If it raises some awareness of the issue, that can only be a good thing - I've spent a great deal of the last week explaining to people my age (and I'm not a teenybopper) what they're actually protesting about. They had no idea about the Chinese occupation, government in exile etc. I only know about it because I read one of the Dalai Lama's books and was interested enough to go and do some research. It's not one of the fashionable causes you hear about all the time. Well, until now...
To me it sounds abit hard on the chinese population, but I dunno.
A boycott of products is trickier as China produces a lot of products very cheap for Westerners in particular.
It's damn near impossible. I try my best, but just try finding a video cleaner tape that's not made in China.
At the risk of getting way off topic, it's this ready supply of cheap stuff that makes the Western lifestyle possible. If the people who sewed our T-shirts and make our plastic trinkets got paid a liveable first-world wage and enjoyed the same lifestyle themselves, the whole thing would collapse.
I still think it would be a good thing for AFF to publicly call for a boycott of the Olympics citing our understanding of the downtrodden. In many ways the high functioning person in society is downtrodden by ignorance, fear, discriminated in the workplace and at school in a myriad of ways.
It's a stretch but Gareth complains about AFF not getting any publicity.
Everyone read up on what is going on in Tibet. It is particularly vicious: Chinese troops at one point years ago even forced monks to have sex with Buddhist nuns. And I haven't even talked about the early wholesale murders, banishment of the local people. The Tibetans who are left are discriminated against, can't find good jobs I hear. Just awful stuff.
I am going to try also to start looking at where my products are made and to the extent I can NOT buy products made in China. If we all did this it would send an even stronger message to Beijing!
When did I complain about AFF not getting any publicity? Could do with more offline actions, but we do get a reasonable amount of publicity. As for boycotting the olympics: if that's a cause you feel inclined to support go for it. I still don't see it as related to AFF's mission at all.
wondering1 wrote: "1936=2008."
ah ha - I read you there, loud and clear -
Korrigan, the reason the public has to be inconvenienced or interfered with, is because unless something directly affects a person -th ey do not react or research (generally speaking).
gareth, I think the subject has a parallel with AFF, as far as Tibet not getting publicity the same way AFF dos not.
I am done on the subject though. :o)
All tibetans are not autistic, thus it's not an AFF issue. We can't dedicate ourselves to all the injustics in the world. As I said if you feel inclined to support the protests against the olympics then go for it. I don't have just one cause either, but AFF is an arena for just 1 cause, that of autism rights.
What's funny there?
It's not an autism rights issue unless it's affecting autistics in particular.
This is difficult... because I'm personally interested in the Tibet situation, so my first reaction is to be supportive of the protests... BUT I know from personal experience that some protesters don't really know or care what they're fighting for, they're just in it because it's cool, or to cause trouble.
A few years ago there was a dam built in our area. I'm not going to pretend I think dams are so great, but the "protesters" were a busload of rentacrowd teenages shipped into town from a big city many miles away by one of the big environmental protest groups. None of these people knew much at all about the dam... and I'm willing to bet all those protesters are now heartily chowing down on the fresh fruit and veges from the farms supplied by the dam without a second thought. Similarly, how many of the pro-Tibet protesters are supporting Chinese manufactured clothing and goods?
I still think it would be a good thing for AFF to publicly call for a boycott of the Olympics citing our understanding of the downtrodden. In many ways the high functioning person in society is downtrodden by ignorance, fear, discriminated in the workplace and at school in a myriad of ways.
It's a stretch but Gareth complains about AFF not getting any publicity.
Everyone read up on what is going on in Tibet. It is particularly vicious: Chinese troops at one point years ago even forced monks to have sex with Buddhist nuns. And I haven't even talked about the early wholesale murders, banishment of the local people. The Tibetans who are left are discriminated against, can't find good jobs I hear. Just awful stuff.
I am going to try also to start looking at where my products are made and to the extent I can NOT buy products made in China. If we all did this it would send an even stronger message to Beijing!
I strongly disagree. I do not believe AFF should publicly call for a boycott.
You admit that it's a stretch Ellen, and you admit that the motivation, at least in part, is to get publicity for AFF. That's the wrong kind of motivation.
Why call for a boycott when there's such a tenuous link between AFF and what's happening in Tibet? It's even a stretch for you to come up with a link.
It's silly to hop on any passing bandwagon, it doesn't do your own cause any good, because you just get known to be a rent-a-protester who hops on bandwagons. And there's also the fact that if you're hopping on any old passing bandwagon you dilute your own message.
If people want to boycott the Games, boycott Chinese goods or join pro-Tibet groups, that's their prerogative, but AFF is about aspergers and autism spectrum. If I wanted to boycott China or join pro-Tibet protests or whatever, I'd join a group/forum relevant to those activities, not try to usurp or dictate the agenda of a totally different group/forum.
