[Sosfbay-discuss] Fwd: Have a Fair Trade Halloween
Andrea Dorey
andid at cagreens.org
Fri Oct 14 14:47:52 PDT 2005
FYI.
Begin forwarded message:
> From: "Pat Willis" <pwill06 at coastalnet.com>
> Date: October 13, 2005 5:51:50 AM PDT
> To: "Pat Willis" <aha_feminist_caucus at coastalnet.com>, "naomi sherer"
> <naomi at sherer.org>, "arthur jackson" <arthur at arthurmjackson.com>,
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> Subject: Fw: Have a Fair Trade Halloween
> Reply-To: "Pat Willis" <pwill06 at coastalnet.com>
>
> Hello FC Members,
> I thought you would be interested in this. Some of you may already get
> email from Global Exchange, so please excuse the duplicate of you do.
> I hope everyone is doing well.
> Pat
> Viva las feministas Humanistas!
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Global Exchange News and Action
> To: News and Action Updates
> Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 4:16 PM
> Subject: Have a Fair Trade Halloween
>
> Dear friend,
>
> Halloween is right around the corner. Here at Global Exchange we
> haven’t decided yet on our costumes, but we have decided what kind of
> candy we’ll be offering to trick-or-treaters: Fair Trade Halloween
> chocolate!
>
> Halloween is the time when chocolate companies like Nestle USA enjoy
> their biggest sales to children. Unfortunately, chocolate is no treat
> for the hundreds of thousands of child cocoa laborers that work
> helping their families on farms or even toil as slaves. Illegal child
> labor is a major problem at cocoa farms in West Africa, especially the
> Ivory Coast, which supplies 40 percent of the world’s cocoa.
>
> The US chocolate industry says it's working to end abusive child labor
> on cocoa farms, but so far little has been accomplished, and their
> plan does nothing to address the root causes of this problem: unstable
> and insufficient prices for cocoa.
>
> There is a solution -- Fair Trade Certified Chocolate – and Global
> Exchange is asking for your help in promoting Fair Trade chocolate
> this Halloween. Fair Trade guarantees farmers a fair price for their
> cocoa, so they can feed their families and keep their kids in school.
> Fair Trade does not allow abusive child labor or forced labor.
>
> HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO:
>
> *Order a Fair Trade Trick or Treat Kit.
> http://www.globalexchangestore.org
> Our Fair Trade Trick or Treat Action Kit includes two bags of Fair
> Trade chocolate coin candy; 30 Fair Trade kids postcards addressed to
> Nestle CEO Joe Weller; and a spooky door sign proclaiming your home a
> Fair Trade Trick-or-Treat household. *If you already have Fair Trade
> trick-or-treat candy, email jamie at globalexchange.org or call
> 415-575-5538 for a complimentary door sign and kids postcards.
>
> *Call Nestle USA and Demand Fair Trade on October 31
> Tel. 1-800-225-5570
> Along with other major players in the chocolate industry, Nestle USA
> committed to ending child labor on cocoa farms by July 2005. But four
> years later, little has been accomplished and the problem continues
> unabated. Call Nestle USA 1-800-225-5570 and demand they take their
> responsibility for ending forced and abusive child labor on their
> farms seriously by using Fair Trade Certified cocoa. You can also send
> a fax right now from our fax action page:
> http://www.globalexchange.org/getInvolved/actnow/nestleslavery.html
>
> For other ideas about what you can do to promote Fair Trade chocolate,
> go to
> http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/halloween.html
>
> Below is an article by a Fair Trade activist in San Diego that
> summarizes the problems in the chocolate industry and why this is an
> issue where our efforts can have an important impact.
>
> Thanks for all your good work on behalf of peace and justice,
> Global Exchange
>
> ***********************************************************************
> *
> Did Child Slaves Harvest Your Latest Chocolate Treat?
