Chinese Economy: Riots at the Nerf Toy Factory

China Economic Unrest:
Riot at the Chinese Nerf Factory



Workers Demand Pay

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Twenty years ago, "Riot at the Chinese Nerf Factory" would have been more likely to be the name of a punk rock CD than a headline about economic news.

China hasn't been insulated from world economic woes.


From Nerf factory riot in China and Workers riot at Chinese toy factory:

Riots are breaking out in factories in Dongguan as bankruptcies and layoffs throw thousands out of work with wages owing. South China, "the world's factory," is in chaos, faltering. After the mid-autumn festival, enormous numbers of workers simply stayed home in the provinces, rather than returning to work in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Dongguan.

Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing: "This AP story talks about a riot in the factory where Nerf toys were manufactured for Hasbro -- and no, they didn't fight with Nerf bats."

According to AP: "Shipping containers on trucks in the factory's courtyard were loaded with Hasbro boxes containing Nerf toys."

One report said the violence was touched off when the owner of the plant, Hong Kong's Kader Holdings Co. Ltd., began laying off 216 migrant workers--the factory employs 6500. Some 80 senior workers complained that they were shorted on severance pay. These 80 mobilized a mob of 500 friend and unemployed workers.

"The factory's management and the local officials really look down on the workers," said one laid-off worker who would only give his surname, Qiao, because he feared criticizing the company might jeopardize his chance of getting any compensation.

Qiao accused the police of igniting the riot. "The workers just got angry because the police hit them first," said the 30-year-old migrant from the southwestern province of Sichuan, devastated by last May's monster earthquake.

Basic pay for an assembly-line worker at the factory is 770 yuan ($112) a month, with overtime rare now that most of the Christmas orders have been filled.

Note to all those who believe China is ready to swallow up the USA: China's got economic problems of its own.

[Unrest by workers] is "a major concern in major industrial zones in Guangdong, which has been hit hard by a series of factors: rising costs of wages and raw materials along with currency fluctuations and the global financial crisis. More than 7,000 companies in Guangdong have gone bust or moved elsewhere in the first nine months of the year, the official China Daily newspaper recently reported."

One prediction: this will not be the last story readers will see about civil unrest over economic problems in China.


by Mondo
image: dbkp file

Today in History: January 2, 2008

WAR!, SPORTS, TERRORISM, TORTURE, POLITICS, ABOLITION, CENSURE, SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, DISASTER, MASSACRES, ALLIGATORS, CIVIL RIGHTS, TRIALS, MUSIC, RIOTS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, NANNY STATE, OVERDOSE, CAMELOT, CLIMATE CHANGE, JEWS, POPULATION, PROFESSIONAL WRESTING, BORN, DEATH, FINANCE



1839 1st photo of the Moon (French photographer Louis Daguerre).

WAR!

1492 Spain recaptures Granada from the Moors (Granada Day).

1570 Tsar Ivan the Terrible march to Novgorod begins.

1602 Spanish forces in Ireland surrender to the English at Kinsdale.

1757 British troops occupy Calcutta India.

1776 1st revolutionary flag displayed.

1861 SC seizes inactive Fort Johnson in Charleston Harbor.

1863 Battle of Murfreesboro (Stone's River) ends.

1896 Battle at Doornkop, South Africa (Boers beat Dr Jamesons troops).

1905 Japanese troops capture Port Arthur.

1942 German troops in Bardia surrender.

1942 Japanese troops occupy Manila Philippines.

1944 1st use of helicopters during warfare (British Atlantic patrol).

1945 Allied air raid on Neurenberg.

TERRORISM

1923 Ku Klux Klan surprise attack on black residential area Rosewood FL, 8 killed. (compensation awarded in 1995).

1923 Sam Carter black resident of Rosewood FL, lynched by KKK.

1932 Young gang shoot dead 6 police in Springfield Missouri.

SPORTS

1989 Notre Dame beats West Virginia for college football championship.

TORTURE

1776 Austria ends interrogation torture.

POLITICS

1788 Georgia is 4th state to ratify US constitution.

ABOLITION

1800 Free black community of Philadelphia PA petitions Congress to abolish slavery.

1831 Liberator, abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston.

CENSURE

1811 US Senator Thomas Pickering is 1st senator censured (revealed confidential documents communicated by the President of the US).

SCIENCE

1905 Elara, a satellite of Jupiter, discovered by Perrine.

1936 1st electron tube to enable night vision described, St Louis MO.

1972 Mariner 9 begins mapping Mars.

1995 Most distant galaxy yet discovered found by scientists using Keck telescope in Hawaii (estimated 15 billion light years away).

ENGINEERING

1842 1st US wire suspension bridge for general traffic opens in Pennsylvania.

