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While
we are on the subject of evil... HISTORICAL
EVIL:
"The Triangle Fire," by Leon Stein with a new introduction
by William Greider. (Cornell University Press, 2001.)
EVIL
IN THE RAG TRADE:
"NO SWEAT: Fashion, Free Trade, and the Rights of Garment
Workers," edited by Andrew Ross. (Verso Press 1997.)
BORDERLINE
EVIL:
"Border Witness," by Maureen Casey and Brian Casey. (The New
York State Labor-Religion Coalition, 2002).
COSMIC
EVIL:
"Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy,"
by Susan Neiman. (Princeton U. Press, 2002.)
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> NO SWEAT NEWS >
NEWS ARCHIVE
Cups of Coffee Filled with Injustice
by Sanjay Suri Sept 19, 2002 by Inter Press
Service
LONDON
- Six donkeys carried mock-ups of coffee sacks to the
London Stock Exchange Wednesday. They were not delivering
coffee, they were delivering a message about the burden that
coffee companies are placing on poor coffee growers in
developing countries.
The sacks were dumped at the stock exchange to symbolise the
collapse in world coffee prices. The picture event was
organised by Oxfam as a part of its "coffee rescue plan"
to
demand a decent price to be paid to coffee farmers.
Oxfam says 25 million coffee farmers in 45 countries are
facing economic ruin, and many are going hungry because of
collapsing world prices. Oxfam's global campaign aims to
force corporate giants who dominate the 60 billion dollar
industry to pay a better price. Oxfam's campaign is
particularly targeting the largest four companies - Kraft,
Nestle, Sara Lee and Procter & Gamble - who buy nearly half
the world's coffee crop.
Only about 5 per cent of the money that coffee generates
reaches the poor farmers, Oxfam says. "They know there is
terrible human suffering at the heart of their business and
yet they do virtually nothing to help," says Oxfam's
Campaigns Director Adrian Lovett. "It's time to shame them
and change them."
The campaign has brought some talk of change. Nestle, the
Swiss multinational announced earlier this week that it is
prepared to take steps to halt the fall in the price of
coffee beans. The announcement followed several weeks of
negotiations with Oxfam representatives.
Nestle says it will consider a return to an agreement
similar to the quotas system introduced in 1962 to prevent
overproduction and keep prices stable. The agreement broke
down in 1989 when the U.S. backed out. But none of the other
major companies have supported this move. A spokeswoman for
Kraft said only that the situation should be improved by
stimulating demand.
Oxfam welcomed the Nestle offer. "It is a good sign that
they agree with us that action needs to be taken," Eliot
Whittington from Oxfam told IPS. "But we would like to see
action, not just talk of action."
The crisis has come about after several bumper coffee crops
in Brazil and huge production in Vietnam. Average prices for
coffee beans have fallen by half over the past three years
to about a dollar and ten cents a kilogram.
Within this price the farmers can expect to receive on
average only 14 cents for a kilogram of unprocessed green
coffee beans. A cup of coffee in a London coffee house sells
for three to four dollars.
Prices have fallen below the price of production in many
countries. "This is lower than the price in the Depression,"
says Nestor Osario, president of the International Coffee
Organisation (ICO) in London.
The ICO which represents the coffee producing countries says
the consequences have been catastrophic for countries such
as Kenya and Vietnam. It estimates that overproduction had
led to a stockpile of 40 million bags. It has proposed
removing poor quality beans from the market to cut excess
supply and to bring up prices.
Oxfam is backing that move. It says destruction of five
million bags of coffee of 60 kilograms each could bring
prices up 20 per cent within a year. Oxfam wants developed
countries to pay the 140 million dollars this will cost. The
move will bring benefits worth 1.2 billion dollars, it says.
The ICO is holding a meeting in London next week to discuss
the price crisis. Oxfam says the meeting can be effective
only if it gets enough support from political and business
leaders. So far the indifference of the coffee companies has
been matched by the complacency of rich country governments,
it says.
"How governments and companies react to this crisis is the
acid test of whether globalisation can be made to work for
poor people," Lovett says. "We were told to be patient
and
that the free market would eventually work. We're still
waiting as the rich get richer and better at making excuses.
Enough is enough. Twenty five million people need action
now."
The crisis has consequences for the consumer. At the present
low prices farmers are letting the quality of the coffee
fall, says an ICO spokesman. Some of the coffee now finding
its way into the market contains stuff "not recognisable as
coffee," he says.
The crisis has consequences for the consumer. At the present
low prices farmers are letting the quality of the coffee
fall, says an ICO spokesman. Some of the coffee now finding
its way into the market contains stuff "not recognisable as
coffee," he says.
Oxfam aims to bring consumer pressure on the big coffee
companies. Its campaign will seek to educate coffee drinkers
about the "injustice in the cup" which gives farmers less
than production costs while making billions for the coffee
multinationals.
Sophia Tichell, senior policy adviser at Oxfam says the fact
that the big companies have been ignoring the end of the
supply chain "seems remarkably short sighted because there
is plenty of evidence that consumers are interested even if
companies are not."
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