for the 75 years, you'll get a sense of all we going to let that stay the hello i'm manila chan. you're tuned into modus operandi. why westerners have been concerned about a chocolate shortage or price of searching for their favorite suite. treat little spot is given to where that chocolate is coming from, or what's causing the disruption in the supply chain. 2 words workers' rights. on this episode, we'll explore complaints of the exploitation of african farmers by multinational western corporation. and how recent anti western sentiment and politics may turn the so called chocolate war into a hot one. all right, let's get into the m o the

. it's no secret that africa is a consummate, rich and natural resources from precious gems like diamonds, to cobalt that powers the lithium for your cellphones and eaves to the cocoa used to create your favorite dessert. it's all found in africa, but in recent years, africa is more northern parts known as the hell region. and much of west africa have kind of come under scrutiny by western powers. namely, the us and france between political instability such as kuda top as to the plight of coco farmers. looking to earn more from multinational corporations such as nestle or cargo. the eyes of the west are looking toward africa. joining us to discuss it is not a far freeman. he is an organizer with the pan african community action and coordinating committee member for the black alliance for peace. he's also

a host at voices with vision at w p. s. w here in the dc metro. that's part of the pacifica network of stations. so net 5 1st. in recent weeks, news across the us, it was highlighting the chocolate shortage. bloomberg reported that rock cocoa was surging towards $10000.00 a tonne. that's an unprecedented number for this commodity. however, the source of this shortage was actually man made african cocoa far, but being farmers were actually demanding higher prices for their product from, you know, companies such as nestle or hershey, cargill general mills and so forth. so that's a chocolate, is a $130000000000.00 industry annually. you have the farmers in places like coats of law or gonna earn about a dollar a day. the farmers were asking for pennies more, but the corporations decided they wouldn't pay it,

saying the farmers were acting like a cartel, trying to be like opec. so they just stop buying the beans. now the farmers are in a right and the end consumers like you and me are paying the price your thoughts on this as well. this is a result of the near liberalism of the international globe. ready economy, the relationship between the coke farmers and the corporations, like nestle, hershey, and car gurus and general mills. and these are a direct legacy of european colonization of africa. and then what we're seeing is the contention between, you know, the farmers and, and regular p. ready and their intent to, to charge a passive self determination to start their interest. and so under new colonialism advocate still doesn't control the exports of the defense goods for even the cat. and this is the cast cross, the co co and where the money is,

is when it comes out of the country as manufacturing and refund, that the finished goods like the chop, the parts and things that we have. and in particularly in ivory coast and gonna is this 4 major coca producing countries and that's a camera room nigeria go to wire ivy close and i have to say, i've been gone it gone and i've read close in the farmers. they're like you said, it's make only like $1.00 a day or something like that. and we're not even talking about the disparities and big plantation. coca farms versus the small family farms. the big plantations are what's financed and encouraged by the structure adjustment programs and, or the low lending of i'm as well bank, but the coke of farmers regards whether it's punts asians, or small funds, are now beginning to realize their interest in what's happened to this is what's driving the price up isn't particularly ivory coast and kind of the change to gather, to put up with a fixed price. this also higher for them to be able to the,

to sell the price of their cocoa and also included what's known and what they're calling living income differentiate. and that live in income, different genes show, which is part of the higher prices to go directly to the farmers. now, new liberalism, new liberalism doesn't broach anything about, it's not, it doesn't, it's not for the interest of regular people, regular people's values only as good as what their profit, what, how much profit they can yield to corporations, the international finance capital. and so it doesn't really think about those things now. hershey and nestle and all these other corporations. and this is what we saw initially when the, the, or the coca farmer is organized and initiated this price fixing these countries the, they had to go on a public relations acknowledging the fairness of this and that they would comply with this a higher price. but then reneged almost, it was just really just the do something in the public,

but then also started go reverting back to only paying the lower price. and that as a result of this, the farmers also started withholding, trying to sort of a battle a contention. withholding their coca, but at the same time the, you know, the companies in the international market, what's the co farmers don't control can withstand and also just like they do corporations, they just raise the prices in order to deal with a shortage of, of what is cocoa so that's what we're, we're seeing here. we're seeing the, the farmers realizing their interest and trying to fight that. and so, yeah, to yes, so hershey, mars and mando as are 3 of the top 5 chocolate manufacturers in the world. all american companies, any surprise to you, that the reason for this shortage the plight of the farmers is not being discussed by mainstream media outlets here states. i know this is not any surprise at all.

