How It's Made: Pakistan
May 22, 2022 8:47 AM   Subscribe

The YouTube channel Random Things, despite its name, provides something very specific: commentary-free, music-free videos of the manufacturing process in small factories and workshops in Pakistan. Craftsmen and laborers work in what are often difficult circumstances to make cricket/tennis balls, Hollywood fantasy swords, spoons, recycled steel, and much more.
posted by Countess Elena (38 comments total) 34 users marked this as a favorite
 
Watching the spoons one! This is super cool as both a documentary and a relaxation tool, but it also seems like an OSHA nightmare.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:00 AM on May 22, 2022 [2 favorites]


No shade on this FPP or anything, but the internet's obsession with turning poorly paid manual labour/mass production/sweatshop work into "weirdly satisfying" or even ASMR-type content is deeply weird and troubling.

I've seen way too many videos like this where the comments exclaim over how "amazing" and "efficient" the workers are, or getting excited at people doing things like throwing barrels or turning out products precisely every time, with no thought to the fact that it's implicitly endorsing this kind of exploitation, or the fact that these workers are only able to churn out this machine-like efficiency because they have to do it for many hours every day, with little to no personal safety, to the detriment of their health. Somehow I doubt these places adequately reward the workmanship on display. It's the normalisation of something that shouldn't be normal at all.
posted by fight or flight at 9:06 AM on May 22, 2022 [21 favorites]


That's fair. I personally do not find it "weirdly satisfying," although that is how I feel about, say, Oreo manufacturing. I hope I didn't frame it that way. But this is fascinating for other reasons. It's hard, sweated work in circumstances we don't generally see in the West, although we may see the products. I don't know that these particular things go abroad, but those of us in other countries are part of the same supply chain.

I also find it interesting because the narrative in the West of manufacturing abroad seems to focus on women or children in warehouses, and these are (many of them) skilled men in small holdings. They deserve better.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:14 AM on May 22, 2022 [5 favorites]


I think the more positive spin is that this kind of radical documentary builds awareness that can be crafted into action. A 10,000 word essay or CNN hit is much harder to swallow than raw footage of a man working with steel while wearing flip flops.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:16 AM on May 22, 2022 [11 favorites]


That feels like a fair take, but this channel clearly isn't interested in raising awareness of these poor conditions or advocating for the workers. None of the factories are named. The content may be being delivered by someone in Pakistan for a wider audience, but I get the impression it's for the usual "like and subscribe" crowd, not to encourage Western audiences to take action on behalf of the rights and safety of the workers. You're not meant to say "this is a terrible factory where they clearly exploit the hard work of these men", you're meant to say "wow, look at these hard workers, this is aspirational".

Anyway, I watched a few videos and then got to the one where they're making non-stick aluminium cookware and two of the guys have both hands heavily wrapped in bandages while working closely with very dangerous machinery and had to quit there.
posted by fight or flight at 9:31 AM on May 22, 2022 [2 favorites]


(And sorry Countess Elena, I don't mean to threadshit. This has been a bugbear of mine for a while. I used to like scrolling through /r/oddlysatisfying while trying to get to sleep and that sub has been somewhat taken over by these kinds of "wow look at this guy carrying 200lbs of sand on his back and throwing it expertly into a truck" videos instead of, idk, watching someone find a rock that fits perfectly inside of another rock.)
posted by fight or flight at 9:34 AM on May 22, 2022 [1 favorite]


I don’t really think the intentionally off the authors is needed here. Like, the first comment on the spoons video is about the safety violations. This is surely content created to celebrate the workers for doing hard work, but it’s up to us to consider and provide context for just how hazardous this work is. I don’t now if that’s optimal, but the fact that these conditions are being shown (as opposed to being cut away from) is important and good.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:07 AM on May 22, 2022 [5 favorites]


A friend quipped: “late capitalism might be here, but it’s unevenly distributed”, and found this video of Wilson tennis balls being manufactured in a different country. It’s quite a contrast in safety and cleanliness, and that’s something to mull.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:28 AM on May 22, 2022


I think having no commentary is way better than fumbling the commentary, and merely accurate 'how things are made' videos are generally worthwhile, situated somewhere near the intersection of Mr. Rogers's factory visits and academic rather than activist treatments of Marx's theory of alienation / commodity fetishism.
posted by Wobbuffet at 10:34 AM on May 22, 2022 [1 favorite]


There are several Youtube channels that focus on "street food" in a variety of locales, which people might find similarly interesting but less fraught since the conditions aren't particularly dangerous and everyone is obviously getting paid (usually the filmer buys one of the food items, and then records it being created without commentary and just background street noise). Some cooks are wizards at rapid mass-production of small food objects.
posted by aramaic at 10:45 AM on May 22, 2022 [1 favorite]


aramaic, would be up for either sharing some of those links here or making a FPP?
posted by curious nu at 10:57 AM on May 22, 2022


I can do without the handwringing. If your awareness can't be raised simply by watching, it probably can't be raised at all.

