Reader’s Links for April 16, 2021

Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

85 Replies to “Reader’s Links for April 16, 2021”

  1. Doug Ford, Do not even think about a curfew, if you want to get re-elected, stop the jihad by vaccine / gene therapy.

    • Perhaps Dr. Fauci, Peter Daszak and Shi Zhengli would take a moment and explain PRRA insert to the little people.

  2. Biden Suspending Saudi Arms Sales, Raises Travel Warning Levels to Kingdom

    The US State Department escalated travel warnings for Saudi Arabia to a Level 3 on Tuesday, in light of the ongoing missile and drone attacks on the Saudi’s civilian structures by Yemen’s Houthi Rebels, as well as Covid-19. The Houthis act as military proxies for the Islamic regime in Iran, and the Saudis and Houthis have been fighting one another.

    Just two months ago, the Biden administration removed the US’s terror designation from the Houthis, which in light of this US travel warning seems to have been a bit premature.

    The NY Times reports that the US has decided, after previously suspending all weapons deals made by former President Trump to the Saudis and the UAE, that it will not sell any potentially offensive weaponry to the Saudis.

    The sale of self-defense weapons will still be permitted, though according to the report, the Biden administration is debating which weapons would be included in that definition of self-defense.

    As reported yesterday, the US is expected to approve the $23 Billion deal with the UAE, including the sale of F-35 stealth fighters. That deal had been frozen by the Biden administration for review right after he entered office.

    President Biden announced in February that he wants to “reset” the US relationship with Saudi Arabia, and would end all support for the Saudi offensive operations in Yemen.

    https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/biden-suspending-saudi-arms-sales-raises-travel-warning-levels-to-kingdom/2021/04/15/

  3. A Closer Look at Israel’s New High-Tech Barrier

    Israel reported significant progress last month on an underground fence around the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Officials say Israel is close to completing the underground component and can see the finish line with the above-ground elements (roughly 80% complete). Once fully assembled, the three-layered barrier may be the most sophisticated barrier in the world.

    The threat to Israel from Gaza and other adjacent territories has been constant. Suicide bombings by Hamas, Fatah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad during the Second Intifada prompted Israel to build a barrier to control border crossings. This inspired Hamas to instead construct and fire thousands of crude rockets into Israel. In response, Israel developed the Iron Dome missile defense system (and others for longer range threats). Frustrated again, Hamas began digging commando tunnels for fighters to reach Israel to gather intelligence, conduct terrorist attacks, or even launch surprise, coordinated assaults.

    The Israelis first understood the need for such a barrier during the 2014 Gaza conflict, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge, after uncovering several commando tunnels. But it was not until 2016 that Israel set out to build this complex, multilayer barrier.

    The new border fence has three levels: a deep underground layer, an upper fence physical layer, and an upper hi-tech layer that includes detection devices like robots, drones, unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), and more. They are all equipped with visual, electronic and intelligence equipment and powered by artificial intelligence. And they all operate through command-and-control bases along the barrier.

    The physical upper layer of the Gaza barrier is similar to what Israel erected along the Egyptian border. It stretches across the entire 40-mile border with the coastal enclave. All of the elements are not yet public. But Israeli officials say it is adaptable to a range of threats.

    https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2021/04/10/a_closer_look_at_israels_new_high-tech_barrier_772195.html

  4. The Drunken Dwarf Kinglet tries to divert his people’s hatred from himself to the yahud. And curse the yahudi-lovers!

    Jordanian Analyst Blasts UAE Holocaust Memorial Ceremony: It’s an Attempt to Cover Up Real Massacres

    Jordanian analyst Muhammad Faraj denounced a Holocaust memorial ceremony held in the UAE, saying that restoring the memory of the Holocaust is a UAE attempt “to cover up the real massacres” perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinians and Arabs. He made his remarks in an interview that aired on Mayadeen TV (Lebanon) on April 8, 2021. Faraj said that Israel does not have the right to “play the victimhood card.” He quoted Jordanian poet Assad Qasim, who wrote: “I was not a guard in Auschwitz, oh child killer.” Faraj then continued to criticize the ceremony holders for lighting six candles to commemorate the six million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust, saying that it is a “Zionist strategic policy” to focus on only six million of the 42 million who were killed during World War II. He continued to say that “senior writers and historians” such as holocaust deniers Roger Garaudy and David Irving have said this figure is “incorrect.” Faraj added that some people say that only hundreds of thousands of Jews died in the war, while others say that the majority of deaths were due to illness such as typhus.

