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| Anonymous |
 Posted: 20-12-2002 13:33 Post subject: Fair Trade? |
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Heard about this on the news yesterday, got this email today so i thought i'd put it up here and see what people think...
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Dear Campaigner,
Nestlé, the world's largest coffee company, are demanding
millions of dollars from a country where 11 million people
are facing famine. Take action to stop this scandal now!
http://www.maketradefair.com/go/scrooge/
Ethiopia is currently experiencing a terrible drought. This
crisis has been compounded by the collapse in the global
coffee price, which many of you have been helping us campaign
on. The Ethiopian government fears this drought could cause
the worst famine the country has ever faced.
Nestlé has demanded that Ethiopia pay over million in
compensation for a company that was nationalised 27 years
ago, a company that Nestlé didn't even own at the time.
The m represents 0.01% of Nestlé's turnover last year.
But for Ethiopia, m would buy food for over a million
people for a whole month.
Take action now:
1. Click below to send a message to Nestlé, telling them
to drop the claim for m from Ethiopia:
http://www.maketradefair.com/go/scrooge/
2. forward this email to 15 or more friends, family and
colleagues
Make your voice count. Join the Big Noise to make trade fair.
Thank you very much.
Alison Woodhead
Trade Campaign Manager
PS - please forward this on to any of your friends, family
and colleagues who might be interested in helping or might
like to join the Big Noise to Make Trade Fair.
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Anome_ Faceless Man
Great Old One Joined: 23 May 2002 Total posts: 5380 Location: Left, and to the back. Age: 45 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 20-12-2002 18:27 Post subject: |
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Yet more proof that Nestle are evil, especially when it comes to dealings in the third world. This is the same company that was giving free samples of baby formula to mothers in South America so that they would stop breast feeding, and become dependent upon the formula, at which point they started charging.
Of course, I may be simply leaping to conclusions that this particular instance is genuine based on my understanding of previous instances the company has been involved in. I haven't heard about this one myself (other than the post above), but then I don't pay much attention to the news, particularly at this time of year. It just depresses me. |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 20-12-2002 21:04 Post subject: |
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Boycott Kit-Kat bars! Boycott Nescafe coffee! Do not buy anything from Nestle whatsoever. Fair trade alternatives are available. Look for the Fairtrade Mark.
Try this link:The Fairtrade Foundation
I remember not so many years ago, Shell flatly insisted that they would dump the Brent Spar oil platform in the ocean. Greenpeace (of which I'm a member) went out and asked people to boycott Shell petrol. There was a huge response, and the mighty Shell had to yield and back down. The biggest corporations on the planet are like putty in our hands, if we have the courage to stand up to them and boycott their products. (They would rather that you did not know this!)
I would like to add that the situation in Ethiopia is, however, a complex one. It is not just a question of drought. The town of Alice Springs in Australia sometimes has no rain for 3 or 4 years, but no-one goes hungry unless they choose to. It's more a question of sheer poverty, caused by debt, trade barriers, underdevelopment and overpopulation etc. It must be said that the people of Ethiopia do not always help themselves - for instance the average number of live births per Ethiopian woman is seven, with some women having 10 or more children. Clearly this is not going to ease the hunger problem. (I am 44 with no children).
Also, sending food can and does sometimes make a country hungrier, because it makes them more dependent rather than independent. Furthermore, Ethiopia is not a particularly arid country. In fact it's where much of the river Nile originates from.
Anyway I don't want to ramble on and go OT, so I just urge people to use their weekly supermarket visit as a weapon to help create a fairer world.
Bill Robinson |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 20-12-2002 21:42 Post subject: |
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| i hope the Ethiapian government invite the top executives over to discuss the payment then put em on trial for thie baby killing escapades... they are evil. |
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| Anome_ Faceless Man
Great Old One Joined: 23 May 2002 Total posts: 5380 Location: Left, and to the back. Age: 45 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 21-12-2002 01:25 Post subject: |
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| Big Bill Robins wrote: |
I would like to add that the situation in Ethiopia is, however, a complex one. It is not just a question of drought. The town of Alice Springs in Australia sometimes has no rain for 3 or 4 years, but no-one goes hungry unless they choose to. It's more a question of sheer poverty, caused by debt, trade barriers, underdevelopment and overpopulation etc. |
Alice Springs is not a good example, as it is in the middle of a desert. It's main trade these days is tourism, although there may be some cattle stations and mining activity in the region.
Australia is also in the middle of a drought at the moment, and the way it effects the residents of rural New South Wales, and the residents of Ethiopia is more telling.
In NSW, during a long drought (such as the current one), farmers are forced to sell up, forfeit their mortgages, or find some other way of scraping together enough money to survive. The suicide rate in rural Australia goes up, as people face the loss of their livelihood, and the shame of not being able to provide for their families.
In Ethiopia, people die of malnutrition.
I'm not trying to say one situation is better than the other, it is clearly unpleasant no matter where you live. But the fact is, interfering in the economies of poor countries like Ethiopia while they are undergoing a crisis like this, kills people. If they tried to sue Australia over its failure to provide raw materials for one of its products in this manner, they'd get thrown out of court. I hope the same will happen here. |
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