Interestingly, It has been a while since I said anything about the movies and ironically with all my thoughts in recent years about the unnecessary lavishness of the Oscars I did buy a monthly season ticket for my local theatre. Could it be that the older I get the more I want to view and appreciate the effort involved in any movie project?  Or, is it that since the success of the film Slumdog millionaire I feel a sense that art can change the world? Not sure yet as I know that the £200M that has already been recorded at the box office for the latter mentioned film will certainly raise some capital for trust funds for the actors et al. However, what about the situation today and all those who continue to struggle for survival?

The raising of awareness has to be one thing that has come out of the ‘09 Oscars, i.e: honouring the film with an avalanche of awards. I hope that this momentum will continue to raise an air of conciousness.

Over the last month it has been difficult to find time to update my blog. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, being away for a few days in the early part of Feb ‘09 – in the Subcontinent (India), getting sick on the last couple of days there and then returning back to London to the cold!

During the trip I remember a child who approached me at on an auto-rickshaw, the one time that I took one from Noida to Central Delhi. We were stuck at a traffic light and the child held out his hand and repeating over and over again a request for money. Above me was one of the many fly-overs being constructed for the Commonwealth games to be held I believe next year. We had also just passed a number of recent construction sites for new offices all showing sign boards of many recognisable western organisation’s – probably keen to pursue their cost containment strategies.

I wondered why this world is full of double standards. In one part of the world we have barefeet rag clothed children, the women who work on   Highway construction sites under the sweltering sun – carrying rocks on their heads on trays and make shift tents for thousands of families. In Hollywood we see the press hoovering around the bold and the beautiful people (actors) trying to pretend to be real people.

In 2009 some of the real people (Actors selected from the 19 million who live in the slums in Mumbai) turned up to the ceremony, will the world wake-up and ask for change or simply wait for the next premiere as life passes us by…?

Check out the double standards on the following vid. As the interviews are taking place with the kids of the Slumdog Millionare movie, a not so subtle shot of SJP ‘kicks in’ showing the array of frocks and celebs. What about the question at the end, would you rather be at home playing video games!! I believe that question was for one of the 2 little ones who live in the slums,  enough said!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The following video shows how social media, especially through Twitter seems to have lead the campaign to ensure its removal.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The company concerned have now provided a public apology via their website and have suggested that it will take time for associated printed adverts to be recalled from newstands.

As I said in my previous post we have the power to create a lobby for change. If enough of us unite and rally for the eradication of poverty we can win.

Let us take a look at one example. Certain High Street retailers are relying on local agents in developing countries to manage the production of clothes. The profit is realised when you see the knock down sales price during the up and coming sales. In the developed world our expectations on price are conditioned. We need to demand accountability from CEO’s who should be rewarded on ethical production.

Just see the following (featuring a garment trader middleman & under age workers) ..

Click here to view the embedded video.

In a world where we have so much power at our finger tips, it is now time to use it for social change.

People rush to get a bargain I wish the same energy was in our hearts to make poverty history!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why is it that humans can be so cruel to each other, conducing genocide after genocide? Africa, Germany, India – the list goes on. Cruelty morphs itself into many different guises. Today it is not the colonial elements that influence but greedy corporations naively supporting an environment of slavery. For example, cocoa workers and clothing manufacturers. Workers are trapped by the trust that local agents misguide and abuse.

On Monday 22nd October 2007, too late for what I consider peak viewing, the BBC1 aired the documentary, ‘Roots Remembered’. This could be described as typical ethnic viewing hours or was it just a scheduling issue?

The programme covered the typical format of comments from journalists, actors and a change from the normal format, people I’d actually heard of. Interjections of selective parts of Alex Haley’s Roots television series brought home a reminder of the brutality of what happened.

It was interesting to note that before Roots, history lessons skimmed over what actually happened. Alex reawakened this undocumented and probably intentionally lost history. Was it shame that stopped historians logging what happened or political? The rich history of Africa had been blocked from public view. Many may argue that it still is. How did the Dutch and Nigerian connection take place?

