they metamorphosed into a disco themed haven with everything a teen could want — loud music, pinball, poor lighting, and an equal measure of girls and boys.

Moreover, roller skating’s roots in the African American community have always been strong. During the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, black skaters protested the racial segregation of roller rinks in the states, while years later roller rinks became community spaces that helped give rise to hip-hop artists. The 2018 HBO documentary United Skates is said to be “a cinematic love letter to Black roller rink culture.” (You can watch United Skates on HBO Max.)

More recently, roller skating has been linked to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement as skaters in the US organized solidarity meet-ups in skating venues. The 2020 YouTube video below documents a peaceful protest against police brutality in Santa Barbara.

Roller Disco and Communist Control in the Soviet Union and China

It’s important to note that roller skating hasn’t just been popular in North America. It’s enjoyed worldwide popularity. In fact, during the Cold War, Soviet officials saw disco as a way to deal with dissatisfied youth.

Formal disco clubs opened throughout the Soviet Union in the early 1970s. Soviet officials thought disco was ‘safe’, not something expressively political like Bob Dylan‘s work or something to be feared like rock ‘n roll.

While Soviet officials approved of disco’s rise in popularity, though, they supported the playing of Soviet artists rather than the hits of Donna Summer and the Bee Gees. Still, Western disco wasn’t banned.

The Soviet Union’s Komsomols (Soviet youth political bodies for propaganda education) were determined to make disco music a tool of ideological propaganda.

Disco allowed western pop culture and, indirectly, western ideology, to seep into the once tightly controlled communist China.

Similar to the Komsomol’s control of discos in the Soviet Union, the Communist Party in the People’s Republic of China also embraced disco after the genre’s fall from popularity in the mid 1980s. Although banned during Chairman Mao’s culture revolution in the late 1960s, dance was being embraced by the 1980s, mainly due to the fact that the music was a way to gain favor with Chinese youth and that the Chinese government saw disco dancing as an African folk dance. . . . Disco in communist China transcended generational barriers . . .

Nostalgic?

Don’t want to skate, just want to watch?

The Roller Movie Trinity may be right for you. The three movies are Skatetown U.S.A., Roller Boogie, and Olivia Newton -John’s Xanadu. Which one is the best is still hotly debated.

Finally, you might want to tune in to Cold War Study’s Roller Disco playlist or take a listen below!

____________________________________________________________

Featured photo by Gordon Joly (Flickr).