trade

No dogs, no farmers…

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:02:39 +0200

A blogger from Jilin province came across this shocking image on display outside a shopping centre in the town of Changchun. Discrimination plain and clear? Oh no, says the mall.

Artist and blogger Bao Yongliang took the photos and posted it on his blog, adding this comment: "Don't tell me oh-so-professionally that this is the international symbol for improper attire. F*** that. I used my mobile phone to take the photo and they came to stop me. This is a place with no freedom or rights whatsoever."

We contacted Bao but he preferred not to elaborate.

"The Oriental Post": the new China-Africa weekly

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:37:05 +0200

China's involvement in African affairs has grown considerably since the 1990s. An indication of Beijing's influence in the continent, the first daily newspaper printed in Chinese has arrived in Botswana.

Photo sent by Gideon Nkal from Mmegi newspaper.

Half of it desert land and wedged between South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, Botswana makes most of its revenue from mining minerals (diamond, copper etc). The country manages to retain economic and institutional stability and enjoys freedom of the press - rare achievements in that part of the world.

It's also there, 12,000 kilometres from Beijing, that Chinese entrepreneur Miles Nan, resident in the country for ten years, has set up Africa's first ever newspaper in Chinese. There are currently between 5,000 and 6,000 Chinese inhabitants - out of a population of 1.8 million - living in Botswana. Primarily attracted by the 1990s housing boom, this small community has moved on from construction to textile production, and recently into setting up small shops, already quite familiar to the West, full of trademark "Made in China" merchandise. With few of them able to read English, Mr Nan felt it was about time that the Chinese community got their own newspaper.

CORRECTION - (15 July 09): The Oriental Post is a weekly publication rather than a daily. It is the first Chinese speaking paper in Botswana, but not the first in Africa. In fact there are already three Chinese publications running in South Africa, the first being China Chronicles, formerly China Express, which launched in 1994. Thank you to Danwei for these precisions.

Government officials say “Smoke more or face a fine”

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:33:55 +0200

Authorities in China's Gongan county in the central Hubei province have found a simple method of giving a boost to local cigarette producers — ordering all civil servants to meet "smoking targets" or face a fine.

On the sleeve: "red letter order". People.com.cn is a state-run website. The caricature was published in the opinion section.

The following notice was sent out 4 March 2009:

We are asking all public service units in the county to centralise the purchase of cigarettes to be smoked as part of their work. [...] In line with these new guidelines, each unit must smoke over 230,000 packets of [locally produced] cigarettes this year. The police are commissioned with the consumption of 25,000 packets while other services (women's association, arts council, etc) will be charged with 500 packets. [...] Units which do not meet these prescribed targets for two consecutive months will face a direct reduction of public funding [...]."

It's customary in China for civil servants to offer guests cigarettes during receptions, banquets and official ceremonies. It seems that the county in question had a tendency to buy cigarettes from other provinces, which was depriving the local tax office of money. So Gongan government officials came up with a brilliant idea — not only to enforce the purchase of locally produced cigarettes, but also to set quotas on the purchases. More trade for the local tobacco producers, and more importantly, more taxes for the local government.

This 4 million yuan (€440,000) "present" to the local tobacco industry, funded by the taxpayer, became something of a hot topic on the Internet, making its way up to the national press. Under the pressure of the media spotlight, the Gongan authorities withdrew the notice.

There are 350 million smokers in China; a million die from smoking-related illnesses each year.

This post was compiled with help from our one of our Observers in China, Yu Zhang.

The World Social Forum in Belem. Better than Porto Alegré?

Ségolène Team Observers — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:26:52 +0100

The anti-capitalist World Social Forum is in its ninth year. But while this year's event, held in Belem, has attracted an impressive 100,000 people, the crowds aren't as large as in 2005, when participants in Porto Alegré, Brazil, numbered 155,000. One of our Observers, who attended both forums, compares the two.

World Social Forum: "Today, fair trade producers are less affected by the crisis"

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:02:51 +0100

Around 100,000 activists, unionists, students, NGO members and pacifists have flooded the World Social Forum (WSF) taking place this year in Belem, north Brazil. Since 2001 the event has acted as an alternative to Davos, Switzerland, where, at the same time, the world's top economic and political decision makers sit down together.

On the Observers, we're following the three-day forum through the eyes of various participants.

Stéphane Le Borgne is president of Artisans du Monde, a fair trade produce distribution network who is participating in the WSF this year.

