Now your chocolate hoovering habit is propping up the revenues of would-be dictators, more specifically, the regime of the Ivory Coast’s political limpet, Laurent Gbagbo.
Laurent has been finding every concievable semantic excuse to cling to power since his ass was ousted by the masses in a little thing we like to call a “democratic vote”. The semantic debate has run dry in recent days, so Laurent is taking his next available option – enforcing his right to rule with the threat of violence.
And the Ivory Coast cocoa industry is providing the cash flow that Charlie Laurent and his Oompa-Loompas need to misappropriate for for their dirty deeds.
Hence, humatarian petition and watchdog organisation, Avaaz, have released a statement urging you and I to refrain from reaching for that chocalate-enrobed treat at your supermarket check out.
Despite losing elections in November and united international pressure and sanctions to remove him, Laurent Gbagbo is clinging to power. Revenues and tariffs from cocoa, the country’s largest export, are bankrolling his brutal army that has murdered hundreds of winning party supporters. If chocolate companies immediately and publicly refuse to do business with Gbagbo, his cash supply could dry up – and without the support of the army, his power base would dwindle, and he could be forced to step down.
This situation could spiral into all-out war within days. Chocolate lovers of the world, let’s flood popular brands like Nestlé, M&M/Mars and Hershey’s with messages to end trade with Gbagbo now and commit to working only with the legitimate government. Click to send a message directly to leading companies — and we will publish which companies have cut their financial ties to Gbagbo:
And that’s all because the Ivory Coast accounts for nearly 40% of the world’s cocoa production.
Check Avaaz out.