Furthermore, what some of these videos show isn't necessarily poorly paid or exploitative, but fit quite well within their contexts. Demanding higher standards is also denying their access to markets and their own ability to demand higher standards for themselves.

The wonderful thing about these kinds of videos is how the process is shown. Many people in more developed countries think things are stamped out by some big machine, when it's often either the very same processes as shown, or when highly automated, the skills involved are masked by the engineering and capital involved doing the automation. You might see video of some guy loading raw material into a machine that spits out a finished part. What you don't usually see is the thought, engineering, trial and error, and toolmaking that goes into that whole process, which just hides any skills it took to get there.

There are several Youtube channels that focus on "street food" in a variety of locales, which people might find similarly interesting but less fraught since the conditions aren't particularly dangerous and everyone is obviously getting paid .

I'm not sure you can make such an assumption. Does any viewer know how much is being made, what situations are being worked in any of these videos? Being fraught is a hangup of the viewer, not of the subject being recorded. One aspect of privilege is the comfort of judging the level of exploitation based on the unknown and contexts that simply will not apply.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:06 AM on May 22, 2022 [10 favorites]


Furthermore, what some of these videos show isn't necessarily poorly paid or exploitative, but fit quite well within their contexts. Demanding higher standards is also denying their access to markets and their own ability to demand higher standards for themselves.

Respectfully, this is exactly the kind of language that justifies people being made to work in conditions where they haven't been given the proper safety equipment or any thought towards their health or personal comfort. Even a single glance at some of those videos shows men working in sandals and no gloves or helmets, and more alarmingly no masks and apparently little ventilation, while operating very dangerous machinery and breathing in toxic fumes and smoke. You don't need to be an expert to understand that it's dangerous. These men are undoubtably skilled, but they're paying for it with their health. Is that worth getting a cheap coat rack or some pots and pans? The workers have very little ability to "demand higher standards for themselves", given the state of Pakistan's labour market.

These videos aren't "wonderful", they're disturbing. I do agree that they can be valuable in that they show privileged audiences the human cost of cheap merchandise (always useful to remind oneself about, see also fast fashion), but if we're going to get into it, I can do without commentary trying to turn it into some kind of necessary evil or, worse, a fun "relaxing" video for social media to enjoy. A reminder that we're only 10 years out from the horrific fires in Lahore and Karachi that killed over 200 workers.

I wonder how this FPP would have come across if framed with this article from the Human Rights Watch in 2019 about the exploitative labour practices rife in Pakistan.
posted by fight or flight at 11:29 AM on May 22, 2022 [9 favorites]


2N2222, agreed.

I think people have to realize that this sort of production is usually not happening for western export. Occasionally a supplier will be secretly subcontracting the work out on you (clothing manufacturing is rife with this) but generally this is domestic. Is it awful? Yes. Does it mean low income people in Pakistan can buy spoons? Yes. The same people who work these kinds of jobs. Should we deny them access to basic consumer goods because they can't afford things produced at the level we'd prefer?

This is Sheffield in the 19th century. It was awful, and England moved past it as the average standard of living rose. In the same way that China is working hard to get rid of shops at this level. They're not in that phase anymore.

Edit: I'd add that England and most of the west moved past it partly by moving that exploitation offshore, but that's a different topic.
posted by jellywerker at 11:50 AM on May 22, 2022


From an educated, Western perspective, I understand that this seems horrible and inhumane. The sword-making video is a good example of no safety equipment, working in unsafe, unclean conditions.

Part of me wonders what those guys would say about it? Do they take pride in their work, despite the dirt and hazard? Are they appalled at the shallowness of Western consumers clamoring for fake swords? Are they amused at our apparent stupidity? Do they think that Western countries are so inundated with sword fights that there is a mass market for cheap swords? Are these swords even going to Western markets?

It’s easy to cast aspersions when we are missing information and a major thing missing from the videos is their side of the story.

