Great protest, now let's boycott China

Whether by luck or by design, probably a bit of both, yesterday's protests against the Olympic torch relay struck just the right balance. There was enough direct action to scare the authorities into putting a protective ring around the torch, yet there was no serious violence against the runners or those trying to protect them. The sight of the torch bearers being forced to ride in buses for some of the route was humiliating for the organisers of this Olympic farce. It would have been good if someone had managed to extinguish the torch but, overall, this was the protesters' day.

Most importantly, they have raised awareness among people in the UK about the regime in China and its murderous record. A couple of people asked me this weekend about the occupation of Tibet and why the Chinese invaded the country. The demonstrators in London yesterday have got people asking questions and that's a good start. The symbolism of Chinese government heavies manhandling British citizens on the streets of London will not be lost on many people.

But as one pundit said on the BBC news afterwards, once the Olympics start, all this will be forgotten. China will stage manage a spectacle and the protests will be drowned out as people sit down in front of the TV to watch the sport. Despite yesterday's protests, it is unlikely that there will be any major boycott of the games, either by the athletes or by politicians.

That said, the protests have made a few people stop and think which makes this the ideal time to step up the campaign for a boycott of Chinese goods. In the end, if China is to reform it will be a mixture of street level unrest and economic pressure that will force the regime's hand. There is no way that western politicians will lead a trade boycott so it is up to individuals.

But  how can a few consumers make a difference against such a powerful economy? Firstly, China is heavily dependent on exports to fuel its economic growth, which would make the regime vulnerable to an organised boycott. Secondly, western businesses are so terrified of anything that might damage their brands that a little concentrated pressure could have a disproportionate effect.

The eleventh-hour decision by the Sugababes to pull out of the Olympic concert at the O2 arena was, apparently, because they were concerned that their image might be harmed by association with the event. Twenty-four hours earlier, the Olympic torch event was cool. Now, suddenly, it isn't. Such is the vulnerability of brands to bad publicity.

It would be great if, as a result of yesterday's action, China, its Olympics and its cheap goods became uncool, in the way that South Africa did during the 1980s.  The mere hint that association with China could damage their brands would have most companies running for cover.

Of course, boycotting Chinese products is not easy but it can be done. It is also important to tell the shop assistants why you are buying one product rather than another. I did so in a clothes shop recently. After trying on several pairs of trousers, I told the guy who had served me that I was choosing one pair over the others because they were not made in China. Retailers are sensitive to trends and if they were to realise that a Made in China label affects customers' buying decisions, they might start pulling these goods from the shelves altogether.

The Tyrants' Torch has now gone off to Paris. Let's hope the French give it as good a reception as it got in the UK. After that, it will go onto San Francisco, another city with a strong tradition of protest. By the end of this world tour, the Beijing Olympic brand will have been damaged. With a bit of effort, we can destroy the whole Made In China brand along with it.   

Comments

[mutley]

I agree and have been boycotting chinese products as far as possible for some while. Hammer who write on my blog andf is in my blogroll has a China boycott going...

[Antonio from Italy]

Boycotting made in China products is not so easy as it seems.
Many items we use evryday are made in China, your MP3 player, your mobile phone, your tools such as the drill, the vacuum... it's a wide range of items, it's really hard to be coherent.

[rantingkraut]

Boycotting the Olympics sounds like a good idea. It may be merely symbolic but it would be a powerful gesture to spoil this event for the Chinese government. (Members of the public could lobby athletes to boycott the games as individuals.)
Boycotting the Chinese economy as a whole might have been a good idea in 1989 and could probably have achieved results if western governments had been consistent in implementing sanctions for long enough. By now, we are past that: China is now so well integrated into the world economy that a boycott would be almost impossible to implement. When I say well integrated, I don’t just mean that China is exporting a lot of its own finished products. It is also heavily involved in outward processing trade, i.e. Chinese producers take part in production processes which are distributed over a number of countries. Its size and economic structure make China a far more difficult target to hit than South Africa.

[Jerio]

Hey, don't continue to pretend you know everything about China. I can see nothing but pride and prejudice in your poor article. Don't talk unless you come to China. Aren't you tired of those lying media in your country? Poor guys!

