The Great Wal of Mart

I saw an old Chinese guy on the bus yesterday wearing a poppy. I wasn't all that clear on the role of China in WWII or how they might have had some impact on making Canada what she is today. What I found out, and this is a very general summation of some of the events of WWII, the war helped the Chinese Communist party. You see, at the time of the war Chinese Communists lead by Mao, were battling with Chiang Kai Shek and the Kuomintang, the Chinese Nationalist Party, who were in favour of something called a "New Life Movement" for China. This was a sort of combination of Confucian ideals, Christianity, Nationalism and Authoritarianism. Nobody really knows if this could have made China into a better place than it is today but it is tough to imagine any ruling party that could have made them any worse. However, judging from the period in Taiwan known as "White Terror" when Chiang Kai Shek's Kuomintang ruled Taiwan with and iron fist persecuting and executing people who were believed to be threats to its power, it just might have done the unthinkable and created something worse in China than what we have today. It lasted from 1949 to 1987 and was the longest period of martial law ever until the Syrian situation recently broke the inauspicious record. Inside Taiwan members of intellectual organizations for "re-emancipation" were roundly imprisoned, tortured or put to death for the threats they posed to the ruling Kuomintang. Much like Tibetan Buddhism and Falun Gong in Communist China. It should be noted that in the 1920's the Kuomintang persecuted Buddhists too so, as per my opinion of most opposition parties in most countries of the world, it's possible that the two factions were not fighting over who could make China better, rather who would win the spoils that come with the privilege of making it worse.

At any rate, Japan invaded China in 1937 and the two warring factions within China agreed to a sort of co-operative war against the invading Japanese. What ended up happening is the Kuomintang took the bulk of the burden, wearing themselves down in number and supplies while the Chinese Communist forces largely sat waiting in the wings, strengthening their forces with an eye toward winning the civil war. It worked. In 1946 the civil war resumed and the CCP defeated the Chinese Nationalists by 1949. This is part of why the world has had Communist China ruled by the mighty bastion of evil known as the Chinese Communist Party ever since.

So, the old Chinese guy wearing the poppy: Was it appropriate? I guess like is the case with so many of life's most important questions, the answer is probably, "It depends." Maybe the guy had relatives who were persecuted by Kuomintang forces and was happy that WWII was a factor in their eventual demise. I don't know. I don't even know if I should care. As long as he donated a decent amount to purchase the poppy, a salut. The observance of Remembrance Day is in honour of the sacrifices made by the soldiers to make Canada a better place. And he lives here now so his life was directly affected by those who fought. So it's right for him to wear the poppy. I guess...

But in the grand scheme of things, his native country, (and I'm not making the silly mistake of assuming because he's Chinese, he supports the actions of his government and his country), figures very largely in the deterioration of Canada into a country not very much like that for which our soldiers were fighting. So maybe he is wearing the poppy to show solidarity with his adopted country and as a statement AGAINST China. It depends... a powerful statement.

What the heck am I talking about? Aren't we supposed to show appreciation for the actions of the soldiers and the freedoms we enjoy because of them at this time of year? Au contraire, mes amis. I think we are supposed to honour our fighting forces and the great sacrifices everybody at the time were making for our country and maybe try our best to do what we can to make it into what they wanted, and let's face it, what almost all of US living today want as well. That is NOT what we have in Canada today. Oh we are closer than lots of countries and I am thankful for that, but it is my belief that we are moving farther and farther away and it all ties into the perversion of democracy and capitalism, corporate mentality, banks, the U.S. and inevitably, China. So if you wear a poppy it is your responsibility, in my mind, to do whatever you can about getting Canada back on the right path.

First let's explore the wrong path we are on. In past posts, even from years ago, I have been warning the oh-so-gullible politicians in Canada against making deals with China, promising trade with the expectations that there will be social and trade reform in the country because history has shown, China lies. It also has shown that they think anyone engaging in business deals based on such pie-in-the-sky promises are fools. In fact NOT lying in business is the most foolish concept of all! Has China improved conditions for workers in their country? Have they obeyed international manufacturing practices? Have they lived up to safety regulations that other nations expected them to? If you watch the documentary called, "Death By China," the answers to all these questions is no. In fact they have gone backwards!

Canada being on China's list of preferred trading partners, I think everybody in this country should see that documentary and do what we can to make things better. For some reason blogger won't let me post links any more. But the movie is on Netflix if you want to watch the whole thing. I'd recommend it. Here are some interesting things the documentary shows. And I'm just cherry picking here, there are all kinds of facts and figures that I am not including here.

