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210175 Responseshttp://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-might-be-the-second-step/What+might+be+the+second+step%3F2010-04-09+01%3A50%3A52Sam+Richards to What might be the second step?
The most obvious thing that comes to your mind is to simply outlaw doing business with any place that uses slave labor, or that cannot be shown to provide fair wages. Of course the common response is that doing so will leave these people in even worse shape than they are now. "They NEED American dollars to grow their economies!" "The alternative to what they do now is death or worse!"
These arguments probably make a lot of sense, and I can't claim to have a great understanding of the economics or reality of the situation, but I can't help but detect a bit of denial and hypocrisy in this type of response. If you make this argument, would you agree that slavery would be acceptable in the United States if our economy collapsed? Would you be fine with repealing laws that say one person cannot own another? If you would, you might be able to maintain your position, but I have a feeling most people would be against allowing slavery in the US under ANY circumstances.
If that's the case, why do you support it elsewhere in the world? Does the imaginary line that separates one country from another allow us to make exceptions? Why did putting it in perspective of the US give you more of a moral dilemma in the pit of your stomach than when you've thought about it in third-world countries? Maybe when it's your own country and you imagine your own family being gathered up in the back of a truck to pick beans for nothing, you realize that you'd rather die defending your freedom than live in bondage.
Maybe someone here will change my mind. I'm not well versed in the issue so I could easily be missing a key point, but perhaps in some cases freedom is more important than keeping our pockets and bellies full in the name of "saving lives." The lives have already been lost.
Well he did mention the fair trade chocolate that I think is the least someone can do. I don't necessarily think you have to avoid all other brands entirely that use these tactics to turn profits, but if people make an active effort to avoid these companies and they lose market share, then they may change their ways. The only way one can ever really change the policies of a major corporation is to hit them in their wallets, because turning a profit is their only real goal. If we attempt to boycott their products, and they lose a large enough portion of their market share, then they may change their policy. I don't agree that thinking about it is enough though. I sort of believe in utilitarianism in this regard, and if ones thoughts do not lead to action then I believe they are worthless. So one should always find some way to act, rather than just think about the morality of the issue.
Totally a agree with hitting the companies were the wallets are. people need to change, watching that many people in slaver really hit home, it took at lot for me to eat that second piece of chocolate, and i hope it had the same affect on all of you. people in the united states really do not consider the other problems that are out there in the world because they all living in this little safe bubble, but when it really comes down it, people out in the real world are being beaten and enslaved to do some really horrible labor that they don't get paid for at all. Hopefully this class has taught us all something and hopefully we can have a little bit more respect for the class as a whole…
I definitely agree. While it seems like such a small thing to do to make a difference, hitting these companies where their wallets are is the best way to catalyze change. If enough consumers make a conscious effort to buy fair trade chocolate, the larger companies will lose profits and eventually have to make a change. This is the same type of situation as when sweat shop issues first came up. As it became an issue that more and more people were aware of, change started to happen and large corporations became more responsible and ethical in the way they do things.
I believe that there absolutely has to be a step 2, because it isn’t right for anyone to have to live this way. Also to be able to beat someone and getting away with it as if it never happened. When a person works for a company then they get paid for their work. Otherwise they can go somewhere else and make money. To address the second question, as of now I’m not sure if anyone knows the second what the step is. I think the reason nothing has been done is because these major companies will lose money if these works will have to be paid. Also that this isn’t occurring in our back yard so we can’t stick our nose in there business.
i am going to have to disagree and say that i am not sure if there can be a step two only because i do not know if there is anyone that is going to stop what is going on over there. we as Americans have many problems already and i do not think we can help because like i said we already have too much on our plate. i really do not see anything happening too soon with this situation and there wont be because too much money is being made and i think when money is being made nothing is going to stop it from happening.
I do believe there is a step 2, and I think that step is actually doing something about it. Whether it’s making the conscious choice of what products to consume or by informing people about modern day slavery. I especially think it hit home for a lot of people who consume chocolate. Even though Sam was trying to make us conscious and not guilty, I’m sure a lot of people felt that way. I didn’t eat the chocolate simply because I HATE it, but it was shocking to learn about the Ivory Coast’s practice of slavery since my parents are from there and I visit there every single summer/winter. It’s hard to believe that something like this is going on over there because it’s just not something you see or even hear about it. After listening to the man talk about how he’s never eaten chocolate, it made me think about if I’ve even SEEN a chocolate bar over there. I’m pretty sure I have, but it’s so frickin hot there, I wouldn’t be surprised if they melted before they got on the shelves. It’s such a strange thought that these people are slaving over an item that we consume at such high rates and they never even get to see the end product let alone taste it. So going back to what I said earlier, I do believe the next step is informing others. Even if you don’t think you are making a difference, the more buzz there is surrounding this terrible phenomenon, the more we can shed light on this dark practice and end it once and for all. The video is a good example of what I consider step 2, because it was made to show people that slavery hasn’t gone anywhere. What I took out the video was that they wanted us to see what goes in to what we consume. We take for granted most of what we consume whether it be clothes, shoes, food, what have you, and the video was there to open everybody’s eyes to the reality of how people are suffering and we are unaware of it. So going back to what I said earlier, the next step is to try and make a conscious change through informing others and product consumption. If I was on the other end of the spectrum, I know I would hope that there was somebody there even if it was just ONE person, fighting for me.
I honestly have to say that yesterday’s lecture was my favorite out of the whole semester so far. I have never really thought about where food comes from and why it is so cheap at times. I always shop at Walmart because of the low prices, but it never occurred to me that their prices are so cheap because slaves make their products. I feel horrible that I shop there all the time, and now I think I am going to have to shop elsewhere.
I had no idea that cocoa comes from the work of slaves. Seeing the scars and bruises on the slaves’ bodies really opened my eyes. I can’t even imagine what their lives are like and what they go through on a daily basis.
When we were asked to eat the first piece of chocolate, I didn’t want it so I didn’t eat it, and looking back, I’m so glad that I didn’t. When we were told to eat the second one, it was no question to even eat it.
Sam said that the first step to ending the modern slavery problem is realizing it exists and feeling something about it. I definitely was feeling a lot of strong emotions after I watched the video. I felt extreme guilt for thinking of all the times I have eaten chocolate. I wish I was informed of the fair trade symbol on chocolate products, because I definitely would only buy chocolate that had that stamp of approval on it. Now I will only buy chocolate if it has the fair trade symbol, and I will inform my friends and family members about it too.
I also feel horrible that not much is being done about the modern slavery problem. This has been going on for centuries, yet well-off countries such as the United States and others can’t even come together to do something about it? That seems very odd to me.
So what do I think the second step is? I think that everyone needs to be educated and informed about modern slavery. Certain products that people eat and use on a daily basis that are made by slaves need to be aware of this. The people who react with strong emotions to this slavery need to come together to make a difference. As many people as possible need to refuse to eat or use certain products until something is done about the slavery used to make them. For example, people should stop purchasing cocoa products from companies like Nestle and Hershey. Their sales will drop dramatically and they will be motivated to do something about the slavery problem so that their business can rise again.
I believe that refusing to buy certain products will threaten businesses to act quickly to resolve the slave problem and to make sure their products are made legally without the use of slaves. Money means power in society, and when it begins to be taken away, people call to action.
I don’t know if it’s the right step, but I hope that something in the near future can be done to stop modern slavery.
I'm just gonna reply to your post because it's lengthy and looks good to reply to =]. Even though I haven't missed class much all semester, I was taking a nap yesterday afternoon and just decided to not go to class…and I'm so pissed I missed it. Even though slavery is such a depressing topic and the video you guys watched sounded terrible, I really wish I would've seen it.
I was aware of the reasoning behind Walmart's low prices beforehand, even though I can't remember where I learned it from. I make it a point NOT to shop there, even though I have done it a few times. Which actually makes me recall this Walmart commercial I saw on TV the other day: this whole commercial, maybe some of you have seen it, basically was saying that Walmart has low prices because they drive their 18 wheelers efficiently. They were saying that they pack up their trucks to the brim and make trips the shortest distance possible. Maybe they're hoping the public will have less of a guilty conscience shopping there if they think that's why the items are so cheap? Ugh, thinking about it just makes me shudder. I wish I could've chimed in and been like, "Yeah, or maybe you have Rollbacks because slaves make your goods!" But anyways…
If I were in class yesterday, I probably would've eaten the chocolate the first time it was passed around. What can I say, I like chocolate?! But eating the second piece probably would've been nearly impossible. I wasn't aware of fair trade symbols on the packages, and I will definitely look into them in the future and make sure I only buy chocolate with the stamp on the package.
I liked where you were going with your idea for the second step: that everyone needs to be educated about it. Education. I don't know how this would go over, but I almost think they should make a class either in high schools or colleges that would be mandatory and would teach the students about current issues around the world like slavery, genocide, and AIDS. It would open up the eyes of a lot of people, and at least would produce some informed citizens of society. And I agree with your statement that money is power. Corporations and businesses don't think with their hearts, they think with their wallets. If you want to make a difference with how they do business, you have to hit their wallets hard: take a stance and stop buying their products. If enough people do it, hopefully something will happen. I need fifteen more words so I’m just gonna add this concluding sentence in: word to your mother.
I agree with you that we need to educate ourselves and learn more about the companies where we buy products from. When Sam mentioned Walmart, I had no idea why most of their items were so cheap. I just thought since they are a superstore and buying in bulk, they get the products cheaper because Walmart is a huge business. I cannot honestly say that I will stop shopping at Walmart because in reality, it is cheaper than a lot of other places and I would like to save money. By saying this, I in no way support modern slavery or want to increase it. When I shop from now on, I will be more mindful about the products I buy and will look into it, because that is a simple and easy way to become educated, a critical step to help stopping slavery.
I was wondering the same thing as this girl after leaving class the other day, “What is step two?” We all know how simple and easy it is just stop eating chocolate because a slave made it. Sadly, that is not enough. Me not eating a piece of chocolate is not going to stop a slave being beaten to still make chocolate. Not enough people are aware that slaves are being used to make the chocolate, therefore not enough people are going to be willing to stop eating chocolate. And even if we got everyone in the world to stop eating chocolate, what about the slaves who are being used to find coffee beans? How can we just boycott every single product that a slave was being used for? What is the next step? Do we protest? Do we write letters? How is it possible for us to inform millions of people about slave use that is still going on in the world today? I do not have an answer for, what the next step is, but i do think that someone should come up with something quickly so we can start changing the way things are.
I think that there are several directions we can go when deciding to take a second step against slavery. After we become aware of what is going on and feel some kind of way about it, as Sam puts it, we can at least do one of two things. The first would be to raise awareness and the second would be to stop supporting slavery in a facet of our lives as individuals.
I was shocked when I first read Disposable People. I couldn't believe that I had not been aware of the situation of slavery when it affects so many people. Basic human rights are taken away from people and I didn't even know that something like this existed. Once I found out, for a few days that was all I could think about. I felt like I had to tell everyone about the situation. It almost felt like people had been keeping this a secret from me.. I'm not sure who is keeping this secret, but other people around me didn't know either. I don't think that I surround myself with people who are sheltered and ignorant, so the fact that these people were unaware of modern day slavery might mean that many people throughout the world have no idea that slavery exists in today's world. Which is why one of the things that we can do to help end this is to let people know it exists. If people become aware of slavery, they will know it exists and hopefully tell others. If enough people know and care about it, steps can be take to deal with governments who aren't doing anything about slavery in their countries. Social pressures from large dominant countries and media coverage can help force governments to deal with the situation of slavery, especially since in many countries the governments know it exists, and may even help it flourish.
Besides raising awareness about slavery, we can also takes steps in our individual lives. We can help end slavery by not supporting it. Instead of shopping for food at Walmart, where we spend less, but at times may buy more since everything is so cheap, we could shop at another grocery store such as Wegmans or Giant, where we may be forced to buy a little less since the cost is somewhat higher, but because we buy less we make sure fewer people suffer to give us what we want and need. We could also make sure to buy our clothes at stores that do not use slave labor and recycle our clothes to get more usage out of them so fewer articles of clothing need to be produced by these slaves.
These are possible second steps, and though maybe they might not be that effective, doing something is definitely better than doing nothing.
There are definitely a few more steps that we can take besides just understanding. As Sam mentioned a little bit, the emergence of fair-trade chocolate has opened up a door for chocolate lovers, in particular those in the United States, to enjoy their sweets knowing that slave labor was not involved. Fair trade chocolate comes with the guarantee that all people involved in chocolate producing, especially farmers, are paid fairly for their product. However, this is still a questionable option. Although the farmers are paid fairly with their product, how are we guaranteed to know that they are using the extra profit to share with their laborers? There really is no way to regulate this, as we have learned from the past that slave owners prep their farms/factories when they are to be audited, so as to create the false impression that everyone is happily paid. In a different class, I watched a movie called China Blue. A documentary team went into a Chinese factory that used slave and child labor to make jeans and shoes for some very popular American clothing companies. They followed this one girl around for a few days, seeing her live in a room the size of a Penn State dorm room with 14 other girls, many of whom were 12 or younger. They watched her work 16 hour days for over a week straight. They watched her eat 2 meals a day, both consisting of just a small bowl of rice and noodles. Most of the workers were women, and all were coaxed into working there by the often false promises of payment. Some girls were paid, but only when the factory owner decided he had the money to do so. And after interviewing over a dozen girls, the team found that only 1 had been paid in the past year, and it was only for 1 months work. Anyway, I guess the point I am trying to make here is that slave labor is not just the only issue that exists in the world of the global economy right now, but child labor is also a huge issue. Back to what was talked about in class
To me step two is making an individual effort. If we go out with the mindset that we can change the world we will fall flat on our face. But if we go out with the mindset that we can change our part in the play of life we can make a change and an example for others to follow. If one person in a room claps the noise is relatively quiet but the people around them hear it. Then if everyone who heard that clap claps the noise will become much louder. This continues on until everyone claps in unison. The second step is to be the first to clap.
Honestly, I have no idea what the second step is. I left class on Thursday feeling the exact same way. I know we can just stop eating chocolate, but will that ever be enough? There has to be something else, but perhaps it comes with time—a world movement that causes a large scale change to be made. People should never have to work in slavery—those children worked for their “master” because they thought they were going to be paid, and then they weren’t—that should never happen. In a world like ours (and country like ours) unfortunately we are based off of a constantly consuming way of life. It will be hard to change the ways that American’s live their daily lives, truthfully, I think it might be impossible unless there is more awareness. Somehow, there needs to be an incident that is made very public, or a campaign or something (anything) that really gets to the hearts of everyone. I wish it was mandatory for every single person to take SOC119, because then maybe their views might be a little different. Step two will be hard to find, but hopefully in time, it will become clearer to see.
First off, I want to start my saying how shocked I am by something as common as chocolate being part of slavery. Everyone eats chocolate, so it is very sad to think that everyone in our country is contributing to the continuance of slavery. I feel horrible about consuming chocolate now, but I do not feel guilty just because I didn’t know about it.
I guess the second step would be for us to do as Sam has done. We need to spread the news. We need to tell our friends and family that they are contributing to slavery. This is necessary because most people aren’t aware, I wasn’t. It is crucial to tell people that even though they think slavery is wrong, they are a small reason why it still exists in other countries. Sam was right in saying that it is hard to completely give up slave-made products, especially because they are everywhere. Everyone uses a cell phone, every eats chocolate, and everyone buys cheap shirts from WalMart that some small child probably made for no money. It is almost impossible to give up all slave made products, so spreading the awareness is the next step. Maybe if most of our country’s citizens knew what they were “supporting,” we could sign a petition to turn these slaves into employees.
If more people were aware of the slavery in other countries, I do believe we could make change. We could threaten to boycott slave-made products so that slave owners are forced to pay their slaves. Instances like these are really where one person can make a difference. So it starts with us. Sam has relayed information unto us that we need to relay further. If Sam has taught us anything that would be to live our life. Part of living is trying to make the world a better place. Imagine if the world’s slavery began to decrease in our life time, we would all know that we had something to do with it. There isn’t anything much better than helping innocent people.
