Does Wal-Mart Deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?
In this editorial, Fazil Mihlar makes an interesting case for giving Wal-Mart the Nobel Peace Prize:SAINT WAL- MART? WELL, LET’S LOOK AT THE RECORD We might also think about the Nobel Peace Prize when we consider the retail giant’s contributions to society
Fazil Mihlar
The Vancouver Sun
09 Feb 2008
Wal- Mart deserves the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize. And the Vatican may want to beatify the world’s largest retailer. Consider that Wal- Mart: Provides employment to 1.9 million people; the best defence against poverty is a job. Creates thousands of job... read more...
Undoubtedly he's trying to stir up the pot somewhat, but I do think his points are valid. For in our modern society, it seems that every successful business is demonized by many. Yet how many of those "many" have ever done anything to give others jobs or provide useful products or services?
Labels:
Nobel Peace Prize,
Wal-Mart
4 comments:
Ah, Wal-Mart, one of my favorite topics. Good vs evil, the righteous vs the ungodly, mother earth against all the evil doers. Even though I know all the enlightened will disagree, Milhar make some excellent points.
For example: who are we in the West to castigate Wal-Mart for paying people less than we pay people in North America? The righteous always forget that the alternative to working for factories supplying Wal-Mart with goods is living a subsistence livelihood farming; the majority of third world residents are trying to escape from farming. In fact they are banging down the doors of these factories looking for this type of employment.
Yes, and I know the anti capitalists want us all to buy everything produced by some local Kitsilano home based business. But give your head a shake, their views are hardly realistic.
Wal-Mart has help millions of third world residents escape poverty! They should be commended for their efforts.
May I add, Walter, that these same people, who insist that we ONLY buy locally made products don't walk their own talk. There seem to be more than enough of them to support a much greater number of local manufacturers than we currently have.
Lots of talk (Kumbaya) but they don't walk it ... which makes them ... hypocrites!!
P.S. I'm always amused when people still call in to radio programs and say that Free Trade is the WORST thing that ever happened to Canada!!
That is so true, that people in poorer countries are happy to get that kind of work. With a job, they're actually able to have a few things, that we take for granted. It's like these selfish snobs in the West want everyone else to keep living that quaint, earthy life, not have progress, because, heaven forbid, it'll impact the environment. Maybe they can trade and go live the quaint old way and let people that are beyond dirt poor enjoy the luxuries here.
Even people on welfare here are rich compared to many people in the world.
The most enlightening film on exactly what you're talking about can be found here: http://www.mineyourownbusiness.org
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