This blocking from the public eye continues today. We are trapped in our day-to-day survival tactics but our luxuries have no reference or standing compared to a child in poverty. Our view of the world is controlled heavily by what is considered newsworthy.

Today the world suffers and it is like listening to someone but not acknowledging what has been said. We see the situation but grant ourselves powerless to speak against it. We know that justice can prevail but leave it to others to fight for their rights.

British history and other histories are hidden from public view. For example, how was General Dyer shot at Caxton Hall? How was Dileep Singh torn away from his kingdom or how were the early immigrants to the UK treated in the 1950s?

Roots remembered was a late night documentary yet the true essence of what the series brought us was a chance to reconsider how those scars occurred in the first place.

There is an opportunity for us to shout louder for more knowledge about what happened in the past in an accessible way, not skimmed but with openness to ensure that we do not make the same mistakes again. Write to the BBC, we pay for it!

Sadly we do not learn from our past, maybe because we are intentionally made ignorant of it or are we just too busy to try to learn about it ourselves.

The legacy of those fateful days continues to haunt many. The tales of displacement slaughter and resettlement transformed the lives of millions. The negativity created has caused ripples and political ramifications that generations will never forget.

It may be relatively easy for us to question why it happened. Many of us were not there at the time. Did the climate and those in power at the time ever anticipate the extent and reach of their decisions? Were these individuals so cold or just too innocent? Was there an ultimatum laid down by the British that has never been documented? Or, were the British so cunning that their ‘divide and rule’ policy had an air of vindictiveness so vile that they had a fit of jealously, running on the lines of, ‘If we can’t have India then no one can’!? Having enjoyed the riches of India for over 200 years they may have adopted this attitude.

When I hear my father recall the events of him reaching Amirtsar railway station in a humanitarian effort to save those who came in on the trains from the newly emerging country of Pakistan, the view of communal violence is unbelievable. These two nations were formed through the blood of the innocent.

60 years on although much is said about India’s emergence as a world economic power, there are still so many challenges. The survival of the fitness still rules as 80 percent of the population are still living in an extreme poor way.

Only this Sunday I read about exploitation of workers from India recruited by agents and then forced to work in inhumane conditions in Mauritius for tiny wages and 72 hours a week. This was not what freedom was supposed to be about. Although colonialism has gone it has been replaced by multi-national greed and local disrespect.

India may be surfacing as an outsource power house with graduates and science parks to match – fast becoming the back-office centre for the world, yet its communist neighbour China, still appears to a preferred powerhouse for manufacturing and investment by the West.

Both will probably continue to ‘pitch it out’. However, will the division of the rich verses the poor in both countries continue to be stretched apart?

60 years on India at least is growing but is it growing in a fair and honest way that will bring all of its people up to a sense of harmonised international standards?

In my last article I wrote about how the confectionery industry was falling short or very short of helping to stop children from falling into slavery.

Unfortunately, with major stores like ASDA, Tesco and Primark also imposing low production cost, one result is Bangladeshi workers working in extreme inhumane conditions, long hours and both phyiscal and mental abuse.

In the UK, if a worker is sick or has a sick relative the employer can show humanity by giving time off. However, with the contracts in place with Bangladeshi suppliers, they (the factory owners) can impose whatever torment they want!

An investigation by The Guardian newspaper reveals the extent to UK retailers hung up on profits.

I am concerned when the view of some of the UK retailer board members suggests that they will do more harm by not trading!? Although they may conduct audits to find out how much is the system changing, I suspect it is not fast enough.

I visited, http://www.ethicaltrade.org/ and noticed that the site was first started in 1998. That is almost 10 years.