After reading Disposable People I do not see how anyone can sit back and watch slavery take place. In America we are so used to having opportunity at everything. I couldn’t imagine living in a place like Thailand where going to the grocery store is a risk in ending up in a brothel. I think that America has the power to create change in places that need help. We are rebuilding Iraq into a modern democracy; we are helping Haiti through their tragedy, why can’t we add a few more countries to the list? Having power shouldn’t just be an advantage in economics and warfare; we should be spreading peace throughout the world which does start with us. Tell everyone the news about slavery abroad. And let them know they can make a difference, that’s step 2.
I feel that the second step might be the hardest thing to do because it means that we would have to stop helping slavery flourish, and we may say that’s easy. How easy is it when everything we own was most likely a product made by a slave? How can we stop fueling slavery when slave made products are so popular. Before walking into that class I am pretty sure that many of us did not know that people had to live that way in order for us to enjoy something so trivial as chocolate. I think that if we all honestly wanted to do something about it we could stop eating that chocolate, and start eating fair trade chocolate. What about everything else made by a slave; are we going to also stop eating or using those things? This is why this step may be the hardest, and why it does not have a clear answer or solution.
I have to say that I agree with this rather strongly. After Thursday's class, it's quite obvious that even after reading Disposable People from cover to cover, slavery is something that is far more widespread than we thought. I mean, this is chocolate that we're talking about. Just like beer is to St. Patrick's Day or Christmas Trees are to Christmas, chocolate is to holidays like Easter and Halloween. Kids will agree to eat all of their vegetables at dinner just to get a piece of it, and yet we know so little of where it comes from. And I'm not talking about the trip to Hersey Chocolate World that many of us who are from PA take at least once. I don't know how many of us have actually stopped to think of exactly where it is that companies like Hershey and MARS get the chocolate, but I'm guessing it's close to none- myself included.
But now that we have this knowledge, although it's disturbing, it's definitely eye opening. When going to grab some dessert this evening, I couldn't help but to intentionally ignore the chocolate chip cookies simply because of what I had learned just yesterday. Although Sam said that we should all go ahead and "eat the second piece of chocolate because it's the only reasonable thing to do," I can't help but to become blank. It just doesn't seem fair that there can't be a 2nd step… I mean, I definitely understand that my decision to never eat non-fair trade chocolate would be about as effective as trying to reverse the direction of the wind just by sticking my tongue out at it, but I can't help the feeling inside of me that keeps saying that there IS something more that can be done by all of us. I hate the fact that it seems so impossible simply because that discourages others from getting involved and doing something, The same goes for the similar issue of the amount of slave labor that contributes to the other everyday things that we buy. Can we just stop consuming and using these things in a snap? Can we get others to see the same way that we now see? And if so, will they help to put make a dent in this horrible situation? I guess I'm just left wondering if I can do that very thing. I'm not positive that I know the final answer to that yet, but I do know that I can at least try it.
I feel that there is not really a step two. In order to change something about the way the world of slavery works would be to stop everything we as people in the world know. Sam has told us that in virtually everything we buy there are slave made parts, and yes that's awful but how do we stop it? Do I feel bad about it? Yes. Do I wish it were not that way? Yes. But just me feeling that way doesn't help the cause. There needs to be a movement. A world attempt to stop the issue, but that will never happen because most of the time the fact that goods are slave made is not advertised to the world for this exact reason.
I definitely think there is a step two, there has to be a step two or three or four, if we ever want to end slavery and unfair labor practices in the world. While I agree a good first step is recognition of the issue and hopefully feeling like slavery needs to end but step two is where it gets more difficult. I fell like there are so many possible second steps that sometimes individuals who have experienced the first step do not know which direction to go next. If a feasible second step governmentally based or personally based? I have come up with a few of my own second steps all of which are feasible but it shows just how many second options there are in order to end slavery and global inequality. And even if your second step is not what everyone else does to approves of I think it is important to remember that any step you take towards ending global slavery is in a positive direction.
It is easy to say that we will only buy fair trade items but often people do not follow through. So a second step may be to actually alter shopping patterns to reflect the belief that slavery should end. Whether it is consciously avoiding slave made goods or strictly buying fair trade items or just being aware and trying your best to avoid slave made items as much as possible, it is a small step towards to common goal. Or maybe the best next step to protest or raise awareness so that more people can be knowledgeable about the issue and free to make their own, personal second step towards eliminating slavery. After all the more educated people there are, the more people who take the first step of feeling some way about slavery and acknowledging the continued existence of slavery, the more people there would be able and willing to take the second step. Or perhaps the best second step would be in involve government officials, be it locally as USAS is doing on campus trying to get the university to adopt the DSP, or on a more large scale basis of state and national attention (although I think that a step of this magnitude may be more like a fourth or fifth step as opposed to personal changes that can be made, go ahead and think and act big about seconds steps!) If an entire governing body, regardless of size, supports anti-sweatshop groups and puts some sort of legislation or ban in place, many people would be affected and be a part in eliminating sweatshop labor even if they had not taken the first step of feeling something about the topic. So just me contemplating for a few minutes came up with several second steps. I think it most important no matter what the second step, no matter how small you may think it seems, is important to take.
I would also like to learn more about the the "next step" is helping to eliminate cocoa slavery, and all present day slavery for that matter. I think Sam was right in saying that the absolute first step to making a change is to learn and to realize the injustices. Without this SOC119 class I would have had zero idea of the horrible mistreatment of so many people to make goods that we access so easily. The book disposable people really opened my eyes to a lot of new and terrible things. What sticks out in my mind was the forced prostitution. Maybe it was because I'm a female in the same age category as the girls who were being used, so I could really see the damaging impact, but it made me really think and really have this anger and thankfulness. I could picture and imagine what was happening to these girls. The visualization really made all the difference. And so now the same goes for the young men along the Ivory Coast. When I watched the video and you could see the looks of devastation and pain along their faces, it really made you feel for them. And when they showed their scarred bodies, some still fresh and healing, it literally made me cringe. These kids were my age or younger and had been through so much hardship already. So the next step? I do not see how vowing not to eat chocolate anymore will really help. Or even saying that you will only eat the free range chocolate. Because honestly, I don't think that will happen. And by just one person stopping eating it, does not a huge difference either. I think the next step, is to further your education. And help the others around you do so as well. Starting programs and information sessions that will inform and introduce the issues to those ignorant about the issues. In my opinion, the biggest problem is the general public not knowing what they are buying into. You think of chocolate brands as happy and sweet and fun, especially the big companies who spend so much to market themselves that way, you don't associate them with African Slave labor. If more people knew about the issue on hand, the stronger the resistance would be. It's hard to sit there and watch such a devastating video and then not do anything and think about it later on. One person feeling something and trying to make a difference is great, but it will not solve any of the problems. Actions against slavery need to be done on a bigger scale, or the big name companies who are violating the rights of so many won't feel the need to change their practices.
I think it’s difficult to pinpoint a second step. Talking to my friends after class, we all agreed that if one individual did something such as stopped eating chocolate, not only would it be very challenging, but it wouldn’t end slavery. The only way I think it can end is if these industries shut down due to a lack of consumers. Even then it would be difficult to end because the companies would continue to move their factories around the world to new workers who would easily be taken advantage of and paid nothing for their work. Until these companies make zero profit, I don’t think there is a way to end slavery. It would be close to impossible for them to stop making profit, though. Slavery is embedded in so many industries that we would literally have to stop buying food and clothing in order to hurt the industries and help the slaves. Also, if you stop eating one food that is made from slave labor such as chocolate, you need to keep in mind that you are only focusing on one industry. When you eat a salad with lettuce and tomatoes, you are also eating foods that are rooted in slave labor. It’s kind of like what Sam talked about with picking and choosing what rules you follow of your religion. He said people who only follow some of the rules are hypocrites. I think that is similar for this topic. You can cut out one food, but you shouldn’t condemn others for eating it because other foods that you eat come from slaves. Basically, there really isn’t a way to turn away from all the products that are produced by slaves. We’d have to start growing everything on our own and make our own clothes. We can help by supporting companies who produce products that are not made by slaves such as FairTrade, but as far as ending modern slavery all together, I don’t see a way of doing so for now. With our lifestyles, we depend on many companies for technology, too. I’m sure if you trace some of the pieces needed to assemble our mp3 players or cell phones we’d see that they also come from slave labor. I think our society demands too much, and this has led to slavery. Companies need to produce mass quantities of everything to supply everyone’s desires, and therefore the products need to be made quickly. In order to produce this much, the companies need to hire cheap labor, but they often just choose to use slaves. If our world evolved to a slower pace of life, I think we could help free the slaves because they wouldn’t be needed to produce so much. However, I doubt we will be slowing our lifestyles anytime soon.
Yesterday’s class was pretty crazy. I knew once that video turned on it was going to be about harvesting cocoa. I have learned so much about Hershey Park and these companies using slavery to get chocolate made but I had never seen a video like this before. It was so powerful and emotional- to think that these young boys, who have NEVER even tasted chocolate, literally put their blood sweat and tears into gathering the beans. This is nuts. I want to be able to say ‘I don’t use any slave made products’ but it seems impossible. I even asked Sam, ok I’m letting this affect me, I want to be able to change my lifestyle what can I do? He had nothing to say, which disappointed me. I know he said letting this affect you is the first step, but I want more. It seems like there are so many, no, too many products out there with slavery made bits in them. Think about it, we cant cover our body in leaves like Adam and Eve and expect to grow our own food, build a new home with your own goods, etc. I cant possibly live my life like a caveman and still have a successful life without access to computers, phones, clothing, jobs, etc. At some point in everyone’s life- from newborn to senior citizen- we use products filled with slave made parts. Its sad to think about but buying Fair trade products will never truly be enough. I don’t have the power, let alone the money, to start my own slave-free clothing line or open my own store. I want to say I didn’t eat the second piece of chocolate but I would be lying. Its silly to ask me how I stomached the second piece but isn’t it obvious? I couldn’t make that kind of promise to Sam or the kids in that video. If I give up eating slave-made chocolate isn’t it still just as hypocritical that I own a cell phone with Malaysian slave parts? Or a cotton shirt made my slaves? Either way I am screwed, either way I am using products with slave made goods- but I cant do shit about it.
The question Katie asked was, “Is there a step two, and if there is, what is it.”
I myself was trying to figure out Professor Richards’ motivation or point in saying that the most important thing for the students to do is to “feel” …. To feel a connection to the people who are slaves, and to feel something “human”. Initially, right after he said that, I was reminded of what Anna Baltzer said at her speech Wednesday night at Penn State concerning the discrimination and segregation Palestinians have been experiencing by Israelis. She said writing to your congressman is not enough make the United States stop giving 10 million dollars a day to Israel for weapons which they are using to prevent Palestinians from living in their home, because it doesn’t do anything. Congressmen have proven to not take action when people complain. Baltzer said even “spreading the word” about the complete and utter injust the Palestinians face at the hands of American tax dollars is not enough to stop anything, because so what if everyone in America knew about the disgusting lifestyle Palestinians live in Israel, just because the Christians and Muslims are not Jewish. So what? She said, “The Palestinians don’t need your pity.” Bringing it back to Soc 119 and the slaves, I immediately thought, well step one, which is realizing what slaves go through and feeling a certain way about my quality of life being at the large expense of someone else’s pain, is patronizing. Just as the Palestinians don’t need American pity, (they need more than that) slaves need more than our pity and our understanding of the injust. So, initially, in that respect, I thought our professor was being a little sentimental and a little bit of a bleeding heart.
Then I thought though, that, no, there can be a step two, and that therefore understanding the plight of slaves, the affect consumers have on it, and getting people to feel passionate about stopping institutions from hurting our human brothers and sisters is important. Step two is action. It’s stepping out of your comfort zone. You can’t do that though, unless you achieve step one. You have to feel. You have to feel a connection to the people who are misled into slavery. You have to feel that that easily could have been you. That easily could have been your brother or father making cocoa. That could have been your sister or mother as a sex slave. You have to feel so angry with the companies who don’t look deep into their supply chains to see the lifestyle of the people who are doing the most labor intensive part of creating their high profits and high salaries. You have to feel angry with them for lying to you about how their products are made. You then must feel empowered by anger and be fearless. And you must pick a company. You must get thousands of people to embarrass this company for using slave labor to produce its goods. You have to get the media to tell the story of the slaves, of the profits that are made, of the extent companies go to distort the “ethics” of the company. You have to picket and protest the company. You have to get billboards showing the American people that companies are forcing you to have little choice in buying something which is not touched by slavery. It’s just one. One company. You have to make the aroma so toxic that the one company you embarrass, with the support of many people and with the support of the media, will have no option but to either cut profits and million dollar CEO salaries to pay the workers, or shut down. Other companies will follows suit and perhaps congress may make it illegal for American companies to use slave labor in its products.
Step two is the hard one. It is in fact, the one which requires you stepping out of your comfort zone. And it requires feeling the connection of step one to the people who are slaves. But wouldn’t you want someone to take that step for you?
This is a good question, to me I think people should first follow step one. If the majority of the people actually felt something about it, and realized that we are one of the main countries that is taking advantage of these people then maybe we can move on to another step. But as of right now people first have to realize what is actually happening in the world, and who is causing this, if we continue to want lower prices on our goods without understanding how companies keep these low prices there will be no way companies will make changes. If people realize that we are supporting slavery at many times, and supporting people who are working below the minimum wage I don’t think many people would support low prices, but instead would want companies to be fair and not support slavery. Sam by bringing out the chocolates made many of us realize that we are supporting slavery in a indirect way, and now that we know what chocolate companies like Hershey’s is doing is it going to stop us from buying their product? I guess this is step one first realizing that people are being done wrong, and as we find out about the what companies are doing, are we actually going to not support them or will we be ignorant and say what difference does one person make. If people follow the first step, then I think the next step would be to spread the word out to people and try to make a change against having people being slaves just so we can live our comfortable lifestyle.
I agree with you Mullabhai, I believe that it is very important for people to first realize exactly what the situation is, before getting emotional and trying to "do something about it", like Sam said. People often see a video like the one that Sam showed and start thinking about what they can do to prevent things like that happening. Sure, that is the right way to think about it, because I'm sure none of us are intentionally supportive of slavery, so to speak, but like Sam said, the point is to "feel" first, just to see where you stand. It's a good idea to understand how everything works first, the economics of the whole situation, and why it is so difficult to change the situation overnight. Is that video going to make us stop buying chocolates? Is it stop going to make us stop eating chocolate? How much, and what, will change because of that video is unclear, because I'm sure that people have various opinions about the whole thing. I think that the "first step" that Sam talks about is probably the best that we can do, just to see how we strongly we feel about it, take everything into consideration, and then, if required, go on to the second step, if such a thing exists.
A lot of people are saying that the next step is to do something about it – to help stop slavery, to support fair-trade business, etc. But I don’t think that this is feasible for a second step. EVENTUALLY, yes. It is absolutely a vital, and probably the most important step. But I think that the true second step is to gain knowledge. Many people just went through the first step yesterday – FEELING something. But before you can go out and conquer slavery, you need to know more about it. It doesn't end with chocolate — you can't just assume that you know everything about slavery that goes on in the world just by watching this one video. Research everything. Where it happens, what causes it, what its goals are, what has the potential to end it, what it produces, and on and on. Only then, when you know the root of it, can you really and truly put a STOP to it. Knowledge without action may be dangerous, but action without knowledge is just plain stupid.
Well, if the first step is acknowledging the information that is presented to you and accepting it as the truth, then the second step should be making a decision about how you feel about that. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to take any action; it simply means that you have to take a stance on the situation. There is no right or wrong decision either. If you really are uncomfortable with eating chocolate after seeing that movie then you have to figure out what that means to you. Maybe it just means you need to buy fair trade chocolate, and maybe it means that you have to stop eating chocolate entirely. If you thought that it sucks for the slaves but doesn’t really affect you then your next step would be really simple…you decide to eat any chocolate you want.
