Products Of Slavery

Chimbre posted this link to their facebook page a few minutes ago and I wanted to pass it along to you guys in an effort to raise awareness about the products that you buy.

It is incredibly wrong just how much slave labor happens in the world today.

I'm not really sure what to do about it besides trying to buy your goods locally but I at least wanted to get other people thinking about it.

This is so important, all we need to do is stop buying all this consumerist shit, and everything can return to local sourced products.

Kronas,

How are you going to locally source that computer you're typing on? Do you own a vehicle? How can one locally source all the parts to a vehicle? I find arguments like this flawed - that is, arguments reasoning

Somewhere in the chain of events a child worked on a mass-marketed consumer product; therefor, we should not buy consumer products.

So many hands touched that computer you're using to make this post and there is no possible way you can control the entire chain of events leading to that computer being put in front of you to consume.

I agree with you a1pha but the point of this post is to be aware that if you buy a pineapple from wal-mart that was sourced from brazil, you're a more or less supporting this slavery.

If you were to instead buy some fruit from a local organic farmers market then you are voting with your dollars and not supporting slavery as much.

Of course it's impossible to buy everything locally but you do have SOME options and the point of this post is to get people to utilize those options.

We've had this discussion in the steve jobs thread.

IMO both you and Kronas are right. On one hand, plenty of things like electronics will at least partly have come from suffering/unsustainable ways. But are we to just accept it? Maybe we can try to pressure for external regulation? Maybe we can send emails/letters to companies demanding to know where the parts they buy come from? Maybe through NGOs we can try to get more transparency regarding the sources of materials? Maybe we can pressure through consumer choice by buying 'the least worse' whenever we are given such chance?

If you were in a market and there were two places selling the exact same product, one of them you saw the owner beating slave children to make the product, and using the money to buy alcohol and then get drunk to beat his family some more (and imagine this happened right in front of you), the other would be some local friendly persn who would fairly pay workers, treat people good, use money for community, etc, which one of those would you buy? Dont you think if you buy from one or the other you are at least partly responsible for the consequences to the whole system? But of course, everything is interconnected, so something or other down the line will always be from some bad source. But if its just in front of you, the connection is clearer. So what criteria does one use? Where are the limits, to where you care, and where you dont?

In any case, as far as we are aware in a given moment, depending on our priorities, with the limits of information and money and contextual issues, we can always chose to buy a bit more sustainable things, and avoid buying unnecessary and clearly unsustainable things. And I think thats something to try to work for, dont you?

By the way, I dont like that website, unless Im not understanding how to use. it just says the country and what kind of products can be slavery, but that is unfair if it doesnt say which companies are using slave-made products because certainly not all of those products in those countries are made with slave work.

Well sort of - but I didn't want to continue forward because I thought it a tad inappropriate to raise those points in a RIP thread.


I still am unclear of your argument, endlessness. I think maybe we haven't broken it down enough.

You have a choice between an Apple MacBook and a Dell whatever. You just heard reports of Apple's supposed connection to the Foxconn suicides. According to your line of thinking, we should buy the Dell because there is 'less suffering'. This is, however, terribly flawed. Apple is simply a design/marketing company using parts from so many manufactures we couldn't begin to list them here. BOTH Dell AND Apple use Foxconn on a regular basis. So which is the lesser of two evils?

I would argue that if you have a need for a computer, you pick the computer that suits your needs the most - irregardless of the environmental impact. Now I must admit, I am in the small percentage of people who use my computers hard for productive 'good' means. I also work with 'environmentalists' who use their computers all day to produce EIRs. The argument doesn't work so well for the guy needing a 24" monitor for p0rn when he's not MMOing.

I still think you are kind of missing the point a1pha. This isn't necessarily about computers. This is about all products.

IF you have a choice to buy local products that aren't contaminated with a slaves blood and suffering, choose that instead of something tainted with torture. It's about using your dollars to vote for what you believe in.

First of all, I never said you should buy a Dell, please quote me where you got this idea? As I said myself at least a couple of times, AFAIK there are no 'green/sustainable' technology products, and that if that had been a thread aobut another of the big companies I would have probably said the same.

I do think we have the choice of avoiding buying technological products if we dont need (which your second example well depicts it), and I also said that it is understandable that some people need to do valuable work with technology and therefore second-hand buying and recycling may not be the best solution. In any case we can still, as the questions I asked above (please re-read my edited post), try to pressure for, as consumers, more sustainable products and demand that green/non-harmful technology start existing. Also notice this thread isnt just about technology but about several other kinds of products which we DO have choice on buying non-slavery and more sustainable products

I agree, I just thought it was a good spring board for discussion about this important issue.

As consumers we have the option to choose where our money ends up. I just want people to take responsibility for their choices.

Buy products that don't have 10 layers of packaging.
Buy products from local vendors.
Buy products that help others.

Don't buy products you know are hurting other people unless you absolutely have to.

Computer falls under the category "all products" and I am simply using a particular case for arguments sake. The argument can be extended to other objects falling under this category.


I never said you did. I said, "According to your line of thinking...".




I'm sorry if I derailed the thread - I will stop if so. My understanding was "all products" and computers seem to fall under this. So I was just using an example. When it comes to fruit/veggies sure - totally on your side for sustainable!

I gotcha and no, you are not derailing the thread by any means!

I guess what I meant by "all products" is to choose the one that caused the least suffering and does the most good when you can.

We don't always have that option but when we do, we should exercise it.

Edit: Just realized that was my 1,000th post. w0ot! <3