MEDIA: Against Giant Odds, A Touch of Triumph
| Posted: 2008-07-02 |
|
By Sanjay Suri GLASGOW, Jun 27 (IPS) - Parents call it the strawberry coloured nightmare. In the suburbs of Cape Town in South Africa they call it 'tik'. Something that mimics the effect of adrenalin. The news feature on 'tik' explores its dangerous spread, interviewing parents and others who talk about the devastation this addiction is bringing to homes and lives. 'Tik' is coloured pink, we learn, to make it more attractive to teenagers. A telling feature, but there is more. A report from Germany explores the exploitative realities of a world everyone encounters obliquely, and never thinks about – hotel room cleaners. The report establishes that many of these cleaners are paid only two to three euros an hour, far less than the 7.87 euros stipulated by law or even the 6.30 by some interpretations. A remarkable and exhaustive investigation spread over weeks begins with writing to 200 hotels in Hamburg to find out what cleaners are paid. The group sets up its own system of awards for hotels that play fair -- five stars for the best. As it turns out, there aren't that many of these five-star hotels. Read the full article here. |