  5. US Sanctions Pushed Iran to Brink of Bankruptcy

    Iran burned through nearly all of its cash reserves in the final years of the Trump administration as harsh economic sanctions crippled the country’s economy and brought the hardline regime to the brink of financial collapse, according to findings published by the International Monetary Fund.

    The Islamic Republic had $122.5 billion on hand in 2018 and just $4 billion by 2020, when the former administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran was at its height, according to the IMF’s 2021 Middle East and Central Asia report, which tracks the region’s economies. Iran burned through $118.5 billion in two years, nearly depleting its cash reserves.

    The country’s coffers are forecast to grow by several billions in the coming years as the Biden administration moves to unwind sanctions as part of an effort to reenter the 2015 nuclear deal.

    The IMF’s findings are the clearest evidence to date that the years-long U.S. sanctions campaign was successful in emptying the regime’s pocketbook at a time when Iran was spending great sums on its foreign terrorism enterprise and nuclear enrichment program.…

    It is also likely that Iran would not have been able to weather another four years of the Trump administration’s sanctions. Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo said 96 percent of Iran’s foreign exchange reserves were “wiped out” as a “direct result of our maximum pressure campaign.…”

    https://freebeacon.com/national-security/us-sanctions-pushed-iran-to-brink-of-bankruptcy/

    • If Trump had been sworn in on January 21, 2021 Iran and China would be collapsing from bankruptcy instead of being bailed out by Biden. Two of our major enemies would have been destroyed by economic war instead of conventional war.

      Biden was sworn in and now he is waging economic war against the citizens of the US.

  6. Macron, Ukraine leader Zelensky talk with Merkel over Russia tensions

    Macron and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky appear in a video conference from the Elysée Palace with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They will notably discuss the risks of escalation caused by the concentration of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine.

    • Deutsche Pravda – Russia-Ukraine conflict: How did it start, where will it lead?

      French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris for talks on escalating tensions with Russia.

      They’ll be joined on a video call by German chancellor Angela Merkel.

  7. Big tech de-platforms Maricopa County election audit recruiting effort – Liberty Unyielding
    J.E. Dyer
    3-4 minutes

    Big tech de-platforms Maricopa County election audit recruiting effort

    A group in Arizona is recruiting volunteers from all quarters of the voter spectrum to observe a complete hand audit of every vote cast in Maricopa County in the November 2020 election. The Arizona Senate is having the audit conducted by an outside party; what the group in Arizona is doing is enlisting observers from among the interested voting and partisan groups in the state.

    There was a previous audit by the county of equipment used in the November election, but it was not an audit of ballots. Its sole charter was to audit the performance of equipment. Generic implications that the vote itself has been forensically audited already — frequently conveyed by vague language in news reporting — are incorrect.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2021/04/16/big-tech-de-platforms-maricopa-county-election-audit-recruiting-effort/

    • Counting all of the troops Russia has positions around and in Ukraine they have moved in a small Army Corp. That costs a lot of money and money is tight for Russia right now, that means they aren’t bluffing, they are getting ready to move and thanks to Obama talking Ukraine into burning all of the left over Soviet ammo and scrapping most of the weapons Russia should be able to take most of Ukraine in fairly quick order. After that it is just a matter of pacifying/terrorizing the population into obedience.

  8. twitter @disclosetv

    JUST IN – Facebook is blocking links to the New York Post, the 4th largest newspaper in the US.

    A story about Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors can’t be shared anymore on the platform.

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1382802219548938242

    ===========================================

    JUST IN – Facebook now censors Daily Mail, the 3rd largest newspaper in the UK, after blocking links from the New York Post.

    Story on BLM co-founder’s multi-million dollar LA property empire by the UK publisher blocked on the platform.

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1383045414476259329

    ===========================================

    NEW – BLM co-founder Patrice Cullors explains why owning multiple extravagant homes doesn’t betray her Marxist principles.

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1383054433949528067

    ====================================

    • Stunning hypocrisy’: ‘Friends’ hosts on Facebook blocking story on BLM leader

  9. VICE news – We Recreated the Capitol Riot Through Cellphone Videos and It’s Terrifying | Source Material

    ( age restricted )

    • global news – Survivor of rare blood clot after AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine recalls ordeal

      …it all started 10 days after getting the vaccine, when she woke up breathless, with high fever and a “horrendous headache,” which then led her to believe she might have contracted the coronavirus. However, upon getting tested, her reports came up negative, although her symptoms persisted.

