The protesting Chinese garment workers

It is good to see the garment workers demand, and actually get, reasonable treatment here in the CNMI. In viewing these protest events on television, it occurred to me that perhaps some good could actually come from these sloppy CNMI garment factories that could impact the world in a positive way. Perhaps someone from the crowds of Chinese workers demonstrating here will be emboldened to get out there and lead a protest of their own horrifying Chinese government when they go back home.

Numerous media reports cite China as the next great power, the up and comer on the world stage and so on. Intuitively that is real hard to buy into when we read and hear about the countless Chinese citizens borrowing thousands of dollars in unseemly recruitment fees from loan sharks to work for meager wages in the dying Saipan garment factories.

The Chinese government censors the internet and severely limits general freedom of speech. It denies free exercise of religion, imprisons people unjustly and generally has nothing close to a participatory democracy. By contrast, the American and CNMI governments are merely inept, incompetent and whore themselves to the rich, but they are not openly and intentionally evil against their own citizens. If someone from these CNMI protestors learns a thing or two and lights a spark that leads to an uprising against the shameful Chinese government, then something uplifting might come from these crumbling factories.