Consumentisme is ecocide

Mountaintop removal operation, Boone County, West Virginia
Photo: Vivian Stockman, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition

Gefabriceerde 'feiten' moeten de wonden van de aarde verbergen
Door Reverend Billy Talen, Alternet, 13 juli 2010

With Consumerism the system, there are always levels of secrecy behind the flash. When Steve Jobs gets up on the stage he is our modern magician, but he conceals a vast sweatshop empire that is kept out of sight.

(....)
Some of us are waiting for a signal that there will be a post-consumption future. We would like to cooperate with this greater force, the life of the Earth. We are hearing such a signal from the Appalachian Mountains, the oldest mountains in this hemisphere, some 280 million years old. About 500 of these mountains have been blown up in the coal-mining process called Mountaintop Removal, or “MTR.” The biggest financier of MTR is currently the Swiss bank UBS, which is a famous practitioner of secrecy and spinning facts.
A student of the writers Charles Gaines and Kurt Vonnegut, Reverend Billy Talen moved to New York City in 1994 and joined the sidewalk preachers of Times Square, specializing in exorcisms of sweatshop companies such as Disney and Wal-Mart, and opposing the gentrification of neighborhoods. He has been jailed countless times in his quest to stop the Shopocalypse.
Zie ook:

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Is Bigger Than the Continental US: Here's What We Can Do About It
Planet Green / By Jaymi Heimbuch, 13 juli 2010

Toevoeging 21 juli 2010:

De boeddhist Matthieu Ricard merkt op in de dialoog 'De monnik en de wetenschapper':

'Iedereen die nu de instandhouding van de laogaï tolereert, het Chinese equivalent van de goulags, zal door de toekomstige geschiedschrijvers ongetwijfeld ook weer in het ongelijk worden gesteld. In zulke dwangarbeiderskampen wordt een aanzienlijk deel van de producten gemaakt die wij doodgemoedeerd kopen, vooral speelgoed. En dat geven wij onze kinderen als kerstcadeautje. Maar regeringen vinden zo'n veroordeling in de toekomst blijkbaar minder bedreigend dan moedig optreden in het heden.'

Wikipedia: 'It is estimated that in the last 50 years more than 50 million people have been sent to laogai camps. (...) An insider's view from the 1950s to the 1990s is detailed in the books of Harry Wu, including Troublemaker and Laogai. He spent 19 years from 1960 to 1979 as a prisoner in these camps for criticizing the government while he was a young student in college. He almost starved to death, but eventually escaped to the United States. (...) Currently, the Laogai Research Foundation estimates that there are approximately 1,045 laogai facilities in China, containing an estimated 6.8 million detainees, although the actual number of detainees is uncertain.

(...) While there are many types of laogai complexes, most enterprises are farms, mines or factories. There are, according to the Chinese Government, approximately 200 different kinds of laogai products that are exported to international markets. A quarter of China’s tea is produced in laogai camps; 60 percent of China’s rubber-vulcanizing chemicals are produced in a single laogai camp in Shengyang…one of the largest steel-pipe factories in the country is a Laogai camp…

(...) Quota filling is a big part of the inmate’s lives in laogai camps. Undershooting or overshooting the target productivity governs their quality of life. Not making the number may result in solitary confinement or loss of food privileges. Generally, food rations are cut by 10-20% if a worker fails to meet the standard.'

Consumentisme is dus niet alleen ecocide, het is ook - nog steeds - slavernij.

Zie verder het boek 'Laogai: The Machinery of Repression in China' (2009)

Toegevoegd v/a 15 december 2010:

Gehandicapten als fabrieksslaven ingezet in Chinese fabriek
Door Hans Moleman, de Volkskrant, 15 december 2010

'China wil einde maken aan werkkampen'
Trouw, 7 januari 2012

China schaft kampen af en geeft particuliere banken ruimte
Trouw, 15 november 2013

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