http://mayanfox.com/causes.cfm Sun, 13 Mar 2011 07:26:19 GMT http://bandzoogle.com http://mayanfox.com/causes.cfm?feature=799535&postid=826205 It's been a while since i've posted on here and this is going to be a short one as all I have to say is this: Please, please, please - Think Thrice BEFORE purchasing chocolate this Easter. Ask yourself  "Could this be 'Blood Chocolate'? Could this have been sourced from slave-worked plantations?" The best way to know that your chocolate has originated from a plantation where workers are paid a fair wage rather than having been forced to work for free, often suffering beatings, scant to no meals, chemical contact without protective equipment and more, is to look for the 'Fair Trade' logo. Cadbury carries it on their Dairy Milk ONLY! Nothing else so don't be fooled. Most other big brands are NOT Fair Trade. Most slaves in the cocoa industry are children. Many have been stolen from the streets or bought off their parents with false promises of an income for their family. This Easter, please put children first, not the eggs.
Please, please, please - Think Thrice BEFORE purchasing chocolate this Easter. Ask yourself  "Could this be 'Blood Chocolate'? Could this have been sourced from slave-worked plantations?"

The best way to know that your chocolate has originated from a plantation where workers are paid a fair wage rather than having been forced to work for free, often suffering beatings, scant to no meals, chemical contact without protective equipment and more, is to look for the 'Fair Trade' logo.

Cadbury carries it on their Dairy Milk ONLY! Nothing else so don't be fooled. Most other big brands are NOT Fair Trade.

Most slaves in the cocoa industry are children. Many have been stolen from the streets or bought off their parents with false promises of an income for their family.

This Easter, please put children first, not the eggs.
]]> Sun, 13 Mar 2011 07:26:19 GMT 6AB6E559692AD90BC7360D381802A871 http://mayanfox.com/causes.cfm?feature=799535&postid=168816 Those that know us and/or have read through this 'Causes' page know that we regularly raise funds for a charity in Haiti called 'Theo's Work' who maintain an awesome community called 'Hope Village'. I know that they amongst many others of course, have been hit hard by this latest Haitian disaster and so if you do raise funds but are still considering exactly who to send aid to please consider 'Hope Village' as potential recipients of your generosity. They have a very 'open-book' policy concerning where their funds go and you can know that they wont be used wrongfully. You can learn more about them via the 'freethekids' link on this page. I know that it sounds like we're soliciting and, to be honest we are but it's something we're passionate about.
I know that they amongst many others of course, have been hit hard by this latest Haitian disaster and so if you do raise funds but are still considering exactly who to send aid to please consider 'Hope Village' as potential recipients of your generosity. They have a very 'open-book' policy concerning where their funds go and you can know that they wont be used wrongfully.

You can learn more about them via the 'freethekids' link on this page.

I know that it sounds like we're soliciting and, to be honest we are but it's something we're passionate about.

