Don't buy Apple, Don't support Capitalism
Sep. 2nd, 2010 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sathorAn interesting Article I found surfing around...
China, U.S., Japan, Russia: Suicide Surge Universal Under Capitalism
THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2010 AT 10:26AM
The Foxconn plant in China, which assembles iPads among other things, has made headlines recently with its incredibly high rate of worker suicides. Working for $132 per month, Foxconn workers are on their feet on the job for 12 hours a day, six days a week. Conversing with coworkers is strictly forbidden and bathroom breaks are relegated to ten minutes every two hours.1
One worker described how his favorite activity was dropping stuff because squatting down to pick up the object is the only way to get any rest.2 Another worker said of his job, “Every day, I repeat the same thing I did yesterday. We get yelled at all the time… Life is meaningless.” A worker suffering from insomnia simply stated, “I feel no sense of achievement, I’ve become a machine.”3
Foxconn employs nearly 600,000 workers at its Shenzhen facility, almost all of which are young migrants from the Chinese countryside.4 “Hukou” (Household Registration System) laws make internal migration in China illegal. These laws deny migrant workers access to any social services and the risk of deportation back to the countryside makes them especially vulnerable to exploitation.5 In the city of Shenzhen super-exploited migrant workers make up over 80% of the population.6
As tragic as the story at Foxconn is it is hardly unique in the new China. A 2007 article in the China Daily noted that 287,000 people kill themselves in China each year. It has become the leading cause of death for people between ages 15 and 34. A study done by Peking University found that 20% of Chinese high school students considered committing suicide and 6.5% had made plans to do so.7
The current economic downturn has only exacerbated the issue. In 2009 the London Telegraph reported that suicides were surging among Chinese college graduates. They connected this rise in suicides to the fact that one-third of graduates are unable to find work after graduation.8
Suicide and Capitalist Economy
are Connected
The link between suicides and the capitalist economic system has long been acknowledged. A 1976 Congressional report in the U.S. even commented that, “The national rate of suicide in the U.S. can be viewed as an economic indicator.”9 A recent study from Oxford University confirmed this finding that a 3% raise in unemployment resulted in a 4.5% raise in the suicide rate.10
Indeed in the U.S. the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline reported an 18% increase in phone calls in early 2010.11 And the BP Gulf oil spill that destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people has also now seen a corresponding increase in suicides on the Gulf Coast.12
The linkage between suicide and capitalism seems to be a universal one. The Aokigahara Forest in Japan has become known as the “suicide forest” due to the large numbers of people who have gone there to kill themselves. In 2009 Japan saw a 15% increase in suicides over the previous year. One man who attempted to kill himself in the forest after losing his job stated, “My will to live disappeared. I’d lost my identity, so I didn’t want to live on this earth. That’s why I went here.”13
Fall of Communism Leads Workers to Despair
The harsh working conditions, long hours, and terrible wages brought on by China’s reversion to capitalism are only part of the suicide puzzle there. Another factor not discussed by the Western news media is the despair brought on by the fall of communism in China.
