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Made In China, But Why Not Zambia?"
The other day,
my wife bought some clothes for my two-year-old daughter and, upon
reading the labels, I was pleasantly surprised to see that one pair
of pants was “Made in
Namibia”
and another was “Made in Swaziland.” It was nice to see that African
countries are getting into the clothing business and trying to
compete with the Asian countries. But I wished I could have removed
the first “I” in Namibia and replaced the “N” with a “Z.”
I'm looking
forward to the day that I find many products in America that are
“Made in Zambia.” Believe it or not, that would mean more to me than
the Chipolopolo Boys qualifying for the World Cup Finals. Football
doesn’t do much to fight poverty, but a factory of hard-working
people certainly does.
I’d love to
see a few more “Made in Zambia” labels and a few less “Made in
China” labels. But these days, almost everything in
America
is coming from China - even American flags. As reported by the
Christian Science Monitor, about 20 percent of U.S. flags are
imported from China. Just picture the flag in all its glory:
Thirteen stripes, 50 stars, and a tiny “Made in China” label.
But America
isn’t the only country having its national symbols shipped from
China. The Canadian government recently sent
China
an order for millions of lapel pins bearing an image of the maple
leaf flag. Whenever Prime Minister Paul Martin wears one of those
pins, he’ll make two countries proud.
Canadian man:
“Go Canada! Best country in the world.”
Chinese man:
“Go China! Best sweatshops in the world.”
It’s
apparently a tradition for Canadian officials and members of
parliament to hand out the pins as gifts, according to a Reuters
article. The pins were made for 35 years in a Canadian factory, but
- big surprise - China can make it cheaper. And the Chinese
workers have agreed not to goof off, not to take a break every 28
hours.
Worker: “Ouch!
I just pricked my finger on one of those maple leaf pins.”
Boss: “Keep on
working. You got nine other fingers.”
Worker: “Ouch!
I just pricked another finger.”
Boss: “Darn
it! If you keep doing this, I might have to turn on the lights.
Electricity is expensive, you know.”
Canadian
Transport Minister Jean Lapierre believes that it wouldn’t be right
to exempt maple leaf pins from international trade. After all,
Canada owes a lot to international trade. That’s how it managed to
get rid of - I mean, export - Celine Dion.
But opposition
lawmaker Charlie Angus disagrees with Lapierre. "We're outsourcing
the fundamental symbol of what Canada is to a foreign country. I
think that's a scandal," he told Reuters.
I agree: It
really is a scandal. After all, those maple leaf pins could just as
easily be made in
Zambia.
 Melvin
Durai is a U.S.-based writer and humorist who grew up
in Zambia. His weekly humour columns are read by thousands of
people in more than 90 countries. For an email subscription
to his columns, please visit his
website
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March 2005