Wal-Mart in the news in Norway

-

Before I visited friends and family in the US last summer, I had read a lot about Wal-Mart and its business practices, which made me decide I never wanted to shop there. But when the toilet clogs at 11 pm, and you really have go (and it's a no. 2), and your host has no plunger, Wal-Mart it is. And Wal-Mart's bathroom it is.

I must digress a bit: One thing I like about American stores is the fact that they have bathrooms. It's a surprise if you encounter one that doesn't. Grocery, book, clothing - all have a restroom. Here in Norway, you never hear of a store apologizing for the inconvenience because the north bathrooms are closed for renovation, so please use bathrooms at south end because Norwegian stores don't have bathrooms. At least, I've never discovered any. Considering the lack of public toilets in general in this country (a 7-story shopping mall in town has a few stalls on the 5th floor), I'm sure tourists believe Norwegians are like TV-heroes: You see us eating and drinking constantly, but you never catch us needing to use the john. Anyway, Wal-Mart had a choice of several plungers, so we got the one in a nice white stand that hides the plunger, plunger design being your basic red or black rubber thingy attached to a wooden pole. Oh, and we got the toilet unplugged. Yay!

Wal-Mart's big and popular because they are big and cheap. However, in the name of being consistently cheaper than any other store around, Wal-Mart stopped buying American and started buying Chinese. And that, it turns out, is how Wal-Mart got in the news in Norway today.

Amnesty International has criticized Norway's largest bank, DnB NOR (an awkward acronym due to something like 18.5 merges) has invested money from its children's funds in companies like Wal-Mart and Honeywell. The problem is that Wal-Mart buys Chinese and the Chinese use child labor under rather bad conditions; Honeywell manufactures arms. Not the sort of thing you want to build your own child's future financial well-being on. Not even Norway's main oil fund (meant to pay our pensions when we run out of young people who work) has kept its investments in these companies. The fund adopted an ethical profile a few years ago, so no matter how big and successful Wal-Mart is (it's the world's largest retailer), its Chinese products and ban on labor unions won't attract Norway's oil money.

(The news item in Norwegian, also featured in our weekly consumer TV program.)

Comments

Sparkling Red said…
Good for Norway! I've heard a lot about the big bad Wal-Mart. I've been inside one but never bought anything there. I'll try to stay away from them.
February 27, 2008 7:22 PM
Keera Ann Fox said…
I am quite happy that our huge oil fund is not being used to encourage negligent or abusive companies. So what if I actually brought home a Wal-Mart shopping bag as a souvenier? :-)
February 27, 2008 8:08 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I love you. Thank you.

-
Image
Some time last month, I was listening to a new spiritual podcast, and the speaker said that we can all heal ourselves and each other by stating, "I love you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you." Apparently, this series of four short statements healed all the patients of a psychiatric facility, simply by being uttered by a doctor while he was looking at the patient files. I was intrigued. So I googled the phrase and discovered it comes from a Hawaiian spiritual ritual called ho'oponopono .* I found a blogpost that described this "cleaning" process. I found an online article claiming that you can heal the whole planet with ho'oponopono because everything that comes into your sphere of experience is your responsibility.** I searched Amazon for books describing ho'oponopono. I bought Mable Katz 's book "The Easiest Way" .*** And her title may not be an exaggeration. After reading her short book, I have replaced my usual rit...
Read more

Getting my beliefs challenged

-
I own the extended DVD set of "What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?" , also known as "Down the Rabbit Hole". I can't remember now how my browsing the internet today started, but I ended up learning a lot about the science in "What the Bleep": It's terribly inaccurate. There are other inaccuracies or downright errors, but for the most part quantum mechanics only work on quantum levels, not at sizes like a basketball or a universe or even a mere atom. And that spoils all New Age claims that it is quantum physics that explain the Law of Attraction or any other woo-woo belief, like spontaneous healing, psychic phenomenon or near-death experiences. Dang. I was so hoping science could explain these things by now. My surfing has brought me to The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry . There I have found good writing, and proper skepticism. Not the finger-pointing pooh-poohing of beliefs, but rather a behind-the-scenes look at some claims and what's factually ...
Read more

The ho'oponopono adventure continues

-
Image
Ever since I discovered the ho'oponopono practice of forgiveness and healing about 3 years ago , I have used it, pursued it, and experienced healings big and small. I have taught it to a few friends. To my delight, they have embraced it and discovered for themselves the instant peace that comes with cleaning (as using ho'oponopono is called; you are cleaning your subconscious of unhelpful beliefs). My friend Alice showed me this picture she took from her hotel window in London: Every morning, I started my day by looking out that window. ILY, ILY, ILY. It was a beautiful way to start the morning. Every day, I felt the embrace of the city and I'd like to think that the city felt my ILYs. We certainly had nothing but pleasant interactions with people (and in fact, a few times, we had people offer unsolicited help!). I responded to her with this: The ho'oponopono "trick" of repeating to yourself "I love you" when in a negative situation really...
Read more