    • sky news australia – Vaccine passports ‘serious concern’ for humanity’s ‘freedoms’ and ‘social interaction’

      • VICE News – What Exactly Is a Vaccine Passport?

        On this episode of Do Your Research, we dig into what exactly a vaccine passport is and why the idea of it is so controversial in the US.

    • Deutsche Pravda – Chile, Israel and the problem with vaccinations

      Some of the nations leading the world in vaccinations are still struggling with the coronavirus.
      For most countries, it will take additional lockdowns as well as time to get enough vaccines before they can really beat COVID-19.

    • Deutsche Pravda – Latest research on vaccine side effects, immune reaction and thrombosis risks

      The risk of dying from COVID is much higher than getting a blood clot from a vaccine.

    • Doctor in B.C. test positive for COVID-19 after receiving vaccine

      […]McDonald is also the face on television advising the public to be safe during the pandemic.

      She says both she and her husband have been strictly following all the recommended safety rules and on March 8 they were both vaccinated.

      However two weeks after is when her husband began not to feel well.

      To be cautious McDonald was also tested for COVID-19.

    • ABB robots help accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development in Thailand.

      … to fast-track Covid-19 vaccine development.

      …protecting human workers from injury or harm.

    • CBC – Why some Ontario pharmacies in hard-hit neighbourhoods don’t have vaccines

      A month after Ontario began shipping COVID-19 vaccines to pharmacies around the province, an analysis by CBC News shows some of the hardest-hit neighbourhoods are still waiting while other communities with lower infection rates have a disproportionately high number of pharmacies offering shots.

    • Canada’s COVID surge highlights country’s vaccine shortfalls

      With Canada’s slow vaccine rollout coinciding with its highest case counts, the country’s problems with tackling the virus now making international news.

      And as hospitals are pushed to the breaking point, experts are urging for a vaccine rollout rethink.

    • City News Toronto – Risk of clots after COVID higher than after vaccination: study

      According to a new study, COVID-19 vaccines carry a significantly lower threat of clotting than the virus they fend off.

      Caryn Ceolin with how new research from Oxford University is trying to boost confidence in the AstraZeneca shot.

      + comments on the YT page

    • sky news UK – Companies considering mandatory coronavirus vaccines for care staff

      Companies in the private sector have floated the idea of making it mandatory for workers to get vaccinated for coronavirus.

    • reuters – Dr. Anthony Fauci believes Johnson & Johnson vaccine will ‘get back on track’

    • World Health Organization – WHO’s Science in 5 on COVID-19: Vaccines, variants and mass gatherings

    • sky news Australia – Australians moving from ‘vaccination hesitation’ to ‘vaccination reluctance’/b>

      …. which is proving to be a problem for the government’s rollout.


    • the hill – Cruz no longer wearing mask in Capitol

      Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on Thursday that he will no longer be wearing a mask at the Capitol since he is fully vaccinated.

      “At this point I’ve been vaccinated. Everybody working in the Senate has been vaccinated,” Cruz told CNN. “CDC has said in small groups, particularly with people who were vaccinated, don’t need to wear masks.”

      Cruz and many other lawmakers have been fully vaccinated against the virus, but the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is still recommending vaccinated people wear masks in large groups of people since many have not been fully vaccinated yet.

      Some Capitol staffers and reporters are still waiting to be fully vaccinated, with one reporter asking Cruz last month to wear a mask during a press event.

      “Uh, yeah, when I’m talking in front of the TV cameras I’m not going to wear a mask,” Cruz told the reporter. “And all of us have been immunized, so…”

      “You’re welcome to step away if you like. The whole point of a vaccine … CDC guidance is what we’re following,” he added.

      The House requires that lawmakers wear masks, but the Senate does not.

      Cruz is joining Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) in walking around the Capitol and on the Senate floor without a mask.

      Wearing a mask after being fully vaccinated has become another political fight between Democrats and Republicans, with Democrats saying masks are still needed and Republicans arguing that a vaccine is pointless if you can’t go back to living life as before the pandemic began.

      Health officials say the U.S. needs to aim for herd immunity before significant changes are made, which won’t happen until 70 percent to 85 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.

