To you and all your loved ones. My comrades have shared, that the experience of the giving and recieving tokens and expressions of love should be an everyday occurance, and I agree. Yet the joy and sweetness of this celebration of love, is tainted by the fact that it is the omnipotent marketplace and not the heart is what defines the day. That marketplace has one essential objective, that of the maximization of profit even at the expense of human rights. Today I would like to briefly examine the implications of this wonderful, universal expression of love and caring, on the workers who toil to grow and process the flowers and cocoa, for the chocolate and those who dig the diamonds out of the earth.
The International Labor Rights Forum has as its banner that "Labor is not a commodity". What a wonderful promise. But for those of us whose ancestors experienced the lash of slavery, being commodified, globalized, being chattel has been the defining elements in our recent history. Looking at the conditions faced by the Africans who grow flowers for the European markets , about one third of which is grown in the now embattled nation of Kenya, I am struck by the similarities to the days of slavery. The farms are owned mostly by Europeans, local officials are typically on the take and the workers are dependent, not only for salary but also for housing, health care, child care and so forth. I would suggest that in many ways, those workers are as dependent as those enslaved ancestors were. The Kenyans workers are now worried about the prospect of losing the business of these privateers to Ethiopia, that government is now offering a 10 year tax holiday as part of the incentive package.
Of course the current unrest in Kenya does not bode well for Kenyan flower industry either, which is the second largest foreign exchange earner after the tourist industry.
Across the Atlantic, in the US and the Americas the dynamics of the hijacking of the hearts, commercialization of the sentiment of the people and turning it into a profit generating enterprise is also obsencely celebrated. Most of the US carnations and roses are imported from Colombia and Ecuador with similar abuses of the workers, including the fact that the workers face relentless exposure to the toxic chemicals used during the processing of flowers. The International Labor Forum, Global Exchange and other formations, have done valiant work in fighting for the rights of these workers.
It is sad, indeed somewhat of a damper, to address these issues in the midst of the sincere and genuine expressions of love and appreciastion for each other, but I find it difficult to ignore the plight of those who pay with their sweat blood and tears for others to party and build mega financial empires, yes Nestle, Cadbury, FTD , diamond giant Leviev, DeBeers Diamonds etc. I have not gotten to the situation with the chocolate and diamond industries that also feature prominently, but I think you get the message. Suffice it to say, that Sierra Leone produces the lions share of the cocoa used to drive the huge chocolate industry, and the workers, children who make it possible would probably not be able to afford a KitKat for their loved ones. These children should in school anyway, are we inadvertently funding this blatant violations of human rights.
As for the diamond trade, the ongoing conflicts in West Africa and particularly Congo are driven by the incessant craving for Africa's resources, upon which the global economy rises and uses the resultant profits continued domination. For the rulers of that empire Valentines Day means something very different, but I hope that the Valentines Day we, you , me celebrate, will bring love and caring to those struggling workers and their families who desperately need those greetings.
Sorry about the late posting, hope you had an enlightening and enriching Valentine's Day
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