The Social Relations Inscribed in a Chocolate Bar Term Paper

Introduction

Chocolate is a product of cocoa. It is a concoction of paste from cocoa, sugar, and butter. It contains carbohydrates, vegetable protein and fats and also minerals like magnesium, traces of iron, sodium, potassium, and vitamins A, B, D and E. Chocolate has high energy level; this is the reason it is liked by athletes, football players and those involved in labor intensive works (PastryWiz Recipes para1-3). Chocolate has several benefits and advantages. It contains theobromine, phenylethylamine, caffeine, and serotonin. Caffeine heightens resistance against fatigue, increases alertness, and favors intellectual activities. Theobromine stimulates the Central Nervous System (CNS), have cardiotonic and diuretic actions and also enhances muscular efforts. Phenylethylamine contains psycho stimulants. Due to its sweet pleasure chocolate also stimulates the production of endorphine (PastryWiz Recipes para7).

Cocoa was first discovered in South and Central America by the people of Maya, this was over 1,500 years ago. During that period cocoa was crashed and mixed in water to make a superficial beverage (The Field Museum p1 and 3). Cocoa is the product from which chocolate is made. In west and central Africa, cocoa is amongst the significant plants. It is estimated to cover about 6million hectares of land. Cocoa is also grown in other areas like Asia and South and Central America. The countries that produce cocoa are Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Malaysia, Indonesia, Ecuador, Cameroon, Brazil, Nigeria, and Indonesia. Approximately 70% of world’s cocoa production is accounted for by the west and central Africa region.

Cocoa is mainly produced in developing countries. However, most buyers and consumers of cocoa and cocoa products are the rich nations from the West and the East. There is no African country which processes cocoa; it is exported as a raw material to western nations where it is manufactured into products like chocolates, butter, and caffeinated products.

Theoretical perspective of slavery

Kevin Bales is the director of “Free the Slaves”. He argues that many countries illegalized slavery in the course of the 20^th century. He says that the action drove all the operations of slavery to take place clandestinely thereby making it almost impossible to comprehend the spectacular economic changes that have occurred ever since 1950s. Kevin argues that hasty population increase has resulted into what he terms as “a glut of slaves in the market” and that a slave can be bought as cheaply as $100. He cites a reducing slave prices which he argues indicates the changes of the society’s perception on the ways of organizing slavery. In his perspective, Bales states that in some countries slavery is illegalized but that does not change the popular minds as regards the illegality or legality of slavery. He says this is a stumbling block to research and dimension. Bales perspective on slavery consists of three features: that another person controls the slave, threats or use of violence controls the activities of the slave and the slave’s labor power is appropriated by the slave owner.

The Social Relations Inscribed in a Chocolate Bar

The production of chocolate from the time cocoa is planted, harvested, and presented for processing involves a lot of social factors. Amongst the crucial factors is labor. Cocoa is mostly produced in the less industrialized nations. These nations do not have the appropriate technology to employ in harvesting and processing coffee; the countries belong to a lower class according to modernity theory. They therefore use human labor in harvesting and extracting cocoa beans. In the third world countries, in most cases the over productions lead to use of forced labor and child slavery.

The world as a whole consumes cocoa and its related products. This therefore, means that the world market and economy depends on slave labor to ensure constant supply of cocoa to the world market. It is right to argue that all consumers of cocoa and cocoa products are consuming products of slave labor. According to Anthony Giddens modernity came with positive aspects of life, but it also came with negativities. These negativities include degradation of modern industry, emergence of totalitarianism, rapid development of weapons, and military power (Giddens p5). Giddens argues that the consequences of modernity are being more universal and radical. This is aided by the high rate of globalization that is taking place.

The cocoa producing third world nations, especially Cote d’Ivoire, have used repressive and totalitarian powers to force their citizens to work in cocoa farms as forced slave laborers. This is what Kevin Bale describes as the dimension of new slavery. Slavery is worse in the Gidden’s modern society as compared to the pre-modern society. With the modern technology and globalization slaves can be transported to any part of the world.

Slavery and trafficking of human beings

Slavery can be defined as a state of coerced labor in which an individual, the slave, is considered as a property of another person, slave owner. According to the 1994 definition of human trafficking, the United Nations defines human trafficking as unlawful and surreptitious movement of individuals beyond national and international borders with the objects of forcing children, women, and men into economically repressive situations for income (Chanthavong para4). It is estimated that, currently, approximately seventy thousand women and children are trafficked every year in the world as a whole. The earnings from human traffic amount to about seven billion U.S dollars. The slavery of the 21^st century has the highest number in the world history.

