Toyota War : double standard and irony

162 Comments / Food for thought, Literature / By

by Theo O’shaughnessy

How much influence can the world’s most affluent companies have? It’s not a simple question.

‘We have a strict policy which aims to forbid sales to known groups who may use them for paramilitary or terrorist activities’. This was an official statement issued by Toyota, the Japanese vehicle giant, when questioned about the popularity of their vehicles amongst ISIS fighters. Streams of footage from the last few years show fighters stabbing at the air with their guns. 

Behind them can be seen the boot of a truck weighed down with a makeshift turret, taking the form of a rocket launcher. Above the number plate, TOYOTA is visible beyond the dried flecks of mud.

The vehicle in question – the ‘Hilux’, or more commonly, the pickup – has been labelled the ‘third-world tank’. Rapid, light and far more affordable than military-standard tanks, they are the popular alternative amongst rebel factions, separatist groups and militias across the world.

“(We) maintain healthy and transparent relationships with political and administrative bodies”. This can be found in Toyota’s published Code of Conduct. It’s 1987, and tensions between Chad and Libya are worsened tenfold by the oppressive Saharan heat. They’re fighting over the Aouzou strip – a thin swathe of land that runs parallel to the Libyan border.     

The Libyan army seems far superior on paper; they have several Mi-24 helicopters, tanks, and rocket artillery. Propped up by the French, to whom it was a former colony, the Chadian forces made use of 400 Hilux pickup trucks to navigate themselves over the 16th Parallel that divided them – eventually becoming victors to Libya. The whole dispute was eventually labelled the ‘Toyota War’ – as if it were endorsing the bloodshed, a sponsor of sorts.  

Toyota is the world’s third-largest car manufacturer, and undoubtedly Japan’s biggest. On a loose level, Japan is like Toyota; since World War Two it has been demilitarised, and remains a pacifict nation.

But that hasn’t stopped its Self-Defence Forces – used only in the case of being attacked – from growing in numbers. The country has a surprisingly high military spending budget, coming in at 8th in the world, spending $45.4bn in 2017.

Will Japan be inevitably sucked in to the politics of the countries that surround it? Can companies like Toyota, with their huge pool of influence, really remain uninvolved with the world that it now dominates?  Meezan doen’t seek answers; rather it simply poses the questions.

 

162 thoughts on “Toyota War : double standard and irony”

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    OEM Kit (without case, stand, and scales): €1,561
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