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Carolynanna
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Canada
6556 Posts |
 Posted - 03/05/2006 : 14:56:18
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I was just reading the poverty thread and reading those kinds of stats always leaves me with a slight feeling of hopelessness.
I don't think I can stop the cycle of greed in this world for things to change. God knows I don't have enough coin to make that big of a difference. It leaves me to think that our biggest collective power for the most of us middle class type people is where we spend our dollars. Maybe that's incredibly naive but whatever it makes me feel a bit better...to try not to contribute to the crap. But its difficult to do research on all companies so perhaps we can let everyone know which companies we try to avoid and why.
Personally and I'm not trying to dis Americans but it easy to see that they are buying up all of our companies so I try to shop Canadian (which ain't easy because you can shop at a store here that has Canadian in its title only to find out that the major shareholders are American).
And I don't buy any over-priced brand name things because well I can't afford it and I don't derive my self-esteem by wearing someone else's name on my clothing etc.
And if its financially feasible I try to shop at smaller mom and pop type stores.
We all know Wal-Mart and their near monopoly and sweat-shop abusing ways. But what else people? Maybe I'll stop shopping at certain places if I knew some reasoning. How bout you?
__________
Don't believe the hype. |
Edited by - Carolynanna on 03/05/2006 15:08:29 |
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Suicide_Samurai
= Cult of Ray =
United Kingdom
431 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2006 : 15:53:54
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| Boycott shampoo. Demand real poo! |
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PixieSteve
> Teenager of the Year <
Poland
4698 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2006 : 16:09:58
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nestle and coca cola seem to be ones people like to boycott...
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VoVat
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
USA
9168 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2006 : 16:20:17
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Boycott France! Bill O'Reilly said so! We can't boycott Greece, though, because where else would we get the falaffel to rub on women's breasts?
"If you doze much longer, then life turns to dreaming. If you doze much longer, then dreams turn to nightmares." |
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floop
= Wannabe Volunteer =
Mexico
15297 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2006 : 16:25:18
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boycott the Canadian seafood industry if you're against the brutal slaughter of baby seals that will be starting again this month
http://harpseals.org/ |
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jimmy
= Cult of Ray =
USA
876 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2006 : 17:06:19
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I believe that boycotting is the best way to show your disapproval for a company or product.
A lot of times there are "grassroots" groups that try to get their local politicians to stop Walmart or Home Depot or other "big box" stores from moving in. They don't want shoppers to have a choice, they don't want people to have an alternative to the high-priced downtown stores that close at 5pm.
A lot of times, local business people, small hardware or office supply stores will join in, saying don't want some big store coming and "destroying the character of the town".
A boycott is fine, but it's disgusting the way some people will try to outlaw their competition. I've never read about Walmart trying to get their town to block the opening of a pharmacy or book store
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." JOHN 15:14 |
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jimmy
= Cult of Ray =
USA
876 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2006 : 18:51:42
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I'd like to suggest that people boycott Vehix.com. They have the most annoying ads and they play them all the time- the worst is the one with the girl who has the guy paint a car blue and then says "Can I see it again in red?" and then the announcer says "What you wish you could do in real life, now you can do at the all new Vehix.com", they've got about 5 variations on this one, but none as annoying.
Geiko's ads are almost as bad, actually they might be worse because they think they're so clever and funny.
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." JOHN 15:14 |
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Carolynanna
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Canada
6556 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2006 : 19:26:38
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quote:
Originally posted by jimmy
I believe that boycotting is the best way to show your disapproval for a company or product.
A lot of times there are "grassroots" groups that try to get their local politicians to stop Walmart or Home Depot or other "big box" stores from moving in. They don't want shoppers to have a choice, they don't want people to have an alternative to the high-priced downtown stores that close at 5pm.
A lot of times, local business people, small hardware or office supply stores will join in, saying don't want some big store coming and "destroying the character of the town".
A boycott is fine, but it's disgusting the way some people will try to outlaw their competition. I've never read about Walmart trying to get their town to block the opening of a pharmacy or book store
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." JOHN 15:14
I don't even know where to start here....
