Big Sugar - Calling for Boycott

~patches~ said:

We just recently had discussion on whether cane sugar was better than
beet sugar. Well I just watched part 1 of Big Sugar on CBC and I

will

Quoted message said:

tell you now I will not knownly ever buy cane sugar in any form if at
all possible again!!! We talk about slave labour and the workers

here

Quoted message said:

are doing below that! Many of these workers are starving even though
they work long hours daily. Children work long hours with little to

no

Quoted message said:

pay. Both are subjected to violent abuse and substandard living
conditions. Both do so only to supply us with sugar. I know about

beet

Quoted message said:

sugar because DH hauls a few loads each year when a relative can't

get a

Quoted message said:

driver. Sugar beet workers get decent pay all the way around unlike

the

Quoted message said:

cane workers. After watching this show I was totally sickened!

As people interested in cooking and food related topics and issues I
feel we have an obligation and responsibility to say no to these

types

Quoted message said:

of practices. If anyone knows a website for protest of these
autracities against cane sugar beet workers or of any sites of

contact

Quoted message said:

could you please post them. Contact information for cane sugar
plantations would be appreciated. I'll wage a one woman campaign
against this practice if I have to!

What place are you citing???

AFAIK The demise of the Hawaiian US sugar cane industry--at least in
Hawaii-was due to the highest-paid-agricultural-workers-US issue. We
have very few sugar cane plantations still going---

Be careful.

Corn syrup is from corn. Beet is a separate issue.

I must admit I have not seen the SUGAR show but I want to. I am from
that heritage.

aloha,
Thunder
smithfarms.com
Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
& other Great Stuff

"smithfarms pure kona" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

~patches~ said:

We just recently had discussion on whether cane sugar was better than
beet sugar. Well I just watched part 1 of Big Sugar on CBC and I

will

Quoted message said:

tell you now I will not knownly ever buy cane sugar in any form if at
all possible again!!! We talk about slave labour and the workers

here

Quoted message said:

are doing below that! Many of these workers are starving even though
they work long hours daily. Children work long hours with little to

no

Quoted message said:

pay. Both are subjected to violent abuse and substandard living
conditions. Both do so only to supply us with sugar. I know about

beet

Quoted message said:

sugar because DH hauls a few loads each year when a relative can't

get a

Quoted message said:

driver. Sugar beet workers get decent pay all the way around unlike

the

Quoted message said:

cane workers. After watching this show I was totally sickened!

As people interested in cooking and food related topics and issues I
feel we have an obligation and responsibility to say no to these

types

Quoted message said:

of practices. If anyone knows a website for protest of these
autracities against cane sugar beet workers or of any sites of

contact

Quoted message said:

could you please post them. Contact information for cane sugar
plantations would be appreciated. I'll wage a one woman campaign
against this practice if I have to!

What place are you citing???

AFAIK The demise of the Hawaiian US sugar cane industry--at least in
Hawaii-was due to the highest-paid-agricultural-workers-US issue. We
have very few sugar cane plantations still going---

Be careful.

Corn syrup is from corn. Beet is a separate issue.

I must admit I have not seen the SUGAR show but I want to. I am from
that heritage.

Yep, Thunder, I agree with you, but I, too, come from Hawaii. The only
sugar my husband allows in this house is Sugar in the Raw from Maui. You
won't find any processed white sugar here. No "brown" sugar either because
you can't find pure brown sugar in cesspool Florida. It's all Dixie
Crystals - white sugar sprayed with a molasses coating. It's nasty, vile
stuff that is really gritty.

Hawaii treats it's sugarcane laborers well. The program you watched most
definitely was not based on conditions in the States but probably Costa Rica
or the Filippines.

kili

kilikini said:

Yep, Thunder, I agree with you, but I, too, come from Hawaii. The only
sugar my husband allows in this house is Sugar in the Raw from Maui. You
won't find any processed white sugar here. No "brown" sugar either because
you can't find pure brown sugar in cesspool Florida. It's all Dixie
Crystals - white sugar sprayed with a molasses coating. It's nasty, vile
stuff that is really gritty.

