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Shouting 'Pay Your Taxes', Activists Occupy Apple Stores in France (marketwatch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes MarketWatch:
A group of global activists stormed and occupied several Apple Stores in France on Saturday in a move aimed at pressuring the company to pay up on a €13 billion ($15.5 billion) tax bill to the European Union. In a press release, the France unit of the Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and Citizen's Action organization (Attac), said 100 of its members occupied the Opera Apple Store in Paris, demanding the company pay its taxes... Attac said dozens of protests were organized at other Apple store locations throughout France on Saturday. In the Paris store, activists were seen via videos circulating on Twitter, pushing past security and hanging a banner that said "We will stop when Apple pays." Security in Paris reportedly evacuated Apple workers from the building as those protests began.
After three hours they left the store -- leaving behind protest messages on the iPads on display. The group claims that Apple has stashed $230 billion in tax havens around the world, but also hopes to raise awareness about other issues.
"Attac said the action was part of the #PhoneRevolt movement aimed at highlighting unfair practices by Apple, that are not just about taxes, but also pollution via extraction of metals for its phones, worker exploitation and driving a global consumption binge."
After three hours they left the store -- leaving behind protest messages on the iPads on display. The group claims that Apple has stashed $230 billion in tax havens around the world, but also hopes to raise awareness about other issues.
"Attac said the action was part of the #PhoneRevolt movement aimed at highlighting unfair practices by Apple, that are not just about taxes, but also pollution via extraction of metals for its phones, worker exploitation and driving a global consumption binge."
Apple is the only phone company I know of to even both to produce something like environmental reports.
This includes things like the mildly nauseating fact that Apple makes their own artificial sweat to test watches.
And what do they get for it? Protestors flooding stores. Where are the protests at the local stores selling other phones, which engage in the same tax practices and far worse environmental hijinks? Crickets.
I'm sure it's because they can get more attention if they flood an Apple store instead of the local T-Mobile phone hut. But even so, it's just sad to see such a brazen display of showmanship over real care for the environment or taxes. Maybe Apple should just stop paying attention to any of that stuff and make phones the way the rest of the market does without all of the expense of trying to do so in a responsible way.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Protestors produced nothing of any value to anyone, instead demanding productive people — people who create value for customers, employees, shareholders, and their communities — pay more.
Why should producers listen to demanders when demanders offer nothing of any value to anyone? Are remorseless demands fair? How is demanding things while offering nothing good for a society?
Leave it to the French to protest something that's already happening.
Locals get work, people in the EU get to enjoy advanced products and services not offered by EU brands. Local brands that fail to keep up with technology and don't have the skills to innovative.
How is that employment, low cost and innovation then supported in the EU?
Do the activists lobby their own gov to create the conditions for more computer shops to open so more local people can get jobs?
If only all that effort and time was put to good use.
Helping local people with their resumes. Ensuring people had a good education so they could be work ready for a private sector computer related job.
Work on electing political leaders who welcome jobs into a community.
How about a protest for more jobs?
A protest for a better education so students in France have the skills to build their own big global company?
A company from a country in EU able to sell around the world supporting good jobs in France.
A protest for better gov conditions in the EU so more private sector business can open and hire people?
Why all this effort to disrupt actual work rather than demand the conditions to ensure jobs grow?
Stop the fixation on managers and owners. Start thinking about how to attract more new jobs and build your communities.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Ah the smug tut-tutting of the status quo. If only MLK and his followers would stop their boycotts and protests and informed themselves of the political process they'd get so much more. If only those rowdy suffragettes would stop chaining themselves to parliament, we would have women voting in no time.
I noticed that you upheld the tea party as a model in another post. I'd also like to point out that they did direct action, and encouraged members to disrupt congress and the senate. Tactics you seem to deplore.