There is a thread to an article at https://feddit.org/post/5294871 that includes also images of the products, I added the link also in the body now.

@Che

So it’s only slavery if it’s in China?

Who says that?

As an addition on the topic:

Modern slavery in China according to the human rights organization Walk Free

Since 2018, evidence of forced labour of Uyghur and other Turkic and Muslim majority peoples has emerged in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Uyghur Region) […] Forced labour imposed by private actors is also reported, in addition to forced marriage and organ trafficking, with vulnerability primarily driven by discriminatory government practices.

The 2023 Global Slavery Index (GSI) estimates that 5.8 million people were living in modern slavery in China on any given day in 2021 […] This estimate does not include figures on organ trafficking, which evidence indicates does occur in China.

Forced labour is exacted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as a means of racial and religious discrimination; political coercion and education; and as punishment for holding views ideologically opposed to the state. It is reported alongside mass surveillance, political indoctrination, religious oppression, forced separation of families, forced sterilisation, torture, sexual violence, and arbitrary detention in so-called “re-education camps” within the Uyghur Region […]

Forced labour is exacted under the guise of vocational training and poverty alleviation – a scheme promulgated by the CCP to raise living standards in “ethnic areas.”

Globally, an estimated 50 million people were living in modern slavery on any given day in 2021. This is nearly one in every 150 people in the world. Walk Free writes:

Modern slavery is hidden in plain sight and is deeply intertwined with life in every corner of the world.

This is about products from China, produced with forced labour in China, wrongfully labeled as ‘Italian’.

And, yes, the conditions in the agri-sector might be bad, they must be improved, which is another reason why we need more transparency in supply chains.

Yes, I agree. It’s far from being perfect anywhere. I’d just say we shouldn’t generalize. One thing we need is more transparency in our global supply chain I guess.

This is not about Italian tomatoes but Chinese. Working conditions in agriculture may be worse than in other sectors, but here we apparently deal with slave-like conditions in Chinese prison-factories. Just read my other comment in this thread or the whole article.

I also think that Italy delivers high quality products in a lot of industries, including in the food sector if I may say so. But this article is about China anyway in the first place.

Yeah, there are many FOSS organizations in the U.S. like the Open Source Lab by the Oregon State University, the Open Source Software Institute, and many others. I guess they could do it, possibly if some join forces.

I agree in principal with that view, but there was pressure from VW’s top investors (Union Investment, Deka) to clarify the situation in Xinjiang. An audit turned out to be extremely flawed which put further pressure on the management. It’s hard to tell how much this contributed to the decision, but at least some shareholders weren’t indifferent about the situation.

The USA can certainly do this, they have all what it takes. Public investments for such stuff will be hard to get in the next four years I guess, but there could be some private initiative?I don’t know the U.S. good enough in that respect, though.

Strange. Here is the Reuters news about it: https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-proposes-sanctions-against-chinese-firms-helping-russia-bloomberg-news-2024-11-25/

Yeah, and hats off to the judges.

This has long been done :-)

Protecting the their country’s right should be a minimum to expect from a PM. The UK’s Hong Kong agreement with China is being completely ignored as someone already said.

In related news, Ukrainian and independent (exiled) Russian media report that Russian consumer loans are hitting 44%.

As of the beginning of November, consumer loan rates in Russian banks ranged from 25% to 38% per annum, but by 19 November, the maximum rate had risen to 44%.

It is noted that almost half of borrowers have problems with loan repayment: 35% have minor difficulties, 12% have serious ones, and 1% admit that they can no longer pay at all.

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As I said multiple times, this is one reason among others why we need transparent supply chains. It is exactly China which opposes this. This is bad for world (and bad for China, too).

In addition to that from another source, the Climate Action Tracker for China:

Policies and action against fair share: Insufficient

NDC (nationally determined contributions ) target against modelled domestic pathways: Highly insufficient

NDC target against fair share: Insufficient

Net Zero Target = Year 2060: Comprehensiveness rated as Poor

Overall rating: Highly insufficient

Governments could enforce laws to reduce their emissions, but they don’t.

The only way to measure it is where it is produced. This is what this and other reports are doing. Governments could reduce their emissions, especially in countries where they are high. It’s not the case, though.

Again, this is not about assigning blame. This is just a simple fact.