Source: http://beirutntsc.blogspot.com/2013/08/size-doesnt-count-for-your-wedding.html
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Secretary of State John Kerry's?said the military coup in Egypt was 'restoring democracy.' This view confirms Muslim Brotherhood claims that the US would rather prop up a military dictatorship than accept an elected Islamic government. Leaders must choose their words accurately.
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohamed Morsi walk past an anti-coup banner near Cairo University in Egypt, Aug. 12. In remarks Aug. 1, Secretary of State John Kerry's said the military takeover was 'restoring democracy,' which Ayaan Hirsi Ali calls 'an impulsive, un-thought-through remark.' Bernard-Henri Levy calls the statement Mr. Kerry's 'first mistake.'
Amr Nabil/AP
EnlargeRecently, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Pakistan that the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi in Egypt was ?restoring democracy.? He has since tried to clarified his comment and said that Egypt's "temporary government has a responsibility with respect to demonstrators to give them the space to be able to demonstrate in peace." But his statement continues to make waves.?
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Global Viewpoint asked Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali women?s rights activist and author of ?Infidel,? and the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, who persuaded then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy to take military action in Libya, to respond to Kerry?s remarks.
It is a mistake for Secretary of State John Kerry, representing President Obama, to have come out with a statement like this. Honestly, when I read it, I thought he must have blurted it out. It seemed like an impulsive, un-thought-through remark.
One consequence of this, in my view, rather foolish endorsement of the military coup in Egypt is that the US confirms what the [Muslim] Brotherhood propagandists have been trying to market: namely, that the US would rather prop up a military dictatorship than accept an elected government if that government is Islamic. I am absolutely no fan of the Brotherhood or Mohamed Morsi, but Kerry just handed the Islamists a huge PR stick, not to mention that the ensuing crisis in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa will now be blamed squarely on the US.
The difficult question for any US administration that is committed to ?soft power? in its relationship with the Muslim world is: How can the US promote democracy and help those individuals and groups in the region who share America?s values, and at the same time avoid being accused of double standards and hostility to Islam?
Before Kerry?s words, it appeared hard to pin the usual conspiracy theories on the US. Now, every Islamist demagogue will simply replay Kerry?s words for a good long time to come.
? Ayaan Hirsi Ali
John Kerry has just blemished his otherwise good record as the new US secretary of State by committing his first mistake. One may certainly think badly of the Muslim Brotherhood. I personally believe that its past ideology represented an Arab version of fascism and that it never completely dissociated itself from this terrible past.
However, a military coup that resulted in 250 casualties in just three weeks most certainly does not qualify as ?restoring democracy.? Is this simply a matter of semantics? Perhaps, but any leader must choose the accurate words when qualifying current events. Otherwise, he commits a serious political mistake.
? Bernard-Henri Levy
? 2013 Global Viewpoint Network/Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Hosted online by?The Christian Science Monitor.
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LONDON (Reuters) - The value of British art exports has surged to its highest level since the credit crunch, despite new rules giving deceased artists' estates a share of their work's resale price, data compiled by a Thomson Reuters unit showed on Monday.
The value of art and cultural objects exported from Britain rose by 32 percent to 1.97 billion pounds in the year to May 2012, according to a statement from Sweet & Maxwell, a legal information provider owned by Thomson Reuters.
On Jan 1, 2012, the Artist's Resale Rights Directive, which allows artists to claim a percentage of the resale value of their work, was extended to benefit the estates and heirs of artists who have been dead less than 70 years. They became entitled to up to 4 percent of an original piece's resale price. Rights in Britain previously applied only to living artists.
"Many art experts and dealers were concerned that London's position in the art world could suffer compared to New York or Hong Kong which haven't introduced any such levy on the resale of modern and contemporary art," Massimo Sterpi, co-editor of "The Art Collecting Legal Handbook", said in the Sweet & Maxwell statement.
"The early indications are that this hasn't slowed down the London market," he added.
Exports of modern art, the category most likely to be affected by the new rules, jumped by 105 percent from the previous year to 687 million pounds by May 2012, a quicker rise than the rest of the market, Sweet & Maxwell said.
"Art is an increasingly important trophy asset for international High Net Worth individuals and some argue that the concept of art as an investment received a big push from the credit crunch - which saw the value of many other assets slump," Bruno Boesch, another co-editor of "The Art Collecting Legal Handbook", said in the Sweet & Maxwell statement.
London and New York have the most multi-millionaires and billionaires respectively in the world, according to a 2012 survey by WealthInsight, a London-based wealth consultancy.
Artist's Resale Rights were fiercely opposed by the British art market when they were first introduced.
"It's not a level playing field - we would be handing a large part of our art market to our rivals on a plate," Anthony Browne, chairman of the British Art Market Federation, told The Times in 2008.
While Boesch said in the statement that long-term fears about the impact of the rights were probably exaggerated, he added that "it is still early days for the new legislation".
(Reporting By Amritha John; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/british-art-exports-hit-post-credit-crunch-peak-000423284.html
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All Critics (75) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (73) | Rotten (2)
This isn't an action picture; it's a picture about the suspense and terror of inaction.
Gripping and tightly focused.
Lindholm rations the meat and potatoes of plot to keep us captive at the bargaining table. It's a sadistic ploy that produces a real payoff.
A Hijacking is one of those perfect films that crop up every few years to prove that with true artistry, even the most exhausted genre can yield something new, rich, and strange.
Lindholm justifies his confidence in a visual approach that's refreshingly realistic.
To refuse to call A Hijacking a thriller is not to say it isn't thrilling, in a dryly cerebral way.
A tense, gripping drama filled with psychological showdowns from Danish writer-director Tobias Lindholm.
... has an embedded feel without being a real-life report or documentary at all. It's a fictional film that hits both with blunt force and a surprising amount of complexity.
A Hijacking is more about one incident than about how it relates universally, but in thoughtfully exploring the specifics and emotions of that incident, Lindholm is able to show how modern life sometimes seems devoid of any accord.
A lean, stressful nail-biter, smart, well-written, nicely shot and wonderfully performed.
[Omar and Mikkel are] like Marcus and McTeague in Frank Norris's 1899 novel, handcuffed to each other in a struggle that could well end in mutually assured destruction.
Tobias Lindholm's slow-burning thriller makes a bid for verisimilitude that extends well beyond the use of natural light and handheld cameras.
Though the acting in "A Hijacking" is superb, the film is strictly a "follow-the-dots" offering. This is not entertainment. It is another overwhelmingly depressing foray into corporate greed.
"A Hijacking", if eligible, is an early contender for Best Foreign film at the 2014 Academy Awards.
It's an effective piece of work that will leave you longing for a shower, a nap, and a warm meal.
It's a radical departure from any thriller in stateside theaters.
A nail-biter of the highest order, A Hijacking is astonishingly emotional, gritty, and terrifying -- a genuine directorial achievement that should not be missed.
When the gut-wrenching conclusion of A Hijacking comes in the form of a single, random act, it's only then you realize how far you've been pulled into its emotional core.
A Hijacking delivers all the thrills the title suggests, but in none of the places you'd expect them.
Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_hijacking/
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There has been a lot reported about Samsung?s upcoming addition to the Note series, the Galaxy Note 3. Android Police has now reported that the Note 3 will be running on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. This latest piece of information is corroborated in the DLNA certification for the device, so it's confirmed that the Note 3 will ship with the latest version of Android.
The phablet, which has the model number SM-N900S (among other variants), was listed as having support for Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac connectivity, so it's up to date on the latest in wireless connectivity too. With Google having launched the latest OS last month, there was a lot of speculation about whether the new Note 3 will get that version.
So far, all the information surfacing from rumours, suggests that the phablet will come sporting a 5.7-inch full HD display. Internally, the Note 3 may come with an Exynos 5 Octa processor or a Snapdragon 800 chip depending on the market. Added in may be a huge 3GB of RAM as well as a 13-megapixel camera with optical image stabalisation (OIS).
The DLNA certification shows that the Note 3 will run Android 4.3
?
The Note 3 will likely be the second Samsung smartphone to have an OIS-sporting camera, after the Galaxy S4 Zoom. While there are rumours and leaks abound about the comapany?s latest phablet, Samsung has lined up an official event for September 4 at IFA Berlin where it will officially unveil the device. So we don't have to wait too long to get a look at the official specs sheet.
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Rusty Theron first hit a belligerent half-century before his 4 for 51 instigated an Australia A batting collapse - six wickets for 23 runs - to hand South Africa A their first win of the tri-series in Pretoria. His all-round effort outshone a century by opener Aaron Finch, who was the last man dismissed as Australia finished 19 short.
