Hong Kong: what next?

[Raheem]

Think Samsung is your best bet. They don't do any manufacturing in China, although I would be surprised if any phone doesn't contain at least some Chinese bits.

Have to say though, I wonder if a phone boycott with any decent profile would add more to the brand recognition of Chinese models than it would cost in lost sales.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Think Samsung is your best best. They don't do any manufacturing in China, although I would be surprised if any phone doesn't contain at least some Chinese bits.

Have to say though, I wonder if a phone boycott with any decent profile would add more to the brand recognition of Chinese models than it would cost in lost sales.

It's not just phones though, seems everything has Chinese fingerprints all over it. Is it too late to stop buying shit from China? It is our buying this crap that has emboldened them to spread their shit to HK, to not care about their genocidal desires towards the Uighurs being common knowledge and so on. Maybe I'm being imperialist, throw them back in to penury to put them back in their place kind of thing, so perhaps that is wrong. But the Chinese government are cunts...

 

[Rimbaud]

It's not just phones though, seems everything has Chinese fingerprints all over it. Is it too late to stop buying shit from China? It is our buying this crap that has emboldened them to spread their shut to HK, to not care about their genocidal desires towards the Uighurs being common knowledge and so on. Maybe I'm being imperialist, throw them back in to penury to put them back in their place kind of thing, so perhaps that is wrong. But the Chinese government are cunts...

You're right.

All that remains of Marxism in the Chinese government's mindset is a crude form of amoral materialism - and the west has shown them for quite some time now that they won't be called out on anything as long as there is money to be made or money to be saved.

Showing that values and ethics do sometimes trump material interest would be a powerful message.

And its not imperialist to oppose them - China is under a proudly imperialistic and racist government with clearly stated expansionist goals, and we shouldn't throw Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese and Uyghurs under the bus just because we think only white people can be imperialist.

I'm glad to see people are waking up to the nature of Xi Jinping era now, I had a seriously hard time getting friends on the left to give a shit about the Uyghurs, even as they were obsessed with Palestine - a situation which, though grave, pales in comparison to what is happening in Xinjiang.

 

[kebabking]

Oh I don't know - if #HuaweiSlaveLabour became a big thing, I'm not sure it would do them much good...

It's an individual thing - the next time someone pulls out their new Huawei phone and goes on about how great it it is, we just need to say 'really, you bought a Chinese phone? Impressive moral compass you've got there....'.

Buying their stuff needs to be as antisocial as drink driving, or staying at a Trump hotel.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Think Samsung is your best bet. They don't do any manufacturing in China, although I would be surprised if any phone doesn't contain at least some Chinese bits.

Have to say though, I wonder if a phone boycott with any decent profile would add more to the brand recognition of Chinese models than it would cost in lost sales.

It's not just the parts but the materials as well.

Supply chains make us all complicit no matter how much we try.

 

[platinumsage]

A quarter of goods imported to Europe are from China.

 

[BristolEcho]

Oh I don't know - if #HuaweiSlaveLabour became a big thing, I'm not sure it would do them much good...

It's an individual thing - the next time someone pulls out their new Huawei phone and goes on about how great it it is, we just need to say 'really, you bought a Chinese phone? Impressive moral compass you've got there....'.

Buying their stuff needs to be as antisocial as drink driving, or staying at a Trump hotel.

I think you're right. I'm not massively into boycotting as I've posted many times, but I do have a Huewei p20 pro and I'd be less likely to buy one now.

I reckon I might go second hand for the next phone as the whole supply chain is fucked really.

 

[kebabking]

I think you're right. I'm not massively into boycotting as I've posted many times, but I do have a Huewei p20 pro and I'd be less likely to buy one now.

I reckon I might go second hand for the next phone as the whole supply chain is fucked really.

similar. i've got a motorola phone, its made in China/India, but owned by Lenovo who are Chinese. i like it, but i won't be buying another. Samsung or Nokia next time. i don't doubt it will have Chinese componants, but its less money, and less market share in their pockets. do what you can, when you can.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Oh I don't know - if #HuaweiSlaveLabour became a big thing, I'm not sure it would do them much good...

It's an individual thing - the next time someone pulls out their new Huawei phone and goes on about how great it it is, we just need to say 'really, you bought a Chinese phone? Impressive moral compass you've got there....'.

Buying their stuff needs to be as antisocial as drink driving, or staying at a Trump hotel.

Are you going to bin your TV, and possibly every other piece of electronic equipment you own? Or is your moral compass not that finely tuned?

 

[krtek a houby]

Every little helps.

Probably difficult to have a total boycott, but no harm in trying.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Every little helps.

Probably difficult to have a total boycott, but no harm in trying.

I absolutely agree. If it makes you feel better in some way then go for it, but then pulling people up about how finely honed their moral compass is, when your own stock of 'made in China' components is possibly greater than the person you're getting all self-righteous on, seems a bit... hmmmm.
By all means, feel free to boycott Chinese phones, but having a pop at those who still own one is a bit of a dick's move.

 

[krtek a houby]

I absolutely agree. If it makes you feel better in some way then go for it, but then pulling people up about how finely honed their moral compass is, when your own stock of 'made in China' components is possibly greater than the person you're getting all self-righteous on, seems a bit... hmmmm.
By all means, feel free to boycott Chinese phones, but having a pop at those who still own one is a bit of a dick's move.

Not having a pop. Sadly own Chinese components etc, but yeah - they are almost unavoidable.

