What does China and John Lennon have in common, you may ask. Not much. But if he were alive today he would be doing his outmost to point the finger at China, its slave labor practices and its huge financial involvement in Sudan. Last week, various artists released a CD aptly titled "Instant Karma, the Campaign to Save Darfur" with Green Day's version of "Working Class Hero", U2's cover of "Instant Karma," Christina Aguilera's spin on "Mother," R.E.M.'s rendition of "#9 Dream," the Cure tackling "Love," Snow Patrol doing "Isolation" and "Power to the People" performed by the Black Eyed Peas among others. Buy it here or at other online retailers:
http://www.amazon.com/...
Follow me over the bump
Before you purchase anything "Made in China" consider this From Time Magazine:
The furor in China surrounding the discovery that
children and the mentally handicapped had been kidnapped and sold into slavery is showing no sign of abating. It seems increasingly likely that the controversy will mark a significant milestone in the evolution of the country's civil society. Police said they had rescued more than 500 people from forced labor in brick kilns, where they were worked 18 hours a day and beaten if they tried to escape
Last week the Telegraph (UK) has reported on the finding of slave labourers in Henan and Shanxi provinces. So far 548 people have been rescued in those provinces. At least 38 of those are children, with state media reporting the youngest to be eight years old. Just within a week or so of the brick kiln story, there were several reports of labor abuses against children. A 14-year-old boy was killed in an explosion while filling a tank with napthalene at a chemical factory near Nanjing. A 15-year-old boy was dragged into a cotton gin and crushed to death in Nanchang after working a succession of 20-hour days. And 70 girls from rural Henan Province were brought by their teacher to work at a grape processing plant in Ningbo, where their hands bled from working 16-hour shifts. Still reading? There's more.
Slave labor in china is not new as this following article reports:
http://www.jonesreport.com/...
Due to strong resistance from Western nations against forced labor products, in 1991 China’s State Council re-emphasized the ban on the export of "forced labor products" and stipulated that no prison is allowed to cooperate or establish joint ventures with foreign investors. However, the State Council’s move was merely a superficial one, and prisoners today still produce forced labor products in great numbers. The Chinese government grants special privileges to enterprises using labor camps and prisons, to encourage and attract foreign investment and export. Prisoners are forced to manufacture products without any payment, and are often forced to work more than 10 hours a day and sometimes even overnight. Those who cannot fulfill their tasks are beaten and tortured. The forced labor products these prisoners produce are exported throughout China and the world.
To understand how the Chinese got to be financially where they are now, read William Thomas's excellent book:
http://www.willthomas.net/...
Preface - Made In China.
Fateful decisions made by China’s leaders, limiting births to mostly males and forbidding farmers to tap shrinking reservoirs diverted to smog-choked cities could lead to internal strife and foreign conquest as this economic powerhouse reaches the limits of explosive growth. But US consumers continue to fund China’s military modernization, even as they erode their own economy and employment at home. Even worse, Wal-Mart shoppers are supporting forced labor camps where the healthiest inmates are executed for "organ harvesting". Wal-Mart also buys heavily from slave labor manufacturing zones, where women workers are typically paid 3 cents an hour or less for 70 to 90-hour work weeks. And please don’t buy any products "Made In China".
Also last week we have reports from RIA Novosti:
HONG KONG, June 15 (RIA Novosti) - Almost 470 slave laborers have been released in China over the past month as a result of a nationwide campaign launched by the country's leadership against the use of forced labor, state Chinese media said Friday. President Hu Jintao and other top Chinese leaders ordered an investigation into reported incidents of slave labor at small coal and iron mines and brick kilns, after a group of fathers appealed in an open letter for help in tracking down their missing sons, believed to have been sold into slavery to kiln bosses. The letter claimed that some 1,000 children, some as young as eight, were forced to work more than 14 hours a day with no pay at kilns in the northern provinces of Henan and Shanxi, and were often beaten and starved by their bosses.
More shocking links:
http://www.boston.com/...
http://www.sfgate.com/...
http://www.danwei.org/...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/...
http://www.time.com/...
Many here are aware of Alegre's tireless efforts to publicize the plight of the people of Darfur and shame China into forcing the insane Sudanese "president" to rein in his murderous proxies from killing more refugees. This diary is dedicated to her and her valiant endeavors.
Crossposted at Daily Kos
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