Invited to bat, South Africa were pushed back early, Josh Hazlewood removing the openers inside nine overs. Dean Elgar came to the rescue again, his half-century adding much needed stability. Wicketkeeper Dane Vilas scored a 74-ball 55 as well, but he and Hardus Viljoen fell to Gurinder Sandhu in the 39th over. Theron looted 47 runs off 25 balls with No. 11 Beuran Hendricks, and reached his half-century and the team's 250, off his second six. His 39-ball innings ended when he was caught off Sandhu, who also claimed 4 for 51.
Set a target of 253, the visitors were cruising for the bulk of the chase, with captain Finch taking charge of two big partnerships - 84 for the first wicket with Shaun Marsh and 74 for the third with Nic Maddinson - and reached his half-century off 56 balls.
Halfway through, Australia were faced with a simple asking-rate under four an over, when they suffered a wobble, as Theron dismissed Maddinson. It tipped in South Africa's favour when Viljoen accounted for Mitchell Marsh and Tim Paine in the next over. Glenn Maxwell and Chadd Sayers fell in successive Theron overs and Australia A slumped to 172 for 7 from 160 for 2.
Finch played within himself, recording his fifth List A century. But Sandhu was run out at the other end, which brought Fawad Ahmed, the last batsman, to the crease with Australia 42 runs adrift. Finch opened up slamming two of his four sixes off Viljoen in the 41st over and struck Hendricks for a four in the next to reduce the equation as 24 to win. But Finch holed out to his counterpart Ontong for 119 soon after to signal South Africa's victory.
Source: espncricinfo.com
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Source: http://www.newsgab.com/cricket-news/273255-theron-outshines-finch-south-africa-win.html
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At 2.30 am, Mohini along with seven of her friends, including three girls and four boys, all students of the university, were having a party on the fourth floor of the under-construction hostel building on the south campus of the University of Hyderabad.
According to Chandanagar police, Mohini used to stay at Ladies Hostel VIII and she along with other girl students came to south campus to join in a class get together to discuss about the arrangements for the upcoming fresher's party.
The eight-member group had gone to an under-construction building nearby and the youngsters started discussing about the arrangements they had to make. There were snacks and some group members had also consumed liquor, but Mohini did not, Chandanagar sub-inspector B James Babu said.
While the students were having fun, Mohini excused herself from the group to attend a phone call. While talking over the phone, Mohini accidentally went to the edge of the terrace and fell from there, the SI said.
Mohini suffered multiple injuries in the accident and with the assistance of university administration, her friends immediately rushed her to a corporate hospital in Jubilee Hills. Mohini succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment at 3.45 pm.
After recording the statements of all the students, who were with Mohini when the incident happened, police ruled out a conspiracy angle. "All her friends, who were at the spot, said that it was an accident. We have sent the body to mortuary and informed her family members," Chandanagar inspector N Venkateshwarlu said. A case was registered under section 174 (Suspicious death) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
Some student leaders protested on Sunday morning demanding that the administration guard the under-construction buildings on the campus. "The administration should place security guards in front of these buildings to prevent such incidents from happening," S Harinath, a student leader, said.
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| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Value | ?600,000 - 700,000 |
| Type | Full Planning Permission |
| Address | 15 Woodgrange Road, London E7 8BA (map) |
| Date Added | 09/08/2013 |
| Client | Mr David Mackover, 64A Canfield Gardens, Hampstead, London, NW6 3EB |
| Agent | Mr William Paul, Leroy House, Essex Road, Islington, London, N1 3QP, 07886 607144 |
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MSNBC host Karen Finney today highlighted an incredibly controversial online game created by a PAC called The Hillary Project called ?Slap Hillary,? which is exactly what you think it is. The PAC has come under intense fire for its seeming promotion of violence against women, especially one of the most well-known women in the world, and both Finney and Howard Dean roundly condemned the game, calling on RNC Chairman Reince Priebus to jump in and say things like this are just wrong.
The Hillary Project attempts to defend itself by accusing liberals of not voicing similar outrage at a Slap Palin game released a few years back, though that one appears not to have been created by a Democratic political group. Finney said the GOP should be a lot more outraged about this.
?Priebus should be using and power or influence he has to talk about this, and to say to people, regardless of whether or not you like Hillary Clinton, smacking women or promoting smacking women, particularly when you?re trying to get women voters, is not okay.?
Dean suggested Priebus doesn?t have that kind of power, and used the game to observe that ?it looks like the war on women is real.? He and Finney agreed that instead of ?encouraging? this kind of behavior, the Republican party should be ?calling this stuff out? and use the opportunity to make clear ?violence against women is bad.?
Watch the video below, via MSNBC:
??
Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Philip Falcone's Harbinger Capital on Friday sued agricultural equipment maker Deere & Co
The lawsuit's defendants, who include GPS companies Garmin International and Trimble Navigation Ltd
Other defendants include industry groups the U.S. GPS Industry Council and the Coalition to Save Our GPS.
Harbinger, which has spent billions of dollars on LightSquared, said in a complaint filed on Friday that it never would have made the investments if the GPS industry had disclosed potential interference problems between the LightSquared spectrum and GPS equipment between 2002 and 2009.
The hedge fund accused the defendants of fraud and negligent misrepresentation among other allegations, saying the defendants "knew years ago" all the material facts on which they based their opposition to the LightSquared network.
Deere declined to comment on the case. Garmin and Trimble representatives were not immediately available for comment.
LightSquared filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2012 after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission revoked permission to build out a new high-speed wireless network after tests showed that its network would interfere with GPS systems.
Harbinger filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Garmin International is a subsidiary of Garmin Ltd
(Reporting by Sinead Carew in New York, James B. Kelleher in Chicago, and Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore; editing by Matthew Lewis)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/harbinger-sues-deere-gps-companies-1-9-billion-143259017.html
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The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge is the premier proving ground for many of today?s automotive manufacturers by using an endurance racing format to test their mettle. The series competes at historic tracks in the United States and Canada, featur
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The GOP addressed the issue of America's energy sector.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott said the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee are working to create jobs in the energy sector, while also saving money for Americans.
However, Scott said President Obama and other Democrats are blocking some of those plans.
"We want a true all-of-the-above energy strategy, because a diverse, market-based energy portfolio of nuclear, wind, solar and other renewables means more competition and lower prices for consumers," he said. "Republicans will work to stop government policies that are driving up energy costs preventing businesses from hiring new employees."
Scott also said the Republicans' plan would help lower energy costs benefit the middle class.
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Washington players and coaches celebrate after Jack Titus (38) scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning to eliminate on Idaho Thursday. Eastlake Little League, from Washington, scored the winning run in the bottom of the 6th on a wild pitch to eliminate Coeur d'Alene Little League, from Idaho, 5-4 at the Little League Western Regional Tournament at Al Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino. (Will Lester / Staff Photographer)
SAN BERNARDINO - Austin Oh was always part of the team, even though he missed all of the district and state qualifying tournaments with a broken arm.
For the kid who says he thrives in pressure, he got his chance Thursday night.
Oh's single to center scored the tying run and moments later Jack Titus scored the winning run on a wild pitch and Eastlake Little League of Sammamish, Washington rallied to down Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, 5-4 in the second Northwest Regional semifinal on Thursday night at Al Houghton Stadium.
Washington advances to play Montana for the championship game Saturday at 2 p.m.
"I wish I knew what it was," Washington manager Rob Chandler said of his team's ability to rally late in games. "If I did, I'd bottle it."
Despite managing only one hit in the game, fourth-seeded Idaho took a 4-3 lead on top-seeded Washington to the bottom of the sixth inning.
Pinch-hitter Jack Rud led off with a walk. Idaho starter Anton Watson had to leave at that point, because he had reached the 85-pitch limit.
After an out, Jack Titus singled past the third baseman to put runners on first and second.
That brought up Oh, who had broken his arm falling off monkey bars two days
after the all-star rosters came out. Chandler added a player (giving them 14 total) and kept Oh on, and he finally returned for the Northwest Regional."He was still a part of our team," Chandler said.
With the count 0-2, Oh singled to center.
"I like the pressure," Oh said. "... When I was down 0-2, I thought he (Kobe Sims) might try and throw one in the dirt. But it wasn't in the dirt."
Oh's hit scored Rud from second base, and the throw to the plate put runners on second and third. With Bryce Delay up, a wild pitch allowed Titus to score the game-winner.
"We feel very fortunate and very happy. It's great to be in the finals," Chandler said.
A great pitching performance by Jacob Dahlstrom was nearly all for naught. He pitched 5 1/3 hitless innings, striking out eight before coming out when he reached the 85-pitch limit.
"I wish they didn't have the pitch limits," Dahlstrom admitted.
Brandon Gay got Idaho's only hit, a two-out double in the sixth against Jack Matheson.
Idaho scored all of its runs in the second inning on a hit batter, a walk, two errors, a fielder's choice and two wild pitches to take a 4-1 lead. Idaho had only one other baserunner in the game, Gay's double in the sixth.