It’s difficult to say what the next step would be in fixing the problem with slavery in the modern world. Obviously there is a large problem with slavery and it still exists today in large numbers. Who is to say what the best option is to fix the problem with slavery? I think what needs to be done is a tough call. Maybe the government could provide some companies with money to counter the low costs of cheap labor and slave labor. To take place of the people who are working for nothing, the government could give these companies money so that they could pay a little bit more for the labor.
The next step? We gotta get the first step done with first. No one knows about this stuff that's happening elsewhere in the world. I try telling a few of my family members and none of them had a clue. We have to spread the knowledge of this beast of a problem so that people out there with money that are trying to find a cause see this and act. I kinda wish I could go James Bond on these sweatshops and slavery plantations and free these people. Just go ape shit on some of these "masters" and free as many people as possible. I'd give a stack of money and a map to each, enough to get home and get a life started A more realistic approach might be to take some money to the big corporations and offer to split the losses they would incur as a result of a company wide product price increase. If we just pay something small like one dollar more per item, this whole thing could be solved. More money would flow down the stream. Then we'd just have to make certain that the owners of the sweatshops dish out what is owed to there laborers, or else we'll cut them off completely. As long as this low-cost frenzy continues this will only get much worse. We have to up the anti to adjust to the cost of living for these poor people who give their lives for our habits. That seems to be step 5 at this point. Step two is telling everyone we know everything we've learned- everytime we see a common slave made product. Inform them and protest the use of anything coming from these places. It's gotta start there. We consumers are so ignorant of what we're dong its sickening. I plan on doing this forever. I already sent out an email of commonly used products and common corporations that refuse to do things right. Seriously though, If all else fails, I'm going rambo on these assholes till they're all free or until I die. Lets start something sweet like CMFAS and see what kind of response we get. (crazy mother fuckers against slavery) If we don't threaten these governments and sweatshop owners with ether death or boycott, its never going to end as long as civilization exists. Its so shitty though. I was sitting in class watching that movie about the cocoa slaves and some deushe bag across the aisle was sitting there the whole time laughing and giggling like a two year old on his cell phone. Dude was pathological and it really worries me that there's a huge population of shitty people like that who are preventing this thing from ending.
The issue of slavery is very difficult to grasp because of its enormity. And with any issue of this size it’s hard to encourage people to take action because the extent of the problem is numbing. People feel incompetent to create a movement, and individuals become anonymous in the masses and feel powerless. In order for anyone to see significant change in the slave trade I do think the first step is to acknowledge that slavery exists. I think many people are still in denial about the existence of slavery – we were taught in history class that slavery was this awful trade that existed in the beginning stages of America but we ended that. And with the help of Martin Luther King Jr., blacks were able to receive all their rights. Unfortunately our classes forgot to mention to us that slavery still exists and on a more global level than before. As a side note, I think it’s natural for humans to want to believe the best in situations rather than the worst. So obviously we would ignore those crazy people who contradict those history lessons.
Back to step one for a second. Think about it, if we all made an oath to spread the reality of slavery to our clubs, friends, families, work places, and homes that’s a pretty significant amount of people whose eyes would be opened. And in all those people if there are a few who feel inspired to join organizations to actively fight slavery, great! Knowledge is a great tool though, very effective to starting movements.
As for step two, I think it should be interpreted as a personal calling. One of the easiest things to do would be to only purchase the free trade products that we talked about in class. Other options would be to join movements that are already invested in ending slavery. Groups like USAS (United Students Against Sweatshops – not quite slavery but very close to it), IJM (International Justice Mission), Free the Slaves and a bunch of other groups. The three ways to join them would be with your money, time, or talents. Clearly one’s involvement in these organizations is dependent on their time and how much they can give to help a movement like this. And if you feel led to, why not start a movement yourself? Who knows what your future is meant to be and if there’s a strong desire in you to end the injustice, maybe your voice is the voices that needs to be heard to bring and end to slavery.
Keep in mind that every little thing counts. “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” (James Baldwin).
Coming out of that last race relation’s class I felt as though most of the things I did and have always believed in got turned upside down. I tend to think of myself as a good person, I help out at a nursing home, I’m going to Haiti in May and I donate to all causes. As I came out of that class, some of my friends greeted me, and I explained to them how I was feeling and the things we had learned. But they couldn’t understand how phased I was by everything I had learned. They said things like “well, it’s not my fault they’re slaves” and told me to stop thinking about it.
But how can I stop thinking about how absolutely privileged my life is, and how I have and probably will in the future exploit others to get the things I need. I’m not the wealthiest of people, but I have all that I need in life, yet I find myself wanting a new phone, a new shirt etc etc etc. Why is it that society has become so materialistic that some people can actually believe that money brings you happiness.
I hate that everything sam says seems to go in one ear and out the other for some people. I like to think that I understand what he’s saying, and although yes it’s difficult to stop the slavery in the world there are so many little things we can do to better the lives of others.
I think Sam is right, the first step is to acknowledge that the shirt from Abercrombie that you’re wearing is most likely a slave made good. When you can admit that in your head you are at least recognizing the pain and suffering that went into your cute new outfit. This can then make the slave’s work at least somewhat worthwhile, knowing that we can appreciate their work.
The second step, is to spread the word, so others can acknowledge the truth behind every commodity that we have as Americans. Although only wishful thinking, spreading the word would lead to less ignorant Americans and more educated ones who will wish to do something to stop the suffering being endured in these countries. Hopefully then these Americans will unite, and picket against Hershey, and Wal Mart and every other slave using producer out there and they will have no choice but to fulfill the wishes of the consumer.
I know the second step is unlikely to happen. But to acknowledge something of that magnitude within ourselves is a step in the right direction. It can get us out of the “me me me” mentality and into an open mind and heart that care about the billions of people in the world who only wish to have a simple mattress, or maybe some socks for their kids, things we take for granted. I know I am ranting, and I know Sam was ranting too. But it seems that not many understand the point being tried to get across because they are too focused on themselves and how they feel to remember the people who have helped us have what we have and get where we are.
In reality, there is no step two. I have come to this conclusion, as difficult as it was. I have accepted that even though I drink from a reusable water bottle, buy organic/fair trade coffee, and make an effort to buy American made clothes, I will always obtain a product that was made by a slave. And if you want to feel better about yourself and your effect on the world, then you can go out of your way to buy organic/fair trade things. I am not being a cynic and saying there is anything at all wrong with that. I feel better about buying organic/fait trade products. But the fact is that in most things there are fractions of slave labor and people who aren’t getting fair wages or working in awful conditions. Practically every technological product on the market is made in countries like India or China. The things we “need” as Americans are no doubt going to be touched by a slave before they reach our doorstep.
No matter what there are going to be people buying things as cheap as they can because they have to save as much money as possible. Even though our poorest population in America is better off than two-thirds of the world, we still feel the need to save money where we can. And that includes a dollar or two on a pound of coffee and even 25 cents on a bar of chocolate. Imagine the video of the Ohio woman who worked at Burger King being asked to buy more expensive products based on their origin. She would not be able to afford it, even though to many the difference seems miniscule and almost insane that you wouldn’t after watching the video about the boys in the Ivory Coast.
There is no doubt that Americans, including myself, reap the benefits of others misfortunes and hard work. I love chocolate. I love almonds. I drink coffee and I eat shrimp. I truly wish there was a way to turn it around but don’t think that buying fair trade products is enough. People are always going to want to make the largest profit. Some people are always going to consider themselves higher than others. People are always going to prefer imported coffee beans, wines, cocoa, etc, over United States grown products. As much as we all wish there was a way to make a difference, there isn’t.
It’s interesting too that if we tried to steer away from many of these products cultivated and/or produced by slaves, we would doing the environment a huge favor, as well. Think about the amount of energy that would be saved when distribution got cut. And then furthermore the amount of money companies would save on distribution costs. Those savings alone could go straight to the workers in the fields and create a decent living for them. I think the only way for this type of slavery to end is if we all became content with the goods and services near us. And we all know that will never happen.
There are definitely a few more steps that we can take besides just understanding. As Sam mentioned a little bit, the emergence of fair-trade chocolate has opened up a door for chocolate lovers, in particular those in the United States, to enjoy their sweets knowing that slave labor was not involved. Fair trade chocolate comes with the guarantee that all people involved in chocolate producing, especially farmers, are paid fairly for their product. However, this is still a questionable option. Although the farmers are paid fairly with their product, how are we guaranteed to know that they are using the extra profit to share with their laborers? There really is no way to regulate this, as we have learned from the past that slave owners prep their farms/factories when they are to be audited, so as to create the false impression that everyone is happily paid. In a different class, I watched a movie called China Blue. A documentary team went into a Chinese factory that used slave and child labor to make jeans and shoes for some very popular American clothing companies. They followed this one girl around for a few days, seeing her live in a room the size of a Penn State dorm room with 14 other girls, many of whom were 12 or younger. They watched her work 16 hour days for over a week straight. They watched her eat 2 meals a day, both consisting of just a small bowl of rice and noodles. Most of the workers were women, and all were coaxed into working there by the often false promises of payment. Some girls were paid, but only when the factory owner decided he had the money to do so. And after interviewing over a dozen girls, the team found that only 1 had been paid in the past year, and it was only for 1 month’s work. Anyway, I guess the point I am trying to make here is that slave labor is not just the only issue that exists in the world of the global economy right now, but child labor is also a huge issue. Back to what was talked about in class; there was also a suggestion from a classmate who said that we need to work on getting the university to buy only non sweat shop made clothing. I have seen some of the rallies in front of Old Main, and it is good to see how passionate some of our students are about the subject. So, it looks like there are a few options that we can employ as step 2, so really the choice is up to us. But as I said in a past post, I believe that nothing will change, because slavery is just a part of the capitalist economy that we Americans love.
After being aware that the issue exists I think there is a clear second step. I think the second step would be telling others about these issues. Explaining to your family and friends that this exists and hoping they tell someone about it too. Writing a blog response to the issue, or posting something about what you learned on facebook or twitter. Keeping these issues, and what you know inside is not helping anyone. Raising awareness happens fastest when it extends off a tree of communication. I feel the more people are aware, and the more they are educated, the more they can make educated decisions.
I don’t think that people thought there is a step two I think we just don’t what to do because we all want to stop this but we would have to do some really serious work like talking billions of people working together to stop it. I think that people see that as impossible because we would never get all the help we need to stop this. I think that everyone would love to help but it’s just something you have to look so deep into with so much work and you would need a lot of time as well too and like over a 20 year life span to completely free all the slaves and this may still not do anything.
I am not quite sure that there is a second step. Although the video was extremely effective in raising awareness for us that this type of thing is going on, I think maybe the only other thing we could do is to write to major chocolate companies asking that if they use plantations such as the one shown in the documentary, that they make sure that these things aren’t happening there. It would be nearly impossible for a person to go through life and only purchase products that did not contain materials or ingredients that were not touched at some point by slaves. It would be a perfect world if we could do that, but I think the public needs to make the companies aware that we are aware of what is going on and are not okay with it.
I’m inclined to believe that there is not so much of a “second step” as much as there is a series of things people can do when presented with this problem. But before any of these steps occur, I feel like one needs to legitimately follow step one (recognize the slavery issue and take it seriously) first. Assuming that people do this, I think there are several important things to do that make up “step two.” With the second step, the world can come much closer to a place where slavery is truly in the past.
The first thing people can do is share their newfound thoughts and feelings with the people around them. We communicate with friends, family, classmates, teachers, and other people on a daily basis. What if we each picked one person to share our thoughts with? I’m certainly not advocating that people preach endlessly to others (unless you feel inclined!). But what if each of us talked about it with a parent, sibling, or friend? Once they know, then they can begin the first step and begin to think about the impact of slavery on daily life. If things go well, then they can share their thoughts with people they know, and a network of informed people can begin to grow.
The second thing that can make up “step two” in this process is contacting local politicians about the issue at hand. When a good sized group of people become informed about an injustice then contacting their representative would be the next logical thing to do. Nothing can really be done unless representatives bring the issue to Washington DC. It probably seems like a daunting task to bring up, and the news about chocolate companies blocking such a discussion is disheartening to hear, but if enough people use their voices then maybe people will finally listen.
A third thing people can do is simple; make more conscious decisions when buying products. There are many slave tainted products and industries out in the world, from metals to clothing to precious stones. But if people consciously look out for “free trade” products, then they can be assured that the product they bought was fairly bought and sold from the place of origin to the stores. It might take some more searching or some more money to buy, but in the end you are contributing to a greater cause by not buying products manufactured by slaves.
In the video we saw this week with the slaves from the Ivory Coast, one of the freed slaves makes the claim that eating chocolate was like “eating his flesh.” I never thought of the impact I had made when consuming these products, but it has at least gotten me to think about the issue for the first time. It’s an excellent first step, and the previous steps I mentioned can make up an excellent second step as well.
So slavery has been around for, well pretty much forever. We made slavery illegal in the United States in the 1800s and I do not know of any place in the world where slavery is actually legal. But considering the book we read and the lecture about slavery, there is still slavery in the world. Everywhere that there is slavery in the world, those slave holders are breaking the law. And bearing in mind that almost every good or item we buy in the United States is made in some part by a slave, we are supporting this slavery. And because slavery is illegal, but by buying a Hershey’s chocolate bar at the grocery store and supporting cocoa slavery, we are essentially breaking the law where slavery became illegal in the United States…right? Well, I guess since every person who has ever bought a chocolate bar in their life is not in jail, I guess people do not really see it that way. The book we read said there are about 27 million slaves in the world today, when slavery is illegal. So, 27 millions slaves, but it is illegal, how do we stop it? Well, can we even stop it? We can take the first step as Sam said and open people’s eyes and make them realize that slavery did not stop in the 1800s and it is very prevalent in a person’s everyday life in 2010. I mean, after reading the Bales book, it really opened my eyes. But I am only me, what can I do to make a difference in the world of slavery today? What could be my second step? Well, I think my second step would be to start buying fair trade items when I can. Obviously I will not be able to buy absolutely everything fair trade, but I can start out with coffee. I have to say I am a coffee addict and because of this I am supporting slavery. But if I just take a second look next time I am at the grocery store and make an effort to find fair trade coffee, then I will feel a little better about my morning coffee routine. I know I will not be able to stop shopping at the malls where none of the clothing is made in the United States; I know it is made my sweat shop workers in different parts of the world, but where else am I supposed to get clothing? I feel as though to get all of this slavery around the world to cease to exist would mean for the United States to completely stop importing and only make their products in the United States, which would never happen. Companies want to drive down prices, so to keep the consumer happy. And if the United States would make everything in the United States, prices would raise sky high. I think slavery today is just a vicious circle of consumer wants and needs and because of this, it will not stop for anyone.
I think the second step would have to do with your individual consumption. There were slides at the beginning of class when students were still coming in with maps of the world. I remember one map represented toy consumption and it was clear the United States imported tons more toys then any other nation. Sam was also talking about the earpiece he bought, poking fun at how he spent a large amount of money even though it was not really necessary. We are so driven as Americans to consume. We always want more tangible objects. If the culture of America were to become less obsessed with things, there would be less need to produce so much in other countries, which could reduce the need for such an amount of slaves. Everyone can do that in an individual manner by just asking before you buy something if you really need it. I think the amount we all buy and consume could be drastically drastically reduced.
The second step is definitely difficult, mainly because the world is so interconnected. To simply stop purchasing things is not the right solution. I mean think about it, if the market collapsed for a particular good, then the people working in these terribly conditions would no longer have jobs. What’s worse a terrible job or no job? And what does ending a market do for the rooted problem. Since we all need food it would be almost impossible to stop buying everything that was produced in unfair conditions, so stopping some production doesn’t do very much to fix the problem. Instead as consumers we can demand products from fair working conditions. Buying fair trade is an easy way first step to demanding better food, without flesh in the product. But buying fair trade may not be far enough, there needs to be people who are regulating exactly how fair trade is defined. Without regulation fair trade could easily become an abused label. In other words for fair trade to really be fair we need to regulate so that the percentage that goes back to the farmers in ensured.
