It’s B-A-N-A-N-A-S
This year saw the WTO, backed by Chiquita, Del Monte, and Dole, turn down EU trade tariffs on bananas(http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2008/02/2008525122414971745.html;http://www.reuters.com/article/gc08/idUSL739774220080727?sp=true;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/322938.stm). The EU obtains most of their bananas from post-colonial regions of the world, such as the Caribbean/Jamaica/Canary Islands as well as parts of Africa through a quota system(http://www.globalissues.org/article/63/the-banana-trade-war;http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/04/07/business/OUKBS-UK-TRADE-WTO-BANANAS.php). This was done as a sort of “sorry” for the big “colonial screw” many of these regions experienced. Also, because of more recent events involving independence, the World Bank/IMF, and Free Trade Globalization, these regions are experiencing extreme poverty, the depletion and rape of their land through commercial crops, and exploitation of their people through export processing zones.
Basically, the bananas are all some of these regions have. Without the banana trade they will only have tourism, which does not benefit the people of these regions, thus hurling them further into poverty and squalor.
A great documentary about the general struggle of Jamaica, called Life and Debt: Globalization and Jamaica, touches on the banana/WTO ordeal.
You can view the whole documentary at the link below:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5277094596195828118
On some aspects it does appear unfair to favor certain regions over others, especially, when certain Latin American countries rely just as heavily on bananas as these EU supported regions. However, under the WTO agreements, it is not the people of these Latin American countries that will benefit, but the American Multinationals(Chiquita, Del Monte, and Dole) who control the banana/fruit industry(http://www.reuters.com/article/consumerproducts-SP/idUSN0453319020071204). These multinational corporations have committed various atrocities towards their workers and are solely profit driven (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17615143/;http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2096/).
A great book to read on the subject is Banana Wars by Steve Striffler, Mark Moberg.
So what can you do?
First, stop buying products from Chiquita, Del Monte, and Dole. Alternate sources of bananas are OKé and Earth University Brand. I haven’t found bananas from the Caribbean, however Oké and Earth are Fair Trade and organic. Earth University Brand bananas can be found at all Whole Foods. Be careful because Whole Foods often stocks Dole Organic bananas nearby. Do not buy the Dole bananas even though they are organic. I have found Oké bananas in New York at the 4th Street Co Op.
Then you can sign this letter at Coopamerica.org and put pressure on your local grocery store to cary fair trade bananas such as OKe or Earth University Brand.
More Articles:
http://www.forbes.com/2001/04/12/0412bananas.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/26/wto-rules-against-eu-in-bananas-dispute-1/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/business/worldbusiness/28trade.html