]]> Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:36:59 GMT AD8EED5C174C2CE96D2D5F67DCB21619 http://mayanfox.com/causes.cfm?feature=799535&postid=48518 (This is from the website of the Not For Sale Campaign.) by Katherine Chon Executive Director & Co-Founder Polaris Project: I'm sure most of us are familiar with Craigslist, an online Web community where people post job opportunities, items for sale, and find activity partners. Over the past years, Craigslist has grown by leaps and bounds and now has Web sites representing over 300 U.S. cities. Many of us have used Craigslist to find a garage sale or buy a used couch. However, despite its millions of users and various social benefits, there's a dark side of Craigslist that most users don't see. In the "Erotic" section, human traffickers have found Craigslist to be one of the most efficient, effective (and free) ways to post children and women for sale. With a bit of research, one can realize just how much of a problem this has become. In one recent case, two Chicago women were charged for selling girls as young as 14 years old on Craigslist. The girls were forced to have sex with 10-12 men per day, and the traffickers made tens of thousands of dollars. A Boston man and his niece were charged with plotting a child trafficking operation with teenagers as young as 13 by selling them on Craigslist to predators from Massachusetts to New York. These cases are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, law enforcement efforts to fight trafficking nationwide are consistently reporting a spike in online Craigslist ads, and how sex trafficking has "moved online" lately. In Washington, DC, we see an average of 500 of these such Craigslist ads each new day. Yet, it is important to realize that a significant percentage of these ads on Craigslist do not advertise solely "legal escort services" as Craigslist may like to believe. Instead, a considerable percentage of the ads are a thinly veiled guise for one of the many faces of human trafficking that exists here in the United States. Although Craigslist may convince itself that it has created a beneficial online venue for advertising legal escorts, in effect, what it has done is create a fertile ground for traffickers to further their trade in human misery. Many of the victims of human trafficking that Polaris Project has served have had their pictures posted on Craigslist. Through serving them, we've learned how the pictures on Craigslist hide the pain behind the smile. Maybe Craigslist should ask itself if the marginal benefits of this form of free advertising for the sex trade are worth the far larger human costs. (I'm going to start looking into ways that individuals can bust child-porn sellers and slave traders online, because I am getting really sick of reading about stuff like this. If I come up with anything good, I'll share it on here! Also, if you're fishing around the web for porn, your behavior perpetuates this kind of atrocity, because 1) you don't know if the girls your looking at are really 18, and from what I've been reading, apparently porn sites lie about this quite often, and 2) people over 18 are still objectified and made into slaves of a sort by pornography, even if it's legal and even if they don't realize it. And 3) when you advance a culture of porn and cheap sex instead of love and commitment, you are contributing to the problem. You certainly aren't helping.)
by Katherine Chon Executive Director & Co-Founder Polaris Project:

I'm sure most of us are familiar with Craigslist, an online Web community where people post job opportunities, items for sale, and find activity partners. Over the past years, Craigslist has grown by leaps and bounds and now has Web sites representing over 300 U.S. cities. Many of us have used Craigslist to find a garage sale or buy a used couch.
However, despite its millions of users and various social benefits, there's a dark side of Craigslist that most users don't see. In the "Erotic" section, human traffickers have found Craigslist to be one of the most efficient, effective (and free) ways to post children and women for sale.

With a bit of research, one can realize just how much of a problem this has become. In one recent case, two Chicago women were charged for selling girls as young as 14 years old on Craigslist. The girls were forced to have sex with 10-12 men per day, and the traffickers made tens of thousands of dollars. A Boston man and his niece were charged with plotting a child trafficking operation with teenagers as young as 13 by selling them on Craigslist to predators from Massachusetts to New York. These cases are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, law enforcement efforts to fight trafficking nationwide are consistently reporting a spike in online Craigslist ads, and how sex trafficking has "moved online" lately.

In Washington, DC, we see an average of 500 of these such Craigslist ads each new day. Yet, it is important to realize that a significant percentage of these ads on Craigslist do not advertise solely "legal escort services" as Craigslist may like to believe. Instead, a considerable percentage of the ads are a thinly veiled guise for one of the many faces of human trafficking that exists here in the United States. Although Craigslist may convince itself that it has created a beneficial online venue for advertising legal escorts, in effect, what it has done is create a fertile ground for traffickers to further their trade in human misery.

Many of the victims of human trafficking that Polaris Project has served have had their pictures posted on Craigslist. Through serving them, we've learned how the pictures on Craigslist hide the pain behind the smile. Maybe Craigslist should ask itself if the marginal benefits of this form of free advertising for the sex trade are worth the far larger human costs.

