Lotusblossom
Prankster Crossing
I think it would be great if people found alternatives to using our phones for everything
I heard nintendo has used slave labor??
- Thread starter Lotusblossom
- Start date
mayortiffany
Senior Member
It is Nintendo directly, unfortunately. The issue of mining for electronics (eg. the ethics surrounding coltan mining, which is a material used in cell phones) can be related to forced labour, but is not the one that I believe OP is referring to.
The report by ASPI directly names Nintendo as one of 83 companies "directly or indirectly benefitting from the use of Uyghur workers outside Xinjiang through potentially abusive labour transfer programs as recently as 2019". Other notable companies named include Abercrombie & Fitch, Adidas, Apple, BMW, Calvin Klein, Dell, Gap, General Motors, Google, H&M, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, Nike, the North Face, Samsung, Sony, Uniqlo, and Zara.
The report's appendix further details the exact factories in question, and which factories supply which brands. For Nintendo, two companies whom they do business with are listed in the appendix - one that produces "precision parts for electronics such as backlights and battery covers", and a contract electronics manufacturer.
I never thought I'd see the day when Animal Crossing and my academic life would collide, but here we are...
Damniel
Openly Wolfing
it would've been nice for the OP to have linked to the sources for this claim. I haven't fact checked yet but I wouldn't really be surprised if it's true
something that people should realize is that our global economy is based on the exploitation and oppression of the majority of people for the luxury of a few. Nintendo may or may not use forced labor/child labor with horrible conditions, and if it is, it's just one of many. Companies exploiting workers is at the core of this system as a whole- we demand video games and other goods, and these companies are happy to supply them with as cheap labor as they can source to maximize profits. Yes, most manufacturing countries have looser labor laws which allows for these horrible operations to exist, but it's not necessarily the governments entire fault. In our current day, it's strictly established which societies get to live to relative luxury and which ones have to pay the ultimate price for that luxury. Many of these countries' economies DEPEND on cheap labor for exportation in order to barely survive. This is the cost of living in the system we do now- a vicious cycle where we demand cheap goods and developing economies feel forced to provide whatever they can to survive, which keeps them from being able to progress
If Nintendo is using forced labor, they're not the only ones. Most, if not all, of the most major corporations exploit poor workers, in some way, to produce the products we demand. Think about literally everything you own (even the land you're living on)- it was made at the expense of human lives. This isn't the fault of one company, it's the fault of our current system; a system that past generations have established and we currently keep alive through our rampant consumerism and neglectful governments
These issues aren't something that'll be fixed overnight. Centuries of oppression have led us to where we are now, and it will be beyond our lifetime when that the oppression ends. Our world is deeply scarred, but we don't have to stay compliant to this. We need to start to change the culture around this- don't mindlessly consume products but instead think about the true cost that comes with what you have. start to question all the companies you currently support and be furious when you learn that people are suffering for your products. Companies didn't care about the environment just out of a good conscious, they've started to switch to more eco-friendly practices when customers started to speak out about it and refused their patronage if things didn't change. If you can, try to do the same. Don't support companies that aren't making active enough efforts to leave the world a better place than they found it. Get angry! Support businesses that do care about what you care about and the others may eventually follow suit. Support and vote for legislators that care about the wellbeing of workers and the developing economies. Make the effort to change this culture. For many people, our very existence is political- start to care more about the power of politics. Things aren't going to get magically better in the blink of an eye, but we need to stop blindly consuming and begin to care about our fellow humans regardless of how divided we seem
If Nintendo is involved in this, get angry! Get the word out and make this more known. Use your social media if you can and force your peers to see what's truly going on. It's only if we, the costumers, get riled up and speak out may Nintendo start to think about their image more and respond
something that people should realize is that our global economy is based on the exploitation and oppression of the majority of people for the luxury of a few. Nintendo may or may not use forced labor/child labor with horrible conditions, and if it is, it's just one of many. Companies exploiting workers is at the core of this system as a whole- we demand video games and other goods, and these companies are happy to supply them with as cheap labor as they can source to maximize profits. Yes, most manufacturing countries have looser labor laws which allows for these horrible operations to exist, but it's not necessarily the governments entire fault. In our current day, it's strictly established which societies get to live to relative luxury and which ones have to pay the ultimate price for that luxury. Many of these countries' economies DEPEND on cheap labor for exportation in order to barely survive. This is the cost of living in the system we do now- a vicious cycle where we demand cheap goods and developing economies feel forced to provide whatever they can to survive, which keeps them from being able to progress
If Nintendo is using forced labor, they're not the only ones. Most, if not all, of the most major corporations exploit poor workers, in some way, to produce the products we demand. Think about literally everything you own (even the land you're living on)- it was made at the expense of human lives. This isn't the fault of one company, it's the fault of our current system; a system that past generations have established and we currently keep alive through our rampant consumerism and neglectful governments
These issues aren't something that'll be fixed overnight. Centuries of oppression have led us to where we are now, and it will be beyond our lifetime when that the oppression ends. Our world is deeply scarred, but we don't have to stay compliant to this. We need to start to change the culture around this- don't mindlessly consume products but instead think about the true cost that comes with what you have. start to question all the companies you currently support and be furious when you learn that people are suffering for your products. Companies didn't care about the environment just out of a good conscious, they've started to switch to more eco-friendly practices when customers started to speak out about it and refused their patronage if things didn't change. If you can, try to do the same. Don't support companies that aren't making active enough efforts to leave the world a better place than they found it. Get angry! Support businesses that do care about what you care about and the others may eventually follow suit. Support and vote for legislators that care about the wellbeing of workers and the developing economies. Make the effort to change this culture. For many people, our very existence is political- start to care more about the power of politics. Things aren't going to get magically better in the blink of an eye, but we need to stop blindly consuming and begin to care about our fellow humans regardless of how divided we seem
If Nintendo is involved in this, get angry! Get the word out and make this more known. Use your social media if you can and force your peers to see what's truly going on. It's only if we, the costumers, get riled up and speak out may Nintendo start to think about their image more and respond
Reginald Fairfield
Senior Member
Very thorough and unfortunate.