[Steve]

Jerio, let me explain something to you.

Here in the West we have a free press. To co-ordinate a campaign of lies about what is happening in China would be almost impossible.

Your press, on the other hand, is state controlled and does parrot a government line.

I'd be interested to go to China but I doubt whether I'd get a visa after all the stuff I have written. However, I know plenty of people who have been. Despite being coralled by government guides, may of them managed to find out things for themselves and they corroborate much of what has been written in our press.

But, judging from your IP address in China, and the fact that you are privileged enough to be able to access western web-sites, I suspect that you know all this anyway.

[Steve]

RK - I didn't say that boycotting China would eb easy. Sure there are components of some products that are made in China and you wouldn't even know. That said, there are still a lot of things that you can tell are made there and even a boycott of those would hurt the regime.

We can all make clever excuses for doing bugger all but that never changed anything.

[Rastaman]

Take heart, Steve. All things must end, or at least be recycled, and Chinas' prosperity is no different. The high price of oil is universal and affects the world.

Even though the Chinese are making all effort to control as much of the planetary oil supply as possible, they are still consuming far more than they can get cheaply from their holdings. The cost of manufacturing in China is steadily rising as bicycles disappear off the streets and are replaced by cars, wage demands keep increasing, and energy costs keep rising.

The result of this is that, here in the U.S., the price of Asian goods is going up fast while our wages are static. Overall inflation went up over 11% last year and meanwhile we've lost hundreds of thousands of jobs. Our unemployment is really getting out of hand and no doubt it is in Europe too.

A turnaround is in the works. When Asian goods get too expensive, our manufacturing will start up again and we'll go back to work, and no doubt start shipping our stuff to China, which will decrease our trade deficit. The same will happen in Europe.

The Chinese have let their success get out of hand and their arrogance over Tibet, Darfur and other of their victims is clear demonstration of their sense of invulnerability.

Even Superman runs from Kryptonite.

Rasta

[THE MAN]

"Jerio, let me explain something to you.

Here in the West we have a free press".

Just what you been smoking, Steve?
Free Press?
Bollox.

[Rastaman]

Yo, Man dude... Everything is relative. There's less free speech in China than there is in Britain. There's less free speech in Britain than there is in the U.S., and so on. The Chinese actually believe they have free speech because they have a constitution or whatever they call their particular communist manifesto, that says they do.

There's a lot more freedom of speech in the UK than in China. Just don't say anything you shouldn't and you're fine. ;-)

[chachi]

Rasta - "A turnaround is in the works. When Asian goods get too expensive,".......

How expensive do you think they'll get rasta? it will ALWAYS be a LOT cheaper to manufacture in china & ship over rather than manufacture in the west, & thats the bottom line, unless the west can achieve the same work ethic as the chinese, remove most of its regulations i.e minimum wage aswell as other more silly regulations which make it difficult for employers in the west. All this which is impossible as people would have to work for very, very little & still have to pay the extremely high living costs here. Too many people here would rather sit on benefits & have everything paid for them than go to work & then blame the immigrants for actually wanting to go to work, this society is finished, not yet but its well on its way.

Rasta - "our manufacturing will start up again and we'll go back to work,"

Don't go out buying up shares just yet, even the term 'safe as houses' doesn't apply in the US, never mind manufacturing. Toyota/honda/nissan are destroying the US motor industry, Ford is having to sell everthing, to stem its losses & GM hve been bleeding for years......
"To try to stem automotive losses that have dogged the company since 2005, the company is making a range of offers, up to cash payments of $140,000 to the remaining 74,000 GM workers represented by the United Auto Workers union."

HERE'S THE IMPORTANT PART!

"The goal is not to reduce headcount but rather to bring in new workers at a lower cost."

TAKE A GUESS!.....IMMIGRANTS!!!

Rasta - "and no doubt start shipping our stuff to China, which will decrease our trade deficit. The same will happen in Europe."

Trade deficits, going back to work, shipping to china.....this is getting stupid now....stop rasta, your sounding desperate, you got me feeling sorry for you, you have to face the truth, there is a turnaround at work, a massive one, wealth is finite...when one gets wealthy someone else becomes less wealthy, the east is rising very rapidly, you can work out the rest.