(I'm going to start looking into ways that individuals can bust child-porn sellers and slave traders online, because I am getting really sick of reading about stuff like this. If I come up with anything good, I'll share it on here! Also, if you're fishing around the web for porn, your behavior perpetuates this kind of atrocity, because 1) you don't know if the girls your looking at are really 18, and from what I've been reading, apparently porn sites lie about this quite often, and 2) people over 18 are still objectified and made into slaves of a sort by pornography, even if it's legal and even if they don't realize it. And 3) when you advance a culture of porn and cheap sex instead of love and commitment, you are contributing to the problem. You certainly aren't helping.)

]]> Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:06:45 GMT C1348471078AAE00174C4B41F1265B9D http://mayanfox.com/causes.cfm?feature=799535&postid=47838 Blood On Our Chocolate The topic is CHOCOLATE and the cost involved. I'm not talking about the coins we pull out of our pockets to exchange for this sweet cocoa treat. I'm talking about the cost on HUMAN LIFE. I'm talking about child exploitation including forced labour (ie. Slavery), in horrific conditions. I'm talking about 'BLOOD ON OUR CHOCOLATE.' Picture a typical 12 year old boy in western society. He wakes, showers, eats a good breakfast, jumps on a bus for school, plays some ball etc. Now head to the IVORY COAST, West Africa. SLAVE TRADERS are taking 11-16 YEAR OLD BOYS from their home countries, and SELLING THEM to Cocoa Farmers. The children are often LOCKED UP at night to prevent escape after working 12 - 18 hour days. The meals are scant and in fact wouldn't be referred to as a 'meal' at all in our society. Unless you call a small amount of corn paste a day a meal. Children are also required to handle DANGEROUS CHEMICALS without any body protection. Here's just one example that I have cut and pasted from an educational site Aly Diabate, who is from Mali, was 11 YEARS OLD when he was lured in Mali by a slave trader to go work on an Ivorian farm. The locateur told him that not only would he receive a bicycle, but he could also help his parents with the $150 he would earn. However life on the cocoa farm of "Le Gros" (or "Big Man") was nothing like Aly had imagined. He and the other workers had to work from SIX IN THE MORNING UNTIL 6:30 AT NIGHT on the cocoa fields. Since Aly was only about four feet tall, the bags of cocoa beans were taller than him. To be able to carry and transport the bags, other people would have to place the bags onto his head for him. Because the BAGS WERE SO HEAVY, he had trouble carrying them and always fell down. The farmer would BEAT HIM until he stood back up and lifted the bag again. Aly was BEATEN the most because the farmer accused him of never working hard enough. The LITTLE BOY still has the SCARS left from the BIKE CHAINS and COCOA TREE BRANCHES that Le Gros used. He and the other slaves were not FED well either. They had to subsist on a FEW BURNT BANANAS(Chatterjee, "How your..."). ...when nightfall came, Aly's TORTURE did not end. He and eighteen other SLAVE workers had to stay in their one room that measured 24-by-20 feet. The boys all slept on a wooden plank. There was but one small hole just big enough to let in some air. Aly and the others had to URINATE IN A CAN, because once they went into the room, they were not allowed to leave. (http://www.american.edu/ted/chocolate-slave.htm) How does this affect us as consumers? How big is the part that the Ivory Coast play in the manufacturing of the world's chocolate? 50% ! 50% of the worlds chocolate is provided by the Ivory Coast. Big Brand names such as CADBURY & NESTLE are non-oblivious purchasers. The 'Big Boys' of the chocolate industry have known since 2001 of the relationship between Child Slavery and Cocoa harvesting. Very little has been done about it. In fact a deadline of July 2005 was set by the manufacturers themselves to discontinue purchase of Slave harvested Cocoa. The time has been and gone without result. A second deadline of 2008 has also come and gone. WHAT CAN WE DO? Look for the green 'Fair Trade' logo on any chocolate you purchase or any other inication that it comes from non-slave harvested farms. In Australia the supermarket Aldi stocks some good choc - I can't remember the brand name at the moment but it comes in block form and is wrapped with green paper (no I don't work for Aldi). It is worth the extra cost - I promise that the chocolate will taste better too. Petition Chocolate makers such as Cadbury & Nestle to 'Hurry Up and get their collective butts into gear'. Tell them to educate the farmers, pay a fair price for the cocoa etc. Whatever it takes to obliterate this despicable act of Slavery, and in particular CHILD SLAVERY. I'm sure that the C.E.O. of Cadbury is as every bit disgusted with the thought of Child Slavery as I am but the fact is that there is little activity on their end to staunchly oppose it. Boycott the brands known to produce blood-tainted chocolate until such a time as they STOP buying Slave harvested Cocoa. It sucks that something that brings so much joy to one society can be at the cost of so much pain to another. It doesn't have to be that way. The producers and consumers can make a change. Get Honest - Get Pro-Active - Make A Change For the Better note: Some companies such as Mars & Cadbury are starting to make changes but only in certain areas where there has been really strong grassroots campaigning. More needs to be done so that their whole product range, in every country, is slave free. Blood On Our Chocolate


