MkGenie Polaris

A girl stages a lone boycott demonstration in front of a Beijing Carrefour on April 13, 2008.

By Keen Zhang
zhangr@china.org.cn

Looks like the Carrefour boycott has already begun even though the proposed date on the Internet is May 1, a national holiday in China.

A girl staged a lone boycott demonstration in front of a Beijing Carrefour supermarket on April 13, on the same day that several residents demonstrated before a Carrefour in Qingdao, in eastern China's Shandong Province. Both were seen as the starting point of a campaign against French enterprises wanting to enrich their businesses in the Chinese market.

A group of demonstrators protest before the Carrefour in city of Qingdao, Shandong Province, April 13, 2008.

Yesterday, some 30 Chinese demonstrated before a Carrefour in Kunming, Yunnan Province. The organizers brought a 20-meter banner that read: "Support the Olympics; no independence for Tibet; boycott French goods; boycott Carrefour". The event lasted from 10 AM to 2 PM with police maintaining order along the avenue.

Hundreds of passers-by signed their names on the banner.

The Carrefour boycott is one of the boycott appeals that have emerged from the Internet a few days ago as Chinese people watched TV and noted disgraceful disturbances regarding the Olympic torch parade in London, Paris and San Francisco. Many young Chinese blame the chaos on mismanagement by local authorities; others blame various politicians and the media for fanning anti-China sentiments among the foreign public by distorting facts on Tibet and ignoring Chinese voices.

French riot police grapple with a demonstrator trying to grab the Olympic torch in Paris April 7, 2008.

The Paris stop was singled out because Chinese officials had to change the plan and extinguish the torch five times for security reasons. An image of the disabled female torch bearer, Jin Jing, who suffered under attacks by several Tibetan separatists who tried to grab the torch but failed at that time, triggered widespread Chinese anger that resulted in the current nationwide boycott calls circulating around the Internet, mobile phone messages and chat rooms.

"That may be why Paris lost its bid to hold the Olympics," one patriotic Chinese student quipped to China.org.cn, commenting on how Parisan authorities were unable to effectively manage the street disaster.

The Internet message accuses French enterprises such as Carrefour and Louis Vuitton of backing the Dalai Lama. Carrefour dismissed the claims. French brands such as Carrefour, Louis Vuitton, L'Oreal and some famous French cars were also included in the boycott list.

A fresh statement sent by Carrefour China this morning expressed their thorough support for the Olympics, stating that they never did in the past and will never in the future do anything "to harm Chinese people's feelings".

Carrefour said they would reserve the rights to initiate legal actions against any individuals and organizations that spread "unfounded" and "malicious" rumors against it.

Witnesses told China.org.cn that at least in Kunming and Beijing these last two days, consumers were noticeably fewer than usual.

Some 30 demonstrators protest before the Carrefour in city of Kunming, Yunnan Province, April 15, 2008.

One student surnamed Wu in Kunming said that the boycott was not meant to cause trouble, but rather to send a clear message to the outside world: "If anyone dares to challenge our sovereignty and dignity, they will witness our Chinese united power to fight back! We must stand up this time. 'Love our motherland' will no longer be simply empty words."

When asked about the French goods boycott, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told the French side to think about and reflect upon all the Chinese people's opinions and feelings that had been expressed recently. "All these actions are by no means accidental," she said, believing "these people will abide by laws and regulations in expressing their reasonable appeals."

Whether to boycott French goods or not is being hotly debated among the Chinese public these days. Bai Yansong, a famed Chinese TV host and a torchbearer expected to hold the flame in Sanya, Hainan Province, wrote in his blog, stating that he will stay away from the boycotts.

One logo for the Carrefour boycott campaign is circulating on the Internet.

"Many may not go to the supermarket that day (May 1), but I'm sure many also will go. We should not punish ourselves for others' mistakes," he said, adding that most staff members in Carrefour China are Chinese, and goods sold in Carrefour are almost all made in China. "It's like an internal conflict."

Bai represents one of the vast numbers of people who would "love the country rationally" without enlarging the negative impact between Chinese and French people. They believe China should be wise, generous and tolerant to some anti-China actions because China should start to adopt a superpower manner because it has already holds an unshakable position inside the international community.

