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The thing that really bothers me is that there's actually such thing as "cotton news" in Uzbekistan.

Interesting that it is done by the government. In China, they let companies organize forced labor =p

Originally posted by Ascendancy
Interesting that it is done by the government. In China, they let companies organize forced labor =p

does it really matter who is forcing you to work?

Is there something I'm missing? So the government used to use children to pick cotton; companies boycott, so the government forces professionals from other fields to pick cotton.

Why not pay manual labor types that aren't children to do it? Cotton gets picked. Unemployment goes down. No bad PR.

Originally posted by Oliver North
does it really matter who is forcing you to work?
Nope, simply being silly.

Originally posted by Robtard
Is there something I'm missing? So the government used to use children to pick cotton; companies boycott, so the government forces professionals from other fields to pick cotton.

Why not pay manual labor types that aren't children to do it? Cotton gets picked. Unemployment goes down. No bad PR.

it says something about the market when it isn't "forced labor" that causes a boycott, but just that it is done to kids....

Originally posted by Robtard
Is there something I'm missing? So the government used to use children to pick cotton; companies boycott, so the government forces professionals from other fields to pick cotton.

Why not pay manual labor types that aren't children to do it? Cotton gets picked. Unemployment goes down. No bad PR.
Well, the article makes it clear that those with money can pay other people to fill their quotas for them. In a way it's like a tax that demands cotton rather than money.

In the long run it's an idiotic plan--all Uzbekistan will do is motivate it's brightest to emigrate to Europe or America.

Not to mention the fact that Uzbekistan is turning into a desert because all the water is getting diverted to irrigating cotton.