DISASTER

1879 British battleship Thunder explodes in Gulf of Ismid, 9 die.

1971 A barrier collapses at Ibrox Park football ground at end of a soccer match in Glasgow Scotland, killing 66.

1995 Bus crashes in Luzon Philippines, 29 killed.

1974 Worst fire in Argentine history destroys 1.2 million acres.

1988 Ashland Oil storage tank spills 3.8 million gallons, Pennsylvania.

MASSACRES

1885 General Wolseley receives last distress signal of General Gordon in Khartoum.

ALLIGATORS

1890 Record 19'2" alligator shot in Louisiana by E A McIlhenny.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1903 President T Roosevelt shuts down post office in Indianola MI, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black.

1965 Martin Luther King Jr begins a drive to register black voters.

1984 Wilson Goode, sworn-in as Philadelphia's 1st black mayor.

TRIALS

1935 Bruno R Hauptmann trial begins for kidnap-murder of Lindbergh baby.

1979 Sid Vicious' trial for murder of girlfriend Nancy Spingen begins.

MUSIC

1900 E Verlinger begins manufacturing 7" single-sided records (Montréal).

1978 Rhino Records releases their 1st album "Wildmania".

RIOTS and REBELLIONS

1919 Anti-British uprising in Ireland.

1981 Sylvester Clarke knocks out spectator with brick, West Indies vs Pakistan.

1984 Riot in Tunis kills over 100.

1994 Battles between army & rebellious Indians in South Mexico, kill 57.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1921 1st religious service radio broadcast in US, KDKA-Pittsburgh.

1949 KDKA TV channel 2 in Pittsburgh, PA (CBS) begins broadcasting.

NANNY STATE

1934 1st state liquor stores open, in Pennsylvania.

1974 55 MPH speed limit imposed by Richard Nixon.

OVERDOSE

1998 Autopsy of Chris Farley shows he overdosed of opiates & cocaine.

CAMELOT

1960 Senator John F Kennedy, announces his candidacy for President.

CLIMATE CHANGE

1961 Hawaii's, then all time low temperature, 14ºF recorded atop Haleakale.

JEWS

1966 1st Jewish child born in Spain since 1492 expulsion.

POPULATION

1970 US population is 205,052,174; Black population 22,600,000 (11.1%).

FINANCE

1986 191.66 million shares traded in New York Stock Exchange.

1990 Dow Jones hits record 2,800 (2,810.15).


PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING

1990 Sting joins wrestlings 4 Horsemen (Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson).

BORN

1727 James Wolfe commanded British Army (captured Québec)
1861 Helen Herron Taft 1st lady (1909-13)
1863 Lucia Zarate became lightest known adult human (2.1 kg at 17)
1920 Isaac Asimov Russia, scientist/writer (I Robot, Foundation Trilogy)
1928 Dan Rostenkowski (Representative-D-IL, -94), House Ways & Means Committee chair
1932 Dabney Coleman Austin Texas, (That Girl, Mary Hartman, Buffalo Bill)
1936 Roger Miller Fort Worth TX, country singer (King of the Road, Dang Me)
1938 John Considine actor (Reginald Love-Another World)
1939 Jim Bakker televangelist (PTL Club)/philanderer (Jessica Hahn)
1952 Ricky Van Shelton Grit VA, country singer (Wild-Eyed Dream)
1964 Pernell Whitaker boxer (Olympics-gold)
1968 Cuba Gooding Jr actor (Jerry McGuire, As Good As It Gets, Boyz N the Hood, A Few Good Men)
1969 Christy Turlington San Francisco CA, model (Calvin Klein Eternity)

DEATH

1904 James Longstreet Confederate General, dies at 82
1963 Dick Powell actor/director (Dick Powell Theater), dies at 58
1974 Tex Ritter country singer (5 Star Jubilee), dies at 67
1977 Erroll Garner jazz pianist (Misty), dies at 53
1990 Alan Hale Jr actor (Skipper Jonas Grumby-Gilligan's Island), dies of cancer at 71
1994 Caesar Romero actor (Joker-Batman), dies at 86

January 2, 2008, the 2nd day of the year. There are 364 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
[image: astrosurf]
Source: Today in History





Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Today in History: December 28, 2007

WAR!, TERRORISM, POLITICS, EXECUTION, TURBULENCE, CULTURE, CRIME, RIOTS, DEATH, BIRTH, BIRTHDAYS



In 1832, John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down over differences with President Jackson.

WAR!

1n 2006, in Somalia, troops of the U.N.-backed interim government rolled into Mogadishu unopposed, putting an end to six months of domination of the capital by a radical Islamic movement.

In 2006, President Bush worked nearly three hours at his Texas ranch to design a new U.S. policy in Iraq.

TERRORISM

In 2002, the U.N. nuclear watchdog decided to pull its inspectors out of North Korea by New Year's Eve, a step demanded by the North.

POLITICS

In 1846, Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union.

In 1945, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.

EXECUTIONS

In 2006, Saddam Hussein's lawyer made a last-ditch effort to impede his client's execution.

TURBULENCE

In 1997, one woman was killed, more than 100 other people hurt, when a United Airlines jumbo jet en route from Narita, Japan, to Honolulu encountered severe turbulence over the Pacific.

