In her recent essay, ‘The Pandemic is a Portal’, writer Arundhati Roy likened COVID-19 to a “chemical experiment” that “illuminated hidden things.”
In the textile industry, it has unveiled the hidden hands that stitch, pick, and package clothes in the bottom rungs of global supply chains.
In Pakistan, the pandemic has driven workers from their machines and to the factory gates, manifesting their outrage at unpaid wages. Their employers – many of whom are suppliers to international brands – responded with mass layoffs and gun fire.
