Step One: Boycott the United Fruit Company.
Supporting a corporation is the same as supporting their politics. By buying and eating United Fruit Company products, you are supporting the company's policies regarding Latin America. So if you disagree with their business tactics, tell them! Start by boycotting the brand. United Fruit encompasses all Chiquita, Dole, and Fresh Express brands. This includes more than just bananas: pineapples, Dole "fruit cups," avocados and all other products under the brand name are equally corrupt.
P.S. Stop putting banana stickers on your forehead. You look dumb.
Step Two: Write the Company
Make your voice heard. Tell Chiquita directly what you think of their imperialism. Write to the corporate headquarters at:
Chiquita Brands International, Inc.
250 East Fifth Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202 USA
+513-784-8000
Step Three: Join the Protest
Educating others is extremely important. Raising consciousness about the unethical practices of Chiquita and all associated brands is the first step to change. Using the image below, print out stickers (either print an entire sheet and cut out the ovals, or buy precut stickers and print as directed). Take these stickers to the store and stick them right where they belong: on the corrupt product itself. Think it won't work? Hey, you saw it, didn't you?
dearest, insulting people for stickering their foreheads is not a good method of motivation to do something. ;) very militia-esque technique!
ReplyDeleteFrom the author (posted by a friend) :
ReplyDeleteIt’s been a while since I’ve had any additions or revisions to the information on this blog, and resultantly I’ve forgotten not only my password but also my username. However, some nice folks kindly pointed out some misinformation that needs to be corrected.
The second to last sentence of the information on United Fruit in both the zine format and blog reads: “Silence is consent.” In hindsight, this is a really problematic misconception that I don’t wish to perpetuate. Let me clarify.
At the time that I wrote it, I meant that in this specific situation, silence passively permits corporations to commit horrible human rights abuses… This is, as it turns out, not the same thing as consent. Consent is an overarching concept that tends to be sought out in order to respect the autonomy of individuals. This is very important, particularly in the work of dismantling dominative hierarchies built on false authority. Practicing good consent is a learning process that never ends.
Consent is especially important in, but not limited to, the context of love, relationships and sex. Here good consent can be most basically defined as the presence of a verbal “yes” with all body language in agreement. If someone says “yes” but their body says “no”, consent has not been obtained. (Note that this cannot go the other way – positive body language does not negate a verbal “no”.) Silence is one of the many things that does not equal consent.
As unbelievable as it may (or may not) sound, I’ve only recently been introduced to good consent. I grew up in a community where the very concept of consent, let alone a working understanding of honest good consent, very rarely (if ever) came up, and all of my relationships existed in environments of coercion. Finding a community where good consent is highly valued and widely practiced has been a surprisingly eye opening experience. Learning about good consent has helped to clarify my own internalized power imbalances. I still have a lot of learning to do.
While apathy, complacency, or inaction (silence) may passively enable human rights abuses to occur, SILENCE DOES NOT EQUAL CONSENT.
Good zines on the subject are:
Ask First - http://zinelibrary.info/files/ask%20first.pdf
Learning Good Consent - http://zinelibrary.info/files/learning%20good%20consent2.pdf
and Don’t Be a Dick - http://zinelibrary.info/files/DON%27T%20BE%20A%20DICK_ZINE_0.pdf
P.S. Printable PDF sheets with alternative sticker images as well as the zine format of this information available at http://zinelibrary.info/united-fruit-corruption-what-chiquita-dole-and-fresh-express-are
P.P.S. I just noticed I spelled Colombia wrong a few times in the blog format… Fuck.
zinelibrary.info
zinelibrary.info