Washington chipped away, scoring a run in the fourth when Jack Matheson doubled and scored on an error by the right fielder. Dalton Chandler's RBI double in the fifth brought washington to within 4-3.
"I give them (Washington) a lot of credit," Idaho manager Paul Manzardo said. "But I'm proud of our kids. I hope they take what they feel right now and turn it into something positive."
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California is home to many beautiful Catholic churches as well as home to Hollywood.
Consequently, the state?s churches have frequently caught the eye of filmmakers and appeared in well-known movies and television shows.?
The following is a sampling of some Catholic churches that have made movie cameos that moviegoers will recognize.
The next time you?re in California, you might enjoy stopping by and seeing some of these famous and beautiful locations.
St. Paul Church, San Francisco: St. Paul?s is an attractive church in the Noe Valley region of San Francisco.?The parish was founded in the late 1800s; its English-Gothic church was built 1897-1911 (it took 14 years because it was built as funds were raised). It has magnificent architecture and art, as well as prominent twin towers, beautiful stained-glass windows and impressive woodwork.?The church was nearly closed in the 1990s due to concerns that it might collapse in an earthquake, but parishioners persuaded the San Francisco Archdiocese to keep it open after a seismic retrofit was performed. As is noted in the parish?s official history, it is one of the principal locations for the filming of the 1992 musical-comedy Sister Act.?In the film, Whoopi Goldberg is a lounge singer who hides out from the mob as a nun in San Francisco.?Whoopi uses her musical talents to tutor the nuns? choir. Remember when she teaches them her upbeat version of the Salve Regina? That sequence was filmed inside St. Paul?s.
St. Monica?s, Santa Monica: St. Monica?s parish was established in 1886; the present church was built in 1925.?A number of celebrities have attended Mass there through the years.?
St. Monica?s was also a principal filming location for the 1944 film Going My Way, in which Bing Crosby portrayed one of Hollywood?s most lovable priest-characters.?Crosby?s character is sent to take over the parish from Barry Fitzgerald?s character, an old-school priest from Ireland, who was based on a former pastor of St. Monica?s: Msgr. Nicholas Conneally, a friend of the film?s director and writer, who attended the parish.?Filming was done in the church?s rectory and a replica of its dining room.
Mission Dolores, San Francisco: Mission Dolores was founded in 1776, five days before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Established by Spanish Franciscans and built to serve the Ohlone Indians who inhabited the region, it is the city?s oldest building. Blessed Junipero Serra, leader of the Franciscans, celebrated Mass here. Today, it is located in the busy Mission District.?Towering on one side of the church is the newer basilica-church; on the other side is a portion of the original cemetery.?All three portions of the property have appeared in films and television shows. The most famous is the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock classic Vertigo.?Jimmy Stewart follows Kim Novak to the Mission Dolores cemetery, where her character visits the grave of Carlotta Valdes. Ask a docent to show you the exact spot of the famous scene.?(Further south, incidentally, Mission San Juan Bautista was also an important filming location for the Hitchcock film.) The interior of old Mission Dolores church is the backdrop for the Henry Fonda-Lucille Ball wedding scene in the 1968 Yours, Mine and Ours.?The first seven minutes of The Streets of San Francisco?s "For the Love of God" episode was filmed in the basilica-church in 1972, where a murderer was after San Francisco clergy, and Karl Malden?s Lt. Mike Stone was on the case to catch him.?Clear shots of both the inside and the outside of the basilica were seen in this episode.
St. Brendan?s, Los Angeles: St. Brendan?s is a magnificent old church, a few blocks off Wilshire Boulevard, west of downtown Los Angeles.?The 1927 church is built in the Gothic-Revival style and has a majestic exterior and beautiful interior.?Perhaps due to its close proximity to Hollywood, St. Brendan?s has been the backdrop for many Hollywood productions.?Among the most famous is the 1953 War of the Worlds.?At the end of the film, as alien spacecraft destroy Los Angeles, terrified Angelinos flock to St. Brendan?s to pray and await the end of the world.?Both the inside and outside of the church are featured.?
Blessed Sacrament Church, Hollywood: Established in 1904, Blessed Sacrament was Hollywood?s first church.?The current church was built in the Italian-Renaissance style and was dedicated in 1928.?It is located on Hollywood?s famous Sunset Boulevard and is home to many impressive works of art.?It is staffed by Jesuits. In its early years, Hollywood filmmakers had a close relationship with Blessed Sacrament.?The first professional organization for screen writers and actors, the precursor to the Writers? and Screen Actors? Guilds, was formed at the church.?Its pastor in the 1920s, Father Daniel Stack, served as a technical adviser for movies with religious and Catholic elements, and parishioners were used as movie extras.?Hollywood studios provided actors and equipment free of charge for church-sponsored fundraisers, such as theatrical productions and festivals, proceeds from which the church used to build a rectory and school. A long line of celebrities once attended the church, and it was the location of the weddings and funerals of many prominent people. The church was also a convenient location for filming scenes in many movies and television shows.?For example, a 2001 episode of ER featured actor James Cromwell playing Bishop Stewart officiating at an ordination. Jesuits were cast as extras.
St. Vincent de Paul, Los Angeles: St. Vincent de Paul is located near the University of Southern California and the Los Angeles Coliseum.?It was established in 1886, and the current church was built 1923-25.?(Its architect, Albert Martin, was a well-known church designer in his day; he also designed St. Monica?s in Santa Monica.)?The current church was built in the Spanish-Baroque style, with a mix of California architecture.?It has an ornate exterior, including a bell tower, entryway and dome over the altar area.?The interior has a stunning traditional altar that is just as ornate, with high ceilings and arches.?It has many beautiful statues and stained-glass windows.?In 1971, the city designated it as a historic monument. It, too, has caught the eye of filmmakers.?In the 1999 horror film End of Days, for example, its interior was used for a special-effects battle with the devil (although this reference in no way implies the Register?s endorsement of this or other films).
Sts. Peter and Paul, San Francisco: Sts. Peter and Paul is one of the Bay Area?s most magnificent churches, located in San Francisco?s North Beach.?The current church was built in 1924 and is a feast for the eyes, with all of its Italian-Catholic art.?At one time, it served a predominantly Italian community; today, it serves many in the Chinese community. Salesian priests of Don Bosco still serve the parish.?Its majestic twin towers are a prominent feature in the city?s skyline. The church has been the backdrop for many films, including Dirty Harry movies and Cecil B. DeMille?s 1923 classic The Ten Commandments.
Jim Graves writes from
Newport Beach, California.
Source: http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/california-churches-make-hollywood-cameos/
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By Joe Brock
ABUJA (Reuters) - A wave of planned sales of onshore Nigerian assets by oil majors has prompted speculation that they are finally leaving the Niger Delta because of oil theft, gangsterism and political uncertainty.
In reality, though, foreign firms such as Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Eni and Total are here to stay, industry sources say.
The majors are likely to sell only small blocks that are not worth their while -- those assets worst affected by theft and sabotage or fields that risk expropriation in a government push to promote local ownership.
Meanwhile, the large oil producing blocks, huge gas deposits, key pipelines and the export terminals that control the passage of onshore oil to international markets will most likely stay in their hands -- enabling them to retain infrastructure for which they can charge rent to other users.
Complaints by oil majors that Nigeria has done little to combat oil theft or end uncertainty over changes to the fiscal regime by passing the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) are genuine, but they won't drive the firms away from the country.
"Nigeria's 'difficult' operating environment, security concerns and the non-passage of the PIB all provide useful cover for what may essentially be a portfolio optimisation process," said Razia Khan, Head of Africa Research at Standard Chartered.
The global shale oil and gas boom means there are more exploration opportunities, so it makes financial sense to keep only the most profitable businesses in Nigeria, like gas for LNG export, and expand deep offshore where there is no oil theft.
If anything, they will use their grievances as leverage in negotiations with government over licenses and taxes.
OIL THEFT HEADACHES
Nigeria's oil production, which fluctuates between 2-2.5 million barrels per day (bpd), is unlikely to be hugely affected by any oil block sales in the short-term and could get an uplift in the future if smaller local companies work harder to exploit reserves or can better stem insecurity with local communities.
Tycoons Tony Elumelu and Wale Tinubu, the Oando CEO, both of them negotiating to buy oil blocks off majors, told Reuters in recent interviews they thought it would be easier for Nigerian companies with a better understanding of local issues to manage often fraught community relations.
But ending oil theft -- officially estimated at 250,000 bpd -- is a massive undertaking. It is often associated with criminal gangs who tap crude from pipelines for local refining, but most stolen crude leaves the country in large tankers, which could not happen without the complicity of top officials.