With considering the reality of the U.S. culture I think the second step is not to end consumerism, but instead demand better quality goods produced in better conditions. Sure consuming less should also be incorporated into the solution, but with the culture of the U.S. that will be a slow progression. People from the United States will not be happy to work towards better working conditions around the work. Sure initially I would hope that no one would want to consume things made in slave conditions, but when the bill comes around and people do not see the suffering that occurs people will not be happy. Basically people may need to pay more for the things they buy. I doubt if many people in the U.S. would even care that people in the global south are suffering in order to fuel our consumerism.
The important thing here is that people are talking about these issues. Every time we make a purchase we are voting. In a capitalistic society, we vote without money. So to start buying products like fair trade items that are made in better conditions the demand increases. And when the demand increases the supply needs to be increased. It is comparable to the green movement, people started talking about global warming and consumers started to care and now there are many green options. But, we must be careful that even as products change to contain less flesh we need to make sure that things are indeed better and not just an extra sticker on a product. Ultimately we need to keep questioning things.
I think that the second step should be creating awareness. If we really want this terrible cycle to end then we need to inform people that the products they are buying are produced by slaves. I feel like if more people were aware of this then they would not be so open to buying these types of products. Sam said that people need to get a “feeling” in order to make a difference. Well I definitely got the “feeling” after watching this video. We need to get other people to get that same feeling and then maybe some changed will start to happen.
Accepting the fact that many of the items we consume each day are the products of slave labor is a great first step in putting an end to modern day slavery. However, we need to follow up with a second step, and I think Sam started to mention something along the lines of supporting those companies that strictly forbid the production and distribution of slave made items. If enough interest was shown towards these businesses and away from those who sell slave products, all companies may start to lean in that direction. However, people are going to realize that this means inflated prices on goods, but how much is you freedom worth to you? How much would be willing to pay to live your life the way it is right this moment?
Education, Education, Education! As consumers we are very powerful and we become even more powerful as we grow in numbers. We grow in numbers by spreading the word or educating consumers. I believe there are many consumers who just do not really understand where and how their products are made. I also believe that once consumers have the knowledge, they will respond empathetically and chose to purchase products from companies whom conduct business in ethical ways. Once we have the knowledge we are more likely to purchase products that have the “Fair Trade” logo. As the businesses that participate in the Fair Trade program become more successful the more they will market the idea (which spreads the education – what an excellent idea for those of us who are majoring in Marketing). Hopefully, these businesses become more successful than those businesses that purchase their supplies through slave trade organizations. This will force these businesses to compete and change their ways.
Secondly, as the consumers (United States tax payers) become more educated, taxpayers will begin to advocate more for public policies that demand businesses to operate ethically. This will likely spread like wildfire through the other nations. It will also serve as a strong warning to the slave trade organizations that if they do not change their ways, they will lose a lot of their profits making slavery a thing of the past.
Education in nations where slavery is encouraged or supported is also important. This helps individual people to make wiser decisions. Hopefully with education, those who are tricked in to slavery will diminish – they will be wise to it and not allow themselves to be “tricked”. Unfortunately, as we read in “Disposable People” some people are born into slavery and sometimes they are kidnapped into slavery. It is these people who need help from us the consumers making slave made products less profitable. With the help of sociologists, counselors and humanitarian aid organizations we should be able to help with new ways of producing the same products in a more healthy way.
I see at least two problems with this theory. First, for us as consumers it will be difficult to stick to our guns in buying all the products we need from Fair Trade participating manufactures and resist the temptation of buying what is cheap. Secondly, this all will take a lot of time and time is not something slaves have to give while we wise up. How many lives will be loss and/or destroyed before we solve a problem that has existed since the beginning of time.
Step two is Government cracking down hard on corporations who contribute to the problem, they are the people to blame, they made the choice to buy slave coffee or chocolate beans, they made the choice to move their production facilities to India or Thailand where they can pay people next to nothing or nothing at all. This idea that the free market is all knowing and that regulation will bankrupt America is ridiculous. The lack of government regulations has aloud these companies to run wild. A business's main objective is to make money, they don't care how they do it, that's why the government or essentially us have too.
I think that step two is a step that people aren’t expected to take. I think that it is something that requires you to take action to try and liberate these slaves. But something like that would take so much for a person to accomplish that it really isn’t something that people would consider doing and therefore not considered a step. You could ask many people who are in step one if they would travel to these plantations and do whatever it took to free the slaves, but I think that they would try finding another and safer way to do that, yet less effective. There isn’t much stopping us from doing that other than determination and our own greed for a candy that we apparently think is more worthy than the lives of innocent people.
Karl Marx believes that slavery is an inevitable stage all cultures pass through. I won’t dive into thoroughly, but check it out here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx%27s_Historical_... All of the stages can be traced through the history of the majority of modern European nations and our own. The United States is currently in the Capitalism stage but is falling into the Socialism stage that is currently crushing Europe.
My point is that slavery may very well be inevitable for a period of time within each society as it grows. Societies begin very basically with few members who all work together just to survive. As soon as the society grows, and the means of production of goods grow slavery almost ALWAYS occurs. Human greed causes the members of these growing societies to no longer be satisfied with a few personal possessions. They begin to desire a larger stock of private property and the means of acquiring private property. Slavery is by far the easiest and fastest way to accumulate private property and wealth. A few generations later the society takes a giant leap of morality and bans slavery. After slavery there is feudalism, in which the former slaves remain at the bottom of the class hierarchy. They work for little to nothing and often do not have much better lives than they had before, but they are free. Eventually feudalism gives way to capitalism as feudalistic systems have the tendency to limit production. Capitalism allows for uncontrolled growth. Workers are the farthest from slaves yet to exist, and receive wages in a competitive, open market. In the free market economy, monopolies tend to emerge as single corporations become the most successful manipulators of their trade. These monopolies cause the corporation to become ever greedier, as their immense size allows them to control every aspect of the economic niche they exist in. They eventually get so big (Walmart) that they can order their suppliers around like employees, and pay their employees next to nothing.
This is approximately where we are currently in the United States. The lower and middle class are the largest in number and have been beaten down by monopolistic corporations for so long that left wing economic terrorist Obama has been permitted to take the throne and wreak havoc. I say wreak havoc because this where the systems cease to progress. Socialism fails because it does not permit an outlet for human greed to flourish.
My point is Slavery is an inevitable step in the progress of a society. By eating the chocolate you are promoting progress, not the other way around. Every society goes through this stage. There will be a revolt, followed by feudalism, followed by capitalism, followed by fools who think socialism will actually work.
On eating the second piece of chocolate I wouldn’t worry about people that ate it as much as people that don’t want to take any initiative after hearing this topic and seeing the video. They could be in the same grouping but that is not the point I am trying to make. I didn’t eat the second piece of chocolate only because I don’t like chocolate very much. I don’t think that I should be grouped into those people that would eat the chocolate that this girl is creating because I do want to make a difference about this. I feel the need to get out into the world and away from this bubble that is Penn State. That is what people often say. This Happy Valley bubble. But I think of it more as a United State bubble or a United States and Europel bubble. We have the great opportunity to abroad during our college experience. I think of it as one time where we can actually go experience the world. The world where the poorer population of American’s makes more than the average of another country. And instead of studying abroad in South America or somewhere in Africa a lot of Penn State students study in places like Barcelona or Seville. Places with booming night life. In these place they can stay in there bubble. I have trouble understanding how people can bad their experience abroad on night life. I want to go somewhere that I can see how the rest of the world is. I have trouble understanding how I can be sitting here typing on my thousand dollar computer when there are thousands of families on this earth than cannot afford a meal tonight that costs thirty cents. This is something that we should be concerned about. A lot of people criticize Sam, but I think they misunderstand him. The difference between us and Sam is the basis of human nature in contrast with the brain wash of society. He basically tells us what is human and shows us how society has pulled us away from it. Why are we so worried about how we compare to our neighbor when we could compare ourselves to a slave in Ghana. Living without option paid nothing, forced to work or punished by death. I completely understand what Sam said last class where if we believe in a God that will judge us, he isn’t going to compare us to someone in the same state as us, but more likely anyone on earth. There are so many people out there that need our help. We are fortunate enough to be put in this situation to help them, so why not. What are we waiting for.
Yesterday’s class burned. It burned deep. I guess that’s what Sam wanted when he said he wanted us to feel something. So I’ve gotten that part down. And then I decided just knowing about this wasn’t my last step. I’ve known about a lot of unjust things happening in the world, but they were too ugly, so I ignored them. One time I told a friend I wouldn’t work for Phillip Morris because they had to be heartless to see such a terrible product as tobacco. Then my friend said, “You eat M&Ms right? You know Mars? Well they use child labor. That’s pretty bad too.” I had heard the words but it didn’t register or invoke a response to change. But this time, I just couldn’t ignore what I had seen. And I’m at a much different stage in my life. I have to do something more. So I decided to look at what other people were doing. This blog entry summarized my sentiments almost exactly. So I decided to share, and maybe someone else will be inspired to do more research, and become a better world citizen.
I confess: I have a chocolate addiction. The idea of living without chocolate is abhorrent to me.
I’ve also known about the involvement of abusive child labor in chocolate production for a few years, and I’m going to admit for the first time that I flat out ignored it because I didn’t want to stop eating chocolate. But there’s something about knowing that children are being beaten and abused just so that I can satisfying a caffeine-craving that seems morally off to me.
I wanted to write about whether avoiding this is something I can realistically ask of other people and realistically ask of myself. Because I know I am not going to stop eating chocolate.
The first bit of research I did was not encouraging. The chocolate companies that were listed as fair trade and slave-free were all companies that I had never heard of before. I’m sure they make delicious chocolate, but there is something about a familiar chocolate bar that really satisfies my cravings.
Furthermore, how can I possibly suggest to you that you should make out a list of names of these chocolate bars so that the next time you have a desire for chocolate, you can pull it out and spend hours looking for these uncommon names? There is nothing satisfying about that scenario.
And ask you to remember the names without a list? Don’t worry – I’m not that crazy. We all have enough important things to remember, without unfamiliar chocolate bars added on.
So I looked some more. What I found was a website called Better World Shopper that has listings of companies that make all kinds of products and ranks them according to five key issues: the environment, human rights, animal protection, community involvement and social justice.
I looked up the chocolate companies for you and some of the companies they rate are quite well-known. I list the ratings at the end of the article.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that Fair Trade certified chocolate – which is different than the ratings by Better World Shopper – is widely available.
In order to get Fair Trade certification, the producer has to meet rigorous production and trade standards and commit to them long-term. The specifics of these standards can be found athttp://transfair.ca/ andhttp://www.transfairusa.org. You can look up local stores that sell Fair Trade certified chocolate on the Fair Trade websites with your zip or postal code.
Also, some large corporations that are known for carrying Fair Trade products at some, if not all locations include: Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops (chocolate ice cream), Costco, Loblaws, Price Chopper, Sam’s Club, Ten Thousand Villages and Wal-Mart.
So, there are a lot of options for buying chocolate without supporting a system of child slavery. There’s no reason for us to turn our heads when we hear about the horrors of cocoa production, and it isn’t necessary to compile lists of strange, unheard-of chocolates just to satisfy that chocolate-y urge.
I would say that the second step is obvious, to act on the feeling. Yes, he did kind of stop at just feeling something for the slaves, but at the same time he also offered ways to act on the feeling. For example, he showed that there are fair trade goods available on the market to purchase. Goods that you know did not involve that kind of slavery. Yes, it may be harder to find, and yes in some cases (although not all as Sam said) it will be more expensive, but if you care, it is definitely worth the effort. In addition to this, thinking back about the story of the woman who Sam made an oath to, one of the best ways to act on this tragedy is to educate others about it. I am certain that most people in the class were unaware, like myself, about the slavery situation in our world. Sam is doing his very best to make sure that it changes, but he can only teach so many students in his lifetime. As his students who care, our responsibility and the second step is to educate our friends and families about the situation. This way, we can get them to care about the situation, to feel something as Sam has made us feel something. That way, it is more likely that they too will take the second step, it is more likely that they will begin to purchase fair trade goods and then educate others around them about the situation too. The more that people are aware of it, the more effort those involved will put in not to be caught, but maybe some of them will be so threatened that they will stop. Also if somehow most of the world began to buy fair trade goods, perhaps the people involved in the slavery business will no longer be able to afford to run their business. It is the ripple effect that we should look for. Like the movie, Pay it Forward. If every single student in Sam's class is able to tell three other people in their life about what is going on and those three people tell three different people about it, eventually, word will spread enough that slavery has a chance of being stopped. So my answer is, first of all feel something like Sam said, then second of all, act on it. Begin buying only fair trade goods, and then educate people about what he has taught you.
The thing is there is no steps, there is nothing we can do about it, the whole world has to stop buying chocolate so the slaves might be free , and even then they will try to find a different business so the slaves can work on. I mean imagine if the whole world stops eating chocolate and the slave owner has 100 some slaves that need to be useful, he will probably find something else for them, not even that, he would use them for a lot of things, there is obviously no solution unless we all act together which is impossible.
There is of course a second step. But until we can complete step one, there can be no way to move on. Like he said in class, everyone has to really understand what is going on. We need to spread the knowledge of what we know from the class to others, so we can make everyone fully aware of what is going on in the world today. Most people, even me before I enrolled in this class, are blissfully unaware and completely ignorant of the horrible actions going on thousands of miles away. So until everyone knows about the situation, we will not be able to act on step two– taking action.
There are many things we could do to show our disagreement towards slavery. One of the "second steps" could be, joining organizations that are directly fighting against this issue. We need to give our support to this organizations that are constantly trying to change the status quo. It is not easy to start an organization like that, but it is really easy for us to just become part of those things that already exist. I googled anti slavery and I saw many websites that had to do with organizations, and groups of activists. It is not hard to get into these groups and take your second step. All of you should join one of those groups.
While many of us will not feel so strongly to become activist or fight for a cause, we all singlehandedly have the ability to choose where our chocolate comes from. That class was education and our decision to pick up fair trade chocolate over a cheap bar of 'human flesh' is not merely a step but the right thing to do.
I think that realization is the first step and probably the easiest. For me, my guess about the second step would be education. I think we need to educate ourselves about where certain products are made and who makes them. I think everyone could make this effort. However, this step could also be hard because people have to want to learn about this and educate themselves. While I realize this is only a small step, we can make at least some sort of difference if everyone commits to making the effort. But the question is will people actually make the effort? I think we should.
I agree that the realization of people whether they are the consumers, or the businesses who somehow are indirectly involved with slave-made product is indeed the first step. Understanding is important in this situation because many people don't think much about why one price is so much cheaper compared to another. The second step doesn't necessarily have to be a boycott or an outlaw style action step. It could be geared towards spreading awareness to chocolate companies and maybe thinking of ideas to avoid or prevent slave made products from entering our markets. But in this step, one also needs to understand capitalism and how a low price normally beats out moral values in most situations as this was also mentioned in our class discussion.
I think there is step two that is achieved through not endorsing any of these acts of slavery by not purchasing any of the goods made by slaves but I’m not sure how realistic it is for someone to truly achieve this. From the list that Sam put up that included all of the products that are obtained through slavery, I just feel as if it would be very hard for someone not to use any of these products. Maybe we just have to take baby steps. An example of a baby step would be how Sam only eats fair trade chocolate or one of my friends did not get a big rock for an engagement ring because she does not agree with the child slaves who mine diamonds. By taking these small steps to eliminate using certain products and informing others why you are doing this, it would make a huge difference in the end.
The most obvious thing that comes to your mind is to simply outlaw doing business with any place that uses slave labor, or that cannot be shown to provide fair wages. Of course the common response is that doing so will leave these people in even worse shape than they are now. "They NEED American dollars to grow their economies!" "The alternative to what they do now is death or worse!"
