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Used clothing from the West a big seller in East Africa. Uganda's leader wants a ban_我的网站

A |     KAMPALA, Uganda -- Jostling for space, people jam the crowded footpaths crisscrossing a massive open market in Uganda's capital. They are mostly looking for secondhand clothing, sifting through underwear for pairs that seem new or trying on shoes despite getting pushed around in the crush.Downtown Kampala’s Owino Market has long been a go-to enclave for rich and poor people alike looking for affordable but quality-made used clothes, underscoring perceptions that Western fashion is superior to what is made at home. Discarded by Europeans and Americans, these clothes are often purchased from wholesalers and then shipped to African countries by middlemen. It's a multimillion-dollar business, with some two-thirds of people in seven countries in East Africa having “purchased at least a portion of their clothes from the secondhand clothing market,” according to a 2017 U.S. Agency for International Development study, the most recent with such details.Despite the popularity, secondhand clothes are facing increasing pushback. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a semi-authoritarian leader who has held power since 1986, declared in August that he was banning imports of used clothing, saying the items are coming “from dead people.” “When a white person dies, they gather their clothes and send them to Africa,” Museveni said.Trade authorities have not yet enforced the president’s order, which needs to be backed by a legal measure such as an executive order. Other African governments also are trying to stop the shipments, saying the business amounts to dumping and undermines the growth of local textile industries. The East African Community trade bloc — consisting of Burundi, Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda — has recommended banning imports of used apparel since 2016. However, member states have not enforced it at the same pace amid pressure from Washington. In Uganda, the president's order has spread panic among traders, for whom such a ban, if implemented, spells disaster. They hawk used clothes in scores of large open-air markets across the country of 45 million people, at roadside stands and even in shops in malls where it’s possible to buy secondhand clothes marketed as new.The clothes are cheap and drop further in price as traders make room for new shipments: a pair of denim jeans can go for 20 cents, a cashmere scarf for even less.At one of Uganda’s Green Shops, a chain specializing in used clothes, apparel reseller Glen Kalungi shopped for items his customers might want: vintage pants for men and cottony tops for women.“I am a thrift shopper,” he said. “I usually come to these Green Shops to check out clothes because they have the best prices around town.”Kalungi likes to visit on clearance days when he can buy clothes for a fraction of a dollar. Then he sells them at a profit.The chain, whose owners include Europeans, unveils new clothes every two weeks at its three stores. Some of the items are sourced from suppliers in countries including China and Germany, retail manager Allan Zavuga said.“How they collect the clothes, we are not aware of that,” Zavuga said of their suppliers. “But (the clothes) go through all the verification, the fumigation, all that, before they are shipped to Uganda. And we get all documents for that.”The Green Shops are environmentally friendly because they recycle used clothes in bulk, he said.The association of traders in Kampala, known by the acronym KACITA, opposes a firm ban on used apparel, recommending a phased embargo that allows local clothing producers to build capacity to meet demand.Some Ugandan apparel makers, like Winfred Arinaitwe, acknowledge that the quality of locally made fabric is often poor. Not surprisingly, many people would rather buy used clothing, she said. "Because it lasts longer,” she said. “It can easily be seen.”In Owino Market, a ban on used clothes is inconceivable to many, including some who say they don't think the president’s threat was serious.Abdulrashid Ssuuna, who tries to persuade customers in the market to stop by his brother’s used clothing business, said a ban would deny him a livelihood.“It’s like they want to chase us out of the country,” he said of the president’s order. “From these old clothes, we get what to eat. If you say we leave this business, you are saying we go into new clothes. But we can’t afford to go there.”Ssuuna approaches people in Owino Market to urge them to visit the stall where his brother sells used jeans. The market is aggressively competitive, with merchants sitting behind heaps of clothes and shouting words of welcome to possible customers.If he helps his brother sell clothing, “I get something,” said Ssuuna, who started this work after dropping out of high school in 2020.The market is always full of shoppers, but business is unpredictable: Traders must try to anticipate what customers are looking for before they are lured by other sellers. Some days are better than others, said Tadeo Walusimbi, who has been a used-clothes trader for six years. A government ban is simply untenable, he warned. It “will not work for me and for so many people,” Walusimbi said.。    IT之家 7 月 21 日消息，埃隆 · 马斯克日前在社交平台 X 上发文警告称，长期持有 SpaceX 大量空头头寸的机构，“最终存活下来的概率非常低”。         这番表态正值 SpaceX 上市后股价出现波动之际。在被称为“史上最大 IPO”的上市五周后，SpaceX 股价较市值峰值已回落约 30%。此前，公司市值一度突破 2.6 万亿美元（IT之家注：现汇率约合 17.62 万亿元人民币），短暂超过微软和亚马逊。股价回调也让做空者获得了约 87 亿美元（现汇率约合 589.69 亿元人民币）的账面收益，但马斯克的最新回应表明，他依然对公司的长期前景充满信心。

B |          马斯克的发言呼应了一份看多 SpaceX 的分析报告。该报告认为，随着“星舰”（Starship）持续降低发射成本，未来将催生一个规模达数万亿美元的太空经济。         报告预计，轨道太阳能发电、小行星采矿、轨道数据中心以及火星改造等项目，未来可能创造超过 100 万亿美元的新增市值。         按照这一设想，SpaceX 将成为整个太空经济的基础设施提供商，其角色类似于云计算领域的 AWS，通过火箭发射、载人运输以及太空数据传输等业务，占据近似垄断的市场地位，并获得持续增长的收入。

C |          事实上，这并不是马斯克第一次公开抨击做空者。在特斯拉的发展过程中，马斯克曾多次表示，长期做空特斯拉的人最终将遭受重大损失。2024 年 7 月，他曾表示，一旦特斯拉实现完全自动驾驶，并实现 Optimus 人形机器人大规模量产，“任何仍然持有特斯拉空头仓位的人都会被彻底消灭，甚至包括比尔 · 盖茨。”          更早之前，2018 年，马斯克还曾嘲讽空头称，他们距离“空头仓位爆仓只剩大约三周时间”。

D | 随后，特斯拉股价确实迎来一轮大幅上涨。         马斯克还曾公开表示，做空行为会“破坏价值”，甚至一度认为做空“应该被禁止”，因为在他看来，做空本质上是在押注创新和技术进步失败。

E |          不过，批评者认为，马斯克的乐观预期往往带有较强的宣传色彩，尤其是在季度交付量、股价表现等短期指标不及市场预期时，这种说法更容易受到质疑。         尽管如此，马斯克始终坚持同一种观点：做空其旗下公司，本质上是低估了指数级技术进步所带来的长期价值。         对于 SpaceX 的空头而言，马斯克释放的信息十分明确：押注一家致力于实现多星球文明、并试图成为未来太空基础设施核心提供者的公司失败，最终可能让做空机构自身付出沉重代价。

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