Have the feeling that something awful is coming and there's no way to stop it.

 

[kebabking]

Are you going to bin your TV, and possibly every other piece of electronic equipment you own? Or is your moral compass not that finely tuned?

I'm not going to bin stuff while it's still working - not least because that makes no sense whatsoever - I'm just going to do what I can to limit the amount of money I give to the Chinese government.

I absolutely agree. If it makes you feel better in some way then go for it, but then pulling people up about how finely honed their moral compass is, when your own stock of 'made in China' components is possibly greater than the person you're getting all self-righteous on, seems a bit... hmmmm.
By all means, feel free to boycott Chinese phones, but having a pop at those who still own one is a bit of a dick's move.

No, more nuanced than that. It's not about what you have previously bought, it's what you choose to buy in the future.

Personally, my moral compass is fine with thinking that someone who knowingly buys stuff from slavers, murderers, ethnic cleansers, and all the rest is probably a bit off - and I think I'll live with the disapproval of those who disagree...

 

[maomao]

Do I have to boycott my wife? Or my kids (one of whom was made in China). I don't mind boycotting my in laws though. I think they'd be alright with it too.

 

[hash tag]

Nokia, although Now owned by Microsoft, has always prided itself on being a very ethical company. If I remember rightly, it's one of the few Telecom's companies that had no connection to the arms trade.
thats probably where I will turn when my HTC dies.
ps hi-fi here is Denon.

 

[NoXion]

I like the idea of not giving the Chinese government any more money than I absolutely have to. But I don't think moralistic hectoring is the way to encourage that behaviour. People will just get defensive, rather than reflective. Besides, I think doing that would let the system as a whole off the hook. Why did Chinese labour become such a hot commodity? It's not like customers were beating down the corporations' doors, demanding that manufacturing work be outsourced there post-haste.

I think a better approach on the personal, individual level is to instead encourage people to think about what they buy, before they buy it. So like if someone's asking online about what their next smartphone purchase should be, then I think would be a good time to speak up, well before the "sunk cost" fallacy has worked its evil logic.

 

[hash tag]

It's good that people are finally talking about China it's a shame they didn't speak out over Tibet, not that it will get anyone anywhere

 

[Shechemite]

My first mobile was a Nokia. Had snake on it and everything

 

[Shechemite]

Throw one of those and Mr Xi and he’d regret it

 

[Shechemite]

In the last decades in the Soviet Union, there was a campaign against political abuse of psychiatry within the USSR. Even the RcPsych got involved.

See no reason why a similar campaign can’t be waged against political psychiatry in China

 

[Raheem]

It's good that people are finally talking about China it's a shame they didn't speak out over Tibet, not that it will get anyone anywhereView attachment 220659

Yes, I'm sure I vaguely remember no-one ever saying anything about Tibet.

 

[Yossarian]

No, more nuanced than that. It's not about what you have previously bought, it's what you choose to buy in the future.

Yep, boycotts of high-profile companies like Huawei with very close ties to the Chinese government and military seems like the way to go - of course there will always be people who will call you a hypocrite if you happen to own a bucket or whatever with a "made in China" label on it - it's a pretty common line of argument from the mainlanders who spam social media posts about the HK movement.

 

[Saul Goodman]

I'm not going to bin stuff while it's still working - not least because that makes no sense whatsoever - I'm just going to do what I can to limit the amount of money I give to the Chinese government.


No, more nuanced than that. It's not about what you have previously bought, it's what you choose to buy in the future.

Personally, my moral compass is fine with thinking that someone who knowingly buys stuff from slavers, murderers, ethnic cleansers, and all the rest is probably a bit off - and I think I'll live with the disapproval of those who disagree...

I don't disagree with you boycotting anything. I disagree with you getting all holier than thou in other people's faces about it.

 

[Flavour]

Next they came for the books.

Hong Kong: books by pro-democracy activists disappear from library shelves

Move follows new security laws and include titles by Joshua Wong and lawmaker Tanya Chan

www.theguardian.com

This is only going to get worse.
If HK continue protests they will quite literally be massacred. There's no doubt about it.
The only move they have left is mass exodus to Taiwan or elsewhere. Either way the HK of 1997 is well and truly finished. They won't dismantle it all overnight, but there'll be no trace left of it long before the 50 year transition period is over.

 

[Yossarian]

Police now granted sweeping new powers - and those suspected of violating the new security law can be banned from leaving Hong Kong. Terrifying how the place has gone from relatively free to a full-on authoritarian state in less than a week.

In implementing the national security law for Hong Kong, police will have sweeping authority that allows them to take actions including conducting searches without a warrant, restricting suspects from leaving the city, and intercepting communications.

Hong Kong police granted sweeping powers under security law

In implementing the national security law for Hong Kong, police will have sweeping authority that allows them to take actions including conducting searches without a warrant, restricting suspects from leaving the city, and intercepting communications.

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[not-bono-ever]

Lam is a despicable authoritarian apparatchik . Not even an attempt to play the PR game any more .

 

[not-bono-ever]

Terrorism is such a devalued term these days

 

[not-bono-ever]

China daily welcomes the new law by comparing it to other countries where treason is punishable by execution
So maybe not as bad as you think

 

[Poi E]

I suppose the Chinese only had to consult the raft of British Imperial legislation on sedition. Cut and paste.

 

[Sprocket.]

I have no doubt there are plenty in the UK government, wishing we still had the neck to deploy a gunboat to HK.