strideo
115576
2607
58
Full article:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/nz0g306v8c/china-tainted-cotton
Our governments know China is an authoritarian regime that violates people's human rights but our politicians generally look the other way.
ArisildeDamal
China is pulling some shady crap? Who knew?
Caspergirl
Perpetuate the cycle. Keep wages low so people have no choice but to buy cheap shit made in China
VenetianViolet
The sad thing is that things have gotten so bad, there are almost no quality goods left to buy.
WhichEndDoITypeIntoAgain
Recreating the cotton kingdom in the middle kingdom. Oof.
NotAPervert
Uighurs please
Counterfit
pr0ze
Its called slavery
anskriletz3000
Are there specific brands to avoid?
thelaaaaaw
https://uhrp.org/press-release/press-release-180-orgs-demand-apparel-brands-end-complicity-uyghur-forced-labour.html
thelaaaaaw
note that I'm not entirely sure if it's trustworthy. But several companies in it have been named a while before. Like Nike or Apple
Chimichanga007
Well Americans don't care about other Americans' lives, you think they care about this?
slinkydust
We don't want cheap goods, we want to be able to afford goods!
TheotherBudwhite
thank you
gundamgreg
America
lovinglockdown
Just don’t buy shit from China. It was only 30 years ago that we bought fuck all from them and we all got along just fine.
FUKYU350
Pretty sure I saw pro-China comments as top comments about this on reddit, claiming it's not forced and the writer didn't speak chinese 1/2
FUKYU350
So he just mistranslated some things and it was all a big hoax, that it's just "optional labour for people to stay employed" and crap
PickleRiiiiiiiiiiiiick
Heh, taint.
WatcherNotCreeper
Are we blaming China or the Companies who stand the most to gain from cheap labor and inventory? *Both meme*
thelaaaaaw
Celebrities know about the big companies that benefits from forced labor and still accept money in exchange of their names for branding.
Miller16of16
Adrian Zenz "uncovered secret documents". Guy is funded by US State dept to apply heat to China, total nutcake
Corpsehorser
Let's call it what it is: slave labour..
causality
Chinese cotton is total garbage as are their grading facilities.
PJDanger
How much of that cotton is going to Nike?
Welltron3030
Hey, I've seen this somewhere else before...
CatastropheClown
its obvs just a vocational training camp /s
greenvajene
If China really wanted to avoid comparisons of their Uighur "policies" to crimes against humanity, they should have chosen a different crop
WhataboutBobWiley
like sugar or tobacco
strideo
I know, right?
thedelicatesnowflake
I don't recall context. I know someone else did it last century but cannot remember who. Was it nazis or someone else?
Mxlespxles
Basically, yeah. Just different flags.
Hypnoticcow
Plus US slavery
ajaxlepinski
Every crop has been produced with slave labor at some time in human history. The point is that, we want to end slavery regardless.
blainetog
Yeah but cotton has an extra-strong correlation.
ajaxlepinski
Yeah, but only in the USA.
foreverambridge
Or avoided commiting crimes against humanity. Nah, I know... that's never going to happen.
Obsidian3
Funny how you won't see this from American media.
aneyeholeman
Like tobacco, or sugar cane!
DanOrtega
bananas, or cocoa...
sungsungasong
Rail roads
flavivsaetivs
Rice! Indigo! Oh wow we were really bad weren't we?
CaptRory
Every nation has its sins. Each generation has its stains. We just try to do better each time.
BeerAndChips
OhIfIMust
The best way to cheap consumer goods is to lower the pay of executives and owners. They shouldn't get to have it all their way.
Mr21782Man
If you don't want to tolerate this buy from company that doesn't use Chinese labor. There's a reason I don't buy Nike or Apple (maybe more).
isetprettygirlsonfire
TBF, I don't want anyone's taint cotton.
bluewaterdeuce
You don’t want that pre-tainted cotton?
FECALGASOUTMYASS
I'm tainting a batch as I type this.
WendyTheWendigo
Better than a cottony taint
DangerBaer
Here comes Peter Cottontaint, hopping down the Treasure Trail!
TaintToucher
Not that way, it's the wrong way to taint
Rainbowdaesh
what the fuck cotton, why do you always seem to require slaves?
Counterfit
Difficult to harvest with machines, I think. Much like strawberries or other squishy things (that aren't cranberries)
HoneyBunchesOfStoats
I was wondering that myself
pandro
From a cartoon in the 70s: "A tractor can do the work of 50 peasants!" Chinese official: "But it cannot do it as CHEAP as 50 peasants!"
xKaraKx
http://www.newsgd.com/news/exclusive/content/2020-12/15/content_191847324.htm
jaderock
Imgurians complain about blind followers of Trump, yet all jump on board when it’s China bad. Does anyone actually try critical thinking?
jaderock
Waiting for “thefeckamisigningupwithfacebook” to finish his Uyghur piece at some point; hopefully sooner than later.
xKaraKx
I havent heard of it
charlie2979
Anything that comes from Zenz can just be discarded. And everything that gets reported about China comes from Zenz.
charlie2979
The fact its just become accepted as truth boggles the mind.
xKaraKx
I used to be a believer... but now... i really dont know what to trust
charlie2979
Yeah same. I'm sure the camps exist. I know Zenz is a liar, I'm concerned how quickly people believe him because they hate China.
xKaraKx
Well they dont take satellite pictures of things that dont exist... im just wondering if the camps are actually like conentration camps or
TheInternetHasRuinedMeForever
Fun Google game: which country is the world's biggest polluter? Has the most slaves? Dumps the most plastic in the ocean? Strictest censors?
