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[BBC] In China, Uighurs 'moved into factory forced labour' for foreign brands Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony
- Thread starter Deleted member 5028
- Start date
Fuck China
But the odds of me not purchasing from and actively boycotting these companies is slim to none considering the field I work in and the hobbies I have.
But the odds of me not purchasing from and actively boycotting these companies is slim to none considering the field I work in and the hobbies I have.
I'd consider buying these electronics second-hand or used.
At least the companies won't see a dime that way.
You can buy used and fix what is broken when possible rather than immediately buying a new product. Share stuff that you don't use/need too often. And PlayStation 5/XSeX/new GeForce GPU can wait.
I'm happy that awareness is brought to these kinds of issues. But I'm pessimistic that the majority of us in western countries learn from stories like this and aren't forgotten in a year.
This isn't anything new, this isn't just some story that happened to come out of nowhere. Things like this have been happening for a long time, driving capitalism and allowing us to attain things at affordable prices. Many countries rely on the exploitation of work forces and resources around the world to bring consumer goods to us.
Recognizing this issue is a great start, but imagining that this is a one off issue that will go away because you don't buy a PS5 is so naive. It will take way more than that. At the very minimum, actively participating in conversations, changing your lifestyle, making educated purchases is a good start.
This isn't to shit on anyone, it's not an easy thing to do.
I like this idea.
This isn't anything new, this isn't just some story that happened to come out of nowhere. Things like this have been happening for a long time, driving capitalism and allowing us to attain things at affordable prices. Many countries rely on the exploitation of work forces and resources around the world to bring consumer goods to us.
Recognizing this issue is a great start, but imagining that this is a one off issue that will go away because you don't buy a PS5 is so naive. It will take way more than that. At the very minimum, actively participating in conversations, changing your lifestyle, making educated purchases is a good start.
This isn't to shit on anyone, it's not an easy thing to do.
I like this idea.
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Wow.
So, those who pass political and medical examinations get to become slaves. What happens to those who don't?
User Banned (1 Month): Inflammatory False Equivalence Surrounding Human Rights Violations
Is this news?
Almost every electronic device is made by workers who get shitty pay and environment to keep cost down to the end user.
Greedy companies and the consumer's unwillingness to accept increasing prices are to blame.
There has to be a middle ground, but it won't happen.
Almost every electronic device is made by workers who get shitty pay and environment to keep cost down to the end user.
Greedy companies and the consumer's unwillingness to accept increasing prices are to blame.
There has to be a middle ground, but it won't happen.
The most absurd thing it's the only global leader that has guts to criticise China is Trump.
Has any Dem candidate say something about it? I don't recall.
Where's UN? Where's EU?
Someone must ask Phill Spencer how he views all this.
Bernie Sanders is the leading Dem candidate and he called them out recently, I believe.
Calling them out is one thing though; this would require coordinated global sanctions on China for any changes to actually happen.
I mean, even before the Uighurs were brought into this, the working conditions were appalling. Foxconn in particular, installs fucking suicide nets outside some of their plants.
It's why I go out of my way to purchase everything I can from alternatives. Fuck the chinese government and their big corporations propagating these tactics. I already think how American workers are treated is shitty enough on average, imagine these pour souls.
Oh and even if you dodge buying physical goods from China, a non-trivial chunk of AAA software is produced with the assistance of sweatshop contractor developers from eastern Asia.
It's something we really need to have a discourse about and take affirmative action on.
It's why I go out of my way to purchase everything I can from alternatives. Fuck the chinese government and their big corporations propagating these tactics. I already think how American workers are treated is shitty enough on average, imagine these pour souls.
Oh and even if you dodge buying physical goods from China, a non-trivial chunk of AAA software is produced with the assistance of sweatshop contractor developers from eastern Asia.
It's something we really need to have a discourse about and take affirmative action on.
I appreciate your response, it's too easy to find people unable to change their opinion. 👍
Organ "donors"
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It's not normally part of a state-sponsored ethnic cleansing attempt aimed at a particular minority group. It's usually much more 'well this is just how capitalism/socialism/whatever fucked up social system we have results in, can't be helped'.
This is a nightmare. I'm going to stop buying tech and hope this gets addressed by at least *some* companies.
Are you aware of the background to this story at all? Yes, it's news. An entire subsection of a country's population faces mass incarceration and torture in camps before being turned into a slave labour force on an industrial scale. This isn't just some story about finding a sweatshop of desperate migrants in some office basement.
Yeah headphones in general seems like a pretty easy category for this particular ethical consumption under capitalism.
Bose, Audio-Technica, Bang & Olufsen, Plantronics, Sennheiser, AKG...
This is the first we've heard of China using their internment camp victims as slave labor, so yes it is news.
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Thank you for this, incredibly chilling. The journalists could barely talk to anyone throughout the video, absolutely unreal.
The woman who was split from her children and husband, just heartbreaking.
Fuck this shit.
Muslims are being opressed everywhere, while everyone else are benefiting from them. This has been the worst timeline for muslims.
Muslims are being opressed everywhere, while everyone else are benefiting from them. This has been the worst timeline for muslims.
