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| Boy scouts relaxing in sombrero vueltiao hats today in La Candelaria. |
The news that one of Colombia's national symbols, the sombrero vueltiao, is being imported from China, should make Colombian officials reflect on the consequences of its rush to open itself to free trade.
The hat is traditionally made by residents of the Zenú indigenous territory San Andrés de Sotavento. As you can see here, it's a slow, laborious process.
This story in El Tiempo describes the poverty in which many of the traditional hat weavers live, how they may spend a week making a single hat, which they sell for 120,000 pesos, and how that hat gets resold for several times as much in the big city. The article also mentions that some Chinese businesses had approached a traditional hatmaker offering to pay him for his methods. The artisan says he refused - but the Chinese evidently learned, anyway.
That Chinese factories can make sombreros vueltiao faster and cheaper than traditional weavers is no surprise. And Colombia's proposed government measures, such as labeling hats' countries of origin, aren't likely to make much difference. Colombia's only real option for keeping the hat industry at home is to set up its own factories - altho that would put even more pressure on the traditional hatmakers. Even then, we can only hope that Colombian industry can outcompete the Chinese, even with the Chinese' extra costs of shipping their products halfway around the globe.
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| Sombrero vueltiao hats for sale near El Museo de Oro. I couldn't find a label saying where they'd been made. |
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| A traditional weaver at work. |
Perhaps, at least, the Chinese factories are weaving their sombreros out of Colombian-grown fibers. If so, they'll be following the sad pattern that's trapping Latin American countries in underdevelopment - exporting their raw materials to China, which manufactures them into retail products and sells them back to Latin America at a profit.
But don't blame the Chinese, tho, who are just working hard. Blame the countries which allow themselves to be treated this way.
By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours
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5 comments:
Free trade is Colombia's answer out of poverty. Colombians need to step up to the challenge. No economy is successful when closed ("protected"). Free market equals free people.
I'm cetainly not against free trade per se. It can be very good when it stimulates economies to become more competitive, make better products, etc.
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But there should also be balance and control and protection for specific industries so they can grow. That's how the 'Asian tigers' grew their economies. Othewise, Colombia will never be able to compete with China, etc. and will be condemned to never developing much of an industrial economy - which is what produces a middle class.
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Mike
(I always shriek when people mention classes. It's a very outdated and divisive way of categorizing people.) If Colombians can not compete in a particular sector with others in a free market it means that that particular economy is not viable and hands should be turned to other sectors to achieve an advantage.
Poorer people in other countries deserve to be able to compete fairly in a free market for others' wealth. That is how China is where it is today. Once a completely broken economy producing completely unnecessary steel. This plus, unfortunately, the amount of labour diverted to steel production meant that the majority of the harvest was left to rot uncollected in many areas. This proves a very valid lesson on the subject of this post.
I'm no expert, but my impression is that China got where it is today by lots of top-down economic measures, probably combined with tariffs. In fact, I understand that the Chinese government continues favoring certain industries (which is why the US is suing China for unfair trade practices). If China's done these things, doesn't Colombia have a right to, too?
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Mike
Yes, your impression is not that of an expert and has probably lead to a misguided view on Colombia's economy.
China is where it is undertaking the "correct" economic measures (Far from protection in fact, as there'd been no economy to protect to begin with.). As China takes the lead through a capitalist economy the US's decline is all the more imminent as it falters on it's own capitalism.
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