Shell, the largest producer in Nigeria, said last week it took a $700 million hit from theft and other issues in Nigeria with its share of output falling to 158,000 bpd in the second quarter, down from 260,000 bpd in 2012.
Shell CEO Peter Voser nevertheless told Reuters this month the company was not seeking to leave Nigeria. (http://reut.rs/1co5HOm)
Eni said it had lost 30,000 bpd of output in the first half of the year due to theft and CEO Paolo Scaroni said the company was "reviewing its position" in Nigeria.
Total declined to comment on its plans.
Shell, which has already sold eight blocks in the Niger Delta for around $1.8 billion since 2010, announced it will sell more fields amounting to 80,000-100,000 bpd, although it is not clear if this level of output is yet being produced.
Chevron is also selling five shallow water blocks, but would not comment further on its plans for Nigeria, while fellow U.S. firm ConocoPhillips is selling its Nigerian businesses to Oando for about $1.79 billion.
POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY
Theft may not be the only reason for selling down.
The PIB, although still in a political deadlock that has lasted five years, could change the terms for foreign companies in Nigeria and will promote local ownership of onshore blocks.
Shell, Chevron, Eni and Total have been in failed negotiations with the Nigerian government for several years to renew expired licences on many onshore and shallow water blocks.
"Perhaps they would rather sell licences while they still can rather than having to relinquish them for nothing," said Antony Goldman, head of Africa-focused PM Consulting.
Yet Shell recently announced it would spend $3.9 billion on a gas project and a reconstruction of a better protected Trans Niger pipeline, one of the country's most important crude oil routes and often hit by outages caused by theft or sabotage. That suggests it still sees value working onshore in Nigeria.
Shell may even buy one of Chevron's blocks, two sources told Reuters, which would provide the perfect route from one of Nigeria's largest gas fields to its LNG export terminal.
Nigeria holds the world's ninth largest gas reserves, most of which are untapped. Energy majors are increasingly moving towards gas production instead of oil in the Niger Delta.
Majors such as Shell will likely keep large pipelines and export terminals, so even if local firms are getting the oil out of the ground, where the risks of insecurity are highest, the majors can make a cut from taking oil to international markets.
"Oil majors want to keep control of this infrastructure as it means they will have a large degree of control of onshore assets and derive revenue from transportation," said Kayode Akindele, partner at Lagos-based investment firm 46 Parallels.
There is no guarantee that deals on assets that majors do want to sell can be easily or quickly completed -- Nigeria has one of the world's slowest oil contract approval times, experts say.
Some of Shell's previous divestments took years to negotiate. Buyers will also be wary of the state oil company's production arm NPDC taking over the operating rights -- as it has on previous Shell field sales where the private buyers were expecting to operate them.
Yet for the all the pitfalls, Nigeria will be keen to close the deals, which please the political elite and public alike.
"The divestment is a positive step for all the major players involved ... (it) will have a positive knock-on impact on production longer-term," said Martin Kelly, Wood Mackenzie's Lead Analyst for Sub-Saharan Africa Upstream Research.
"But ... in order to make a noticeable difference other challenges need to be addressed -- like the PIB and security."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-majors-stay-onshore-nigeria-despite-grumbles-110257161.html
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Republican gubernatorial hopeful Curtis Coleman on Thursday criticized rival Asa Hutchinson's proposal to phase out Arkansas' income tax over time as "short-sighted," accusing the former congressman of not taking a broader look at the state's tax code.
Coleman told members of the Political Animals Club that a larger overhaul of the state's tax code is needed to make Arkansas more competitive with its neighbors. Coleman said that plan should include cutting the state's corporate income taxes and eliminating its tax on capital gains.
"To pull out a state income tax and say that makes Arkansas more competitive is at best short-sighted and fundamentally erroneous," Coleman said. "We've got to develop and we will develop a cumulative tax structure that will make Arkansas more competitive with its neighboring states."
Hutchinson last month proposing cutting the state income tax over time, comparing it to Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe's successful push to lower the state sales tax on groceries. Hutchinson, who lost the governor's race to Beebe in 2006, criticized the approach then and instead called for eliminating the tax entirely.
The grocery tax has been reduced from 6 percent to 1.5 percent since Beebe took office. Beebe is term limited and can't seek re-election next year.
Coleman, Hutchinson and state Rep. Debra Hobbs are seeking the GOP nomination. Former U.S. Rep. Mike Ross is the only Democrat running for governor.
Hutchinson said he didn't believe there was disagreement among the GOP candidates on the need to overhaul the state's tax system.
"As I travel the state, one of the biggest issues I hear about from Arkansans is the high, burdensome state income tax," Hutchinson said in a statement released by his campaign. "A lower state income tax would help create jobs, attract and retain business, and make Arkansas more competitive regionally and nationally."
Coleman said he's still working on a more detailed plan for cutting taxes, but told reporters he believed his approach would be more comprehensive than Hutchinson's.
"The objective here is to create an economy, an environment for a strong pro-business pro-job economy, and that's going to require an overhaul and reform of our cumulative tax code," Coleman told reporters after his speech.
The club, which meets regularly to hear from elected officials, is holding a series of breakfasts with the gubernatorial candidates. Hutchinson addressed the group last month, and Hobbs is scheduled to speak to the group on Aug. 20.
Ross plans to address the group next week.
___
Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/coleman-rivals-tax-cut-plan-111732696.html
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The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 31, No. 2, August 12, 2013.
Jenny Chan, Ngai Pun and Mark Selden
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Abstract
Apple's commercial triumph rests in part on the outsourcing of its consumer electronics production to Asia. Drawing on extensive fieldwork at China's leading exporter?the Taiwanese-owned Foxconn?the power dynamics of the buyer-driven supply chain are analysed in the context of the national terrains that mediate or even accentuate global pressures. Power asymmetries assure the dominance of Apple in price setting and the timing of product delivery, resulting in intense pressures and illegal overtime for workers. Responding to the high-pressure production regime, the young generation of Chinese rural migrant workers engages in a crescendo of individual and collective struggles to define their rights and defend their dignity in the face of combined corporate and state power.
Keywords:
Foxconn; Apple; global supply chains; labour; China; outsourcing; consumer electronics manufacturing; collective actions
Introduction
The magnitude of Apple's commercial success is paralleled by, and based upon, the scale of production in its supply chain factories, the most important of them located in Asia (Apple, 2012a: 7). As the principal manufacturer of products and components for Apple, Taiwanese company Foxconni currently employs 1.4 million workers in China alone. Arguably, then, just as Apple has achieved a globally dominant position, described as ?the world's most valuable brand? (Brand Finance Global 500, 2013), so too have the fortunes of Foxconn been entwined with Apple's success, facilitating Foxconn's rise to become the world's largest electronics contractor (Dinges, 2010). This article explores the contradictions between capital and labour in the context of the global production chains of the consumer electronics industry. Drawing on concepts from the Global Commodity Chains and Global Value Chains framework (Gereffi and Korzeniewicz, 1994; Bair, 2005; Gereffi et?al., 2005), the article analyses the power dynamics of the buyer-driven supply chain and the national terrains that mediate or even accentuate global pressures.
The principal focus is on labour in the electronics supply chain, including working conditions and labour as agency, consistent with recent studies of labour as the key element in global production chains or networks (McKay, 2006; Smith et?al., 2006; Taylor and Bain, 2008; Webster et?al., 2008; Taylor et?al., 2013). In particular, the concentration of capital in China and the important roles played by Asian contractors open new terrains of labour struggle (Silver, 2003; Appelbaum, 2008; Silver and Zhang, 2009). This inquiry evaluates the incentives for Apple to outsource and to concentrate production in a small number of final-assembly facilities in China. It also examines the potential risks or disincentives that might compel Apple to respond more directly, or responsibly, to negative publicity surrounding labour conditions and the collective actions of workers in its supply chain. While the specific detail is concerned with the interaction between Apple and Foxconn, the article briefly considers the relationship between other buyers (e.g. Dell) and contractors (e.g. Pegatron). Consequently, it locates emergent labour struggles more broadly in the electronics sector as a whole.
The authors draw on interviews with 14 managers and 43 workers outside of major Foxconn factory complexes, where employees were not subjected to company surveillance. The manager interviewees were responsible for production management (four persons), commodity procurement (three persons), product engineering (two persons) and human resources (five persons). All workers interviewed were rural migrants aged 16?28, who worked in assembly (semi-finished and finished products), quality testing (functionality and audiovisual appearance), metal processing and packaging. These interview data are complemented by fieldwork observations conducted between June 2010 and May 2013 in Shenzhen (Guangdong), Taiyuan (Shanxi) and Chengdu (Sichuan), which are major industrial centres in coastal, northern central and south-western China. New enterprise-level data have provided evidence of the replication of Foxconn's management methods across its plants, the tensions between Foxconn and its largest corporate buyers, the working experiences and discontents of workers, and explosive episodes of labour protest. Primary evidence is supplemented by company annual reports, scholarly studies, reports from labour rights' groups and journalistic accounts.
