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Christmas and Slavery.

Mycroft

Mycroft

Ministry of Serendipity
It will be likely, I think, that at least some of the stuff you got for christmas will have been made by slaves. In one form or another, whether in the making of the product itself or the harvesting/mining of the materials, slaves may have been used somewhere along the line.

But how can you know how many slaves?

Slavery Footprint - Made In A Free World

Use the website to figure it out. ONLY do the sections relevant to the items you got for christmas!

Post your results!

Mine was zero, because I didn't get anything for christmas! :)
 
Quintessence

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
I'll have to play with this when I have more time, and doing it just for Giftmas presents will be... a considerable challenge having looked at it briefly. Things like this are precisely why I tend to be very choosy in gifting things to people. Love getting things by local artisans, one because it's unique, two because it's not mass-produced in gods knows where, three because it supports local economies, four because I value such artisanship. :D
 
Mycroft

Mycroft

Ministry of Serendipity
Quintessence said:
I'll have to play with this when I have more time, and doing it just for Giftmas presents will be... a considerable challenge having looked at it briefly. Things like this are precisely why I tend to be very choosy in gifting things to people. Love getting things by local artisans, one because it's unique, two because it's not mass-produced in gods knows where, three because it supports local economies, four because I value such artisanship. :D
Click to expand...

Yeah. I prefer to buy from indie companies and suchlike. It should be noted that, oft, some of the companies that use slavery in the making of their products do so unwittingly.
 
savagewind

savagewind

Veteran Member
Premium Member
My husband and I have made a deal to forgo buying each other presents. Instead we put the money we might have spent on presents in a savings jar. The savings is for a vacation. We also buy each other used stuff. My favoruite is buttons. One of his favorites is antique Majolica that if not perfect can be bought for less. I have bought trinkets for the children's stockings but $15.00 of trinkets for four kids can hardly be considered supporting slave labor.
 
NobodyYouKnow

NobodyYouKnow

Misanthropist
I didn't get anything for Christmas either, but unless one makes their own clothes, almost every garment is made in either Bangladesh or China by 'slave workers' these days.

If it is not, one is paying like $50-$60 for a T-Shirt. Granted, the quality is much better, but who can afford that?

I have often thought about boycotting clothing made by these sweat shops, but that would probably do more harm than good...I thought about it long and hard after watching this:
FASHION VICTIMS - Four Corners

Problem is, if we all did that...if we deprived these poor souls of a job, a livelihood, what then?

Granted, the 'slaves' only get like $10US a week to feed themselves and their families, but that is better than nothing. If there were any other employment opportunities, or World Vision/UNESCO etc actually helping these people find better lives, I would fully support that...but they aren't.

So, do I really want to boycott these products and deny a poor child a bowl of rice? I don't think so.
 
oldbadger

oldbadger

Skanky Old Mongrel!
Quatermass said:
It will be likely, I think, that at least some of the stuff you got for christmas will have been made by slaves. In one form or another, whether in the making of the product itself or the harvesting/mining of the materials, slaves may have been used somewhere along the line.
Click to expand...

I got three presents for Xmas.

A radio-controlled amphicar made in China. (Britain buys from China)
A Childs educational hovercraft kit. (Made in France)
Hair clippers (Made in China)

Many people in Asia have very small wages. Many British firms take their communication centres and production lines to Asia.

For instance, a well known British customer-loyalty points card company has based its communications centre in Asia, and a massive % of British shoppers support this.

You talk of slaves in foreign countries. I am more interested in reducing or eliminating forced arranged marriages here in Britain, linked to the dreadful acid attacks and murders sometimes committed upon those young persons who refuse to go along with these. Now that is a form of slavery.
 
Mycroft

Mycroft

Ministry of Serendipity
oldbadger said:
I got three presents for Xmas.

A radio-controlled amphicar made in China. (Britain buys from China)
A Childs educational hovercraft kit. (Made in France)
Hair clippers (Made in China)

Many people in Asia have very small wages. Many British firms take their communication centres and production lines to Asia.

For instance, a well known British customer-loyalty points card company has based its communications centre in Asia, and a massive % of British shoppers support this.

You talk of slaves in foreign countries. I am more interested in reducing or eliminating forced arranged marriages here in Britain, linked to the dreadful acid attacks and murders sometimes committed upon those young persons who refuse to go along with these. Now that is a form of slavery.
Click to expand...

It's not just the assemblage of the products that uses slavery (in some cases), but the actual mining of the materials. The company you buy from might only use ethical methods in the assembly of their product, but might (without knowing) use wiring whose copper components are mined by slaves. Etc.

But, also, one cannot give more weight to slavery in one's own country than in another, the whole matter is interconnected: exploitation.
 
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Kilgore Trout

Kilgore Trout

Misanthropic Humanist
I've always found the act of feeling guilty about abstracts and hypotheticals to be too self-indulgent and affected for my tastes.
 
oldbadger

oldbadger

Skanky Old Mongrel!
Quatermass said:
It's not just the assemblage of the products that uses slavery (in some cases), but the actual mining of the materials. The company you buy from might only use ethical methods in the assembly of their product, but might (without knowing) use wiring whose copper components are mined by slaves. Etc.

But, also, one cannot give more weight to slavery in one's own country than in another, the whole matter is interconnected: exploitation.
Click to expand...

I do recognise your points about this. In the early 1980's, when the Brit government was closing coal mines and putting down the demonstrating miners very heavily, we were buying coal from Colombia which I believe used children in its mines at that time.

But........ I do wish to give more weight to wrongness occuring in my own village, town, county and country ...... first. This may be wrong, but justice, charity, support and care must first be born and continue .... at home. I'm not saying that's right, I'm just saying that's what I perceive as possible. :)
 
I

iamsharky789

Member
Quatermass said:
It will be likely, I think, that at least some of the stuff you got for christmas will have been made by slaves. In one form or another, whether in the making of the product itself or the harvesting/mining of the materials, slaves may have been used somewhere along the line.

But how can you know how many slaves?

Slavery Footprint - Made In A Free World

Use the website to figure it out. ONLY do the sections relevant to the items you got for christmas!

Post your results!

Mine was zero, because I didn't get anything for christmas! :)
Click to expand...

Me either! But how do you explain to a child the effects of this on x-mas when all the peers are getting gifts.
 
S

Slapstick

Active Member
Quatermass said:
It will be likely, I think, that at least some of the stuff you got for christmas will have been made by slaves. In one form or another, whether in the making of the product itself or the harvesting/mining of the materials, slaves may have been used somewhere along the line.

But how can you know how many slaves?

Slavery Footprint - Made In A Free World

Use the website to figure it out. ONLY do the sections relevant to the items you got for christmas!

Post your results!

Mine was zero, because I didn't get anything for christmas! :)
Click to expand...
Consumers are not responsible for labor conditions or those who manufacture the products.

That is the responsibility of businesses and organizations or even governments that rely on them.

BTW: Why didn't you get anything for Christmas? I take you were really bad or don't believe in Santa.
 
Question_love_act

Question_love_act

Humanist... "Animalist"?
Slavery Footprint - Survey

I have 29 slaves working for me and I think my lifestyle is simple. I was surprised to see how few clothes I have and vast majority of them are second-hand. But however I'm a gamer and use a lot of electronics.

As for Christmas, I got : utensiles made in Quebec, Canada and socks made in France and Body Shop skin cream. So that gave me 5 slaves, mainly because I did not change my food.
Slavery Footprint - Survey
 
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