CRIME

In 1987, the bodies of 14 relatives of Ronald Gene Simmons were found at his home near Dover, Ark., following a shooting rampage by Simmons in Russellville that claimed two other lives. (Simmons was later executed.)

RIOTS

In 1982, Nevell Johnson Jr., a black man, was mortally wounded by a police officer in a Miami video arcade, setting off three days of race-related disturbances that left another man dead.

CULTURE

In 1897, the play "Cyrano de Bergerac," by Edmond Rostand, premiered in Paris.

In 1917, the New York Evening Mail published "A Neglected Anniversary," a facetious essay by H.L. Mencken supposedly recounting the history of bathtubs in America. (For example, Mencken "claimed" the first American bathtub made its debut in the Cincinnati home of grain dealer Adam Thompson on Dec. 20, 1842, and that the first White House bathtub was installed in 1851 at the order of President Millard Fillmore.)

In 1973, Alexander Solzhenitsyn published "Gulag Archipelago," an expose of the Soviet prison system.

DEATH

In 1694, Queen Mary II of England died after more than five years of joint rule with her husband, King William III.

In 1937, composer Maurice Ravel died in Paris at age 62.

BIRTH

In 1856, the 28th president of the United States, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, was born in Staunton, Va.

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Lou Jacobi is 94. Bandleader Johnny Otis is 86. Comic book creator Stan Lee is 85. Former United Auto Workers union president Owen Bieber is 78. Actor Martin Milner is 76. Actress Dame Maggie Smith is 73. Rock singer-musician Charles Neville is 69. Rock singer-musician Edgar Winter is 61. Rock singer-musician Alex Chilton (The Box Tops; Big Star) is 57. Actor Denzel Washington is 53. Country singer Joe Diffie is 49. Country musician Mike McGuire (Shenandoah) is 49. Actor Chad McQueen is 47. Country singer-musician Marty Roe (Diamond Rio) is 47. Actor Malcolm Gets is 43. Actor Mauricio Mendoza is 38. Comedian Seth Meyers is 34. Rhythm-and-blues singer John Legend is 29. Actress Sienna Miller is 26. Actor Thomas Dekker is 20. Actress Mackenzie Rosman is 18.

Dec. 28, the 362nd day of 2007. There are three days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
[image:kudzumonthly]
Source: Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Muslims in Nigeria: Christians Killed, Nine Churches Burned

by Mondoreb
[photo: jtf.org]
Hat Tip: Pat

Our Daily Look at Muslims on the Rampage. Today the country is [spinning the wheel of misfortune]: Nigeria. Two reports of 9-10 Christians killed and nine churches burned.

From All Africa:
GENERAL Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Mr Samuel Salifu has condemned the killing of Christians in Tudun Dankande local government area of Kano State.

What was the Christians' offense?

Salifu who spoke with newsmen in Kaduna weekend said that reports reaching him from Kano state said there was trouble in Tudun Dankande local government area of the state Friday where nine Christians, including a youth corper serving in the area were killed and their property destroyed over an internet cartoon said to have emanated from a 20-year-old Muslim boy from Bangladesh.

"Information available to me is that almost all the churches within that local government area have been razed down and shops belonging to Christians had also been burnt including their houses. We have been told that they have been ejected and their property brought down and burnt.

Christian and Muslim leaders had been meeting to try and find peaceful ways to co-exist. The results of the meetings can be termed "disappointing", at best. Salifu continues.

"The information given was that they saw a cartoon on the internet and they discovered that this cartoon was drawn by a 20-year-old Muslim boy from Bangladesh and they decided to visit their anger on innocent Christians and their churches.

"I have been told that nine people including a youth corper are confirmed dead and several others injured while the local government in a desperate attempt to cover the dastardly act pretended to be taking the victims to the hospital while in reality they sent some of the victims to Bauchi and some other places around so that people will not go there and see the number of destitutes or refugees caused by this incident.

The Nigerian government has taken some steps in the past to prevent such violence, but Sulafi urged them to do more. He said Christian patience is not endless.

"They cannot control their anger, they take knives and slaughter. When you tell them what they are doing is wrong, they will turn round and start to kill. Very soon, there would be a lot of blood shed unless they stop this nonsense because the church is getting fed up.

As with many stories of rampaging Muslims throughout the world, it will be interesting to see if this story gets any Western mainstream press coverage. Or any coverage at all.

More news on this at:
1RedThread

Reaction by Pat:A Bengali cartoonist draws something that is found offensive to some Muslims. Nigerian Muslims cannot control their rage. So they burn every Christian Church in the district and slaughter nine Christians to appease the slight on their religion. This is classic cult behavior.

Muslims are taught that there are no moral consequences to killing Christians (and in Nigeria, no legal consequences as well). Muslims knows that it is not only OK to kill infidels, it is heroic. Until the West understands this, it does not grasp the enormity of the "Muslim Problem".

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