I don't want to go too much into politics but I just wanted to point out that just because you have lived in X for almost half your life doesn't mean you can tell people for certain that X is a thing of the past, just because you haven't seen it with your own eyes doesn't mean it therefore absolutely does not exist and it doesn't automatically mean the numerous information about X is false information. You can definitely share your experience, I think the more we hear from all sides the better, but saying "I can tell you for certain that forced labour is a thing of the past" I feel is a slap in the face to those in this horrible situation if it's true. What you are describing is low wages, some people will argue this is slave labour but I think most are talking about the Uighur slave labour that was brought up, if true this is forced labour and not just low wages. This is not a personal attack on you, just sharing my opinion.
Youre right i need to rectify that part of my post. About 3 years back? when i first heard this news. I was perturbed and i did extensive digging actually. Including the aspi reports posted above. Sure, im not denying that theyre relocating the uyghur people to factories across china. But across the entire report, they have neither been able to confirm and provide concrete stats that these people are FORCED to work (their working conditions, hours) nor the wage issue. i’m all for rights dont get me wrong and i don’t like the way these huge corporations work, but the sad reality is. Everything in the world around us is produced by companies like these. I guess what I’m saying is, theres enough f*ed up stuff in this world that won’t realky change in the short term foreseeable future, so why not just do what we can as individuals? Treat one another the best you can and i believe thats a good way to start the next generation because i‘m sure everyone goes through stuff. Forgive me if i seemed abrasive but all i wanted to express was that, its not all as bad as it seems, even tho its a really crap world we live in.
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Millysaurusrexjr
hello everynyan
What companies don't use slave labor?
If after reading the ASPI article your conclusion is there is no forced labour then all I can say is it's interesting how the same information can be interpreted very differently and let's agree to disagree because the conclusion I got is the total opposite.
Why can't we do both at the same time? Threat one another the best you can but when you see something wrong also stick up for those that are unable to speak, there are many f*ed up stuff in this world that won't change overnight but if we say nothing it won't have the chance to change at all.
Lets agree to disagree. My frustration with this matter lies on a different problem entirely. We certainly can Do both! I’m certainly not against voicing out and speaking for those who cant, but I believe this matter is best shelved here because things can go waaay out of control once it starts here and this board is definitely not the best place for it.
Old news. Welcome to the harsh reality, kids.
Theres not really something we can do except not buying such products. However, you would be surprised how many products are made under such circumstances.
However, I do wonder how much of a part Nintendo actually has in this... Afterall they are pretty much reliant on those manufacturers and dont really have a choice but to tolerste their practises....
Theres not really something we can do except not buying such products. However, you would be surprised how many products are made under such circumstances.
However, I do wonder how much of a part Nintendo actually has in this... Afterall they are pretty much reliant on those manufacturers and dont really have a choice but to tolerste their practises....
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You've already bought it, you can't go back on that now and none of us can. You might as well play it, considering it would be worse if it got no use at all! ^^
The least we can do to stay sane after learning this is that if these people are being forced into labour, while buying the products isn't very ethical, they wouldn't get payed if it wasn't selling well and would probably be put into another company anyway.
At the same time though, we need to think forward to the future and how we can make it better than the present. Instead of slave camps, we should look into a world more accustomed to hiring people to make things by hand. Piano makers (while I don't know the full history and can't say whether or not they have used slaves in the past) seem to be doing it right, they have a ton of individual workers who each specialize in a different part of the process and they end up making a large amount of products. While it is very labour intensive, at least that isn't forced upon them.
