Children's Blood

Especially not on Gransnet.

(Baggs)

There are good GN rules that most people respect.

Cobalt mining in Congo uses child labour according to this:

twitter.com/derenicbyrd/status/1731442545580790131?s=61&t=RXomt6Kq0P2JMMFCXNsJTA

But it's great that people bring these things up when they want to on GN and other social media sites.

Caleo

Baggs:- "Or perhaps people do appreciate the information you and the Guardian wished to share, do decide to change their buying habits, but don't see the need to publicise their decisions.".

good point. Ought people to participate by discussing the politics of the multinational sinners, or simply shut up and do the ethical thing without making a drama of it?

I think people ought to will do what they think best in the manner they think best for their individual circumstances/personality, etc.

Not everyone wants to share their outrage or their willingness to try and do something about what they see as an injustice. Especially not on Gransnet.

Nanna posted two posts back:

yes, Nanna, but the sin of our fathers should not be repeated by us, in 2023, especially since we have less brutal perspectives on political economy.

Baggs:- "Or perhaps people do appreciate the information you and the Guardian wished to share, do decide to change their buying habits, but don't see the need to publicise their decisions.".

good point. Ought people to participate by discussing the politics of the multinational sinners, or simply shut up and do the ethical thing without making a drama of it?

It’s not straightforward,though. If all child labour was stopped throughout the world there would be many deaths as a result. We tend to judge by our ‘western’ standards where we would be horrified if little kids had to work but, only a couple of centuries back, Britain and the rest were doing exactly that. The old mills and coal mines were every bit as bad and worse than some of the conditions kids have to work in today.

MerylStreep

It’s a pity that the majority of poor people in the world can’t afford Tony’s chocolate 😥

Many people, possibly most, in the world can’t even afford Cadbury’s, but that doesn’t mean that it’s wrong to buy more ethical (and better) stuff if we can afford it.

Well I’ve never heard of Tony’s chocolate and if expensive wouldn’t buy it.I think Cadbury went down the pan years ago tho, it’s more sugar and palm oil than chocolate.

It’s a pity that the majority of poor people in the world can’t afford Tony’s chocolate 😥

Caleo

Most replies condemn the way I wrote. Perhaps if I'd written real information, and used milder language somebody would have responded by buying only Freetrade prducts.

Or perhaps people do appreciate the information you and the Guardian wished to share, do decide to change their buying habits, but don't see the need to publicise their decisions.

Tony’ Chocolonely is lovely, although difficult to share (what a shame ) and so is Divine, a Fairtrade chocolate. Since Cadbury went American it doesn’t taste nearly as good, so I would be happy to boycott it. Child labour is a good reason for doing so. I already boycott Nestle because of the baby milk problem. Shame about the Mars Bars though!

I am not kidding that I'd really appreciate it if someone would explain in simple language about multinational business practices.

I don’t buy Cadbury’s not since they did the dirty and closed their British factory near Bristol and moved production to Poland. I’m not surprised if they are paying for cheaper cocoa and in so doing exploiting child labour.

Most replies condemn the way I wrote. Perhaps if I'd written real information, and used milder language somebody would have responded by buying only Freetrade prducts.

Caleo

Baggs, can we enjoy the festive season without helping to exploit workers in West Africa?

I suspect we can if we want to.

But I also feel that – rampant exploitation and awful working conditions aside – not all work done by children is necessarily a bad thing, especially if it helps their families.

Ask the mods to put this in news and politics OP.
Child labour and exploitation around the world is rife in poor countries, it’s a hard one to solve as youngsters help their families and would be even poorer if they didn’t do jobs.
It will only change when countries become wealthier over time just as it did here for workers.
Email Cadbury about it and avoid their products, awful sugary stuff in any case.

I agree a ridiculous title and post, listed in the wrong forum! I honestly thought there was chocolate tasting of children's blood. That's sick.

Anyway, one good thing has come of it because I will now try Tony's Chocolonely Milk Chocolate instead of Cadbury and if I like it then I will switch. We are all Cadbury children. But if Cadbury changes then we should switch if we can.

Thanks BlueBelle.

The topic is about serious morality which is why I chose religion, spirituality, and Christmas.

Take a look at how our phone/car batteries are made.

Mining cobalt is horrendous. Men, women and children working in appalling conditions.

Plenty of info online

Baggs, can we enjoy the festive season without helping to exploit workers in West Africa?

It’s not a ridiculous post it s in the wrong forum and it uses strange wording which has obviously put people backs up which is a shame as child labour is well worth discussing
I think if we all saw what this does to children (as it did in past times here when children got lung disease from working in clothing factories etc) we would be much more on the ball with what we buy and what we use

Baggs, that occurred to me too. I was handy with tools and other physical risks when ten years old ten years old. But I was at play ; not being exploited by any multinational company

Ten year olds using machetes . bet that Cadbury's , founded by a Quaker family , will take notice and respond to the allegation.

Ridiculous post! The comment is nonsense. Saying that there is a chocolate available that tastes like children’s blood will not help the cause you wish to promote. Posting it in religion and spiritual heading is not appropriate either. Less fanatical posts please.