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Post by Raven on Feb 11, 2011 11:09:29 GMT -5
SLAVE FREE CHOCOLATEIn my writing class, we read articles about children on Africa's Ivory Coast being used as slaves to harvest cocoa for the world's chocolate. As much as 46% of America's chocolate is made from cocoa harvested by child slaves. They are purchased from their parents who think their children are going off to work on farms where they will be paid. Some children are even stolen from their families. Regardless, once there, they are beaten severely, starved and work in their own feces for 80-100 hours a week. And we are fueling this atrocity every time be buy chocolate! The article I read are : Is There Slavery In Your Chocolate? and Is Hershey's Secret Ingredient Child Slavery?Another incredible website is Slave Free Chocolate Watch the video there, if nothing else. I will never again consume anything but Free Trade chocolate. (Thankfully, a friend of mine in England provides me with the most delicious Cadbury FREE TRADE chocolate bars ever.) But the point is, I cannot ever enjoy anything that comes from child slavery and I hope you can't either. Please see for yourself. If you agree with me, pass this on!
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Post by slayercat on Feb 11, 2011 13:50:12 GMT -5
Raven, thanks for this post. I had no idea. I get so frustrated by the ways humanity is inhumane just to make a buck. Knowledge is power!! I am with you sister.
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Post by Raven on Feb 11, 2011 15:16:22 GMT -5
Thanks so much, Skitty. I had no idea either. It means so much that you're with me on this.
I agree that it's frustrating what people will do to other just for money. I have to defend this practice as an exercise in school and I feel sick about it.
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destructogirl
Agent
Let me answer that with a head butt.
Posts: 528
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Post by destructogirl on Feb 11, 2011 22:22:33 GMT -5
Until the US government pulls it's head from ass and makes our nations big business put lives before the $, nothing's going to change. Let's see, can you buy free-trade chocolate at Walmart for less than a buck? I seriously don't think that the the average shopper would even care, even if they saw the video! They can get a pound of Hershey's chocolate for the cost of one fair-trade chocolate bar! It saddens me. And even more shameful is that I insist on having an iPhone, a MacBook Pro, and other nice gizmos that are all made in CHINA by people who don't even get to see what the end product is or does and sometimes lose limbs in order to get the job done or commit suicide because of the monotony of their job. Ugh, sorry to rant, but it's overwhelming what's going on out there that we are oblivious of and blindly so.
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Post by Raven on Feb 13, 2011 9:35:39 GMT -5
^Well said. But do you think people would CARE if they saw the video on TV?
What if every American household had to watch while children were stolen from their households and whipped while they harvested cocoa? Would they care then?
It's not so easy when you CANNOT turn a blind eye.
I am growing more frustrated with our country and its greed. And I imagine there's so much I don't know. This came out YEARS ago and I'm personally just finding out about it because of a class project.
And the stuff you just mentioned... REALLY? This isn't right.
I also learned that children in India are "bonded"- forced to work off their families debts by cutting and polishing diamonds. And conflict or "blood diamonds" are higher in percentage than are being reported and there's no way to tell which are safe and which are conflict. Many certificates are fraudulent. That's another thing I'm boycotting. I'm not letting a marketing campaign tell me what's supposed to be special or valuable to me. Diamonds are not forever.
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