Chocolate and Slavery

I saw this in my current Relevent Magazine, but kind of forgot about it till recently. it definitely makes you think differently about chocolate...

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wow, I wonder how to find out if our candy is made from those cocoa beans...we have 3 different chocolate factories in Erie, all family owned, but still, who knows....a lot of little kids have slaved away for me!

i looked at our local one and i know i found the answer under thair faq section on their website. but i also looked at ghiradelli and see's and they didn't mention anything.

I will check, I never had any clue.

me either.

just looking at some stuff....

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thanks for sharing that angie

it's crazy. I felt pretty good about myself, you know at least I don't like diamonds, but now....not my precious chocolate! Oh, well. I ate a lot of it, and I feel like crap now, I need to just give it up anyway!

i have three mustkateers mint bars stashed in my desk and i had to make sure they weren't nestle. they aren't

So this issue of slavery, when you include sweatshops that workers cannot realistically leave, is true of the following industries:

diamonds
chocolate
clothing
shoes


and maybe many more.

makes you think

JamesWilliams wrote:So this issue of slavery, when you include sweatshops that workers cannot realistically leave, is true of the following industries:

diamonds
chocolate
clothing
shoes


and maybe many more.

makes you think

and coffee.

yeah, it seems kind of like an overwhelming problem....

All the addiction areas. Hmmm. Really interesting.

Gives me a reason to give up Chocolate that is beyond myself--those reasons always hold stronger for me!

Bethany, by chance did you read the articles over there on relationships and soul mates? Pretty interesting views!

meether369 wrote:All the addiction areas. Hmmm. Really interesting.

Actually, the prostitution industry is also feeding an addiction, and it uses many many workers against their will, as well.

There are VERY few things that we buy as consumers in this country that don't have some sort of 'nasty', sordid connection.

Yeah, I had that conversation with someone that only wanted to monetarily support companies that upheld his Christian values.
I told him he better throw out all his Zondervan published materials because they are a subsidiary or HarperCollins which published Danielle Steele which he agreed didn't uphold his Christian values.

And NEVER go to a nice restaurant. After all, they sell that nasty alcohol! Oh my!

AND definitely stay out of churches - they're FULL to the brim with sinners.


You can only do what you can do (great wisdon ). Getting all legalistic about it does nothing.

I don't think that trying to stop child slavery is legalism though....you are right, we can't quit doing everything, but once you become aware of a problem, advocating for a better way would be a fantastic idea.

you have to start somewhere.. right? so in saying I'm going to try and buy cruelty free chocolate is a step towards doing something that is right.

Oh yeah, I totally agree Angie and Katy. I wasn't saying it was ridiculous to try to avoid everything that was bad (and get all legalistic about it) I was actually trying to point out to this guy that he should be discerning about what he takes in and try as best as he can to support the things that he believes in.

Thanks for the links. that's good information to have, and that I'll definitely be utilizing (bought an organic free-trade coffee for myself this morning!).


here's a thought, though. If I go on this forum here and use it as a way to connect with you all, am I by doing so supporting this forum? And if Bob is a member of this forum, am I supporting him? And if I were to believe that Bob is bad for Christianity, am I then supporting anti-Christian elements?

(just a hypothetical question, Bob. )

That's just your ADD talking.

Bethany wrote:Oh yeah, I totally agree Angie and Katy. I wasn't saying it was ridiculous to try to avoid everything that was bad (and get all legalistic about it) I was actually trying to point out to this guy that he should be discerning about what he takes in and try as best as he can to support the things that he believes in.

I actually didn't see your post, Bethany... I was more or less elaborating on Angie's comment.

Agreed - you should do what you can.

My point is that unless you live out in the boonies and grow all your own food, make all your own clothes from the wool you've sheered from your own sheep and are totally self-sufficient, you can't avoid dealing with the scumbags of the world.

We've met the scumbags and they are us.

I agree with that... i also think that in the world we live in... it's easier to get news and information out there and that it's forcing the scumbags to kind of of come clean.. I mean, I know that we can't know and fix everything, but it's easier in this time to make better choices.