#crop pickers

[acti-veg]

People should also be boycotting the harvesting of fruits and vegetables because of how frequently child slave labor is what gets it for us, let alone adult slaves. Honestly, the world just needs less humans

No, the world doesn’t need less humans. The world needs better labour laws, the fair distribution of wealth and better rights for all workers. These problems have absolutely nothing to do with the number of humans currently alive, and the idea that it does just feeds into a narrative that leads to misanthropy, apathy and inaction, or worse - eco-fascism.

I realise that is not the main point of what you were trying to say but I am getting very tired of solvable problems being labelled as just some sort of inherent part of having a large human population, because it makes it sound it is just out of our hands. ‘We need fewer humans,’ is not an answer; ‘we need more humans living more ethical lives’ is.

Almost nobody in consumer societies can “boycott the harvesting of fruits and vegetables”, but we can buy fair trade where possible, we can support fair labour organisations, buy from more ethical companies, get behind campaigns to boycott the worst offenders and support systematic change in the food and agriculture industries. “Less humans” is not going to achieve any of that.

[alone-in-a-cafe]

It really doesn't make sense why non vegans use the "crop pickers tho" argument because:

1. Are you saying you've never eaten a vegetable?

2. More produce is harvested to feed animals that are killed for your food, so if you care so much about crop pickers you would go vegan first

3. The same people talking about crop pickers will not acknowledge the conditions slaughterhouse workers go through. And even if they do, they'll suggest better working conditions, but never apply the same argument for crop pickers?? It's almost like it isn't even about human rights for them

4. Again, how are vegans to blame for the condition of crop pickers?? Do you not eat produce?? Or is there some Special Vegan Food™ that is solely responsible for all the oppression?

Please, please tell me what is this food that only vegans eat. Please tell me.

[acti-veg]

If you comment ‘what about crop pickers tho’ on vegan posts but there is no evidence on your blog of you ever bringing this up in any other context, or meaningfully advocating for those workers in any way beyond using them as pawns, then you cannot expect us to take your ‘concern’ seriously.

[acti-veg]

China’s ‘tainted’ cotton

China’s ‘tainted’ cotton

China is forcing hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other minorities into hard, manual labour in the vast cotton fields of its western region of Xinjiang, according to new research seen by the BBC.

Based on newly discovered online documents, it provides the first clear picture of the potential scale of forced labour in the picking of a crop that accounts for a fifth of the world’s cotton supply and is used widely throughout the global fashion industry.

[acti-veg]

Yeah acti-veg be honest, at this point do you think it's a good idea for vegans to avoid chocolate fullstop?

No absolutely not, there are tonnes of independent and fairtrade brands who put money into local growing communities, work with co-operatives and guarantee a fair wage. The Food Empowerment Project has an extensive list of recommended brands here, and many of them have vegan options,

[acti-veg]

I love how people constantly say that boycotting animal products does nothing and accuse vegans of not giving a shit about workers, poor people, or people of colour, but when a group of meatpacking workers who are all three ask people to boycott meat so they don't die, silence. Like it's almost like they eat meat not because they've done their research and come to the conclusion that it's the most ethical, sustainable diet but because they're terrified of change.

You’re absolutely right. I’ve said this so many times before, but nobody weighs up the harm caused against the benefits and decides that eating animals is the most ethical thing to do. They eat animals then look for a justificaiton to continue that behaviour later, and they find it in nonsense like ‘crop pickers tho’ or ‘veganism is for rich people tho.’ The tragedy of it is, that the disabled vegans, poor vegans and the vegans of colour who they so consistently throw under the bus to justify their own consumption, are completely ignored and erased whenever they speak up about it. Vegan activists are the only group I see even talking about this. It is pure confirmation bias - they don’t notice or remember anything that doesn’t fit with the narrative they want to push.

[acti-veg]

my friend says avocados aren’t vegan because they exploit bees? what do i say to that?? hes like if u dont eat honey u shldnt eat avocado but i love avocado

Bees are used to pollinate many, many crops. If avacados aren’t vegan then neither are most of the crops we eat - and we have to eat something. The difference is that this exploitation is not at all necessary to produce avacados or any other crop, whereas you cannot obtain honey without animal exploitation. It is hardly the fault of vegans that our entire food system is built on animal exploitation, all we can do is our best to avoid supporting it as far as is possible and practicable, but it isn’t possible for most of us to avoid all crops that make use of bees as pollinators. This is just a lazy tu quoque fallacy.

[investmart007]

ROME | Farmworkers protest treatment in Italy after migrant deaths

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/2a0bwm

ROME | Farmworkers protest treatment in Italy after migrant deaths

ROME  — Hundreds of crop pickers and labor union activists have marched from a shanty town in southern Italy to protest what they say is the exploitation of migrant farmworkers.

The march from the shanty town of San Severo to the city of Foggia was organized after 16 farmworkers died in separate road accidents. The protesters held signs reading “Never Slaves” and waved union flags.

Participating workers said there is no running water or electricity in the shanty town. Activists say crop pickers must pay to be taken in overcrowded vans to fields and orchards.

The farmworkers who were killed on Saturday and Monday were riding in vans that collided with trucks. Prosecutors are investigating if the vans safe.

Most of the crop pickers who work in Italy’s verdant Puglia region are foreigners.

By  Associated Press