__________
Don't believe the hype. |
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Carolynanna
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Canada
6556 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2006 : 19:27:59
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quote:
Originally posted by floop
boycott the Canadian seafood industry if you're against the brutal slaughter of baby seals that will be starting again this month
http://harpseals.org/
Did you see the Paul McCartney and wife thing on Larry King?
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/cnspolitics/story.html?id=6145c5de-764a-4917-b753-9fd432b6ea72
The Newfoundland premier seemed like a dick.
(Good thing I don't like seafood in the first place).
__________
Don't believe the hype.
One of the letters to the editor in the newspaper today said, why don't the McCartneys go back to England and worry about foxhunts. |
Edited by - Carolynanna on 03/06/2006 09:23:28 |
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kathryn
~ Selkie Bride ~
Belgium
15320 Posts |
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Dave Noisy
Minister of Chaos
Canada
4496 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2006 : 22:15:31
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Heya, nice topic! Hope you don't mind me dropping in..
You might not be able to 'change the world', but you're certainly able to change yourself, and what you support (as you know. =)
As suggested, every dollar spent is essentially a 'vote' for whatever company you just bought it from. So, you gotta change how you 'vote'.
Buying locally is a great thing to do. Another option is to *reduce* spending.. Stop buying things you don't need..
Also, look into where you most frequently spend money. For me, that's rent. Not too much choice there, and luckily very rarely is there conflict. ;)
My next biggest expense is food.. John Robbins (author of the well-known Diet For a New America) said something along the lines of 'the most profound and positive change you can make is through your diet'. I personally believe it's true.
From reducing the amount of 'suffering' in the world (well over 40 BILLION animals are killed for food each year..that's a LOT of death), to the environmental concerns, to the health benefits of reducing animal products (when was the last time you read that eating a hamburger can prevent cancer or heart disease??)
So, as you know, going vegan is my main 'activism'. =)
Another way to 'spend' money in a positive way is to work less and go and volunteer somewhere that you believe in..help get other positive actions happening!
A few thoughts from a stranger. ;)
 "Live life like you're gonna die...because you are." - William Shatner, You'll Have Time / Has Been |
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zub_the_goat
= Cult of Ray =
United Kingdom
639 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 04:36:43
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I totally agree with boycotting....i havent eaten nestle in about 4 years (expcept for that one lapse, that milkeybar tasted so good) its the only way to get corporations to do anything....they're not going to be too worried about your money in relation to their multimillion profits, but they are extemely concerned about their reputation, and it can convince companies to make real changes if they see their brand name being injured in any way. You might wanna try http://www.corpwatch.org/
Their is also the stop esso website, so far in cooperation with People and Planet we've got esso to stop recruiting on university campusus.http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/climate/climatecriminals/esso/index.cfm |
Edited by - zub_the_goat on 03/06/2006 04:38:28 |
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starmekitten
-= Forum Pistolera =-
United Kingdom
6370 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 04:56:43
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| Nestle are universally hated. Beechams and anything GSK produce suck but are harder to boycott. I hate GSK. I hate them I hate them I hate them. |
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Llamadance
> Teenager of the Year <
United Kingdom
2543 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 04:59:00
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I started boycotting French wine in protest at their nuclear testing in the South Pacific way back whenever it was. I still don't buy French wine.
I don't eat red meat either, and I think that is mostly because I don't need to.
That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.
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Cheeseman1000
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Iceland
8201 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 05:00:50
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quote:
Originally posted by Llamadance
I started boycotting French wine in protest at their nuclear testing in the South Pacific way back whenever it was. I still don't buy French wine.
I don't eat red meat either, and I think that is mostly because I don't need to.
That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.
Plus, French wine just isn't as good as other countries'.
[awaits comedy backlash]
 I have joined the Cult Of Frank/And I have dearly paid |
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Homers_pet_monkey
= Official forum monkey =
United Kingdom
17125 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 05:17:28
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I pretty much only buy second hand clothes now.
Food is more tricky (certainly going second hand is out of the question, I'm not a baby bird).
 I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
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vilainde
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Niue
7443 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 05:32:33
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It's a well known fact that everyone in France was in favor of nuclear testing, especially wine producers.
