Through the eyes of former workers at the once-famous cotton factory in Burkina Faso, ‘The Siren of Faso Fani’ explores the disastrous consequences of global economic policies that are blind to local realities. The shutdown of the factory in 2001 put hundreds out of work, plunged thousands into poverty and left an entire city reeling: Koudougou, where I was born 40 years ago. A decade after this economic and social disaster, I return to a city that is now a shadow of its former self, and to the silent factory that was so central to my childhood. But most of all I come to see the workers. Stripped of their livelihood and of their pride, they remain convinced that reviving the cotton industry can offer a viable future for the whole community.