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Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Penny For Your Thoughts
I've been thinking about social change, especially the kind that seems to come
about spontaneously, without being directed by leaders.
If you've ever been in a convenience store or shop in
the United States, you may have noticed a small container, often a disused ashtray, sitting near the cash register (the till
in England) containing pennies. Usually this small stash of coins features a sign that says something
like "need a penny, take one, got a penny, leave one."
Customers needing to round out a purchase by
a few cents dip into the pile of pennies, while those who don't want to bother with loose change will add to the pile.
This custom came about more than a decade ago, but it didn't happen as the result of a celebrity endorsement, a presidential
proclamation, or an act of Congress. Nor is there any language or provision in the tax code to encourage leaving pennies at
a merchant's premises. People simply started doing it, spontaneously it seems, because it made sense. Pennies were a nuisance
to carry around, but necessary for cash purchases, especially for oddly-priced items -- think of everything marked $1.99 or
with a few cents of sales tax added.
What does this have to do with Tibet and China?
If you've
been reading this blog you've noticed that a recurrent theme is China's reliance on exports to foreign markets, especially
the E.U. (China's largest export customer) and the U.S. (Number Two in purchases of Chinese imports.) You've also noticed
that we emphasize China's reliance on these foreign export markets to sustain its economic growth and thereby to perpetuate
its regime. We counsel putting economic pressure on China to reform its human rights policies, and while it would be nice
to see world leaders, celebrities, and trade unions pushing this, the better route is for ordinary people to simply stop buying
things made in China.
How do we get social change -- a change in buying habits -- started? How do we emulate the
example of the pennies and just get people to begin doing something that makes so much sense? There are so many reasons to
boycott Chinese products, from consumer safety to environmental damage (China is the world's #1 polluter, especially in terms
of carbon emissions) to fairness for workers to human rights. We ought to be able to get people interested in Chinese
democracy, autonomy for Tibet, environmental stewardship, worker fairness, and consumer safety united around this idea. We
ought to be able to set an example, and watch it spread.
The way is the Internet and social networking sites.
We should each compose an email about why we are personally boycotting Chinese products, and circulate it to everyone
in our address list, and ask them to do the same. We should communicate with all our friends on Facebook the reasons why we
no longer buy anything made in China. And why we won't until China changes its behavior. We should fill the air with
tweets about how pleasant it is to get through a day, without buying something that strengthens a repressive dictatorship
in China. When you find something useful that isn't made in China -- that comes from India, or Mexico, or Bangladesh or Korea,
or Croatia, or Latvia, or the E.U. or U.S. -- tweet about it.
When the impulse to boycott China is as
widespread as the habit of "need a penny, take a penny" the movement for change in China will be unstoppable.
We don't need to wait for leaders. Take ten minutes, compose your personal reasons, share them with everyone you know......and
watch the results grow.
4:27 pm mdt
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