Drissa's Story and the Origins of Slavery in Cocoa

'Tell them, when they are eating chocolate, they are eating my flesh.' — Vincent, an enslaved cocoa worker in the Ivory Coast.

-Background-
That human life has come to have so little value is shocking, but it is worse when we discover that all of us are profiting from slavery today. Nothing shows how slavery's tentacles reach into our lives, from several directions at once, better than the case of chocolate. From the plantations in Africa to our local supermarket, chocolate carries slavery into our homes. What's more, the international market in cocoa and chocolate helps create the conditions that lead to slavery. And when our pensions or savings are invested in companies that produce chocolate, we may be profiting directly from the work of slaves. Chocolate, the 'food of love', is turned into a bitter fruit of slavery.

Slavery enters chocolate at the very beginning. Cocoa trees are planted on cleared forestland in West Africa. After a few years the trees produce seedpods, about the size of a small melon, that contain the cocoa beans. From the beginning of planting and cultivation, boys and young men are enslaved to tend the trees and harvest the cocoa beans. Mostly teenagers like Drissa, they come from poor neighboring countries in search of work.

Drissa: [link]
Drissa's Story: [link]
Once in Korhogo, in the Ivory Coast, Drissa was offered what sounded like a good job on a cocoa plantation, but when he reached the isolated farm, he was enslaved. More than 300 miles from home, far from any settlement, not even knowing where he was, Drissa was trapped. When he tried to run away he was savagely beaten. At night, along with 17 other young men, Drissa was locked into a small room, with only a tin can as a toilet.

On the plantation the work is hard. In oppressive heat, with biting flies around their heads and snakes in the undergrowth, the slaves worked from dawn till dusk tending and collecting the cocoa pods. Often given only braised banana to eat for months at a time, they developed vitamin deficiencies. Weak from hunger they staggered under great sacks of cocoa pods. If they slowed in their work, they were beaten.

The farmer who held Drissa captive controlled his slaves not only with simple brutality, but also with a more subtle psychological terror - they were told by the farmer that he had put a spell on them, and that if they tried to run away they would be paralyzed and he would easily recapture them.

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27 million slaves — how did we get here

Although slavery has existed for thousands of years, changes in the world's economy and societies over the past 50 years have enabled a resurgence of slavery. Three trends have had the most impact:

    * The population explosion has tripled the amount of people in the world, with most growth taking place in the developing world.
    * Rapid social and economic changes have displaced many to urban centers and their outskirts, where people are powerless and without job security. Millions have become vulnerable to exploitation and slavery.
    * Government corruption around the world allows slavery to go unpunished, even though it is illegal everywhere.

New Slavery vs. Old Slavery

Slavery exists in many different forms (link to forms) around the world. Two characteristics make most slavery today different from slavery in the past: slaves today are cheap and they are disposable.

Old Slavery

    * Legal ownership is asserted,
    * high purchase cost,
    * low profits,
    * shortage of potential slaves,
    * long-term relationship,
    * slaves maintained,
    * ethnic differences important

New Slavery

    * Legal ownership avoided,
    * very low purchase cost,
    * very high profits,
    * surplus of potential slaves,
    * short-term relationship,
    * slaves disposable,
    * ethnic differences not important
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