Hawaii treats it's sugarcane laborers well. The program you watched most
definitely was not based on conditions in the States but probably Costa Rica
or the Filippines.

kili

One of my coolest life experiences was to serendipidously drive by a
field of sugar cane being harvested in Kauai. They were burning the
canes and scooping them up with a big claw on a tractor-like machine.
The air smelled wonderful - like smokey caramel. It was a beautiful
experience.

-L.

-L. said:

One of my coolest life experiences was to serendipidously drive by a
field of sugar cane being harvested in Kauai. They were burning the
canes and scooping them up with a big claw on a tractor-like machine.
The air smelled wonderful - like smokey caramel. It was a beautiful
experience.

My brother-in-law works for the company that probably made that
equipment.
It *is* way cool to watch.

He spends a lot of time traveling to third-world hellholes, assembling
the equipment and training local workers in its operation and
maintenance.

It's an unending source of disappointment to him that I buy beet sugar,
locally grown and processed here in Michigan. I certainly can't tell
it
from cane sugar, but I'm not a "power user" of sugar: the annual batch
of cookies or sprinkled on strawberries or similar.

Cindy Hamilton

Cindy Hamilton said:

-L. said:

One of my coolest life experiences was to serendipidously drive by a
field of sugar cane being harvested in Kauai. They were burning the
canes and scooping them up with a big claw on a tractor-like machine.
The air smelled wonderful - like smokey caramel. It was a beautiful
experience.

My brother-in-law works for the company that probably made that
equipment.
It *is* way cool to watch.

He spends a lot of time traveling to third-world hellholes, assembling
the equipment and training local workers in its operation and
maintenance.

The show focused on these third-world hellholes 🙁 Discusting! I'm
still really down about it. The workers work from dawn to dusk with no
breaks and get paid $2 per day. The houses they live in are small
shacks that look like any kind of a wind could blow them over. The
families are forbidden to plant gardens to help feed themselves and they
must buy their groceries at the company store at over inflated prices.
It sickens me to see what type of abuse they are forced to live with!

Quoted message said:

It's an unending source of disappointment to him that I buy beet sugar,
locally grown and processed here in Michigan. I certainly can't tell
it
from cane sugar, but I'm not a "power user" of sugar: the annual batch
of cookies or sprinkled on strawberries or similar.

Some of our relatives grow sugar beets. It's hard to vision something
as sweet as sugar coming from something so ugly! The first run of sugar
beets from Ontario to Michigan started Monday of this week. They won't
be going full tilt for another week yet. I heard they lost a few
growers because of last year's weather. It got too warm in late winter
and early spring. The stacked beets started rotting and it was a huge
mess as they attracted a type of fruit fly! The piling yard swarmed
with these flies. Buildings for miles around were invaded by thousands
of little flies very much like fruit flies. Restaurants lost money
trying to get rid of these flies since people didn't take kindly to the
extra protein in their food. Home kitchens were flooded with the darn
things. It was horrible!

Quoted message said:

Cindy Hamilton

~patches~ said:

The show focused on these third-world hellholes 🙁 Discusting!

I think C&H brand is made in Hawaii. Or at least it used to be...

-L.

-L. said:

I think C&H brand is made in Hawaii. Or at least it used to be...

C&H
Pure cane sugar
From Hawaii
(Growing?) in the sun

When you cook
When you bake
For goodness' sake
Get C&H pure cane sugar
That's the one

Anyone else remember that jingle?

Carol

"~patches~" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

We talk about slave labour and the workers
here are doing below that! Many of these
workers are starving even though they work
long hours daily. Children work long hours
with little to no pay. Both are subjected to
violent abuse and substandard living
conditions.

Quoted message said:

Contact information for cane sugar plantations
would be appreciated. I'll wage a one woman
campaign against this practice if I have to!

Welcome to the land of the newly-awakened. I can sympathize with your
feelings of horror -- I've only been learning about world working conditions
in any significant way for the last five years. It's hard.