      The Hill has reached out to Cruz’s office for comment.

      https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/548595-cruz-no-longer-wearing-mask-in-capitol

    • Jim Jordan calls out Fauci on ‘Ingraham Angle’: Tell us when we get our rights back

    • India’s ‘double mutation’ COVID-19 variant found in UK

      A new variant of COVID-19 that was originally detected in India has been found in the UK, prompting surge testing operations in North and South London.

      Scientists say there’s currently no evidence that vaccines are less effective against it, but it’s feared a double mutation means that it might evade some people’s immunity.

    • CBC – Vaccine hesitancy expert answers your COVID-19 questions

      Dr. Cora Constantinescu from the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary answers viewer questions about COVID-19, vaccines and blood clots.

  10. VICE News – Germany’s Far Right is Surging

    As a deadly pandemic engulfed the globe, Germany’s far right saw an opportunity. It used panic, isolation, and people’s need for answers as a chance to grow its hateful brand.

    Everyday people are marching side-by-side with fascists, and somehow far-right extremism is a major issue in Germany once again.

    In this episode of Decade of Hate, host Tim Hume looks at some of the country’s key conspiracy theorists, and what makes some of them so dangerous.

    In this intersection between COVID-deniers and neo-Nazis, we investigate why Germany is now a hot spot for people rejecting science and authority, and explain why that is seriously bad news.

  11. project veritas – CNN Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter on #ExposeCNN? series “I feel really bad for you”

  12. sky news australia – Journalists who broke Hunter Biden laptop story ‘vindicated’

    Months after Joe Biden dismissed a story in the New York Post about his son Hunter Biden’s laptop, the journalists who broke the story have been vindicated, according to Sky News Digital Editor Jack Houghton.

    “The story shed light on Hunter Biden’s questionable business dealings in Ukraine and China and even revealed Hunter offered a Ukrainian executive the opportunity to meet his father,” Mr Houghton said.

    The bombshell story broke on October 14 and “all hell broke loose”, however much of the fury was “directed at the journalists” by a US media establishment “rushing to defend their preferred presidential candidate”.

    According to Mr Houghton, Joe Biden then “kicked off the conspiracy theories” and suggested the laptop story was a “Russian plot to destroy his presidential bid”.

    During a debate with Donald Trump prior the US election, Joe Biden said there were “50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan”.

    Mr Houghton noted they were former intelligence operatives, none of them are currently acting, and they “wouldn’t have a clue what they are talking about in relation to contemporary investigations”.

    “Instead of journalists asking for evidence for this claim, they published a story attacking the New York Post’s credibility and breathing life into the Russian disinformation lie,” he said.

    While this “chaos” unfolded, Hunter Biden could have dismissed the story as false, “but he was silent until now”.

    Hunter Biden recently admitted to CBS journalist Tracy Smith that the laptop could have been his, telling her “there could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me, it could be that I was hacked, it could be that it was Russian intelligence”.

    “So all of those stories questioning the validity of the contents of the laptop look pretty bad in hindsight,” Mr Houghton said.

  13. BLACK SEA IS CLOSED! Putin blocks foreign warships from entering Black Sea amid Ukraine war fears.

  14. PUTIN IS MAD. Russia ‘moving NUCLEAR weapons’ to seized territory urgent warning issued.

  15. BIDEN calls back US warships. Biden declares national emergency at Ukraine-Russia border

    • Biden is weak and his puppet masters want to destroy the US credibility and reputation as a reliable ally. This move gives a green light to Putin and Xi to do what they want where ever they want.

      • Our reputation.
        Sinks like a stone.
        oh, woe!

        Sheer strength and resolve – The Strong Horse, Lee Smith’s 2010 book on Arab politics – is a magnet. But reliability is more enduring in parts of the world where cultures clash.

        For example, during the 1990s when Russia was at its weakest, they did what they could with -and- for India. Their media skills remained strong, India got a voice. Info ops were (and remain) wildly successful. (The anti-vaxx movt “achieved” epidemics in Pakistan.)

        Kissinger’s comment, “America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests,” means strictly transactional policies. That’s realpolitik: a WEAKNESS of the West that puts us at a competitive disadvantage.

        Who thinks removing Patriot missile defense batteries from Saudi Arabia is a positive step? Social justice for the poor little Houthis? Days after a heavy drone strikes KSA civilian infrastructure?