In contrast, I watch a lot of Tokyozebra videos, which are Day In The Life productions. Obviously, there’s a huge difference in living standards, etc. but the thing that is included is commentary by the people actually doing the work. That context is, I think, important and it is what’s missing from these videos.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 12:01 PM on May 22, 2022 [1 favorite]


A few street/small-time food venue "vloggers" (is that the correct phrase?) include:

Yummyboy
DancingBacons
AamchiMumbai
RashidaHussain
THESTREETCHEF

...there are of course many others, but these avoid the "western white guy being amazed at a foreign culture and can't stop prattling on about it" theme that is pretty common in travel videos.
posted by aramaic at 12:06 PM on May 22, 2022 [6 favorites]


I wonder if the reaction here would be different if these videos were of Amazon workers sweltering in poor conditions in a warehouse in Arkansas. I wonder if there would be as much talk about "context". Just something to consider.

It’s easy to cast aspersions when we are missing information and a major thing missing from the videos is their side of the story.

The article I linked contains a report about Parkistan's garment industry where the workers themselves were interviewed. They absolutely know they're being exploited. I think it's absolute nonsense (and pretty offensive, to be quite honest) to assume that these men don't know that they should have better protection and that they're working in poor conditions.
posted by fight or flight at 12:09 PM on May 22, 2022 [3 favorites]


I don't think anyone's arguing that they don't know the conditions are bad and that they're being exploited. I'm not. But I think if they had the option to say "right then, I'm done being exploited, good day" they would already have done that. There's a reason people still work at Amazon warehouses. They need the money and it's the best option for them around. Don't buy stuff from vendors you don't know the provenance of I guess.
posted by jellywerker at 12:19 PM on May 22, 2022


THANK YOU
posted by infini at 12:28 PM on May 22, 2022


These videos are presented without any commentary, analysis, or flashy presentation.
I understand a consumer in a capitalist country feeling uncomfortable at seeing appalling working conditions in the manufacture of their commodities.
I understand the impulse to say "take this unpleasantness from my sight".
But representing that request for the exploitation to be forced back into the darkness on the other side of the world as some kind of woke concern for the dignity of the wage slaves is so backwards it's almost laughable.
I'll share these videos, admire these workers' skill and resilience as I publicize their terrible working conditions and organize against the economic system that demands those conditions.
posted by Krawczak at 12:50 PM on May 22, 2022 [11 favorites]


The tennis ball video is brutal to watch because in the "related videos" you can see how a modern factory does it in China.
posted by your postings may, in fact, be signed at 1:01 PM on May 22, 2022 [2 favorites]


representing that request for the exploitation to be forced back into the darkness on the other side of the world as some kind of woke concern for the dignity of the wage slaves

I never said the videos should be "forced back into the darkness". I expressed that the videos, as they are currently presented, made me uncomfortable and outlined reasons why.

As for "woke concern", wow, I did not expect this kind of language and pushback on the Blue of all places. Shows what I know, I guess. I'll keep my thoughts to myself in future so everyone can just enjoy the videos.
posted by fight or flight at 1:02 PM on May 22, 2022 [4 favorites]


I watched this, it is metal recycling, that is a plus. Pakistan is in a heat wave right now, so it is very hot there. The men are all wearing clean, ironed, clothes, some were smiling while they worked, maybe this is for the film. I was very aware I can turn down the volume on my phone while watching, they aren't wearing noise reduction headphones. I didn't see gloves, either. One of the workers looked way too thin. The whole thing seemed a soul crushing erasure of one's life's time. And I am not sure what the heat source is, natural gas? It looks difficult, and deafening. I am aware that Islam allows for slavery. So I wondered if the skinny guy making the molds for the metal squares that are the first building block, is a slave? However I am here and they are there, and it is good to know processes, and see what it takes to lessen the human dependency on energy. Instead of a giant hopper where the separated metal goes, and automation from melt to pour, and reheat for extrusion; people work, supply the energy from agriculture consumption. This resource use has been in the making for 50,000 years. Somewhere in the middle, we can live on this world, and leave it in good shape, and have our own, gratifying lives. In some ways I am lucky.
posted by Oyéah at 2:08 PM on May 22, 2022 [1 favorite]


The spoons are beautiful!
posted by Oyéah at 2:15 PM on May 22, 2022


These videos make me incredibly sad and worried. No one in the abrasives rooms corners of the open-air building or paint areas have any proper respirators. The sandblasting booth with no gloves made me ill. No safety goggles, no steel-toed shoes, the guys carrying sheet metal bare-handed, just cringe after cringe. I get it, it's what work there is, but gods damn it makes me sad.
posted by xedrik at 2:30 PM on May 22, 2022 [6 favorites]


I appreciated the videos, both as a view into the actual process of making things, and a view into the working conditions in these factories.
posted by Dip Flash at 2:44 PM on May 22, 2022


Good Lord.

