Would you ever buy one of these Versace & Armani tees from the street vendors?

By Naim Ibrahim

Yes, without batting an eyelid.

But those are fakes. Pirated. Isn’t that stealing?

If you go strictly by the legality of it, yes. The spirit of law is intended to protect the weak & the vulnerable but when it comes to practice it has always been a tool to protect the privileged few such as the Armanis & Versaces of this world.

How?

A year ago a cleaner at a government office in Maldives was convicted of theft. A few months later a man was convicted of theft too. The law has established both the woman & the man as thieves beyond all reasonable doubt. What did they steal? The woman took home a few spoonfuls of coffee from a Nescafe bottle at the office pantry. The man stole two bottles of fish paste Rihaakuru from the local market.

Really?

It’s a public secret that the former president & the vice president siphoned off millions from our Govt treasury. But the law that established the coffee thief & the Rihaakuru thief fails miserably when it comes to establishing the real thieves as such. Why?

Because they have lots of lawyers.

Throughout the world rich people can afford to stall & influence the legal process in their favour. Every year throughout the developing world local police conduct many raids on street vendors on behalf of the Versaces & Armanis of this world to safeguard their interests. The rich has no shortage of ways to safeguard their interests.

Why?

That’s how it has always been. Have you heard of a book called Les Misérables?

Yes.

It’s a book by French writer Victor Hugo. The inspiration for the book came from a thin young man with a loaf of bread under his arm being led away by police. Bystanders said he was being arrested for stealing the loaf. ‘Theft’ is such a thing. Why I’d buy a counterfeit product from a street vendor is because in my small way I want to rebel against the system that favours the big brands & the rich. Even though it doesn’t make any difference I want to encourage compassion and hope in the face of injustice against small street vendors.