Chocolate often originates from the hands of children working as slaves. In Côte D’Ivoire and other cocoa-producing countries, an estimated 100,000 children labor in the fields, many against their will. Action taken now demands that Hershey “Raise the Bar” on their fair trade labor practices.
International Issues
Bolivia: Indigenous Protest Can’t Stop Amazon Superhighway
President Evo Morales signed into law in 2017 that stripped protection from the Isiboro Secure National Park and Indigenous Territory, known as TIPNIS for its Spanish initials, opening it to highway construction and other development.
Australia’s Wild Kimberley Fights Industrialization
Traditional Goolarabooloo and Jabirr Jabirr land custodians from the Kimberley, Western Australia, voiced concerns about the proposed $30 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project at Walmadan or James Price Point. They say turning their coast into a gas hub will have devastating impacts on wildlife and nearby communities. The project was canceled due to rising costs.
Fixing Honduras: A Constitutional and Historical Rewrite
Three US law professor “specialists in comparative constitutional law,” deny the reality of the Honduran coup and the anti-democratic oppression on the ground in Honduras, advocating imaginary limits on military and executive power.
Democracy, Reconciliation, and Justice Returns to Honduras? Not Yet…
Nobody has been punished for carrying out the 2009 coup d’etat in Honduras and repression continues against peaceful resistance movements and journalists, but the return of deposed President Mel Zelaya is reason to celebrate for a moment.
Capitalist Utopia: Mexico’s “Sustainable Rural Cities”
“We see with the corn and beans we nourish ourselves; with oil palms and pine nuts they plan to produce biofuels to feed the cars and trucks. Do cars have more right to the food of Mother Earth than we do?”
Guatemala: Biofuels Production Leads to Violent Evictions
Thousands of Mayan Q’eqchi villagers were violently evicted from 14 communities, to make way for ‘for export’ agribusiness initiatives, particularly production of sugar cane and African palm trees aimed at biofuel promotion.