Denis
I love Guitar Wolf from the Erath! |
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Homers_pet_monkey
= Official forum monkey =
United Kingdom
17125 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 05:40:31
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Teehee.
Bastards.
Yeah we should boycott Germany too for their conduct during the war.
I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
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remig
* Dog in the Sand *
France
1734 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 06:01:40
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quote:
Originally posted by Cheeseman1000
quote:
Originally posted by Llamadance
I started boycotting French wine in protest at their nuclear testing in the South Pacific way back whenever it was. I still don't buy French wine.
I don't eat red meat either, and I think that is mostly because I don't need to.
That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.
Plus, French wine just isn't as good as other countries'.
[awaits comedy backlash]
I have joined the Cult Of Frank/And I have dearly paid
Fuck you all 
We'll do bad cheese and bad wine testing on foreign toutists and we'll keep the good one for ourselves.
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cassandra is
> Teenager of the Year <
France
4233 Posts |
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Carolynanna
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Canada
6556 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 06:27:27
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What did Nestle do?
__________
Don't believe the hype. |
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kathryn
~ Selkie Bride ~
Belgium
15320 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 06:29:15
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you will love this, c:
www.babymilkaction.org/pages/boycott.html
I got some heaven in my head
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Carolynanna
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Canada
6556 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 06:35:48
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Because they market formula???
__________
Don't believe the hype. |
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starmekitten
-= Forum Pistolera =-
United Kingdom
6370 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 06:43:23
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They push formula onto new mothers in hospital and the babies then become reliant on the formula, rejecting the mothers breast milk. Mothers are forced to keep getting formula and in some instances (especially in developing countries) the only water they have to mix it with is from polluted dirty sources making the babies sick.
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Edited by - starmekitten on 03/06/2006 06:44:14 |
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dayanara
* Dog in the Sand *
Australia
1811 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 06:48:59
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i plan on boycotting this forum until the slacker mods return and dave goes back into exile, a worthy cause if there ever was one.
i hate anyone who doesn't like me. |
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Carolynanna
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Canada
6556 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 06:52:36
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quote:
Originally posted by starmekitten
They push formula onto new mothers in hospital and the babies then become reliant on the formula, rejecting the mothers breast milk. Mothers are forced to keep getting formula and in some instances (especially in developing countries) the only water they have to mix it with is from polluted dirty sources making the babies sick.
Hmmm in underdeveloped countries then I gather?
It seems a bit strange because I know that my kids (especially Jonas) would eat just about anything, I could go back and forth between breast milk and formula. How do the babies become reliant? Is it because mom's milk dries up because they're not using it? Shoot, I actually should go read more.
__________
Don't believe the hype. |
Edited by - Carolynanna on 03/06/2006 06:53:19 |
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kathryn
~ Selkie Bride ~
Belgium
15320 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 06:59:20
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quote:
Originally posted by starmekitten
They push formula onto new mothers in hospital and the babies then become reliant on the formula, rejecting the mothers breast milk. Mothers are forced to keep getting formula and in some instances (especially in developing countries) the only water they have to mix it with is from polluted dirty sources making the babies sick.
in literally millions of cases in africa, this has resulted in death.
I got some heaven in my head
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floop
= Wannabe Volunteer =
Mexico
15297 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 07:23:41
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quote:
Originally posted by vilainde
It's a well known fact that everyone in France was in favor of nuclear testing, especially wine producers.
Denis
I love Guitar Wolf from the Erath!
isn't it true that the French also boycott deodorant? |
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vilainde
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Niue
7443 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 07:30:34
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In Paris right now there's an exhibition of photographies of LA and they have ads in the subway, and yesterday I saw someone had written over one of the ads:
"AMERIKA
BOIKOT"
Made me chuckle.
Denis
I love Guitar Wolf from the Erath! |
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Carolynanna
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Canada
6556 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 07:46:14
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quote:
Originally posted by kathryn
quote:
Originally posted by starmekitten
They push formula onto new mothers in hospital and the babies then become reliant on the formula, rejecting the mothers breast milk. Mothers are forced to keep getting formula and in some instances (especially in developing countries) the only water they have to mix it with is from polluted dirty sources making the babies sick.
in literally millions of cases in africa, this has resulted in death.