It is also worth visiting: http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2114582,00.html , dated 28th June 2007. This report outlines how fruit picker: Gertruida Baartman (described as ‘at the bottom of Tesco’s food-chain supply’) has barely enough to eat. How she lost her job and had to fight to get it back as she campaigned for better conditions at her farm. This was after she returned from a meeting at Tesco. Read on to find out the discrepancy between big bonus awards and how the ETI is both voluntary and although it has strived to make a change, a study by Sussex University reveals that it needs to strive for more change.

The problem has to be inherently with us.
Consumers in the West want cheap clothes, ironically some designer wear is also low cost production based.

The fundamentals of change are based on changing commercial processes, for example:

* Improving audits
* More investment across more farms, e.g: fruit
* Allowing Trade unions to exist in clothing factories
* Greater ethical procedures in the way in which retailers deal with suppliers
* Consideration given to a living wage
* Communication with the consumer.

Would we pay more if we knew that the conditions at the source were getting better? I’m sure we would – no one has tried that one balanced with reduced director bonuses!

Although another article issued on July 5th 2007, headlines -  ‘Our members have improved 3.3 million workers lives’ – no doubt this is from the Ethical Trade Initiative perspective. See: http://business.guardian.co.uk/greenbusiness/story/0,,2118893,00.html . It is clear that more needs to be done. The article suggests: Workers are best served by three things: trade unions that are free; employers that obey national labour laws; and governments that enforce it. Workers need much more of all three.

The key words that needs to be added and emphasized is ‘sustained commitment from all’ – agencies, retailers, employers and consumers.

These inspiring pieces got me thinking about whether there really is a thing called, ‘people power’? In the case of Pay it forward – If we all could help each other through a ripple effect, maybe it would make the world a better place? …are we personally empowered to drive change in society?

Last night I was watching BBC Newsnight, see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6517695.stm. It featured a follow-up from an article by Humphrey Hawksley back in April 2007. He had traveled deep into the plantations of West Africa. It was a revelation in many ways.

1. West Africa produces 50% of the world’s Cocoa
2. An agreement called the Cocoa agreement is falling short of its targets.
3. There appears to be no project momentum.
4. Children have become slaves
5. The image of a child’s open wound with flies feeding inside it is haunting and disturbing.
6. Whilst people enjoy their chocolate, manufacturers appear to be enjoying rich profits.

The Newsnight feature last night promoted school children from I believe Becton in London to both write and perform a play.

In addition, Newsnight assembled in a studio, a selection of these children to ask a representative of the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Association, known as BCCCA a series of questions.

The BCCA representative tried her best to show empathy and suggested that the situation is complex. A couple of the children asked why more could not be done, why was change so slow and why targets for change are being missed? I looked at the innocent faces of the children desperately trying to understand the heart of the matter from the rep. Their faces were expression-less but I knew that in their mind that all they could see was the word, WHY in big bold letters.

Why indeed?
Is it the manufacturers who could do more?
Is the situation complex because of politics or lack of people / project teams being positioned?
Why is there a reluctance to speed things up?

I return to my original question: ‘Do we as consumers really have enough power to drive home a change’?

I considered what if I could design a ‘Pay it forward’ strategy? We could all avoid chocolate for a week! Or, we could convince supermarkets to start a boycott. Some might say this will ‘hurt’ the people that we are trying to help. Others may suggest that the might of the manufacturers is too great to take on and that they are immune and protected in a lap of luxury wrapping.

Can people power work?
It has to be through a sustained momentum.
The programme quoted Nelson Mandela, saying that if all the children in the world got together, then maybe we could change the world.

So here is a challenge, use the reply form at my blog site or the following petition link: http://www.petitiononline.com/justcoco/petition.html -  to see if we can get 1M+ people to convince  the chocolate manufacturers to allocate a percentage of their earnings and set-up a special project team to resolve this issue – then we can prove that we can change the world together.

With malnutrition levels already rising in some areas, aid agencies are appealing for vital help to respond to the rapidly growing crisis.

Aid agencies also need to bolster life-saving food and medicine stocks before the downpours hit any time within the next 4 weeks.

In the same week we see that the USA congress is seeking to commit $100 Billion Dollars to Iraq.