The topic is CHOCOLATE and the cost involved. I'm not talking about the coins we pull out of our pockets to exchange for this sweet cocoa treat. I'm talking about the cost on HUMAN LIFE. I'm talking about child exploitation including forced labour (ie. Slavery), in horrific conditions. I'm talking about 'BLOOD ON OUR CHOCOLATE.'

Picture a typical 12 year old boy in western society. He wakes, showers, eats a good breakfast, jumps on a bus for school, plays some ball etc.

Now head to the IVORY COAST, West Africa. SLAVE TRADERS are taking 11-16 YEAR OLD BOYS from their home countries, and SELLING THEM to Cocoa Farmers.

The children are often LOCKED UP at night to prevent escape after working
12 - 18 hour days. The meals are scant and in fact wouldn't be referred to as a 'meal' at all in our society. Unless you call a small amount of corn paste a day a meal.

Children are also required to handle DANGEROUS CHEMICALS without any body protection.

Here's just one example that I have cut and pasted from an educational site

Aly Diabate, who is from Mali, was 11 YEARS OLD when he was lured in Mali by a slave trader to go work on an Ivorian farm. The locateur told him that not only would he receive a bicycle, but he could also help his parents with the $150 he would earn. However life on the cocoa farm of "Le Gros" (or "Big Man") was nothing like Aly had imagined. He and the other workers had to work from SIX IN THE MORNING UNTIL 6:30 AT NIGHT on the cocoa fields. Since Aly was only about four feet tall, the bags of cocoa beans were taller than him. To be able to carry and transport the bags, other people would have to place the bags onto his head for him. Because the BAGS WERE SO HEAVY, he had trouble carrying them and always fell down. The farmer would BEAT HIM until he stood back up and lifted the bag again. Aly was BEATEN the most because the farmer accused him of never working hard enough. The LITTLE BOY still has the SCARS left from the BIKE CHAINS and COCOA TREE BRANCHES that Le Gros used. He and the other slaves were not FED well either. They had to subsist on a FEW BURNT BANANAS(Chatterjee, "How your...").

...when nightfall came, Aly's TORTURE did not end. He and eighteen other SLAVE workers had to stay in their one room that measured 24-by-20 feet. The boys all slept on a wooden plank. There was but one small hole just big enough to let in some air. Aly and the others had to URINATE IN A CAN, because once they went into the room, they were not allowed to leave.
(http://www.american.edu/ted/chocolate-slave.htm)

How does this affect us as consumers? How big is the part that the Ivory Coast play in the manufacturing of the world's chocolate?

50% !

50% of the worlds chocolate is provided by the Ivory Coast. Big Brand names such as CADBURY & NESTLE are non-oblivious purchasers.

The 'Big Boys' of the chocolate industry have known since 2001 of the relationship between Child Slavery and Cocoa harvesting.