one of the inconvenience of the, the moment is that we're living in the time we're actually experience of the time of the year. that chunk with is, you know, be advertised from other companies and news like this will not gain sympathy for these big companies like hershey and nestle, and all of that western countries really, especially they, they can't really afford to cover africa regularly and especially not in any honest way and without the racial under tons of the racial spin. ready res, suspense, that has you know, the advocates backwards and whatnot. news like what's happening here regarding africa has potential of a weakening, the, a more like pen african consciousness among the african or the black communities and in a pin african and working class by now in this country, just among these communities within the after, within the western countries and so africa has to be depicted the only way for people to not have simple size and,

and have more pen african it's. ready or internationalists, regard or, or, or per view, is the african has to be depicted as backward and fraught with terrorism in violence. and was, these are the needs of west to a system. there's not people centered movements for workers like the farmers in africa and whatnot. and then the people know, with the farming in the top of the industry, there's all this, you know, child labor exploitation, the big plantations exploit tired labor and whatnot. these things have to be made in the blind spots of, of the western populations. otherwise, they will consider sympathy, the corporations cannot afford. and so now here's the twist i would say in this unsavory story. several of these cocoa being producing states are equal wass member states the ivory coast and gonna alone represent 70 percent of the world's production. now we're learning that us after com intends to build

a brand new drone basis in, in those states and been in as well. your group, the black alliance for peace issued a statement condemning this move. so 1st, explain for us why you think the drawing bases are a bad idea and i don't know, is it a coincidence? the situation with the cocoa being farmers and coast of juan gonna so that the drone bases are a bad idea as not just the drone bases that are a bad idea. it is the whole african once known as the u. what's known as an for com is the us africa command, which is, you know, political read it all across the continent. it is united states military occupation of the african continent under the so called auspices of trying to fight terrorism in assist the advocate and everything else. but michael langley, the commander ban for com. just a couple weeks ago, put it plainly when he was asked about the why u. s. military is in africa and what, what people should know about that or the reason for it. and one of the most the

most telling aspect of what he said along with all the other fluff, is that they were there, quote, for influence and access. this is why on for commas is there. and we know that the presence of africa has the nothing but exponentially put a increased the terrorism terrace activities there. there's a lot of atrocities based on the drones and drone basses, particularly in somalia in libya. and so when they talking about new drawing bases in beginning, gone and are because they're really just talking about extending the type of atrocities that not just a drone basis. but all of our com is responsible for on the continent of africa. so it's, it's not a good idea. i don't think it's a coincidence that these 3 countries are considered for in relationship to the coca and the coca production in particular. but it's not just the coca

production is just a come really about all kinds of industry and access in africa, whether it be timber or oil or the re uranium. but what the west fears is a potential of consciousness of self determination and africa. a radical even if lead by workers movement is a dangerous to their interest. and we can see self determination. and those types of things express themselves and particularly in the form of friends colonies with these countries have kicked out france. and we also know that the united disney jr, this part of the, of the what they're referring to now is the lines of the health states, the last country to take over from really the comfort to class. as now, calling for the remove of african from his territory the, the short answer and i don't want to be labor that but directly to your point, is that the, the expect any expansion of africa, whether be drawing bases or anything is danger, traffic has worked and been met and nothing but of destruction and death and they

have a motive for doing so which is about control and access and coming up next. usually, an economic block doesn't threaten military action, but that's exactly what equal was did following a string of cruise in west africa. we'll discuss it when we return with net 5. freeman. so type m o will be right back the the office on the new place to do that. even if you were story ok, square level, the use of solutions stuff. you see the shifting. it's because each time she

couldn't collect look stupid to photocopy slip to describe the, the dizzy on this before they have to do. if they share the dream you create excuse . but our name is which is sort of spurious, was disposable cleaning. some doors not say that i'm going to die. conflicting the thoughts about pushing of centuries ago. your forebears name this country ukraine or frontier because your steps blink, europe, and asia, the ukrainians, that become frontiersman of another story. the people who don't will be able to send you some of those. whichever i most of them there's always, you know, going to need to try to jump to the most goals they would have been there. but some

of the heavily negligence coleman. joe, probably the only post co pays gift to suck you the will have to. okay. the stuff under the really modern pragmatics world of smartphones and tech upgrades are chairs, no crafts and hand painted traditions of yesteryear seem to be fading away. protective stuff outside of the bustling metropolis of moscow, and you'll find that traditional russian, the full parts culture is still going strong. the the welcome back to the m. o. i'm the miller chan. network. freeman was kind enough to hang out a little bit more. thanks for sticking around that. so equal was, you know, isn't an acronym for economic community of west african states. why haven't they

spoken up against these multi national corporations? it was a points of the group economic, i mean, it's in the name. shouldn't agriculture be more important to the group then? foreign, militarism interest? me. so, um this is, i'm glad you asked this question and then it's a very important question. echo wants to economic community with african states has its origins in the seventy's and did have. and it's came right after we solve this, the sweeping of independence and become ization movements in africa, independent countries gaining their independence from formal colonialism in, in, in africa, from europe. but then the configuration of, of echo weiss is that is, is comprised of leaders of the various representatives of various governments in west africa of the country. the 14 or 15 countries that comprise africa. and being the new colonialism which is the control of the politics and economics of

the countries. but with all the outward trappings of independence, it means that is fostered. well, we referred to as a comfortable class, people who seem to be working in the interest of their population that really are beholden to interest outside of foreign interest. that's what a comfort door is and be with, with these being the leaders that are heading most is countries over heading all of these countries. um, even though that it had good intentions, the beginning. now at gloss service, i'm pretty much sort of the interest of the way western countries. this is why they threaten the military intervention into these year because of what happened there. the taking over, despite the poppy popularity of the take over, and the polls in the expelling of the french, they were going to, they threatened military intervention. and the only reason they didn't is because their, their populations were the population of the various countries heading echo was we're not for the intervention and we're already demonstrating against them. we had

