Cocoa Protocol: Helping to End Child Labor in West Africa

[dayspeace]

this is very interesting video. yeah it seems that the idea presented is commendable. hope this would be fully realized.

[Bristow42]

Course they know.

[deltauniformbravo]

Donate, or don't condone it. It's illegal in developed countries for a reason.

[PLISKEN12]

would u rather that children live off the dumpsite?child labor in third world countries is different matter than rich countries,its a necessity!

[kevintype]

16242T, thanks for searching out that article by Christian Parenti and letting us know about it here.

As a result of reading it, I'm much better informed now, and better motivated to avoid any and all chocolate products unless I know more about the labor practices of their suppliers.

The large scale chocolate importers will need to do a hell of a lot more if they want to be seen as conscientious corporations that can be trusted to regulate themselves.

[kevintype]

16242T, my question wasn't a setup to reveal any vast knowledge on the subject. I really just hoped you would be more specific about your comment. Thank you for clarifying.

I believe it is possible to find out whether there is real progress being made in the fight against slavery. But I haven't read Bales' book and know nothing about his reputation as a researcher or activist. Thus I don't feel qualified to say how accurate his particular statements might be.

[kevintype]

16242T, which part do you not believe?

Do you not believe that some of the former slaves have been freed and are now in schools? Do you not believe there were ever any slaves at all? Or is it something else you don't believe?

[gasttheplast]

YOU DIDN'T KNOW, YA RIGHT.

[funkalunatic]

It's like he's purposefully avoiding discussion of the real problem. When you but a product, you pay for everything that goes into making it. When millions buy a product for which they can't see and don't care what goes into making it, and slavery is the most efficient way of making that product, then OF COURSE there will be slavery. And in fact, there still IS in cocoa production.

[truthadvocate]

"and slavery is the most efficient way of making it..." In a free market, slavery is not the most efficient way. But if there is a state that enforces slavery, returns escaped fugitives to their slave masters, disarms the people, etc. then and only then is it possible for slavery to be more efficient. In the long term it's not. Slaves tend to rise up against their masters, and have every right to do so.

[funkalunatic]

Yeah, maybe it's like that in magical libertarian fantasy land, but in the real world, you have "free market" states awash in arms that are trying to eliminate slavery (Ghana), but can't because the economics of Western civilization paying to enslave children for 12-hour days are stronger than the government of a "developing" nation.

[truthadvocate]

I highly doubt that the people were awash in arms when they were forced into slavery. The government has weapons. The slave masters have weapons. I want the average Joe to have weapons so he & his children cannot be enslaved.

By "free market" I mean no state. You can call it magical libertarian fantasy land. I prefer the term "free society" or "Voluntaryism." Hopefully humans are intelligent enough to one day achieve it.

[Inupiatun]

I used to think so also, but the government *ooh-SCARY* has nukes and armies, do you?

I very much doubt it LoL

Government is not the problem, the problem is "average Joe's" walking around carrying guns they dont need because of fear of each other.

That is a very sad state to live in :(

[truthadvocate]

I'm not saying a single handgun can stand up to a nuke. But it would be extremely difficult for a military to conquer an armed population that had no central government. The military would get bogged down in guerrilla warfare. If they did use a nuclear bomb there wouldn't be any slaves to capture.

It should be naturally painful to enslave people. As an analogy, kids mess with regular ant hills all the time. But once they experience a nest of red ants, they'll never mess with it again.

[truthadvocate]

I know there are some people that are paranoid. They believe conspiracy theories that are extremely far fetched. But I don't think the average legal gun owner is paranoid. The fact is murder & rape do happen in the U.S. A person doesn't have to be paranoid to equip themselves with a tool that can protect their life & the life of their loved ones. It is your opinion that they don't need a gun. Most of the time you don't. But having it when you do is a life saver & it discourages crime in general.

[Slug99]

While it's true that slavery can't exist without the laws protecting the owner, even during the slave years of the US was it less costly to hire workers rather than buying workers. However slave owners simply didn't like the idea of hiring people since they thought the kind of people who might work for them, mostly poor people obviously, might also steal the cotton or whatever they were growing because they might need and/or want more money than the landowner paid him, a slave did not need money

[truthadvocate]

That was a situation in which the U.S. government made it profitable to own slaves. Otherwise, I don't think forcing people into slavery is less costly than hiring workers. I don't think workers are likely to steal. If they're caught they lose their job. A handful of cotton won't get them far. If they're mining diamonds, both workers & slaves would be more likely to steal. A slave could buy safe passage to freedom. It would be risky, but he has very little to lose, & much to gain.

[eirefrance]

blah blah blah In a free market, slavery is not the most efficient way blah blah blah. Thats why slavery ends because govts outlaw it. But it wouldn'ty be truthadvocate without some sort of revisionist fairy-tale history.

[kurozaki45]

@eirefrance lets make you a slave

[ArcaneKarma]

well yeah. if most don't have slaves than they'll all pitch in to get rid of the ones that do. what's so innovative about that? It's what makes the world go round.

[italianchappy]

and then you get the consequences of this debt-fueled economy around the world. From the environment to the unemployeds by the millions in poor countries because fiat money bubbles pop devastating the world. All is wrecked by a fiat-money-debt-propelled economy.

[eirefrance]

Wait, I thought raising the tax rate 3% for the immensely wealthy was slavery. Thats what all these libertarians keep telling me.

[Erverino]

@eirefrance You don't understand because you don't know what it's like man - being rich and loosing a little bit of it, you just have no idea.

[italianchappy]

offensive ? Debt based economy is killing people all over the world, included the developing world, because of the economic destruction. Debt and fiat money economy (the US ECONOMIC MODEL !!) is a monster that is showing is destructive effect all over the world. If you can't see the real problems you'll keep destroying the world.

[thpt]

Which companies? Which companies, which companies, which companies??  Let us know who to boycott!

[italianchappy]

There's still slavery in the world. Particularly in western countries, where people are condemned to forced labour for all their life to pay back debt and mortgages.