P.C. Shannon

I’m not sure what to think about this (from AP via IHT):

Employees at the Chinese headquarters of Wal-Mart have set up a Communist Party branch, the company and the party said Monday, as part of a campaign by the party to expand at foreign companies.

The state-sanctioned labor body in China set up unions this year at Wal-Marts in the country.

On the one hand, I think it’s funny (and ironic perhaps) that a stalwart of the American hegemony is playing host to the Communist Party, like they’re somehow going to subvert Sam Walton’s behemoth. On the other hand, it sort of frightens me to think of the largest employer in America, which is frequently accused of mistreating its employees, teaming up with an entity that is often characterized as faceless, conformist, and dehumanizing and is, in a very real sense, guilty of some very serious human rights violations.

I also see it as a triumph of globalization as the rampant comsumerism and profiteering of Wal-Mart has to get along with the managed economy and “new communism” of China. But if the damned Red Chinese can have unionized Wal-Mart employees, why can’t the good ol’ U. S. of A.?