The article is structured as follows. First, the literature on global outsourcing and the challenges to labour will be reviewed. The next section will consider the growth of China as an industrial power and the emergence and distinctive character of a new working class. These discussions will be followed by an analysis of the Apple?Foxconn business relationship, and the responses of workers to heightened production demands in the ?just-in-time? regime. The concluding part will consider the future of the young generation of China's rural migrant workers who are struggling to define and defend their rights and dignity in the multilayered network of corporate interests and state power.
The politics of global production
The corporate search for higher profits has been enhanced by efficient transportation and communications technologies, neoliberal trade policies and international financial services, as well as access to immigrants and surplus labour. Multinationals have reduced, if not eliminated, major barriers to capital mobility across spaces of uneven development (Harrison, 1997; Harvey, 2010). Within contemporary global supply chains, scholars (Henderson and Nadvi, 2011; Sturgeon et?al., 2011) highlight the power asymmetry between buyers and contractors, in which giant retailers and branded merchandisers play decisive roles in establishing and dominating global networks of production and distribution. Under buyer-driven commodity chains, Lichtenstein (2009) and Chan (2011) find that American retailers and branded merchandisers constantly pressure factories as well as logistic service providers to lower costs and raise efficiency and speed. ?The determination of retailers to cut costs to the bare bone leaves little room for [China-based] contractors to maintain labour standards? (Bonacich and Hamilton, 2011: 225). The distinction between retailers and merchandisers in their control over suppliers has become insignificant when ?most global retailers have successfully developed private-label (or store-label) programs, where they arrange with manufacturers or contractors to produce their own label? (Bonacich and Hamilton, 2011: 218). In the electronics industry, L?thje (2006: 17?18) observes that brand-name firms have focused on ?product development, design, and marketing?, gaining a larger share of the value created than hardware manufacturing, which is mostly outsourced and performed by formally independent contractors. ?Contract manufacturers? have emerged to provide final-assembly and value-added services to technology firms and giant retailers (Starosta, 2010; Dedrick and Kraemer, 2011).
Asian contractors have been upgrading and growing in size and scale. Lee and Gereffi (2013) explain the co-evolution process that capital concentration and consolidation of branded smartphone leaders in China and other global supply bases has advanced alongside the expansion of and innovation within their large assemblers, notably Foxconn and Flextronics. Appelbaum (2008) finds that East Asian contractors, ranging from footwear and garments to electronics, have been integrating vertically in the supply chains. Starosta (2010) focuses on the rise of ?highly concentrated global contractors? in the electronics industry, in which they serve multiple brand-name firms in different product markets. Not only production tasks, but also inventory management, are being increasingly undertaken by strategic factories, resulting in ever stronger mutually dependent relations between buyers and suppliers. Giant manufacturers, rather than smaller workshops, are more able to ?respond to shortening product cycles and increasing product complexity? (Starosta, 2010: 546). Nevertheless, Yue Yuen, the world's largest footwear producer, could only ?pass on less than a third of the cost increase to its customers?, including Nike, when ?costs rose sharply? (Appelbaum, 2008: 74). Intense bargaining by big buyers over costs and profits has kept a tight rein over producers, frequently slashing profit margins.
In global outsourcing, electronics suppliers are compelled to compete against each other to meet rigorous specifications of price, product quality and time-to-market, generating wage pressure as well as health and safety hazards at the factory level while shaving profit margins (Smith et?al., 2006; Chen, 2011). Brown (2010) argues that ?contractor factories? are often not provided with any financial support for corporate responsibility programmes required by brands; ?instead they face slashed profit margins and additional costs that can be made up only by further squeezing their own labor force?. High-tech commodity producers therefore ?focus their labor concerns on cost, availability, quality, and controllability? to enhance profitability in the export market (McKay, 2006: 42, italics original).
Workers' adaptation, or resistance, to capitalist control has to be understood in this new context of global production, in which concentration of capital at the country, sectoral and/or firm level has reconfigured the class and labour politics. In her longitudinal survey of world labour movements since 1870, Silver (2003) documents the rise of new working class forces in sites of capital investment for the automobile industry in the twentieth century. She defines ?workplace bargaining power? as the power that ?accrues to workers who are enmeshed in tightly integrated production processes, where a localised work stoppage in a key node can cause disruptions on a much wider scale than the stoppage itself? (Wright, 2000; Silver, 2003: 13). Recently, Butollo and ten Brink (2012) and Hui and Chan (2012) reported the factory-wide strike at an auto parts supplier in Nanhai, Guangdong, which paralysed Honda's entire supply chain in South China, resulting in wage hikes and increased worker participation in trade union elections. Periodic and limited worker victories aside, managerial assault and/or state repression of labour protests are still commonplace.
A neoliberal state collaborates with private entrepreneurial elites by providing infrastructural support and ensuring law and order, thereby facilitating capital accumulation and economic growth. In China's capitalist transformation, on the one hand, the state has stimulated employment and industrial development through large-scale financial investment and favourable policy implementation (Hung, 2009; Chu, 2010; Naughton, 2010). On the other hand, it has severely restricted workers' self-organisation capacity and fragmented labour and citizenship rights among worker subgroups, despite ongoing pro-labour legal reforms (Solinger, 1999; 2009; Perry, 2002; Lee, 2007; 2010; Pun et?al., 2010; Selden and Perry, 2010). In our sociological research, we explore the dialectics of domination and labour resistance within the political economy of global electronics production.
Global production and a new working class: Japan, China, East Asia
Between 1990 and 2006, the expansion of intra-Asia trade accounted for about 40 percent of the total increase in world trade (Arrighi, 2009: 22). China's growing dominance has reshaped regional production networks previously dominated by Japan and its former colonies Taiwan and South Korea. The rise of Japan and East Asian capitalism in the 1950s and 1960s was integral to the Cold War geopolitical order. To contain the spread of Communism and consolidate its global economic reach, the United States provided military and economic resources to its ?client states?, encouraged Taiwan and South Korea to open up their markets to Japanese trade and investment, and fostered the growth of a regional power centred on Japan's export-oriented industrialisation (Evans, 1995: 47?60; Selden, 1997). Japanese firms received subsidised loans to create new industries and exported finished products to Western markets. In the 1960s, Toshiba, Hitachi, Panasonic, Sanyo, Ricoh, Mitsubishi, Casio and others moved to Taiwan to start operations (Hamilton and Kao, 2011: 191?193). Similarly, Japanese trading companies began sourcing garments and footwear from Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong.
From the mid-1960s, IBM, the leader in business computing, shifted its labour-intensive production from the United States and Europe to Asia in order to cut costs. The microelectronics components of IBM System 360 computers were assembled by workers in Japan and then Taiwan because ?the cost of labour there was so low? that it was cheaper than automated production in New York (Ernst, 1997: 40). RCA, the consumer electronics giant, swiftly moved to ?take advantage of Taiwan's cheap labour and loose regulatory environment? in the export-processing zones in the late 1960s (Ku, 2006; Ross, 2006: 243?244; Chen, 2011). Electronics assembly grew rapidly in Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong (?the Asian Tigers?), and later Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and India. In the early 1970s, the Philippines hosted manufacturing plants for semiconductor firms such as Intel and Texas Instruments. In these newly industrialising countries, most factory workers were young women migrants from the countryside (Ong, [1987] 2010; Deyo, 1989; Koo, 2001; McKay, 2006).
In the late 1970s, China set up special economic zones to attract foreign capital and boost exports as the means to integrate regional and global economies. The inflow of overseas Chinese capital has long been significant, combined with growing capital from Japan, the United States, Europe and other countries since the early 1990s (Huang, 2003). Hong Kong and Taiwanese entrepreneurs, ranging from low-end component processing to sophisticated microchip assembly, invested in the Pearl River Delta and the Greater Shanghai region (Leng, 2005). By the mid-1990s, Beijing's Zhongguancun Science Park and Shanghai's Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park became prominent technology powerhouses, building on foundations of industrial development and local government support (Segal, 2003; Zhou, 2008). Over two decades, the Chinese national economy underwent a transformation from one based on heavy industry, with guaranteed lifetime employment and generous welfare for urban state sector workers, to one that relies heavily on foreign and private investments and massive use of rural migrant labourers in light of export-oriented industries (Friedman and Lee, 2010; Kuruvilla et?al., 2011).