The type of working conditions you describe are not limited to the sugar
industry; they're wide-spread throughout the developing world and across
many industries. After some brief discussion with my husband (who does
international trade union work), he's provided me with some links, which I
now provide to you, to help educate you and perhaps more clearly focus your
energy.

Note: I haven't had much more than a cursory look through the links; they
may or may not be helpful to you. And I hope I've assumed correctly that
CBC is Canadian Broadcasting.

http://sweatshop.clc-ctc.ca/ -- campaign site of the Canadian Labour
Congress
http://www.iuf.org/en/ -- International Union of Food, Agricultural, etc.
(IUF)
http://www.ufcw.ca/index.cgi -- United Food & Commercial Workers - Canada

And some assorted pages regarding the People's Summit of the Americas:
http://www.cumbredelospueblos.org/?lang=en -- People's Summit
http://www.commonfrontiers.ca/peoplessummit/ -- Common Frontiers
http://www.web.ca/~comfront/alts4americas/eng/eng.html -- Alternatives for
the Americas
http://www.asc-hsa.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=11 -- Hemispheric Social
Alliance

For more general world trade union info and news:
http://www.global-unions.org/ -- Global Unions
http://www.labourstart.org/ -- Labor Start

And feel free to email me, if you'd like to continue this conversation
privately.
-j

"~patches~" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

We talk about slave labour and the workers
here are doing below that! Many of these
workers are starving even though they work
long hours daily. Children work long hours
with little to no pay. Both are subjected to
violent abuse and substandard living
conditions.

Quoted message said:

Contact information for cane sugar plantations
would be appreciated. I'll wage a one woman
campaign against this practice if I have to!

Welcome to the land of the newly-awakened. I can sympathize with your
feelings of horror -- I've only been learning about world working conditions
in any significant way for the last five years. It's hard.

The type of working conditions you describe are not limited to the sugar
industry; they're wide-spread throughout the developing world and across
many industries. After some brief discussion with my husband (who does
international trade union work), he's provided me with some links, which I
now provide to you, to help educate you and perhaps more clearly focus your
energy.

Note: I haven't had much more than a cursory look through the links; they
may or may not be helpful to you. And I hope I've assumed correctly that
CBC is Canadian Broadcasting.

http://sweatshop.clc-ctc.ca/ -- campaign site of the Canadian Labour
Congress
http://www.iuf.org/en/ -- International Union of Food, Agricultural, etc.
(IUF)
http://www.ufcw.ca/index.cgi -- United Food & Commercial Workers - Canada

And some assorted pages regarding the People's Summit of the Americas:
http://www.cumbredelospueblos.org/?lang=en -- People's Summit
http://www.commonfrontiers.ca/peoplessummit/ -- Common Frontiers
http://www.web.ca/~comfront/alts4americas/eng/eng.html -- Alternatives for
the Americas
http://www.asc-hsa.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=11 -- Hemispheric Social
Alliance

For more general world trade union info and news:
http://www.global-unions.org/ -- Global Unions
http://www.labourstart.org/ -- Labor Start

And feel free to email me, if you'd like to continue this conversation
privately.
-j

One time on Usenet, ~patches~ <[email hidden]> said:

<snip re:sugar>

We usually buy C&H, which is based in California:

http://www.candhsugarcompany.com/Consumer/history.html

I'm not sure if they still only get their can in Hawaii or not.

Quoted message said:

Some of our relatives grow sugar beets. It's hard to vision something
as sweet as sugar coming from something so ugly!

This amused me because I used to call Buddy "Sugar Beet" when he was a
baby. He was sweet and small, so I thought...

--
Jani in WA (S'mee)
~ mom, VidGamer, novice cook ~

In article <[email hidden]>,

kilikini said:

Yep, Thunder, I agree with you, but I, too, come from Hawaii. The only
sugar my husband allows in this house is Sugar in the Raw from Maui. You
won't find any processed white sugar here. No "brown" sugar either because
you can't find pure brown sugar in cesspool Florida. It's all Dixie
Crystals - white sugar sprayed with a molasses coating. It's nasty, vile
stuff that is really gritty.