"People's Republic of China." Stop saying that! It's not the people's and it's not a republic. It's still treating workers as slaves. If you try to unionize for wages that might get you out of abject poverty, you are thrown in jail. If you don't make your quota in your 16-hour day, you could be thrown in jail or maybe you just don't eat. The laws of China governing safety in the workplace and manufacturing codes and workers' rights are not obeyed. All of these things are what ATTRACT businesses to China. Along with illegal subsidies paid to manufacturers who build companies there and currency manipulation, it makes for a virtual Mecca for manufacturing and corporate greed. And, hey, that's just business! That's the explanation we get from companies like Wal-Mart and Apple. It's not up to THEM to change those things, it's up to them to make their stakeholders more money.

It is stated in the documentary that 91% of Wal-Mart's products originate in China. 2 years before the doc. was made Wal-Mart spent 50 billion in China. If they were a country that would rank The Great Wal of Mart as China's 4th largest trading partner.

And when we hear corporations explaining the mass exodus to China saying things like, "I can't compete," don't feel sorry for them. What that means is NOT what we think. It's corporate-speak. Like when they made 40 billion two years ago and only 35 billion this year, they "LOST" 5 billion. Corporate-speak. "I can't compete," does not mean that things produced in China will cost less in the countries where they are eventually sold. The prices will be similar, or maybe even MORE expensive! All it means is the CEO will have a smaller paycheck, the owner will make less profit or the shareholders will receive fewer dividends. Take Apple for example. It is a microcosm of the cause of financial inequities in countries like Canada and the U.S. Everything Apple is made in China. Does that make it cheaper to produce? Hell yeah! Does that drive the price down? Hell no! Apple has always been, and continues to be more expensive! All that means that the big wigs and shareholders make obscene profits to which they inexplicably believe they are ENTITLED!

Here is the problem! Aye, there's the rub! How do we convince people to be satisfied with reasonable profits for their businesses? Well that's as easy as convincing China to have reasonable working conditions in their factories! It won't happen with a bunch of suits sucking back sushi and sake and shaking hands on the promises of fair play. It requires some strictly enforced international trade rules and reform in the countries who do not abide by them. Who does that fall to? Me? You? Nope, it's supposed to be the job of the government officials that represent our respective countries. You know the ones who regularly accept lobbying funds and campaign contributions and the like from private corporations. Or if their corporations don't make them, the CEO's will make them privately. Or their wives. Or their lawyers. They have been finding loopholes in the laws for years.

We could all agree to boycott products from Wal-Mart or Apple or any of the MANY companies who take advantage of the horrible conditions in China, but things are SO out of hand that we would find this to be a much harder thing to do than expected. One lady in the movie tried to find a microwave that was not made in China and just couldn't. And I'm sorry but I don't believe the people who are suffering most should be the people who have to do without, or pay higher prices for products in the attempt to right this global wrong. I believe the people who have been making these obscene profits should be forced by competent labour law and business law enforcement to right these wrongs that have bolstered their offshore banks books lo these many years. The enforcement should be done by government and this should be what we DEMAND from our government.

I can't stand the way Canadian politicians prattle on about human rights and proper business practices with the same tongues they have up the asses of the Chinese businessmen who are the worst offenders! And I know it's exactly the same in the States where they are, what 17 trillion dollars in debt to them? And I hate the cavalier irresponsibility of the corporations that has become an accepted excuse for the atrocities they make profit from! "It's just business." That's just not good enough! They too need to be held accountable and they have shown no ability to rehabilitate at our polite requests for them to do so. So it's time to get tough.

The best example in Canada I can think of is all these oil pipelines. You've seen the publically funded commercials all over the TV here about how we will protect the fish and nature Canadians love so dearly. What a crock of shit! While telling us this the government of Canada has been cutting back on oil spill experts and companies. More oil to spill and less people to clean it up. The bottom line is there should be no pipelines at all! We are only doing the exact same thing as the American manufacturers in "Death By China." We are outsourcing jobs and refineries to the country where it can be done the cheapest while endangering our own country with oil spills that WILL inevitably happen! Refine it here in Canada. Transport the safer and more expensive oil to China. THAT'S the sort of thing the rest of the world, and most particularly Canada is too "nice" to do. The Chinese see it a different way. We are all too STUPID to do this. And they're laughing their way to world domination. This is not conspiracy theory, this is happening and it's gotta stop.

Leastaways, that's what I reckon.