Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/10/kamprad-engdahl.html
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Also, wasn’t there a scandal a while back that they used East German prisoners as essentially slave labor back in the 80s?
Yes…
it’s almost like capitalism encourages this kind of thing! /s
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… invented some of the modern tax-evasion playbook,…
ISTR that technically, IKEA is a non-profit charity.
edited to add link
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This is why we can’t have reasonably-priced particleboard bookshelves.
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Mysterywood 
Also, fuck nazis with a rusty reverse swastika.
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The Swedish Fascist Movement has also long been suspected (never proven) to have played a role in the 1986 assassination of Olaf Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden, who was an outspoken critic of the US for the Vietnam War, and also an outspoken critic of the Soviet Union for its crushing of the Prague Spring uprising.
There are plenty of fascists lurking in the underbrush, always.
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Sincere question for my fellow BB’ers: If there is “no ethical consumption under capitalism”…how do you decide when a company is simply too unethical to keep your business? I mean VW, Braun, even IBM, etc. have Nazi pasts and modern companies are problematic on various fronts (regressive social views, environmental destruction, privacy violations, tax evasion, monopolizing their sectors, etc.). Anyway, I’ll take my answer off the air.
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For me, it’s a best case thru worst case choice. Reused, repurposed, locally produced & sold, regionally produced & locally sold, etc. It’s much easier for me to make ethical and moral choices about my spending now, because I’m “economically disadvantaged” and therefore have little expendable money.
I’ve drawn my line in the sand at Walmart. IKEA? It has some extremely well-designed products that suit me, so it’s in the “hate the artist, love the art” camp.
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I did not know this and I am not sure what to do now because I love Ikeas stuff, but I hate fascists.
I refuse to shop at Walmart for obvious reasons, but IKEA, I loved.
This is vexing.
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Well, one could take their SJÖRAPPORT and dump it into the MJÖSA, but what would that accomplish?
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That’s an interesting question. I can’t answer it, but this quote from SCOTUS Justice Potter Stewart might be helpful:
He could not use words to describe pornography but “I know it when I see it.”
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How does relate to the current Ikea?
Back in the aughts I worked with some East Germans who spoke of teasing a friend of theirs (who had “worked” for Ikea while in prison) by calling him up whenever they had furniture to assemble.
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The list of people or groups that has at one point or another been suspected is very long. Everything from South African apartheid regime assassins to a drug dealer shooting the wrong person.
It doesn’t. He quit his position in IKEA’s parent company in 2013 and died in 2018.
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Sounds like “friend” should be in scare quotes too.
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HÄLLNÄS and FILIPSHYTTAN, of course!
Update: http://gnomonchronicles.com/wiki/H%C3%84LLN%C3%84S_and_FILIPSHYTTAN_(nonfiction)
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A friend of mine wouldn’t buy a Braun razor even though he seemed to like it, because the company was German. He felt that way about any German company, because if the Holocaust.
I’m not sure about now, with companies being bought, or buying other companies, making it hard to keep track of nationality, or even ownership.
At least that’s a clear judgement. I suspect it’s more vague generally, maybe even arbitrary, a decision that one can live with.
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…Named KALLAX…
“IKEA” does sound suspiciously like “I kill ya”.
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