Any documentary video necessarily comes with some framing – the decision to film the subject in the first place (and not some other subject); the way it's edited; the title used for the video: etc.

But it's hard to imagine a framing more neutral than the one we see here. No commentary or editorializing. Just a frank document of something rarely documented at all (at least in a way that's accessible to western viewers).

If you can watch these videos without thinking "wow; our ability as westerners to enjoy cheap frivolous bullshit depends on some pretty fucking questionable labor conditions on the other side of the globe" – then I can't imagine what would open your eyes to that fact.

To the haters: what, exactly, would you have the videographers do differently?
posted by escape from the potato planet at 4:10 PM on May 22, 2022 [9 favorites]


This is also why people like Erdogan don't like the Kurdish workers party. Obviously workers rights do not exist. The float, the profit, is in no rules, protections, and probably no insurance, no government oversight. They are going to oversee obedience to religious principles, and I guess feeling they are right is going to substitute for wellness. They will all be deafened by that work, and I can't imagine the shape their lungs are in. The films are good, informative.
posted by Oyéah at 6:17 PM on May 22, 2022


Watching the workers in the tennis ball factory, breathing in all the rubber powders and glue and heated glue vapours, and sticking their hands into hydraulic presses, felt absolutely horrible. Tennis balls cost less than a dollar each where I live.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:18 PM on May 22, 2022 [1 favorite]


I can do without the handwringing. If your awareness can't be raised simply by watching, it probably can't be raised at all.


Huh. I can do without the bootstraps aspirational marketplace narrative.

But I think if they had the option to say "right then, I'm done being exploited, good day" they would already have done that.

Huh.

It’s easy to cast aspersions when we are missing information and a major thing missing from the videos is their side of the story.


You rang?
posted by aspersioncast at 8:14 PM on May 22, 2022


You rang?

Yes, I think I've been reading your username as aspersioncats for some strange reason and now I have whiplash.

Also I think I smell burning toast. But maybe that's actually the MEK from the tennis ball video. Maybe it's MEK on toast.
posted by loquacious at 11:01 PM on May 22, 2022 [1 favorite]


> I appreciated the videos, both as a view into the actual process of making things, and a view into the working conditions in these factories.

> No commentary or editorializing. Just a frank document of something rarely documented at all (at least in a way that's accessible to western viewers).

If you can watch these videos without thinking "wow; our ability as westerners to enjoy cheap frivolous bullshit depends on some pretty fucking questionable labor conditions on the other side of the globe" – then I can't imagine what would open your eyes to that fact.


> The tennis ball video is brutal to watch because in the "related videos" you can see how a modern factory does it in China.

kinda mesmerizing like ascension[1,2] by jessica kingdon[3] if you strung them together quasi-narratively[4] and put a soundtrack[5,6,7] on it.
posted by kliuless at 1:56 AM on May 23, 2022 [1 favorite]




Right up my alley, so excellent, thank you.

Making real stuff out of metal is primitive work.
When the world collapses, South Asia is going to survive and thrive.
Making stuff takes a lot of energy, human and chemical and mechanical.
posted by Meatbomb at 8:58 AM on May 25, 2022


When the world collapses, South Asia is going to survive and thrive.

Not if what gets us all is climate change -- in that case most of Pakistan, nearly all of Bangladesh, and a huge-ass chunk of India will be more or less uninhabitable by surface-dwellers (cf. the recent 51C heat wave).
posted by aramaic at 10:59 PM on May 25, 2022 [1 favorite]


But it's hard to imagine a framing more neutral than the one we see here
There is some editing going on here. No sound, or introduction, or interviews. It's being presented as a fairly neutral thing, but more holistic context could be applied. Are all places of work like this in Pakistan? Is this more rural/urban? Etc.
posted by ckoerner at 2:19 PM on May 26, 2022


Are all places of work like this in Pakistan?

I can speak in a general sense for much of Asia. For private small business based on manufacturing, it is like this. Big multinationals might have fancy clean factories, but they are sourcing parts from dudes like this.

To be honest, I would rather work in a place like this. Doubt they have a time clock, and you can smoke.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:27 PM on May 27, 2022


And eventually the rabbit hole led me to what I assume are East Europeans doing very similar stuff, on similar machines. They wear matching boiler suits and do not get to sit or squat as much, other than that the process/vibe/work situation is identical.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:26 PM on June 6, 2022 [2 favorites]


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