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Same as I said to the other person.
Slave labour is used all around the world, and while it isn't right it can be very hard to avoid it and purchasing products made in camps like those. We should still keep our hopes up though, and try our best to make the future better instead of hoping other people do it for us. You need to be thinking more about how you can improve things, not past mistakes humans as a whole have made that have continued on into our present day. Instead of feeling guilty for what others are doing and deciding that you're just not gonna use something you've already purchased, use the guilt to drive you to do amazing things for everyone you see suffer. Push it as far as you can and do things you never believed you could, because we're the generation that the world is depending on to make this right and nobody is gonna do it for us.
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That's not really true at all. Everyone can make a difference if they want to and if they're willing to put their all into it. Look at where the world is today compared to before, black people experience a lot less racism in a lot more places and there's less segregation. Gay marriage is legal in so many more places and is accepted by so many more people. Transgenders can get surgery to make themselves feel like they are who they are. Drag queens are all around the place. In many areas witches are no longer put on trial and hanged for their beliefs. Women have more and better rights. The people are rebelling, standing up for what they believe in, and so they should be. If everyone was like you, thinking there was nothing they could do and that they couldn't make a difference, we'd be living in a much darker world right now. We need to strive for more, this isn't an acceptable life we're living and nor should we lie to ourselves by thinking it is.
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Shellzilla_515
F1 fan who loves onions
Dang, after reading this thread and the articles provided here, I feel like a hypocrite and guilty for buying products that are made from China. I bet at least 50% of the things we own are made from China. I wish I could do something about it, but what other actions that us consumers can do? Not buying their products is one thing, but is there anything else we can do about it? Who is truly at fault here?
Those articles you posted gives us a lot of insight into this issue. As the sources said, it's not just Nintendo who does this. Car manufacturers, clothing companies, and other tech companies do this as well. It's not just the consumers and companies that play a part in this, but China's actions as well. It's very disgusting that China is trying to cover up these horrible acts by sugarcoating them such as "vocational education and training centers" when in actuality, the Uighurs have their human rights violated and are prevented from leaving camps. Some experienced sexual abuse, some were having thoughts of suicide, and some witnessed others killing themselves... The government of China and its officials really try to hide these claims made by the slaves themselves and... Ugh, I don't fully understand why they'd do this (I'd really like more information about this!). They have this problem happening in their own country but have done little to nothing to stop it. Again, I feel pretty guilty and wish I (and others as well) could do something about this issue. I'm usually all over the place when I try to share my thoughts, but I hope you understand what I'm saying. If you could find more reputable sources, we'd all appreciate it to be informed about it.
Yusuke_Star
☆An old Animal Crossing player☆
Aaah so that's what my friends mean by Nintendo was always evil.
Most things are made from China because of the abundance of sweatshops or 'slave' labour, in other words very cheap labour. The sad reality is businesses want to make profits and if they can increase the profit margin by reducing cost of production and labour, they will. Is there anything consumers can do? Yes, learn to be minimalistic and only live with essentials and when there are no demand for products, naturally supply would dissappear. Not buying a select company's product will only make one company go bust and another will be born as long as there is a demand for the product. The one who is truly at fault is human nature, especially greed and wants.
Boycotting made in China products will just make companies move their factories to another country with cheap labour, mainly third world countries. China has a poor record when it comes to human rights (no one should defend such practices) but sweatshops exist everywhere around the world and usually manned by the poor or foreign migrant workers. Rich nations and multinational companies will exploit poorer nations and then criticise them when people start pointing fingers, very hypocritical imo
Nintendo is not the only culprit but share the blame nonetheless yet we still play our games on Nintendo consoles, so at the end of the day, we are all just hypocrites (including myself)
Damniel
Openly Wolfing
Next time, please cite what exact incident you're talking about. I'm not sure how this thread went 4 pages without any evidence until @mayortiffany provided some sources. Just saying what you heard does not mean it's true and will lead to unnecessarily paranoia unless you can back up your claim. It's also important to note what field of labor you're talking about, in Nintendo factories? In mines for electronic parts? All of this stuff needs to be explained at the very beginning to have the most educated conversation
sorry to tell you this bluntly, but if you can live your life without knowing these atrocities have been going on for centuries, you're living a privileged and sheltered life. You need to recognize these issues and think about them more; if you don't then you just stay compliant and ignorant to the system. If you feel bad about using certain products now, maybe think about whether the human cost of this products is worth the enjoyment you get from them
these issues aren't going to go away for a long time; educate yourself and be a more conscious person. Certainly nothing will ever get better if we act like these true costs just don't exist
I agree with you and I know it's not necessarily referring to my post. Citation is always important when you want to present the most accurate representation of something. Hence, I would like to share some citations for my earlier post above about sweatshops being all around the world even in America and how people in poorer nations are being exploited.