demonstrations or celebrations of this, of the, those countries that are expelling france and demonstrations against the leadership and these compet doors and the countries that are comprising across and that's, and we're threatening from military and intervention. so there's a lot of political instability in west africa right now. i mean, cruise in molly burkina, faso, guinea, new share was the last bastion of american military influence out there in this a hell. but now under the 100 government, they just abruptly cancelled this 12 year old security packed with african, the spokesman for the hunter, colonel major. i'm gonna do, i'm to run months and this quote. the government of need air taken into account the aspirations and interest of its people revokes with immediate effect. the agreement concerning the status of us military personnel and civilian defense department employees, employee language. he basically said new share was expelling the united states. how

do you see this impacting the, the growing threat of, say, terrorism from the likes of all, kinda this is a pretty complicated question and, and so i think it's, it's the 1st should be understood that and for. com was not the despite what they were saying was not having any success, nor the french foreign legion or whatever that. and then i also have friends in the us have the have biggest military footprints with the us, having the largest military front print on the con, the back of the puts us ostensibly for the purpose of, of fighting terrorism. and they were not having any, if anything, terrorism at once with terrorism grew, has expanded increased since their presence. so to do so, it would be a mistake to think that without them that they would the, for some reason that the, the terrorism would necessarily grow because they were gone. now i also think it's

important for us to consider what stabilization and how we think of it. we stabilisation and stabilization for who. so this has been instability for the western economic order, the domination of western countries and their ability to have access to mental resources and to super exploit africans. but africa, the like we talked about the font farmers and whatnot, who've had been under colonialism for, you know, hundreds of years or so centuries. there was no stability for them. this doesn't represent instability for them. what's happening and in fact, and we should be careful to understand that any, any course, 4 of the conversation for africa being able to the polls, the domination of western countries that should include united states. now, as the top new cohen eyes on the african continent required the going through

a phase of, of expelling the military's and also expelling influence of sanctions and, and the international financial institutions like the i m, f and world bank. it would have to go through that in order to gain any sense of real people centered stability. they know there was governments and, and states that are operating in the best interest of the mass of the people or the mass is being able to assume control. and so in this sense, what's happening is a precursor, a necessary 1st step further, it'd be real independent, self determined, and even hopefully united africa. and so black lines are peace, stand for against all forms of military intervention and all forms of intervention . and so i think this is the, the, we want, the, i think is be a, it's a good 1st step. the nicer is taken. and then we, we call for all the countries in africa to take the same step. and, and again,

take the same step in and look for a sub, determine the united africa, this work in the best interest of the masses. yes, stability for who is a great way to look at it. as you mentioned earlier, a new year is uranium rich. france is one of the largest purchasers of uranium from the share. but the military junta announced previously that they were going to halt all sales to the french. there were concerns that emanuel my crone might take military action into new share, you know, under the guise of overturning this to which apparently seems to be a very popular movement that hasn't happened though. on the part of france. we saw a lot of russian flags being waived there, but when you combine this with the eviction of the us military, how do you see things playing out in the share or? yeah it's, it's hard to say, i don't think it would be to put it lightly,

a good look for there to be a military intervention on the part of the direct military and the pension on the part of the west. to intervene in easier, especially since these, these movements seem to be quite popular. and we've also seen molly particularly molly these year and became a facile form what they're calling an alliance of the health states. a security alliance. the 1st of forms of security saying that an attack on one is impact on all of them. and all of them have had taken anti france or anti western disposition wanting to have their own currency, whatnot. and now now it's looking like it's also spilling over to the us, which you put us was trying to avoid that and be neutral and this, but everyone knows that they're all, it's all connected. what's also going to be interesting is, is, and we didn't get a chance and we won't be able to talk about it is the developments in senegal, where there is a newly elected president and he's the youngest president and you know, and, and

a prime minister of these 2 young people represent a growing young movement that's also talking about and to france and the self determination of a sent a goal. and then also in the beginning of us out with the revolutionary party of the d. c. with the party of a meal car. club brawl has taken been able to form a coalition and, and taking power in a boat in power. so these are popular governments that they can't accuse of being taken over by 2 military interventions. but all of them, the ones that are in the military lines and the ones, and these have the same, basically same as central agenda. and i think the only thing that can result if, if the west persist with its aggressiveness and its insistence that it dominate it, they're going to bring all of these forces together. and we're going to see emerging a new movement of the colonization, or d, neil colonization in west africa, which is long overdue. that's a free man,

member of papa and black alliance for peace, also co host and voices with vision on pacifica. thank you so much for your perspective today. thank you for having me. and that is going to do it for today's episode of modus operandi the show that takes deep into foreign policy and current affairs. i'm your host, the knowledge and thanks for tuning in. we'll see you again next time to figure out the m. o. the the,

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