Going Bananas
Karen at Peripetia considers changing her Brand Loyalty based on the news that Chiquita has just agreed to a $25 million fine for hiring terrorists, right-wing AUC and left-wing FARC thugs, in Colombia to protect their crops and deal with labor problems.
Actually this is a step up, as in the old days, the part of Chiquita that was called the United Fruit Company sponsored coup d’états and revolutions to benefit its plantations in Central and South America.
Yes, in the “good old days” you couldn’t be a real Latin American fascist dictator unless you were on the UFC payroll. Why do you think they were called “banana republics?”
4 comments
I’ve read that bananas as we know them will be gone in under a decade anyway. When that happens I’ll just stick my head in an oven… actually, I’ll find another variety, but gosh, I do like bananas. This is the second time this has happened; the current popular variety is a replacement for one that went extinct. Monoculture has its pitfalls… and like that other yellow species, the canary, the banana could be a warning sign of things to come. Politics and insurgencies aside, prepare to adjust your diet.
Well – It’s actually HARD to find bananas that aren’t Chiquita’s! But as for them disappearing in 10 years…I’ve heard that. Is it genetics? and is it all bananas including plantains?
The basic banana problem is that they have developed a truly seedless variety. No seeds = no propagation. When something happens they can’t simply replant from seed.
They have to go back to the basic, seeded variety and start rebuilding the eating variety, which takes years.
Dole is the other main supplier, but they all come from corporate plantations.
Dole bananas? I thought Dole supplied mostly sour grapes…
After they discovered they could grow pineapples in Hawaii, they did, by helping to overthrow the local government. I don’t know what it is about growing tropical fruit that brings out the worst in people, but it seems to be a common attribute.