Both are troubled areas and both have been the result of people against people.

Earlier in the week the situation with the Congo was also aired.  Since 1996 over 4Million people have died in the conflict.

I recently heard of a course called, Peace and conflict studies. I also learnt that there are also different types of peace: Negative peace refers to the absence of direct violence, for example 1984 by George Orwell.

Peace Studies tend to cover
* peacekeeping
* peace building (e.g. tackling disparities in the distribution of world wealth) and
* peacemaking (e.g. education).

I wonder how much of these skills are used in diplomacy at large organizations such as the United Nations. I’m sure that these organizations try their best to broker settlements but often intra-country dictators become obsessed with power and turn against the same people that put them into the positions that they hold.

There must be clearly areas where we can innovate to generate peace. For example:

* Ensuring that all G8 conferences do not take place in luxury resorts.
* Establishing a leadership competency programme at the UN
* Freeing-up dictator off-shore funds to review where aid or a country’s assets turn up
* Discouraging the arms market from ‘pitching’ to nations at war
* Curtailing the development of weapons
* Start from the beginning – Teach Peace Studies at School & then keep it going!

With regard to the latter, where are these bombs and guns being manufactured?

Becoming peace orientated means that those that live in peace have a responsibility that this peace is communicated.

Maybe the root  of the problem is that there is too much in-balance in the world in terms of shared riches. Ironically, in some countries where there is access to great resources, there is the mess of war – take for example, Angolia.

Therefore, another area for us to get our governments to focus on, is the basic struggle for survival by some countries. Teaching people about peace is one thing but putting in place programmes that sustain nutrition or self sufficiency is another. Too much money is being wasted in fighting and not enough on, ‘giving peace a chance’

Interestingly, on June 12, 2007, a John Lennon covers album, Instant Karma (includes his famous, ‘Give peace a chance’ single): The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, will be released, with proceeds going to Amnesty International. The aim of the CD is to raise awareness of the Darfur situation.

During the period of slavery traders became rich. In parallel many slaves were raped and abused. Imagine living on a farm but before you are put to a lifetime of work you are branded on the chest. How could a man not see the other as equal? The slave owners had no respect or love in their hearts for their fellow humans.

I wonder how an attitude of abuse could prevail throughout society at the time.
Is it a case that there was no compassion, respect or understanding?

The same question has to be put when someone commits an act of communal violence, ethnic cleansing and racial abuse.
All of the latter are a matter of scale but are based on the same premise – surpression based on power and the morals of the day.

When the Nazis killed / exterminated of 6,000,000 Jews their hearts and minds were not filled with remorse as they had been brainwashed.
The question to ask is: Could this attitude of abuse, torture and hate raise its ugly head again?
Unfortunately, the risk is yes, as humans can be manipulated. History shows us this but why do we do not learn?!

When 1,000,000 people marched through London approx 4 years ago to take a stand against invading Iraq, what difference did it make?
I’m certainly not implying that we should give-up the need to strive for peace and respect.

A sad fact is that over the last 200 years slavery has survived. In addition, Human rights abuse continue.
Take a stroll over to: http://www.amnesty.org/ and see the proof for yourself – We need to remember that the world is still in turmoil.

Visit also: http://www.antislavery.org

One of their campaigns includes the situation in Sudan, i.e: During the 20 years of the Sudanese civil war between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/ Army, which ended in January 2005, conflict, raids and abductions in the Southern part of the country were carried out by various militia groups, leading to the enslavement of approximately 14,000 men, women and children. Despite some efforts by government and civil society, the majority of those abducted remain in slavery today, along with thousands more children born to them while in captivity.

This siite also outlines today’s environment of slavery to the ‘things we buy’: Please see: http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/campaign/whatwebuy.htm

We need to work together to ensure freedom for all. It is up to us to support those that want the right morals for the world, else we will regret the power we all have to help others. After all why are we here in the world, if not to ensure that we all are free.