The connection between the collapse of communism and worker suicides is most evident in the former Soviet Union. According to the World Health Organization the five highest suicide rates in the world all belong to former Soviet states (Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Hungary).14 The dissolution of the Soviet Union led to a surge in suicides in Russia that began in the mid-1980s leading one World Health Organization official to state, “The reasons are complex but the suicide rate is obviously linked to social and economic disintegration.”15
Along with having the third highest suicide rate in the world, Russia also has the highest rate of alcoholism in the world. Recently the Russian Public Chamber reported that 500,000 Russians die every year from alcohol abuse.16 The combination of alcohol abuse and suicide has helped to lower the life expectancy of Russian men to 59, causing Pravda to remark that Russian men are becoming “extinct.”17
Nets Won’t Save Chinese
Workers
Embarrassed by the suicide scandal Foxconn has devised a plan to increase pay by 20% and has begun installing anti-suicide nets around all the worker dormitories (most workers have committed suicide by jumping from buildings).18 Workers have even been forced by management to sign pledges not to kill themselves.19
Despite these measures the suicides at Foxconn continue.20 One worker who admitted to contemplating suicide, and already made well above the proposed pay raise, summed up the real problem, “I do the same thing every day; I feel empty inside. I have no future.”21
The half-measures taken by Foxconn bosses to stop the worker suicides are all window dressing. The real problem at Foxconn, and in China and the world as a whole, is the alienation and despair caused by the capitalist system. Workers do not want to toil as slaves for the bosses’ profits while only getting crumbs for themselves. The only solution to the suicide problem in China is the overthrow of the capitalist class and the victory of communist revolution. Until that point, anti-suicide safety nets won’t solve anything. J
Sources:
1 Business Week, “Foxconn Workers in China Say ‘Meaningless’ Life Sparks Suicides,” 6/2/10.
2 Gizmodo, “Undercover Report from Foxconn’s Hell Factory,” 5/19/10.
3 Business Week.
4 Open Letter from Chinese Sociologists, “Address to the Problems of New Generations of Chinese Migrant Workers, End to Foxconn Tragedy Now,” http://sacom.hk/archives/644 , dated 5/18/10, retrieved 8/1/10.
5 Christian Parenti, The Nation, “Chinese Struggle Over Resources Under a Quasi-Maoist Capitalism,” 5/18/08.
6 Open Letter from Chinese Sociologists.
7 China Daily, “China’s Suicide Rate Among World’s Highest,” 9/11/07.
8 The Telegraph, “Wave of Suicide Sweeps China’s Graduate Class,” 7/25/09.
9 CHALLENGE, “Unemployment: Capitalism’s Killing Fields,” 3/17/10; NYT, “US Study Links Rise in Jobless to Deaths, Murders and Suicides,” 10/31/76.
10 Bloomberg, “Murder, Suicide Rates Climb When Jobs Vanish and Economy Slows,” 7/7/09.
11 AOL News, “Amid Lack of Jobs, Suicide Hot Line Calls Surge,” 7/6/10.
12 Mother Jones, “Depression, Abuse, Suicide: Fishermen’s Wives Face Post-Spill Trauma,” 6/25/10; Washington Post, “Apparent Suicide by Fishing Boat Captain Underlines Oil Spill’s Emotional Toll,” 6/24/10.
13 CNN, “Desperate Japanese Head to ‘Suicide Forest,’” 3/20/09.
14 WHO, “Suicide Rates per 100,000 by Country, Year, and Sex,” 2009. Sri Lanka would be 4th highest but was omitted because the most recent numbers were almost 20 years old (1991).
