WT expansion and enslavement of the 3rd world...

cyber-sista

As some of you know I still receive some of those dopey JW forwards from those who are trying to encourage me to come back to the Organization. This recent one I received was a bit more informative as to the workings of the Organization. I don't think this sister knows who passed this one on to her and I'm sure it wasn't meant to go out over the whole internet. Like I said I don't know it's origin--someone on a building committe perhaps. I am sure that most of us realize that the WT Org is expanding into the 3rd world. This email really focused on the Organizations building expansion. As a faithful JW I may have read this and said to myself that all these building projects were proof that Jehovah is blessing his Organization, but then again there would've been that little voice inside that disturbed me when I read something of this sort.

What I read here (and I am sure this is not a new thought to most of you) is the fact that the WT is now taking advantage of 3rd world labor. Following the examples of American manufacturers that have relocated to the 3rd world to take advantage of the "cheap" labor and the hard working ethic of the people of these countries. The big difference is the WT doesn't pay at all--they demand free labor from their workers. I think moving operations out of the US is a very smart and calculated move. I think part of the problem they were running into in the US is that the young people here are no longer willing to slave at the WT factories. During the last assembly I attended--just a couple of years ago--a leaflet was passed out. It was much like an advertising campaign calling for young ones to become workers for the organization--bethel service was emphasized over and over again. I really felt as if they were beating the young ones at that assembly--demanding that they get busy working for the organization and putting all other pursuits that a young person may be interested in. The CO gave a very pointed talk. He was sneering when he talked about the normal pursuits of young people. He lumped together marriage, having a family, education and getting a job as "worldly" pursuits. It was also stressed that parents need to make these decisions for their children--training them from an early age to serve Jehovah and his organization--it was emphasized in a strange twisted way that the young people do not have a choice in this matter. With the vast majority of the young people in the US leaving the Org this only leaves a small fraction who remain. Even with this group of "faithful" young ones I know very few who want to pack it off to slave away in a bethel factory somewhere. US manufacturers also get away with a lot more as far as working conditions and standards when they relocate in 3rd world countries. The Organization will be able to get away with a lot more in these countries. So besides the greater labor force they can tap into in the 3rd world, I am also wondering if moving their factories and assets into other countries will be better for them if they end up with many court cases in the US in the near future.

The letter: sorry can't seem to paste it hear--posted below...

cyber-sista

still trying...

Elsewhere

Try pasting it into a text editor like Notepad, then copy the text from notepad into the editer here.

cyber-sista

Thank you for the emails. My brother in Brooklyn 
		 also sent me the
information the other day on the last book. I guess that is the end
of an era of printing in Brooklyn
		. We have a giant addition going on
here in south Africa
		. We're getting one of those new presses like
Wallkill is getting that turns 90,000 mags an hour and does all the
trimming, packing,labeling, etc so that they're not touched until
they are shipped out. We will also get a book binder. Up til now
			Japan has supplied our books in the lower part of Africa
		.
 We left Sunday for a two month trip. It won't be quite so hectic
as the last one. We just do three countries, Moszambique 
			,Malawi 
		 &
		Zambia. All three have big programs so there is a lot of work to
do.
Mozambique 
		has built 364 KH in the last four years. They need
another 223. We will set them up so they finish in about two
years. Then they just need 25 a year to keep up with growth.
Malawi 
		has built 742 KH in the last four years under this program
and they need 134. They built 132 last year, so we want to start
reducing the work so that they go gradually into the mode of
keeping up with growth of 40 KH per year.
Zambia 
		 has the record for the most KH built in the world under
this program. They have done 1095 KHs in the last four years under
the program and need 325 more. It will be the same with them, we'll
start reducing the work so that they gradually reduce. They could
build all 325 in a little over a year if we kept up our pace. But
we don't want to build them all and then have to send everyone home
and then have to set up again when more halls are needed. It's
better to reduce gradually and curve down to where we are just
keeping up with the growth.
 Both Zambia
			 and Malawi 
			 also have Assembly Halls to build. 
		Zambia has asked for 240 now. We have to discuss that when I'm there.
		Malawi wants 49. The reason is that when the brothers have to travel
a long distance, they can't afford it, so they just send one member
of the family. When we set up an assembly hall for the circuit, they
can stay with in walking distance (if it's less than 4 hours or so)
and the whole family attends.
 Teaching Committee prefers it that way. But we have to see how we can
build something super simple and cheap but at the same time get them
the assembly site that they need. So, like I say, there is a lot to
do on this visit.
 We were just in Malawi 
		 a few weeks ago for another project we were
working on there. I'll send a couple of pics of halls on lake Malawi.
It is a really pretty lake. We have built seven halls along the lake
where there are no roads. We sent the materials in by boat, the name
of the boat is Utewete (
		 for in God's service) and the brothers
and sisters carried the things up the mountain. The one I'm sending
pictures of was 2000 ft up from the lake and about a mile in. They
(mostly the sisters) carried the materials up on their heads, and a
good portion of them with babies on their backs. In 
		 they carry
the babies kinda on their side so that it can nurse easy. So it is
pretty classic to see a sister with materials on her head and a baby
strapped to her side nursing away.
 The brothers say it took around 300 trips up the mountain so we
figured at 2000 ft each that is the equivalent of carrying materials
up the side of Mt Everest more than 20 times.

cyber-sista

Thanks elsewhere--finally got it.

Anyway, my thoughts on the above letter was that it sounds more like a real estate developer than a religion. The focus was on the building expansion--not the preaching and teaching work. He mentioned this program or the program a couple of times in the letter. The Org most definitely has a PLAN.

And the sisters carried most of the building material on their heads...

metatron

It's hard even for me to condemn some of this activity in Africa because the rates of AIDS are so high there, along with

other diseases, starvation and war. Most of these folks don't have much of a life expectancy. Armageddon Soon may be

all they've got.

I tend to think that the loss of printing here is largely due to stagnation in the Western world generally,

although obviously you're not going to hear the Watchtower admit that.

metatron

Elsewhere

The industrialized markets are saturated so it is time to move on to a new market: The Third World.

Poor quality of life
Short life expectancy
Poor health care resulting in many ailments in the population
Poor education
Poor information access
Prone to superstition

These people are prime targets for the organization and they are going to be eaten alive.

Very sad.

gitasatsangha

Watchtower putting all its eggs in an African basket will eventually bite it in the ass. As other missionar denominations have discovered, the Africans are not stupid, and they are not expecting to be spiritually colonized. If they follow the pattern of the Anglican church in Africa and certain other sects, they will eventually develop their own theological and real-life concerns which dying old white men in Patterson will neither be able to, nor concerned enough, to address, and that point they will probably break free. Anyone can print the cheap crap coming out of Walkhill and Bethel.

Elsewhere

Interesting... so you are suggesting that the underlying culture, beliefs, and superstitions will overwhelm anything that the WTS will teach? Basically, the people will absorb some of the WT teachings while never really letting go of their core beliefs that conflict with WT teachings.

XQsThaiPoes

Also those are "false number as the letter bringss out. Nobody has cars so the wts is force to build more halls closer together. He also said this is what the african bortherss need/ want but this does not mean this is what they will get. The wts is probally pissed off they have to spend so much more on these small scale projects. But on the plus side the land is cheap the governmnets are easy to grease, the labor is cheap, and the standards are low. ALso think about this 120 american dollars a month working in bethel factory is a great job in the third world, one even worldy people would want. I am wondering do they scale down the pay for third world bethelites.

WT expansion and enslavement of the 3rd world...

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