Friday Night Video – Tibetan Exiles Fight China Gangnam Style

One of the awesome aspects of Psy’s worldwide hit “Gangnam Style” is the political satire embedded in the catchiness. (Although the folks at Left Flank beg to differ.) Students for a Free Tibet and the International Tibet Network have joined in the plethora of copycat Gangnam videos, although this one comes with a very serious message.

About the making of this video: Using the power of humor and theater, this video highlights the cruelty and absurdity of the Chinese government’s colonial policies in Tibet that have driven 63 Tibetans to set themselves on fire in protest of Chinese rule; 50 this year alone. It also depicts some of the creative protest tactics being used by Tibetans to challenge China’s occupation, including a 2011 boycott of Chinese vegetable vendors. This video will be banned in China and Tibet but Beijing’s censors cannot stop the truth from spreading: Xi Jinping, China’s 5th generation leader will be the last to rule Tibet. Above all, this video is a call to action to the world, urging individuals and governments to help the Tibetan people in their nonviolent struggle for freedom.

More information about Students for a Free Tibet and their campaigns can be found here.

Deep Thought of the Day: The Actual Communist Threat

Every time a conservative mentions Socialism as a threat to the United States and our way of life, could we please ask what conservatives think about corporations such as WalMart making their profits off of China and its actual Communist labor? Please? Every time?

iJustice: What to Do About Tech Company Problems and Profits

When This American Life retracted its recent episode concerning poor working conditions in factories making Chinese products, I was worried that this would mean a larger dismissal of concerns when it comes to tech companies, including Apple, using cheap and exploited labor.

The issue may remain in the news, though, given the even more recent audit of the Foxconn factory which has helped Apple generate such awesome profit margin.

Assessors found cases of employees working longer hours and more days in a row than allowed by FLA standards and Chinese law. They uncovered inconsistent health and safety policies and instances of unfair pay for overtime work.

It’s hard for me not to connect this news to the other big splash that Apple made of late — its nearly one hundred billion dollar pile o’ cash.

Read more of this post

Holding Apple and Google Accountable

Two of the top featured petitions on Change.org aim to keep our top tech companies accountable. One petition asks Apple to ensure humane working conditions for its workers in China. Another petition asks Google to stop sponsoring bigotry, as the company did by contributing to this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. Yes, Google gave money to CPAC. The same CPAC that hosted white nationalists last Thursday.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 398 other followers