With the over production of cocoa, especially in west and central Africa, population influx many people including men, women and children are exposed to potential slavery (Chanthavong para7). Giving main focus to children in cocoa producing third word countries, child labor is the worst form of slavery. Due to severe poverty and lack of sufficient basic need, children are forced into providing labor in harvesting the cocoa beans. For instance, it is approximated that in Cote d’Ivoire alone boys whose ages range from twelve to sixteen are being forced in to providing slave labor used to harvest cocoa beans. It is argued that slave labor is important to the cocoa producing west and central African countries. These countries, especially, Cote d’Ivoire, are the leading producers of cocoa; their economies depend so much on the cocoa export, but they are in short supply of labor. To maintain their economy such countries force their citizens into slavery, especially the vulnerable children (Chanthavong para1).

Cocoa slavery in Cote d’Ivoire and other parts of West Africa

Cote d’Ivoire is involved in both child trafficking and child slavery. This has contravened several international statutes on children, women and humanitarian rights. Protection of children rights existed as early as 1924. The main statement of these children rights was and is still the protection of children from exploitative activities; however, as much as the international laws were meant to protect the children, they never had binding effects so countries like Cote d’Ivoire continue to violate them (Robins para6).

Human trafficking is very rampant in the Central and West Africa. It is reported that trafficking occurs through countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali and Ghana. Some countries are used as passage points and others either supply or receive human beings being trafficked. A report released recently by the United Nations Children Fund indicates that every year about 200,000 children are trafficked in Central and West Africa. Mali is amongst the suppliers of slave child laborers while Cote d’Ivoire is almost the sole receiver due to its expansive cocoa farms (Liszewski para1). There are about 0.6 million cocoa farms in Cote d’Ivoire, and as many as 15,000 children are forced to work on those farms. The children are never paid, never get insufficient nutrition and generally live in bad conditions and are mistreated by the cocoa farmers.

The children are not allowed to escape; they are locked up at night to ensure no one of them runs away. The cocoa farmers also exploit the children by forcing them to work on their farms from morning to evening without rest. After the beans have bean picked, the children are then forced to carry heavier loads than they are able to carry to their heads. They receive constant beatings when they are perceived to be reluctant at work. The mistreatment of the child laborers takes place without the notice of relevant government authorities.

Children are enticed by slave traders. They are promised money and other benefits once they start working at the cocoa farms. Most of the child laborers come from poor countries. Their families are not able to provide enough to meet all their basic needs. They are therefore easily convinced to go and work in cocoa farms expecting that they would be able to get some money to satisfy their needs and also help their parents back at home. Most of the children working as forced laborers in Cote d’Ivoire come from Mali. It is one of the poorest nations of West Africa. Mali is included in the twenty five poorest nations of the world. It is approximated that 65 percent of its area consist of arid and semi-arid areas. It has poor distribution of resources and the gap between the rich and the poor is large.

One of the major players in Cote d’Ivoire child slave labor is the issue of culture. Most cocoa farmers in the country get lots of assistances from their children. It is argued that this is the reason most farmers do not find child labor as a violation of child right (Chayes para9). It is also an African culture to have children of about age 8 years and above accompany the parents and other siblings to the farm. So most African children are used to working on farms alongside their seniors or elders. Most children who work in commercial oriented agriculture work seasonally or part time, but some times are forced to work full time during seeding and harvesting periods. It is argued that majority of these children only go to school when they are not in the farms working and go to the firms when they are not in schools. This is the lifestyle of most children in African countries, especially the Central and West African nations.

Lack of opportunities for education also contributes to the reason child slavery is rampant in Cote d’Ivoire and other west and central Africa countries. This mostly affects children found in the rural areas. In some rural areas of Cote d’Ivoire schools are far and children have to walk long distances to available ones. In situations where schools are near, there are children who cannot afford to raise school fees and also buy academic materials like books, pens and uniforms. The children may want to go to school as they work but almost all farms do not have schools close, even the harshness of the farmers would not allow them to go to school.

Parents have a role to play in child slavery in Cote d’Ivoire. Some poor parents have developed negative attitudes towards the benefits of school. This happens especially in areas where cocoa farms are the only source of jobs in the neighborhood. The parents emphasize on letting their children provide cheap labor in cocoa farms in order to earn income for their poor families.

Impact of child slavery to children

The most visible effect of child slavery is the bodily harm inflicted by the cocoa farmers. The farmers force children to work from morning to evening and mistreat them in order to get the most out of them. The child victims of slavery are also emotionally broken down. The process of slavery is so traumatizing that they sustain emotional injuries. The children’s minds are gradually being destroyed by slavery to the point that they become distrustful of other people. In fact those who manage to escape find it difficult to completely get re-integrated back to their families and the society at large and in most cases are isolated emotionally. Another serious effect of child labor is death. Many children die due to severe physical abuse, lack of proper food and they live in squalid conditions where they get ill and lack proper medication. Children who have undergone slavery in most cases lack self esteem and they always tend to be haunted by experience of slavery (Robbins para7).

