Bad Bananas

Here’s an interesting link about Dole, banana plantations and general human suffering.

I had no idea that the original classic work of fiction ‘100 Years of Solitude’ by Gabrielle Garcia Marquez was all about this company’s efforts to manipulate various South African locales.  It looks like I’ve got one more reason to actually try to work through this piece.

The connections with the article linked above eventually lead us to the compelling documentary BANANAS!, an expose of Dole and its manipulative practices around the globe.

I’ve written in the past about various fruit companies and their impact on South America in particular.  The attempted domination of these countries to satisfy demand for ‘potassium power’ for baby boomers as they were just little kidlets is a fascinating and yet disturbing part of our history and demographics that I think very few people take the time to try to understand or comprehend.

Watch the documentary and judge for yourself. Or enjoy a little light reading that I’ve generated in the past 🙂

Oh yeah … whatever you do, please try to buy fair trade bananas.  I know it may not make much of a difference, but hopefully it sends a message.  Unless, of course, these bananas still come from Dole and we’re just being coaxed into paying a shitload more for something as basic as bananas under the pretense of avoiding wrong.

It’s f’ed up, isn’t it?