Protests in China Force Panasonic and Others to Shut Down Plants

[TheDickWard]

Car companies seem to be the ones most affected, but camera and electronics manufacturers are being attacked as well. Panasonic in particular has had workers sabotaging production.

Shutdowns were planned to last a few days, but with things as bad as they are, I'm expecting they'll last a bit longer.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/17/bu...html?hpt=hp_c2

[taygan315]

Seriously....cant we all just STOP with the protests...especially of this magnitude. I believe in PEACEFUL protests and you don't lose the message that your trying to send. When protests get to be like this....you lose the message and what your trying to do to have it resolved. The focus shifts on the means of the protests...not the message anymore.

Alright....I will step down from my soapbox now,lol.

[damonous]

Seriously....cant we all just STOP with the protests...especially of this magnitude. I believe in PEACEFUL protests and you don't lose the message that your trying to send. When protests get to be like this....you lose the message and what your trying to do to have it resolved. The focus shifts on the means of the protests...not the message anymore.

Alright....I will step down from my soapbox now,lol.

In an ideal world, peaceful protest should be all anyone ever needs; but not everyone lives in an ideal world. There are places where the simple act of protest, itself (in any form --peaceful or not), is an egregious 'crime'. (One might even contemplate if the provisions of the recent NDAA law don't make the USA such a 'place' now.) This by nature escalates the cost for the protester, and makes their risk an all-or-nothing affair. It is unreasonable to sit back on your couch and lump in all such protest that goes beyond shouting and singing peace songs as irrational.

That being said, if you had read into the CNN link provided, and then the article "How a remote rock split China and Japan", I think you'd see why this particular situation has escalated so.

To sum it up quickly, China & Japan both claimed ownership of the Senkaku islands for many years (through war settlements, treaties, etc), but neither ever outright resolved the land dispute (a land which may have significant oil reserves), and it looks like both countries uneasily 'shared' the lands.

Then, recently, Japan decided to 'solve' the dispute by buying the islands outright from an uber-rich landowner who somehow acquired title to the whole of them.

The Chinese see this as an underhanded maneuver; essentially as if they are being robbed by the Japanese. I'm no lover of communist China, mind you, but I can see how this would stir violent Chinese resentment of Japanese wealth (Panasonic, Japanese auto factories, etc) in a populace that works hours a day for pennies.

<stepping down from soapbox now>

[taygan315]

In an ideal world, peaceful protest should be all anyone ever needs; but not everyone lives in an ideal world. There are places where the simple act of protest, itself (in any form --peaceful or not), is an egregious 'crime'. (One might even contemplate if the provisions of the recent NDAA law don't make the USA such a 'place' now.) This by nature escalates the cost for the protester, and makes their risk an all-or-nothing affair. It is unreasonable to sit back on your couch and lump in all such protest that goes beyond shouting and singing peace songs as irrational.

That being said, if you had read into the CNN link provided, and then the article "How a remote rock split China and Japan", I think you'd see why this particular situation has escalated so.

To sum it up quickly, China & Japan both claimed ownership of the Senkaku islands for many years (through war settlements, treaties, etc), but neither ever outright resolved the land dispute (a land which may have significant oil reserves), and it looks like both countries uneasily 'shared' the lands.

Then, recently, Japan decided to 'solve' the dispute by buying the islands outright from an uber-rich landowner who somehow acquired title to the whole of them.

The Chinese see this as an underhanded maneuver; essentially as if they are being robbed by the Japanese. I'm no lover of communist China, mind you, but I can see how this would stir violent Chinese resentment of Japanese wealth (Panasonic, Japanese auto factories, etc) in a populace that works hours a day for pennies.

<stepping down from soapbox now>

I glanced at the link. I look for the main emphasis/body of the article. It should NOT condone violent behavior. As you and the article said, they have been disputing over the ownership of the land in question. Japan put an end to it by finally buying the land from the person who owned the land rights and now the Chinese are pissed about it.

They were arguing over it for years, neither side were willing to sit down and resolve the matter, Japan just basically said ''enough is enough'' and China is screaming foul...in an extreme manner. Time to go home everybody....it's over. Be pissed about it in your own way, on your own time, and on your own property. Dont take it out on the companies. Just my 2 cents.