It’s amazing to see all the actions people have been doing. We’ve had people writing into newspapers, manufacturers, getting fair trade stock in school…all inspiring things. Now that the famine is over, we get the chance to turn things up a notch!

A bit over a week ago, I attended a public lecture given by Kevin Bales with some other VGeners. Kevin is one of the leading experts in the world today on the issue of slavery. He is the president of Free The Slaves, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Roehampton University in London and Visiting Professor at the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation...so he’s kind of a big deal! It was a great opportunity to hear from one of the experts on slavery in the world today.

There were a few things that really stayed with me after hearing from Kevin, and I now feel like I can definitely play a part in ending slavery with our generation.

There are over 27 million people in slavery today – and that’s a conservative estimate. That’s more than what existed over the entire transatlantic slave trade. The figures are staggering and profits of this industry are the 3^rd highest grossing in the world!

But it’s not all gloom and doom. While the number of people in slavery is shocking, the number is actually the lowest proportion in the world than ever before. This means this is our golden opportunity in time to end slavery, and give everyone the basic human rights of life.

But the challenges we’re faced with ending slavery today are totally different to the challenges of history.  

If you ask someone today what they think about slavery and you’re likely to get a list of adjectives from people describing the evils of slavery. But if you ask someone about the cases of slavery today you’re likely to get confused looks, “didn’t slavery end centuries ago?” Unlike in history, people today are often unaware of the prevalence of human slavery. This was totally the opposite in history. People knew about it, yet many considered this practice to be fine and totally acceptable! It took individuals to stand up and say that slavery was NOT acceptable and to start a movement to abolish slavery and to make the world aware of the injustices it was causing.

But today we’re not exposed to that challenge. People know that slavery is intolerable, but do they know it exists? I know personally 6 months ago, I wouldn’t have given a second though to the chocolate I buy…but now due to Don’t Trade Lives (DTL) and various other anti-slavery campaigns I am aware of these issues and the fact that because I want cheap goods, children in other places in the world are being exploited…denied the chance of going to school, denied the chance of living. I know I don’t want to feel guilty about the goods that I buy, so I know I try to but ethically where ever possible, or each time I don’t, write to the manufacturers know that I am disappointed with their manufacturing processes.

So it’s up to us to let others know. The consumer is king! If enough of us say we want fair trade chocolate or whatever the product is and tell the manufacturers to clean up their supply change, things will change drastically…I’m a big fan of this first phase of the DTL campaign. Big Chocolate, Just Say “Yes!” It’s so accessible…most people eat it, so it’s an easy opportunity to start up a discussion about the use of child exploitation to get the coco that goes into chocolate. So this is what I’ve been doing…I am pleased to say where I work (Angus & Robertson – yes a book store selling chocolate) stocks fair trade – Green and Blacks Maya Gold. When someone buys brands that aren’t ethical I recommend they try Green & Blacks. I always start on the sly by telling them it tastes better! But within a few moments we get into the meat of the matter and I get to tell them all about Fair trade. I’m always surprised and how willing people are to listen when I talk to them about it. You should try it! Let people know about what they’re buying. I’ve also got the Don’t Trade Lives logo as my Facebook picture (yes, everyone is denied the viewing of my beautiful self, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make!) It’s all about raising awareness and as informed consumers it’s our job to do it!

Some chocolate stats to ponder over…

It is estimated that to clean up the supply chains the Australian chocolate manufacturers would need to invest $12 million a year or about 1% of revenue. That’s a chocolate bar going from $3 to $3.10…

But the chocolate industry world wide is worth $71 billion, which is double the economy of Ivory Coast and Ghana, where 70% of the coco comes from. That $12 million is less than 0.02% of the $71 billion world wide. They could very easily pay out of profits, yet have indicated no sign of doing so…so our challenge is to make some noise, use your voice for the voiceless!

Sign the chocolate petition...I have and it takes less than 30 seconds! Do it each time you don’t buy ethical. Let the manufacturers know you’re not happy about their current practices. Let them know you don’t want to feel guilty about children being exploited and harmed for your chocolate bar…the only guilt you should fill is the calories going to you thighs.

Just some food for thought….