Did anyone else see this documentary about the exploitation of workers in Kenya and how the flower trade is creating a huge mess in the environment.
It was very sad and I'm a bit angry about it.
It caught my eye cos only a couple of weeks ago a girlfriend commented out how cheap roses are here in NL...I think about €7 for 30 stuks.
The film is pretty much all in English.Prepare to be shocked and if you really care about these issues,I'm sure you'll buy chocolates instead of cheap roses whenever you need to make an apology to your partner.

One interesting,disturbing fact was:
It takes a litre and a half of water to grow a rose,and they export MILLIONS(mostly to AALSMEER BLOEMENVEILING!) whereas most of the workers actually drink,wash and cook in water that has already been contaminated with chemicals from their places of work.
Its only an hour long and really moving stuff....I urge everyone to watch it....
What can we do to stop this shit ?

Datum uitzending: 11-6-2009

Documentaire. Bloemen houden van mensen. Althans, dat wil de bloemenindustrie ons graag doen geloven. Maar of bloemen echt van alle mensen houden is de vraag. Duurzaamheid en ' groene bloemen ' staan hoog in het vaandel van de bloemenindustrie. Maar het grootste deel van de in Nederland geveilde rozen wordt geproduceerd in ontwikkelingslanden waar de loonkosten laag zijn en de milieuvoorwaarden soepel. Op indringende wijze toont Een bloeiende handel de wereld van Jane, Kennedy en Oscar, die allen op een bepaalde manier afhankelijk zijn van de grote bloemkwekerijen in Naivasha, Kenia. Een poëtische, filmische en schrijnende documentaire waarbij diep in het leven van onze hoofdpersonen is doorgedrongen. Want is de geur van de geïmporteerde roos wel zo zoet? Uitgezonden in het kader van Holland Doc thema: Surprising Africa; twee documentaires over hedendaags Afrika vanuit Afrikaans economisch perspectief.
Uitzending bekijken Versturen als tip

No, but I watched one on BBC last night about the exploitation of workers in the far east, who produce our chicken breasts for us. They took a group of (Uni age) people to work along side them, and they couldn't take more than 5 minutes. As one girl said, "People turn vegetarian and complain about the ethical treatment of the animals, who campaigns for the ethical treatment of the humans who have to do this every day and still can't afford to feed their families?"

They also went to a red light district there, and spoke to the sex industry workers; working away from their families and children, because their rice farms just aren't profitable enough to feed them anymore. One of the English girls almost ripped the head off some American tourist guy who had the nerve to say that this work was empowering for the women, they were in control of their lives, etc. The next day, the English group took one of these 'empowered' women back home to visit her family and the son she hasnt seen since he was 7 months old - he didn't recognise her Very emotional television.

Buy Fair Trade, people! - it might be a little extra, but it helps to keep families together in some parts of the world.

Sorry - the link appear or didn't work - here it is...
http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=9617382

Thanks osita.
It really breaks my heart sometimes.
And here we are with the luxury of worrying about economic crisis or a right-wing pleb with a questionable hairdo....oh and some footballer has just been sold for a record amount.
It makes it all seem like a real fukkin disgrace doesn't it?

Aalsmeer is on the way out anyway, the Chinese have pushed many of it's fine youngsters through Wageningen university and is building a massive infrastructure to grow and trade flowers.

The documentary is about trading of Roses but it is good for all of us to realize, in particular those who are always looking for "aanbiedingen", "reclames", "koopjes" and other special offers, that ALL ( I mean A L L ) branches of all trades are nowadays submerged by goods obtained through scandalous exploitation of human beings, children included.
Of course, it is difficult NOT to buy at Zeeman, Wibra, Hans etc, when you know that C&A, H&M or Etam are not much better except in hiding the origin of their products. It becomes even more arduous when the big names like Armani or Benetton appear to use - willingly or not - appaling working conditions in third world countries.