I got some heaven in my head
It also sounds like they use a lot of child labour to harvest cocoa.
__________
Don't believe the hype. |
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Carolynanna
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Canada
6556 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 07:49:37
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quote:
Originally posted by zub_the_goat
You might wanna try http://www.corpwatch.org/
Thanks zub, thats a very good website;
(Plus you can search by company name.)
Caterpillar
For years, the Caterpillar Company has provided Israel with the bulldozers used to destroy Palestinian homes. Despite worldwide condemnation, Caterpillar has refused to end its corporate participation house demolition by cutting off sales of specially modified D9 and D10 bulldozers to the Israeli military.
In a letter to Caterpillar CEO James Owens, The Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights said: "allowing the delivery of your ... bulldozers to the Israeli army ... in the certain knowledge that they are being used for such action, might involve complicity or acceptance on the part of your company to actual and potential violations of human rights..."
Peace activist Rachel Corrie was killed by a Caterpillar D-9, military bulldozer in 2003. She was run over while attempting to block the destruction a family's home in Gaza. Her family filed suit against Caterpillar in March 2005 charging that Caterpillar knowingly sold machines used to violate human rights. Since Corrie's death at least three more Palestinians have been killed in their homes by Israeli bulldozer demolitions.
Chevron
The petrochemical company Chevron is guilty of some of the worst environmental and human rights abuses in the world. From 1964 to 1992, Texaco (which transferred operations to Chevron after being bought out in 2001) unleashed a toxic "Rainforest Chernobyl" in Ecuador by leaving over 600 unlined oil pits in pristine northern Amazon rainforest and dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic production water into rivers used for bathing water. Llocal communities have suffered severe health effects, including cancer, skin lesions, birth defects, and spontaneous abortions.
Chevron is also responsible for the violent repression of peaceful opposition to oil extraction. In Nigeria, Chevron has hired private military personnel to open fire on peaceful protestors who oppose oil extraction in the Niger Delta.
Additionally Chevron is responsible for widespread health problems in Richmond, California, where one of Chevron's largest refineries is located. Processing 350,000 barrels of oil a day, the Richmond refinery produces oil flares and toxic waste in the Richmond area. As a result, local residents suffer from high rates of lupus, skin rashes, rheumatic fever, liver problems, kidney problems, tumors, cancer, asthma, and eye problems.
The Unocal Corporation, which recently became a subsidiary of Chevron, is an oil and gas company based in California with operations around the world. In December 2004, the company settled a lawsuit filed by 15 Burmese villagers, in which the villagers alleged Unocal's complicity in a range of human rights violations in Burma, including rape, summary execution, torture, forced labor and forced migration.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola Company is perhaps the most widely recognized corporate symbol on the planet. The company also leads in the abuse of workers' rights, assassinations, water privatization, and worker discrimination. Between 1989 and 2002, eight union leaders from Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia were killed after protesting the company's labor practices. Hundreds of other Coca-Cola workers who have joined or considered joining the Colombian union SINALTRAINAL have been kidnapped, tortured, and detained by paramilitaries who are hired to intimidate workers to prevent them from unionizing.
In India, Coca-Cola destroys local agriculture by privatizing the country's water resources. In Plachimada, Kerala, Coca-Cola extracted 1.5 million liters of deep well water, which they bottled and sold under the names Dasani and BonAqua. The groundwater was severely depleted, affecting thousands of communities with water shortages and destroying agricultural activity. As a result, the remaining water became contaminated with high chloride and bacteria levels, leading to scabs, eye problems, and stomach aches in the local population.
Coca-Cola is also one of the most discriminatory employers in the world. In the year 2000, 2,000 African-American employees in the U.S. sued the company for race-based disparities in pay and promotions.
Dow Chemical
Dow Chemical has been destroying lives and poisoning the planet for decades. The company is best known for the ravages and health disaster for millions of Vietnamese and U.S. Veterans caused by its lethal Vietnam War defoliant, Agent Orange. Dow also developed and perfected Napalm, a brutal chemical weapon that burned many innocents to death in Vietnam and other wars. In 1988, Dow provided pesticides to Saddam Hussein despite warnings that they could be used to produce chemical weapons.
