BS: Nestle - even more murderous!

Subject: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Nemesis
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 09:36 AM

As you read this people are dying and will continue to die .. don't feel guilty and walk on past .. it is very simple to help

I know we are all busy and already campaigning hard for PEL stuff and probably our own favourite charities over Christmas... but please when out shopping .. just boycott Nestle products - choose another manufacturer:

Nestlé, the world's largest coffee company, are demanding millions of dollars from Ethiopia a country where 11 million people are facing famine.

Help Take action to stop this scandal now! (This is an OXFAM campaign)

http://www.maketradefair.com/go/scrooge
Click here

Ethiopia is currently experiencing a terrible drought. This crisis has been compounded by the collapse in the global coffee price. The Ethiopian government fears this drought could cause the worst famine the country has ever faced.

Nestlé has demanded that Ethiopia pay over $6million in compensation for a company that was nationalised 27 years ago, a company that
Nestlé didn't even own at the time.

The $6m represents 0.01% of Nestlé's turnover last year. But for Ethiopia, $6m would buy food for over a million people for a whole month.

Take action now:
1. Click here to send a message to Nestlé, telling them to drop the claim for $6m from Ethiopia.

http://www.maketradefair.com/go/scrooge
Click here

2. forward this email to 15 or more friends, family and colleagues

Make your voice count. Join the Big Noise to make TRADE FAIR

This is a personal version from the musician who sent me this:

"I heard your spokesman on BBC radio this morning. He sounded distant, callous and purely concerned with Nestlé's pound of flesh, in the face of massive human tragedy. He gives the lie to Nestlé's supposed concern for the poor. Nestlé have done irreparable harm to their reputation. You could sack the man and replace him with someone more silver-tongued, or you could cancel the debt and do something to help some of the world's poor. You know how badly you're regarded in the world. It makes business sense to change your policy."

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Bagpuss
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 09:41 AM

I already boycott Nestle over their baby milk promotion, but I will send a letter. I read that they rejected a smaller compensation offer of one point something million - so its not like they would be getting nothing.

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Bagpuss
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 09:59 AM

Heres a longer article about it: clicky

The multinational coffee corporation, Nestle, is demanding a $6m (£3.7m) payment from the government of the world's poorest state, Ethiopia, as the country struggles to combat its worst famine for nearly 20 years.
The money is compensation for an Ethiopian business which the previous military government nationalised in 1975. It could feed a million people for a month, according to Oxfam.

The cash-strapped Ethiopian government has offered to pay $1.5m to settle the claim, but yesterday Nestle, which bought the firm's German parent company in 1986, was standing by its demand, insisting it was a "matter of principle".

"In the interest of continued flows of foreign direct investment which is critical for developing countries, it is highly desirable that conflicts are resolved according to international law and in a spirit of fairness," a spokesman for the company said.

Nestle's chief executive, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, acknowledged three years ago that the company had responsibilities beyond its bottom line. "We are going to be asked: what have you done to fight hunger in developing countries?" he said.

Last month Ethiopia's prime minister Meles Zenawi said that 6 million people in his country needed emergency food aid and that the number could rise to 15 million within months.

The famine, brought on by the failure of rains for the third year in a row has been intensified by a collapse in the price of coffee which supports a quarter of the country's population. Nestle, the world's largest coffee processor, made $5.5bn in profits last year.

Aid agencies have reacted furiously to the company's demand.

"At the very least Nestle ought to be accepting the settlement offered by the Ethiopian government," said Sophia Tickell, a policy analyst at Oxfam. "But frankly they should be thinking about how the money could be spent on famine relief and drop the claim altogether."

Ethiopia has the lowest income per head in the world, with the average person surviving on $100 a year. More than a tenth of its children die before their first birthday.

Aid agencies are worried that the crisis could be even worse than the 1984 disaster in which a million people died.

"Drought is threatening many farmers with the prospect of famine," Ms Tickell said. "Nestle, by contrast continues to thrive. The company does not need $6m. It is a highly profitable company which could easily live up to its commitment to 'help fight hunger in developing countries' by writing off this claim."

The World Bank has stepped in to negotiate, but there were few signs yesterday that the company was preparing to back down. "This is a question of principle. The negotiations are ongoing and it would be rash to predict an outcome at the moment," Francois Perroud of Nestle said.

In 1986 Nestle bought a German company, Schweisfurth Group which had a majority share in the Ethiopian Livestock Development Company (Elidco) seized by the Ethiopian government more than 25 years ago. The government sold Elidco to a local firm for $8.7m four years ago.

Although the exact size of Schweisfurth's share in Elidco is uncertain, the Ethiopian government is willing to pay$1.5m - just over half the value of the company at the time of nationalisation including interest. But Nestle is insisting it convert the payment at 1975 exchange rates, adding a further $4.5m to the bill.

"It is perfectly appropriate to try and find a solution to a conflict which has existed since 1975," Mr Perroud said. "We are the owners of a claim against the Ethiopian government."

