I HOPE that you would spend a few minutes and scroll through the pages in this link – a cache of pictures hacked from Chinese police servers and given off to the outside press. There is not much text or narrative here to read, but the faces of these Uyghur Muslims – as young as few years to as old as 73 – will tell you enough story in silence, if you care to pause and read their eyes. (YouTube also has a few documentaries or clips that give a glimpse of what is happening inside the Uyghur detention camps).
There is no denial that we are all hooked, even almost addicted, to unbeatable low priced Chinese goods. That these are as cheap in quality as they are low in price matters little to most of us. Designed not to last but to be thrown away in a short while to pile up on the landfills around the globe, these products have flooded the world exposing people to various chemical toxicity while at the same time harming the environment. From garlic to juice to synthetic egg and meat, and from the shoelace on your feet to the hat on top of your head and everything in between – in fact at whatever product or chattel your eyes happen to fall on in your house or at work, there is a good chance that it is “made in China”. And all that is at the cost of our health, the environment, and the livelihood of the workers around the world outside of China.
“We can start on something small, such as looking around, when possible, for products not made in China and buying them even if the price may be a little more. More than likely, the return will come back in the form of quality, but most importantly, in the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing something good as a matter of principle, and that cannot be equated with any monetary value.”
Anyone of these issues, particularly the genocide against the Uyghur Muslims, would be a good reason to try to wean ourselves off Chinese made products. Given how pervasive these goods have become in our lives, this may be too high a call for most of us. Nonetheless, we can start on something small, such as looking around, when possible, for products not made in China and buying them even if the price may be a little more. More than likely, the return will come back in the form of quality, but most importantly, in the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing something good as a matter of principle, and that cannot be equated with any monetary value.