15 The Lancet, Suicide Rates in Russia on the Increase,” 7/19/03.
16 Ria Novosti, “Alcohol Abuse Kills 500,000 Russians Annually,” 6/16/09.
17 The Guardian, “No Country for Old Men,” 2/11/08; Pravda, “Russian Men Become Extinct,” 11/3/05.
18 The Guardian, “Foxconn Offers Pay Rises and Suicide Nets as Fears Grow Over Wave of Deaths,” 5/28/10.
19 Sydney Morning Herald, “I Promise Not to Kill Myself: Apple Factory Workers ‘Asked to Sign Pledge,’” 5/26/10.
20 ABC News, “Worker Death Tally Rises at Foxconn China,” 7/21/10.
21 Business Week.
China, U.S., Japan, Russia: Suicide Surge Universal Under Capitalism
THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2010 AT 10:26AM
The Foxconn plant in China, which assembles iPads among other things, has made headlines recently with its incredibly high rate of worker suicides. Working for $132 per month, Foxconn workers are on their feet on the job for 12 hours a day, six days a week. Conversing with coworkers is strictly forbidden and bathroom breaks are relegated to ten minutes every two hours.1
One worker described how his favorite activity was dropping stuff because squatting down to pick up the object is the only way to get any rest.2 Another worker said of his job, “Every day, I repeat the same thing I did yesterday. We get yelled at all the time… Life is meaningless.” A worker suffering from insomnia simply stated, “I feel no sense of achievement, I’ve become a machine.”3
Foxconn employs nearly 600,000 workers at its Shenzhen facility, almost all of which are young migrants from the Chinese countryside.4 “Hukou” (Household Registration System) laws make internal migration in China illegal. These laws deny migrant workers access to any social services and the risk of deportation back to the countryside makes them especially vulnerable to exploitation.5 In the city of Shenzhen super-exploited migrant workers make up over 80% of the population.6
As tragic as the story at Foxconn is it is hardly unique in the new China. A 2007 article in the China Daily noted that 287,000 people kill themselves in China each year. It has become the leading cause of death for people between ages 15 and 34. A study done by Peking University found that 20% of Chinese high school students considered committing suicide and 6.5% had made plans to do so.7
The current economic downturn has only exacerbated the issue. In 2009 the London Telegraph reported that suicides were surging among Chinese college graduates. They connected this rise in suicides to the fact that one-third of graduates are unable to find work after graduation.8
Suicide and Capitalist Economy
are Connected
The link between suicides and the capitalist economic system has long been acknowledged. A 1976 Congressional report in the U.S. even commented that, “The national rate of suicide in the U.S. can be viewed as an economic indicator.”9 A recent study from Oxford University confirmed this finding that a 3% raise in unemployment resulted in a 4.5% raise in the suicide rate.10
Indeed in the U.S. the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline reported an 18% increase in phone calls in early 2010.11 And the BP Gulf oil spill that destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people has also now seen a corresponding increase in suicides on the Gulf Coast.12
The linkage between suicide and capitalism seems to be a universal one. The Aokigahara Forest in Japan has become known as the “suicide forest” due to the large numbers of people who have gone there to kill themselves. In 2009 Japan saw a 15% increase in suicides over the previous year. One man who attempted to kill himself in the forest after losing his job stated, “My will to live disappeared. I’d lost my identity, so I didn’t want to live on this earth. That’s why I went here.”13
Fall of Communism Leads Workers to Despair
The harsh working conditions, long hours, and terrible wages brought on by China’s reversion to capitalism are only part of the suicide puzzle there. Another factor not discussed by the Western news media is the despair brought on by the fall of communism in China.
The connection between the collapse of communism and worker suicides is most evident in the former Soviet Union. According to the World Health Organization the five highest suicide rates in the world all belong to former Soviet states (Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Hungary).14 The dissolution of the Soviet Union led to a surge in suicides in Russia that began in the mid-1980s leading one World Health Organization official to state, “The reasons are complex but the suicide rate is obviously linked to social and economic disintegration.”15
Along with having the third highest suicide rate in the world, Russia also has the highest rate of alcoholism in the world. Recently the Russian Public Chamber reported that 500,000 Russians die every year from alcohol abuse.16 The combination of alcohol abuse and suicide has helped to lower the life expectancy of Russian men to 59, causing Pravda to remark that Russian men are becoming “extinct.”17
Nets Won’t Save Chinese
Workers
Embarrassed by the suicide scandal Foxconn has devised a plan to increase pay by 20% and has begun installing anti-suicide nets around all the worker dormitories (most workers have committed suicide by jumping from buildings).18 Workers have even been forced by management to sign pledges not to kill themselves.19
Despite these measures the suicides at Foxconn continue.20 One worker who admitted to contemplating suicide, and already made well above the proposed pay raise, summed up the real problem, “I do the same thing every day; I feel empty inside. I have no future.”21
The half-measures taken by Foxconn bosses to stop the worker suicides are all window dressing. The real problem at Foxconn, and in China and the world as a whole, is the alienation and despair caused by the capitalist system. Workers do not want to toil as slaves for the bosses’ profits while only getting crumbs for themselves. The only solution to the suicide problem in China is the overthrow of the capitalist class and the victory of communist revolution. Until that point, anti-suicide safety nets won’t solve anything. J
Sources:
