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Woke Corporations and Uighur Slave Labor
Are you getting tired of being lectured by woke corporate CEO’s, athletes, Nike, tech companies, and any number of other Wokeratti? Here is a list of the corporations that have forced Uighur labor in their supply chains according to The Australian Strategic Policy Institute:
Abercrombie & Fitch, Acer, Adidas, Alstom, Amazon, Apple, ASUS, BAIC Motor, BMW, Bombardier, Bosch, BYD, Calvin Klein, Candy, Carter’s, Cerruti 1881, Changan Automobile, Cisco, CRRC, Dell, Electrolux, Fila, Founder Group, GAC Group (automobiles), Gap, Geely Auto, General Motors, Google, Goertek, H&M, Haier, Hart Schaffner Marx, Hisense, Hitachi, HP, HTC, Huawei, iFlyTek, Jack & Jones, Jaguar, Japan Display Inc., L.L.Bean, Lacoste, Land Rover, Lenovo, LG, Li-Ning, Mayor, Meizu, Mercedes-Benz, MG, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Mitsumi, Nike, Nintendo, Nokia, The North Face, Oculus, Oppo, Panasonic, Polo Ralph Lauren, Puma, Roewe, SAIC Motor, Samsung, SGMW, Sharp, Siemens, Skechers, Sony, TDK, Tommy Hilfiger, Toshiba, Tsinghua Tongfang, Uniqlo, Victoria’s Secret, Vivo, Volkswagen, Xiaomi, Zara, Zegna, ZTE. Some brands are linked with multiple factories.
A person with knowledge of a Uyghur labour transfer program in Fujian told Bitter Winter, a religious and human rights NGO, that the workers were all former ‘re-education camp’ detainees and were threatened with further detention if they disobeyed the government’s work assignments. A Uyghur person sent to work in Fujian also told the NGO that police regularly search their dormitories and check their phones for any religious content. If a Quran is found, the owner will be sent back to the ‘re-education camp’ for 3–5 years.
Those subjected to these conditions are constantly monitored, and if they get out of line their families back home will be punished for any so-called misdeed. Click on the link for the full report. It’s an ugly business.
Published in Business
Sorry, we’re not interested in stopping ongoing slavery. We only care about going after the descendants of long-dead people who enslaved other long-dead people.
I wonder if anyone is going to ask Colon Kaperingnit, Ta-Nehisi Coates, LeBronze James, Nikole Hannah-Jones or any of the twits “taking a knee” what they think of actual slavery going on right now.
We already know what a certain US Senate candidate thinks.
As it happens:
I’m assuming the non-woke got it done last year.
I completely ignore her so it’s easy to miss it on the rare moments when she gets something right. I’m not giving her full credit because I’m pretty sure she has some ideas about slavery being implemented in the future. Oh, sure, she’ll call it socialism or communism, but when you are told what to do all the time, given just enough to live on, and can be beaten or killed for no discernible reason, well…
Omar was grandstanding because Uighurs are muslim. That is all. IMHO.
The Uighur “vocational training centers” are built underground so they cannot be seen by satellites. There is a Uighur population in Washington, DC. When they talk on the phone with family in Xinjiang they have to speak in euphemism and coded language because there is no “privacy,” which has the intended effect of discouraging phone calls at all. Everyone is being watched and listened to, and if an unacceptable topic occurs in the conversation one of your family members might end up underground and your cell phone might start spontaneously scrolling through its memory and frightening your family.
I’d explain but I don’t want anyone to get hurt (seriously)….
I swore off buying anything from China years ago, have only bought a few books from Amazon, very few. I get a lot of gaff refusing to use China’s resources, but darn, hate slavery.
Okay, so I’ve thought about trying to do this and I know there are resources to help find American products. As someone who is doing that, how difficult has it been / and or how much more expense?
To be honest with you, if I can’t find what I want “made in America” I will go without. Sometimes I can make it myself with American materials, but mostly just keep stuff from 20 years or more ago. Still haven’t been able to toss my Calvin Kline jeans.
I was looking for a doll case, and found a firm in NJ that custom made them. A 12″ x 20″, mirrored bottom and mirrored back panel cost me $125. That included the shipping. I had been without a case for one of my dolls for nearly 3 years, as had to save up for it. The same type of case from Wall-mart and other China markets is about $68.
Next she’ll be poisoning the wells, just wait.
Edit: she=Ilhan O, not Kay
She’s already poisoned the well of my soul, so good call.
Kay, not….errr…nope, got that backwards. Ilhan Omar, not Kay. Yep, that’s the right order now.
So what are our options?
Don’t use any modern technology, so not to support these companies? Conservatives would be really effective at guiding the culture then, I’m sure.
Legislate a ban on American companies using Chinese favorites or supply lines? Even if such legislation could be passed, companies would just complicate their supply lines for less direct contact with China.
Go to war?
I don’t see much that can be done but talk and pray. We have to foster a culture at home that convinces our CEOs to reject ruthless business options for their own reasons.
That’s inaccurate.
They are going after anyone who sort of resembles long-dead people who purchased other long-dead people; so they can give unearned benefits to anyone who sort of resembles the long-dead people who were purchased.
For example, the descendants of Sally Hemings must pay reparations to the descendants of African slavers — like the Obama family, perhaps.
My phone is over four years old and if it dies before Apple gets its act together I’ll move on to a dumb phone. I can find my way around. Contact trace with that, g-men. In the meantime my mobile service provider is very frustrated in their efforts to get me to finance a new phone. Which I don’t do, anyway.
There are no new features of interest anyway, and I keep a side battery with two day’s power in case my battery gets tired.
