How To Fight Tyranny.

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Re: Musings from a communist/fascist hypocrite

Postby isachar » Thu Jun 22, 2006 2:54 pm

I hope Roth will let us know when he's relocated to Somalia, his ideal dystopic simplistic libertarian wet-dream paradise. <br><br>Wow, it's a land of unlimited opportunity for anyone with a few technicals, a private, AK-toting rag-tag army, with a propensity for rape, murder, looting, piracy and plunder.<br><br>But at least the taxes are agreeable and you can do what you want without the unnecessary mediation of an evil government. I'm sure he'll be able to set up a khat-stand somewhere on the beach. No need for a business license<br><br>Perhaps, since we're not using our Constitution, Roth might offer it to the Somalis? Maybe they might find some use for it. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=isachar>isachar</A> at: 6/22/06 1:00 pm<br></i>
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Re: Firestone/Bridgestone in Liberia

Postby Gouda » Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:56 am

I was deliberating over whether to start a new thread regarding Firestone/Bridgestone in Liberia, but thought this would fit perfectly here. <br><br>The inspiration? I had dinner last night with acquaintances working for the UN in Liberia. I would characterize them as good people, though generally not focused on the havoc wreaked by the global capitalist system on the world. Their focus is more "good governance, human rights, rule of law, economic and social development" issues. Symptoms rather than root causes. Yet even they were alarmed by the conditions <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>not</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> being reported, even by UNICEF, about child slave labor on Firestone's Harbel rubber plantation. They WITNESSED children there with burns on their arms and horrid respiratory problems. Their human rights colleagues have got massive dirt on Firestone, but they told me that UN and related agencies are basically not allowed to report on this, since this mission is seen as a relative "success" after the disasters of Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti, and East Timor - and so appearances of "economic development", enforced by Firestone primarily, must be maintained. <br><br>One UN report I did see on the web, "Liberia: Rubber plantations 'lawless', says UN" <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://unjobs.org/news/1147423040.56">unjobs.org/news/1147423040.56</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>is punctuated with the disclaimer: "This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations". The "report" mentions some of the nasty aspects of the rubber plantations, like private security operations, but emphasizes "lawless" local gangs & former fighters as the biggest problem, thus tiptoe-ing around the elephant in the room: the Firestone plantation, (brief, insubstantial mention at the end) which is and has been part of the organizing principle of Liberia:<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Also fingered as a concern are private security guards hired by the rubber companies who “arrest” and “detain” illegal rubber tappers without reference to the Liberian National Police (LNP).<br><br>“In several plantations there is an absence of state authority and the rule of law. There is a recurring problem on the plantations concerning illegal detention and arrest by private security officers without the knowledge of the LNP,” said the report by the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).<br>...<br><br>The report said the non-existence of state authority and the lack of respect for the rule of law “places the fundamental rights of plantation residents at risk”. Whole families live on the plantations, and many are employed to tap the trees by the companies that own the plantations.<br>...<br><br>Also in the report, UNMIL noted the poor working and living conditions for the plantation workers and their families. Liberia’s labour minister Samuel Kofi Woods told reporters on Wednesday that the government had given a three-month ultimatum to the operators of the largest plantation, Firestone, to improve workers conditions.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>So now for some substance. <br><br>Brief background: <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/liberia/harbel.htm">www.globalsecurity.org/mi...harbel.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Harbel</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Firestone's Harbel rubber plantation is located a few minutes drive from Robertsfield Airport. The plantation is situated on former mangrove swamp and jungle. It was built in the 1920s and 1930s under the direction of Harvey S. Firestone himself (Harbel is named after Harvey and his wife Idabelle). Firestone Rubber Plantations, the world’s largest rubber plantation, was originally owned by the American Firestone which has consolidated with the Japanese Bridgestone. <hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>Here's (some of) the dirt on Firestone: <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.newsfromafrica.org/newsfromafrica/articles/art_10283.html">www.newsfromafrica.org/ne...10283.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Dire working and living conditions in Firestone rubber plantation exposed</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>25 May 2005 - Save My Future Foundation<br>....<br><br>The inquiry exposes the dire working and living conditions of the bulk of the company's labor force. Firestone has a workforce of about 14,000. Approximately 70% are labourers (tappers) who are mostly illiterate and unskilled Liberians. The lack of employment for unskilled labourers in Liberia, and the inability of the Liberian government, past and present, to monitor the activities of the company have given rise to the abuse of labourers and the poor working and living conditions they have to endure.<br>...<br><br>There appears to be no environmental standards for the company operations as evidenced by the lack of a solid waste management or disposal system. Large volumes of chemical rubbers are dumped in the open. Chemical waste from the factory goes through a sewage line and eventually empties into the Farmington River, which is used by inhabitants of adjoining communities, for bathing, washing and other household chores.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.laborrights.org/press/Firestone/allafrica_112105.htm">www.laborrights.org/press...112105.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Firestone Mirred in Slave Labor Charges in Liberia</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>he suit, filed in Los Angeles federal court on last Thursday, seeks class action on behalf of 12 adult workers and 23 children who work and live on the so-called "Firestone Plantation" in Harbel, Liberia. The suit claims the workers are trapped in what it calls a "gulag of misery" and forced to work under conditions that have changed little since the plantation was founded in 1926...<br><br>"The plantation workers are modern day slaves, forced to work by the coercion of poverty, with the prospect of starvation just one complaint about conditions away," the lawsuit states.<br>...<br><br>In February 2005, Liberia's transitional government headed by Charles Gyude Bryant extended the land concession granted to Firestone, the country's biggest rubber producer, for a further 36 years as part of its efforts to revive the economy after 14 years of civil war. But not everyone is happy. If ratified by parliament, the deal could trigger the first significant private investment into Liberia since the civil war ended in August 2003. "We have a plan to invest more than US$100 million in the rubber industry," said Firestone General Manager Charles Stuart.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12860">corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12860</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>LIBERIA: Firestone Sued Over "Slave" Plantation </strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>At Firestone, "all of the workers are poverty-stricken Africans, enduring extremely inhuman conditions under the constant guard of American and now Japanese overseers who live in the finest houses in Liberia, looking down on the field hands from their verandahs and the company's private golf course," the group says.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <br>Liberia is also a mine for diamonds, gold and other minerals. I asked my dinner companions about working conditions in these mines. Reply: "The same as Firestone." <br><br>Summary: these volunteer slave laborers should be as grateful to Firestone for "jobs" as we are for their bearing the burden of shopping on our behalf for low cost labor which provides us with fine tires for cars that transport our families to the mall and to walmart. <br> <p></p><i></i>
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