Cost of an iPad?

The modern electronics industry from Apple to Dell is generating billions in profits and lots of toys for consumers. And the Chinese workers, under the corrupt dictatorship of the so-called "Communist" Party, are paying the price. Is it worth it?

Twelve workers have committed suicide so far this year at the factory that makes Apple iPads. Four others survived, gravely injured, and 20 were stopped from killing themselves by the company. All the dead were between 18 and 24 years old.

Foxconn - the city-sized factory in the Shenzhen free trade zone, southern China - employs 400,000 mainly migrant workers. They work 70 hours a week for about 50 cents an hour under a military-style administration and harsh working conditions.

Foxconn also supply Dell, Hewlett Packard and Sony and is one of the largest producers of computers and consumer electronics in the world.

One worker said: “We are extremely tired, with tremendous pressure. We finish one step in every seven seconds, which requires us to concentrate and keep working and working. We work faster even than the machines.

“Every shift (ten hours), we finish 4,000 Dell computers, all the while standing up. We can accomplish these assignments through collective effort, but many of us feel worn out.”

A week ago an undercover team infiltrated the plant. They told the Daily Telegraph: “Hundreds of people work in the workshops but they are not allowed to talk to each other. If you talk you get a black mark in your record and you get shouted at by your manager. You can also be fined.”

The company are constructing nets around the seven storey dormitories from which workers have been jumping. They have also hired 70 psychologists and brought in Buddhist monks.

Sweatshop

Terry Gou, the Taiwanese billionaire chairman of Foxconn’s parent company Hon Hai, had toured the plant with journalists only hours before the latest death. “This is not a sweatshop”, he told them.

Apple’s sales were £30 billion last year. The company’s audit of its own “supplier responsibility codes” shows that 102 facilities flouted the “rigorous rules” on working hours, 39% broke rules on workplace injury prevention and 30% broke guidelines on toxic waste disposal. There were also violations on child labour and falsified records. Will Apple cancel these contracts? I wouldn’t hold your breath.

The modern, high tech, trendy image of Apple has proved to be a veil behind which hundreds of thousands of workers are brutally exploited in barbaric conditions.

Chinese workers need independent, democratic, campaigning trade unions to fight for decent pay and conditions and for an end to the tyranny of these workplace prisons.

Sharpe, John. Workers' suicides: The human cost of an iPad. Socialistworld.net.

Rachel Corrie Boarded

The Irish aid ship MV Rachel Corrie, named after the young American idealist who was killed by Israeli forces in 2003 (Rachel Corrie was crushed by a bulldozer operated by the IDF which was destroying homes in Gaza), was boarded by Israel's military and taken over at 9am GMT this morning. As reported by the International Solidarity Network:

Just before 9am GMT this morning, the Israeli military forcibly seized the Irish-owned humanitarian relief ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, from delivering over 1000 tons of medical and construction supplies to besieged Gaza. For the second time in less then a week, Israeli naval commandos stormed an unarmed aid ship, brutally taking its passengers hostage and towing the ship toward Ashdod port in Southern Israel.

05-Jun-2010. International Solidarity Network (ISN)

Helen Thomas, 89 year hold White House correspondent for the UPI, and apparently the only main-stream American journalist with balls, had this exchange with Robert Gibbs in relation to the massacre of civilians by Israeli forces earlier in the week aboard the Mavi Marmara:

ROBERT GIBBS: The Security Council deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force during the Israeli military operation in international waters against the convoy sailing to Gaza. The Council, in this context, condemns those acts which resulted in the loss of at least ten civilians and many wounded, and expresses its condolences to their families. The Security Council requests the immediate release of the ships as well as civilians held by Israel.

REPORTER: So that would seem to cover President Obama’s personal feelings, while some of the allies are looking for a stronger statement from him directly.

ROBERT GIBBS: Well, again, I—this is supported not just by the United States but by the international community.

REPORTER: In light of what happened with the Gaza aid flotilla, is the President considering at least backing international calls to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli forces?

ROBERT GIBBS: No. Well, look, obviously, as we have said before, we are concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and continue to work with the Israelis and international partners in order to improve those conditions. And as the UN Security Council statement says, obviously it’s an untenable situation.

HELEN THOMAS: Our initial reaction to this flotilla massacre, deliberate massacre, an international crime, was pitiful. What do you mean you regret when something should be so strongly condemned? And if any other nation in the world had done it, we would have been up in arms. What is this sacrosanct, iron-clad relationship, where a country that deliberately kills people—

ROBERT GIBBS: Well, again, Helen, I—

HELEN THOMAS: —and boycotts, and we aid and abet the boycott?

ROBERT GIBBS: Well, look, I think the initial reaction, regretted the loss of life, as we tried and still continue to try to gather the relevant—

HELEN THOMAS: Regret won’t bring them back.

ROBERT GIBBS: Nothing can bring them back, Helen. We know that for sure, because I think if you could, that wouldn’t be up for debate. We are—we believe that a credible and transparent investigation has to look into the facts. And as I said earlier, we’re open to international participation in that investigation.

HELEN THOMAS: Why did you think of it so late?

ROBERT GIBBS: Why did we think of...?

HELEN THOMAS: Why didn’t you initially condemn it?

ROBERT GIBBS: Again, I think the statements that we released speak directly to that.

