Here we have another example of a corporation interfering with a nation's sovereignty and causing *blank* [statistical-number-we-are-numbed-to] of human deaths. All in the name of profit.
{by 'statistical-number-...' I am referring to the hidden human cost of mass media statistical numbers}
Banana giant Chiquita was busted ("officially" now that a US judge ruled it) paying
enormous amounts of money to Colombian paramilitary groups which then carried out massacres and assassinations...
Chiquita was ordered to pay 25 million in fines... at least now we know what the lives of Columbian protestors and union leaders are valued at these days...
Some info the BBC News left out of their article is even more... intriguing
Currently Columbia is attempting to extradite and charge 8 Chiquita officials.
Turns out the firm representing the prosecutors already has a case against US coal plant Drummond for hiring paramilitaries to kill Columbian union members...
Besides these murderous statistics, we have to remember that corporations like Chiquita (which controls 25% of the Latin America Banana trade) operate on large-scale monoculture plantations that pay local workers (many who were pushed off their land in the first place) starvation wages.
These monoculture plantations are the result of foreign "aid" agribusiness grants and loans often implemented by the IMF. Again, shareholder-accountable corporate profit interest... at whatever the cost.
{don't forget the loss of culture, decimation of biodiversity, introduction of pesticides, destruction of sustainable farming communities and other environmental degradations these monoculture-agribusiness policies cause worldwide}
... 'Fair Trade Not Aid'... buying fair trade (or local, depending on where you live) is the best way to not support these kinds of corporations... make further positive impact by limiting out-of-season and(or) non-fair-trade-out-of-country fruits/vegetables.
... A lot of fossil fuels are burned transporting these massive quantities of food from poverty-stricken countries. And they usually end up wasted. Both by getting thrown out uneaten, and by feeding unhealthy overweight consumers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment