Pynchon and global capital/corporations

[Doug Millison]

If multinational corporations weren't moving their manufacturing around the
world seeking the cheapest possible labor and the least stringent operating
conditions, China wouldn't have a market for its prison labor.  This is in
fact a hallmark of globalization. 

Don't take my word for sweatshop labor conditions -- there is no shortage of
credible reports to substantiate the appalling conditions and practices that
these companies use to maximize profits. Local laws usually don't protect
workers because they fear that if enforced the multinational corporation
will move elsewhere.  It's a pernicious mix of capitalism and colonialism.

In China for example, in professional meetings in Beijing, Xian, and
Shanghai last October, local health officials told me (and the delegation of
occupational health nurse practitioners I was traveling with) story after
story of factories that ignored China's laws and regulations regarding toxic
waste, worker safety, worker living conditions, etc. But because they could
grease the wheel with bribes, and for fear of losing jobs no matter how
horrid the health consequences, local officials look the other way. These
are the kinds of factories that often produce goods for export, contracted
to do so by companies outside of China. Conditions are worse for prison
labor.  I can assure you that quite a few of them do not like the idea that
corrupt officials profit from selling prisoner labor to foreign firms,
either.  And I can assure you as well that many of them do not like the
political practices that put so many people in prison in the first place.

My younger brother, a civil engineer, spends most of his time managing
environmental clean-up projects in India, China, Africa, and South America
-- cleaning up the life-threatening mess that industry has left behind,
usually as a result of projects conducted with foreign corporate partners.  

Pynchon's quite clear on the damage that corporations do, too (even as he
shows how ordinary humans are complicit to a certain degree).  It's easy to
support the argument that in M&D, by showing what charter'd companies
(corporations) are doing in North America, Pynchon is commenting on the
contemporary (late 20th century) situation, and he's not painting a picture
that flatters corporations.

But if you want to argue for a pro-globalization Pynchon who supports
corporations and ignores the ills that they spread, go for it -- that's
similar to arguing for a Pynchon who lets the Nazis off the hook for the
crimes he depicts in GR, so it's no surprise to see this position emerge
here.  All you have to do is leave out all the textual evidence to the
contrary in his novels.