On one side we have the Europeans. On the other, the United States. The different approaches the two are taking to provide aid to Bangladesh factory workers says a good bit about the cultural differences involved.

Two clothing factories in Bangladesh and Pakistan were inspected for safety conditions by independent auditing firms prior to 2012 fires that killed hundreds of employees, according to a new report by the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO).

Words fail at times like this – another garment factory fire in Bangladesh; 112 dead and 150 injured; another round of despair and anguish for the workers and their families; another round of denials by international garment brands that they bear any responsibility; another round of promises by the brands and their contractors that they will “do better” while refusing to acknowledge that it is their “profits first and foremost” production system that has led to fire after fire after fire.

A prominent union organizer in Bangladesh was tortured and murdered last week in retaliation for his work in exposing unsafe conditions at garment factories, according to Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), an international monitoring group.