Waste collection; the last resort for the unemployed/ Kioumarth Amiri
The phenomenon of waste picking in the global market, especially in Iran, does not have a long history. This false profession emerged about three decades ago, following the lack of fair distribution of facilities and the widening gap between social classes, and with the increase of poverty and unemployment in Iranian society, it has become a serious issue. It has become a false source of income that has attracted thousands of men, women, elderly, youth, and children in Iran, and has become the main source of income for many impoverished families and individuals. Rural migrants living on the outskirts of cities, the poor and destitute in urban areas, and especially orphaned and impoverished children are among the major groups involved in this business. This false profession does not require any capital other than human labor, and does not require any effort or skill.
Nowadays, with the expansion of this phenomenon and the emergence of profit and wealth mafia and the existence of hidden hands in this corrupt system, it is known in Iranian society as “dirty gold”.
Thousands of children, women, men, elderly, and young people wander around the cities day and night, and some of them are the sole breadwinners of families with several members. Thousands of shopkeepers professionally buy these wastes from garbage collectors and sell them to wholesalers, who in turn send them to factories in bulk and in large quantities after sorting them.
This is the beginning of one of the largest satellite towns of Kermanshah city. This street separates the town of “Jafarabad” from the city’s fabric. It is a forty-five meter street that is bustling with activity, with junk shops on both sides and the entire pedestrian surface covered in debris and garbage. The foul and repulsive smell fills the air, and the hustle and bustle of rag pickers, dressed in dirty and tattered clothes, can be seen as they roam around for work.
Sajad is a 28-year-old young man who, along with his elderly father who is a rural migrant from several decades ago, has been running a scrap shop in this neighborhood for several years.
According to our previous agreement, I arrive at Sajjad’s shop early in the morning, before the sunrise. His father has not yet come to work; the other shops are still closed and only a few are in the process of opening. It’s early winter and the air is bitterly cold. In this chilly morning, the first customer of Sajjad, a man around forty-five years old, arrives. The old, worn-out coat he’s wearing is unable to protect him from the cold of December, and as a result, his hands are shaking from the cold. He looks prematurely aged and his face reflects poverty and misery. He holds a small plastic bag in his hand and without saying a word, hands it to Sajjad. Sajjad puts the bag on his large scale and then gives the man seven thousand tomans from his palm. The man leaves and I watch him go. He crosses the street and makes his way to the bakery on the other side of the
Not much time has passed since Sajjad turned to me and said, “This was the fourteenth customer who came and went.” Looking behind me, we see the same first customer leaving a few loaves of bread at the baker’s.
Sajjad says: “This is our daily work. Every day, dozens of people bring a small amount of waste in the morning and evening to buy bread for their families. Honestly, my heart aches for them and I try to come to the shop earlier in the morning to help these poor people with their work. One day, I was a little late to the shop and when I arrived, there were more than fifty people standing with their bags, waiting at the shop.”
Sajjad continues: “I have about thirty to forty of these customers every day. They buy their bread like this. It’s amazing what else they do for a living. The shopkeepers here don’t all come early in the morning and they don’t all buy these small and cheap wastes from customers. They say it’s not worth the effort and fatigue, but I can’t bring myself to disappoint them. I buy whatever they bring because I know that each one has a few family members waiting at home
Sajad turns his face towards me and says with sadness and dissatisfaction: “Oh God! If it weren’t for these old and torn rags, what would be the fate of these poor and hungry people?”
The city of Kermanshah is surrounded by dozens of impoverished towns.
This bitter and agonizing tale is the story of the suffering and painful fate of thousands of destitute and unemployed people who live in the outskirts of the city, surrounded by misery. They struggle with countless problems and difficulties in the large neighborhoods and are constantly facing hardships.
The large towns of “Jafarabad”, “Dolatabad”, “Zoorabad”, “Shaterabad”, “Kacholabad”, and others each have thousands of poor residents, contrary to their names which suggest prosperity. These towns have been in ruins for many years, with growing populations and numerous problems of poverty. Despite this, no solution has been found for their residents. These towns were formed around fifty years ago, when villagers who could not survive in their own villages were forced to move to the outskirts of cities, without any knowledge of urban social and economic relations. Meanwhile, the urban poor, who have been increasing in numbers over the years, have no other option but to join the residents of these towns, where they live in poverty and misery. Every year, more villagers are added to this population, living in small and miserable shantytowns in these towns, with no hope for their future. Although this large population is constantly engaged in collecting and recycling waste
On the other hand, there are some individuals among this population who, by taking advantage of the sick and corrupt society and its economy, suddenly and overnight become owners of wealth and ill-gotten fortunes, and separate themselves from this class.