Very little has been done about it. In fact a deadline of July 2005 was set by the manufacturers themselves to discontinue purchase of Slave harvested Cocoa. The time has been and gone without result. A second deadline of 2008 has also come and gone.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Look for the green 'Fair Trade' logo on any chocolate you purchase or any other inication that it comes from non-slave harvested farms. In Australia the supermarket Aldi stocks some good choc - I can't remember the brand name at the moment but it comes in block form and is wrapped with green paper (no I don't work for Aldi). It is worth the extra cost - I promise that the chocolate will taste better too.

Petition Chocolate makers such as Cadbury & Nestle to 'Hurry Up and get their collective butts into gear'. Tell them to educate the farmers, pay a fair price for the cocoa etc. Whatever it takes to obliterate this despicable act of Slavery, and in particular CHILD SLAVERY. I'm sure that the C.E.O. of Cadbury is as every bit disgusted with the thought of Child Slavery as I am but the fact is that there is little activity on their end to staunchly oppose it.

Boycott the brands known to produce blood-tainted chocolate until such a time as they STOP buying Slave harvested Cocoa.

It sucks that something that brings so much joy to one society can be at the cost of so much pain to another. It doesn't have to be that way. The producers and consumers can make a change.

Get Honest - Get Pro-Active - Make A Change For the Better

note: Some companies such as Mars & Cadbury are starting to make changes but only in certain areas where there has been really strong grassroots campaigning. More needs to be done so that their whole product range, in every country, is slave free.

]]> Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:00:27 GMT 39DE4D58DCDE03C6CBE23819D21DD114 http://mayanfox.com/causes.cfm?feature=799535&postid=47837 22 million people in Slavery. 1/2 of them children! Many more people in 3rd world countries utilised as extremely cheap labour. Many of them forced to live like unwanted dogs, begging for scraps, tied to their work stations, abused verbally, physically, sexually... Why? To appease the demands of Western consumption (our consumption). Buying Fair Trade products can help eradicate such injustices. Below is a cut 'n' paste copy of a request that YOU can use to promote the stocking of Fair Trade products in your local store. It's so easy. Just fill it out and post it. You'll walk a little taller the day you do. You can find other resources by checking out your local Fair Trade site (google it). One Love Mayan Fox The Letter: Dear Store Manager, Please stock more Fairtrade products. I was in your store today in and would love to be able to buy more Fairtrade products next time I shop there. I’d particularly like to find these products in your store: (name any product and it's likely it's in the Fair Trade range. Chocolate, Cookies, Clothing etc.) As a regular customer, I’d appreciate it if you would pass my request to the person responsible for selecting which products are stocked in this store. If you’ve got the time, please let me know when the Fairtrade products will be in stock: Name Address Post Code Email / Telephone Thank You

22 million people in Slavery.

• 1/2 of them children!

• Many more people in 3rd world countries utilised as extremely cheap labour. Many of them forced to live like unwanted dogs, begging for scraps, tied to their work stations, abused verbally, physically, sexually...

Why?

To appease the demands of Western consumption (our consumption).

Buying Fair Trade products can help eradicate such injustices.


Below is a cut 'n' paste copy of a request that YOU can use to promote the stocking of Fair Trade products in your local store. It's so easy. Just fill it out and post it. You'll walk a little taller the day you do.

You can find other resources by checking out your local Fair Trade site (google it).

One Love

Mayan Fox

The Letter:

Dear Store Manager,

Please stock more Fairtrade products.

I was in your store today in and would love to be able to buy more Fairtrade products next time I shop there.

I’d particularly like to find these products in your store:
(name any product and it's likely it's in the Fair Trade range.
Chocolate, Cookies, Clothing etc.)


As a regular customer, I’d appreciate it if you would pass my
request to the person responsible for selecting which products
are stocked in this store.

If you’ve got the time, please let me know when the Fairtrade
products will be in stock:

Name
Address
Post Code
Email / Telephone

Thank You

]]> Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:53:35 GMT 64C2124F62369EDC4460E3386E80FB4B