In 2001, Dow inherited the toxic legacy of the worst peacetime chemical disaster in history when it acquired Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and its outstanding liabilities in Bhopal, India. On Dec. 3, 1984, a chemical leak from a UCC pesticide plant in Bhopal gassed thousands of people to death and left more than 150,000 disabled or dying. Dow still refuses to address its liabilities in Bhopal.
Dow Chemical's impact is felt globally from its Midland, Michigan headquarters to New Plymouth, New Zealand. In Midland, Dow has been producing chlorinated chemicals and burning and burying its waste including chemicals that make up Agent Orange. In New Plymouth, 500,000 gallons of Agent Orange were produced and thousands of tons of dioxin-laced waste was dumped in agricultural fields.
DynCorp
Private security contractors have become the fastest-growing sector of the global economy during the last decade--a $100-billion-a-year, nearly unregulated industry. DynCorp, one of the providers of these mercenary services, demonstrates the industry's power and potential to abuse human rights. While guarding Afghan statesmen and African oil fields, training Iraqi police forces, eradicating Colombian coca plants, and protecting business interests in hurricane-devastated New Orleans, these hired guns bolster the security of governments and organizations at the expense of many people's human rights.
DynCorp's fumigation of coca crops along the Colombian-Ecuadorian border led Ecuadorian peasants to sue DynCorp in 2001. Plaintiffs argued that DynCorp knew--or should have known--that the herbicides were highly toxic.
In 2001, a mechanic with DynCorp blew the whistle on DynCorp employees in Bosnia for rape and trading girls as young as 12 into sex slavery. According to a lawsuit filed by the mechanic, "employees and supervisors were engaging in perverse, illegal and inhumane behavior [and] were purchasing illegal weapons, women, [and] forged passports." DynCorp fired the whistleblower and transferred the employees accused of sex trading out of the country, eventually firing some. None were prosecuted.
Ford Motor Company
Among automakers, Ford Motor Company is the worst. Every year since 1999, the US Environmental Protection Agency has ranked Ford cars, trucks and SUVs as having the worst overall fuel economy of any American automaker. Ford's current car and truck fleet has a lower average fuel efficiency than the original Ford Model-T.
Ford is also in last place when it comes to vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. According to a recent report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, Ford has "the absolute worst heat-trapping gas emissions performance of all the Big Six automakers."
Despite the company's recent greenwashing PR campaign, its record has actually worsened. According to Ford's own sustainability report, between 2003 and 2004, the company's US fleet-wide fuel economy decreased and its CO2 emissions went up. Ford has also lobbied against lawmakers' efforts to increase fuel economy standards at the national level and is also involved in a lawsuit against California's fuel economy standards.
KBR (Kellogg, Brown and Root): A Subsidiary of Halliburton Corporation
KBR is a private company that provides military support services. Notorious for its questionable bookkeeping, dishonest billing practices with US taxpayer dollars and no-bid contracts, KBR has violated human rights on the U.S. dollar.
KBR's dubious accounting in Iraq came to light in December 2003 when Pentagon auditors questioned possible overcharges for imported gasoline. In June 2005, a previously secret Pentagon audit criticized $1.4 billion in "questioned" and "unsupported" expenditures. In 2002 the company paid $2 million to settle a Justice Department lawsuit that accused KBR of inflating contract prices at Fort Ord, California.
Many third-country national (TCN) laborers have been hired by KBR to "rebuild" Iraq. Generally hailing from impoverished Asian countries, they have unexpectedly become part of the largest civilian workforce ever hired in support of a U.S. war. Once abroad, the workers find themselves with few protections and uncertain legal status. TCNs often sleep in crowded trailers and wait outside in scorching heat for food rations. Many lack adequate medical care and put in hard labor seven days a week, 10 hours or more a day.
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is the world's largest military contractor. Providing satellites, planes, missiles and other lethal high-tech items to the Pentagon keeps the profits rolling in. Since 2000, the year Bush was elected, the company's stock value has tripled.
As the Center for Corporate Policy (www.corporatepolicy.org) notes, it is no coincidence that Lockheed VP Bruce Jackson--who helped draft the Republican foreign policy platform in 2000--is a key player at the Project for a New American Century, the intellectual incubator of the Iraq war.