Most children who escape from slavery always do not have sources of livelihood. Some of them do not go back to their parents’ homes due to distance involved in the light of lack of money. Such children are most likely to get into criminal activities. When they get into crime they have the possibility of being arrested and be thrown into jail, which also a harsh environment or they may be shot and killed by police in the process of carrying out criminal activities.

The children are also at risk of physical deformation. In the process of working the children may suffer fractures and other injuries that may cause permanent physical disabilities like lack of either of the limbs and or being blind.

Response to child slavery in Cote d’Ivoire and slavery in general

Child slavery and slavery in Cote d’Ivoire and other cocoa producing Western and Central African nations in general has drawn the attention of the international community. Most consumers of cocoa in developed nations are lobbying their governments and cocoa product manufacturers to take actions against slavery in cocoa producing nations (Madells para9). Child slavery and slavery in general may not stop since the economies of cocoa producing nations depend so much on cocoa export; they therefore consider slavery as an important resource in their economies. Cote d’Ivoire and Mali are the main culprits of child slavery. The two countries signed an agreement in September, 2000 to stop trafficking of children from Mali to Cote d’Ivoire’s farmer’s cocoa farms.

They also agreed that both countries will be arresting and punishing slave traders and those who misuse children for financial or any other gain as may be outlawed by the two nations and the United Nations. The United Nations have also established a body called “the United Nations Global Program against Trafficking in Human Beings.” The fact that child slavery and forced labor is used in the productions of cocoa has sparked a lot of heated debates on whether their should be a label on every cocoa product indicating that slaves are used in the process of manufacturing the products. It is reported that when the idea of using the slave labor in cocoa production reached many parts of the world most people were irritated. The senators of the United States of America wanted that a change be made to the agricultural bill of 2001 to demand that products of cocoa be labeled in a way that confirms slaves are not used in the production of cocoa and its products.

The proposal by the United States senators would have negative impacts on the industry. The manufacturers of chocolate and other cocoa products protested and reasoned that such labels would drive customers away from the product hence reducing revenues that go back to cocoa producing companies. This would make them use more slavery to boost their national income. The industry players are therefore said to have teamed up to fight slavery in cocoa producing West and Central African countries with particular attention to Cote d’Ivoire (Interpol para5).

The first operations of Interpol in West Africa rescued about fifty children and arrested eight individuals linked to child labor and slavery. This took place in 2009. The operations took two days and involved three hundred laws enforcers from Ivory (Interpol para2). The operations targeted certain cocoa farms suspected to be using child slaves and also included blocking of highways and inspecting traffic in case of child trafficking. It is also reported that the government of Cote d’Ivoire is trying its level best to arrest the child labor situation in the country.

Ghana has promised to establish data base on the number of human beings being trafficked to Cote d’Ivoire and other West African Nations. This demonstrates Ghana’s commitment to end human trafficking and child slavery. Ghana is mentioned as one of the countries involved in human trafficking some of whom are taken to Cote d’Ivoire to work on cocoa plantation.

Conclusion

Cocoa was first discovered in South and Central America by the people of Maya before it spread to other parts of the world. At first cocoa was harvested and used to make frothy drinks. It later spread around the world as it was transformed into different products. The main producers of cocoa are the West and Central African countries lead by Cote d’Ivoire. Chocolate is a product of cocoa manufactured by the western nations in most cases. Cocoa from the African countries is always exported as row materials to western developed countries where it is used in the manufacture of different range of products including chocolate bars and beverages. The products from cocoa are exported back African countries by the western developed nations. Chocolate is considered as food since it contains carbohydrates, vegetable proteins and fats. It also contains other important components and vitamins including A, B, D and E.

Giddens perspective on modernity argues that modernity came with both benefits and disadvantages. Amongst the disadvantages are the use weapons and totalitarianism. In the process of modernization, slavery is also modernized. The modern society has come up with efficient ways of transferring slaves from one part of the world to another within a short time. The slave owners use totalitarian powers to control slave on their farms. Bales’ perspective on slavery and the Giddens’ modernity blend to suite the current society. According to Bales, slavery in the modern society is worse than before; it is a business that now takes place underground making it difficult to understand the trend of slavery. The use of totalitarian and authoritative tactics in controlling slaves is a product of modernity (Giddens p7-16).