        ~ ~No one ~ ~
        That gesture tells the world that enemies of America are at its helm.

        • Yup the enemies of the US and freedom are running the nation, they are also running into resistance and will start losing more and more control of the US. This won’t help our allies but will (maybe) protect the US from some of the attacks of the enemies we are helping.

  16. China ‘attack Taiwan’ as Russia mounts on Europe’s border in ‘Orwellian nightmare’

  17. The Day Australia and Japan will clash with China | Collision course of 2 blocs.

  18. Democrats’ Supreme Court expansion push a ‘giant temper tantrum’ against Trump

  19. South China Sea: Taiwan unveils new ‘combat’ ship in warning to Beijing as tensions rise

    • He is bringing up some interesting data, this is one you might want to listen to several times.

  20. – ANOTHER ONE DIES one day after J&J VACCINE –

    A University of Cincinnati STUDENT died one day after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, according to health officials.

    John Foley, 21, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday — a day after he was administered the one-dose jab, Hamilton County Coroner Lakshmi Kode Sammarco told Fox 19.

    The cause of Foley’s death is under investigation by the Ohio Department of Health and the coroner’s office.

    Foley was found Sunday by his roommates. There is no evidence that his death is related to the Johnson & Johnson shot — which was paused in the US this week over ties to blood clots.

    https://nypost.com/2021/04/16/college-student-student-dead-day-after-getting-jj-vaccine/

    • ‘Young, healthy’ South Mississippi man suffers stroke hours after receiving J&J vaccine

      The family of Brad Malagerie say they think the vaccine contributed to his stroke.

      ST. MARTIN, Miss. (WLOX) – When the news broke about the pause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine Tuesday, one Coast family was already living with a tragedy they believe was caused by the vaccine.

      It started out as a normal day for 43-year-old Brad Malagarie of St. Martin. This busy father of seven spent the morning at his D’Iberville office before heading to get a Johnson & Johnson vaccine a little after noon.

      He returned to work, and within three hours coworkers noticed he was unresponsive at his desk.

      “They called me and said he had that vaccine and something is wrong, we think it’s a stroke,” said Celeste Foster O’Keefe, Malagarie’s aunt.

      Malagarie was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with a stroke. A blood clot had lodged in his left middle cerebral artery. O’Keefe, who is also Brad’s boss, said the family believes without a doubt that the vaccine caused the stroke.

      “He’s a young, healthy 43-year-old, and I immediately thought it, and I said be sure to tell the doctors he took that J & J vaccine and that, to me, is what caused his stroke,” she said.

      O’Keefe said her nephew’s only health issue before the vaccine was high blood pressure, which was controlled with medication.

      Now, one week after the vaccine, he’s in critical but stable condition at Ochsner’s Medical Center in New Orleans, his wife Cori by his side. Their families’ lives changed tragically overnight.

      “He can’t talk now and he can’t walk. He’s paralyzed on the right side. He knows who we are and he will just cry when he sees us,” O’Keefe said.

      Doctors don’t know Malagarie’s prognosis for recovery yet but said it will likely take at least a year of rehab after he leaves the hospital.

      “At least we want him to be able to communicate, to be able to walk and talk again, even if it’s not perfect,” O’Keefe said.

      Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration announced that they were looking into unusual blood clots in six women between the ages of 18 and 48 how received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. One person died.

      Because of that, the Mississippi State Department of Health instructed all physicians, clinics, and hospitals to stop using the J&J vaccine until there is more guidance from the CDC or FDA.

      Of the 1.4 million vaccines administered in the Magnolia State, the Mississippi State Health Department said about 42,000 people received the J&J vaccine with no or mild side effects. Nationwide, more than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been given.

      “We’re going to be straightforward,” State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs said. “We have a broad range of vaccines that are highly available and effective, but we’re talking about a rare complication related to one of the three vaccines that we have.”

      MSDH released the following statement to WLOX Tuesday after learning of Malagarie’s condition:

      “The Mississippi State Department of Health is saddened to hear about the recent illness of Mr. Malagarie and wishes him well. The Agency is certainly investigating the situation. It is difficult, if not impossible, to assign a cause and effect at this time. It is important to note that strokes are not associated with this vaccine – instead a rare clotting syndrome has been identified. Further, adverse reaction has been between cited between six and 13 days after the vaccine was administered. Of the six noted cases, all are women between the age of 18 and 38. Yesterday, the Mississippi State Department of Health paused all administration of the J and J vaccine until further guidance from the FDA.”