"What's the difference between 'boycott French goods' and 'boycott the Olympics?'" some folks wonder, asking if China should seal itself off from the world again by boycotting a certain number of foreign nations' goods. Also, pro-Tibet activists exist in every Western country.

Jin Jing comes back to her hometown Shanghai, April 13, 2008.

Even Jin Jing, now a national heroine for protecting the torch from activists in Paris, has said "no" to boycotts. "People should be careful when they hear calls for boycotts," she said. "We will hurt ourselves."

Several boycott calls have happened before: when Chinese and American jets clashed in 2001 and when the Japanese wanted to join the UN's Security Council in 2005. But all of these incidents caused little impact on either side because globalization represents the merging of international manufacturing and sales.

CNN the sophisticate

Atlanta-based American cable TV CNN once again threw out a sophisticated response after the Chinese people, some American-Chinese, and even the Chinese government, accused it of racist and vicious attacks on Chinese in a TV program called "Situation Room" that aired on April 9.

CNN quickly responded by issuing a statement, "It was not Mr. Cafferty's nor CNN's intent to cause offense to the Chinese people, and CNN would apologize to anyone who has interpreted the comments in this way."

So what is its intent to smear China over and over again? CNN still seems not realize its credibility is bankrupt concerning the Chinese. The annual most popular phrase among Chinese citizens has already been set: "Don't be too CNN", which means don't be such a hypocritical liar when you deal with others. A song, bearing the same catchy phrase, was composed and sung by an amateur singer on the Internet and has since gained popularity. Anti-cnn.com, a grass-roots website, was set up to provide abundant evidence to prove that CNN and some other Western media lie when reporting China's affairs.

 Watch the music video of the song: Don't be too CNN

Jack Cafferty

Although CNN holds strong to its self-claimed "objective and balanced news", which seems like a joke now, surely they must understand it is not only about how many facts they reported, but also about how many facts they ignored, as well as what words and phrases they deliberately and carefully select, all of which can be used to manipulate public opinions and mock China.

Jack Cafferty clarified his words on Monday that his phrase: "bunch of goons and thugs" referred to the Chinese government. This was a childish and unprofessional move that attempted to alienate the Chinese government from the people.

But let's look back at his comment, as it reads in the CNN transcript, "We're in hock to the Chinese up to our eyeballs because of the war in Iraq, for one thing. They're holding hundreds of billions of dollars worth of our paper. We are also running hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of trade deficits with them, as we continue to import their junk with the lead paint and the poisoned pet food and exports, you know, jobs to places where you can pay workers a dollar a month to turn out the stuff that we're buying from Wal-Mart. So I think our relationship with China has certainly changed, I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years."

People might wonder how the Chinese government could produce the "junk" and "poisoned pet food", referring to several individual cases that happened last year? Ask any Chinese whether the Chinese government represents Chinese people, especially in the current episode of history when patriotic Chinese rally closer around the government? If Chinese and its government are "goons and thugs", as he said, then what about the government who invades nations from Iraq to Afghanistan and has killed hundreds of thousands of local civilians for decades?

Jiang Yu, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Cafferty, by slandering China and the Chinese people, has "seriously violated journalistic ethics and gone against the conscience of a normal human being, which reflects his arrogance, ignorance and hostility".

Actually, this represents a pan-China hatred as well as fear for a new emerging superpower, a power that holds different beliefs and political systems from his, yet is always friendly with any peoples from any continents on the planet. His main point, indeed hidden in his bias and malicious remarks, is that China is "holding hundreds of billions of dollars" of the US paper deficits while more and more American consumers are "buying from (inexpensive) Wal-Mart".

"We are truly stunned and shocked by a recent racist and hatred remark on the Chinese people by your news commentator Jack Cafferty, " the Legal Immigrant Association, mainly comprised of people from China, launched an online petition (www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?cnncaff) condemning the program after it was aired. The petition urged CNN to take immediate action against the commentator and demanded an official apology from CNN to all Chinese people. Nearly 66,000 people who had, in CNN's statement - "interpreted the comments in this way", signed it as of Wednesday afternoon.

(China.org.cn April 16, 2008)