The Fall Forum @ St. Andrew’sEveryday Justice #2 Chocolate

chocolate criminal

chocoholiaon average people in the US consume 3.3 billion pounds

of chocolate per year, spending nearly $13 billion

chocolate is an $83 billion a year business, according to research firm marketsandmarkets.

that makes the industry’s value larger than the gdp of more than 130 nations

on earth, world bank figures show.

unrequited love

we love chocolate...

but chocolate doesn’t always love us back

when we talk about problems related to chocolate we often think of putting on weight, too many cavities

we don’t often think of slavery...

cocoacrimes

in march 2004, tony van de keuken walked into a dutch public prosecutor’s office asking

to be arrestedwhy?

most of world’s chocolate comes from cocoa farms in the Côte d’Ivoire where 1000’s of

children are in forced labor

in holland, it is illegal to purchase something you know was obtained using criminal

methods

tony saw himself as a chocolate criminal - the case made it all the way to the dutch

supreme court

why is this happening?chocolate tastes so good

most people don’t have a clue that there is a problem

with eating it other than what their waistline and their dentist tell them

the human desire to consume is greater than the

collective will to make change happen

that’s where you come in...

the problemhuman trafficking

humanity across borders

human trafficking is the i"egal & genera"y involuntary smu#ling of

persons across borders, most often for the purposes of forced labor

the international institute of tropical agriculture estimates over 300,000 children are working on cocoa farms using machetes and

applying pesticides without necessary protective equipmentthe united states forbids the import of goods made from forced

labor...yet chocolate makes its way throughwhy? because most people are unaware of the problem

newton’snightmare

author of ‘amazing grace’, john newton, was an 18th century abolitionist who fought against the slave trade he had once

profited from

200 years later, slavery is even more prominent, with an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today, and the cost of a

slave lower in relative terms than it was in newton’s day

from sex slaves to cleaners, it is not only sub-saharan african countries but countries like ours, with a strong rule of law, that

are home to modern day slavery

the faitha christian ethic

biblicalmandates

the core motif of the hebrew bible is the exodus: the story of slaves set free

by a god who heard their cries

the just treatment of slaves, of the stranger, of the needy, was a central

tenant of the life of Israel

slavery in NT times was challenged by the mutuality that lies at the heart of the way of jesus: in christ there is no

slave nor free, just a new being in christ

in the letter to philemon, paul challenges a slave owner to receive back

a runaway slave as a brother in christ

love beyond borders

jesus commands us to preach the gospel to the

ends of the earth

he teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves

and does not set a limit on who our neighbor is

we live in a global village, one chocolate purchased funds a slave trade that is still very much alive

and well

the solutioneveryday action

the ‘brown’revolutionslave-&ee easter e#s

& ha"oween candy

in early 2007 three children from south london campaigned for a ‘sale-free’ easter outside a nestlé factory and started a letter

campaign to prime minister tony blairat the time major british chocolate companies said that it was

nearly impossible to guarantee slave-free chocolatejust two years later, the biggest chocolate seller in britain, cadbury,

announced its milk chocolate bar would be slave-free

which everyday justice appeals

to you?

lobby your member of congresssusan davis, bob filner, duncan hunter

seek out and buy slave-free chocolateange", dove

write to chocolate companies to sell slave-free chocolate

nestle, hershey, mars

support advocacy organizationsinternational justice mission

help make poverty historykiva, erd

next time: cars (oct 13)