      If you’ve received the J&J vaccine, you’re asked to contact your doctor if you develop any of the following symptoms (within three weeks post-vaccination):

      severe headache
      abdominal pain/leg pain
      shortness of breath

      O’Keefe said while Tuesday’s news came too late to help her nephew, the family now feels at least a small bit of relief knowing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is currently out of circulation.

      “I’m glad it was taken off the market. If you can help one person, you’ve stopped a world of pain for that whole family. I mean, maybe it’s only been a handful of people affected, but when it’s your family, it doesn’t feel like a handful.”

      The family is holding a Facebook fundraiser trying to help cover some of his medical costs on his long road to recovery.

      https://www.wlbt.com/2021/04/14/family-young-healthy-south-mississippi-man-who-suffered-stroke-believe-jj-vaccine-caused-it/

  21. #GunsAreEssential
    Joe Rogan & Colion Noir – How Gun Control Lobby Exploits Inner City Violence to Push Gun Control

  22. Florida Passes Anti Riot Bill Granting Immunity To People Who Drive Through Rioters Amid BLM Riots

  23. Western Fashion Brands Sued for Using Forced Labor in China
    Soeren Kern
    30-39 minutes

    Human rights experts accuse the Chinese government of detaining at least one million Muslims in Xinjiang in up to 380 internment camps, where they are subject to torture, mass rapes, forced labor and sterilizations. Pictured: The outer wall of an internment camp on the outskirts of Hotan, in China’s Xinjiang region. (Photo by Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

    Four major European and American apparel and footwear manufacturers have been sued in a French court for allegedly using forced labor in Xinjiang, a mostly Muslim region in northwestern China.

    Human rights groups, academic researchers and journalists have increasingly been sounding the alarm that the Chinese government is forcing more than 500,000 Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic and religious minorities to pick cotton in Xinjiang, one of the largest cotton-producing regions in the world.

    On April 9, the European Uyghur Institute, in collaboration with a French human rights NGO called Sherpa, the Ethics on Labels Collective (Collectif Ethique sur l’étiquette), and a Uyghur detention camp survivor, all represented by Bourdon & Associés, a prestigious Paris-based law firm, filed the lawsuit at the Judicial Court of Paris (Tribunal judiciaire de Paris).

    The suit accuses Spain-based Inditex (whose brands include Zara, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull and Bear and Stradivarius), France-based SMCP (comprised of Parisian brands, Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot and De Fursac), U.S.-based footwear company Skechers, and the U.S. subsidiary of the Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo, of being “accomplices in serious crimes,” including “concealment of the crime of forced labor, the crime of organized human trafficking, the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity.”Western Fashion Brands Sued for Using Forced Labor in China
    Soeren Kern
    30-39 minutes

    Human rights experts accuse the Chinese government of detaining at least one million Muslims in Xinjiang in up to 380 internment camps, where they are subject to torture, mass rapes, forced labor and sterilizations. Pictured: The outer wall of an internment camp on the outskirts of Hotan, in China’s Xinjiang region. (Photo by Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

    Four major European and American apparel and footwear manufacturers have been sued in a French court for allegedly using forced labor in Xinjiang, a mostly Muslim region in northwestern China.

    Human rights groups, academic researchers and journalists have increasingly been sounding the alarm that the Chinese government is forcing more than 500,000 Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic and religious minorities to pick cotton in Xinjiang, one of the largest cotton-producing regions in the world.

    On April 9, the European Uyghur Institute, in collaboration with a French human rights NGO called Sherpa, the Ethics on Labels Collective (Collectif Ethique sur l’étiquette), and a Uyghur detention camp survivor, all represented by Bourdon & Associés, a prestigious Paris-based law firm, filed the lawsuit at the Judicial Court of Paris (Tribunal judiciaire de Paris).

    The suit accuses Spain-based Inditex (whose brands include Zara, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull and Bear and Stradivarius), France-based SMCP (comprised of Parisian brands, Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot and De Fursac), U.S.-based footwear company Skechers, and the U.S. subsidiary of the Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo, of being “accomplices in serious crimes,” including “concealment of the crime of forced labor, the crime of organized human trafficking, the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity.”

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17287/fashion-brands-forced-labor-china