Boycott Communism: Our Story

Our story starts back in 2001, when an American surveillance plane and a Chinese Fighter Jet collided in international air space off the south coast of China. The Chinese pilot was presumed dead in the sea after the crash, and the American plane preformed an emergency landing on Chinese soil. For 11 days the Chinese Government refused to release the 24 Americans, until the U.S. apologized. THEN, they held the plane for an additional 3-month, while they dismantled it.

Around this time I was looking for a new pair of sneakers, and noticed that the majority of sneakers and shoes, boots, sandals etc. were all being imported from the country that just held our military personnel hostage. I could not purchase them, and decided that unless I could find shoes from a non-communist country, I wouldn't buy them. I think I finally found a pair from Taiwan.

As realization dawned slowly, we started noticing more and more the perverse "made in China" sticker on items we had intended to purchase, and just couldn't bring ourselves to do so.

The SARS outbreak came in 2003, and they tracked it back to China, Dr. Jiang disclosed to international news organizations that at least 100 people were being treated in Beijing hospitals for severe acute respiratory syndrome. At the time, the Chinese medical authorities were asserting that the entire nation had only a handful of cases of the disease.

Paying more attention to what was happening in China, and other communist countries, our buying habits changed. Looking for alternatives to imports in general, and to communist imports specifically. Around Jan. of 2006 we swore off communist goods permanently. We have not bought anything made in China, Vietnam, Korea, Macau, or Hong Kong (properties of China).

We have found American products to purchase in place of imports, and we have not purchased items at all when there have been no alternatives. We can live without that 59 cent widget, or the “oh so quaint” plaque that warns of ticked off fairies.

We have successfully gone through Christmas without supporting communism. We found toys for our niece, that we didn't have to worry about when the recalls for lead paint occurred.

When we found the book I'd bought had been printed in China we returned it to the store and let the retailer know why. Greeting cards get turned over before we even read the verse to see where they were made.

Christmas candy: produced by Americans packaged in plastic toys made by slave/indentured labor do not get bought. Items you'd assume that were as American as apple pie are now being made by prison laborers who are guilty of nothing more than practicing the religion of their choice. Radio Flyer's, Craftsman power tools, and check your baseball gloves… (Click here to find items that are NOT made in U.S.A.)

Some of these companies will tell you they are not violating any of the WTO. http://www.wto.org/ regulations, and they’re not, they’re just helping these countries violate human rights, pollute the environments, and give the leaders more power.

If you've read any of the country portions of this site, you are aware of the atrocities that occur. The only way the companies doing business in these communist countries are ever going to stop is if they stop making profits from it. Make your voice heard, make your purchases count. Let the stores, and manufacturers know that you do not support communism. It can be done, it's not easy, but then anything worth it never is easy.

Once you see how much the U.S.A. is dependent on communist imports, once you start to see what would happen if China, specifically, decided not to export anything to the U.S. because they disagreed with our stance, say on Taiwan, it's scary. It’s not only Wal-Mart that wouldn't survive, but also high-end retailers are importing more and more goods. Tommy Hilfiger, Eddie Baurer, Liz Claiborne, are all manufacturing in communist countries. Cheap doesn't mean communist and expensive doesn’t mean American made. You hear people touting about how a pair of jeans would cost $100.00 if they were manufactured in the U.S. well check out Union Jeans; they go for about $35.00.

We're not saying America is perfect, but we are saying it's better than what billions of people have, who live, work, and die under communist law. Where having an opposing opinion may land you in prison for years, or worse.

If one thing we can do to stop the spread of American dollars in support of communist regimes is to refuse to buy products made under them, then it’s worth the inconvenience.

We hope we’ve inspired you to look to see if there’s an alternative to supporting the abusive treatment of men, women and yes, children by these countries.