George W. Bush says globalization is a good thing and anyone who protests against it is an enemy of the poor. Pretty tough talk when he’s behind a 15-foot fence in Genoa. A week later, when the pope, standing right beside him, decries a “tragic fault line” running between rich and poor, Mr. Bush just stood there with a vacant smile on his face. President Eddie Haskell.
In Mr. Bush’s world, globalization is a good thing like cutting taxes is a good thing: the rich get richer and the poor slide further from sight. A few more years of handing the planet over to the corporations and he probably figures he can take himself out to the ballgame for good.
Free traders have any number of theories about how their ideas will improve the world, but few success stories to point to. On the other hand, consider the case of chocolate. Chocolate is an inherent symbol of global trade. A native of the Americas, most cocoa plantations chased cheap land and cheap labor to West Africa and Southeast Asia long ago. The raw product is purchased by brokers in New York and London and resold to chocolate-makers in Belgium, Switzerland, France and Hershey, Pennsylvania, among other places.
Chocolate is a luxury commodity, no one eats it to survive, or starves without it. Some claim chocolate is a mild drug, producing a feeling of well-being. Perhaps for some, but it definitely makes many miserable.
Ivory Coast is the leading producer of cocoa, growing 45 percent of the world’s supply. A poor nation, which owes money to international development banks, Ivory Coast was pushed, throughout the 1990s, to increase cocoa production. The Ivorian government would purchase all the cocoa grown in the country, to ensure a stable price, then sell the beans on the international market. Profits from cocoa sales could be used to pay off the development debt and later provide the basis for a sound economy, lifting the Ivorian people out of poverty. Globalization at its best.
Except things didn’t work out. The international moneylenders, who pushed Ivory Coast into the arms of the Easter Bunny were selling the same bill of goods to other poor nations, with the result being that a world-wide cocoa glut ensued and the market crashed. Then, Ivory Coast had to go back to the development banks and borrow more money, but with new loans come new conditions. This time, the Ivorian government would not be allowed to buy up its domestic product, that practice was deemed to be a non-tariff barrier to trade. World cocoa buyers now had direct access to the growers. Good for the cocoa buyers, bad for the growers. The price of cocoa dropped even lower. Ivory Coast now owes $14 billion in international debt.
So what did the growers do? Like businessmen anywhere, they looked to cut their costs, starting with labor. Ninety percent of Ivory Coast’s cocoa crop is now grown with slave labor. That’s right, slaves. Not mistreated migrant workers, but human beings, bought and sold, usually children. The going rate is fifteen dollars a head. If the child slaves do not work hard enough, they are beaten. If they try to run away, they are beaten, sometimes to death. They live in miserable conditions and are given just enough food to survive.
This is globalization; this is where it leads. Case histories don’t get much worse, but they don’t get much better, either. Half the countries with high international debt have widespread slavery. And for what? For chocolate? Nearly half the cocoa in the world is grown by slaves so we can have cheap candy bars. Who did you say the enemies of the poor are, Mr. Bush?
What do we do? Stop eating chocolate? People out there are working to bring fair trade, not free trade, cocoa to market, not grown by slaves, but by citizens who get fair compensation for their labor. Look for it. Buy it. Call some 1-800 numbers and ask those candy companies some hard questions. Call your congressional representatives and tell them:
Chocolate-Covered Slavery
George W. Bush says globalization is a good thing and anyone who protests against it is an enemy of the poor. Pretty tough talk when he’s behind a 15-foot fence in Genoa. A week later, when the pope, standing right beside him, decries a “tragic fault line” running between rich and poor, Mr. Bush just stood there with a vacant smile on his face. President Eddie Haskell.
In Mr. Bush’s world, globalization is a good thing like cutting taxes is a good thing: the rich get richer and the poor slide further from sight. A few more years of handing the planet over to the corporations and he probably figures he can take himself out to the ballgame for good.
Free traders have any number of theories about how their ideas will improve the world, but few success stories to point to. On the other hand, consider the case of chocolate. Chocolate is an inherent symbol of global trade. A native of the Americas, most cocoa plantations chased cheap land and cheap labor to West Africa and Southeast Asia long ago. The raw product is purchased by brokers in New York and London and resold to chocolate-makers in Belgium, Switzerland, France and Hershey, Pennsylvania, among other places.
Chocolate is a luxury commodity, no one eats it to survive, or starves without it. Some claim chocolate is a mild drug, producing a feeling of well-being. Perhaps for some, but it definitely makes many miserable.
Ivory Coast is the leading producer of cocoa, growing 45 percent of the world’s supply. A poor nation, which owes money to international development banks, Ivory Coast was pushed, throughout the 1990s, to increase cocoa production. The Ivorian government would purchase all the cocoa grown in the country, to ensure a stable price, then sell the beans on the international market. Profits from cocoa sales could be used to pay off the development debt and later provide the basis for a sound economy, lifting the Ivorian people out of poverty. Globalization at its best.
Except things didn’t work out. The international moneylenders, who pushed Ivory Coast into the arms of the Easter Bunny were selling the same bill of goods to other poor nations, with the result being that a world-wide cocoa glut ensued and the market crashed. Then, Ivory Coast had to go back to the development banks and borrow more money, but with new loans come new conditions. This time, the Ivorian government would not be allowed to buy up its domestic product, that practice was deemed to be a non-tariff barrier to trade. World cocoa buyers now had direct access to the growers. Good for the cocoa buyers, bad for the growers. The price of cocoa dropped even lower. Ivory Coast now owes $14 billion in international debt.
So what did the growers do? Like businessmen anywhere, they looked to cut their costs, starting with labor. Ninety percent of Ivory Coast’s cocoa crop is now grown with slave labor. That’s right, slaves. Not mistreated migrant workers, but human beings, bought and sold, usually children. The going rate is fifteen dollars a head. If the child slaves do not work hard enough, they are beaten. If they try to run away, they are beaten, sometimes to death. They live in miserable conditions and are given just enough food to survive.
This is globalization; this is where it leads. Case histories don’t get much worse, but they don’t get much better, either. Half the countries with high international debt have widespread slavery. And for what? For chocolate? Nearly half the cocoa in the world is grown by slaves so we can have cheap candy bars. Who did you say the enemies of the poor are, Mr. Bush?
What do we do? Stop eating chocolate? People out there are working to bring fair trade, not free trade, cocoa to market, not grown by slaves, but by citizens who get fair compensation for their labor. Look for it. Buy it. Call some 1-800 numbers and ask those candy companies some hard questions. Call your congressional representatives and tell them:
No Globalization Without Representation.