Child labor, exploitation: the production of smartphones is often very unfair.
This has now been protested.
In the middle of Freising.
Freising
- smartphones at a bargain price - especially last Friday, “Black Friday”, this could be read in many places.
But while coffee is increasingly being used for fair products, the manufacture of electronic devices is largely unfair.
In order to point out this grievance and to sensitize the Freising people, an activist quartet from the Weltladen and Fairen Forum mingled with the citizens on Saturday at the best shopping time.
Cell phone production is usually very unfair
For Jürgen Maguhn, Monika Hobmair, Ursula Blum and Ingrid Oberle, it is very important to point out the problem of unfair production conditions for smartphones, tablets and laptops right now. Why? "We are the opposite of Black Friday!" Explained Maguhn. In addition, Christmas is just around the corner and many wish lists would include electronic devices that were largely produced in China and Korea under inhumane conditions. In addition to excessive overtime and wages that are far too low, the extraction of the necessary raw materials such as gold or tin is a massive problem. People are being exploited for this and have to work under the most dangerous conditions. And that is also the order of the day: child labor, for example in cobalt mining. So there are enough reasonsTo take a close look at the digital hardware again and again - and also to take to the streets.
It is best to use the smartphone for as long as possible
The quartet deliberately decided not to have an information stand in the city. Because passers-by would simply walk past it or even change the side of the street, as the quartet reported on Saturday. Equipped with so-called sandwich posters, they therefore preferred to mingle directly with the people who were willing to shop. The most effective means of influencing, stressed Jürgen Maguhn, is the shopping behavior of customers - especially at Christmas. There are alternatives, said Ingrid Oberle, but consumer electronics are an extremely difficult market for fair processes - if only because of the supply chains. Customers can currently fall back on a Fair-phone and Shiftphone - one is Fairtrade-certified, the other one can expand memory and replace batteries. The message of the four: "The easiest way would beTo use your own smartphone for as long as possible and not always conclude new contracts just because you are lured with more up-to-date devices ”. What is also important: dispose of the old devices properly so that the valuable metals can be recycled.
(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)
The numbers speak for themselves: there are currently 128 smartphones for every 100 people in Germany.
For the committed educators from the Weltladen and Fairem Forum, reason enough to draw attention to the working conditions and environmental damage during production in the run-up to Christmas.
There is still time to rethink many a wish.
Richard Lorenz