Hawaii treats it's sugarcane laborers well. The program you watched most
definitely was not based on conditions in the States but probably Costa Rica
or the Filippines.

kili

I love that sugar! We went to Maui and I brought home a 10 lb bag of
it. My husband rolled his eyes at me shoving that bag into my suitcase.

marcella

kilikini said:

"smithfarms pure kona" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

~patches~ said:

We just recently had discussion on whether cane sugar was better than
beet sugar. Well I just watched part 1 of Big Sugar on CBC and I

will

Quoted message said:

tell you now I will not knownly ever buy cane sugar in any form if at
all possible again!!! We talk about slave labour and the workers

here

Quoted message said:

are doing below that! Many of these workers are starving even though
they work long hours daily. Children work long hours with little to

no

Quoted message said:

pay. Both are subjected to violent abuse and substandard living
conditions. Both do so only to supply us with sugar. I know about

beet

Quoted message said:

sugar because DH hauls a few loads each year when a relative can't

get a

Quoted message said:

driver. Sugar beet workers get decent pay all the way around unlike

the

Quoted message said:

cane workers. After watching this show I was totally sickened!

As people interested in cooking and food related topics and issues I
feel we have an obligation and responsibility to say no to these

types

Quoted message said:

of practices. If anyone knows a website for protest of these
autracities against cane sugar beet workers or of any sites of

contact

Quoted message said:

could you please post them. Contact information for cane sugar
plantations would be appreciated. I'll wage a one woman campaign
against this practice if I have to!

What place are you citing???

AFAIK The demise of the Hawaiian US sugar cane industry--at least in
Hawaii-was due to the highest-paid-agricultural-workers-US issue. We
have very few sugar cane plantations still going---

Be careful.

Corn syrup is from corn. Beet is a separate issue.

I must admit I have not seen the SUGAR show but I want to. I am from
that heritage.

Yep, Thunder, I agree with you, but I, too, come from Hawaii. The only
sugar my husband allows in this house is Sugar in the Raw from Maui. You
won't find any processed white sugar here. No "brown" sugar either because
you can't find pure brown sugar in cesspool Florida. It's all Dixie
Crystals - white sugar sprayed with a molasses coating. It's nasty, vile
stuff that is really gritty.

Hawaii treats it's sugarcane laborers well. The program you watched most
definitely was not based on conditions in the States but probably Costa Rica
or the Filippines.

kili

Check out this site. I love the sugar from there and I can get it in
the boonies of North Carolina. The ingredient listed is "Evaporated
Cane Juice."

www.floridacrystals.com
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974

Damsel in dis Dress said:

-L. said:

I think C&H brand is made in Hawaii. Or at least it used to be...

C&H
Pure cane sugar
From Hawaii
(Growing?) in the sun

I think it was "baked in the sun"

Quoted message said:

When you cook
When you bake
For goodness' sake
Get C&H pure cane sugar
That's the one

Anyone else remember that jingle?

I almost typed it out last night but didn't want to date myself....😉

-L.

"The Cook" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

kilikini said:

"smithfarms pure kona" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Tue, 20 Sep 2005 22:17:32 -0400, ~patches~
<[email hidden]> wrote:

Check out this site. I love the sugar from there and I can get it in
the boonies of North Carolina. The ingredient listed is "Evaporated
Cane Juice."

www.floridacrystals.com
--
Susan N.

Huh, I haven't seen it here and I always check the baking isle to see if
there is *anything* offered other than those damn Dixie Crystals. I'll look
harder - thanks, Susan.

kili

"Marcella Peek" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

kilikini said:

Yep, Thunder, I agree with you, but I, too, come from Hawaii. The only
sugar my husband allows in this house is Sugar in the Raw from Maui.

You

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

won't find any processed white sugar here. No "brown" sugar either

because

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

you can't find pure brown sugar in cesspool Florida. It's all Dixie
Crystals - white sugar sprayed with a molasses coating. It's nasty,

vile

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

stuff that is really gritty.