These arguments probably make a lot of sense, and I can't claim to have a great understanding of the economics or reality of the situation, but I can't help but detect a bit of denial and hypocrisy in this type of response. If you make this argument, would you agree that slavery would be acceptable in the United States if our economy collapsed? Would you be fine with repealing laws that say one person cannot own another? If you would, you might be able to maintain your position, but I have a feeling most people would be against allowing slavery in the US under ANY circumstances.
If that's the case, why do you support it elsewhere in the world? Does the imaginary line that separates one country from another allow us to make exceptions? Why did putting it in perspective of the US give you more of a moral dilemma in the pit of your stomach than when you've thought about it in third-world countries? Maybe when it's your own country and you imagine your own family being gathered up in the back of a truck to pick beans for nothing, you realize that you'd rather die defending your freedom than live in bondage.
Maybe someone here will change my mind. I'm not well versed in the issue so I could easily be missing a key point, but perhaps in some cases freedom is more important than keeping our pockets and bellies full in the name of "saving lives." The lives have already been lost.
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Well he did mention the fair trade chocolate that I think is the least someone can do. I don't necessarily think you have to avoid all other brands entirely that use these tactics to turn profits, but if people make an active effort to avoid these companies and they lose market share, then they may change their ways. The only way one can ever really change the policies of a major corporation is to hit them in their wallets, because turning a profit is their only real goal. If we attempt to boycott their products, and they lose a large enough portion of their market share, then they may change their policy. I don't agree that thinking about it is enough though. I sort of believe in utilitarianism in this regard, and if ones thoughts do not lead to action then I believe they are worthless. So one should always find some way to act, rather than just think about the morality of the issue.
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j0hnnytsunami Reply:
April 10th, 2010 at 12:56 am
Totally a agree with hitting the companies were the wallets are. people need to change, watching that many people in slaver really hit home, it took at lot for me to eat that second piece of chocolate, and i hope it had the same affect on all of you. people in the united states really do not consider the other problems that are out there in the world because they all living in this little safe bubble, but when it really comes down it, people out in the real world are being beaten and enslaved to do some really horrible labor that they don't get paid for at all. Hopefully this class has taught us all something and hopefully we can have a little bit more respect for the class as a whole…
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jholzberg8 Reply:
April 10th, 2010 at 3:09 am
I definitely agree. While it seems like such a small thing to do to make a difference, hitting these companies where their wallets are is the best way to catalyze change. If enough consumers make a conscious effort to buy fair trade chocolate, the larger companies will lose profits and eventually have to make a change. This is the same type of situation as when sweat shop issues first came up. As it became an issue that more and more people were aware of, change started to happen and large corporations became more responsible and ethical in the way they do things.
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I believe that there absolutely has to be a step 2, because it isn’t right for anyone to have to live this way. Also to be able to beat someone and getting away with it as if it never happened. When a person works for a company then they get paid for their work. Otherwise they can go somewhere else and make money. To address the second question, as of now I’m not sure if anyone knows the second what the step is. I think the reason nothing has been done is because these major companies will lose money if these works will have to be paid. Also that this isn’t occurring in our back yard so we can’t stick our nose in there business.
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mattmcgloin Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
i am going to have to disagree and say that i am not sure if there can be a step two only because i do not know if there is anyone that is going to stop what is going on over there. we as Americans have many problems already and i do not think we can help because like i said we already have too much on our plate. i really do not see anything happening too soon with this situation and there wont be because too much money is being made and i think when money is being made nothing is going to stop it from happening.
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I do believe there is a step 2, and I think that step is actually doing something about it. Whether it’s making the conscious choice of what products to consume or by informing people about modern day slavery. I especially think it hit home for a lot of people who consume chocolate. Even though Sam was trying to make us conscious and not guilty, I’m sure a lot of people felt that way. I didn’t eat the chocolate simply because I HATE it, but it was shocking to learn about the Ivory Coast’s practice of slavery since my parents are from there and I visit there every single summer/winter. It’s hard to believe that something like this is going on over there because it’s just not something you see or even hear about it. After listening to the man talk about how he’s never eaten chocolate, it made me think about if I’ve even SEEN a chocolate bar over there. I’m pretty sure I have, but it’s so frickin hot there, I wouldn’t be surprised if they melted before they got on the shelves. It’s such a strange thought that these people are slaving over an item that we consume at such high rates and they never even get to see the end product let alone taste it. So going back to what I said earlier, I do believe the next step is informing others. Even if you don’t think you are making a difference, the more buzz there is surrounding this terrible phenomenon, the more we can shed light on this dark practice and end it once and for all. The video is a good example of what I consider step 2, because it was made to show people that slavery hasn’t gone anywhere. What I took out the video was that they wanted us to see what goes in to what we consume. We take for granted most of what we consume whether it be clothes, shoes, food, what have you, and the video was there to open everybody’s eyes to the reality of how people are suffering and we are unaware of it. So going back to what I said earlier, the next step is to try and make a conscious change through informing others and product consumption. If I was on the other end of the spectrum, I know I would hope that there was somebody there even if it was just ONE person, fighting for me.
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I honestly have to say that yesterday’s lecture was my favorite out of the whole semester so far. I have never really thought about where food comes from and why it is so cheap at times. I always shop at Walmart because of the low prices, but it never occurred to me that their prices are so cheap because slaves make their products. I feel horrible that I shop there all the time, and now I think I am going to have to shop elsewhere.
I had no idea that cocoa comes from the work of slaves. Seeing the scars and bruises on the slaves’ bodies really opened my eyes. I can’t even imagine what their lives are like and what they go through on a daily basis.
When we were asked to eat the first piece of chocolate, I didn’t want it so I didn’t eat it, and looking back, I’m so glad that I didn’t. When we were told to eat the second one, it was no question to even eat it.
Sam said that the first step to ending the modern slavery problem is realizing it exists and feeling something about it. I definitely was feeling a lot of strong emotions after I watched the video. I felt extreme guilt for thinking of all the times I have eaten chocolate. I wish I was informed of the fair trade symbol on chocolate products, because I definitely would only buy chocolate that had that stamp of approval on it. Now I will only buy chocolate if it has the fair trade symbol, and I will inform my friends and family members about it too.
I also feel horrible that not much is being done about the modern slavery problem. This has been going on for centuries, yet well-off countries such as the United States and others can’t even come together to do something about it? That seems very odd to me.
So what do I think the second step is? I think that everyone needs to be educated and informed about modern slavery. Certain products that people eat and use on a daily basis that are made by slaves need to be aware of this. The people who react with strong emotions to this slavery need to come together to make a difference. As many people as possible need to refuse to eat or use certain products until something is done about the slavery used to make them. For example, people should stop purchasing cocoa products from companies like Nestle and Hershey. Their sales will drop dramatically and they will be motivated to do something about the slavery problem so that their business can rise again.
I believe that refusing to buy certain products will threaten businesses to act quickly to resolve the slave problem and to make sure their products are made legally without the use of slaves. Money means power in society, and when it begins to be taken away, people call to action.
I don’t know if it’s the right step, but I hope that something in the near future can be done to stop modern slavery.
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flippyfloppies Reply:
April 10th, 2010 at 12:19 am
I'm just gonna reply to your post because it's lengthy and looks good to reply to =]. Even though I haven't missed class much all semester, I was taking a nap yesterday afternoon and just decided to not go to class…and I'm so pissed I missed it. Even though slavery is such a depressing topic and the video you guys watched sounded terrible, I really wish I would've seen it.
I was aware of the reasoning behind Walmart's low prices beforehand, even though I can't remember where I learned it from. I make it a point NOT to shop there, even though I have done it a few times. Which actually makes me recall this Walmart commercial I saw on TV the other day: this whole commercial, maybe some of you have seen it, basically was saying that Walmart has low prices because they drive their 18 wheelers efficiently. They were saying that they pack up their trucks to the brim and make trips the shortest distance possible. Maybe they're hoping the public will have less of a guilty conscience shopping there if they think that's why the items are so cheap? Ugh, thinking about it just makes me shudder. I wish I could've chimed in and been like, "Yeah, or maybe you have Rollbacks because slaves make your goods!" But anyways…
If I were in class yesterday, I probably would've eaten the chocolate the first time it was passed around. What can I say, I like chocolate?! But eating the second piece probably would've been nearly impossible. I wasn't aware of fair trade symbols on the packages, and I will definitely look into them in the future and make sure I only buy chocolate with the stamp on the package.
I liked where you were going with your idea for the second step: that everyone needs to be educated about it. Education. I don't know how this would go over, but I almost think they should make a class either in high schools or colleges that would be mandatory and would teach the students about current issues around the world like slavery, genocide, and AIDS. It would open up the eyes of a lot of people, and at least would produce some informed citizens of society. And I agree with your statement that money is power. Corporations and businesses don't think with their hearts, they think with their wallets. If you want to make a difference with how they do business, you have to hit their wallets hard: take a stance and stop buying their products. If enough people do it, hopefully something will happen. I need fifteen more words so I’m just gonna add this concluding sentence in: word to your mother.
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MeghanYingling Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 2:55 am
I agree with you that we need to educate ourselves and learn more about the companies where we buy products from. When Sam mentioned Walmart, I had no idea why most of their items were so cheap. I just thought since they are a superstore and buying in bulk, they get the products cheaper because Walmart is a huge business. I cannot honestly say that I will stop shopping at Walmart because in reality, it is cheaper than a lot of other places and I would like to save money. By saying this, I in no way support modern slavery or want to increase it. When I shop from now on, I will be more mindful about the products I buy and will look into it, because that is a simple and easy way to become educated, a critical step to help stopping slavery.
Mar 19
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I was wondering the same thing as this girl after leaving class the other day, “What is step two?” We all know how simple and easy it is just stop eating chocolate because a slave made it. Sadly, that is not enough. Me not eating a piece of chocolate is not going to stop a slave being beaten to still make chocolate. Not enough people are aware that slaves are being used to make the chocolate, therefore not enough people are going to be willing to stop eating chocolate. And even if we got everyone in the world to stop eating chocolate, what about the slaves who are being used to find coffee beans? How can we just boycott every single product that a slave was being used for? What is the next step? Do we protest? Do we write letters? How is it possible for us to inform millions of people about slave use that is still going on in the world today? I do not have an answer for, what the next step is, but i do think that someone should come up with something quickly so we can start changing the way things are.
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I think that there are several directions we can go when deciding to take a second step against slavery. After we become aware of what is going on and feel some kind of way about it, as Sam puts it, we can at least do one of two things. The first would be to raise awareness and the second would be to stop supporting slavery in a facet of our lives as individuals.
I was shocked when I first read Disposable People. I couldn't believe that I had not been aware of the situation of slavery when it affects so many people. Basic human rights are taken away from people and I didn't even know that something like this existed. Once I found out, for a few days that was all I could think about. I felt like I had to tell everyone about the situation. It almost felt like people had been keeping this a secret from me.. I'm not sure who is keeping this secret, but other people around me didn't know either. I don't think that I surround myself with people who are sheltered and ignorant, so the fact that these people were unaware of modern day slavery might mean that many people throughout the world have no idea that slavery exists in today's world. Which is why one of the things that we can do to help end this is to let people know it exists. If people become aware of slavery, they will know it exists and hopefully tell others. If enough people know and care about it, steps can be take to deal with governments who aren't doing anything about slavery in their countries. Social pressures from large dominant countries and media coverage can help force governments to deal with the situation of slavery, especially since in many countries the governments know it exists, and may even help it flourish.
Besides raising awareness about slavery, we can also takes steps in our individual lives. We can help end slavery by not supporting it. Instead of shopping for food at Walmart, where we spend less, but at times may buy more since everything is so cheap, we could shop at another grocery store such as Wegmans or Giant, where we may be forced to buy a little less since the cost is somewhat higher, but because we buy less we make sure fewer people suffer to give us what we want and need. We could also make sure to buy our clothes at stores that do not use slave labor and recycle our clothes to get more usage out of them so fewer articles of clothing need to be produced by these slaves.
These are possible second steps, and though maybe they might not be that effective, doing something is definitely better than doing nothing.
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There are definitely a few more steps that we can take besides just understanding. As Sam mentioned a little bit, the emergence of fair-trade chocolate has opened up a door for chocolate lovers, in particular those in the United States, to enjoy their sweets knowing that slave labor was not involved. Fair trade chocolate comes with the guarantee that all people involved in chocolate producing, especially farmers, are paid fairly for their product. However, this is still a questionable option. Although the farmers are paid fairly with their product, how are we guaranteed to know that they are using the extra profit to share with their laborers? There really is no way to regulate this, as we have learned from the past that slave owners prep their farms/factories when they are to be audited, so as to create the false impression that everyone is happily paid. In a different class, I watched a movie called China Blue. A documentary team went into a Chinese factory that used slave and child labor to make jeans and shoes for some very popular American clothing companies. They followed this one girl around for a few days, seeing her live in a room the size of a Penn State dorm room with 14 other girls, many of whom were 12 or younger. They watched her work 16 hour days for over a week straight. They watched her eat 2 meals a day, both consisting of just a small bowl of rice and noodles. Most of the workers were women, and all were coaxed into working there by the often false promises of payment. Some girls were paid, but only when the factory owner decided he had the money to do so. And after interviewing over a dozen girls, the team found that only 1 had been paid in the past year, and it was only for 1 months work. Anyway, I guess the point I am trying to make here is that slave labor is not just the only issue that exists in the world of the global economy right now, but child labor is also a huge issue. Back to what was talked about in class
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To me step two is making an individual effort. If we go out with the mindset that we can change the world we will fall flat on our face. But if we go out with the mindset that we can change our part in the play of life we can make a change and an example for others to follow. If one person in a room claps the noise is relatively quiet but the people around them hear it. Then if everyone who heard that clap claps the noise will become much louder. This continues on until everyone claps in unison. The second step is to be the first to clap.
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Honestly, I have no idea what the second step is. I left class on Thursday feeling the exact same way. I know we can just stop eating chocolate, but will that ever be enough? There has to be something else, but perhaps it comes with time—a world movement that causes a large scale change to be made. People should never have to work in slavery—those children worked for their “master” because they thought they were going to be paid, and then they weren’t—that should never happen. In a world like ours (and country like ours) unfortunately we are based off of a constantly consuming way of life. It will be hard to change the ways that American’s live their daily lives, truthfully, I think it might be impossible unless there is more awareness. Somehow, there needs to be an incident that is made very public, or a campaign or something (anything) that really gets to the hearts of everyone. I wish it was mandatory for every single person to take SOC119, because then maybe their views might be a little different. Step two will be hard to find, but hopefully in time, it will become clearer to see.
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First off, I want to start my saying how shocked I am by something as common as chocolate being part of slavery. Everyone eats chocolate, so it is very sad to think that everyone in our country is contributing to the continuance of slavery. I feel horrible about consuming chocolate now, but I do not feel guilty just because I didn’t know about it.
I guess the second step would be for us to do as Sam has done. We need to spread the news. We need to tell our friends and family that they are contributing to slavery. This is necessary because most people aren’t aware, I wasn’t. It is crucial to tell people that even though they think slavery is wrong, they are a small reason why it still exists in other countries. Sam was right in saying that it is hard to completely give up slave-made products, especially because they are everywhere. Everyone uses a cell phone, every eats chocolate, and everyone buys cheap shirts from WalMart that some small child probably made for no money. It is almost impossible to give up all slave made products, so spreading the awareness is the next step. Maybe if most of our country’s citizens knew what they were “supporting,” we could sign a petition to turn these slaves into employees.
If more people were aware of the slavery in other countries, I do believe we could make change. We could threaten to boycott slave-made products so that slave owners are forced to pay their slaves. Instances like these are really where one person can make a difference. So it starts with us. Sam has relayed information unto us that we need to relay further. If Sam has taught us anything that would be to live our life. Part of living is trying to make the world a better place. Imagine if the world’s slavery began to decrease in our life time, we would all know that we had something to do with it. There isn’t anything much better than helping innocent people.
