“I am doing this because, as a Jew, I am horrified to think that another people is being enslaved and exterminated. I was particularly shaken by the BBC visit, during which they were shown false activities, similar to the showcase that the Red Cross was shown by the Nazis at Terezin. The BBC was more aware that what they were seeing was propaganda”.
These are words by Rabbi Dr Barbara Borts on why, together with Benny Ross, Council member at Newcastle Reform Synagogue, she demonstrated outside the local Volkswagen dealership.
On Thursday 1 April, Chol Maho’ed Pesach, as part of Uyghur Week of Action’s Global Day of Business Engagement, we ask that you write to the CEO of the Volkswagen Group in China – using this template – urging him to lead the necessary changes so that Volkswagen can cleanse itself of the stain of association with yet another regime committing genocide on its people. More about Volkswagen’s Nazi and Xinjiang connections to forced labour here. You can also use the letter as a script if you prefer calling Volkswagen and raising your concerns directly:
Volkswagen Group Main Headquarters, Germany Phone: +49 5361 90
Volkswagen Group UK Phone: +44 1908 601601
Email contacts: customerservices@volkswagen.co.uk and cc andreas.meurer@volkswagen.de
You can also, just like Rabbi Barbara Borts, go out and voice your concerns outside one of the many UK Volkswagen dealerships. Print this sign and this sign for the two signs to be used in the Volkswagen protest.
Make sure you use the same template to challenge other companies, such as Adidas, BMW and C&A – all with similar connections to Nazi Germany and 21st century Xinjiang region forced labour.
You might also be interested in this Open Letter to the Fashion and Home-Furnishing Industries by the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region, calling on all companies to urgently end all links to Uyghur forced labour.