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Nemesis
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 10:21 AM

Are they people or cold-blooded aliens .. .. they obviously don't give a shit about their image .. in any case so long as we all go on cheerfully buying their Kit Kats they don't ned to know or care that they are committing corporate manslaughter .. murder even

But their attitude is atypical .. I worked for one of the World's leading poverty researchers .. who argues against banks wiping off the totally iniquitous debt interest repayments for Third World countries .. well, they'd only go and spend all that money irresponsibily instead of on health or education .. .. much better that we keep them in chains financially then we can dictate to them .. sort of economic re-colonisation.

It wouldn't be so bad if the people he was putting his case to weren't the UNDP / World Bank / IMF

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: mooman
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 10:38 AM

I will cheerfully boycott their products but, be warned, a visit to their website shows that they have hundreds of products and brands, some not so obvious!

moo

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: mooman
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 10:45 AM

Sorry I meant to say "certainly", "cheerfully" is absolutlely not the right word.

moo

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Morticia
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 10:48 AM

I have been boycotting them for years over the baby milk issue but as Mooman points out, it isn't always easy to know they are the company involved in a product.

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Bagpuss
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 10:52 AM

To find out what else they sell (in the UK) go to their site

Bagpuss

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Nemesis
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 10:53 AM

Oh, I don't know! I think a smile when passing up a Kit Kat can work wonders

(I keep saying Kit Kat as they are the addiction of choice of a particularly agravatingly (as in, the hypocrisy really gets me :) blinkered "New Age healer" that I know ... )

I think it is important not to be too grimly self-righteous .. and especially to look / be cheerful about buying alternatives!

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: IanC
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 11:23 AM

I've also been boycotting Nestle for years over the babymilk issue (along with the rest of my family) ... they've been deliberately killing over 3,000 babies a year with that one.

We've got very practised about not eating Branston Pickle etc.

One of the most galling things for me is that when they bought up all those brand names in the 1980s, the first thing they went for was Rowntree \mackintosh - all those Quaker chocolates.

Never mind - eat Cadbury's instead.

:-)

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: RangerSteve
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 12:42 PM

Being diabetic, it won't be hard to boycott most of their products, but I'll email them anyway. I'm ignorant about the baby milk issue, can someone explain it? Thanks.

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: IanC
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 12:51 PM

Yes

Fundamentally, Nestle hires "nurses" to persuade third world mothers that their baby compound is better than the mothers' breast milk. The mothers then spend more than they can afford buying said product. They then mix it with dirty water and babies die.

WHO has produced guidelines (i.e. don't do this) but Nestle has consistently (except for a period of about 18 months in the 1990s) refused to follow the guidelines.

Baby Milk Action Campaign
useful FAQ

:-)

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 02:05 PM

Nestle's wines included Beringer and many others. A news item a while back said that Texas Pacific and partners were buying out this subsidiary. Anyone have any information?

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 02:46 PM

Been boycotting Nestle for decades. One line of products most USians don't know is owned by Nestles are Contadina tomato products.

One of the best websites for boycott news in the US is Boycott Action News at Co-op America's website:

http://www.coopamerica.org/boycotts/index.html

Their "Responsible Shopper" search engine, co-sponsored by Working Assets, is very valuable.

Also, the Global Exchange Sweatshops site has information on socially responsible shopping here:

http://www.globalexchange.org/economy/corporations/sweatshops/ftguide.html

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Noreen
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 03:03 PM

Bagpuss, I can't get that link to work.

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Rustic Rebel
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 03:12 PM

coopamerica
global exchange
Hope these addies work that you gave Guest. (I think you gotta learn the blue clickie thing!)
Rustic

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: GUEST,Walking Eagle
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 04:12 PM

I'd like to give 'em a $6 million dollar kick in the bum! Count me in for a boycott! I say let's stick it to them for about a $12 mil loss. Any rich catter critters out there should check their stock portfolios and sell! AND let 'em know!

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 05:25 PM

A lot of the stuff they make has Nestles on the packet fairly prominently - though no doubt if this latest scandal helps the boycott be more effective they'll change that soon enough.

With confectionary they seem more circumspect, and looking at the list there are a number of brands I've eaten in recent times. So here is a list from that site to help people them:

Kit Kat, Caramac, Yorkie, Golden Cup, Rolo, Aero, Walnut Whip, Drifter, Smarties, Milkybar, Toffee Crisp, Willy Wonka's Xploder, Crunchie, Maverick, Munchies, Lion Bar.

Save your teeth, boycott them all!

Funny thing is, the people who think its elemnentary justice that when a firm is nationalised without compensation, adequate compensation should be paid at a later date, never seem to apply the same logic to cases where countries have been stolen from their inhabitants, or people have been stolen into slavery, and years later the suggestion is made that reparations should be paid.