Foxconn became China's leading exporter in 2001 following the country's accession to the World Trade Organization and further liberalisation of international trade. It has maintained this position ever since (Foxconn Technology Group, 2009: 6). Foxconn's expansion is intertwined with the Chinese state's development through market reforms, and it has followed the national trajectory from coastal to inland locations in recent years. The Chinese state attempted to rebalance the economy by initiating the ?go west? project, through which financial capital and human resources were channeled to central and western provinces (Goodman, 2004; McNally, 2004). Taking advantage of lower wage levels, the strategy was designed to stimulate employment and promote ethnic unity while obtaining foreign investment. Ross (2006: 218) concludes that in Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital, ?it was impossible not to come across evidence of the state's hand in the fostering of high-tech industry?.
The creation of a new rural migrant-centered industrial class by domestic and transnational capital, with the collaboration of the Chinese state at all levels, lies behind the growing protest, driven by multiple factors. Compared with older workers, this generation of employees, the vast majority being rural migrants born since the 1980s, has strong expectations of higher wages, better working conditions and prospects for career advancement (Pun and Lu, 2010). From the mid-2000s, labour shortagesii have driven up wages and strengthened workers' power in the market, although wage gains resulting from higher state minimum wage levels and strike victories have been undermined by inflation (Selden and Wu, 2011). Foxconn, not unlike other foreign-invested factories, adjusts basic wages and recruits mostly teens and young adults to run the assembly lines. ?Over 85 percent of Foxconn's employees are rural migrant workers between 16 and 29 years old?, according to a senior human resources manager in Shenzhen (Interview, 14 October 2011). By comparison, 2009 national data showed that 42 percent of rural migrants were between 16 and 25 years old and another 20 percent were between 26 and 30 (China's National Bureau of Statistics, 2010).
In recent years, Foxconn has adapted to local labour market changes to employ more male than female workers as fewer young women become available as a result of female infanticide,iii reversing the historical pattern of a feminised workforce in electronics. Company statistics show that male employees increased from 59 to 64 percent between 2009 and 2011 (Foxconn Technology Group, 2012e: 12). This labour is employed in a production network in which vertical integration, flexible coordination across different facilities and 24-hour continuous assembly bolster its market competitiveness. It manufactures hardware components and assembles products for a very large number of global companies, with Apple being its largest client (Chan, 2013).
The Apple?Foxconn business relationship
Apple, Foxconn and China's workers are at the center of high-tech production, but relations among them are highly unequal. Apple Computer (later Apple Inc.) was incorporated in 1977 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California in Silicon Valley. In 1981, Apple, which had initially produced its own computers, started to contract offshore facilities in Singapore, along with onshore final-assembly contractors, to ramp up upgraded Apple II personal computers (Ernst, 1997: 49?52). From the early years, it outsourced most component processing, assembly and packaging to contractors, above all in South Korea, Japan, and China. In 1982 Apple Computer President Mike Scott commented: ?Our business was designing, educating and marketing. I thought that Apple should do the least amount of work that it could and ? let the subcontractors have the problems? (Ernst, 1997: 49). In the 1990s, Apple, Lucent, Nortel, Alcatel and Ericsson ?sold off most, if not all, of their in-house manufacturing capacity?both at home and abroad?to a cadre of large and highly capable US-based contract manufacturers, including Solectron, Flextronics, Jabil Circuit, Celestica, and Sanmina-SCI? (Sturgeon et?al., 2011: 236). Today, Apple retains its only Macintosh computer manufacturing complex in Cork, Ireland (Apple, 2013a).
If Apple's competitive advantage lies in the combination of corporate leadership, technological innovation, design and marketing (Lashinsky, 2012), its financial success is inseparable from its globally dispersed network of efficient suppliers based mainly in Asia. Pivotal to Apple's growth is effective management of production by its suppliers, including final assemblers. Apple's 2012 annual report filed to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission describes a challenge to its highly profitable business:
Substantially all of the Company's hardware products are manufactured by outsourcing partners that are located primarily in Asia. A significant concentration of this manufacturing is currently performed by a small number of outsourcing partners, often in single locations. Certain of these outsourcing partners are the sole-sourced suppliers of components and manufacturers for many of the Company's products (Apple, 2012a: 7).
Apple identifies the concentration of its manufacturing base ?in single locations? and in the hands of ?a small number of outsourcing partners? as a potential risk. However, analysts observed that, ?because of its volume'?and its ruthlessness??Apple gets big discounts on parts, manufacturing capacity, and air freight? (Satariano and Burrows, 2011). Group interviews with two mid-level production managers at Foxconn's Shenzhen industrial town reveal that during the 2008?09 global financial crisis,
Foxconn cut prices on components, such as connectors and printed circuit boards, and assembly, to retain high-volume orders. Margins were cut. But the rock bottom line was kept, that is, Foxconn did not report a loss on the iPhone contract. [How?] By charging a premium on customized engineering service and quality assurance. The upgrading of the iPhones has in part relied on our senior product engineers' research analyses and constructive suggestions (Interviews, 10 November 2011; 19 November 2011).
In 2009, in the wake of recession, the Chinese government froze the minimum wage across the country. Foxconn accommodated Apple's and other corporate buyers' squeeze while continuing to reduce labour expenditures, including cuts in wages (mainly overtime premiums) and benefits (Interview, 9 November 2011).
Foxconn's operating margins?the proportion of revenues remaining after paying operating costs such as wages, raw materials and administrative expenses?has declined steadily over the past six years, from 3.7 percent in the first quarter of 2007 to a mere 1.5 percent in the third quarter of 2012, even as total revenues rose in the same period with the expansion of orders (Figure?1).iv By contrast, Apple's operating margins peaked at 39.3 percent in early 2012 from initial levels of 18.7 percent in 2007. The changes indicate Apple's increased ability to pressure Foxconn to accept lower margins while acceding to Apple's demands for technical changes and large orders. Foxconn's margins are constantly squeezed by technology giants including, but not limited to, Apple. As Foxconn expanded its plants in interior China (and other countries), expansion costs and rising wages further impacted revenues.
| Figure 1.?Operating margins: Apple and Foxconn compared, 2007?2012.?Data from January 2007 to September 2012 were non-consolidated results for Foxconn. Starting from Q4 2012, Foxconn announced consolidated results.?Source:?From Q1 2007 to Q3 2011, see?Bloomberg?(2012); From Q4 2011 to Q3 2012, see Wikinvest (2013) for Apple; From Q4 2011 to Q3 2012, see Foxconn Technology Group (2012a; 2012b; 2012c; 2012d). |
Twelve major business groups within Foxconn compete on ?speed, quality, engineering service, efficiency and added value? to maximise profits (Foxconn Technology Group, 2009: 8). ?Two ?Apple business groups,? iDPBG [integrated Digital Product Business Group] and iDSBG [innovation Digital System Business Group], are rising stars in these past few years?, stated a Foxconn Chengdu production manager,
iDPBG was established in 2002. At the beginning, it was only a small business group handling Apple's contracts. We assembled Macs and shipped them to Apple retail stores in the United States and elsewhere. Later we had more orders of Macs and iPods from Apple. In 2007, we began to assemble the first-generation iPhone. From 2010, we also packed iPads, at the Shenzhen and new Chengdu facilities (Interview, 6 March 2011).
iDPBG currently generates 20 to 25 percent of Foxconn's business. To increase its competitiveness, Foxconn Founder and CEO Terry Gou established iDSBG in 2010 when the company won the iPad contracts. iDSBG now primarily manufactures Macs and iPads, contributing 15 to 20 percent of company revenues. ?Approximately 40 percent of Foxconn revenues are from Apple, its biggest client? (Interview, 10 March 2011).
Dedrick and Kraemer (2011: 303) find that computer companies currently ?engage in long-term relationships? with their main contractors but sometimes shift contracts to those who can offer better quality, lower cost or greater capabilities. Foxconn's vice president Cheng Tianzong told journalists, ?Some major clients are very concerned with the Foxconn employee suicides, but many of them are our long-term partners. So it doesn't affect Foxconn's orders? (quoted in Zhao, 2010). However, soon after the spate of suicides at Foxconn's facilities in spring 2010, Apple did ?shift some iPhone and iPad orders to Pegatron to diversify risks?, according to a Foxconn commodity manager at Chengdu's factory (Interview, 13 March 2011). Apple has tightened controls over Foxconn by splitting contracts with another Taiwanese-owned firm, Pegatron. This diversification demonstrates the power asymmetries between Apple and its manufacturers as Foxconn and others seek to retain market position as producers of the iPhone and iPad.
Apple (2013b) obtains products and services ?within tight time frames? and ?at a cost that represents the best possible value? to its customers and shareholders. Figure?2 shows the breakdown of value for the iPhone between Apple and its suppliers. Apple's strength is well illustrated by its ability to capture an extraordinary 58.5 percent of the value of the iPhone despite the fact that manufacture of the product is entirely outsourced. Particularly notable is that labour costs in China account for the smallest share, only 1.8 percent or nearly US$10, of the US$549 retail price of the iPhone. This ineluctable drive to reduce costs and maximise profits is the source of the pressure placed on Chinese workers employed by Foxconn, many of them producing signature Apple products. While Apple and Foxconn together squeeze Chinese workers and demand 12-hour working days to meet demand, the costs of Chinese labour in processing and assembly are virtually invisible in Apple's balance sheets. Other major component providers (such as Samsung and LG) captured slightly over 14 percent of the value of the iPhone. The cost of raw materials was just over one-fifth of the total value (21.9 percent).
