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Buying "made In China"

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Guest Prosis

There's a new trend now where people bitch about buying stuff made in China because of cheap labor. So technically, it's wrong to buy stuff at Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart is not the only place buying stuff made in China obviously.

 

Personally, I think to myself: if we boycott them, then where are these Chinese people going to work? Because if they're working for a couple of dollars a day, it's because they were stuck working that way. Furthermore, the country is going to eventually take over America as a financial superpower.

 

Out of curiosity, I ask this China expert at the University of Montreal who says that a complete boycott is not something that would be good, but that the question is way more complicated than that and that the current events surrounding the Olympics should force us to rethink our relationship with China.

 

What do you think?

Edited by Prosis
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workers rights are something that I think as a whole the Chinese people aren't able to fight for. I don't think I would like to live under the rule of a Chinese communist government. And I would guess that most of the people there don't want to be either. So with that said it's us as a world that needs to speak for them. Via boycotting their products, protesting our own countries petty dependency for cheap labor or any number of other ways.

 

I don't totally blame wal-mart or other chains for selling chinese stuff. If it was cheaper from other parts of the world, via production or from tariff's/ lack of available product then it is what would be on their shelves. Then maybe more importantly you have to look at who's buying the stuff, us the bargain hunting selfish NA consumers.

 

You could also consider the insane amount of pollution and waste that comes from an unconcerned Chinese government. That goes unchallenged and unchecked.

 

We're lied to enough in north America, through the media and government. If china was in charge of the show it would be that much worse.

Edited by prototypepariah
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There's a new trend now where people bitch about buying stuff made in China because of cheap labor. So technically, it's wrong to buy stuff at Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart is not the only place buying stuff made in China obviously.

 

Personally, I think to myself: if we boycott them, then where are these Chinese people going to work? Because if they're working for a couple of dollars a day, it's because they were stuck working that way. Furthermore, the country is going to eventually take over America as a financial superpower.

 

Out of curiosity, I ask this China expert at the University of Montreal who says that a complete boycott is not something that would be good, but that the question is way more complicated than that and that the current events surrounding the Olympics should force us to rethink our relationship with China.

 

What do you think?

that's not a new trend. that "trend" has been around since NAFTA and even before it.

 

while these corporations might be providing jobs and salaries to families in countries outside of north america, the only motivation behind those corporations being in countries like china is money, not so that they can improve the lifestyle of chinese families. these corporations support governments that have lax worker's rights, or none at all, promoting violence and terrible working conditions so that you and i can buy something at wal-mart, the gap, roots, or anywhere else for a lot less than it would cost to have it made locally. it's not just a service for us, either. these companies are saving loads by making clothes cheaply in other countries, and doing it in mass amounts.

 

you do not make an economy better by enslaving it's population. china will not benefit from north american corporations employing it's population for dollars a day. while your logic that "some money is better than no money at all" makes some sense, you'd have to consider that the money that these people are getting is barely adequate to their the cost of living. as you pointed out, china has a growing economy. $1 a day doesn't cut it. and even if people were able to somehow have savings from their salary, what do you think will happen? they'll have better living conditions at home and demand the same at work. as soon as people start demanding proper rights, the corporations either get the government to interfere, or they leave, which leaves those people, who grew completely reliant on some foreign corporation, jobless.

 

"Furthermore, the country is going to eventually take over America as a financial superpower" is a really poor justification for buying free trade. "it's inevitable, we might as well support it."

 

i don't believe in boycotts much myself, as you do not enter into any sort of dialogue or discussion by doing so. it doesn't address the problem, nor does it provide a useful solution. at the same time, continuing to buy products made in china, south america, or any other area that supports poor worker's rights just because you have some notion of "white civility" (the logic that canada is good and we're doing the chinese a favor by taking advantage of their system) beaten into your brain is nonsense.

 

there are two documentaries that are easily found in your public library and address this issue of fair trade quite well. one is the corporation and the other is the take. the latter of the two is a film made by avi lewis and naomi klein. i'd also recommend just looking "fair trade" up on the internet.

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I say it's right to buy things from China, not because we help them by doing so or hurt them by not doing so, but because it's pointless. You're not going to get a large scale boycott against buying things made in China. Trade with China just benefits the West too much. For example, a year ago Canada was the U.S.' #1 trading partner; now, it's China. I mean, come on, even people making more than 100k sometimes go to Wal-Mart. I don't even think we're speaking for the Chinese workers here. Whether it's the only job available or they tried to get out and they can't, it's not going to change through some protesting or boycotting. I can bet you that they want the money they make. Now, that said, a puny boycott will not hurt their salaries. But a large boycott would. The company will keep working them for less and less if it gets that bad, until the co. doesn't have enough men to work. Then, other men will be hired. It's a rule of salaries. Pay only just above what they won't take. While this situation requires a lot of trickle-down and is far off, if even slightly likely, it's not going to fix things for Chinese workers.