1 Business Week, “Foxconn Workers in China Say ‘Meaningless’ Life Sparks Suicides,” 6/2/10.
2 Gizmodo, “Undercover Report from Foxconn’s Hell Factory,” 5/19/10.
3 Business Week.
4 Open Letter from Chinese Sociologists, “Address to the Problems of New Generations of Chinese Migrant Workers, End to Foxconn Tragedy Now,” http://sacom.hk/archives/644 , dated 5/18/10, retrieved 8/1/10.
5 Christian Parenti, The Nation, “Chinese Struggle Over Resources Under a Quasi-Maoist Capitalism,” 5/18/08.
6 Open Letter from Chinese Sociologists.
7 China Daily, “China’s Suicide Rate Among World’s Highest,” 9/11/07.
8 The Telegraph, “Wave of Suicide Sweeps China’s Graduate Class,” 7/25/09.
9 CHALLENGE, “Unemployment: Capitalism’s Killing Fields,” 3/17/10; NYT, “US Study Links Rise in Jobless to Deaths, Murders and Suicides,” 10/31/76.
10 Bloomberg, “Murder, Suicide Rates Climb When Jobs Vanish and Economy Slows,” 7/7/09.
11 AOL News, “Amid Lack of Jobs, Suicide Hot Line Calls Surge,” 7/6/10.
12 Mother Jones, “Depression, Abuse, Suicide: Fishermen’s Wives Face Post-Spill Trauma,” 6/25/10; Washington Post, “Apparent Suicide by Fishing Boat Captain Underlines Oil Spill’s Emotional Toll,” 6/24/10.
13 CNN, “Desperate Japanese Head to ‘Suicide Forest,’” 3/20/09.
14 WHO, “Suicide Rates per 100,000 by Country, Year, and Sex,” 2009. Sri Lanka would be 4th highest but was omitted because the most recent numbers were almost 20 years old (1991).
15 The Lancet, Suicide Rates in Russia on the Increase,” 7/19/03.
16 Ria Novosti, “Alcohol Abuse Kills 500,000 Russians Annually,” 6/16/09.
17 The Guardian, “No Country for Old Men,” 2/11/08; Pravda, “Russian Men Become Extinct,” 11/3/05.
18 The Guardian, “Foxconn Offers Pay Rises and Suicide Nets as Fears Grow Over Wave of Deaths,” 5/28/10.
19 Sydney Morning Herald, “I Promise Not to Kill Myself: Apple Factory Workers ‘Asked to Sign Pledge,’” 5/26/10.
20 ABC News, “Worker Death Tally Rises at Foxconn China,” 7/21/10.
21 Business Week.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-03 10:01 pm (UTC)Another problem is that unions are no longer a federally enforced reality, and likely never will be again - if they are, more of our corporations will go overseas to places where they are not enforced, such as our current situation.
Another problem is the issue of inheriting vast amounts of wealth and the capacity of production itself (land, machinery, technology, "capital" itself) which is handed over to following generations self-perpetuated by their very ancestors.
Another problem is the fact that the vast majority of work/time is performed by the average laborer who receives, in compensation, a pittance. Stock holders, share holders, board members, CEOs, vice presidents do not play an integral role in the production of any particular item or good nor do they serve the community as a whole in any way whatsoever - donations to charity are simply a farce, donations will never have the same impact that giving more purchasing power to the entire populous will have. In fact this would result in the entire industry that exists as a result of the necessity of charity in capitalism, thanks to the economic class disparity, to cease to exist, as charity would no longer be a necessity.
The human factor is an issue but capitalism allows for this human factor to exist, and it can never prevent it from existing as a free market is a free market, and it will always allow for immorality. Add to this the reality that Democracies do not hold a bludgeon over the heads of their people, but rather they manipulate them through the media, through selective news, through advertising, through public education including the collegiate system.
