Thanks for the insightful post. Nothing predicts the future better than history.
If you could, what would you advise Apple to do in this situation? After all, the communist revolution was a people's rebellion itself.
The communist revolution was merely disguised as the "people's revolution". That may have been how it started, but it definitely didn't continue that way. In reality it was just oppression. The working class never ruled in communist regimes, they worked in mines and factories and had everything they owned taken from them. Doesn't sound like a "people's" republic to me. Though I have a really poor understanding of the whole thing.
I don't know what Apple could have done, the same way I don't know what we could do. Should we stop buying everything made in China? If everyone did that, China would collapse. Should we be one of the few people doing the right thing, making almost no difference but putting ourselves at a considerable disadvantage? Or will it incite others to do the same? Of course, if no one does anything, then nothing is going to change... Someone has to start, and they have to make a sacrifice. Should that someone be us?
It's a tough decision. It would greatly change our lives if we suddenly had to not buy
anything made in China. Maybe it will hurt Chinese people the most, as their dictatorial system will just continue to function and it will just oppress their people even more, just like North Korea does.
But on the other hand, what's going on in China (see the drone videos of the Uyghur concentration camps where they are blindfolded, chained, heads shaved, in high security camps, taken away for imprisonment, organ harvesting, experiments and murder simply for being of a different ethnicity) is exactly what went on in Nazi Germany. Do we turn a blind eye and say "Yeah yeah, it's the Holocaust all over again... but hey, it's on the other side of the world, maybe it's not even true, and I do need a hew laptop."?
Just like Apple continues to do what China asks because their business depends on it, we keep buying stuff made in China because our quality of life depends on it. I think that as social beings, we require leaders to lead us. We can't make world-changing decisions on an individual level because we're too unorganized. But we elect leaders and rely on them to make tough decisions for us. If Apple said "no" to China, they would maybe start a revolution. If you say "no" to China, nothing happens, unless everyone else follows you. But why would everyone follow you, if you're not their leader? We can't keep turning a blind eye to what's going on in the world, especially because we're directly or indirectly responsible for it. The money the Chinese government uses against their people is the money we gave them in exchange for their products.
If Apple said "no more Made in China products because of human rights violations in China" they'd start manufacturing stuff in the US or in countries with lower wages where human rights aren't violated, and somehow figure it out. Maybe all the people who buy Apple could stand behind that, and boom, you have millions of people suddenly not buying stuff from China. It's like fair trade coffee: if it's the only option but it's more expensive, you can deal with it. But if you have to go out of your way to fight for the fair treatment of coffee farmers then it isn't going to happen. It has to start with leaders, so that people can get behind them.