Fucking hell how do you even stop this as a citizen? This needs to be handled by the government. I just read through that list and I have no idea how I could continue to function at work and at home without buying something from a company on that list.
General Electric alone makes everything from hot water heaters to fucking hard hats to printers and airplane parts.....
General Electric alone makes everything from hot water heaters to fucking hard hats to printers and airplane parts.....
The biggest issue standing in the way of greater accountability and transparency for Western brands that source and / or manufacture in Asia or Africa is so-called "manufacturing coordinators". While in some cases a big company saying "well, we had no idea our work was being subcontracted out to a non-compliant factory" is clearly a lie, in a fair amount of cases it's actually pretty plausible - particularly in fashion, where a brand's point of contact in the sourcing country might be multiple steps removed from the people actually managing the facility.
As awful as Foxconn is, in some ways those kinds of almost-exclusive, close-partner facilities are better than the complete blindspot that manufacturing coordinators operate in.
As awful as Foxconn is, in some ways those kinds of almost-exclusive, close-partner facilities are better than the complete blindspot that manufacturing coordinators operate in.
I think not tieing human rights to trade policy was a bad decision. We're stuck with China as it is now but I feel that our government bears a responsibility for how our consumer products are manufactured given we allowed our industrial infrastructure to move over there.
Remember when the liberals naively claimed we were at the end of history and the spread of free markets would lead to freedom around the world? Yea. This is what unregulated globalisation gets us.
All trade deals should have environmental and human rights (including labour rights) embedded in them.
All trade deals should have environmental and human rights (including labour rights) embedded in them.
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It doesn't matter if they get $200 a day or $2 a week. It's forced employment where they're unable to leave.
For the record I am not sure what, if any remuneration they receive.
Did you even bother to read any of this? Are you aware of the situation with Uighurs at all? This isn't simply the usual sweatshop conditions we're familiar with (which of course is bad and shouldn't be accepted either).
I haven't been this stricken by a headline in a long time. Holy fucking shit. And the list of companies is basically every electronics company of any real size or presence, so doing a true boycott is basically impossible. Even buying something from a different brand could potentially have sourced parts from one of these. I should make a note to write to some of these companies and voice concerns. Maybe my government too.
Sometimes I wonder if I will live to see the dystopian government running China be replaced by something better. I certainly hope so.
Sometimes I wonder if I will live to see the dystopian government running China be replaced by something better. I certainly hope so.
If this is just the list of known manufacturers, the reality is probably a lot more. Given that, I doubt it's possible to buy any electronics and be sure no part of it came from Chinese slave labour.
Dont do something as pointlessly trivial as not buying the products you need for work
Instead, if you want to make a difference raise awareness. A ton of people still dont know about these atrocities, and educating folks bit by bit makes a difference
Saw the whole thing, really amazing what those two were able to do. That takes peak bravery. I'd think they managed to upload/cloud save every video as they recorded it and just deleted the in-phone copies to fake them "deleting" them.
It's hard to believe that the entire planet is so dependant on China that they're so easily able to get away with these things. But even as a kid I knew about this since like EVERY toy has "Made in China" labelled on them, so it's funny/sad how obviously dominant they are in literally everything we use.
I hope Nintendo manages to move as much production out of China as possible. Thank god they already have what may be the lion's share of production now in Vietnam, but that was due to Trump's tariff business. Still, I'll take what I can get. I'm worried about Nintendo's dealings with China since they just released the Switch there, but that (hopefully) has as little to do with this shit as possible. I hope Nintendo comments about this very soon, I'm happy Microsoft already swiftly has.
Edit: Tweeted the video:
Mods can we have this thread on spotlight/sticky thread. It is a uttershame if this thread gets lost in second /third pages.
How the fuck is that pointless? Fuck that kind of defeatist, whiny attitude. Our consumer habits matter. You can buy used. You don't need the absolute newest shit at every turn. You can fix stuff. You can try to find ways of not having to buy stuff for yourself (sharing with other people who already have what you need, or even renting some less-used stuff). You can also think long and hard if everything you are buying is absolutely necessary or if you can live without it, even if it makes your life a little bit more cumbersome.
This will definitely be in my mind when considering any purchases upcoming.
I simply have no more faith in the government of China to become any more humane in their treatment of the Uighurs or even their own general citizenry. I think a drawdown towards zero trade with China would be ideal. The business only fuels slavery, torture, detainment, and fairly substantially supports North Korea's regime by proxy.
If things are more expensive, fine. Buy less often, buy used, maintain things better. The cycle of aggressively being on a treadmill for the yearly phone releases and increasingly unrepairable devices is not only bad for the environment, but fairly stupid behavior as well just in general.
I simply have no more faith in the government of China to become any more humane in their treatment of the Uighurs or even their own general citizenry. I think a drawdown towards zero trade with China would be ideal. The business only fuels slavery, torture, detainment, and fairly substantially supports North Korea's regime by proxy.
If things are more expensive, fine. Buy less often, buy used, maintain things better. The cycle of aggressively being on a treadmill for the yearly phone releases and increasingly unrepairable devices is not only bad for the environment, but fairly stupid behavior as well just in general.