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Representatives from Apple and other major clients regularly monitor onsite quality processes and production time to market. A mid-level Foxconn production manager recalled: ?Since 2007, Apple has dispatched engineering managers to work at Foxconn's Longhua and Guanlan factories in Shenzhen to oversee our product development and assembly work? (Interview, 29 November 2011). A Foxconn human resources manager provided this eyewitness account of Apple's hands-on supervision:
When Apple CEO Steve Jobs decided to revamp the screen to strengthen the glass on iPhone four weeks before it was scheduled to shelf in stores in June 2007, it required an assembly overhaul and production speedup in the Longhua facility in Shenzhen. Naturally, Apple's supplier code on worker safety and workplace standards and China's labour laws are all put aside. In July 2009, this produced a suicide. When Sun Danyong, 25 years old, was held responsible for losing one of the iPhone 4 prototypes, he jumped from the 12th floor to his death. Not only the short delivery deadline but also Apple's secretive culture and business approach, centered on creating great surprise in the market and thereby adding sales value to its products, have sent extreme pressure all the way down to its Chinese suppliers and workers (Interview, 7 March 2011).
Attention to procurement and production detail, including last-minute changes of product design and tight control over prices, assures super-profits for Apple. The purchasing and marketing policy adopted by Apple, the ?chain driver?, conflicts directly with its own supply-chain labour standards and the Chinese law.
Tracking demand worldwide, Apple adjusts production forecasts on a daily basis. As Apple CEO Tim Cook puts it, ?Nobody wants to buy sour milk? (quoted in Satariano and Burrows, 2011); ?Inventory???is fundamentally evil. You want to manage it like you're in the dairy business: if it gets past its freshness date, you have a problem? (quoted in Lashinsky, 2012: 95). Streamlining the global supply chain on the principle of market efficiency and ?competition against time? is Apple's goal.
Consequently, excessive overtime at final-assemblers and other suppliers is required to meet increased work schedules. Two major sources of production-time pressure commonly felt by factory and logistic workers are well documented by Apple.
The Company has historically experienced higher net sales in its first fiscal quarter [from September to December] compared to other quarters in its fiscal year due in part to holiday seasonal demand. Actual and anticipated timing of new product introductions by the Company can also significantly impact the level of net sales experienced by the Company in any particular quarter (Apple, 2012a: 8).
In a rare moment of truth, Foxconn CEO's Special Assistant Louis Woo, explained in an April 2012 American media program the production pressures that Apple or Dell apply:
The overtime problem?when a company like Apple or Dell needs to ramp up production by 20 percent for a new product launch, Foxconn has two choices: hire more workers or give the workers you already have more hours. When demand is very high, it's very difficult to suddenly hire 20 percent more people. Especially when you have a million workers?that would mean hiring 200,000 people at once (quoted in Marketplace, 2012).
The dominance of giant technology firms, notably Apple, in terms of price setting, onsite production process surveillance, and timing of product delivery, has profound consequences on labour processes. Foxconn's competitive advantage, the basis for securing contracts with Apple and other brand-name multinationals, hinges on its ability to maintain flexibility. The mega factory has to reorganise its production lines, staffing and logistics in a very short time to be demand-responsive. Whereas transnational suppliers, such as Foxconn, have grown rapidly through ?internal development and acquisition? (Sturgeon et?al., 2011: 235), their drive for profits and higher positions along the global value chains tend to go with the same pattern: the emergence of powerful ?market makers?, or leading firms, in their supply networks (Hamilton et?al., 2011). The results in competitive manufacturing have been coercive factory conditions and, contentious labour relations, on the ground, to which we now turn.
Chinese workers' collective actions
Foxconn not only has factory complexes in Shenzhen and all four major Chinese municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing, but also in 15 provinces throughout the country (Figure?3). Foxconn Taiyuan in north China's Shanxi province, with 80,000 workers, specialises in metal processing and assembly. It manufactures iPhone casings and other components in the upstream supply chain and sends the semi-finished products to a larger Foxconn Zhengzhou complex in adjacent Henan province for final assembly. In 2012, the subtle shift in production requirements from iPhone 4S to iPhone 5 and the speedup to meet Apple's delivery time placed Foxconn and its workers under intense pressure. However, this tightly integrated production regime simultaneously provided workers with leverage, enabling them to demonstrate their collective strength in the fight for their own interests.
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Foxconn Taiyuan erupted in factory-wide protests on September 23?24, 2012. ?At about 11 p.m. on 23 September 2012?, a 20-year-old worker reported, ?a number of security officers severely beat two workers for failing to show their staff IDs. They kicked them until they fell? (Interview, 26 September 2012). At the male dormitory, workers passing by were alerted by screams in the darkness. An eyewitness said, ?We cursed the security officers and demanded that they stop. There were more than thirty of us so they ran away? (Interview, 27 September 2012).
Soon after a squad of fifty company security officers marched to the dormitory, infuriating the assembled workers. At midnight, tens of thousands of workers smashed security offices, production facilities, shuttle buses, motorbikes, cars, shops and canteens in the factory complex. Others broke windows, demolished company fences and pillaged factory supermarkets and convenience stores. Workers also overturned police cars and set them ablaze. The company security chief used a patrol car public address system to order the workers to end their ?illegal activities?. The situation was getting out of control as more workers joined the roaring crowd.
By 3 a.m., senior government officials, riot police officers, special security forces and medical staff were stationed at the factory. Workers used their cell phones to send images to local media outlets in real time. Over the next two hours, the police contained the labour unrest, detained the most defiant workers and took control of the factory gates. The factory announced a special day off for all production workers, on September 24, Monday. A 21-year-old worker recalled:
We demanded higher pay and better treatment. In my view, the protest was caused by very unsatisfactory working conditions. It was merely sparked by the abuses of the security guards. Over these past two months, we couldn't even get paid leave when we were sick (Interview, 28 September 2012).
With global consumer demand for the new iPhone 5 at a peak, shipping delays were a source of concern for Apple. On September 21, 2012 (eight months after iPhone 4S's China release), Apple launched the iPhone 5 and sold over five million units during that weekend. CEO Tim Cook stated, ?we are working hard to get an iPhone 5 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible? (Apple, 2012b). The ever-tightening shorter production cycle pressurises workers and managerial staff, so that Foxconn Taiyuan workers could not even take one day off in a week, and the sick were compelled to continue to work. At the same time, with Apple demanding fulfillment of impossible targets, the power of workers to display their power peaked.
As justification for its use of paramilitary force, Foxconn blamed the workers, alleging that they were fighting among themselves. The company statement read:
A personal dispute between several employees escalated into an incident involving some 2,000 workers. The cause of this dispute is under investigation by local authorities and we are working closely with them in this process, but it appears not to have been work-related (quoted in Nunns, 2012).
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The underlying cause was that workers are subjected to an oppressive management regime driving them to meet the extreme production demands (Ruggie, 2012). Foxconn, Apple and many other multinational corporations, as well as the Chinese government, have thus far shown little interest in understanding the direct relationship between companies' purchasing practices and labour problems in the workplace. ?On the factory floor?, an 18-year-old worker informed us, ?the metal-processing section supervisor's attitude is very bad???We're coerced to meet the extremely tight production deadline? (Interview, 29 September 2012). Foxconn leaders' investigation of the ?personal dispute? necessitated turning their eyes away from shop floor conditions.
Less than two weeks later, on October 5, 2012, over 3,000 Foxconn Zhengzhou workers protested collectively against unreasonably strict control over product quality on the line at Zone K. From late September to early October 2012, consumers in the United States and elsewhere complained about scratches on the casing of a particular batch of the new iPhone 5, leading to product quality control investigations of final assembly at the 160,000-strong Foxconn Zhengzhou plant. According to testimony, new quality standards for not exceeding a 0.02?mm appearance defect in iPhone 5 were contributing to workers suffering eye strain and headache. When workers were penalised for not meeting the new standards, quarrels erupted between workers and quality control team leaders on Friday afternoon, resulting in group fighting and injuries.
Production managers yelled at the assembly-line workers and threatened to fire them if they did not ?cooperate and concentrate at work?. Li Meixia (a pseudonym) posted on her Sina microblog that she and her co-workers were angered and walked out of the workshop. In response, another worker posted a statement, which was quickly removed by October 6:
We had no holidays during the National Day celebrations and now we're forced to fix the defective products. The new requirement of a precision level [of iPhone 5 screen structure] measured in two-hundredths of a millimeter cannot be detected by human eyes. We use microscopes to check the product appearance. It's impossibly strict.