Lockheed Martin is not the only defense contractor that goes behind the scenes to influence public policy, but it is one of the worst. Stephen J. Hadley, who now has Condoleeza Rice's old job as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, was formerly a partner in a DC law firm representing Lockheed Martin. He is only one of the beneficiaries of the so-called revolving door between the military industries and the "civilian" national security apparatus. These war profiteers have a profound and illegitimate influence on our country's international policy decisions.
Monsanto
Monsanto is, by far, the largest producer of genetically engineered seeds in the world, dominating 70% to 100% of the market for crops such as soy, cotton, wheat and corn.
Monsanto is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed as Roundup. Roundup is sold to small farmers as a pesticide, yet harms crops in the long run as the toxins accumulate in the soil. Plants eventually become infertile, forcing farmers to purchase genetically modified Roundup Ready Seed, a seed that resists the herbicide. This creates a cycle of dependency on Monsanto for both the weed killer and the only seed that can resist it. Both products are patented, and sold at inflated prices. Exposure to the pesticide is documented to cause cancers, skin disorders, spontaneous abortions, premature births, and damage to the gastrointestinal and nervous systems.
According to the India Committee of the Netherlands and the International Labor Rights Fund, Monsanto also employs child labor. In India, an estimated 12,375 children work in cottonseed production for farmers paid by Indian and multinational seed companies, including Monsanto.
Nestle USA
The problem of illegal and forced child labor is rampant in the chocolate industry, because more than 40% of the world's cocoa supply comes from the Ivory Coast, a country that the US State Department estimates had approximately 109,000 child laborers working in hazardous conditions on cocoa farms. In 2001, Save the Children Canada reported that 15,000 children between 9 and 12 years old, many from impoverished Mali, had been tricked or sold into slavery on West African cocoa farms, many for just $30 each.
Nestle, the third largest buyer of cocoa from the Ivory Coast, is well aware of the tragically unjust labor practices taking place on the farms with which it continues to do business. Nestle and other chocolate manufacturers agreed to end the use of abusive and forced child labor on cocoa farms by July 1, 2005, but they failed to do so.
Nestle is also notorious for its aggressive marketing of infant formula in poor countries in the 1980s. Because of this practice, Nestle is still one of the most boycotted corporations in the world, and its infant formula is still controversial. In Italy in 2005, police seized more than two million liters of Nestle infant formula that was contaminated with the chemical isopropylthioxanthone (ITX).
Additionally, violations of labor rights are reported from Nestle factories in numerous countries. In Colombia, Nestle replaced the entire factory staff with lower-wage workers and did not renew the collective employment contract.
Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International (a.k.a. The Altria Group Inc.)
Among tobacco companies, Philip Morris is notorious. Now called Altria, it is the world's largest and most profitable cigarette corporation and maker of Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Parliament, Basic and many other brands of cigarettes.
Documents uncovered in a lawsuit filed against the tobacco industry by the state of Minnesota showed that Philip Morris and other leading tobacco corporations knew very well of the dangers of tobacco products and the addictiveness of nicotine. To this day, Philip Morris deceives consumers about the harm of its products by offering light, mild and low-tar cigarettes that give consumers the illusion these brands are "healthier" than traditional cigarettes.
Although the company says it doesn't want kids to smoke, it spends millions of dollars every day marketing and promoting cigarettes to youth. Overseas, it has even hired underage "Marlboro girls" to distribute free cigarettes to other children and sponsored concerts where cigarettes were handed out to minors.
As anti-tobacco campaigns and government regulations are slowing tobacco use in Western countries, Philip Morris has aggressively moved into developing country markets, where smoking and smoking-related deaths are on the rise. Preliminary numbers released by the World Health Organization predict global deaths due to smoking-related illnesses will nearly double by 2020, with more than three-quarters of those deaths in the developing world.
Pfizer
Pfizer is the largest pharmaceutical company in the world; it is also one of the worst abusers of the human right of universal access to HIV/AIDS medicine.
