At 6:22 AM -0500 22/2/12, Anne Cuneo wrote: >I have to agree with Geoffrey, and disagree with you, Paolo and Andrus. >True, THIS TIME the focus is on Apple. There is >a reason. Tomorrow, people who can do something >about this are meeting. >I am going to write a terrible platitude here, >but once conditions were ripe, it only needed >ONE victim burning itself to death to wake up >the whole Middle East. >I am not going to list the people who, >single-handed, changed the world after having >been called absurd or mad, orŠ orŠ orŠ, and >their actions useless. Thanks for your support on this issue, Anne. Your story of the Swiss company is heartening, Anne, to say the least. Did you know that IKEA has moved some of its furniture manufacturing to the USA because factory working conditions there are so appalling? Half the Swedish rate of pay, etc., etc. According to Truthout, just the fact that the Apple petition is happening around the world through MoveOn (in Australia, GetUp), is having an effect even before it is completed and presented. I just saw on the Truthout site: "Apple's main supplier - and habitual human rights abuser - FoxConn announced plans to give their employees a pay raise (of 25%). The move comes after more than a quarter-million people signed a petition on MoveOn.org demanding that Apple crack down on its suppliers who are engaging in abusive labor practices. "Recent reports out of Chinese-based FoxConn describe a factory where workers toil for 14-hour shifts, collecting abysmally low pay, and share cramped dormitories with other workers. Suicides are so prevalent at the factory that nets were installed to catch people who jumped off the roof. "Apple is one of the largest and most powerful corporations in the world -- achieving its success through modern-day slave labor." Cheers, geoff