In the case-manufacturing process, workers were also instructed to use protective cases to prevent scratches of the ultra-thin iPhone 5, and close attention to the most minute detail at the fast pace was and remains a major source of work stress, according to testimony. The strike at one workshop eventually paralysed dozens of production lines in Zones K and L. Senior managers threatened to fire the leading strikers and the quality control team leaders, and demanded that night-shift workers adhere to stringent quality standards. The brief strike did not win workers' demand for reasonable rest.
Given the nature of company unions (Traub-Merz, 2012) and strict corporate controls over workers in both plant and dormitory, Foxconn workers at the Taiyuan and Zhengzhou factories have not organised across factories on a large scale in a coordinated manner. Workers were, however, acquiring public communication skills and raising their consciousness about the need for joint struggle to achieve basic rights. Soon after the September 2012 protest, a 21-year-old high-school graduate with two years? work experience at Foxconn Taiyuan wrote an open letter to Foxconn CEO Terry Gou and circulated it on weblogs (the following excerpt is translated by the authors):
A Letter to Foxconn CEO, Terry Gou
If you don't wish to again be loudly woken at night from deep sleep,
If you don't wish to constantly rush about again by airplane,
If you don't wish to again be investigated by the Fair Labor Association,
If you don't wish your company to again be called by people a sweatshop,
Please use the last bit of a humanitarian eye to observe us.
Please allow us the last bit of human self-esteem.
Don't let your hired ruffians hunt for our bodies and belongings,
Don't let your hired ruffians harass female workers,
Don't let your lackeys take every worker for the enemy,
Don't arbitrarily berate or, worse, beat workers for one little error.
In the densely populated factory-cum-dormitory setting, many rural migrant workers as young as 16 or 17 years old, spoke of their involvement in collective labour protests (Pun and Chan, 2013). If the language of strikes and worker participation is new for some, it is not for others. The testimony of a teenage female worker at Foxconn's Shenzhen Longhua plant is illustrative:
I didn't know that it was a strike. One day my co-workers stopped work, ran out of the workshop and assembled on the grounds. I followed them. They had disputes over the under-reporting of overtime hours and the resulting underpayment of overtime wages. After half a day, the human resources managers agreed to look into the problems and promised to pay the back wages if there was a company mistake. At night, in the dormitory, our ?big sister? explained to me that I had participated in a strike (Interview, 15 October 2011)!
The wildcat strikes and labour protests at Foxconn form part of a broader spectrum of labour action throughout China over recent decades (Pringle, 2013). The Taiyuan worker's open letter to Foxconn CEO Terry Gou closes with the following paragraph:
You should understand that working in your factories,
workers live on the lowest level of Chinese society,
tolerating the highest work intensity,
earning the lowest pay,
accepting the strictest regulation,
and enduring discrimination everywhere.
Even though you are my boss, and I am a worker:
I have the right to speak to you on an equal footing.
The sense in which ?right? is used is not narrowly confined to that of legal right. Chinese workers, facing pressure from the company, the local state and their own union, are demanding to bargain with their employers ?on an equal footing?. They are calling for dignified treatment and respect at work and for a living wage.
Conclusion
Marx and Engels ([1848] 2002: 223) analysed capital's irresistible impulse to create new markets globally. ?All old-established national industries have been destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They are dislodged by new industries???In place of the old wants, satisfied by the productions of the country, we find new wants??? Production, distribution and consumption must continue in perpetuity if profits are to be made and capital accumulated. Barriers to trade at all levels have to be drastically reduced. In the twenty-first century, consumer electronics has grown to become one of the leading global industries, and Chinese labour is central to its development. An ever quicker and newer product release, accompanied by shorter product finishing time, places new pressures on outsourced factory workers in the Apple production network. At the workplace level, very short delivery times imposed by Foxconn in response to the demands of Apple and other multinational corporations make it difficult for suppliers to comply with legal overtime limits. Price pressures lead firms to compromise workers' health and safety and the provision of a decent living wage. The absence of fundamental labour rights within the global production regime driven by Apple and its principal supplier Foxconn have become a central concern for Chinese rural migrant workers, who form the core of the most rapidly growing sector of the new industrial working class.
The integration of Asian manufacturers in global and regional production networks, tight delivery schedules for coveted products, and the growing shortage of young workers as a result of China's demographic changes have enhanced workers' bargaining power. The ascent of ?global neoliberal capitalism? has created ?opportunities for counter-organization? (Evans, 2010: 352), as attested not only by the rise of transnational labour movements and global anti-sweatshop campaigns but specifically by growing labor unrest in China. Increasingly aware of the opportunities presented by the demand by Apple and other technology giants to meet quotas for new models and holiday season purchases, workers have come together at the dormitory, workshop or factory level to voice demands. Internet and social networking technology enables workers to disseminate open letters and urgent appeals for support (Qiu, 2009). The question remains whether workers will be able to win the right to freedom of association and ultimately strengthen a nascent labour movement that is capable of challenging the unfettered power of capital in a milieu in which fundamental labor rights such as the right to strike are lacking.
A historical counterweight to global capital, West and East, exists in workers' and civil society's response. Under public pressure, in February 2013, Foxconn proclaimed that workers would hold direct elections for union representatives. If implemented fairly, and if the unions are organised to uphold the rights enshrined in the Chinese Trade Union Law, Labour Contract Law and the international labour conventions, this would impact upon the balance of power between management and workers. At present, the vast labour force at Foxconn and many workplaces are striving to expand social and economic rights, bypassing the state- and management-controlled unions. A new generation of workers, above all rural migrant workers, is standing up to assert their dignity and rights. Workers' direct actions have been perceived by political leaders and elites as so threatening to social stability that government and employers have been forced to grant certain policy concessions, including higher wages, and to propose higher minimum wages. The Chinese state is also seeking to raise domestic consumption and hence living standards, in part in response to the struggle of aggrieved workers and farmers (Hung, 2009; Carrillo and Goodman, 2012). Apple and Foxconn now find themselves in a limelight that challenges their corporate images and symbolic capital, hence requiring at least lip service in support of progressive labour policy reforms. If the new generation of Chinese workers succeeds in building autonomous unions and worker organisations, their struggles will shape the future of labour and democracy not only in China but throughout the world.
Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to Phil Taylor, Debra Howcroft and four reviewers for their insightful comments. We also thank the independent University Research Group on Foxconn, SACOM (Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior), GoodElectronics Network, Jeffery Hermanson, Gregory Fay, Chris Smith, Jos Gamble and Sukhdev Johal. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Center for East Asian Studies in the University of Bristol on November 15, 2012, where Jenny Chan enjoyed constructive discussions with Jeffrey Henderson and the seminar's participants.
This is a revised version of an article published in New Technology, Work and Employment 28(2): 100-15.
Article first published online: 18 JUL 2013 (full article freely accessible online here).
? 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Recommended citation: Jenny Chan, Ngai Pun and Mark Selden, "The politics of global production: Apple, Foxconn and China's new working class," The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 31, No. 2, August 12, 2013.
The Authors:
Jenny Chan (wlchan_cuhk@yahoo.com) is a Ph.D. candidate, Great Britain-China Educational Trust Awardee and Reid Research Scholar in the Faculty of History and Social Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London. She was Chief Coordinator (2006?2009) of Hong Kong?based labour rights group Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM).
Ngai Pun (punngai@gmail.com) is Professor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Deputy Director in the China Social Work Research Center at Peking University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Mark Selden (mark.selden@cornell.edu) is Senior Research Associate in the East Asia Program at Cornell University, Coordinator of The Asia-Pacific Journal and Professor Emeritus of History and Sociology at State University of New York, Binghamton.
The authors have jointly written a book entitled Separate Dreams: Apple, Foxconn and a New Generation of Chinese Workers (Ngai Pun, Jenny Chan and Mark Selden, forthcoming).
Related articles
?Jenny Chan, A Suicide Survivor: the life of a Chinese migrant worker at Foxconn
?Jenny Chan and Ngai Pun, Suicide as Protest for the New Generation of Chinese Migrant Workers: Foxconn, Global Capital, and the State?
?Mark Selden and Wu Jieh-min, The Chinese State, Incomplete Proletarianization and Structures of Inequality in Two Epochs?
?Ching Kwan Lee and Mark Selden, China's Durable Inequality: Legacies of Revolution and Pitfalls of Reform
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Figure 2.?Distribution of value for the iPhone, 2011?Source:?Adapted from Kraemer?et?al. (2011: 5).
Figure 3.?Foxconn locations in greater China.?Source:?Foxconn Technology Group (2013a).
A 2012 walkout at Foxconn briefly halted production of the i5