|
Author
|
Topic: Some mainstream chocolate companies use child slavery
|
ListensToTrees
Knowflake Posts: 6055
From: UK
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted April 02, 2009 05:02 AM
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38DuVEuiqzs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX6_3wSsXq4&feature=related IP: Logged |
Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake Posts: 10857
From: 11/6/78 11:38am Boston, MA
Registered: Aug 2004
|
posted April 02, 2009 05:09 AM
Oh, man, this is a downer.
I dont even want to know about it.
Pass the blunt, dude!Just kidding.
This is interesting. But you should see what they do
to the cows!!!!!!  So, what chocolate is okay? Vegan, fair-trade, or something, i guess.
IP: Logged |
TINK
Knowflake Posts: 4426
From: New England
Registered: Mar 2003
|
posted April 02, 2009 10:31 AM
Child slavery is rampant in so many industries.  Pulling aside the curtain and taking a good look at what the kings of industry and commerce do when they think no one is watching is maybe the surest way to understand just how dysfunctional our society really is. I remember some talk about using "slave-free" labels on chocolate about ten years ago. I think it was passed by Congress, despite the amount of protest from chocolate manufacturers as you would expect. A little historical context ..
http://www1.american.edu/ted/chocolate-slave.htm So, what chocolate is okay? Here's a list I've used ...
http://www.chocolatework.com/slavery/chocolate-slavefree.htm I don't believe in the power of the voting booth anymore, but I do believe in the power of the almighty dollar.
IP: Logged |
amowls
Knowflake Posts: 1419
From: Richmond, VA USA
Registered: Dec 2007
|
posted April 02, 2009 11:53 AM
It's even tougher than that because you never know what chocolate companies other companies use when making products. Such as Pocky!IP: Logged |
LEXX
Moderator Posts: 3842
From: Still out looking for Schrödinger's cat.........& LEXIGRAMMING... is my Passion!
Registered: Jan 2008
|
posted April 02, 2009 12:41 PM
There is another side to this.
Many children "rescued" from the slave labor...have nowhere else to turn but prostitution.
As bad as the child labor is....sex slavery they often turn to...is far worse.------------------
The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves. ~William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693
A show of envy is an insult to oneself. ~Yevgeny Alexandrovich Yevtushenko IP: Logged |
koiflower
Knowflake Posts: 3111
From: Australia
Registered: Jun 2008
|
posted April 03, 2009 09:22 PM
quote:
I don't believe in the power of the voting booth anymore, but I do believe in the power of the almighty dollar.
It's a sad, but realistic statement TINK. How undiplomatic we are as a society. quote:
As bad as the child labor is....sex slavery they often turn to...is far worse.
Another sad, but true statement, LEXX. Crimes against children is pure evil - but the sex crime is beyond evil. IP: Logged |
TINK
Knowflake Posts: 4426
From: New England
Registered: Mar 2003
|
posted April 04, 2009 01:47 AM
quote:
It's a sad, but realistic statement
yes  Lexx, you know, at the moment I can't think of any greater evil than the international child sex trade. And it gets almost no press at all. IP: Logged |
ListensToTrees
Knowflake Posts: 6055
From: UK
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted April 04, 2009 09:59 AM
quote:
There is another side to this.
Many children "rescued" from the slave labor...have nowhere else to turn but prostitution.
As bad as the child labor is....sex slavery they often turn to...is far worse.
I wondered about that too. What happens to these children after being "rescued". What further help they get/ don't get. It's like those companies who are being told off for using child labour. Yes, child labour shouldn't be necessary. But are they going to give their families food to eat if the children are prevented from working? IP: Logged |
TINK
Knowflake Posts: 4426
From: New England
Registered: Mar 2003
|
posted April 04, 2009 11:10 AM
I'm not personally suggesting these young children shouldn't work - I understand the differences in culture and necessity - but maybe we could insist the industries 'employing' the children refrain from kidnapping them, beating them, and forcing them to work for free.IP: Logged |
LEXX
Moderator Posts: 3842
From: Still out looking for Schrödinger's cat.........& LEXIGRAMMING... is my Passion!
Registered: Jan 2008
|
posted April 04, 2009 02:15 PM
Child Labor History & Facts
Please see above link for more.
I am not condonning Child Labor.
However consider the following. quote:
after the Child Labor Deterrence Act was introduced in the US,
an estimated 50,000 children were dismissed from their garment industry jobs in Bangladesh,
leaving many to resort to jobs such as "stone-crushing, street hustling, and prostitution,
" all of them, according to a UNICEF study, "more hazardous and exploitative than garment production".
The study says that boycotts are "blunt instruments with long-term consequences,
that can actually harm rather than help the children involved."
That is unfortunately what happens to the so called "rescued" children.