Hurray for Helen Thomas. Gibbs on the other hand, as is usual for him, stumbled and mumbled through this conversation with the backbone of a jellyfish. Ridiculously enough, he even made a policy point saying that, if we could resurrect the slain civilians, "that wouldn't be up for debate"; bold stuff...

Meanwhile, eyewitness accounts from civilians on board the attacked ship are supporting the early reports, broadcast by satellite from the Mavi Marmara. The basic storyline is as follows:

1. The nighttime assault began with helicopters firing into a crowd on the deck
2. At least one civilian was killed and many others wounded
3. Passengers on the Mavi Marmara raised a white flag
4. The helicopters continued firing upon the people
5. Panic stricken, the people began picking up pipes and sticks
6. Commandos began to descend from the helicopters, firing upon the people with impunity
7. Ultimately the people were subdued and the violence ceased
8. No weapons were found on board
   

Estimates are now that one person was killed per minute. From an eye witness account:

Israeli commandos shot passengers at the rate of one a minute during the bloody raid on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza, a Briton on board the main vessel has said.

Ismail Patel, chairman of Leicester-based Palestinian rights group Friends of Al Aqsa, said one of the nine people killed during the assault was shot just two feet in front of him.

He said the commandos had a "shoot to kill" policy during the initial phase of the attack on the Mavi Marmara, with live rounds being fired on the vessel from a helicopter hovering above.

Mr Patel, who has now returned to Briton after attending the funerals of his shipmates in Turkey, told a press conference in Westminster the gunfire on the vessel lasted around an hour.

Despite Israeli claims of armed resistance, Mr Patel said those on board acted in self-defence using whatever was at hand.

His voice choked with emotion, Mr Patel said: "We now can calculate that they shot one person every minute.

"One person was shot every minute. There were nine fatalities, over 48 people with gunshot wounds, six are unaccounted for."

04-Jun-2010. Roberts, Adrian. One killed every minute Morning Star.

Israel is now claiming the peaceful boarding of the Rachel Corrie was executed in the same manner, with far different results, as the Mavi Marmara. However, there are many differences.

First and foremost, the ship was detained and boarded in broad daylight. Secondly, there were far fewer passengers aboard, and third, no shots were fired during the assault.

Similar to the previous incident, Israeli naval commandos did storm the ship and physically brutalize the passengers in international waters, an act of piracy under international law.

Pablo Picasso: Communist

Pablo Picasso is well known as one of the most famous artists of the 20th century. His name is virtually synonymous with the term Modern Art. During his 75 year career, he created thousands of paintings, prints, and sculptures. His influence on the art of th 20th century is undisputed, and he has been recognized as the greatest art genius of the twentieth century.

He was also an active, thoughtful and expressive Communist.

"Communism for me is closely bound up with my entire life as an artist," Picasso said. And in a 1954 interview, "I am a Communist and my painting is Communist painting."

From the article Picasso: Peace and Freedom:

In a visually sophisticated age, Picasso often used Cubist space and Expressionist distortion and simplification to express feelings and ideas. But at a time when Western critics argued that the only "advanced" painting was abstract, he resolutely continued making representations of the visible world. Sometimes gently, often fiercely, always directly, he condemned oppression, cruelty and bigotry, celebrated life and humanity and called for justice, peace and freedom.

Liverpool, Tate. Picasso: Peace and Freedom Morning Star.

Israel Slaughters Activists

In a late night raid yesterday, heavily armed IDF paratroopers boarded and attacked activists on ships part of the Freedom Flotilla in international waters. The flotilla was headed for the Gaza Strip carrying relief supplies. Early reports indicate nearly 20 activists where killed.

International journalists on board the flotilla for weeks reported there were no weapons, and broadcast live footage documenting the assault. Once the IDF pacified the ships, however, they instituted a media blackout.

The activists are now being held and, according to Sherine Tadros of Al Jazeera "undergoing extensive security checks" at a "detention center." Of over 600 volunteers on board, already at least 450 have been arrested and jailed. In addition to peace activists, multiple politicians, journalists, film-makers, authors and average citizens were on board. Citizens representing countries from Israel, the United States, Canada, Europe (UK, Ireland, Germany, Greece, Holland, etc.) and the Middle East (Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, etc.) were on board.

The flotilla was carrying humanitarian supplies for the symbolic relief of the Gaza Strip, which has been under a blockade by Israel since 2008. Goods and supplies are kept from entering Gaza from anywhere, and Egypt has also closed its border to Gaza citizens, under pressure from the United States government, a staunch ally of Israel.

With over 1.5 million people living in Gaza, which has been subjected to repeated attacks by the Israeli military including the destruction of food supplies, fuel supplies and infrastructure, Gaza can be described as nothing else but an apartheid ghetto. The strategy of the conservative Israeli government seems to be intended to starve out the Palestinian people of Gaza.

Sadly, the majority of Gazan's are or are descendants of refugees from other parts of Israel due to the many racial conflicts and ethnic cleansings that have taken place since the 1948 Palestinian War up to this very day.

Links:

• 31-May-2010. Kennedy, Maev. Gaza Freedom flotilla carried world-renowned names and veteran activists Guardian UK
  
• 31-May-2010. Deadly Israeli raid on aid fleet Al-Jazeera
  
• 1-June-2010. Maass, Alan. Israeli murder on the high seas Socialist Worker.Net
  
• 31-March-2010. Bagley, Richard. Israel murders Gaza aid activists Morning Star