After reading Disposable People I do not see how anyone can sit back and watch slavery take place. In America we are so used to having opportunity at everything. I couldn’t imagine living in a place like Thailand where going to the grocery store is a risk in ending up in a brothel. I think that America has the power to create change in places that need help. We are rebuilding Iraq into a modern democracy; we are helping Haiti through their tragedy, why can’t we add a few more countries to the list? Having power shouldn’t just be an advantage in economics and warfare; we should be spreading peace throughout the world which does start with us. Tell everyone the news about slavery abroad. And let them know they can make a difference, that’s step 2.
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I feel that the second step might be the hardest thing to do because it means that we would have to stop helping slavery flourish, and we may say that’s easy. How easy is it when everything we own was most likely a product made by a slave? How can we stop fueling slavery when slave made products are so popular. Before walking into that class I am pretty sure that many of us did not know that people had to live that way in order for us to enjoy something so trivial as chocolate. I think that if we all honestly wanted to do something about it we could stop eating that chocolate, and start eating fair trade chocolate. What about everything else made by a slave; are we going to also stop eating or using those things? This is why this step may be the hardest, and why it does not have a clear answer or solution.
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JulietaVenegas Reply:
April 10th, 2010 at 3:21 am
I have to say that I agree with this rather strongly. After Thursday's class, it's quite obvious that even after reading Disposable People from cover to cover, slavery is something that is far more widespread than we thought. I mean, this is chocolate that we're talking about. Just like beer is to St. Patrick's Day or Christmas Trees are to Christmas, chocolate is to holidays like Easter and Halloween. Kids will agree to eat all of their vegetables at dinner just to get a piece of it, and yet we know so little of where it comes from. And I'm not talking about the trip to Hersey Chocolate World that many of us who are from PA take at least once. I don't know how many of us have actually stopped to think of exactly where it is that companies like Hershey and MARS get the chocolate, but I'm guessing it's close to none- myself included.
But now that we have this knowledge, although it's disturbing, it's definitely eye opening. When going to grab some dessert this evening, I couldn't help but to intentionally ignore the chocolate chip cookies simply because of what I had learned just yesterday. Although Sam said that we should all go ahead and "eat the second piece of chocolate because it's the only reasonable thing to do," I can't help but to become blank. It just doesn't seem fair that there can't be a 2nd step… I mean, I definitely understand that my decision to never eat non-fair trade chocolate would be about as effective as trying to reverse the direction of the wind just by sticking my tongue out at it, but I can't help the feeling inside of me that keeps saying that there IS something more that can be done by all of us. I hate the fact that it seems so impossible simply because that discourages others from getting involved and doing something, The same goes for the similar issue of the amount of slave labor that contributes to the other everyday things that we buy. Can we just stop consuming and using these things in a snap? Can we get others to see the same way that we now see? And if so, will they help to put make a dent in this horrible situation? I guess I'm just left wondering if I can do that very thing. I'm not positive that I know the final answer to that yet, but I do know that I can at least try it.
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I feel that there is not really a step two. In order to change something about the way the world of slavery works would be to stop everything we as people in the world know. Sam has told us that in virtually everything we buy there are slave made parts, and yes that's awful but how do we stop it? Do I feel bad about it? Yes. Do I wish it were not that way? Yes. But just me feeling that way doesn't help the cause. There needs to be a movement. A world attempt to stop the issue, but that will never happen because most of the time the fact that goods are slave made is not advertised to the world for this exact reason.
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I definitely think there is a step two, there has to be a step two or three or four, if we ever want to end slavery and unfair labor practices in the world. While I agree a good first step is recognition of the issue and hopefully feeling like slavery needs to end but step two is where it gets more difficult. I fell like there are so many possible second steps that sometimes individuals who have experienced the first step do not know which direction to go next. If a feasible second step governmentally based or personally based? I have come up with a few of my own second steps all of which are feasible but it shows just how many second options there are in order to end slavery and global inequality. And even if your second step is not what everyone else does to approves of I think it is important to remember that any step you take towards ending global slavery is in a positive direction.
It is easy to say that we will only buy fair trade items but often people do not follow through. So a second step may be to actually alter shopping patterns to reflect the belief that slavery should end. Whether it is consciously avoiding slave made goods or strictly buying fair trade items or just being aware and trying your best to avoid slave made items as much as possible, it is a small step towards to common goal. Or maybe the best next step to protest or raise awareness so that more people can be knowledgeable about the issue and free to make their own, personal second step towards eliminating slavery. After all the more educated people there are, the more people who take the first step of feeling some way about slavery and acknowledging the continued existence of slavery, the more people there would be able and willing to take the second step. Or perhaps the best second step would be in involve government officials, be it locally as USAS is doing on campus trying to get the university to adopt the DSP, or on a more large scale basis of state and national attention (although I think that a step of this magnitude may be more like a fourth or fifth step as opposed to personal changes that can be made, go ahead and think and act big about seconds steps!) If an entire governing body, regardless of size, supports anti-sweatshop groups and puts some sort of legislation or ban in place, many people would be affected and be a part in eliminating sweatshop labor even if they had not taken the first step of feeling something about the topic. So just me contemplating for a few minutes came up with several second steps. I think it most important no matter what the second step, no matter how small you may think it seems, is important to take.
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I would also like to learn more about the the "next step" is helping to eliminate cocoa slavery, and all present day slavery for that matter. I think Sam was right in saying that the absolute first step to making a change is to learn and to realize the injustices. Without this SOC119 class I would have had zero idea of the horrible mistreatment of so many people to make goods that we access so easily. The book disposable people really opened my eyes to a lot of new and terrible things. What sticks out in my mind was the forced prostitution. Maybe it was because I'm a female in the same age category as the girls who were being used, so I could really see the damaging impact, but it made me really think and really have this anger and thankfulness. I could picture and imagine what was happening to these girls. The visualization really made all the difference. And so now the same goes for the young men along the Ivory Coast. When I watched the video and you could see the looks of devastation and pain along their faces, it really made you feel for them. And when they showed their scarred bodies, some still fresh and healing, it literally made me cringe. These kids were my age or younger and had been through so much hardship already. So the next step? I do not see how vowing not to eat chocolate anymore will really help. Or even saying that you will only eat the free range chocolate. Because honestly, I don't think that will happen. And by just one person stopping eating it, does not a huge difference either. I think the next step, is to further your education. And help the others around you do so as well. Starting programs and information sessions that will inform and introduce the issues to those ignorant about the issues. In my opinion, the biggest problem is the general public not knowing what they are buying into. You think of chocolate brands as happy and sweet and fun, especially the big companies who spend so much to market themselves that way, you don't associate them with African Slave labor. If more people knew about the issue on hand, the stronger the resistance would be. It's hard to sit there and watch such a devastating video and then not do anything and think about it later on. One person feeling something and trying to make a difference is great, but it will not solve any of the problems. Actions against slavery need to be done on a bigger scale, or the big name companies who are violating the rights of so many won't feel the need to change their practices.
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I think it’s difficult to pinpoint a second step. Talking to my friends after class, we all agreed that if one individual did something such as stopped eating chocolate, not only would it be very challenging, but it wouldn’t end slavery. The only way I think it can end is if these industries shut down due to a lack of consumers. Even then it would be difficult to end because the companies would continue to move their factories around the world to new workers who would easily be taken advantage of and paid nothing for their work. Until these companies make zero profit, I don’t think there is a way to end slavery. It would be close to impossible for them to stop making profit, though. Slavery is embedded in so many industries that we would literally have to stop buying food and clothing in order to hurt the industries and help the slaves. Also, if you stop eating one food that is made from slave labor such as chocolate, you need to keep in mind that you are only focusing on one industry. When you eat a salad with lettuce and tomatoes, you are also eating foods that are rooted in slave labor. It’s kind of like what Sam talked about with picking and choosing what rules you follow of your religion. He said people who only follow some of the rules are hypocrites. I think that is similar for this topic. You can cut out one food, but you shouldn’t condemn others for eating it because other foods that you eat come from slaves. Basically, there really isn’t a way to turn away from all the products that are produced by slaves. We’d have to start growing everything on our own and make our own clothes. We can help by supporting companies who produce products that are not made by slaves such as FairTrade, but as far as ending modern slavery all together, I don’t see a way of doing so for now. With our lifestyles, we depend on many companies for technology, too. I’m sure if you trace some of the pieces needed to assemble our mp3 players or cell phones we’d see that they also come from slave labor. I think our society demands too much, and this has led to slavery. Companies need to produce mass quantities of everything to supply everyone’s desires, and therefore the products need to be made quickly. In order to produce this much, the companies need to hire cheap labor, but they often just choose to use slaves. If our world evolved to a slower pace of life, I think we could help free the slaves because they wouldn’t be needed to produce so much. However, I doubt we will be slowing our lifestyles anytime soon.
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Yesterday’s class was pretty crazy. I knew once that video turned on it was going to be about harvesting cocoa. I have learned so much about Hershey Park and these companies using slavery to get chocolate made but I had never seen a video like this before. It was so powerful and emotional- to think that these young boys, who have NEVER even tasted chocolate, literally put their blood sweat and tears into gathering the beans. This is nuts. I want to be able to say ‘I don’t use any slave made products’ but it seems impossible. I even asked Sam, ok I’m letting this affect me, I want to be able to change my lifestyle what can I do? He had nothing to say, which disappointed me. I know he said letting this affect you is the first step, but I want more. It seems like there are so many, no, too many products out there with slavery made bits in them. Think about it, we cant cover our body in leaves like Adam and Eve and expect to grow our own food, build a new home with your own goods, etc. I cant possibly live my life like a caveman and still have a successful life without access to computers, phones, clothing, jobs, etc. At some point in everyone’s life- from newborn to senior citizen- we use products filled with slave made parts. Its sad to think about but buying Fair trade products will never truly be enough. I don’t have the power, let alone the money, to start my own slave-free clothing line or open my own store. I want to say I didn’t eat the second piece of chocolate but I would be lying. Its silly to ask me how I stomached the second piece but isn’t it obvious? I couldn’t make that kind of promise to Sam or the kids in that video. If I give up eating slave-made chocolate isn’t it still just as hypocritical that I own a cell phone with Malaysian slave parts? Or a cotton shirt made my slaves? Either way I am screwed, either way I am using products with slave made goods- but I cant do shit about it.
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The question Katie asked was, “Is there a step two, and if there is, what is it.”
I myself was trying to figure out Professor Richards’ motivation or point in saying that the most important thing for the students to do is to “feel” …. To feel a connection to the people who are slaves, and to feel something “human”. Initially, right after he said that, I was reminded of what Anna Baltzer said at her speech Wednesday night at Penn State concerning the discrimination and segregation Palestinians have been experiencing by Israelis. She said writing to your congressman is not enough make the United States stop giving 10 million dollars a day to Israel for weapons which they are using to prevent Palestinians from living in their home, because it doesn’t do anything. Congressmen have proven to not take action when people complain. Baltzer said even “spreading the word” about the complete and utter injust the Palestinians face at the hands of American tax dollars is not enough to stop anything, because so what if everyone in America knew about the disgusting lifestyle Palestinians live in Israel, just because the Christians and Muslims are not Jewish. So what? She said, “The Palestinians don’t need your pity.” Bringing it back to Soc 119 and the slaves, I immediately thought, well step one, which is realizing what slaves go through and feeling a certain way about my quality of life being at the large expense of someone else’s pain, is patronizing. Just as the Palestinians don’t need American pity, (they need more than that) slaves need more than our pity and our understanding of the injust. So, initially, in that respect, I thought our professor was being a little sentimental and a little bit of a bleeding heart.
Then I thought though, that, no, there can be a step two, and that therefore understanding the plight of slaves, the affect consumers have on it, and getting people to feel passionate about stopping institutions from hurting our human brothers and sisters is important. Step two is action. It’s stepping out of your comfort zone. You can’t do that though, unless you achieve step one. You have to feel. You have to feel a connection to the people who are misled into slavery. You have to feel that that easily could have been you. That easily could have been your brother or father making cocoa. That could have been your sister or mother as a sex slave. You have to feel so angry with the companies who don’t look deep into their supply chains to see the lifestyle of the people who are doing the most labor intensive part of creating their high profits and high salaries. You have to feel angry with them for lying to you about how their products are made. You then must feel empowered by anger and be fearless. And you must pick a company. You must get thousands of people to embarrass this company for using slave labor to produce its goods. You have to get the media to tell the story of the slaves, of the profits that are made, of the extent companies go to distort the “ethics” of the company. You have to picket and protest the company. You have to get billboards showing the American people that companies are forcing you to have little choice in buying something which is not touched by slavery. It’s just one. One company. You have to make the aroma so toxic that the one company you embarrass, with the support of many people and with the support of the media, will have no option but to either cut profits and million dollar CEO salaries to pay the workers, or shut down. Other companies will follows suit and perhaps congress may make it illegal for American companies to use slave labor in its products.
Step two is the hard one. It is in fact, the one which requires you stepping out of your comfort zone. And it requires feeling the connection of step one to the people who are slaves. But wouldn’t you want someone to take that step for you?
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This is a good question, to me I think people should first follow step one. If the majority of the people actually felt something about it, and realized that we are one of the main countries that is taking advantage of these people then maybe we can move on to another step. But as of right now people first have to realize what is actually happening in the world, and who is causing this, if we continue to want lower prices on our goods without understanding how companies keep these low prices there will be no way companies will make changes. If people realize that we are supporting slavery at many times, and supporting people who are working below the minimum wage I don’t think many people would support low prices, but instead would want companies to be fair and not support slavery. Sam by bringing out the chocolates made many of us realize that we are supporting slavery in a indirect way, and now that we know what chocolate companies like Hershey’s is doing is it going to stop us from buying their product? I guess this is step one first realizing that people are being done wrong, and as we find out about the what companies are doing, are we actually going to not support them or will we be ignorant and say what difference does one person make. If people follow the first step, then I think the next step would be to spread the word out to people and try to make a change against having people being slaves just so we can live our comfortable lifestyle.
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keane Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
I agree with you Mullabhai, I believe that it is very important for people to first realize exactly what the situation is, before getting emotional and trying to "do something about it", like Sam said. People often see a video like the one that Sam showed and start thinking about what they can do to prevent things like that happening. Sure, that is the right way to think about it, because I'm sure none of us are intentionally supportive of slavery, so to speak, but like Sam said, the point is to "feel" first, just to see where you stand. It's a good idea to understand how everything works first, the economics of the whole situation, and why it is so difficult to change the situation overnight. Is that video going to make us stop buying chocolates? Is it stop going to make us stop eating chocolate? How much, and what, will change because of that video is unclear, because I'm sure that people have various opinions about the whole thing. I think that the "first step" that Sam talks about is probably the best that we can do, just to see how we strongly we feel about it, take everything into consideration, and then, if required, go on to the second step, if such a thing exists.
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A lot of people are saying that the next step is to do something about it – to help stop slavery, to support fair-trade business, etc. But I don’t think that this is feasible for a second step. EVENTUALLY, yes. It is absolutely a vital, and probably the most important step. But I think that the true second step is to gain knowledge. Many people just went through the first step yesterday – FEELING something. But before you can go out and conquer slavery, you need to know more about it. It doesn't end with chocolate — you can't just assume that you know everything about slavery that goes on in the world just by watching this one video. Research everything. Where it happens, what causes it, what its goals are, what has the potential to end it, what it produces, and on and on. Only then, when you know the root of it, can you really and truly put a STOP to it. Knowledge without action may be dangerous, but action without knowledge is just plain stupid.
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Well, if the first step is acknowledging the information that is presented to you and accepting it as the truth, then the second step should be making a decision about how you feel about that. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to take any action; it simply means that you have to take a stance on the situation. There is no right or wrong decision either. If you really are uncomfortable with eating chocolate after seeing that movie then you have to figure out what that means to you. Maybe it just means you need to buy fair trade chocolate, and maybe it means that you have to stop eating chocolate entirely. If you thought that it sucks for the slaves but doesn’t really affect you then your next step would be really simple…you decide to eat any chocolate you want.
