Swift move?
The athletic shoe company, Nike, mostly known when it comes to exploiting poor people around the world for their labor, has expanded into cultural expropriation of … their feet?
Next weekend, with great fanfare no doubt, the U.S. multinational, will sponsor a race in Guachochi, Chihuahua, to present to the market (at prices no one in Guachochi is likely to be able to afford) a new running shoe based on… poor people’s feet?
The Tarahumara (Rarimuri) people… some of the poorest in Mexico… have survived mostly because they can run. Not only is their environment one in which what food there is is “fast food” (like jackrabbits and deer), and their traditional religious ritual involved running games, they’ve had to move quick to avoid being exploited by the Aztecs, the Spanish, the mining companies, the Revolutionary armies, etc. over the centuries.
I can’t imagine what Nike is thinking of… Tarahumara as often as not run barefoot. When they do opt for footware (mostly to avoid cactus thorns and little sharp rocks), they don’t use running shoes… not anything that exploited workers in Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. couldn’t afford on their own:
THIS requires corporate capitalism?
mexfiles.net 
Bastards.
Excellent post. What a bizarre world corporations make.
Have you run across (pun intended) Huarache Blog? The blogger lives in MX, and posts some of the beautiful handworked sandal-shoes made by huaracheros. Well worth the follow.