In June 2017, a strike spread across Darjeeling, India and closed the entire region for 104 days. The motivation was political- a fight over identity, sovereignty, independence. In August we wrote about the fight for Gorkhaland, a movement to separate Darjeeling and surrounding areas (parts of Dooars and Siliguri) from the State of West Bengal to create an independent new state.
Categories: Action Alert
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Carly KadlecDecember 8, 2017This week I was supposed to visit our producer partners at Café Orgánico Marcala S.A. (COMSA) in Marcala, La Paz, Honduras, along with Equal Exchange Coffee Quality Manager Beth Ann Caspersen, to discuss milling practices, contracts, and ongoing project work with our counterparts at COMSA. However, due to political unrest we decided to reschedule our trip so as not to put any of our partners at risk, and recognizing that our work could be put on hold while the Honduran people are fighting for democracy.
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Rob EvertsApril 27, 2017In the lead up to May Day, we would like to share the voice of a worker in the food service industry. As you will hear, profits in this industry are often at the expense of exploited workers. We wish to support the hopes and aspirations of food workers too often invisible to consumers, from those who harvest the crops to those so critical to the success of the restaurant and fast food industries.
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Equal ExchangeApril 3, 2017Torrential rainfall in Peru has triggered landslides and flooding, causing devastation across large parts of the country, including Lima, Piura, Lambayeque, Tumbes, Cajamarca and Ica. Many communities have been cut off by damaged roads, making access to services very difficult. Equal Exchange has had particularly deep relationships with farmer cooperatives in Piura, dating back 20 years with coffee. Our banana affiliate, Oké USA, also began sourcing bananas from co-ops a decade ago, and more recently we have sourced mangos from the region.
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Equal ExchangeNovember 30, 2016
It may seem like a distant memory at this point, but you may recall that Ecuador was hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in April of 2016. The epicenter of the earthquake was located near the town of Muisne – a community that is part of our partner organization UOPROCAE, or the Union of Producers of Cacao of Arriba Esmeraldas. One of the cities that suffered the worst infrastructure damage was Portoviejo, close to our other cacao partner organization Fortaleza del Valle. We reached out immediately to both groups and were very relieved to learn that there were no fatalities among the members and staff of the UOPROCAE or Fortaleza del Valle. However, damage to personal property and the property belonging to the farmer organizations is significant and will be slow to fully rebuild.
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Sara FioreSeptember 30, 2014Halloween is just around the corner, and that means it's time for candy, trick-or-treating, costumes and more candy. Every year, Americans spend over a billion dollars on millions of pounds of Halloween chocolate — enough for every sweet tooth in the country and then some!
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Equal ExchangeMarch 14, 2013
From the Center for Food Safety: Senator Mikulski (D-MD) has introduced an outrageous rider giving a blank check to Monsanto and other corporations to plant illegal genetically engineered crops and it could be voted on tomorrow! This dangerous rider was not included in the House-passed CR, and we are extremely disappointed to see that Senator Mikulski has included it in the Senate version. Thanks to our pressure Senator Tester has introduced an amendment (#74), co-sponsored by Senators Boxer, Gillibrand, and Leahy, to strike the rider from the Continuing Resolution.