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It’s difficult to say what the next step would be in fixing the problem with slavery in the modern world. Obviously there is a large problem with slavery and it still exists today in large numbers. Who is to say what the best option is to fix the problem with slavery? I think what needs to be done is a tough call. Maybe the government could provide some companies with money to counter the low costs of cheap labor and slave labor. To take place of the people who are working for nothing, the government could give these companies money so that they could pay a little bit more for the labor.
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The next step? We gotta get the first step done with first. No one knows about this stuff that's happening elsewhere in the world. I try telling a few of my family members and none of them had a clue. We have to spread the knowledge of this beast of a problem so that people out there with money that are trying to find a cause see this and act. I kinda wish I could go James Bond on these sweatshops and slavery plantations and free these people. Just go ape shit on some of these "masters" and free as many people as possible. I'd give a stack of money and a map to each, enough to get home and get a life started A more realistic approach might be to take some money to the big corporations and offer to split the losses they would incur as a result of a company wide product price increase. If we just pay something small like one dollar more per item, this whole thing could be solved. More money would flow down the stream. Then we'd just have to make certain that the owners of the sweatshops dish out what is owed to there laborers, or else we'll cut them off completely. As long as this low-cost frenzy continues this will only get much worse. We have to up the anti to adjust to the cost of living for these poor people who give their lives for our habits. That seems to be step 5 at this point. Step two is telling everyone we know everything we've learned- everytime we see a common slave made product. Inform them and protest the use of anything coming from these places. It's gotta start there. We consumers are so ignorant of what we're dong its sickening. I plan on doing this forever. I already sent out an email of commonly used products and common corporations that refuse to do things right. Seriously though, If all else fails, I'm going rambo on these assholes till they're all free or until I die. Lets start something sweet like CMFAS and see what kind of response we get. (crazy mother fuckers against slavery) If we don't threaten these governments and sweatshop owners with ether death or boycott, its never going to end as long as civilization exists. Its so shitty though. I was sitting in class watching that movie about the cocoa slaves and some deushe bag across the aisle was sitting there the whole time laughing and giggling like a two year old on his cell phone. Dude was pathological and it really worries me that there's a huge population of shitty people like that who are preventing this thing from ending.
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The issue of slavery is very difficult to grasp because of its enormity. And with any issue of this size it’s hard to encourage people to take action because the extent of the problem is numbing. People feel incompetent to create a movement, and individuals become anonymous in the masses and feel powerless. In order for anyone to see significant change in the slave trade I do think the first step is to acknowledge that slavery exists. I think many people are still in denial about the existence of slavery – we were taught in history class that slavery was this awful trade that existed in the beginning stages of America but we ended that. And with the help of Martin Luther King Jr., blacks were able to receive all their rights. Unfortunately our classes forgot to mention to us that slavery still exists and on a more global level than before. As a side note, I think it’s natural for humans to want to believe the best in situations rather than the worst. So obviously we would ignore those crazy people who contradict those history lessons.
Back to step one for a second. Think about it, if we all made an oath to spread the reality of slavery to our clubs, friends, families, work places, and homes that’s a pretty significant amount of people whose eyes would be opened. And in all those people if there are a few who feel inspired to join organizations to actively fight slavery, great! Knowledge is a great tool though, very effective to starting movements.
As for step two, I think it should be interpreted as a personal calling. One of the easiest things to do would be to only purchase the free trade products that we talked about in class. Other options would be to join movements that are already invested in ending slavery. Groups like USAS (United Students Against Sweatshops – not quite slavery but very close to it), IJM (International Justice Mission), Free the Slaves and a bunch of other groups. The three ways to join them would be with your money, time, or talents. Clearly one’s involvement in these organizations is dependent on their time and how much they can give to help a movement like this. And if you feel led to, why not start a movement yourself? Who knows what your future is meant to be and if there’s a strong desire in you to end the injustice, maybe your voice is the voices that needs to be heard to bring and end to slavery.
Keep in mind that every little thing counts. “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” (James Baldwin).
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Coming out of that last race relation’s class I felt as though most of the things I did and have always believed in got turned upside down. I tend to think of myself as a good person, I help out at a nursing home, I’m going to Haiti in May and I donate to all causes. As I came out of that class, some of my friends greeted me, and I explained to them how I was feeling and the things we had learned. But they couldn’t understand how phased I was by everything I had learned. They said things like “well, it’s not my fault they’re slaves” and told me to stop thinking about it.
But how can I stop thinking about how absolutely privileged my life is, and how I have and probably will in the future exploit others to get the things I need. I’m not the wealthiest of people, but I have all that I need in life, yet I find myself wanting a new phone, a new shirt etc etc etc. Why is it that society has become so materialistic that some people can actually believe that money brings you happiness.
I hate that everything sam says seems to go in one ear and out the other for some people. I like to think that I understand what he’s saying, and although yes it’s difficult to stop the slavery in the world there are so many little things we can do to better the lives of others.
I think Sam is right, the first step is to acknowledge that the shirt from Abercrombie that you’re wearing is most likely a slave made good. When you can admit that in your head you are at least recognizing the pain and suffering that went into your cute new outfit. This can then make the slave’s work at least somewhat worthwhile, knowing that we can appreciate their work.
The second step, is to spread the word, so others can acknowledge the truth behind every commodity that we have as Americans. Although only wishful thinking, spreading the word would lead to less ignorant Americans and more educated ones who will wish to do something to stop the suffering being endured in these countries. Hopefully then these Americans will unite, and picket against Hershey, and Wal Mart and every other slave using producer out there and they will have no choice but to fulfill the wishes of the consumer.
I know the second step is unlikely to happen. But to acknowledge something of that magnitude within ourselves is a step in the right direction. It can get us out of the “me me me” mentality and into an open mind and heart that care about the billions of people in the world who only wish to have a simple mattress, or maybe some socks for their kids, things we take for granted. I know I am ranting, and I know Sam was ranting too. But it seems that not many understand the point being tried to get across because they are too focused on themselves and how they feel to remember the people who have helped us have what we have and get where we are.
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In reality, there is no step two. I have come to this conclusion, as difficult as it was. I have accepted that even though I drink from a reusable water bottle, buy organic/fair trade coffee, and make an effort to buy American made clothes, I will always obtain a product that was made by a slave. And if you want to feel better about yourself and your effect on the world, then you can go out of your way to buy organic/fair trade things. I am not being a cynic and saying there is anything at all wrong with that. I feel better about buying organic/fait trade products. But the fact is that in most things there are fractions of slave labor and people who aren’t getting fair wages or working in awful conditions. Practically every technological product on the market is made in countries like India or China. The things we “need” as Americans are no doubt going to be touched by a slave before they reach our doorstep.
No matter what there are going to be people buying things as cheap as they can because they have to save as much money as possible. Even though our poorest population in America is better off than two-thirds of the world, we still feel the need to save money where we can. And that includes a dollar or two on a pound of coffee and even 25 cents on a bar of chocolate. Imagine the video of the Ohio woman who worked at Burger King being asked to buy more expensive products based on their origin. She would not be able to afford it, even though to many the difference seems miniscule and almost insane that you wouldn’t after watching the video about the boys in the Ivory Coast.
There is no doubt that Americans, including myself, reap the benefits of others misfortunes and hard work. I love chocolate. I love almonds. I drink coffee and I eat shrimp. I truly wish there was a way to turn it around but don’t think that buying fair trade products is enough. People are always going to want to make the largest profit. Some people are always going to consider themselves higher than others. People are always going to prefer imported coffee beans, wines, cocoa, etc, over United States grown products. As much as we all wish there was a way to make a difference, there isn’t.
It’s interesting too that if we tried to steer away from many of these products cultivated and/or produced by slaves, we would doing the environment a huge favor, as well. Think about the amount of energy that would be saved when distribution got cut. And then furthermore the amount of money companies would save on distribution costs. Those savings alone could go straight to the workers in the fields and create a decent living for them. I think the only way for this type of slavery to end is if we all became content with the goods and services near us. And we all know that will never happen.
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There are definitely a few more steps that we can take besides just understanding. As Sam mentioned a little bit, the emergence of fair-trade chocolate has opened up a door for chocolate lovers, in particular those in the United States, to enjoy their sweets knowing that slave labor was not involved. Fair trade chocolate comes with the guarantee that all people involved in chocolate producing, especially farmers, are paid fairly for their product. However, this is still a questionable option. Although the farmers are paid fairly with their product, how are we guaranteed to know that they are using the extra profit to share with their laborers? There really is no way to regulate this, as we have learned from the past that slave owners prep their farms/factories when they are to be audited, so as to create the false impression that everyone is happily paid. In a different class, I watched a movie called China Blue. A documentary team went into a Chinese factory that used slave and child labor to make jeans and shoes for some very popular American clothing companies. They followed this one girl around for a few days, seeing her live in a room the size of a Penn State dorm room with 14 other girls, many of whom were 12 or younger. They watched her work 16 hour days for over a week straight. They watched her eat 2 meals a day, both consisting of just a small bowl of rice and noodles. Most of the workers were women, and all were coaxed into working there by the often false promises of payment. Some girls were paid, but only when the factory owner decided he had the money to do so. And after interviewing over a dozen girls, the team found that only 1 had been paid in the past year, and it was only for 1 month’s work. Anyway, I guess the point I am trying to make here is that slave labor is not just the only issue that exists in the world of the global economy right now, but child labor is also a huge issue. Back to what was talked about in class; there was also a suggestion from a classmate who said that we need to work on getting the university to buy only non sweat shop made clothing. I have seen some of the rallies in front of Old Main, and it is good to see how passionate some of our students are about the subject. So, it looks like there are a few options that we can employ as step 2, so really the choice is up to us. But as I said in a past post, I believe that nothing will change, because slavery is just a part of the capitalist economy that we Americans love.
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After being aware that the issue exists I think there is a clear second step. I think the second step would be telling others about these issues. Explaining to your family and friends that this exists and hoping they tell someone about it too. Writing a blog response to the issue, or posting something about what you learned on facebook or twitter. Keeping these issues, and what you know inside is not helping anyone. Raising awareness happens fastest when it extends off a tree of communication. I feel the more people are aware, and the more they are educated, the more they can make educated decisions.
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I don’t think that people thought there is a step two I think we just don’t what to do because we all want to stop this but we would have to do some really serious work like talking billions of people working together to stop it. I think that people see that as impossible because we would never get all the help we need to stop this. I think that everyone would love to help but it’s just something you have to look so deep into with so much work and you would need a lot of time as well too and like over a 20 year life span to completely free all the slaves and this may still not do anything.
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I am not quite sure that there is a second step. Although the video was extremely effective in raising awareness for us that this type of thing is going on, I think maybe the only other thing we could do is to write to major chocolate companies asking that if they use plantations such as the one shown in the documentary, that they make sure that these things aren’t happening there. It would be nearly impossible for a person to go through life and only purchase products that did not contain materials or ingredients that were not touched at some point by slaves. It would be a perfect world if we could do that, but I think the public needs to make the companies aware that we are aware of what is going on and are not okay with it.
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I’m inclined to believe that there is not so much of a “second step” as much as there is a series of things people can do when presented with this problem. But before any of these steps occur, I feel like one needs to legitimately follow step one (recognize the slavery issue and take it seriously) first. Assuming that people do this, I think there are several important things to do that make up “step two.” With the second step, the world can come much closer to a place where slavery is truly in the past.
The first thing people can do is share their newfound thoughts and feelings with the people around them. We communicate with friends, family, classmates, teachers, and other people on a daily basis. What if we each picked one person to share our thoughts with? I’m certainly not advocating that people preach endlessly to others (unless you feel inclined!). But what if each of us talked about it with a parent, sibling, or friend? Once they know, then they can begin the first step and begin to think about the impact of slavery on daily life. If things go well, then they can share their thoughts with people they know, and a network of informed people can begin to grow.
The second thing that can make up “step two” in this process is contacting local politicians about the issue at hand. When a good sized group of people become informed about an injustice then contacting their representative would be the next logical thing to do. Nothing can really be done unless representatives bring the issue to Washington DC. It probably seems like a daunting task to bring up, and the news about chocolate companies blocking such a discussion is disheartening to hear, but if enough people use their voices then maybe people will finally listen.
A third thing people can do is simple; make more conscious decisions when buying products. There are many slave tainted products and industries out in the world, from metals to clothing to precious stones. But if people consciously look out for “free trade” products, then they can be assured that the product they bought was fairly bought and sold from the place of origin to the stores. It might take some more searching or some more money to buy, but in the end you are contributing to a greater cause by not buying products manufactured by slaves.
In the video we saw this week with the slaves from the Ivory Coast, one of the freed slaves makes the claim that eating chocolate was like “eating his flesh.” I never thought of the impact I had made when consuming these products, but it has at least gotten me to think about the issue for the first time. It’s an excellent first step, and the previous steps I mentioned can make up an excellent second step as well.
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So slavery has been around for, well pretty much forever. We made slavery illegal in the United States in the 1800s and I do not know of any place in the world where slavery is actually legal. But considering the book we read and the lecture about slavery, there is still slavery in the world. Everywhere that there is slavery in the world, those slave holders are breaking the law. And bearing in mind that almost every good or item we buy in the United States is made in some part by a slave, we are supporting this slavery. And because slavery is illegal, but by buying a Hershey’s chocolate bar at the grocery store and supporting cocoa slavery, we are essentially breaking the law where slavery became illegal in the United States…right? Well, I guess since every person who has ever bought a chocolate bar in their life is not in jail, I guess people do not really see it that way. The book we read said there are about 27 million slaves in the world today, when slavery is illegal. So, 27 millions slaves, but it is illegal, how do we stop it? Well, can we even stop it? We can take the first step as Sam said and open people’s eyes and make them realize that slavery did not stop in the 1800s and it is very prevalent in a person’s everyday life in 2010. I mean, after reading the Bales book, it really opened my eyes. But I am only me, what can I do to make a difference in the world of slavery today? What could be my second step? Well, I think my second step would be to start buying fair trade items when I can. Obviously I will not be able to buy absolutely everything fair trade, but I can start out with coffee. I have to say I am a coffee addict and because of this I am supporting slavery. But if I just take a second look next time I am at the grocery store and make an effort to find fair trade coffee, then I will feel a little better about my morning coffee routine. I know I will not be able to stop shopping at the malls where none of the clothing is made in the United States; I know it is made my sweat shop workers in different parts of the world, but where else am I supposed to get clothing? I feel as though to get all of this slavery around the world to cease to exist would mean for the United States to completely stop importing and only make their products in the United States, which would never happen. Companies want to drive down prices, so to keep the consumer happy. And if the United States would make everything in the United States, prices would raise sky high. I think slavery today is just a vicious circle of consumer wants and needs and because of this, it will not stop for anyone.
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I think the second step would have to do with your individual consumption. There were slides at the beginning of class when students were still coming in with maps of the world. I remember one map represented toy consumption and it was clear the United States imported tons more toys then any other nation. Sam was also talking about the earpiece he bought, poking fun at how he spent a large amount of money even though it was not really necessary. We are so driven as Americans to consume. We always want more tangible objects. If the culture of America were to become less obsessed with things, there would be less need to produce so much in other countries, which could reduce the need for such an amount of slaves. Everyone can do that in an individual manner by just asking before you buy something if you really need it. I think the amount we all buy and consume could be drastically drastically reduced.