My laptop will last forever. And when it dies I have another on the shelf in pristine mint condition. And a desktop that will last longer than either. If I were not so blessed, I would buy cheap and make do.
My television? Pffft. What television?
More complicated supply lines would create niches for other companies. It wouldn’t eliminate the stuff from China, but might introduce more diversity.
And may your main battery never meet your side battery, because we know how THAT turns out. Sparks will fly!
And then I can breed the little batteries so I have batteries forever.
That list is truly disgusting.
I wish there were a list of products rather than companies.
It would be really great if products including all of their parts had to be labeled with a place of origin–city, state, and country. Even if it was just a code to make it easy for manufacturers and technology companies. This is a movement that is occurring in the world of groceries. It seems like a small thing, but it could help enormously in shrinking the market and it could help show some solidarity with the people being enslaved this way. I read a wonderful interview with a person imprisoned for political reasons in Eastern Europe. He said that Reagan’s many speeches castigating the Communists meant the world to him and gave him hope.
It’s one reason that the Uighurs’ situation wasn’t a big deal in US discourse until the current argument with China made them convenient. (Sort of how gay rights became worth talking about once they were convenient to conversations about Muslims, excuse my skeptical nature.)
But the thing is: forced labor in China involves more than the Uighurs, and focusing on the identity of who suffers rather than on the mechanism, or cause, of that suffering is (jmho) off point.
Because essentially criminalising thoughts (belief systems) is the issue here. Yes?
Exactly my thoughts. Starting this day angry! Gonna go read The Secret Garden to my daughter.
COO (country of origin) is a little tricky, because many products are built from multiple sub-components, sourced in other countries, shipped to the manufacturer, and final assembly done there.
What’s the COO if you have parts coming from 10 different countries? By default, it’s the assembly site, generally, but parts come from everywhere. “Everywhere” is a difficult thing to track, unless we’re going to include a bill of materials (BOM) with corresponding COO on everything we purchase.
Not to mention the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) concerns.
Sincerely,
Acronym Lad
The report I linked to is well worth reading. The Washington Post touched upon it in an article, although the supply chain is complex at times lectures from corporate flacks on everyone else’s ethical behavior is rather tiresome.
According to the Global Slavery Index, in 2016 there were nearly four million enslaved people in China.
I’d like to see “China Free” labeling. That sums up all of the intricacies in one simple statement. The FTC is pretty good at pursuing false advertising.
The Global Slavery Index’s home page has a link to the following article from The Economist magazine:
Supply chains based on modern slavery may reach into the West
The article includes the following chart:
It lists the G20 countries and the amounts of the goods they import that are most likely to be produced by slave labor. According to The Economist:
Another source lists six high-risk goods: rice, spices, tea, coffee, cocoa, and cotton.
The Economist states: “The United States has done the most to curb modern slavery in its supply chains.”
There are smart phone apps with barcode readers that alert shoppers to products that may have been made with slave labor. Here’s a link to a list of them:
http://www.endslaverynow.org/blog/articles/anti-trafficking-apps-of-interest
The big problem is that it is literally impossible to boycott any of them. I know that recently I deliberately opted out of buying Nike. (Nike not only uses slaves but adopted wholesale the anti-Americanism of Kaepeneck or whatever his name is.)
aarone I disagree unless you can show me some evidence I’m not aware of. I’m pretty sure the Law not allow most Commerce related to USSR really well. It works with Iran and North Korea pretty well also. Seemed to work in Libya. we’re not saying you we can get rid of 100% but you can get rid of 90%. hurt our economy growth yes cost us jobs yes. The Bible is very clear about exploiting workers. We need to stand against blatant exploitation because it’s the morally right thing to do as Christians.
It’s no different than prostitution. We need to stand against it because it’s morally wrong. But we’re never really going to get rid of it. We can only try to limit its harm.
Exploiting? Workers? How is the bible clear on exploiting workers? Not that there aren’t strong inferences to be made, but I’m not aware off the top of my head where the bible addresses exploiting workers.
Sorry late to the party.
It appears to this non-attorney that Trump’s executive order 13818 of December 20, 2017 could and should be applied to all of these 83 companies. That EO in part:
I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that the prevalence and severity of human rights abuse and corruption that have their source, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, such as those committed or directed by persons listed in the Annex to this order, have reached such scope and gravity that they threaten the stability of international political and economic systems. Human rights abuse and corruption undermine the values that form an essential foundation of stable, secure, and functioning societies; have devastating impacts on individuals; weaken democratic institutions; degrade the rule of law; perpetuate violent conflicts; facilitate the activities of dangerous persons; and undermine economic markets. The United States seeks to impose tangible and significant consequences on those who commit serious human rights abuse or engage in corruption, as well as to protect the financial system of the United States from abuse by these same persons. I therefore determine that serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat. I hereby determine and order:
Section 1. Property.
(a) All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in:(i) the persons listed in the Annex to this order;
(ii) any foreign person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General:
(A) to be responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse;
(B) to be a current or former government official, or a person acting for or on behalf of such an official, who is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in:
(1) corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery; or(2) the transfer or the facilitation of the transfer of the proceeds of corruption;
It goes and lists many other persons- too many to list here.
What is so galling is that so many of these 83 Multi-nationals Corporations have intensely engaged in politically correct lectures of us and have sought to directly influence our politics likely at the behest of their partner, the People’s Republic of China, and particularly Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon have engaged in damaging Internet censorship favorable to the ChiCom’s.
New Balance. Made in the good ol’ USA!
https://www.newbalance.com/made-in-us-and-uk/