In addition to Viagra, Zoloft, Zithromax and Norvasc, Pfizer produces the drug fluconazole (an antifungal used by AIDS patients) under the name Diflucan, and sells it at inflated prices most poor people cannot afford. The company refuses to grant generic licenses of fluconazole to governments in countries like Brazil, South Africa, or Dominican Republic, where patients are forced to pay $20 per weekly pill, though the average national wage is only $120 per month.
Pfizer also values shareholder profits over safety standards. In Europe in 2005, it withdrew from scientific studies of a new class of AIDS drugs called CCR5 inhibitors, choosing instead to rush its own untested CCR5 inhibitor onto the European market without full information about the drug's side effects.
Suez-Lyonnaise Des Eaux (SLDE)
The privatization of water has had a disastrous impact on the human right to clean water, and the French company Suez is the worst perpetrator of this abuse. The company's billions of dollars in profit come at the expense of poor people living in countries where thousands lack access to potable water, and, because of private water contracts, are also facing skyrocketing water prices.
Suez goes by many names around the world--Ondeo, SITA and others--to mask its worldwide net of controversial activities. In Manila, Philippines, after seven years of water privatization under a Suez company (Maynilad Water) contract, studies showed that water rates increased in some neighborhoods by 400 to 700 percent. These studies also showed that the negligence of the company resulted in cholera and gastroenteritis outbreaks that killed six people and severely sickened 725 in Manila's Tondo district.
In Bolivia, a Suez company (Aguas de Illimani) left 200,000 people without access to water and caused a revolt when it tried to charge between $335 and $445 to connect a private home to the water supply. Countless people were unable to afford this charge in a country whose yearly per capita GDP is $915.
Unfortunately, the IMF and World Bank are playing a key role in pushing water privatization all over the world. Many countries have been required to open up their water supply to private companies as a condition for receiving IMF loans, and the World Bank has approved millions of dollars in loans for the privatization of water systems.
Suez' Response
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart is the biggest corporation in the world. It owns 5,100 stores worldwide and employs 1.3 million workers in the United States and 400,000 abroad, as well as millions more in the factories of its suppliers.
Many people have heard of the way that Wal-Mart steamrolls its way into every possible town, destroying local supermarkets and countless small businesses. We have also heard about Wal-Mart's long track record of worker abuse, from forced overtime to sex discrimination to illegal child labor to relentless union busting. Wal-Mart also notoriously fails to provide health insurance to over half of its employees, who are then left to rely on themselves or taxpayers, who provide for a portion of their healthcare needs through government Medicaid.
Less well known is the fact that Wal-Mart maintains its low price level by allowing substandard labor conditions at the overseas factories producing most of its goods. The company continually demands lower prices from its suppliers, who, in turn, make more outrageous and abusive demands on their workers in order to meet Wal-Mart's requirements.
In September 2005, the International Labor Rights Fund filed a lawsuit on behalf of Wal-Mart supplier sweatshop workers in China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nicaragua and Swaziland. The workers were denied minimum wages, forced to work overtime without compensation, and were denied legally mandated health care. Other worker rights violations that have been found in foreign factories that produce goods for Wal-Mart include locked bathrooms, starvation wages, pregnancy tests, denial of access to health care, and workers being fired and blacklisted if they try to defend their rights.
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Don't believe the hype. |
Edited by - Carolynanna on 03/06/2006 08:09:36 |
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starmekitten
-= Forum Pistolera =-
United Kingdom
6370 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 08:03:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Carolynanna
Coca-Cola
In India, Coca-Cola destroys local agriculture by privatizing the country's water resources. In Plachimada, Kerala, Coca-Cola extracted 1.5 million liters of deep well water, which they bottled and sold under the names Dasani and BonAqua. The groundwater was severely depleted, affecting thousands of communities with water shortages and destroying agricultural activity. As a result, the remaining water became contaminated with high chloride and bacteria levels, leading to scabs, eye problems, and stomach aches in the local population.
__________
Don't believe the hype.
I listened to a radio program about this. They interviewed a farmer whos water supply was fucked and his soil was ruined thanks to the near by coca cola plant. The media representative for CC in india just denied everything.
