The Mike Daisey fabrications have tended to conceal the fact that there is obviously something seriously wrong with Foxconn. Maybe it's that the scale and nature of operations tend to concentrate various of the causes of social discontent in China into their facilities:
“A large number of workers were moved to Taiyuan to make iPhone 5 in a rush. The security personnel at the factory had a fight with a worker from Shandong Province, dragged him to a van and beat him up. The victim’s co-workers from Shandong sought revenge, and workers from Henan Province became involved too, and the situation devolved into chaos where workers chased down security guards and beat them up.”
Ten dead, according to some sources. So here you have clannishness among migrant workers from different places, abuses of power by security forces, the general callousness inherent in the conscription and disposal of labour forces, etc. Note here the trend from individual suicides to incoherent mass action: perhaps the latest installment of 'the iphone and the making of the Chinese working classes'.
Here's an earlier installment:
According to Chinese media reports, college classes have been suspended and students have been involuntarily sent to the local Foxconn plant as extra workforce for the production of iPhone 5’s.
@cuanyu tweets with a hint of disapproval at foreign coverage of the incident: “Something huge happened at the Foxconn factory in Taiyuan yesterday, but I have not seen a report anywhere. I only found out after reading it on Engagdet, but they only cared about what parts are made at the factory and which products would be affected.”
My news source was limited to that take on the story too - and I was reading The Guardian.
Posted by: Strategist | September 24, 2012 at 10:08 PM
This stuff happens at lots of factories in China. The media is only reporting on this incident because it's tied to Foxconn/Apple.
Posted by: Richard | September 25, 2012 at 03:33 AM
The Grauniad story was better than most in that it mentioned the securigoon and didn't completely accept the framing of it as a "brawl".
Posted by: Alex | September 25, 2012 at 11:09 AM
According to Chinese media reports, college classes have been suspended and students have been involuntarily sent to the local Foxconn plant as extra workforce for the production of iPhone 5’s.
Well, it's not quite "learn from the peasants" Cultural Revolution style, but it's close!
Posted by: ajay | September 25, 2012 at 05:17 PM