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 05:51 PM

Nestle have never had a good working relationship with the public... I stopped conciously buying their products 20 years ago when I found out how badly it treated its workers. The baby milk product just nailed the lid on as far as I was concerned.

LTS

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Nemesis
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 06:02 PM

Potentially there is so many of us here (with friends and mailinglists) we could potentially make a significant difference .. if every one in the Uk/ or one state of the US stopped buying their products .. has to have an impact .. go go go go go!

Subject: RE: Not Music: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 07:52 PM

Nestle's is the world's largest food and beverage combine. Annual revenue, 50 billion dollars plus. More than 237,000 employees. Factories in 84 countries.

Sold in USA and Canada. Partial list only.
Abuelita- Mexican chocolate.
Stouffer's packaged meals
Minor's sauces
Ortega chiles
Trio sauces
Chefmate foods
Idahoan potato products
Carnation and Coffeemate
Lean Cuisine packaged foods
Peters Chocolate
Libbys canned vegetables, fruits, etc.
Maggi products
Nestle's, Nestea and Nescafe,
Aquarel
Albers corn meal, etc.
Nestle Good Start formulas for babies (in Canada, Canadian Paediatric Society and Federal Government approved). SMA replaced by this line.
Cross and Blackwell
Friskies (pet foods)
Good Host,
Milo
Wonka
Turtles
After Eight
Quality Street
Haagen Daz and Nestle ice cream and products
Many candy brands inc. Toll House, Kit-Kat, Smarties, etc., etc..

Subject: RE: BS: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 08:01 PM

If you cut out all that stuff you'll be a lot healthier anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: GUEST,Dan Kelly
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 08:07 PM

With 50 billion bucks they could fund their own regime change in Ethiopia, and keep it all. (I wonder what the FMV of Ethiopia is.)

Subject: RE: BS: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 08:44 PM

The link worked for me, Noreen - you're losing your touch!

Subject: RE: BS: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 08:47 PM

That last me was me.

Subject: RE: BS: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Noreen
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 09:46 PM

Ah- thanks fionn- it's not MY touch, it's Internet Explorer which must be boycotting the site. I can get there easily through AOL, on this same computer.... puzzling.
Will refresh my erstwhile boycott.

Subject: RE: BS: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: GUEST,Walking Eagle
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 10:55 PM

Has anything been reported recently about this mess? I feel like trying to organize something, but I was wondering if there has been any recent news.

Subject: RE: BS: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Alice
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 11:12 PM

http://europe.cnn.com/2002/BUSINESS/12/23/nestle/

Nestle plans donation to Ethiopia

                      Monday, December 23, 2002 Posted: 1552 GMT

                      VEVEY, Switzerland (CNN) --
                      Nestle, the world's biggest food
                      producer, plans to give any
                      money it receives from a
                      damages claim against Ethiopia
                      back to the poverty-stricken
                      country.

                      Chief Executive Peter Brabeck said the
                      company was not interested in taking
                      money from Ethiopia while it faced famine,
                      so it would donate any proceeds to food
                      aid for the country.

                      But he said on Monday that Africa would
                      benefit in the long term if governments
                      "demonstrate a capacity to comply with
                      international law" by settling outstanding
                      claims.

                      Last Wednesday, demonstrators
                      besieged Nestle's UK headquarters
                      demanding the company drop claims to
                      collect $6 million from Ethiopia. The
                      average person in Ethiopia makes less
                      than $2 a day, while the Swiss giant
                      makes about $6 million every hour, aid
                      agencies say.

                      Nestle posted sales of $59.36 billion for
                      2001 and pre-tax profits of $6.15 billion.

                      Nestle's business in Ethiopia was seized by the previous regime in 1975. The
                      company wants compensation although now it says it will reinvest any damages in
                      the country, after five days of protests by aid agencies.

                      The Ethiopian government has already offered $1.6 million to resolve the issue.

                      Ethiopia is struggling with a famine that could see as many as 11 million people
                      facing starvation, aid workers and government officials say.

                      Nestle remains a target for protesters in various parts of the world. The company
                      leads many boycott lists because of controversy over its baby milk formula in the
                      developing world. Nestle denies its milk products can harm infants' health.

                      In an attempt to improve its image, Nestle unveiled a set of principles in March.

                      But it says it was caught off guard by last week's protests over Ethiopia and admits it
                      stumbled when it first said it wanted the bill paid in full.

Subject: RE: BS: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Dead Horse
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 06:40 AM

Aint signin' nuthin. The FBI is wotchin' me already.

Subject: RE: BS: Nestle - even more murderous!
From: Cappuccino
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 11:19 AM

There was a meeting in London recently when Oxfam got together a load of people to discuss 'Mugged', their campaign against the plight of poor coffee-farm workers.

Nestle were invited. Who did they send along - a senior manager, or even a coffee expert who could talk about the subject?

Neither. They sent a 'corporate communications officer' to waffle the party line and in doing so, showed their contempt for the subject.

- Ian B