LuminousExpanse
facebook?
Captainplanetmotherfucker
The United States? England? France? China? It's China isn't it?
alwaysL8
I'll give you a hint: you shouldn't trust them, they asshoe
Uhxohr
Not google but still :
IrrelevantOutsideOfMyBubble
Cool graphic. Cumulative from 1751 to 2017, so in a way it mostly shows who has been in power over the past 250 years.
Uhxohr
C02 released 300 years ago still impact us now. Would be great if it factored in population size and used trade-adjusted emissions.
Tamburlaine
Adrian Zenz? So, uh, is there a version of this story that isn't sourced from a far-right apocalyptic cult loon? I'd rather read that.
HeyDevilsAdvocateHere
Right leaning media tend to focus more on economics and trade so it makes sense that they'd be writing about this topic.
Tamburlaine
Okay but there's a pretty big difference between, say, a Chomskyan affection for business press and jumping whenever some VCM nut speaks.
Uhxohr
Is he the guy that claimed he was "led by God" against China ?
LuminousExpanse
does it being published in teh BBC count for anything?
Tamburlaine
Not really? Big news institutions are more trustworthy than patrioteaglenews.com or whatever, but they still print a lot of dubious shit.
Tamburlaine
So when you see them relying on such an unreliable source, especially for a story about a geopolitical rival, use caution.
johbennett89365
We need to publish the companies that use this cotton for our consumption. Boycotts work.
xunatham
Well ... That's basically every fabric product in the supermarket and most of bandages in every hospital
pandamonium1986
Cuz Jesus. I quilt as a hobby. Which means I use cotton fabric. I'm going to have to go through my entire stash now and do my homework
MindOfMobius
Sort of
rmmmm
Well maybe the Kering group is involved (Gucci, ysl, balenciaga) because Mr Pinault stated the coton production is sourced in Xinjiang
IFoldlyGo
I'd be happy with a CIA team going in and burning all the cotton after it has been processed. Nobody dies, no profits either
Elophon
75 million people died in WWII. You want the CIA to cock things up and start WWIII.
MrZev
China owns waaaaaaay to much american debt. They won't declare war. It's an easy way for us to say, to bad on that debt.
Elophon
Dude, Debt is imaginary made up human constructed bullshit. Land is real. China is dynasty minded. They want the world, not currency.
MrZev
Times change. Money is power. They know it. Why else would they buy it up, other than to have political sway? Yes they want to take over
stopusingthegoodusernames
You more than likely have some of that cotton in your house.
[deleted]
[deleted]
Moustacherousse
THANK YOU
pandro
lol
SeriousSeamstress
Yup. Its near impossible to make/sell something that doesn't come from China. I limit it as much as possible but it's hard.
SIGMA920
Companies don't control their suppliers unless they directly own them. All they can do is change suppliers and hope that the new one
MrZev
They do control their suppliers. It's part of the agreements, just like if you don't want a made in China shirt you don't buy it.
MrZev
Companies have alternatives, they go with a blend cheap to quality. They can spend more to avoid chinese products, but people don't care.
SIGMA920
If your company uses plastic to make something, you need to source that plastic from somewhere. You're not going to fine many suppliers who
SIGMA920
will produce it exactly as you demand, much less those who won't tell you to fuck off when you try to do anything that isn't buying products
SIGMA920
is better than one they dropped.
DiscombobulatedQA
Mandatory Qr codes that track a products history from field to store would solve a lot of issues and improve consumer choice.
strideo
Also products sold online should have to provide the same information. So many online sellers don't even list the country of origin.
DiscombobulatedQA
The real shame is, these are actually easy things to do. But nobody wants to
Caspergirl
Because they know their cheap shit consumers won’t but if they know the truth
SIGMA920
No, because it's ultimately pointless. When a company buys materials from someone, they don't control that supplier directly. Any actions
delecti
And also be trivially easy to fake.
DiscombobulatedQA
Legislating oversight like food standards, while it is not imposible fraud could happen, done properly, no, It isn't.
Contundo
Blockchain
Counterfit
Deep dive. Synergistic. Paradigm.
delecti
lol
DiscombobulatedQA
While possible, block chain is still limited by its biggest flaw, the need for processing power. Untill then, it's a no on blockchain.