11 Facts About Sweatshops
Join a new generation of social activists and civic leaders taking action on the issues of equity and justice, climate and sustainability, and safety and wellbeing. Get involved, volunteer, make a difference, and jumpstart your community impact with DoSomething.org!
There's a citation about American sweatshops in the website under this fact:
- America has stronger labor laws than most undeveloped countries, but it is not free of sweatshop conditions. Many labor violations slip under the radar of the US Department of Labor.
I think this website has a simple to understand view on electronic sweatshops with decent citations:
www.changetheworldbyhowyoushop.com
The following post can be found in the website:
"Ethically-made electronics are incredibly difficult to find. Even the laptop I am typing this on (bought used on Craigslist!) was likely made in a sweatshop in Asia, using minerals obtained at the expense of children's lives and freedom. The electronics industry too often shows up the news with headlines about sweatshop workers committing suicide or workers being exploited."
Exploitations starts from the mines (rare minerals mines).
Electronic Sweatshops: The Story Behind Our Electronics
Learn about electronic sweatshops and the sad stories behind many of the products we buy. Change the World by How You Shop. #sweatshops
www.changetheworldbyhowyoushop.com
The following post can be found in the website:
"Ethically-made electronics are incredibly difficult to find. Even the laptop I am typing this on (bought used on Craigslist!) was likely made in a sweatshop in Asia, using minerals obtained at the expense of children's lives and freedom. The electronics industry too often shows up the news with headlines about sweatshop workers committing suicide or workers being exploited."
Exploitations starts from the mines (rare minerals mines).
There's already pretty decent citations about some parts Nintendo played in earlier posts so I won't talk about it
It should be an eye opener that exploitation of people is a very very real thing that is still happening in today's world.
companies just operate on a model of maximizing profit/revenue while minimizing costs.
for a lot of them, that means underpaying workers significantly. this shouldn't really be news for anyone.
even if it's not slavery, a company can still treat their workers like absolute garbage, and this will probably continue until everything is done by robots, because robots don't complain/get tired/need bathroom breaks/etc. (robots also break, but so do people. just in slightly different ways)
by which point everyone will complain about the shortage of jobs.
consumerism wins out, in the end. not everyone wants to pay more for ethical products; not everyone can afford to pay more for ethical products.
edit: not quite slavery (it does get much, much worse than this, especially in disadvantaged countries across the globe), but an exposé on amazon/warehouses in the USA
double edit: video removed because I don't want to risk a warning for posting a video that's not all-ages friendly, if you're curious look up Warehouses by Last Week Tonight / John Oliver, but it does contain swearing and other things you may find offensive (in the humor, not necessarily the subject matter)
for a lot of them, that means underpaying workers significantly. this shouldn't really be news for anyone.
even if it's not slavery, a company can still treat their workers like absolute garbage, and this will probably continue until everything is done by robots, because robots don't complain/get tired/need bathroom breaks/etc. (robots also break, but so do people. just in slightly different ways)
by which point everyone will complain about the shortage of jobs.
consumerism wins out, in the end. not everyone wants to pay more for ethical products; not everyone can afford to pay more for ethical products.
edit: not quite slavery (it does get much, much worse than this, especially in disadvantaged countries across the globe), but an exposé on amazon/warehouses in the USA
double edit: video removed because I don't want to risk a warning for posting a video that's not all-ages friendly, if you're curious look up Warehouses by Last Week Tonight / John Oliver, but it does contain swearing and other things you may find offensive (in the humor, not necessarily the subject matter)
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Although its incredibly disheartening and sad to hear about such things, it is not shocking to me. The amount of big companies alike to Nintendo using contemporary slavery to their benefit is not a small minority. Contemporary (or modern) slavery is something that is still prevalent even in the US. Even prison labor is seen as modern slavery by some. Although it is ethically wrong in all aspects, this is not a new battle and unfortunately not enough people care for long enough to make a significant change :C India, Nepal, and Bangladesh are those leading these statistics with over 15 million "enslaved" people, forced into labour though debt bondage. Illegal contracts are also a big cause of underpaid / forced labor, that their countries can't keep track of. A great majority of the worlds population survives on less than two dollars a day. Seeing a company as "kid and family friendly" as Nintendo contribute to this issue is really sobering and a big jolt back to the reality of electronic manufacturing.
Yeah, I’ve known about this for awhile actually and it is really disheartening to hear about these sorts of things going on. I do my best not to buy new things for as long as possible (to the point where my old stuff is falling apart), but I doubt that really helps much. As much as we disagree on the specifics, I think most would agree on this: something needs to change.
