Wow. So for this particular exploit, we started in Hawaii where we had Sanford DOLE...
From Reed&Wright: Chronology of United States Military Combat Incidents
9/1870 Hawaii
to reach local US consulate to insure lowering of flag to half-mast after refusal of local consul to do so
2/1874 Hawaii
posting to protect US interests during coronation of king
7/1889 Hawaii
posting during revolution
1/-4/1891 Hawaii
to support "provisional government" under control of Sanford Dole (yes, of Dole Pineapple) fronting for a coalition of American and British agricultural interests angry at the "uncooperative" attitude of the Hawaiin monarchy - an action later repudiated by US gov.
http://home.earthlink.net/~dataomnivore/RnWchronomil.htm
then we dumped Hawaii and & Dole went to the Phillipines?
And not just Dole but apparently also Chiquita Bananas that got Clinton into some horrible trade wars with Europe. This is just so disgusting. And we never think of it... We never think of the gnarles hands that are harvesting these fruits for us.
February 1982
Clearing farmers from the land
With the helping hand of President Ferdinand Marcos, foreign food corporations have invested heavily in the Philippines. But for the average peasant farmer life is little better and often worse than a decade ago. Walden Bello reports on growing landlessness and hunger in the Philippines. (snip)
When President Ferdinand Marcos introduced martial law in September 1972 one of the first things he did was to declare exempt from land reform the three million hectares planted with commercial crops. Foreign agribusiness companies were also reassured when Marcos drove underground the militant nationalist movement that had called for nationalisation of Company-owned plantations on the island of Mindanao.
(snip)
MegaplantationsStill, the agribusiness giants were not quite satisfied. They made sure to tie key government officials directly to their prosperity. Defence Minister Juan Ponce Enrile sat on the board of the DoleFil (Castle and Cooke’s pineapple subsidiary) while United Brands, (marketeer of ‘Chiquita’ brand bananas) contracted TADECO, a 5,500 hectare megaplantation in which Marcos himself has substantial interest, to grow all its Philippines bananas.
When Castle and Cooke took over the Dole Pineapple Corporation in 1961, one of its first moves was to acquire plantations in the Philippines. The reason was simple: its competitor Del Monte, a Philippines resident since 1926, was profiting handsomely from the huge difference between wages of plantation workers in Hawaii and workers in Mindanao. Plantation hands in Hawaii were making over $2.60 an hour, Del Monte field workers in Mindanao 15 cents an hour for the same job. Hawaiian cannery workers were earning $2.69 an hour, Del Monte’s workers in the Philippines were getting 20 cents an hour.
And there was an important bonus. There was no equivalent in the Philippines of the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s Union, the tough labour organisation that has done much to improve the living standards of Dole’s Hawaiian workers. The companies were given a further boost after martial law banned strikes in ‘vital industries’, a category that included Del Monte, Castle and Cooke and other export producers on the grounds they were ‘vital foreign exchange earners.'
In the late 1960s, most of the direct agribusiness investment in the Philippines was in pineapples. But in the early 1970s Del Monte, Castle and Cooke and United Brands suddenly turned their sights on bananas. The move was triggered by a rising demand in Japan coupled with the discovery that the loamy, alluvial, and well-drained soil in southeastern Mindanao was perfect for growing bananas. And in particular, the Cavendish variety — a huge, tough fruit that is blander than local varieties but perfect for long-distance travel.
(snip / very informative)
http://www.newint.org/issue108/clearing.htmFear of FertilizerThe expansion of high-technology agriculture in the Philippines has had two important spin-offs; increased prosperity for fertilizer ad pesticide corporations and a growing threat to the health of rural workers and the environment.
(snip)
Imports of fertilizers grew from a few million dollars in the late 1960s to $87 million by 1980. With urea, the main nitrogen fertilizer, now costing almost $200 a ton, fertilizer imports are expected to reach $200 million by 1985. Imports of fertilizers grew from a few million dollars in the late 1960s to $87 million by 1980. With urea, the main nitrogen fertilizer, now costing almost $200 a ton, fertilizer imports are expected to reach $200 million by 1985.
This has meant huge profits for the fertilizer industry, which is dominated by six large companies. The largest of these is Planters Products Inc (PPI) controlled by Marcos through his Agriculture Secretary Arturo Tanco, who sits on its board.
The pesticide industry has also bloomed remarkably. Together with the Marcos-controlled PPI (which is also active in the pesticide business) Shell and Bayer control 60 per cent of the market. The rest is shared by Hoechst, Union Carbide. Warner Barnes, Monsanto, Dupont, Cynamid, and Velsicol. Like the fertilizer monopoly, the pesticide cartel has close links to the government.
(snip)
More worrisome is indiscriminate pesticide use, Bayer and Pfizer, two of the biggest international distributors, both import the controversial malathion and the extremely hazardous ethyl parathion — a chemical that is 60 times more toxic than DDT.
http://www.newint.org/issue108/clearing.htm& Of course. True to form: In a thread titled
Jihad! Across the World....A second group to watch in the Philippines -
Jan. 26, 2002, 11:28AM
Philippine police foil plot to kidnap American
A second group to watch in the Philippines -
Jan. 26, 2002, 11:28AM
Philippine police foil plot to kidnap American
By ADAM BROWN
Associated Press
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines -- A notorious kidnapping gang raided a Dole Food Co. Inc. plantation today in an apparent attempt to seize an American executive, but the gang was ambushed by police acting on a tip.
(snip)
Police blamed the Dole plantation raid on the Pentagon Gang, which specializes in kidnapping foreigners and
is on a U.S. list of international terror groups.(snip)
The southern Philippines is plagued by kidnapping gangs and Muslim guerrilla uprisings.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/591624/posts
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