"From each according to his or her ability, to each according to his or her need" is something that, back in the 60s, over 90% of the country agreed upon being true in polls - this is the communist creed, interestingly enough.
Furthermore, while we are one of the "shining examples of capitalism" in the entire world, we are ranked 20th amongst developed nations with regards to poverty and economic disparity, also remember we have yet to have true universal healthcare, unlike the rest of the developed nations, and we have no subsidized education, unlike the rest of the developed nations. The reason for this is because our government, democratic, continues to manipulate the people into thinking the existence of the fucking corporate power structure is somehow a MEANINGFUL REALITY when it fact IT SERVES ONLY TO BENEFIT AN INCREDIBLY SMALL NUMBER OF PEOPLE, including essentially -ALL- of our politicians, presidents past, present and future, all of our finance and banking industry, all of our corporate owners, board members, and large share holders.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-03 10:07 pm (UTC)Chomsky actually said something pretty awesome recently, with regards to the need for radical thinkers at this time in american history - why don't the laid off GM factory workers simply go back to work and start producing high-speed rail parts, and communally, begin the process of building these structures of transportation, without regard for GM whatsoever? Why don't they just return to work - storm the building - and start producing something that's actually going to be valuable for the people of America and themselves in the very near future? In fact, a better question - why don't all of the laid of workers simply return to work? I'm pretty certain a number of business, owned by say, 12 or 15 people, couldn't stop the thousands of workers who actually produce the objects that the whole population uses and enjoys.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 01:04 am (UTC)Liberal, conservative, these are really meaningless terms now. Liberal or conservative, they all come from the same bunch largely. There are few exceptions to the rule. They come from privileged upper class.
The issue with business owners, they may put in eighty hours a week, but this is the problem - if they aren't actually producing anything, they aren't actually doing anything with that time. Putting in time that doesn't result in production, or play a significant part in it, isn't work. It's "management" which is, basically, making sure profits continue to rise which benefit that individual more than anyone else absolutely. Lets say profits increase 15% for a particular business a year - do the workers all receive in a 15% increase in wages, which would be appropriate and completely possible? No, they don't. In contrast if that profit were to fall, I admit, most workers do not lose wages - but some of those workers lose their jobs completely instead. When the whole group should carry the burden in either respect. This would be the root of the issue against unions, however, the ideal union is going to carry the burden of losses and reap the benefits of growth collectively - the whole business, "owner" to laborer, although the idea of anyone "owning" a business is some kind of throwback to feudalism - the people who own the business are the people who run it and allow it to continue to produce, to be a meaningful part of the society. It is not an individual who "started a company" or a board of people who provided the start up capital.
This is the flaw, and it's also the seat of Anarchism. Pretty simple idea - every new business owner should have the moral initiative, if they are evolved human beings - if they are worth even continuing to live on this planet - to distribute the wealth created by their company across the board relatively equally, with slight differences for work/time, effort put in by individuals within that company. Currently existing companies should also abide by this idea - the idea that the collective owns everything, which it does, because the collective is what allows everything to function, buys the products the collective produces. No one person is that meaningful in a world of six billion. Capitalism produces individuals who feel that they are self-important and somehow deserve this or that over another who in all likelihood does just as much with regard to the whole picture.
You take an individual who innovates a new technology that makes a kind of work that much easier - but the work still has to be done, and the individuals doing that work deserve just as much compensation for their time, indeed, far more - because without them the innovation would be useless.
The argument is that you have to have some kind of incentive, well, when is the human race going to wake up and recognize that if they have the capability to do great things, they should be doing them regardless of what they are being paid, or the number of cars in their garage, or the number of mansions they own. This is the root problem, the selfish greed that most certainly is not inherent in the human race, but rather is a -byproduct of our advertising centric society- as well as the -brainwashing of people by media, government - which are all subservient to corporate interest.