What Keating doesn’t note is that child labor and violations of
internationally recognized labor rights are still rampant on the
Firestone rubber plantation.  Beyond just bad publicity, organizations
in Liberia, the US and around the world are pressuring Firestone to
take responsibility for human rights violations in their rubber
production and have formed the Stop Firestone coalition.

The funny thing is that so many corporations are actually buying and
selling something close to this concept for Christmas this year.
Shopping for charity is the latest new thing according to such august
sources as the New York Times,
and Africa is a particularly favorite conceptual destination for
holiday shoppers, ever since the big push started by Bono and
colleagues around the 2005 G-8 summit- does anyone remember the
worldwide rock concerts in July of that year, "Live 8"?  Too bad that
according to our informal survey (of the Live 8 concert in
Philadelphia), most of the audience had no idea that the concerts were

Pushing for a renewal of trade benefits without a serious look at
the negative impacts these jobs provide is very short sighted.  If
Wyclef was serious about promoting jobs that are good for Haitians, he
would consider a more nuanced approach which would force those that set
up shop in Haiti to also respect freedom of association, safe working
conditions, and a wage that will support a family.  There are currently
factory workers that struggle on a daily basis, and simply renewing the
trade rules for Haiti will do little to help improve the quality of
living for Haitians.

Since 2001, sixty-four (64) union leaders,
members, organizers, and informal workers have been summarily executed
in the name of the “War on Terror.” An additional fifty two (52) union
members have been abducted, many of whom are feared dead. Many of the
victims were killed while participating in or organizing strikes
against the companies for which they worked. Others were killed simply
because they were community leaders seeking to help their neighbors.
The KMU, among others, has been trying to use all domestic legal means
available to stop the illegal killings of their friends and members and
have filed numerous complaints before the Philippines Human Rights