The forum is not only a place to launch big ideas, but also somewhere to share experiences. We're here with our partners from the Brazilian tribe Satere Mawe, from who we buy an energising oil from Guarana which we sell in France. The Satere Mawe people managed to save their land by diversifying their culture and uniting to resist the oil companies. We want to spread that initiative.

The forum is also an occasion to meet potential partners. For example, today [Thursday] we've discussed plans with a tribal group from Manaus [Brazil] who produce various kinds of fruits which they then use to make jam. It's an adapted lifestyle and it's an entirely self-sufficient production line.

Before the financial crisis, a lot of people said that the alter-globalisation movement was out of touch with the mainstream and wouldn't go anywhere. But today, the IMF is using some of our reports - about the too-virtual state of the economy, the lack of regulation etc. There's no denying that, today, fair trade producers are less affected by the crisis".

Demonstration against ‘Zionist’ café Starbucks

Team Observers — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:10:26 +0100

Tens of demonstrators gathered outside a Starbucks café in Beirut on Tuesday, accusing the American coffee chain of ‘financing Zionism' and for being in part responsible for what's happening in Gaza. Yara Harakeh tells us why she chose to demonstrate. Read more and see photos of the demo below.

Held in Hamra, a Sunni area of Beirut, the demo forced the café to close for the day. Calls for boycotting Starbucks are nothing new though. On the internet, many sites and Facebook group s have been set up on this theme. They accuse the president of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, of being a ‘propagandist for Israel’, a blatant Zionist and of actively supporting George W Bush’s policies in the Middle East. Other American giants have also been targets of this campaign, in particular MacDonalds.

These accusations, made for a number of years now, have been denied by Starbucks. In a statement in 2006, the US company explained that it wasn’t in any way linked to the Israeli Army and that it “didn’t support any political cause".

This year in Santa's sack: "Adadas" and "IVIKE" trainers

Ségolène Team Observers — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:54:09 +0100

With counterfeit brands all the rage in China, children might be surprised to unwrap "Adadas" or "IVIKE" trainers on Christmas day this year. Faced with tougher laws, fakers have given up on producing exact replicas and moved on to innovative ways to reproduce brand names.

The world's biggest counterfeit producer; China is struggling to reform its intellectual property laws. The industry represents 8% of the country's GDP, and employment for up to five million people, according to a French report by the IRPI.

Counterfeiters are not giving in easily to increasingly the stricter laws. SQNY is replacing SONY and fast food giant KFC finds itself facing KFG. Our Observers check out the latest brands on the Chinese high street.

Solar-powered tankers ready for 2010

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:00:21 +0100

An Australian company has just signed a deal with major Chinese cargo company COSCO to provide tankers powered by sails that are fuelled by sunlight.

Petrol and goods are set to fare the seas by sail once more, with a new technology that harnesses sunlight and wind power through solar-panel sails. They haven't been built yet, but ships like the ones in these images are planned to take to the seas within two years. Solar Sailor, an Australian company specialised in renewable energy, has just signed a contract with shipping giant COSCO. Perhaps a gesture in the hope of improving their reputation - the cargo company is better known for the 2007 San Francisco Bay oil spill and the controversial Zimbabwe arms deal with Mugabe.

The new ships will reduce oil consumption by 20 to 40% through wind energy and 5% through sun. The sails, managed by a computer that calculates the angle by exposition to wind and sun, become profitable after four years of use. Next up, Solar Sailor plans to target gas-guzzling luxury yachts owned by the rich.

FIAC: despite the crisis, art collectors still get out their chequebooks

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:42:09 +0100

The Foire Internationle d'Art Contemporain, held at the Grand Palais, on Sunday.

France's biggest annual art fair, Fiac, came to an end on Sunday. In the midst of the financial crisis, you might expect a little thrift from the collectors. Not so.

Art dealers give us their impressions on the 2008 selection.

Mad cow scare: protests turn violent

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:43:17 +0200

Two weeks ago we published a post about the Internet-driven campaign in South Korea to boycott American beef imports because of fears of mad cow disease. Protests have since escalated in Seoul, where 60,000 demonstrators clashed with police at the weekend.

Protesters gathered in the square in front of the city hall, where riot police fired at them with water cannons. Around 300 were arrested during the strict police intervention (see video).

The campaign was launched in mid-May following a decision by the country's president to lift an embargo, in place since 2003, banning the import of American beef. Increasingly outrageous rumours began circulating, and Web users went as far as saying that even Alzheimer's could be transmitted from the "dangerous" meat. Read our post from the beginning of the crisis.