I personally have known far too many American farm family children who were forced to get up at 5AM to work very hard on their parent's farms. Many as young as 4 years old. Children with messed up backs, missing fingers or worse. Accidents involving cattle and horses, not just dangerous machinery, or silo/grain bin "drownings".
------------------
A show of envy is an insult to oneself. ~Yevgeny Alexandrovich Yevtushenko
The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.
~William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693IP: Logged |
koiflower
Knowflake Posts: 3111
From: Australia
Registered: Jun 2008
|
posted April 04, 2009 06:15 PM
Yikes, that farm information made me cringe, as I can picture that type of expectation some parents would place on their children.Within our own sphere of influence we must be careful not to exploit children. An educated/thoughtful/sensitive/open mind/heart would find ways to protect and enhance the life of a young person - taking in all the factors we have to make a decision. Should I send my 7 year old out to feed the horses? Should I send that group of children away from the seedy cotton mill where there is access to water and shelter, to the streets where they will be exposed like vulnerable prey to predators? I dropped a pencil on the floor, and being so tired and heat exhausted, I asked a student to pick it up for me. Geez, I felt awful for some time after that. Did I exploit my student??  IP: Logged |
LEXX
Moderator Posts: 3842
From: Still out looking for Schrödinger's cat.........& LEXIGRAMMING... is my Passion!
Registered: Jan 2008
|
posted April 04, 2009 07:04 PM
koiflower
As a child and until I became an emancipated minor at age 16....(then worked for only 75 cents an hour...illegally, as minimum wage was $1.77 an hour...but it was still far better than living as a slave with my family! Even dumpster diving was preferable!)
I felled trees, sawed them up, hauled and split wood, and coal. I hayed with draft horses, I put in posts and fences, I did heavy field labor,(suffering blistering sunburns and cracked bleeding calloused hands,(and was teased in school for wearing gloves to hide my beat up taped up hands) and laundry for 13 people in a wash tub, and hung them to dry even in winter outside (yes clothes dry even in freezing weather), then yippie, I had to iron it all, and did most of the cooking, and more (my siblings were exempt or nearly so..why? I have no idea)...and harvested, and canned, and the list goes on and on and on .
I received absolutely no pay for any of that work.
Slave labor is too often a family thing.
Amish kids are heavily exploited, and often expected to drop out of school after the 6th. grade to work instead.
Hired farm hands cost too much...so kids get to be slaves.
Now before anyone tries to say what I endured is impossible...
remember...take into account I am speaking of life, not uncommon to many kids...
39 years ago and more.
However, farm families are still exploiting their children and grandchildren.PS.I did derive some good from it all though.
I have never feared hard work.
I appreciate very much, modern conveniences like washers, dryers and so forth.
(still would love to have a dishwasher!)
I can also better empathize with the downtrodden of the world.
And even though it was too much, have experienced things few have.
Many kids are so spoiled nowadays...
loading a dishwasher or cleaning their own room (wow! their own room! Not a room with 6 people and 3 twin beds!)..often with television, video games and so forth...
So mistreated! Yeah right. 
While I do not wish hardship on them, most kids in industrialized countries not 3rd. world countries, are clueless as to what real work is nowadays. ------------------
A show of envy is an insult to oneself. ~Yevgeny Alexandrovich Yevtushenko
The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.
~William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693 IP: Logged |
LEXX
Moderator Posts: 3842
From: Still out looking for Schrödinger's cat.........& LEXIGRAMMING... is my Passion!
Registered: Jan 2008
|
posted April 04, 2009 07:26 PM
quote:
Should I send my 7 year old out to feed the horses?
Well koiflower, that depends on your setup. Would your 7 year old be exposed to possible danger? Are you making your child haul 75 pound hay bales?
Or just graining them?
And are they his horses too?
So it all depends like I said.
My ex did that to my 40 pound 8 year old son, who also had heart troubles.
And not for us, but on his grandpa's farm.
Only 40 pounds, hauling 75 pound bales.
I left that husband of course! (other reasons, but that was one of them)
And got custody of my son.------------------
A show of envy is an insult to oneself. ~Yevgeny Alexandrovich Yevtushenko
The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.
~William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693 IP: Logged |
librarising
Knowflake Posts: 341
From: Kittydirt, USA
Registered: May 2007
|
posted April 05, 2009 04:02 AM
Heart--Shaped Cross,
Was that humor? IP: Logged |
Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake Posts: 10857
From: 11/6/78 11:38am Boston, MA
Registered: Aug 2004
|
posted April 05, 2009 02:39 PM
Depends on your perspective, I guess.IP: Logged |
koiflower
Knowflake Posts: 3111
From: Australia
Registered: Jun 2008
|
posted April 05, 2009 05:12 PM
There are no absolutes with chameleons IP: Logged |
Lindaland
UBBFriend: Email This Page to Someone! 