Bales perspective and Giddens’ modernity helps explain the slavery in Cote d’Ivoire. The slave traders lure their victims and secretly put them on transit to them to cocoa producing west and central African nations where the cocoa farmers use repressive totalitarian authority to force them into slavery. The slaves are rather controlled than being owned. This brings the difference between the modern slavery and the pre-modern slavery.

The face of slavery in the cocoa production has always been ignored in the final chocolate products. The fact is that the final cocoa products are as a result of children taken to work as slave laborers in cocoa farms in Cote d’Ivoire. The children work for very long hours, lack proper shelter as they sleep on wooden planks, are beaten and overworked, some of them get permanent injuries and even get maimed while others even die from harsh conditions they are subjected to. These are the children who ensure chocolates are in the shops and supermarkets all over the world. But these products are consumed by almost every body in the world ranging from those living in the western developed nations to those in the third world countries. This means that the whole society is dependent on child slavery for the productions of chocolates and related products (Chayes para9).

In a proposition to eradicate slavery and child labor in the creation of chocolate and other cocoa products, the United States of American senators propose for the amendment to the agricultural bill of 2001 to demand that it be indicated in each cocoa product that slave labor was not used in the processing. The industry players objected arguing that such labels would turn customers away from the product. The industry players however agreed to take certain measures to stop slavery in Cote d’Ivoire and other western and central nations of Africa. Mali, due to its high poverty index, is known to be the main supplier of child slaves while Cote d’Ivoire, the owner of large tracks of cocoa farms, and is the main recipient of child slaves. The two nations signed an accord in the year 2000 to stop the secret and illegal slave trade. They also had an agreement that they would give certain punishments to slave traders.

There are reasons why child slavery has continued to flourish in Cote d’Ivoire and other cocoa producing west and central African countries. Most of these nations, especially, Mali, are poor and the citizens lack basic needs. In the process of looking for livelihood they unsuspectingly fall in the hands of slave traders who deceive them on the prospect of getting well paid when they work in cocoa farms. They quickly accept and end up being trafficked to Cote d’Ivoire and other cocoa producing nations.

In most rural parts of Cote d’Ivoire schools are far and children have to walk long distances, in some there are no schools. This makes some children not to go to school and instead seek employment to earn and be able to meet basic needs. Some parents also have negative sentiments about schools. In fact some of these parents never went to proper schools, they prefer to have their children work rather than let them go to school. This exposes the children to slavery. In African culture children always accompany their relatives and parents to the farm. So the cocoa farmers in Cote d’Ivoire do not find it a child abuse when children work in their cocoa farms, to reinforce that sentiment, the children of the cocoa farm owners help their parents in the farms during harvesting and planting seasons.

Slavery has severe effects on children. Children who are victims of slavery are physically abused, emotionally broken and generally lack self esteem. The cocoa farm owners overwork and expose them to dangers of physical injuries; the children are beaten and there fore sustains scars that may not heal. The poor living conditions expose the children to several diseases including malnutrition due to lack of proper feeding. When such children escapes back home or rescued they find it difficult to re-integrate themselves fully into their families; they become suspicious of almost every stranger and are sometimes haunted by the slave experience. In cases where they escape they may engage themselves into criminal activities. This exposes them again dangers of being arrested and jailed or being killed by police or mob justice.

There should not be slavery in the 21^st century. By virtue of consuming chocolates which has passed through the hands of child slaves the whole world seems to encourage child labor and human trafficking. The world leaders as whole and cocoa industry players should come up with strict modalities of combating child slavery and human trafficking. There should be economic barriers by the world nations to west and central African countries using slaves in the production of cocoa. Such products that involve child labor and slavery should be stopped from getting into the world market until use of illegally forced labor stops in those countries.

Works Cited

Chanthavong, Samlanchith. “Child Labor in Cote d’Ivoire.” TED Case Studies, 2002. Web.

Chayes, Sarah. “Chocolate is like running shoes. It matters.” Chocolate and Slavery. 2010. Web.

Giddens, Anthony. The Consequence of Modernity. Stanford University Press. ISBN-13: 9780804718912.

Interpol. “Scores of Children Rescued from Organized Slave Labor in Côte d’Ivoire.” Interpol. 2010. Web.

Liszewski, Kaitlin. “Slavery and the Link to Chocolate.” ihs child slave labor, 2005. Web.

Madell, Samantha. “INTERPOL rescues child slaves in Côte d’Ivoire.” The chocolate life, 2009. Web.

PastryWiz Recipes. “What is chocolate in reality?” PastryWiz, 2010. Web.

Robbins, John. “Is there slavery in your Chocolate?” The food revolution, 2010. Web.

The Field Museum. “Chocolate the exhibition.” The Field Museum, Chicago. 2010. Web.