A reflection on the phenomenon of migration.
Now that the discussion of migration and its consequences in society has emerged, it is not a bad idea to take a brief look at this issue to clarify it. The phenomenon of migration in the world, especially among underdeveloped and developing countries, is not a new and unfamiliar phenomenon. Its history dates back centuries and especially after the emergence of a giant called “machine” in human life, this phenomenon took shape and has been increasing day by day.
In societies with acceptable economies and proper laws and planning, the phenomenon of migration is mostly solved and does not show itself as a problem; although migration has always been a phenomenon that challenges the overall social order and system, but in advanced industrial societies with their own specific process, this phenomenon can sometimes help the progress of those societies, but unfortunately in societies lacking a dynamic economy and rule of law, where the fundamental rights of humans are ignored and not guaranteed, migration can manifest itself as a deadly poison and create numerous problems for the fate of millions of people who have left their homeland in search of a better life and have flocked to the outskirts of cities. This large group of people are trapped in an unjust and unfair cycle of aimlessness and their problems only increase day by day.
These immigrants, in societies where the economy is sick like Iran, have been struggling with thousands of hardships and have been deprived of basic human rights for years, even centuries, wandering among various problems and difficulties, and enduring a bitter fate. The capitalist world believes that third world societies are like parasites, reproducing and living off of each other, and eventually dying like parasites.
A general look inside the lives of the marginalized people in the major city of Kermanshah.
More than half of the population of Kermanshah city live in the suburban areas surrounding the city, and these suburbs have created a wall of poverty and deprivation around the city. In these suburbs, small and shabby houses with less than fifty square meters of space, lacking any architectural or urban planning principles, have been built, and a considerable population lives in each house, most of whom do not even have a place to sleep. There is no sign of hospitality, bedrooms, kitchens, etc. in these houses, and all members of the household, from the elderly to breastfeeding infants, young adults, newlyweds, and grooms, spend their days and nights together, cramped and crowded. Sometimes, there is not enough space for everyone to sleep, and some members of the household are forced to spend the hot summer nights on the rooftop of their houses or inside their small, cramped rooms or vans parked on the street.
In such times, no one comes to the aid of another. In the past, there used to be a sense of compassion, kindness, friendship, and cooperation among people, but with the rising cost of living and inflation, all of those relationships have disappeared and now there is no sign of that friendship and interaction. The effects of malnutrition can be seen on the faces of each individual living in these neighborhoods.
A large number of these people have accepted waste collection and scavenging as their only source of income, and avoiding false jobs among them is inevitable. They roam the central streets and corners of the city day and night, until late hours and early mornings, searching through garbage cans and the streets and alleys for something they can make money from.
It has often happened that over a piece of cardboard or something similar, several people have fallen to their deaths and made each other bloody and injured over garbage cans.
Addicts who make up a large population and whose addiction stems from the unfortunate circumstances of living on the margins, also make up a part of these people who struggle day and night to make a living. They sometimes gather around these same trash cans in groups of three or four and, disregarding the looks of passersby, consume the drugs they need and no one pays any attention to them; neither the police nor anyone else, because after a while this has become a normal occurrence and its ugliness has been lost in today’s Iranian society.
Unfortunately, war and bloody conflicts are another part of the daily behavior and actions of the residents of these villages; it seems as if this large and poor population, who have been living in a cycle of poverty and despair for many years, have reached their breaking point and are tired and angry, wanting to express their inner anger and hatred in this way. Mental and psychological disorders are inevitable among this poor and large segment of society, leading not only to conflicts but also to numerous and unusual cases of self-immolation and suicide, all while the number of families falling into destitution increases day by day among the marginalized population. Daily construction work, with all its difficulties and hardships, and seasonal labor for farmers during harvest season are other occupations that have become the fate of some of the residents of these villages. Hard and exhausting seasonal work with very low wages and no insurance or other benefits has kept some of the women, men, and young people of these villages occupied every year.
There is no concept of physical and mental health in all of these neighborhoods. Sound and hygiene pollution are an inseparable part of the lives of marginalized people that occur day and night in these neighborhoods. The future is bleak and worrying for these poor and destitute people. Can we watch their lives of pain and suffering?
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Collecting waste False occupations Garbage collector Kiumars Amiri Monthly Peace Line Magazine Paragraph peace line Peace Treaty Number 129 Unemployment Waste management