>
> Op-Ed News
> June 30, 2005
> by Kyle Scheihagen
>
> Slavery has a long history in Africa, but tragically, it also has a
> present. Five years ago, the BBC documented child slavery on Cote
> d'Ivoire cocoa farms, causing a public relations nightmare for the
> chocolate industry. Cote d'Ivoire farms produce nearly half the
> world's cocoa, most of which is used by major corporations like
> Hershey, M&M/Mars, and Nestle.
>
> By 2001, continued media scrutiny led Congress to get involved. The
> House of Representatives passed a measure by Representative Eliot
> Engel and Senator Tom Harkin that would have mandated a federal system
> to stop the sale of slave-produced chocolate in the US. As Engel said,
> "if we can have our tuna fish dolphin-free, we can have our chocolate
> slave-free." Fearing the effects of such a system on its bottom line,
> however, the industry hired former senators George Mitchell and Bob
> Dole to lobby against the bill. They succeeded in stopping it, but had
> to accept a compromise.
>
> Under the Harkin-Engel Protocol, the chocolate industry committed to
> ending child slavery in its supply chain by July 1st, 2005 -- last
> Friday. But instead of being an occasion for celebration, the day
> marked an abominable failure that will mean continued suffering for
> thousands of children.
>
> In a joint statement with Harkin and Engel, the industry admitted
> that the "deadline will not be fully met ... [but] assured Sen. Harkin
> and Rep. Engel that it is fully committed to achieving a certification
> system, which ... will cover 50% of the cocoa growing areas of Cote
> d'Ivoire and Ghana within three years." For their part, the
> congressmen claimed to be "disappointed that the original deadline was
> not fully met," but, "comfortable that the industry is commited to
> moving forward."
>
> Well, frankly, I am disappointed in Harkin and Engel. Their Protocol
> gave consumers the impression that the problem was being solved, and
> now they want to extend that illusion. After four years -- four years
> -- the industry has broken its promise to stop using child slavery
> entirely, and has instead "committed" to ending it in half of two
> countries within three more years. And yet Harkin and Engel tell us
> they are "assured that progress will be made and deadlines will be
> met." Either they are fools, or think we are.
>
> As for the industry itself, there is little I can say in polite
> company. They are profiting from slavery. They have lied about
> stopping. In this latest statement, they pledged a mere $5 million
> annually to end the slavery they exploit, while in the US alone, they
> sell $13 *billion* dollars of chocolate a year. Clearly, they would
> rather protect profits than children.
>
> And so, the ball is back in our court -- the court of consumer
> opinion. Most of us love chocolate, but few would knowingly support
> slavery. Yet that is exactly what we do if we eat slave-farmed cocoa.
> As Salia Kante, director of the Save the Children Fund in Mali, put
> it: "People who are drinking cocoa and eating chocolate are drinking
> and eating the blood of children." As Americans celebrated freedom
> last weekend, American companies and consumers were keeping African
> children in bondage.
>
> But there is an alternative: Fair Trade chocolate. Under the Fair
> Trade system, yearly inspections certify farms as slavery free and
> guarantee them a fair price for their beans. The chocolate costs a bit
> more, but poverty is at the root of chocolate slavery, and fairer
> prices are the key to ending both. Buy Fair Trade, and you send a
> message to slave-supporting chocolate makers that you'd rather pay
> more than hurt children. At the same time, send other messages --
> letters, emails, and phone calls -- to the companies, your
> congressmen, and friends, telling them how you feel about slavery in
> chocolate.
>
> Changing the status quo isn't easy -- action is necessary. The forces
> arrayed against change are powerful and patient. They can wait out
> efforts like Live 8 just like they waited out the Harkin-Engel
> Protocol. They will not be stopped by a day's worth of good
> intentions. They can be defeated, yes, but it will take constant and
> careful effort. That is the true price of ending poverty and slavery,
> and it must be a price we are willing to pay.
>
> Kyle Scheihagen lives in San Diego and is involved in psychiatric
> research.
>
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>
>
>
Andrea Dorey
Santa Clara County Green Party
Chinese Proverbs:
"Serving the powerful is like sleeping with a tiger."
"It is difficult to get off a tiger's back."
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