 

And the Olympics thing is bullshit. I think it's a protester's right to go out there and say "boo hoo," as is Stephen Spielburg's if you know what I mean. But seriously, how many other countries don't care about Sudan or Tibet? How many are actively helping them? And what do you expect from a country that teeters between communism and capitalism? I expect it to act in its own self-interest, just like every other country. Thusly, especially in the case of Tibet, China will do nothing for oppressed people.

 

Now, I can see what some people are saying about pollution and waste. China does a shit ton of that. People in China think rivers are supposed to be BLACK. They grow up with cancer and the government might give them U.S.$267 if they're lucky enough to have someone fighting for them. But this stuff is not going to end through boycotts. It's going to end through negotiation. It's going to end because in order for China to become more of a superpower, and be accepted as such by democratic governments that claim to hail humanitarianism, they will HAVE to end these deplorable practices. Speaking of superpowers, have no fear. China is not going to take over the world. And if you really think that they're starting it off by trying to poison us with bad toothpaste or baby toys, you need your head checked. Financially, you might have some evidence in your favour, but for now, the U.S. still has the biggest economy in the world with a GDP of $13.3 trillion, adjusted for PPP. Sorry though Canadians, your GDP is about 1 tril, China's is 10 tril. Oops.

 

Finally, let's remember, China isn't the only one doing this. Check all of your "made in" stickers for more information. ;)

Edited by decomposinglight
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I think boycotting China-made products would be a great thing to do. It would be almost impossible to boycott everything made in China since virtually everything is made there, but it would be better than sitting at home on your ass reading about more China bullshit in the news.

 

To paraphrase a quote (i believe Dale said it on matthewgood.org a couple weeks ago): "A single drop of water into a pond, no matter how small, will still cause a ripple".

 

To those that think boycotting and protesting would accomplish nothing, please tell that to Mahatma Gandhi. And look at what is happening now over the Olympics. Obviously people, especially the Chinese gov't, are taking notice.

 

But obviously a few people boycotting/protesting will do nothing. It needs to turn into a massive movement, such as we've seen with climate change the last few years. Ultimately the ones that are going to change things in the biggest way are the politicians, who must be confronted with large pressure from the voting public on these issues. If the only way to secure power in an election is for a gov't to seriously pressure China into changing its most fundamentally repulsive habits in order for trade to continue with them, then it shall be so.

 

I also think that trade with China is both good & bad. Its bad for obvious reasons, and its also making China into an ecomomic superpower, which is dangerous when paired with a communist country that also happens to have the world's largest army. But keeping trade healthy is also good because we have China by the balls, and they would be less inclined to do any thing militarily that would damage its relations

 

But i'm not very optimistic that something like this would occur. But that doesn't mean its not worth a shot. And if it all ultimately fails, at least by not buying a Chinese-made product you have put a little more money in a Canadian or U.S. manufacturer/economy and less in the Chinese economy.

 

Ultimately i think some international consensus effort like the WTO needs to put pressure on countries to provide minimum workers conditions in order for the int'l community to trade with them (some exception could be made for 3rd world countries), and also give fair trade prices to 3rd world countries, which the WTO has horribly failed to do.

 

Anyways, here's the bottom line: if something is wrong in the world, its the voting public's (aka OUR) fault for letting it continue because we (in democratic countries) have the power to force political change. Unfortunately these days the voting public really doesn't give a shit about Darfur or AIDS etc. etc. etc. Other, more selfish issues, are almost always the key election issues (healthcare, economy etc.)

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I'm going to keep this brief.

 

I think that if people find that they have an ethical objection to China's lack of human rights they should boycott their products. I wouldn't say it's pointless at all, there are many Chinese dissidents who are fighting and dieing without anyone knowing the scale and scope of the resistance right know because of Chinese suppression and oppression. To boycott their products would give the dissidents a lot of hope and probably the strength to continue what does appear an almost insurmountable task. There are many democracy activists and China and we just don't hear about them. They know the condition their in is terrible and unjust and if we recognize this as such the we don't need to support China by buying their goods.

 

People said South Africa's apartide would never be beat, that white south Africans would always rule, but after years and years of struggle this was changed.

 

Just because we may not see it in our lifetime does not make it fruitless, i think that a boycott starts small but governments eventually listen once more and more people come on side ethically.

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