If you want to do something do it, nobody's saying you can't or shouldn't. Just don't try to infer that it's an AFF issue.
A few causes I feel passionately about other than autism rights, note that none of these are things I spend large portions of my time on:
Free Software / online freedom (DRM, software patents, censorship et al)
Seperation of church and state (Tax-exempt religious organisations and religious doctrine enshrined into law inappropriately)
Life extension and aging research (Laws banning therapeutic cloning, stem cell research, anti-aging pharmaceuticals)
Cryonics (People who are biologically alive with all their brain state intact yet incapable of supporting their own metabolism and thus require freezing to remain stable are currently labelled as dead and risk autopsy or interference)
Free trade (Any time the government steps in to say 2 consenting parties may not agree to some particular terms is a restriction on freedom)
Now, I would not ask everyone on AFF to go to a rally against software patents, tax-exempt religious organisations, laws against stem cell research, biogerontology and cryonics or trade restrictions for the simple reason that none of them are directly related to autism rights. AFF is not the right arena. I may find some here who'd share my passions but that simply means that those individuals would be good to unite with under a different banner should I wish to act.
I also do not have the resources to be an activist everywhere - no matter how passionately I support the causes listed above I have to divide my time properly. AFF as a group absolutely should not go beyond our own cause (autism rights) unless it brings a direct benefit to that cause. We are not "Aspies for solving all the world's wrongs". As an individual though do what you like.
In one sense I agree...but it's difficult to overcome that burning compulsion to do something. I mean we've got a fascist dicatorship engaging in genocide. Passions run deep.
Then surely the answer is for you to do something as an individual, or join an anti-China/pro-Tibet group, or a Boycott the Games or human rights organisation or whatever?
Why should it be done under an AFF banner when it's nothing to do with Asperger's or autism rights?
There is nothing wrong with talking to people on AFF (hint: We're in the time out section), just so long as it doesn't get in the way of our real purpose here.
Well if you are not willing to die for a cause, is it worth protesting?
yes
Here's another Olympics-related campaign...
Catch the Flame is an initiative of Play Fair 2008 and is supported by a
global alliance of trade unions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs),
labour groups and concerned individuals, working together to draw
attention to the maltreatment and exploitation of workers in the
merchandise industry of the Olympic Games in Beijing (2008), Vancouver
(Winter 2010) and London (2012).
The aim is to pressure sportswear and athletic footwear companies, the
International Olympics Committee (IOC), its organising committees
(OCOGs), the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), and national
governments, into taking identifiable and concrete measures to eliminate
the exploitation and abuse of workers in the global sporting goods
industry.
Play Fair 2008 is organized by the International Trade Union
Confederation (ITUC), the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), and the
International Textile Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF).
Play Fair 2008 is also supported by a range of trade unions and NGOs.
It is envisaged that this campaign will continue through to the London
2012 Olympics and that decent work and labour standards are written into
all global sporting contracts.
To show solidarity with all workers in the supply chain that feeds the
Olympics, please follow the link http://www.catchtheflame.org to a
virtual Olympic torch that can be passed on electronically.
Here's another Olympics-related campaign...
Catch the Flame is an initiative of Play Fair 2008 and is supported by a
global alliance of trade unions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs),
labour groups and concerned individuals, working together to draw
attention to the maltreatment and exploitation of workers in the
merchandise industry of the Olympic Games in Beijing (2008), Vancouver
(Winter 2010) and London (2012).
The aim is to pressure sportswear and athletic footwear companies, the
International Olympics Committee (IOC), its organising committees
(OCOGs), the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), and national
governments, into taking identifiable and concrete measures to eliminate
the exploitation and abuse of workers in the global sporting goods
industry.
Play Fair 2008 is organized by the International Trade Union
Confederation (ITUC), the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), and the
International Textile Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF).
Play Fair 2008 is also supported by a range of trade unions and NGOs.
It is envisaged that this campaign will continue through to the London
2012 Olympics and that decent work and labour standards are written into
all global sporting contracts.
To show solidarity with all workers in the supply chain that feeds the
Olympics, please follow the link http://www.catchtheflame.org to a
virtual Olympic torch that can be passed on electronically.
I am a little biased against socialism and this sort of action, but I have doubts over whether or not such action can make an immediate difference anyway.
I received an email from the same source informing me of a trade-union-led relief effort for the victims of Cyclone Nargis. I didn't know there were any trade unions in Burma.
I received an email from the same source informing me of a trade-union-led relief effort for the victims of Cyclone Nargis. I didn't know there were any trade unions in Burma.
Burma is one great big trade union.
Really? I thought trade unions tended to be pro all that human rights and democracy stuff.