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The second step is definitely difficult, mainly because the world is so interconnected. To simply stop purchasing things is not the right solution. I mean think about it, if the market collapsed for a particular good, then the people working in these terribly conditions would no longer have jobs. What’s worse a terrible job or no job? And what does ending a market do for the rooted problem. Since we all need food it would be almost impossible to stop buying everything that was produced in unfair conditions, so stopping some production doesn’t do very much to fix the problem. Instead as consumers we can demand products from fair working conditions. Buying fair trade is an easy way first step to demanding better food, without flesh in the product. But buying fair trade may not be far enough, there needs to be people who are regulating exactly how fair trade is defined. Without regulation fair trade could easily become an abused label. In other words for fair trade to really be fair we need to regulate so that the percentage that goes back to the farmers in ensured.
With considering the reality of the U.S. culture I think the second step is not to end consumerism, but instead demand better quality goods produced in better conditions. Sure consuming less should also be incorporated into the solution, but with the culture of the U.S. that will be a slow progression. People from the United States will not be happy to work towards better working conditions around the work. Sure initially I would hope that no one would want to consume things made in slave conditions, but when the bill comes around and people do not see the suffering that occurs people will not be happy. Basically people may need to pay more for the things they buy. I doubt if many people in the U.S. would even care that people in the global south are suffering in order to fuel our consumerism.
The important thing here is that people are talking about these issues. Every time we make a purchase we are voting. In a capitalistic society, we vote without money. So to start buying products like fair trade items that are made in better conditions the demand increases. And when the demand increases the supply needs to be increased. It is comparable to the green movement, people started talking about global warming and consumers started to care and now there are many green options. But, we must be careful that even as products change to contain less flesh we need to make sure that things are indeed better and not just an extra sticker on a product. Ultimately we need to keep questioning things.
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I think that the second step should be creating awareness. If we really want this terrible cycle to end then we need to inform people that the products they are buying are produced by slaves. I feel like if more people were aware of this then they would not be so open to buying these types of products. Sam said that people need to get a “feeling” in order to make a difference. Well I definitely got the “feeling” after watching this video. We need to get other people to get that same feeling and then maybe some changed will start to happen.
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Accepting the fact that many of the items we consume each day are the products of slave labor is a great first step in putting an end to modern day slavery. However, we need to follow up with a second step, and I think Sam started to mention something along the lines of supporting those companies that strictly forbid the production and distribution of slave made items. If enough interest was shown towards these businesses and away from those who sell slave products, all companies may start to lean in that direction. However, people are going to realize that this means inflated prices on goods, but how much is you freedom worth to you? How much would be willing to pay to live your life the way it is right this moment?
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Education, Education, Education! As consumers we are very powerful and we become even more powerful as we grow in numbers. We grow in numbers by spreading the word or educating consumers. I believe there are many consumers who just do not really understand where and how their products are made. I also believe that once consumers have the knowledge, they will respond empathetically and chose to purchase products from companies whom conduct business in ethical ways. Once we have the knowledge we are more likely to purchase products that have the “Fair Trade” logo. As the businesses that participate in the Fair Trade program become more successful the more they will market the idea (which spreads the education – what an excellent idea for those of us who are majoring in Marketing). Hopefully, these businesses become more successful than those businesses that purchase their supplies through slave trade organizations. This will force these businesses to compete and change their ways.
Secondly, as the consumers (United States tax payers) become more educated, taxpayers will begin to advocate more for public policies that demand businesses to operate ethically. This will likely spread like wildfire through the other nations. It will also serve as a strong warning to the slave trade organizations that if they do not change their ways, they will lose a lot of their profits making slavery a thing of the past.
Education in nations where slavery is encouraged or supported is also important. This helps individual people to make wiser decisions. Hopefully with education, those who are tricked in to slavery will diminish – they will be wise to it and not allow themselves to be “tricked”. Unfortunately, as we read in “Disposable People” some people are born into slavery and sometimes they are kidnapped into slavery. It is these people who need help from us the consumers making slave made products less profitable. With the help of sociologists, counselors and humanitarian aid organizations we should be able to help with new ways of producing the same products in a more healthy way.
I see at least two problems with this theory. First, for us as consumers it will be difficult to stick to our guns in buying all the products we need from Fair Trade participating manufactures and resist the temptation of buying what is cheap. Secondly, this all will take a lot of time and time is not something slaves have to give while we wise up. How many lives will be loss and/or destroyed before we solve a problem that has existed since the beginning of time.
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Step two is Government cracking down hard on corporations who contribute to the problem, they are the people to blame, they made the choice to buy slave coffee or chocolate beans, they made the choice to move their production facilities to India or Thailand where they can pay people next to nothing or nothing at all. This idea that the free market is all knowing and that regulation will bankrupt America is ridiculous. The lack of government regulations has aloud these companies to run wild. A business's main objective is to make money, they don't care how they do it, that's why the government or essentially us have too.
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I think that step two is a step that people aren’t expected to take. I think that it is something that requires you to take action to try and liberate these slaves. But something like that would take so much for a person to accomplish that it really isn’t something that people would consider doing and therefore not considered a step. You could ask many people who are in step one if they would travel to these plantations and do whatever it took to free the slaves, but I think that they would try finding another and safer way to do that, yet less effective. There isn’t much stopping us from doing that other than determination and our own greed for a candy that we apparently think is more worthy than the lives of innocent people.
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Karl Marx believes that slavery is an inevitable stage all cultures pass through. I won’t dive into thoroughly, but check it out here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx%27s_Historical_... All of the stages can be traced through the history of the majority of modern European nations and our own. The United States is currently in the Capitalism stage but is falling into the Socialism stage that is currently crushing Europe.
My point is that slavery may very well be inevitable for a period of time within each society as it grows. Societies begin very basically with few members who all work together just to survive. As soon as the society grows, and the means of production of goods grow slavery almost ALWAYS occurs. Human greed causes the members of these growing societies to no longer be satisfied with a few personal possessions. They begin to desire a larger stock of private property and the means of acquiring private property. Slavery is by far the easiest and fastest way to accumulate private property and wealth. A few generations later the society takes a giant leap of morality and bans slavery. After slavery there is feudalism, in which the former slaves remain at the bottom of the class hierarchy. They work for little to nothing and often do not have much better lives than they had before, but they are free. Eventually feudalism gives way to capitalism as feudalistic systems have the tendency to limit production. Capitalism allows for uncontrolled growth. Workers are the farthest from slaves yet to exist, and receive wages in a competitive, open market. In the free market economy, monopolies tend to emerge as single corporations become the most successful manipulators of their trade. These monopolies cause the corporation to become ever greedier, as their immense size allows them to control every aspect of the economic niche they exist in. They eventually get so big (Walmart) that they can order their suppliers around like employees, and pay their employees next to nothing.
This is approximately where we are currently in the United States. The lower and middle class are the largest in number and have been beaten down by monopolistic corporations for so long that left wing economic terrorist Obama has been permitted to take the throne and wreak havoc. I say wreak havoc because this where the systems cease to progress. Socialism fails because it does not permit an outlet for human greed to flourish.
My point is Slavery is an inevitable step in the progress of a society. By eating the chocolate you are promoting progress, not the other way around. Every society goes through this stage. There will be a revolt, followed by feudalism, followed by capitalism, followed by fools who think socialism will actually work.
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On eating the second piece of chocolate I wouldn’t worry about people that ate it as much as people that don’t want to take any initiative after hearing this topic and seeing the video. They could be in the same grouping but that is not the point I am trying to make. I didn’t eat the second piece of chocolate only because I don’t like chocolate very much. I don’t think that I should be grouped into those people that would eat the chocolate that this girl is creating because I do want to make a difference about this. I feel the need to get out into the world and away from this bubble that is Penn State. That is what people often say. This Happy Valley bubble. But I think of it more as a United State bubble or a United States and Europel bubble. We have the great opportunity to abroad during our college experience. I think of it as one time where we can actually go experience the world. The world where the poorer population of American’s makes more than the average of another country. And instead of studying abroad in South America or somewhere in Africa a lot of Penn State students study in places like Barcelona or Seville. Places with booming night life. In these place they can stay in there bubble. I have trouble understanding how people can bad their experience abroad on night life. I want to go somewhere that I can see how the rest of the world is. I have trouble understanding how I can be sitting here typing on my thousand dollar computer when there are thousands of families on this earth than cannot afford a meal tonight that costs thirty cents. This is something that we should be concerned about. A lot of people criticize Sam, but I think they misunderstand him. The difference between us and Sam is the basis of human nature in contrast with the brain wash of society. He basically tells us what is human and shows us how society has pulled us away from it. Why are we so worried about how we compare to our neighbor when we could compare ourselves to a slave in Ghana. Living without option paid nothing, forced to work or punished by death. I completely understand what Sam said last class where if we believe in a God that will judge us, he isn’t going to compare us to someone in the same state as us, but more likely anyone on earth. There are so many people out there that need our help. We are fortunate enough to be put in this situation to help them, so why not. What are we waiting for.
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Yesterday’s class burned. It burned deep. I guess that’s what Sam wanted when he said he wanted us to feel something. So I’ve gotten that part down. And then I decided just knowing about this wasn’t my last step. I’ve known about a lot of unjust things happening in the world, but they were too ugly, so I ignored them. One time I told a friend I wouldn’t work for Phillip Morris because they had to be heartless to see such a terrible product as tobacco. Then my friend said, “You eat M&Ms right? You know Mars? Well they use child labor. That’s pretty bad too.” I had heard the words but it didn’t register or invoke a response to change. But this time, I just couldn’t ignore what I had seen. And I’m at a much different stage in my life. I have to do something more. So I decided to look at what other people were doing. This blog entry summarized my sentiments almost exactly. So I decided to share, and maybe someone else will be inspired to do more research, and become a better world citizen.
I confess: I have a chocolate addiction. The idea of living without chocolate is abhorrent to me.
I’ve also known about the involvement of abusive child labor in chocolate production for a few years, and I’m going to admit for the first time that I flat out ignored it because I didn’t want to stop eating chocolate. But there’s something about knowing that children are being beaten and abused just so that I can satisfying a caffeine-craving that seems morally off to me.
I wanted to write about whether avoiding this is something I can realistically ask of other people and realistically ask of myself. Because I know I am not going to stop eating chocolate.
The first bit of research I did was not encouraging. The chocolate companies that were listed as fair trade and slave-free were all companies that I had never heard of before. I’m sure they make delicious chocolate, but there is something about a familiar chocolate bar that really satisfies my cravings.
Furthermore, how can I possibly suggest to you that you should make out a list of names of these chocolate bars so that the next time you have a desire for chocolate, you can pull it out and spend hours looking for these uncommon names? There is nothing satisfying about that scenario.
And ask you to remember the names without a list? Don’t worry – I’m not that crazy. We all have enough important things to remember, without unfamiliar chocolate bars added on.
So I looked some more. What I found was a website called Better World Shopper that has listings of companies that make all kinds of products and ranks them according to five key issues: the environment, human rights, animal protection, community involvement and social justice.
I looked up the chocolate companies for you and some of the companies they rate are quite well-known. I list the ratings at the end of the article.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that Fair Trade certified chocolate – which is different than the ratings by Better World Shopper – is widely available.
In order to get Fair Trade certification, the producer has to meet rigorous production and trade standards and commit to them long-term. The specifics of these standards can be found athttp://transfair.ca/ andhttp://www.transfairusa.org. You can look up local stores that sell Fair Trade certified chocolate on the Fair Trade websites with your zip or postal code.
Also, some large corporations that are known for carrying Fair Trade products at some, if not all locations include: Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops (chocolate ice cream), Costco, Loblaws, Price Chopper, Sam’s Club, Ten Thousand Villages and Wal-Mart.
So, there are a lot of options for buying chocolate without supporting a system of child slavery. There’s no reason for us to turn our heads when we hear about the horrors of cocoa production, and it isn’t necessary to compile lists of strange, unheard-of chocolates just to satisfy that chocolate-y urge.
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I would say that the second step is obvious, to act on the feeling. Yes, he did kind of stop at just feeling something for the slaves, but at the same time he also offered ways to act on the feeling. For example, he showed that there are fair trade goods available on the market to purchase. Goods that you know did not involve that kind of slavery. Yes, it may be harder to find, and yes in some cases (although not all as Sam said) it will be more expensive, but if you care, it is definitely worth the effort. In addition to this, thinking back about the story of the woman who Sam made an oath to, one of the best ways to act on this tragedy is to educate others about it. I am certain that most people in the class were unaware, like myself, about the slavery situation in our world. Sam is doing his very best to make sure that it changes, but he can only teach so many students in his lifetime. As his students who care, our responsibility and the second step is to educate our friends and families about the situation. This way, we can get them to care about the situation, to feel something as Sam has made us feel something. That way, it is more likely that they too will take the second step, it is more likely that they will begin to purchase fair trade goods and then educate others around them about the situation too. The more that people are aware of it, the more effort those involved will put in not to be caught, but maybe some of them will be so threatened that they will stop. Also if somehow most of the world began to buy fair trade goods, perhaps the people involved in the slavery business will no longer be able to afford to run their business. It is the ripple effect that we should look for. Like the movie, Pay it Forward. If every single student in Sam's class is able to tell three other people in their life about what is going on and those three people tell three different people about it, eventually, word will spread enough that slavery has a chance of being stopped. So my answer is, first of all feel something like Sam said, then second of all, act on it. Begin buying only fair trade goods, and then educate people about what he has taught you.
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The thing is there is no steps, there is nothing we can do about it, the whole world has to stop buying chocolate so the slaves might be free , and even then they will try to find a different business so the slaves can work on. I mean imagine if the whole world stops eating chocolate and the slave owner has 100 some slaves that need to be useful, he will probably find something else for them, not even that, he would use them for a lot of things, there is obviously no solution unless we all act together which is impossible.
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There is of course a second step. But until we can complete step one, there can be no way to move on. Like he said in class, everyone has to really understand what is going on. We need to spread the knowledge of what we know from the class to others, so we can make everyone fully aware of what is going on in the world today. Most people, even me before I enrolled in this class, are blissfully unaware and completely ignorant of the horrible actions going on thousands of miles away. So until everyone knows about the situation, we will not be able to act on step two– taking action.
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There are many things we could do to show our disagreement towards slavery. One of the "second steps" could be, joining organizations that are directly fighting against this issue. We need to give our support to this organizations that are constantly trying to change the status quo. It is not easy to start an organization like that, but it is really easy for us to just become part of those things that already exist. I googled anti slavery and I saw many websites that had to do with organizations, and groups of activists. It is not hard to get into these groups and take your second step. All of you should join one of those groups.
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While many of us will not feel so strongly to become activist or fight for a cause, we all singlehandedly have the ability to choose where our chocolate comes from. That class was education and our decision to pick up fair trade chocolate over a cheap bar of 'human flesh' is not merely a step but the right thing to do.
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I think that realization is the first step and probably the easiest. For me, my guess about the second step would be education. I think we need to educate ourselves about where certain products are made and who makes them. I think everyone could make this effort. However, this step could also be hard because people have to want to learn about this and educate themselves. While I realize this is only a small step, we can make at least some sort of difference if everyone commits to making the effort. But the question is will people actually make the effort? I think we should.
Feb 19
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I agree that the realization of people whether they are the consumers, or the businesses who somehow are indirectly involved with slave-made product is indeed the first step. Understanding is important in this situation because many people don't think much about why one price is so much cheaper compared to another. The second step doesn't necessarily have to be a boycott or an outlaw style action step. It could be geared towards spreading awareness to chocolate companies and maybe thinking of ideas to avoid or prevent slave made products from entering our markets. But in this step, one also needs to understand capitalism and how a low price normally beats out moral values in most situations as this was also mentioned in our class discussion.
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I think there is step two that is achieved through not endorsing any of these acts of slavery by not purchasing any of the goods made by slaves but I’m not sure how realistic it is for someone to truly achieve this. From the list that Sam put up that included all of the products that are obtained through slavery, I just feel as if it would be very hard for someone not to use any of these products. Maybe we just have to take baby steps. An example of a baby step would be how Sam only eats fair trade chocolate or one of my friends did not get a big rock for an engagement ring because she does not agree with the child slaves who mine diamonds. By taking these small steps to eliminate using certain products and informing others why you are doing this, it would make a huge difference in the end.
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