Chocolate and Slavery: NOTMILK - Treat or Trick?

[Guest guest]

< <cohensmilk1 cohensmilk1

October 2, 2007 3:36:01 AM PDT

<notmilk > notmilk

NOTMILK - Treat or Trick?

<notmilk-owner > notmilk-owner

 

Treat or Trick?

 

On August 28, 2001, I wrote a Notmilk letter describing a horrible injustice

in which tens of thousands of children have been kidnapped and/or sold into

slavery to support America's love for milk chocolate and chocolate milk.

 

Six years ago, I asked the readers of this column to write letters of

protest to their own members of congress and to local newspapers to urge

them to publicize this cruel and unjust system. You responded

magnificently, or so I had thought. Your letters made a difference, or so I

believed. The bad guys promised to change. They lied to us. We've been

tricked. What appropriate behavior for those who profit most by selling

Halloween candy. Treat or trick, anyone?

 

We did everything in our power to expose the support of slavery by Hershey,

Nestle, and Mars, and also accused the phonies who owned the Chocolate SILK

soymilk line of supporting slavery as well. SILK has subsequently been sold

to America's largest dairy producer, Dean Foods.

 

Today, most of the world's cocoa beans are grown on the more than 600,000

cocoa farms located in the nation of Ivory Coast.

 

Tens of thousands of children have been kidnapped from their homes and sold

into slavery. These children plant, pick, bag, and carry the beans for

plantation owners.

 

After the 2001 Notmilk articles, word of these outrages spread and the

members of the chocolate industry were shamed into signing a pact to end

their support of chocolate slavery by 2005.

 

Unfortunately, we were naive enough to take them at their word. These scum

of industry have done nothing but lie about the problem and make it worse.

They should be held accountable. The dairy industry is an active

co-conspirator, as four pounds of milk are required to manufacture one pound

of milk chocolate.

 

During the summer of 2007, the United Nations International Labor

Organization (ILO) reported that 284,000 child laborers now work and live in

slavery on Ivory Coast cocoa farms.

 

Chocolate consumers must be made aware that the purchase of each candy bar

continues to support the world's most horrifying secret.

 

Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?

 

Is America a nation made up of moral people? If so, I ask you not to write

any more letters. I ask you only to spread the word by attaching today's

column to every person you know. Ask them to join you in a nation-wide

boycott of chocolate this October 31st (Halloween), November 22nd

(Thanksgiving), December 25th (Christmas), and January 1st (New Year's Day).

 

 

Slavery exists, and its victims are children. Please search your heart and

turn your passion and compassion into action.

 

Please remember that with each bite of chocolate you will receive enormous

pleasure while causing pain for the innocent. Together, we can end this

injustice by sending a message to chocolate companies that they have created

the problem and continue to support this morally corrupt system.

 

Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth went insane with the guilt of imagining

bloodstains on her hands, and continuously was heard saying, " Out, damned

spot! " For those of your with chocolate-stained hands, the guilt is yours

and can only be relieved by washing your hands of this injustice. Please

become part of the solution to this horror story. Out damned spot!

 

Boycott all chocolate products and let as many people know why you are doing

so. Let manufacturers know why you will no longer eat chocolate chip

cookies or Brownies or drink hot cocoa.

 

Do this for the kidnapped and abused boys and girls.

 

Robert Cohen

http://www.notmilk.com <http://www.notmilk.com/>

i4crob(at)earthlink.net

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Wow. That is excellent. I love Rob Cohen, always have. I stopped

getting his updates after something was pirated and it turned into a

bunch of porn stuff. But that was a few years ago. This is just awful

and I am glad he is bringing attention to it. Wow. Candy bars =

Slavery. Our world is so corrupt! I want a with how to

deal with all of this! Between clothing to food to candy to the FDA to

the government, it is maddening. Erica

[Guest guest]

All the more reason to buy fair trade:

 

http://www.vegandonelight.com/recommends/fairtrade

 

 

-Erin

http://www.zenpawn.com/vegblog

 

 

rawfood , " Elchanan " <Elchanan wrote:

 

[...]

 

> Boycott all chocolate products and let as many people know why you

are doing

> so. Let manufacturers know why you will no longer eat chocolate

chip

> cookies or Brownies or drink hot cocoa.

>

> Do this for the kidnapped and abused boys and girls.

>

> Robert Cohen

> http://www.notmilk.com <http://www.notmilk.com/>

> i4crob(at)earthlink.net