I'l no doubt rant about pfizer and monsanto in a minute. |
Edited by - starmekitten on 03/06/2006 08:04:07 |
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PixieSteve
> Teenager of the Year <
Poland
4698 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 08:21:52
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coke is too nice though
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starmekitten
-= Forum Pistolera =-
United Kingdom
6370 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 08:32:47
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quote:
Originally posted by Carolynanna
Monsanto
Monsanto is, by far, the largest producer of genetically engineered seeds in the world, dominating 70% to 100% of the market for crops such as soy, cotton, wheat and corn.
Monsanto is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed as Roundup. Roundup is sold to small farmers as a pesticide, yet harms crops in the long run as the toxins accumulate in the soil. Plants eventually become infertile, forcing farmers to purchase genetically modified Roundup Ready Seed, a seed that resists the herbicide. This creates a cycle of dependency on Monsanto for both the weed killer and the only seed that can resist it. Both products are patented, and sold at inflated prices. Exposure to the pesticide is documented to cause cancers, skin disorders, spontaneous abortions, premature births, and damage to the gastrointestinal and nervous systems.
According to the India Committee of the Netherlands and the International Labor Rights Fund, Monsanto also employs child labor. In India, an estimated 12,375 children work in cottonseed production for farmers paid by Indian and multinational seed companies, including Monsanto.
__________
Don't believe the hype.
Monsanto give GM a bad name. I'm quite avidly pro GM (I have in fact boycotted the crappy food chain Iceland because of their anti-GM marketting, the phrase "frankenstein foods" make me angry) but some large corporations abuse the GM ethic. Gm is meant to make life easy for people and companies often abuse this to their own financial ends. The marketting of seeds and selected pesticides/herbicides is one of the ways of making a large area of the market reliant on your product before you fuck them over. Even if these farmers wanted to drop the whole thing they woudln't be able to because the pesticide has ruined the soil, not only of their farms but of neighbouring farms. It creates its own market this way. It's fucking disgusting and only acts to make people further wary of GM products.
Pfizer and GFK have awful HIV/AIDs ethics. They were the forefront in making these drugs on a large scale and sell them to countries where there is a high incidence of AIDs. They bind them in to contracts which means these multinational corporations are their sole suppliers. Places like India which are gaining economic strength and especially in scientific fields are very up and coming if not over taking us in some ways have their own companies that produce the same drugs for a fraction of a price. Countries are blocked from purchasing these drugs though by the action of the large medical companies like Pfizer and GSK. I believe pfizer actually tried to sue one government for an extortionate amount of money for trying to switch drugs providers.
The amount of money these companies make sickens me, the cost of treatment and the tight hold on the market sickens me. I used to keep an eye on costs in one operating theatre, I had a look at how much some things cost to produce and how much they get sold for and it's no wonder the health service is always short of money. They're over a barrel. |
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Newo
~ Abstract Brain ~
Spain
2674 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 09:45:00
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A friend of mine from London has been cranky for the last 20 years and this week I met him said heīd had an epiphany that most people on planet want to live peacefully and in harmonious fashion but weīve got a tiny cartel of nasty bastards who want to ruin it for everybody, he seemed to be much cheered because normally when he gets drunk he lapses into that People Are Shit fugue.
Likewise, nearly everybody I know in the health service is there out of a desire to lessen suffering of others, and at the top itīs a mafia with a clamp on the information that might help them do so. (Last month a Dutch gynaecologist told me she learned in school they know acupuncture works, they just donīt know how it works. I recommended she ask an acupuncturist.)
About GM, I donīt think it deserves a bad name or a good name, itīs just information and as such is neutral. It is currently being used for horrendous purposes tho. Iraqi farmers now are being forced to use terminator seeds programmed to die after a generation - weīve got folk on planet fixing to call a halt to evolution.
--
Buy your best friend flowers. Buy your lover a beer. Covet thy father. Covet thy neighbour's father. Honour thy lover's beer. Covet thy neighbour's father's wife's sister. Take her to bingo night. |
Edited by - Newo on 03/06/2006 10:11:07 |
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Homers_pet_monkey
= Official forum monkey =
United Kingdom
17125 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 09:55:25
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Taking the Nestle story as an example, what is their response when challenged about this?
I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
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Who to Boycott and why
