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Nike are using Uighur Muslim slave labor in China and guess what they are making there? LeBron @KingJames and Colin Kaepernickâs shoes. They claim they are the kings of social justice warriordom but they are saying absolutely nothing.
That photo is of the fences along the side of the Qingdao Taekwang Shoes Co that factory also includes armed watchtowers with cameras pointed in all directions and high concertina barbed-wire fences atop the walls.
The workers in standard-issue prison blue jackets stitch & glue and press together about 8 million pairs of Nikes each year at Qingdao Taekwang Shoes Co., a Nike supplier for more than 30 years and is Nikeâs largest factory.
They churn out pair after pair of Shox, with their springy shock absorbers in the heels, and the Lebron signature Air Max, Air Force 1, Huarache, Roshe, Free, & Flyknit lines of sports shoes.
These 7100 workers at this factory did not choose to be there: most are ethnic Uighurs from Chinaâs western Xinjiang region, sent here by local authorities in mass to work as slave labor far from home.
After intense international criticism of the Communist Partyâs campaign to forcibly assimilate the mostly Muslim Uighur minority by detaining more than a million people in re-education camps, party officials lied & said last year that most have âgraduatedâ and been released.
There is satellite surveillance evidence that shows that the Chinese authorities are moving Uighurs into government-directed labour around the country as part of the central governmentâs Xinjiang Aid initiative.
When their shifts end, the Uighur workers almost all women 13 - 20 or sometimes younger, they walk across the yard, listening to recorded messaging telling them to âstay loyal to the partyâ & âhave clear-cut disciplineâ to dormitories where they live under constant supervision.
So when Lebron James tries to claim some sort on moral high ground, he's got mega rich off of slaves, James and Kaepernick are nothing but hypocrites and enable enslavement of Uighurs in China.
The Taekwang factory is one of many where Uighurs are working âunder forced slave labor conditions to make goods for more than 80 established global brands world wide.
Nike Statement:
âNike is committed to upholding international labor standards globally, and our suppliers are strictly prohibited from using any type of prison, forced, bonded or indentured laborâ.
âNike is committed to upholding international labor standards globally, and our suppliers are strictly prohibited from using any type of prison, forced, bonded or indentured laborâ.
Kim Jae-min, the chief executive of Taekwang, the factoryâs South Korean parent company, said about 6000 Uighurs were among 7,100 workers at the plant.
Nikeâs own manufacturing map on their website shows that the factory has 7,095 "employees", of whom 3,445 are âline workersâ, so they admit they use the facility and it's well known what conditions are there.
The ASPIâ reported conservatively estimates that more than 80,000 Uighurs were transferred from Xinjiang to work in factories across China between 2017 and 2019.
This figure is consistent with reporting from Chinaâs state broadcaster, which said in Nov 2019 that the Xinjiang government wanted to transfer out 100,000 âsurplus laborersâ between 2018 and 2020.
By the CCP partyâs own count, tens of thousands of Uighurs have been sent to Guangdong and Fujian provinces in the south, and to Zhejiang, Anhui and Shandong in the east.
At the front gate, the Taekwang factory looks like any other in China. Rows of long buildings sit behind a gate where three flags flutter; the company ensign and a Chinese flag, but also a South Korean one, reflecting the parent companyâs home base.
Inside, the workersâ ideology & behavior are closely monitored. At a purpose-built âpsychological dredging officeâ, officials from Taekwangâs local womenâs federation conduct âheart-to-heartâ talks & provide psychological consulting to encourage integration.
Sorry Lebron you have no moral high ground here or anywhere. You're no different than the plantation owners pre 1862. Sit sown and STFU we're tired of your bullshit
