Former Masanjia Detainees Corroborate Forced Labor Plea Letter

[DeSwiss]

NTDTV · Published on Dec 26, 2012

It's a modern-day version of a message in a bottle. From a Chinese labor camp to the home of a US resident.

On Sunday, the Oregon-based Oregonian newspaper reported a letter resident Julie Keith discovered inside a box of Halloween decorations. She bought it from Kmart in October.

The box came from China—and according to the letter—it wasn't from a factory. Instead, the decorations were made here, at the Masanjia Labor Camp in Shenyang, Liaoning province.

The letter claims detainees work 15-hour days and are paid less than $2 USD a month for forced labor. It says thousands are held there, and that many are persecuted Falun Gong practitioners.

Former detainees at Masanjia have corroborated the claims in the letter.

{Dai Liguo, Formerly Detained Falun Gong Practitioner}
"I was sent to Masanjia in 1999 and persecuted there. They produce handmade crafts for export. Most are plastic and are toxic. I was making Christmas decorations, and also knitted sweaters. I had to work from 5 in the morning to 11 at night."

{Guo Yujun, Formerly Detained Falun Gong Practitioner}
"Aside from toilet breaks, we had to sit for the whole day, and make those products. There wasn't a day off, and we weren't fed properly. In our case, there was no pay for our work."

China's labor re-education system is notorious for rights abuses. The system is used heavily in the Communist regime's persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice. In 2008, the US State Department estimated up to half of the 200,000 registered detainees in Chinese labor camps were Falun Gong adherents.

Whoever wrote the letter discovered in Oregon did not sign it. But they did ask for it to be sent to human rights organizations.

It is illegal in the US to import products made by convict labor and forced labor. The Oregonian reports that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations are now looking into the claims.

Sears Holdings Corporations, which runs Kmart, has also said it is holding its own investigations.

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[Dustlawyer]

1. I won't hold my breath! In these tough times, it is hard to ask that we Americans boycott

these cheap goods. Walmart used to brag about American made and proud, now, you could search for hours to find an American made product there. We keep our manufacturing down when we cave to these cheap, Foriegn products made by children, prisoners, and those barely paid for their labor. When a fire at a garment factory happens, these retailers act surprised that the conditions were so bad! Bullshit! They know what is going on, but if they don't use the cheap labor, their competitors will. We need to change this. It will take COMPLETE CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM to do it! Eliminate the lobbiest that own our politicians and maybe then we can have representative government again! The corruption is too great. It will take enough people refusing to live with the staus quo to make this happen. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. People in both parties should want this!

[MynameisBlarney]

3. Wait. When did wally world ever brag about

Selling US produced products?
I only remember them being known for selling cheap plastic Chinese made crap.

[Dustlawyer]

5. When Sam Walton was alive, they only sold American goods and advertised that fact.

After his death and NAFTA, they stopped.

[MynameisBlarney]

6. Aaaaah, ok

thanks.
I did not know that.

[limpyhobbler]

2. Simply horrible conditions.

It's like slavery really.

[MynameisBlarney]

4. Not like slavery.

It IS slavery.

And from what I've heard, it's making a global comeback.