Hawaii treats it's sugarcane laborers well. The program you watched

most

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

definitely was not based on conditions in the States but probably Costa

Rica

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

or the Filippines.

kili

I love that sugar! We went to Maui and I brought home a 10 lb bag of
it. My husband rolled his eyes at me shoving that bag into my suitcase.

marcella

Isn't it great? I got spoiled when I lived on Maui and it's really the only
kind I like. Going from Sugar in the Raw to processed white sugar with a
sprayed molasses coating was a real disappointment. I'm so stoked I found
the good kind here in Swampville!

kili

In article <[email hidden]>, ~patches~ <[email hidden]> wrote:
[...]

Quoted message said:

The show focused on these third-world hellholes 🙁 Discusting! I'm
still really down about it. The workers work from dawn to dusk with no
breaks and get paid $2 per day. The houses they live in are small
shacks that look like any kind of a wind could blow them over. The
families are forbidden to plant gardens to help feed themselves and they
must buy their groceries at the company store at over inflated prices.
It sickens me to see what type of abuse they are forced to live with!

While third world conditions are certainly not something I would
enjoy, I think there are two issues to consider here:

1. TV programs can be made to push a particular point of view.
I became very aware of this some years ago when, in the course of a
single month, I saw two shows presenting "life as it is" in the
tourist mecca of the Gold Coast in SE Queensland. One convinced the
viewer the Coast was a place of youth, pleasure, and vibrant
carefree life. The other convinced the viewer that it was a desolate
wasteland of drug addicts, lonely old people, and the destitute.

2. In the case of the farm workers you mention, the obvious questions
are "Why do they put up with it?" And "What are their options?"
In much of the third world I suspect it is still probably true that
any job with a cash income is better than no job. Also, where people
are all in the same boat, so to speak, they don't necessarily feel
deprived -- and, given the general economy of such places, in many
ways they aren't as badly off as it may appear. For example, when I
was in India 20 years ago 10 rupees/day wasn't considered a bad wage
(potential grooms advertising in "The Times of India" were happy to
cite wages of "300/month"😉. That 10 rupees was about USD1.00/day...
but you could buy a good breakfast for the equivalent of 5 cents US.
[Of course the way India is developing now, it won't be long before
they will be the ones staying in the 5-star pubs where you and I can't
afford to buy even a cup of coffee.]

Cheers, Phred.

--
[email hidden]

In article <[email hidden]>, ~patches~ <[email hidden]> wrote:
[...]

Quoted message said:

The show focused on these third-world hellholes 🙁 Discusting! I'm
still really down about it. The workers work from dawn to dusk with no
breaks and get paid $2 per day. The houses they live in are small
shacks that look like any kind of a wind could blow them over. The
families are forbidden to plant gardens to help feed themselves and they
must buy their groceries at the company store at over inflated prices.
It sickens me to see what type of abuse they are forced to live with!

While third world conditions are certainly not something I would
enjoy, I think there are two issues to consider here:

1. TV programs can be made to push a particular point of view.
I became very aware of this some years ago when, in the course of a
single month, I saw two shows presenting "life as it is" in the
tourist mecca of the Gold Coast in SE Queensland. One convinced the
viewer the Coast was a place of youth, pleasure, and vibrant
carefree life. The other convinced the viewer that it was a desolate
wasteland of drug addicts, lonely old people, and the destitute.

2. In the case of the farm workers you mention, the obvious questions
are "Why do they put up with it?" And "What are their options?"
In much of the third world I suspect it is still probably true that
any job with a cash income is better than no job. Also, where people
are all in the same boat, so to speak, they don't necessarily feel
deprived -- and, given the general economy of such places, in many
ways they aren't as badly off as it may appear. For example, when I
was in India 20 years ago 10 rupees/day wasn't considered a bad wage
(potential grooms advertising in "The Times of India" were happy to
cite wages of "300/month"😉. That 10 rupees was about USD1.00/day...
but you could buy a good breakfast for the equivalent of 5 cents US.
[Of course the way India is developing now, it won't be long before
they will be the ones staying in the 5-star pubs where you and I can't
afford to buy even a cup of coffee.]

Cheers, Phred.

--
[email hidden]