US activists boycott goods made in China

Taipei Times ^ | Dec. 3, 2002 | CNA

[HighRoadToChina]

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Published on TaipeiTimes
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/12/03/185720

US activists boycott goods made in China

CNA
Several groups of Americans will begin a boycott of products made in China on Saturday with the theme of "one small step for a shopper, one giant leap for freedom and human rights," an organizer of the event said.

Exiled Chinese dissidents, the China Support Network and the Tibetan Freedom Cause have waited years for the right occasion to launch "the mother of all boycotts," according to John Kusumi, Executive Director of the China Support Network.

It is to be a consumer boycott "for freedom, and against products made in China. We want to free China and free Tibet," Kusumi said. He issued a "statement of conscience" for the campaign that included the following:

"Freedom from communist oppression. That is the thread which unites the purpose of all those working for the advancement of this boycott. Chinese dissidents support this boycott for Chinese freedom. Tibetans support this boycott for Tibetan freedom. The China Support Network supports freedom for all -- Chinese, Taiwanese, Tibetans.

"Freedom from communist oppression will mean the most to those who now suffer in slave labor camps; to those who are now tortured by Chinese authorities; to those who are being displaced from their homes in Tibet; or, to those who are coping with the trauma of a forced abortion.

"Where China uses slave labor to produce cheaper products, that is economic dirty pool. It forces American workers to compete with slave labor, violating the economic spirit of America's Emancipation Proclamation.

"Americans should be outraged at free trade with China, and we hope that workers and the fair trade lobby will join us in our worldwide effort,"

Copyright © 1999-2002 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved.

[HighRoadToChina]

Heads up this Saturday 12/7, US activists to launch boycott of all Made in China goods to free Tibet and China from Communist dictators.

[Kerberos]

Sound like a good idea to me. Of course that means I won't be able to shop at Wal-Mart anymore.

[chance33_98]

Free Tibet?

Dalai Lama says Tibet wants autonomy, not independence

[HighRoadToChina]

Ping!

Tell me if you want off my ping list for a free China and a free Tibet.

This boycott is real and for the long haul.

[HighRoadToChina]

They are not going to get either if there is no teeth behind them. This boycott is the only means to hurt the Comunist dictators in Beijing.

[GaryMontana]

I also will not purchase items from

France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium.

Those nations hate the USA! By keeping my money to products from the USA I am keeping the money in the circle. I am also telling the world "I DONT NEED YOU!"

[chance33_98]

This boycott is the only means to hurt the Comunist dictators in Beijing.

Agreed on that. The more pressure the better.

[FormerLurker]

I'd love to comply, but just what ISN'T manufactured in China these days?

[shaggy eel]

,,, Xao-ping

[Still Thinking]

I'd love to comply, but just what ISN'T manufactured in China these days?

This is a real hot button issue for me lately. I'm sick of US companies urging us to "Buy American", then spending their labor dollars elsewhere. Why isn't their own advice good enough for them?? I, and I'm sure many others, would be willing to pay a premium for the privelige of keeping the money in our own economy, supporting good paying manufacturing jobs for intelligent people, as opposed to retail jobs for people only adequate to greet at WalMart.

[HighRoadToChina]

There are two parts to your (legitimate) compliant. One is the availability of alternative goods. This is being addressed (so that you can check online for alternatives for a particular item). Check www.boycottmadeinchina.org after 12/7. Or go to http://www.usstuff.com/ or http://buyamerican.com/

The other is pricing (one can always find an alternative if one has the time and money to do so). Buying something that is not made in China can be higher in cost (that is mainly because MIC goods are produced with slave to almost-slave wages).

So, it's up to each one of us to decide: do we want to support "Nazi China"? Would you buy a toy made in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany? If not, don't buy MIC goods, because nobody knows which goods are from the Laogai slave camps (5 million Chinese enslaved in thousands of these camps) or the rest (including 3-4 million Chinese women working in toy shops for 12 cents per hour, 80 hours per week, etc.)

[maranatha]

Exactly! Everything I pick up to look at in a store has "made in China" on it. I hate it.

[pollywog]

Where can we shop and get MADE IN USA products??Wishing there was a USA SHOP!! Jim Robinson....here is a fresh idea for you!

[HighRoadToChina]

http://www.usstuff.com/

[FormerLurker]

I fully support your cause, and will TRY to avoid Chinese made products, although it IS at present close to impossible to do so..

One thing I noticed for example is footware. I have not seen ANY footware made elsewhere than China, no matter how hard I've looked..

[FormerLurker]

Exactly! Everything I pick up to look at in a store has "made in China" on it. I hate it.

MANY American companies use Chinese slave labor, yet we don't hear about that on the news. If China ever decided to go to war against the US, there's very little that we could still produce..

[HighRoadToChina]

Try this: http://www.usstuff.com/shoes.htm

[HadEnough]

The BEST way to solve this issue is to start voting for candidates that actually CARE about our once great nation. The Republicrat/Demican's do not give a sh*t about Americans or their jobs. Multi-national corporations who OWN the Republicrats have no allegiance to America, only to the bottom line.

Bush and crew give Most Favored Nation status to these commie slave drivers, in addition, to hawking minority votes with their Illegal Alien Amnesty frauds.

Take a look at the platform of this party
http://www.constitutionparty.com/

As long as WE (all of us, you and me) continue to vote for
these traitors, AND buy the "cheap" goods produced
by the hybrid commie/Republicrat coalition, we will
continue to have the same "hot buttons"

[FormerLurker]

I, and I'm sure many others, would be willing to pay a premium for the privelige of keeping the money in our own economy, supporting good paying manufacturing jobs for intelligent people, as opposed to retail jobs for people only adequate to greet at WalMart

It's not just manufacturing jobs that are going overseas, it's R&D as well. What's left here in the US in the way of jobs are being filled with foreign workers on work visas, supposedly to fill a "labor shortage"..

[GirlShortstop]

Several groups of Americans will begin a boycott of products made in China on Saturday with the theme of "one small step for a shopper, one giant leap for freedom and human rights," an organizer of the event said.

Great news!   Isn't it a "thrill" to pick up something you want to buy in the store, flip it over, and *not* see Made In China?!